There was no moon tonight. The garden, covering several thousand square meters, was ablaze, turning the night sky crimson. Tracer rounds shot up into the sky with a "tat tat tat" sound, and miniature missiles left a dense trail of white streaks. The garden, filled with exotic plants, was now reduced to ashes, and the pavilion where lovers had spoken just hours ago was no more than a foundation.
Am I in Tokyo's most luxurious "palace"? Am I not dreaming of a battlefield?
Coleman was momentarily dazed but soon realized that, despite the enormous noise, the nearby villa district had shown no signs of response. This further confirmed his suspicion that he was dreaming.
Slap.
A slap struck his face so hard that his head collided with the window, the pain reminding him that this wasn't a dream.
"He must have used some trick. Yes, it's similar to that Mirage system, but on a much larger scale. No wonder the Far East branch hasn't responded," Coleman thought.
Coleman wasn't an idiot. While searching for the enemy's traces, he had his subordinates escape by sea to send word. He couldn't see anyone but noticed that the guards were running around like headless chickens, and the heavy mechs that had been activated were firing wildly.
Before he could ask anything, a dazzling spark lit up his eyes. Coleman clearly saw a six-meter-tall mech break in half, as though sliced by some sharp blade.
What kind of monster is that?
The fleeting spark finally illuminated the enemy. It was a pitch-black creature holding a weapon resembling a spear. It had no mouth, nose, or ears, only a pair of pitch-black eyes staring directly at him.
Those eyes were devoid of any emotion, and for a moment, Coleman couldn't hear the sounds of the battle. It reminded him of the first time he encountered a Honkai Beast.
Isn't that him? Then who is this?
Before he could think further, the creature flicked its spear, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the half-broken mech, sending it flying like a giant missile.
Twice the speed of sound, it reached him in an instant, but before it could crash into the castle, a red beam had already shot it down, turning it into a cloud of debris.
"So you're using guns, huh?" Ryan observed as he saw Coleman raise his gun. He had seen this type in Vil-V's database.
Made from Soulsteel, powered by Honkai energy, it was called a pistol but could double as a laser cannon!
Boom!
Another beam tore through the night sky, creating a deep crater where Ryan had just been standing. Ryan glanced back, firing with one hand, sending the half-broken mech flying off the ground.
Boom boom boom...
The heavy alloy tumbled across the ground like a bowling ball, smashing a blood-soaked path and knocking over two more mechs that tried to engage.
Before they could regroup, the central wreckage, once steel, began to swell like a balloon.
Boom!!
The air pressure burst open at the center of the garden, sending the torn steel flying like shrapnel, along with soil, toppling everything within a hundred meters.
The human bodies were shredded, and even the alloy mechs were unsteady, quickly shielding their cockpit with their arms as they fired a volley of missiles.
Strong firepower. These truly were elites capable of fighting Honkai Beasts.
Ryan charged directly, watching as fireballs flared up beside him, with shrapnel raining down like a violent storm. But he didn't slow down to defend.
The ability derived from the pseudo-Herrscher wasn't just camouflage. This was metaphysics, with high resistance to physical damage. As long as the projectiles weren't Honkai energy warheads, they couldn't penetrate. Furthermore, machines were especially vulnerable to the Thunder Authority.
Electromagnetic overload.
A surge of energy swept the ground, climbing up the defending mech, overloading its chips.
The screen flickered, and the sensors were disrupted. Before the pilot could understand what was happening, a spear lifted the hydraulic arm.
Boom!
With a single punch, the several-centimeter-thick armor dented, filling the cockpit with crushed flesh.
Ryan maintained his strike posture, glancing up at the electromagnetic cannon overhead, then snapped his fingers.
Bang—
The shell fired, shaking the ground. However, the barrel was deflected by the air, narrowly missing Ryan head. He suddenly crouched to avoid a rotating circular saw, and his spear lashed out like a whip.
Swish.
The steel twisted as the mech fell to the side, blocking the red beam coming from the flank. Ryan heard the armor melting, feeling the shockwave of air coming from the front.
A molecular vibration blade?
The massive sword, three meters long, descended like a door panel, but just half a meter from Ryan head, it was deflected to the side.
Boom!!
The flowerbed was shattered into pieces, and Ryan took a step forward, gently drawing his gun.
Stab.
There was no earth-shattering sound. The Honkai energy-infused spear simply pierced the mech's shoulder joint. With a twist of his wrist, Ryan lifted the dozens-of-tons machine into the air.
Dakka dakka dakka dakka.
The machine guns that fired at point-blank range were all sent into the ground. Ryan danced through the barrage, spinning around and tapping the gun's rear end lightly.
Boom.
As if with a spoken command, the mech in mid-air was torn apart with a sickening sound of metal being shredded. It was sliced into dozens of pieces, floating briefly in the air. Ryan glanced at the increasing number of enemies.
"You're mistaken. I'm not Herrscher-level combat power. I'm Dual Herrscher-level!"
An invisible giant hand slapped down, sending a wave of residual electricity shooting out like a massive shotgun.
Boom thunder.
"Shit, find cover!"
Coleman watched closely. He couldn't intercept this many shells. He quickly dropped to the ground.
Bang bang bang bang...
The muffled sounds like raindrops entered his ears. The entire castle shook. These shells had immense penetrating power, piercing through several meters of walls, sweeping through the entire interior, and exiting from the other side, flying straight into the sea.
Herrscher-level. Absolute Herrscher-level combat power.
Coleman quickly stood up, looking up to see the magnificent palace had turned into a sieve, with the roof riddled with holes. He immediately realized something:
In the face of such combat power, what safe house? Even York's underground fort wouldn't last long.
"Where is he?!" Coleman asked, looking at his frozen subordinates. He immediately understood when he saw their glance, their eyes shifted slightly, and from the corner of his eye, he saw a pitch-black figure standing at the window.
He was holding a gun in one hand, watching Coleman's back, and in the blink of an eye, he had crossed the garden.
Along with six fusion warriors, the hallway was silent. Only the hands gripping weapons trembled slightly, and no one dared to move because the closer they got, the more they realized how terrifying this entity was.
The most advanced war mechs had been dismantled five at a time, and the fully armored guards didn't even have the chance to block.
"It's not him. It's not even Elysia. Who is this monster that appeared? Could it be some high-ranking fusion warrior?" Coleman felt sweat bead on his forehead. He hadn't seen a single bolt of lightning, and couldn't understand how the sudden explosions had occurred.
A bead of sweat finally fell to the floor, shattering into pieces. At that moment, both sides that had been frozen in time suddenly moved.
Ryan raised his gun to stab, but in the instant his gun moved, Coleman had already ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding the strike. At the same time, he pulled the triggers on two handguns.
Scatter!
These weren't just two large beams. They transformed into dozens of laser beams, like a net, blocking all of Ryan escape routes, and were reflected by his authority all around.
The hallway was immediately torn apart, and large chunks of debris fell. Then, electromagnetic cannons, plasma balls, and lasers ripped everything apart. The entire fusion warrior squad opened fire, unleashing fire snakes from their annihilation-grade equipment.
This fire suppression lasted only a moment, and the fusion warriors dispersed.
Relying on their far superior physical capabilities, they accelerated from rest to over 100 meters per second in seconds. Those with heavy firepower immediately took high ground, while the remaining two drew their molecular vibration long knives.
Whoosh—
The floor was torn apart, and Ryan swung his spear, the storm surrounding him like a dragon, sending anything that came at him flying.
Cutting.
The fusion warriors rushed halfway, their invisible blades swiping across the ground. Their reaction speed clearly surpassed that of humans, raising their knives to strike.
Bang!
The wind blades shattered instantly, turning into dozens of small blades, and the pitch-black armor exploded with sparks.
As expected, fusion warriors were hard to kill.
The wind blades dispersed, the sparks not even fading, before Ryan reached them, raising his Storm Spear to stab. Just as the enemy blocked, it whipped around like a venomous snake.
Block.
The molecular vibration knife was knocked aside, and Ryan immediately pursued the retreating fusion warrior. He wrapped around his arm and quickly straightened it.
Point.
The tip of the spear lightly touched, and the alloy armor was ripped open. The warrior, clearly panicked, instinctively tried to grab his gun, but Ryan twisted the gun's tail, shredding his hands into pieces.
Ryan didn't hear the scream, and the gunfire stopped because they were so close. But another molecular vibration knife stabbed from behind.
Sheathing the gun, he turned, using his waist to thrust, and slammed the spear into the warrior.
Clang!!
With several rooms shattered, the long spear struck the blade, overwhelming the force and knocking it away, sending the wall crashing. Before the fusion warrior could regain his balance, Ryan lunged.
Boom—
A blast of air, as though someone had pushed him from behind, sent the warrior flying back. He didn't care about the despair, raising his knife to slash and activating his armor's jet thrusters.
The air shrieked as he exceeded the speed of sound in a split second, too fast for even visual capture.
Clang.
The blade struck the middle of the spear. Ryan raised it high, twisting his waist and letting the force drop to the ground.
Boom—
The castle trembled for a moment. Then, a third of the building detached from its core and crashed into the sea with a loud splash.
This helped the other fusion warriors immensely. They quickly took off, looking for a shooting angle, but soon realized something was wrong.
No matter how they adjusted the posture controller, they couldn't keep their balance. It was like being trapped in turbulent airflow. While they scrambled, Ryan pressed down on a fusion warrior with one hand, picked up the long knife, and swiftly stabbed it into his chest.
With both hands, Ryan easily lifted the warrior, using him like a shield in front of him.
The red beam dissolved everything around them, even melting the tin can he was holding. But by this point, the energy had already been neutralized by Ryan Honkai energy.
"Less than half a minute, and you've already taken down two of my elite subordinates."
Coleman's eye twitched uncontrollably. His usual nonchalant demeanor was gone. It wasn't just about power. This guy's skills were terrifying. He was incredibly proficient at dealing with fire suppression, and what was that ability?
Looking at his flustered subordinates in the air, Coleman thought of the Wind Herrscher, but he wasn't sure. Only Dr. Ryan had directly faced that Herrscher. Who knew what that authority was like?
He moved his lips, but Coleman realized he couldn't extract information. This guy didn't even have a mouth. How could they communicate?
What now? I'm no match for him. A few thousand a month, and I'm no relative to those brothers. Why risk my life for this?
As he hesitated, he saw the monster casually toss its long spear into the air, bowing and clasping its hands.
"Uh, is this some kind of friendly gesture?"
Coleman instinctively wanted to laugh but then couldn't. The massive water splashes froze midair, then formed a giant blade nearly 100 meters long. It howled as it uncontrollably swung down.
The Sea Cutting Slash!
It shredded the fusion warriors blocking its path, consuming, grinding them up, and then sliced the twenty-story castle in half, even cutting into the hill beneath it.
Whoosh—
It was like a giant wave crashing against the shore. Anyone who hadn't escaped was swept away, drowning the garden, collapsing the walls, and turning everything into a swamp.
Hoo.
Ryan sighed, looking at Coleman who looked disheveled. He raised his hand, gripped the fallen long spear, and dripped a few drops of water.
No need for words. The message was simple:
You can't beat me.