"How can she be this strong?!" Elysia exclaimed, admitting she truly couldn't win this fight.
Kiana nodded, as this was hardly unexpected.
Though she couldn't see the future, and her system was more of a farsighted one, she could still extrapolate from recent observable events—and the predictions were generally accurate. An escalation in Honkai intensity was well within her expectations.
After all, this was an evaluation.
Since she and Elysia had joined in, the difficulty was bound to skyrocket.
BOOM!!
Right at that moment—faster than one could blink—countless bolts of lightning gathered and refined across the sky, converging at a single point.
Immediately after, a graceful figure emerged from the electric radiance.
Majestic and imposing, her aura surged straight through the heavens.
The Honkai energy density shot up to its peak.
Then as though swept clean by a black hole, it plummeted rapidly, almost vanishing entirely.
This, too, was beyond what many had imagined.
No Honkai energy meant no need for eradication.
Even the dormant Honkai beasts and zombies seemed to have been broken down, utterly transformed into nutrients.
If not absorbed by the Herrscher, they coalesced into one, becoming a symbiotic Honkai beast.
That serpent-like Honkai beast was unmistakably of Judgement-class. Its body stretched thousands of meters long, coiling across the land.
It circled the Herrscher, hissing and staring, radiating terrifying pressure.
As if the entire city, vast as it was, was nothing more than a sandbox—too small for her to play in.
The scene was horrifying.
It seemed, unlike other Herrschers who adopted a legion-style strategy, this Third Herrscher had utilized almost all resources to amplify her own power.
To her, even other Honkai beasts and zombies—no matter how numerous—were useless.
The only one elevated was the symbiotic Honkai beast.
And this one was no pushover either.
Currently, the global Honkai energy detection instruments could only measure up to a concentration of 10,000 HW.
Now, both the Herrscher and the Honkai beast had surpassed that threshold.
How much exactly? It was anyone's guess.
Only Kiana and Elysia could estimate it, roughly around 11,000 HW?
It really felt like the intensity was starting to drift toward Honkai Impact 2 levels.
'Could it be because I anchored Jyahnar?' Kiana wondered.
But by then, the Third Herrscher and the symbiotic Honkai beast had already noticed Elysia and Kiana. After a brief moment of tension, their caution gave way to action. The first to lose patience was, unsurprisingly, the serpentine Honkai beast.
It roared, slithering forward!
Its massive jaws opened wide, lunging to bite them.
"ROAR!!"
Its body was tinted emerald, stained with splotches of pitch-black sludge.
The entire city seemed polluted, transformed into a muddy swamp filled with crackling lightning.
Elysia might have said she couldn't win, but of course she still had to fight.
She'd unlocked quite a bit of her Origin power—it was time to test it out.
So, she immediately drew her bow and fired an arrow, halting the advance of the serpent, known as Sesha.
With a cute spin, she shot another arrow toward the sky.
And now!
What she had once dreamed of achieving, she could finally do.
Her domain, her sanctuary, would bloom here like a flower!
"Come play at my place~" she giggled.
Elysia danced gracefully as she fired arrow after arrow.
The arrows refracting through pink crystalline walls created a dazzling spectacle, continuously ricocheting and scattering.
They struck Sesha repeatedly.
It seemed like a light rain, but each hit packed a painful punch.
Unable to endure, Sesha burrowed underground, vanishing into the electrified swamp. The murky waters, surging with arcs of lightning, became an untouchable domain within the pink crystalline dome. Any pink arrow that entered was swallowed without a trace, as if sinking into a bottomless sea.
This troubled Elysia.
This was even trickier than just digging underground!
It was important to note—ordinary burrowing she could sense.
Whether through vibrations, aura, Honkai energy, or other means.
But!
Within Sesha's swamp, it was like another dimension, another realm.
Kiana was certain the original Sesha never had this ability. Even if it could submerge, it was only barely hiding its presence. What it was most known for was its near-limitless resurrection ability.
True infinite resurrection didn't exist, of course, but it was troublesome enough.
Actually, Elysia's crystalline dome and refracting arrows were area-of-effect attacks.
The Third Herrscher was certainly within her range.
Unfortunately, while these attacks had some effect on Sesha, they meant nothing to the Third Herrscher.
She was truly different.
As if doing nothing at all, she had created a magnetic field around herself, warping space-time.
Forming an untouchable domain.
Any arrows that came near were twisted and swallowed, as if separated by endless distance—completely ineffective.
Even though these were just Elysia's probing attacks, it still gave her a headache.
'Is this for real? Not only is she incredibly powerful, but she's also wielding her Authority so skillfully?'
'How is that fair?!'
"I thought you said Herrschers were all slackers? That after their consciousness is hijacked, they're like puppets, only capable of basic applications?" Elysia complained, turning to look at Kiana.
What could Kiana say?
"Well, do you think this is an ordinary Herrscher?"
When the power level was this high, it was hard to be weak.
Though it was surprising that the Herrscher seemed to know how to use her abilities skillfully.
But if the enemy was already escalating, getting hung up on that was just silly.
"Hmm?"
She hadn't paid much attention before, but now, looking closely, Kiana froze.
She suddenly realized the Herrscher's face looked familiar.
'Raiden Mei?'
'No…'
'Dr. MEI?'
'But wasn't Dr. MEI already under protection?'
'What's going on?'
'Oh… right.'
'This is a Herrscher directly manifested by the Honkai.'
'So it copied Dr. MEI's appearance? How interesting…'
Kiana recalled that in the original storyline, the Third Herrscher had no connection to Dr. MEI. After all, Herrschers of the Previous Era and the Current Era didn't necessarily mirror each other.
But here, things were different.
The newborn Herrscher was Dr. MEI's non-biological sister.
'Maybe the Honkai thought Dr. MEI was the most suitable Herrscher candidate with the best mind, so it made a copy?'
'Hmm…'
'That could be it.'
But honestly, the overwhelming presence—like the entire sky was pressing down—was less like Raiden Mei or Dr. MEI and more like the Queen of Thunder.
She was far too imperious.
You could see it!
She resembled a deity, with three divine rings behind her, deep and abyssal purple.
Her attire, also a profound purple, wasn't a kimono but seemed modified, her slender form adorned with demonic samurai armor.
The blade she held, born with her, was a weapon comparable to a Divine Key.
In other words, not only was she incredibly powerful, intelligent, and skilled with her authority—she also came with her own Divine Key.
Although originally, Divine Keys weren't meant for this purpose, couldn't a Herrscher's exclusive weaponry also be considered a Divine Key?
It would undoubtedly maximize their power.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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