Although Leo Ash had proposed using the 'Key of Binding' for a connection experiment before it began, the ideal scenario in Theresa's mind was clearly not this.
In Theresa's prediction, Leo Ash would collapse from exhaustion after the first experiment, thereby realizing just how dangerous it was to connect to a core with the Blank Key, and then he would stop wanting to mess around.
But looking at it now—Leo Ash clearly had no intention of acting according to Theresa's expectations.
What exhaustion? It was simply non-existent.
Although Leo Ash had only been connected to the core for a minute, well...
—The Previous Era user of the Blank Key collapsed after three minutes, whereas Leo Ash proactively broke the connection and then proceeded to a second round as if nothing happened. The difficulty between the two is worlds apart.
Each Herrscher Core has its own unique characteristics. To a Honkai Energy warrior like Theresa, who had been in contact with Divine Keys for years, adapting to a Herrscher Core's characteristics was something that required time.
Leo Ash had just been using the Herrscher of Thunder's authority, and then, not two seconds after disconnecting, he switched to using the authority of the Key of Binding...
—From a logical standpoint, this looked no different from courting death.
"Um, Matriarch."
Feeling the monstrous strength erupting from Theresa, Leo Ash, who had already touched the Key of Binding, said to her helplessly.
"If possible, I'd still hope you let go."
"The authority of the Key of Binding is very harmful to your body. Like this... I can't release its power."
"I already told you to let go of Judah!"
"And—Judah, you get away from him."
Issuing a command to the Divine Key, Theresa shot a confident look at Leo Ash.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph, you don't know, do you? Judah is different from other Divine Keys. It has its own consciousness."
"As long as I make a request..."
"'A request'?"
Looking at the motionless Key of Binding, Leo Ash turned to look at Theresa and asked, full of doubt.
"What will happen?"
"Eh?"
Realizing that Judah hadn't followed her command to move away from Leo Ash, Theresa felt that today's situation was becoming increasingly strange.
At that moment, Theresa unconsciously let go of Leo Ash's shoulder. She tentatively touched Judah lightly with her hand, only to immediately retract her arm in alarm, as if she'd received an electric shock.
Theresa had just encountered something she had never experienced since she first possessed the [Oath of Judah].
Upon touching the Oath of Judah, Theresa actually felt that it was faintly rejecting her, its long-time companion and wielder.
"A-Are you kidding me?"
Completely baffled, Theresa, in disbelief, reached out to touch the Oath of Judah again.
This time, her hand was actively repelled by the power generated by the Oath of Judah.
"But... but I'm your master!"
Watching as the Oath of Judah's chains proactively wrapped around Leo Ash's left arm, Theresa stomped her foot in extreme annoyance and shouted at Judah.
"Judah, you, you, you—you're going to be the death of me!"
Caught between Theresa and Judah, Leo Ash never expected the situation to turn out like this.
Honestly, I'm conducting a Blank Key core connection experiment, right?
How did this turn into something that looks like a cuckolding scene?
This is too absurd.
In fact, it wasn't just Leo Ash. Aside from Yuna, who was completely clueless, even Himeko, who knew some confidential information, found this scene too ridiculous.
As Theresa's close friend, Himeko naturally knew some of her little secrets.
For example, the cross of the Oath of Judah was more than just a weapon to Theresa.
For someone who had left Schicksal HQ and was drifting alone... well, Lord Bishop did send her a large allowance regularly, but Theresa could still be considered to be drifting.
To Theresa, the Key of Binding, which had always accompanied her and possessed its own consciousness, was like a friend.
Of course, there was also a silly rumor in the Far East Branch that 'when the Headmaster is slacking off, the Divine Key takes over her work'.
Himeko never believed such a rumor, because—it was just too absurd.
Anyway, this current scene...
*Theresa's friend was stolen by Leo Ash on their first meeting.*
*It should be a sad event, but for some reason, I just want to laugh.*
At the scene, Theresa, realizing that the Key of Binding truly had no intention of obeying her command this time, finally left this heartbreaking place in a fit of pique, crying out, "You'll regret this!"
*Sigh, why get angry at a cross.*
*She's already an excellent warrior in battle, yet in moments like these, she really feels like a child.*
"Sigh..."
Glancing at the metal floor, which was dented by her forceful stomp, Leo Ash let out a helpless sigh.
"Matriarch, why get angry at a cross."
"Alright, alright, she was just worried about you."
Looking at Leo Ash, who was now tightly bound by the Key of Binding, Himeko asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Let's not worry about Theresa for now. I'll go comfort her later."
"Compared to Theresa, I'm more curious right now..."
Looking at Leo Ash, who seemed completely unfazed, Himeko narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Are you sure you don't feel anything wrong?"
To be honest, Himeko's doubt was normal.
*Never mind you, I'm curious too—why do I really not feel any problem?*
The core of the Herrscher of Thunder and the core of the Herrscher of Binding have completely different characteristics.
I was only able to adapt to the power of the Herrscher of Thunder after connecting the Blank Key to the Key of Judgment because I had already adapted to its authority in Jiuyou and Singapore.
But the power of the Herrscher of Binding... I've never adapted to it before.
[Well, things like this still depend on talent.]
[Besides, although the characteristics of each Herrscher's authority are different, the fact that they place a strong burden on the body is a constant.]
[Since you've already adapted to the burden of a Herrscher Core, even if you switch to another core midway, you naturally won't just collapse immediately.]
That's true—not.
Even if you say that, this is going way too smoothly.
[After all, connecting to a core with the Blank Key is a different matter from directly implanting a Herrscher Core.]
[Among Herrschers who have had multiple cores implanted directly, only Sirin was 'designated' to not be affected personality-wise by multiple cores.]
[In your current state, if a Herrscher Core were thrown at you and implanted in your body, you might not collapse in minutes, but you definitely wouldn't be as relaxed as you are now.]
...Then it's better if something like that never happens.
To prevent others from overthinking too much, Leo Ash immediately cut off communication with the System and said softly to Himeko and Yuna.
"Yuna, Major Himeko, please step back a little further."
"...I'm telling you, Leo Ash, you really shouldn't be so aggressive."
Looking at Leo Ash, who had already manifested his Stigmata, Himeko frowned slightly.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're preparing to use the Divine Grace Field that Theresa has used before, right?"
"Well..."
Looking at the nervous expression on Himeko's face, Leo Ash said to her calmly.
"Major Himeko, I understand your concern, but please trust me."
"Even if it's just to avoid getting you all involved, I won't act recklessly."
*Ah, so that's how it is.*
Hearing this, Yuna proactively took a step back.
*As expected, these are Senior's true thoughts.*
*He doesn't care about himself; he does things purely so that others won't be troubled by him.*
*You're so difficult. This mentality of yours needs to be corrected, and harshly.*
*But, before I correct your mentality...*
*Oh well, I can only indulge you for a little while.*
Hearing footsteps beside her, Himeko knew that her student had already made her decision before she did.
*Sigh, I'm starting to hesitate too.*
*Even though I know I can't persuade him, I still want to nag Leo Ash a little.*
*At a time like this... oh well, I'll just step back. After he's finished testing his power, he'll disconnect on his own.*
Seeing both Himeko and Yuna take two steps back, Leo Ash immediately strengthened the connection between the Key of Binding and the Blank Key, directly releasing the signature creation of the Herrscher of Binding's authority—the Binding Field.
However, Leo Ash certainly couldn't create a Binding Field with a hundred-kilometer radius like the Previous Era's Herrscher of Binding.
Even if the power of the Binding Field he released now was definitely not as strong as one released by a normal Herrscher of Binding, this thing could still directly kill ordinary soldiers.
Mindlessly releasing a large-scale field was no different from directly attacking the other Valkyries. He wasn't an idiot; how could he do such a thing?
After releasing the field, Leo Ash used the characteristics of his Precision Control skill to cover the armor on his right arm with the field.
And at that moment, something that felt even more wrong to Leo Ash occurred.
Within the Binding Field, all Honkai Energy would be nullified, and other forms of energy would also be weakened to varying degrees.
But after his arm was covered by the field, Leo Ash tried to mobilize the mana in his body and found that it could be released normally???
*Wait, hold on. Is it because I'm too weak that the Binding Field's weakening effect doesn't work on mana?*
"Yuna."
After transforming the Binding Field into a shield, Leo Ash said to Yuna.
"Attack this shield and see."
"...Senior, be careful yourself."
After saying this, Yuna condensed Honkai Energy and her Herrscher authority into her right hand and swung a knife-hand strike directly at the shield.
As Yuna completed her attack, the blow, which combined the Fog of Decay and a Honkai Energy blade, was instantly neutralized the moment it hit the shield.
Although the shield also developed cracks, the attack clearly failed to penetrate its defense.
While Yuna wasn't a complete Herrscher of Death yet, her control over her core was already quite strong.
Old Man Yang, who was in charge of life and death, had worked hard for so many years and his core control level was stuck at around 50%.
If Yuna was said to be more talented than Welt but far less experienced... a rough estimate would put her at least at 0.5 Welt's level.
*An impromptu attack from a Herrscher with 25% core control can't even break through the field of this modified 'Herrscher of Binding' of mine...*
*That's actually normal.*
Over the next few dozen seconds, Leo Ash transformed the field into defensive shields of various sizes and thicknesses and had Yuna assist him with testing.
In the end, Leo Ash came to several conclusions.
First, the intensity of the Herrscher of Binding's field varies depending on its size.
Thinking about it, this is normal. After all, if the Binding Field is expanded to a radius of 100 kilometers, its intensity will inevitably be weaker than a small-scale field with a 1-meter radius at the same authority level.
Assuming the authority intensity is X, then X/100,000 and X/1 are completely different concepts.
Of course, this was just a hypothetical value from Leo Ash. In reality, the conversion formula between the area covered by the field and its intensity was certainly not as simple as his hypothesis suggested.
But having confirmed this characteristic, there were already many things he could do.
As for the other conclusion, it made Leo Ash feel that something was off.
During that minute or so, not only did he not feel any burden or weakness from connecting to the core, he actually felt that 'ah, the core connection experiment is nothing special'.
To be honest, this was a very dangerous mentality.
Herrscher Cores are inherently taboo for humans, and directly connecting to one...
*Damn it, if it weren't for Otto constantly causing trouble, would I need to prepare so many powerful trump cards?*
*I'm naturally a lazy person. If Otto wasn't looming over my head and staring at me, I would just find a place to hunker down and wait for Kiana, Bronya, and Mei to hold hands with Finality and call it a day.*
A lazy dog forced to become a tryhard...
*Sigh, life, you turn people into ghosts.*
[You say that, but your gains today weren't small, were they?]
Yeah, they really weren't small.
Confirming that I can use the Blank Key normally means that in the future, with the ability to temporarily fuse with Herrscher powers, plus the trump cards I have, my survival rate against other Herrschers will definitely be higher.
It's just that, I still feel like something is wrong.
My compatibility with Herrscher Cores...
—Just when did it become so high?
......