Zeroth Power!

5th February 2000

In the Lab tower, in a room reserved for meetings, Kouro and the others such as Kouro's clone, Shub-Niggurath, Tesla, Einstein, and Patricia were present.

"So let me get straight to the point, the current Sirin is likely on the moon and gained new powers. And by her nature, she will definitely try out that power. Our goal is to contain or deflect the attacks made by Sirin." Kouro told them.

Tesla with folded hands frowned when she heard this, she heard from Welt that the Second Herrscher had the potential to become a threat to mankind, but this masked man in front of her was letting her go!

"What kind of attack will she make?" asked Welt calmly.

Kouro glanced at all of them one by one before saying in a deep voice, "Meteor. If not, then something more terrifying than that."

He said this because Sirin had likely gained a stronger power than the one in the original plot.

Kouro had thought of several possibilities of the new power that Sirin had acquired before he finally chose the 3 most likely possibilities in his opinion.

The first is that Sirin was given a fragment of the Herrscher of the End's core.

The second was that Sirin was given the powers that were in the original plot and at the same time given a fragment of the Herrscher of the End core.

And the third... Sirin has both powers as well as the abilities of the Herrscher of Shadows.

'I don't know which possibility is correct, but the greater the power Sirin has, the higher the winning percentage.'

This is because when Sirin's power reaches a certain point where she could destroy the world easily, the World Serpent would definitely not let the earth be destroyed, so easily.

World Serpent this time around is also not like in the original plot where Kevin and Fu Hua are the only MANTISes left.

According to Higokumaru and Fu Hua's words, 9 MANTIS are still alive today, although Kouro knows that there are some MANTISes who broke away from World Serpent.

But when fighting a powerful enemy like Sirin, they would surely unite.

'Hmm... According to Higokumaru, there are only 5 MANTIS that can fight, the rest... Either busy, injured, or not on earth right now.'

Although Kevin wasn't here because he was trapped inside another dimension, but with that many MANTISes... It seemed like enough to defeat Sirin.

After all, Kouro knew that MANTIS had the power to rival a Herrscher in the previous era.

Thinking of this, he then turned to look at Welt and asked, "Welt-san, does your ability have very strong destructive power? At least enough to destroy a meteor."

Hearing his question, Welt somewhat understood, if Sirin sent a meteor, there was a chance that it would be more than one and would hit another continent or even hit the ocean and create a tsunami.

Welt immediately nodded his head and said confidently, "Yes. I can create a black hole to suck up the meteor."

Actually, Kouro himself knew that Welt could create black holes with his Divine Key that could suck in anything, using his Herrscher ability.

Welt then continued while glancing at Patricia who had regained her health, even her missing hand had grown back, "Even more so with your power, Kouro-kun. I think destroying meteors is a piece of cake."

Kouro had previously healed Patricia using the authority of [Death and life], which made Welt and the others fully believe that he was the Herrscher of Death.

And it was also true as Welt said, with the [Vapor of Serenity] ability that was almost capable of being able to destroy anything, Kouro could definitely easily crush Meteor into dust.

Niggurath who was currently eating dried squid then said in a joking tone, "Well... With our team having three Herrscher, I think we'll be able to easily defeat the Second Herrscher."

Kouro's eyebrows twitched when he heard this, he had no idea why Niggurath had raised a 'Deathflag'.

And sure enough-

[WARNING!]

[WARNING!]

A loud alarm rang out filling the entire Lab tower.

"...Speaking of meteors... Sirin seems to have launched her attack." Theresa said after a moment of silence.

Someone's voice was then heard from the speaker inside their room.

"[Sir, we have an important urgent report. We have detected an extremely strong Honkai energy reading on the moon!"]

"You heard that? Execute the plan now!" shouted Kouro before smashing through the wall of the room and jumping up before floating in the air.

Kouro's clone who had been silent then threw his black sword at Kouro.

Just when Kouro was about to completely leave, he heard a panicked voice from the speaker.

"[Sir! W-we have detected that there are 12 Meteors with a diameter of 950 Kilometers suddenly moving rapidly into Earth's orbit, expected to reach the earth's surface within 45 minutes! W-we are doomed!]"

"What?! " x4 shouted Siegfried, Theresa, Salome and Niggurath with dumbfounded expressions.

"Does she really want to destroy the earth?!" said Higokumaru with a serious expression.

Sakura's expression became very serious when she heard this.

"Twelve Meteors?! What's more, the size of a city?! " Tesla shouted with a look of disbelief.

Currently, only Einstein, Kouro Clone, Welt, and Kouro himself could keep their composure.

Kouro and Welt then looked at each other with serious expressions before nodding.

"Ein, tell us the coordinates of the Meteors." Welt said to Einstein.

Einstein opened a 3D virtual world map on the table, before pointing to a moving red dot that slowly began to spread toward the entire continent.

"It's right here."

"Thank you."

After saying this, Welt then levitated as well and prepared to fly towards the Meteor's location with Kouro.

"Wait! Don't forget about me!" said Higokumaru hurriedly before grabbing onto Kouro's shoulder.

Right after that, Kouro and Welt flew at ten times the speed of sound.

*Swoosh!!!*

"WOAH!!!!" Higokumaru's screamed at the top of her little lungs.

Hearing Higokumaru's pitiful cry, Theresa and the others looked at each other before looking at Sakura doubtfully.

"Are you sure she's a Herrscher?"

__

On the Moon, a few minutes before Sirin blew her 'trumpet'.

As Sirin elegantly stepped out of the orange Hexagram-shaped cube, she lifted her head to look at the vast and lonely space.

Her eyes scanned the shining stars before turning to look at Benares with a gentle gaze.

"Thank you, you've helped me a lot..."

After saying that, a purple gem suddenly appeared in her hand.

"I will give you a new life and a new name... From this moment onwards... Your name will be Bella."

The purple gem then glowed before shooting into Benares' body.

Benares' body glowed brightly before dimming to reveal a girl around Sirin's age.

The girl had long silver hair with purple energy wings behind her back.

The girl was Benares or who was now referred to as Bella.

Bella opened her eyes revealing clear blue eyes, she stared at Sirin in a daze before kneeling respectfully towards her.

"My Queen..."

Sirin nodded her head, she then turned to stare at the earth with a cold gaze.

Kouro's silhouette instantly flashed in her mind making her frown.

"It's time to test my new powers. That man should be taught a lesson along with those despicable humans."

She then levitated before opening her palms.

Dozens of rocks beneath her feet flew before expanding, no, they were reshaped, the rocks continued to expand to the point of becoming giant meteorites.

This meteorite that came from the moon was of course made of Soulium metal so its durability was guaranteed.

She then pointed to the earth before muttering, "Show me your power Kouro... As the heir to the power of the Herrscher of Shadows."

*Snap!*

After snapping her fingers, dozens of rocks shot down to earth at high speed.

Sirin's eyes did not flutter at all, her emotions of anger and hatred had strangely slowly disappeared to be replaced by... a sense of emptiness.

Realizing this, Sirin could be seen furrowing her brows with a thoughtful expression.

She hadn't noticed that the Herrscher of the End's core shard had glowed for a brief moment before dimming again.

__

10 Minutes later, on earth, in the vast expanse of the ocean.

Kouro, Higokumaru, and Welt raised their heads to stare at the dozens of meteors that had broken through the atmosphere.

They saw the meteors spread out with some to the left and some to the right.

"Welt-san! I'll take care of the left one! You'll take care of the right one!"

"Understood." Welt said calmly, he looked at the meteor on the right while taking off his glasses before his eyes turned red.

"Second Herrscher... You underestimate the power of mankind too much!"

He flew upwards towards the meteor before taking out some sort of spherical tool that floated in his hand.

[9th Divine Key: Star of Eden]

[Zeroth Power: Quasi-BlackHole]

A 10-meter-diameter Blackhole was created in the middle of the meteors.

Although Welt could create a Quasi-Blackhole, this ability required very high concentration and at the same time, the energy used was also very high.

Welt estimated that he would need about 5 minutes at the earliest to be able to suck up 1 meteor, he cannot suck it up simultaneously because the diameter of the Meteor was very large.

Using the Divine key let alone using 'Zeroth Power' was too taxing on his body, he originally wanted to use it as a trump card in defeating Sirin.

Fortunately, Kouro had also healed his internal injuries earlier, so he could use the Divine key more freely.

But this wouldn't last long, as meteors would still fall to earth and take many lives.

'I hope you have a backup plan, Kouro...' Welt thought with a serious expression.

...

On the other hand.

Kouro instead of rising into the sky near Meteor like Welt, was instead below, or rather he was currently standing in the ocean.

His strange actions made Higokumaru ask, "Kouro... Why don't you do the same thing as Welt?"

Kouro did not answer her question, he raised his head to stare at the approaching meteor.

He took a deep breath before sighing, he took out the golden sword Xuanyuan in his left hand before muttering.

"Ji Xuanyuan... Lend me your strength."

Ji Xuanyuan and Dark Ji Xuanyuan who were sitting on Kouro's shoulders then smiled and said.

"[We've been waiting for that word for a long time!]" x2

Their bodies then glowed before looking at each other and simultaneously entering the Xuanyuan sword.

Both of Kouro's swords then shone brightly and seemed to unite into a new sword.

The Xuanyuan Sword had transformed into a black long greatsword with its outer edge and stripes colored gold in addition to the mysterious Shenzhou ancient script.

In this form, all of the Xuanyuan sword's abilities tripled, moreover the sword's basic ability [Elements Drive] had its cooldown removed so that Kouro could strengthen his 'Shadow Flame' without pause.

This form can be said to be the Zeroth Power of the Xuanyuan Sword.

"[Herrscher form: Dark Knight]!"

Kouro's body was enveloped in black smoke before forming into black armor.

Kouro held the sword with both hands and positioned the sword at a horizontal angle.

The sword was then enveloped by various colors before finally turning into a searing dark purple.

"Woah... What a fire..." Higokumaru muttered in surprise.

The aura released by his sword was so terrifying that it made the ocean he was standing on suddenly surge and make huge waves.

But even so, Kouro remained silent and concentrated on increasing his purple fire.

10 seconds.

20 seconds.

40 seconds.

1 minute.

3 minutes.

5 minutes.

"Now!"

*Swoosh!*

Like a spring that had been pulled to its limit, Kouro's jumping speed actually reached twenty times the speed of sound.

This time Kouro was really serious, he pulled out everything he had, and he risked his life and his pride!

"EXCALIBUR!!!..."

Kouro's eyes stared at the meteor without blinking, his body stabilized as if the air pressure didn't exist, when he was 100 meters away from the meteor, He then swung his sword with all his might and activated [Power Strike].

"SHADOW MORGAN!!!"

A blinding flash of light filled Kouro's sight, no, just for a moment, the ordinary people who were frantically running around because they saw the meteor suddenly stopped and they saw the bright blinding light like the sun.

Feeling the pull of gravity Kouro closed his eyes he was unable to move because his body and mind were exhausted.

[SP: 0/18,240]

[Fatigue: 100]

Of course, if he used [Status Recovery] his fatigue would definitely disappear and make him excited to the point of wanting to kick people.

He didn't want to use it now that it was included in his plan.

That was his last thought before he heard a super big explosion.

*BOOMM!!!!

5 Meteors instantly shattered into dust, unfortunately... The remaining meteors were still intact and were still shooting down like shooting stars.

Welt was also currently just about done obliterating 2 Meteors when he also heard that ear-splitting explosion that came from Kouro's place.

Looking at the falling Kouro, Higokumaru then muttered, "...As a Herrscher I can't lose either, right?"

"Alright! I'll be serious too!"

She stared at a Meteor with a serious expression before suddenly her body became enlarged and quickly became a kind of pink nine-tailed giant fox.

Higokumaru opened her mouth and slowly a huge fireball was created, the fireball grew bigger and bigger and after 5 minutes she then released the huge fireball toward a Meteor.

*Swoosh!*

After doing that her body returned to normal, Higokumaru then fell into the sea with an exhausted expression and let her body float with the sea current.

"This is really tiring.... My strength hasn't recovered yet..."

*BOOM!*

Higokumaru's attack smashed one Meteor into pieces.

Half of the Meteors had been eliminated but there were still 4 Meteors left moreover the time they had now was only twenty-five minutes left!

"Shit! " Welt clucked his tongue, he was currently preparing to 'Overload' before suddenly stopping as he saw many transparent butterflies flying past him.

"What is this?" he muttered warily, he turned his head before seeing a woman dressed as a nun and a gray-haired and violet-eyed man with a white mask and a red suit.

The two of them seemed to be floating in the air, no, the man in the red suit was standing on the ocean as if stepping on land.

"Who are... You guys? " asked Welt warily.

"You don't have to worry... We're here to help you and him." said the nun.

"Him?" Welt followed the nun's line of sight to find that she was staring at Kouro who was falling through the air.

A transparent hand then emerged from the nun and rushed to catch Kouro.

After which the nun then said, "Ashborn."

"I know."

The shadow at Ashborn's feet instantly spread to fill the sea surface as wide as the eye could see, he then demonstrated his hand like a sharp-fanged creature that was about to bite something.

"Shadow Dragon."

After saying that, the shadow at Ashborn's feet instantly shook before a dragon-shaped creature from eastern mythology came out of the shadow and rushed towards the remaining Meteors.

*Swoosh!"

*ROAR!*

The dragon roared loudly, its body was enormous, large enough to make the city-sized Meteor look like a small ball in its mouth.

Welt's pupils shrank when he saw this, his mind went blank, Higokumaru was also like that before quickly her eyes looked at Ashborn with a sharp gaze full of killing intent.

The dragon with its body covering the sunlight made the world seem very small.

The dragon bit the Meteors one by one until they shattered into pieces before finally returning to Ashborn's shadow.

All these things happened in less than a minute.

But for ordinary people who had experienced this phenomenon, especially seeing the giant black dragon biting the Meteors and covering the sky made their three views break.

'Damn it! Are we living in a fantasy world?'

That's what people thought when they saw this phenomenon.

"It's done. Fuhh... It was really tiring using that ability." Ashborn said in a tired tone.

Aponia did not heed his words, she looked at Kouro who was in her arms before turning to look at Ashborn and said, "Let's go."

"Okay."

The shadows under Ashborn's feet spread out again before Aponia and Ashborn themselves sank into the shadows.

Welt who saw this then came to his senses before shouting, "Wait! You can't take Kouro!"

"We'll take care of him, you go come back, please." Aponia said calmly.

"... Understood," Welt said suddenly.

Welt took Higokumaru and flew back to the Lab tower.

Ashborn looked at Kouro with an unknown gaze.

"Kouro, huh..."