Go Die

When Lee and Ato arrived with the remaining MANTIS at the designated location, the Ninth Herrscher had already appeared, hovering in the air above a swarm of Honkai beasts.

"That's… a lot of them…" Ato forced a smile. "Thankfully, this is an uninhabited area. Even just those Honkai beasts would cause a major disaster otherwise."

"Lee, you have more experience fighting Herrschers. You're in charge."

Lee's artificial Herrscher status made many, even the MANTIS , uncomfortable around her. But facing a real Herrscher, no one objected to Ato's suggestion. After all, Lee was a hero who single-handedly defeated nearly half the Herrschers, an undisputed expert.

"I'll disable her. After that, ignore the Honkai beasts and focus all your attacks on the Ninth Herrscher." Lee narrowed her eyes. The Ninth Herrscher could create a pseudo-black hole capable of swallowing Mu. Compared to that, the Honkai beasts were insignificant. "Prepare yourselves. We must kill her instantly, before she can react."

Against a Herrscher of this caliber, Lee didn't believe in fair play. It was a gank.

As they approached, the Ninth Herrscher noticed them, scoffing.

"Insects, struggling in vain—"

"Sword God!!!"

Before she could finish, a giant, moonlight-like blade materialized above her, then plummeted down like a meteor!

The Ninth Herrscher hastily erected a barrier, but the blade, seemingly intangible, passed through it, striking her directly!

Upon impact, the massive blade vanished without a trace. The Herrscher appeared unharmed, but her eyes glazed over, and she fell from the sky.

"Now!" Lee commanded. The MANTIS , led by Ato, streaked towards the falling Herrscher, ready to finish her off.

Lee, seeing her teammates in action, seemed to relax.

DIY Sword God, version 1.0, successful!~

She'd created a massive, attention-grabbing energy blade, imbued with a Herrscher's power, making it appear incredibly dangerous, but it was a feint.

The real attack was the invisible psychic wave that followed. While the Herrscher was momentarily stunned by the seemingly ineffective attack, the true killing blow struck when she was most vulnerable.

A bit underhanded, but effective. The Ninth Herrscher was down in one hit.

And this technique could also be used offensively, condensing the massive energy blade into a devastating physical attack, switching between real and illusory forms to catch opponents off guard—this would be effective even against psychic-type MANTIS like Su and Aponia.

Though unaware of the specifics of Fu Hua's future Sword God, Lee was quite pleased with her knock-off version.

With the Ninth Herrscher dead, the crisis on Mu is averted, right?

The moment that thought crossed her mind, disaster struck.

A black void appeared where the Herrscher fell, its immense gravity pulling everything towards it. The air rushed inwards like a hurricane, and even Lee had to struggle to maintain her balance. The surrounding trees, the Honkai beasts, even the earth itself, began to crumble, drawn towards the center!

A pseudo-black hole?!

Lee stared in disbelief. She'd clearly sensed the Ninth Herrscher's death after her attack. There was no chance of revival.

It self-destructed upon death?!

As Lee frowned, Ato appeared beside her, his right arm gone, blood gushing from the wound.

"That Herrscher is vicious…"

Ato knelt, panting, staring at the growing black hole, his usual smile gone. "Did it anticipate its own death and prepare a contingency? To activate such an attack even as its core was being extracted… the others didn't make it."

The other MANTIS had been crushed. Only Ato escaped the sudden black hole, not only because he was stronger, but also because his MANTIS surgery used genes from the Second Herrscher's companion Honkai beast, granting him spatial manipulation abilities.

He could manipulate distances, making the near far and the far near. That's how he escaped.

"…The black hole is expanding rapidly."

After a moment of silence, Lee, ignoring the fallen MANTIS , looked at the growing void. "Though it will eventually dissipate without the Herrscher's power sustaining it, at this rate, it'll swallow the entire continent of Mu first."

"Ato, you used your abilities to slow down the expansion before escaping, right?"

Though they couldn't stop the pseudo-black hole, Ato could slow it down by stretching the space around it. It wasn't a true, planet-devouring black hole.

Unfortunately, Ato wasn't strong enough. If he could truly manipulate space like Zeno's paradox, he could stall the black hole indefinitely.

But he wasn't. Staying here to control the black hole would buy them some time, but he'd be crushed the moment his power ran out.

So, what to do…?

Then, Ato heard Lee's voice, but her words were… unexpected.

"Ato, go die."