The Herrscher of Thunder was currently reclining sideways on a luxurious cushioned lounge chair. At her side, Shesha used three of its tails to serve her tea.
She remained in Nagazora City not out of nostalgia or laziness, but because she needed to absorb Honkai energy to recover from her previous injuries.
The Honkai energy within a Herrscher Core was not infinite. It had to be absorbed first before it could be released.
When a Herrscher awakened, they instinctively yearned to bathe in a torrent of Honkai energy. That was because a newly born Herrscher Core required vast amounts of Honkai energy, which it would store within Imaginary Space. When the Herrscher needed to use it, the energy could then be directly drawn from that Imaginary Space.
At the time of her birth, however, Vill-V had interfered, causing the Herrscher Core to release all of its Honkai energy before it had fully absorbed enough.
The Honkai energy that had been stored within the Herrscher Core's Imaginary Space was already exhausted while resisting Vill-V's attacks. After breaking free from her restraints and recovering only a small amount of Honkai energy, the Herrscher of Thunder had hurriedly used "Thunder Punishment" to eliminate the fleeing humans, emptying her reserves once again.
As a result, she had no surplus Honkai energy to ease her injuries or restore her stamina. Only now did she finally have the leisure to recover slowly.
The place where a Herrscher was born had the highest concentration of Honkai energy and the easiest connection to Imaginary Space. That was also why the Herrscher of Thunder had chosen to remain here and idle.
Watching several fighter jets she had casually crushed earlier trailing flames as they plummeted into the distance, the Herrscher of Thunder knew that humanity's resistance was coming again.
"A pitiful struggle."
"Destined to fail."
She rose to her feet, the blanket sliding off to reveal her noble figure.
"Shesha..."
Rooooar—!
The Judgment-class Honkai Beast howled and transformed into a green vortex as it shot toward the human battle formation.
The moment Shesha appeared, the fighter jets locked onto it. A barrage from 30mm machine guns blanketed the sky, dense streams of fire striking Shesha's body—yet they failed to harm it in the slightest, producing only crisp metallic sounds and sparks against its hard black scales.
Railguns and air-to-air missiles were launched in succession, but Shesha evaded them with lightning-fast movements. It even had the leisure to swat several missiles back, detonating them against the pursuing fighters.
Shesha's massive body coiled above the carrier strike groups. Its scales shimmered beneath flashes of lightning. The aircraft carrier fleet maneuvered rapidly, attempting to evade its assault.
However, Shesha violently shook its serpentine body and sprayed out razor-sharp scales infused with thunderous energy. The scales shot toward the carriers like artillery shells. Carrier-based aircraft exploded, and fragments embedded themselves across the decks.
The carriers responded swiftly, doing their utmost to fend off the attack. Shells thundered from the turrets, deafening blasts echoing through the air.
Yet Shesha's scales remained unstoppable. They pierced through anti-air fire and struck the carriers directly.
The carriers suffered devastating impacts. Sparks flew, and smoke billowed skyward. Crew members frantically attempted to contain the fires, but it was already beyond saving.
In the end, under Shesha's ferocious assault, the aircraft carriers capsized completely and sank into the depths.
In the blink of an eye, humanity lost two carrier strike groups.
Boom! Several bursts of light erupted across Shesha's body as it entered the firing range of a fusion-powered MOTH battleship. The laser secondary cannons aboard the vessel lit up one after another.
These weapons, which converted electromagnetic waves into concentrated beams, required lengthy charging before each shot and possessed only moderate power. Their advantage lay in projectile speed comparable to light itself—once locked on, they were impossible to evade.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Another round of laser volleys fired. Yet Shesha's forward momentum showed no sign of slowing. Its scales carried a lightning shield, utterly unafraid of the laser energy.
It opened its bloody maw wide, as if mocking humanity, and released a laser of its own. This beam was several times thicker than the human laser cannons and contained far greater energy. With a single sweeping strike, it destroyed every laser turret on the fusion battleship.
Rumble—! The MOTH warship rocked violently as multiple compartments caught fire.
Distress calls flooded the damage control channel.
"Damage control, this is the engine room. We've detected a fuel leak and fire in the stern. A team has been dispatched to contain the situation. Requesting reinforcement."
"Captain, the port side has sustained severe damage. Multiple compartments are ablaze. Request immediate assistance."
But it was not over yet. Shesha fired another laser—this time not at the warship, but at the storm clouds above.
Where the beam struck, the clouds churned violently with writhing arcs of electricity. Then surging thunder descended, striking down dozens of fighter jets from the sky.
At that moment, the fire-control officer reported, "Captain, the heavy particle cannon has locked onto the target!"
"Fire immediately!"
Rumble—! Energy gathered. The heavy particle cannon's primary beam shone in vivid red-violet hues, composed of countless tiny particles flickering like stars.
Shesha did not dodge. Instead, it lunged forward. Just as the heavy particle beam was about to strike, it suddenly opened an abyssal maw as vast as a golf course and swallowed the high-energy beam entirely.
There was no sign of the particle cannon piercing through Shesha's body.
Everyone's heart sank.
"What kind of monster is this? It can even devour a heavy particle cannon..."
The scene dealt a tremendous blow to morale. Worse still, humanity seemed to have no remaining weapon capable of harming this creature.
Captain Pierce slammed his fist onto the console.
"Damn it! Activate the nuclear weapons treaty. Prepare thermonuclear arms!"
At that moment, Shesha had already flown above the battleship. Its enormous shadow loomed over everyone's heads like the descent of doomsday, suffocating and oppressive.
Was this truly just a Honkai Beast? Or was it the Third Herrscher in disguise?
Suddenly, a heavy serrated blade shot upward from beneath the warship, striking Shesha in the jaw and knocking it off balance. It crashed heavily onto the deck.
That man arrived, treading upon lightning.
"Heh. This is the first time I've seen such a massive snake."
Pulling the serrated blade from the deck, Siegfried stood clad in full amplification fusion-core armor, tactical sunglasses covering his face, gazing up at Shesha before him.
"For some reason, it reminds me of that girl Mobius. If it were her, she'd probably be very interested in this big fellow."
"Too bad I won't have the chance to deliver her such a grand gift."
Shesha shook its head and regained its senses, then lunged downward at the tiny human below.
"Come on—!"
Siegfried charged straight toward it. The soulium serrated blade spun at high speed, scraping sparks across the deck. At the same time, he bit down and pulled a flash grenade from his shoulder strap, hurling it forward.
The flash grenade caused Shesha's movements to falter for an instant. Just as its head was about to collide with Siegfried, the amplification fusion-core armor tightened, propelling his body past Shesha's skull in a razor-thin cross.
Siegfried seized the opening and swung the serrated blade hard against Shesha's horn, shaving down the black spike crackling with lightning.
"Doesn't seem that hard..."
He flipped backward, narrowly avoiding the sweeping lash of Shesha's tail. The moment he landed, before he could steady himself, a tremendous gust tore through the air before his eyes—Shesha's razor-sharp claw was already upon him.