It had to be said, Kevin's intuition was indeed spot-on.
The judgment he made in that moment was correct.
Meanwhile, Kali... with her distinctly fanatical mindset, was now solely focused on executing a tactical retreat.
This was an action in accordance with "God's Will."
In fact, even more than preserving her own life, she was concerned with whether her subsequent performance would improve the opinion of the "God" who had already been disappointed in her once.
What a disgraceful display!
Even now, Kali's inner turmoil had not completely subsided.
However, she had already begun to act... starting with dealing with Kevin.
Without a doubt, whenever Kali's mind was functioning clearly, her meticulous nature had already prepared multiple contingency plans for "how to escape if my main body's location is exposed."
And now, to successfully escape, she had to...
Make him believe I'm merely desperately trying to create an escape opportunity, with no other intentions.
Her thoughts raced. I need to put on a good "performance."
With that thought, she launched her attack, moving a step ahead of Kevin.
Over this period, she had secretly hunted and devoured numerous Honkai Beasts across the globe. Certain ancient individuals among them had granted her far more than just vast amounts of Honkai Energy.
As mentioned before, besides Space-type and Mental Perception-type abilities, Kali had actually acquired many other highly useful special powers.
Breathing fire and discharging electricity were among the most common and ordinary techniques.
The truly special ones... for instance:
"I really must thank those two Dr. Mobius!"
In that instant, as Kali stood barefoot on the soft seabed, a massive surge of the Shadow of the World-Devourer erupted from beneath her feet.
Clearly, this was the ability of the High-ranking Honkai Beast, Shesha.
Kali had already submerged her main body, hiding within the Shadow of the World-Devourer.
Simultaneously, the exposed Shadow of the World-Devourer instantly solidified into countless black spikes, lunging toward Kevin's position.
It moved with incredible speed.
Faced with such a tactic...
"Stalling for time?"
Kevin naturally had his suspicions about Kali's intentions and goals. After all, the Fourth Herrscher had used a similar strategy during their first encounter in Central Europe.
But he also knew that this Third Herrscher... was highly intelligent.
Though he didn't know what sudden misfortune had led her to expose her main body's location today, she had already absorbed the memories and knowledge of too many scholars.
Among them was even the original Mobius, now deceased.
Moreover, since she was now using Shesha's ability...
Could it be that Sim Mobius, who hasn't been seen recently, has also fallen to her?
The thought flashed through Kevin's mind.
Unfortunately, he was overthinking it this time.
The Spawn Kali had sent to the First Research Division had merely stumbled upon a lucky opportunity.
Currently, Sim Mobius remained hidden in the shadows, plotting to achieve her own ultimate goal.
Fortunately, though Kevin's thoughts raced, only a fleeting moment passed in reality.
And when it came to dealing with Mobius, he was undoubtedly an expert.
In the blink of an eye...
Krak-krak-krak~
Due to the underwater environment, Kevin had yet to draw the Judgement of Shamash. Instead, he unleashed his full power, instantly freezing the sea for dozens of kilometers around with sheer brute force.
A colossal sphere of ice abruptly materialized on the seabed, completely encasing the bizarre purple-black cocoon.
It was well known that when Kevin used his ice abilities, the instantaneous burst of power could even freeze the flames of the Judgement of Shamash.
In battle, he never relied solely on the power of the Key of Destruction.
As he once said: the reason only he could wield the Flame Sword freely was because he had the power to "break" it.
To put it less cryptically:
"The fire of the Seventh Divine Key cannot harm me."
This was the mastery of ice Kevin had possessed since he first defeated the Herrscher of Fire with his bare hands.
Now, his power had grown immeasurably since those early days.
Compared to Sakura, another ice user who could instantly freeze a tsunami, Kevin was undoubtedly her equal, if not superior.
And so...
Tsk~
The Shadow of the World-Devourer, the entity hiding Kali's true form, had just erupted into a mass of bizarre, inky ooze. It had solidified into countless black spikes hurtling toward Kevin. But now, it was frozen in place, as if someone had hit the pause button on a movie.
For a moment, Kevin found himself glancing more at the strange purple-black cocoon nearby than at the immediate threat.
He had already sensed something peculiar about it.
For instance, when he froze the surrounding seawater, he felt no sensation of the cocoon being affected at all.
It was as if everything simply passed through it.
As if it didn't truly "exist."
Moreover, it maintained its wide-eyed (O_o) appearance, showing absolutely no reaction to being targeted.
And yet, faced with this reality, Kevin subconsciously felt it wasn't strange at all.
It was as if his intuition had already told him: That bizarre thing is just like that. It's normal.
"What a troublesome thing."
Kevin's mood darkened slightly.
Seeing he had no way to deal with the purple-black cocoon, he made a decisive choice and focused his full attention on Kali.
From the very beginning, Kevin had never underestimated her. His brief distraction was only possible because he could now fight on two fronts simultaneously.
As for the Third Herrscher and that strange cocoon...
What the cocoon truly was, and any information related to it, was undoubtedly crucial.
Therefore, he had to find a way to pry open the Third Herrscher's mouth.
Fortunately, within the Newborn World Serpent, this wasn't a difficult task.
Aponia, Su, Xiao Shi, and even Prometheus, who wielded the Void Archives... all possessed the ability to read memories.
Alright, time to move her...
Vmmm~
Sound travels much faster in water than in air.
In that instant, Kevin, who had precisely controlled his power to avoid freezing himself along with his target, felt a dizzy spell that lasted only a fraction of a second.
Then...
Crack... crack...
He clearly sensed cracks forming in the solid ice around him.
Kevin, after all, was no MEI.
True, having participated in Project Chimera, he possessed the brute strength to overcome any obstacle. And over the past tens of thousands of years, he had forced himself to cram vast amounts of advanced knowledge to complete Project Stigma.
But learning and understanding were entirely different from applying that knowledge flexibly.
Kevin didn't react in time.
Kali had unleashed the genetic ability of another High-ranking Honkai Beast.
Its name: Ultrasound.