Lieutenant Rose, Major Himeko's adjutant, was also a semi-acquaintance of Ryan. They had known each other since their time at Qianyu Academy. He still remembered the night they had just resolved a small Honkai incident.
According to the information, this special countermeasures team was called from the Shenzhou battlefield specifically to sweep the Pacific islands. After all, these Honkai beasts threatened the safety of the transportation routes.
The mission was straightforward, almost like a disguised holiday. These elite soldiers were only tasked with locating the Honkai beasts and calling in long-range firepower to eliminate them.
Then, they were all destroyed.
Ryan sighed. It turned out that the collapse couldn't be judged by common sense. An unexpected event had occurred during what should have been a routine mopping-up mission.
"Your friend?" Sakura turned her head, seeing the girl's photo. "The chance of her surviving is less than one in ten thousand. Please accept my condolences."
Uh, you're being a bit too direct.
"She's not really a friend, just a soldier I know. We worked together in Changkong City." Ryan wasn't saddened. Too many people he knew had died, and he had long since grown used to it.
"Then why investigate her?" Sakura asked, confused. She thought Ryan was trying to avenge his friend.
Just as she asked, Ryan raised his head and gave her a strange smile, which made her feel cold.
"She's not really a friend, but if the Honkai surprises her enough, she could become an enemy."
Did Lieutenant Rose defect to the Honkai? Wait, humans, enemies, people highly adapted to the Honkai...
"You're not talking anymore!"
How is this possible? If she had really turned into a Herrscher, that would have happened several days ago. It's impossible that the Fire Moths haven't noticed something like that by now. Even if the Fire Moths have been dormant recently, a Herrscher wouldn't sleep so well, right? They would have destroyed all the surrounding cities!
Sakura couldn't believe it. It was beyond her understanding, but before she could open her mouth to argue, she felt the ferry heaving.
The waves suddenly became turbulent, and with the thick dark clouds, it seemed as if a storm was gathering.
The thunder and lightning had disappeared, leaving only the howling wind, causing the anemometer on the ferry's mast to spin rapidly.
"A typhoon is coming?"
Sakura raised her head. After a while, she noticed that the wind and waves had increased tenfold, and even the rudder in her hand was becoming uncontrollable.
The ferry was lifted up and down by the wind and waves, its bow plunging into the sea, going up and down like a roller coaster. Sakura had no time to ask more questions. She gritted her teeth and did her best to control the ferry.
Debris flew everywhere in the bridge, and Ryan seemed glued to the floor, his expression as uncertain as the wind and waves.
"I was tricked and made the mistake of empiricism."
Crash!
A wave shattered the window and rushed into the cabin. Sakura was immediately soaked and couldn't help but raise her voice.
"What did you say?"
"I said, fortunately I'm not too arrogant and always remember one thing."
"What's that?"
Another wave crashed over them—no, it was already a tsunami. Waves more than ten meters high loomed like a wall, ready to swallow the boat whole. Sakura had let go of the rudder and was preparing to jump into the sea.
Fortunately, just then, a purple lightning bolt struck down from the sky, cutting the wave in half. She looked up and saw Ryan floating above the deck, the electric currents evaporating the sea water.
In the range of residual power, the raging sea finally seemed to calm down, allowing Sakura to barely steer the boat.
Boom!
Another flash of lightning illuminated Ryan's expressionless face. He tilted his head and said calmly, "Honkai Impact cannot be inferred by common sense. If necessary, we can overturn all experience."
Sakura was speechless, but secretly agreed with Ryan's guess.
Śeṣa had set a trap, and what awaited them was far from being as simple as the Honkai Beast. If she had chased after him earlier, she didn't know what would have happened to Ryan, but she would have been dead.
Could it be that a Herrscher was hiding behind Śeṣa, holding back their destructive instinct just to kill him? Was this man really that important?
But this was the fact, even though Ryan himself hadn't fully processed it.
'How did you know I'd be here and seek another opportunity?'
Ryan was a little confused, but fortunately, he was a very cautious person. He had been on guard ever since he killed the third Herrscher, immediately responding when he sensed something was wrong.
The worries had become reality. Every gust of wind carried murderous intent, and the reasons no longer mattered.
"Come if you want. Fortunately, I retreated in time and used this time to replenish my energy. Otherwise, if I had rushed in right after Śeṣa's self-explosion, I would've had no chance of survival."
Ryan didn't know why he'd gone out to look for materials and ended up in such a bad situation, but as the old saying goes…
There's a fine line between prey and hunter.
"Sakura, go full speed ahead, break through directly, protect this box, and I'll take any gifts from the Honkai."
"Okay, be careful." Sakura didn't hesitate at all. She immediately increased the speed and sailed through the gaps created by lightning.
Whether it was a Herrscher or a Judgment-level Honkai Beast, this kind of battle was beyond her current ability to participate in. Staying away would be the greatest help.
There was no melodrama at all. Ryan was able to think clearly. In fact, he wasn't surprised to be seen as a thorn in the side and eliminated.
Even without fate, the Honkai could still identify who posed the greatest threat, just like Mei in the original world line, who was targeted by the Ruler of Domination. He was just surprised by her intelligence and endurance.
It seems I bring a lot of excitement...
Ryan gently adjusted his glasses and looked at the enormous waves rushing toward the north like an arrow.
Lightning passed along the sea's surface. Waves struck down from all directions like a cage. Thousands of tons of sea water were extremely lethal, but Ryan was like a small boat sailing through the storm, his eyes scanning all around.
Trying to slow down my escape.
Ryan was extremely calm and chose to bypass the huge wave. If he went straight through it, it would consume an immense amount of energy and leave him exhausted with a lower success rate.
"The Fire Moths are already at level one combat readiness, and the fleet is already gathering here." He glanced at the information terminal in his hand. The Fire Moths throughout the western Pacific were like bees stung into anger, rushing out in all directions.
The detection satellite had captured a massive source of collapse, and all kinds of contingency plans had been deployed. The center of the collapse source was none other than Ryan.
He moved quickly towards the north, releasing all his energy. Combined with the wind and waves, he had undoubtedly reached the level of a Herrscher, moving almost in a straight line, making his trajectory easy to calculate.
Shenzhou, Treasure Island.
"Come and attack me, but the Herrscher has already alerted the enemy and will not let me leave."
Ryan's mind was working at full speed, factoring in the Herrscher and Fire Moth as variables in his plan.
We both have the same authority, but as long as I'm not too restricted, the gap in Honkai energy means I can't defeat the Herrscher. At the same time, I can't reveal my identity in front of the Fire Moth, otherwise many things will be unclear. I'm already at a disadvantage, so how can I break these shackles?
It's difficult, I can only test the limits of my wisdom.
He stopped suddenly, and in front of him, a tornado about a hundred meters thick rose from the sea and reached the sky.
Ryan's pupils shrank sharply as his way was blocked.
There was more than just one tornado—nine "giant pillars" rose from the gray sea, roaring and destroying everything in their path, surrounding him from all directions.
Nine dragons absorbing water?!
This thing was like a blender, capable of tearing steel into pieces. Ryan glanced at it.
The large-scale AOE attack left no room to dodge, forcing him to choose the most violent method.
Go for it!
Transforming into lightning, Ryan rushed straight toward the tornado in front of him. He immediately felt the rapid friction between the high-speed airflow and the electromagnetic field, creating a 'rustling' sound.
It couldn't break the defense, but the damage was significant. The lightning penetrated the tornado in an instant, and Ryan's eyes began to twitch again.
The gray sea was covered in dense tornadoes. There were more than dozens of them at a glance, like moving walls blocking the way ahead. Apart from that, he couldn't see any trace of the enemy.
"The Honkai energy is too strong. I can't find her real body. She is a mage-type Herrscher."
With the whistling of the storm in his ears, he made the calmest judgment. Depending on their fighting style, Herrschers could be classified into different roles.
The Herrscher of Void is more like an assassin, using ghostly movements to quickly move in and out, while the Herrscher of Thunder is more like a warrior, unstoppable in the face of purple lightning. The Herrscher of Reason and this one are like mages.
Hide far away and release large-scale attacks to crush everything.
"What to do?" Ryan changed directions continuously, and the lightning meandered along the sea's surface. However, those tornadoes were limitless, occupying dozens of square kilometers of sea.
They seemed to move slowly, but they didn't need to chase Ryan. They simply kept compressing the evasive space, layer upon layer, squeezing toward the center.
Like cutting meat with a blunt knife, if his Honkai energy was exhausted, Ryan would be turned into minced meat.
No, if I keep this up, my Honkai energy will run out before the Fire Moth arrives.
After moving thousands of meters in an instant, Ryan reacted immediately. The sea was more than a hundred times hotter than before. Looking into the distance, he saw violent winds and heavy rain.
She must be forced out!
Ryan paused briefly on the sea, pulled out Chi Xiao, and violent purple lightning flickered on the blade, concentrating all the Honkai energy in front of him.
Thunder at dawn.
Boom! Boom!
Then, there was a loud thunderclap, and a flash of lightning streaked across the sea, heading straight toward the northeast where there were fewer tornadoes.
The residual lightning flashed, and the gas tornado was pierced with large holes. The sea water inside evaporated into white smoke, making the gloomy sea surface appear foggy.
Ryan moved forward, his agility slightly reduced, but his speed reached its peak, like a sharp arrow piercing through thin cloth, cutting through the tornado before it could swallow him.
He broke through.
The wind howled behind him, and there was no shelter in front, but Ryan didn't look happy at all.
Since the Herrscher dared to come out, why would there be only this little obstruction?
Squeak—Boom!
At this moment, the lightning suddenly slowed down rapidly, and Ryan felt like he had hit an invisible wall, which was not only hard but also very tough.
"What is this?"
Ryan blinked, as if he had hit some kind of blocking net. The air seemed to have solidified and was tightening around him. Without hesitation, he immediately chose to climb.
The power of magnetic levitation launched him into the air like a cannonball. The gloomy sky quickly enlarged in his eyes. At this moment—
Stop suddenly and step back.
Whoosh!
The sea surface was cut by an invisible blade, forming a hundred-meter-long sword mark, which wouldn't heal for a long time. Ryan looked at his arm; the electromagnetic field had been directly broken, his shoulder was bloody, and a few drops of blood fell onto the sea, dissolving like ink.
He didn't care about his injuries. He only saw a crack in the sky, through which sunlight filtered. In the middle of the crack, a thousand meters above the sky, he saw a dark shadow.
It was a young girl, wearing a pure white halter dress. Her gray-gold hair had a hint of green at the ends, and a pair of diamond-shaped wings of light spread out behind her.
Ryan was very familiar with her face, still pure and innocent, but the childishness she once had had been replaced with fierce murderous intent. She was a hurricane, destroying everything in her path, looking down at him like a god.
Seeing this scene, even Ryan, who knew the Herrscher's background, was stunned for a moment.
The Herrscher of Thunder was still a stranger to him, and he didn't have a sense of reality. But though he wasn't very familiar with this lieutenant, he knew her.
Ryan still remembered how childish she had been when they first met outside the academy, how orange she looked when she took him to meet Elysia, and of course the casual chats they had at the Far East branch.
"For your own sake, live well," Ryan repeated the instructions from that time, a self-deprecating smile on his face. "Long time no see, Lieutenant Rose. Or should I call you—"
"Herrscher of the Wind?"