"That's... Latia?!"
As soon as Nagami finished speaking, Ellen—suspended mid-air with her limbs bound—followed his gaze.
A moment later, her eyes locked onto a very familiar warship.
Her personal flagship.
But that wasn't all…
Two warships had stopped roughly ten kilometers away from Nagami.
The Albard warship had extended a connector to the Latia, transferring an enormous stream of mana from its engine room into Ellen's ship.
At the Latia's bow, a massive transformation was underway—its sleek, sci-fi hull shifting and reshaping until a colossal main cannon, tens of meters in diameter, emerged.
Invisible energy fluctuations condensed in the air.
Thick mana coursed along the golden hull like rivers of light, converging into a blinding torrent that pooled at the cannon's gaping barrel.
It was a radiance that seemed to embody the pinnacle of destructive power, filled with overwhelming annihilative intent.
The energy ballooned to such a degree that even space itself groaned under the pressure, whispering a ghostly lament.
Even from kilometers away, the sheer apocalyptic energy it emitted could be distinctly felt—utterly terrifying.
Nagami narrowed his eyes, staring straight at the light as radiant as the sun.
"I didn't think Westcott was Russian… Where did he learn this kind of Slavic-style rescue tactic?"
He casually patted Ellen's shoulder and offered a disarming smile. "Your boss has clearly abandoned you. Ever thought about switching sides?"
"Hah!"
Ellen's tone returned to its usual mocking sneer, lips curling into a sarcastic grin.
"Don't be ridiculous. Someone like you—"
Her words were abruptly cut off.
"Ellen, do you believe I have enough time to show you the true meaning of a 'phantom strike' before that cannon fully charges?"
"...Judging by your strength alone… I suppose you do."
Her tone shifted to one of grim seriousness.
But the slight tremble in her voice betrayed her fear.
"Tch. Folded already? That was fast. What a shame…"
Nagami muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Ellen to hear.
She let out a deep breath, inwardly warning herself not to provoke him any further.
Nagami then turned to look behind him.
The artificial magicians he had summoned were all fighting with their lives on the line to hold back Kurumi, Nia, and Mana Ouma.
But there was another issue.
Though they weren't near Tengu City, with the destructive capacity of the cannon before him, even a glancing shot would wipe the city off the map if he dodged it.
———————————————————————
[Itsuka Kotori]: Nagami, we've detected an unprecedented energy surge around Tengu City. Where are you?! What the hell is going on?!
———————————————————————
Kotori had rushed back from Yuzuru's concert in a panic.
Now, standing in the command room with crimson alarms flashing across the monitors, her face was pale with urgency.
———————————————————————
[Nagami]: Relax. Just some visitors from DEM. I'll explain everything when I get back.
———————————————————————
Kotori's tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly as she saw Nagami's calm response.
At the moment, Ellen looked just like a student promising themselves they'd never play on their phone again after getting caught doing homework last minute.
"With your strength, you could easily dodge it. Why not just—"
Her tone was laced with sarcasm, but it was clear she understood Nagami's predicament.
She hadn't expected this supposed "Herrscher" demon to be worried about protecting the city.
But before she could finish her sentence, a sudden chill brushed her lower body—and she instantly panicked.
"S-Sorry! I'm sorry!"
She apologized at lightspeed.
Nagami, with dead-fish eyes, glanced at the exposed remains of her chest display, shattered from his earlier void blade strike.
Her apology now seemed very sincere.
'What is she, a three-wave tsundere or something?'
Dismissing the wind magic circle in his hand, Nagami fixed his eyes on the still-charging mega-cannon and let out a sigh.
"Hey! Do you guys not care about the hostage's life?!"
He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.
No response.
With a sigh, he resumed his preparations.
"As expected from a twisted pervert like Westcott. Is this his idea of a friendly hello—opening with a nuke? Fine then, I'll play along."
Thanks to the power of the "Fated One," Nagami could connect to the Imaginary Space from any world.
With the transcendent Void Core as a conduit, an endless supply of Honkai energy surged from within him.
Countless glowing blue particles gathered around him, materializing under his control.
"I really wanted to face you all as a warrior… but you're forcing me to switch to 'mage mode.'"
"What... are you doing?"
Still suspended by void crystal bands in a very compromising position, Ellen frowned as she saw enormous constructs forming around Nagami and the sky growing ominously dark.
A sense of dread bubbled up from the depths of her heart.
"Nothing much. Just building a few little toys."
Honestly, Nagami was tempted to just storm in and blow both ships to hell.
But there was one serious concern—if his figure vanished from their line of sight, that cannon, powered by the combined mana of two warships and all the magicians aboard, would fire immediately.
And that wouldn't just erase Tengu City.
With its current trajectory, if nothing interfered from outside, this blast might shake the entire Far East.
"I have to admit… Westcott really is a madman. Is he that sure I'll try to protect the city? Or… is any choice I make something he planned for?"
It was like chatting with an old friend.
Nagami looked at Ellen, who remained silent and only stared at his actions. He grinned playfully.
"Don't be such a mute. Judging from your face, you seem very interested in my little toy, huh?"
Ellen looked like she was about to say something, but in the end, kept her mouth shut.
No doubt about it—this guy in front of her was a scumbag. An absolute menace.
If she went along with his words, he'd probably hit her with something like:
"Oh, you wanna know? Too bad—I'm not telling." That kind of answer would make her blood pressure spike.
But if she ignored him, there was at least a chance she might actually get an explanation.
Ah, this… this was growth.
Painful, humiliating growth, but growth nonetheless.
And as expected, Ellen's silence played out exactly as she'd predicted.
Nagami gave her a disappointed look at first but then immediately lit up with enthusiasm.
"Electromagnetic force, when fully under control, can cause destruction on a scale normal people couldn't even imagine."
Dark clouds loomed overhead.
Behind the floating, black-haired boy, crystalline wings shimmered into existence.
As he swung his arm downward, serpents of lightning slithered through the storm clouds, intertwining in the sky.
A thick, thunderous bolt—blue-violet and serpentine—snaked down from the heavens, striking the massive steel framework Nagami had summoned.
Electricity surged across the structure, branching into a web of glowing blue currents.
Thunder rained down like a storm, linking sky and earth in a chaotic symphony of lightning pillars.
"And besides—I'm not Magneto. I don't enjoy playing with scrap metal."
With just a thought, the nature of the Void Core shifted, transforming into a core of the Herrscher of Thunder—a force Nagami was intimately familiar with.
"Oh, right," he added casually. "You probably don't even know who Magneto is. But no worries—you've at least heard of Railgun, haven't you?"
"…What?!"
Ellen's eyes shot open. It was as if a tsunami had just crashed inside her mind.
"Guess I don't need to explain the science then," Nagami said with a satisfied nod.
"Signature move of that tsundere middle schooler. Though, let's be honest, her understanding of physics probably came from a gym teacher."
He rambled on in terms Ellen didn't understand.
The six-pointed star in Nagami's eyes gleamed with a pristine purple glow.
A Tesla Earth-Sky Resonance Chamber, formed from the Void Principle and the planet's ionosphere, spun endlessly around him—wirelessly transferring an ocean of energy from the atmosphere directly into Nagami's surroundings.
Harnessing the full power of the Void Principle and his unique eye of revision, Nagami controlled the steel framework to channel a tremendous, indescribable amount of electromagnetic energy.
He focused on the empty air in front of him, cleared by intense ionization, locking onto the floating warships and calculating the vacuum tunnel's structure and trajectory.
He had to avoid damaging Earth itself.
…Though, honestly, Earth-chan's center-part hairstyle might be permanently messed up after this.
Glowing blue particles condensed into a massive, specialized projectile suspended inside the electromagnetic field.
As Ellen turned ghostly pale, the black-haired boy let out a slow, steady breath to balance his energy expenditure—then broke into a brilliant, beaming smile.
"This is a one-of-a-kind Giant Super Electromagnetic Cannon! Cool, right?"
"And best of all—it's paired with a planetary electromagnetic launcher and a vacuum ion rail. Your friends are in for a treat~"
Given enough prep time, this cannon could reach star-busting levels. After all, even asteroids count as celestial bodies.
Which is why Herrschers are terrifyingly good at wiping out civilizations.
Though, at the moment, this Railgun wasn't quite powerful enough to destroy a star—it'd take several weeks of prep for that.
But that was well within the capability of the Herrscher of Thunder.
Yes, we're talking about the rice-cooker queen herself.
A fully awakened, knowledge-rich Thunder Herrscher—that's the kind of being worthy of the title "Apostle of the Gods."
Only after the Void Core evolved could Nagami replicate the Thunder Herrscher's powers to this degree.
A regular Herrscher of Reason couldn't even come close.
No one brings nukes to a pistol fight—but Nagami had to admit, this weapon might be a bit overkill.
Then again, it was the enemy who broke the rules first.
As Nagami, a proud victim of firepower inadequacy syndrome, admired the superweapon he'd crafted with his own hands—
—the enemy cannon also finished charging.