In the coming age of chaos, having such a powerful, unfathomable ally with technologically overwhelming capabilities meant that the Earth Dragon Sect wouldn't have to worry about their legacy being broken or having nowhere to go.
"Wow... so, so many people..."
Elsewhere, the lively March 7th was accompanying the gentle and elegant Robin at the harbor area, responsible for welcoming and comforting the large number of refugees transferred from Ming Dou City.
She watched the tide of people—frightened, ragged, and empty-eyed—pouring out of the spatial gate. She couldn't help but gasp, her pink-and-blue eyes filled with sympathy and worry.
"Has the situation in Ming Dou City become that dangerous...?"
Having experienced the disaster in Ming Dou City, which was akin to the descent of hell, many had instantly lost their homes and loved ones. Their minds were already on the verge of collapse.
At a time like this, any small stimulus could trigger a riot or utter despair.
This was the moment for Robin to step forward.
She naturally radiated a soft, warm power of Harmony. That power, like gentle sunlight, soothed the fear and trauma in people's hearts, comforting the souls steeped in immense pain, preventing them from immediately plunging into the abyss of despair or resorting to extremes.
"Sister Robin, please, quickly check her condition."
Just then, Ye Guyi rushed over, holding a woman with an extremely weak aura and an ashen complexion. Her face was etched with urgency and pleading.
She knew Robin was certainly stretched thin, but the situation of Shangguan Wei'er, the leader of the A-Vocation Alliance, was dire.
Her mental barrier could no longer suppress the furiously growing will of Destruction within her. Eerie, dark-red flashes occasionally crossed her pupils. It wouldn't be long before she completely succumbed and turned into a monster focused only on destruction.
"Is this her... the one with the 'seed' of destruction planted inside?"
Robin didn't hesitate upon seeing the situation and immediately paused her large-scale comforting work.
She extended a slender, pale finger, its tip wreathed in a pure, colorless glow, and gently touched the center of Shangguan Wei'er's brow.
The intangible power of Harmony, which contained coordination and resonance, flowed into Shangguan Wei'er's nearly shattered mind like the most delicate and warm stream, attempting to quell the violent whispers of destruction and re-harmonize her chaotic psyche.
But in the next second, Robin's perpetually gentle smile vanished, her brow furrowing tightly. A flash of obvious confusion and gravity crossed her lake-green eyes.
"This power... is actually 'rejecting' Harmony?"
She withdrew her slender finger, her beautiful face becoming unprecedentedly solemn. She muttered softly, "This feeling... something is wrong. It's much trickier and more bizarre than expected."
Deep Abyss City had maintained close contact with Lu Jingming on the distant Ming Dou battlefield through special means. She had already learned about the encroachment of the power of Destruction on Shangguan Wei'er, the Alliance leader, from the intelligence reports and had prepared accordingly.
According to the intelligence from the front, the one who likely attacked Shangguan Wei'er was the terrifying Lord of Destruction, Celenova.
That unique and formidable being—who was both a former Harmony Emanator and the current Lord of Destruction, possessing the dual authorities of [Harmony] and [Destruction].
Because of this, Robin had adjusted the frequency and characteristics of her own Harmony power output before acting, making thorough preparations to counter the mixed encroachment of both Harmony and Destruction attributes.
She had anticipated a difficult operation that would require delicate modulation and stripping away the encroaching dual powers.
But when her Harmony power truly penetrated and touched the ferocious source of Destruction deep within Shangguan Wei'er's consciousness, she realized with alarm that the situation had completely deviated from her expectations.
"No... completely wrong..."
A sharp light flashed in Robin's lake-green eyes. She slowly shook her head, her tone confident and serious.
"The one who directly imposed the encroachment on her is absolutely not Celenova. The power inside her, though violent, possesses only the most pure, most primitive attribute of [Destruction], along with an extremely unsettling residue of vile spiritual energy filled with filth and depravity. There is not the slightest trace of [Harmony] power."
Her judgment was by no means guesswork.
If Celenova had personally acted, given her unique identity and power composition, it would be impossible for her to leave behind only such "clean" destructive power.
The Lord of Destruction's former self was an Emanator of the [Harmony] Aeon. Her power foundation and habitual movements were branded with the mark of Harmony. Even when wielding the authority of Destruction, her power's core would inevitably be tinged with a subtle, distorted coordination or resonance belonging to Harmony.
For Robin, who was also a Harmony Aeon, this was an unmistakable detail.
Therefore, only one conclusion remained: the one who directly planted the seed of destruction in Shangguan Wei'er was not Celenova herself.
Moreover, the extraordinarily evil residual spiritual aura, like a leech clinging to the periphery of the destructive energy, carried a cold quality that involved manipulating hearts and profaning souls. This immediately raised a profound sense of foreboding in the keenly perceptive Robin.
It wasn't Celenova who personally acted... it must have been someone else.
And the nature of this hidden entity's power was clearly more mysterious and unpredictable.
"Oh? This is interesting."
An extremely subtle, yet perceptible spatial fluctuation rippled out. Herta's figure, perched leisurely on her iconic staff, topped with a giant blue gemstone, slowly appeared before everyone.
She glanced with interest at the mentally languid and chaotic Shangguan Wei'er, a flash of all-knowing insight crossing her eyes.
"It seems the murky waters of Ming Dou conceal more than just Celenova... there's an even more cunning fish that has been hiding at the very bottom."
Before her words faded, Herta casually waved her hand. A gentle but highly analytical, icy-blue data stream instantly enveloped and scanned Shangguan Wei'er completely.
She intended to personally investigate and see which Lord of Destruction possessed such expert means of concealment.
Ming Dou City was already a boiling pot of chaos. Even an existence like Celenova couldn't resist striking Fei Xiao of the Xianzhou, an attack on the Heaven-Smiting General. Yet, another Lord of Destruction remained like a ghost, completely hidden behind the scenes, unwilling to expose the slightest trace.
Such a patient, skilled, and deeply malicious Lord of Destruction immediately brought an unpleasant name to the forefront of Herta's supercomputer-like brain.
"As expected, it's that annoying Phantylia."
The icy-blue probing light gradually dissipated. Herta curved her lips into a knowing smile, lightly pressing the wide brim of her witch's hat with a hint of disdain in her tone.
The snake-like power lurking in the deepest part of Shangguan Wei'er's consciousness carried an evil spiritual energy that could easily stir up the darkest desires and fears in the human heart, mixed with a purely ultimate will existing only for destruction.
Only Phantylia, who ascended to Lord of Destruction as a Suiyang and specialized in manipulating minds and spirits, could possess such a distinct and vile power signature.
"If I'm not mistaken, she must be the Servant that poor fool Xu Tianran successfully summoned."
Herta lightly tapped her smooth chin with her finger, her tone carrying a detached amusement and sarcasm.
"I truly don't know whether the Sun Moon Empire is lucky or suffering from eight lifetimes of bad luck. A single Holy Grail War managed to summon the Memory Bodies of two Lords of Destruction... that kind of luck is unparalleled."
Chang Li, holding an exquisitely crafted parasol woven seemingly from moonlight, softly scanned the surrounding refugees whose eyes were still vacant and numb.
They clearly hadn't fully recovered from their hellish experience in Ming Dou City, and a deep, undeniable terror remained etched on their faces.
She sighed softly, a trace of genuine pity flashing in her eyes.
"Two Lords of Destruction nesting in one Ming Dou City... these people making it out alive and reaching Deep Abyss City is the greatest mercy fate could offer."
"You... you're kidding, right?! T-two Lords of Destruction?!"
Compared to companions like Chang Li and Ye Guyi, who did not originate from the Honkai/Star Rail universe, March 7th, who shared the same cosmic background as the Lords of Destruction, could more profoundly grasp the terrifying, suffocating implications of this news.
Little March's face instantly turned pale. She instinctively clutched the corner of her clothes tightly, clearly terrified by the astonishing revelation.
She had heard countless terrifying legends about the Lords of Destruction on the Express. Just imagining two such incarnations of calamity hiding in that city made her knees tremble.
"Fortunately, they are only Memory Bodies right now, their power level is worlds apart from their original bodies."
Herta rolled her beautiful eyes, her tone slightly exasperated.
"If their true bodies had descended, let alone two-on-one, I wouldn't want to fight either of them in a one-on-one duel."
Being of the same Emanator level, if both were to descend in their true bodies, their mutual destruction would be assured.
Herta absolutely did not want to die. She hadn't yet excavated more mysteries of the unknown universe from the unique variable that was Lu Jingming.
In the universe she originally came from, nearly all "knowledge" and "truth" were firmly controlled, analyzed, and archived by the Aeon of Erudition, Nous's vast computation network.
After all, in Nous's calculations, all futures were determined and unchangeable.
Even for her, hailed as the genius Emanator of Erudition, the fields she could touch, research, and even understand were always confined within the "known" boundaries set by Nous.
The secrets of that universe, the boundaries of knowledge, had long been thoroughly deciphered by the omniscient Aeon, leaving virtually no unknown space for exploration.
No true genius would ever be content to be forever bound by a fixed framework.
The pursuit of the boundaries of knowledge and the craving for the unknown are the core drivers pushing all geniuses forward.
But with Nous's absolute existence, the boundaries of knowledge had been completely sealed off.
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