The person who fired the armor-piercing round was Elysia, or rather, the Titan piloted by Elysia. After explaining the combat plan to Kevin, she rushed immediately to Nagazora to intercept Kevin, saving him at the last moment.
"That was close, Kevin."
Elysia positioned the sniper rifle. She opened the cockpit and fired a shot directly at the Sixth Herrscher's head without a second word. The bullet was naturally blocked by the shield, but this action drew the Sixth Herrscher's attention.
"Elysia…" The Sixth Herrscher narrowed her eyes. Unlike Seele, she was extremely cautious of Elysia in her memory. This was because Elysia had a sense of mystery that seemed to detach her from all events, making it impossible to determine who Elysia truly was based solely on memory.
But when she shifted her gaze to Elysia, an inexplicable "synesthesia" emanated from the emotionless Elysia.
"You—" The Sixth Herrscher wanted to say something in confusion, but she quickly cast the doubt aside. "Support? What a shame. You are too late."
The Sixth Herrscher's battles with Lin and Kevin were almost entirely centered around the Phase Transfer device. As a Herrscher with the memory of a Fire Moth soldier, she knew the strategic value of this device. It allowed her to perform space jumps at will, like the Second Herrscher, compensating for her lack of combat means other than lethality.
Moreover, restricting the enemy and augmenting oneself was always the optimal strategic approach.
Now that the tables had turned, the device was finally back in her hands, meaning she had regained the initiative. With her control over her Authority significantly increased, using this device to slaughter her enemies was now child's play.
She only needed to wait half a day more. With full mastery of her Authority, she could unleash the black mist over a fifty-kilometer radius without side effects. At that point, she would be a walking natural disaster, and humanity would never have a chance to stop her.
Before that, she had to eliminate future trouble, uprooting the Fifth Branch and Nagazora to complete the first step of destroying the Far East.
However, to her surprise, after her shield was activated, a fierce explosion zero-distance detonated in front of her, engulfing her in fragments and flames.
"Elysia!" Kevin shouted a warning, then used every weapon on his body to attack the flame.
But without his warning, the moment the Sixth Herrscher was engulfed by the explosion, Elysia pulled the trigger without hesitation, firing the sniper bullet and the Titan's light beam into the center of the blast.
"A hand grenade… Did he manage to attach it to me when I went to grab the Phase Transfer device? Truly can't let my guard down for a second."
However, the Sixth Herrscher's casual voice came from the other end. They could only watch as she appeared out of thin air. Although she had some blast injuries, her expression was surprisingly relaxed.
"But, go ahead and struggle. Just don't bore me like that tiresome man…" She raised her hand, covering her wounds, using her Authority to heal them. She said to the two with a cold smile.
She had dodged a fatal attack, and the remaining wounds were minor, healable in an instant. As long as the Authority of Creation remained…
Wait…
The Sixth Herrscher looked in shock at her hand. When she moved her palm away, the bloody wounds showed no sign of healing.
The Authority of Creation was not working?
What was going on?
But Kevin and Elysia wouldn't wait for her to recover from her surprise. Both immediately raised their guns and pulled the trigger at her.
Such an attack wouldn't cause any damage as long as she activated her shield. She only needed to watch out for the armor-piercing rounds…
"Crack—"
Multiple sprays of blood erupted from her chest and abdomen.
The Sixth Herrscher sharply dove downward, dodging the remaining bullets. She fled in a single direction.
"The bullets were effective?" Even Kevin found it unbelievable. He had just seen the Sixth Herrscher take nearly ten direct hits. Her shield hadn't blocked a single bullet.
But Elysia was thinking about more. She had the Titan pursue the Sixth Herrscher: "Something is wrong with the Sixth Herrscher's condition."
The Sixth Herrscher stared at the bleeding bullet holes on her body. Her mind raced, trying to figure out what went wrong.
The shield was activated, but only on one side, facing her back. That's why she had been struck by the bullets.
The Authority of Creation was still unusable. No, she had clearly summoned the Authority. It felt more like something was interfering with it. Just like her shield, half of her Authority was beyond her free control.
Half…
"Da da da…"
Bullets rained toward her. This time, she blocked them all with the shield behind her. But the injuries slowed the Sixth Herrscher down. She could feel a weakness, exactly like the human she remembered, appearing in this body.
She had no pain, but that didn't mean her body was without weakness. It had been said long ago that a Herrscher's physical weaknesses were almost identical to a human's.
Her speed was undoubtedly reduced. She spun around violently. The black mist struck the pursuing Kevin, but after the machinery in the mist exploded, several armor-piercing rounds burst out from the black mist, aimed directly at her. This forced her to use the Phase Transfer device again, moving laterally dozens of meters above.
Kevin and Elysia enveloped the Sixth Herrscher, one in front, one behind, positioned perfectly at the maximum range of her current black mist.
Hmph… how foolish.
She inwardly sneered. The Phase Transfer device was in her hand. They had no way to rapidly close in on her. As long as she slightly overextended her Authority to increase the range, she would be safe, even without a shield. Then these two fools, who thought they were clever, would be caught off guard and killed.
So, the Sixth Herrscher, after coldly glancing at their positions, released the black mist without warning, surging toward both of them.
Just as Kevin and Elysia prepared to dodge, two vines shot out from the Sixth Herrscher's two arms. They instantly grew into thick, surging giant vines, coiling around the black mist and forcefully halting its advance.
"What is this?" This contradictory scene of the Sixth Herrscher attacking and then stopping her own attack stunned Kevin. He immediately assumed this was part of the Sixth Herrscher's plan; this most cunning Herrscher must be implementing yet another scheme.
But Elysia saw the clue. She saw the surprised expression on the Sixth Herrscher's face and informed Kevin: "Something is wrong with the Sixth Herrscher's condition."
"Damn it, what is going on!" The Sixth Herrscher wanted to shake off the plants created by the Authority of Creation, but she seemed to have completely lost control of that Authority. No matter how hard she tried, it was useless.
The two clashing, fundamentally opposite Authorities coexisting in her body was intended as an augmentation of her power, but fire and water are inherently incompatible. The contradictory nature of the Authority of Creation and the Authority of Decay meant her own power could neutralize itself. As long as the life-force emanating from these vines remained, she couldn't spread the black mist.
Could the original consciousness of this body truly still exist within it? Impossible. Her consciousness should have completely overwritten the original one the moment she was born.
In a practical sense, she should be a personality corruption type Herrscher, not one with two separate consciousnesses, but one where the original consciousness and hers had merged.
So, was it not a consciousness issue?
"No… There is another consciousness in this body!"
When the Sixth Herrscher tried to mobilize the Authority of Creation, she fully felt a consciousness battling her for control of the Authority!