After leaving the canopy, everyone could see the outside world again. When they looked up, they saw a "grand spectacle" in the sky, like a fireworks display.
Only Theresa and Kallen could barely see two streaks of light chasing each other in the exploding "fireworks."
To be precise, one of them was constantly chasing the other and attacking crazily. From time to time, after catching up, they would pull away again.
Because the distance was too far, according to their estimation, the two streaks of light were probably already close to the near-earth orbit. Even with Kallen's extraordinary eyesight, she couldn't see who the two streaks of light were.
But it should be Shu chasing Gu Chu...
There's definitely no problem on Shu's side. The problem now is on our side... According to the damage Shu caused to the Herrscher when he first arrived, it can be known that Shu is definitely stronger than this Herrscher.
And now, the one-sided situation in the sky will sooner or later be decided. So in fact, the battle in the sky is the key to victory. They only need to hold the Herrscher back and support Shu until he returns victorious.
Theresa was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath.
During the time when Shu was not at the base, Otto had been doing one thing—helping Shu to unload his burden and separate the unnecessary responsibilities from him.
In the eyes of others, Otto was doing this out of his own ambition, to take more power from Shu. After all, in the eyes of outsiders, Shu was the administrator of the Fire Moths, and Otto was just an assistant pushed out by Shu to handle affairs.
This was also the position that Otto had determined for himself. He was just an assistant by Shu's side.
But in fact, anyone in the Fire Moths who knew some core information knew that the entire Fire Moths was under Otto's control. If Otto was willing, he didn't even need to "usurp" Shu.
As long as he raised his arm and shouted, the Fire Moths could immediately be renamed the "Schicksal Church."
But Otto didn't do that.
Although his various operations in the Fire Moths had reduced everyone's fanatical worship of Shu, Shu's status had been raised to a very high position by Otto.
But what Otto said to Theresa was—
"Shu is carrying too much. He will be crushed," Otto said so. "He is indeed a warrior with magical power, but at the same time, he has a heart that is more fragile than ordinary people."
Theresa understood half of it. She didn't know what Otto meant by "more fragile than ordinary people," but she was very clear about the fact that Shu was carrying a lot.
In the Fire Moths, many people's first thought when they encountered difficulties was "it would be fine if it was Shu." It can be imagined how much burden these thoughts would bring to Shu?
But just thinking about the source of Shu's ability, Theresa had a headache again.
Shu's power... seems to come from these expectations... while gaining power, he also has to bear such a heavy responsibility. Is this what Shu must bear?
What's the difference between this and a curse?
At least here, what they should do is not to wait for Shu to save them, but to share the pressure of a Herrscher for Shu, so that he can focus on solving Gu Chu.
"Bronya, report the specific situation," Theresa calmed herself and said to Bronya on the Noah's Ark.
"Okay," Bronya nodded and quickly reported the situation. "After the canopy disappears, we will lack the means to deal with the Herrscher's power. You will face a full-state... at least a Herrscher who can use her power.
"Currently, only Kiana and Mei can protect themselves with Divine Keys or pseudo-Divine Keys. The rest of you must be careful of the Herrscher's power."
"Kiana's state is not right now," Mei looked at Kiana, who was holding hands with Bianka and not moving, and anxiously reported this situation. "What if Kiana can't break free before the canopy is broken?"
Bronya pondered for a moment and shook her head. "We haven't analyzed the reason for Kiana's state, but it is basically confirmed that it is because the woman with the Honkai beast aura caused the anomaly of the Key of Genesis."
"That's Bianka," Rita suddenly said. After looking at Mei's stunned gaze, she repeated it again: "She is Bianka."
"Bianka..." Among the people present, only Mei showed a moment of confusion. The others were all silently looking at Bianka.
"Is it... Durandal... that Bianka?" Mei's reaction was quite fast, and with Rita's reminder, Bronya also remembered where she had seen the other half of Bianka's face...
Wasn't that the "strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal" that Shu had shown them?
No... here, she was just Bianka.
"But Kiana isn't..." Bronya was still confused.
You know, in the original story that Shu had shown them, the reason why Bianka and Kiana appeared at the same time was because Kiana was Otto's clone, so there was a situation of "two Kianas"...
But here, Kiana was undoubtedly the biological daughter of Siegfried and Cecilia. This had been confirmed when Kiana brought Mei home as a guest.
And before this, Mei had never heard of Bianka's existence... could it be...
Theresa seemed to have seen the confusion on Mei's face. She coughed lightly. Among the people present, she was the only one who knew Bianka's background.
Otto didn't hide anything from her. He was essentially grooming her to be the next successor, so he would tell Theresa everything he did in advance.
But the timing of this notice was a bit wrong.
By the time Theresa knew the specific situation, Bianka had already run away.
What could she do besides scolding Otto?
She had never dared to tell Rita about this, although she felt that Rita had already investigated it privately.
If she said it here today, Otto might suffer later...
"Actually, this is how it is..."
Outside the canopy, Theresa was explaining Bianka's background to everyone. And as the protagonist of the story she was telling, Bianka now felt that she had fallen into a snowfield.
The ground was not only covered with endless white snow, but also with piercing ice cones.
This snowfield was so familiar to her. The bone-chilling cold had accompanied her in her dreams on countless nights.
Why did she suddenly come back?
Bianka didn't know what had happened. Her last impression was of Cecilia falling and being sent flying by a sudden huge force.
Then, endless killing intent and hatred welled up from the bottom of her heart. She subconsciously wanted to suppress them, but the fatigue from all over her body made her unwilling to move.
She was really tired of living a life of suppressing her killing intent. All her energy was used to suppress that killing intent, so the pain ravaged her body.
Loneliness wanted to devour her, fear wanted to imprison her, everything in the world wanted to kill her, but her own body was unwilling.
So tired... so tired...
She didn't want to struggle anymore. Let her body do one last thing for everyone...
A huge and ferocious black shadow walked slowly from the swirling snow towards Bianka, who had fallen in the snow and ice. Its huge body was like a demon.
It came to Bianka and looked down at her. The desire to devour rose in its heart.
The two of them, who had been fighting for a full month, were finally going to decide the winner at this moment. As long as it devoured Bianka's will, it could completely control this powerful body.
—
A voice with a hint of anger pierced through the increasingly violent snow, indicating that an unwelcome third party had entered this ice and snow world that belonged exclusively to Bianka and Pavanti.
"What an... ugly evolution."
This unexpected voice made Bianka slowly open her eyes and look ahead blankly, just in time to catch a figure that quickly brushed past her and attacked Pavanti.
That figure... was so similar to her. Except for the color of her hair, it could almost be said to be identical.
But who was that? And who could appear in her conscious space?
It could only be... "herself."
But... wasn't she here? Then who was that? Who was the one who was resisting here? And who was the one who was sinking here?
She didn't know... she didn't even know why she had such a vague question.
Until a voice sounded in her heart.
...
The storm in the canopy had reached its limit, and the Herrscher's judgment had come to the last one.
The judgment hall had become riddled with holes. When the Herrscher stood on the judgment platform again, even she herself was a little dazed.
How many was this?
The twenty-first, and also the last one.
Everyone was extremely sinful. The monsters derived from their sins could even tear apart the holy knights.
But the light would make them have nowhere to hide. The knights would kill all the sins. This time was the same.
The Herrscher raised her hand and numbly activated her power on the small sinner standing on the judgment seat.
"Sinner..." she read out the other party's name as usual, but was stunned just as she was about to say it. Then, disbelief welled up in her heart.
Instead, the sinner herself raised her head, revealing her slaughtered eyes and her scarred, even terrifying, face.
"I, Azhar," Azhar's scarred face gave the Herrscher a bad premonition.
"Hereby file a lawsuit against you!"
The scales suddenly trembled, and a crack instantly appeared on the Herrscher's face.
"You—"
"Sinner, Herrscher of Binding," Azhar ruthlessly interrupted the Herrscher who wanted to speak. The light that had once caused her pain now did not make her feel any different.
Because her five senses had been deprived, her world was now a dark place. Only the Herrscher's voice, which sounded in her heart at the same time, told her what she was doing.
She raised her hand and pointed at the Herrscher who was high above. The identities of the two were reversed at this moment. The person at the bottom was looking down at the person at the top.
"The charge—fraud."
The Herrscher's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
She glared at Azhar, her chest heaving violently.
But she had no choice... because the person in front of her had already undergone a complete judgment. All the sins on her body had been washed away in that judgment.
Now, there was nothing on her.
So in the end, she could only speak.
"You want to file a lawsuit against me... what's your evidence?" the Herrscher said, but her eyes were always staring at the golden scales in her hand.
"Where did I commit fraud?"
"Of course it's here," Azhar pointed her finger at the ground. "You announced to everyone who came here that this is your judgment hall, and that your actions are a just judgment on sinners.
"And I want to object to this," Azhar's words made the crack on the Herrscher's face gradually expand, and her gaze gradually shifted from the scales to Azhar.
"This is not a judgment hall at all, but a place to sever the bonds between people.
"And what you are doing is not a judgment at all. You are just resenting why people interact with each other. Everything you do is only aimed at the communication between humans!"
"Nonsense!" the Herrscher suddenly shouted angrily, forcefully interrupting the long speech that Azhar had not been able to say. "The ones I have judged are all guilty! Can't you see their sins?!
"They have hurt so many people. Can't you see the harm? Are you going to let me ignore their actions and use fixed regulations and laws to pursue them?!
"It is precisely because they have escaped! It is precisely because there is no law here to punish them that I will judge their hearts! Objective legal principles need to be explained, but their subjective malice never does!
"Those who are selfish in their hearts, those who choose to sacrifice others in their hearts, are they innocent?!
"Or do you want me to be like those useless laws, and can only wait until their crimes have been committed, and then slowly bring them to justice? What about the victims? Are they the sacrifices that must be produced to judge evil?!"
"So you want to dismantle human society, so that there is no more interaction between people, so that everyone has only themselves in their hearts. You choose to divide the entire human race, and let everyone hand over their destiny to the [absolutely just] you?"
Azhar shouted back at the Herrscher without any cowardice. This time, the Herrscher was at a loss for words.
"What's wrong with such a world?" she didn't look for a rebuttal, but just stared at Azhar through gritted teeth. "No one will be hurt by others. As long as everyone becomes an island..."
This was the world she hoped to create, and the ideal she had repeated to herself countless times in the past.
But, only this time, when she was speaking, a figure inexplicably appeared in her mind, causing her firm thoughts to have a trace of hesitation that she herself did not notice.