Chapter 009 : What You Created With Your Own Hands...

"Ah!!!"

The sudden beheading of Edelweiss... her gruesome state instantly terrified the remaining "guests" present.

As for Ling Ke... he had already moved away from Edelweiss's seat, his clothes spotless.

And as he moved away...

Thud~

The headless body, devoid of life and thus unable to support itself, collapsed to the side.

Perhaps it was a coincidence.

Edelweiss, dressed in a white evening gown, had her blood-stained skirt lifted slightly in the process.

Revealing the fact that she had lost her legs.

In an instant...

!!!

The director of the West Asia Branch, seated on the other side of Edelweiss, immediately turned pale.

Then, he too covered his mouth.

In the end, he couldn't hold it back and vomited.

His commotion immediately piqued the curiosity of the three doctors across from him.

The latter three knew full well that curiosity at this moment would surely kill the cat.

But they couldn't help it, instinctively leaning over to take a look...

Just one look!

!!!

They hadn't heard the whispered words Ling Ke had said to Edelweiss earlier.

This was clearly intentional on his part.

Thus, the three doctors and the director only remembered Ling Ke's loud statement: "Thank you, Miss Edelweiss, for providing the 'ingredients.'"

Combined with the emptiness hidden beneath Edelweiss's skirt...

"Ugh!"

They all vomited.

Even though they had only eaten one slice of meat, they vomited up even their stomach acid.

And at this moment...

"It seems this 'feast' will have to end early."

Ling Ke's expression was cold, "Although a few carefully prepared performances have been wasted, I won't personally entertain those who are too rude."

"That would be in poor taste!"

With that, he walked straight toward the grand hall's doors.

The remaining four "guests" were now vomiting so much that they were weak all over, unable to even stand up.

They could only watch helplessly as Ling Ke left.

Until...

Clap, clap!

As soon as he stepped out of the grand hall, Ling Ke clapped his hands, issuing a command.

In the next instant, one spatial gate after another opened within the hall.

They all led directly to the underground prison of the West Asia Branch.

In those cells were imprisoned experimental subjects who had suffered greatly.

Among them, some were covered in purple patterns.

Some even had parts of Honkai beast tissue stitched onto their bodies.

Or had horrifying stitch marks on their abdomens, clearly missing certain organs.

They were almost all brought to this base through the director's shady channels.

And Dr. Antonio, Dr. Aegis, and Dr. Moniz had inflicted too much... too much pain on them.

Their experiences were no different from Ling Ke's.

Once, those so-called "people" high above would freely manipulate these "lab rats," treating them as expendable materials.

But they seemed to have forgotten.

Even rats can bite.

"Enjoy the carnival of tonight!"

At the entrance of the grand hall, Ling Ke narrowed his eyes slightly, maintaining a polite smile as he slowly closed the heavy doors. Through the last sliver of the closing doors, the scene he witnessed could aptly be described with a double entendre—a demon hunter!

******

The West Asia branch of the Schicksal organization, with a permanent staff of over thirty thousand, was wiped out overnight. Well, almost no one survived... except for a lucky few. They were the Valkyrie squad known as "Red Wings," the only team other than the Silver Lotus squad that happened to be out on a mission the day Ling Ke became the Herrscher of Dominance in this era.

When they returned to the base via shuttle...

"This..."

Bloodstains everywhere.

Scattered, mutilated corpses.

The members of the Red Wings squad, seasoned veterans of the battlefield, couldn't help but frown at the horrifying scene before them. One of the younger, newly recruited Valkyries was so terrified that she collapsed to the ground, soaking her combat suit in the process.

The captain of the Red Wings squad had no time to deal with this minor incident. She quickly returned to the recently landed shuttle and reported the situation at the West Asia branch directly to Schicksal headquarters. In fact, she had already sensed something was wrong when she failed to receive the usual navigation response from the base earlier.

And now...

Honestly, she didn't even want to lead her team deeper into the base. If the scene at the entrance was this gruesome, what kind of hell awaited them inside? She felt that she and every member of the Red Wings squad would be left with psychological scars.

About half an hour later...

Schicksal headquarters, located on a floating island above the Mediterranean Sea in Europe.

"What? The West Asia branch was destroyed? All personnel killed?"

Durandal was shocked upon receiving the report from Rita. Recently, the man known as Otto Apocalypse, the overseer of Schicksal, had completely vanished. As the current strongest S-rank Valkyrie and a highly respected figure within Schicksal, Durandal had no choice but to temporarily take over the management duties.

It was only after taking on this role that Durandal realized just how difficult it was to manage a world-class organization. She wasn't cut out for this kind of work. Honestly, if it weren't for Rita by her side, she would have botched many critical matters. Even with Rita's assistance, Durandal felt that a single day in this temporary management position was more exhausting than a month of continuous battles against Honkai beasts.

This was mental fatigue, with no relief in sight.

And just at this critical moment...

"According to the Red Wings squad's report, half an hour ago, when they returned to the West Asia branch base, there were no signs of life inside. It was as if... everyone had been slaughtered."

On one of the floating islands, Rita and Durandal were in the same room. Rita handed Durandal an electronic tablet displaying surveillance footage from the West Asia branch. The screen showed bloodstains and brutally mutilated corpses. When Durandal switched to the video section...

Groups of short-haired girls swept through the West Asia branch base like a storm.

Both Durandal and Rita could confirm that they had never seen these girls before. Moreover, there were many of them, all identical in appearance, physique, and fighting style.

"Clones?"

Rita speculated, "Is this the work of Anti-Entropy?"

Durandal was equally puzzled.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long...

At one point, a black-haired young man dressed in an elegant black suit appeared in the footage. He faced one of the surveillance cameras and gave a slight bow.

"Greetings, self-proclaimed 'heroes' who fight against the Honkai. Today, the 'villain' you created has been born. From now on, I will be your opponent."

The black-haired young man smiled naturally, spreading his hands as if he himself were a scale.

"Question: Can the so-called 'beauty' you aspire to surpass the malice in my heart? Let's wait and see!"