The Herrscher's struggles were obvious; she intended to destroy the weapon being assembled before her very eyes!
The core of the assembly was Rita. At this very moment, Rita was completely immersed in the process. She didn't possess Cecilia's talent, nor was she a Schariac known for her micromanagement.
All she could do was perform her tasks flawlessly. Any variable would become a distraction.
If the Herrscher were allowed to act, the assembly process would almost certainly be interrupted!
"I'm here too!" A young, urgent voice suddenly piped up. The next moment, a sharp glint flashed from above. The Herrscher's consciousness went blank for an instant, followed by a giant sword descending from the heavens.
That long-planned Sword of Taixuan cut through the countless golden chains above the Herrscher's head like a hot knife through butter, slamming down directly on top of her.
The sword violently sliced into the Herrscher's shoulder, easily tearing through her flesh and driving straight for her heart.
This strike was clearly aimed at the Herrscher's core!
Wait... could this be their real objective, and the thing in front of me is just a decoy?
The Herrscher quickly dismissed the thought. In the current situation, the cost of her launching an attack was extremely high. If the thing before her was truly a bait, the best timing for a strike would be the instant after she attacked.
Attacking now would be a waste of the decoy. Therefore, the one that was abandoned was the true feint!
The Herrscher's body suddenly lurched to the side, her knees slamming heavily onto the ground. A large mouthful of golden liquid spewed from her mouth and the wound on her body. Li Sushang's Sword of Taixuan came to a halt inside the Herrscher.
The Sword of Taixuan had practically grazed past the core within the Herrscher's body; she could clearly feel that her core now had a flat edge.
And now, the giant sword formed by the Sword of Taixuan was stuck in the Herrscher's body, having sliced her in half from shoulder to abdomen. One more push and she would be cut in two.
To stop the Sword of Taixuan, the Herrscher had mobilized the last bit of her usable power. Looking up, the massive golden greatsword was entangled by dense golden chains, locking it firmly in mid-air.
At the very least, this sword truly had her pinned. If she dared to make any large movements, she would certainly tear herself apart.
But this didn't mean she was completely restrained. At the very least, the hand she was preparing to aim at Rita and the others could still move!
"Damn it! Don't look down on me!"
The anxious, childish voice rang out again. Li Sushang's small figure rushed out from the side, grabbing the Herrscher's hand at point-blank range and trying to wrench it aside.
But Li Sushang's strength was completely ineffective against the Herrscher's, especially since the current Li Sushang was practically an empty shell.
Her stamina and endurance had long been drained by the Sword of Taixuan. Her face was now deathly pale, looking as if a gust of wind could blow her over.
But even with her body in such a state, Li Sushang gritted her teeth, trying to force the Herrscher's hand in another direction.
Besides Li Sushang, Bianka, Kiana, and Theresa were also red-faced, using all their strength to stop the Herrscher's movements.
The Herrscher's actions had already slowed considerably. Except for Li Sushang, who could only use her body as a dead weight, the others could all sense that the Herrscher was also on the verge of exhaustion.
Moreover, the Herrscher's current state was clearly temporary. Once this period passed, their restraint and the wounds on the Herrscher would truly take effect.
But that was the problem... the Herrscher was still in a burst of power, and before they could gain the upper hand, the Herrscher had more than enough ability to aim her hand at Rita and the others!
They could give up their formation now, giving the Herrscher an option to escape. That way, no one would have to continue taking risks.
But what about afterward? If they let the Herrscher go now, what if she caused damage somewhere else?
And afterward, Shu would definitely take over all matters concerning the Herrscher. At that time... they still wouldn't be able to help with anything.
Just like now...
The heavy rain was still pouring down on the desert.
And above the dark clouds, the two streaks of light had even left the near-earth orbit, the two of them now completely in the weightlessness of space, with a tendency to fall towards the moon.
In space, the only thing Gu Chu had to cushion himself was his own energy. Although in theory, as long as he had enough power, he could be in space without any recoil.
But every one of Shu's strikes carried the power of a Herrscher. This power wasn't at the point of complete suppression, but it still made it difficult for him to resist.
After completely dominating Gu Chu with pure power in another clash, watching the other's figure instantly become a small dot in his vision, Shu finally stopped his pursuit.
Instead, he panted slightly, looking at the almost-shattered Gu Chu.
The series of attacks had once again overloaded him.
He had beaten Gu Chu from the surface of the earth into space. During this period, he didn't know how many of his attacks had been neutralized by Gu Chu. The successive backlashes, even if he could suppress them, were becoming unbearable now that they had accumulated.
And as if sensing the slowdown in Shu's offensive, Gu Chu's self-repair also slowed down.
His current appearance was miserable. He no longer had a human form, his body was in tatters, and besides one eyeball, not a single part of his body was intact.
His current thoughts were a bit chaotic from Shu's beating, and even the mobilization of his power had become a bit sluggish.
And the most important point was... Gu Chu was getting a little tired of the current situation.
He had figured it out. Shu would rather die than show him anything new. And he had already chewed over everything Shu had shown him. It could be said that in these two powers, Gu Chu had already done better than Shu.
But that was as far as it went.
For a Herrscher, their power was an instinct. The reason why Gu Chu would resist his power was because his power gave him the feeling of seeing everything to its end.
Perhaps many people would like this feeling. The feeling of everything being under control would give many people a sense of superiority over everything around them, as if they were a god high above.
But Gu Chu didn't like this feeling.
He longed to climb to the summit, but he also knew that the moment he reached the top, his expectations would instantly turn to nothing.
Just like those who enjoy the process of climbing, even though they know there might be nothing at the summit, they will still climb up. But that is all based on the summit being shrouded in dark clouds.
If the summit could be seen at a glance, and the cable car was right beside them, then the purpose of climbing would become a form of self-torture.
Perhaps some would see it as a challenge to themselves, but what was the point of challenging a summit that could be seen at a glance?
Gu Chu would not be satisfied with self-comfort. He wanted to see the real summit! A summit that was beyond his reach!
He wanted to create a miracle that broke the impossible!
But now there was no impossible, only a boring, dead silence. Gu Chu didn't know what the point of continuing to struggle was.
Not all of Shu's attacks were ineffective, otherwise he wouldn't have continued like this.
As long as the battle was prolonged for more than ten hours, the accumulated minor injuries would slowly devour him.
This was even without him making any mistakes. Just like before, every mistake he made would shorten the time he could hold on.
So this was already the best he could do. He had already enjoyed the exhilarating feeling of playing to his limit once. Now it was just a meaningless repetition.
So now, Gu Chu was already considering whether to shake hands with Shu and let him deal with the Herrscher of Binding, and then see if he had a chance to see more of Shu's moves.
Was he joking? Shu and he were already in a life-and-death situation.
Even if he gave in, or even knelt down and begged for mercy, the most he would get in return was Shu turning back to deal with the Herrscher of Binding first, and then continuing to wear him down.
No... that was also an option. The returning Shu could get back his scepter. A Shu with his full strength might have more variables that he couldn't imagine.
But Gu Chu still didn't want to do that. For no other reason than that he couldn't bend his knees.
A strange look suddenly appeared in his only remaining eyeball.
Actually, he didn't eat everything... there were always some things he couldn't learn... or rather, didn't want to learn.
Gu Chu was still clear about what the stinky old man was wary of after he had crippled him... when he was challenging the dojos, although his moves were vicious and he didn't hold back, every move was aimed at taking the other party's life.
But he had never used any tricks, like poison or hidden weapons.
Was it because he couldn't?
Of course he could.
He had fought against those who were skilled in these kinds of strange techniques. He had never been entangled with the idea of having to use the other's way to defeat the other. He just rushed up and fought.
Anyway, as long as he saw it once, he would know it. What he needed to do was to force out all of the other party's moves.
Most people would be forced to use their ultimate skills in a life-and-death crisis. A small number of people would use them because they couldn't bear the shame of their ultimate skills being disgraced, but the vast majority would only use them in a life-and-death situation.
So the former Gu Chu never felt that the world was complicated. Even after being crippled by the old monk, Gu Chu never felt that the world was sinister.
Weakness was weakness.
He hadn't been able to escape the old monk's black hand because he hadn't seen enough, hadn't learned enough.
Look at himself now, even without the Herrscher's power, and limiting his physical fitness to the level of back then, he had too many ways to avoid that ending.
So he disdained to learn, because it was useless. Despicable means could only deal with incompetent people, such as his former self.
No matter what, there was a theoretical solution. This was the principle he believed in.
How about we try another way of discussing it... he would go and discuss with Shu, and let him perform other abilities in front of him in exchange for his own suicide?
This whimsical idea amused Gu Chu himself.
What did he take Shu for? If Shu could agree to such an absurd condition, he would first go back and be slaughtered by the Herrscher of Binding, chopped up and eaten until he was stuffed to death.
Just as Gu Chu was confused and Shu was adjusting and preparing to continue his attack, a new aura that suddenly erupted made both of them in space stunned.
A brand new Herrscher aura... and this position—wasn't this with Kiana and the others?!
At this moment, Shu only felt his breath... no, he had already stopped breathing, but Shu's heart was indeed clenched at that moment.
And unlike Shu, Gu Chu was stunned for a moment when he felt the new power, and then the blood that had already cooled down surged again.
A brand new—variable!!
A smile appeared on the corner of Gu Chu's mouth.
Then he was about to dive towards the earth, but was hit by a full-powered attack from Shu. Half of his body was smashed to pieces, and the other half flew even farther.
Okay, I forgot there was still a Shu in front of me.
"Shu, you want to go back too... how about we go together?" the quickly recovering Gu Chu wiped the traces from the corner of his mouth and made a sincere proposal to Shu.
Shu didn't say anything, but the fact that he was holding the Judgment of Shamash and hovering in place showed that he was indeed a little shaken.
Should he activate the scepter?
What Shu had preset on the scepter was a simple and crude process, a large-scale Elysion Pedion Barrier that only targeted Honkai energy.
When setting it up, Shu thought that besides the Key of Genesis on Kiana and those Divine Keys, his side had no Honkai energy. The Elysion Pedion Barrier would not affect them, and would only suppress the Herrscher.
But the Elysion Pedion Barrier had no killing power and could only suppress the Herrscher for a short time.
Shu had never thought that Kiana and the others had the ability to kill the Herrscher. The only one who could do it, the Xuanyuan Sword, was also in the category of being sealed.
So the scepter could only be used at the most critical moment, that is, when Kiana and the others couldn't hold on anymore, the expansion of the scepter could provide everyone with a time to exit.
Shu had invested a lot of Honkai energy and [Hope] into the scepter.
The total amount was actually not much less than the amount he currently stored in his body.
Such a huge energy reserve was enough for the Divine Grace Barrier to continue to suppress the Herrscher for a long time.
But now there was an extra power reaction... Shu didn't know whether that power was an enemy or a friend.
There was no rule here that the Herrschers had to appear one by one.
Whether it was the three Herrschers that Shu had encountered almost seamlessly along the way, or the two-front battle between Gu Chu and the Herrscher of Binding, it already showed the possibility of three Herrschers appearing at the same time!
If a new Herrscher really intervened on Kiana's side...
Shu's hand holding the Judgment of Shamash suddenly tightened. He stared at Gu Chu in front of him, and slowly opened his mouth under Gu Chu's gaze.
"No need."
Gu Chu was stunned for a moment. The next moment, he only felt a flash in front of his eyes, and then he only felt a new sun appear in front of his eyes!
The bright light almost blinded Gu Chu's eyes, but at this moment, Gu Chu just opened his arms, looked at Shu's appearance, and let out a wild laugh full of surprise.
Even though his body was being continuously destroyed by the strong light, he still had to shout at Shu with all his might.
"This is it!! Go all out!!"
His eyes were constantly being destroyed and rebuilt, but from beginning to end, he was looking at the figure who had put on a magnificent robe and crown for him.
The Herrscher of Dreams—has reappeared in the world!