Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"What's going on?!"

Since the three of them weren't wearing battle recorders, Himeko could only listen to the exclamations of surprise over the communication device, fuming with frustration.

As for the drone Immer was piloting—unfortunately, it had been overturned and fallen into the ruins. The status of its other components was unclear, but at least the belly camera was completely destroyed. Now, the screen in front of him displayed nothing but static.

"The dead Yaksha suddenly attacked us…" Michael's strained voice came through. "Sakura injured it, and it flew away, but Sakura..."

Michael groaned, his body visibly struggling as he reconstructed his broken right arm. He quickly recounted the chaotic events to Himeko.

"Sub-Captains," Lucien, the squad medic, interjected, his tone sharp with urgency. "I must remind you that you've been in a high Honkai energy concentration area for more than four hours. It's best to leave immediately. Otherwise, the Honkai energy might have irreversible effects on your bodies."

Himeko remained silent. She was waiting for her subordinates to make a decision.

Michael exhaled heavily. "Hah…"

"It hasn't even been a minute since the Yaksha left…" he muttered. "We should be able to make it!"

Michael turned to look at Ellie. Before he could explain further, Ellie had already anticipated his decision.

"Let's go! Let's bring Sakura back!" she said firmly.

But she had only guessed half of his plan.

"No, Ellie…" Michael said.

"You leave the districts. I'll stay and save Sakura."

"?"

Michael gave her a look, although in the darkness, it was impossible to see anyone's eyes.

After all, Michael wasn't quite sure about Ellie's physical condition. Only two things were certain:

1. She was a Herrscher.

2. Her human body structure was exactly the same as an ordinary person's.

So, who knew if the Honkai energy concentration here would affect Ellie, who hadn't undergone the MANTIS surgery yet?

"Okay… okay…" Ellie understood what Michael was worried about. She even felt slightly embarrassed by his constant concern. With a faint smile, she agreed to follow his instructions.

"Be… be careful…"

Meanwhile, the Yaksha climbed and dove erratically, stirring up a bone-chilling current in its efforts to shake off the "little bug" clinging to its body.

Sakura gripped her wakizashi with one hand, relentlessly striking the Yaksha's hardened exoskeleton with the other. Her attacks had no visible effect.

The high-altitude winds stiffened her joints, leaving her entire body trembling. Her lips had turned a purplish-blue from the cold, but she refused to let go.

This wakizashi was more than a weapon—it was a birthday gift from Rin last year.

The Yaksha performed several rolls, trying to dislodge her. Its claws couldn't bend far enough to reach its shoulder, adding to its frustration.

Sakura, however, kept twisting the wakizashi, deliberately widening the wound. Each motion inflicted fresh pain on the Yaksha, driving it into a frenzy.

With an ear-piercing shriek, the Yaksha dove toward the sea. It skimmed the water's surface with its wings, dragging Sakura into the icy depths.

The cold seawater drained her strength. After choking on several mouthfuls, her oxygen-starved body began to falter. Her fingers loosened, barely holding onto the wakizashi.

"Squawk!"

Suddenly, the Yaksha froze mid-flight, startled by something unseen. It shot upward in a nearly vertical climb, soaring a hundred meters above the sea.

The abrupt G-force caused Sakura's vision to blur. She nearly lost her grip but gritted her teeth and found a hidden reserve of strength.

Her fingers tightened around the hilt as her eyes focused on the beach in the distance. A figure was rushing toward her, trailing a brilliant blue streak.

"Is that the Sub-Captain…?"

Her thoughts felt sluggish, as if her mind were stuck in molasses.

She was trapped in a dilemma. Even if she let go now, falling from dozens of meters into the water would be no different from hitting concrete.

But her body was at its limit. She couldn't muster any more strength.

Her mind screamed at her to hold onto the wakizashi, to take it back. Yet, her fingers betrayed her, slipping bit by bit down the hilt until she let go.

Only two or three seconds remained before she would hit the surface, but it felt like an eternity.

They said time slowed down before death, granting one a moment to relive their life.

But her mind was blank. Perhaps in her short life, besides Rin, there wasn't much worth recalling.

And now, even the wakizashi that symbolized Rin was gone. It remained embedded in the Yaksha as it flew unsteadily toward the dark districts.

Her vision spun wildly. She glimpsed the distant Yaksha, then the brightly lit outer districts of Ruruye, and finally, as her altitude dropped, her focus settled on the dark, abandoned districts below.

"Huh?"

Out of nowhere, a glowing blue line appeared, stretching from the coast to the space beneath her. It was as if someone had casually drawn it with a pen.

A blurred figure raced along the track, leaving a dazzling blue trail in their wake.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, her fall came to an abrupt halt. Her momentum stopped, and her body was steadied.

Her gaze turned skyward. The stars above were scattered like grains of salt on a black cloth, their patterns random and unknowable.

She stared at them blankly, unable to name a single one.

"Hold your breath, prepare for impact."

Michael's voice came from beside her ear, followed by the familiar feeling of weightlessness. It reminded her of the slide she used to play on as a child.

Tilting her head slightly, she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye. Michael had somehow used his authority to construct a slide—one that stretched dozens of meters into the air.

The translucent blue slide shimmered, reflecting the scattered stars above. It looked as surreal as a shattered dream from years long gone, yet it felt so undeniably real in this moment.

"Splash!"

The dark night sky. The dark sea. The dark districts.

The waves they created went unnoticed by anyone.

Only a lone petrel, startled by the disturbance, flapped its wings and cried out with a sharp "chirp chirp."

Two minutes later, Michael dragged Sakura, who was gasping for air, onto the shore.

Gripping the back of her collar like a kitten, he hauled her onto the breakwater with one hand, climbing effortlessly with his feet.

"Sakura? Sakura?"

Michael laid her gently on her back and patted her cheek.

She didn't respond.

He quickly checked her breathing and pulse. Both were faint, alarmingly weak.

"Did she inhale too much water?"

Michael acted without hesitation. Pinching her jaw, he adjusted her head to clear her airway. Then, straddling her, he clasped his hands together and began pressing firmly on her chest.

"Ugh!"

A gush of seawater spilled out of Sakura's mouth immediately.

Michael pressed down on her chest a few more times, only stopping when Sakura finally stopped spitting out seawater.

"Sakura?"

He patted her cheek again.

Still, she didn't respond.

Her breathing had returned to normal, though her pulse was racing slightly. Michael noticed but chose not to comment.

With a simple gesture, he hoisted Sakura over his shoulder.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated. The Honkai energy within a thousand-meter radius swirled into a vortex, converging toward him at the center.

All the Honkai energy reactions in the area became clear in his mind, displayed without concealment. This method was far more precise than any detector.

After a brief moment of focus, Michael settled on a location: a small factory nearby.

The factory was close to other districts, the Honkai energy concentration was within tolerable levels for ordinary people, and, most importantly, it likely had internet access.

Reaching the factory, Michael kicked open the door to the security guard's room and gently laid Sakura on the bed in the break room.

The district's power was out, but that didn't stop him. He simply constructed a desk lamp with his authority.

With a soft snap of his fingers, the small break room became the only source of light in the entire district.

He placed a chair by the bed and sat down, carefully thinking about what had happened today.

He couldn't miss a single detail… yes, he couldn't miss a single detail…

Sakura's blue jacket was gone, leaving only a plain white short-sleeved shirt soaked with seawater. Now, as her body temperature recovered, light green salt stains gradually formed. But since the water hadn't completely dried, he could vaguely see the cartoon pattern of a bear and a bee on her undershirt.

No! He couldn't look any further.

Michael, what were you thinking?

He silently gave himself a hard slap across the face. Reluctantly, he forced himself to look away.

But then his eyes fell on his palm. His five fingers were slightly curved, forming an arc that felt both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.

"It's over… I'm not pure anymore…"

He simply ran outside, letting the reversed sea breeze slowly extinguish the restlessness in his heart.

"What's going on, little bro…" he muttered, patting his cheeks.

"Well… it must be that this body has reached the age of… well, puberty. It's not a big deal!"

The salty sea breeze quickly cooled his damp hair and clothes, bringing his thoughts back into focus. He began reviewing everything that had happened today.

The Yaksha that had appeared so suddenly...

In his experience, even after breaking out of its cocoon, it hadn't fully reached the level of an upper-tier Honkai beast. Its danger came more from its peculiar ability to freeze space.

Michael recalled that the girl from his world had once been able to integrate this very ability into her swordsmanship. With it, she could deliver a slash akin to a law—ignoring all defenses, freezing space itself. Within that frozen space, even the target's thoughts might be immobilized.

The Yaksha he faced now, however, wasn't capable of such feats.

Michael considered the situation carefully. If he avoided simulating the Second Herrscher's core and relied solely on raw explosive power, he could likely break free of its freezing ability.

In the grand scheme of things, the Yaksha wasn't a major problem.

The strangest thing about this mission now was just two points.

The strange municipal official, and the humans who still lived in the districts.

With his thoughts organized, Michael began to check the equipment on him.

There was no need to think about the Honkai energy detector. It was definitely dead.

The communication device was still working stably. It had been soaked in seawater.

But the phone, which had been specially modified by Michael, was still working, and it was tough! Moreover, the coast he was on now was close to other districts. Although the wireless signal was intermittent, sending text messages was no problem.

He first reported that he was safe to Himeko and Ellie respectively.

Then, after a long loading time, he connected to the Fire Moth's intranet.

[Search: Liechtenstein family]

The progress bar moved very quickly, instantly reaching 99%, and then it stayed there for nearly half an hour.

By the time Michael lost his patience and wanted to smash his phone on the ground, text finally appeared on the screen.

[The Liechtenstein family, a world-renowned medical family. Of course, among its younger generation, there are also those who engage in business and politics. All of them are social celebrities and political figures. It's worth mentioning that, in the past two years, a young scholar from the Liechtenstein family has cooperated with Dr. Spasi and conducted in-depth research on Honkai sickness.]

The information stopped abruptly. The following part showed that his access level was insufficient.

Michael helplessly exited the intranet and searched on the browser: Alfred von Liechtenstein.

[Alfred von Liechtenstein]

[Position: Municipal Official of the Mu Continent Ruruye Special Administrative Region]

[Past Experience: Unknown]

[Alias: Blondie, Mr. Municipal Official, Sickly Bishounen, The Dream of a Billion Girls in Ruruye]

[An outstanding member of the younger generation of the medical family, Liechtenstein. Last year, he suddenly entered the public eye and successfully became the municipal official of Ruruye using money and good looks. But we don't know what he did before that.]

Michael pursed his lips. "A young scholar, a municipal official with an unknown past. Based on the limited clues, it's hard not to connect these two identities…"

It wasn't that the clue was obvious, but that there were too few clues, so few that they could only make him think that way.

But it wouldn't be difficult to prove it.

He clicked on Mobius's profile picture:

[Michael: Grandma Mobius, are you there?]

[Mobius: Are you sick?]

I knew you weren't asleep yet, old auntie.

[Michael: Have you heard of Alfred von Liechtenstein?]

[Mobius: Isn't he the municipal official of Ruruye? I heard that he's very handsome. I haven't met him in person yet. Is he difficult to deal with? Are you trying to get information from me?]

Mobius used three question marks in a row.

If she were in front of Michael, she would definitely criticize him for this rude questioning.

But now, they were separated by the internet, and he needed her help, so Michael could only endure it.

[Mobius: But I don't know anything about his past.]

Then why were you so smug just now?!

Michael was very angry, but business was more important. He decided to take a roundabout approach:

[Michael: In Dr. Spasi's lab, have you seen a very thin, pale blonde man?]

[Mobius: Yes, that was Dr. Spasi's former assistant. Have you heard of the serum that can treat Honkai sickness? Dr. Spasi successfully developed the first version of the serum six months ago, but he didn't apply for a patent. He explained to me that the theoretical construction of this serum came from his former assistant, but a year ago, during the final experimental phase, he suddenly resigned. Dr. Spasi has always believed that this patent should belong to that assistant.]

[Michael: I see.]

"More than a year ago… It's basically confirmed."

[Michael: What's the principle of the serum?]

[Mobius: Do you think I'm a know-it-all? I don't know!]

[Mobius: However, it is said that the underlying principle of this serum is very simple – it's a type of antibody.]

Michael pondered for a while. His phone battery was only at 3%. He quickly flipped through the news from Ruruye over the past month while he still had time.

A headline caught his attention:

[Shocking! A patient with a severe mental illness from the 502nd Hospital in the Dagon District attempted to escape!]

The sky gradually brightened. The phone's battery ran out and it turned off. Michael had a rough answer in his heart.