"What… what did you just say? Herrscher of Domination?!"
Fu Hua, utterly dumbfounded, went into full-on panic mode.
Her figure blurred like a ghost as she darted behind Nagami, clutching his shoulders with an iron grip.
"Ji Lin?!"
Her wide, stunned eyes locked onto him, those deep blue irises filled with disbelief.
Even if most of her memories from millennia ago were gone, that name still struck her like a bolt of lightning.
It wasn't just something left in Fuxi's ancient writings—Fu Hua had been the guardian of Shenzhou.
There was no way she wouldn't recognize the name Ji Lin (Ji Xuanyuan).
But… Herrscher of Domination?
Those two terms didn't belong in the same sentence.
And yet, Nagami had just said them together—without hesitation.
"…Yeah."
Nagami gave a firm nod, then described what he'd seen through his Alpha Stigma Eyes.
"No way… That's impossible… Ji Lin shouldn't even be alive anymore!"
Fu Hua's voice was barely a whisper.
She stood frozen, her bangs casting a shadow over the complex expression on her face.
Her mind was still reeling, trying to process the shock.
"Logically speaking, you're right," Nagami replied, meeting her gaze. "Her body might've perished long ago.
But her soul… her soul has been sustaining the seal on Chiyou all this time. And more importantly…"
This time, it might not just be coincidence—it could very well be the Honkai Will itself intervening.
If that's the case, then even the most absurd twists of fate were fair game.
If even Nagami and Otto had figured out how to bring people back in some form, for the Honkai God, it would be child's play.
This was bad. Really bad.
C.C. flew to a vantage point where she could better observe the glowing cocoon surrounding the girl, rubbing her temples like she had a migraine.
"If we weren't so honorable, we could just ambush her now before she fully awakens—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
A monstrous vertical pupil snapped open in front of her, glowing with an eerie crimson light—radiating bloodlust, fury, and primal instinct.
And then, the girl's face.
A stunning, delicate expression blooming into the brightest smile of her life.
"Ahaha… I was just kidding…"
Any humanoid being—hell, even some beasts might have hesitated for just a moment under C.C.'s irresistibly enchanting smile.
But unfortunately, this wasn't a humanoid.
This was a Judgment-Class Honkai Beast.
And not just any one—Chiyou.
There was no way it hadn't already noticed the insects buzzing around it.
Especially since one of them was the traitorous Herrscher of Reason.
Up until now, it had refrained from attacking only because it had to protect the emergence of the Herrscher of Domination, and because C.C. and the others had kept their distance.
But now? One of those traitors had flown right up to its face?
Suicidal.
Chiyou opened its mouth.
Suddenly, a windstorm surged out of nowhere, followed by a roar so powerful it shook the heavens themselves.
"RRRAAAAUUUGGHHHH!!!"
The soundwave materialized into a violent shockwave, shredding the atmosphere in every direction.
The ground trembled.
The skies cracked.
C.C. winced as her ears rang violently—it felt like a bomb had gone off right next to her.
And then—pure darkness.
A swirling mass of black-purple Honkai energy began to form in Chiyou's maw, gradually compressing into a dense, spherical shape.
The more it shrank, the more ominous it became—until it finally condensed into a deceptively small pitch-black orb.
As a Herrscher herself, C.C. could feel it. That tiny orb held the destructive force of annihilation itself.
Chiyou swallowed it in one gulp.
Then it turned its crimson gaze toward the floating traitor.
"You've got to be kidding me… a Tailed Beast Bomb?! Did Honkai even get the copyright for that?!"
C.C.'s sarcastic voice rang out as she rocketed into the upper atmosphere, a sonic boom erupting in her wake.
Chiyou might've once been about the same size as the Ten Tails from Naruto, but after the Honkai upgrade? This thing was on another level entirely.
And yeah—bigger doesn't always mean stronger.
But in this case? Chiyou was both.
If that fully-charged Honkai-version Bijuu Bomb landed, the coastal cities already on the brink of collapse would be obliterated in an instant.
Chiyou's eyes tracked the green-haired silhouette soaring away.
Then it opened its mouth again.
A beam of blinding energy exploded forth like a tidal wave of destruction, piercing the sky.
The sheer speed of the Honkai Bijuu Bomb shredded the atmosphere, leaving a temporary vacuum in its path.
With a roaring storm at its back, the energy blast closed in on C.C. at breakneck speed.
It was fast—but not fast enough.
C.C.'s slender, nimble form twisted in the air like a dancer performing on a razor's edge. Her movements were flawless—almost beautiful.
A graceful ballet of death as she spun and evaded with ghost-like precision.
Her smirk faltered for just a split second as she came face-to-face with the glowing sphere.
She blinked at it.
Then, without a care in the world for whether Chiyou understood or not, it spun around and gave it a very international hand gesture.
And in the next instant— The sphere exploded.
A blinding flash swallowed the sky.
'BOOM—!!'
A faint blue glow shimmered across the hem of the Herrscher's dress as C.C. raised a high-density energy barrier in front of her.
'BOOM!'
The next instant, a deafening crash rang out.
Her body was blasted backward, completely out of control.
Like a meteor falling from the sky, her small frame crashed violently into the ocean below.
Chiyou cast a brief glance at the distant figure that had been blown away, then turned its attention back to the glowing cocoon surrounding Ji Lin.
After a slight pause almost like a moment of hesitation—it opened its jaws and swallowed the cocoon whole.
Inside its body was the safest place to keep her.
"Pfft—ugh!"
A splash echoed across the water's surface as C.C. burst out, spitting out two mouthfuls of seawater.
Her soaked clothes clung tightly to her body, outlining her flawless figure.
The torn skirt revealed glimpses of smooth, snow-white skin—a kind of subtle, seductive allure, as if she were half-hidden behind a veil.
Not that anyone was around to enjoy the view.
A soft blue shimmer flowed over her outfit, and in the next moment, the shredded black fabric mended itself, good as new.
"Remote auto-repair? Damn… Guess the upgrades weren't just in raw power."
C.C. blinked, lashes fluttering as she stared blankly at the monstrous Chiyou guarding the Herrscher.
Then she scratched her head, expression dazed.
"How the hell are we supposed to fight that?"
This damn game designer Honkai had turned on the cheat codes!
"Chiyou was already this overpowered. Don't tell me this new Herrscher of Domination… is going to inherit the powers of all six other Herrschers from that core?!"
It sounded way too far-fetched.
But the odds… weren't exactly zero either.
"Ugh! Shut up, shut up, shut up! You jinxed it!" She slapped herself in the face, looking genuinely regretful.
Why the hell did she have to think that far ahead?!
Didn't she know about Murphy's Law?
The more you fear something, the more likely it's going to happen.
If the Herrscher of Domination really did awaken with the combined powers of six other Herrschers…
And on top of that, had a super-evolved Chiyou as a bodyguard…
How the hell are they supposed to fight that?!
"All I did was bring back a soul-corrupting Apocalypse Virus and a time-controlling spirit. Was that really such a big deal?!"
She floated slowly across the water, stretching her sore limbs and mumbling complaints the whole way.
————————————————————————
Meanwhile…
When Chiyou first attacked, Nagami had already flown Fu Hua away from the danger zone.
Right now, the once-legendary Immortal Scarlet Plume was so weakened she couldn't even fly without the aid of her divine slaying armor.
She never took her eyes off Chiyou.
And when she saw that devastating explosion—like a second sun igniting over the sea—a worried expression formed on her face.
"C.C., is she… Is she alright?"
But halfway through the sentence, she caught herself, remembering the whole "two souls in one body" situation.
Lying in Nagami's arms, Fu Hua looked up at the black-haired boy's serious face.
Her concern remained, but now her expression carried a hint of awkwardness.
Sure, they were technically the same person…
But the whole male-female dynamic still made it… complicated.
That strange twinge in her heart made her instinctively shift her body just a little in his arms.
Watching this exchange, Kurumi—floating beside them she tilted her head in confusion.
'What was this woman even saying?'
She seemed worried about that green-haired girl… But she was asking Nagami about it?
Kurumi had never seen C.C. before, so there was no way for her to know the truth behind her identity.
Nagami ignored Kurumi's curious glance.
With a sweep of Honkai energy, he formed a floating platform beneath them, gently setting Fu Hua down.
"She's fine," he said calmly. "But the situation has gone from bad to catastrophic."
He could feel the warmth of Fu Hua's slender frame in his arms just moments before, but he had zero interest in that kind of thing right now.
Maybe it was because… well, there wasn't much to grab.
His azure Herrscher cloak flapped in the wind, intricate symbols glowing faintly in the breeze as he pulled out his communicator and dialed in.
"What's the situation?" came Otto's calm voice on the other end.
"Chiyou has undergone extreme evolution. And the Herrscher of Domination… might be something we've never seen before."
As Nagami explained the situation in the East Sea to Otto, C.C. was already speeding toward the coastline—toward the cities now staring down a disaster of unimaginable scale.