"Whoosh—"
The cold wind ford a vortex between the Herrscher and Kevin, causing the heavy snow to swirl and fall to the ground in a spiral.
In less than a minute of their standoff, the entire airport ground was covered in knee-deep snow.
"Where's the First Herrscher?"
"Hmm?"
The Herrscher's gaze bypassed Kevin, shifting towards the airport building behind him. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor, now etched with thin, spidery cracks from the cold, she saw several familiar figures.
The First Herrscher, Elysia, Mobius, Seele, and...
Subconscious influence taking hold, the Fifth Herrscher couldn't help but montarily lose herself.
"Good chance!"
Kevin's left hand hung at his side, suddenly clenching into a fist. In response, the ice surface at his feet surged upwards, forming rows of ice spears that pressed towards the Herrscher with overwhelming force.
"Useless."
The three Herrschers present murmured the sa words in unison.
Facing Kevin's attack, the Fifth Herrscher simply lifted her toes slightly. In an instant, the ice surface within a radius of several kiloters also surged, waves of ice colliding head-on.
Shattered ice crystals flew everywhere, peppering the floor-to-ceiling windows of the airport's second floor with fine, spiderweb-like cracks. Mikael simply erected an Imaginary Barrier and then blasted out the windows from the inside for a better view of the battlefield, and to prevent the glass from imploding inwards and injuring them later.
"Vill-V, what's the Honkai energy reaction level right now?"
"The Honkai energy reaction in the airport area still exceeds 9999 HW. The instrunts can't give a specific reading. Maybe you could... sense it yourself? Oh, right! Shouldn't you use the Divine Key to teleport Kalpas to your side? His abilities perfectly counter the Fifth Herrscher. I even think he could finish the fight in two or three hits."
"Not necessary."
Mikael softly uttered the words. Ultimately, having Kevin deal with the Fifth Herrscher was his and i's agreent, and a step humanity needed to take. He believed Kevin could win. Of course, even if sothing went wrong, his, Ellie's, and Mobius's presence was enough; there was no need to add Kalpas to the mix.
In contrast, on the initially stalemated battlefield, the Fifth Herrscher, who had been engaged in a simple, unadorned confrontation with Kevin, suddenly found her vision darkened. Instinctively, she retreated. The next second, a huge black ice shard crashed into her original position.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
As if sensing them in advance, the Herrscher simply twisted her body lightly, instantly retreating hundreds of ters, deftly dodging dozens of black ice shards that Kevin rained down.
"I think I rember now. You're Kevin, right? The new captain of the Fire Moth's First Squad, Kevin?"
Taking advantage of the snow dust kicked up by the ice wave collision to obscure vision, Kevin had "invisibly" circled behind the Herrscher and happened to hear the Herrscher's words.
His attack faltered imperceptibly for a mont, even the flas on Surtr dimd slightly. Then, just as he was gathering strength again to swing the broken sword, the Herrscher lightly turned her body, her palm swiftly tracing an arc in the air. Surtr, along with the flas dancing upon it, was effortlessly frozen solid.
"Sorry about this."
The Herrscher even had the leisure to apologize before reaching out towards Kevin, who, realizing his attack had failed, swiftly abandoned Surtr and retreated.
Their index finger tips brushed lightly. Kevin couldn't help but force a wry smile.
In the next mont, black ice shards sprouted and proliferated around his palm. The Fifth Herrscher tried to dodge again, but it was too late. Her shoulder was instantly slashed open, leaving a gash.
But she also smiled.
The Herrscher's blood splattered, and even steam rose from the wound. Kevin was still basking in the excitent of his successful strike, until crimson beads pierced his body. Pain flooded his brain, and he realized it was the Herrscher's counterattack.
Then, more blood gushed from the Herrscher's wound, flowing back towards the ice shards Kevin had thrust out, instantly dyeing the thick ice spears red, and then climbing up Kevin's arm.
"Tch!"
Kevin knew sothing was wrong. Black frost surged from under his skin, colliding with the crimson red once more. At the sa ti, the regenerative ability granted by the Fusion Factor began to manifest. The small wounds on his abdon and shoulder rapidly began to heal, fully recovering in a re dozen seconds.
The situation seed to have stalemated again. The Herrscher backhanded the ice spear, breaking off the pointed tip, and then swung the remaining section, flinging Kevin towards the airport building.
Thousands of ters were covered in an instant.
"Boom!"
Kevin's body carved a long trail through the snow, finally crashing headfirst into the Imaginary Barrier in front of the airport building.
A ripple spread across the Imaginary Barrier, quickly dissipating.
Large amounts of snow dust were thrown into the air, then fluttered down, piling up on Kevin like a small mountain.
"Hey, Mikael, is this what you ant by 'not necessary'?"
Vill-V mocked quietly.
Mobius, uncharacteristically, didn't chi in.
Elysia, mimicking Mikael's posture, cupped her chin, looking thoughtful. "Kevin... it feels like he's not going all out?"
Kosma silently reached out, placing his hand on the invisible Imaginary Barrier.
Ten seconds passed, and Kevin still hadn't gotten up.
So the Herrscher stopped paying attention to him, instead turning her gaze once more to the second floor of the airport building.
[First Herrscher, aren't you going to intervene?]
[She's looking at ... she's looking at ... Anna... she's looking at ...]
Kosma quietly took two steps back.
[Anna rembers ... she rembers ... she even wanted to get closer to back then, but I backed away and rejected her...]
[That must be it! That must be it!]
[She still rembers ! No, I have to ask her clearly—]
[I need to go find her and ask her everything!]
[Who exactly is she... and...]
[You promised to give ... a birthday present...]
Confirming that everyone else's attention was focused on the Herrscher, Kosma's small figure retreated further, quickly lting into the shadows.
"Kevin? What's going on? According to the calculations Zero gave, the Fifth Herrscher, who just fought a bitter battle against the Great Will, shouldn't be a match for you."
"I'm fine, i."
Kevin brushed aside the snow piled on top of him and slowly stood up. He didn't seem to have any injuries, which indirectly confird i's assessnt—it was still unknown whether a fully powered Fifth Herrscher was stronger or weaker than Kevin, but with the current situation, Kevin's current power should be superior to the Fifth Herrscher's.
In the first wave of probing attacks, neither side would naturally go all out, but Kevin shouldn't have been holding back to such a disadvantageous degree.
There was only one possibility.
And how could i not know what her big boy was thinking...
"i, listen to , this Herrscher... she... she seems to have human consciousness."
"..."
i had already seen the scene through the relayed battlefield footage. She was also surprised by this, but considering Mikael's existence and Zero's calculations, a Herrscher possessing human consciousness... it seed like it should have been a possibility all along.
But after all, she was different from Mikael. Mikael had always stood firmly on humanity's side, while the Fifth Herrscher... even though she possessed human consciousness, she showed no inclination to help humanity...
Moreover, Mikael should have also made the sa judgnt. Otherwise, according to the "Mikael Personality and Behavior Orientation Model" she had built, there was a 93% probability that he would desire the ergence of a Herrscher who, like him, would fight for humanity.
But the reason he hadn't reacted at all now, i thought, was either he had fallen into that 7% probability, or he had already tried to contact the Fifth Herrscher and received a negative answer.
"Kevin, whether you believe Mikael or believe the Fifth Herrscher, you should have your own asure in your heart."
Kevin naturally knew this, but... but if the Herrscher really had human consciousness, wouldn't that an he was also eliminating a human being?
Hesitation lingered in his heart, but unlike Mikael, who would freeze in place once he hesitated, Kevin, even though he was confused and hesitant, would still instinctively do what i told him.
"Bang!"
He punched the ice wall hastily erected by the Herrscher. The ice wall shattered instantly. Underneath the Herrscher's feet, countless ice spears were already poised, ready to shoot out and turn Kevin into a hedgehog the mont the barrier broke.
But all the ice spears missed. Using the recoil, Kevin flipped backwards in mid-air, landing in the snow not far away.
Surtr, frozen into a block of ice, had long been buried under the snow. Fortunately, Kevin had a good mory and pulled it out imdiately.
Fierce flas reignited on the sword. The flas reforged the broken blade and continued to lengthen, eventually exceeding a hundred ters.
"It's over."
i declared definitively.
"Amazing!"
Ellie made a comparison in her mind—back when facing the Third Herrscher, even with the complete Surtr in hand, she could only condense a hundred-ter-long fla blade.
And now, Kevin could achieve this level with just a broken sword... didn't that an she was now inferior to Kevin?
Thinking of this, a hint of worry inevitably crept into her eyes.
Looking back at Mikael, he simply sighed incessantly.
[The Fifth Herrscher is dood to die, even if she really has a chance to regain her humanity, she is still dood to die.]
[Because Kevin, because the Fire Moth Fusion Warrior's first strike, must be a clean and decisive victory.]
[Only then can it boost morale, only then can this plan be pushed forward.]
[For this purpose, a Fifth Herrscher who might have hope of redemption is just a pawn that must be sacrificed.]
[i, is this your calculation?]
Kevin struggled to wield the greatsword. The vertical blade slowly tilted, cutting through the dark clouds, pressing down towards the Fifth Herrscher.
A strange smile appeared on the latter's face. She could struggle, she could resist, she even had ti to escape—if Mikael didn't intervene.
But she didn't choose to do so.
Even if she defeated Kevin, so what? She still couldn't defeat Mikael.
Why not try a different approach?
Using a thod more familiar to this body—to [kill] humans, it doesn't necessarily have to be by physically destroying them...
So she turned her head. That familiar young boy's figure appeared at the main entrance of the airport building on the first floor.
Mikael's Imaginary Barrier separated the inside and outside of the building into two worlds, even sound was blocked out.
She could only watch the boy anxiously beat on the invisible barrier, watch him press his face against the barrier and shout, his breath fogging up the barrier.
So she offered what she thought was a gentle smile, turning her back to the flas that would incinerate everything, and ran towards the boy.
That figure got closer and closer to Kosma.
She smiled and reached out her hand to him.
Just like not long ago in the ruins, she had reached out her hand to him.
But in the end, they were separated by a tiny, yet eternally unbridgeable distance.
There was no blood. Afterwards, in Kosma's nightmares, there was only a sea of icy flas, burning coldly.
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