Rage seemed to take on a tangible form, like blazing flames that reduced everything in sight to ashes. The once lush, green mountaintop had already turned into a scorched wasteland.
Amid sword energy, fist imprints, and raging fire,
the bodies of the dolls were continuously annihilated. Most of them didn't even have time to let out a scream before being cut down.
Swords cleaved mountains, fists shattered the sky, and flames soared into the heavens.
Before a high-level MANTIS, most things in this world were simply too fragile. And Elias believed that the Herrscher of Dominance had now learned one thing very clearly.
"Heh~ just because someone looks honest doesn't mean they're easy to bully. When an honest person gets angry, that's when they're the most terrifying. Look at you—forget struggling, you don't even have a chance to run."
Elias sighed and shook his head.
Although he also wanted to make a move, it seemed there was no need for him anymore. Fu Hua alone was more than enough to completely crush all the incoming Herrscher of Dominance.
"Ki Impact!! Taixuan Eminence!!"
Her long-awaited chance to confess had been interrupted. At this moment, Fu Hua was undoubtedly in an extremely enraged state.
And in that state, driven by her fury, she had unintentionally discovered a brand-new application of Taixuan Eminence.
"The divine is the ultimate of transformation, the expression of all wonders, beyond form or questioning—Edge of Taixuan, dual divine blades!!"
In the next instant, two colossal flaming swords appeared in the sky. Then Fu Hua directly grasped one in each hand, wielding the thousand-meter-long blades as weapons.
In theory, this was possible. After all, Taixuan Eminence was both a spiritual and physical attack. A blade condensed from Honkai energy and mental force could indeed be touched.
And now, in her Artificial Cascade state, Fu Hua held a Taixuan Eminence in each hand, hacking and slashing relentlessly at the utterly stunned Herrscher of Dominance.
"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead! This person is terrifying!"
"Retreat! Let's retreat quickly!"
"Is this woman insane? I want to go home!"
"Don't come over! Don't come over!! Aaaah!"
The Herrscher of Dominance wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves, wanting to flee but unable to escape.
This was Taixuan Eminence—a technique that could even sever the connection of the Will of Honkai and the Herrscher of Finality, forcing them into shutdown. They simply had no right to resist, and could only be cut down in waves.
"Damn it... damn it! Why does it always end up like this? Can't I succeed just once? This was a chance I finally found after fifty thousand years! Herrscher of Dominance—have you prepared to repent?!"
Fu Hua looked as if she had fallen into demonic possession, her eyes glowing red and black aura swirling around her body.
She had been just a few words away—only a few more words—and yet these Herrscher of Dominance had to appear at this exact moment and interrupt her confession. Just thinking about it made her rage meter fill up all over again.
Normally calm and composed, Fu Hua rarely got angry. But that didn't mean she never did. At the very least, these Herrscher of Dominance had thoroughly crossed her bottom line.
And once the Immortal's fury erupted, how could these mere Herrscher of Dominance withstand it? In less than a minute, every single one of the attackers had been wiped out.
"...Something feels off."
Elias frowned slightly, sensing a strange sense of inconsistency.
Because he hadn't taken action and had been observing the entire time, he could analyze the battle from an outsider's perspective. And what he found was that this clearly "premeditated" assault was full of suspicious points.
First, the numbers. Just now, Fu Hua had destroyed exactly 1,000 Herrscher of Dominance. But based on Elias' past experience in parallel worlds, their total number should be 1,001.
Elias: "Even if leaving just one puppet allows them all to revive and make a comeback, if 1,001 is their total, then sending 1,000 at once is far too reckless."
Second, these Herrscher of Dominance never attempted to drag him or Fu Hua into the Theater of Domination.
Elias: "That theater is their true stage. Only there can they gain terrain advantages, numerous buffs, and... activate the Authority of Domination to seize others' powers. So why didn't they do it?"
Something was very wrong. Extremely wrong.
Although it looked like Fu Hua had completely overwhelmed the Herrscher of Dominance, alarm bells were ringing loudly in Elias' mind. When something is abnormal, there must be something behind it.
And he hadn't forgotten one thing.
"This batch of Herrscher of Dominance must have something special about them. Given how, in the Current Era, humanity is using multiple Herrschers as its main force against Honkai, there's no way Honkai wouldn't give them an extremely powerful enhancement."
"But their current performance is still this weak. That's clearly not normal. They must be hiding something!"
Back in the Previous Era, because Elias had been too powerful, Honkai had already given the Herrscher of Dominance a massive upgrade—each one was paired with an Emperor-class Honkai Beast as a companion.
No matter how he thought about it, Elias couldn't believe that this time's enhancement would be any weaker than before.
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
At that moment, his terminal suddenly rang.
Elias glanced at it and saw communication requests coming simultaneously from the girls who had split up to travel across different regions, as well as from St. Freya Academy. His brow immediately furrowed, a bad feeling rising in his chest.
"How is everyone doing?"
"Eli, we were attacked by dolls!"
"Huh? Elysia, you too?"
"These things are Herrschers. I dug Herrscher Cores out of their puppet bodies, but the moment I wasn't paying attention, the Cores just disappeared. It's honestly bizarre."
"And their individual strength is very weak. They seem to be the Herrscher of Thousand type, but their appearance is quite different from the ones we encountered in the Previous Era."
"The academy was also attacked just now, but all the dolls have already been dealt with. No casualties."
Looking at the projected images from his terminal, aside from a few groups he hadn't contacted yet, everyone appeared safe.
Elias narrowed his eyes. The ones contacting him—aside from the academy—were Elysia, Raiden Mei, Kiana, Bronya, and Ana. From this alone, the target of the Herrscher of Dominance was already crystal clear.
The Herrschers on humanity's side.
These enemies had clearly launched this attack for one purpose—to seize the authorities of the Herrschers aligned with humanity.
"First, tell me the numbers. How many Herrscher of Dominance did each of you encounter? We had one thousand here, and Fu Hua wiped them all out."
"Huh? We also had one thousand."
"Uh, same here."
"Bronya's side as well."
"On the academy's side... there were a full four thousand."
Hearing that number, Elias' eyelid twitched.
Adding it all together, the number of Herrscher of Dominance had already reached ten thousand. Back in the Previous Era it had only been a joke, but now in the Current Era, it had truly become ten thousand Herrschers!
However, if the only enhancement was in numbers, then no matter how many there were, they still wouldn't pose a threat to Elias and the others. After all, most of those present were individuals who could not be threatened by sheer quantity alone.
"I don't believe the Herrscher of Thousand... or rather, the Herrschers of Ten Thousand can be dealt with so easily. So although it's regrettable, our group trip ends here. Everyone, return to St. Freya Academy and regroup!"
"Yes!" xN
Although in everyone's mind the Herrschers of Ten Thousand couldn't stir up much trouble, they still chose to act cautiously. After all, if something went wrong, it would be disastrous.
"Heh... so it still ended up like this."
Fu Hua let out a long sigh, unable to help lamenting fate's unfairness toward her. Such a rare opportunity had gone to waste. The atmosphere now was no longer suitable for a confession.
She could only wait for the next chance.
Elias couldn't help but smile bitterly as well, feeling that Fu Hua truly had terrible luck. Was she being targeted by the will of the universe? Or was this some kind of correction of fate?
"It's okay, Hua. We can continue next time. We still have plenty of time, and I'll always be here," Elias comforted her.
"...Mm, I understand."
Fu Hua nodded and forced a faint smile. But from the way her hands were clenched tightly, it was clear that the Flame-Chaser of Vicissitude was still filled with unwillingness.
Afterward, Elias opened a World Portal, preparing to bring everyone back to St. Freya Academy one by one. However, at that moment, a hand suddenly grabbed the hem of his clothes.
"Hm? What is it, Hua?"
"W-wait, Elias."
Fu Hua bit her lip. She really didn't want things to end like this.
Although the atmosphere wasn't suitable for a confession anymore, she could turn it into a promise. After hesitating for a moment, she took a deep breath and spoke.
"Elias... um... after we deal with these Herrschers of Ten Thousand... can we... be together?"
"...That sounds like a flag."
Elias froze on the spot. He hadn't expected Fu Hua to say something like this. It sounded exactly like the classic "after this battle, we'll get married" kind of death flag.
"Uh, sorry, I didn't think that far."
"Haha, it's fine. Then it's settled—once we deal with these Herrschers of Ten Thousand, we'll be together. And when that time comes, tell me what you didn't get to finish saying today, alright?"
Elias reached out and gently patted Fu Hua's head.
"Mm! Next time, I'll definitely say it!"
Fu Hua nodded vigorously.
At the same time, endless motivation surged within her. She almost wanted to charge straight into the Theater of Domination of the Herrschers of Ten Thousand right now and wipe them out single-handedly!
As long as she defeated them, she could confess to Elias! Just thinking about it made her itch for action.
...Five minutes later...
Inside St. Freya Academy.
Although everyone present was a top-tier powerhouse rarely matched in the world, upon returning to this academy, they still felt an instinctive sense of relief. Even Elias was no exception.
"Alright, let's sort out the situation."
Inside the dormitory, everyone sat in the living room, exchanging information about the attacks they had encountered.
"During our travels, every Herrscher on our side except the Herrscher of Finality was attacked by the Herrschers of Ten Thousand. Their objective is obvious—to seize our authorities."
Sitting at the head seat, Elias interlocked his fingers.
"!!!" xN
The moment those words were spoken, everyone frowned deeply.
Especially a certain Miss Pink Elf, who trembled slightly. Recalling how Elias had once used the Authority of Domination to seize her Authority of Origin, Elysia revealed a subtle expression.
"Their numbers are unknown, but at least over ten thousand."
"Their abilities are unknown, but they can seize authorities."
"Their methods are unknown, but there is undoubtedly some kind of scheme."
Elias rarely showed such seriousness. He didn't know what kind of enhancement Honkai had given the Herrschers of Ten Thousand. It was possible that the limitations on seizing authority from the original timeline no longer applied.
Although the fact that they hadn't attacked the Herrscher of Finality showed that even an enhanced Herrscher of Ten Thousand still couldn't seize Finality's authority...
Aside from that, every Herrscher on their side—including Elias himself—had been targeted. This might mean that the Herrschers of Ten Thousand were confident in seizing all of their powers.
(No... there's still too little information. The knowledge from my past life's game is no longer applicable. These guys are completely deviating from the original plot.)
Over ten thousand defeated dolls—and yet whether it was the dolls themselves or the Herrscher Cores within them, all of them dissipated after being destroyed. That meant there were even more of them.
A sense of irritation rose within Elias. For someone used to grasping every situation in advance, the current circumstances—full of unknowns and uncertainties—were extremely uncomfortable.
Whether in the Previous Era or in the original storyline of the Current Era, the Herrscher of Dominance had always been the type to operate in secrecy—lying low, slowly developing, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
But now, the Herrschers of Ten Thousand had taken the initiative to attack them.
Elias couldn't help but consider one possibility.
Had they already completed their growth... and truly gained the ability to threaten them?
"W-wait, what's going on?!"
"Hm? What's wrong, Kiana?!"
Suddenly, Kiana cried out in alarm. Everyone immediately turned to look, only to see that the Herrscher of Flamescion battlesuit she had been wearing was dissolving into particles of light.
"My Herrscher powers... I can't use them anymore!"
Kiana said in panic. Whether it was her Flamescion armor or the Flamescion Sword, she couldn't summon them. The Herrscher Core of Fire and the Herrscher Core of Wind within her body had both fallen silent.