BOOM!!!
The Flame Lance plummeted from the sky!
Towards the Ice Emperor—who should now be called the "Divine Giant Soldier"... forget it, let's just call it the Emperor—in response to the Emperor's questioning, the Herrscher of Flame offered no verbal reply, instead mercilessly hurling the Flame Lance in her hand downwards!
Gales howled, the sea of fire raged.
The shockwave expanded the deep crater on the ground once more, yet this time, the Herrscher's attack was ineffective!
Voom!!
A shield of interweaving red and blue light manifested in the sky.
The halo behind the Emperor instantly unfurled, its sixteen rhombic crystals forming an umbrella shape before it, steadily receiving the Herrscher's attack.
However.
Receiving it was one thing.
The Emperor's body was still knocked back a full five hundred meters by the explosion. For a being of its size, this distance wasn't necessarily that exaggerated, but for Lu Xing, standing on the ground, the visual impact was far too absurd.
"Has its mind been eroded by human consciousness?"
The Emperor's voice resonated in his mind again.
But soon, upon seeing the Herrscher of Flame once again condensing a Flame Lance, one several times more terrifying in scale than the last, the Emperor decided against taking it head-on.
To be able to yield and to stand firm, the true nature of a man.
To know when to advance and when to retreat, the mark of an Emperor.
The above...
Was still Lu Xing's slander.
The Emperor's action of receiving the attack was not clumsy.
Even if it couldn't compare to the commanding presence it had when it first appeared a second ago, that was mainly to protect its subordinate. Although Judgement-class Honkai Beasts were enormous and difficult to dodge, one must remember that the Emperor was exceptionally skilled in spatial abilities.
Against something like the Flame Lance.
It had no need to raise a shield and block it head-on; a casual [Space-Time Rend] or [Teleport] would have sufficed to dodge it.
All its actions.
Were they not out of fear that Lu Xing on the ground wouldn't be able to withstand the impact?
Facing the Herrscher of Flame's second strike—
Voom!
The halo shone once more.
With a speed comparable to teleportation, the Emperor swiftly constructed a large portal, sizable enough to accommodate its massive form, and then, taking Lu Xing along...
Swoosh!
Vanished without a trace!
————
"This is..."
"The Great Rift Space?"
The moment he was brought through the portal.
The scene that greeted Lu Xing's eyes was an expanse of dazzling purple.
Everything felt familiar, except for the absence of that rift spanning the heavens.
The "Heavenly Pillar" had been moved by the Emperor to Central Sydney and, with the complete eruption of the Honkai energy tide, had eventually disappeared.
"You two—"
The Emperor's voice sounded again.
The "you two" here referred to Lu Xing and the box he was clutching, which contained Cheche's Honkai Core.
As long as the core remained indestructible.
In the eyes of a Honkai Beast, there was no death.
"—stay here and don't wander off."
"?"
Lu Xing almost thought the Emperor was going to buy them some oranges. However, at this moment, Lu Xing had lost all desire to make sarcastic remarks.
Fortunately, the Herrscher of Flame did not possess spatial abilities.
Otherwise...
"The Herrscher has been eroded by human thought."
The Emperor stated in a seemingly detached tone.
"Its actions are without restraint."
"If this continues, the legions born on the surface will all be indiscriminately annihilated."
The "legions" the Emperor referred to here were those Honkai Beasts born directly within the city due to the Honkai energy tide brought by the Great Rift.
Although unintelligent and weak.
In the Emperor's eyes, they were all part of the Honkai.
"This cannot be left unchecked."
It was the first time Lu Xing had sensed the concept of "hesitation" from the Emperor's consciousness.
"If the Herrscher sides with humanity."
"Then for us (the Honkai), it would be an utter disaster."
Somehow.
The Emperor's words should have been devoid of emotion.
Yet Lu Xing distinctly heard a certain decisiveness in them—
Within its crystalline body, red and blue lights flowed rapidly; the rhombic spikes forming the halo behind it illuminated the entire space!
"I will go awaken its consciousness."
"If I succeed, I will take you away; if not, this place is also safe."
Voom!
A familiar portal opened above the Emperor's head.
Just as its figure was about to plunge into it—
"If..."
Lu Xing hadn't finished his sentence.
The Emperor's reply had already appeared in his mind, and... it was as down-to-earth as ever—
"Then I shall not return."
————
Lu Xing had considered many plans.
But he had never guessed that things would develop to this state.
He had neither become the Herrscher of Flame's companion Honkai Beast nor a subordinate completely under its command. His actions could even, arguably, be considered a brief skirmish with the Herrscher.
Looked at this way.
This place was rather ideal... but!
Lu Xing glanced around.
Apart from Cheche's Honkai Core, which he had taken out of the box and placed on the ground, showing no reaction whatsoever, there was nothing else alive here.
Even time.
Seemed to have stagnated.
"...Nothing at all."
The desperate battle between the Herrscher of Flame and Kevin.
He wouldn't even get a chance to witness this anticipated climactic scene!
Of course.
The above was just idle grumbling.
After all, Lu Xing, who was already planning to flee, had no intention of experiencing this scene; in a battle of that magnitude, he wouldn't even qualify to be a hidden lurker.
All Lu Xing could do now.
Was to vaguely sense the traces of the Emperor's battle through the flickering of the light spot in his mind—the Emperor, his direct superior, also had its presence reflected in the mental world.
One day.
Two days.
The random mission cooldown completed.
Lacking a frame of reference, Lu Xing had no good way to calculate the time.
Perhaps, around the sixth day after the Emperor left.
Swoosh!
A palm-sized object suddenly appeared in this space.
Thud.
What fell to the ground was a sixty-four-faceted crystal, shrunk countless times.
Undoubtedly.
The appearance of this object was virtually identical to the Emperor's core!
Crack.
However.
The fragments continuously flaking off along the cracks on its surface declared that the damage to this core was already extremely dire.
Lu Xing hurriedly rushed over.
By making direct contact—Lu Xing cupped the Emperor's core in his hands—he could finally clearly hear the murmuring voice that had previously sounded like a whisper in his ear.
"I succeeded."
"..."
Lu Xing didn't think this counted as any kind of success.
The Emperor, through some unknown means, had helped the Honkai consciousness within the Herrscher of Flame suppress her human emotions, but...
No buts.
If the Herrscher of Flame were to regain her human consciousness.
What the future held was uncertain, but Lu Xing would definitely die—targeted by a Herrscher who sided with humanity, he didn't think he had any chance of survival.
Even if the Honkai Will gained the upper hand.
This Herrscher of Flame, in whom the Emperor had placed its hopes, would soon be slain by Kevin on the ravaged continent.
For the latter.
The Emperor, having already half-achieved its ideals and successfully advanced to Judgement-class, could only "return" in such a near-death state.
Lu Xing didn't realize.
He was feeling sad for the Emperor's departure—a mastermind who had planned and orchestrated this entire disaster.
At this moment...
"Finality-class."
"!?"
The sudden voice.
Startled Lu Xing—the words were merely translated; the term "Finality-class" was just a word spoken by the Emperor, presented in a way Lu Xing could understand.
But!
Regardless.
The secret that he was not a Knight Captain had clearly been discovered by the other party at some point.
But the Emperor didn't care.
"Devour my core."
Facing death, it was as calm as an ordinary, unintelligent Honkai Beast.
"You shall..."
The Emperor's mental strength grew weaker; Lu Xing could barely make out what it was trying to say.
He could only, like a human, meaninglessly press his ear against the core—
"Inherit my (Honkai's) will."
Snap!