In the Shadow of the Fallen

"Bring it, you loathsome creature, if you dare!" Autumn taunted, his determination unwavering as he braced for the beast's impending assault.

Roar!

In response to Autumn's provocation, the creature unleashed a deafening roar and charged toward him with overwhelming force.

Autumn swiftly assessed the situation. 'At least this beast's speed is subpar due to its stature, however...'

With a nimble leap to the side, he skillfully evaded the beast's charging attack, narrowly avoiding its deadly force.

Huff~

A plume of white fog escaped Autumn's lips as the surrounding area began to grow increasingly frigid.

'...This gradual decrease in temperature could freeze a person and possibly restrict their movement. Is this the beast's ability, or perhaps it's more fitting to call it a domain?' Autumn pondered.

(A/N: "Parvati: Domain Expansion, Permafrost Bastion")

'I'll have to end this quickly or find a way to escape,' Autumn resolved. He knew he needed to either conclude this battle swiftly or seek a means of escape.

Growl

The beast took a step back and curled up, preparing to unleash another icy breath attack.

Roar!

The blast of icy mist that followed had the power to freeze anything in its path. Autumn felt the intense cold, but he couldn't escape the chills in the confined space of the ice cave, giving the beast a significant advantage.

Sigh

"This is going to take a while," Autumn muttered to himself as he swiftly darted to the side to evade the icy mist.

As Autumn battled the beast within the cave, chaos consumed the city outside.

A quarter of the city lay in ruins, yet something strange was afoot. There was no rubble or debris from the destroyed buildings in the vicinity of the explosion.

Instead, rather than lying in ruins on the ground, the rubble from the destroyed buildings had been launched into the sky and now descended like meteors.

This phenomenon was the result of the second Herrscher, Tsvetana, and her power over "Void."

Her abilities enabled her to manipulate space and time within the pocket dimensions she created, granting her control over the trajectory and fate of these objects.

Tsvetana harnessed her power to create a pocket dimension, drawing the rubble within it. Then, she opened the pocket dimension high in the Earth's stratosphere, releasing the debris to plummet like fiery meteors.

As the debris descended from the stratosphere, the intense heat generated during their descent caused them to burn brightly, illuminating the Siberian night sky.

Roar

The fiery debris descended like an ancient beast, its flames burning with blinding fury as they hurtled toward the Earth's surface.

Fear gripped the hearts of those who bore witness to these falling, flaming projectiles. They were utterly powerless, left to watch as the fiery harbingers of destruction inexorably closed in.

However, just as the city's residents had resigned themselves to their grim fate, a new spectacle unfolded.

An unknown crimson, pulsating light began to dance across the night sky. At first, the source of this enigmatic, beeping red light remained elusive.

Boom 

Yet, as it drew nearer to the falling meteors, a deafening explosion erupted, followed by a seismic shockwave that sent tremors reverberating through the city's atmosphere, shrouding the night sky in a massive cloud of dust.

As the dust and smoke dissipated, the true nature of the flickering red lights became evident—they were missiles.

Yet, the origin of these missiles remained a perplexing enigma, until a thunderous, high-pitched roar cleaved through the night, resembling the ferocious howl of a jet engine.

Seven fighter jets streaked across the night sky, releasing missiles and unleashing a barrage of gunfire on the meteors, reducing them to rubble.

However, an unsettling realization dawned—these fighter jets were unlike any seen in the city, or perhaps anywhere in the world, for they were the clandestine creations of the Moths, known only by their code name: Voltex Furywing prototypes. (pic here)

Grrrrumble!

Before anyone had a chance to react, the ground quaked, seizing the attention of all. The city's residents watched in awe as a procession of formidable mechanized tanks and war machines, proudly bearing the distinctive Moth insignia, expertly navigated the rugged terrain of Siberia.

These were the prototype heavy-duty war machines designed by the Fire Moths: the MHT-3 Pax and MHT-3B, showcasing their unmatched power and groundbreaking innovation. (Image reference here)

The pair of colossal tank-like vehicles unleashed a salvo of missiles toward the Herrscher, who hung suspended in the sky alongside the Voltex Furywing prototypes. In an instant, the missiles closed in on their target.

As the people witnessed this breathtaking spectacle, a glimmer of hope ignited, and their cheers erupted. It seemed the Fire Moths were on the brink of victory against the Honkai.

Yet, a lingering question remained: would this barrage of missiles prove sufficient to secure their triumph?

Rooooar!

The creature's thunderous bellow reverberated through the frigid chamber, its roar seeming to possess the raw power to shatter the very sound barrier.

Autumn furrowed his brow, acutely aware that had he been a mere mortal, his ears would have surely bled under the sheer intensity of the beast's deafening roar. However, his current predicament was far more perilous than that.

Hah-Hah 

Autumn's exhaustion and weariness became glaringly evident as his lips took on a bluish tinge due to the relentless plummet in temperature.

"Just a bit more," Autumn encouraged himself, but before he could react, the beast sprang into the air, crashing into the earth below.

This unexpected move caught Autumn off guard; he hadn't anticipated that the creature had any more tricks up its sleeve. "This is bad," he murmured as the ground beneath him began to splinter and fracture.

Autumn was about to leap away, only to discover a chilling revelation—his feet had become encased in ice.

'Since when?' he widened his eyes, alarmed by the sudden realization. 'Could the area be so frigid that it instantaneously froze my legs to the ground?' He assessed his current predicament.

However, his contemplation was cut short as the beast burst forth from the ground, launching Autumn into the air like a tattered kite, leaving him with little time for further thought.

Cough!

Autumn spat out a mouthful of blood, a grim realization dawning upon him. 'I was careless,' he admitted. 'I had forgotten to account for the "special properties" of this ice,' he thought as his body came crashing down.

Crash!

His body plummeted earthward, much like a bird felled by a hunter's shot, a streak of crimson trailing from the corner of his mouth.

"This ice, it's not your run-of-the-mill variety. It bears a resemblance to Cyroborne's ice—swift and imperceptible, the 'Zeroth ice,'" Autumn remarked as he rose from the ground.

Under ordinary circumstances, Autumn's heightened senses would have swiftly detected this unique ice. However, two factors obscured his perception: firstly, his low Outlawed rank, in stark contrast to the beast's towering peak Fallen rank.

The second reason lay in the effects of the "Void Mind." A technique that induces a passive state in the user's mind.

Autumn had employed the "Void Mind" to impose a mental seal on himself, effectively suppressing his mental powers so his weak body would not be disoriented.

Unfortunately, this technique had also considerably dulled his senses. Though he was gradually working to break the seal as his body grew stronger, it had not yet reached the point of full liberation and had a far far way to go before he could release the seal.

Autumn scanned the mist-shrouded surroundings, his gaze landing on the beast, and what he beheld was a sight capable of instilling despair in even the bravest of souls.

The creature's black form had undergone a terrifying metamorphosis, becoming a fusion of ice and armor

Enormous ice plates now shielded its body, forming an imposing, horned visage that blended the characteristics of an elephant, bison, and rhinoceros. (pic here)

The once-daunting beast had evolved into an even more formidable and monstrous adversary. However, this was not the end of the onslaught.

As the creature snarled at Autumn, he muttered in disbelief, "Breath of a Pseudo Reborn—" but he couldn't finish his incantation as the beast exhaled another frigid breath.

The Siberian night was pierced by wailing winds as the missiles locked onto the Herrscher. They moved with inhuman precision, materializing in front of the Herrscher in the blink of an eye.

However, the Herrscher appeared nonchalant, smirking as she taunted, "Is this all?" Multiple pocket dimensions materialized before her, swiftly absorbing all the missiles in their path.

"It's my turn," the Herrscher declared with an air of confidence. She opened the portals to these pocket dimensions, and a momentary flash of crimson radiance followed.

The missiles, once within the pocket dimensions, were redirected back toward the fighter jets and tanks, unleashing a perilous counterattack.

Whooosh!

The frigid breath of the beast was so intense that it froze the very air itself, resulting in a colossal block of ice forming in front of the creature. Within the icy prison, Autumn was trapped, encased as if he were a frozen trophy.

To be continued...

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A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter and feel free to comment. Your thoughts and criticism are valuable in helping me improve and stay motivated to write more.

 Next final chapter of the Volume 3 story.