Sixty-three days after Otto's death. Europe.
On a battlefield somewhere in Europe, as a powerful gravitational wave crushed the last Emperor-class Honkai Beast on the field, Chen Tianwu, who was leading the team to handle this Honkai incident, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In the two months since Leo Ash took over as Schicksal Archbishop, the world had undergone enormous changes.
First, the two major public anti-Honkai organizations, [Schicksal] and [Anti-Entropy], abandoned all past grievances and began an incredibly deep cooperation.
And Chen Tianwu, as a Herrscher affiliated with Schicksal, had actually spent about two weeks with Anti-Entropy.
The Anti-Entropy Sovereign, Welt Yang, who had already lost the Herrscher of Reason Core, might not have been a qualified Herrscher, but he was definitely a qualified teacher.
In those two weeks, Chen Tianwu grew from a "Scrub-egg-rank" Herrscher who could only instinctively manipulate Herrscher energy into...
—a "Rookie-rank" Herrscher who could at least properly control his power and resist Honkai corruption.
Of course, even a rookie-rank Herrscher was a great asset to the current war effort.
But the changes in the world went far beyond just the two major organizations joining forces.
In the two months since the Honkai incident guided by the Herrscher of Domination was resolved, the frequency of Honkai Eruptions worldwide had far exceeded previous rates.
It could be said that if this continued, even if all the world's leaders joined forces, it would be impossible to keep the truth of the Honkai phenomenon—which the public had been unaware of—a secret any longer.
And now, according to the reports submitted by the analysts at Schicksal HQ's Intelligence Analysis Department, the Twelfth Herrscher, [Herrscher of Corruption], had very likely already been born.
After the Herrscher of Corruption is dealt with, the arrival of the Herrscher of Finality would only be a matter of time.
If any other Herrscher descended, some might consider 'whether to hold off on dealing with it to buy more time'.
However, according to the reports in the Schicksal database, the Herrscher of Corruption was, for this civilization that had already developed modern technology, the Herrscher with the worst possible affinity.
The moment it appeared and used its power, corrupting the weapon launch systems of various countries, humanity would face a desperate future of weapons flying everywhere.
Although no one knew why the Herrscher of Corruption hadn't made a move yet, no one dared to have any thoughts of 'stalling'.
Whether it was Schicksal employees purely in it for the high salary, Avengers fighting to get revenge on the Honkai, or warriors fighting to protect the world, no one wanted to see humanity get bombarded into oblivion by missiles flying everywhere.
Under these circumstances, the electronic warfare personnel of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy could only work overtime day and night, trying to find any trace of the Herrscher of Corruption.
As for Chen Tianwu's meager hacking skills, they clearly weren't up to par with the two major organizations.
Rather than squatting at the base and getting in the way, he was better off leading a team out to hunt Honkai Beasts and earn enough merits for himself.
Now that Chen Tianwu knew the truth of the world, he was truly glad he was a Herrscher.
Compared to those unlucky bastards who turned to ash the moment Honkai Energy touched them, he at least had the strength to fight.
Moreover, in this situation, most places in the world were no longer safe.
He had, at least, joined Schicksal. And his sister, Chen Tianwen, had also received Schicksal's protection because of his status as a high-ranking Schicksal Knight.
But, anyone could see, if the Honkai truly had a consciousness, then the Honkai right now was definitely getting desperate.
With only one card left to play before the descent of Finality, the Honkai was now causing eruptions all over the world, even making Emperor-class Honkai Beasts appear in large numbers as if they were free, clearly to provide cover for the Herrscher of Corruption.
"Lord Chen, this battlefield has been cleared."
One of the Domination Puppets walked up to Chen Tianwu and asked him with utmost respect.
"Sir, shall we proceed with the subsequent mission?"
"Hmm..."
Looking at his colleague, Chen Tianwu asked with some confusion.
"Has Boss Leo Ash sent any new orders via quantum entanglement?"
"The Lord Bishop has been in regular contact with us. He just said that as long as you can ensure your own mental stability, you may continue to carry out missions."
"I understand."
*Looks like the boss still hasn't figured out a way.*
*What a headache...*
*But it's useless for me to worry about it.*
*According to the data, the Previous Era's Herrscher of Corruption had a main body.*
*But the Previous Era's data is only a reference. In fact, starting from the Herrscher of Domination, the Previous Era's data and the Current Era's Herrscher data already don't match up.*
*Although the Previous Era's Herrscher of Domination also had the special abilities of 'individual cores possessing lighter Herrscher abilities' and 'quantum entanglement', it did not have the 'Theater of Domination' authority that could teleport others and seize Herrscher powers.*
*In other words, in the worst-case scenario, the Herrscher of Corruption in our era might not even have a main body at all.*
*No main body... If there's no main body, how the hell am I supposed to fight it?*
*Neither my gravity waves nor anyone else's attacks would have any effect on a Herrscher of Corruption that has no body and is hiding who-knows-where.*
*So now, even though our side has enough high-level combat power, we can't find any trace of the Herrscher of Corruption and can only deal with the Honkai phenomena around the world.*
*I don't want to admit it, but from this perspective...*
—the Honkai... has indeed successfully tied all of us down.
.....
Meanwhile. Schicksal HQ.
Inside Schicksal HQ, after completing his regular communication with the other Domination Puppets via quantum entanglement, Leo Ash slowly opened his eyes from his seat.
As a transmigrator who possessed more detailed information than Chen Tianwu, Leo Ash had, of course, already thought of everything Chen Tianwu could think of.
But the reason he hadn't dealt with Corruption yet was clearly because this version of Corruption, like everyone else, had been 'buffed'.
This buff wasn't in terms of abilities, but in terms of intelligence.
In the original story, the Herrscher of Corruption was born when Mei met the Honkai consciousness, and at the same time, it attached a backup to Mei to enter the Elysian Realm.
But now, Leo Ash, who knew this piece of information, had already made all his companions, except for the Domination Puppets, connect with the Honkai consciousness one by one.
In any case, with the God-Slaying Spear in his hand, as long as he was by his companions' side, he was confident he could pull them back before they completely fell to the dark side.
Unfortunately, after everyone, including Leo Ash, had connected with the Honkai consciousness to some degree, Rin, who Leo Ash had long since released from the Stigmata Space, just helplessly shook her head every time, saying she didn't feel any familiar aura at all.
In other words, the original story's walkthrough that Leo Ash had... had, unsurprisingly, failed.
Corruption wasn't born from any of them, so naturally, it couldn't be sniffed out by Rin, who shared the same origin.
In the two months since he became the Schicksal Archbishop, Leo Ash had not only been in regular contact with Welt, but had even contacted Kevin through Su.
However, neither Anti-Entropy nor World Serpent had discovered any anomalies with their electronic equipment.
"I give up. This bastard is a master at hide-and-seek."
Letting out a small breath, Leo Ash drummed his fingers on the armrest of his seat, contemplating whether to proceed with *that* plan.
In these two months, Kevin had invited Leo Ash to the World Serpent HQ several times.
In others' eyes, the reason Leo Ash hadn't gone to the World Serpent HQ was that he still didn't trust Kevin to that extent.
Even if they had cooperated when dealing with Otto, and even if Su and Fu Hua had put in many good words for Kevin, to some of Leo Ash's companions and lovers, Kevin was still the enemy 'who stabbed Leo Ash and almost killed him'.
But only Leo Ash himself knew that his hatred for Kevin was basically zero.
Although he didn't like the feeling of being impaled by the Judgment of Shamash, Leo Ash didn't dislike people like Kevin.
The main reason he hadn't gone to the World Serpent HQ was that, knowing what Corruption did to the Elysian Realm in the original story, he felt that running into the Realm without catching Corruption first would 100% lead to problems.
But now... dragging this out wasn't a solution either.
Over these two months, Leo Ash had been intermittently using Phantasmagoria, giving him more time in the dreamscape to explore other ways of using the Sphere, [The Wavering Scales].
Unfortunately, even after awakening the Sphere to its next stage through the Domination incident, Leo Ash still couldn't get the Sphere to complete this stage of its awakening.
His power couldn't grow, Corruption was still camping, and now he felt that if he didn't dig Corruption out soon, a major problem would eventually occur.
"No other choice, then."
After opening the information light-screen, Leo Ash used it to contact someone who was currently wandering around the base.
A few minutes later, Rin nonchalantly used her power of corruption to temporarily disable the door's password lock and walked up to Leo Ash without any psychological burden.
[Faced with this young girl... oh, well, she's a young girl on the surface, anyway... who still holds hatred in her heart, you know that to open a girl's heart, you must first open her—]
*Okay, put the brakes on if you're going to say something that filthy.*
[The System isn't finished! How can you assume what the System was going to say!]
*Stop with the damn virtue signaling. I've seen men do it, women do it, androgynous people do it, and bigender people do it, but I've never seen a system do it.*
*If you're really that bored, why don't you show me her character introduction template!*
[Ah, I just can't win with you.]
After saying this, the System directly brought out Rin's character introduction template.
[Name: Rin]
[Identity: Previous Era's Herrscher of Corruption.]
[Current Affection: 49]
[Note: The hatred in her heart still exists and will definitely not be easily dispelled.]
*Sigh, Rin.*
*Although I can understand her feelings as a victim, I don't have the energy to comfort her right now.*
*And while we've known each other for a while, we haven't spent much time together.*
*Trying to use the same methods on her that I used on Kiana and the others... it's going to be difficult.*
"I say, 'esteemed' Lord Bishop, the way you're looking at me is very wrong."
Rin looked at Leo Ash's complicated gaze and walked toward him with a smile.
"What, did you call me here alone to have me warm your bed?"
"...I say, how did you even come up with such an absurd idea?"
*Wow, was her character always the type to make dirty jokes?*
"Ah, is it strange for me to think that?"
Although Rin still had a smile on her face, her eyes suddenly began to turn cold.
"During this time, you've had ambiguous relationships with so many women."
"Faced with a shameless scumbag who's building a harem, am I supposed to think you called me over to drink tea and discuss strategies for defeating the Honkai?"
"What else?"
Facing Rin's accusation, Leo Ash retorted irritably.
"Did you think I was so bored that I'd call you to my office just to... do you?"
"Ah, I'm... not?"
Hearing Leo Ash actually deny it, Rin covered her mouth in absolute shock.
"Are you... finally... broken from being so overworked?!"
...
*No, seriously, can I whip her with my Holy Whip!*
*After this girl's body matured, how did her personality become even more of a teasing brat!!!!*
[Whip her! Whip her now! Show her that in the face of the Power of Binding, a little bratty Herrscher of Corruption can only stamp her feet in frustration!]
"Alright, I'll stop joking with you."
Seeing the annoyance on Leo Ash's face, the expression on Rin's face suddenly vanished completely.
The only reason she spoke in such a teasing manner was because Leo Ash had become visibly anxious recently from his inability to find Corruption.
After using this method to confirm that Leo Ash hadn't completely broken down from anxiety, Rin naturally wouldn't continue to provoke him like this.
Rin, having dropped her expression, spoke to Leo Ash dispassionately.
"During this time, I've not only turned the HQ upside down, I've even been to all the major branches."
"But unfortunately, I couldn't find any trace of the *other* Corruption."
"If you were hoping to get an answer from me, then I'm afraid..."
"—Leo Ash, you're bound to be disappointed today."
......