"BOOM!!"
An orange-red pillar of light shot through the forest of skyscrapers.
The explosive shockwave shattered countless windows and curtain walls. A searing, orange-red fireball of blinding white light incinerated the upper section of a skyscraper that had been snapped in half, turning it directly to ash.
Thick smoke and dust filled the air.
Crimson sparks burned countless dancing flame serpents into the grass below.
Light does not travel in such a winding trajectory. What descended slowly upon the head of a city statue in Astana, causing the ground beneath it to liquefy and flow like lava, was a fiery red figure.
In less than two minutes, the entire city had been plunged into a sea of fire.
The acrid black smoke and piercing alarms completely overwhelmed the senses of the people.
"Swoosh—"
The flames trailed long tails of smoke.
Thousands of rockets and artillery shells took to the sky simultaneously from ground and air emplacements deployed around the statue!
"BOOM!!!" xN!
The civilization's counterattack completely obliterated its own symbol.
But if it meant the invading enemy could be annihilated, then everything—
"Whoosh!"
Orange-red light scattered across the sky!
Like unfurling wings of light, it instantly destroyed all targets, both in the sky and on the ground.
"Humans."
"Is this all you're capable of?"
A long, crimson ponytail, a large black bow, eyes that seemed to burn, and an unconventional outfit and cape—
[Pseudo-Herrscher · Agata]
This was not something the Pufferfish could accomplish on her own.
To use a Herrscher Core as a template, replicate and construct brand new pseudo-Herrscher Cores, and even grant them bodies capable of independent thought and consciousness—this was a power that created something from nothing. Even within the Empire, only His Majesty the Emperor was capable of such a feat.
Of course.
The strength of the "lifeforms" created by the Monarch was far beyond what a mere pseudo-Herrscher could compare to.
Even so, the appearance of these new helpers for the Pufferfish proved one thing for certain: using Sirin's power as a medium, the "Honkai Consciousness" had chosen to make its move.
---o---
"No."
"They are not an ambush."
"They are merely bait to lure you into action."
A military uniform, long hair, high boots, and a face and hair color that bore a strong resemblance to Hua's—Tianming A-rank Valkyrie, "Frost Sword" Cheng Lixue.
"Oh?"
Agata's scorching, flame-like gaze swept across the surrounding wreckage.
"Tsk."
"Toys for ants?"
"To dare face me alone... at the very least, your courage is worthy of admiration."
Whether they were chariots, tanks, or attack helicopters, all the equipment had been unmanned models.
In fact, the residents in the very center of the city had already been evacuated in advance.
It wasn't a matter of foresight.
Through previous encounters and analysis of the data recovered from Babel Tower, Tianming was already able to roughly estimate the most likely targets for the Second Herrscher's attacks based on spatial fluctuations and information on the young boys and girls who had died in the experiments.
They had then dispatched personnel to be deployed at these locations ahead of time.
However.
The one thing Tianming failed to predict was that the attacks would not be at just one of the locations...
But at all of them!
Cheng Lixue, currently stationed in Astana, had happened to run into one of the pseudo-Herrschers.
"You're not going to attack?"
Agata's expression was filled with disdain.
A Tianming A-rank Valkyrie was, at best, fit to play around with Monarch-class Honkai Beasts. As for them, pseudo-Herrschers born from Herrscher Cores—
"Ruoshui!"
It was indeed a taunt, but that didn't matter.
Cheng Lixue activated the weapon in her hand, a longsword filled with ancient charm, one of the Tenth Keys of God, the [Ruoshui], possessing the power to control the flow of water!
"Take my sword!"
A surging torrent of water erupted from the blade. White and cyan light coursed wildly along the hilt, which was inlaid with a yin-yang fish pattern, as a massive waterspout soared into the sky!
However—
"Hiss!!!"
It was a truly casual wave of the hand.
The orange-yellow flames drew a crescent-shaped arc in the air.
With a single, simple collision, the towering waterspout was instantly turned into a mist that filled the sky. Even the [Ruoshui] itself developed a dense web of cracks under the corrosion of the 5,000-degree heat.
"Oh, my."
"It broke so quickly..."
"And here I thought you might be a little more interesting."
The flames swirling around her body converged at the tip of Agata's finger gun.
"Bang!"
"BOOM!!"
---o---
A deep crater over ten meters wide blasted open in the ground.
At its center was a bottomless, pitch-black hole.
Cheng Lixue, positioned between Agata and the crater, had been pierced through the abdomen by the high-temperature beam...
But the beam, with its temperature of 5,000 degrees, had been stopped by a bare hand!
"Who are you?!" x2.
"Hmm..."
An oversized hood concealed the person's face, and a floor-length cloak hid their entire figure.
"Who am I?"
Sirin slowly removed her hood.
The [Authority of Sentience] that Bella had applied beforehand completely distorted any outsider's perception of Sirin. Even if she revealed her true face, no one would be able to recognize her.
However—
"This young lady is Sirin Schariac."
"You're a mere pseudo-Herrscher. Surrender at once!"
Those who heard the name "Sirin" and those who heard the name "Schariac" both fell silent.
Well...
It was actually just one person.
Although Agata had awakened an independent personality, she had no past and only possessed the most basic independent thought. Of course, she didn't know that her own master's name was "Sirin."
As for Cheng Lixue, who was being protected behind Sirin...
While Tianming's great enemy was usually referred to as the "Second Herrscher," as a combatant prepared to intercept her—even if it seemed like a joke now—Cheng Lixue had reviewed the Babel Tower data and was naturally well aware of the Second Herrscher's name when she was human.
But the name "Sirin" was far less shocking than "Schariac."
Although the family had been in decline since the rise of the Bishop, it was, after all, one of Tianming's three great founding families.
The most recent example was the captain of their own Snow Wolf Squad, Tianming's only current S-rank Valkyrie: Cecilia Schariac.
The newcomer's name...
It sounded like a prankster's joke.
But what was undeniable was that the attack just now, which should have been powerful enough to pierce through all of her defenses along with her body, had been blocked by the other party with a bare hand.
"A relative of the Captain?" Cheng Lixue couldn't help but wonder.
At this point, she could only interpret the name "Sirin" as a taunt directed at the pseudo-Herrscher.
Or perhaps...
A pretense to hide her true identity.
"Sur... render?"
Flames once again erupted violently around Agata!
"You dare act so arrogant after blocking just one of my attacks!"
"Don't you look down on—"
"Whoosh!!"
"—people?"
However, those flames, in the blink of an eye after their creation, had all converged into the palm of Sirin, who was gently tossing them up and down as if playing with a ball.
The orange-yellow turned to a fiery gold.
The churning flames transformed into a solid, rock-like substance.
"Ehh~"
"So what if I look down on you?"