Humanity, are you ready to face judgment?"
Byakuya's golden eyes shone brightly. What should have been a light golden pupil color had now turned into pure golden pupils, containing the majesty of a divine apostle.
His blood-stained lab coat had vanished.
In its place was a handsome Herrscher outfit, a white and gold battle suit with light armor condensed from Honkai Energy. The artistic carvings and design made the boy look like a knight serving a god.
Behind Byakuya, to his right, were three Spear of the Void ready for use, and to his left were three golden Herrscher wings formed from high-purity Honkai Energy.
"Quick! Activate the destruction device!"
"X1 has become the Second Herrscher!"
"Report quickly, otherwise..."
How could the destruction devices in the laboratory, used to deal with Honkai Beasts, be a match for a Herrscher? Even though Byakuya had just been born, these things could not offend him.
Three Spear of the Void shot out, instantly destroying those devices. At the same time, large areas of space twisted and collapsed, and sparks flew, instantly turning the surroundings into ruins.
Some people just took out detonators and pressed them hard, but nothing happened.
Byakuya's body had indeed been implanted with many things by them, such as an electromagnetic bomb the size of a palm near his heart to prevent him from going berserk.
However, these people knew nothing about Herrschers or Honkai. Becoming a Herrscher is equivalent to a rebirth, an evolution. All of Byakuya's injuries, impurities, and foreign objects were instantly and completely cleared from his body.
"...It finally succeeded."
Feeling the abundant Herrscher power within his body, Byakuya sighed, grateful for the gift from a certain pink elf of the Previous Era, which allowed him to retain his humanity.
Becoming a Herrscher is not difficult, actually.
Sufficient Honkai Energy adaptability, he has it.
Sufficient Honkai Energy, he also has it.
Sufficient negative emotions, he has even more.
The former goes without saying; the sufficient Honkai Energy was given to him by these researchers. The Honkai Energy injected into Byakuya's body during each experiment had long accumulated to the required level.
As for the last negative emotions...
This was the least problematic.
No matter how positive and optimistic Byakuya was, if he had no resentment after undergoing such extensive human experimentation, he would be even more angelic than Elysia.
This is karma.
It was precisely these human experiments by these scoundrels that led to Byakuya's current Herrscher transformation.
However, just as these people thought they were about to die the next second, Byakuya suddenly disappeared from their sight.
"Where, where is he?"
"Multiple spatial anomalies detected within Babylon. Could his authority be...!"
"Wait, what is he doing?! X1 rescued all those experimental subjects."
Although Byakuya really wanted to kill these bastards immediately, not only would that be too easy for these beasts, he now had more important things to do.
Imaginary Number Gates opened in every cell of Babylon. Countless children, who had been treated as experimental subjects, found themselves outside before they could even react.
The girls looked around blankly.
A sky with heavy snow, a pure white world completely different from inside Babylon, and... Herrscher Byakuya floating in mid-air.
They stared at him blankly, and then one little girl timidly asked.
"Big brother, are you an angel?"
Snow-white hair, golden eyes, handsome appearance, and the golden Herrscher wings behind him—except for the absence of a halo, he looked exactly like the angels they knew from stories!
"Angel brother, are you here to save us?"
"Please, Angel brother, I miss my mommy and daddy so much, please take me home."
"Save us, Angel brother, we don't want to go back to that place anymore, it hurts so much, it's so scary."
Though he was a Herrscher who should bring disaster and destruction, in the eyes of these girls, Byakuya, who saved them from hell, was an angel from a fairy tale.
They pleaded with Byakuya to save them and take them away from this terrifying living hell.
On the other side, Sirin, Avrora, Agata, and Galina also stared blankly at Byakuya.
They had just been praying for the boy's safety in their cell, and before they could react, things turned out this way.
"Byakuya, are you okay?"
"Bai-nii has become... so handsome."
"Eh? How did we get out?"
"Byakuya must have saved us!"
Byakuya came to the four girls, gently stroking each of their heads as he always did.
The Herrscher of the Void personality had actually been born, but he had firmly suppressed it.
With the 'Unwavering Will A' trait and Elysia's blessing, Byakuya successfully controlled the authority of the Herrscher of the Void with his own will.
He had become the Herrscher of Human of the Current Civilization!
However, at this very moment.
The gates of the Babylon Laboratory opened.
Dozens of Valkyries and nearly a hundred Destiny Machina appeared, their objective incredibly clear, all erupting with immense hostility towards Byakuya.
"The Second Herrscher has been confirmed!"
"Immediately control the battlefield and hold him!"
"Wait for reinforcements from the Archbishop, then take him down in one fell swoop."
"Machina unit, open fire!"
The Babylon Laboratory is, after all, one of Schicksal Headquarters' most crucial laboratories, conducting super high-risk experiments related to Honkai.
Therefore, it was normally equipped with a large number of armed forces.
Byakuya looked on with cold eyes; he still had so many children behind him, yet these people showed no hesitation.
"Ah~ so this is your choice."
He knew that not all Valkyries of Celestial Destiny were like this; in fact, most of them were good people who held the belief of "fighting for all that is beautiful in the world."
But!
These people clearly were not.
As guardians of Babylon, these Valkyries certainly knew about the human experiments being conducted here, yet they showed no questioning, and instead aided the evildoers.
Since that was the case,
Byakuya had no burden when he killed them!
"Humans are, for the most part, truly foolish."
Nearly a hundred Machina launched missiles towards Byakuya, completely disregarding the innocent children behind him, while the Valkyries also charged at him.
They intended to use the missile interference to ambush and forcefully kill Byakuya, the Herrscher of the Void.
However…
As the sky full of missiles was about to fall, Byakuya revealed a mocking sneer, and contemptuously snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Countless portals opened in mid-air.
Swallowing all the missiles whole!
"Returning them to you."
Byakuya held a ball of light in his hand, and the next second, the previously vanished portals reappeared, only this time they surrounded the Destiny Machina and the Valkyries.
The things that had tried to harm them were returned by Byakuya in their entirety.
"What?!"
"Noooooo!"
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!!
The missiles that had just been launched at Byakuya now became their own death warrants; a sky full of fire rained down, completely engulfing these Destiny Machina and Valkyries.
Even the perpetually snow-covered ground of Siberia was blasted to reveal patches of dirt; almost all the Machina were scrapped, and most of the Valkyries were dead or severely injured, lying sprawled on the ground, looking up at the young man in the sky.
"Guh, this is the power of a Herrscher…"
"This monster."
He merely displayed his authority.
And it caused them devastating damage!
However, unlike the fear in their eyes, the children behind Byakuya had sparkling eyes.
In their eyes, Byakuya was the great hero who defeated the demons who came to capture them; although he only made a slight move, it was as if a myth had descended!
He was like a Seraph sent by God to the human world, commanded to slay all evil in this world.