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Unlike Houraiji Kyuusyou, a cheat-level Herrscher who has been certified by multiple parties and acknowledged by the Herrscher power within her, Mei's training is much more difficult.
Houraiji Kyuusyou only needs to expand her own Honkai energy reserves, learn the relevant knowledge, and then take the step to explore the power of rules manifested by her Herrscher Authority.
As for Mei... Mei hasn't even managed to gain the acknowledgment of the Herrscher power within her body...
Ever since Kiana hit her with a round of talk-no-jutsu on the rooftop and knocked her down with an ordinary baseball bat, the Herrscher of Thunder seems to have vanished from the face of the earth, never to appear again.
Perhaps it's because she no longer has the same feeling of having lost everything, of having lost hope in this false world, and of desperately wanting to destroy the world.
Or perhaps... the Herrscher of Thunder couldn't accept such a humiliating defeat and wanted to commit suicide out of shame, wanting to escape from this world.
But Mei knew in her heart that the Herrscher of Thunder was still there, still existing deep within her.
As long as she encountered a life-threatening danger that she couldn't solve on her own, or when she really needed her help, she would appear and lend her her power.
Mei needed to obtain the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, to gain her approval.
Because if she were to remove her Herrscher identity, Mei was actually just like Bronya, an ordinary person without any powerful bloodline.
Her pride, the Beichen Ittō-ryū, seemed particularly insignificant when fighting against Honkai energy.
How could a sword forged from ordinary iron compare to a Honkai energy weapon.
Even the most common, least powerful Honkai energy pistol could easily shoot through countless buildings from dozens of miles away and blow the head off a sleeping person.
Back then, Raiden Ryoma had also left Mei with many Honkai energy weapons, like a super-electromagnetic cannon and a whole bunch of other weapons.
But even so, it still felt a bit lacking in high-end combat.
Against those Valkyries from Schicksal, and the truly powerful beings among the Honkai Creatures, ordinary Honkai energy weapons were useless. They wouldn't even deign to dodge them.
The power of firearms is ultimately fixed, but melee weapons are different. Their effectiveness depends on the strength of the user.
Although there are many Honkai energy melee weapons, the truly powerful ones are as rare as a phoenix's feather.
Because truly powerful weapons are not something that can be created at will. They are nurtured by the user through countless days and nights of Honkai energy, and forged in battles of blood and tears.
"Hey, now that I think about it... it seems my ancestors had an incredibly powerful weapon... 'Demon Blade: Jyakumetsu-maru'? I think that was its name? The records at home are very scarce, so I'm not too sure... I should find some time to go dig up a grave and see..."
"No, no, what are you thinking!"
Mei patted her face to stop her wild thoughts. How could she dig up her ancestor's grave? She wasn't part of Schicksal's archeological team, digging up graves all day...
She was a Herrscher. When the time came, she could just use Honkai energy and her Authority to create a weapon suitable for herself...
No longer thinking about random things, Mei took a few deep breaths to calm her mind.
She had been in this black hole for some time now...
Every day, she would hear the cry of Houraiji Kyuusyou forging the peerless divine weapon—Bronya, and the booming sounds of Kiana exploring and familiarizing herself with her Power of the Saintess, blasting things all over the place...
At first, Mei couldn't calm down at all, afraid that Bronya's blood would splash on her, or that Houraiji Kyuusyou would come and give her a whack with the hammer too, or that Kiana would lose control of her power and blast her into the sky as well.
But now, Bronya's physical strength has increased by several hundred times, and she's on the right track. It's no longer as "too beautiful to look at" as it was at the beginning. Kiana has also tried all the known abilities and is starting to study and transform them in depth.
Mei's own mind has also been trained to be exceptionally strong. If this were a novel and she gained some kind of mental attack ability, Mei felt that she could now kill a bunch of Honkai Beasts with just a single glare.
The breakthrough in mental strength also brought a larger area of Honkai energy control and more delicate and exquisite control over it.
She had been here for some time now. It was about time.
Mei found a place with a gentle time flow, sat down cross-legged, and looked inward, heading to the Stigmata Space of her "Thunder Soul" Stigmata to find the Herrscher of Thunder.
There were no twists and turns, no reaching her destination after giving it her all...
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Mei's consciousness had already appeared in the Stigmata Space.
It's just that... the style of the Stigmata Space was different from what she had imagined.
Before coming to the black hole, Mei had asked Ryn for advice. Ryn told her that the Stigmata Space is a reflection of one's own mind. In the beginning, it's a blank slate, and it's transformed into different appearances by oneself later on.
But if this world already had a different style the first time you entered it... then it means you are not its first owner.
Mei's Stigmata Space... was her former home, that happy and perfect home...
It was before the Third Honkai War... no, even earlier...
For some reason, when Mei pushed open that door and walked into this home that was so familiar it couldn't be more familiar, her eyes couldn't help but well up...
The familiar living room, the familiar kitchen, the familiar bedroom... and that familiar yet somewhat strange person...
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