"Be good girl, and give control of the body back to Fu Hua for now," Nagami said as gently as he could manage, though his face twitched ever so slightly.
"This battle concerns the fate of Shenzhou. It's best if she takes the lead… just this once. I hope you can lend her the Herrscher of Sentience's authority."
'Why does this feel like I'm taking a toy from a child?'
"Ugh, fine. Since Dad said so, I guess I'll reluctantly help that old timer this once."
Pouting, the little Sentience Herrscher clicked her tongue and turned her head away, arms crossed in irritation.
She looked just like a kid sulking after being denied dessert.
Her excitement to cause chaos crushed, she closed her eyes slowly and gave in.
———————————————————————
In the Inner World
Pure white stretched endlessly in all directions, the kind of immaculate whiteness that felt untouched by even a speck of dust—like a place too pure for reality.
Fu Hua stood still, gazing upward at the endless images floating above her.
With the birth of the Herrscher of Sentience within her consciousness, Nagami had used Feather Dust to pass her memories on to the new entity.
As their minds overlapped and resonated, it felt as if an ancient tomb, sealed for millennia, had quietly opened, letting buried memories rise from slumber.
The scenes before her eyes shifted rapidly like a raging river—time seemed to run in reverse, taking her back tens of thousands of years.
One by one, old memories flashed by.
The Previous Era. Dr. MEI. The Fusion Warriors. Kevin. The Moonlight Throne. The Herrscher of the End…
Both Hua and the Immortal Chiyou's memories came flooding back.
Fu Hua's expression shifted from shock, to confusion, and finally, to calm.
So much information rushed in that even her sense of self was slightly changed.
But then—
"Hey! Old timer! You still just standing around watching memory reruns? Dad told you to go fight the Honkai! What, giving up on protecting Shenzhou already?"
That loud, energetic voice echoed across the consciousness space.
The Herrscher of Sentience suddenly appeared before Fu Hua, arms crossed as she frowned.
"If you don't wanna go, great! I'll just tell Dad I'll fight this one instead!"
She scoffed. "Seriously, I don't get why Dad insists on you going. Have you looked at your life? What a string of failures. Everyone you wanted to protect? All gone."
As if pitying her, she spread her hands with exaggerated sorrow and shook her head.
Then she broke into a wide, manic grin, eyes gleaming with madness.
"But me? I'm different. I'll change the world to match my will. I'll rewrite reality itself! Hahaha~"
Hearing that Fu Hua finally… snapped.
The cold, detached aura around her shattered instantly.
Her once still, deadpan gaze returned to life.
Looking straight at the grinning little maniac, her azure eyes narrowed.
Then—smack!—she slapped her own forehead hard.
'What kind of karmic retribution is this?!'
Now she finally understood what Nagami had meant when he said: "Fu Hua can't become a Herrscher—but a Herrscher can become Fu Hua."
She wasn't thinking of anything profound.
She just really wanted to give Nagami a personalized massage using Heaven-Cleaving Slash.
Now that the Herrscher of Reason had rebuilt her body, she could go all out without fear of accidentally killing him.
But most importantly…
The Herrscher of Sentience already had all of Fu Hua's memories—so why was she still calling Nagami Dad?!
Was this some kind of biological imperative? Are Herrschers born from consciousness just… imprinted like baby ducks?!
The truth was, the Herrscher of Sentience could clearly feel the Void energy from Nagami.
Add in the influence of the Apocalypse virus, and the "Dad" designation was basically hardcoded.
From the virus's perspective, Nagami's command had been to catalyze a soul—not how.
So anything beneficial to Nagami's interests was fair game. And the result?
Well… this is what we get.
Fu Hua had already tried explaining everything to her after her birth in their shared mindspace.
But the stubborn little brat just wouldn't change her mind.
Now, with over 50,000 years of experience behind her, Fu Hua found herself genuinely emotionally overwhelmed—for the first time ever.
"Sigh…"
This sigh was the kind of sigh that could move people to tears. She must've had her head caught in a door to ever trust Nagami!
"…Fine. Enough fooling around. Just lend me your power already."
Fu Hua's form vanished as the Sentience Herrscher stuck her tongue out and made a goofy face.
Somewhere deep down, Fu Hua was trying very hard to stay calm.
Sure, the whole process was utterly ridiculous—almost nonsensical—but in the end… she had gained real power.
Her body had been fully restored to its peak Fusion Warrior state.
Add in the Herrscher of Sentience's authority, and—
[TAIXU SWORDGOD WARNING]
That's right.
Fu Hua could now once again unleash her legendary move—the one that could cut even the Honkai's divine network cable clean through.
And because she had full access to the Herrscher's power, the memory-burning side effects were almost gone.
All she needed now was the Sentience Herrscher's cooperation.
Right now, Fu Hua was basically the full-powered Immortal Chiyou + Herrscher of Sentience combo.
Brace yourselves.
She's not playing around anymore.
Her eyes slowly opened—brilliant irises of blue and pink shimmered with an ethereal glow.
The madness and pride once reflected in them had vanished, replaced by an air of serene divinity, as though an untouchable celestial being had descended.
But then… she saw Nagami's smirking face.
Instantly, Fu Hua's divine aura shattered.
Her fingers clenched into a tight fist—only to relax again a moment later.
She wanted to kill him.
But not now.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her gaze toward the ocean, now almost entirely swallowed by darkness and seething with violet-black particles.
Her expression turned solemn as she nodded to Himeko and Nagami.
"Let's move."
And with that, Fu Hua soared into the sky, flying directly toward Chiyou.
Scarlet flames erupted behind Himeko, forming blazing crimson wings.
Just as she was about to follow Fu Hua, Nagami's voice called out behind her.
"Wait! Hold on a second!"
Fu Hua halted in mid-air, turning back to Nagami with a puzzled look.
"Why? Are you planning something else?"
Himeko tilted her head, curious.
"The electromagnetic cannon C.C. is charging… Now that the Herrscher of Domination has awakened, we don't have time to let it reach full capacity. It won't be enough to completely vaporize Chiyou anymore, but crippling him? That's still doable."
Nagami adjusted the settings on his handheld terminal, switching to Durandal's channel.
His expression was serious, voice heavy.
"I've aligned the trajectory as best I can. This shot will land in the East China Sea, but the residual force could still cause massive collateral damage nearby. You two—head back and protect the mainland."
"Durandal, try to get as far away from Chiyou as possible."
At this level of battle, even a slight mistake could trigger catastrophic consequences—"disaster" would be an understatement.
If Chiyou weren't currently out in the sea, Nagami wouldn't even dare use this attack.
Whether or not it destroyed Chiyou, the mainland would certainly not survive unscathed.
Asia: I'm splitting in half over here!
The power levels of Chiyou and the Herrscher of Domination had now reached—if not surpassed those of the previous era.
Back then, the Herrscher of Rock Azta once devoured an entire continent, Mu, roughly the size of Eurasia, with a pseudo-black hole—wiping out one-sixth of the world's population.
The previous Herrscher of Flame once turned all of Australia into a burning sea.
This was what continent-level warfare in the previous era looked like.
Say what you will, but the previous era's Herrschers really acted like gods—and looked the part too.
After hearing Nagami's plan, Fu Hua and Himeko exchanged a serious glance and nodded before splitting up, flying in different directions to protect the perimeter.
"Understood!"
A clear, firm voice answered through the terminal.
The golden-haired girl attacking the corrupted shell surrounding Chiyou suddenly paused.
—Then, in the next moment, her delicate frame erupted with radiant brilliance, propelling her like a blazing comet into the sky.
At the same time, Chiyou—now fully evolved—opened his eyes.
Beastly, crimson, and glowing with otherworldly intelligence, those eyes locked onto something in the distance.
With a terrifying focus, he unleashed a beam of energy that bent space around it.
Even standard judgment-class Honkai beasts had intelligence rivaling humans. Chiyou at this point… was far beyond that.
A tidal wave of danger surged forth.
Then, Chiyou opened his mouth wide—and a blinding light began to gather deep within his abyssal throat.
Countless purple-black particles began swirling around his maw, forming a rapidly growing sphere of pure destruction—solid, dense, and ominous in its enormity.
"Too bad," C.C.'s voice rang out with a teasing edge, "you're already too late."
She stopped holding back the electromagnetic surge wrapping around the massive warhead.
Within that seething energy, one could glimpse fragments of collapsing void—dark shards devouring the very light around them.
"Now then... catch this: Sage Art – Spiral Magnetic Release: Electromagnetic Cannon Rasen Shuriken!"
In a storm of thunderous noise that roared like crashing tides, the warhead accelerated along its vacuum-ionized rail.
The multi-kilometer-long barrel fired in an instant—launching the warhead at a speed so absurd it looked like it ripped the very fabric of space, accompanied by a cataclysmic sonic boom that shook the heavens and the earth.
'BOOOOOOOM!!!'
A shockwave rivaling a nuclear explosion blasted across sea and land alike, tearing a massive trench through the terrain straight toward Chiyou.
Just before the cannon fired, Chiyou's monstrous body twitched.
That enormous ball of Honkai energy—nearly ten kilometers in diameter and resembling some twisted version of a Tailed Beast Bomb vanished from its original spot, swallowed up by the storm of annihilation now bearing down on him.
———————————————————————
Daily Uploads!
Unlock bonus chapters by reaching specific milestones with [Power Stone] votes!
Go to p-atreon.com/InsomniaTL to access more than 50 advanced chapters.