Mobius, she really... Ryan held the tablet, his fingertips trembling slightly.
The results of the Battle of the North Atlantic came in, making his eyelids twitch continuously.
According to Prometheus's estimates, the final outcome was a mutual defeat.
The Ninth Herrscher, heavily wounded, escaped, conveniently slaughtering the blocking North Atlantic Fleet, leaving it scattered.
Ryan saw the video. A hundred-thousand-ton aircraft carrier was literally crushed into a giant iron ball, then thrown into the center of the fleet.
The colossal waves it generated turned ten-thousand-ton destroyers into small sampans, and ships within a few kilometers of the impact site capsized on the spot.
But the Herrscher was still injured.
After breaking through the obstruction, he fled without looking back, not even daring to return directly to South America, but instead charging wildly towards the Mediterranean.
What was the cost then? Ryan hesitated for a moment, then turned a page, and his entire body stiffened slightly.
The killing intent he released made the fireplace grow cold.
"Something happened?" Eden hesitantly walked over from beside him, gently placing a hand on Ryan shoulder.
"Mobius activated Extreme Overdrive, unleashing all her Honkai energy, tearing open a gap. Coleman and the others endured the gravity wave to fight the Herrscher to the death. You can see the specific battle situation directly." Ryan handed over the tablet.
These were captured by optical satellites, clearly important intelligence.
The entire battlefield was divided into two parts.
On one side were hundreds of ordinary MANTIS, who engaged in a chaotic fight with Honkai Beasts emerging from the sea.
Then a group broke through the block to provide support, only to be hit by a gravity storm as soon as they reached the battlefield, instantly turning dozens of people into meat paste.
On the other side were Mobius, Coleman, Yun, Joshua, and Zheng, five high-tier MANTIS besieging the Herrscher.
As Ryan said, Mobius activated Extreme Overdrive, breaking through that impenetrable barrier, which then gave her the qualifications to fight him.
They fought from the ocean to Iceland, then from Iceland they battled to southern Britannia.
Soul steel, abilities, and Authorities intertwined.
The raging Honkai energy forced back even the arriving bomber formations.
Eden couldn't understand the combat details and their reversals. She only felt that it was exceptionally fierce, then covered her mouth.
"Mr. Zheng lost his right arm. Lieutenant Colonel Coleman spine was broken. Yun's Soul Steel weapon self-destructed due to overload. Father Joshua fell into the sea and is missing. Dr. Mobius... killed in action!?" She suddenly looked up, finding Ryan very calm, showing no signs of jumping up to fight to the death.
She then slightly relaxed.
"Mobius ability is 'Rebirth'. As long as she pays some price, she won't die that easily. Tsk, I knew why Mei wanted her to lead the team. So that was Mei idea."
"To have her lead the charge, to minimize casualties?" Eden also understood.
Never mind the disabilities or broken spines, MANTIS' self-healing abilities were strong. With high-tech enhancements, as long as they weren't dead, they could always be saved.
She placed the tablet on the table, saying somewhat nervously:
"But this Herrscher is really strong. Even with Dr. Mobius Extreme Overdrive, fighting five against one, they still managed a draw."
"Because of me, the Herrschers have already been cheating. Otherwise, the Seventh Herrscher wouldn't have been able to beat Kevin, let alone face me directly," Ryan didn't hide anything.
Of course, the Ninth Herrscher was very strong on the original timeline.
Its destruction of the entire Mu Continent could be said to be a fatal blow to human civilization.
'Because of you?' Eden eyes flickered.
For some reason, she recalled Aponia's cryptic words, as if without Ryan, the Herrschers wouldn't be so powerful.
Ryan didn't notice he had let slip something. His expression grew increasingly serious. He stood up and paced back and forth.
Overall, it was a loss.
According to the intelligence from Mei, the Herrscher of Death had disappeared again.
No need to think; it was clearly going to heal the Herrscher of Stars's injuries.
'Truly disgusting. Its combat power is still unknown, but its support ability is really annoying. Mobius and the others can't be relied on for now, and with the Herrscher of Death present, the Herrscher of Stars will definitely recover faster.'
"Eden, help me check the situation in South America."
"Okay." Eden had also received training.
She quickly found the relevant intelligence and summarized it.
South America was going smoothly.
With Kalpas, the berserker, charging ahead, tearing apart enemies while roaring 'not enough, not enough', Kevin and the others were very nervous, fearing he might have gone mad.
But he wouldn't cause problems.
The so-called base-swapping tactic had failed for the Herrscher.
He was forced to retreat before even touching New York's doorstep, and he even took the troublesome Herrscher of Death with him.
The true combat power of the Fire Moth was all in South America: Elysia, Kevin, Su, Sakura, Kalpas, Hua, Kosma. With just these names, Ryan didn't believe the Herrscher of Domination, the Herrscher of Blood, and Kalpas group of traitors could stop them.
They needed the Ninth Herrscher, or something else.
"What's Mei plan?"
"Dr. Mei is now ordering the front line to slow down and not obstruct Kalpas rampage." As expected.
If they were to instantly penetrate that continent, Ryan wouldn't have the time to play cat and mouse with a few Herrschers.
And the Ninth Herrscher had already personally experienced how annoying high-tier MANTIS were as enemies.
Even though much weaker, they still had the power to fight.
This way, quantitative change could lead to qualitative change.
For example, if either Elysia or Kevin had participated in the North Atlantic battle, the consequences wouldn't have been so tragic.
"What about those two Herrschers? Still not showing themselves?"
"No. Two hours ago, a team of traitors led by two pseudo-Herrschers launched a surprise attack. After being surrounded, they chose to self-destruct, injuring Lieutenant Colonel Andvici and Miss Anna. Hua is escorting them back to the outpost." Eden became more familiar and clearer, feeling that she truly had a talent for being a secretary.
Perhaps she should discuss with Sakura about taking over for a few days each month? Self-destruct? These people truly have no shame.
Ryan quickly returned to the table, looking at the screen, seeing a dark blue control area form a salient, the expanded area not particularly large.
This was a strategy of building strongholds and fighting stubbornly, advancing with staggered cover, and then covering the area with surveillance equipment.
After all, the MANTIS were not numerous, but highly mobile, so even if surrounded, they could quickly break out.
However, some other blue dots were quite far from the occupied zone.
This was Kalpas.
He had no fixed route, like a sharp blade churning in the continent's interior, going wherever there were enemies.
In his berserk assault, he left behind only corpses everywhere.
With the main commander like this, the warriors under him were naturally also filled with murderous intent. Only the vice-captain, Ludicyna, diligently handled the aftermath, coordinating resupply and sending back the wounded.
Leaving aside [Deliverance], the main force was less than two hundred kilometers from the outskirts of Rio, very close.
The Herrschers still didn't show themselves, leaving only two possibilities.
First, the Herrschers didn't care about their lair at all and had chosen to abandon it.
In this case, action must be swift, killing as many as possible.
Second, they still had a trump card, preparing to deliver a heavy blow to Kevin and the others, or waiting for him to appear before using it.
One must know that according to Prometheus's calculations, it was already enough for the Eleventh Herrscher to descend, but its current strength would be very ordinary, unable to achieve a decisive effect.
However, based on the Herrscher of Blood's phenomenon, Honkai might also use techniques to bypass the 'progress bar' limitation, such as certain very special Authorities that don't require accumulating too much energy.
"The progress is still too fast. In the original timeline, there was a five-year gap between the Third and Eighth Herrschers, but for me, the Tenth Herrscher has appeared in just two and a half years." Ryan muttered to himself, but this aligned with Honkai's setting of 'the faster civilization develops, the stronger the rebound'.
Just as human civilization developed for thousands of years before the First Herrscher arrived, from this point onwards, the confrontation between the two sides had steadily increased.
But this steady increase encountered a turning point during the Third Herrscher period, which was precisely when Ryan stepped onto the stage.
Then, the Fourth and Fifth Herrschers showed some changes but remained within normal limits. By the Sixth and Seventh Herrschers, things started to go awry, and the Eighth Herrscher period made this curve suddenly climb sharply.
"The Eighth Herrscher was originally the Herrscher of Sentience, but it turned into an alienated version of the Herrscher of Domination. Looking back now, it precisely coincides with the time I took control of the Fire Moth, gathered the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, and changed the world beyond recognition!" Ryan absolutely did not believe this was a coincidence, because the answer was very simple: He saved a lot of time, objectively causing civilization's progress to explode.
One must know that the super-transformation surgery alone, in the original timeline, took a full four years to succeed from the Third Herrscher onward, and only by Kevin risking his life was it won.
But Ryan, in half the time, had already created over a thousand MANTIS, along with explorations of the Sea of Quanta, Divine Key development, and so on.
Without internal strife, civilization was like a rocket engine, climbing crazily. So, according to the setting of 'the faster civilization develops, the stronger the rebound,' if you humans can cheat, can't Honkai cheat too? Herrscher alienation, unknown Authorities, and this surging difficulty truly brought the targeting and rebound to the extreme.
"Which one is it?" Ryan closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wander.
Emotionally, he was similar to Kalpas. His killing intent was close to its limit, wishing he could rush to the battlefield right now and sweep away all enemies like a whirlwind.
But I must restrain myself. It's the old saying: Honkai can fail a thousand times, but humanity cannot fail even once.
Footsteps sounded. Ryan slightly raised his head and saw Aponia coming down from the second floor.
The woman smiled gently, indicating that the children were asleep, then walked into the living room and casually took a shawl from the rack.
"It's cold at night. Don't be too anxious," she gently draped the shawl over Ryan shoulder, still maintaining that calm demeanor.
"Impatience is the enemy of reason. You said that yourself." Ryan wasn't actually impatient.
He was the type of person who became calmer the bigger the matter, but he still accepted Aponia's concern.
He gently patted the nun's soft hand, gazing into her clear blue eyes, and said faintly:
"Don't worry, even if the Herrschers have a trump card, they can't take down Kevin and the others. You should know they aren't ordinary warriors either." Aponia nodded gently.
Even though Kevin and the others' destinies had been twisted by Ryan, she could still see subtle traces.
"Their destiny will not end here. Also, do you need me to make a move?" Her tone was full of compassion, like an angel's loving face, but Ryan knew these words were like a devil's whisper.
Aponia's ability couldn't deal with Herrschers, but to humans, it was supreme divine speech. A single word would be enough to make a person cross that boundary.
"Not yet. At least, the problems Honkai presents are still within the response plan. At the very least—" Ryan paused, watching the Skynet map on the screen gradually blur, finally losing all information, as if covered by an iron curtain.
"I want to know what their trump card is."
...
The sound of missiles falling echoed. Honkai energy warheads released spherical fireballs. Within this range, whether trees or reinforced concrete buildings, everything was annihilated.
"Like meteors falling, quite beautiful."
Calis looked up.
This already deserted city was completely engulfed in flames. Numerous houses, already riddled with cracks, collapsed, stirring up dust everywhere, but the sky was covered by a layer of black mist until the meteors broke through the clouds.
The iron curtain had risen. This largest city in South America was not as dangerous as the Fire Moth had imagined. At least, as far as Calis could see, there wasn't a single Honkai Beast present.
The dense barrage was more like a form of catharsis, heating the air, and due to energy friction, creating an aurora effect.
He didn't admire it for long. He jumped from the rooftop, pushed open a hidden door, and followed a slope all the way down. Inside was another world.
Digging tunnels was no difficult task for tireless creatures like Honkai Beasts. Aside from being less refined and scientifically arranged, the scale was not much smaller than the Fire Moth headquarters.
The true underground fortress only trembled slightly from the explosions above. Looking around, there seemed to be countless enormous tunnels, wide enough for cars, like the maw of an abyss. No one knew what lay within, only hearing various strange sounds.
Some sounded like arthropod friction, some like whistling bellows. Some exuded white smoke, and some rocks were corroded.
Large amounts of Honkai energy crystals were scattered everywhere, crystalline and transparent, adding a touch of decoration to the oppressive underground.
Calis chose one path and went straight down the slope until he reached the bottom, unsure how deep underground he was, before finally pausing.
An iron door blocked the way. No guards were needed. An emotion called 'fear' naturally arose in his heart. He gripped his slightly trembling left hand. As soon as he approached, the door slowly opened.
What greeted them was an endless array of corpses, all Honkai Beasts with missing limbs. They had returned here from other tunnels and didn't need to waste time regenerating; they were simply repurposed as waste.
From Temple-class, Honkai Emperors, to a Judgment-class Honkai Beast with three out of four heads smashed, and even crippled MANTIS and captives, corpses piled up into a small mountain. At the top of the mountain, a blood-red figure was feasting.
Calis licked his parched lips, suppressing his pounding heart.
From the very beginning, the Herrscher had no intention of escaping.