"She went straight into the Active Honkai Reaction state. Is she anxious after seeing the Judgment of Shamash earlier?"
Hua pursed her lips slightly. The ground at her feet was already covered in pitch-black sludge. Spears of emerald lightning occasionally surged up from the black mud and exploded. Her robes fluttered as she dodged and weaved with seemingly random movements, yet the dazzling lightning arcs couldn't even touch her clothes.
"If this continues, by the time those two get involved, the whole city will be destroyed by Mobius... Heh, truly Mobius, as crazy as ever... Wait, the Artificial Honkai Transformation is deepening!"
Boom—
A massive scepter appeared abruptly, smashing two or three parallel streets into a semi-concave curve. Hua narrowly dodged the blow, only to find Mobius's body beginning a secondary transformation—she, it, had originally transformed from human to serpent, but now was actually reverting back towards a human form.
The scales covering her entire body, along with the flesh beneath, began to wither into falling sludge, completely exposing the gnarled vertebrae, part black, part emerald, of her lower half. The upper body followed suit, but the pitch-black bones actually proliferated on their own, from the spine to simple ribs, bizarre horned shoulder blades, then slender arms and particularly thick, sharp claws.
Only in the gap between the ribs, where the heart should be, could Mobius's original torso and scattered long hair be seen. Yet, for an Active Honkai Reaction, this looked even stranger.
After all, Artificial Honkai Transformation was supposed to be a MANTISes releasing all bodily restrictions, transforming towards the direction of Honkai. Mobius's current state bore little resemblance to the Sesa form Hua remembered.
Of course, every Fusion Warrior's Artificial Honkai Transformation was different. There was Kosma, who almost completely turned into Vishnu; Kevin, who became half-beast; Aponia, who didn't change much; Kalpas, who practically became a mass of fire; and Michael, who turned into a thousand-meter-tall giant.
But compared to any of the above, Mobius's current state was exceedingly strange—rather than entering an Artificial Honkai Transformation state and becoming the monster before her, it seemed more like she was piloting this monster as a driver.
"Hehehe... Hehehehe... How about it, Hua? Are you a little surprised by my appearance?"
The giant scepter from earlier was gripped in the giant "her" hand. The cold laughter echoed continuously in Hua's ears.
"No need to be surprised, my dear little guinea pig. I invented the Fusion Warrior surgery. I am the world's first Fusion Warrior. It was I who created the possibility for you to become Fusion Warriors, and it was also I who granted you the ability of Artificial Honkai Transformation. So, for me to become even stronger based on this, hehehe, is it hard to understand? Ah, right, I almost forgot. You, my most useful little guinea pig, can no longer enter the Artificial Honkai Transformation state because of the Divine Voice's influence... Tsk tsk tsk, how pitiful!"
"Perhaps..."
Hua nodded expressionlessly. Before she could finish her sentence, lightning arcs as fine as hairs filled her entire vision.
Mobius's anger was palpable, but Hua naturally didn't understand the cause of this fury.
Or perhaps, it was just as Mobius said next:
"Although you were the most useful little guinea pig I ever encountered, besides that woman, the one I hate, hate the most is you—why must you always imitate him!!!"
"That is not imitation—"
Compared to the somewhat exasperated Mobius, Hua's reaction was much calmer. She sighed softly, about to explain something, but unfortunately, this attitude further enraged Mobius—perhaps it was that all the past experiences gave everyone reasons they had to be angry, yet they could never find the target for their anger.
"I don't need—you to tell me!"
Mobius raised the scepter high. The pitch-black sky completely succumbed to green in that brief instant. Lightning wove together, filling the entire space densely. Naturally, this was also an unavoidable blow.
"Sigh..."
Hua lowered her head, seemingly unprepared to block this strike from Mobius. She certainly had countless ways to deal with this attack, including but not limited to tanking it with the physique granted by the Divine Voice and Garuda's self-healing ability. But she didn't know if Mobius was doing this intentionally, or if she simply hadn't noticed the presence of the newcomer to the battle—
"Causality Transposition!"
An energy wave invisible to the naked eye swept past, seemingly changing nothing.
The thunderstorm controlled by Mobius ravaged everything visible. But when the thunderstorm dissipated, Hua stood unharmed in her original spot. Even the ruins around her showed no change compared to before the storm descended. Instead, the attacker, Mobius, was wrapped in tiny green electrical arcs, her giant body standing rigidly in place.
This was Su's Causality Transposition, twisting cause and effect, redirecting all damage caused by an attack back to the attacker themselves.
"Ling Shuang!"
Hua called out softly, stopping the girl who had rushed out from the side. The girl had just halted when a black shadow flashed before her eyes, and her hands felt empty simultaneously. When she came to her senses, she only saw her Master's back, wielding the sword, charging towards the monster.
Without many fancy moves, nor was it an unstoppable attack, Hua swung just once, easily slicing open the neck of the defenseless Mobius, just like before.
Two or three breaths after she landed, Ling Shuang caught up.
Watching the monster's enormous body tilt to the side, causing the entire world to tremble along with it, Ling Shuang scratched her head and asked uncertainly:
"That's the second time, Master. She won't come back to life again, right?"
The girl was truly shaken.
In the past nearly ten years, it wasn't as if she hadn't followed her master down the mountain to vanquish demons. She had encountered hard-to-kill monsters, not many, but not none either. But those were mostly due to lack of combat experience, failing to hit vital points.
Like the woman before her, who could recover perfectly even after having her head cut off—this was truly the first time she had seen such a thing.
Master once said that birth, aging, sickness, death, meeting, and parting were the fundamental laws of the mortal world that no one could break. Measured by this standard, the woman before her had clearly broken the law.
Hey! You broke the law, you know that!
Of course, Ling Shuang only dared to think this internally, because Master also seemed ageless and immortal. Master had also violated this fundamental law.
Master, you broke the law too, you know that!
Hua didn't have the girl's extensive inner monologue. She first handed the sword back to Ling Shuang, then took a deep breath and replied:
"Ling Shuang, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Before long, she will revive again."
"Ah?"
"This woman before us, she cannot be killed."
Ling Shuang blinked. Right, she was Master's acquaintance after all. They seemed antagonistic, but not like mortal enemies. If Master wasn't certain the other party couldn't be killed, she wouldn't have ordered her disciple or personally delivered a killing blow twice in a row.
"Then aren't we going to be stuck with her all day?"
"That won't be necessary."
The sudden male voice put Ling Shuang instantly on guard. Even though the man named Su appeared without any malice, she merely lowered the sword held before her, her eyes still fixed firmly on Su's every move.
Su paid her no mind, walking directly to Hua's side, opening his eyes, and silently observing the giant corpse before them.
Even knowing now wasn't the time for sentimentality, he couldn't help but sigh deeply:
"Long time no see, Mobius. I never expected we'd meet again in such a state after fifty thousand years."
Thinking this, he couldn't help but glance in another direction. The battlefield on the other side of Kolosten had been silent for a long time. He didn't know what had happened, but with the power of those two, they shouldn't have settled the score with just the previous level of attack.
For them, that probably wasn't even an appetizer.
Seeing his movement, Hua also turned her head. She naturally understood what Su was thinking:
"Kevin and... his side, how are things?"
Su shook his head decisively:
"Don't know. Kevin's consciousness is still connected to my communication network, that's certain, but for some reason, he hasn't responded to my calls."
"Then let's deal with Mobius's problem first."
Both turned their heads back simultaneously. Mobius's corpse was gradually disintegrating, showing not the slightest sign of revival, completely different from the process they remembered.
"How could this be!"
It wasn't like this just moments ago.
"Hua... you didn't... actually kill Mobius, did you?"
Hua shook her head. Of course, she couldn't be entirely certain, but given Mobius's personality, if she had truly lost the ability to revive, it was hard to say she would get involved in this matter in such a way. She should have known before the fight that she wouldn't just face Hua alone, but also Su, who could reinforce at any moment. And judging by her combat performance, although she boasted quite a bit earlier, her fighting strength hadn't actually improved much.
Uh... maybe it was just because Hua had gotten stronger?
But Hua found this possibility hard to believe. Firstly, Mobius would never put herself in a situation where she couldn't revive; five thousand, even fifty thousand years was enough time for her to tinker with even more formidable things.
Secondly, Michael would never let Mobius die. That was absolutely impossible. Hua firmly believed this.
"Careful!"
Hua narrowed her eyes and took a step back, simultaneously pulling Ling Shuang behind her. Although Su didn't know exactly what she was thinking, he also retreated slightly following her lead.
The two silently stared at Mobius's hundred-meter-long corpse—
Ten seconds...
Thirty seconds...
Three minutes...
Ten minutes...
Yet Mobius's corpse just steadfastly decomposed towards a state of sludge, at an unusually fast speed.
The viscous sludge gradually crept towards the trio's feet. Hua warily took another step back, only to find the sludge had already surrounded them, leaving only enough space to stand.
Before anyone could react, the sludge submerged their ankles.
"Urgh—"
Among the three, only Ling Shuang encountered the sludge for the first time. A tingling numbness spread through her calves. She couldn't help but let out a soft grunt, her whole body twitching twice before quickly adapting to the sensation.
"Su, can you use Causality Transposition again?"
"Of course, no problem. In these fifty thousand years, I haven't been entirely without progress."
Hua and Su dared not relax for a moment. Although they hadn't been in contact for fifty thousand years, they once had incredible tacit understanding... alright, put a question mark on that, but at least they were once comrades-in-arms. That much tacit understanding remained. With just this brief question and answer, Su understood Hua's meaning.
Su claimed he hadn't been entirely without progress in fifty thousand years; the same was surely true for Mobius. Given her level of madness, the experiments she conducted on her own body over fifty thousand years couldn't number less than a thousand. Just treat the current bizarre situation as a new ability Mobius gained through experimentation. What mattered was grasping the key point.
What was the key?
Conservation of energy, equivalent exchange, nothing more.
No matter how powerful Mobius was, no matter what new abilities she possessed, her resurrection inevitably required a massive supply of Honkai energy.
Last time might have been coincidence, or perhaps meticulous planning; she happened to "leech" off the residual Honkai energy from an outburst. Now, there was no such good opportunity.
The small amount of ambient Honkai energy radiation was absolutely insufficient. Even in the Previous Era, it was only near the very end that the environmental Honkai energy radiation was barely enough for Mobius to revive. Now, in this era where even Herrschers didn't exist, the environmental Honkai energy radiation wasn't non-existent, but it was practically negligible.
Therefore, if Mobius wanted to revive, her choices for energy extraction targets were limited—none other than the three people present, and the Key of Domination in Ling Shuang's hands.
What they needed to do was somewhat contradictory. They certainly couldn't allow Mobius to seize energy and revive freely. Yet, as former comrades, before understanding the situation clearly, they naturally couldn't just watch Mobius fail to obtain Honkai energy and face an unknown outcome.
Fortunately, a long, long time ago, Hua had witnessed the correct way to handle such a situation. And that was when Mobius first touched death...
She met Su's gaze again. To be safe, she was about to confirm if he truly understood her unspoken meaning when a somewhat familiar voice, though she couldn't recall where she'd heard it, sounded behind her:
"Hey, Old Coot! You done over here?"
Su closed his eyes, pretending he hadn't heard anything. Hua looked at him, then turned to look at Eleanor, who was approaching, supporting Kallen with one hand and carrying the Abyss Flower with the other.
She suppressed an inexplicable urge to laugh and asked knowingly:
"Who is Old Coot?"
"Ah? Ahem! I mean, Mr. Su, and Immortal Phoenix..."
"Heh... Wait! Get back!"
"Ah!"
The change came abruptly. Although Su, Hua, Ling Shuang, and the Key of Domination were already within the sludge's coverage, it, or rather Mobius's consciousness, waited until the weaker Eleanor and Kallen arrived before locking onto the final target—the Abyss Flower.
Yes, this was Mobius's consciousness. Su, a psychic-type Fusion Warrior, and Hua, possessing Fenghuang Down, both sensed this now. This was Mobius's progress; her consciousness was no longer chaotic during the post-death waiting period for resurrection, but remarkably clear.
But understanding was one thing; there was no time to say more now. Su directly activated Causality Transposition again. He instantly froze in place, while the pitch-black sludge continued to surge towards Eleanor and the Abyss Flower in her hand. Yet, upon actual contact, it passed right through them like a phantom.
"This..."
Eleanor and Kallen had no idea what was happening, and Su and Hua had no time to explain.
"Well then... Su, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Mm, I can suppress her for now. I also know what you want to say. Don't worry, those two should be able to do it."
Hua let out a long sigh of relief, turning to look at Ling Shuang, who held the Xuanyuan Sword expressionlessly. A smile touched her face:
"Then you can rest assured too. Ling Shuang is my most prized disciple. Compared to me fifty thousand years ago, she is even better."