Key of Judgment (Seven Thunders of Retribution), Third Rated Power: Heart Blade. It projects the wielder's vision into the sky within shooting range, locking onto the target from a high vantage point. After charging, the beam fired from the gun will be emitted from the projected eyes in the sky.
At first glance, it seems unremarkable.
However, once combined with the Key of Judgment's basic passive ability—"Atomic Disintegration," which breaks down the target into atoms—the power of this move instantly escalates to a terrifying level that even regular Outliers wouldn't dare to withstand easily.
As a price, this power causes considerable consumption for the user.
However, with Raven's physical fitness approaching that of an Outlier, and the various high-grade recovery medicines she prepared before the mission (placed by her left hand to be swallowed or injected at any time), firing dozens or even a hundred times consecutively wouldn't be much of a problem.
Even so, theoretically speaking, even though Siegfried was currently in a weakened state, the Atomic Disintegration Beam posed little threat to him.
The injury that was hard for him to recover from in a short time was the mental trauma inflicted by the Edge of Taixuan, not physical wounds.
With S-Rank physical qualities as a base, plus his mastery of the Kaslana Gun Kata, the man possessed substantial resistance against shooting-type attacks.
Theoretically, this was true.
"Who is it?!!"
Having just climbed ashore, Siegfried hadn't even had time to catch his breath when a fatal sense of crisis made his hair stand on end. He drew the Twin Pistols of Shamash without thinking.
Looking up, he saw the twilight sky densely covered with pitch-black arrows.
Each one was wreathed in lightning, as if Honkai beams were brewing within them. The total number was close to a hundred!
——— When the synchronization rate with the Seven Thunders of Retribution reaches 50%, the Divine Key's AI will actively communicate with the user and unlock the Second Rated Power.
Whenever a reasonably powerful enemy is killed, the Key of Judgment's power converts the enemy's remains into a storable and controllable independent floating unit called a "Dark Feather" (Dark Arrow).
As extensions of the gun, Dark Feathers can teleport to any position within shooting range to attack on behalf of the wielder, though their power is slightly weaker than the gun itself.
The upper limit for generating Dark Feathers is related to the load on the Divine Key and the user's mental strength. Furthermore, when appearing in the material world, they require the user's mental strength to maintain, otherwise they will vanish.
With Raven's current strength, she could control at most ninety-three Dark Feathers simultaneously.
So she deployed them alongside the projected 'eyes' of Heart Blade above Siegfried, greeting him alone with a volley of ninety-five Atomic Disintegration Beams!
Void Archives, Cosmic Juggernaut, Key of Stasis, Abyss Flower... Due to the characteristics of their Herrscher Cores, the lethality of these well-known God-Slaying armaments wasn't their primary function.
But the Seven Thunders of Retribution, at least in sniper mode, was comparable to the Judgment of Shamash—a top-tier offensive weapon!
"Damn it!"
Facing nearly a hundred beams charging simultaneously, Siegfried cursed inwardly.
As an S-Rank knight with rich combat experience, he saw the fatal weakness of Raven's combo at a glance:
Each Dark Feather was an independent unit, meaning they could be defeated individually.
The problem was that the timing chosen by the opponent was extremely clever. Having just shaken off pursuers, Siegfried was at his most defenseless moment.
Moreover, the pursuit squad led by Mu Hanyin and he himself had no killing intent, which made the man instinctively hold back during combat, affecting his current defensive and counter-attacking stance.
Simply put, he was used to sitting at the kids' table, and suddenly being dragged to the adults' table and forced to chug Maotai left him completely bewildered.
This was the gold standard of Raven, the number one mercenary in the Americas. In terms of combat record, even Rita, who was also proficient in assassination and had several aliases in the mercenary world, fell short.
Siegfried hadn't even activated the Key of Destruction beyond its basic twin pistol state!
How to win when the opponent has "flying dragons riding face"?
The answer is: Call for foreign aid.
Whoosh—!
A purple beam tore through the sky, making a bold entrance in the nick of time and precisely sniping a charging Dark Feather!
The out-of-control Atomic Disintegration Beam exploded in mid-air, instantly detonating several subsequent light arrows around it, causing a domino-like collapse.
Subsequent beams followed closely, explosions ringing continuously in the night sky. The bursting firelight illuminated the firmament.
Seizing the opportunity, Siegfried quickly utilized the Kaslana Gun Kata, unlocking the Hand Cannon mode of Shamash, and shot down the remaining Dark Feathers that posed a threat to him one by one.
"Oh ho?"
Creating Dark Feathers consumed energy, but their destruction did not. Raven raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Siegfried, encountering this move for the first time, could see through the weakness of the Second Rated Power at a glance; naturally, she, the user, knew it too.
Therefore, she had calculated the positions carefully during deployment to ensure that the explosion of a single Dark Feather would hardly affect other independent units.
In other words, that mysterious sniper expert not only planned this interception but also precisely calculated the shooting angle and explosion magnitude, ensuring that the detonated beam would wipe out several Dark Feathers collaterally.
"An expert, eh!"
The gray-haired, red-eyed beauty curled her lips into a playful and bewitching smile, not at all flustered by this failure.
In their line of work, once emotions fluctuated, death was truly not far away.
Compared to the failure, Ms. Ciora was more curious about who exactly was spoiling her fun.
She moved the sniper rifle's diamond cursor, tracing the source of the purple light to get to the bottom of it.
The sniping range and power of the Seven Thunders of Retribution were closely related to synchronization rate. With an 80% synchronization rate, Miss Raven, located in Kyrgyzstan, could use it to snipe Siegfried nearly a thousand kilometers away in the far north of Xinjiang.
This was only possible because the territories of nearby countries were vast. If this were on the other side of the Eurasian continent, nearly a thousand kilometers would span three to five European countries.
Relying on this extremely powerful sniping vision, she quickly captured the silver-white battleship hovering within Kazakhstan's borders, and the breathtakingly beautiful girl suspended in the high sky, exuding majesty as if the Heavenly Emperor Sakra (Indra) had manifested.
It was Raiden Mei.
In mid-air, her aura was awe-inspiring and cold. Floating behind her were six seraphic wings of light shaped like thunderbolts. These wings were composed of countless energy crystals of varying sizes, covered in artistic, crimson-purple cracks.
"Realm of Thunder: Ultra-Long-Range Strike Mode."
The girl commanded indifferently.
One of the wings of light behind her turned into dancing purple-white lightning and fell into her hand, transforming into a super-heavy sniper rifle several meters long.
"Wow! Cool!"
Ciora let out an exaggerated exclamation.
Obviously, it was this so-called "Ultra-Long-Range Strike Mode" that had destroyed her Dark Feathers one by one.
The only small issue was that Miss Raven could snipe Siegfried across borders partly due to her own skills, but also because the Seven Thunders of Retribution's AI assisted the user by calculating ballistics, observing environmental effects on sniping, and adjusting for optimal positioning.
But this Raiden Mei, even if she was relatively closer, was still at least a hundred kilometers away.
Sniping from over a hundred kilometers away... are you telling me you're relying purely on iron sights?
Of course not pure iron sights.
——— Realm of Thunder: Judgment. A growth-type armament created from scratch by Mei, referencing the construction principles of Herrscher armaments.
When not in combat, it transforms into exquisite, small glasses or a bracelet, significantly enhancing the user's information processing and calculation capabilities. In combat, through the combination of different blocks, it can form Judgment Armaments of various shapes and abilities.
Currently, the information library of the Realm of Thunder stores 114,514 forms.
As long as Mei's mental strength and control are sufficient, she can freely combine parts of the Realm of Thunder to construct the form she desires.
"Oh, oh. No wonder when I was wandering by the lake earlier, I felt like something scary was aiming at my forehead."
Deep in the Alps, the white-haired fox girl stood on tiptoe, gazing into the distance.
"Truly terrifying, Raiden Mei of the Hyperion. Lucky she didn't make a move on those three little ones~"
Flicking her fluffy tail, Shuhu turned and leisurely disappeared into the birch forest.
"Raiden Mei, is it? Interesting."
A thousand miles away, the corner of Raven's mouth curled into a smile.
Whether in the Honkai world or other dimensions, a very interesting phenomenon always appeared:
The higher the combat power level, the fewer the ranged units. Everyone seemed more keen on using cold weapons and fists to beat each other up, perhaps due to brain rot from "Starcraft" logic.
Ciora didn't intend to delve into the reasons, but to be honest, she hadn't encountered a long-range expert capable of battling her for a very long time.
"Let Senior see just how far you can go."
Miss Raven did not activate the Divine Key's Rated Power again. Instead, relying on the vision provided by the Seven Thunders of Retribution, she fired one Atomic Disintegration Beam after another at Siegfried.
Mei also went full throttle with her computing power. The special bullets tearing through the air acted like the most precise shield, accurately intercepting every deadly beam in mid-air, blocking the streaks of light attempting to penetrate her father's best friend and Kiana's father.
That night, between the wilderness of Shenzhou's northern border, the grasslands of Kazakhstan, and the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, countless eyes turned to the sky in unison.
Thousands of 'fireworks' bloomed like stars, lighting up the lifeless night.
Regrettably, this contest separated by hundreds of kilometers ultimately ended without a victor.
Compared to the Hyperion, which operated openly, World Serpent couldn't withstand scrutiny.
Moreover, the Jiangsu Ship was hovering right above the Kanas region. Thus, under Gray Serpent's cover, Raven withdrew cleanly first.
Inside the Hyperion, Kallen breathed a sigh of relief. She phased through the deck and floated to Mei's side, complaining, "Good thing we acted later, and that Diviner Qingque explained the situation to the Taixuan Front in time. Otherwise, their aerial battleship would have surrounded us long ago."
"Mm."
The heavy sniper rifle in her hand turned into wings of lightning and returned to the Stigmata Space. Mei landed back on the deck, her high heels making a faint sound.
Her gaze was cold. "Is Siegfried still there?"
"Who knows where he ran off to long ago!"
The Saintess rolled her eyes dramatically. We Kaslanas are passionate and straightforward, but not brainless. Given this situation, if he didn't run, would he wait for the big shot sniping from hundreds of kilometers away to aim at his forehead again?
Mei sighed. "Pity."
Kallen looked at her suspiciously. "Speaking of which, Sister, you didn't want to kill that Siegfried too, did you?"
"No, I just intended to 'borrow' the Judgment of Shamash from him to study for a few days."
The girl turned her head away, flatly denying it.
That was right. This was the reason she 'arrived' in time—well, one of them.
Raven's methods needed no introduction; World Serpent cadres trained by Gray Serpent were experts at concealment. Separated by over a thousand kilometers, no matter how powerful Mei was, she couldn't have detected Raven's intent in advance without some metaphysical means.
The girl simply had her eyes on Siegfried just like Raven did, intending to 'borrow' the Key of Destruction from the old man for research.
It just so happened that Raven made her move first—Hey! If you do that, then I'll have to transform into a warrior of justice and slay demons!
Kallen expressed doubt about this. Her Kaslana intuition told her: Mei just wanted to vent some anger for Kiana, to teach this smelly dad a lesson for abandoning his daughter without a goodbye when she was twelve.
Unfortunately, she had no proof.
Mei spoke again: "Genesis doesn't need to stay in standby-launch state anymore."
"That person named Shuhu ran away?"
"Mm."
"Alright."
Kallen snapped her fingers, and the Genesis Cannon, capable of shattering a third-class planet, fell silent. "By the way, that Diviner named 'Qingque' is really amazing. Not only did she calculate where Shuhu would appear, but she even accurately predicted where Siegfried would come ashore... Why didn't she notify the Shenzhou side but told us instead—Eh? Mei, why do you look so grim?"
"It's nothing."
Unpleasantness condensed between the girl's brows.
Indeed, Fu Xuan contacted Schicksal, prompting them to send Durandal and Eleanor. Qingque, her subordinate promoted single-handedly by her, naturally took action as well.
But for some reason, when contacting the highly attractive Luofu Diviner via the screen earlier, even though the other party's tone was humorous and likable, Mei still felt an inexplicable heaviness on top of her head, a premonition that she was about to be "Mei-bullied" (cucked/humiliated).
Hope it's just an illusion.
She thought.
After safely delivering Fuli and the others back to the Fish Viewing Pavilion, Miss Sadako took a winding route and returned to the combat conference room of the Jiangsu Ship.
"Mission accomplished, Celestial. Little Brother Fuli, Little Kiki, and Little Duck-Duck have been safely delivered~"
"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Yamamura."
Fu Hua breathed a sigh of relief, stood up gratefully, and bowed solemnly to her.
"Eh, eh, eh! Please don't!"
Miss Sadako dodged in alarm. She couldn't bear a bow from this person.
The object of worship for five thousand years in the land of Huaxia—if she hadn't dodged, she, a ghostly spirit, might have been annihilated on the spot!
"Uh, sorry."
The girl also realized the other party's special constitution. After nodding in acknowledgement, she sat back in her seat, waiting uneasily for the high-ranking officer hosting the battleship, as well as Yanqing, Durandal, and the others.
To describe Fu Hua's current mood, it was pure "Xiahou Dun acting as a pirate—blind in both eyes (completely dark/hopeless)."
How could I be so thoughtless? Accidentally blurting out shameless words about wanting to become Cousin's l-l-l-l-lover?
Especially knowing that the entire battle was watched by Shuhu, she felt so embarrassed she wished she could dig out a three-bedroom apartment on the spot, crawl in, and wait for all these people to die of old age before coming out.
Anyway, it wasn't the first time she'd done something like this. Having a long life was amazing like that.
...