It's… It's… A Herrscher!

"Mobius, fancy meeting you here! Care to join the fight?"

"Tch." Mobius plopped down on a piece of rubble—a researcher like her would never engage in combat.

"Oh, Mobius, don't be shy! We've only seen you fight once, you know!"

Mobius's cheek twitched. She had fought once, right after her Metamorphosis(MANTIS) surgery, when she'd groggily attacked Mikael.

"Come on, Grandma Mobius, show us what you've got! I'll even offer up my prized pink maid outfit!"

"Who would wear such a thing?!"

"Oh, you don't like it? Let me guess… doesn't fit? Wait! How did you get here? Used the Second Divine Key? Aww, you do care about me! I'm so happy!"

"Don't flatter yourself!" Mobius, back to her adult form, turned away, one earlobe inexplicably flushed in the morning light.

"Oh? Not concerned about me? Could it be…"

Mobius wisely ignored her, checking her wrist comm. "Vill-V wants me to remind you the Honkai energy readings are fluctuating around 2358 HW. Mikael, aren't you going to do anything?"

"Moo—" Mahadeva bellowed, as if answering Mobius's question.

The rising sun, cresting the horizon, looked like a golden crown behind Mahadeva's head, its outline shimmering, the golden light reflected on the water's surface, looking like an ancient depiction of a celestial deity.

"Two thousand… isn't that…" Elysia looked questioningly at Mikael, then understood why he hesitated. If he didn't kill it in one hit, it would split, and they'd face two… or more.

Mikael, eyes half-closed, seemed to be calculating. Hearing the Honkai energy reading, he flinched. The First Eruption had only been a little over two thousand HW… Mahadeva had already surpassed him.

While Honkai energy readings didn't always correlate with absolute power, they usually indicated the amount of Honkai energy that could be deployed at once. For example, in Irkutsk, his and the Second Herrscher's combined output barely broke four thousand HW.

The Third Eruption had been similar, meaning the Third Herrscher's burst output was roughly equal to his and the Second Herrscher's combined.

Well, "at the time." Mikael hadn't anticipated how much the unanchored bubble universe within him would amplify his Honkai energy output. His core was still growing, but compared to the boost from the bubble universe, it was negligible.

As for his upper limit? He'd never been pushed that far in combat.

This time, he might have to "touch" it.

After a moment of thought, Mikael had a plan. "I'll restrain it. Elysia, Snake, with me."

"Who's Snake?!" Mobius's protest was ignored as Mikael appeared before Mahadeva, who was about to step onto the beach.

"Hmph…" Mahadeva's front hooves lifted, then froze mid-air, held by invisible spatial force.

Beads of sweat rolled down Mikael's forehead, his breathing becoming ragged. Seconds later, the sweat vanished, his breathing steadying—he'd just used seventy percent of his core's output, but the bubble universe replenished him.

"Elysia, Mobius, check its forehead for a third eye!"

"What?" Mobius, half-dragged by Elysia, was still disoriented.

As she steadied herself, Mahadeva strained against its restraints, bellowing, "Mmm… Moo—!"

"Tch, still struggling?"

Mikael, hair swirling, crouched, slamming his hand onto the ground. Blinding blue light erupted around Mahadeva, forming a clockwise circle.

Moments later, the light faded, revealing eighteen towering pillars of Honkai steel surrounding the beast.

"Simple spatial restraints won't hold it. This should do." His crimson gear-like eyes locked into place. Countless golden chains shot from the pillars, binding Mahadeva's hooves, then its neck, then its torso.

"Moo!" Mahadeva thrashed, its fists striking the pillars, tilting them, even causing the beach to sink.

"Annoying!" The chains finally bound Mahadeva's limbs, but loosely, for fear of dismembering it. It continued to struggle, arching its back, bucking, its limbs flailing.

This wasn't entirely futile. The sandy beach was unstable, a poor foundation. The pillars, over a thousand meters tall, even with their hundred-meter diameter, were top-heavy.

Under Mahadeva's relentless pulling, they tilted precariously, threatening to topple.

"Enough!" A wave of pink crystals surged upwards, encasing the pillars, even tinting the sea purple.

Without waiting for orders, Elysia leaped onto Mahadeva's head.

"Yay! Be a good cow and stay still! Let me see your eyes!" She grabbed the third eyelid, pulling it open—

"Wow! You like girly pink too!"

"Elysia, pull out the eyeball!"

"Eh! It's too big… Ah!" Sensing its core exposed, Mahadeva thrashed even harder, throwing Elysia off. She quickly retreated to Mikael.

"It's fine, I can hold it. Keep trying… Wait, where's Mobius?"

"Ah, you know her. She's actually quite shy. She wouldn't be much help here, so I sent her to find Seele."

"Seele?" Mikael suddenly remembered—"Seele was…"

"Don't worry, I ran into that Ana girl and the Kosma boy. I asked them to look after Seele."

"Good." "I hope they'll be alright…"

A strange sensation washed over him. Mikael looked up at the rising sun, almost obscured by the pillars.

Elysia followed his gaze. Then, both their faces paled—a swarm of missiles, bathed in the morning light, was heading towards them.

"Elysia, intercept!" For the first time in eight years, Mikael's voice cracked.

He opened dozens of spatial rifts, swallowing twenty missiles, but the distraction allowed Mahadeva to topple a pillar.

Elysia fired crystal arrows, streaking across the sky like meteors, intercepting the incoming missiles. The sky rained debris.

"Did you get them all?"

"I think so…" They both sighed in relief.

But their eyes were fixed on the sky.

"Whoosh—"

By the time they heard it, it was too late. Three armor-piercing missiles, skimming the sea, accelerated sharply in the final kilometer.

A series of sonic booms echoed as waves crashed against the shore. Before Mikael could react, the missiles struck Mahadeva, their specialized armor-piercing warheads, designed to penetrate ten thousand millimeters of homogeneous armor, easily tearing through its flesh.

Each missile burrowed deep, and Mahadeva's body began to distort and swell, reaching its limit—

Boom!

Honkai energy barriers blocked the shrapnel and shockwave, and azure wind swept away the dust.

Before Mikael and Elysia lay countless fragments, rapidly growing.

"No… there's still time… regeneration takes time. If we find the core now…"

Mikael took a step, then realized his joints were frozen.

"Crack, crack…" He turned to Elysia, her face covered in frost.

"It's… it's… a Herrscher…"