Herrschers were terrifying; each represented a law, a disaster.
Even now, there were only a handful of fusion warriors who could face a Herrscher alone, which was why they adopted a squad mode—in essence, more people bullying fewer.
Clearly, Ryan was at a numerical disadvantage, but the sense of calm brought by the lives of five Herrschers showed no trace of fear when facing them directly.
'Herrschers? I've killed several already. No matter how much you cheat, it's all the same.'
The sea of fire raged, instantly quieting the jungle significantly. Before the Honkai Beasts could counterattack, the second round of attacks was already on its way.
Rumble—
Thunder and lightning intertwined, thousands of silver serpents falling from the sky like a torrential downpour, striking the ground with crackling sounds.
Burning trees instantly disintegrated. The ground was blasted with circular pits. Two area-of-effect attacks completely tied up the Herrscher of Stars's hands; he could only lightly clap his palms.
Gravity severance.
An invisible curtain instantly enveloped the sea of fire. Lightning, upon contact, immediately distorted, randomly splashing outwards. Not far away, a mountain range was directly riddled like a sieve.
'His Honkai energy isn't as strong as mine, but his Authority is truly troublesome.' The Herrscher of Stars frowned. This first exchange with Ryan gave him a rough understanding of the opponent's advantages.
Too many tricks. Authorities like Flame and Lightning had extremely strong destructive power. He certainly didn't dare to be directly hit, and then—
"There's also an undying determination!"
Countless arcs of electricity still lingered in the air. A massive ice ball had already slammed into them, forcefully carving a path through the sea of fire, then exploding again the moment it stopped.
Crack.
The ice ball erupted, transforming into a thick wall of ice that stretched across their front. The Herrscher of Stars could no longer hold back. A gravity slingshot propelled his body forward, and he pressed his palm onto this ice wall.
"Back to you."
No sound, no light. Just this massive ice wall flying back like a piece of paper, more like a giant shovel, sweeping away everything in its path.
It felt like deflecting a thousand pounds with an ounce of strength. The village ruins disappeared in the blink of an eye. A flash of lightning ascended into the air, watching as the ice wall, mixed with terrifying knights, swept past below, actually leveling a small mountain.
'Is this repulsion?' Ryan raised an eyebrow, realizing that this Ninth Herrscher was completely different from the Herrscher of Flamescion. He had no grand, sweeping moves, yet could cause immense destruction with a flick of his finger.
Repulsion was just one way of using it. He turned his head and saw the ice ball shatter like glass. The countless fragments paused in the air for a moment, then all flew towards him.
Gravity Core!
In the air, there seemed to be an invisible point of light. Not just the ice fragments, but he himself was also being pulled. In just a few seconds, he would be frozen into an ice ball by his own Honkai energy.
'Tsk, so troublesome.'
Ryan gritted his teeth, his body flickering with residual electricity, using greater output to pull himself out of the gravitational field, but there was no joy on his face.
'Purple Lightning Flash' was a move he created for a decisive kill; using it to dodge was really not worth it. He turned around and held up two fingers.
Rumble!
A giant bolt of lightning, over a dozen meters thick, howled down, distorting above the Herrscher of Stars's head, blasting another small mountain into a crater, making Ryan eyes twitch.
'Controlling two gravitational fields simultaneously?'
Offensive and defensive integration. Ryan had no choice but to turn back, his right hand making a sweeping motion. Flames formed a giant whip, striking furiously at the incoming ice ball.
Boom—
The violent Flame Authority directly vaporized it. Ryan had to use excessive force, because if he merely shattered it, he feared the countless fragments would riddle him like a sieve.
'Let's try again.'
Taking advantage of the obscuring ice mist, Ryan turned and ran. Under the combined effect of wind and lightning, his speed was incredibly fast, like a meteor streaking through the night sky. Sure enough, the gravitational point was gone.
The range of an Authority's effect was limited; this was natural, generally proportional to the Honkai energy's intensity. However, Ryan had just begun to calculate when his pupils suddenly constricted again.
The Herrscher of Stars was pursuing, his speed not much slower than Ryan. And unlike Ryan energy propulsion, he only paused occasionally, then accelerated wildly.
"Gravity Slingshot!"
As a scientist, Ryan immediately recognized what this was. In space, it could certainly be one of the abilities for starship navigation. But unlike the elaborate methods of human technology, the Herrscher seemed to do it effortlessly.
Not only fast, but also capable of sudden stops and turns. Several bolts of lightning grazed him, while he himself was pulled towards the ground by a gravitational source.
It was then that Ryan understood why the Ninth Herrscher attacks had such a small range.
Several lightning-flashing long whips slashed towards him, which Ryan deftly dodged. Then, a thick beam of light shot from the side, which was also repelled by the Wind Authority.
The Honkai Beasts had arrived. Dense attacks grazed him. Toxic mist, lightning, and flames dyed the sky in various colors. Even if they couldn't break through Ryan Honkai energy, they could still annoy him endlessly.
'I forgot, I'm the one being ganged up on.'
Wall of Flames.
A ring of fire surrounded him. Though not as terrifying as the Herrscher of Flamescion's fiery giant, it still Burnd any attack that touched it. Even Judgment-class Honkai Beasts found it difficult to join the fight. However, they had one advantage over humans.
They defied death!
Dozens of long whips tightened like tentacles. Even when ignited, they showed no fear, like actively grabbing a ball of fire, burning themselves but slowing down the enemy.
Ryan heart sank. He knew it was bad then. Sure enough, he looked up and saw the Herrscher of Stars flung towards him by a gravity slingshot.
He accelerated in a straight line with incredible speed, so fast that Ryan had little time to react. He quickly made the flames form another fiery barrier, then saw the Herrscher throw a punch.
The force of the punch stopped half a meter from the flames, but the overwhelming power twisted the air and the barrier together, finally transmitting to Ryan body.
Whoosh—
This wasn't a storm, but it had even greater inertia than a storm. Ryan instantly lost his balance, feeling dizzy.
Boom!!
A lake several kilometers away exploded, the water column shooting skyward evaporated in an instant. A lake thousands of meters in diameter suddenly dried up, and Ryan knelt on one knee in the central crater.
The direct lethality was mediocre, but he knew that direct lethality wasn't the point at all.
'Here it comes.'
The air seemed to turn solid. A powerful gravitational wave pressed down from above, making the crater beneath his feet deeper and larger. Even his bones began to 'creak.'
Gravity suppression. But Ryan wasn't the energy body from before. More terrifying Honkai energy countered it. He slowly stood up, casually waving his right hand.
Storm Wall.
A roaring tornado enveloped his body, forming a powerful shield, because he had already seen the ethereal black smoke.
The Herrscher of Death had made her move. Ryan dared not let this Authority touch his body. A moment later, his eye twitched.
A blood-red hand suddenly reached into the storm, pulling open a gap like drawing a curtain. Then a head peered in, and the Storm Wall was visibly shrinking at a rapid rate.
'As expected, it devours energy, and it also damages the structure of the Authority, making the storm difficult to maintain.'
Ryan understood, but his speed wasn't slow. The gap had been opened, and the Herrscher of Death was about to infiltrate with her Authority. He simply brought his fists together.
Explode!
A crimson lotus bloomed with him at its center. The flames even decomposed soil and rocks, roaring outwards in all directions.
Authority against Authority, incinerating everything within range into ash. But this fiery flower hadn't bloomed to its fullest when it solidified again.
A gravity slingshot turned Ryan into a projectile. White rings of air exploded several times, and the fiery lotus was sent flying.
It plunged into the jungle, bouncing several times, igniting everything in its path, then crashed into the mountain with a 'boom.'
Ryan leaned against the cliff, residual fire boiling around him. He widened his eyes, seeing rings of air exploding in the sky, one after another, as the Ninth Herrscher rapidly approached.
'He's suppressing me from a distance, and his offensive and defensive Authority is hard to deal with. Then the Herrscher of Blood is responsible for breaking my defense, and the Herrscher of Death is hiding in the dark, ambushing me?'
Aside from the Herrscher of Stars, the other two weren't truly powerful, but combined, they were very troublesome.
Ryan peripheral vision caught another explosion of firelight, realizing that the Herrscher of Domination had also engaged Hua. Since his side's destructive power was too great and his speed too fast, Honkai Beasts and rogue fusion warriors would surely go after Hua.
He didn't overthink, nor did he get distracted. He simply stood up and clenched his right fist.
Residual fire condensed, swirling around his right arm like a vortex cloud. Ryan aimed at the rapidly approaching figure in the air and suddenly stepped forward with his left foot.
Thump!!
The mountain trembled, loose rocks clattered down. The Herrscher of Stars in the air instantly stopped, seeing the man swing his right fist, unleashing a fire serpent.
Burn!
Like a cannonball fired from a barrel, it started as a fire serpent, then rapidly expanded halfway, transforming into a roaring fire dragon, prompting the Herrscher to quickly inject more Honkai energy.
Gravity Barrier.
There was no light, only a large area of the sky twisted. Then the fire dragon crashed into it, like a high-pressure water jet impacting a wall, splashing outwards, except what splashed was fire, fire that even turned clouds into nothingness.
If the Herrscher of Flamescion were reborn, the sky would be scorched crimson, but the Herrscher of Stars was already prepared for defense. He struggled somewhat, but still firmly blocked it, and remained very calm.
"How much Honkai energy does he have left, to squander it so wantonly?" The Herrscher of Stars narrowed his eyes. He hadn't attacked much today, focusing all his attention on defense.
The fire dragon surged, not extinguished for several seconds. Just as he was about to counterattack again, he suddenly looked up.
Several meteors fell from the sky, passing through the atmosphere. The Herrscher didn't think much of it and raised his left hand.
Gravity Sphere.
The few meteors flying straight towards him were immediately pulled in, and then terrifying energy was unleashed.
Rumble—
The crimson night sky seemed to give rise to a sun. An N2 bomb exploded tens of thousands of meters high, forming a massive fireball, as if to blast a hole in the atmosphere.
"So you were pinpointing, having those humans help?" The Herrscher understood immediately, but his reaction was too fast; the N2 bomb couldn't get close at all. "But human conventional methods are too weak; they can't help you."
"Is that so?" Ryan stood on the mountain, not a single spark near him.
"Then let's use unconventional methods!" The Herrscher looked up a second time.
Another meteor passed through the 'Blazing Sun' and plummeted directly, even penetrating the gravitational waves, accurately arriving above his head.
This is...
The air rapidly condensed, as if to freeze this entire world.
Divine Key!