"You're insane! If I die now, you will die too, and this time there won't be any luck in that space for your consciousness to survive!"
The Sixth Herrscher, her psychological defense shattered, roared hysterically at Lin. Her eyes held both uncontrollable rage and incomprehensible confusion.
She, the Herrscher closest to humanity in history, did not understand why Lin consistently made such choices, why Kevin and Elysia chose to open fire despite grieving Lin's passing, and why humans were always performing such fearless feats.
Devoid of human emotion, no matter how much she resembled humans, she couldn't comprehend any of it.
"Listen, Lin. Even if this body is destroyed, I can still survive within the Herrscher Core, but your human consciousness will eventually be eroded by the Honkai and vanish or become a new Herrscher consciousness."
"If you don't interfere with me, I can prevent your consciousness from being eroded, letting you coexist with me in this body. I can even use the Authority of Creation to forge a new vessel for you, one that is more perfect than your previous body, a body that won't be eroded by Honkai Energy and has Honkai Energy adaptability that surpasses human limits!"
"Do you understand? You and I are one now, so you are also a Herrscher. Even if I separate you, I won't kill you. Think about it, Lin, do you truly want to sacrifice your everything for those people who have never done anything for you?"
The Sixth Herrscher forced a smile. She spread her arms, as if to embrace Lin, who was holding the sword, displaying the most tranquil smile from Seele's memory to show her goodwill.
"In contrast, I would treat you better, wouldn't I? Seele's consciousness has merged with mine. I am not much different from her, so I can understand you."
The faint fluorescent light illuminated Lin's face. The Sixth Herrscher's words caught in her throat. She stared at an inconspicuous particle of light flying from the sword. Seele's laughter emanated from within it.
She was nothing.
This sentence resonated in her heart again. Although she couldn't comprehend the source of this emotion, it didn't prevent her consciousness from wavering under the weight of those words.
"Must you fight me to the death? Aren't the conditions I offered generous enough? Just because of… these people?" The Sixth Herrscher glared at the freely floating particles of light, then shifted her gaze to Lin's face, as pale as ice.
A man with gentle features, yet one who looked exceptionally piercing only when he looked at her.
"…"
Lin couldn't even be bothered to speak to her. He seemed to be using his signature silence to mock the Sixth Herrscher.
One human wanted to die, and one Herrscher wanted to live.
"Then we shall see."
The Sixth Herrscher's expression finally cooled down. She summoned her scythe with a gesture of her hand.
"Clang!"
Sword and scythe clashed, sparks flying in the clash of metal, a duel unfolding in this realm of consciousness.
…
The Sixth Herrscher appeared a few hundred meters away. She lowered her head and glanced at the wounds on her body, which showed no sign of healing. Kevin and Elysia had already spotted her appearance and were chasing her in a straight line.
She had to resolve Lin first, but there wasn't enough time to defeat Lin's consciousness. His corpse-like willpower made it almost impossible to defeat him on a mental level. She could only continuously erode him, draining him little by little.
So, the Sixth Herrscher began moving in the direction of the Fifth Branch, dodging the attacks of the two behind her.
Because the use of her Authority was restricted, it was highly likely to backfire. Therefore, she would not use the Authorities of Decay and Creation from now on.
She could still attack using pure Honkai Energy, and this ability seemed unaffected by Lin's interference. So, as she flew, she occasionally fired condensed beams of Honkai Energy behind her to slow them down.
There was no back-and-forth maneuvering, only humans chasing a Herrscher who couldn't use her abilities. The speed of this pursuit was comparable to the Sixth Herrscher's maximum straight-line flight speed to Nagazora. In just a few minutes, she was back over the city where the Fifth Branch was located, amidst a hail of bullets and Honkai Energy attacks.
The city was a desolate sight, which the Sixth Herrscher had no interest in seeing, but she noticed that as she left the city and the Honkai Energy concentration continuously dropped, no new zombies or Honkai Beasts were being born. Roughly two-thirds of the existing Honkai creatures had already been cleared out by the Titans and soldiers.
This meant the Fifth Branch now had surplus forces to deal with her and the giant tree.
Upon spotting the corpse of the porcupine, the Sixth Herrscher dove, dodging the beam behind her. Then, with a condensed punch of Honkai Energy, she smashed the monitor of a guarding Titan and landed beside the porcupine.
Ignoring the stunned soldiers, she plunged her consciousness into her body, using all her might to activate the Authority of Creation.
"Whoosh~"
A large mass of branches grew from her arm. The weight instantly overwhelmed her. This was Lin interfering with the operation of the Authority. But the Sixth Herrscher ignored it. Lin could perform actions that severely impacted her combat effectiveness, but he couldn't genuinely stop her from using the Authority.
It was like he could use the Authority of Creation to stop her black mist, but he couldn't directly prevent her from releasing the black mist in the first place.
With the use of her Authority, the lifeless porcupine actually stood up again, shaking, to the soldiers' horrified gazes. However, it didn't roar, nor did it possess any of its previous human-like intelligence. Its eyes were vacant, like an ordinary Honkai Beast.
It was just a corpse. Even the Sixth Herrscher, who controlled life and death, couldn't completely resurrect a living organism, but making something that was already dead move again was a simple task that she had no reason to fail at.
Its combat effectiveness would be lower than when it was alive, and it no longer possessed intelligence, but it was still stronger than an average Honkai Beast.
The Sixth Herrscher waved her hand. The porcupine curled into a ball and began rolling across the ground. The earth-shaking impact charged toward the soldiers' defense line, who were taking a brief rest.
"Boom—"
The devastating quills instantly carved a path of blood. After rolling a short distance, the defenseless porcupine was overturned and stopped by two other Titans, which completely blew up its abdomen and limbs, rendering it immobile.
But that was enough.
The Sixth Herrscher glanced at the pursuing Kevin. His bullets seemed to have eyes; every shot accurately struck her body.
She activated her shield, but it failed to completely block the bullets. Her feet were instantly riddled with several bullet holes.
That was Lin's trick. She had no choice but to use the Phase Transfer device again. The device, which couldn't be used continuously, emitted some discordant noises under her forced operation, seeming to be at its limit.
The Sixth Herrscher appeared not far away. She rushed along the path of blood that the porcupine had cleared, then used high-concentration Honkai Energy to instantly breach the Fifth Branch's defense system, which had already been heavily damaged by the Honkai Beasts' attacks. She entered the interior.
The crimson in her eyes flared ferociously.
Where was Lin's corpse?