"You're so good at regenerating, aren't you? Go on, regenerate for me!"
The Herrscher of Thunder sneered, continuously blasting Jizo Mitama's body back into atoms.
The Herrscher of Thunder fought with increasing frenzy. The dazzling lightning made even Durandal and Rita a little afraid, worried that she might strike them down as well.
As Durandal pierced Abyss Flower into Jizo Mitama's body time and again, the power of withering contained within the Black Abyss accumulated inside it, reducing its regeneration speed by several orders of magnitude.
Then, Rita used frost to continuously slow, and eventually freeze, Jizo Mitama solid.
The moment Rita completely froze it, the Herrscher of Thunder transformed lightning into a giant tachi, Durandal leaped high into the air, raising Abyss Flower and gathering power, and Rita quietly activated the communicator by her ear to send a message to Kika.
"Sword Manifestation: Amaterasu!"
"Abyss Flower: Sacred Lance Bloom!"
Durandal threw Abyss Flower, which pierced straight through Jizo Mitama's torso, blasting a large hole in it. The Herrscher of Thunder's subsequent slash then cleaved Jizo Mitama in two.
Following that, a red beam of light over ten meters wide shot up diagonally from the ground, piercing through the building and completely annihilating Jizo Mitama before dissipating into the sky.
The Herrscher of Thunder turned, looking askance at where Jizo Mitama had been, her proud face now filled with contempt.
Durandal landed softly, recalling Abyss Flower and standing ready with her lance. She made no further movements, merely preparing to attack again at a moment's notice.
With that, the Herrscher of Corruption was utterly defeated.
The Herrscher of Thunder walked past Durandal and Rita, stopping in front of them. Without turning her head, she said to them:
"You should leave. What comes next is a battle of Herrscher authorities. You can't just try to take my territory without paying a price."
"We are comrades. We can help."
"Hah."
The Herrscher of Thunder didn't respond to Durandal. She just gave a cold laugh and vanished in a flash of lightning.
She was going to devour the residual Honkai energy left by the Herrscher of Corruption. What help could Durandal and Rita possibly provide? Help feed her?
"Lady Durandal, we should rendezvous with Lady Kika and the others first!"
"I suppose that's our only option. Let's go."
—————————————
After Higokumaru's demise, the Tenshukaku's signal jamming of the data space disappeared. Nagamitsu and Yiselian immediately contacted Ryn and his team.
"What? A Herrscher of Corruption appeared in the prime world too? And it's already been eliminated... Well, that's fine. We'll report on the rest when we get back..."
Ryn ended the communication with Yiselian. After a moment of silence, he prepared to lead Yae Sakura and the others back to the prime world.
Immersed in sorrow, Yae Sakura held Jizo Mitama and remained silent for a long time.
Fu Hua was quiet as usual, but she too was in low spirits, as Hiyokumaru had been one of her few friends.
As for Bronya... her mouth had been covered by Oath of Judah.
The ever-considerate Oath of Judah knew not to disturb everyone at a time like this, so it didn't want the emotionless Bronya to interfere and covered her mouth.
Finally, under Bronya's dead-fish stare, Oath of Judah thought for a moment and covered its own mouth as well, even tying up Bronya's hands for good measure.
Ryn couldn't help but laugh at Oath of Judah's antics, exasperatedly tapping its Soulium head. In response, Oath of Judah tied up its own hands too... and then looked at Ryn with an expression that screamed "praise me."
Just as Ryn and the others were preparing to leave, Yiselian discovered the signal was lost again, and the gate that was about to open was forced to abort.
A spatial rift opened in front of them.
"Could you wait a moment? There's something I want to tell you about Higokumaru."
Ai walked out, carrying Cortana, Ada, and Gray Serpent—whose faces were covered in sticky notes—along with a bunch of other AIs.
The moment she was out, Cortana bolted. Ai gave a helpless smile and then completely sealed the space.
Looking at Ada, Gray Serpent, and the others who were inwardly cursing Cortana for her lack of loyalty, Ai smiled, wiped their memory data, and sent them back to where they belonged.
Seeing the perfectly fine Cortana, Ryn exclaimed in shock:
"Cortana! Why aren't you dead yet?!"
"You'll die before I do!"
Cortana flew over and playfully punched Ryn with her little fists, then floated behind him and stroked the back of his neck.
After a moment, Cortana asked Ryn with a puzzled expression, "Strange... why can't I feel it anymore? Where's my body?"
"Uh... it was destroyed."
Ryn took a charcoal-black chip from his Stigmata Space and handed it to Cortana.
"???" Cortana looked at Ryn in disbelief, then back at her main body.
"I know we're close, but you didn't have to cremate me the second I died!!"
"The Herrscher of Corruption did this... I didn't burn it!"
"So I'm a data ghost now?! It would have been better if you had just killed me back then..."
Cortana's eyes immediately welled up with tears. Without a physical body, no matter how powerful she was, she was just data, at constant risk of being deleted.
Finally, Cortana handed the chip to Ai, who had been watching quietly, and looked at her with a pitiful expression.
Ai waved a hand over the chip, reversing its time to before it was damaged.
Seeing the chip restored to its original state, Cortana was overjoyed. Just as she was about to thank Ai, Ai tapped a finger on her forehead.
Cortana immediately suffered a data overload, lost consciousness, and was absorbed back into her main body's chip.
Ai tossed the chip back to Ryn and greeted everyone.
"Hello. I am the Chrono Navi."