A record player played soothing music, and the scent of coffee filled the air.
Ryan sat in the room, appreciating the murals on the wall with interest.
The area of this airship was limited. Even a high-class lounge was only about ten square meters, with nothing but a bed, a table, and a wardrobe.
The murals, however, were precious pieces dragged out of a museum, but now, apart from Eden, no one cared about these artistic treasures anymore.
Thinking of Eden, Ryan smiled. Besides the mutual attraction of literary youth, her performance in Donggong was also remarkable.
Apocalypse Diva, a fitting name.
As an ordinary person, it would be impressive not to wet one's pants facing such a scene. Yet, she managed to complete a great feat with a group of directors and cameramen, which was beyond the limits of biological understanding.
Art, in essence, is communication of the soul. In terms of charisma, who could be stronger than Eden? Although Ryan killed the Herrscher, the effect was amplified several times by Eden, and at least everyone on this airship was highly motivated.
"It really is different now. For a terrifying existence like the Seventh Herrscher, even if Kevin defeats her, the panic would still make the whole world tremble. Now, morale is actually higher than before she appeared."
Half of the military honors belonged to Eden, and the diva had returned to New York with the ship, only to be entangled by Elysia for the past two days.
Elysia was a huge fan, and now that her wish had finally come true, she naturally had endless things to say.
But I haven't heard her sing. She wouldn't be tone-deaf, would she?
Ryan thought maliciously, then quickly shifted his thoughts to serious matters.
Hmm, Dragon Concealment is broken.
That deformable soul-steel weapon had accompanied him for over half a year, enduring more than a dozen bloody battles, and finally couldn't hold up. Thinking about how the last blood it saw was from piercing Kevin, Ryan felt speechless.
Never mind, it's gone. Ordinary soul-steel weapons are already struggling at this combat level.
Ryan didn't overthink it. He twisted his neck, concentrated, and then, spreading his palm, saw the burning air.
Flame was merely an external manifestation. The Herrscher of Flamescion's Authority was essentially the control of molecular motion, making it almost indestructible. Compared to the Authority of Thunder, its range was larger, causing widespread destruction. It could be said to be both offensive and defensive.
Physical means simply couldn't block it. Even the hardest alloys would be melted, and even using Honkai energy would consume it rapidly. Moreover, it was immune to all missile and cannon attacks.
'If I weren't a cunning old fox, I couldn't have defeated the Herrscher of Flamescion.' Ryan clenched his hand, annihilating the flames, then snapped his fingers. He could see scattered sparks flickering.
Then Honkai energy gathered in one place, gradually forming a human shape. This pure energy body twisted its neck and moved its fingers, appearing exceptionally flexible.
The Authority of Domination.
Ryan felt like he was controlling a puppet, sharing its vision, far more convenient than any artificial creation. It was by relying on this that he deceived the Herrscher of Flamescion's perception.
"Two Authorities, Honkai, you've come at a good time!" Ryan showed a cruel smile. His understanding of the Herrscher of Domination people wasn't deep enough to invade living beings and turn them into his puppets on strings.
But this was enough. Several Authorities superimposed could enhance this puppet to its limit. And, he still had Vil-V and Mobius, who could strengthen it with scientific power.
'If I want to achieve no delay, two dominant bodies are the limit. This thing can also be used as a trump card.'
For a moment, dozens of tricky maneuvers flashed through Ryan mind. He could even rely on shared vision and no-delay control to have the puppet stand at the forefront while he hid behind, ambushing others.
"It's practically tailor-made for me, and it solves a crucial problem."
Ryan, as the Director-General, couldn't always hide behind the scenes. If he could create a super mighty warrior, it would also be beneficial for boosting morale. With enough effort, the dominant body would not be weaker than a high-level MANTIS
Clap.
Another snap of his fingers, and the purely energy-composed human body vanished into thin air. This was just an experiment. If it were purely composed of Honkai energy, the consumption would be too great, requiring constant replenishment.
The benefit of this was that it was solely controlled by Ryan himself, unlike AI which feared the Herrscher of Corruption. Otherwise, the stronger it was built, the more severe the aid to the enemy would be.
Ryan was not in a hurry. He needed a lot of time to familiarize himself with and control the Authorities. Fortunately, Honkai's active attack capability had been cut off by him again. For a short period, the world would return to stability.
It was quite ironic that every time Honkai possessed the power to overturn the world, Ryan would jump out to clip its claws, yet he rationally refrained from severing its hands entirely.
This was leaving a thread of hope for future encounters, and it was also Ryan only chance of victory.
Thunder, Wind, Ice, Flame, Domination—a total of five Authorities, supported by 4300HW of Honkai energy. These constituted Ryan calm demeanor.
He was stronger, almost explosively so, even more frightening than the MANTIS surgery, making him involuntarily burp.
"Thanks for the meal. Could you feed me a few more times? Heh, too bad you're not a fool."
Ryan expression changed like a chameleon, first smiling, then serious. As the saying goes, 'lightning doesn't strike twice, nor does it strike thrice'. Honkai had stumbled several times. Realizing that a direct, forceful kill wasn't working, it would probably try a different approach.
Would the Herrscher of Sentience take an unconventional route, or would the Herrscher of Binding simply flip the table, or would some strange new Authority descend?
The Prophet's ability was basically ineffective, and Ryan had no answers. Just like this time, the Herrscher of Flamescion wasn't actually terrifying. If it came to a direct confrontation, Ryan wouldn't bother with any martial ethics.
That Herrscher of Domination people was the real trouble, causing at least 80% of the danger. The current situation was that there wasn't enough civilization destruction, leading to insufficient Honkai energy accumulation, so it couldn't produce any monsters that could directly crush them with tens of thousands of HW.
"But no matter what Herrscher you send down, no matter what terrifying Authority you possess," Ryan poured himself a drink and raised it in a distant toast to the sky.
"I'm very much looking forward to it."
...
In a brief skirmish, humanity achieved a great victory. And the Herrschers, having no concept of life or death, were naturally the most panicked among the faith factions, represented by Kalpas.
They had nowhere to escape. Eden actions had further undermined their foundation, making it difficult to recruit new members, and recently they lived in constant dread.
"Feels like I boarded a pirate ship."
In the dense jungles of South America, Kalpas looked at the giant steel warships on the sea. The Fire Moth had gathered terrifying military strength, and after losing the Herrscher of Flamescion, resistance was utterly impossible from a combat perspective.
One wrong step led to many wrong steps. The warriors who couldn't turn back hid everywhere, preparing for guerrilla warfare using the terrain once the enemy landed. As for what to do next, no one knew.
The world was vast, with no place to hide. The Herrschers were nowhere to be seen, and the possibility of defecting for atonement was also cut off. They couldn't just offer a pile of Honkai Beast heads to clear their names, could they?
But just as everyone was prepared to be nailed to the pillar of shame as traitors, the hundreds of fleets actually retreated, quickly vanishing from sight.
"Retreated? Why did they retreat?" Kalpas was somewhat bewildered. Wasn't this a good time to pursue victory, to sweep away Honkai globally, and then use the entire world to confront the next Honkai?
Unless... they deliberately didn't want humanity to unite as one.
As a former chief of staff, Kalpas was highly intelligent. Combining this with what he had seen and heard recently, he formed a terrible conjecture.
Honkai's primary goal wasn't the destruction of human civilization. The Fire Moth also didn't view the Herrschers as the ultimate enemy. They were fighting something of a higher order.
His eyes flickered. He already had several conjectures about what Honkai wanted to do, just like Dr. Damian's recent research direction, which was to merge Honkai energy with humans. He was currently obsessed with creating a completely new species.
They would be extremely adaptable to Honkai energy, becoming beings that surpassed Honkai Beasts, and this was the core goal of the faith faction.
"Could it be that Honkai wants to assimilate humanity, to embrace humanity?"
Kalpas looked up at the hazy sky, licking his dry lips, with no intention of contemplating philosophical questions like 'what is humanity, what is civilization'. He just felt that this conjecture was turning into reality.
Because after accepting the faith faction, the Herrschers didn't pay much attention to them, acting more like providing a platform for these desperate traitors to play freely.
For example, the battle where the Herrscher of Flamescion fell was so important, yet no one asked them to be cannon fodder, or even asked them anything at all.
"Very likely, truly very likely." Kalpas muttered to himself, as if he had discovered a huge secret.
Then he looked at the rapidly retreating fighter jets, and an even more terrifying conjecture appeared in his mind. "How would the Fire Moth know? What do they intend by deliberately leaving hope?" The answer was obvious, causing his cheeks to tremble.
They want to use The End to overcome The End.