none..

Lee was seriously injured and unconscious... but perhaps it was better that she was unconscious. At least she wouldn't be in pain now. Otherwise, with Lee's current condition, Elysia could hardly imagine the torment she would be feeling.

And, at least she wasn't dead.

The battle was over, and the surrounding ice pillars had already shattered. But the blood frozen by the cold lay on the ruins of the battlefield like waves.

Even though Kevin had tried his best to contain his power, the terrifying aftermath of his full-force attack still spread to the surroundings.

Even Elysia, as Fire Moth's second strongest, was only able to smoothly use Honkai energy to construct a defense after admitting her Herrscher identity just now, blocking the spreading ice wave.

But obviously, other MANTIS warriors did not have such power. The MANTIS Warriors who had gathered at the center of the battlefield to stop the Eleventh Herrscher ultimately turned into red ice under this attack.

Nearly ten thousand MANTIS warriors, how many were left now...?

Even though Elysia had tried her best to reduce the power in other directions besides Lee's, she herself knew that it was just a drop in the bucket. Whether they could survive depended mostly on the luck of these warriors.

Kevin's judgment to kill the Eleventh Herrscher was correct, but was it necessary to go to such an extent?

If others had made this decision, Elysia could still understand. After all, facing the fleeting attack opportunity that their companions had fought so hard for, ordinary people could only ensure the killing of the Herrscher without reservation, and could not hold back in any way. But Kevin was different. With his strength, he had plenty of room to maneuver.

But Kevin still did it, just like every battle he had faced before, leaving no room for retreat and disregarding the cost, just to ensure that the Honkai and the Herrscher were completely eliminated.

Perhaps this cold-blooded determination was correct. After all, the Eleventh Herrscher was too terrifying, and humanity could not afford the slightest failure... But looking at so many lives lost, Elysia still couldn't calm down.

"Kevin... how will you explain this to her? This is definitely not the result Lee wanted to see." Looking at Kevin, who was standing silently in the center of the battlefield, Elysia couldn't help but speak.

"...In the face of Honkai, there can be no hesitation," Kevin lowered his head, looking at the spreading frost beneath his feet. "We can only do this."

"I don't think she'll understand," Elysia sighed. "I know that since the Sixth Herrscher incident, you've always felt that you have a responsibility to take on Lee's responsibility, to eliminate all Herrschers... But you're too extreme now, Kevin. She wouldn't do such a thing."

"...How would you know she wouldn't do it?" Kevin looked at Elysia silently. "The fact is, she has already done it... Eliminate Herrschers, protect humanity, and the price paid for this can be disregarded."

Kevin's words left Elysia speechless for a moment. Yes, hadn't Lee also done such a thing?

In order to stop the Ninth Herrscher, she let Ato sacrifice his life...

But in order to eliminate the Honkai, was it really necessary to abandon even humanity?

In the end, all Elysia could do was ask a powerless question.

"Look at their faces, Kevin... Will your tears freeze?"

"...I won't cry," Kevin closed his eyes. "On that day, I vowed to myself—I will never shed powerless tears like that again."

Humanity was finished. Among the few hundred million people remaining on Earth, at least 90% held this view.

After all, the Earth had a population of 7 billion 10 years ago, and now it was less than one-tenth of that. Order had almost collapsed, the prosperity of the past was long gone, and most of the Earth had become a desert overrun by Honkai beasts.

The MANTIS warriors, whom humanity once believed could save the world, were almost all killed in action, leaving only a few.

And this was just the Eleventh Herrscher. Humanity still had to face at least three more enemies stronger than the Eleventh Herrscher, who had almost destroyed human civilization.

The enemy was constantly getting stronger and full of unknowns, while their own side had already lost even their sharpest weapons. In this situation, how could humanity not be pessimistic?

The despair of the end of the world weighed on everyone's heart, even Fire Moth, the last line of defense for humanity, was no exception.

"Everyone looks so gloomy..."

On the way to the conference room, Lee looked at the expressionless Fire Moth members, who seemed to have lost hope in life, and sighed slightly.

A month had passed since the Eleventh Herrscher subjugation battle, and Lee's body had finally been barely repaired by Vill-V, allowing her to move again. And the first major thing she was going to do now was to participate in the meeting of Fire Moth's top leadership.

In this situation, it was basically impossible to hold a meeting to discuss the revitalization of human society. After all, no matter how hard they tried, the results would probably be easily erased by the next Herrscher.

And it was probably impossible to carry out any huge projects to fight against the next Herrscher. Humanity's current manpower, resources, and social conditions no longer allowed Fire Moth to do such a thing.

According to Lee's estimate, they would probably switch from offense to defense, give up on defeating the Honkai, and instead consider how to survive the Herrschers and save more people—or even how to preserve as much of civilization as possible.

Considering these reasons, the atmosphere in the conference room today would probably be very serious...?

Looking at these people squatting at the door of the conference room, not daring to enter, Lee was silent.

There were 13 MANTIS warriors left in the world, and nine of them were standing here.

Kevin, Elysia, Eden... these were humanity's last hope, but now they were all standing at the door of the conference room like street punks, with subtle expressions, until they finally showed some vitality after seeing Lee.

"Big Sis Lee?!" Pardofelis, who was huddled in the corner, lit up and trotted to Lee's side, looking up and saying in a small, surprised voice, "Are you alright? Does your body still hurt?!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine..." Lee smiled and touched Pardofelis's little head. "I'm not afraid of pain."

Of course, this was a lie. If it weren't for pain control, both the Eleventh Herrscher's attack and the surgery Vill-V performed to save her would probably have made Lee want to die from the pain.

And the mental damage caused by overloading the Herrscher core could make her feel pain to the point of losing consciousness.

But a hero, no matter how much it hurts, cannot show it and make others worry~

At least not yet.

Pardofelis was lucky to be standing here. Two days before the subjugation of the Eleventh Herrscher, this little cat suddenly fell seriously ill and was taken for emergency treatment. As a result, she avoided the subjugation battle, which had a 99% mortality rate.

This was the legendary blessing in disguise.

"So what are you doing?" Lee looked at the others. "Why aren't you going in? I can understand Kalpas not coming, but what about Mei and the other two?"

"They're inside... arguing fiercely," Sakura said helplessly.

Fam, who understands? The way these three scientists argue is more oppressive than Honkai beasts and Herrschers...