Schicksal HQ, Otto's Office
Inside the office, Otto and Amber stared at the intelligence displayed on the light screen, both falling silent.
Just a few minutes ago, the Third Eruption had broken out just as Otto had predicted.
Although the "bomb" that was the Gem of Serenity hadn't detonated within Singapore, which Otto found slightly regrettable, it was ultimately a minor detail.
For Otto, all his actions were in service of completing his plan.
The Herrscher of Death awakening according to his plan was, of course, a good thing.
But now, the situation felt a little off.
Mr. Otto, who prided himself on being the smartest man in the world, really wanted to find someone and ask...
—What in the world was the meaning of [Honkai Energy intensity has dropped to an extremely low value] on the light screen.
Normally, a large-scale Eruption from a Herrscher's awakening would have an instantaneous explosive intensity of at least 1000HW.
And after a Herrscher awakened, even if it didn't attack, simply walking the Earth and radiating its power would allow Schicksal HQ to detect an absurdly high Honkai Energy reading from it.
But now, the intelligence screen before Otto and Amber was relentlessly telling them one thing.
The Honkai Energy intensity was dropping rapidly, which could only mean that the Herrscher of Death born near Singapore had temporarily entered a state of inactivity.
For the Herrscher of Death to be suppressed was the best possible outcome within Otto's calculations.
However, for less than five minutes to pass between the start of the Third Eruption and its end... wasn't that a bit... too fast?
With the end of the Third Eruption, although Schicksal HQ still couldn't contact the Valkyries on the battlefield, they could at least determine their approximate locations.
Watching the rapidly moving light dot on another screen, Otto confirmed that the one who had acted this time was not Durandal.
In the world today, there were only a handful of people who could swiftly defeat a Herrscher.
Durandal, whose talent was terrifyingly high, was still on her way to the battlefield.
Theresa, who could suppress enemies with her Divine Grace Field, was still recovering at St. Freya High School.
Fellow Herrscher Welt Yang was, in Otto's eyes, already a second-rate cripple.
And while Otto himself possessed Herrscher-level combat power, he was currently squatting in the rear, playing the mastermind; the one throwing punches on-site couldn't possibly be him.
Thinking it over, only Siegfried, his arm healed by Abyss Flower, could have possibly used the Judgment of Shamash to eliminate the enemy.
Of course, in that instant, a ridiculous guess suddenly popped into Otto's mind.
Leo Ash is also near Singapore, if it were Leo Ash...
Never mind, it's impossible for him to defeat a Herrscher.
But this created a huge problem.
If Siegfried had acted, I could still send people over to clean up, bringing back both the self-injured Siegfried and his Divine Key to Schicksal.
But if Leo Ash appeared on the battlefield, unable to defeat the Herrscher, he would surely die at the Herrscher's hands.
According to my design, after K423 awakens, as long as I offer a sacrifice to her, she might regain her consciousness and become a 'human' capable of using a Herrscher's power.
But that sacrifice is meant for K423. You goddamn Herrscher of Death, how dare you lay a hand on Leo Ash!
The thought that Leo Ash might be gone just like that sent Otto into a panic on the spot.
"Amber, immediately contact the nearest medical and rescue teams to the battlefield in Singapore. Get them over there to save him!"
Leo Ash, you can't die here.
Before you step onto the stage I have prepared for you, you absolutely cannot die!
.....
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Singapore
Siegfried, currently entangled with an army of Herrscher clones, suddenly felt something unusual after killing the thirty-second Herrscher clone with the Judgment of Shamash.
As one of the strongest Honkai Energy warriors of his time, Siegfried could certainly feel that a large-scale Eruption had just occurred nearby.
It was precisely because he sensed the Third Eruption had begun that Siegfried had completely abandoned his defense, opting for a strategy of trading injuries for kills to take down a pile of Herrscher clone soldiers.
But the problem was, after the Eruption, these soldiers, who knew neither pain nor fear, seemed to have received some order. They chose to ignore the Eruption and instead continued to delay Siegfried's advance.
For Siegfried, this situation was truly incomprehensible.
Damn it, what the hell is wrong with these guys?
Shouldn't the normal plan be to let me fight the Herrscher to the death, then sit back and reap the rewards like Otto?
You bastard, once the Third Eruption breaks out and the Herrscher of Death awakens, all of humanity will become its target.
We're all in the same boat now. I don't even want to deal with you anymore, yet you're still clinging to me like this.
The big boss of World Serpent must be out of their mind!
And now, although Siegfried had reached a border area devoid of civilians while fighting and running...
In other words, if he got fed up and unleashed Judgment of Shamash Unleashed, as long as he controlled its power, he would at most destroy the surrounding abandoned buildings while killing all his enemies, without harming any innocents.
If it weren't for me needing to stop the Herrscher of Death... wait, what's going on?
Siegfried, having just dodged another volley of gravity spheres, suddenly sensed something.
In the direction where the powerful Honkai Energy had erupted, the intensity was now dropping sharply.
Honestly, the moment he first noticed this, Siegfried was overjoyed.
A drop in Honkai Energy intensity meant the Herrscher, who was about to slaughter humanity, had either temporarily given up on that plan willingly or been forced to.
But as Siegfried's mind raced, what followed was an irrepressible wave of worry.
There were only a few people in this world capable of quickly suppressing a Herrscher.
Excluding Otto, who only ever hid in the shadows, and Welt, who was out of commission, that left only Siegfried, Theresa, and Bianka, the three Divine Key users.
Theresa's previous injuries hadn't healed yet. Even if she won against a Herrscher, she would likely be in a bad state now.
If she was the one on the battlefield, Siegfried felt his old friend was definitely suffering.
And if it was Bianka who fought the Herrscher...
After getting the intel from Welt, Siegfried had gradually come to believe the information his old friend had brought him.
And now, either his dearest friend was gravely injured, or the daughter he had failed to save was once again facing a life-threatening situation.
Under these circumstances, Siegfried simply couldn't remain calm.
"Damn it, you forced my hand!"
Merging his dual pistols, Siegfried gripped the greatsword form of Shamash and madly poured Honkai Energy into it.
"Judgment of Shamash..."
"—UNLEASHED!"
With the warrior's resounding roar, burning flames erupted from the Key of Destruction, instantly engulfing the remaining twenty-odd Herrscher soldiers.
Ignoring the enemies who were now certainly dead, Siegfried immediately holstered the Judgment of Shamash and, enduring the sharp pain wracking his body, charged toward the location of the previous Honkai Energy eruption.
Theresa, Kiana, just hold on.
If anything happens to them...
—World Serpent, I swear I will burn my very life to make you pay!
..
After successfully defeating the Herrscher of Death, Leo Ash watched as the injuries on her body were still being rapidly and automatically repaired, and could only marvel at the power of [Rebirth].
As for whether any Holy Blood would remain in Yuno's body...
Previously, Leo Ash had conducted a private experiment. The Holy Blood he converted using the fragment's power would lose its strength and revert to normal blood after being outside his body for a while.
So on this point, Leo Ash wasn't worried about Otto discovering any clues.
Rather than worrying about Otto discovering the Holy Blood that wouldn't even be in Yuno's body, Leo Ash would be better off figuring out how to explain away the fact that 'Leo Ash defeated the Herrscher of Death'.
Before Yuno's consciousness fell into a deep slumber, Leo Ash had already modified her perception at top speed, changing the final outcome of the battle from 'Leo Ash defeated Yuno' to 'Yuno beat Leo Ash to a pulp and then woke up on her own'.
This time, Leo Ash's victory was, in a sense, less due to his strength and more to his good luck.
Yuno's own mental fortitude was too strong, which was why the God of Honkai had to use 'guidance' to lead her astray.
It was precisely because Yuno was the primary controller of this body from the start that she would only fall into mental confusion after Leo Ash revealed the truth, thereby exposing enough weaknesses.
Otherwise, if the Herrscher of Death had been in control from the beginning, then Leo Ash wouldn't even have been able to use the Special Beam Cannon.
The prerequisite for him to defeat the Herrscher of Death with the Holy Blood Burst was that he had first broken through her Imaginary Barrier, preventing it from being repaired in time, which allowed him to successfully suppress the enemy with that one punch.
Yes, even now, Leo Ash had not completely defeated the powerful enemy before him.
The authority of [Rebirth] was still flowing rapidly through the girl's body. As long as the Holy Blood didn't help Yuno suppress the Herrscher personality within her, Leo Ash would still be in danger at any moment.
Of course, besides the reasons above, the HSN serum left behind by Dr. Magi also deserved significant credit...
—Doctor!
Finally remembering that Dr. Magi was on the verge of death, Leo Ash immediately looked towards him not far away.
Seeing that Dr. Magi was somehow still alive, Leo Ash could only sigh at how potent the suppressive effects of the HSN serum were.
Under any other circumstances, even if Dr. Magi's body had been implanted with Honkai Energy antibodies, he would have been turned to dust the moment the Third Eruption broke out.
Yet now, after the HSN serum helped Dr. Magi survive, the overflowing Holy Blood had incidentally cured his zombification as well.
Although the shockwave had likely still broken many of his bones, for Dr. Magi, just being alive was a miracle.
Sigh, after all that fighting, my Honkai Energy and mana are almost gone.
Dimensional Energy is powerful, but I don't dare use it recklessly since I haven't mastered it.
If it weren't for the Divine Dragon's Ancient Water replenishing my mana, I wouldn't even be able to squeeze out enough for a healing spell.
However...
Leo Ash, who took out the Divine Dragon's Ancient Water and drank it, hesitated for a moment before casting a Powerful Healing Spell on Dr. Magi.
This old man was undoubtedly no moral paragon.
But the HSN serum he developed had genuinely helped him twice when facing the Herrscher of Thunder and the Herrscher of Death.
From that perspective, Leo Ash owed him two lives.
Now that he had come to his senses...
Well, I might as well save him if I can.
If he causes trouble again in the future, it won't be too late to send him to keep Cocolia company in hell, a trip she's already booked.
Seeing the old man's breathing become much smoother as his injuries healed, Leo Ash let out a temporary sigh of relief.
However, after casting a Powerful Healing Spell on himself, Leo Ash, feeling his mana more than halved, suddenly remembered something.
Wait... this is bad!
Because I was fighting a Herrscher, I forgot something important.
The reward from the System was an Intermediate Lottery Ticket. This definitely isn't the reward for fighting the Herrscher—there's no way the Herrscher of Death is worth so little.
And the System made it clear that those ten Herrscher clones weren't worth that price either.
In other words—I'm not safe yet.
What other fearless bastards would dare to trouble me at a time like this?!
His guard now back up, Leo Ash suddenly noticed that as the nearby wooden barrier withered away due to its master's slumber, a group of blue-haired soldiers appeared before his eyes.
Joyce clones.
And by a rough estimate, there were at least a hundred of them.
This is practically World Serpent's entire arsenal...
But, in my anxiety, I really did forget about this.
Otto has his eyes on the Herrscher of Death.
And World Serpent, in order to rescue Kevin, has its eyes on the Gem of Serenity inside the Herrscher of Death.
Even if I hadn't appeared on the battlefield, Gray Serpent would have dispatched his organization's strongest forces here to try and defeat the Herrscher of Death—or to pick off the weakened survivor.
Looking at the enemies before him, Leo Ash let out a deep breath, a grim killing intent instantly filling his eyes.
You didn't come to help when I was fighting the Herrscher, but you show up to scavenge after the battle is over.
It's true that I've used up a lot of my strength, but even now, I don't think this group can threaten my life.
At that moment, Leo Ash formed a sword with his fingers, once again cutting open the muscles of his body with a blade of Honkai Energy, letting the Holy Blood flow onto the ground once more.
Gray Serpent had already demonstrated that these Herrscher clones could coordinate to amplify their otherwise unimpressive power.
So now, I have to take them all down at once, as quickly as possible, before they have a chance to team up.
At that moment, as if to hypnotize himself, Leo Ash brought his palms together and walked toward the enemies before him.
And then...
"A mere few hundred Herrschers? Watch me wipe them out in a single blow!"
"Holy Blood: Endless Jizō Blade!"
Following the youth's murderous voice, the blood at his feet transformed into terrifyingly sharp blades that began to slash directly at the enemies.
Seeing their opponent launch an attack, the Herrscher clone soldiers naturally moved to act.
Only this time, under the properties of the Holy Blood, both the coordinated Imaginary Barrier they raised and the volley of gravity spheres they launched were completely nullified by it.
When the Jizō Blades turned back into blood and soaked the ground after Leo Ash exhausted his power, all the Herrscher soldiers froze.
And in the next moment...
—The soldiers, as if hacked to pieces by countless blades, fell to the ground in dismembered parts, their last traces of life extinguished.
...