Indeed, if they had not held Shi Hen back, he would have slipped away on his own long ago.
Though if not for Shi Hen, they would not have had nuclear bombs dropped on them either.
But unlike them, who had no choice, Shi Hen could have escaped alone.
Yet he had chosen to stay.
No matter how many twists and turns lay behind it, she only needed to remember that much.
After thinking for a moment, Raven looked at Leona and the others. "Valkyries of Schicksal, get aboard too!
If Bai returns safely, I will naturally let you leave.
But if he does not return..."
The red claw blades sprang from Raven's hand, but she did not continue.
Every blood debt would be repaid in blood.
She had never been generous enough to repay grievances with kindness.
After exchanging looks, Leona and the other Valkyries nodded softly, offering neither objection nor resistance.
Their positions had always been opposed. This was already the best possible outcome.
After all, Schicksal had thrown four nuclear bombs at them.
Even if Raven had killed them on the spot to vent her anger, they would have had nothing to say.
Seeing this, Raven nodded slightly, and some of the chill in her eyes faded.
If it had been up to her, she would have killed these troublesome Valkyries long ago.
But... Shi Hen wanted to spare them.
She did not want the youth to return and discover that the people he had once wanted to protect had died for some laughable reason.
Just as the transport ship lifted off, the standoff in the heavens finally reached its end.
Bang!
The bat swept through the air. The blazing, expanding fireball instantly shattered, turning into countless fiery motes that scattered and fell, only to be blown back into the sky by the gale that rose the next second. Not a single spark reached the ground.
That day, everyone in the city witnessed what it looked like for a star to shatter.
On the Price of Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge
By the time the transport ship was about to break through the encirclement of Schicksal's Far East Branch, Shi Hen finally returned.
"Shi Hen!" The moment the youth landed on the deck, Raven threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. "Thank goodness! It's so good that you're all right!"
Once again, she had felt as though she were about to lose him.
Held tightly by the mercenary, with the soft weight of her chest pressed against him, Shi Hen was briefly at a loss. After a moment's thought, though, he gently returned Raven's embrace. "Mm, I'm back."
Even with a thousand words to say, that one sentence was enough.
Though facing a nuclear bomb sounded like dancing repeatedly along the line between life and death, it had not actually been all that dangerous for Shi Hen.
Having entered the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, he now fully possessed Herrscher-level strength.
The final strike he had used against the third nuclear bomb was no weaker than the Tai Xu Sword God of Fu Hua's lineage.
Or rather, the Tai Xu Sword God was the Heavenly Sovereign Realm for those without Stigmata. The ultimate goal of both was to embrace Honkai through humanity's own will.
With Shi Hen's current state, if someone gave him a Plague Gem, he could immediately transform into the complete Flame Herrscher. Every normal attack would be an absurdly powerful blow.
Upon reaching the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, Shi Hen's admiration for Fu Hua deepened even further.
Compared to the nearly impossible-to-replicate Heavenly Sovereign Realm, the Sword God had a complete cultivation method, though it demanded extraordinary talent as well.
No matter what, Fu Hua had forged a path separate from Stigmata.
Moreover, even if one never reached the realm of the Sword God, the process of cultivation itself would still be immensely beneficial.
By comparison, the Heavenly Sovereign Realm was extremely radical.
Not only did one need to develop one's Stigmata to an exceptionally high degree, becoming powerful enough to leave one's own imprint even upon the Imaginary, one also had to overcome the weakness and confusion within one's heart.
During that process, the slightest misstep could cause someone to lose themself, trapping their consciousness within Imaginary Space forever.
All things considered, the difficulty was no less than producing an ascended Herrscher.
All he could say was that Immortal Fu Hua was truly incredible.
"...Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Only after a long while did Raven belatedly realize they had been embracing for too long. She hurriedly stepped back several paces and carefully examined the youth to see whether he was missing an arm or leg.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little injured and somewhat exhausted."
Seeing the faint blush on Raven's cheeks, Shi Hen answered in a somewhat weak voice. At the same time, he raised his arms and let the mercenary poke and prod him all over.
"Just that?" Raven's brows immediately shot up. "Do you even know what you were doing!?"
Although she had found no obvious wounds on him... directly clashing with a nuclear bomb—was that something a human should do?
Even if the youth was becoming less and less human.
During the first few years after she joined World Serpent, she had been considered a genius in the training camp. But compared to Shi Hen... was that even a comparison?
Raven could not help glaring fiercely at the youth.
"I definitely won't do it again."
Shi Hen lowered his head and promised, his voice sounding utterly feeble.
Though in reality, he had already used a Revival Armor and was currently at full health.
Fighting a nuclear bomb would not have cost Shi Hen his life, but excessive exhaustion, extreme burns, nuclear radiation, and all the resulting complications meant that, in theory, he should have been bedridden for at least half a year.
So Shi Hen spent 0.3 seconds thinking it over before decisively using the Revival Armor.
The main storyline was not far away. He did not want to waste precious time growing stronger by lying in bed.
But even though he was now at full health, Shi Hen still had to put on an act so that he would not seem too horrifying. That would put everyone more at ease.
In a place like World Serpent, he was not foolish enough to show off every trump card he possessed.
Still, after experiencing it firsthand, Shi Hen had gained some understanding of a nuclear bomb's power.
All he could say was that it was merely so-so. Its destructive power was average, and it was not even as fun as Durandal.
After all, the terrifying part of a nuclear bomb was its massive area of effect. Single-target attacks were not its specialty.
Even radiation, which ordinary people feared like a tiger... in this world, Honkai itself was the deadliest form of radiation.
Hearing the youth's promise and seeing how weak he looked, Raven's heart ached. She could only sigh and choose to forgive him.
It was rare for her to take the youth on a mission, yet this one had turned out even more dangerous than Sicily. For a time, Raven did not know what to say.
She had spent so many years in the underworld, yet she had never encountered anything this absurd.
Could it be that they were just naturally incompatible with missions?
Raven sank into deep thought.
"Oh, and there's this." As he walked toward the cabin with Raven, Shi Hen pulled out a dull purple-black baseball bat. "This thing is probably completely broken..."
As he spoke, Shi Hen secretly glanced at Raven.
If Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge had been intact, he would have been confident in smashing three more nuclear bombs. But this Divine Key was damaged to begin with, and Raven had drained it dry once before.
For Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge to unleash enough power to tear apart a nuclear bomb in that state was simply too much to ask.
The result of forcing it had become what it was now.
If the organization had no means of repairing it, then World Serpent would probably lose a Divine Key forever.
Even a weapon on the level of a Divine Key could not ultimately withstand the merciless passage of time.
Besides, Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge had already suffered severe damage in the Previous Era. It had remained at low health for all these years, and Shi Hen had merely drained it completely.
"Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge..."
Taking the baseball bat the youth handed over, Raven's heart hurt so badly that she could barely breathe.
This thing... was expensive!
Although the Divine Key had remained in her custody ever since she received it, she only had the right to use it.
If she wanted to unleash the Divine Key's full power, she even had to submit an application in advance.
Even if there was no time at the moment, she would have to file one afterward.
But now, she probably would never need to write another report like that again.
She was almost fainting from heartache, but when she thought of the youth beside her, Raven still waved her hand and put on an unconcerned expression. "It's fine. It's just a weapon. If it's broken, it's broken. Gray Serpent should have a way to fix it.
Mm, he definitely has a way. He definitely does..."
Seeing the Mercenary Queen looking as though she was about to lose her mind, Shi Hen shook his head and sighed.
Forget it. He would ask Gray Serpent later how he could compensate for it.
No matter how many excuses there were, he had attracted the nuclear bombs, and he had broken the Divine Key. Shi Hen would not make excuses to avoid responsibility.
Still, this operation had been carried out because of a mission assigned by the organization. Gray Serpent could not possibly be too excessive about it, right?
The Heavenly Sovereign Realm and Jackal
Not long after Shi Hen entered the cabin, Jackal blocked his path like a shark that had caught the scent of blood, her amber eyes gleaming brightly.
Though she did not know the precise details, she was certain that the state Shi Hen had displayed while fighting the nuclear bomb was the ultimate objective of the Stigmata Project.
That power could absolutely surpass a Herrscher!
As long as she could uncover Shi Hen's secret, she could undoubtedly push the current Stigmata Project forward by a great deal.
"Jackal! Shi Hen just got back. What he needs now is rest!"
Raven stepped in front of Shi Hen, her expression displeased.
Looking at the pale-faced Shi Hen, then at the threatening Raven, Jackal hesitated for half a second before choosing to step aside.
She could not beat Raven.
"If it's just a simple explanation, I'll be fine." Shi Hen revealed a weak, powerless smile. "Simply put, I entered Imaginary Space and defeated the negative consciousness manifested by my Stigmata, thereby gaining the power to fully control Honkai."
Raven & Jackal: "..."
That certainly was a simple explanation.
Raven felt as though she were listening to a celestial scripture. She recognized every word, but once they were put together, she could not understand any of it.
Unlike the armed operative Raven, who was completely bewildered, the great scientist Jackal's eyes shone as she listened, and she occasionally nodded solemnly.
Though among everything Shi Hen had said, she had only understood the part about negative consciousness.
Stigmata were gifts Moth to Fire had left for humanity in this era, but they were by no means gifts that brought only benefits.
As the power of a Stigmata continuously awakened, the host's negative emotions would grow accordingly.
If one could not resist their own negative emotions, even a Stigmata awakener could be devoured by Honkai.
Once that happened, it often gave birth to monsters hundreds or even thousands of times more terrifying than Honkai zombies.
This guy made it sound easy, but that battle must have been unimaginably brutal, right?
Jackal looked deeply at the youth, a trace of admiration rising in her eyes.
No matter how Shi Hen had accomplished it, this was enough to prove his potential.
No, the youth could no longer be described merely as having potential. He had already completely converted his potential into strength.
The current Shi Hen was unquestionably a powerful figure whom even World Serpent had to treat with caution.
"How did you enter Imaginary Space?"
Jackal could not restrain herself from asking.
After all, opening a gateway to Imaginary Space was an authority exclusive to the Void Herrscher.
Before you continue