Pure Love Greatsword (Continued)

If Schicksal was only at this level, then he probably needed to reassess Otto's standing. Even though this was a far-flung expedition to Shenzhou, this combat power looked nothing like that of the strongest organization.

If you don't show up, I really won't be able to hold back my third sword anymore. Scorching air flowed through his chest as Su Jue muttered to himself.

As a Herrscher, showing mercy to the enemy was not a good habit. Were it not for Kiana, not a single one of the troops ambushing him today would have even thought of leaving this city.

The only one who could be counted as a match was Durandal, but now that opponent had just been knocked back to the ground and remained completely silent, hiding in who-knows-what corner and using cheat codes.

As a villain, he deeply despised these cheat-wielding protagonists. At least Kiana had grown to master the power of Flamescion through actual progression. Durandal's completely unreasonable talent and bloodline—explainable only by training, hard work, and a firm will—felt somewhat too far-fetched.

When dealing with such an enemy, it was hard to guarantee that she wouldn't suddenly pull out some super cheat and instantly kill him.

The giant flame sword in his hand gathered once more. The warships in the sky had been completely swept away, leaving only a tiny few to pursue Tread Snow.

The tip of the sword was already aimed at the ground. The previous era's Herrscher of Flames had directly destroyed continents, and Su Jue could hardly guarantee whether he would directly destroy the entire city.

Finally, before the flames finished gathering, a flash of starlight flickered from the earth.

Then, a golden light collided with the giant flame sword. The air under high temperature and extreme pressure was compressed to the limit before violently expanding.

Row upon row of towering high-rises were directly truncated in the middle. Their upper halves were ground straight into powder by the shock wave, and anything other than steel and concrete was directly vaporized.

"This strike pierces the stars!"

The God-Slaying Armor could no longer oppose Su Jue; only the power of the stars could rival a Herrscher. The power of the world bubble continually materialized, transforming into golden armor that adhered to Bianca's body as flourishing astral flames burned in her hands. Of course, that was not fire, but the manifestation of astral power, so even Su Jue could not control it.

"Astral armor, cast form."

Discarding useless Schicksal technology, Durandal returned to the battlefield in a brand-new stance. Only in this form could she maintain combat power before a Herrscher.

Under the protection of the astral armor, the high temperatures pervading the sky were no longer scorching. Combined with the Kaslana family bloodline, she could basically ignore the high-temperature environment Su Jue had created. Next came a true clash of strength.

The head-on bombardment of a sea of fire and astral flames once again detonated the sky, which was no longer a battlefield where Valkyries could get involved.

Schicksal did not expect the Valkyries to deal with the Herrscher; their target was only Kiana.

Now the Herrscher of Void had fallen into a deep slumber and was at her weakest, while the members of the Kiana Organization—aside from that Herrscher—could only be considered top-tier A-ranks. A human-wave tactic would still be quite effective.

The remaining warships had also set off to intercept Benares. As long as Durandal could stall the Herrscher, they could carry out the arrest.

Under these circumstances, the dolls also began to provide cover consciously. While fighting the astral cat, Su Jue still had the leisure to control the dolls; the pressure was actually not very high.

Pity that Himeko did not understand this. Facing Schicksal's step-by-step advance, she directly snapped, going so far as to challenge the Valkyrie squad—including Rita—single-handedly.

Rampant flames not only flooded the sky but also scorched the earth.

Aboard the Tread Snow in the sky, Mei surveyed the entire city before she understood just how fierce the battle situation truly was. She saw those organization members wearing clothes marked with black and white insignia fighting desperately to cover their retreat, and a trace of awe involuntarily rose in her heart.

Everyone was fighting at least ten times their number of enemies. They announced Kiana's arrival to this world with a frenzied posture, at the cost of their own destruction.

Even Thousand Calamities, who had just delivered her to Kiana's side, threw himself recklessly into the pursuing Valkyrie forces to cover Tread Snow's departure, causing Mei's lingering dissatisfaction toward Thousand Calamities to fade somewhat.

And now, she too would become a member of Kiana Organization. What choices would she make in the future?

Chapter 121: Su Jue and Himeko

In the mental space, Kiana stood alone in the darkness, the threads in her hand completely snapped. She seemed to realize something, trying her utmost to sense her connection with Su Jue, but now there was only a blank void.

He had left.

"What on earth happened?" Up until now, Kiana still couldn't sense the situation outside, and the damage to her body was far more severe than she had imagined.

Looking at the faintly glowing Serenity Gem within the darkness—a gem that had just been healing the two of them now only able to repair her own body—Kiana's heart skipped a beat, and the thought of death surfaced in her mind.

No, impossible. He was a Herrscher; how could he possibly just die like this?

She kept persuading herself deep in her heart, trying to make herself calm down. But the increasingly chaotic mental space looked nothing like it could calm down, and this anxious mood only aggravated the Honkai's erosion.

The Serenity Gem's natural recovery could no longer keep pace with the speed of the erosion. Kiana was forcibly using her own consciousness to break through the shackles of her body, which caused extremely severe damage to her current self.

Yet she couldn't care about that now; she had to see the current situation with her own eyes.

Su Jue, Mei—what happened after she sent the Honkai Bomb into the sky?

Just as she kept breaking through, Mei outside also encountered a crisis. A large number of solo aerial drones had caught up with Tread Snow and began attacking them.

Although her strength was almost wrung dry, Mei still picked up her weapon, launching an offensive against the approaching drones and the Valkyries upon them.

Pity that she was only an ordinary human; without awakening as a Herrscher, she was still far too weak. Wounds gradually multiplied, blood slowly stained her clothes red, and even trickled down onto Tread Snow.

"Without power, you cannot protect anything."

She had heard this sentence more than once. It was precisely because of her own weakness that Mei would train desperately, but why, why was she still unable to protect her?

The enemy's attacks kept increasing while Mei rapidly weakened. After a momentary trance, a bullet finally broke through her defense.

Death, so imminent.

Just as she was about to be struck by the bullet, a spatial channel swallowed all the bullets and then returned them from the opposite direction, hitting the Valkyries. Immediately afterward, a large number of Spears of the Void appeared, piercing through the closely pursuing drones and destroying Schicksal's pursuit.

The crisis lifted. Mei let out a sigh of relief, only to feel a heavy weight on her body as Kiana, who had just been displaying divine might, collapsed directly against her. It was only then that she noticed Kiana's body was completely covered by Honkai cracks.

"Kiana!" Calling out with a heart-pining ache, Mei immediately helped Kiana sit down.

Yet at this moment, Kiana only shook her head and replied, "I can't hear for now. Is he still alive?"

Kiana, who had lost her five senses, had currently only recovered her vision. She looked around, but Su Jue's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Mei had not seen Su Jue, but by now she already understood: the one capable of founding the Kiana Organization, the one capable of using his own body to shield Kiana's departure, should only be that person in the sky.

She looked up toward the horizon, and Kiana followed her gaze, seeing only sweeping flames and that tiny, solitary figure.

"Flames... the Plague Gem."

Teacher Himeko's departure was Kiana's deepest nightmare, and a large portion of her feelings for Su Jue stemmed from her guilt toward Himeko. Everything Su Jue had done before happened to make up for the regret left by Himeko's departure, inadvertently causing Kiana to overlap the two figures in her mind.

Even though she knew very well that Su Jue and Himeko were different, she still couldn't help but feel the warmth of Teacher Himeko's continued existence through Su Jue.

She fantasized that one day in the future, she would find Himeko and let her meet Su Jue; that would surely be the most perfect ending.

Yet the appearance of the Plague Gem could smash everything to pieces. She had considered that Su Jue might be any Herrscher, but she had never imagined that he would awaken as the Herrscher of Flames.

If the Plague Gem was with Su Jue, then wouldn't Teacher Himeko...

A wave of dizziness washed over her, and the Honkai's erosion steadily intensified, making Kiana's breathing more and more difficult.

She suddenly felt somewhat at a loss as to how to face Su Jue. She was afraid that she would subconsciously treat Su Jue as a replacement for Himeko.

Just as she stood there in a daze, she failed to see Tread Snow's whiskers twitch.

"This strike pierces the stars!"

Golden light surged straight into the sky. High above, Su Jue, holding the giant sword, sighed, his grip deliberately half a beat slow.

In an instant, the light pierced through his body.

Seeing this scene, Kiana snapped violently to her senses. She could no longer care about untangling the relationship between Su Jue and Himeko; she struggled to stand up, but could only collapse limply into Mei's embrace.

"It shouldn't be like this..." Her heart was violently gripped. Himeko's face still echoed in her mind, and now, Su Jue was leaving her as well?

Hum—

Streams of light flickered in the sky, and golden light beams multiplied, bombarding Su Jue over and over again.

"Mei, I have to go save them... them." Consciousness blurred, Kiana could no longer distinguish who was who, but no matter who it was, she had to go save them.

Yet even though she could break through the limits of her consciousness, her severely eroded body could no longer respond to her will.

"Kiana, calm down. They traded themselves to buy your freedom. If you go back now, their sacrifice will be completely meaningless." Seeing Kiana in this state, Mei's heart ached bitterly as well, but she now clearly realized the disparity in power; going back now was nothing more than throwing themselves into a trap.

In the distance, Benares had arrived, and Tread Snow finally carried the two of them onto the dragon's back.

Having completed its mission, the massive chubby cat finally transformed back into the black, cloud-like Tread Snow. Seeing Tread Snow in this form, Kiana finally understood what the scenes she had seen in her dream earlier truly meant.

The original Tread Snow had long since died; this cat was merely a Honkai Beast born alongside Su Jue's awakening.

She wanted to call Tread Snow back, but the cat merely glanced at her, shook its head, and flew toward where Su Jue was.

"Meow."

This time, it was going to proactively seek out its master.

Once again, everyone left her behind, and everything returned to how it was in the beginning.

Mei, standing beside her, didn't quite know how to comfort Kiana and could only hold her tightly.

Fortunately Su Jue had sent Mei over, otherwise Kiana would probably have turned dark.

"Mei... I can't do anything." Kiana punched Benares's back, her tears no longer able to be held back.

Benares's figure, which had dipped for a moment, gradually climbed higher. Down on the ground, Himeko, battered and bruised all over from battle, finally let out a sigh of relief. She gazed into the distance, seeing Kiana off as she departed.

Then she looked again toward Su Jue in the sky, who was likewise severely wounded yet still fighting incessantly.

"Herrscher, I acknowledge you."

Chapter 122: Destruction of the Old Order

The air scorched by flames gradually cooled, and the distant morning breeze carrying a hint of damp chill swept across the city. The weary man frowned deeply, gradually waking from his dream.

First he looked up at the sky in panic—there were no lingering flames, no roaring explosions. He let out a long breath of relief, revealing an ugly smile as he muttered, "So it really was just a dream."

The sun revealed half its body from the horizon, filling the sky with rosy clouds while the shadows of distant buildings were drawn out long. But soon, the sunlight grew sufficiently fervent, evenly sharing its radiance with everyone.

Amidst the ruined rubble, the sleeping people slowly stood up, gazing toward the direction where the sun was rising.

Beneath their feet was the once-prosperous and fantastical Sky City, now a wasteland stretching for thousands of meters.

Some people's cries could no longer be suppressed, and those with more extreme emotions were already cursing madly. Yet across this earth shrouded in sorrow, there were still those who revealed smiles.

The raging fire burned away the rigidly stratified urban classes and destroyed the money-supremacy order. It bestowed equal destruction upon the inner and outer cities, and upon this wasteland, new seeds were about to sprout.

As the people looked upon this expanse of ruins and reminisced about the past, others had already silently bared their fangs. Strife was imminent.

"Ah, what a thriving scene."

Within the Imaginary Space, Su Jue, carrying a smile in his golden pupils, let out such an exclamation.

He casually played with his fingers, and invisible threads gently swayed, tugging at the puppets upon the stage, making them perform a play unknown to anyone within the darkness.

Inside Sky City's official Honkai disaster relief operations room, the well-respected director banished the golden light from the depths of his eyes and spoke eloquently in the conference room.

Inside the helicopter evacuating the city, the pot-bellied business tycoon revealed a strange smile, marking his financial targets out upon the ruins.

Inside a tent meant for temporary shelter, an ordinary young man mingling at the bottom of the city, barely surviving on borrowed time, had a face filled with madness, eagerly desiring to release the power within his body.

This performance was unknown to anyone, yet it ought to be grand beyond compare.

While the sunlight of Sky City illuminated the earth, in a nameless small town a full 1,000 kilometers away, the edge of the sky was only just beginning to reveal a trace of fish-belly white.

This meager light fell upon the window curtains, utterly unable to pierce the tightly drawn drapes to reach the young girl inside the room.

Mei, resting against the wall with her tachi in her arms, was in a light slumber when she suddenly woke with a start. She hurriedly looked toward Kiana, who was still fast asleep on the bed, and after confirming that the cracks on her body had not temporarily increased, she breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to continue resting.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, a faint knocking sound suddenly rang out. Mei instantly tightened her grip on her tachi, entering a combat stance.

She made no response, instead silently moving close to the door. As long as the other party attempted to break the door down, she could kill them in advance. "Miss Mei, there are some things here that need to be delivered to you." A girl's voice sounded from outside the door. Mei frowned slightly, recognizing this as the person who had received her last night. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled the door open a crack.

The girl outside had been standing there for a long time. Seeing Mei appear, a gentle smile blossomed on her face.

"I'm very sorry to disturb your rest, but the time left to us is not much. Please take these things first." As she spoke, the girl handed a paper bag she was carrying to Mei.

Inside the bag seemed to be only some clothes, cosmetics, and a spare medical kit.

In addition, there was a small black box made of metal, with a black-and-white three-ringed mark printed on its surface.

Eyebrows lifting, Mei wore a puzzled look; surely they wouldn't have called her out just for a few clothes. "Can you explain to me what these are? Miss Jian Yun."

"Clean changes of clothes and props for disguise. Schicksal's Valkyries are biting very hard; you'd best disguise yourselves before heading out. That box contains temporary Honkai energy inhibitors, which can temporarily alleviate the erosion of the Honkai." During her speech, Jian Yun glanced through the crack in the door at Kiana, who was painfully furrowing her brows, a trace of dissatisfaction showing between her brows.

"Raiden Mei, the attendants said you were the companion closest to Lady Queen, which is why we entrusted Her Ladyship to your care. But looking at it now, you can't even let Her Ladyship sleep in peace?"

The sudden reproach made Mei's breath catch. Looking at Kiana in such pain, she was more anxious than anyone. If she could, she would even be willing to bear this pain for Kiana in her stead. But now, without professional medical equipment, Mei was merely a warrior and had no good way to resolve the erosion.

"I will take care of Kiana; you don't need to trouble yourselves worrying." In the end, she could only spit out those dry words.

"You'd better. If anything goes wrong with Lady Queen, we will revoke your nursing clearance." Clearly just an ordinary person, yet when mentioning Kiana, Jian Yun showed not a shred of fear facing Mei, even openly expressing her dissatisfaction.

Among the members of Kiana Organization, only Lady Queen was the most important.

"Use the inhibitor as soon as possible. Just place it close to a blood vessel position, but remember to wait a full 6 hours before using the second dose."