"Mhm, beat her up good— Wait, what did you say?"
For a moment, Chen Luo wondered if he had misheard.
"I said no." The Herrscher of Thunder repeated.
"Summoning my future self to beat up my past self? How does that make any sense?"
"But, my Big Sister, don't you see the situation here?" Chen Luo stared at her in disbelief.
"I hate being called 'Big Sister.' Call me Mei." The Herrscher of Thunder glared coldly at him.
"Fine, Mei, this is an emergency! I can't beat her. Kiana's badly hurt, Bronya's completely unconscious—you're the only one who can protect everyone now!" Chen Luo said anxiously.
"Still no. This is your problem. If I interfere, both you and I will regret it later." The Herrscher of Thunder shook her head again.
"Are you two done? There's a limit to ignoring people, you know?" The half-winged Herrscher Mei floating in the air snapped angrily.
"Shut up." The Herrscher of Thunder shot her past self a frigid glare.
"!!!" Herrscher Mei instinctively flinched back.
"Mei, you can't know if we'll regret it unless we try. The problem is, I can't beat her! If you don't step in now—"
"Not only will I not help you fight her, I won't help you at all. In fact, I'll stop suppressing her Herrscher authority right now."
"Hah?!" Chen Luo was completely blindsided by this turn of events.
"If I actually intervene, this one-time summon will disappear for good. But if I don't, you can reuse this item later." The Herrscher of Thunder stated coldly.
"You know this is a one-time item? And that it has hidden mechanics like this?!" Chen Luo was stunned.
"Obviously."
"Look, I appreciate you trying to save me resources, but I can't beat her like this!" Chen Luo felt like crying.
Sure, this version of Mei had a thrifty, no-waste attitude—but this was not the time for it!
"Your Honkai energy adaptability is over 100%, right?" The Herrscher of Thunder suddenly asked.
"You even know that?!" This time, Chen Luo was genuinely shocked.
"So it's true. Then what are you afraid of? Go at her head-on." The Herrscher pointed at her past self.
"???"
Chen Luo felt his brain cells short-circuiting.
But her words reminded him—right.
If Kiana could rely on her absolute Honkai resistance to absorb all of Mei's Honkai energy, suppress the Herrscher persona, and even rip off her thunder wing, then there was no reason he couldn't do at least one of those things.
Sure, Kiana had a Herrscher core of her own, but judging by this future Herrscher of Thunder's reaction, he must have succeeded somehow.
"Besides, if you don't take this chance to fight a weak Herrscher now, how else are you going to complete your five-star achievement? By bashing your head against a wall?" The Herrscher of Thunder added.
"—Alright, alright, I get it! Fine, I just need to fight her, attacking is easy!" Chen Luo cut her off.
Just how much does this version of Mei know?!
Even for a future Herrscher of Thunder, doesn't she know too much.
No time to overthink it.
Chen Luo stepped out from behind the Herrscher of Thunder, locking onto the distant Herrscher Mei as Anemo energy surged around him, layering him with wind-based buffs.
The Dull Blade reappeared in his hand, and he charged straight at her.
At the same time, the Herrscher of Thunder withdrew her presence, and Herrscher Mei immediately felt her authority return.
Though utterly confused by everything happening, that didn't stop her from deciding to beat her rebellious "other half" half to death before dragging him home to keep him.
Watching Chen Luo sprint toward her at full speed, Herrscher Mei smirked and raised her right hand, lightning and thunder gathering at her fingertips.
The Dull Blade was indestructable—but it was still metal. And metal conducted electricity.
Just as a barrier of lightning formed around her, Chen Luo's lips curled into a grin.
"Vision, suck it all in!" he commanded.
He'd noticed something earlier—no matter what happened, Herrscher Mei never let go of the Vision in her left hand.
Maybe because he hadn't been controlling it, the Vision had gone dormant, no longer absorbing Honkai energy.
But that also meant Herrscher Mei had completely overlooked it.
"Huh?" Herrscher Mei froze.
In that instant, the Vision in her left hand erupted with terrifying suction, violently draining the Honkai energy from her body.
The sudden disruption made her lightning barrier flicker and fade, the electricity around her sputtering weakly.
Seizing the opening, Chen Luo blitzed forward—closing the distance in a flash.
Seeing Chen Luo so close to her, Herrscher Mei instinctively tried to shove him away, but Chen Luo tackled her in a full-body hug.
She stiffened in shock.
And in that moment, the Vision's absorption rate skyrocketed, now reaching a brutal rate.
I'll drain every last drop of Honkai energy from you today, or my name isn't Chen Luo!
Vision, devour it all!
Vision, you wanted Honkai energy to evolve, right? Then evolve!
Go ahead—turn yourself into a five-star item. Hell, ascend to a Gnosis! A Herrscher core would work too!
Sure, that dream was way too ambitious, but everyone should dream, and Visions should too.
And damn—this attributeless Vision from the Talent Panel was broken.
To be honest, Chen Luo felt that an attributeless Vision should only be considered a three-star item. It would only become four-star after gaining an elemental attribute.
After all, in Teyvat, Visions could literally be bought with Mora.
And items purchasable with in-world currency were usually one or two stars, with only a few reaching three.
The attributeless Vision, while impressive, was nothing compared to something like [Friend of Non-Humans].
"Ahhh—!" The agony of having Honkai energy violently drained from her body forced Mei to scream.
But compared to Chen Luo's suffering, Mei's pain was trivial.
Even with 100.5% Honkai adaptability, pain was still pain.
Herrscher Mei struggled to break free from Chen Luo's grip, but he held on like a vice. With her strength fading from energy loss, she couldn't push him away…
* * *
Thud!
After an indefinite amount of time, the floating Mei finally fell back to earth.
Thankfully, Chen Luo cushioned her fall, so she wasn't hurt.
Seeing the lightning dissipate, the Herrscher of Thunder—who had been silently observing—finally relaxed her grip on her sword.
Perhaps because the summon duration ended, or perhaps due to her prolonged inaction, the Herrscher vanished, leaving only the card on the ground.
[Ding! Defeated Herrscher of Thunder · Raiden Mei. Obtained 500 Primogems.]
[Honkai Adaptability +10%]
The rewards for defeating versus killing were entirely different.
Merely defeating an incomplete Herrscher like this naturally yielded less—hence only 500 Primogems.
As for the meager adaptability increase? Progress slowed drastically after reaching 100%.
This was within Chen Luo's expectations.
Using her empty shotgun as a crutch, Kiana picked up the card and examined it.
"Wow, Mei looks so handsome here," she muttered before hobbling toward Chen Luo and Raiden Mei.
Are they okay?
"Ugh… My head hurts. My whole body hurts…" Raiden Mei groaned as she pushed herself off Chen Luo.
After a moment of recovery, she finally noticed what—or who—she'd been lying on and immediately hugged him again.
"A'Luo! You're alive! Thank goodness!"
"Cough cough—I will be if you don't get off!" Chen Luo wheezed under her weight.
"Oh." Mei quickly scrambled up once her strength returned.
Holding Mei while forcibly absorbing her Honkai energy had subjected Chen Luo to a brutal mental onslaught—fragments of her consciousness flooding into him.
"Someone… save me…"
"Father! Please… Don't leave me…"
"WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?! WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE ME?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!!"
"THIS WORLD DESERVES TO BURN!!!"
"A'Luo… Don't die…"
"My best friend…"
The sheer volume of Mei's suppressed negativity was simply too much, giving Chen Luo a headache. If not for the Herrscher of Sentience's interference, he'd have been out cold for a while.
Still, knowing Mei remembered him was… heartwarming.
"A'Luo, are you okay?" Mei asked again.
"Fine. Great, actually. Just tired and a bit dizzy."
Chen Luo wasn't the main Honkai energy absorber—the Vision was. And since the energy he took in was funneled into it, he was mostly unharmed.
As for the Vision? It was even better.
Chen Luo could feel it had evolved—but not fully.
This Herrscher Mei wasn't a true Herrscher, just an incomplete version.
Even full Herrschers needed vast amounts of Honkai energy to reach their peak—like how Sirin in the Second Eruption manga had to drain a Honkai reactor.
Thus, Chen Luo's Vision was stuck in an awkward state—almost evolved, but not quite.
That last 1% would require another Herrscher Mei's worth of energy.
This Mei was equivalent to 0.6 of a true Herrscher. The Vision had absorbed 0.5 since some had to remain for Mei herself.
This meant his Vision needed to fully drain a Herrscher to complete its evolution.
"Kiana, I'm… so sorry." Mei bowed to the approaching girl.
Though she had no memory of her Herrscher persona's actions, she vaguely recalled hurting Kiana.
"It's fine! I'm tough. One lightning bolt? No big deal. Cough. Though I never expected you to be a Herrscher. Ahem." Kiana coughed.
She was the most injured of the four.
Mei was just drained—no lasting harm. Chen Luo's Honkai energy adaptability shielded him. Bronya had Project Bunny as a shield. But Kiana's charred stomach wound looked gruesome.
Had the lightning not cauterized it, she might've bled out.
"But your stomach…" Mei stared at the horrific scar.
Such a mark was cruel for a girl's beauty. Would it even heal properly?
"Ahem. Mei, feed this to Kiana." Still sprawled on the ground, Chen Luo pulled out a fragrant plate of roast chicken from his inventory.
"Eh? Now? Shouldn't we focus on treatment first?" Kneeling, Mei took the suspiciously delicious-looking dish.
"It's fine, Mei! If I eat, I can hang on longer!" Kiana patted her chest.
This was mostly to ease Mei's guilt.
"Stop overthinking. This is medicine—restores 33% HP. Extremely valuable. Feed it to her now."
"…This is medicine?"
"Hard to believe? But you've seen crazier things, right?" Chen Luo rolled his eyes at Mei.
"Don't forget—I'm the omnipotent Traveler." He smirked.
Hearing those words, Mei was full of confidence in Chen Luo.
"Mmmph! So good!" Kiana didn't even wait for Mei to feed her—she devoured the Sweet Madame.
And as she ate, the charred wound on her stomach actually began healing.
Within seconds, the blackened scar tissue flaked off like scabs, revealing flawless skin beneath.
"Full HP recovery!" Kiana sprang up, revitalized.
Bronya, who had just woken up, witnessed this entire scene in stunned silence.