The Eighth Herrscher looked down at Lin standing at the opening. After half a year, she locked eyes with this special human once again, though this time... she couldn't see his eyes.
"Elysia." Lin activated his anti-gravity flight gear.
Elysia knew what he meant. They had discussed the plan on the way here. "Understood." She stepped back, avoiding close contact with the Eighth Herrscher, who narrowed her eyes and stared at Lin thoughtfully.
"You identified me immediately... You recovered your memories?"
She was referring to the time her invasion of Lin consciousness failed and she deleted his memories of the consciousness world. He shouldn't have remembered that encounter.
"I have." Lin flew in a straight line to face the Eighth Herrscher. He spoke without changing his expression. "I remember everything."
"Impossible... No, you're lying?" The Eighth Herrscher stared at Lin helmet, suddenly realizing. Memory deletion isn't the same as memory blocking; how could this guy "remember"?
However, in that moment of distraction, Lin unhesitatingly fired missiles from his wrists. By the time she reacted, they had exploded in her face.
Bang!
Lin drew the blade at his waist and rushed through the smoke. His helmet scanned for changes in the surrounding airflow and wind direction, then he slashed toward a specific direction!
Zhing!
The Eighth Herrscher, appearing from the smoke, was clearly surprised Lin could find her. This wasn't a visual displacement ability like light refraction, but a real effect on a person's mental consciousness to create illusions. Even if Lin could see environmental factors like wind flow through his helmet, they could still be illusions she created.
Beep—
This was because the one making judgments and movements wasn't Lin, but the Prometheus inside his helmet. The Eighth Herrscher could interfere with human consciousness, but her power could not directly affect artificial intelligence.
Lin movements were fast and ruthless. Once her ability failed to work on him, she gradually fell into a disadvantage. In terms of direct combat ability, she was no match for other Herrschers.
Four spike-like objects fired from behind her but were intercepted mid-flight by two cannons on Lin waist. Lin didn't even look at the spikes as they veered off course, passing right through the middle.
This guy—
Lin flew high like a swift. Under the sun, he raised his long blade and slashed down at the inescapable Eighth Herrscher! The Eighth Herrscher's eyes glowed red. At this moment, she curled her lips in a sinister smile. The Honkai energy field she hadn't been using opened!
However, just as the strike was about to hit the field... it stopped. Then, missiles specialized for dealing with Herrscher shield fields were fired again, piercing the field without suspense and exploding in the Eighth Herrscher's disbelieving eyes.
Boom!
The Eighth Herrscher, her flesh torn, fell from mid-air. Lin nimbly dove down, grabbed her neck, and lifted her up.
"Hehehe..." She wasn't unconscious. These injuries weren't fatal for a Herrscher. But the battle was decided; Lin had defeated her without much effort. Using Chiaki's face, she sneered. "Congratulations... you won. Now it's time for the final step of every Herrscher suppression."
"...It's not a win yet." Lin held her, but exerted no force. The final step was to kill the Herrscher, but Lin... couldn't do that this time. Not just because of the mocking expression on the Eighth Herrscher's face, but because this large-scale eruption wouldn't end just by suppressing the Herrscher herself.
"Though unverified, the Eighth Herrscher might be the key to everything." This phrase echoed in Lin mind. Why was she the key? Lin seemed to understand a bit now.
"Can't bear it? Can't bring yourself to strike the owner of this body?" The mocking expression deepened. "Then... change to another person."
"..."
As she spoke, the Eighth Herrscher in Lin hand rolled her eyes and fell unconscious. Lin looked silently at the completely unconscious Herrscher in his hand. He was stunned.
"She is the Eighth Herrscher's physical body?" Mei was also surprised looking at the Herrscher Lin brought back. "This is the first time humans have captured a living Herrscher."
The Eighth Herrscher was inside Fire Moth HQ; this was something Mei hadn't guessed. She thought the Herrscher was just someone in Fire Moth, but hadn't expected the Herrscher to be right by her side doing these things.
After examining the Eighth Herrscher and finding the location of the Herrscher Core, Mei confirmed she was indeed the Eighth Herrscher. Was it... that simple? Capturing a Herrscher without much loss?
"...Something's wrong." Mei's expression turned solemn after the examination. "Why haven't the contaminated people been released from control?"
Did the Eighth Herrscher have to be killed and her core removed? But according to research reports, the Herrscher's consciousness is stored within the core. For this Herrscher of Sentience, was removing the core enough? And...
"The Eighth Herrscher's current state..." Mei constantly read the brain wave data on the equipment. Her brow furrowed deeper as she looked. She said to Kevin, Lin, and Elysia, "It's the same as those contaminated individuals."
"Or rather, the one lying here is no longer the Eighth Herrscher. The core in her body has fallen silent, unlike the state of other cores connected to the Imaginary Tree. In other words, this body cannot call upon Herrscher authority."
"The Eighth Herrscher's consciousness and authority... have vanished from this body, from this core."
The atmosphere inside the Helix Workshop was heavy. Only a few people were left standing in the vast base, and everyone was silent, their faces dark.
The preliminary conclusion was... the Eighth Herrscher's consciousness and authority had transferred to the bodies of other contaminated individuals. Because she was the Herrscher of Sentience, she did not rely on her original form.
This meant they now had to find the Eighth Herrscher's consciousness among that vast number of people, and she could transfer to anyone else's body at any time—unless they killed everyone at once.
"Can't the Herrscher Core be destroyed?" Ato was a bit irritable. He paced around the workshop, his steps messy, as he asked the bowed Mei.
"...Regrettably, after losing its authority, the Herrscher Core is just a shell containing Honkai energy. Perhaps it's the Eighth Herrscher's uniqueness that gave her this ability. Destroying the core likely won't stop her; instead, it might allow her to reform a new core in a new body."
"Then what do we do!" Ato's grief-stricken roar was the voice of everyone present.
What do we do?