Although Vill-V's Helixcraft had lost its crucial Directional Embedded Transmission Core and could no longer operate normally, its emergency defense systems remained fully intact. The moment Wendy attempted to destroy the Helixcraft by force, those systems activated.
Thus, when Wendy charged inside, she was met with disaster. Strange weapons glittered like a sky full of stars, launching at her in relentless succession and plastering her from all directions. Some of them were so powerful that even a Herrscher's wind-element shield could not completely withstand them.
However, Vill-V was not personally stationed within the Helixcraft, and as the barrage continued, Wendy grew increasingly adept at controlling her wind-element shield. As a result, these weapons did not inflict the kind of devastating damage that once suppressed the Herrscher of Thunder during the Third Honkai Eruption. They merely left Wendy's clothes in tatters and her appearance thoroughly disheveled.
Vill-V unlocked the achievement "Herrscher Clothing Destroyer."
When Vill-V received the workshop's alert, even she was startled.
The situation was undeniably strange. Wendy should not have passed by the Fourth Honkai Eruption Response Command Center—the one Vill-V had built at a cost of 1.95 billion—unless she had deliberately taken a detour.
Vill-V had chosen a remote location devoid of human presence. What could Wendy possibly gain by going there? And to so specifically uproot Vill-V's Helixcraft? It wasn't as if she had a fascination with a building capable of doing sit-ups.
From the outside, the structure looked like nothing more than an ordinary abandoned building. Vill-V had never personally directed operations from inside it. Logically, there should have been nothing that would draw a Herrscher's attention.
Was this some unknown authority of the Herrscher of Wind? Or had someone informed her? Who would target her so deliberately?
In any case, that 1.95 billion in funding had truly vanished into thin air. Not a single cent remained.
My precious money... sob...
Fortunately, Vill-V had Pardo's blessing and had not chosen to hide inside the building to observe from behind the scenes. Facing a sudden Herrscher assault directly would have been troublesome.
Pardo had genuinely been worried about Vill-V's safety—that was why she had destroyed the Helixcraft in the first place. (Kitty was really worried about you.)
Vill-V had thought Conductor's layout had already reached the stratosphere. In the end, Pardo's layout had ascended to the Imaginary level.
Terrifying kitty. Truly terrifying.
With Pardo around, why would Vill-V need to rack her brains over plans and schemes? Just tie Pardofelis tightly to her chest... invincible! Absolute domination! (Pardo: Sister Vill-V, I can't breathe.)
Vill-V removed the limiter on the laser sniper rifle in Kevin's hands, activating overloaded heavy particle mode.
Kevin lifted the laser sniper rifle and steadied his breathing, adjusting his rhythm as he locked his gaze onto the Herrscher of Wind within the distant vortex. There was not a trace of fear in his heart—only unwavering resolve.
He would have only one chance. The system had just issued a warning: overloaded heavy particle mode would cause the rifle to explode due to extreme overload.
"Target locked." A bright prompt appeared within the sniper rifle's targeting system.
Although the visor flashing streams of data declared a lock, Kevin knew the actual hit probability was off by seventy percent. Following the data would yield only a thirty percent chance of striking the target. In the end, he had to rely on his own battlefield intuition.
(Down below, Vill-V's blood pressure spiked. Kevin, can't you just follow the system prompts?)
But Kevin could hardly be blamed. MOTH's electronic targeting systems had always been this unreliable. A lock was practically the same as no lock at all.
Fortunately, ever since Kevin had eaten "Instant Noodles with the Flavor of a Pretty Girl," his intuition had been remarkably sharp—especially with electrical weapons. He seemed to possess an unusual affinity for them.
"Now!"
His finger pulled the trigger.
Boom—
The sniper rifle emitted a heavy report. A laser prism projectile ricocheted repeatedly within the barrel, stacking with absolute precision according to formulas set by Vill-V. At last, the laser burst forth.
The overloaded heavy particle beam, carrying the might of a railgun, carved a dazzling trail across the sky. After modifications by Expert, the beam could even induce gravitational distortion, causing localized time dilation along its path and absorbing surrounding energy—including electromagnetic waves, thermal energy, and other forms of radiation.
The heavy particle beam pierced through Vill-V's Helixcraft and struck the Herrscher of Wind head-on.
Direct hit!
But that was all.
The concentrated heavy particle blast produced only a fleeting streak of light before vanishing without a trace. The Herrscher of Wind did not even glance at it, as though she had merely collided with a pebble in midair.
Though the beam's power had diminished significantly during flight, the attack still carried the destructive force of several missiles detonating simultaneously, with its might concentrated at a single point.
Even so, it failed to break through the Herrscher of Wind's formidable defense.
Kevin had believed the shot would at least leave a wound.
So this is the defensive strength of an ideal fluid... stronger than Shesha's electromagnetic scales.
His heart heavy, Kevin discarded the sniper rifle without hesitation.
Boom—
The cooling system bought only a moment of delay before the rifle Kevin had thrown into the distance exploded. He had lost his only means of ranged offense.
At that instant, Minori's anxious voice crackled through the communicator.
"Captain Kevin, we've detected the Herrscher! She's heading toward us!"
"I know," Kevin replied coldly. After all, he had already fired a shot at her.
He had earlier sent Minori away under the pretext of escorting children, so she naturally discovered the Herrscher later than he did.
"I'm coming right—" The transmission cut off abruptly.
Kevin shut down the communicator. He did not want to be distracted in battle against a Herrscher, nor did he wish for Minori to place herself in danger because of him.
He opened the reinforced metal equipment case and retrieved a set of Amplified Fusion-Core Armor, quickly donning it.
Before activation, the armor was merely a heavy exoskeleton that hindered movement.
Once activated, however, it imposed an extreme burden on the human body. Even Kevin could not sustain it for long. That was why he had only been carrying it on his back until now.
RUMBLE—
A roar more magnificent than a nuclear detonation thundered across the sky.
Vill-V's Helixcraft had detonated in a martyr's explosion.
The target Vill-V had set for Kevin had never been the Herrscher herself. She had never expected a mere sniper rifle to break through a Herrscher at full strength. There simply was no rifle capable of shattering a Herrscher's defenses in a single shot.
The true target of the sniper rifle had been the energy core of the Helixcraft—constructed by Expert.