After Cecilia's death, Theresa, filled with extreme regret, understood two truths:
First, never hold back against a target identified as an enemy. If she had seized the opportunity to kill the Second Herrscher with all her might back then, the tragedy that followed wouldn't have happened.
Regrettably, with Otto tampering with Theresa's memories of the Second Eruption after the war, this realization was sealed away along with the Zeroth Rated Power of the Oath of Judah.
Second, whether an S-rank Valkyrie or an ordinary person, everyone only has one life.
If you die, you are truly dead.
Even now, Theresa, who from the bottom of her heart did not want to die, still wanted to give up fighting the enemy time and again.
Even putting aside the excruciating pain all over her body, she had countless grandiose reasons to let herself live with a clear conscience:
For example, as an S-rank combat asset, she shouldn't perish here. Evacuating in time to form a team with other S-ranks and returning to the Far East for a crusade would maximize her utility.
Or, abandon the birdcage restraining the Great Eruption and let it expand, focusing solely on fighting the Herrscher of Thunder and her companion Honkai Beast, preserving herself while buying time for reinforcements.
How could Theresa not understand such simple logic?
However, even though she could have countless rational and reasonable excuses to save herself from a detached perspective, right now, only one thing filled the girl's mind:
Once she let go and allowed the Great Eruption to spread, countless people would die violent deaths not only on this land beneath her feet but also in North Asia, Ryukyu, and even the continent across the sea from the Far East!
The polluted Sea of Japan and Seto Inland Sea would spawn innumerable mutated Honkai beasts. Spreading along the shipping lanes with ocean currents, it would be a calamity and disaster countless times more terrifying than nuclear wastewater!
Generally speaking, rationally, assuming Theresa withdrew now, under Otto's arrangement, holding the Key of Binding, she would definitely play a much greater role in the future than waiting for death here.
But there are many things where you cannot simply calculate how to maximize benefits on paper while disregarding emotions. The reason keyboard warriors can summarize after the fact is precisely because they don't face the threat of death arriving at any time and place. They can point fingers and write impassioned words from an outsider's perspective, judging the 'irrationality' of predecessors' actions with attitudes either rational or sharp.
But the people involved are here! There are hundreds of millions of people involved and their families right here!
Her eyes, faintly turning red, seemed to reflect tens or hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. The petite girl, shouldering the safety of hundreds of millions of families alone, growled low like a small beast:
"Cecilia said that missing the past is like marking the boat to find the sword in the river of time, and looking forward to the future is like quenching thirst by thinking of plums on the road ahead. The only thing we can grasp is the present."
"So Grandpa, even if I die—I won't let go!"
...
"HAAAHHHH!!!"
Accompanying Theresa's strained roar, the massive amount of Honkai energy released by both sides once again made the surrounding environment even harsher.
Everything was tainted by the Honkai. Mountains flattened during their struggle crumbled, rolling stones falling into the lake only to emerge from the tide as rock Honkai beasts wielding water serpents.
Together with the monstrosities transformed from old buildings, they rushed towards the perimeter, constantly assaulting the defense line constructed by the Valkyrie troops.
Shesha, having completed its containment mission, changed its angry glare to a hiss, its struggle becoming even more intense.
Because It saw that the master It served had opened her eyes!
Just like that, the communication channel painstakingly constructed by the wielder of the 1st Divine Key, the Overseer who had ruled Schicksal for five hundred years, was completely cut off.
The Herrscher of Thunder raised her crystal-purple jade hand, surrounded by stigmata patterns, and gently clenched it towards Theresa's location.
"Puh-ah!!!"
Even though she had been on guard, the girl fighting Shesha suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, staggered two steps, and half-knelt on the ground.
As a clone of the strongest Schicksal Valkyrie from five hundred years ago, Theresa also inherited Kallen's absolute Honkai resistance unique to the Kaslana family. having developed this trait to a certain extent, she could even weaken incoming energy attacks from all directions.
Even so, the Herrscher of Thunder's strike casually shattered the chemical bonds between atoms in her body, destroyed all electromagnetic interactions maintaining her cellular structure, and turned the interior of that petite body into a boiling furnace of chaos!
**[Unconditional interference with strong individuals of the same level]**—such power was far more terrifying than causing the earth to tremble, mountains to collapse, or oceans to churn.
This was the Authority mastered by the Herrscher of Thunder, absolute control over the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces!
Shesha naturally wouldn't give up this opportunity. Its massive body bound by Judah writhed, and the power to overturn mountains was transmitted through the ends of Judah's chains to Theresa, who was suppressing the riot within her body, easily flinging her away.
Thud!
—She crashed into the embrace of the person who arrived just in time.
Theresa, who had been gritting her teeth and holding on just a moment ago, immediately reddened around the eyes. Seeing stars, the girl slammed her head hard against the two large, hard mounds pressing against her head: "What took you so long! Damn Big Boobs Alien!"
It was unclear whether she was complaining about the other party's late arrival or angry at the things on the other's chest that she didn't have in the past and basically wouldn't have in the future.
"I'm not the Branch Chief who swings Judah around without a care."
Himeko's words held a hint of complaint, clearly very dissatisfied with her old friend's act of recklessly charging ahead alone.
"Isn't that because you're here!"
Theresa abandoned restraining the Honkai beast tide halfway to focus on fighting Shesha and the Herrscher precisely because Himeko had already set up the Valkyrie troops on the perimeter for interception.
Even without any communication in between, the old friends who had known each other for years knew what the other would do.
Himeko rubbed her forehead: "Yes, yes, yes, Lord Theresa just needs to hold the line at the front, while Murata Himeko has much more to consider in the back."
"The time the formula fits the best!"
Cumulonimbus clouds, piling up like inverted mountains, covered the sky tightly. Pale electric pythons occasionally swept through the dark clouds, and thunder rumbled faintly in the distant sky.
Compared to before, the environment after the Herrscher of Thunder opened her eyes became less harsh.
But absolutely no one would feel contempt.
Biting dogs don't bark; everyone knows this principle.
Putting down Theresa from her arms, she couldn't help but frown: "I expected the situation to be bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad!"
There has always been a saying circulating in the Honkai side—battles between powerful individuals are battles of Honkai energy.
The reason is that facing the [Authority] of Serial Herrschers, the [Reality Distortion Field] of Pseudo-Herrschers, and the [Mobile Honkai Phenomenon] held by Emperor-class and above Honkai beasts, combatants can only rely on massive amounts of Honkai energy to resist and neutralize them. Conventional technological weapons outside the Honkai side are naturally at a disadvantage.
Among them, Serial Herrschers are the most extreme. They don't even need to unfold a Reality Distortion Field like Pseudo-Herrschers to maximize their abilities; the universe itself is an extension of their Authority.
This Authority, in a sense, transcends the Honkai. It is something rule-based, philosophical, conceptual, informational, and imaginary. It can be used even without Honkai energy, and some Authorities are even contradictory to Honkai energy itself.
For example, the most typical one is Binding—that special barrier where even Honkai energy dies.
Therefore, even S-rank Valkyries need to consume massive amounts of Honkai energy at all times during battle to resist the interference of the opponent's abilities on themselves. It can be said they are fighting with a super powerful DEBUFF hanging over them from birth.
Theresa's condition was obviously that most of her attention was drawn away by Shesha's sudden riot. Even knowing she would be attacked, she didn't have the energy to spread the Honkai energy in her body to neutralize the Herrscher's Authority, so now she had to use a large amount of Honkai energy to forcibly maintain the stability of chemical bonds in her body.
Of course, this could also be considered a good thing. After all, the semi-idealistic nature of Honkai energy destined it to be naturally capable of shaking the laws of the stars.
If this were a universe where physical laws were hard to shake, the Authority controlled by a Serial Herrscher would be [Absolute]. Even if an interstellar fleet's firepower was strong enough to destroy a galaxy with a snap of fingers, as long as electromagnetic force was involved in its operating principle, the Herrscher of Thunder could easily insta-kill it.
"In a two-on-one situation, it's not easy to last this long."
Patting Theresa's butt in her arms, Himeko asked, "Can you still fight?"
"Hmph, who do you think I am!"
The girl, getting down from her, supported herself with Judah and whispered, "Are there reinforcements?"
"The electromagnetic barrier released by the Herrscher of Thunder has cut off all contact between Honshu Island and the outside world. It will take a while just for the outside to figure out the situation. I did send people out to call for help, but with their speed—"
"Conclusion!"
"Before the two of us die in battle, no."
"Is that so..."
Theresa nodded, glancing at the broken Nexus System connection device behind Himeko, severed by Shesha's attack: "Let's hurry then."
Whether to pay tribute to the white moonlight in her heart or not, after the Nexus System severed the link with its affiliated battleship, it had a total of three minutes of operation time.
The two, possessing compression techniques, spoke very fast; including understanding the situation, it took less than a second in total.
And the remaining two minutes and fifty-nine seconds were probably the last remaining time in their lives.
During this time, they had to do their utmost to weaken or even severely injure the enemy, thereby striving for a possibility of victory for the latecomers who might arrive.
Himeko, gripping the Surtr Greatsword tightly, smiled heartlessly: "So, see you at the martyrs' cemetery?"
"Stop it!"
Theresa spat at her: "This Principal still looks forward to someone breaking through the blockade and arriving here in these three minutes, taking over our mission and beating the crap out of the Herrscher of Thunder!"
With that, the girl exerted force under her feet, wielding the cross, and charged valiantly towards the high-hanging Messenger of God alongside Himeko.
Like Don Quixote charging at the windmill.
...
Under the ink-black cumulonimbus clouds, Fuli, knocked flying by the shockwave of the Herrscher of Thunder's attack, was still floating in mid-air.
The spiritual energy of the Demon Sword Shiranui was crumbling, and the Mikazuki Munechika tightly gripped in his hand emitted an ominous sound, seemingly reflecting its master's heart.
Seeing this, Dr. MEI sighed slightly.
She didn't make a sound, keeping quiet by her host's side.
Leaving aside emotional issues, the current situation fit her thoughts quite well.
Facing a full-power Herrscher of Thunder whose intensity was no less than that of the Previous Era and her companion Judgment-class Honkai Beast, let alone the current Fuli, even if he logged into his max-level account from before rebirth and ran over, it would just be the word 'DEATH'.
If the boy really inexplicably cheered up and shouted, 'I must find a way to call back Mei's consciousness!', then Dr. MEI would have a hard time.
She never wanted Fuli to be a courageous person. From a biological perspective, the genes with the most courage are either in the stomachs of beasts or in the files of the sacrificed.
Knowing you can't win but still fighting to the death—that is stupidity named hot-bloodedness.
Moreover, friendship and hard work cannot bring miracles. Dr. MEI, who had experienced more than ten Herrscher descents and witnessed with her own eyes the transformation of Himeko and numerous Herrscher of Domination individuals, knew this better than anyone.
Look at the eyes 'Raiden Mei' just used to look at everyone! It's like Zombie Mode in CrossFire. One second you're holding a gun, sharing life and death with your teammates, fighting off the zombies' frantic attacks together.
The next second, you get infected, and you have to wave your claws to tear apart your former teammates' flesh and assimilate them, yet you, controlling the character outside the screen, won't feel anything wrong.
Because these are the rules of the game. If you hesitate even a bit, the teammates who were like brothers before will turn you into a sieve.
So-called Herrscher transformation is just this unreasonable matter-of-course.
Such a 'Raiden Mei' would absolutely show no mercy when facing Fuli.
Dr. MEI didn't want him to die here. If this little guy died, who would she observe?
Thus, she chose to curl into a ball in the corner of his retina, fading her existence as much as possible, letting the boy be carried away from the battlefield by inertia.
Until another cool, childish voice, carrying a bit of kuudere and a bit of cyber-flavor, sounded.
[Host.]
Able to enter the channel of the Terminal Aide System to speak, aside from Dr. MEI and Fuli the holder, naturally only Prometheus, the System Unit No. 1, remained.
[Prometheus, you—]
Dr. MEI, sensing that Miss Will of Honkai was about to ruin her good deed again, stopped mid-sentence.
[Shut up! MEI! Listen to Prometheus!]
According to the 'Prometheus Duality', the little AI when referring to herself by name is either very happy or extremely angry.
Now was obviously the latter.
So Dr. MEI obediently shut her mouth, feeling a teeny bit wronged in her heart.
She's just a fifty-thousand-year-old baby, why are you always fierce to her!
As the key to Project Stigma among the three major plans, Dr. MEI and the lunar bubble universe she resided in were created by the Pioneers of the Previous Era by replicating reality.
As a replica inheriting the memories and appearance of MEI, an ordinary human, without having personally experienced those events, to preserve her mind, Dr. MEI had basically been in a dormant state for these fifty thousand years.
Rounding up, the time she had been awake was less than a week in total.
She hadn't even had her one-month-old celebration wine yet!
...