Chapter 252: Herrscher of Sentience: Send!

[Huh…Huh…]

It was a rapid gasp, a gasp that some being could not help but make after running for a long time and bearing too much pressure.

The surroundings were endlessly white as if there were no other colors except white... No, it should be like this.

Because this is the territory it created, the safe place it built for itself.

Here, in this place independent of other people's [dreams], it can freely exert its own power, manipulate other people's minds, play with other people's [dreams], influence other people's emotions, and even... check and even tamper with other people's memories.

This is the ability it should have as it has the power to manipulate the "spirit." It can be said that it is unrivaled in this regard. In the spiritual realm, there is almost no [human] who can surpass it.

And it will thereby fulfill its "obligation" to bring destruction to mankind and destroy this civilization.

It even thinks that it is very gentle. After all, the "dreams" it gives to others are always wonderful and happy, and they are the "dreams" that develop according to its most ideal future.

A sweet dream will make people nostalgic and refuse to leave. They will sink into the dream and then disappear and die peacefully with a smile... It should be like this.

Yeah, that's how it should be...

'Then why... why?!'

[How could someone like you come in?!]

It manipulated its own power to make its body "fly." While moving quickly, it turned around and looked behind it, questioning loudly.

And behind it, the space that should have also been white is now gradually filled with azure blue.

That is [water], [water] that should not appear and cannot appear here.

The azure blue water flows quietly, spreading in a gentle and silent manner that cannot be stopped or obstructed, permeating and invading its territory, and also dissolving its pride without leaving anything behind.

"Don't say that. You were the one who pulled me in."

He... Nozomi said this softly.

[Are you kidding me?! I have never contacted you! I will never contact you... a "traitor"!]

It gritted its teeth and showed a slightly resentful expression.

It had already sensed and realized that the guy in front of it was the same as it, both were "Herrschers"... No, it would be better to say that Nozomi showed no signs of concealing anything.

But precisely because of this, it was even more puzzling as to why Nozomi, who was also a "Herrscher," would attack it... Aren't they companions?

"No contact? Ah... it seems to be true, but it doesn't matter. I will come to trouble you eventually anyway."

[What do you mean?]

Nozomi's matter-of-fact tone made it feel annoyed, and the anger quickly surged up and almost made it laugh.

[You mean you, a fellow Herrscher, are actually trying to cause trouble for me? Are you kidding me?]

[Shouldn't we be companions? Together we should wipe out humanity, destroy civilization, and bring the world into silence... Isn't that what we should do?!]

[And now, you actually... actually dare to come before me! You manipulate this power that should be used against humans to hurt your companions! Aren't you ashamed?]

[You "traitor"!]

"Ah... whatever you say."

Nozomi's tone was relaxed, and even his pace had not changed. It was still so slow and steady, and with an irresistible meaning, just like the ever-spreading [water], just like the ever-expanding blue color.

"But... after all, you provoked my "compatriots," so I have to come and find you, right?"

[your… compatriots?]

"Yeah, didn't you feel it?"

He raised his hand slightly and placed his fingertips on his lips. His index finger and middle finger separated naturally and placed on his upper lip and raised corners of his mouth respectively. Nozomi chuckled and said.

"The blood I left in their bodies."

[...ha?]

It immediately felt that Nozomi was joking... What "blood"? And just based on the so-called "blood," can those humans be regarded as "fellows"? What kind of joke is this? It's not funny at all!

"The second thing is..."

Nozomi slowly raised his hand.

The five fingers were put together in a knife shape, and the azure water quietly flowed and gathered. The originally calm water on the ground also began to ripple.

A strong sense of danger suddenly came over it, and the feeling of being "marked" made its body tremble involuntarily.

"I think that as for the Herrscher or something like that... I am enough."

"Like what you said about wiping out humanity and destroying civilization... I can do these things myself. In fact... I have already done it several times."

The raised hand fell down in an instant!

The azure water instantly turned into a crescent-shaped water blade and attacked it!

[...]

It curled its lips, tapped its toes, and slightly tilted its body, trying to avoid being hit by the waterblade while waving its hands and calling upon its own power.

The azure water blade quickly faded in the air as it was reduced by an invisible force. The azure color gradually became lighter and finally turned into the same white as the surroundings, as if it had merged with the surrounding environment... In essence, it "disappeared."

「Ha... stop it. This kind of attack won't do anything to me.」

"Really? Then why don't you just use it against me?"

[......]

"Or push me into the Dream like you did with the others... Then you won't have to run around all this time."

[......]

"You can't do that, can you?"

Nozomi smiled, but his steps remained slow and steady.

"You can't deal with me, and you can't even think of how to deal with me, but you don't want to leave here, because this is your [territory], a place where you can exert your power at will, and it is also the place you should be most proud of."

"But now... it has been occupied by an outsider."

"You don't want to admit it, nor do you want to give up. After all, you were defeated by an outsider in the area where you are best and strongest. It's like being driven out of your home by an outsider."

The golden and scarlet light in Nozomi's pupils flickered quietly.

"You are very angry and you are very dissatisfied, right?"

'Since you know that, just don't say it out loud!'

Its teeth were almost broken, but before it could fight back, Nozomi continued.

"But... actually I can go even further."

He suddenly stopped, stood still, raised his hand slightly, placed his index finger on his lips, and narrowed his pupils, which were shining with gold and scarlet light.

Immediately, he whispered softly.

"[This place should be the sea]"

The mirror-like, azure blue water suddenly spread out.

Whether it was the "ground" he was standing on, the "sky" above his head, or everything around him, all were dyed with azure blue.

The pure white space was shrinking rapidly. Even if it wanted to resist or stop it, it would be difficult to do so.

It had tried! Tried! To use its own power to reduce the opponent's power, or to clear away the strange [water].

It should be able to do it; after all, this is the realm of [Spirit], and it is also its power... Logically speaking, it should be easy for it to clear it out.

But It just can't do it!

Its power "dissipated" the moment it came into contact with water and "dissolved" silently, just like a drop of paint different from seawater falling into the sea, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Its power was like mud in the sea, unable to cause the slightest impact on Nozomi.

Ah... this is only natural. After all, the "ocean" is always inclusive. No matter what it is, it will always accept it gently.

Therefore, facing the rapidly spreading blue, facing its increasingly smaller range of activities, and the increasingly terrifying aura coming from him, it felt... it could not wait any longer.

It has to go!

Now is no longer the time to be willful or to stalemate or counterattack. He is obviously stronger than itself. Retreat first and then look for an opportunity to counterattack!

'No... no, this is not a retreat; it's just a strategic shift.'

'After all, this "traitor" cares so much about his "compatriots," so I will target his "compatriots"!'

'That's right! I just changed my strategy!'

It believed this, and before the pure white space was completely occupied, its figure quickly faded and disappeared in the blink of an eye... It left this space.

"Oh... did he run away?"

Nozomi tilted his head.

"But... it's useless, huh?"

"After all... the [hunt] has already begun."

"And prey... should look like prey."

————————

In a house in a city inland...

[Huh…Huh…]

It hurriedly opened its eyes, escaped from the so-called "dream," woke up from the "dream," and pressed its hand gently on its chest, trying to calm its rapid breathing and turbulent heartbeat... After several efforts, its condition improved.

After looking around and confirming that it had returned to reality and there was no azure water around, it breathed a sigh of relief.

[Okay... I left successfully... Ha, as expected, as long as I want to leave, he can't stop me. In the spiritual realm, he is indeed worse than me.]

It muttered to itself, with the corners of its mouth slightly raised, as if it was proud.

As for the area that was previously infected by him? It doesn't matter. With its power, it won't be difficult to create another one... It was unwilling to leave before, simply because it didn't want to admit that it was suppressed... It was even suppressed within its own power, which was really embarrassing!

But it doesn't matter... Now that it has swallowed its pride and taken the initiative to flee... retreat... No! It should be "moving to another place"! Since it has already made up its mind to do so, it naturally doesn't need to care about such a small face issue.

[Okay, now that we have decided, let's bypass him and go find other people to trouble…]

Woo——

Before it could finish its soliloquy, an alarm suddenly sounded, followed by a broadcast that echoed throughout the city.

"Attention, citizens! Heavy rain is coming! Attention, citizens! Heavy rain is coming! Please..."

Boom!

Before the broadcast was finished, the dull thunder drowned out everything and the humid air instantly spread throughout the city. Even it could smell the moist scent.

Tick-tock

It was the sound of raindrops falling gently, a few transparent raindrops fell, wetting the open window edge, and then...

Crash——

In a flash, [heavy rain] poured down, and the unique scent of rain instantly filled the entire house.

[Tsk... As expected, those humans are all rubbish. They said it was safe inland, and that they had something that could adjust the weather to protect the city, but in the end, they still couldn't stop the "rainstorm"? And they couldn't even finish their broadcast... It's so funny, who can be protected by this kind of warning?]

It smacked its lips and muttered to itself in annoyance... After seeing and feeling the oppression brought by Nozomi, it had an inexplicable aversion to anything related to water... or was it fear?

Especially the dampness that filled the entire room made it feel extremely uncomfortable and irritated...

[…As expected, humans are all a bunch of trash, maggots]

As if to escape the fear brought by Nozomi, it was silent for a while, then muttered something in a tone full of hatred, pointing its spearhead at humans... After all, it is a "Herrscher", isn't it natural for it to hate and despise humans?

At the same time, it stood up and planned to close the window to prevent the damp air from rushing into the room again... As for the broadcast's suggestion of taking shelter? It didn't need it.

On the one hand, under the control of the "Fourth Divine Key", even if [Heavy Rain] occurs, it will not last long, so there is no need to worry too much...

At this point, it also has to give a little praise to the "Fire Moth". At least at this time, the "Fire Moth"'s approach can allow it to get rid of the humid weather that makes it irritable sooner.

On the other hand, [Heavy Rain] belongs to Honkai and will bring some Honkai energy, which can provide it with some help... huh?

A thought flashed through its mind and made it stop.

Speaking of which, the power of the "traitor" seems to be related to water, and [Heavy Rain] is also water, and it also carries Honkai energy, so does that mean...

[......]

It was silent for a while, then quickly shook its head and put its thoughts behind it.

'No, no, how could he find me? He is not like me, with spiritual powers, he can't find me through that area... Well, it must be like this.'

'But isn't the sudden arrival of this [rainstorm] too much of a coincidence?'

[…No, no, no, I better stop scaring myself.]

It shook its head again, suppressing all those complicated thoughts, trying hard to stop itself from falling into fear of him and Nozomi.

But... when it wanted to take another step and close the window... it found that it could not move.

'No... No! No, no, no! Something is targeting me!'

Its stiff body trembled slightly, and the fear of being stared at by some predator instantly enveloped its whole body, filling its thoughts and its heart.

It could feel the sense of danger coming from the heavy rain outside the house, from the transparent raindrops, and from the humid air around it!

It seemed that in just a moment, the water around it, whether it was the rain outside, the water stains on the ground left by the rain, or the invisible water that permeated the surroundings, all poured into this "container" with an emotion called "fear" and filled it up in an instant.

Even... a lot of it overflowed.

"Um..."

Some light, gentle sounds like the wind, or perhaps as soft as water came from outside the window.

[? ! ]

Its eyes suddenly widened... It knew! It heard! It was him! The "traitor"!

"ah..."

He was getting closer...he was getting closer!

What can be seen is that he "swam" out from the white rain curtain, bringing with him the azure water, pushed open the window that was not closed to begin with, and gently jumped into its house.

He is coming!!!

"Hmm~"

Nozomi walked up to it, looked at its body that was unable to move due to fear, looked at its body that was unable to move due to inhaling too much water and could only tremble slightly, and smiled gently.

he reached out and gently lifted its chin, looking at its face that was full of panic, astonishment, and fear. he moved closer and observed it carefully, his nose twitching slightly and he seemed to be sniffing it.

"As expected... you smell like the [Mark]."

Nozomi seemed to confirm something, stretched out his other hand, and gently held up its face.

"I found you~ [Herrscher]~"

「You...you...」

"Shh...no need to say too much."

Nozomi gently interrupted its words.

"After all, I came here only to obtain my [prey]."

"Hmm~ This time the [hunting] was unexpectedly easy~"

"So..."

Nozoi open his mouth slightly, and the azure water will outline the shape of a "fish" in the air, with its bloody mouth also opened.

"I'm starting~"

Its lips and teeth closed, and its body disappeared.

Snap——

There was a slight sound of something falling to the ground... After the "fish" ate it, its "core" fell out.

"Oh… what a pity."

Nozomi licked his fingers subconsciously as if he was savoring the "food" he had just "eaten".

"The dying counterattack is ineffective against me..."

Nozomi said this softly.

Just now it wanted to launch a mental attack on itself, hoping to make Nozomi make a mistake for a moment so that it would have time to counterattack... but unfortunately, it was ineffective against Nozomi.

It was still the same as before. After its attack arrived, it was like mud entering the sea, instantly dissipating and dissolving, and finally becoming almost nothing.

In the end, the expression on its face and the look in its pupils turned completely into astonishment, the kind of expression that doubted itself, doubted whether its own power was real, and even vaguely began to doubt all signs... It was quite interesting.

"Hmm... Another Herrscher has been dealt with... But I've already shown up, and I'm not pretending anymore, so how come another Herrscher is born..."

Nozomi picked up the "Herrscher Core" on the ground and muttered to himself.

"But...never mind. I'll take care of it."

Nozomi smiled and said so.

"It's a pity... this time, we can't give up this [Core]."

Open his mouth, put the "core" into his mouth, and swallow it.

"After all, It's still useful..."

"Ah, that's a good opportunity. Let's use this opportunity to give them a [preview]."

"Otherwise, it would be bad if I suddenly [come back] and scare them~"

Nozomi jumped lightly and jumped back into the [rainstorm] from the window, riding on the [ocean current] formed by the rain and leaving quickly.

After a while, with the help of the "Fire Moth" rescue team that arrived in time, and under the control of the "Fourth Divine Key", the [Heavy Rain] stopped.

Fortunately, the "Fire Moth" was still timely this time, and no civilians died because of the [heavy rain].

[Um.]

[No one.]