"An identical appearance to Welt Joyce, stats that surpass a standard A-rank Valkyrie, and the ability to replicate the Star of Eden's gravity manipulation through muscle memory..."
Recalling the information Mobius had provided, Fuli warned his companions, "Seventh and Eighth brothers, don't be careless. This guy is exceptional A-rank at a minimum. Let Fourth brother here scout him out first!"
Boothill casually tossed his battered cowboy hat aside. "Sweetheart, I know you're playing out a 'Three Heroes Fight Lu Bu' scenario, but why the hell are this guy and I ranked so far behind you?"
Then he added with a wicked grin, "Of course, if you call yourself Third brother, hehe, I've got no complaints!"
As a Galaxy Ranger, Boothill might not have had many opportunities to read web novels, but he had learned the truth of 'three spoonfuls of sugar for the Sima clan' from his companions.
"I never thought that I, Argenti, would have the chance to reenact the tale of the Three Heroes Fighting Lu Bu with you two in my lifetime!" Argenti was moved to tears. "When brothers are of one mind, their strength can break metal. As long as we do not abandon the hope in our hearts, the peerless Goddess of Beauty will surely use the long wind as her bow and shoot arrows of love and victory toward us!"
"His Highness will go on forever if we let him, so I'll interrupt briefly." Heinrich felt he should raise the intensity for these walking bounties. "Fuli of the Hyperion, Argenti of the Knights of Beauty—unlike that half-dead Galaxy Ranger over there with a mountain of enemies who'll pay for just his head, you two are worth more alive."
"So, could you please not resist?"
He raised the hand holding the pseudo-Star of Eden. A dark wave of gravity erupted from his palm and spread rapidly. The air solidified in an instant, and the rain and green plants were compressed into a kind of flowing "liquid," flowing viscously through every inch of space within a hundred-meter radius.
A hundred times the force of gravity was applied. The SUV parked nearby was the first to let out the crisp sound of shattering metal, melting into a flat, silvery puddle of mixed metal fragments like a clay pot smashed by an invisible giant hammer.
The ground also caved in from the center, and boulders and a small deer that had been hiding were crushed to dust. The ruins within a hundred-meter radius completely collapsed into a bowl-shaped giant pit, its walls as smooth as a mirror.
"Not bad," Heinrich let out a pleased hum, using the Welt copy for the first time.
Even though it was just a flawed replica recorded in the Herrscher copy's muscle memory, its power and convenience far exceeded his imagination.
Of the trio on this mission, Elizabeth could temporarily transform into an Emperor-class Honkai Beast with her Stigma Armament, and Aschour's identity was special—he could even fight Durandal and retreat unscathed.
Only Heinrich's ability, while exceptionally effective in large-scale and behind-enemy-lines operations, was less valued in a Honkai world that revered concentrated power.
[With this perfect body, and a little more time, perhaps I too can fully step into that realm and achieve a complete revival of the great Führer's Taoist and Legalist ideologies!]
Mach Nationalsozialismus Wieder Groß! Make the Empire great again!
He reveled in this beautiful thought, unable to resist raising his right hand at a forty-five-degree angle.
The pseudo-Star of Eden, following his will, formed a translucent light shield in front of him, blocking the whistling Jueyu.
"A hundred times gravity didn't affect you much. It seems it's not just your intel on me that's outdated; my intel on you has a serious—"
Heinrich never got to say the word "lag."
The longsword passed through the energy barrier created by the Divine Key as if it were water, and Fuli raised his foot, crushing the severed head.
This was why Kamui had been praised by everyone in the previous playthrough as the ultimate assassination technique. A single, absolute slash that ignored all energy-based defenses was, for most ability users who relied on Honkai energy for defense, practically a guaranteed first-encounter kill.
As for crossing the hundred-g field, that was thanks to the Sunfire Armor, which reduced all external interference below S-rank to one-tenth of its original strength. One only realized how broken this thing was when in actual combat.
So, an instant kill?
If it were anyone else, that would have likely been the case.
With a thought, Fuli controlled the Shadow Weaver Sword to transform into a large hand, bringing the rolling pseudo-Star of Eden into his grasp.
The ability of the Stigma of Reason activated, seizing ownership of the item in an instant.
As creations of a Herrscher's authority, whether it was a pseudo-Divine Key or a fabricated Titan, they would dissipate the moment their master died.
The fact that the pseudo-Star of Eden still existed meant that the one he had just killed was not Heinrich's real body at all.
Sure enough, the next moment—
"To ignore the energy defense of a Divine Key and strike the main body directly... such an exquisite technique actually exists in this world." The first 'Heinrich' walked out from behind a towering tree, his face filled with amazement.
"I thought you were just a pretty boy who had seduced Durandal with sweet talk," said another 'Heinrich,' holding an umbrella.
"Now it seems the effort and cost of taking you down are completely disproportionate to your bounty," said a third 'Heinrich,' climbing out of a dump truck after braking.
"Shall we call a truce then? And wait for the result on the other side?" Fuli shouldered Jueyu and, with a wave of his hand, restrained the four restless Shadow Weaver Swords circling him.
He genuinely wanted to stall for time. The moment the pseudo-Star of Eden was in his palm, the Stigma replication program of Jizo Mitama had already quietly activated.
A Divine Key was, in essence, a Herrscher Core plus Soulium, and a Stigma was born from the former.
The Divine Key manifested by the Herrscher of Reason copy was a deconstruction of the real thing by Welt Joyce back in the day, recorded as muscle memory in his DNA. While its power was far from the continent-devouring original, the details had been thoroughly replicated.
This undoubtedly provided great convenience for Jizo Mitama's Stigma replication. The imprinting process, which used to take one to two hours, could now be completed in three to five minutes. No one would pass up such a hard-won opportunity.
"A temporary truce? I don't mind that," the fifth 'Heinrich's' voice came, accompanied by the roar of a helicopter. "But those two with you don't seem to think so."
The reason he skipped the fourth one was because he had already been eliminated in the joint attack of the Knight of Beauty and the Galaxy Ranger.
Argenti's expression changed when he looked up and saw the figure. "Councilor James?!"
"I almost forgot you were here, Your Highness Argenti." The Heinrich clone known as Councilor James bowed respectfully, the condescending gaze making the gesture full of black humor.
Yes, it was the very same lord who had been the first to speak in the House of Lords, fanning the flames with his "Great Britain has no obligation to rescue Rita Rossweisse's father" speech.
"Is it that 'James has been my clone from the start'? Or is it that 'Councilor James, the face of Britain, was silently converted by me'?" he said, wearing a monocle, his refined face full of mockery. "Either way, the face of the once-great British Empire has been thoroughly trampled underfoot by me, a Nazi remnant you all look down on."
"Bastard!"
For the polite Argenti to say such a thing, one could only imagine the fury in his heart.
Heinrich seemed to enjoy this scene. Just as he was about to continue mocking the half-dead island nation, a series of gunshots drowned out the roar of the helicopter's propellers.
"Your opponent isn't two, but three! Don't forget about me, sweetheart!" Boothill grinned ferociously, the muzzle flash of his bullets igniting the gunpowder smoke.
Councilor James on the helicopter fell to the ground with a thud. The out-of-control helicopter let out a sharp "Man!" before crashing to the ground.
"Of course I wouldn't underestimate you, Mr. Galaxy Ranger," another Heinrich who had just arrived said with a smile amidst the towering flames. "Your head is worth thirty Titan-class large mechas on the black market. We need those munitions to achieve the great revival of my motherland."
As the story splits, each branch unfolds.
As Britain's second-largest walled city park, Richmond Park, covering an area of 1,200 football fields, was certainly qualified as a battlefield.
After forcibly driving Aschour a certain distance away from Fuli and the others with a wildly spreading ice serpent, Rita followed closely behind with her shadow.
The young woman's face was still as flawless as a jade carving on a shrine, but a fine line had unknowingly creased her brow.
On the way, Rita had played a little trick.
Due to the city-wide lockdown for the impending World Bubble landing, unless one was a person of authority like Argenti or 'Councilor James,' any Honkai-side unit flying to a certain height would be indiscriminately sniped by the Starlight Observation Tower.
The Gauss electromagnetic repeating cannon it was equipped with not only had a range of over 10,000 meters and a rate of fire of 30,000 rounds per second, but the power of a single shot was also equivalent to a Gauss ion sniper rifle.
With the intention of testing him, Rita had controlled the ice serpent to leap high into the air, exposing Aschour, who was caught in its jaws, to the observation tower's view.
As expected, faced with an unregistered, unknown unit, the turrets in the surrounding area opened fire, intending to eliminate the short-lived fool who dared to provoke the might of Great Britain.
And the result?
Aschour landed unscathed on the vast grassland. He put one hand on his hip and patted away the non-existent dust on his clothes.
"I've separated from them as you wished. Can we start fighting now, S-rank Valkyrie?"
"As you wish."
The moonlight refracted into seven illusions in the ice crystals. Frost flowers bloomed on Rita's skirt in the cold wind.
Twelve ice mirrors emerged from the void and surrounded Aschour, each mirror reflecting the scythe-wielding girl.
Light laughter came from all directions, and the dazzling ice mirrors shattered with a boom.
Three hundred and sixty cold moon-eating blades tore through the atmosphere, enveloping Aschour in a storm of sword energy.
The Valkyrie's real body had vanished in the refraction of the ice crystals. Only six mirror images remained, stepping on the frost marks left by the moonlight, the trajectories of their scythes weaving a net that could freeze all of creation.
"To be unscathed after such a bombardment... I'm curious, what exactly is your ability?"
Rita's true body, however, was descending from the sky like a falcon at this moment, her blade splitting into four and attacking the white-haired youth from all directions.
Like natural Stigmata, the artificial Stigmata developed by Schicksal could also grant their wielders various special abilities.
Rita's Stigma ability was called "Hazy Moon's Flowing Light." When activated, it could create mirror images that were identical to the main body in appearance, tone, demeanor, and even aura and killing intent, making them extremely difficult to distinguish, as if they were real people.
The main body could control the mirror images to a certain extent, and the mirror images would dissipate when attacked. Depending on the main body's will, one to several mirror images could be created, with extremely fast activation and low consumption.
It sounded like something that would make Yae Sakura green with envy, but in reality, this ability was only rated B-rank within Schicksal.
After all, even Fuli's Shadow Weaver Sword could easily achieve similar effects, and its weak defense deprived this move of its development potential.
But when combined with the "Frost-Shattering Ice Marrow" from the Moonlit Glacier Dance—injecting Honkai energy into a weapon would turn it into ice crystals that wrapped around the weapon, which could be used for defense, creation, or as sword energy slashes—the uses of this ability would instantly become strange and varied.
Using frost, sword dance, and mirror images to create a large-scale illusionary domain to confuse the enemy, and then having the hidden main body use footwork to circle around for a surprise one-hit kill.
It was about the quality of the moves, not the quantity. In the past, Rita had already used this move to kill many short-lived fools who underestimated her.
The young woman didn't expect to be able to take down the "strongest at the critical level" that Elizabeth had spoken of with this move, but as long as she could probe the opponent's trump cards, this open and aboveboard sneak attack would not be a waste of effort.
This time, the attack went very smoothly. Aschour's attention was indeed drawn away by the spreading ice crystal petals and the gorgeous mirror images.
The blade light that shot out from the gap, wrapped in a cold wind, slashed at his neck. After a "thud," there was nothing more.
"What?"
Rita's pupils constricted when she failed to break through his defense. She immediately disappeared behind a suddenly rising ice mirror with mysterious footwork.
"Ah, did you hit me?" Aschour said, patting his unscathed neck. Before he could finish, millions of silver-thread-like sword energies once again enveloped him.
Each ice thread refracted the moonlight, turning the battlefield into a brilliant and deadly diamond cage.
"Sudden Frost," Rita murmured softly after flashing to a safe area.
This was a technique from the Moonlit Glacier Dance specifically used for locking down a large area and for group kills in battle formations.
It formed a kind of cold ice sword energy that was both energy and matter-like, as thin as a hair, and could remain in the void for several seconds. Once completed, the entire field would be filled with ice threads, and the power of each exploding ice thread was extremely great.
At her full power, Rita could now condense a million silver threads in a very short time, locking down an area of several kilometers.
"Dance," Rita chanted softly, and in an instant, the storm that was whipped up swallowed everything. A million ice threads, wrapped in a soul-freezing chill, danced a mesmerizing waltz of death under the moonlight.
This was a blow that even Durandal would have to take seriously, a fatal blow that was enough for the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal in her critical state to sense the threat of severe injury, meeting the conditions for her to lift the "S-rank Restriction Treaty" and regain her full strength!
But still, it was useless.
Staring intently at the white-haired youth who had walked out of the explosion unharmed, sweat dripped from Rita's forehead for the first time.
If the enemy's condition was even a little disheveled, even just a slightly dirty corner of his clothes, it would mean that his ability had a flaw. All she would have to do then was to analyze the principle and break through it.
But, this?
"Are your three tricks done? Then it's my turn," Aschour said, stretching his muscles. Time did not stop for Rita's intense psychological activity. He made a gripping motion with his hands in front of him.
The formless air was thus picked up by him and kneaded into one twisted, transparent sword after another.
"Heinrich always scolds me for being too heavy-handed. I'm actually super hurt by it," he said. "I really held back a lot when I was fighting that Knight of Beauty and Durandal's lover. Otherwise, how could they still be alive?"
"But you're different. I had a pretty good relationship with that crazy woman Elizabeth. Since you killed her, I'll send you to the Underworld to keep her company."
Aschour pushed forward, and the swords, wrapped in a sound that broke the air, rushed towards Rita.
The speed was still not fast, within the range that the young woman could completely dodge.
With the intention of testing the opponent's ability, Rita turned into a butterfly and weaved through the continuous attacks. After avoiding the air swords in front, she swung her scythe at the last one.
"Ugh!"
The moment the two collided, the maid knew what it felt like for an ordinary person to face a dump truck moving at 120 km/h.
The sword of twisted air was like an unstoppable giant locomotive, hammering down on the raised scythe with a massive kinetic energy that seemed to want to destroy everything.
The clang turned into a sound wave that spread out in all directions. The earth, which had already been shattered in the ice storm, churned again, as if the mythical earth dragon was turning over.
I can't fight it head-on!
Sensing the rapid depletion of her Honkai energy, Rita disappeared into an ice mist.
As an S-rank Valkyrie, even though she had never truly fought a Herrscher, she had not lacked the relevant training.
The authority of a Sequence Herrscher possessed a certain absoluteness and had to be neutralized with a large amount of Honkai energy that had some idealistic properties. Otherwise, she would be like Theresa facing the Herrscher of Thunder back then, having the chemical bonds in her body destroyed from a distance in an instant.
And just now, the moment the scythe and the air blade came into contact, Rita had actually felt the adhesion of a Herrscher's authority, something she had only ever encountered in textbooks!
Compared to the Herrscher's authority, which could interfere with those of the same level out of thin air, Aschour's ability, which required a medium to be activated, was clearly a whole tier lower.
But no matter how incomplete it was, it was definitely the authority of a Sequence Herrscher!
And if her senses weren't wrong, combined with the details she had observed in the battle before...
"The unchanging authority of immutability. Its application is to keep the state of the target unchanged from a certain moment."
The young man had no intention of hiding it and openly revealed his ability.
"Heinrich said not to casually tell others about my ability, but since you're going to die anyway, it shouldn't matter if I tell you."
"Have you heard the story of the Earth's Axis?"
In World War II, the Roof of the World in Shenzhou was far from the war zone and escaped the flames and smoke of war, but it did not escape the eyes of the Third Reich.
In 1938 and 1943, with the Führer's approval, the head of the SS personally organized two expeditions. They went deep into the Roof of the World, searching for evidence of the existence of the ancestors of the Germanic people—the Atlantean gods—and for the Earth's Axis, which could change time and space and create an immortal army.
After some investigation, the team members also learned from the locals that the Earth's Axis, which contained infinite energy, was hidden in a cave called Shambhala.
Whoever found it would be protected by a biological field, becoming invulnerable and able to control the changes of events at will.
Rita whispered, "Invulnerable... stopping all changes of the object of contact..."
In terms of time, one would become forever young, never hungry, thirsty, or tired.
In terms of space, one would be invulnerable from all directions and angles. Whether it was physical attacks, magical attacks, or drowning, burning, freezing, or being buried, not only would they be ineffective and cause no damage, but even one's hair and clothes would remain as neat and intact as before. It was invincibility in the true sense of defense.
It could also make any thrown object maintain its initial velocity and keep moving, thus becoming an absolute killing weapon.
Although the ancient legend was exaggerated, it also accurately described the essence of the Earth's Axis's ability.
"That's right, just like me," Aschour replied. "Of course, it only affects non-living things. As for living things, the only one that can be affected is myself."
"So, what you have is the legendary Earth's Axis?" Rita frowned. "Such a thing actually exists?"
"Yes, that thing is inside my body, replacing my heart to maintain my bodily functions," the youth said brightly. "But its true identity has nothing to do with the name 'Earth's Axis.' That's just a nickname someone gave it."
"Its real name is the Lance of the Finality."
"It's a weapon fragment left on Earth by the Fourteenth Herrscher of the Previous Era—the Herrscher of the Finality."
"Sweetheart, there's no end to this little cutie's clones!" Boothill, back-to-back with Argenti, cursed loudly while shooting backward to force back several whistling 'Heinrichs.'
Fuli, who had flash-stepped in front of the enemy, swung Jueyu and cut the steel coil he had thrown in two.
Four minutes and thirty seconds had passed in the fierce battle. A numbness that went deep into his bones made the boy immediately realize that the imprinting of his fourth Stigma—the Stigma of Rock—was complete.
"Let's try that move. Everyone, get behind me!"
With no more worries, he stopped and formed a mudra while chanting a mysterious Sanskrit mantra, "Namo sarva tathagatebhyo sarva mukhebhyah sarvatha trat canda maharosana kham khahi khahi sarva vighnam hum trat ham!"
As the last syllable of the mantra sank into the void, an endless crack suddenly opened in the sky, as if a celestial eye had opened to look down on all living beings.
Fierce flames poured down, but they were not ordinary flames, but the world-purifying flames that condensed the supreme power of Acalanatha.
In the center of the flames, behind Fuli, the Dharma form of Acalanatha could be faintly seen. His eyes were wide with anger, and he held the sword of wisdom and the diamond rope. He was surrounded by a blazing wheel of light that purified all evil spirits, demons, and curses.
—Acalanatha's Fire Realm Mantra, a product from the last ten-pull, an extremely powerful demon-slaying mantra.
From the Vajrapani's Luminous Abhiseka Sutra's Supreme Stamping Seal, Saintly Immovable Lord, Great Wrathful King's Recitation Ritual Dharma Chapter, it tells of how, due to the Vajra's transmission of the Dharma, all demons were burned by the Buddhist law and fled in all directions. The living beings, afraid that the fleeing demons would invade and harm them, were taught this mantra by Acalanatha.
It could form a realm to protect practitioners. This mantra had the power to burn mountains and boil seas, swallowing all demons into the great fire light realm and burning them as fuel. Therefore, it was called the Fire Realm Mantra.
This was the very definition of a professional match. Wherever the flames spread, countless of Heinrich's clones wailed as their skin was peeled off, turning into dog-like and human-like creatures that were burned to ashes in the flames of the mantra.
A certain Heinrich hidden in the distance's expression changed drastically. He turned and was about to flee.
A bullet just happened to pass in front of him, followed by a crimson long spear that descended from the sky, blocking his escape route.
"You were having a lot of fun just now!" The three brothers advanced with ferocious grins. Except for the scummy Ah Li who was secretly thinking, "Thanks for the Stigma, old bro!", the other two were filled with rage.
Heinrich said timidly, "Hee! Can we reconcile?"
"Sweetheart, you still have time to make memes?" Boothill was furious and was about to shove the muzzle of his gun into his mouth.
A smile appeared on the man's lips instead.
"I was talking about you."
Argenti was stunned. "What?"
"Haven't you noticed yet?" Heinrich laughed. "The sound of the explosion on the other side has already stopped!"
Actually, he didn't need to remind them. Fuli, who was furthest from him, had already noticed.
Or rather, the figure that was flying back like a shooting star along the horizon was simply too conspicuous. Realizing a certain possibility, the boy's expression changed, and he flash-stepped over, catching the figure in his arms just before it crashed into a small hill.
As expected, it was Rita.
Defeated Rita.
There were no wounds on the young woman's body; her state was more like exhaustion.
She, who excelled in agility and speed, had dodged almost all of Aschour's attacks.
However, one who defends for too long is bound to make a mistake.
Plus, she had already fought a fierce battle with Elizabeth, who had been temporarily boosted to the critical level. After a series of fierce battles, the enemy had finally found a flaw, and had sent Rita flying with a super-large frying pan condensed from the earth.
...