Ato's speed was incredibly fast. One moment he was before Lin, and the next he was charging toward the Ninth Herrscher. The process was so short that even Lin couldn't react in time.
Too little time had passed since the Ninth Herrscher's birth. Her Emergence had been interrupted halfway. While she possessed a total Honkai energy far exceeding a standard Herrscher, she couldn't use her power effectively.
From the moment of her birth, she knew that using excessive Honkai energy in front of humans would lead to her Herrscher Core entering a blank state, at which point she would be slain. Almost all previous Herrschers had been defeated because of this.
Therefore, the Ninth Herrscher was very restrained in using her power, except in unavoidable circumstances.
Now, these two humans were more troublesome than she imagined. One even carried an aura similar to her kind, though after simple testing, she knew he wasn't one of them. He couldn't obtain authority through the Imaginary Gate, so their threat was her immediate priority.
Her instinct told her to use large-scale destructive abilities to resolve them at once, but the knowledge forcibly instilled in her mind told her not to. If she caused her own weakness, she would be killed by the humans before her.
Two such contradictory states existed within her, and she had to strictly follow the latter line of thought.
Because this was a "command" written deep within the Herrscher Core.
In mid-air, Ato realized his ascent was too fast—faster than when he had first leaped. He saw the brown light in the Ninth Herrscher's eyes and realized she was controlling the gravity on his body.
This time, it wasn't an increase; she had changed the direction of Ato's gravity.
He "fell" straight upward. Since it was just a change in direction rather than true flight, this weightlessness left him unable to change the direction of his ascent!
Bang!
Bullets struck the Herrscher's protective field. Before she could react, Lin threw a grenade that exploded against the field.
Because Lin previous attacks hadn't caused her any damage and couldn't even break her field, the Ninth Herrscher ignored his attack. But she was wrong.
The Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Herrschers had a common trait: they all possessed rich "personalities" that allowed them to think like humans rather than deciding their next move based on cold, rational judgment.
This was like the difference between a computer program and a human. They were "cunning" compared to ordinary Herrschers. Especially since they all knew Lin style to some extent, they wouldn't underestimate him—which was why Lin found them harder to deal with.
But the Ninth Herrscher's thought process was clearly that of an ordinary Herrscher. She never imagined that Lin attack—the grenade he threw—would directly neutralize her field.
Boom!
The expressionless Ninth Herrscher wobbled in the air. Half her body was charred by the explosion. Although it didn't cause massive damage, it succeeded in drawing her attention to Lin.
After flying upward for over a hundred meters, Ato began to descend in a straight line. Seizing the gap while the Herrscher was distracted and using the momentum of his fall, he swung his blade at her head!
Wong!
The Ninth Herrscher didn't even turn her head; the blade stopped in mid-air, unable to advance another inch.
A pair of brown wings began to grow from her pristine back, and a crown-like accessory appeared on her head.
Has she... emerged?
With a flap of her wings, Ato felt as if he had been punched. He grim toward the ground, followed immediately by over a dozen gravity spheres pouring down toward the earth.
Boom!
The earth shattered. The shockwave of the impact traveled thousands of meters. The ground for a thousand meters around showed spider-web cracks, and then the gravity spheres that had driven into the earth exploded. The resulting flames rose over a hundred meters high!
This level of destructive power was already rivaling that of the Seventh Herrscher!
Lin didn't think further—nor did his brain or body allow it. The Abyss Flower emitted a faint glow, and his rainbow pupils grew more intense. A field blocked the shockwave for him, and then he collided with the Ninth Herrscher!
The Abyss Flower, which had previously exhausted its energy, was now recharged. And this time, it no longer possessed traits similar to the Ninth Herrscher's regeneration and annihilation.
The tip of the spear collided head-on with a gravity sphere, but the expected explosion didn't occur. The gravity sphere, containing a massive amount of Honkai energy, simply vanished, as if it had lost its kinetic energy and its authority.
The Soulium chain-blade wrapped around Lin waist acted on its own under Lin influence. Amidst the clattering of the chain, it turned into a golden streak of light, deflecting all the incoming gravity spheres and rays!
But this wasn't enough! The space around the Ninth Herrscher distorted. The connection between gravity and space-time was naturally close. At this moment, Lin could only deflect the constant stream of attacks; he could not advance further.
Furthermore, after completing her Emergence, the Ninth Herrscher no longer stayed in place. She flew while maintaining distance from Lin, attacking him all the while.
Realizing she couldn't apply gravity directly to Lin, she intensified her attacks by materializing gravity. Countless gravity spheres struck the ground around Lin, as if washing the earth. The shock alone instantly collapsed every building in the city!
The shock didn't stop at Atra. On Fire Moth's detectors, the aftershocks of the battle had affected fully half the continent of Mu. The earthquake intensity at the epicenter had reached magnitude seven, and the released energy was increasing exponentially!
Ato smashed through the debris covering him. He looked at the world, which seemed caught in an apocalyptic upheaval. The ground was splitting, and a rift had been torn in the sky. If this continued, even if the Ninth Herrscher were defeated, the human losses would be unimaginable!
Is there a chance?
Ato panted, but what he exhaled was only fragments of internal organs and a foul, bloody breath. He stood unsteadily, watching the rampaging Ninth Herrscher and the struggling Lin.
Ato was unnervingly calm. Once again, he took out the necklace from his chest, which contained the photos of his wife and daughter.
But he didn't open it to look.
Instead, he crushed it, throwing it to the ground where it was completely pulverized by the shockwaves.
Currently, he was a soldier.
He didn't want to see their smiles; he was afraid that if he did, he would continue to act as a father and a husband. Even though he did indeed hold those roles, things were different now.
What was needed now was a soldier.
Humanity needed one.
Lin needed one too.
Ato thought back to the first time he met Lin—to the words he had always wanted to say, but never could.
"You're still young..."