Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Get closer to me and return the way we came."

The night was always the enemy of humans, because no one knew what was gathering strength behind the pitch-black unknown.

Therefore, although he knew that both Ellie and Sakura were capable of standing on their own, Michael still kept reminding them to stay close to him.

"Grumble…" A low growl suddenly came from the alley on his right. Michael glanced out of the corner of his eye. The faint purple Honkai energy that spilled out outlined its shape. He looked at the unreliable Honkai energy detector on his wrist and found that it was just a "small mosquito."

Sakura instinctively lowered her body and gripped her sword. Before her blade could be drawn, Michael stopped her.

"No need."

There was no need to waste time and energy on a "small mosquito." Moreover, who knew if the commotion from this slash would attract more Honkai beasts?

The desolate street scene in front of them gave a false impression, as if they were in an uninhabited area where they could destroy anything at will. But if they looked at the neon lights in the sky to the north, they would realize that they were still in the city and should be careful.

"The detection range of the Honkai energy detector is only about half a block. Michael, be careful. Immer's drone is still searching for human traces and can't provide you with reconnaissance for the time being," Himeko reminded him through the communication device.

Michael heard her, but he didn't take it too seriously. Judging from the amount of Honkai energy reaction, there were probably one or two large beasts around ten meters in the districts, but the so-called large beasts were for ordinary soldiers. In front of Michael, Ellie, and Sakura, they were a bit lacking.

And the current situation of the abandoned districts also seemed to confirm this – if there wasn't a particularly powerful Honkai beast as the leader, these Honkai beasts shouldn't be following the rule of being active during the night and hiding during the day. But this Honkai beast shouldn't be particularly powerful. Otherwise, it wouldn't dare to make any moves during the day.

But even if he wasn't taking it too seriously, Michael wasn't being so foolish as to be completely unprepared. His eyes would occasionally scan the screen of the Honkai energy detector. It was like a weather forecast, showing the changes in Honkai energy concentration in half a block.

Behind him, Sakura and Ellie were on either side, walking sideways with their backs to the outside. The entire team formed a triangle with their backs to each other.

"Boom-boom-boom…" The familiar vibrations came from the left front. Michael quickly pulled the two girls, and the three of them pressed themselves against the wall.

Then, they saw a Chariot-Class Honkai beast over three meters tall slowly crawling out of the underground garage next to them.

The three of them held their breath. After the beast had walked away, they started moving again.

Immer's frivolous voice came through the communication device:

"Sub-Captain, I've found the place where those people are hiding. Now the drone is moving back to your side… Hey? Captain, did you see that white line on the screen just now?"

Himeko was stunned for a moment, and then her face turned pale. She roared, "Michael!"

Michael had realized that something was wrong as soon as he heard "white line." His mind seemed to jump into the sky in an instant, looking down at the three districts.

"Immer was flying north all the time, and we were originally on the north-south road. After turning twice, we should now be on the east-west road…"

"Prepare for battle!"

Thinking of this, he pulled Ellie and Sakura behind him, stood facing the northeast, and lowered his center of gravity slightly…

"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"

The Honkai energy detector suddenly sounded, which was an alarm triggered by a rapid increase in the Honkai energy concentration within the detection range.

Michael instinctively wanted to look down at the screen, but after overcoming this impulse, when he looked at the darkness in front of him again, his eyes still had the afterimage left by the light.

"It's too late!"

This thought flashed through his mind. He only had time to push Sakura and Ellie to either side, and a huge black shadow appeared in front of him.

"It's fast, but the Honkai energy reaction isn't strong. The attack power won't be too high. Construct a matrix energy shield, transform the lower legs into roller skates, and do a slide, I can dodge it! Hmm, Immer hasn't arrived yet, so this part won't be recorded!"

In an instant, he had clearly judged the situation and made a plan to deal with it.

Things developed as he had expected. The blue matrix barrier was quickly constructed half a meter in front of him, separating him from the incoming Honkai beast.

But just as he was about to do the next slide…

A biting, bone-chilling cold had spread out without him knowing it. Michael wanted to follow his plan and make a move, but his body didn't react at all.

"Freezing? No, wait! It's not me that's being frozen, it's!"

After all, he had fought the Second Herrscher before. Michael sensed a very familiar feeling in this coldness, which was a spatial fluctuation – it wasn't him that was being frozen, but space!

The freezing of space caused the entire space to become brittle. The matrix barrier, which Michael had expected to be able to barely withstand a railgun shot, shattered instantly.

"Boom!"

A total of five buildings collapsed like dominoes. The collapsing buildings crashed into the other buildings, causing an even larger scale of collapse.

"Michael, what happened! Michael!"

"Sub-Captain!"

Various shouts came through the communication device.

"Chii!"

At the last moment, Michael dodged and used his armpit to grab the Honkai beast's claw, but its powerful force sent him flying dozens of meters away.

Only then did he suddenly realize that his judgment might have been wrong – this wasn't an ordinary Honkai beast!

That technique of freezing space, if he wasn't mistaken…

Was it a yaksha? Impossible, how could there be an Emperor-Class Honkai beast here!?

Seeing that the young man in front of it hadn't died, the Honkai beast didn't hesitate to raise its other claw and slam it down.

It tried to freeze space again, but Michael wouldn't fall into the same trap twice.

The golden gem appeared on his chest. Space trembled, and the Honkai beast's attempt to freeze space instantly became futile.

Michael didn't waste any time. Taking advantage of the situation, he used both hands to grab one of the Honkai beast's giant claws, exerted force in his waist, and easily lifted the nearly one-ton Honkai beast, slamming it down again.

"Ha!"

The entire road surface shattered, revealing spiderweb-like cracks.

Michael's tiger's mouth also cracked because it couldn't withstand the impact, and the pain made him unconsciously let go.

The Honkai beast wailed and rolled on the ground, and then it flapped its thin, cicada-like wings and tried to fly away.

But Ellie had already arrived. She was holding a steel bar. Seeing a black shadow rising into the air through the flying dust, she immediately twisted her waist and exerted force, throwing the steel bar. There was a sonic boom, and the dust in the sky was torn open.

The steel bar accurately hit the base of the Honkai beast's wing, shattering the entire wing.

At the same time, a figure rose into the air, crossing a crescent moon.

The next moment, a bright blade of moonlight shone, facing the crescent moon.

By the time Michael couldn't help but close his eyes due to the bright blade light, he heard the soft hum of the blade cutting through the air.

The Honkai beast's massive body crashed to the ground. Michael and Ellie instinctively gave each other a high five. When it was Sakura's turn, she hesitated for a moment and then lightly bumped her palm against Michael's and Ellie's.

Immer's drone arrived late and could only turn on the lights on its belly to illuminate the battlefield.

What appeared in front of Michael and the others was a strange creature less than three meters long, with two pink tentacles on its head. On closer inspection, they found that they were its long, thin ears. It had wings on its back and upper limbs but no lower limbs.

One of its wings was already shattered, and a huge gash was torn from its chest to its abdomen. From the wound, organs slowly flowed out, and Honkai energy was dissipating in the form of small purple squares.

"This… why does it look so strange?" This was Ellie's comment.

"I think it looks like a moth with hands." Sakura said.

"I'm more curious. Are its ears donkey ears or rabbit ears? They're definitely not fox ears." Michael glanced at Sakura without showing any expression.

"Michael, the city hall wants us to give them an explanation. What about the news tomorrow morning?" This was Himeko, who had been looking worried just now.

"Just say that the demolition company caused an explosion. What's so difficult about that?" Michael muttered.

Himeko asked again, "This is a Honkai beast that we've never seen before. Michael, give it a name."

"Let's just call it yaksha." He was secretly wondering: from the perspective of its abilities, it should be a yaksha, but shouldn't a yaksha be an Emperor-Class Honkai beast?

But the Honkai energy reaction in the districts couldn't support the existence of an Emperor-Class Honkai beast. Unless all the Honkai energy was concentrated on the yaksha, it would barely be able to enter the ranks of an upper-level Honkai beast.

"Sub-Captain, the Honkai energy concentration in your area is increasing. It's probably the energy dissipating from the Honkai beast's corpse. To be safe, you should leave quickly. I'll use the drone to spray a special cleaning agent in ten minutes."

"Okay."

Michael patted the dust off his body and prepared to leave.

He casually asked, "Immer, your detectors can cover the entire district, right? Take a look and confirm if the increase in Honkai energy concentration is from the corpse dissipating, or if Honkai energy from other areas is gathering here."

"Okay, Sub-Captain… Wait, Sub-Captain, you were right! It's not from the corpse dissipating! It's not from the corpse dissipating!"

But Michael and the others had already noticed the abnormality before him – the sound of Honkai beasts' footsteps came from all directions, and Michael quickly led the two of them to hide among the ruins on the side.

They saw countless "small mosquitoes" and "small cars" running to the dying Honkai beast and handing over their Honkai energy one by one to the yaksha, and they themselves turned into shriveled skin and flesh, falling at its feet.

"No! We have to stop it!"

Michael quickly jumped out of the ruins.

But it was too late.

The shriveled corpses of the lower-level Honkai beasts rotated around the yaksha, forming a large white and purple cocoon. Michael punched the cocoon, and heard a "crack" sound. His forearm bent ninety degrees, and the pain made tears well up in his eyes.

"Sakura!"

Before Michael could call out, Sakura's blade light had already shone.

But at that moment, the cocoon was torn open from the inside, and a brand-new yaksha emerged from its shell. Its entire body seemed to have swelled up, and it even had an extra pair of wings. Its claws collided with the blade light, and the reversed air currents directly overturned the drone that was directly overhead.

After blocking the slash, it grabbed the blade with its claws and twisted it lightly. The katana, which wasn't made of Soul Steel, instantly shattered into three pieces. The middle piece grazed Sakura's face, cutting off a few strands of hair.

Michael and Ellie exchanged glances and tried to attack from the side and back, but the yaksha had gained an extra pair of wings. They flapped them fiercely, and the cold wind that was stirred up made Michael stagger back, and Ellie, who was lighter, was even sent flying.

"Sakura! Retreat!"

Michael shouted loudly.

The cold wind scattered his voice, but Sakura should be able to hear his instructions through the communication device.

But Sakura glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Instead of retreating, she advanced, pulled out the wakizashi from her chest, and stabbed it forward.

The distance was too close! The yaksha tried to dodge sideways, but it was still stabbed in the shoulder. In pain, it raised its wings and tried to fly away.

"Sakura! Let go! Let go!"

Sakura didn't let go. She held onto the wakizashi tightly, so much so that she was hoisted dozens of meters into the air by the yaksha.

And the frightened yaksha flapped its wings and flew shakily to the south, finally disappearing from Michael's sight.