I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

The higher-ups at Moth of the Flame breathed a slight sigh of relief... At least a plan with a good return on investment was progressing normally. And once the "Ether Anchor" technology was perfected and "miniature world bubbles" could be constructed in batches, Honkai energy could be transferred into these "world bubbles" in large quantities to achieve the goal of eliminating Honkai. At least it would give them... no, give humanity a way out.

But none of this concerns you.

What's really bothering you is something else entirely.

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slam-la-

In the bathroom, the warm water felt comfortable on his body. He especially liked the moist and hydrated environment. Hmm... this effect was probably due to the genes of [Gabriel]. But Xi Wang didn't care. He just liked water and his favorite weather was a drizzly day.

The only problem is...

"……here we go again."

Xi Wang's nose twitched slightly, and the sweet scent on her body was mixed with a hint of lily fragrance.

I opened my eyes and found a pure white lily quietly placed on the water valve.

"........."

Xi Wang ignored it, turned off the water, dried herself with a towel, and left the bathroom.

Along the way, the lily followed Xi Wang wherever he went—on the edge of the sink, on the doorknob of the bathroom, next to the notebook on the desk, and even beside his pillow—almost always in his sight, which annoyed Xi Wang.

No one else could see or smell this lily; it was as if the lily was merely Xi Wang's own imagination.

However, Xi Wang knew that this was just her imagination, caused by the abnormal activity of the Honkai Beast genes belonging to [Gabriel] in her body. As long as she left the environment with plenty of water, this lily would disappear after a while.

"It's really troublesome..."

After confirming several times that the lily had disappeared, Xi Wang fed himself a piece of candy, savoring the sweetness in his mouth, then closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

…………

………………

In the hazy distance, it seemed as if a horn sounded, and pure white wings trembled gently, stirring up a little bit of azure "water".

In a daze, it seemed as if a holy light fell in front of her. She was wearing a white robe, with long, pure white hair, and two golden and blue rings on her head. She came in front of her and looked at her with light blue eyes.

She held a pure white lily in her hand, gently offering it to me. Her eyes, filled with tenderness and expectation, seemed to hope that I would accept her gift.

Snapped--

Without hesitation, he slapped away her outstretched hand, and the pure white lily slipped from her grasp, falling helplessly to the side.

It was clearly a very impolite gesture, but her eyes crinkled into crescents as if she were pleased with her choice and happy with her attitude.

【■■■……】

She seemed to say something, but I couldn't understand it.

In a daze, he realized that there was no white-haired woman in front of him, but only a horn with broken six wings.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Shut up, you old man, I'm coming to save you.

The Ninth Herrscher has appeared in the heart of Mu, the most important continent in the world, and has triggered the Ninth Great Collapse in this center of human industry and research, causing extremely serious damage to Mu itself.

The towering mountain ranges of the Mu Continent were dismantled and fragmented into countless stones, which were then controlled by the "Ninth Herrscher" and rained down from the sky like meteorites upon the cities where people lived. The earth trembled, and cracks appeared on the smooth roads. Finally, they were easily torn apart like bread, with huge fissures appearing in the middle. Those who could not escape in time fell into them, and their screams would only echo between the fissures for a short time before disappearing.

The Firemoth dispatched a force to intercept the Herrscher in an attempt to stop it from continuing to manipulate the entire continent, but with little success.

It floated in mid-air, leisurely stretching out its hand and gently pressing down a finger on the soldiers of the Fire-Chasing Moths. An inexplicable pressure enveloped all the soldiers on the ground, forcibly pressing them down and forcing them to kneel on the ground.

Resistance was futile, and any attempt to resist was futile. It would only press its fingers down little by little, gradually increasing the pressure, like a hydraulic press, slowly but irresistibly forcing the soldiers from standing to kneeling, then to lying prone, and finally crushing their bodies, cracking and shattering their bones. After reaching a certain critical point, it would let the soldiers' corpses explode, turning into a pool of indistinct "sauce."

Sometimes, it would even take a moment to deliberately suppress the soldiers of the Fire-Chasing Moth, then casually summon nearby Honkai creatures, such as Honkai Beasts or people corrupted by Honkai, and leisurely watch as the soldiers, who were unable to move or resist, were killed by the arriving Honkai creatures.

Ordinary people simply cannot survive on this kind of battlefield. They will be killed as soon as they are discovered. What's worse, many fusion warriors are also helpless against this "Herrscher" because it can escape.

[That's right. As a "Herrscher", when facing powerful fusion warriors, it will quickly escape after a few exchanges, relying on its own "power" - gravity - to restrain or even bind the fusion warriors to their spot, while it itself quickly moves away to another place to continue pushing the Honkai.]

Even if it occasionally stops to fight the fusion warriors, it will kill the accompanying ordinary soldiers after a few rounds and then flee far away.

Although this behavior can be explained by the biological instinct of "seeking advantage and avoiding harm," this extremely obvious rational behavior still instilled a sense of fear in the fire-chasing moth.

Time passed slowly, and the entire Mu Continent was left in ruins. Almost every city was destroyed. Even those cities that remained intact lacked sufficient security to keep them unscathed. As soon as it arrived, the cities would inevitably be destroyed...

If this continues, the world's scientific research and industrial capabilities will be reduced by 80%, something the Moth to the Flame absolutely cannot accept.

More importantly, the "Eye of the Abyss" is located on the Mu Continent. If it is destroyed, then the plan that the Fire Moths worked so hard to obtain, which could potentially solve the Honkai, will collapse.

Therefore, they had no choice but to take the risk and revive the "Key of God" project. As for the "Hypnosis of All Things" that had already been created... they still refused to use it.

Fortunately, May had anticipated this scenario. After all, with Honkai attacks becoming more frequent and the destruction caused by the Herrschers growing, humanity needed a more powerful force capable of delivering a decisive blow. Therefore, May did not completely halt the development of the "Divine Key" as ordered by the Flame Chaser, but instead worked with Velvet to advance it in secret.

[Now that the Firemoth still refuses to use "Hibernation of All Things," let's create a "new Divine Key"... The blueprints are already prepared, all we need is for the Firemoth to agree and allow the use of the "Herrscher Core."]

Thus, with the aim of "destruction" and "killing Herrschers," the "Divine Key"—Judgment of Heavenly Fire—was created in an extremely short time, centered around the "Seventh Herrscher."

The next question is how to capture the "Ninth Herrscher".

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"mark."

Before the battle began, Xiwang called out to Hen.

"Oh, what's wrong, Wang? It's rare for you to take the initiative to talk to me."

Hen patted Xi Wang's shoulder with surprise and asked with some curiosity.

"Or are you worried about the combat? Don't worry, it's just a matter of restraining the [Herrscher], forcing it to move to a designated location, and then confining it within a certain area. It's not a difficult task. With everyone's skills, it'll be easy~"

"...I didn't mention the mission because I was worried you'd have to come again."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Do I need to remind you? It's about the Fifth Herrscher. If you still don't remember, I'll go and call Kosmo over. I think he should remember it very well."

"Hey, no, no, I remember now."

Although Xi Wang's tone was calm, Hen knew he was serious and quickly pulled him back.

"Oh, that time was a special case, it won't happen this time, don't you believe me?"

"I do not believe."

"Don't be like that, I'm very serious."

"I'm not kidding you either."

Xi Wang squinted and said calmly.

"You said you wouldn't do that again this time."

"...Ahaha, how could I?"

Hen chuckled dryly, shifting his gaze to the side, and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"........."

"Ah ha ha……"

Feeling that Xi Wang's gaze hadn't left him, Hen could only keep forcing a smile... Clearly, Xi Wang didn't believe him.

"...Take this with you."

In the end, Xi Wang made a concession and handed a reagent containing a dark blue liquid to Hen.

Xiwang knew that he couldn't change Hen's mind in this matter, nor could he change the orders of the Fire Moth. Xiwang could only do his best to ensure that the people he knew survived... Gretchen's mother had already died because of the Collapse, and he couldn't let her father leave because of it as well.

"This is... Why did Dr. Möbius give you this?"

Hen took the reagent and asked, somewhat surprised.

Hen knew about this thing; Mebius had also told him about the specific effects of this dark blue liquid. However, Mebius generally wouldn't give it to others, since he didn't know when he would be able to obtain this liquid from Xiwang again. Mebius wanted to keep the rest for research.

Of course, more importantly, the Fire Moths would not allow this liquid to be taken away by anyone else; they could not tolerate the emergence of another dangerous entity like Gretchen.

"This was originally taken from my body, so what's wrong with me taking a little bit back?"

Xi Wang fed herself a piece of candy and casually replied, while raising her hand to dodge Hen's sneak attack, lest he take her candy box.

"If you really encounter a dangerous situation... use this. Just ingest it, whether by injection or drinking, it can at least increase your chances of survival."

"Don't talk like I'm about to face a life-or-death crisis, okay?"

"……(stare)"

"...Okay, okay, I promise you, don't look at me like that, it's creepy."

Hen put the reagent into his combat uniform, then patted it to indicate to Xi Wang that he had stored it properly.

"Finally, no matter what happens... hang in there, I will come to save you."

"Why do you seem so worried that I'm going to die...? I'm not someone who can't assess situations."

"Because I can't stop you in this operation, nor can I act with you."

"Oh, you're like this... I already said that last time was a special case."

Why does Xi Wang seem so stubborn about this?

"……snort."

Xi Wang neither confirmed nor denied this, but did not continue to argue with Hen about the matter, and turned back to find the team she was to lead.

This operation requires several squads to work together to drive the escaped [Ninth Herrscher] to a designated location, keep it confined in place as much as possible, and finally kill it in one fell swoop using the [Divine Key: Judgment of Heavenly Fire].

This operation is divided into three parts. First, the Ninth Herrscher and its companion Honkai Beast need to be separated to prevent them from being together and hindering the operation. Then, Alicia and Sakura will lead the team to drive the companion Honkai Beast away from the Herrscher and kill it. They will also help protect the still intact base to ensure that the scientific research achievements of Mu Continent and the industrial capabilities of mankind are preserved.

The second task is to drive away the Herrscher, led by Xiwang, Kosmo, Desdovia, and Hen. The task is to compress the Herrscher's space as much as possible and not leave any gaps for it to escape. Based on the previous battle with the Ninth Herrscher, Hen is responsible for restraining the Herrscher.

After all, Scar is rare; the Herrscher doesn't run away immediately when she encounters a Fusion Warrior. And among the Fusion Warriors that the Herrscher chooses to fight, he is the one who can hold them off for the longest time... However, the Herrscher will still run away after fighting for a while (mainly slaughtering ordinary soldiers).

Finally, the most crucial task of [killing the Herrscher] naturally falls to Kevin, the wielder of [Judgment of Heavenly Fire].

As for Su, he will stand by as backup to prevent any unexpected events during the operation... After all, the aftereffects left by the [Eighth Herrscher] make it difficult for Desdovia to fight for long periods of time, and Su needs to take over her mission in case of an emergency.

In short, the plan seems to be quite ideal; let's just hope that nothing unexpected happens during the process.

…………

………………