Zing!
A pair of pitch-black crystal pincers swept across the body of Finality's companion beast.
The body of Cancer, along with its Honkai Core, was instantly snipped apart by the Great Crab's pincers, which were imbued with the Authority of Death.
But—
Crack!
The shattered core reconverged, and Cancer was as vigorous as ever.
"This is no good."
To put it one way, Cancer's combat strength wasn't particularly high, and its use of its Authority was pitifully weak. But, as luck would have it, its Authority was the Authority of Reason.
As a true Judgment-class Honkai Beast, it did the one thing that most befitted its rank: it frantically produced Honkai Cores within its body.
That's right.
Unlike the vast majority of Honkai Beasts on both sides of the conflict, which possessed only a single core, a creature like Cancer, with its multiple Honkai Cores, was the very definition of a proper Judgment-class Honkai Beast.
Therefore—as long as a single core remained, all the others could be restored using Honkai energy. When fighting an opponent of the same level, Cancer's life force was unbelievably potent.
With the Great Crab's strength, it was impossible for it to instantly pulverize all of Cancer's Honkai Cores.
Correspondingly, Cancer's direct combat ability wasn't very strong either. While its attacks could break through the Great Crab's defenses, they were far from being able to deliver a fatal blow, and they couldn't even touch Pardofelis's shadow.
"Pardo."
"Meow?"
"Use your words!"
"At your service!"
A stalemate was definitely not a viable option.
Although the Authority from the Monarch had greatly enhanced its combat power, its Honkai energy consumption had increased proportionally. It could maintain its current "Selket" form for thirty seconds at most, yet on the other fronts, the battles were basically already over.
And so...
Poof!
The giant beast's body dissolved into a cloud of particles.
The intertwined black and white Authorities simultaneously "returned" toward the Monarch's position. The Great Crab relinquished the Authority of Death and transformed its body into a humanoid form, which was much better suited for dodging!
Thump.
"Eh?"
In the instant Pardofelis was left dumbfounded, the Great Crab snatched "Can" from atop her head, hugged it tightly, and leaped onto the back of the giant cat she had transformed into.
"Run!"
"This thing can't catch you!"
The roles of rider and mount had been completely reversed!
"..."
BANG!!
Pardofelis, dodging Cancer's attack, came to a halt on a shattered piece of a meteorite.
"Hey!"
"This is a huge departure from the cool image you had just now!"
The Great Crab's grip was a bit painful on her beautiful "golden-shaded" fur.
"What do you know? This is called gap moe!"
Although it didn't say anything more, the Great Crab changed its posture, lowering its body and wrapping its arms tightly around the big cat's neck.
"..."
She cast one last look at the snarling Cancer before her.
Since the main combatant had said so, there was no need, nor was it possible, for a freeloader like her to fight the enemy head-on.
The only plan now was—
"Time to run for it!"
---o---
"Sister!"
The clay-doll-like Libra was frozen in place.
On either side of the nine-tailed fox's bewitching and clever eyes, purplish-red flames surged madly from the corners of her eyes!
The Authority of Erosion completely suppressed Finality's companion beast, which was like a hybrid of a living creature and a golem, rendering it immobile.
"Leave it to me!"
In the next instant, the massive sakura-white fox leaped through the air. In the process of charging toward Libra, her huge body transformed back into a human form. To the left of Sakura's empty grasp, petals materialized from thin air and converged into the shape of a tachi.
Jizo Mitama.
The sakura-purple lightning within the scabbard was already eager to be unleashed.
The younger sister's power, the older sister's skill—at this moment, the two fused and were mastered into a brand-new sword technique!
An instant of eternity—
"Void-Cleaving Flash!"
ZZZING!!!
---o---
"Please refrain from taking a life."
"Please remain here."
"Please relax your body."
Aponia's words of power continuously plucked at the strings of fate, firmly trapping her opponent, Pisces, within them.
Disarm, immobilize, lower defenses.
Pisces was strong, but it was given no time to display its strength. In the ten long seconds since it had appeared from the fissure, it had been unable to do anything at all.
Until now...
"It's ready."
Haxxor Bunny completed her final calculations.
Eliminating the opponent with the Hegemon orbital cannons was simple; the difficult part was getting it just right. The Monarch's battle was consuming a tremendous amount of energy, and the Honkai energy saved by Haxxor Bunny's eighteen orbital cannons could be of great use.
From the initial twelve, to ten, and finally to the determined number of seven.
Through continuous analysis of Pisces, Haxxor Bunny finally confirmed that the number "7" would be... absolutely sufficient to eliminate the opponent.
Voom!!
Brilliance flickered at the muzzles of the opened cannons.
The streams of energy, poised to fire, gathered together, coalescing into a pillar of light that connected heaven and earth.
"Fire!"
BOOM!!!
---o---
Crack!
The water jar shattered.
The mental fluctuations of Aquarius, Finality's companion beast which had split its body into a thousand individuals that collectively wielded the Authority of Domination, all dissipated at this moment.
"I didn't expect you to be this capable."
In Su's hand, the Eighth Key of God, Fenghuang Down, had grown dim and lusterless. The edges of its beautiful feathers even showed slight signs of being scorched—an inevitable result of over-exertion.
By using Fenghuang Down's Second Rated Output, Su was able to split his consciousness into a thousand parts. Then, through Chenling's Authority of Domination, these thousand selves connected with all of Aquarius's individuals in a single instant.
Anyone, when "startled," is bound to hastily launch an attack with excessive force. Su had predicted his opponent's thought process perfectly, using Karmic Reversal to return all of Aquarius's attacks back upon itself.
The tactic was a success.
But the price was equally immense. Not only was Fenghuang Down excessively drained of its energy, but Su himself could no longer maintain his Collapsed State. He had completely passed out. This was no simple fainting spell; while splitting one's consciousness into a thousand parts was difficult, reassembling that consciousness into a complete "self" was even harder.
That's right.
Su could no longer hear Chenling's praise. It was uncertain if he would ever wake up.
Looking at this "unworthy" man before her, Chenling's gaze slowly moved from the wine gourd at Su's waist to his closed eyes.
"..."
After a long moment, the invisible threads of her Authority slowly dissipated from around her neck.
"Hero."
Chenling softly murmured the word she both admired and detested.
"It's not time to sleep yet."