They say that seeing a mountain in the distance is enough to tire a horse to death, but for Ling Ke, who had just mastered Level 4 spatial movement, it wasn't even an inconvenience. In just a few minutes, maintaining a constant speed of 288 kilometers per hour, he successfully reached the summit of Mount Fuji.
As Ling Ke had predicted, there were very few fools who chose to climb the mountain during the harsh winter. Even those who might have attempted it had evacuated early due to yesterday's news regarding volcanic activity. In short, Mount Fuji was currently under a semi-lockdown, and Raiden Mei effectively had the entire place to herself.
With such a perfect environment established...
"Next, it's your turn to perform," Ling Ke called out to the Herrscher of Thunder in his mind.
"Hmph."
Though she remained as tsundere as ever, she responded. And a response meant cooperation.
"Whew..."
Raiden Mei took a deep breath, relaxing her body. Ling Ke then released his absolute control. He didn't deactivate the overall effect of the Ghost Possession ability, but for the time being, he transitioned into the state of a "Gramps in the Ring"—a spectral observer.
In that instant...
"!!!"
With Mei's current mental state, she was utterly incapable of suppressing the Herrscher persona. The moment Ling Ke stepped back, the Herrscher of Thunder took control of the body with overwhelming dominance. However, thanks to Ling Ke's prior intervention and the relatively stable dynamic the trio had established over the last two days, the Herrscher did not force Mei's consciousness into a deep sleep.
For the most part, Raiden Mei's current state was similar to Seele's while trapped in the Sea of Quanta. Because the Herrscher and Mei were cooperating...
Boom!
Using the Gem of Conquest within her body as a catalyst, the Herrscher of Thunder directly opened the door to Imaginary Space. Instantly, a singularity erupted. Massive amounts of Honkai energy began to pour out and spread across the active volcanic region of Mount Fuji.
Within seconds, the energy fluctuation surged past 2000 HW.
HW, or Honkai Watts, is the standard unit for measuring Honkai energy levels. Generally, when a reading exceeds 1500 HW, the birth of a Herrscher is imminent. That was exactly what was happening now.
The invisible, highly corrosive Honkai energy radiated outward. Had this occurred within Nagazora City, the vast majority of the population would have perished instantly. But even in this restricted volcanic zone, the ripples were felt immediately.
"Warning! Warning! High concentration of Honkai energy detected!!!"
"Warning! Warning!"
At the Far East Branch of Schicksal, the piercing alarm echoed through the artificial island campus known as St. Freya Academy.
At the same time...
"???"
Cocolia, who had been monitoring the Artificial Herrscher Project in Nagazora, received a precise location for the massive disturbance via Anti-Entropy's high-tech equipment. She froze.
A whole night had passed, and Cocolia still hadn't realized that Raiden Mei had left the city. Her mind went blank.
"A suspected Herrscher reaction... on Mount Fuji?"
Cocolia could no longer sit still. "What's going on? Why is a Herrscher being born somewhere else right now?"
In a high-tech command center, she watched the digital map as the Honkai levels spiked. "Is this... the Third Great Eruption? Why is it breaking out at Mount Fuji?"
She barked out orders to her subordinates in Nagazora. "Where is Bronya? What is the situation on her end? Where is Raiden Mei?"
To give credit where it's due, the communication efficiency of the radical faction of Anti-Entropy was top-tier. Within seconds, a report came back.
"Reporting to Officer Cocolia: Raiden Mei returned to her residence yesterday morning and hasn't stepped out since."
The watchers stationed around the Raiden estate were adamant. Clearly, these people were incapable of detecting the tracks of a Grand Assassin. It wasn't optical camouflage or physical phasing; it was a fundamental lack of presence—a conceptual skill. A mechanic-breaker, truly terrifying.
Honestly, if Ling Ke weren't currently channeling his inner homebody and refusing to leave the Shackling Prison, he really could have slipped out. But again: it could be done, but it wasn't necessary. Why cause a fuss when you can develop in peace? Better to wait until he became a peerless master before asking the Xianzhou Luofu for a formal explanation of his "arrest."
(So what if he's technically an illegal resident? In the vast cosmos, might makes right. You don't see anyone trying to "reason" with IX the Nihility, do you?)
As both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy realized the Third Great Eruption was happening at Mount Fuji, Theresa of the Far East Branch and Cocolia of the radical Anti-Entropy faction immediately dispatched their forces to the scene.
Meanwhile...
Hum...
Following Ling Ke's pre-established plan, the Herrscher of Thunder immediately began to actively absorb the Honkai energy overflowing into the environment. Because of this, the disaster zone didn't expand. Instead, she was growing stronger by the second.
Her power was already beginning to eclipse the original timeline's version of the Herrscher—the one who wouldn't even start to form until late March and would spend her time dazed on the rooftop of Chiba Academy, only to be knocked out and won over by a certain Paramecium.
Most Herrschers aren't world-beaters the moment they are born. For example, the legendary six-core Sirin nearly fought to a draw with an A-rank Valkyrie because of an initial energy shortage. Even the future Raiden Mei, who could punch through an Origin Wormhole, usually operated in a "Power Saving Mode" (the Danzai Spectramancer armor).
The current Raiden Mei already had purple wings of light manifesting behind her. Because she was actively devouring the Honkai resources rather than letting them go to waste, her energy levels continued to climb.
Within minutes, her strength had reached the level of her future power-saving form. While that might not sound impressive compared to her peak, it was already far beyond anything the pre-St. Freya Kiana could handle.
"She's probably about to sprout horns, right?" Ling Ke, still in his observer state, muttered to himself. "Though, we can't exactly farm Benares here. She's still acting as a fossil in the Siberian permafrost. So... how do we get Kurikara out? Or is a Sesha just going to pop out of the ground?"
He was genuinely curious.