Wincing through the pain, the Herrscher leaped to dodge their combined attack, but in the process, Nicholas managed to slice a new wound on her hand.
The wound instantly turned pitch black, and a toxic-looking black mist spread rapidly from the injury.
Without hesitation, the Herrscher tore off her own arm, casually tossing aside the segment that had only just been infected.
She didn't possess the ability to regenerate a limb in an instant; a severed arm like this would normally take over a month to heal.
But it seemed she had no intention of waiting for it to heal slowly.
Dozens of golden chains whipped around, bunching together and plunging into the stump of her severed arm. Splattering bits of flesh and blood flowed down the chains, and a look of grim determination crossed the Herrscher's pale face.
The next moment, the coiling chains turned and pierced into her back. Amidst the continuous sound of tearing flesh, the Herrscher couldn't help but let out a bloodcurdling scream.
I... cannot die here...
Pain could not obscure this one simple thought. The sight of the Herrscher harming herself, far from reassuring her attackers, sent a wave of panic through them.
"Stop her!" Theresa shouted, slamming the golden cross heavily onto the ground. "Everyone, now!"
"But Cecilia is still..." Kallen reminded her urgently. "The Abyss Flower is the most crucial node, and the Star of Judgment... We need to spare at least two people to..."
"Don't worry..." A somewhat weak voice interrupted Kallen, causing her to freeze in place.
She turned her head and, sure enough, saw that pure figure offering her an apologetic smile. "Sorry to make you all worry."
Cecilia reached out and gently patted Kallen's shoulder, then used the Abyss Flower in her hand as a crutch to stand up straight. "Theresa, I might need to trouble you to take over my position in the formation."
"Cecilia! It's so good to see you're okay!" Theresa's voice was full of joyous surprise, quickly followed by a troubled tone. "But I don't have the time right now... I was originally planning to have Kiana do it."
"Kiana?" Cecilia paused, then looked toward the two figures rapidly clashing with the Herrscher in the pouring rain.
Have I been asleep for that long? Kiana... when did she get here?
A small spark of joy rose in her heart, but she quickly suppressed it.
She, too, had been awakened by that proverb of amnesty.
After realizing she hadn't been asleep for long, Cecilia had immediately rushed back to the battlefield.
However, her body was too weak to continue shouldering the heavy responsibility; she had only returned to bring the Star of Judgment and Abyss Flower back to the fight.
The Schariac Stigmata's requirements for one's physical condition were extremely strict. Cecilia knew that in her current state, she couldn't possibly handle the main control position for the "Final Plan."
Theresa could fill in, but seeing the golden cross beside her, Cecilia understood that Theresa had her own duties. As an emergency replacement, it would be difficult for her to multitask.
Should they have Kiana do it? But Kiana had never done something like this before... Perhaps she should just force herself to do it one more time...
"Maybe... Bianka could do it too?" Theresa suddenly remembered something. "Whether it's Kiana or Bianka, either one of them is fine. I'm sure they can both do it!"
"Bianka can do it too?" This sentence truly stumped Cecilia.
Kiana was her daughter, and Cecilia knew how brilliant she was. She was only worried that Kiana wasn't familiar with the procedure, not doubting her ability to do it at all.
But Bianka... It wasn't that Cecilia was biased towards her own daughter, but Kiana was absolutely the most brilliant and talented person in the world. While Bianka's excellence was plain to see, Kiana's talent was truly off the charts...
Could Bianka... also reach that level?
"Don't worry!" Theresa immediately started vouching for Bianka. "Bianka is our Schick—uh, our Fire Moths' strongest Valkyrie!"
Rita's head popped up, then slowly retracted, then popped up again.
"Perhaps... I can do it."
Both Theresa and Cecilia froze, turning to look at Rita in unison.
"Rita, you can't force yourself with something like this..." Theresa tried to dissuade her, but Rita shook her head.
"Lady Theresa, I know I don't have the same kind of talent as you or Lady Cecilia... but if it's just a matter of executing a single task, I believe no one is more suitable than I am."
"You and Lady Cecilia have already shared the complete procedure for the [Final Plan] with me. Although I didn't think I would ever need it, I still spent some effort to memorize it..."
She said it as simply as memorizing it, but in reality... Rita had practiced it countless times in private, almost to the point of muscle memory.
And she truly believed she would never need it; otherwise, Rita would have practiced it until it became a conditioned reflex.
She practiced it simply because she couldn't allow herself to be ignorant of something, especially when it was laid out so clearly before her, and she chose not to learn it because it was troublesome or useless.
And it was precisely this foresight that allowed the seed planted in the past to blossom into the desired flower today.
"Is that so..." Although Cecilia was still a bit doubtful, after exchanging a glance with Theresa, she nodded at Rita. She then planted the Abyss Flower into the ground and handed it over.
"Then I'll be counting on you, Miss Rita," Cecilia said, picking up the Star of Judgment herself and taking a step back.
When Rita actually took control, she still felt a little nervous. A drill was still a drill. Even if she had performed it a hundred times without a single mistake, something could still go wrong this time.
No, Rita, you must believe in yourself... you have perfected so many things in the past. This time, you will succeed as well.
Rita shot her hand out and gripped the Abyss Flower before her.
"Senior Theresa, if you please!"
"You got it!" Theresa flashed a bright smile, then violently hoisted the massive golden cross beside her over her head. After spinning it once with both hands, she slammed it down heavily in front of her.
"Bind—!" The golden cross unfolded before Theresa, and dozens of golden chains shot out from it, instantly tangling with the golden chains controlled by the Herrscher.
It was hard to tell whose chains belonged to whom as they were instantly pulled taut. The Herrscher's figure was frozen in place, while Theresa was dragged across the ground for a long distance, cross and all.
Theresa's strength alone was nowhere near enough to restrain the Herrscher. But the moment their golden chains became entangled, Kiana and Bianka immediately understood what Theresa was trying to do.
Judah could restrain the Herrscher's chains within a certain range. And because the Herrscher had connected the chains to her own body, the chains could now even be used to restrain the Herrscher herself!
The two of them immediately grabbed several chains each and, from opposite sides of the Herrscher, gave a mighty pull.
Theresa, who had already been dragged a long way, finally came to a stop.
She was still struggling to hold onto the cross, but at least the Herrscher had been stopped by the pulling chains and was now locked in a contest of strength.
And the others?
The members of the Snow Wolf Squad had reassembled. A flicker of silence passed through their eyes when they saw the Star of Judgment in Cecilia's hands, but they still took their positions in the prescribed order.
The liberation chant, personally composed by Siegfried, began.
"I am the white that creates all, I am the black that destroys all," Rita said, closing her eyes. As the first edict was chanted, the patterns on the Abyss Flower began to glow faintly.
"The heavenly fire that incinerates sin is the kindling stolen from the gods."
The second edict caused the weapons in the hands of the Snow Wolf Squad members to react. Streams of light began to flow over all their weapons, outlining each one's silhouette.
"And the cleansed sins shall become the raging thunder, continuing to dismember the evils of the world." Kallen took a step forward and released the Seven Thunders of Retribution. Pulled by some unknown force, the weapon didn't fall but slowly floated into the air.
All their weapons did the same, glowing as they drifted towards Rita.
"The star of Judgment shall guide all the innocent back home." As soon as Salome's voice fell, the weapons circling Rita suddenly began to disassemble and then reassemble themselves into brand new components.
A collection of modular parts!
"And the Jizo of hell shall receive all unaccepted evil souls," Nicholas said, giving a sharp wave of his hand. The transformed weapons stopped moving, waiting for the final connection.
At this moment, an awe-inspiring power began to emerge, impossible to contain.
The Herrscher's gaze instantly focused on Rita, who was surrounded by the others. She stared in disbelief at the ultimate weapon gradually taking shape amidst their chanting.
If her feeling was not wrong... that aura—
Was it a Herrscher Power?!
It was an energy fluctuation almost identical to a Herrscher's! The Herrscher could even clearly sense which part of the Imaginary Tree the opposing power was connected to!
But this power had an indescribable strangeness... The Herrscher did not feel the same sense of Imaginary recognition from it as she did from her own!
That power... was not born from the Imaginary Tree, nor did it have the aura of the Sea of Quanta.
That power was filled with the unique, chaotic signature of a Bubble Universe... this was born within a Bubble Universe... no, that was a "pseudo-power" crafted from an entire Bubble Universe!
But how was this possible? How could they have such a thing?!
Mysteries piled up at this moment, but the Herrscher could only understand one thing right now—
That weapon, imbued with the power of a Herrscher, could truly kill her!
No, I cannot die! At least not like this, not here!!
Her mind couldn't help but flash back to the sight of Azhar injecting the serum, to the figures she had seen standing behind Azhar, pushing her forward.
That scene of solidarity, like a gentle branding iron, had inadvertently left an indelible mark on her.
That scene was so beautiful... but the conditions for it to occur were so harsh.
And to keep humanity forever in such a state of unity, there was only one thing she could do—
Become the "villain" that required everyone to unite to defeat.
Humanity would only remember to huddle together for warmth when facing a threat. As long as she existed as humanity's eternal threat, they would remain in that state forever!
And if she died... the conflicts would just shift back to being between individuals. The bonds between people would revert to that ugly relationship of constant plunder...
No, I will never allow that to happen!
Never!!
The world should not be such an ugly place!!
A heart-wrenching roar echoed from within the chains, and the sound of tearing metal instantly put everyone on edge.
"We can't hold her!!" This was the first time Kiana had encountered such an irresistible force. Her feet began to sink into the soft sand. She couldn't fly; her previous aerial combat with the Herrscher had been achieved by borrowing the other's momentum.
This borrowing only allowed her temporary levitation, so in a contest of strength like this, she was actually at a disadvantage.
The same was true for Bianka on the other side, but she at least had a few more tricks up her sleeve.
A chilling aura spread from under her feet, freezing her legs, which were sinking into the sand, solid to the surface.
But while she was anchored in place, the chains in her hands shot out several meters. Bianka tried to use the same trick, binding her hands to the chains with ice, but the immense force on the chains instantly shattered the ice.
But at least she caught them, not letting them shoot out several meters like before.
The three of them pulled on the chains with all their might, trying to imprison the Herrscher, while the Herrscher struggled with equal desperation.
The only drawback of technological weapons was that their stats were too rigid. They only had one chance to change the variables. They had to restrain the Herrscher here!
And the Herrscher had to escape from here!
That unfinished weapon must have severe limitations... no, just the fact that it's a technological weapon means I don't need to worry too much. As long as I dodge this one attack, the rest is nothing to fear!
I should leave now...
The three of them could no longer restrain the struggling Herrscher.
Kiana had already been dragged a long distance, and the ice freezing Bianka's feet was starting to crack.
The Herrscher's hand was already beginning to aim at the Snow Wolf Squad. Compared to escaping, destroying that weapon directly was obviously more convenient