"Boom!"
Purple flames erupted from Kosma's body.
Horns, claws, bat-like wings—his already obvious inhuman features became even more prominent amidst the surging Honkai energy:
[Over-Metamorphosis].
The enemy was not simple.
According to the general understanding of Herrschers, the current Herrscher of Domination did not have a corresponding companion Honkai Beast.
The past Wind Herrscher incident was Kosma's first encounter with Kevin and the Flame-Chasers. He was all too familiar with the "Authority of Wind."
If his judgment was correct.
Then the being before him, with its dense Herrscher aura, was likely the leader of the Herrscher of Domination. The white whale that was slowly retreating was its companion Honkai Beast!
And—
Both the assassination attempt just now and the method the great whale used to break free from his perception displayed extremely strong ambush capabilities. If the opponent were to attack Griseo while he was in the middle of a fierce battle... Kosma could not even imagine that scene happening.
Therefore.
He had to concentrate all his power to eliminate the opponent as quickly as possible!
That's right, Over-Metamorphosis was Kosma's current full power. After devouring a large number of Honkai cores, Kosma's combat power had soared, but at the same time, he could no longer maintain his sanity while entering [Artificial Honkai Eruption].
If it were a simple slaughter, having his sanity or not wouldn't make much difference.
But now.
Kosma's main objective was to protect Griseo, so he certainly could not fight in his Eruption state.
"ROAR!!"
Honkai energy surged forth from every cell in his body. A prairie fire of flames instantly engulfed Kosma's entire form!
Towards the Herrscher of Domination before him—
"BOOM!!!"
"The one you spoke of... is here?"
"Correct."
In the ruins of the city, Kalpas had just finished off the last Honkai Beast—the last Honkai Beast of an entire legion.
Aponia's death.
It had forcibly released the Discipline of "do not harm the innocent" that had been placed upon Kalpas.
In fact.
Although this Discipline had limited Kalpas's power, it had never restrained the latter's penchant for indiscriminate killing. Other Disciplines might be able to be reapplied by returning to The Deepest Place, but Kalpas... no one would voluntarily bring this matter up.
Incidentally.
Aponia's death had broken all the Disciplines she had imposed.
Certain important secrets and existences had to be brought back to The Deepest Place to be re-blessed by the "great flappy moth." Aponia had lost her memory. Although her soul was saved by the "Yudu Chen," her form was forever fixed at the moment of her Artificial Honkai Eruption into "Mitra," once again bound to The Deepest Place... as a discipline machine that only followed orders, "more useful" than before.
The Kalpas of today.
Was in a complete state, with no restraints whatsoever, except for "home."
And his battles...
Unless the situation was disadvantageous to an unsalvageable degree, the Flame-Chasers would absolutely not send Kalpas out. That would plunge the Honkai Beasts, and the city that needed protecting, into an endless inferno together.
The battle currently taking place on the west coast of North America was proof enough of everything:
North America's most famous city on the west coast, "San Francisco," which had resisted the Honkai Beast legions for over half a year, had become fuel for the soaring flames, along with the Honkai Beasts that had broken through its defenses.
The people who could stop Kalpas were not here, but there were still beings who could divert his attention—
Steel rebar melted into molten iron.
Rock was ground into dust.
In this still-burning ruin, Kalpas's adjutant, Imur, presented him with a piece of valuable information:
Intel on the suspected "leader" of the Herrscher of Domination.
For Kalpas, who was still not satisfied, this was obviously excellent news. Kalpas, with his nature fully unleashed, had little interest in "slaughtering the weak." Compared to the three Emperor-class Honkai Beasts that shattered with a single tap, a Herrscher with a human shell was much more interesting to fight.
And so...
"Herrscher!"
"Get the hell out here!"
In the center of his palm, stretched towards the sky.
An orange-red fireball, no bigger than a tennis ball, slowly appeared with a "crackling" burning sound, and was then casually thrown out by Kalpas in the next moment.
"BOOM!!!"
A giant mushroom cloud rose into the sky!
With the fireball's point of impact as the center, everything within a one-kilometer radius—regardless of whether there were any surviving humans there—was blasted into flying ash by the shockwave and flames.
And within that...
"Thrum!"
A brilliant golden light flashed past!
The city, which had been so "unrestrained" just a moment ago, fell instantly "silent" the moment the light swept over it. The high-temperature flames, hot enough to burn carbon-based life to ash, seemed as if they had been nothing but an illusion from the start.
"Human."
A figure holding a crosier.
With a gentle voice capable of soothing all pain, she appeared in the middle of the golden ocean like a messenger of the gods.
"Your actions are a bit too crude."
The one responsible for confronting Kalpas was the Death Temple, who had obtained the Authority of Binding.
There was no doubt.
In a frontal battle, ten Death Temples combined would not be a match for Kalpas. But the existence of the Authority of Binding made the outcome no longer so certain.
Kalpas was not from Earth.
His heart, which would heal at extreme speeds no matter what kind of injury it sustained, could even regenerate instantly after an operation like "removing a part" of it.
This characteristic.
Was remarkably similar to the "shell" of a Honkai Beast.
And in the "future" tragedy of Binding, Kalpas merely touched the [Divine Grace Barrier] and collapsed. From the effect of the Authority of Binding (which, in this era, was "to suppress all forms of energy and nullify Honkai energy"), one could roughly judge that Kalpas's "heart" was likely some kind of modified product originating from Honkai energy.
Regardless of where Kalpas came from, the authority of the Herrscher of Binding was the strongest specific countermeasure against him.
As for who would win or lose.
That would depend on... whether the upper limit of the Authority of Binding was reached first by Kalpas, or if Kalpas was drained dry by the authority first.
"Crude?"
"To think that one day, I would hear that word from the mouths of things like you."
It was not uncommon for the Herrscher of Domination to be able to control a human body to communicate... even under the control of the "Honkai consciousness."
"Hmph."
Kalpas removed his mask. As the flames on his body grew more intense, the edges of this specially made mask also began to show signs of melting.
"Herrscher..."
"As long as your wails can satisfy me—"
"I can, for now, not tear that useless mouth off!"
"BOOM!!"