"ROAAAR—!!"
With a thunderous roar, a black-and-red dragon-like Honkai Beast appeared—its armor gleaming, its form exuding overwhelming power. It looked like a calamity clad in metal.
Its mere presence caused the sky to darken, thunderclouds forming above, crackling with lightning that threatened to fall at any moment.
"W-What is that?!"
Mei instinctively placed her hand on her sword hilt. She could feel it—this dragon, Kurikara, was no weaker than her, a Herrscher.
"A Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast—Kurikara," Elias explained, patting its armored flank. "A creature specialized purely for combat and destruction. Among the many Honkai Beast pets I own, its offensive power ranks in the top ten."
"ROAAAR!"
The moment Kurikara laid eyes on Elias, it lowered its massive head to the ground, its tail wagging like a loyal dog.
During the Previous Era, Fire Moth had captured countless Honkai Beasts, and Kurikara was one of them. Under Elias' control—and thanks to the charm ability he'd obtained from the Vipralopa-class Nine-Tailed Beast—all of them obeyed him completely.
"Since you're craving strength, Mei, I'll give it to you. Don't worry—under my command, it will obey you completely. Even if you ordered it to self-destruct, it would obey without hesitation."
"This... this is too much, Elias. I can't possibly accept something so precious."
Mei looked at the black-and-red dragon in shock.
A Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast... that was an existence beyond even Judgment-level! In the Current Era, not a single one had appeared—except for Vishnu. And Kurikara wasn't just any such beast—it came from the Previous Era, where Honkai energy was dozens of times stronger. Back then, even a Seraph-class mosquito could rival a Chariot-class beast in this age.
Mei calmed her heart. Such a powerful Honkai Beast would certainly boost her strength—but with power like that, wouldn't it be more useful to Elias himself?
"Mei, are you refusing me?" Elias asked, his tone soft but his expression tinged with disappointment.
Then, slipping an arm around her slender waist, he pulled her close, breathing in her faint scent. His other hand reached up to her head—fingers brushing against her red demon horns, caressing them gently, almost reverently.
"E-Elias, I just..."
Mei's cheeks flushed crimson. She didn't want to refuse him—yet she felt it was too much, too extravagant a gift for herself.
"Alright, alright~ I'm just teasing you," Elias said with a smile. "Kurikara was meant for you from the start. Just accept it. Originally, it was only Emperor-class, you know."
He glanced at the dragon.
Back then, Kurikara hadn't been very strong—barely at Emperor-class, capable of breathing destructive red lightning but nothing more. In the Previous Era, that was a common level of power—Emperor-class Honkai Beasts roamed everywhere.
After capturing it, Elias immediately recognized it as Mei's mount from the game. He tamed it, sent it to Mobius for multiple rounds of enhancement and modification, then personally infused it with vast amounts of Honkai energy, raising it all the way to Vipralopa-class.
(Still... even with that, I doubt Kurikara could beat Benares. After all, Bella's a pseudo-Herrscher with four Cores—her power is far more stable.)
"In any case, if you don't want her, Mei, then she'll lose her purpose. I'll just destroy her right here. It's only a Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast—nothing more than a disposable toy to me."
"ROAAAR!!"
Kurikara trembled violently, lowering itself in submission as it turned toward Mei with pleading eyes. The dragon prostrated itself completely, groveling and swearing fealty, begging its new queen to accept it as her master.
As a Chimera fusion warrior, Elias possessed an overwhelming advantage against Honkai Beasts. The Nine-Headed Chimera—Heaven Devourer—within his body had already evolved into a Planet-class Honkai Beast.
To him, a Vipralopa-class was nothing more than a weakling.
Even before reaching Planet-class, Heaven Devourer had devoured Emperor-, Judgment-, and even Vipralopa-class Beasts as food.
"Well, alright then," Mei said softly, her resolve firming. "Thank you, Elias. I'll accept your gift."
She pressed the heel of her high-heeled combat boot onto Kurikara's head. Having spent so long alongside the Herrscher of Thunder persona, her queenly aura had grown stronger than ever.
"ROAAAR!!"
Kurikara released a jubilant roar, shaking the ground.
"By the way, Elias... just how strong are you now?" Mei asked curiously.
"I'm not exactly sure myself," he replied casually, "but I'd say strong enough to protect all of you from any danger. So... I guess I'm already more than strong enough."
Elias had grown powerful enough to destroy the world without effort.
For someone who held seventeen Herrscher Cores, each strike could bring about an apocalyptic-level disaster if he wished. Yet despite being "strong enough," he didn't feel satisfied.
Elias was a perfectionist with a collector's obsession—he couldn't stand stagnation. Until he gathered every power and authority in existence, he would never be content.
"But for you, Mei, it'll be tough, won't it? My dear queen—do you still want to conquer me?"
"Of course! I'll never give up!"
Mei answered without hesitation. At that moment, she was no longer the gentle, domestic "chef" of the group—but the proud, beautiful conqueror she truly was.
"Haha~ That's my Mei."
Elias grinned happily, pulling Mei close as they sat against Kurikara's body like a chair. His hands reached up, wrapping around her crimson horns—savoring the sensation he hadn't felt in millennia.
They were deeper red than any gemstone, and when he gripped them, faint electric currents tingled against his palms—not painful, but pleasantly stimulating.
Elias' thoughts: (Hmm, definitely better than Kosma's.)
Among the Flame-Chasers, two were notorious horn-lovers: Elysia... and Elias himself. Every MANTIS with horns had fallen victim to their hands.
Elias proudly admitted—if he hadn't touched a hundred pairs of horns, then at least eighty—but Mei's crimson horns remained unmatched, the sensation utterly addictive.
"Mmm... ahh..."
Mei closed her eyes, her cheeks flushed bright red.
An indescribable pleasure coursed through her—yet she couldn't help but be startled at how skilled Elias was! Her horns felt like they might melt right off her head.
In truth, that "technique" came from his years of training—rubbing a certain pink fox's ears. After all, both were located atop the head.
After a long while—
"Ahh~ Satisfying. Absolutely satisfying. Mei's horns are the best. I could play with them forever!"
"That doesn't seem very fair."
Mei rubbed her tingling horns with a complicated expression. Though the sensation was delightful, the queen within her didn't enjoy being on the passive side.
"You're right. In that case, let's trade."
"Eh? Trade what?"
Before Mei could react, she saw two golden horns sprouting from Elias' head—luxurious and radiant like a crown.
Her eyes widened in amazement. Compared to those magnificent dragon horns, her own seemed almost modest.
"I'm quite confident in my own horns too," Elias said with a smirk.
He leaned forward, gently brushing his golden horns against Mei's crimson ones. In the past, such gestures had been reserved only for Miss Pink Elf—but now, well... she wasn't here, was she?
Mei took a deep breath and cautiously raised her hand to touch the pair of golden dragon horns. Her eyes lit up immediately.
(That texture... that shape... it's perfect!)
Within just a minute, she was completely hooked—an overwhelming urge to claim those horns as her own rising within her.
In fact, not long in the future, the red thunder dragon and a certain pink fairy would clash countless times over the ownership of Elias' golden horns.
At that very moment, Elysia lost her exclusive right to enjoy Elias' horns.
"Looks like you really like them, Mei," Elias said with a smile. "Guess it wasn't a waste growing these after all. But it's getting late—we should head back to the dorm. You're in charge of dinner tonight, right? I'm really looking forward to it."
He spoke as he lifted Mei into a princess carry, heading toward the dormitory. It had been far too long since he'd last tasted his personal chef's cooking, and tonight he intended to out-eat even the hungriest of Valkyries.
"Is that so? Then I'll have to give it my all. What would you like to eat, Elias?" Mei asked, her spirit ignited by his words.
"Anything you make is fine," he replied softly. "What matters most to me... is that it's made by you. So... will you cook for me for the rest of your life, Mei?"
As he spoke, he tightened his arms slightly around the girl in his embrace. Though it sounded like a casual remark—it was, in truth, a confession. And her answer...
"Of course. As long as you don't find me unworthy, I'll always be your woman... your personal chef."
Mei's face burned red—far too bright to be blamed on the sunset. Yet her expression was filled with radiant happiness.
A queen's crown was precious—but she didn't need one.
Between being a queen and being Elias' chef, Raiden Mei would choose the latter without hesitation.
...
A few days later, though the addition of the Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast Kurikara had greatly increased Mei's power...
Because both of them wielded thunder-elemental attacks, and Kurikara's dragon-scale armor was immensely durable, even Fu Hua's strikes in Artificial Cascade form couldn't break through.
Yet before the Taixuan Eminence, it all amounted to nothing.
Though they were all precious companions, watching Mei, Kiana, and Bronya lose repeatedly made Elias feel a little sorry for them—so he decided to lend a bit of guidance.
Taixuan Eminence was strong—but not invincible.
As long as one's spiritual power was strong enough, it could be countered. And beyond that, if one had an alternate consciousness within their mind, that could serve as a substitute shield.
Mei: "I see! So I just have to use the Herrscher of Thunder personality as my decoy, right?"
Herrscher Mei: "Raiden Mei, are you trying to get me killed?!"
Mei: "It's a necessary sacrifice for the greater good, my other self. Rest easy."
Herrscher Mei: "$#%&@!!"
Elias: "You don't have to go that far. There's also a third method—clashing directly with the Taixuan Eminence."
The Taixuan Eminence was unavoidable because it was a mental attack. Without spiritual techniques, it couldn't be blocked—not even by the Herrscher of Finality.
Elias began teaching the technique to them.
Although the skill required years of patient refinement, as Herrschers, Mei and Kiana could directly skip to the final stage—the Divine Resonance.
Of course, even if they could achieve it instantly, compared to the Immortal Phoenix, who had honed her Taixuan Eminence over tens of thousands of years, their level was still far inferior.
However, when Mei and Kiana combined their dual Taixuan Eminence and clashed against Fu Hua's, they managed to trigger the mental energy detonation just before her strike landed.
With only the physical attribute of the sword remaining—a giant blade of pure Honkai energy—they could finally withstand it head-on.
Fu Hua: "Not bad. Even though you had Elias' help, to grasp the Taixuan Eminence in such a short time... Mei, Kiana, your strength and talent are truly impressive. But still..."
You still couldn't win!
In Fu Hua's Artificial Cascade form—Fenghuang of Vicissitude—the attacks of Mei, Kiana, and the others were instantly healed by her regeneration.
Thanks to the hyper-adaptive genes of the Garuda Honkai Beast, her regenerative power was so overwhelming that even if she stood still and let them attack, her body would heal faster than they could hurt her.
However, they eventually found a strategy that worked.
Mei: "For anyone else, this shot would be fatal. But for you, class monitor, it'll probably only weaken you... and that's enough!"
When Mei transformed the Seven Thunders of Retribution into sniper rifle form and prepared a round capable of breaking its target down to the molecular level, even Fu Hua felt the threat.
Fu Hua: "I see... so this will completely suppress my regeneration."
After all, the Garuda Honkai Beast had once been killed by that exact attack—disintegrated into molecules by a single shot from the Seven Thunders.
But now, with Garuda's ICHOR factors integrated into her body, Fu Hua had surpassed Garuda itself—capable of regenerating even at the molecular level.
That allowed her to counter the otherwise lethal effects of the Seven Thunders of Retribution.
However, her regeneration would temporarily cease, leaving her HP bar vulnerable for the first time—giving Mei and the others a genuine chance to defeat her.
Even so, Fu Hua was still a Flame-Chaser.
The Taixuan Eminence alone wasn't enough to overpower her. With her Artificial Cascade suppressed, she merely lost two of her trump cards—but remained an absolute Tier 0 powerhouse.
Relying solely on her Ki techniques, she defeated the group several more times before Kiana and the others finally managed to exploit a tiny opening and claim a single, hard-earned victory.
Bronya: "F-Finally! Class Monitor is way too strong... I feel like challenging a final boss at level one with starter gear would've been easier."
Kiana: "Agreed! Even if we fought again, I doubt we could win. We totally lucked out this time."
Dark Seele: "Is she even human?! Even with her ultimate sealed, she fought one-versus-nine—including two Herrschers—and still won most of the time!"
Though the victory felt satisfying, none of them could truly relax.
Mei: "Class Monitor... are all the Flame-Chasers this powerful?"
Fu Hua: "Not all. Some aren't suited for combat. But yes... each of us has our own trump card. I may be a combat-type... but honestly, I'm just average."
The girls: "You call that average?!"
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