Honkai Impact: Saving the Pre-civilization by rubbing black technology

V2/Chapter 62: The Herrscher is not one, but...

When Mobius was rescued by Ai Yue, she saw the Ninth Herrscher lying peacefully on the beach, with no trace of the crazed demeanor she had shown during their battle.

"I don't know where my bracelet went. Ask Quinn to help me find it," Mobius said, skillfully taking the clothes handed to her by Ai Yue and dressing her naked body. "Is the Ninth Herrscher dead?"

"Yes," Ai Yue replied simply. "Less than five minutes after losing the Herrscher Core, she died from life exhaustion. As we previously deduced, the Herrscher Core is an organ like the heart to them."

Among the Herrschers, only the Eighth Herrscher might be an exception. Due to the special nature of her power, even if her Herrscher Core is removed, her spirit can survive by taking over the bodies of others. However, even so, she cannot survive indefinitely without her Herrscher Core.

"After all, after the body is corroded by Honkai, the organs inside also mutate along with it," Mobius said, shaking her head with some regret. "What a pity! If the Herrscher were still alive, we could have obtained more valuable data. I haven't dissected a living Herrscher yet."

"There will be a chance," Ai Yue said, then chuckled as if he had seen something. "Quinn said your bracelet fell 500 meters away and praised you for the explosion."

Mobius's bracelet was a storage item given to her by Ai Yue. Considering her tendency to cause explosions, it was designed as a bracelet to keep it away from the center of the blast and prevent it from being destroyed.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Mobius glared at Ai Yue. "You've led me astray!"

At this point, she began to reflect: "But the power of the Third Herrscher is indeed much stronger than that of the Second Herrscher. She truly is a Herrscher specialized in destruction."

There is no hierarchy of power among Herrschers, but their external manifestations do have different emphases. For example, the electromagnetic force of the Third Herrscher and the molecular thermal motion of the Seventh Herrscher, while not exclusively destructive, naturally manifest in highly lethal forms like lightning and fire, especially when out of control.

"And you seem a little smaller this time," Ai Yue remarked, looking at Mobius, who appeared to have shrunk slightly. "It can't get any smaller. If it does, something will be wrong."

"Do you have something to say?" Mobius gave Ai Yue a teasing look. "But now isn't the time to discuss these things. It's not over yet."

At this, she paused, her expression turning strange. "Wait, since the Herrscher is dead, doesn't that mean the Great Eruption is technically over?"

The primary threat of the Great Eruption is naturally the Herrscher. Now that the Herrscher is dead, the only remaining issue is the Sea of Honkai Beasts, which doesn't seem like an insurmountable problem.

"No, I'm afraid it's not that simple," Ai Yue said, his expression still serious. "I hope nothing goes wrong in Atla City."

The Ninth Herrscher's final words still echoed in Ai Yue's mind. Her statement that "the war is not over yet" indirectly confirmed the information Prometheus had provided earlier.

It was a reality Ai Yue was most reluctant to face.

"Warning, nuclear fusion strike detected inbound!"

Prometheus's sudden warning made Ai Yue instinctively look up. In the cloudless sky, he could vaguely see three stars twinkling.

"What's going on?" Mobius asked, also hearing Prometheus's alert. She looked up with a puzzled expression. "Have the big shots finally decided to eliminate you?"

"Good news, Mobius," Ai Yue said, his tone grim. "It seems the war is far from over."

Ai Yue's expression was also very subtle, but it was clear that he had realized what this meant. "You will soon be able to fulfill your wish to dissect a living Herrscher."

Mobius was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "You mean...?"

"Yes, there is more bad news," Ai Yue said, his face expressionless as he watched countless drones take off to intercept the airstrike. "There will be more than one Herrscher in this Great Honkai Eruption."

Boom!

After the loud explosion, Dr. Mei, clad in armor, stood up from the ruined command room, with Vill-V beside her. Four pairs of arthropod-like mechanical arms extended from Vill-V's back.

"Wow, that guy really hit the nail on the head," Vill-V said, using her mechanical arms to push aside the wreckage of the building. She pulled out a filter mask and put it on her face. "Do the higher-ups really want to kill you? At this time? Are they planning to disguise this as a Honkai beast's doing?"

"Obviously, this isn't something those in power would do. Even if they really wanted to kill me, they wouldn't use such... crude methods," Dr. Mei said, searching for the right words to describe the situation. "Besides, if it were their plan, Ai Yue wouldn't have warned me so subtly."

"If it's not humans, then who is it? A Honkai beast?" Vill-V joked, but her expression gradually turned serious. "Hey, hey, isn't it possible... there's another Herrscher?"

"I don't want that to be the case, but it seems the possibility isn't small," Dr. Mei said as she cleaned up the mess in front of her. Suddenly, she paused. "Found it. There's a man dressed as a scholar who looks very suspicious, but where did he get such a lethal weapon... No, that's not right. Is this power? But it's a little strange..."

"What, what? Let me see it too!" Vill-V moved closer but realized Dr. Mei didn't have any electronic device displaying the image. She couldn't help but glance at the armor Dr. Mei was wearing. "Damn, is this another function of that armor? I want it too!"

She secretly regretted her decision. It was said that Ai Yue had prepared a set of such armor for her, but she had already become a fusion warrior by then, so the armor was eventually given to someone else.

If she had known she would miss out on such a cool piece of equipment, she wouldn't have become a fusion warrior.

'Damn, if I make it myself, it'll be too bulky. How does that guy's miniaturization technology work so well?!'

"I asked Dr. Ai Yue to help add an auxiliary office module to the armor," Dr. Mei explained, pressing a switch on her helmet. A projection device between her brows activated, displaying the image. "Okay, now you can see it too."

It was a video clip captured from a surveillance camera. In the video, a nervous man in a white coat tried to act natural as he walked outside the command room. Then, without anyone noticing—

He raised his hand, formed a massive fireball, and hurled it toward the command room.