Voom!
The halo materialized above Lu Xing's head. The Honkai energy within his body erupted, amplified by the halo, and continuously poured into the greatshield, which grew increasingly brighter.
Azure and gilded gold. Elegant hues intertwined on the shield's surface, forming exceptionally magnificent demonic veins.
Frost and raging fire. Diametrically opposed elemental energies surged forth simultaneously!
Clack.
The greatshield enveloped Lu Xing's body. The pitch-black Temple Knight transformed entirely into a splendid stream of light, ramming straight towards Shesha!
Swoosh—
BOOM!!
The explosive roar echoed throughout the entire ruins! The sweeping shockwave sent scrap iron and mangled steel flying!
Accompanied by a shower of shattered husk fragments scattering in all directions, Shesha, which had previously charged Lu Xing, had nearly a quarter of its head directly smashed apart!
This was a combination of [Dawnbreaker] and [Frostflame Charge].
Besides being utterly impossible to react to, with its high speed and high damage capable of pulverizing all obstacles in its charge path, the stun effect of [Dawnbreaker] in its "shield bash" state was also brought into full play.
Shesha was directly stunned by Lu Xing's follow-up move. The dual trauma, both physical and mental, left it with its head and the front part of its body reared high, completely unable to respond to Lu Xing's next attack.
Voom!
The blade's edge pointed directly! It was still [Dawnbreaker], but this time, the weapon concentrating the power was the knight lance, which possessed even more terrifying destructive force.
Ice and flame. Twin streams of red and blue light coiled and spun around the surface of the knight lance. A storm that could shatter anything contracted and condensed along the elegant shaft of the spear.
This was a combination of [Dawnbreaker] and [Frostflame Thrust].
In terms of raw power alone, among all of Lu Xing's moves, its destructive capability was second only to his ultimate, Atomic Breath—
Shining at the Spear of Terminus!
VOOM!!
A brilliant light tore through the sky, berserk energy pulverizing everything!
BOOM!!!
————
City ruins.
A colossal trench, four kilometers long and over fifty meters in both depth and width, appeared here in an extremely abrupt manner.
To ensure the negotiations could proceed smoothly, Lu Xing had unleashed his maximum output in his standard state.
As for Shesha, struck by this move... Its massive body had shrunk to less than half its original size. Besides its mangled head, half of its entire body had been directly vaporized by the terrifying energy.
Whoosh.
A scorching hot wind blew past. Lu Xing slowly floated towards Shesha. Based on its movements, Lu Xing judged that Shesha still had no desire to communicate.
SCREECH!!
A piercing shriek emanated from its mouth. Sound waves, imbued with Honkai energy and its own aura, reverberated through the city ruins at an extremely high frequency.
"Meaningless."
This bit of resistance was nowhere near enough to halt Lu Xing's steps.
Shesha was calling its legion. The death of the Herrscher of Thunder had been accompanied by the demise of a large number of Honkai Beasts, but a very small portion had survived. As members of the legion, with the Herrscher gone, they were all under Shesha's command, but...
"Too weak."
Indeed. Just as Lu Xing saw, the Honkai Beast legion rushing over from all directions—no, the stragglers and defeated remnants rushing over—were pathetically weak.
The strongest two among them were actually Honkai Emperors only at Lv.45. Lu Xing had never seen such "miniature" Honkai Emperors; these Honkai Emperors, without any affixes, were barely different in size from Lu Xing's Temple-class form!
One had to know, Lu Xing's current physique was the product of ultra-high concentrations of Honkai energy being compressed. His shell no longer contained any silicon-based components; like higher-tier Honkai Beasts, it was composed entirely of pure Honkai energy!
Two Honkai Emperors, six Temple-class, and over a hundred lower-tier fodder...
This wasn't really the Honkai Emperors' fault; it was already a great feat for them to have survived. To heal its own injuries, Shesha had eaten the slightly stronger ones among the legion's already scarce remaining Honkai Beasts to replenish its energy. This was what led to the current ragtag situation. If Shesha hadn't been worried about sneak attacks and specifically left these few "eyes," there probably wouldn't be a single Honkai Beast left in the entire ruin.
Facing these underlings...
Kchack—
Clack!
Along the central ridge of the greatshield, the knight lance was slowly inserted into it.
Whuff!
The instant the spear and shield interlocked, a fierce wind, accompanied by a bone-chilling cold, surged forth!
SCREECH!!
Shesha, directly blasted by the ice-attribute energy, had a thick layer of frost form on its surface. Instinctively fearing the cold, it continuously shrieked and retreated.
This effect wasn't enough to harm Shesha. But the surrounding Honkai Beasts caught in the blast weren't so lucky. As freezing air emerged from both within and without their carapaces, all legion members, including the Honkai Emperors, transformed into ice sculptures and tumbled to the ground.
The next instant—
Thud!
The spear-shield landed, and a wave of flame erupted.
The drastic temperature change caused the carapaces of all affected Honkai Beasts, along with the ice sculptures encasing them, to... shatter with a bang!
CRACK!!
[Molecular Manipulation]
This skill, for the first time, displayed its terrifying area-of-effect destructive power.
As for Shesha...
————
"Has your strength plummeting caused your intelligence to drop along with it?"
Shesha still showed no intention of communicating. Its ferocious maw aimed at Lu Xing, a massive magnetic field completely enveloped Shesha's body. The giant serpent seemed to have transformed into an oversized coil.
Plasma churned in its serpentine mouth. Ionized air tinged the lightning with brilliant colors.
When the roiling pool of thunder flashed to its limit—
CRACKLE!!
A terrifying pillar of light erupted!
BOOM-RUMBLE!!!
Amidst the tens of thousands of thunderbolts, the Temple-class figure remained steadfast and unmoving.
Shesha's ultimate move was quite impressive. He would grant this technique, which inherited the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder, an extremely resounding name—Superconductive Wave Thunderclap Cannon!
If it were at its peak strength and Shesha used this move, Lu Xing would absolutely run as far as he could. But now, a "mere" Emperor-class ultimate attack...
Shing!!
[Hold Shield]
[Midnight's Black Light] was like an indestructible monolith. No matter how violently the passing tide of thunder surged, it simply could not breach the shield's defense.
Before the energy absorbed by the greatshield reached its limit, the momentum of Shesha's ultimate attack was already rapidly declining. It didn't have much Honkai energy left to begin with; using this move was truly its last resort.
If even this couldn't threaten the opponent, Shesha could only quickly try to escape...
VOOM!!
Returned, and repaid.
The piercing shriek of lightning resounded once more!
BOOM!!!
Flames that soared to the sky illuminated the entire city.
At the center of the explosion, Shesha, which had been preparing to make a run for it, was blasted into charcoal by its own attack. If not for its nature as the Herrscher of Thunder's companion beast, inherently possessing super-strong lightning resistance, the amplified thunder cannon just now would have been enough to grind its bones to dust.
"So..."
Kachak.
The heavy armor landed on the ground.
Looking at the Temple-class before it, fear inevitably appeared in Shesha's eyes. Although the intent conveyed by the opponent carried no killing intent, its actions...
Along Shesha's serpentine mouth, Lu Xing directly inserted his arm and viciously grabbed one of its organs.
Then, with a mighty heave!
Splurt!!
A "serpent tendon," resembling countless entangled tentacles combined, was yanked out by Lu Xing!
The most crucial part within it was the three Honkai Cores embedded inside the "serpent tendon." The reason Judgement-class Honkai Beasts possessed such formidable life force lay in their "multi-core" configuration. If all cores weren't destroyed at once, a Judgement-class wouldn't die.
And now, Lu Xing had grasped Shesha's lifeline.
"...Can we talk properly now?"