"Human."

"Let me leave."

The situation had slipped from the Herrscher of Sentience's control.

Her Honkai energy was almost depleted from the previous battle. The reason she had taken one last gamble was, in truth, unwillingness to accept defeat — as long as she hadn't completely annihilated the Flame-Chasers, it wouldn't count as a success for her.

Moreover.

She had been driven off by humans… A Herrscher's pride wouldn't allow her to retreat so despondently.

But who could have imagined.

The opportunity she seized at the last moment was actually an elaborate trap designed by this human before her.

Now.

Even if the Herrscher of Sentience wanted to leave, it was no longer possible.

The Might of An-Utu, manifested from intent, was still impaled in her opponent's body; using it as a medium, Su's mental power was tightly entwined around the Herrscher of Sentience.

No matter where she fled.

He would follow closely behind.

Her continuously worsening injuries wouldn't allow her to remain here for long; the backlash from [Karmic Retribution] was still constantly eroding her mental power.

Her final plan—

"Shh-shh."

A blurred signal flickered over the Herrscher of Sentience again.

In the blink of an eye.

The Herrscher of Sentience once again transformed into Spaxi's likeness.

"At this point, you still want to…"

Before Su could finish his sentence, the clanking flask tucked at his mentor's waist emitted a sound that was both crisp and muffled, a contradiction—

"Let me leave."

The voice coming from Spaxi's mouth still belonged to the Herrscher of Sentience, but…

"If you don't want your respected teacher to die by your own hands."

The Herrscher of Sentience didn't have much energy left.

Her methods of directly intervening in reality from the mental world were already few, and she hadn't mastered high-level techniques like thought control.

However.

This was the Observation Hub, where the boundary between the mental and the real was extremely blurred.

Spaxi, as an ordinary human, had far less resistance to Honkai energy erosion than a Fusion Soldier. The Herrscher of Sentience, when needed, could expend a certain price to pull him into the mental world, even using his conscious shell as a shared vessel for both of them.

She hadn't done this earlier because the act carried risks.

Two different consciousnesses coexisting in one body would lead to a certain degree of "shared" memories.

In other words.

Many of the Herrscher of Sentience's secrets.

Would be exposed to human eyes through this.

But at this juncture, this was the only escape method she could think of.

"Let go of Teacher!!"

"Let me leave!!"

"…"

Su's and the Herrscher of Sentience's voices rang out simultaneously, only to fall silent at the same time.

For Su and the Flame-Chasers, this was the best opportunity to eliminate the Eighth Herrscher. Although they had become familiar with the Eighth Herrscher's authority and characteristics, the Herrscher, in turn, had gained a deeper understanding of the Flame-Chasers.

She would absolutely not give the Flame-Chasers another chance to capture her.

On one side was the future of humanity.

On the other was his beloved mentor.

When these two were placed on opposite ends of the scale—

"I say…"

The torment his friend had faced.

At this moment, Su finally had a heart-wrenching understanding.

And just as he tried to solidify the choice in his heart, an unnoticed streak of dark-golden light slowly swept across Su's eyes.

In the center of his empty right hand, a deep blue spear, one Su himself didn't recognize, slowly materialized.

Amidst the Herrscher of Sentience's terrified and furious expression, the spear's tip, wreathed in dancing frost and flame, thrust fiercely towards her—

"...Let go of Teacher!!!"

"Pfft!!!"

"Clack!"

The world shattered and disintegrated like a mirror.

The mental world constructed through the Observation Hub completely broke apart the instant the spear pierced through.

"Click."

The door of the pod slowly opened.

Su emerged, somewhat dazed. All the scenery was identical to the "illusion" from moments ago; of the comrades who had exited the Observation Hub, there were truly only 2 left besides himself.

The only difference…

"Clap, clap."

Su's gaze followed the clear yet sparse applause.

At the main console, there was no trace of Mentor Spaxi; in his place stood a figure with fine, snake-like, jade-green long hair.

"Congratulations, new hero."

"Mobius…"

"You're more, hmm, captivating than I imagined, perhaps?"

Before Su's anger could surge, Mobius's next action made his advancing footsteps halt abruptly.

"Clang!"

Mobius casually tossed it, and the unstable silver metal flask, the one Su had countless times wanted to "steal," was now held firmly in his hand.

The flask.

A metal flask containing less than a third of liquid.

Holding the memento left by his teacher, Su, for the first time, felt the urge to taste this liquid that could cloud the mind.

However.

Just as he was about to unscrew the cap the next second…

"Herrscher!"

He sensed the Herrscher of Sentience's aura on the flask!

No, to be precise, through this flask, Su sensed the faint aura of the Herrscher of Sentience, miles away!

The Eighth Herrscher was not dead!

Her seemingly desperate act just now was actually her escape plan!

Feigning death to plot for a greater scheme later — the Herrscher of Sentience's plan was originally excellent, but the problem was, her "fusion" with Spaxi had created a flaw in this plan.

Spaxi had no power to resist a Herrscher.

But before his death, relying on the brief "shared" memories from moments ago, he had managed to leave behind mere fragmentary clues!

"Cosmic Juggernaut!!"

A roar, a mixture of anger and grief, erupted from Su's mouth.

A distorted ring manifested in the room's space, and a giant locomotive smashed everything around it to smithereens!

"Rumble!"

Even Mobius.

Had to dodge the continuously falling ceiling.

Summoning the Cosmic Juggernaut inside the Flame-Chasers' base, such an act…

Forget it happening to Su; even if it occurred in Mobius's laboratory, it would absolutely be described as "excessive."

As the giant locomotive departed once more.

Only ruins remained on site — the number of survivors within the entire base left no room for even "chaos" to occur.

"Splash."

The Herrscher of Sentience struggled out of the water. The muddy bank… at this moment, she couldn't care less about her appearance.

The "anchor point" for her escape from the mental world had been set in Heng He Li.

The presence of the Honkai Energy Rift underwater was supposed to quickly replenish her depleted Honkai energy — that was indeed the plan, but she had never imagined that the day she would need to flee would come so quickly, so quickly that the Honkai Energy Rift hadn't even fully formed yet.

She had to leave here as soon as possible.

Although she had successfully executed a "strategic advance to the rear" from human hands, she was far from out of danger. That weapon in the human's hands just now… the Herrscher of Sentience definitely hadn't misjudged it. Those who wanted to kill her included not just humans, but also that damned Black Knight!

The Herrscher of Sentience finally had a clear understanding of the situation's severity.

Unfortunately.

This realization came a little too late—

Above the river water behind her, spatial ripples were already spreading uncontrollably.