"Good work."
Elysia, in her mermaid form, raised the scepter in her hand high.
Capricorn, which had just appeared from the constellation fissure only to have three-quarters of its body obliterated by a Star-Collapsing Roar Cannon, was a perfect fit for the name of Cheche's ultimate attack. Its slightly crazed roars echoed like a tidal wave through Cheche and Elysia's mental worlds.
Capricorn's appearance was that of a giant beast covered in full-body armor with numerous sharp angles.
Ordinarily, once activated, this specialized shell armor would grant Capricorn one of the highest defensive capabilities among the twelve Zodiac beasts.
Unfortunately for it, the moment it showed its face, before it could even see what its opponent looked like, it was hit head-on by a massive blast… let alone having the time to activate its armor.
The crippled Capricorn didn't even have time to talk trash before it saw the scepter in Elysia's hands. The rare Human Authority channeled all of its Honkai energy into the "Great Ely" that was gradually taking on a blurry shape behind her.
At the tip of a sakura-pink, heart-shaped longbow, an arrow that appeared utterly harmless took dead aim at Capricorn's head.
Cheche had put her all into that Star-Collapsing Roar Cannon, and what little strength she had left was used entirely to restrain Capricorn.
It no longer mattered which of Finality's Authorities the great goat possessed. Faced with Elysia's full-powered attack, it had absolutely no chance of escape.
Twang!
The string vibrated, and the arrow was released!
CRACK!!!
Shards glittering with a bright, metallic luster scattered through the sky.
Having not unleashed a single move, Capricorn perished under the pincer attack of their two ultimate abilities.
"..."
"Are you okay?"
A long while later, Elysia, riding a large manta ray, arrived beside Cheche, who had reverted to her white-haired loli form. The Authority of the Void that had been surging around Cheche had now dissipated and returned to the Monarch with Capricorn's demise.
"N'problem."
The slightly peculiar tone of her voice allowed Elysia to understand Cheche's meaning through context.
When in good condition, using the Behemoth's giant beast form allowed for rapid energy recovery, but this required a base energy reserve of over 15%—it was the same principle as priming a well pump in a village.
Otherwise, when expenditures exceeded income, mimicking this recently learned humanoid form was actually more energy-efficient.
The Monarch still needed the help of the Authorities.
Therefore, the task of returning to Earth could only be entrusted to Elysia's large manta ray—while it was quite large, it certainly couldn't carry Behemoth.
Just like with Xiao Zi and Kevin, under normal circumstances, they could have rushed to assist other battlefields after defeating their opponent. But the sheer intensity of the battle between the Monarch and Finality left no room for such余裕. Their one and only battle plan was to defeat their opponents as quickly as possible, then conserve their "strength" and retreat to a safe location (Earth).
Therefore...
---o---
"Hee-neigh!"
Sagittarius, armed with a spear and bow, fared no better than Capricorn.
It too had no opportunity to show off its might. The moment the companion beast emerged from the constellation fissure, it was trapped in the center of a magnetic field prepared in advance by Shesha. After a few "swish, swish, swish" modifications by Mobius, the magnetic trap managed to bind Sagittarius for over ten seconds.
However… they didn't actually need that long.
After swapping control of their bodies, Mobius, using Leviathan's body, performed an "electromagnetic erasure."
Simply put, she directly eliminated all "Coulomb force" within the magnetic trap holding Sagittarius, to a certain extent.
And for good measure, she threw in a world-shaking, terrifying explosion.
"Was it that… simple?"
"Simple?"
"Mm… It wasn't particularly difficult, but your Honkai energy reserves are still a bit insufficient. Of course, my control over the Authority isn't refined enough either. If I were more proficient, this thing could have been disintegrated even more thoroughly."
Mobius glanced at the remains of Sagittarius, which had been blasted everywhere and were now gradually dissipating as its core collapsed.
What she had done wasn't truly difficult.
To put it simply, one could consider that by using the Authority of Thunder, she had washed away the "binding agent" that held Sagittarius together, which was normally extremely tough and firm.
"If I could just borrow the Monarch's body for a bit—"
"..."
"Considering the merit you have just achieved, human, I will not pursue your impertinence toward the Monarch."
Their bodies swapped back.
Controlling such a massive body composed of a mixture of Honkai and Imaginary energy was significantly different from controlling her Collapsed State serpentine body, which was at most a few dozen meters long. This was one of the reasons Mobius hadn't been able to perform at her best.
The initiative to swap bodies was not held by Mobius.
To say Shesha hadn't left failsafes within his own body would be to truly underestimate the serpent's talent for self-preservation.
"Oh my."
"Lord Shesha's loyalty is somewhat more than I expected."
Her serpent-like hair moved without a wind, and her pinkish-green eyes regained their luster.
"Hmph."
The line of gems along the sides of the serpentine body quickly dimmed.
Though her words were sharp, Mobius had still done her best to conserve a considerable amount of Honkai energy just now.
Otherwise, there would have been no chance of seeing these dissipating remains of Sagittarius.
Now, the Honkai energy overflowing from the gems, along with the Authority and Mobius's own insights into the Authority of Thunder, would return to the Monarch's embrace.
---o---
BOOM!!!
A meteorite, pulverized into dust, instantly vanished.
But such an attack failed to break the shadow of the giant beast on the other side. The Monarch's assessment had not been entirely accurate. Leo, which should have controlled the Authority of Flame, instead displayed the Authority of Sentience, a power that completely contradicted its name.
Leo's physical body, composed entirely of Honkai energy, had been disintegrated by the War Temple's first strike. However, its incorporeal body on the mental plane completely ignored all attacks from both the War Temple and Hua.
"Human."
"Do you have a mental attack capable of achieving victory?"
After shattering another meteorite that Leo had possessed and sent flying at them, the War Temple spoke to the somewhat exhausted Hua. Leo's tactics were highly targeted, launching all of its attacks at Hua, the weaker of the two.
If not for the fact that their minds were nearly impossible to invade—to prevent the control effects of the three special Authorities, the Monarch had preemptively placed mental barriers on everyone using the "Divine Sound" suggestion method before the battle—Leo would have likely already claimed victory.
"..."
Hua lowered her head and glanced at the Key of Domination covering her hand, the Grips of Tai Xuan.
"I do."
Besides its most primitive "Xuanyuan Sword" form, the Key of Domination could, according to the wielder's will, resonate its Herrscher Core with the quantum soul steel computer, transforming into a weapon suitable for the user's combat needs.
Hua had seen Fenghuang Down. She had also experienced the Divine Sound.
Therefore—
"Very good."
"Next, I will proactively deactivate the mental barrier placed by the Monarch."
The War Temple spoke without looking back, once again cleaving through an incoming meteorite.
"Life or death..."
"I entrust my life to you."