I am a former Flame Chasers

"Enemy attack?"

"Where's the alarm? Where's the enemy?"

"Terminate the broadcast, quickly go and protect Miss Eden!"

The stadium was in chaos. As soon as the energy beam swept through, all attacks began.

High-altitude snipers had their necks twisted by observers who were like brothers. The cargo doors of lunch delivery trucks opened, and a large group of black-armored, black-clad enemies jumped out and started shooting. Gunshots also rang out from the guard posts that were supposed to check identities.

Tanks from the same unit turned their cannons and fired before their comrades could react. Combat drones changed direction, and the control room couldn't get a connection.

Everything was in disarray. Friend and foe were indistinguishable, and no one knew where to point their guns. It seemed all they could do was flee, and they had to flee alone.

This was exactly what Ryan feared most. If the Herrscher of Domination truly existed, then there would be no safe place in this world; even the strongest fortress would be breached from within.

Even if only two people were left in the world, you'd still have to worry about whether the other was friend or foe.

Blades from behind were the most deadly. Defenses collapsed at a visible speed, and at that moment, Eden stepped onto the stage.

She saw soldiers fleeing, thick smoke rising everywhere, humans killing each other, and fighter jets colliding in the air.

This scene made her eyes widen slightly. Thousands of concerts had never seen such a sight.

No audience, no cheers, only slaughter and despair remained. She looked down at the stage, where several photographers were hiding under chairs, staring at her in shock.

Eden actually appeared, covered in blood, making her seem perfectly integrated into this Asura field.

As their gazes met, the girl merely nodded slightly, without any communication. She took a deep breath and, without accompaniment, raised the microphone.

[The wheel of fate turns, swaying pale yellow flowers]

[Guitars play for the departed, meteors fall for those who won't return]

Her clear voice echoed through the stadium, making the screams and gunshots pause for a moment. Humans turned back in astonishment, and the Herrschers also looked over, seeing the blood-stained flower in the center of the spotlight.

The stage was stained with blood, corpses lay by her feet, and the curtain behind her was riddled with bullet holes.

She actually stepped onto the stage? At this moment? In this place?

How foolish, yet how brave!

This could no longer be described as courage. Just like the calm in the eye of a storm, she merely held the microphone, using her song to release all her emotions.

This was her weapon, her authority, to convey this power into everyone's heart.

"Everyone, converge on the stage, protect Miss Eden!"

"Don't hide, continue the broadcast! She's not afraid, are you going to give up this historic moment?"

Not only soldiers, but even staff members began to act. It was as if someone had suddenly raised a flag on a chaotic battlefield, or like a bonfire suddenly lit on a cold night, drawing people to gather instinctively, even if it meant certain death!

This...

The chaos was subsiding. John turned his head, his emerald eyes filled with incomprehension.

"At a time like this, why is she singing loudly?"

He no longer knew whether this was courage or foolishness. According to normal logic, shouldn't she be fleeing under heavy guard, then ambushed by his prepared backup, and then become a puppet?

No, not just that.

He looked at the constantly flashing figure in front, who was evading and shooting at the same time, annihilating several 'selves'.

This was also incomprehensible. How did he break free from control, cutting off the ties of erosion? Either he was prepared early, or...

"I anticipated your anticipation." Ryan landed on the ground. The suddenly soaring song pierced his ears, making his fingers involuntarily twitch.

"What do you mean?"

"You think you control everything, with the world as your chessboard?" Ryan crossed his twin pistols, wiggling his fingertips. "You think your plan is meticulous enough to manipulate the entire world in the palm of your hand?"

In the square, tanks were burning everywhere, buildings collapsed, gunshots erupted, and red clouds ignited in the distant sky. A terrifying pressure spread across the land.

The curtain rose on chaos, but Ryan was not as flustered as imagined, nor was the Herrscher as calm.

"When did you notice my existence? I am myself, there can be no doubts."

"Although it's not quite what I understood, I've known from the beginning." The man spread his hands, still wearing that cynical expression.

As soon as the words fell, his square face twitched slightly. This was clearly bragging. Even someone who could glimpse fate couldn't discover his trace.

But the current situation couldn't be explained, especially after a roar, that confusion became even more apparent.

The back of the stage suddenly exploded. A storm ruffled Eden long dress, making her raise her hand to hold back her flying hair.

The song didn't stop, and the girl didn't even turn her head. Only a steel arm extended from the dust, deflecting a bullet from in front of her face, and the makeup artist who had fired into the crowd was immediately riddled with bullets.

Twenty warriors in full annihilation combat gear, like iron towers, stepped out, forming a wall of steel in front of Eden. Using the memory of a certain headquarters intelligence officer, the Herrscher instantly recognized them.

A new squad of MANTIS from headquarters had quietly infiltrated. This meant...

"Understand now, Herrscher of Domination? The world is indeed a chessboard, and those qualified to be players are—" Ryan stopped acting, threw down his twin pistols, and a violent aura rose with the sea mist.

"Only me and Honkai!"

It was him.

The Herrscher was fortunate enough to be without emotions, otherwise, it would have been terrified by this "surprise." Even so, the sheer volume of information left it somewhat dazed.

Why were these arrangements made in advance? How could they have known? Even I couldn't have figured it out. Who else could have outsmarted him?

The daze could only last for a fleeting moment, as a surge of murderous intent charged towards him!

Boom!!

The ground collapsed, swelled, and then fractured into countless fragments like glass.

Ryan pulled his fist from the ground, looked up at the pale golden figure in the sky, his expression more severe than ever before.

This Herrscher was too dangerous; it was arguably the first "variant" he had ever seen.

Previous Herrschers, even if their strength increased, their sequence and authority remained consistent with Ryan memories, like prophets capable of prior arrangements. But this Eighth Herrscher was completely different.

Not only had its sequence changed, but its authority also exceeded expectations.

'It's not just about splitting into a thousand faces, but also the concepts of domination and erosion. That feeling just now was about being assimilated from the soul level, becoming its puppet. It seems that "Herrscher of Thousand Face" and "Herrscher of Domination" aren't quite accurate descriptions.'

This was terrifying. The phrase "preparation phase is over" was also something Ryan said to himself. Honkai seemed to have anticipated something and was beginning to make targeted arrangements.

"So you must die!"

Ryan bent his knees and leaped into the sky, staring directly at the opponent. Another hypothesis had also become reality.

The higher the Honkai energy adaptability, the harder it was to deal with this Herrscher. It was somewhat like the concept of "one is all, all is one." Dominating a high-level MANTIS like John required concentrating many clones, which was precisely why he broke free.

The meals prepared by Coleman couldn't satisfy Ryan appetite. After personally destroying dozens of Herrscher bodies, he now had a vague feeling.

He vaguely sensed a "kindred spirit" somewhere. If it stood before him, he should be able to recognize it.

"It worked. You're equivalent to a hundred people, enough for me to understand your authority."

Ryan charged forward. This was a rare opportunity; otherwise, he would have to perform hundreds of similar acts, and he wouldn't have the time to be a movie star digging deep into each one.

The Herrscher of Domination continuously retreated between buildings, forcefully suppressing the immense information flow, its eyes fixed on the man at the center of the "spider web."

It could perfectly control every host, acquire all their abilities and skills, share information, and synchronize the actions of all consciousness bodies, but it also knew clearly:

If schemes and tricks were still being suppressed, let alone a direct confrontation!?

Boom—

A tank was hurled like a hidden weapon. A punch slammed into it, veins bulging, pulverizing the sixty-ton steel in mid-air. Flying shrapnel riddled the nearby building like a honeycomb.

Completely controlling the power of this high-level MANTIS As I thought, losing him will make things difficult for you too.

Ryan waved his right hand, sweeping away the rebounding shrapnel, then saw some black-armored soldiers emerge from all directions.

These people were originally meant to deal with Eden, but clearly, their plan had been temporarily changed. They spotted Ryan and unleashed surges of even more violent Honkai energy.

Overload Ultra-Mutation!

Without batting an eye, they transformed into monsters, but their sensed target disappeared. When they locked onto him again, a fist was already in front of their faces.

Bang!

All the surging Honkai energy and powerful Honkai Beast-like bodies were instantly turned into mush.

A song entered Ryan ears. The somewhat rousing new song "Wheel of Hope" perfectly suited the current scene, bringing a smile to Ryan lips.

"With background music, won't you die even more horribly?"

A punch pierced through an entire block, the shockwave blasting nearby bodies into the air. Then, he spun in place, a whirlwind forming around his sweeping leg. As he kicked, a pale scythe flashed by.

Bodies and debris were cleaved in two. A straight crack appeared in the center of a hundred-meter-tall office building, slowly sliding down.

Rumble—

A cloud of dust surged into the sky, making the city tremble. Then, hundreds of steel objects flew into the sky, and electromagnetic tracks appeared, like ten thousand swords descending.

Ryan raised his right hand, looking at the dozens of figures crawling out of the debris. Their degree of mutation varied, and they were roaring as they charged forward, some even reaching the critical point of explosion.

The most useful cannon fodder, but truly ugly.

Snap.

A crisp snap of fingers, and the floating projectiles rained down.

Boom boom boom boom...

The city east of the stadium was buried in dust. The Herrscher flying in the air turned its head, its eye twitching unnaturally.

Those small toys created by humans were useless. Or rather, these toys weren't made to fight it. They were annihilated without even a chance to self-destruct.

'I need to find a way to get closer. To deceive me, he couldn't have mobilized too powerful forces.'

The Herrscher looked at the burning ocean, where a stubborn ice mist permeated, and several burning wrecks floated on the surface.

Just past the harbor, it suddenly darted to the side, hearing the wind explode in its ears as a straight line was cut through the sea.

A man stood at the end of the waterline with his hands in his pockets, against the backdrop of the burning sea.

"Where are you running?"