They had discovered that only by striking the core could they inflict real damage—but they still hadn't realized that the energy of each Jin Li clone would scale with the opponent's strength.
Still, sensing the explosive power surging from her teammates, Mei's own fighting spirit was rising fast.
She cast one last glance toward Nagami's direction, took a deep breath, and her expression sharpened with steely resolve.
'I can help him. I must.'
Wild winds whipped through her violet hair, making it dance like a flame in a storm.
Her cherry-red lips and the sparks of lightning wrapping around her snow-pale skin gave her an ethereal beauty.
Mei closed her eyes. Cold air filled her lungs, and the Herrscher of Thunder's power surged through her like a rising tide.
When she opened them again, her pupils were no longer their usual shade—in the center of each was a glowing red iris surrounded by a ring of violet lightning, forming a vertical ellipse like a divine sigil.
Behind her, a violet thunder ring appeared, crowning her with the presence of a thunder god.
There was no Honkai beast named Kūrikarā by her side this time—but thanks to C.C.'s crash course in physics, she had a new idea.
For the first time, Mei attempted to synchronize her Herrscher powers with the Earth's magnetic field.
A storm rose across the land.
Endless dark clouds tumbled in the sky as violet-red lightning crackled across the heavens.
Her left hand gripped the hilt of the Judgment of Shamash, assuming an iai stance.
Lightning flashed within the sheath.
Like a magnetic storm visual from a game, the ancient thunder forged in the ionosphere for untold millennia seemed to be drawn to her blade, snaking down like celestial dragons.
"Chidori…"
Lightning flooded the skies, as if tens of millions of birds cried out at once.
Boundless electromagnetic energy gathered beneath her feet, forming a ring of thunder.
A mere coin enhanced by electromagnetic acceleration can exceed the speed of sound—so what happens when a Herrscher of Thunder taps directly into the Earth's electromagnetic field?
The answer?
"Draw!"
The voice came not from one Mei, but two.
The second stood several kilometers away, back turned to the Jin Li clone—already having completed her strike.
The two Meis, perfectly synchronized, flourished their blades and slid them back into their sheaths with practiced grace.
The moment the hilt clicked into the scabbard, a slash that transcended time and space tore through the heavens, splitting even the divine lightning in two.
"This is… my resolve!"
All that could be said was: when a Herrscher combines her powers with real scientific knowledge… it's terrifying.
C.C.'s lectures were surprisingly effective.
Compared to the others' dazzling, cinematic ultimates, Miss Shrine Maiden's style was much more subdued.
The crimson-dyed blade was slowly being consumed by a creeping black sheen starting from the hilt, distorting even the surrounding space into darkness.
"We've got to keep up too!"
[Mhm~ Onee-chan, let's go!]
Yae Sakura didn't reply.
Instead, she smiled—a bewitching, irresistible smile that could cause kingdoms to fall.
Add a pair of bunny ears, and you'd think she was a literal fox spirit.
No flashy swordsmanship, no explosive display.
Just one simple, almost playful swing of the blade, as if a child were mimicking swordplay.
The moment the blade moved, her figure began to dissolve into drifting cherry blossom petals.
A dreamlike vision scattered across the breeze, painting the air with a blizzard of falling sakura.
The petals floated around one of the Jin Li clones, encircling her.
Within the clone's abyssal pupils, a soft pink hue began to bloom—then deepen—until the colors clashed, pink and black vying for dominance in her eyes.
"Mmhmm~ You're all doing great!"
With a bright, sunlit smile on her delicate face, the green-haired girl turned to Mei's direction and nodded, as if in praise.
She still couldn't use some advanced formulas on a whim, but at least Mei was a student who was willing to learn.
Compared to her… the "tuna" was hopeless.
"Heh, trying to kill me? Honkai, you're twenty thousand years too early!"
Within the glowing six-pointed star, it was clear—the energy inside this version of Jin Li was collapsing like mercury spilling across the floor, rapidly draining away.
Its destination? The other clones, no doubt.
Even a Pre-Era level Herrscher would have trouble enduring the combined assault of four Herrschers and the ultimate move from Golden Goose.
And Nagami hadn't even made a move yet.
A brilliant burst of light erupted from his body.
Crystalline wings of light spiraled behind him, entwined with the glowing bands of Void energy.
With a calm, confident smile directed at Jin Li, Nagami vanished in a thunderous sonic boom, streaking across the sky like a falling star.
Jin Li's expression twitched, almost imperceptibly.
Sensing the retreat, she raised the Xuanyuan Sword, engraved with six cores, and slashed forcefully in Nagami's direction.
'Clang!'
A ringing metallic cry tore through the air as sparks exploded outward.
But this time, the force wasn't as unstoppable as before.
C.C. intercepted it with the Sword of Godsbane, only pushed back around a hundred meters.
"If you like me so much, it would be rude not to send you a proper gift."
With a dazzling smile, C.C. tossed her sword into the shadow realm, and clenched her slender, pale fist.
A brilliant surge of energy from the Authority of the Void genome erupted around her.
Cyan particles gathered behind her like stardust pulled by will alone, shaping themselves through her Herrscher powers.
When the light finally faded—there stood a massive, statue-like figure, towering even larger than an Ultraman.
Only… it was shaped like a hand, Nagami's hand, and that hand was flipping the bird.
Jin Li blinked blankly. No change in expression. Just… tilted her head, slightly confused.
"Here you go! You're welcome~" C.C. waved at her sweetly, smile never fading.
And then—the explosion.
Brilliant light erupted from the colossal statue.
The "friendly gesture" was just a disguise.
Its true nature was something far more terrifying: a three-stage thermonuclear bomb.
Or simply put: a hydrogen-uranium fusion bomb.
It had two main selling points: devastating power… and dirt-cheap manufacturing costs.
Thanks to the distance Jin Li had created between battle zones, and the fact they were above the Pacific Ocean, C.C. could go all out without holding back.
There was no way to estimate its exact yield.
She had cranked the Void Authority's output to max.
Conservatively? It could erase the entire Far East.
The rest? Unmeasurable.
As the bomb detonated, the innermost layer—plutonium-239—underwent fission, releasing immense energy and high-energy neutrons.
The middle layer—lithium deuteride—was bombarded by neutrons, creating tritium and helium.
Tritium fused with deuterium in the extreme heat and pressure, triggering a fusion reaction that released even more energy and neutrons.
Simultaneously, those neutrons struck the outer layer of uranium-238, causing yet another fission reaction.
Fission. Fusion. Fission.
This was true Triad Power.
An unending storm of energy roared like a tsunami.
Blinding light bloomed—a radiance so intense it would instantly blind any normal person who looked at it.
It was divine punishment in its purest form.
The blazing plasma expanded, tearing through the clouded sky like a sea of lightning given form.
Hundreds of kilometers of ocean water vaporized in an instant.
Supercharged and self-amplifying, the threefold nuclear force brought destruction like nothing else.
This wasn't just a regular mushroom cloud.
The searing light surged like a solar flare dancing across the surface of a star.
The shockwave tore through the air, lifting millions of tons of seawater into the sky.
And somewhere in the middle of it all—a spatial portal quietly opened above the sea.
Out stepped a certain girl in an ornate Herrscher dress, her ice-blue pupils ringed with diamond-shaped crosses.
As a Herrscher, she alone could look directly at this star-like blaze without turning away.
Hovering in the air, the sea breeze tossing her bangs, Kiana—our beloved "tuna"—looked completely stunned.
'What in the world was that!?'
The brief sense of invincibility she had gained from mastering the powers of the Herrscher of the Void evaporated almost instantly.
Sure, she could be a little slow sometimes… but even the most arrogant person would pause at a sight like this.
Dodging slightly to avoid the rising sea spray, Kiana's eyes were suddenly drawn to a brilliant blue streak cutting through the crimson sky.
"Nagami! I'm here! Over here!"
Sensing a familiar Herrscher power signature, she raised her slender arm and waved excitedly at the approaching figure.