After all, floating battleships were far too massive, and even fighter jets felt clumsy navigating a city where so many buildings had crumbled following the Honkai outbreak.
Hoverbikes were different. Much like how a motorcycle on the street can weave through narrow alleys, a hoverbike could zip through the jagged gaps of ruined architecture.
Whether it was a rescue mission, an extermination op, or simply evading the pursuit of Honkai Beasts, these machines undoubtedly made Schicksal members far more agile.
As time ticked by, the final nine survivors at Morita Hospital were finally discharged.
Among them was Miyuki, whose Herrscher readings were becoming increasingly pronounced.
Durandal made a point of bringing her directly into Schicksal, while the others were handed over to the Nagazora City government for resettlement.
Meanwhile, Connie relayed instructions to the mayors of Nagazora and Sapphire City to immediately initiate large-scale evacuation drills.
When the Third Honkai Eruption truly arrived, the common folk would simply believe it was another routine drill. By the time they finished their orderly departure, they would only then realize that catastrophe had truly descended.
And when that moment came, it would be the ultimate test for the past six months of Schicksal's hard work.
At most, three days remained before the Third Honkai Eruption would fully ignite.
Because of this, Durandal kept Miyuki by her side constantly.
Only with her presence could she immediately suppress the Herrscher's persona the moment it tried to erode Miyuki's human consciousness following a Honkai energy spike.
To buy more time for the civilians to escape, Durandal spent these few days wandering with Miyuki through the sparsely populated Old Town.
Though the Schicksal headquarters—repurposed from an old human experimentation lab—was located there, Durandal wasn't worried that the eruption or the subsequent tide of Honkai Beasts would tear it down.
After all, besides herself and Elysia, the area was reinforced by Kevyn, Sakura, Emile, Ato, Himeko, Hua, Carole, and the others.
Without a doubt, every single one of them either possessed the potential or already had the sheer strength to handle an event like the Third Eruption single-handedly.
As for the rest, Durandal stationed them along the perimeter.
Their job was to rescue any civilians who hadn't left in time and form a blockade, wiping out any Honkai Beasts or Zombies that managed to slip past the central team.
Durandal had faith in these Stigma Awakened soldiers.
With Stigmata already etched into their genes, nearly every one of them possessed strength comparable to the B-Rank Valkyries of her memory, further bolstered by gear from the Spiral Workshop.
All they lacked was experience.
B-Rank strength was far from their ceiling. With enough effort, A-Rank was attainable; to reach S-Rank, however, one would need a mix of talent, luck, and sheer grit.
Just as the members of Schicksal stood ready, the Third Honkai Eruption exploded into reality!
With Miyuki at the epicenter, the Imaginary gates within her swung wide. The Honkai energy detectors crafted by Vill-V shrieked with sudden alarms.
In Nagazora, where the Honkai concentration had been climbing from single to double digits in anticipation, the levels suddenly surged by orders of magnitude.
30... 100... 500... 1,000... 10,000... until it blew past the detector's limit of 1,000 HW!
Durandal looked down calmly at the pink Moon Ring on her arm, which was now pushing its Honkai energy conversion to the absolute limit.
She had expected this.
Given her current physical constitution, she didn't fear the instantaneous leak of the Third Herrscher's authority.
Not even the countless electromagnetic pulses—capable of grinding everything in the vicinity down to the atomic level—could budge her an inch.
She was no longer the Durandal who could be frozen solid by the frost of the Herrscher of Ice.
Having ascended to the Palatinus Equinox state, she could face a newborn Herrscher who had yet to master her powers with total composure.
Of course, while Durandal could withstand this initial burst, the others could not—even the current Elysia would find it a tall order.
Thus, at the very heart of the eruption, only Durandal and Miyuki remained. The rest were stationed ten kilometers away, waiting for the Honkai concentration to dissipate before rushing in.
As for the citizens of Nagazora, they had already reached safety through the "drills" organized by the government. Even if a few stragglers remained in the city, their numbers were negligible.
Durandal watched Miyuki silently. Those once-black eyes were now sparking with violet-red lightning.
The aura she radiated was one of utter indifference, worlds apart from the ordinary high school girl she had been.
She knew well that the consciousness currently steering Miyuki's body was the Third Herrscher.
However, as a proxy of the Will of Honkai herself, Durandal could sense that the Third Herrscher hadn't yet devoured or torn apart Miyuki's original soul.
It wasn't a matter of capability, but rather that the newborn Herrscher simply hadn't had the time.
Compared to dealing with the lingering human consciousness inside, the woman standing right next to her was a far more terrifying threat.
The Herrscher knew it could handle the human soul eventually, but it also knew that against an enemy of Durandal's caliber, even a second's distraction would mean dying before its mission had even begun.
Yet, the Third Herrscher was baffled. What was Durandal waiting for? Why hadn't she struck?
A newborn Herrscher's mind is quite simple; its confusion was written clearly across its face.
Durandal noticed, but she had no intention of offering an explanation.
She was indeed waiting—but not for Elysia or the others. She was waiting for the Third Herrscher's companion beast: Śeṣa.
Why was it that five thousand years later, not every Herrscher had a companion beast, while almost all of them did in the Previous Era?
The reason was simple: the Herrscher of the Previous Era weren't usually eliminated instantly.
Five thousand years in the future, aside from Sirin, the Second Herrscher, most Herrschers barely had time to cause trouble before they were snuffed out.
Specifically looking at you: Herrscher of Wind, Ice, Stars, and Rimestar.
Śeṣa... now that was an exquisite specimen for Mobius's lab to create new Stigmata. It was an opportunity not to be missed!
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL