"Ohoho... it seems our dear little Mr. Lin has fallen into a predicament. Do I need to stop and wait for you?"
The high Honkai conversion rate naval cannons swept across. The figure, melting within the light beams, remained unscathed as he hovered in the air. Shesha, meanwhile, blocked the cannon fire with that unidentified black mud. Ordinary floating cannons could not leave any significant scars on it, and the weaknesses Lin had previously exploited—its inner maw and eyes—were all carefully protected.
—This was clearly not experience from being defeated by Lin once, but experience the Eighth Herrscher had gained through memories.
Turquoise lightning turned the sea into a pond of thunder. Serpent-like bolts of electricity lunged at Lin in the air. Whenever he tried to block these attacks with a Honkai shield, that persistent black mist would leap out from nowhere and burrow into his shield like insects. He could only dodge these lethal lightning strikes at high speed in the air.
Was it troublesome? Not entirely. As long as he diverted a portion of his attention to guard against Shesha's electrical strikes and avoided the attack range of the giant serpent's fluid, Shesha posed almost no threat to him.
The problem lay in the fact that he could not effectively defend himself.
The phase-shift device tore through space. Lin appeared behind the Eighth Herrscher in an instant, reaching out to grab her, but he touched only a fleeting phantom and a mocking laugh.
Then, a spiral spike made of black mud lunged at him. Lin swung his blade to clash with it, but no force was transmitted to his hand. Following that, he was struck in the back, his right shoulder was pierced, and he tumbled forward.
The alternation between illusion and reality made every one of the Eighth Herrscher's attacks lethal.
What appeared to be a massive attack might only be a hollow feint, while a seemingly insignificant harassment might take his life in an instant. Force, speed, damage... these could be false, or they could be real. But once he believed them to be true, they would truly manifest as reality.
This was not an illusion that could be solved by so-called thermal scanning. The Eighth Herrscher's ability acted directly upon human consciousness. And in a world of consciousness, these illusions were "reality."
Lin fell into the sea. The spray passed through Shesha's massive form. After it vanished, Shesha's figure reappeared on another nearby part of the sea. Simultaneously, the Eighth Herrscher stood atop its fierce and menacing head.
She looked down at the place where the "Herrscher of Reason" had fallen.
the world of consciousness was her home field. Even with Lin consciousness as the host, she held an absolute advantage.
Even another Herrscher could never be stronger than her in consciousness and spirit.
Stirred by Shesha's writhing body, the sea turned from calm to turbulent. A massive whirlpool appeared in the area. A human body falling into it would be instantly shredded. Beneath the surface, terrifying electrical currents swept everywhere, searching for all life to cease its activity.
Dark clouds gathered overhead. The thunderstorms caused by Shesha fell incessantly. Except for the safe haven where they stood, the coarse lightning strikes were enough to break through even the toughest defenses.
But beyond that, everything else was so quiet.
The Eighth Herrscher did not let her guard down. She had to be certain that Lin consciousness was truly dead. The methods used by this cunning human were each more foul than the last. If she relaxed now...
Lin had not correctly used the Core of the Herrscher of Reason. He was still stuck in those narrow human thoughts of viewing himself as weak and his enemies as strong. He should have confronted her directly; in that case, he might not necessarily have lost.
Click—
A sudden slight noise rang out from amidst the waves. The Eighth Herrscher was stunned for a moment, then her expression changed as she stared at the rushing whirlpool.
A giant mechanical arm extended from the whirlpool.
Then came a second one, followed by a torso, a single azure eye, and finally, the legs.
If Shesha was a gargantuan creature that blotted out the sun...
Then the mechanical giant before her had far exceeded ordinary cognition. The distance between heaven and earth seemed to have become so short beneath its stature.
The Eighth Herrscher stared at the giant. Its single eye poked out from the thunderclouds like a searchlight illuminating the night, gazing at the insignificant, insect-like Shesha.
This was a Titan. It looked no different from those autonomous Titans that had been completely destroyed during the Seventh Eruption.
But previous Titans compared to this one were like dust compared to a human.
Shesha howled. Lightning and fluid struck the giant Titan simultaneously, leaving rifts upon its mechanical body.
This action seemed to provoke the mechanical god. It spread its three fingers and grabbed Shesha like a common poisonous snake, lifting it up and slamming it into the sea.
Bang!
Damn it—
The Eighth Herrscher suddenly realized that since the Titan was not controlled by a human, it naturally wouldn't be fooled by her abilities. Instead, it would directly launch an attack on the real Shesha!
Misfortune never comes alone. Just as missiles, bullets, and light beams fired together and Shesha coiled around the giant's body as the two monsters battled, another figure, moving so fast he was a blur, tore through the curtain of seawater, swinging dual blades toward the Eighth Herrscher's head.
Bang!
The Eighth Herrscher gritted her teeth and glared at the calm man before her. He looked completely unharmed; the wound on his right shoulder had vanished. The authority of the Herrscher of Reason allowed him to rearrange and manifest his physical body at will. As long as there was Honkai energy, it wasn't necessarily inferior to the healing effects of the Herrscher of Death's authority of Creation.
No words were needed. Arms, legs, weapons, and even floating cannons and black mist clashed countless times within seconds. Eventually, the Eighth Herrscher forcefully slammed Lin away, and the deathly black mist swallowed the floating cannons he couldn't dodge before pouncing toward him.
But at that moment, Lin stood his ground unmoved, calmly watching as the black mist surged before him, poised to ravage his body in the next second—
Whoosh!
A dark green vine blocked the black mist from below.
Those black mists, spreading the aura of death, seemed like fire meeting water when they touched the vine, a large portion of them being extinguished instantly. Then, more and more vines formed a protective wall, shielding him.
"Hm?" The Eighth Herrscher froze upon seeing those vines.
The black mist was the authority of Wither from the Sixth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Death. She had manifested it through Lin memories as a means of attack. This black mist possessed a more terrifying corrosive power than Honkai energy; whether it was life or matter, anything touched by it would perish in an instant.
But the Herrscher of Death did not possess only the authority of Wither. She also had its complete opposite: the authority of Creation.
The balance between life and death became the characteristic of the Herrscher of Death. And the only thing that could block her Wither was her Creation.
Upon seeing the vines capable of resisting the black mist, an absurd theory welled up in her heart and became reality in the following seconds.
The Eighth Herrscher looked down. A figure she had seen in Lin memories was standing on the surface of the sea. Under the command of her fingers, those vines, carrying vigorous life force, grew wildly.
After noticing the Eighth Herrscher's gaze, the figure looked up and gave her a mocking sneer.
Is this a joke...
Lin...
Using the authority of the Herrscher of Reason to recreate the body of the Sixth Herrscher?!
"What a pity, my 'sister.' If this were the real world, maybe I'd help you after being resurrected." The Sixth Herrscher, Seele, mocked the stunned Eighth Herrscher to her heart's content. A head of red and black hair fluttered in the wind pressure as she pressed down on her scythe with one hand, pinning the Eighth Herrscher beneath the blade.
"Why help humans?" Compared to the Sixth Herrscher's frenzy, the Eighth Herrscher was more composed. She questioned her betraying kin, her hands death-gripped on the end of the scythe.
"Huh? Humans? Hehehehe..." The Sixth Herrscher's teeth chattered. Her free hand swung mercilessly toward the Eighth Herrscher's face. "Isn't he a Herrscher now too? What's wrong with Herrschers helping each other! Hahahahaha!"
But this punch struck only air. The originally physical Eighth Herrscher had somehow been replaced by an illusion. The Sixth Herrscher spat, her feral pupils scanning the surroundings for the Eighth Herrscher's figure.
"Because this is his subjective conscious world, your image will also be adjusted according to his consciousness..."
A booming voice came from all directions. The Sixth Herrscher transformed her scythe into a giant claw, an impatient smile hanging on her lips: "You're a Herrscher with high self-awareness just like me, right? If so, why be so boring? When I tear that mouth of yours into six petals, will you still be able to analyze calmly? Maybe things will get a little more interesting then!"
"...Incomprehensible."
"Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough. In this virtual space you created, why should I, a Herrscher who's already dead, follow the old rules!"
"Traitor."
The Sixth Herrscher gave a savage laugh, unconcerned: "There are two of us Herrschers. You are the traitor now, 'sister'."
But at the moment she uttered the last word, that momentary lapse—so short it was almost unnoticeable—was sharply caught by the Eighth Herrscher.
It was this insignificant difference that decided the outcome of the battle in a flash.
Bang!
A Soul Steel arm pierced through the Sixth Herrscher's body from behind, erupting from her chest. Then, the expressionless Eighth Herrscher, holding the Sixth Herrscher's Core in her hand, withdrew her arm from the body.
But her body froze.
Because that mocking smile did not disappear from the Sixth Herrscher's blood-stained face.
A gust of wind blew from behind, and the Godslayer sword, at that moment, pierced through the Eighth Herrscher's body—