Equator, Coral Island.
Despite being one of the hottest tropical regions with scorching waves and swaying coconut trees, it had now become a dead zone.
All around, the sea waves had long since frozen into ice, piled up in layers like the fangs of a giant beast piercing toward the sky.
Even inside the aerial battleship thousands of meters high, Elysia could still feel the piercing, bone-chilling cold.
"Colonel Elysia, Colonel Hua arrived at Coral Island 20 minutes ago," a soldier reported, trembling.
"Mhm, I understand."
Elysia nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. Was the Herrscher of Ice really killed by Fu Hua?
This biting cold wind... it was definitely the Herrscher of Ice, no doubt about it.
"Furthermore, the aerial battleship can no longer proceed."
"The temperature has reached minus 150 degrees, and the core temperature inside the island is even approaching absolute zero."
"The wings are about to freeze, and the propulsion system is on the verge of failure."
The soldier grew increasingly nervous.
Outside, the wings were creaking.
Inside the command room, the warning red lights flashed incessantly.
"I understand. You all stand by on the nearby islands and approach only after my signal."
"Yes, ma'am!"
As she spoke, Elysia raised her hand and made a sweeping motion. Starlight poured out like a galaxy, condensing into a starlight protection around her body.
As the radiance flowed, the cold receded like a tide.
Then, she took a deep breath and leaped, falling straight down from a height of several hundred meters.
Watching her resolute figure, the soldiers couldn't help but hold their breath.
"Colonel Elysia's ability is really useful... protection, barriers, offense and defense in one. It's convenient everywhere."
"By the way, isn't Colonel Hua afraid of this ghostly weather?"
"Are you stupid? Colonel Hua ascended as the 'Radiant Dawn' and possesses the fire of the sun. Do you think she's afraid?"
"Oh, right, right... I forgot."
"Hurry up and close the hatch, I'm freezing to death."
The aerial battleship turned its course and slowly landed on the nearest island that hadn't been frozen yet.
...
Coral Island was already completely covered in ice.
Looking around, even Elysia couldn't help but take a deep breath of cold air.
On the island, there were giant ice clusters everywhere like a forest, reaching a hundred meters high. Everywhere the eye could see was a vast expanse of white.
The ground was crisscrossed with bottomless cracks, and fist prints, claw marks, and huge ravines covered the crystal walls.
"Hiss..."
Elysia raised her hand to sense the cracks. Every punch condensed a demon-like violence.
Following the sensation of Honkai energy, Elysia went deep into the island's core.
The temperature had reached minus 240 degrees, close to absolute zero.
In the center 'throne' surrounded by giant ice clusters, a body as white as ice lay quietly.
No, to be precise, it was two bodies.
Her body had already been turned into two halves, the break splitting diagonally from the left shoulder down to the right abdomen.
And before the ice throne, a figure stood quietly.
Dressed in the Moth of the Flame uniform, golden flames surged around her, and a blazing sun disc floated behind her back.
If Ryuga were here, he would definitely shout: "It's you, Fire God."
The girl held a longsword made of solar fire, standing quietly before the Herrscher's corpse.
It was indeed Fu Hua.
"Wow~ Hua, did you really split her in half?"
Elysia skipped forward lightly, her eyes wide and bright.
One was fire, the other was ice.
Fu Hua's solar fire was naturally the nemesis of the Herrscher of Ice.
As long as the sun existed, her fire would never run dry.
"I thought I'd finally get to fight a Herrscher, but... by the time I got here, she was already stone cold."
Fu Hua slowly turned around, flames dancing in her pupils, and shrugged slightly with a hint of disappointment.
Ever since becoming an Ascendant, she had dreamed of fighting a Herrscher.
But her strongest opponent so far had only been an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.
"Hmm? You didn't cut her?"
Elysia tilted her head, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes.
"No."
"When I arrived, she was already in two pieces."
Fu Hua shook her head, speaking with certainty.
Elysia quickly stepped forward and knelt down to carefully examine the Herrscher of Ice's wound.
Her fingertips touched it, and her brow furrowed tighter and tighter.
This indeed wasn't Fu Hua's fighting style. Her sword strikes were sharp and precise; the cut should be as smooth as a mirror.
But the Herrscher of Ice's corpse before her looked as if it had been torn apart by brute force.
There seemed to be a hint of a familiar aura mixed in?
"What a fierce killing intent. By the way, when you came, did you really not see anyone? Or... anything?"
As Elysia spoke, she skillfully removed the Herrscher Core and placed it into a specially made suppression container.
"Heehee, this is the core Ryuryu specifically asked for. We can't lose it."
Then, she also sealed the remains of the Herrscher of Ice inside.
"Hmm? Has the Demon God returned?"
Fu Hua's eyes instantly lit up.
"Mhm, mhm."
"We were originally going to see Eden's concert, but I didn't expect this to happen."
Elysia was depressed.
A concert she had worked so hard to get tickets for!
"Phew~ No."
Fu Hua took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement, and shook her head while staring at the ice throne.
"When I arrived, the island was deathly silent. Someone beat me to it and completed this hunt, and the battle... seemed to happen in an instant."
"Then let's split up and look. Maybe we can find some clues."
Elysia stood up and clapped her hands.
"Mhm."
Fu Hua turned and walked toward the south, the flames behind her trailing a long streak of fire.
Elysia, meanwhile, turned toward the north.
Her gaze swept over the ice pillars, looking at the deep claw marks, fist prints, and the violent aura remaining within them. She felt it was very familiar.
"Where have I seen this before?"
...
Soon, Elysia's voice rang out in the group chat.
[Customer Service Miss Pink Elf♪]: "Hello, hello~ This is Elysia. I've already found the Herrscher of Ice's... corpse."
: "So, was it that Fu Hua who killed her?"
[Customer Service Miss Pink Elf♪]: "No! Before we arrived at that area, the battle was over. From the Honkai energy reaction at the scene, that battle... only happened in an instant."
: "An instant?"
[Customer Service Miss Pink Elf♪]: "Exactly an instant. The Herrscher of Ice was torn in half by someone's bare hands."
[1] "..."
[2] "..."
[3] "..."
[4] "..."
[5] "..."
The group members were in an uproar.
Tearing a Herrscher apart by hand!?
Ridiculous.
[Customer Service Miss Pink Elf♪]: "By the way, Ryuryu, I'll bring the Herrscher of Ice's core and corpse to you in a bit."
[Desert Reaper]: "Good. You and Fu Hua come over. I think she probably really wants to fight a Herrscher."
As expected, the style sounded just like Kalpas.
It was time to go to the Sundown Alley to fish for people.
If he fished for Pardo?
A few gold coins should be enough, right?
Bring her back to be with Cipher—two world-class wealthy cats.
Coincidentally, if they returned to Amphoreus, Cipher would also have to go to the Trickster Titan's trial.
And Pardofelis's 'deception' could also help.
Count her as one of the 300 Rogues.
...
The young man carried a whole bag of high-explosive TNT, staring intently at the churning storm vortex.
He had calculated that in about 2 minutes, the eye of the storm would pass beneath his feet.
"Phew~"
The young man clenched his fists and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the vortex to roll under his feet, then he would jump into the eye of the storm.
Then, before being completely annihilated, he would ignite the TNT to destroy the 'power source' in the eye of the storm.
The young man closed his eyes, rehearsing it over and over in his mind.
The eye of the storm drew closer, and there was only one chance.
Three, two, one, jump!
The young man leaped off the rooftop, but in the next instant, he found his body weirdly frozen in mid-air.
No matter how his arms and legs struggled, he couldn't move an inch.
"You want to use that thing to blow up the wind vortex?"
Only then did the young man notice someone standing behind him.
"Who are you? It's too dangerous here, leave quickly."
The young man turned his head sharply, shouting hoarsely.
"Pfft."
Eden couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Ryuga sighed: "Are you sure the dangerous one here is me and not you? Why don't you look again at what you're saying?"
This must be Kosma, right?
He had originally been following the trail of the Herrscher of Wind, but unexpectedly ran into this chuunibyou youth preparing to jump into the vortex.
Kosma froze, subconsciously turning his head to look.
When he saw Ryuga floating in the void, he was struck as if by lightning.
Standing in mid-air?!
And the most freaking ridiculous thing was, this guy was holding two great beauties, one on each side.
What made him even more breathless was that one of them was the superstar Eden.
He stood there with his mouth open, his throat too dry to make a sound.
"After jumping down, your clothes will be torn by the hurricane, and your skin, flesh, and bones will be shredded into dust."
Ryuga shook his head calmly.
"So what? When I made this decision, I knew the result. As long as the core power source is destroyed..."
Kosma grit his teeth, a stubborn fire burning in his eyes.
"Unfortunately, there is no power source."
Ryuga shook his head, then waved his hand, tossing Kosma back onto the building's rooftop.
"How... how is that possible?"
Stumbling to the edge of the rooftop and glancing down, Kosma's blood ran cold.
The center of the storm was empty!
"It's coming."
Ryuga suddenly looked up toward the horizon.
What was coming?
Before Kosma could ask, he saw a 'fire phoenix' in the sky, trailing burning sparks, diving toward the storm at supersonic speed.
The fire phoenix circled the storm counter-clockwise once and suddenly flapped its wings.
In an instant, the flames turned into a surging heatwave, boiling the air.
The rising airflow resonated with the storm itself, forming a counter-spiral.
In just 3 seconds, the storm that was enough to swallow an entire skyscraper was dismantled layer by layer, finally vanishing completely.
"..."
Kosma's mouth hung open.
Then, the fire phoenix let out a long cry, soared into the sky, and dove down with the force of thunder.
By the time it landed on the rooftop, the flames had receded, and a figure emerged from the fire.
Kosma was dumbfounded again—it was a girl who looked not much older than him?
"..."
He opened his mouth, his legs went weak, and he slumped to the ground.
What kind of people were these?
"Hua, wait for me!"
A sweet voice came from afar, and a streak of starlight flew past at high speed as Elysia rode a brilliant flow of light, racing toward them.
Her skirt fluttered, and her smile was bright.
When she landed, her toes tapped lightly as if stepping on starlight.
Kosma's mouth opened even wider, enough to fit a goose egg.
He suddenly felt that his bag of TNT was a bit laughable.
...
"Eden, it's so good that you're okay."
Elysia stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Eden's, then curiously looked at the two people nearby.
"Who are these two?"
"Dystopia, a girl who was swept into the sky by a tornado. Her mentality is quite solid; I think she's good potential."
"As for this guy, he wanted to jump into the eye of the storm to blow up the vortex with TNT. Well, he's got guts."
Ryuga introduced them with a smile.
Hearing this, Dystopia's ear tips turned slightly red.
At this moment, what Kosma wanted most was to hide himself in the air.
"..."
Fu Hua glanced over. Using thermal disturbance of airflow to change wind direction was theoretically a viable strategy.
As long as there was enough energy.
But that bag of TNT was clearly not enough.
"It's coming."
Ryuga directly grabbed Kosma, tossing him behind like a sandbag.
In the distance, the horizon was torn by violent winds.
A cyan figure broke through the air, surrounded by a raging vortex.
The Herrscher of Wind had arrived.
Before even getting close, over a dozen thousand-meter wind blades had already slashed over.
"..."
Kosma's head was buzzing. What the hell were these things!
I must be dreaming.
Then he simply closed his eyes and lay down on the ground.
"Let me go."
Fu Hua stepped forward.
Ryuga nodded: "Be careful."
He suddenly understood.
The Herrscher of Wind had been racing northwest, heading toward Coral Island.
The Honkai most likely wanted to catalyze a 'Blizzard Herrscher.'
But the Herrscher of Ice had just been born and was torn apart by Kalpas.
The Honkai's plan had thus collapsed.
A pair of burning golden wings unfolded behind Fu Hua's back. Amidst the rolling flames, she shot out like an arrow toward the Herrscher of Wind.
As the wind blades attacked, she didn't dodge, the Taixuan Sword Intent in her hand turning into a flow of light.
One slash, another, and a third!
The wind blades rapidly disintegrated in the blazing fire, shattering like glass.
Soon, the two were locked in combat.
Wind and fire clashed high in the sky, cyan and red light spheres constantly colliding and exploding, airwaves sweeping across the surroundings like a tide.
Even the glass curtain walls of the distant skyscrapers were shaken and peeled off in pieces.
The wild wind howled!
The flames roared!
In Kosma's eyes, the world seemed to have returned to the moment of chaos at the beginning of time.
Soon, an hour passed.
The Herrscher of Wind was panting, her Honkai energy draining away like sand in an hourglass.
But the opponent seemed to be inexhaustible?
"The sun?"
The Herrscher of Wind suddenly realized and grit her teeth, controlling the flowing wind to pile up dark clouds, covering the blazing sun.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Fu Hua had already finished gathering her strength, her eyes burning with golden flames.
"Blade of the Zenith, fall."
In an instant, a blinding crack opened in the thick cloud layer, and the tip of a golden-red giant sword pierced down from the depths of the firmament.
Incredibly sharp!
The sword's body burned with solar true fire, and the edges surged with waves of destructive flames.
Like the wrath of a god, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth, it pierced straight down toward the Herrscher of Wind!
"!"
The Herrscher of Wind's pupils shook violently. She wanted to turn and flee, but it was already too late.
The wind vortex was locked by the heat flow, and her limbs felt as if they were sinking into a swamp, unable to move at all.
The giant sword crashed down.
"Aaaaaah!"
At the same time, Ryuga flicked his finger, and a cluster of shadow flames shot out, instantly entangling the Herrscher of Wind.
As per custom, he burned away the 'evil' part of the soul and tossed the 'good' side back to the Honkai.
Soon, Fu Hua flew back carrying the remains of the Herrscher of Wind.
She looked up at Ryuga with bright eyes, carrying a hint of expectation.
Ryuga understood instantly and gave a thumbs up: "You did a beautiful job."
Fu Hua froze for a moment, then her eyes curved into a smile. Being praised by the Demon God made her very happy.
...
In the bathroom.
The water rippled lightly, reflecting two faces as exquisite as porcelain.
Elysia leaned against the edge of the bathtub, gently stirring the water, her beautiful eyes flashing with a mischievous light in the steam.
Eden sat quietly, sipping red wine and eating exquisite fruit slices.
"Eden, let's have some steak for a late-night snack later."
"Okay."
"Tomorrow let's go to Sundown Alley. Ryuga said there will be a surprise then."
"Okay."
"..."
The sound of water rang softly. Elysia threw out several suggestions in a row, and Eden said okay every time.
Suddenly, a playful flame ignited in Elysia's beautiful eyes.
"Eden, why don't you be Ryuga's girlfriend?"
"Okay."
The word slipped out of Eden's mouth instinctively. In the next instant, she snapped back to her senses, her face turning bright red instantly, and she began to cough violently.
"Cough, cough!"
"Elysia, you..."
She raised her hand to cover her lips, a faint red tint rising to the tips of her ears.
To be continued…
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