"I think I will." Irene rolled her shoulders. "After becoming a Herrscher, this is actually my first proper battle~"
[Rest assured, I haven't been slacking off during this time.] The voice of [Irene] rang in Irene's ear. [Come on, this is the method of applying the Authority that I've been practicing in my mind these past few days.]
Irene's mental projection touched [Irene], allowing Irene to instantly understand what [Irene] had learned and the application methods of the Authority she had developed.
The two of them were originally one entity, so understanding each other's minds was the simplest thing. In that instant, Irene understood the combat style [Irene] had developed.
From large-scale AOE attacks to mid-range skills, and even skills usable in close-quarters combat, [Irene] had researched almost all of them.
The moment she learned them, Irene's mouth twitched as she pondered the description of a skill [Irene] had passed over: [Hey, hey, isn't this fighting style a bit too brutal? And what the hell is 'Death-Herald Sword Qi'?]
[Do I look like some kind of movable type printing press?]
In the skill bar passed over by Irene, the most conspicuous one was that Death-Herald Sword Qi. The skill wasn't complex; it was simply using the method of Taixuan Sword Qi to condense Sword Qi, but swapping the ordinary Honkai energy for black mist.
The destructive power was naturally explosive. Even if the Sword Qi was destroyed, the released black mist could cause secondary damage. And if it cut the target, the black mist would similarly spread out.
From this perspective, the lethality was quite good. It was just the name... she didn't want her way of speaking to turn into a living printing press later on.
[Does my Dear not like it?] [Irene]'s light laughter rang in Irene's ear. [If you don't like it, I can change the name.]
[No need, I think it's fine.] Irene's physical body assumed a stance. Her blue and red eyes locked straight onto Kalpas, who was standing still, seemingly waiting for her to attack.
[It really is W's fighting style. In that case, I'll formulate the combat logic.]
[Then what does that make us with this blue and red? Are we Heat Trigger?]
[But we aren't the Herrscher of Flame.] The black mist on Irene's body didn't expand; instead, it submerged into her body, flowing within her.
Another portion of the black mist condensed to the side, forming a black crystal. It then shot towards Kalpas at high speed, arriving in front of him in the blink of an eye.
Kalpas erupted with flames, intercepting the crystal in mid-air. Feeling it was a weak and powerless attack, Kalpas looked at Irene with some disdain.
"If this is the only level you're at, you won't be able to accomplish anything."
"Of course, it won't be just this level." Irene smiled. At this moment, the crystal that had been intercepted in the air suddenly changed. Within an extremely short time, it transformed into a spiked ball state, and then violently detonated.
"Hmm?" Kalpas watched the crystal exploding in front of him. The flames burning all over his body erupted instantly, intending to blow those crystals away. However, the shockwave slammed into the crystals, intercepting them from the air.
Then, those crystals repeated the change again, transforming into spiked balls, exploding, colliding with crystals on the ground, splitting, and then exploding again.
In this infinite process of repetition, absorption, and explosion, a massive number of spikes directly pierced through the flame barrier and stabbed into Kalpas's body.
Then, before Kalpas could do anything, those crystals changed again inside his body. Black mist spilled out from them, and the crystals began directly absorbing Kalpas's Honkai energy, intending to explode once more.
"Now this looks a bit like something." Kalpas felt the Honkai energy being sucked away from his body and let out a cold snort. He stomped violently, instantly crushing the layer of crystals spreading on the ground from the explosions.
The erupting flames immediately propelled Kalpas towards Irene. At the same time, the flames flowing over his body completely burned away the crystals stuck in him.
Irene watched Kalpas rushing over. The twin blades from Pardo in her hands traced a black trail as she executed an upward slash against the fist Kalpas swung in a straight line.
The black color on the surface instantly detached, forming a blade of Sword Qi composed of black mist that slashed towards Kalpas.
Kalpas looked at the Sword Qi pouncing before him and didn't dodge in the slightest. The flames on his body collided with the Sword Qi, directly dispersing it. As for the Chakram swinging towards him, Kalpas simply smashed it away with a punch.
Finally, his other hand grabbed directly towards Irene. Irene's gaze sharpened. In the gap between her and Kalpas, the lines of Mirror Sync were instantly constructed.
Starry Judah appeared directly between the two, parrying Kalpas's hand aside. At the same time, the chains on Judah instantly burst forth, attempting to bind Kalpas securely.
Kalpas looked at the suddenly appearing Judah and knocked it away with an Iron Mountain Lean. Meanwhile, Irene, on the other side of Judah, had already kicked off it, sending herself away.
Judah's chains wound around Kalpas's body. Kalpas glanced at the chains trying to bind him, reached out, tore all the chains on him apart, and ruthlessly threw Judah aside.
Without active driving, to restrain him with Judah, one would at least need to open the Grace Field. He had fought under the barrier of the genuine Herrscher of Binding back in the day; this alone couldn't trap him.
"Well? Are you satisfied with this level?" Irene landed on the ground, holding her twin blades across her chest to prevent Kalpas from rushing up again. "But it looks like the Explosive Blossom and Death-Herald Sword Qi didn't cause much trouble."
Death-Herald Sword Qi... although it had strong clearing ability against fodder under the enhancement of Authority, against powerful units, it could only be used for containment.
The purpose of [Irene] developing this skill was to supplement Irene's current extreme lack of long-range output capability.
The development process wasn't difficult either; it was just swapping the Honkai energy used to condense Sword Qi in the Taixuan Sword Qi for black mist.
Explosive Blossom was the skill [Irene] had been researching all along, and its effect was very brutal. It possessed both Decomposition and Creation Authorities.
It looked like just a crystal flying out, but upon impact or receiving any attack, the crystal would immediately absorb the surrounding Honkai energy and then explode instantly, like the steel bearings of a grenade.
The exploded crystals could also repeat the above operation until the Creation Authority supporting the repetition was exhausted, or Irene actively stopped it, or the crystals were completely destroyed.
And all the exploded crystals could dissolve into black mist on the spot. It counted as an ultimate move [Irene] developed for Irene, but it seemed it wasn't quite enough to be effective against a powerful unit like Kalpas.
"You want to get acknowledgment with just this kind of skill?" Kalpas turned his head to look at Irene. The next moment, he rushed towards Irene fiercely, his speed even faster than before.
When he appeared again, Kalpas delivered a whip kick carrying flames, chopping down towards Irene from high above.
However, Kalpas clearly held back on this strike. He only intended to hit Irene's shoulder. With the abilities of the Herrscher of Death, this strike wouldn't be fatal.
But what Kalpas didn't expect was that just as his leg was about to hit, Irene's shoulder suddenly vanished—or rather, it turned into a puff of smoke.
The gaze under Kalpas's mask sharpened. The whip kick that had missed quickly changed direction, kicking towards Irene's waist. But Irene's waist also dissipated into smoke in that instant, causing Kalpas to kick empty air again.
Irene's upper body, draped in chains, was pulled away directly by the Judah that Kalpas had knocked flying earlier. The parts that had vanished previously gradually grew back under the illumination of white light.
Kalpas's eyes under the mask narrowed tightly as he looked at Irene. "Did you just decompose yourself?"
What Irene did just now wasn't hard to guess. The Authority of the Herrscher of Death inherently carried the aspect of Decomposition. Irene had definitely decomposed her own body to dodge those attacks.
"Yeah, consider it an imitation of Pardo's ability." Irene moved her waist slightly. It seemed [Irene]'s learning progress these days was indeed quite good; at least she didn't feel any problems with her waist now.
Anyway, everything that should be there was there. She didn't feel like anything was missing, and it was exactly the same as her previous waist.
Of course, compared to Pardo's noble Quantization evasion, Irene's move could at most be considered sacrificing a piece to save the whole, only Irene could repair herself.
"Hmph, petty tricks!" Kalpas snorted coldly. Although his words were disdainful, his movements became increasingly sharp. He no longer gave Irene any chance to catch her breath, his fists igniting with raging flames.
Like two small suns crashing to the earth, he launched an offensive like a violent storm with the purest power and speed.
Fists, elbows, knees, legs... every part of his body turned into the deadliest weapon, wrapped in flames that burned everything, enveloping Irene's vital points. The scorching heat even caused the air to distort.
The ground beneath their feet cracked and melted inch by inch in the aftershocks. Facing this endless stream of attacks, Irene showed no fear. Her figure shifted and moved within the narrow space, while the twin blades in her hands wove an impenetrable screen of swords before her.
Countless Death-Herald Sword Qi shot towards Kalpas. The flames on Kalpas's back were deeply penetrated, and the sharp Sword Qi carrying black mist directly decomposed the clothes on Kalpas's body.
Even Kalpas's physical body began to show signs of decomposition. Scalding hot blood fell to the ground from the wounds, but Kalpas paid no heed to this, his attacks bombarding Irene's body like a tidal wave.
[Irene] also faithfully fulfilled the obligations she had undertaken earlier, analyzing Kalpas's attack trajectory for Irene without a moment's pause.
After the analysis was complete, she would remind Irene to dissolve that part of her flesh and then restore it with Creation, so Irene only needed to focus on attacking.
Irene exchanged a punch with Kalpas. The exploding flames pushed Irene away directly, and she slammed heavily onto the ground. Watching Kalpas rushing over, Irene's palm suddenly grabbed at the surrounding black mist.
A tiny spike appeared in Irene's hand once again and flew towards Kalpas.
Kalpas naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for the same move. He immediately prepared to dodge, but the Explosive Blossom could be triggered by more than just impact.
With a thought from Irene, the crystal needle stopped suddenly halfway through its flight. Then it began to explode in place, hitting the ground, absorbing, and exploding again. Countless crystal needles stabbed directly towards Kalpas.
"Annoying bugs!" Kalpas roared, obviously angered by this endlessly entangling tactic. He no longer held back. He slammed his fists together, and a shockwave of flames far more terrifying than before exploded outwards with him at the center!
The tyrannical flames spread directly in all directions. The swarm of crystal needles rushing towards him was directly incinerated by the terrifying heat, not even getting the chance to absorb Honkai energy and multiply again.
Then, from within the exploding flames, Kalpas, his whole body wrapped in fire, shot out violently, heading straight for Irene's chest. The speed was so fast that Irene could only barely decompose her chest in an attempt to dodge.
But in the next moment, Kalpas stomped his foot with massive force. The terrifying energy shockwave directly blew Irene away. Kalpas saw it clearly: Irene could indeed decompose most areas to achieve the goal of evasion.
But Irene still had to ensure she had a head. However, it was obvious that Kalpas wasn't here to kill anyone this time, so he naturally couldn't aim for the head.
But as long as there was a body, it meant Irene still had places to take damage. Since point attacks were of little use against Irene, he would just cover the whole area.
And just as Kalpas expected, facing the terrifying flame shockwave, Irene could only wrap the black mist around her whole body. Heavy Honkai chains and crystals wrapped around Irene's body, attempting to tank it hard.
But with Irene's current abilities, trying to tank Kalpas head-on was still a bit lacking. Within the scorching flames, Irene was directly blown away. Not only that, but Irene also felt like she had been kicked.
The crystals originally used for defense on her body shattered instantly. Just as she was about to smash heavily into the ground, a streak of pink light flashed past, and Elysia appeared gracefully behind her.
Reaching out to catch her steadily, a layer of soft light enveloped Irene, blocking the subsequent energy shockwave for her.
Seeing that Elysia had arrived, Kalpas gradually retracted his aura. The flames constantly burning on his body slowly extinguished as he looked at Irene standing up.
White light constantly surged on Irene's body, repairing the injuries she had just sustained in the flame shockwave one by one. The Herrscher of Death might not have abilities as weird as other Herrschers,
Or control over the four fundamental forces—things that could be massively developed—nor was she like the later Herrschers who focused mainly on mechanics.
But in terms of endurance alone, if she claimed to be second, no one would dare claim to be first. As long as she had one breath left, Irene could recover. And for the Herrscher of Death, keeping one breath was very simple.
Kalpas crossed his arms, looking at Irene whose aura had recovered in an instant. "This level is still far off. Aside from being able to survive, there's nothing decent about it."
"Sigh, haha." Irene scratched her head while looking at Kalpas. "It shouldn't be that bad, right? It's just that you're too strong, Brother Kalpas, right?"
"Yes, yes." Elysia, standing to the side, also chimed in. "Kalpas, you can't bully Irene. And didn't Irene hurt you?"
Elysia looked at Kalpas, whose protective suit on his upper body had been decomposed by the black mist, looking tattered. Under the protection, his body had also suffered a large number of wounds corroded by the black mist.
"Hmph." Kalpas looked down at himself, let out a cold snort, and then turned to leave. His goal this time had been achieved; Irene had the ability to protect herself.
And as the Herrscher of Death, Irene's survival ability was guaranteed. So, he had to go back and continue keeping a close eye on that fellow, Mobius.
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