T-X

The mining area includes several mine shafts or open-pit mine regions, equipped with complete production processes, ground transportation, power supply, communication dispatch, production management, and living service facilities. Its scope often depends on the scale of the mineral deposit. Clearly, the rare earth mining area to be recaptured was orderly in terms of both infrastructure and scale. Relying on basic industries like raw ore sales and refined processing, they managed to build skyscrapers. It's likely that a complete industrial chain was formed, leading to such well-developed regional infrastructure and municipal engineering.

The transport aircraft hovered in mid-air, its cargo bay doors slowly opening. The female warriors glanced outside. Half was dark clouds, half was sky. The light from the half-lit sky barely illuminated the city. Drizzling rain fell on the ground. Looking down from the sky, visible white Honkai Beasts roamed the streets and alleys. Currently, only Assault-types were spotted, which was probably why the mission evaluation was only a B-rank.

"Tch... testing Divine Keys on these trash Honkai Beasts is such a waste," the silver-haired female warrior said dismissively. She even felt she could clear these Assault-type Honkai Beasts without the Divine Keys, it would just take more time.

[The Base]

The large screen displayed the figures of Fu Hua and other warriors. Dr. Mei and numerous researchers watched them intently. The true mission these warriors were undertaking was crucial for the future of humanity.

Since the birth of the first Homo sapiens on the African continent, humanity's history had been one of struggling forward while grappling with the Honkai. The most effective method found to counter the Honkai was undoubtedly to use the Honkai against itself. Powerful Fusion Warriors were implanted with the genes of Emperor-type Honkai Beasts, and the Divine Keys, driven by Law-Ruler Cores, possessed immense power. However, the number of Fusion Warriors was extremely limited, as were the Divine Keys. Although the Fusion Warriors could turn the tide like legendary heroes from mythology, they couldn't stop the overwhelming momentum of human civilization, which had fallen into complete despair.

From this, it was easy to deduce the most effective way to eliminate the Honkai at present: mass production of Fusion Warriors and mass production of Divine Keys. It seemed like a simple idea, yet the simpler it was, the harder it was to achieve. If not for the Tenth Law-Ruler's divisive nature, this idea might have remained just an idea.

After eradicating the Thousand-Man Law-Ruler, Fire Moth had collected a total of 943 Law-Ruler Cores. The Thousand-Man Law-Ruler originally had one thousand Law-Ruler Cores, and Qin Su had taken 57 of them. In the most ideal scenario, with 943 Divine Keys and 943 Fusion Warriors, they would have a fighting chance even against the Honkai God itself.

Manufacturing Divine Keys was a stable process; as long as there was a Law-Ruler Core, a Divine Key could be manufactured. However, there weren't enough corresponding Fusion Warriors. The reason was simple: manufacturing Fusion Warriors was a far more difficult task than manufacturing Divine Keys. Like many cutting-edge industries, there was no shortage of advanced equipment, but there was a lack of top-tier talent. It wasn't people waiting for equipment, but equipment waiting for people.

Hence, the Hyper-Mutation Synthesis Agent came into being. It injected Honkai Beast genes into the human body in a crude and direct manner, but expressing these Honkai Beast genes proved extremely difficult. The reason was unknown. It was possible the traits had already been expressed, but the subjects were unaware of their existence and therefore didn't know how to utilize them.

To maximize experimental results, Dr. Mei placed her hope in the potential unleashed by humans in moments of life and death, believing it could increase the success rate of the Fusion Warrior experiments. Therefore, Fu Hua and the others were not executing an ordinary B-rank combat mission, but a top-tier, sure-death mission. Their original fate was singular: either become Fusion Warriors or die.

Fu Hua leaped from the transport aircraft suspended in mid-air. Relying on her powerful physique, she landed steadily from a height of dozens of meters without a scratch. The transport aircraft then continued for a short distance, allowing the Valkyries to disembark separately throughout the area, improving mission efficiency.

An Assault-type Honkai Beast nearby heard the commotion and approached. Fu Hua drew the Tenth Divine Key from her back. She gripped the hilt and even performed a flourish, the cold, gleaming blade slicing the air and raindrops in two with a whistling sound. Fu Hua, usually taciturn, couldn't help but softly exclaim, "What a divine weapon."

But the Honkai Beasts wouldn't appreciate the sword; they swarmed forward, the sound of chitin vibrating from all directions. She leaped back, kicking an Assault-type behind her. With a "clang!", its fragile body was sent flying like a dented soccer ball, precisely knocking two or three others into the ruins of a collapsed building. The sword pierced another Assault-type's body as easily as slicing through paper. The Assault-type was flung into a nearby pile of garbage, its rapidly vibrating chitin abruptly ceasing, twitching occasionally.

In a short while, the Honkai Beasts in this area were cleared. The clearing operations in other areas also proceeded smoothly, but smooth operations wouldn't lead to the success of the Fusion Warrior experiments.

With a single sword stroke, she cut the last visible Assault-type in half. With a divine weapon in hand, how could mere Assault-types pose a threat? The white-haired female warrior gripped the hilt and said smugly to her companions over the radio, "With the Divine Key, what do I have to fear from these Honkai Beasts?!"

"Watch me kill you all one by one!" But a strange sense of danger struck her head like a needle. She turned her head, trying to dispel the unease in her heart, only to see a colossal figure appear in her scope. A cluster of purplish-white light was gathering in its mouth, its radiance almost engulfing her entire body.

It had a quadrupedal, purplish-white body, with mysterious light purple patterns covering it. Sharp white fangs on either side could cut through metal like mud. Without a doubt, this was the Emperor-type Honkai Beast Ganesha!

She instantly identified the origin of the colossal figure before her. Almost disbelieving, she cried out in terror, "That's... an Emperor-type Honkai Beast!" She frantically swung her sword forward, but the Tenth Divine Key, capable of cutting through metal like mud, only left a shallow scratch on Ganesha.

The white-haired female warrior's heart was about to shatter. "Why... why isn't the Divine Key working on it?!" She ran desperately and chaotically toward the communication channel, shouting, "Someone... someone save me! Requesting reinforcements!"

Could she really escape? Ganesha's mouth glowed intensely with purple light, the gathered energy about to erupt.

At that very moment, time in this world seemed to be covered in asphalt, becoming viscous, all movements slowing to an incredibly crawl. All surrounding scenery was dyed with a strange, deep blue hue, as if covered by a transparent film.

A silver-white foot stepped out of the air, and its entire body gradually materialized from transparency. A silver-white humanoid mechanical entity emerged from what was previously empty space. Its deep eye sockets emitted a faint blue light. Only on the forehead of its half-visible face was an 'X' symbol carved. Half of its body was encased in blue energy, while the other half was exposed Soul Steel plating. Though its complete structure was unclear, its design possessed a strange beauty.

The Emperor-type Honkai Beast Terminator T-X made its entrance.

Although it was the Terminator, a lone T-X could not inflict much damage on an Emperor-type Honkai Beast. However, what this T-X could guarantee was its survival against the sharp fangs and claws of an Emperor-type Honkai Beast.

The robust Terminator grabbed the white-haired female warrior's body and began to run. Its silver-white right hand gradually deformed and expanded like flowing liquid, its arm eventually enclosing the warrior's waist. T-X took a step forward and swung forcefully, like swinging a meteor hammer, flinging the warrior into the air in the distance. The Divine Key in the warrior's hand had been temporarily fused into T-X's body.

However, after 2 seconds, this was the limit of T-X's temporal distortion. The white-haired Valkyrie was fortunate enough to escape Ganesha's concentrated beam, but T-X, after completing this series of actions, had no time to evade Ganesha's gathered energy.

The deep blue color rapidly contracted until it disappeared, and the viscous time flowed normally. Ganesha's gathered energy erupted from its mouth. T-X, seeing the situation, deployed a Honkai energy shield. The powerful destructive beam directly blew T-X away. It was like a cannonball, passing through layers of ruins and broken walls, along with countless fragments and dust, finally crashing into a pile of construction sand.

Ganesha leaped into the air, shrinking its body into a massive sphere, and rolled over and over the spot where T-X had fallen. After tens of seconds, Ganesha stopped. What it had rolled over was nothing but dust from the ruins.

Ganesha let out a snort and then slowly left the area. However, Ganesha never imagined that if it had taken one more step, it would have stepped not on empty ground, but on T-X's body. This T-X possessed not just one Law-Ruler Core, but another, similar to the Wind Law-Ruler Core, which meant it could turn invisible.

"Ahhh—" The white-haired female warrior screamed, her eyes closed from the terror of death. A mechanical arm tightly gripped her body.

"Tell me your location, I'm coming right away!" Fu Hua said over the communication channel.

"..." She tightly gripped the communicator in her hand, unsure of what to do.

The white-haired female warrior felt the cold metal touch at her waist. She opened her eyes and looked around. The clouds were within reach, and the high-altitude wind was so strong it almost blinded her.

"As expected... I'm dead."

But the beating of her heart told her—she wasn't dead yet. She looked up and saw herself being carried by a novel-looking aircraft. She was being taken away by a Hunter Drone, her radio having been torn off when she was grabbed.

PS: [1] The abilities of the Tenth Law-Ruler are largely the author's conjecture. When the Tenth Law-Ruler was introduced in the original work, it was only stated that the abilities of the previous nine Law-Rulers were the ultimate manifestations of certain principles, while the Tenth Law-Ruler's abilities were very simple. In early comics (many of which had their settings discarded), it was mentioned that the Xuanyuan Sword fused the abilities of six Law-Rulers and could even fuse the abilities of other Law-Rulers. The author based these conjectures on these few sentences. Of course, the official source has never truly stated whether the previous civilization's Tenth Law-Ruler possessed the abilities of the previous nine. I doubt they ever will.

If there's anything incorrect, please just laugh it off.

[2] The appearance of T-X here is based on T-Infinity from the manga.

[3] Congratulations, the author is finally close to finishing Elysian Realm.

[4] T-Infinity, with its peculiar beauty.