Five warships, along with the hundreds of Titans they carried, represented the entirety of the assets Cocolia had accumulated over the years.
Of course, there were also secret sponsorships obtained through other channels; many executors within Anti-Entropy were no longer satisfied with the rules established by Welt and the others.
They wanted more. After all, the headquarters was in North America, and over the years, Anti-Entropy had long been deeply infiltrated and corrupted by various major financial consortia and capital forces. Those driven by capital would naturally pursue more without restraint, and these were things Welt and the others could not provide.
However, because they could not oppose the power of a Herrscher, they could only stir restlessly in the shadows. Behind Cocolia's actions, there were likely people fueling the fire; many wanted her to be the sacrificial lamb to test the waters, to see how much power Welt, who had died once during the Second Great Honkai Eruption, still possessed.
Tesla, Einstein, and Schrodinger were not professional politicians, and Welt, whom they had raised, was no exception. Compared to Otto, they were indeed poor at managing a large organization. An Anti-Entropy founded on noble ideals had been run by them into a state where it was filled with internal demons and monsters.
If the strongest military force were not still in their hands, Anti-Entropy would have long been usurped by those monsters.
Cocolia was well aware of this, which was why she had long since hooked up with those people. Otherwise, she could not have gathered such a massive foundation; a large part of this was sponsored by others.
Of course, on the surface, it could not be called sponsorship, so it was framed as Cocolia hijacking the forces under their command—the kind with a verifiable paper trail.
"Charge forward at full speed!" Cocolia stared at the Erdtree that connected heaven and earth. "Naval guns prepare! Completely destroy it! Aim for the canopy! Open a breach there and let the Honkai Energy spread through the atmosphere to the entire Far East!"
"Titan units prepare to drop at any time to intercept Schicksal's Immortal Blades squad and Siegfried!"
She did not yet know that Welt had also appeared in Nagazora City.
"Remember your promise, Cocolia," five Gray Serpents controlled the warships as they flew toward the Erdtree, ready at any moment to respond to possible boarding action. One of the warships pointed directly at Hyperion.
"Standard Anti-Entropy warship detected, it's heading toward us!" The latter was already prepared for battle.
Gray Serpent did not trust Cocolia that much, so Raven was lying in ambush in the city. She did not know about the later deal between Serpent and Cocolia, but if necessary, Seven Thunders of Retribution could be activated at any time; that was their hidden trump card.
"The Herrscher of Thunder... she's going to act?" Welt and the others on the ground looked at each other.
"Then let her do it," Siegfried was the happiest, as he didn't want Durandal to go up and risk her life. Moreover, he had just remembered that he seemed to have a daughter beside the Herrscher of Thunder...
If he went into battle and was discovered by her, or if she was provoked, the situation in Nagazora City would truly become more and more chaotic.
One Herrscher of Thunder was enough; adding the Herrscher of the Void... he couldn't help but shudder at the thought.
"Yes, I understand," on the other side, Durandal also received the order to stand down.
Everyone looked toward the rooftop of ME Corp wrapped by the Erdtree.
"Those are five warships," Himeko looked at Xia Yu. "Can you really..."
"I am a Herrscher," Xia Yu said helplessly. "Five warships... what do they matter?"
"Exactly, just a mere five warships," the Herrscher of Thunder muttered softly beside her.
With a Herrscher's recovery rate, she had long since recovered from her exhaustion. Yet she still put on a weak and powerless appearance, shrinking into Kiana's arms... it felt like she was in much deeper than Mei.
But it was understandable. After all, considering the things Kiana had done, how could a consciousness that had just ignorantly appeared in the world possibly resist?
Xia Yu looked at the five giant shadows on the horizon, and the Odachi named Naught manifested in her hand.
She took a step forward. Pata. The people around her seemed to hear the slight sound of treading on water... no, she was indeed treading on water. From beneath her feet, countless ink-colored ripples spread in all directions, the deepest parts already like a pitch-black, soul-stirring abyss.
Within that ink, several blood-red Mandarava petals drifted with the waves.
"This life is like the morning dew, both body and name shall perish."
Her right hand gradually became stained with a touch of blood-red.
"The River Lethe has no waves, ferrying the wandering souls."
The blood-red stain gradually took over her entire right hand, and the drifting Mandarava petals slowly scattered.
Her right hand rested on the hilt of the blade.
"I wish to mourn the departed..."
Both hands raised the slender Odachi high.
"Weeping like rain..."
The blood-red blade engraved with runes was gradually drawn out.
"To swell the crossing stream..."
"There's an unknown energy detected!" Almost at the same time, every satellite staring at Nagazora City let out a sharp, explosive alarm!
"It has already surpassed Herrscher-level! No, our equipment cannot estimate it!"
Seeing this, the Gray Serpents decisively controlled the warships to open fire.
Boom!
"No! Bronya is still there!" Cocolia's eyes nearly split with rage. The reason she had ordered the attack on the canopy was because Bronya was still on the rooftop.
As it turned out, Gray Serpent didn't care about that at all. They knew that with the intensity of this energy, if they didn't act now, they wouldn't have another chance.
Looking at the five flashes of light on the distant giant shadows, everything in Xia Yu's eyes had already fallen into black and white.
Only the blood-red petals on the blade were still falling.
Her hair had already faded from blue-purple to pale white as Naught was drawn.
"Aunt..."
Mei stared blankly at that pale white back, an inexplicable sense of loneliness welling up in her heart.
"As the tide arrives," a drop of blood-tear gradually slid from Xia Yu's eye as she swung the long blade in her hand.
"Leading you back home."
As she swung the blade, an incredibly massive blood-red sword qi smashed through the warships' bombardment with unstoppable force, then crashed into the heads of the five warships with peerless momentum!
"That is..." The Gray Serpents, their eyes filled with confusion, were completely swallowed by the sword qi along with the warships before they could even speak, failing to hinder it for even a moment.
"This is..." Below, Welt and the others watched in stunned silence at the terrifying attack that destroyed the warships in a single strike.
"So powerful!" Rita was trembling all over; it seemed that being captured by such a person was no longer a shameful matter.
"It's not over..." Welt stared fixedly at the shadow of the blade. "This is..."
The blood-red sword qi, with a momentum that would not be turned back, split the sea of clouds on the horizon and flew toward the high sky as far as the eye could see, until not a trace could be found.
"The starry sky?" Durandal's extraordinary vision allowed her to see a glimmer of starlight.
"Yang! What on earth happened in Nagazora City?!" Just then, a call from Anti-Entropy came through. Tesla's voice was terrified as she asked: "Are you okay? Still alive? Answer me quickly!"
"Me? I'm fine," Welt was baffled. "What's wrong? Frederica, why the rush..."
"Didn't you see it? That... that thing, whatever it was," Tesla's voice carried a massive sense of shock. "It split the atmosphere at near-light speed and left Earth..."
"Huh?" Everyone looked at each other upon hearing this. "What do you mean left..."
"Wait, the Moon... the Moon was grazed... ah, it cracked!!!" Before Welt could finish his sentence, Dr. Tesla on the other end said in horror: "This speed... isn't this already faster than light? It's still flying! Nest-head! Quickly calculate the trajectory!"
"Even the Moon couldn't stop it for even a second. I suspect cutting through Mars wouldn't be much of an issue either!"
"Mars is not within its path," Dr. Einstein's voice also carried a hint of alarm. "In this direction... phew, fortunately, no planets in the Solar System are in its path. Wait, Ceres is!"
"When it passes through the Asteroid Belt, it will... ah, according to the speed, it should have arrived... perhaps we can observe the state of Ceres in a moment..."
"Ceres? Okay, okay, that's not a big problem," Dr. Tesla breathed a sigh of relief. "I was just afraid it would hit a major planet and cause a disaster..."
"Wait, didn't you say it split the Moon?" Welt was also full of horror. "That's not a big problem?! The Moon's gravity is..."
"Oh, it was only split a little bit. It flew past at an angle, roughly equivalent to giving the Moon a haircut. It really isn't a big problem," Tesla explained, before finally reacting. "No, Yang! What on earth was that thing?!"
"It was an attack by the Herrscher of Thunder," Welt didn't know how else to put it. "I thought she had only destroyed Cocolia's warships..."
"The Herrscher of Thunder?!" Tesla's volume instantly maxed out. "No, how can she be this powerful? I thought the Previous Era's Second Herrscher was disgusting enough—ultra-long-distance spatial abilities, Honkai Energy sufficient to trigger a Honkai Impact affecting all of Siberia, and the shameless ability to attack Earth from the Moon."
"But the Third Herrscher is even more ridiculous than her? In the time we've been talking, if that sword light is still there, it's probably reached the orbit of Pluto!"
"Does that mean the subsequent Herrschers will get stronger and stronger? How are humans supposed to fight! I remember the records left by the Previous Era weren't this ridiculous!"
Hearing this, several people looked at each other.
"Now you know why I stopped you," Siegfried finally found a chance to speak to his daughter, saying with lingering fear: "If I hadn't done as she said, then..."
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Siegfried," Durandal nodded. She also knew what kind of concept this was.
"This... I can't even count as losing with honor," Rita gave a smile that looked worse than crying. "Being defeated by such a figure, it seems I'm not that disgraced..."
Why was her expression so poor? Because she realized she still had to deal with Acheron in a moment.