Honkai: Oh No, I’ve Become the Herrscher of Corruption?! - Chapter 144

Enoxia called Sirin over.

“You’ve worked hard. Move the body to World Serpent’s headquarters. I’ve already spoken with Grey Serpent.”

Enoxia pointed to the corpse on the ground and handed the Serenity Gem to Sirin.

“Okay.”

Sirin absorbed the Serenity Gem once again, opened a portal, tossed the corpse of Oni inside, and then walked through it together with Enoxia.

After the two left, Schicksal’s troops finally arrived, late as ever, to begin rescue operations.

World Serpent Headquarters.

Jackal examined various data, her eyes gleaming with intense focus. It wasn’t until Sirin and Enoxia stepped out of the portal that she finally looked away.

“Speak. What do you want World Serpent to do for you?”

Jackal knew perfectly well that Enoxia was no charitable do-gooder. If she didn’t meet Enoxia’s demands, even forcibly taking the corpse away would be pointless—Enoxia could just alter the data, leaving her with nothing to analyze.

“Hmm… nothing for now. Take it for research. Just consider it World Serpent owing me a favor.”

Only then did Jackal order her people to carry away Oni’s corpse. Since they were already here, Enoxia and Sirin decided to head into the Elysian Realm.

Now a dual-core Herrscher, Sirin was, unsurprisingly, brimming with confidence again, eagerly looking to challenge one of the Flame-Chasers.

“Hi, long time no see! Who does Sirin want to challenge?”

In the hall, Elysia was as enthusiastic as ever, her eyes full of expectation.

“Well… start easy, then move to the hard ones. Let’s begin with challenging the 13th ranked.”

Coincidentally, Pardofelis happened to arrive in the hall at that very moment.

“Elysia, did someone just… mention me?”

“That’s right, Felis! Just now, Sirin obtained her second Herrscher core and is looking for a suitable opponent. She picked you right away! Go on, Felis, get ready~?”

Pardofelis looked at the smiling Elysia, then at the eager Sirin, her eyes wide as she stood frozen in place:

“Me? Fight a Herrscher? For real?”

“Come on, Felis, it’s not polite to keep a lovely girl waiting too long. I remember you weren’t completely without combat skills back in the day. Show Sirin the strength you have as a MANTIS~?”

Enoxia smiled at her:

“Don’t be scared, Pardo. I’m here. You know what I’m capable of. No matter what, I can guarantee your safety.”

Half an hour later, on a mossy brick arena, Pardofelis stood on the left side, holding her special weapon, “Past Dreams·Pupil of the Night,” in both hands. Can sat perched on her head, nervously staring at Sirin on the other side:

“Um… Miss Sirin, please go easy on me. I’m just an ordinary person…”

Having been thoroughly beaten by other MANTIS multiple times, Sirin was clearly skeptical of such claims from Pardofelis. She figured that since Pardo was also one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers and a MANTIS, her supposed weakness was probably only relative to monsters like Kevin or Kalpas.

“Running away is what I’m best at, why does Miss Sirin insist on fighting me? And even Elysia agreed… Anyway, I, Pardofelis, am still a member of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers… I hope Miss Sirin shows some mercy and doesn’t make me lose too badly… Can, let’s go!”

Pardofelis joined the two halves of her ring-blade together and tossed it into the air. Can leaped from her head and then vanished.

Seeing Can suddenly disappear and being unable to locate it even using the Authority of the Herrscher of Void, Sirin was immediately flooded with unpleasant memories. She instantly went on high alert.

The ring-blade flew to a point above Sirin’s head and instantly enlarged, the empty center part becoming like a mirror. A giant Can dropped out of it—a hit would literally cause tons of damage.

The highly tense Sirin immediately teleported away. Can landed on empty ground. Multiple portals appeared behind Sirin, and lances made of imaginary space, like something out of a Gate of Babylon, shot towards Pardofelis. She immediately began nimbly dodging with agile, cat-like steps.

“Phew… that was close, almost got hit. I don’t know what those things Miss Sirin is shooting are, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t be pleasant to get hit by one.”

However, Sirin increased the firing rate of the imaginary lances. Just as Pardofelis was slightly distracted, one of them successfully hit her… tail.

“Ah… my tail!”

Pardofelis leaped up as if her fur had bristled. Can, on her head, jumped even higher and fired a gold coin at Sirin. But Sirin teleported away immediately. The coin hit the ground, leaving a cat paw imprint.

“Still unwilling to use your true power… It seems I need to get more serious.”

Sirin raised her hand. The speed of the imaginary lances seemed to slow slightly, but a faint black aura now surrounded them. The lances wreathed in black energy fell to the ground, and large surrounding areas immediately became contaminated as if polluted.

“Yikes!”

Pardofelis dodged the rain of imaginary lances from above while also avoiding the contaminated zones. But the battlefield wasn’t infinitely large, and Pardofelis soon found herself with nowhere left to run.

Seizing the opportunity, Sirin instantly teleported next to Pardofelis, a weapon imbued with a withering aura in her hand, thrusting straight for her neck.

“Wait, Miss Sirin, I… I surrender, okay?”

Pardofelis discarded her ring-blade as fast as possible, raised her hands high above her head, and performed a perfect French salute (surrender gesture).

“Revert.”

A rift appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Enoxia stepped out slowly, snapped her fingers, and the surroundings immediately returned to their original state. Even the injury on Pardofelis’s tail was instantly healed.

Sirin lowered her weapon, looking very confused at Pardofelis:

“Your… MANTIS Form?”

Pardofelis scratched her head very awkwardly:

“Even though we’re all MANTISes and theoretically have a MANTIS Form, I… don’t actually know how to activate mine.”

In truth, Pardofelis didn’t even know which Emperor-class Honkai beast her hyperadaptive factor came from. After all, her becoming a MANTIS was entirely an accident.

“Miss Sirin, I promise you, that just now… that was my full strength. You didn’t think I had some hidden power, did you?”

Sirin nodded honestly. She looked around but noticed Enoxia was gone. A few minutes later, Enoxia returned to the Elysian Realm, her expression having become quite grave.

“Jackal just informed me that, ten minutes ago, a new Imaginary Singularity appeared in the Sahara Desert.”