Meanwhile, in the Sahara Desert of North Africa. Inside the underground base of the newly reborn World Serpent Headquarters. The scene unfolded within that same classified room equipped for virtual remote conferences.
"The general situation is exactly as I described." Dr. MEI sat at the head of the table. She looked incredibly exhausted. "I performed an emergency autopsy on the remains of the Third Herrscher that Kevin brought back. I did not find any high-energy crystal resembling a Herrscher Core inside her body." She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Furthermore, there is something I must point out. The remains of the Third Herrscher contain absolutely no blood."
Hearing this, the virtual projection of Mobius frowned deeply. "What do you mean?"
"I mean it literally." MEI turned to look at her. "The blood in her body has been completely drained. Not a single drop remains. The most bizarre part is that despite this complete exsanguination, there is absolutely no outward sign of it. I only discovered this horrifying truth after I began the autopsy. Under normal circumstances, you know exactly what a blood-drained corpse looks like. Dr. Mobius, I imagine you are far more familiar with that than I am."
Hearing this, Mobius fell entirely silent. She wasn't annoyed by MEI's slightly aggressive tone, which was clearly a byproduct of sheer exhaustion. Rather, it was something else entirely.
"It seems we have all reached the same conclusion." MEI spoke up once more. "This specific anomaly perfectly mirrors an entity recorded in the future intel brought back by Kevin and Gray Serpent. It is the exact modus operandi of the Herrscher of Corruption." Her expression turned dead serious. "Therefore, I believe the Third Eruption is not over. On the contrary. It has only just begun."
The deep sea has always been a treacherous domain, rarely touched by humanity. There is no sunlight here. The surrounding environment is bathed in pure, absolute darkness. Yet this place is not a forbidden zone for all life. The brutal law of survival of the fittest plays out here every single second. Today, an uninvited guest arrived from above.
She... or perhaps it... was highly predatory. It was exceptionally ferocious. It was a writhing thread of blood with no fixed form. It was a fully sentient amalgamation. The mighty Returner wielding a flaming greatsword and the Self-Annihilator who had strayed into Nihility had both missed their ultimate chance to eliminate it early on.
As a result... Fwoosh! The ocean currents were violently pulled in. The living thread of blood seemed to retain a few habits from its "previous life." It wove itself together. It formed a crimson human skull and stretched its "jaws" as wide as physically possible. And then, a massive whirlpool took shape. Acting like a degraded black hole, it automatically filtered out the seawater. But the living creatures caught within it were completely devoured. Down in the pitch-black depths, mountains of white bones began to pile up.
Nearly every creature captured by this living thread of blood was entirely drained of its flesh and vitality. Subsequently... Thump! Thump!! Thump!!! Like a rapidly inflating balloon, the entity began to continuously expand. Fueled by the assimilated flesh, the single thread of blood evolved into a flowing stream. Then it became a pool of blood. Then, a raging blood tide.
It effortlessly assimilated and usurped the unique traits and abilities of every single organism it consumed. Eventually, ordinary sea life could no longer satisfy its endless hunger. Thus, it issued a command. It was a decree that only a Divine Apostle had the authority to issue.
"Come... to me! Move quietly. Do not let those detestable humans discover you!"
In that single instant, surviving Honkai Beasts scattered across the globe abruptly awakened from their slumber. This was especially true for those lurking within the oceans or buried deep beneath the earth. Among them were a handful of extraordinarily powerful individuals. They had slumbered for tens of thousands of years, perhaps even longer. These ancient beasts were anomalies that had literally survived across civilization eras. Every single one of them possessed unique abilities and highly specialized DNA. They were Judgment-class. Perhaps even higher! Originally, they were never meant to surface in this era. Without the direct revelation granted by "God," even a Divine Apostle would never be able to locate them. But now... Roar!
A subterranean tide of beasts began converging on a single, shared coordinate. They perfectly suppressed their Honkai Energy signatures, answering the unquestionable call of the Divine Apostle. Only a select few, whose physical proportions were simply too massive to move unnoticed, were granted permission by the Divine Apostle to remain dormant for now.
Ultimately, those that arrived in the depths offered themselves up in willing sacrifice. They became the fleshy nourishment required for the entity's evolution. All of this transpired in absolute silence. One day passed. Then two. Then three. This continued until a critical threshold was reached. Rumble. A massive earthquake erupted in the deep sea.
Naturally, this seismic event was detected by numerous geological researchers. However, it did not cause any corresponding environmental impacts on land. It triggered no tsunamis or tidal shifts. Therefore, it was merely archived into a database and dismissed without much scrutiny.
Yet, deep within that realm of endless darkness and crushing aquatic pressure... Splash. The living blood tide was no longer its former crimson hue. It had turned a horrifying, pitch-black red. It began to contract. It condensed inward continuously! Finally, the entity emerged once more. She was reborn into the world.
But looking at her now, she no longer possessed the appearance of a normal human being. Her skin had turned a striking sky-blue. Her hair and eyebrows were entirely pale white. The most prominent change lay on her forehead. Embedded vertically between her brows, like a manifested "third eye," was an oval-shaped, faintly glowing blood-red crystal.
She was the newly reborn Kali. Her bare feet touched down on the ocean floor, stepping onto a surface made soft and gelatinous by the sheer density of organic matter. She had already become the absolute ruler of this ocean. But she knew full well that this was far from enough!
Suddenly, as if sensing something profound, she abandoned her posture as a ruler. She knelt down and bowed piously toward a specific direction. She kowtowed three times, her long hair drifting like a pale waterfall in the sea currents. Finally, she spoke. "Thy divine will shall be done!" Kali waited until that mystical sensation completely faded before she stood back up.
She then sliced her own finger open. She allowed copious amounts of that blackened, crimson blood to bleed into the water. In an instant, a sickening crackle echoed. The droplets of black blood solidified. They morphed into newly birthed, individual "living blood threads."
Now, she possessed the ultimate key: the Herrscher Core. With it, she could open a "door" to the Imaginary Space within her own body at any time. This granted her a nearly inexhaustible supply of Honkai Energy.
Relying on this endless reservoir, Kali began to reproduce asexually. She issued a command to her "children." "Go forth. Plunder everything. Genes, bloodlines, cells, knowledge, memories... March toward your promised domains. Act upon the divine revelation, and carve out the Divine Mountains." "One day, when we finally merge back into one, we shall become the absolute strongest existence beneath our Lord God. I shall be unparalleled."
At Kali's command, hundreds of living blood threads scattered in every direction. Their upcoming mission was identical to what Kali had just accomplished. They would devour, assimilate, and fuse with thousands upon thousands of lifeforms. In doing so, they could plunder all innate talents across the globe. MANTISes, Valkyries, Stigmata Awakened, or even top-tier scholars... none would be spared. This was the Authority of the Third Herrscher.
Due to the unique variables present in Earth's current human civilization, the Cocoon of Finality had shaped her into this specific form. The Herrscher of Blood! Of course, in the eyes of Ling Ke, who was casually spectating the entire ordeal, she resembled something else entirely.
"The Blacklight Virus?"
Inside the pristine white hall of the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke sat alone on his ornate throne. The corners of his mouth curled into an amused smile.
"What a fascinating little girl. Welcome to the top of the food chain!!!"