On the fifth day after Elias was hospitalized—
A female nurse sneaked into his hospital room late at night.
Unfortunately for her, this nurse was not trying to seize the opportunity while the great Savior was weakened to acquire his seed and optimize her next generation's genes. Instead, she was here to assassinate the Savior.
But the moment she entered the room—
"Fenghuang Down — Mental Manipulation."
"Ababa ababa ababa…"
The ever-alert Flame-Chasers instantly captured her.
Using the eighth Divine Key, the lotus-shaped Fenghuang Down, Hua easily controlled the nurse's consciousness, plunging her into a pre-woven illusion.
Afterward, everyone gathered curiously to study this Herrscher.
"So this is the Herrscher of Dominance? She's way too weak."
"Yeah. There's a detectable Core reaction, but the Honkai energy level is ridiculously low—not even 100 HW."
"No way, really? This is supposed to be a Herrscher?"
"Don't let your guard down. Elias said she's the Herrscher of Thousand. If each of them has around 100 HW of Honkai energy, that adds up to 100,000 HW in total."
From under Elias' hospital bed, Eden, Elysia, Mobius, and Aponia all crawled out.
Mobius had already picked up her soulium scalpel, wondering where she should begin cutting first.
Even if the nurse weren't a Herrscher, the very fact that she dared to try assassinating Elias was enough for Mobius to decide she would personally "study" her thoroughly—take apart every bone to find out how someone could even think of such a stupid idea.
"Misteln, your turn."
Elias spoke to his personal [Idea] lady.
"Mm, leave it to me."
There was probably no one in existence better at "understanding others" than Misteln. Relying on her power of [Transcription], she immediately investigated everything about this Herrscher of Dominance.
The nurse's thoughts and memories weren't important. What mattered was that they now fully understood the Herrscher of Dominance's authority and could begin formulating countermeasures.
"I've already understood everything about this Herrscher. There are a total of one thousand individuals, and each possesses a weakened version of one Herrscher's power that has appeared up to now."
After completing her [Transcription], Misteln began explaining.
"For example, this one's ability is poison generation—a degraded version of the Herrscher of Death's power."
"But here's the tricky part. The Herrscher of Dominance can communicate with one another regardless of distance via quantum entanglement. A single misstep could alert the entire network."
"However, that could also be our opportunity. If we use it well, we could implant false information and lure them straight into our trap."
"Sadly, this particular Herrscher doesn't know the identities of the others. It seems they don't even bother introducing themselves to their peers. How rude."
Misteln went on, dissecting every detail of the Herrscher of Dominance's abilities. Once again, the Dreamweaver had performed admirably.
Everyone applauded—and simultaneously took a cautious step back, cold sweat running down their foreheads.
Even when used solely for intelligence gathering, [Transcription] was terrifying. It allowed Misteln to understand everything about anyone—their thoughts, memories, and knowledge.
Even inanimate objects were no exception.
For example, Misteln might not know how to make a nuclear bomb. But if she used [Transcription] on one, she would instantly comprehend its principles and manufacturing method.
(Thank goodness she's on our side…)
(I must never get on Misteln's bad side. I don't want my dark history exposed.)
(Elias once called her his family. Your 'family' is terrifying, you know that?)
Seeing everyone's wary expressions, Misteln smiled gently, assuring them that she respected others' privacy… and would absolutely never leak their browser histories.
Everyone: "Damn it! We've gotta take this woman down!"
Elias: "Alright, alright, back to work."
He gestured toward Hua.
Hua gave a soft "Mm" and nodded, then implanted false information into the illusion of the Herrscher of Dominance who was already trapped within the dream.
In the illusion, the Herrscher of Dominance believed she had successfully infiltrated Elias' ward and delivered a fatal strike while the white-haired boy was asleep. Before she could finish him off, however, she was discovered and subdued by the guards.
Immediately, she sent a message through quantum entanglement to the other Herrscher of Dominance, telling them she had gravely wounded humanity's Savior and that they should hurry over to finish the job.
At that moment, the Herrscher of Dominance around the world erupted in excitement.
"Well done, whoever you are!"
"Hahaha, humanity must be panicking right now."
"They would never expect that only a few days after the Ninth Herrscher descended, we'd already appear."
"All shall follow the will of the Honkai. Erasing that human called Elias is our mission!"
"Didn't think it'd be this easy. So the Savior of humanity isn't all that impressive after all."
"Whoever you are, rest in peace. We'll take care of the finishing blow."
The Herrscher of Dominance communicated through a mental network, though the ones from the Previous Era didn't possess anything like the [Theater of Domination], nor did they take the form of puppets.
Because the Herrschers of that era had not betrayed the Honkai, the Honkai never granted them the authority to dominate and seize other Herrschers' powers. Instead, it merely distributed greatly weakened versions of past Herrschers' abilities among them.
Elias couldn't help but feel that the Honkai hadn't put much effort into these Herrscher of Dominance from the Previous Era. Their treatment was, frankly, subpar.
...
Since Elias had been "gravely injured in an assassination attempt," he was transferred to a secret Fire Moth base for emergency treatment.
A Herrscher of Dominance who worked as a journalist decided to spread chaos among humanity by leaking news of the Savior's "critical condition." Together with several high-ranking Herrscher of Dominance who held positions of power, they broadcasted the message worldwide.
And it worked perfectly.
The entire world was thrown into an uproar and panic.
"What?! The Savior was assassinated?!"
"Who did it?! Who the hell did it?!"
"No way! Absolutely impossible! Lord Elias is way too powerful—there's no way he could've been seriously injured by some assassin!"
"You idiot upstairs! Did you forget about the Ninth Herrscher? Lord Elias was severely injured saving everyone on the Mu Continent! It's only been a few days—of course his wounds haven't healed yet!"
"I just want to know which **** did this! I'll dig up their entire family's graves! That ***** dares betray all humanity?!"
"Nice telegram, man! Yeah, that assassin deserves to be torn apart! Ahhh, what if—what if something happens to Lord Elias? How will we ever defeat the Honkai then?!"
After the Ninth Herrscher incident, Elias had become a figure of faith for countless people. The moment the news of his assassination and critical injuries broke, global panic ensued.
Many people online even declared that if Elias died, they didn't want to live either.
Meanwhile, the usually gentle and kind followers of the Eli Gate had collectively gone berserk—each one like a Kalpas possessed, demanding that Fire Moth publicly reveal the assassin's identity.
In short, the entire world fell into chaos and fear.
But just as the Herrscher of Dominance were smirking to themselves, they didn't expect Fire Moth to immediately expose their existence.
Fire Moth Official Statement: [According to our investigation, the attack on Savior Elias was carried out by a newly manifested Herrscher. Though each individual appears extremely weak, their concealment ability is exceptionally high. There are likely multiple individuals of this type. Their ability is as follows… In summary, please remain vigilant. If you discover any suspicious individuals nearby, immediately contact Fire Moth at xxx number.]
Herrscher of Dominance: "???"
This time, it was their turn to panic.
They had intended to stay hidden for a while longer. Even if one of them had been captured by Fire Moth, there was no way their identities should have been exposed this quickly.
After all, the Herrscher of Dominance had intentionally broken convention. Following the descent of the Ninth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Earth—they gave humanity no time to recover, quietly manifesting just three days later.
By all logic, no one should have suspected another Herrscher so soon.
Even with detection instruments, unless the equipment was of the highest precision, it was impossible to identify the Herrscher Cores within them. Each Herrscher of Dominance's Core emitted energy waves only one-thousandth as strong as a normal Core.
They should have been the best at hiding.
Yet somehow, they had been exposed instantly.
The chaos they had worked so hard to incite was swiftly quelled as well. Humanity's outrage now had a clear target—within hours, the Herrscher of Dominance became the subject of worldwide condemnation.
Billions of people were cursing them online simultaneously. At this point, even shouting "I'm a Herrscher of Dominance!" in the street would get you beaten to death by an angry mob.
Although paranoia began to spread among humans, that was a minor issue. Under Fire Moth's coordination, the entire world was now engaged in what could only be described as a massive game of "Werewolf"—except this time, it was "Herrscher Hunt."
And the Herrscher side was in a hopeless disadvantage. There was no night phase, the Seer could check as many people as they wanted, and the Hunter could shoot freely without risk of hitting allies.
Thanks to Elias, Fire Moth's reputation had reached an all-time high, and most people were obediently following orders.
Whenever anyone spotted a suspicious individual, they would immediately call the anonymous hotline—soon after, mechs and fusion warriors would arrive to verify identities.
Fire Moth: "We will never wrongfully accuse an innocent, but we will never let a single Herrscher escape!"
As for those who refused to comply, they were few and far between. After all, at a time like this, shouting slogans about 'freedom' instead of cooperating with Fire Moth made you look suspicious enough to be a Herrscher yourself.
And when a few of those so-called rebels were indeed found to be Herrscher of Dominance, public suspicion only deepened further.
Even the most arrogant and defiant individuals eventually submitted. Being branded a Herrscher of Dominance—now the most hated label on Earth—wasn't something anyone wanted.
Still, for a simple investigation, Fire Moth's operations seemed a little too large-scale. Even if they inspected ten thousand people, there might not be a single Herrscher among them.
Which meant that hunting the Herrschers wasn't the real purpose—or at least, not Elias and Mei's real objective.
Elias: "Using the Herrscher of Dominance as an excuse works nicely. Let's take this chance to purge humanity from the inside."
Mei: "An excellent idea. I've had enough of certain trash anyway. Let's use this opportunity to deal with them."
When the forest is large enough, you'll find every kind of bird.
When the Earth is vast enough, you'll find every kind of person.
Even in the face of Honkai—a disaster threatening human extinction—there were still worthless scum holding humanity back.
Elias and Mei took the opportunity to launch a grand purge across the Previous Era, eradicating those parasites completely.
Take, for example, a certain commentator who used the Honkai for attention.
Commentator: "Fire Moth isn't that great, is it? Elias doesn't seem so amazing either. Letting the Ninth Herrscher destroy Mu Continent—if it were me, that never would've happened."
"And those fusion warriors—they've got Honkai Beast genes fused into them. Can they still even be called human? Sure, they're on our side for now, but what if they lose their sanity and become Honkai's lapdogs one day?"
"And that Honkai energy serum—shouldn't it be prioritized for social elites like me? Limited resources should be allocated rationally. Even if ordinary people are cured, it's not like they can contribute anything meaningful to humanity."
They say negative fame is still fame. By posting such arrogant comments, this man gained plenty of attention—and furious backlash. Though his reputation turned foul, he still profited from it.
But he was confident.
He knew he wasn't a Herrscher of Dominance, so even if someone reported him, the inspection would come up clean.
That was, until one day, during a livestream—
"Fire Moth—Open the door!"
"Wha—what's going on?!"
The man's face froze in utter confusion.
Several burly Fire Moth agents kicked open the door to the man's livestreaming studio, punching him straight to the floor. Facing a flood of exclamation marks in the chat, they declared:
"According to our investigation, this individual is a Herrscher of Thousand. Take him away—send him to Dr. Mobius' lab!"
"I'm not! I'm not! You've got the wrong guy!"
"Mm, that's right. Every 'Herrscher of Thousand' says the same thing when caught. Alright, enough talk. There's no point arguing with a Herrscher—bring him in, we're done here."
Amid a storm of likes and comments in the livestream chat, the commentator was cuffed with silver restraints—and was never seen again.
And he wasn't the only one.
There were others: a hospital director profiting off Honkai energy serum, a so-called philanthropist embezzling donations meant for Honkai Eruption survivors, a certain national president demanding Fire Moth reveal the MANTIS technology, and many more.
All of these individuals, powerful and well-connected, had carefully erased the traces of their crimes. Normally, Fire Moth couldn't move against them easily.
But now, Elias and Mei labeled every single one of them as Herrscher of Dominance.
And just like that—they were taken down. Eliminated.
Mei: "Ah~ That feels good! I've been sick of those deadweights for so long. Finally got to wipe them out."
Elias: "Yeah. But maybe ease up a bit—our reports still call them 'Herrscher of Thousand,' but we've already captured tens of thousands of people."
Mei: "Ah, right, good catch. I almost forgot."
That same night, Fire Moth issued a new public notice—
The term "Herrscher of Thousand" was officially updated to "Herrscher of Ten-Thousands."
And depending on future circumstances, it might soon evolve again… into N-Herrschers.
(Herrscher of Dominance: "What the hell is the Herrscher of Ten-Thousands?! We don't even have that many! Why weren't we told about this?!")
Now, whether someone was a Herrscher of Thousand—no, a Herrscher of Ten-Thousands—was decided entirely by Fire Moth's judgment.
If the Seer called you a werewolf, then even if you weren't—you were!
Once branded a "Herrscher of Ten-Thousands," no matter who you were or what social status you held, it meant nothing. In that instant, your identity was stripped away, leaving only one label: enemy of humanity.
In the end, fewer than two hundred true Herrscher of Dominance were actually found. But nearly one hundred thousand parasites were purged under that title.
In other words, Elias and Mei used this opportunity to completely cleanse humanity's internal rot.
Though new filth might someday arise, at least for now, humanity's ranks were purer than ever.
Ironically, the Herrscher of Dominance—who had intended to incite chaos—had ended up doing a great service. By showing their hand, they allowed Elias and Mei to reshape the situation to their advantage.
Elias: "Alright, their usefulness is about exhausted. It's time to draw them all out and wipe them for good. Ah, if only more Herrschers were this weak and easy to exploit. Hmm… looks like there are only three left to deal with."
Not long after, as the remaining Herrscher of Dominance—still hiding in human society and too afraid to show their faces—struggled to decide their next move, Fire Moth issued yet another global announcement.
[Global Notice]: "The Savior Elias' operation was a success. He has now passed the critical stage and is on the road to recovery. It will not be long before our Savior awakens once again."
Herrscher of Dominance: "Damn it! We had such a smooth start—how did it all end up like this?!"
Unable to wait any longer, they began risking exposure, desperately seeking information about Elias' location.