[Midnight's Black Light].
In the original work, this was the exclusive weapon used by Durandal in her "Dea Anchora" form.
It belongs to the category of Armored Lances—this type of weapon can trace its origins back to the last century's D&D-inspired manga, "Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai." It's an integrated offensive and defensive piece of equipment capable of disassembling and reconfiguring the armor attached to the lance's body to arm the wielder.
The [Midnight's Black Light] in Lu Xing's hand was the culmination of Armored Lance design—it possessed two major forms it could switch between.
Guardian Form:
The lance's armor reconfigures into a massive, winged heavy shield, while the lance body itself serves as the user's weapon. Beyond basic thrusts, the double-edged lance can also be wielded like a greatsword, similar to Radiant Star. An internal Convergence-Conversion System allows injected Honkai energy to be fired as immensely powerful "cannonballs," making this weapon viable even for ranged attacks.
But that wasn't all.
The heavy shield, serving as the armor component, could be further combined with the lance when not needed, transforming into a powerful, heavy-hitting long-handled battle axe.
In short, a Gunlance Switch Axe.
Knight Form:
The armor no longer transforms into a heavy shield but instead combines to form a horse-like mount, Krishna. It is clad in ethereal blue battle armor dotted with starlight and sports a horn like a lightning blade.
And the [Black Light] in Lu Xing's hands…
Clack!
Lance in hand, mount before him.
A Temple-class Honkai Beast should theoretically be quite large. Lu Xing's current height of around three meters actually classified him as a smaller type among Temple-class beasts.
And Krishna before him… no, the warhorse formed from Cheche's core, was virtually identical in size to Lu Xing.
"Neigh!"
His arm, covered by its gauntlet, reached out to stroke the warhorse's neck.
Lu Xing's body, during the transformation of the weapon, had reverted to its Knight-class appearance—in his Temple-class form, Lu Xing wouldn't be able to mount the warhorse at all.
"Cheche."
The warhorse's neigh was merely an imitation.
Cheche's soul resided within this majestic warhorse, but its consciousness was far from awakening. All the advancement missions for the Knight Lance had been completed. If Lu Xing wanted Cheche to regain its self-awareness, he would need to find other methods.
For example… PRI-ARM!
[Midnight's Black Light] was not its complete form; it had an even more powerful PRI-ARM state: [Midnight's Atajina]. If he could obtain this power, he might find a way to awaken Cheche.
As for other methods…
No matter which one Lu Xing could think of, it seemed he would need to "borrow" human strength—
"Hmph!"
Clad in armor, weapon in hand.
Lu Xing didn't mount Cheche's back. Instead, he reverted to his Temple-class form. After acquiring this new power, the bit of Honkai energy consumed for form transformation had become negligible to him.
Cheche also transformed back into the [Black Light], embedding itself into the ground.
This matter required careful consideration.
What Lu Xing needed to do now was to become strong enough to leave this space.
Although this might take a considerable amount of time, it was definitely a viable path—the three newly completed achievements had provided Lu Xing with even greater room for growth.
The current him…
Could continuously strengthen his attributes and skills through battle.
He might have missed the chance to witness the battle between the Herrscher of Flame and Kevin, but the subsequent confrontations between "Herrschers" and Fusion Soldiers…
Lu Xing's gaze swept across the space once more.
The Great Rift no longer existed, but the Honkai energy crystals filling the entire space… should be enough!
Race: Emperor · Variant · Imaginary Guard · Temple Legion Commander
Level: 55
Abilities: Spiritual Perception, Frostflame Charge, Frostflame Thrust, Power Strike, Spinning Slash, Ballista, Hold Shield, Shield Bash, Crystal Wall, Strike, Fission, Space-Time Rend, Atomic Breath, Honkai Lance Projection, Molecular Manipulation.
Equipment: Midnight's Black Light
Attack: 170 (+16)
Speed: 156 (+13)
Constitution: 170 (+16)
Evaluation: Inheritor of the Will
"Kevin!"
Dr. Mei's hands tightly gripped Kevin's.
The danger of this experiment far exceeded any before; describing it as a nine-deaths-one-life situation was absolutely no exaggeration. All Mei could do was try to transfer the warmth of her palms to the man who only showed her his back.
Kevin was still very young.
But what he had experienced was already a hundred times more spectacular… and a hundred times more brutal than that of an ordinary person.
"I know."
The warmth and lingering fragrance…
Vanished from her palms as Kevin withdrew his hand.
Within the enormous spherical chamber before them lay the frozen corpse of "Parvati"—this Emperor-class Honkai Beast, preserved due to its inherent attributes and special methods, had been jointly defeated by Kevin and the captain of another squad… As Kevin's comrade-in-arms, the latter had lost their life in that battle.
Kevin did not stop his advance.
The Seventh Herrscher · Herrscher of Flame, who had appeared in Australia, had nearly wiped out three squads of The Flame-Chasers, not to mention the joint forces dispatched by three superpower factions… Tens of thousands had been buried in a foreign land; no, perhaps even their bones had been burned to ashes.
The Herrscher of Flame's strength far exceeded all previous data.
Even the Third Herrscher · Herrscher of Thunder, who had once appeared in Southeast Asia (implicating Shenzhou and Dongying), had merely turned three cities into scorched earth. As the Herrscher known for the largest destructive range, comparing the Herrscher of Thunder to the Herrscher of Flame currently rampaging in Australia…
There was simply no comparison between the two.
With The Flame-Chasers' current strength, even if they threw in all their captains, there was absolutely no chance of victory.
For this reason…
They needed new power:
The "Fusion Soldier" project, proposed by Dr. Mei after countless live experiments and continuously improved by Mobius, had finally broken through its last technical bottleneck.
What was needed now…
Was a "Person of Courage."
And Kevin—as the Captain of the First Squad and the strongest within The Flame-Chasers—was undeniably the one.
"Kevin."
Leaning against the somewhat cold wall by the laboratory entrance, Mobius—wearing round-rimmed glasses, a white lab coat, and still possessing the mature figure that would soon disappear—spoke to Kevin in a tone that was slightly teasing? Mocking? Reflective? …In any case, it was somewhat complex.
"Don't look so glum."
Mobius's gaze flickered towards Dr. Mei not far away.
"Think of Adam and Eve. You are becoming… a pioneer for humanity."
Kevin's steps paused for an instant.
"Who is the serpent?"
"That, you'll have to slowly think about it yourself~"
Hiss—
Clack.
The door opened and closed.
The conversation between the two ended there.
From this moment on, the relationship between humanity and the Honkai…
Was about to enter a new chapter.