284. A Lament of Despair!
"Vishnu's characteristics are truly astonishing; it can actually grow stronger by devouring Honkai Beasts," Ling murmured, head bowed.
The potion for Mobius was just one step away from completion; Ling had to ensure its success.
Moreover, Mobius's birthday was approaching, so this was a perfect opportunity to give it to her.
Not long ago, Kiana suddenly sensed an urge to devour from Kosma.
No, to be precise, it was more like a biological instinct.
The Fire Moth had exterminated a Judgment-class Vishnu a few years ago and hadn't seen this type of Honkai Beast since.
He had initially assumed Vishnu was always Judgment-class, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
After carefully examining Kosma's body, Ling confirmed that Vishnu possessed the characteristic of devouring.
It could grow stronger by continuously devouring other Honkai Beasts.
Following this clue, Ling quickly discovered a Honkai Beast resembling Vishnu in a small-scale Honkai eruption, but it was extremely weak, roughly equivalent to a Seraph-class Honkai Beast.
Such a Honkai Beast is easily mistaken for a bird-type Honkai Beast, a type of beast-type Honkai Beast. These Honkai Beasts come in many forms, mostly animals infected with Honkai, which is why they hadn't been discovered until now.
Under Ling's experimental arrangement, by continuously feeding it, this Vishnu grew all the way to an Emperor-class Honkai Beast!
This further confirmed Vishnu's ability to devour.
If Kevin hadn't stood in front of Kosma to prevent Ling from continuing the experiment, Ling would have directly let Kosma devour it.
Vishnu's genetic activity is extremely high, possessing terrifying compatibility. Therefore, Ling plans to use it as a catalyst for the 'Sesa' ICHOR, allowing Mobius to perfectly fuse with this potion.
Moreover, Mobius herself would probably greatly appreciate the ability of 'devouring evolution'.
After all...she's aiming for godhood; how can she achieve it without evolving?
The experiment went unexpectedly smoothly; the Vishnu ICHOR perfectly fused with the Shesha ICHOR serum.
"Ai, test the compatibility."
"Yes...according to the report, the serum's compatibility with Dr. Möbius has reached 93.52%, with an injection success rate of 99.973%."
"Finally..." Ling took a deep breath, hoping Mobius would like this birthday present.
"By the way, what has Mobius been tinkering with lately?" Ling suddenly asked.
Mobius's little schemes naturally didn't escape his notice, so he inquired.
"Sorry, Dr. Ling, you have no right to view Dr. Mobius's confidential documents," Ai replied with a grin.
"But with Dr. Ling's talent, you should be able to guess, right?" Ai tilted her head.
"You're not making me the same thing too, are you?" Ling shook the test tube in front of him.
"Ahem... I didn't reveal that." Ai coughed lightly, quickly shifting the blame.
"Alright, I won't betray you." Dr. Ling said with a faint smile.
Ai had become increasingly human-like since gaining a body, occasionally even cracking little jokes with Ling.
"It's Mobius's birthday in a couple of days. Have someone send this over. Just make sure it arrives on the day." Ling handed the potion to Ai for Mobius.
"Eh? You're not going to deliver it yourself, Dr. Ling? Dr. Mobius would be even happier that way, wouldn't she?" Ai asked, somewhat confused.
"Of course I'll go, but I'm worried something might happen. My eyelids have been twitching these past few days; I have a feeling something bad is going to happen." Ling pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Alright, Dr. Ling, don't think too much about it. It must be because you haven't rested properly. You should get some rest first. Leave the rest to Ai." Said Ai as she pushed Ling into the restroom.
"Oh, by the way, call Kiana over for me. Perhaps the Vishnu ICHOR can also work on her. Help her complete the last piece of the puzzle." Ling instructed before closing the door.
"Okay." Ai nodded.
Ling yawned and closed the door.
These past few days, rushing to make the Mobius potion had indeed drained his energy.
But after only a few hours of lying down, the internal alarm suddenly sounded.
Looking at the location where the Honkai energy field had appeared, Ai was filled with disbelief.
"Dr. Ling!" Ai immediately rushed into the room. Ling had just woken up.
"Is the Tenth Herrscher coming? Where is it?" Ling rubbed his eyes, still oblivious.
"Right here! Dr. Ling, get out of here!" Ai grabbed Ling and started running outside without a word.
But how could the Honkai let this formidable enemy escape?
In the blink of an eye, the clones shattered the incubation chambers, nutrient solution soaking the floor, and clones poured out one after another.
And they had only one purpose: revenge!
Several Honkai beast-like clones blocked the escape exit.
More and more clones shattered the incubation chambers, surrounding Ling and Ai.
These clones were not weak; most were comparable to MANTIS Warriors.
"Another Herrscher who controls the mind? Or..."
Despite being in danger, Ling remained calm.
Because Kiana was already on her way.
The commotion here couldn't be kept secret.
But based on Kiana's current location, it would take her at least ten minutes to arrive!
"Dr. Ling, we've crawled out of hell to seek revenge!" A clone stepped forward, its face contorted as it stared at Ling.
Ai stood in front of Ling, preventing the clone from approaching, but Ling calmly gestured for Ai to step aside.
"Subject 96471, could you please explain the current situation?" Ling inquired.
His face showed no fear, as if he had long since disregarded life and death.
But Ling knew perfectly well that pointless fear would only cloud his judgment, so he could only bury this fear deep within his heart.
"Don't call me by that name! We are not test subjects! We have been reborn! We have transformed! We are… the Herrschers of Domination!"
"Domination!"
"Domination!"
The surrounding clones repeated the word 'Domination' as if possessed.
"So, you've only dominated the bodies of these clones?" Ling pressed.
"No, no, no, Dr. Ling, it's all thanks to you!" The Herrscher of Domination shook her head dismissively, turning her anger towards Ling.
"Thanks to you, we were able to control these thousand bodies perfectly! Do you know? Their souls are howling, cursing, begging… to be torn to shreds!"
The Herrscher of Domination seemed to have inherited the clones' emotions; as she spoke, her face contorted with rage, her teeth clenched.
"You have no idea how much we suffer! Confined to a tiny incubation chamber every day, this is our whole world… and then subjected to your inhumane experiments. Why? We are living beings too! We are living, breathing human beings, too!"
"Why can you enjoy the sunlight, the life outside, everything outside, while we are stuck in this dark, sunless laboratory, accepting our fate!"
"Now… we finally have a chance to break free of our shackles, and all of this… is thanks to you! Dr. Ling!"
Faced with the Herrscher of Domination's hysterical roar, Ling remained unmoved.
Seeing his appearance, the hatred on the faces of the Herrschers intensified.
"Dr. Ling, do you regret it? Do you regret creating us? Do you regret using us for experiments?"
A winged blade grazed Ling's cheek, drawing a trickle of blood.
"Regret?" Ling seemed to find something amusing.
"Heh, I've never regretted anything I've done. From the Fifth Herrscher onward, the path I chose was what I believed was right."
"The First Honkai Impact: 975,000 deaths; the Second Honkai Impact: 36 million deaths; the Third Honkai Impact: 15 million deaths; the Fourth Honkai Impact: 17 million deaths."
Ling took a deep breath and continued.
"The Fifth Honkai Impact: 389 deaths! The Sixth Honkai Impact: 3 million deaths! The Seventh Honkai Impact: 7,841 deaths! The Eighth Honkai Impact: 0 deaths! The Ninth Honkai Impact: 117,000 deaths! Why do you think I would regret it?"
"Even without Kalpas in the Fifth Honkai Impact, the death toll could have been kept below 100,000. In the Sixth Honkai Impact, if Kevin hadn't hesitated, the casualties could have been kept below 5,000. And the subsequent Honkai Impacts were even more predictable."
"So, why do you think I would regret everything I did?!" Ling retorted calmly.
"I respect your sacrifices. I remember the numbers of every test subject, every experiment conducted, and I even properly buried every deceased test subject. But that doesn't mean I feel sorry for what I did."
"Enough!" The Herrscher of Domination gripped Ling's neck tightly; with just a little force, he could snap it.
A suffocating feeling instantly enveloped Ling; the terrifying power rendered the ordinary Ling powerless to resist.
"You understand nothing!"
"Heh…it's you who doesn't understand…humanity…" Ling remained defiant, showing no intention of admitting fault.
The reason humans can surpass all other species is primarily due to intelligence, and secondly, humanity!
Despicable? Isn't this word created to describe humanity itself?!
"That's just your sophistry! Don't worry, Dr. Ling, after you die, we will go around the world wreaking havoc. All your efforts will be in vain at this moment!"
As the other's grip tightened, Ling began to feel dizzy from lack of oxygen.
Ai immediately activated the weapons in the laboratory, knocking away the Herrscher of Domination, who was choking Ling.
"Dr. Ling, are you alright?" Ai hurriedly helped the falling Ling and deployed a field shield to protect both of them.
"Cough...cough cough cough...Ai, we absolutely cannot let them...escape!" Ling coughed a few times before giving the order.
If these thousand Herrschers of Domination, comparable to MANTIS Warriors, were to escape, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The surrounding clones began to surge forward. Although protected by a force field, the force field shattered within half a minute of facing such a large number of clones.
Just then, Kiana finally arrived, but she was too late. Her blade had already pierced through Ai's Soul Steel body and Ling's body.
In a mere instant, Ai's Soul Steel body was shattered into pieces, and Ling's body was naturally riddled with holes.
"Dr. Ling!"
"It seems...it's too late..." Ling felt his power rapidly draining away, and the light in his eyes began to fade.
Kiana immediately froze Ling, freezing his bodily functions in an attempt to prolong his death.
Then, Kiana stood before him, confronting the thousand Herrschers of Domination.
"Kiana, we absolutely cannot let them leave this place!" Ai's voice rang out over the loudspeaker. She was, after all, an artificial intelligence; her body was merely a shell.
Ai's voice was now filled with rage, completely devoid of its usual gentle tone.
"Roger," Kiana replied coldly, her eyes gradually turning red.
The surrounding temperature was about to drop to freezing.
But the Herrschers of Domination were fearless, for there were a thousand of them!
Moreover, they possessed weakened versions of their powers!
Ai sealed off all the laboratory exits, determined not to let a single one escape!
At the same time, she also sent out the experimental subject numbers and information of all the Herrschers of Domination present. Even if they did escape, the Fire Moths could use this information to annihilate them!
Kiana, wielding two ice blades, charged into the thousand-strong Herrscher group, beautiful and dangerous like an ice rose blooming on a battlefield!
The ice blades turned crimson, and even their own blood froze instantly.
But the relentless enemy attacks continued to cause considerable trouble for Kiana.
Moreover, these clones possessed extremely high vitality; some, even after being cut in half at the waist, could still attack Kiana.
Those were once Ling's masterpieces, now transformed into sharp blades, slashing at Kiana's body.
Several wounds quickly appeared on Kiana's body.
"Ai, calculate the probability of the Active Honkai Reaction going out of control," Kiana suddenly asked Ai.
"87.74%!" Ai immediately provided the data.
"If I go out of control, activate the final program." Without hesitation, Kiana chose to activate her strongest form.
Kiana's figure became even more slender, and two horns resembling those of a Honkai Beast grew.
An astonishing aura swept through the entire laboratory, causing the laboratory beneath the glacier to vibrate.
"Roar~!!!" The howl of a beast tore through the sky, and the sonic waves even shattered the glacier.
Fate still didn't favor her; Kiana had lost control!
But the immense power she gained made her invincible on the battlefield.
Her claws easily tore apart the bodies of Herrschers of Domination, finally instilling fear in them.
However, Kiana, now driven mad, only wanted to tear everything in her path to shreds.
The Herrschers of Domination desperately pounded on the laboratory that imprisoned them, but they couldn't break free of the specially designed 'cage' in a short time.
Suddenly, the out-of-control Kiana struck a Herrscher of Domination with tremendous force, killing the Herrscher instantly, but creating a deep crater in the laboratory.
The Herrschers of Domination instantly understood; this was their last chance to escape!
"Kiana! Wake up!" Ai cried out immediately.
But the out-of-control Kiana seemed not to hear, continuing to smash everything around her.
The Herrschers of Domination began to intentionally guide Kiana's attack; it seemed the laboratory would soon be breached.
At that moment, Ai suddenly remembered why Ling had sent Kiana here. She immediately used her mechanical arm to prepare the Vishnu ICHOR potion and then seized the opportunity to inject it forcefully into Kiana's body.
Kiana let out a beast-like howl in agony.
Ai prayed incessantly, hoping for success.
Kiana's movements gradually slowed, and a sliver of clarity returned to her eyes.
"Kill her!" The Herrschers of Domination didn't let up. Seeing that Kiana seemed to have emerged from that state, they attacked again.
A dead end! An unsolvable dead end!
"Ai...activate...the final procedure..." Kiana shouted to Ai, enduring her physical discomfort.
"...Yes!" Ai paused for a moment, then nodded.
Kiana arrived before Ling; Ling's life presence had vanished.
She still couldn't save Ling.
"Dr. Ling, thank you for giving me life."
Kiana knelt and bowed to Ling, then froze herself.
"Honkai Energy Fission Bomb, activate." Ai's cold voice rang out.
With a deafening roar, the area within a radius of hundreds of kilometers centered on the laboratory began to tremble. A mushroom cloud rose from the ground, and the shockwave created waves hundreds of meters high.
All effects arise from causes; all retributions arise from karma.
That is all.
…