Chapter 24 - Chapter 23 – Void

Under the distorted sky, two entities of chaos faced each other. Both radiated a terrifying aura that made the reality around them turbulent. The world seemed to hold its breath, not daring to move.

The Herrscher of the Void floated gracefully with her white wings, her golden eyes coldly regarding the creature standing before her.

True Cthulhu, who had never before encountered an entity capable of matching him, now moved cautiously, his tentacles writhing wildly.

"[𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷??]"

True Cthulhu attempted to communicate again, perhaps to gauge the Herrscher's reaction. But the Herrscher of the Void merely smiled coldly, her eyes narrowing with contempt.

Without warning, True Cthulhu surged forward with impossible speed for his size. Dozens of tentacles attacked from all directions, each moving with extraordinary velocity and emitting a dense aura of chaos.

The Herrscher of the Void didn't move at all. Instead, hundreds of golden portals opened around her, and from within these portals emerged Subspace Lances that shot forth at the speed of light, striking each approaching tentacle.

CRASSHH! CRASSHH! CRASSHH!

Black and purple blood splattered in all directions as the tentacles were easily severed. True Cthulhu emitted a sound like an angry buzz and withdrew his remaining intact tentacles.

"𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥?" The Herrscher of the Void tilted her head, her cold gaze unchanged. "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠."

True Cthulhu roared, his voice shaking the dimension. This time, the creature fully concentrated and began releasing pure chaos energy from his entire body. The air around him rippled and space began to crack like shattered glass.

The Herrscher of the Void remained calm, raising her hand with an elegant gesture.

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡."

With that simple command, thousands of Honkai Beasts charged toward True Cthulhu from all directions. These creatures were like a terrible white storm, each emanating destructive Honkai energy.

True Cthulhu responded by releasing an extremely powerful chaos shockwave. The wave struck the first wave of Honkai Beasts and destroyed them instantly. However, their numbers were too great and they continuously appeared from new portals.

"𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚."

The Herrscher of the Void called with a gentle tone, and from the largest portal emerged a massive dragon approximately 100 meters in size.

Benares, a Judgement-class Honkai Beast, roared loudly as it appeared, its vast wings covering the sky above them.

True Cthulhu recognized the new threat and shifted his attention to Benares. With a swift movement, the creature leaped high and fired a dense chaos energy spiral from its mouth.

Benares nimbly avoided it and retaliated with a blast of purple lightning energy from its mouth. The two attacks collided in mid-air, creating a tremendous explosion that shook the entire area.

DUAAAARRRR!!!

The explosion created a massive crater below them, destroying everything within a radius of several kilometers. The shockwave spread in all directions, demolishing distant mountains and creating tsunamis in nearby oceans.

"𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠." murmured the Herrscher of the Void as she elegantly crossed her legs, still floating in the air. "𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭."

The Herrscher of the Void slowly raised her hand, and the space around True Cthulhu began to tremble. The creature immediately sensed danger and tried to leap away, but it was too late.

"<<𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝>>"

The space around True Cthulhu suddenly collapsed into itself, forming a small singularity that pulled everything around it with tremendous force. True Cthulhu's body was drawn in and compressed from all directions.

However, the creature did not surrender so easily. With an ear-piercing roar, True Cthulhu released an incredibly powerful burst of chaos energy from his entire body, breaking the singularity that imprisoned him.

KRAAAAKKK!!!

The space shattered like glass, and True Cthulhu shot out at high speed, heading straight for the Herrscher of the Void. This time the creature was not toying around. Highly concentrated chaos energy formed energy tentacles around his body, each ready to destroy anything they touched.

The Herrscher of the Void smiled slightly and raised her finger with an elegant movement.

"<<𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫>>"

A golden barrier immediately formed around her as True Cthulhu's energy tentacles struck. Each tentacle exploded violently upon contact with the barrier, creating shockwaves that destroyed everything around them.

With one hand movement, the Herrscher of the Void summoned a Subspace Lance to her hand. The spear shone brightly with pure void energy. With an elegant motion, she swung the spear, creating a wave of Honkai energy that cut through the air toward True Cthulhu.

True Cthulhu did not attempt to dodge. Instead, the creature met the energy wave with its own body. As the energy wave struck, True Cthulhu's body seemed to absorb the attack into itself.

"𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐝," commented the Herrscher of the Void, her eyes widening slightly. "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐛 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲. 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞."

True Cthulhu's body began to shake violently. The absorbed Honkai energy started to conflict with the chaos energy within his body.

The two opposing energies created a highly dangerous instability within the creature. No, more precisely, the Honkai Energy was trying to devour his chaos energy!

But True Cthulhu was no ordinary creature. With a dimension-shaking roar, the creature converted the absorbed Void energy into its own Chaos energy. Its body emitted a much denser chaos aura than before.

"[𝓓𝓲𝓮.... 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷!]"

The words sounded like a broken machine played in reverse, but their meaning was clear. True Cthulhu had managed to utter words that could be understood.

The Herrscher of the Void raised her eyebrow slightly.

With an incredibly fast hand movement, the Herrscher of the Void opened a massive portal behind her. The portal glowed with a very bright golden-purple light. Suddenly, tens of thousands of Subspace Lances shot out from the portal, all aimed at True Cthulhu.

Like a rain of light spears, the Subspace Lances showered True Cthulhu from all directions, giving him no chance to dodge. Each lance exploded upon contact with the creature's body, creating tremendously powerful Void energy explosions.

DUAARR! DUAARR! DUAARR!

Explosion after explosion enveloped True Cthulhu's body, creating a massive cloud of dust and energy. The ground beneath them cracked and collapsed, creating an increasingly deep and wide crater.

However, as the dust began to settle, True Cthulhu was still standing there. His body was covered in wounds and some parts had been destroyed, but the creature was still alive and emitting stable chaos energy.

"[𝓨𝓸𝓾 ... 𝓝𝓸𝓽 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷 ... 𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 ...?]"

The Herrscher of the Void smiled coldly. "𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮..." She pointed at him. "𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲."

True Cthulhu roared loudly, and this time, his roar carried a stronger chaos wave than before.

The wave spread in all directions, destroying everything it touched. Even if an S-Rank Hunter heard it for just a moment, madness would be unavoidable.

The remaining Honkai Beasts were instantly destroyed, and even Benares—a Judgement-class Honkai Beast—was forced to retreat to avoid the wave.

The Herrscher of the Void did not move. Her Imaginary Void Barrier easily withstood the chaos wave, showing no signs of breaking.

"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠," she complained. "𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 '𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝-𝐮𝐩' 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭."

True Cthulhu did not give up. With an extremely fast movement, the creature lunged toward the Herrscher of the Void, trying to break through her Imaginary Void Barrier with full force.

The Herrscher of the Void merely smiled slightly.

"<<𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞>>"

The space around them suddenly changed. The sky turned dark with an alien constellation pattern. The ground beneath them disappeared, replaced by an endless void. They were now in another dimension—a special dimension created by the Herrscher of the Void.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭." The Herrscher of the Void smiled coldly.

True Cthulhu roared angrily, but his roar sounded muffled in this dimension. The creature tried to use its chaos power, but its energy seemed to be absorbed by this dimension itself.

The Herrscher of the Void raised her hand, and thousands of energy cubes appeared around True Cthulhu, each emanating dense Honkai energy.

"<<𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 – 𝐂𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐬>>"

The cubes moved quickly, surrounding and trapping True Cthulhu from all directions. Each cube that touched the creature's body exploded violently, releasing destructive Honkai energy.

DUAARR! DUAARR! DUAARR!

Explosion after explosion enveloped True Cthulhu, but the creature still wouldn't surrender. With a loud roar, True Cthulhu tried to concentrate all his chaos energy for one final devastating attack.

"[𝓓𝓘𝓔!!!]"

Highly concentrated chaos energy exploded from True Cthulhu's body, creating a tremendous shockwave. The wave destroyed the energy cubes around him and continued to spread in all directions.

The Herrscher of the Void didn't move. She just slowly raised her hand, and a massive pitch-black portal formed in front of her.

"<<𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 – 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞>>"

The portal transformed into a massive black hole. Its extraordinarily powerful gravity began to pull everything around it, including the chaos energy wave released by True Cthulhu.

True Cthulhu struggled, trying to resist the black hole's pull. His tentacles grasped at anything within reach, but nothing could withstand the power of the black hole.

"𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭?" The Herrscher of the Void smiled coldly. "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬."

True Cthulhu roared in frustration as his body was increasingly drawn into the black hole. The creature tried to use all remaining power to resist, but in vain.

"𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥." The Herrscher of the Void waved her hand with an elegant gesture. "𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠."

As True Cthulhu's body was almost completely drawn into the black hole, the creature made one unexpected final move. One of his remaining tentacles suddenly extended with incredible speed, aiming directly at the Herrscher of the Void.

The Herrscher of the Void was slightly surprised by this sudden movement, but her reflexes were extremely fast. She moved the Subspace Lance in her hand to parry the tentacle.

CRASSHH!!

The tentacle was easily cut, but before falling, it released something—a kind of purple glowing spore that shot toward the Herrscher of the Void.

"𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤," muttered the Herrscher of the Void, activating her Imaginary Void Barrier to stop the spore.

The dense purple smoke released by the spore began to spread rapidly, enveloping the Herrscher of the Void in a deadly poisonous mist.

The Herrscher of the Void merely laughed coldly.

With one wave of her hand, blue light swept through the purple smoke, neutralizing it instantly. More than that, the smoke was actually absorbed into her palm, adding to her own power.

Meanwhile, True Cthulhu was almost entirely drawn into the black hole. Only part of his head was still visible, roaring in unbearable pain and fury.

"[𝓘 ... 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 ... 𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷 ...]"

Those final words sounded like a terrifying promise before True Cthulhu's body completely vanished, sucked into absolute nothingness.

The Herrscher of the Void gazed at the black hole for a moment before closing it with an elegant hand gesture.

However, before the black hole completely closed, something strange happened. Instead of shrinking normally, the black hole twitched, as if something was trying to escape from within it.

"𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 ..." The Herrscher of the Void raised her eyebrows.

Suddenly, the black hole exploded violently, releasing an extremely powerful void energy wave. The wave swept through Imaginary Space, creating severe distortions in the Herrscher of the Void's artificial dimension.

From within the black hole emerged the form of True Cthulhu. However, this form was far different from before. His body was now enveloped in void energy that he had absorbed and converted into chaos energy.

His tentacles, once greenish-black, were now golden-purple, glowing with unprecedented chaos energy.

"[𝓨𝓸𝓾... 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮 ... 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓸𝓲𝓭 ...]"

His voice was now clearer, like many voices speaking simultaneously.

"[𝓘 ... 𝓐𝓫𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓫𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓽 ...]"

True Cthulhu had evolved. Within the absolute void, this transcendent creature did not perish—instead, it adapted and absorbed the Honkai energy itself. Now he returned, stronger than before.

The Herrscher of the Void finally showed a serious expression.

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭..."

The Imaginary Space around them shook violently as the Herrscher of the Void released her true power aura. Her white energy wings now changed to bright gold, emitting blinding light. Portals appeared around her, each emanating pure void energy.

"𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 '𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥' 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧."

True Cthulhu wasted no time. With impossible speed, the creature lunged toward the Herrscher of the Void, his tentacles—now enveloped in void and chaos energy—attacking from all directions.

The Herrscher of the Void no longer remained stationary. Now she moved with equal speed, avoiding those attacks with graceful movements that almost resembled a dance. In both her hands appeared two Subspace Lances that spun at high speed, cutting every approaching tentacle.

CRASHH! CRASHH! SLASHH!

Golden-purple blood splattered in all directions as the tentacles were cut. However, True Cthulhu continued advancing, unaffected by the loss of several tentacles. Even more terrifying, the severed tentacles rapidly regenerated, now enveloped in denser void energy.

"[𝓘 ... 𝓐𝓶 ... 𝓥𝓸𝓲𝓭 ... 𝓝𝓸𝔀]!!"

True Cthulhu opened his mouth wide, and from within emerged a black singularity—similar to the Herrscher of the Void's black hole, but surrounded by wildly swirling chaos energy.

The singularity shot toward the Herrscher of the Void at high speed. The Herrscher immediately formed multiple layers of Imaginary Void Barrier to withstand the attack.

DUAAAARRRR!!!

A tremendous explosion occurred as the chaos singularity collided with the void barrier. The entire Imaginary Space shook violently, causing dimensional cracks in all directions. The Herrscher of the Void was pushed back several meters, her barrier cracked but not yet broken.

Without giving her time to rest, True Cthulhu attacked again. This time, his tentacles transformed into sharp spears resembling Subspace Lances, each enveloped in chaos and void energy.

The Herrscher of the Void smiled coldly. "𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞–𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡."

With one hand movement, the Herrscher of the Void opened a massive portal in front of her. The portal functioned like a black hole, absorbing True Cthulhu's spears that shot toward her.

True Cthulhu realized his strategy wasn't working and quickly changed tactics. The creature concentrated fully, and suddenly, the entire Imaginary Space began to shake violently.

"[𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 ... 𝓞𝓯 ... 𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓽𝔂]"

The reality around them began to distort. The laws of physics in Imaginary Space became chaotic. Gravity changed direction randomly, space curved and twisted, and time flowed irregularly.

The Herrscher of the Void realized that True Cthulhu was trying to take over her control of Imaginary Space. This was something that should be impossible for any entity other than herself.

"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠," she muttered.

With one surge of power, the Herrscher of the Void restored her stability over Imaginary Space. Gravity returned to normal, and the space-time distortions began to subside. However, True Cthulhu did not give up so easily.

"[𝓘𝓯 ... 𝓥𝓸𝓲𝓭 ... 𝓘𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 ... 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓷 ... 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓸𝓼 ... 𝓘𝓼 𝓜𝓘𝓝𝓔!!]"

Suddenly, True Cthulhu released an extraordinarily large amount of chaos energy. The energy did not directly attack the Herrscher of the Void, but spread throughout Imaginary Space, creating chaos zones amid void zones.

The two opposing energies clashed, creating small explosions throughout the dimension. Imaginary Space began to divide into two parts—half controlled by the Herrscher of the Void's Honkai energy, and half by True Cthulhu's chaos energy.

"𝐎𝐡?" The Herrscher of the Void frowned. "𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚."

Benares, who had been watching the battle from a distance, immediately flew closer to the Herrscher. With one hand movement, the Herrscher of the Void opened a massive portal leading back to the real world.

True Cthulhu realized this and tried to stop her. His tentacles shot forward at high speed, trying to close the portal.

"𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞."

The Herrscher of the Void and Benares plunged into the portal, returning to the real world. True Cthulhu roared angrily and immediately leaped, following them into the portal.

***

The real world trembled violently as three entities with extraordinary power re-entered the dimension. The once blue sky was now filled with swirling black and purple clouds. Golden and purple lightning flashed between the clouds.

The Herrscher of the Void floated high in the air, with Benares by her side. True Cthulhu appeared not far from them, his body now much larger than before—reaching almost 50 meters in height.

True Cthulhu emitted an intense aura of chaos, affecting the surrounding area. The ground cracked and floated, water turned to vapor, and the laws of physics began to break down around the creature.

"[𝓘𝓽 𝓭𝓸𝓮𝓼𝓷'𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 ... 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 ... 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 ... 𝓓𝓲𝓮]"

With one swift movement, True Cthulhu released his tentacles in all directions. This time, the tentacles weren't just aimed at the Herrscher of the Void, but at the entire surrounding area. Each tentacle that touched the ground created small dimensional fractures, releasing its energy into the world.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲?" The Herrscher of the Void laughed coldly. "𝐀 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭."

With a single hand gesture, the Herrscher of the Void released a wave of Honkai energy throughout the area. That energy collided with True Cthulhu's chaotic energy, creating tremendous explosions in the air. The air vibrated with Honkai radiation, forcing living beings nearby to either transform into Honkai zombies or die instantly.

Countless portals appeared. From them emerged tens of thousands of small white creatures—low-class Honkai Beasts in incalculable numbers. These creatures darted in all directions, filling the sky like a snowstorm moving with incredible speed.

True Cthulhu did not remain idle. With a roar that shook the earth, the creature released a wave of chaos that destroyed most of the Honkai Beasts instantly. However, their numbers were too great, and they continued to emerge from the Herrscher of the Void's portals.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?"

With a single hand movement, thousands of Subspace Lances streaked toward True Cthulhu at terrifying speed. The air hissed sharply as those energy spears cut through the sky, forming a deadly rain of silvery white light.

True Cthulhu knew he couldn't avoid all those attacks. Instead, the creature raised several of its tentacles upward, creating a dense dome of chaos around its body. The chaotic energy spun rapidly, creating a defensive wall that was difficult to penetrate.

CRASH! BOOM! CRASH! BOOM!

Subspace Lances collided with the chaos dome, creating tremendous explosions that shook the air. Some spears managed to penetrate the defense, embedding deep into Cthulhu's body. Purple-golden blood gushed from these wounds, creating an acid rain that burned everything it touched.

"[𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 ... 𝓘𝓼 ... 𝓤𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼]"

With one movement, True Cthulhu pulled out all the Subspace Lances embedded in his body. The wounds inflicted immediately regenerated, closing within seconds. Then, with an unexpected movement, he threw all those spears back at the Herrscher of the Void, now enveloped in purple chaos energy.

Seeing this, the Herrscher of the Void raised her eyebrows—not expecting the creature could use her own weapons. Quickly, she created an Imaginary Void Barrier to deflect the counterattack.

The spears, now enveloped in chaos energy, hit the barrier, creating a large explosion that pushed the Herrscher back several meters in the air. Meanwhile, True Cthulhu didn't waste the opportunity. The creature leaped high, surpassing the height of the Herrscher of the Void, then opened its mouth wide.

"[𝓥𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓻 ... 𝓸𝓯 ... 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓸𝓼]"

From its mouth, an incredibly dense purple-golden beam radiated. That beam formed a storm of smoke much larger than the Herrscher of the Void's Vapor of Serenity. This chaos smoke created reality distortions wherever it passed, damaging the molecular structure of the air itself.

The Herrscher of the Void didn't move to avoid it. Instead, she raised both hands. Blue light shone from her palms, facing directly against the approaching purple-golden storm.

Both energies collided in mid-air, creating a tremendous explosion that split the sky. Purple and blue smoke collided, swirled, and mixed, creating strange colors never seen before. The air around them seemed to boil, creating an incredible heat wave.

For a moment, both powers appeared balanced. However, slowly, the Queen's attack began to dominate, pushing the Vapor of Chaos back.

BOOOMMMM!!

The blue smoke increasingly dominated, pushing the purple smoke back toward True Cthulhu. The creature realized the danger and immediately stopped its attack, moving quickly to the side to avoid the wave of death now heading towards it.

"𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭."

The Herrscher of the Void raised her hand high, and the blue smoke instantly changed direction, chasing True Cthulhu with high speed. The creature moved in a zig-zag pattern with incredible speed, trying to avoid the deadly smoke that kept pursuing it.

While True Cthulhu was busy evading, the Herrscher of the Void opened a giant portal above the creature's head. From within the portal emerged a pillar of white light that struck True Cthulhu's body directly, pushing it to the ground with incredible force.

BOOM!!!

The ground trembled violently as True Cthulhu's massive body hit the earth, creating a large crater with a diameter of hundreds of meters. Dust and debris flew into the air, covering the area in a thick brown fog.

"𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞."

Benares roared and flew toward the crater. The giant dragon opened its mouth wide, gathering a large amount of lightning energy.

CRACKLE! BZZZZT!

Bright purple lightning flashes gathered in Benares' mouth, forming an increasingly large and dense energy ball. With one movement, the dragon released an incredibly powerful lightning beam toward the crater, striking directly at the place where True Cthulhu had fallen.

BOOOOOOM!!!

Another tremendous explosion occurred, this time much larger than before. The shock wave swept the surrounding area, destroying everything it touched. The ground cracked for a radius of several kilometers, creating deep chasms that split the earth.

The Herrscher of the Void observed from above, her eyes never leaving the crater now covered in smoke and dust. Suddenly, something shot out from inside the crater with incredible speed.

CRASH!!!

A giant tentacle struck Benares' body directly, piercing through the dragon's chest and emerging on the other side. Purple blood gushed profusely from the wound. Benares roared in pain, flying unstably in the air.

"𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚!" The Herrscher of the Void was shocked to see her beloved Honkai Beast severely injured.

"[𝓘𝓼 ... 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 ... 𝓐𝓵𝓵]"

True Cthulhu's voice was heard from inside the crater. Slowly, the dust cloud thinned, revealing the creature now standing tall. Its injured body had fully regenerated, even appearing stronger than before. The chaos aura it emitted was more intense, creating visual distortions around it.

"[𝓨𝓸𝓾 ... 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 ... 𝓑𝓮 ... 𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻]"

With one quick movement, True Cthulhu pulled back its tentacle from Benares' body, causing the dragon to stagger in the air. Then, the creature raised both hands above, and the entire area around it began to vibrate violently.

From within the ground, pillars of chaos energy shot up into the air like geysers. These pillars appeared randomly, creating a sea of destructive energy ready to destroy anything it touched.

The Herrscher of the Void moved quickly to save Benares, teleporting to the side of the injured dragon and creating an Imaginary Void Barrier around them. The pillars of chaos energy hit the barrier, creating small cracks on its surface.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞."

The Herrscher of the Void raised her hands high, and the entire sky darkened. Black clouds gathered quickly, swirling to form a giant vortex. From that vortex emerged a very bright golden-white light, illuminating the entire area.

"𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭."

With a single hand gesture, the Herrscher of the Void released a wave of pure Honkai energy throughout the area. That energy was a golden-white light that swept away everything it touched. The pillars of chaos instantly vanished, swallowed by that light.

True Cthulhu recognized the danger and immediately formed a chaos dome much thicker than before. However, the pure Honkai light was too strong. The chaos dome began to crack, slowly losing its integrity.

"[𝓘 ... 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 ... 𝓝𝓸𝓽 ... 𝓛𝓸𝓼𝓮]"

With a loud roar, True Cthulhu released all the chaos energy it possessed in all directions, creating a shock wave that collided with the Honkai light. The two opposing energies created a strange phenomenon—a zone where space and time itself began to split and distort.

The Herrscher of the Void did not remain idle. With one strong push, she drove the Honkai light with higher intensity, forcing it to fight against the wave of chaos.

"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰!"

With one final movement, the Herrscher of the Void released all the power she possessed. Bright blue light merged with white Honkai light, creating a blinding whitish-blue flash. That light swallowed True Cthulhu's chaos wave, pushing it back toward the creature itself.

"[𝓝𝓸... 𝓝𝓸.... 𝓝𝓞𝓞𝓞!!]"

True Cthulhu roared in pain as Honkai energy struck its body directly. Its flesh and tentacles began to disintegrate into small particles, corroded by the deadly energy.

However, the transcendent creature did not surrender so easily. In the midst of its destruction process, it gathered the remnants of chaos energy it possessed, creating a dense energy vortex at the center of its body.

"𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚, 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭!"

The Herrscher of the Void recognized the coming danger. Quickly, she lifted Benares' injured body and teleported away. Just at that moment...

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

True Cthulhu detonated itself, creating an incredibly tremendous chaos explosion. The shock wave swept the entire area within a radius of tens of kilometers, destroying everything it touched. The ground split, the sky darkened, and for a moment, the entire world seemed to stop breathing.

The Herrscher of the Void created multi-layered Imaginary Void Barriers around herself and Benares, trying to protect them from the explosion. The outer barrier began to crack and shatter when hit by the shock wave, followed by the second layer, third, and so on.

"𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧."

After what felt like an eternity, the explosion finally subsided. In the place where True Cthulhu had been, there was now only a giant crater with a diameter of several kilometers. There were no signs of life there, only residual chaos energy still weakly swirling.

The Herrscher of the Void slowly descended to the edge of the crater, her eyes scanning the area carefully.

"𝐈𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝?"

The injured Benares landed beside her, staring at the crater with full alertness. Its wounds slowly closed thanks to the regenerative energy of Honkai.

The Herrscher of the Void walked a few steps forward, creating a space platform that allowed her to float above the crater. At the center of the crater, she saw something strange—a small ball of chaos energy still weakly swirling.

"𝐇𝐦𝐦..."

The Herrscher of the Void narrowed her eyes. With a hand gesture, she pulled that energy ball toward her, examining it carefully. The ball was no more than 10 cm in diameter, blackish-purple with golden flashes inside.

"𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐞."

The Herrscher of the Void observed the ball for a moment before wrapping it with her Honkai energy. Slowly, the chaos energy ball began to fade, absorbed into the Herrscher's hand.

After the energy ball was fully absorbed, the Herrscher of the Void turned and returned to where Benares was waiting. Together, they floated high into the sky, observing the area of destruction below them.

"𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝."

With one wave of her hand, the Herrscher of the Void created a giant portal in the sky. The portal showed a view of a large city filled with humans.

But—

"I cannot let you do that."

A soft and melodious voice was suddenly heard. But behind its seemingly friendly tone, there was a trace of coldness and caution.

Clearly, this caught the Queen's attention...

"𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭?"

The Herrscher of the Void, but then raised her eyebrows because the appearance of that figure... Was quite unexpected or even had to be said, she rather disliked it...

Her blonde hair shone softly, her pair of pink eyes radiating warmth. The quite revealing black dress with a pair of gold boots and gloves made her appearance so elegant yet powerful.

Angel-like wings spread beautifully behind her. In conclusion, she was very beautiful.

Especially her aura full of gentleness and warmth, like a mother who reminded of a certain individual she didn't want to remember... And she...

Hated it.

Very, very much hated it.

This hatred emotion was so overwhelming that she needed a place to vent it.

And...

"Stop doing this. You know this isn't right, don't you?"

—A statement that to her—sounded hypocritical and self-righteous as if trying to calm the anger of a child.

That alone triggered her strong killing intent.

"𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞, 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧?"

The girl narrowed her eyes before muttering softly. "Then there is no other choice..."

From behind her, a giant black winged sphere transformed into a colossal golden drill with far more magnificent and threatening wings.

Its size was so large that it covered the land surface. The energy flowing through its body was so tremendous that it created pressure, but... That was it.

For the Herrscher of the Void who had fought True Cthulhu, the girl's power was not worthy of mention.

"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐞? 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 ..." The golden pupils of the Herrscher of the Void shone coldly. "...𝐃𝐢𝐞."

***

Deep within the earth, at the center of the crater created by the tremendous explosion, something moved slowly. The remaining particles of chaos energy began to gather, slowly forming a familiar shape.

In the midst of absolute darkness, a pair of golden-purple eyes glowed dimly.

"[𝓘 ... 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 ... 𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷 ...]"

The voice was barely audible, just a weak whisper amidst the destruction. However, that whisper contained promises of the return of chaos far greater than before.

True Cthulhu was still alive, though only a small part of its consciousness remained. However, for a transcendent being like him, that was enough. Time was his ally, and he would wait for the right moment to rise again, stronger and more terrifying than before.

At that moment, his gaze suddenly caught a young man who caught his attention.

No, more precisely the ring possessed by that young man.

He had a feeling that the ring could help him, without hesitation he immediately tried to approach it.

But unknown to him, that ring would become his prison because the owner of that ring was...

'Son of Destiny'.

***

The template that Lux currently has:

1. Raiden Ei / Shogun

2. Takamiya Mayuri

3. Artemisia Bell Ashcroft

4. Inaba Tsukuyo

5. Dabi / Todoroki Toya

6. Tomioka Giyū

7. Kiana Kaslana – Herrscher of the Void

8. Takamiya Mio (Limited)

9. Itsuka Kotori