In the final moment before death, clarity struck the people.
Human technology could protect no one. Before a Herrscher, humanity was no different from defenseless lambs awaiting slaughter.
Even after exhausting all of humanity's military strength, deploying the most advanced technology, and formulating targeted strategies, they remained fragile before a Herrscher. The Herrscher's power far exceeded human imagination.
If they were defeated here, then humanity's remaining armed forces would be unable to stop the Herrscher of Thunder from destroying the world.
Was the future of mankind truly to end here?
"Hmm?"
Whooooosh—! The sound of tearing wind rang out, accompanied by the shriek of a chainsaw.
The Herrscher of Thunder tilted her head. The serrated blade sliced through the air, cutting away several strands of hair at her temple.
Relying on the jet propulsion from the backpack of his amplification fusion-core armor, Siegfried had launched himself into the air and struck from behind in a surprise attack.
"Hmph."
The Herrscher snorted disdainfully and casually manipulated the magnetic field, crushing and tearing apart the armor.
But the amplification fusion-core armor was only an empty shell.
The real Siegfried had already slipped free like a cicada shedding its skin. His fist slammed into the Herrscher's side.
His pupils were red-black, black scaled horns protruding from his head. His face was twisted, covered in patterns of Honkai erosion.
Boom! In his Honkai Beast–transformed state, Siegfried's strength was like a mountain collapsing. The punch exploded with a violent shockwave.
Yet the Herrscher's body was wrapped in a layer of plasma shielding. Even a blow capable of shattering steel failed to break through her barrier.
Worse still, the faint currents coursing around her body instantly paralyzed Siegfried. He could not move, his entire body feeling as though countless ants were biting into him.
"Do not touch me, human!"
The Herrscher of Thunder grew irritated by his relentless entanglement. With a flick of her finger, an invisible force hurled Siegfried hundreds of meters away.
"Gah—!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth as he was sent flying. Yet a triumphant smile curled at his lips.
A nearly imperceptible crack had formed in the Herrscher's shield.
Embedded within the plasma barrier was a black metal rod.
It was the safety control rod from the nuclear reactor core of the amplification fusion-core armor. Its function was to regulate reactor output and rapidly halt chain reactions. It was composed of neutron-absorbing materials such as graphite, boron carbide, and silver-indium-cadmium alloys.
While the plasma itself could not be absorbed by the control rod, the rod slowed neutrons and interfered with ionization reactions, subtly disrupting the generation of plasma. Though the effect was minuscule, it was enough.
The shield now bore a visible fracture.
Unaware of this, the Herrscher of Thunder gathered lightning into a spear and hurled it, piercing through the smirking uncle.
With several lightning spears impaled through his body, Siegfried fell into the sea, his fate unknown.
While she had been dealing with Siegfried's "passionate persistence," a tactical nuclear warhead launched in the final moments of the MOTH fusion battleship crew had silently arrived before her.
"When did—?"
Before the Herrscher of Thunder could react and fling it away with electromagnetic force, the internal timer detonated the warhead.
"Compress!"
She attempted to use her magnetic field to suppress the fusion reaction within the bomb.
But fusion was not so easily restrained.
Human power might be fragile, but the human spirit was not. The radiance ignited by warriors in their final moments was a testament to mankind's resolve.
A flash of light swallowed the Herrscher of Thunder whole.
Rumble—! Rumble—!
This was no small, single-digit-ton nuclear warhead like those once used to clear Honkai Beasts in Nagazora City.
This was a ten-thousand-ton-yield nuclear weapon—enough to flatten an entire city.
A mushroom cloud with a three-hundred-meter radius erupted with a piercing shriek, boundless firelight blooming across the sky. For a single instant, the world was as bright as day. The violent shockwave blasted a hole through the storm clouds above, only for the rising smoke to fill it once more.
Giant Honkai Beasts in the depths of the sea surged forward, seeking to protect their queen. Yet before they could approach, they were cooked alive by the searing heat.
The fireball rolled across the ocean's surface like the gate of hell itself, devouring everything in its vicinity.
The boiling seawater generated immense bubbles that surged upward, replacing the flames and erupting into a colossal sea-anemone-shaped column of water.
The shockwave hurled the ten-thousand-ton iron sphere—once the fusion battleship—into the air like a shot put. It crashed onto the coast of Shenzhou, embedding itself into the shallow shoreline mud.
When all finally fell silent, the entire sea region seemed scoured clean. Nothing remained but the still-boiling water.
In the dark depths below, a group that had long lain in wait finally began to move.
They had followed MOTH's forces here but had remained outside the battlefield, watching the war unfold.
Originally, they had planned to "backstab" the MOTH battleship, using timed explosives to create chaos and facilitate the Herrscher of Thunder's escape.
Instead, the Herrscher had effortlessly crushed humanity's most advanced weapon. Her terrifying authority filled them with reverence.
The battleship's final decision to fire a nuclear missile at close range had surprised them, but they were not overly concerned. They firmly believed that a nuclear explosion of this magnitude was not fatal to a "Messenger of God."
Every "Messenger of God" possessed the means to survive a thousand-ton-level nuclear blast.
Just as they expected, in the silent waters, the angel of God floated quietly, dim light enveloping her body like a sleeping beauty—serene and gentle.
She was still breathing.
She truly lived.
As the group ecstatically approached to rescue the divine messenger, a crimson claw extended from the wreckage of a plane and crushed their heads like grapes.
Siegfried's chest was charred black. Pierced through the heart by lightning spears, he should not have survived.
Yet he endured through sheer Honkai energy.
When Honkai energy eroded deeply enough, a heart no longer needed to beat. What sustained Siegfried now was another blazing heart.
His blood had long ceased to flow. What coursed within him was not Honkai energy, but an unyielding resolve.
Though no family waited for him to return, though no beautiful future awaited him—Siegfried still lived through indomitable fighting spirit.
He would carve out hope for humanity.
He would bring this battle to its end.
Siegfried did not wish to deal a killing blow to a beautiful girl.
But MOTH would certainly attempt to recover the Herrscher. If she were not killed completely, humanity would face yet another Honkai Eruption.
He pushed aside the corpses and swam to the Herrscher of Thunder's side.
With his fully Honkai Beast–transformed hand, he pierced through her chest.
This time, the dim light around her did not hinder him in the slightest.
"Let my life atone for it, beautiful Miss Herrscher."
"To sleep beside a beautiful maiden at the end of my life... that's not such a bad fate. Hahaha."
"It's just... a pity I won't see the ending of the Homu Project... somewhat regrettable..."
Embracing the lifeless body of the Herrscher, Siegfried slowly sank into the lightless depths of the sea.