"The..."
Just as he was about to stop time, Ryn paused. A smile couldn't help but form on his lips as he felt a familiar presence.
"I may not have a way to deal with your elemental form, but now a way has just arrived..."
Reaching out his hand towards a certain spot below, a golden chain spear appeared in Ryn's hand.
"Oath of Judah! Zeroth Power, 「Divine Grace Barrier」, directional deployment!"
——————————————
...
Three seconds passed. All was calm and peaceful, nothing had happened...
The Judah's Lance trembled, as if saying to Ryn, "What's a Divine Grace Barrier?"
Damn, I forgot this wasn't the so-called Key of Binding.
...
"?"
Looking at the unchanging surroundings, Mei tilted her head.
"Is that it?"
"This is it! The World!"
Ryn stopped time, but not for the Judah's Lance. He raised the spear and threw it forcefully at Mei.
Everything was frozen, but the spear was not. This meant that in the perception of all things, its time had been erased...
After time resumed its flow, the spear instantly appeared in front of Mei, piercing through her body and carrying her hundreds of meters through the air.
Mei's charging motion was also forcibly interrupted by Judah's attack. The uncontrolled energy turned into a lightning storm laser that streaked across half of Nagazora City, directly carving off half of the already coastal city and returning it to the sea.
Fortunately, the attack only grazed the area above ME Corp... Although ME Corp was now split in two, the people below were all fine.
Blood dripped from Mei's body along the shaft of Judah's Lance, painting a bloody line across the sky.
"Cough..." Mei coughed up blood. She cut the Judah's Lance with an electromagnetic hand-blade, then disintegrated the remaining section inside her body into atoms.
Mei dealt with it quickly, but the piercing wound was real... her body was so weak she could barely maintain flight.
"Heh... Theresa, is it? Never mind, I'm out of energy. That's all for today..."
Seeing Ryn charging up again, Mei transformed into a flash of lightning and vanished.
Ryn tried to forcibly hold her there with a black hole, but only managed to collect some scattered lightning particles.
"Why is this so troublesome... Tsk, couldn't she just be like that idiot Thunder Herrscher from the Previous Era and be taken care of with ordinary firearms..." Ryn clicked his tongue and turned to fly towards Ryn.
Everyone has their own Field, whether they are Herrschers or humans. What they control is actually the Honkai energy within their own Field. The Herrscher of the Void can't just open a space portal inside someone else's body with a glance, and the Herrscher of Flamescion can't make someone spontaneously combust from the inside.
But the Herrscher of the Void can directly shift space, ignoring your Field and transferring you and the space within your Field... and the Herrscher of Flamescion can ignite all the space outside your Field...
Ahem, getting off topic...
So what was it that was controlling and draining the Honkai energy from Ryn's body?
——————————————
Although Mei's attack didn't land on its intended trajectory, it still caused immense damage to ME Corp...
The power system was completely fried by the strong thunderstorm. Fortunately, people had already evacuated ME Corp, so there were not many casualties.
But unfortunately, the arsenal was destroyed. The important tool that Bronya and Yiselian had been so excited about, which they saw as a key to counter-attacking the Honkai, was gone just like that.
ME Corp had complete and high-tech production lines. When Yiselian found out, she was so excited she was about to cry.
Despite having incredible skills, she was limited by circumstances and became the useless person Emisha called her. With these production lines, Yiselian could have done so many amazing things.
And now it was all gone. Emisha didn't feel much, but Yiselian, as a scientist, saw black and collapsed.
Even now, Yiselian is still slumped on the ground like a cat, having lost all hope in life.
(PS: cat_meme_i'm_a_useless_cat.jpg)
Emisha removed the instrument from Ryn and stood up, shaking her head.
"Sigh..."
"Don't you sigh! How is she? What's the situation?"
Upon hearing Emisha's sigh, Ryn immediately became anxious. Could it be that Ryn was going to die?!
"She's fine, it's mostly due to physical exhaustion. She's been fighting constantly lately, so she's probably just worn out.
As for the Honkai energy you mentioned... sorry, the equipment is too rudimentary. I can't detect anything..."
Emisha gave Ryn an apologetic look. Even if something was really wrong with Ryn, she, as a doctor, couldn't diagnose it or treat it right now...
"It's okay... I roughly know what's going on. Go take care of the others!"
Ryn patted Emisha's shoulder, signaling her not to worry.
The people who survived at least had some skills, but they were limited by various conditions and couldn't unleash their full potential... Whether it was the great inventor Yiselian or the genius doctor Emisha, they were capable but completely unable to perform.
——————————————
Seele and the others took Ryn and Himeko back to the base first, while Bronya stayed behind with Yiselian to salvage what wasn't completely destroyed at ME Corp...
Ryn, on the other hand, came alone to a highway.
Because the land in Nagazora City was very expensive, the highways passing through the city were elevated. Standing on the viaduct, one could see half of Nagazora City...
Theresa, wearing a black tin-plate trench coat, stood alone on the edge of the viaduct, looking at ME Corp several kilometers away.
Ryn landed gently beside Theresa and stood with her.
"Grand-aunt, thank you for your help."
"Don't mention it... I won't help you kill Kiana, but I won't stand by and watch Mei kill you either..."
"Are you really not coming back? You must have seen it too, right? Mei is no longer the person she used to be."
Ryn had seen the memories of God Kiana in the Stigmata, so he knew their past story...
The old Mei was gentle and considerate. Although she had the reserve and arrogance of a young lady, she would never have been as indifferent as she was now...
Theresa took out a beer and chugged half of it in one go, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
"Yes, I know, but so what? I couldn't save Kiana, and I can't save anyone else. I have nothing left now...
Friends, family, career... after the Great Honkai Eruption, everything turned to ash and scattered with the wind.
I'm still alive only to fulfill the promise I once made to Cecilia."
"..."
The label on the bottle... it was bitter melon juice... Theresa no longer drank bitter melon juice, and the only substitute was alcohol...