A short while earlier, Theresa and Mei had successfully made their way to the First Spaceport. But by the time they arrived, the Herrscher of Ice was long gone. What awaited them instead was a massive, swarming horde of Honkai beasts.
Theresa knew they were being far too reactive. She had the unmistakable feeling of being led around by the nose.
To avoid detection by Schicksal, there were only the two of them—Theresa and Raiden Mei. The Honkai beasts ahead weren’t particularly powerful individually, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming. After a prolonged fight, not only were they unable to advance, but the relentless swarm forced them to retreat while fighting.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Raiden Mei hadn’t yet fully mastered the Herrscher of Thunder’s power. And no matter how determined she tried to be, deep in her subconscious, she still harbored some resistance to the Herrscher’s power. Compounded by the extended high-intensity combat, a cocktail of negative effects washed over her. Mei felt dizzy and disoriented, as if hallucinations were flickering before her eyes.
“I feel terrible… My head… it’s so foggy and heavy…”
The physical discomfort quickly affected her combat performance. Mei had just taken down one Rush-class Honkai beast when several Ballista-class beasts behind it launched a coordinated attack. Her dulled reflexes prevented her from dodging an attack she normally could have evaded, and the impact sent her flying.
Theresa was locked in her own fierce battle and couldn’t spare any attention for Mei’s situation. Mei picked herself up off the ground, continuing to fight as countless images flickered through her mind.
“Why… at a time like this… is it your face that fills my thoughts?”
“I love the way, after every mission, you’d throw open the dorm door and shout, ‘Mei, I’m home!’… The way you’d throw yourself onto me and whine in my ear about being hungry… Then I’d gently stroke your hair and say, ‘Welcome back’…”
“I love the way, whenever we went out shopping, you’d call out ‘Wait for me, Mei!’ without letting me say a word, then disappear into the crowd… You’d come back with two desserts, pressing one into my hands… Then I’d carefully take it and say ‘Thank you’…”
“I love the way, every time you skipped class, you’d cry ‘Mei, I’ll never do it again!’ as I tugged your ear… The way you’d rub your ear and apologize so softly… Then I’d accept your apology while quietly wondering when the next time would be…”
“Whether in battle or in ordinary life, whether showing your best side or your flawed moments, I love everything about you as long as it’s you… I will definitely save you, Kiana.”
“You’re not some hero of the Kaslana family, and definitely not someone’s clone. To me… you’re just a gentle, kind-hearted fool… that I can’t bear to let go.”
In her dazed state, Raiden Mei felt her strength draining rapidly. Yet the Honkai beasts ahead still showed no end in sight.
[Hmph. How pathetic. You can’t even handle this rabble.]
[Your talk is impressive, but what can you actually do?]
[Let me… lend you my power.]
Raiden Mei’s second personality didn’t take direct control. Instead, she helped the primary personality gradually acclimate to the Herrscher’s power and eliminated the various negative effects plaguing her.
Mei attacked again. This time, the densely packed Honkai beasts all seemed to become conductors linked together. The moment her blade struck the first one, purple lightning rapidly surged outward in all directions. Within moments, the horde of Honkai beasts ahead toppled over like a chain of dominoes.
“This is… the power of a Herrscher?!”
Raiden Mei stared in disbelief at the scene before her. She had never imagined an attack of this magnitude could erupt from her own hands.
[I still have a score to settle with that one. I can’t let her die here.]
[Hmph. I never thought… there’d come a day when I’d share the same goal as a coward like you.]
Mei silently thanked her tsundere other self in her heart. Then, she charged into the Honkai beast horde, cutting them down as if possessed by an unstoppable force. Soon, the Honkai beast signals ahead vanished completely.
Seeing Mei’s condition, Theresa thought she was at least temporarily able to use the Herrscher’s power, and her eyes filled with relief. Using the data left within the First Spaceport, the two continued moving toward the Herrscher of Ice’s location.
“We haven’t seen nearly as many Honkai beasts along the way. That’s such a relief…”
Just as they were breathing a sigh of relief, a thunderous crash echoed ahead, and the very ground trembled like an earthquake. What appeared before them was a white-furred monster standing over a hundred meters tall. It looked like an extraordinarily massive ape, with extremely long fur that seemed to cover its eyes. But upon closer observation, a tail resembling that of a lizard sprouted from its rear, giving it a deeply grotesque appearance.
And standing upon its back was the very target of their mission.
“An Emperor-class… No, is it another Judgment-class…”
Theresa glanced at Raiden Mei beside her and immediately made her decision.
“Mei, leave this big guy to me. I’m counting on you to handle Kiana!”
The moment she finished speaking, chains from the Oath of Judah shot out. By the time the beast noticed, its right forelimb was already bound.
“Off you go!”
With a surge of strength from Theresa, the colossal body of the Judgment-class Honkai beast crashed to the ground. The Herrscher of Ice atop it had barely landed when Raiden Mei rushed to its side, lightning imbued with fury and longing slamming fiercely down upon it.
“I have to be faster! As long as the conquering lightning strikes its body, it can disrupt the connection between the Herrscher core and the Imaginary Space. If that happens, Kiana should be able to wake up!”
Raiden Mei’s theory was perfectly correct. Unfortunately, her own impatience made her fall right into the opponent’s trap. The very instant her body made contact with the Herrscher of Ice, a small amount of lightning did indeed flow into its body. But then… Mei realized that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t release any more lightning. In its place was an indescribable feeling of tightness in her chest and a blocked, suffocating sensation.
If Honkai energy is compared to water, then a Herrscher core is like a reservoir. A Herrscher using Honkai energy is equivalent to turning on a faucet, allowing the energy to flow from the core through pipes and out of the body.
What the Herrscher of Ice did was leverage its overwhelming advantage in energy magnitude. The instant they made contact, it forcibly pushed its own Honkai energy, continuously and relentlessly, into Raiden Mei’s body. In doing so, it was as if the Honkai energy flowing from its own body streamed into Mei’s pipes, clogging the outlet. With the pathway blocked, her internal Honkai energy couldn’t flow out, making it impossible to use her Herrscher Authority.
With the channels between her core and the outside world blocked, Mei immediately felt a tight, panicked sensation in her chest. Just as she began to feel a slight improvement, the Herrscher of Ice seized the opening and clamped its hand around her throat.
“As long as I use this body, I don’t even have to do anything. You’ll just come knocking on my door all on your own… Mm… If it were the old me, seeing such terrifying lightning would probably have me hiding in a corner, trembling… I suppose that’s the biggest perk of using this body.”
“Anyway, just obediently hand over your Herrscher core, and then—”
Bang!
As it turned out, popping the champagne too early is never a good idea. Just as the Herrscher of Ice thought everything was in the bag, a gunshot rang out. Something pierced straight through its body.
A scorching sensation instantly swept through its entire being, and terrible memories came flooding back. Compared to the physical damage, the psychological wound it inflicted was clearly far greater.
The sudden, excruciating pain made it hurl Raiden Mei away. Everyone turned to look and saw Enoxia, walking out unhurriedly from several hundred meters away.
In her right hand was a golden pistol—the mimicked form of the Judgment of Shamash, conjured by the Void Archives.
