Bianca's fist buried itself into the head of the impossibly massive, hundred-meter-class Honkai Beast. The entire ground trembled with the impact. The beast that had blotted out the sun was smashed into the earth, the mountains crumbling and the ground splitting. She leaped into the air, gripped her lance, and drove it through the beast's skull like a fine thread passing through a needle.
Rumble...
Like a collapsing mountain range, the final Honkai Beast died at Bianca's hands. She landed on the ground and caught her breath. Her injuries were severe, but together with the Armed Puppets, she had successfully cleared out every last monster.
However, Lin and the Herrscher of Void were nowhere to be found. This left Bianca consumed with anxiety. She saw the Armed Puppets gathering around her, chattering as if trying to lead her away for medical treatment, but she simply shook her head gently and looked up at the sky.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, she looked in one direction as a terrifying pinkish-purple portal swung wide in mid-air.
For some reason, Bianca's heart skipped a beat.
Her intuition had always been sharp; she had completed many life-or-death missions by relying on it.
But now, her intuition felt like it was wailing. Her heart was pierced by an inexplicable sensation—a sharp, drilling pain.
A figure emerged from the portal. She looked down with disdain at the tiny humans on the ground, her golden pupils cold and heartless.
Bianca's expression froze.
Hanging from the Herrscher of Void's arm was a man who had lost everything but his right arm. His silver hair was dull and lifeless, and his slumped head was devoid of color, looking like a piece of frozen meat.
The Herrscher of Void gripped the core and pulled her hand out of the man's body. This wasn't a true Herrscher Core, but the Pseudo-Herrscher Core was still of use to her.
She placed the Pseudo-Core against her chest. Ripples, like the surface of water, appeared on her chest as she absorbed the core into her body.
Then, she extracted the true Herrscher Core from the shattered Oath of Judah and absorbed it as well.
The light-wings on her back gradually dispersed and reconsolidated into a giant cross. Above her head, a golden halo manifested, and the long dress she wore traced out brilliant golden lines and trimmings.
She slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her once pure golden pupils were stained with an iridescent rainbow hue.
The Herrscher of Void glanced down at the dazed Bianca and the Armed Puppets. With a casual release of her grip, the man's broken body plummeted toward the ground.
A blazing blue comet shot from the earth toward the falling body. The golden-haired girl opened her mouth as if to say something.
Thud!
The moment her hand touched the man, a golden cross nailed itself into her chest.
The Herrscher of Void lowered her hand indifferently, watching the tiny insects fall from the sky—a height they were never meant to reach.
...
"What is happening..."
Yama stood up abruptly. A flicker of pain crossed her face. She clutched her chest as the iridescent light in her eyes pulsed uncontrollably.
An unprovoked sensation climbed into her heart, as if a sharp knife were twisting in her chest.
"Something happened to that guy..." Yama murmured, an inexplicable light flashing in her eyes. She immediately wanted to manipulate the Second Divine Key to travel elsewhere.
She had her mark within Lin consciousness; she could find which world bubble he was in at any time.
But before she could take a single step, a bizarre shadow blocked her path.
The moment Yama saw him, she understood. she barked sharply, "Get out of the way!"
"Now, that won't do, little Yama. You must learn to stay calm. I know every Lin is a hot-blooded type beneath a cold exterior, but you can't be over a thousand years old and still haven't learned to keep your cool." The man held his hands behind his back and smiled at Yama. "Where are you going? Craving sweets? To be honest, I'm actually quite good at making desserts."
"Get the hell away from me! What have you done!" A tall mechanical figure immediately materialized behind Yama, raising its cannon and aiming it at the man.
"Haven't you already tried to interfere with other 'Leaves'? I don't need to tell you the results, do I? Are you now just as muddled as Lin, planning to do something unrealistic? Don't you hate that quality of his the most?" One question after another spilled from the man's mouth.
He was unhurried, yet just by standing there, an indescribable dread spread from his person.
"What I do is none of your business!"
"...Hm, I suppose so."
The man actually pondered for a second, then nodded with a smile. But that smile was deeply playful and sinister.
"But unfortunately, even if you wanted to go to that world bubble now, you couldn't."
Yama activated her Herrscher Core without hesitation. "You can try me."
"No, no, no. What I mean is... your Cosmic Juggernaut is no longer functional."
"..." Yama was stunned. Inside the carriage, she immediately tried to drive the Second Divine Key.
But, just as the man had said, the Second Divine Key did not respond to her.
Or rather, the very heart of the Second Divine Key was gone.
"I know what you want to say." The man spread his arms, a sneer on his lips. "You should realize one thing: a Herrscher's consciousness actually resides within the Herrscher Core. Even if their physical bodies are destroyed and the cores are fashioned into Divine Keys, their consciousness remains."
"Of course, while it exists, it's not much different from death. Only a few Herrschers have special states after death. For instance, you can reshape a body using your authority even if your flesh is gone. The Herrscher of Sentience can anchor her consciousness in other vessels. And then there's..."
The man raised an eyebrow and didn't continue. He endured Yama's increasingly cold gaze, his expression unchanging.
"A typical Herrscher cannot be resurrected even if you shove their core into a new body; it would simply be the birth of a new Herrscher. The original consciousness would even be replaced."
"However, using the authority of the Herrscher of Death, one can revive the consciousness within a Herrscher Core."
The space in the carriage wasn't large, and a freezing chill drifted through it. Yama picked up her Abyss Flower and stared coldly at the man she could not see through.
"You... resurrected the Herrscher of Void." After a long silence, her raspy, low voice emerged from her throat.
The man raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Precisely. Not only that, but I also let her find the warship of an old friend so she could obtain a second Herrscher Core. Furthermore, I lured a guest into that world bubble so she could discover and seal that slightly troublesome little toy inside her body."
"What exactly... are you trying to do?"
"Is it not obvious?"
The man laughed heartily, his face devoid of any shadow. He looked at Yama, who was gripping her weapon, and smiled brightly—
"Evidently, I want to kill him—until not a single trace of him remains."