Chapter 150: Siege
However, it would be quite troublesome without surveillance. Furthermore, since it was only hacked and not destroyed, Otto immediately began attempting to seize back the access rights.
Just as he was about to do so, golden cubes floated out of his body. Having sensed something, the Void Archives spoke solemnly to Otto.
"If I were you, I wouldn't make any pointless attempts."
"Oh?" Otto stopped his movements and looked at the Void Archives with great interest. "Old friend, what do you mean by that?"
"If it were anything else, I could still believe in you, but what you are facing is the Herrscher of Corruption." The Void Archives silently floated away. This was the Herrscher of Corruption; its defenses might not necessarily be able to hold up.
Although it could resist using Authority, its main body was ultimately a sentient machine. If it truly got entangled by the Herrscher of Corruption, it would be an absolute nightmare.
But it was truly strange. How could a Herrscher of Corruption be born at this time?
Listening to the Void Archives' words, Otto raised an eyebrow. "My old friend, how could a Herrscher of Corruption be born at this point in time?"
"Actually, it's not entirely impossible..." The light on the surface of the Void Archives flickered slightly, but it quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, all your equipment is completely untrustworthy right now."
"To the Herrscher of Corruption, data firewalls are nothing more than a flat line drawn on a piece of paper."
"I see." Otto nodded, silently stepping away from those screens. "Speaking of which, if it's my connection with my other bodies, will that be invaded by the Herrscher of Corruption?"
"Not to that extent. However, if the Herrscher of Corruption comes knocking directly at your door, even I might not be able to protect you."
"But if you get directly infected, I still have time to forcefully sever your connection with your other clones."
"If that's the case... then let's slightly change the strategy."
High above, a draconic shadow streaked across the cloudy sky. Even the barrier formed by those satellites couldn't stop its massive figure; it forcibly smashed through relying purely on its speed and mass.
And soon after, another figure closely followed, arriving right behind that draconic shadow.
"Huu..." Fu Hua took a deep breath. The thrusters on her body rapidly kept up, adjusting her center of gravity.
Immediately after, Fu Hua unleashed both fists simultaneously. Several fist shadows turned into afterimages, directly bombarding Benares' back.
Benares' sturdy carapace was directly pierced through, and Honkai energy condensed into liquid form gushed out from the wound. Letting out a roar, Benares spun her body, her massive dragon wings swatting directly toward Fu Hua like giant palms.
Fu Hua's gaze focused. Her thrusters instantly fired in reverse, keeping her in place as the massive dragon wing flashed past her face. Following that, Fu Hua instantly followed up with a punch, slamming directly into Benares' head.
"Roar!" The force of the punch sent Benares reeling backward, but she immediately channeled Honkai energy to repair her carapace and swiftly retreated. High in the sky, she confronted the tiny human before her.
She recognized her. This was one of the Queen's enemies from back then. But compared to that time, the person before her had become weak—significantly weaker.
Of course, she wasn't in her complete form either. She had been beaten up far too many times in the past. If it were any other Honkai Beast that had been beaten up consecutively so many times, it would have died long ago.
But Benares survived. However, the price was that her current strength was merely scraping the edges of the Judgment-class; she no longer possessed the power she once had.
For example, she used to be able to take on a human form back then. Now, she could only maintain her draconic posture, and she had even slumbered within the ice for a very long time before this.
At present, her power wasn't great either. It was just that she had felt the Queen's call; the Queen's power was gradually awakening. As the Honkai Beast accompanying the Queen, she absolutely had to fight for her.
And now, this human was standing in her way.
"Roar!" Benares let out a threatening roar. In the very next moment, she lunged forward, her massive dragon claws swiping straight at Fu Hua.
The thrusters behind Fu Hua fired instantly, carrying her to a higher position to dodge the dragon claws. Subsequently, Fu Hua closed the distance and landed a solid punch squarely on Benares' chest.
The immense power directly blasted cracks all over the carapace on Benares' chest.
"Huu... Break!" Fu Hua took a deep breath. Changing her fist into a palm, she pressed it directly against Benares' chest carapace. With a violent tremor, the already fractured carapace instantly exploded.
Sensing the danger, Benares rolled over, forcing Fu Hua away from her chest, and immediately distanced herself. Benares had already realized that compared to Fu Hua, her massive size might be an advantage against others.
But against a nimble Valkyrie like Fu Hua, a massive size and limited agility in close quarters was actually a disadvantage. Opening up the distance would be much more effective.
Honkai energy gathered in Benares' mouth. A moment later, a massive beam of Honkai energy blasted straight toward Fu Hua. Facing such an obvious attack, Fu Hua naturally wouldn't be hit easily.
Her thrusters propelled her body forward, brushing right past the beam as she charged directly at Benares. Benares also noticed Fu Hua slicing through the air next to the beam and heading her way.
By turning her neck, the beam followed suit, continuously firing toward Fu Hua. Seeing this, Fu Hua no longer insisted on taking the opportunity to close the distance to Benares.
The thrusters on her body and legs fired upward, pushing Fu Hua high into the sky. Under the extreme speed of her propulsion, no matter how much Benares turned her head, the beam always missed by just a tiny margin.
Even the Honkai energy within Benares had its limits. After firing for a while, the beam's size gradually shrank until it completely disappeared.
Seeing this, a visor suddenly materialized on Fu Hua's face high in the air, covering her eyes. Her armor, which was originally dark purple, instantly surged with energy and turned bright yellow.
Bolts of electricity crackled around Fu Hua. Finally, her body plummeted at high speed. Trailing the surrounding electricity, she crashed directly into Benares like divine thunder striking from the heavens.
The immense impact forced Benares down from the sky. Furthermore, Fu Hua had chosen her landing spot very accurately—landing right on the joint of Benares' wing.
The sheer kinetic energy made it impossible for Benares to maintain her flight. Coupled with her recent depletion of Honkai energy, Benares smashed directly into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris.
The explosive dust cloud was sliced open by high-speed electrical currents. Leaving a trail of afterimages, Fu Hua's figure arrived at Benares' head, her heavy fist already raised.
Benares gathered her Honkai energy, intending to defend herself, but she didn't feel any pain afterward. Not only that, but Benares also sensed an extremely familiar aura.
It was the aura belonging to the Queen—the Queen's aura that she hadn't felt in a very long time. At first, she thought the Queen had come to protect her, but there was a subtle difference in the aura.
"Roar?"
"As expected of Master." Irene's figure appeared amidst the dust stirred up by the impact. The thick crystal shield that had formed shattered layer by layer in Irene's hands.
Multiple cuts also appeared on her hands; those were injuries blasted open by the sheer might of Fu Hua's punch.
"Par... Irene?!" Fu Hua blurted out subconsciously, but she quickly realized exactly who the person in front of her was. "Why are you here?"
"I had no choice but to be here." White mist surged from Irene's body, mending her wounds. "Stop, Class Monitor. If we keep fighting, something terrible will really happen."
If Benares was fine, then it would be easy to pacify Sirin. But if something happened to Benares, there was a 1000% chance Sirin would immediately go on a rampage.
Trying to pacify her again at that point would be extremely difficult. Irene didn't want to gamble on how important she was to Sirin at a time like this; this kind of relationship wasn't something meant to be gambled with.
"Step aside, Irene." Fu Hua tried to bypass Irene to attack Benares, but her hands were instantly bound by Irene using the Mirrored Judah. "Irene, this is a Judgment-class Honkai Beast."
"I know, but this is Benares; she is Sirin's friend. I can't possibly let her die." Irene tugged tightly on Judah. "Also, Master, don't even think about it. It's not so easy to break free when you're locked down by Binding · Anchor."
"But letting her run wild and cause destruction is completely unreasonable too, isn't it?" Fu Hua pulled forcefully on her hands, only to find that, just as Irene had said, her hands were locked firmly in place.
"Then is killing her and causing Sirin to go berserk reasonable?" Irene looked at Fu Hua. "Besides, all this talk about a Judgment-class Honkai Beast... Class Monitor, haven't you realized what I am?"
Hearing Irene's words, Fu Hua fell silent. She had already noticed it when she saw the white mist Irene used to heal her body just now.
The Herrscher of Death. Irene's current identity was the Herrscher of Death. As for when it happened, she had a rough idea; it must have been during the recovery of the Gem of Serenity back then.
But why? Could it be that, compared to Sirin back then, Irene's Adaptability to the Gem of Serenity was even stronger?
"I need Benares." Irene locked eyes with Fu Hua. "I have a way to persuade Benares not to attack humans. You can accept this much, right?"
"Or do you, Class Monitor, intend to forcefully kill Benares and then face the Second Herrscher in a berserk state? To even let her trigger the Second Eruption all over again? Would that truly be better?"
Hearing Irene say this, Fu Hua remained silent. Irene let go of Fu Hua's hands. "Anyway, Class Monitor, leave this part of the story to me. It wasn't easy for me to reach this current situation."
"Just trust me this once, okay? Just take it as trusting this face, and trusting this one time."
[Elder Sister Irene, does my face really not have any credibility in front of A-Hua right now?]
[Don't come out and play the fool at a time like this, Pardo.] Irene poked Pardo's head in her mind. If she didn't say it like this right now, what else could she do?
Fu Hua's mind was a one-track street most of the time. What if she really set her mind to it? While she hadn't fully committed yet, she had to quickly pull out all the stops and leverage any goodwill she had.
After pondering for a moment, Fu Hua nodded. Her figure gradually floated away, and the originally bright yellow stripes on her armor began to dim. "Irene, be careful in all things."
"Trust me. Class Monitor, please head back. Otherwise, Benares might still be provoked." Seeing that Fu Hua didn't insist, Irene breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she turned her head to look at Benares, who was struggling to get up from the ground.
"Roar~?" Benares let out a soft rumble, but her gaze remained fixed on the fading silhouette of Fu Hua, as if asking Irene why she didn't continue attacking and finish off this Valkyrie.
"I'm really sorry, but I don't understand the language of Honkai Beasts." Irene said as she raised her hand, manifesting the Bodhi imprint and gently pressing it against Benares' head.
Benares initially wanted to resist, but upon feeling the dense aura of the Queen radiating from Irene, she chose to accept it.
[Who are you?] A soft female voice echoed in Irene's mind. Completely unlike Benares' domineering exterior, her voice sounded exceptionally gentle.
Ah, this was actually Bella's voice, after all.
[I am Irene, a friend of Sirin.] Irene communicated amicably with Benares. [Please believe me, I bear you no ill will.]
[Mn, I believe you.] Benares nodded. To a Honkai Beast, trust was very simple: you are my superior, therefore I obey you. It was a very straightforward logic.
To Benares, her master was the Queen. Although the person in front of her was not the Queen, she possessed the Queen's aura and felt very close to it.
Furthermore, the aura on this person was very familiar; it belonged to the power the Queen had possessed in the past. Therefore, she should be trustworthy. Since she was trustworthy, Benares would believe her.
[It's for the best if you can trust me.] Irene breathed a sigh of relief.[If possible, please don't go charging around so recklessly. I'll take you to find your Queen, is that alright?]
[Why?] Benares was a bit confused.[I can clearly just crush them directly.]
Looking at Benares, who seemed to have a confused expression, Irene also felt a bit of a headache. Benares was a pureblood Honkai Beast; she really didn't understand anything about humans. Previously, she had just followed Sirin and fought humans all the way.
Right now, with Sirin's situation over at Otto's end still unclear, Irene truly didn't know exactly how to go about persuading Benares.
[Because you are very weak right now.] Irene could only try to coax Benares like this.[You wouldn't want the Queen to be heartbroken if something happened to you, right? After all, it wasn't easy for you to survive.]
[...] Sure enough, the moment Sirin was brought up, Benares fell silent.[Then what should I do?]
[Just follow me.] Irene patted Benares' head. As long as she wasn't reckless, Benares was actually the most resilient entity in all of Honkai Impact 3rd.
After being tortured by various powerful characters one after another, Benares still managed to survive. It was only in Nagazora City that Benares finally met her end.
And if it weren't for protecting Mei, Benares might have been able to struggle on for a little while longer.
As Irene spoke, she used the Authority of Creation to begin restoring Benares' body. It had to be said, as a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, Benares could rapidly heal herself as long as she had Honkai energy.
Just after infusing Honkai energy laced with the Authority of Creation into her, Benares' condition visibly improved significantly. And right at that moment, Little Corruption's voice suddenly rang out in Irene's mind.
"Watch out, Irene! Missiles incoming!"
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉