The torn sky and the ruined earth. The scene of the apocalypse was once again playing out in this disaster-stricken city.
The remote cannons' fire was blocked by an inconspicuous shield. The scythe severed the remote cannon that Kevin couldn't focus on controlling. The Sixth Herrscher used the unexploded debris as a springboard, launching herself toward Kevin.
"Boom!"
The sharp roar of the cannon fire zipped by. The remote cannons' attacks were completely ineffective against her, so she didn't even bother blocking the harmless attacks, charging straight toward Kevin.
Kevin's speed might be faster with the Time Fracture device, but that device also had a cooldown interval. His proficiency in using the small anti-gravity device wasn't high either. Thus, even if her speed wasn't the astonishing super-speed of the Fourth Herrscher, she could still catch Kevin in the air, a domain with little room for dodging.
She was not like those fools who expended all their power at once, giving humanity a loophole. By proceeding cautiously and steadily to crush Fire Moth, no one would be able to stop her.
"Sizzle—"
Just as she charged toward Kevin, a discordant noise sounded on her shield. Before the Sixth Herrscher could figure out what was happening, her entire shield burst, and the explosion engulfed her from directly behind.
Lin watched the Sixth Herrscher, covered in smoke. He had only one eye, leaving half his vision blind, but his sensory methods in the neural connection were not limited to sight, so he focused his limited energy on scanning the environment.
The armor-piercing round shattered the Herrscher's shield, but Lin didn't expect the single shot to defeat the Sixth Herrscher. Moreover… judging by the Sixth Herrscher's performance, which was beyond that of previous Herrschers, the shot might not have even hit her.
The wind direction on the side and back changed. Lin turned the Titan around at maximum speed. Charging toward him was black mist, like a serpentine dragon. Kevin quickly attacked the emerging Sixth Herrscher with his remaining remote cannons, buying Lin half a second to narrowly escape the attack range of the black mist.
"Hiding your true intentions within useless attacks. Truly resorting to the same old tricks." The Sixth Herrscher saw Lin barely escape the extreme range of the black mist, and a subtle change occurred in her expression.
To be precise, that wasn't the extreme range. As long as the Honkai Energy and her control over the Authority were sufficient, the black mist could spread almost indefinitely. Even now, she could engulf Nagazora in black mist and decompose everyone here.
But if she did that, her body would suffer the backlash of the Herrscher Core and collapse. Even a Herrscher has to pay a corresponding price for using her Authority, otherwise she wouldn't have taken the time to create that tree to clear out the people in the shelter for her.
The current extreme range was the distance that wouldn't cause a lapse in the shield's maintenance or place a burden on her body.
If she had tried to make the black mist reach Lin just now, she might have exposed a weakness to Kevin, who was watching intensely from the side.
Lin stopped at that distance, neither too close nor too far, just shy of a touch. He was clearly using himself to lure the Sixth Herrscher into a trap.
This was Lin's true plan, rather than concealing the armor-piercing rounds within the remote cannons' fire.
"Your body won't last much longer. Let me wait for you to die from the Honkai Virus or brain death before I kill Kevin." She transformed the scythe in her hand into a pair of giant claws, extending a crimson tongue to lick the blood that was still on it from Lin. "As for my subordinates, your defenses will collapse sooner or later. Just wait a little longer…"
That's right. They were the ones who should be anxious now. The longer she delayed, the more advantageous the situation became for her.
"By the way, I just remembered that your actions at the very beginning didn't entirely align with your words."
The Sixth Herrscher dodged an armor-piercing round, flashed in with a claw, and thrust it into the remote cannon, turning back with a sweet smile and tone: "Your initial target was the cluster of zombies, which means you genuinely believed I saw myself as human. Yet, in the subsequent conversation, you acted as if you never held any hope for me."
"You were lying to yourself, weren't you?"
A beam of light swept out but was deflected by the Sixth Herrscher's shield, hitting the center of a tall building in Nagazora. Half of the skyscraper collapsed instantly.
"You actually considered that since the Sixth Herrscher is so unique, Seele might genuinely still reside in this body, didn't you?"
"But you couldn't allow yourself any illusions, or you would waver. You took a gamble when you fired the shot back then, didn't you?"
"So, do you want to guess one more time? Is Seele… still alive?"
"Squad Member Lin." This last sentence was spoken entirely in Seele's voice.
The mechanical finger of the Titan controlled by Lin paused on the trigger.
Hesitation.
The Sixth Herrscher gave a cold smile. The black mist around her instantly gathered, blocking the approaching Kevin. She activated the Phase Transfer device, appearing directly in front of the stopped Titan's cockpit. Her right claw mercilessly tore open the metal armor, and her poised left hand savagely plunged in the moment Lin appeared.
"Thud!"
Lin, wearing the helmet, along with Prometheus I, was pierced by the claw.
The Sixth Herrscher seemed to see a look of shock beneath Lin's helmet. She smiled with cruel triumph.
…
"Dr. Spaciel, I have some bad news."
Spaciel silently watched the battle situation unfold. He took a deep breath and said to Einstein: "Is there anything worse?"
Their forces had been divided into three batches. Out of a total of thirty autonomous Titans, Kevin took four, Ato took four, and the rest were dispersed throughout the city to defend various fronts. The actual effect was… not optimistic.
As the Sixth Herrscher had anticipated, with the dispersal of forces, their defense was meager against the continuous flow of Honkai creatures.
Currently, ten Titans and Himeko's unit were engaging the Emperor-class Honkai Beast not far outside the Fifth Branch, but the casualties among the combat personnel were still rising. The losses were heavy, and the Emperor-class Honkai Beast's condition showed little sign of deterioration.
Kevin, delaying the Sixth Herrscher, and Ato, fighting the giant tree, had no positive news either. It was clear that at this rate, the downfall of the Fifth Branch and even the entire Far East was only a matter of time.
And the Sixth Herrscher, whose thinking was far beyond that of previous Herrschers, would likely eliminate the lightly defended Fire Moth immediately after destroying the Far East, preventing humanity from finding an effective solution to stop her in the short term.
In this situation, Spaciel couldn't imagine any worse news.
"Based on the air quality analysis of your area, the pollen emitted by the flowers on that tree appears to have a similar composition to the Sixth Herrscher's black mist."
"…Are you saying that the pollen can also cause cellular decay?"
"The effect might be slightly less potent, but… for humans, it's the same."
"More terrible news, then…"
Spaciel sighed.
"Are you thinking about what to write in your will?" Einstein asked.
Spaciel scoffed: "Will? Are you going to write one?"
"I have no such intention."
"What a coincidence, neither do I." Spaciel's gaze was resolute and chilling: "I'm not going to spend my time thinking about how to die beautifully."
They were humanity's last line of defense. Even if they had to use their teeth to bite, they would tear a chunk of flesh from these monsters attempting to annihilate humanity.