At the instant Theresa was swatted away by Chiyou's claw, she immediately deactivated the Divine Grace Field.
If she were to fly towards Leo Ash and the others with the field still active, the others, who were unharmed, would be hurt by its properties.
Besides, for Theresa, the outcome had already met her minimum requirements.
Even though she was sent flying, just a few seconds of contact with the Divine Grace Field had cost Chiyou a claw and its external muscular armor.
At the location Bronya had marked, Theresa could indeed see the core exposed after the muscle had been dissolved by the Divine Grace Field.
And next, as long as Siegfried could land a hit with his sword, in Theresa's eyes—it would all be over!
In mid-air, Theresa saw Siegfried raise the Judgment of Shamash.
Siegfried raised his weapon!
Siegfried attacked!
Chiyou wailed!
Chiyou—why isn't it dead????
Watching Siegfried fail to kill Chiyou with his swing, the overly startled Theresa completely forgot to brace for her landing.
If Fu Hua hadn't proactively jumped up to catch her, she would have most likely landed head-first on the ground.
"Headmaster, please be careful."
"Ah, thank you."
Seeing the look of helplessness on Fu Hua's face, Theresa immediately looked anxiously at the others behind her.
Aside from Bronya, who was still by Siegfried's side, Leo Ash and Raiden Mei were within her line of sight.
But looking at the calm-faced Leo Ash and the very uneasy Raiden Mei, Theresa instinctively felt a sense of foreboding.
"Leo Ash, I still think..."
"Lend me your power, Mei."
Rudely interrupting Mei's words of caution, Leo Ash looked at the sky where Chiyou was stunned from the sword strike.
"Although that thing has been knocked immobile, its regenerative ability is terrifyingly strong."
"And at the location of its core, that tachi is clearly the reason Mr. Siegfried's attack didn't fully succeed."
"If we don't take this opportunity to deal the final blow to Chiyou and retrieve that tachi, we're all still going to be finished."
"Then I should be the one to go!"
Hearing Leo Ash's words, Mei's body erupted with terrifying lightning.
But the moment she resolved to unleash the Herrscher's power, she felt a sharp pain wracking her body.
At this moment, Raiden Mei was undoubtedly still in control of herself.
But precisely because of this, Raiden Mei, who had not chosen to join the Honkai's side, was judged as a traitor by the [Honkai].
The Honkai Will, which possessed a judgment mechanism, would certainly not allow a traitor to freely use a Herrscher's power.
Although, as a person chosen by the Honkai, Mei wouldn't have her body rapidly eroded by Honkai Energy like Joachim, who had forcibly become a Herrscher by implanting a core, for the still-maturing Mei, this level of erosion was enough to be debilitating.
After all, she had only been a Herrscher for a little over a month. In that time, no matter how hard Mei tried to adapt to her power and temper her spirit, it was impossible for her mental state to transform completely in an instant.
When she resolved to unleash her Herrscher power, that voice immediately appeared, whispering in her ear, guiding her towards slaughter.
While trying to suppress the Herrscher Personality, no matter how much Mei forced herself, she couldn't guarantee a stable flow of power around her body.
*Dammit, right now, I should be the one stepping up to protect everyone!*
[Ha, a weak personality actually trying to suppress me while controlling my power to fight?]
[How laughable. Does a mere crybaby really think she can turn the tables?]
[Give me your body. Slaying that giant Honkai Beast is a piece of cake for me, who wields the power of a god.]
*I won't!*
*Why... why should I trust you, who stands on the side of the Honkai?*
[Hmph, whatever. Don't believe me if you want.]
[But, even if you don't trust me, it doesn't matter. If this continues, your body will be eroded by Honkai Energy. When that time comes, if you don't want to die, your body will become mine sooner or later.]
[I won't be so impatient. I'll just wait a little while, Me~i~]
"Mei, calm down."
Leo Ash, who still had his hand on Mei's shoulder, spoke calmly to Raiden Mei.
"You can't fully control the Herrscher power inside you yet—don't make that face, it's not your fault."
Seeing the unconcealable guilt on Mei's face, Leo Ash continued.
"The fact that you can suppress the Herrscher Personality already makes you much stronger than before. For you now, mastering the Herrscher's power is only a matter of time. All you need is time."
"But..."
As Raiden Mei stared into Leo Ash's eyes, she found that the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat.
*But, if that's the case...*
*—then why is there such despair in your eyes?*
Leo Ash's expression was completely devoid of emotion, but his eyes, just as Raiden Mei saw, were filled with despair.
Honestly, Leo Ash was truly scared now.
He even felt that if it weren't for the bonus from his Title: Cold, Handsome Man, his expression would have already crumbled.
But now, if he ran, his persona would collapse.
And even if he ran, he might not be saved.
The battle had reached this point. Siegfried and Theresa had already used their ultimate moves.
After they had worn down Chiyou's strength, Chiyou should have been dead, or at least left with only a breath of life.
However, the Seven Thunders of Retribution, which had appeared here at some unknown time, had now become another power core for Chiyou.
If he didn't take down the Seven Thunders of Retribution and finish off Chiyou, Leo Ash felt that with his speed, Chiyou could probably catch up and finish him off before he could escape Jiuyou.
But, at this point, the two who had used their Zeroth Power were clearly not in a condition to continue fighting.
The Judgment of Shamash Unleashed that Siegfried used was a move capable of killing even a powerful Kaslana warrior. The fact that he had used it multiple times and not died was a testament to his great fortune and exceptional talent.
And the Divine Grace Field that Theresa used would harm her body upon activation.
Now that these two powerful fighters no longer had the strength to contend with Chiyou, and with Fu Hua's intentions unknown, Leo Ash felt that he could only rely on himself.
It was for these reasons that Leo Ash had to force himself to face this terrifying beast, Chiyou.
But even after clarifying his course of action, Leo Ash, pushed to this point, still felt a little desperate.
*Ah, I can't take it anymore. I really want to kill these troublemaking sons of bitches.*
*But right now—there's no time to think about that.*
*I must survive. Only by surviving can I have the chance to do what I want to do.*
*So...*
"So, Mei, lend me your power!"
"...I understand."
Looking at the hand Leo Ash had on her shoulder, which was actually absorbing a portion of her power through its gauntlet, Mei immediately began to slowly transfer her power into the pair of gauntlets in Leo Ash's hands.
*If Leo Ash can accept a portion of the Herrscher of Thunder's power without any issue, then now, as his... comrade, I should trust his judgment!*
"Leo Ash, are you insane?!"
After putting Theresa down, Fu Hua saw Leo Ash continuously drawing the power of the Herrscher of Thunder through the Grips of Taixu, and shouted at him with an immense headache.
"Recklessly meddling with a Herrscher's power will definitely get you killed!"
"Ha, thanks for your concern, Classmate Fu Hua."
Leo Ash, who was tuning this powerful Honkai Energy with the Key of Domination, said to Fu Hua with a sneer.
"But, I feel that my current condition is fantastic."
"But—"
"No buts."
The power Mei transferred to Leo Ash had combined with his gauntlets and the knight armor on his body, undergoing a transformation.
Under the continuous infusion of power, his armor instantly developed an Oni mask and Oni horns, like a demon from the Far East.
And the Grips of Taixu he wore now emanated a malevolent aura due to the constantly flowing lightning.
"Perhaps you won't believe me, but a week ago, I met the Immortal Red Kite in my dreams, a figure whose great deeds have been sung in our Shenzhou for ages."
"In that dream, the Immortal Red Kite imparted to me a legendary skill that martial artists could only dream of."
"And just now, when I fought against the Shenzhou senior Ji Lin, the Xuanyuan Sword she once possessed seemed to recognize me, transforming into my weapon."
"With her concession, Senior Ji Lin, defeated at my hands, even gifted her Stigmata to me."
After stating these 'facts', Leo Ash's smile vanished, and he spoke calmly to Fu Hua.
"Thinking about it now, perhaps it's because the seniors realized their homeland was in peril that they gifted their power to me in various ways."
*No... Ji Lin gifting you the Stigmata was just a coincidence, and the Edge of Taixu...*
*—I taught you the Edge of Taixu not for you to go and actively seek death!*
But now, facing such a calm Leo Ash, Fu Hua couldn't bring herself to tell him what was on her mind.
It wasn't because of her promise to Otto.
At this point, her promise to Otto had long been cast aside by Fu Hua.
What truly stopped Fu Hua now was the emotion she saw in Leo Ash's eyes.
Leo Ash, who had spoken these words, had eyes filled with determination.
But at the same time, beneath that determination, Fu Hua also saw deep despair.
The determination to protect others, and despair for this world—two emotions that shouldn't exist in one person were, in Fu Hua's eyes, simultaneously present in Leo Ash's.
Witnessing the young man before her, Fu Hua suddenly felt as if she had lost all her strength, unsure of what to do.
She had taught Leo Ash the Edge of Taixu, hoping he would have more power to protect himself.
But now, her actions, just as she had feared in the worst-case scenario, were guiding Leo Ash more quickly down the path to death.
*What am I doing?*
*Helping Otto commit evil, accelerating Leo Ash's death.*
*What... what am I doing right now!*
"Alright, this much power should be enough."
Removing his hand from Mei, Leo Ash stretched his limbs and looked at Chiyou, which was beginning to stir.
Fu Hua was dazed before him, clearly having a mental crisis.
And while Theresa wasn't unable to get up, just standing left her panting, clearly lacking the strength to stop Leo Ash.
Siegfried was crippled, Mei's body was eroded by her core, and Bronya's combat power was unreliable to begin with.
*There's really no other way, it seems this time...*
*—I really have to be the one to kill this big oaf.*
At that moment, Leo Ash proactively entered the state of Mind Like Still Water, and felt his senses suddenly become exceptionally clear and empty.
All this time, Leo Ash had relied on the Mind Like Still Water skill to enter this state.
But at this moment, he suddenly felt the 'still water' in his heart 'freeze', becoming incomparably clear.
When the Heart Skandha reaches the stage of Heart of Transparent Ice, it is equivalent to the cultivator of the Heart Skandha reaching the third stage, the realm of [Clear Mirror].
Leo Ash, who had now combined his Heart Skandha and Mind Like Still Water, clearly felt his perceptual abilities had been greatly enhanced.
*The flow of the air, the direction of the power circulating in my body, I can easily perceive it all.*
*I can even clearly sense the strength of the energy at Chiyou's wound in the distance.*
*And now, Mei's lightning power, aside from a small amount I'm using to strengthen myself and maintain the 'ghost armor', the rest has been concentrated in my right fist.*
*I can win.*
*Now, as long as I slam my fist into that core, I can definitely win.*
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Leo Ash used the explosive force from electromagnetism to launch himself like a cannonball towards Chiyou.
Chiyou, with only one claw left, swung it, swatting at Leo Ash just as it had done to Theresa.
However...
"Swish."
Leo Ash, his body imbued with the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, directly used his enhanced body and the external lightning force to shatter the outer shell of the claw.
With an explosion of Leo Ash's power, Chiyou's claw was pierced through.
This time, Leo Ash held nothing back as he raised his fist.
And the colossal Chiyou, at this distance, clearly had no way to evade.
"Heaven Splitter..."
Pressing his fist against the core, Leo Ash unleashed all the power in his fist at once.
"Destructive Punch!"
With Leo Ash's roar, Chiyou's already scarred core, under this single blow...
—completely shattered into pieces.
......