Ryan got the answer. After all the detours and delays, he finally saw the results.
At the moment the Herrscher of Ice appeared, he felt a sense of relief.
"It's worth my patience to wait for you to show up."
Ryan didn't want to fight Andevich, but there were too many things he couldn't explain. He had to bite the bullet and fight on. All his previous hesitations disappeared as soon as he saw the Herrscher.
Everything has a price. At least these efforts were worth it.
So, he chose to destroy the puppet without hesitation, releasing all his power and announcing his arrival with a hurricane of thunder and lightning.
The breath he'd been holding finally escaped. Ryan didn't calculate how much Honkai energy he had left after consuming the puppet, or how strong the enemy was. He only knew one thing:
At this point, retreat was no longer an option.
"Then, come on."
Buzz buzz buzz...
The air resonated as the vortex clouds in the sky began to spin. Silver snake-like lightning descended, evaporating the seawater to create a thick fog. But the fog quickly disappeared as the hurricane blew through it.
Feng swallowed hard, and his remaining humanity told him that the tingling sensation he felt was fear.
The Herrscher of Ice was completely different. He was still analyzing the situation like a computer, identifying a problem.
Although he didn't understand the principle behind the clone, he could tell that it must have been very energy-intensive. A hint of regret formed in his mind.
The target shouldn't have been placed on the pseudo-herrscher from the start. If all the Fire Moth forces had been mobilized, this human would've definitely been defeated. But then again, with his cunning, he wouldn't have appeared unless there was a real opportunity.
"Then, I'll bet with you once, human."
The thought barely crossed his mind when the sudden burst of lightning blurred his vision, and he couldn't hear anything. All he saw was the rapidly approaching vortex cloud.
The wind and thunder roared, and the sea was shattered by a powerful shot!
Boom-boom!
A huge wave mixed with ice debris exploded on the sea surface, rushing into the dark sky. The sea water and ice created a radial shockwave, overflowing the seawall and completely submerging the port area.
The sound of gas explosions and thunder filled the air.
'So fast,' thought the Herrscher of Ice. 'Using two powers together? The superimposed destructive force is more terrifying than I imagined.'
His pupils contracted. He was the second person to experience Ryan's full-strength attack.
An ice wall stretched out in front of him, and a spiderweb-like crack formed at its center. A man holding a gun was embedded in it, continuing to push deeper.
"Close."
The ice wall rapidly deformed, compressing like an open arm, and Ryan's external honkai energy shield began to freeze.
'Trouble.'
Ryan flashed to the side, and the 100-meter-long ice wall turned into a massive ice ball. Just as he was about to dodge, he saw the ice ball transform into a "sea urchin."
Swish, swish, swish.
Hundreds of ice cones shot out in all directions, shattering the air. Ryan swung his spear, creating a wind blade wall to intercept them. The ice cones turned into powder, their sparkling remnants falling like catkins.
Ryan lowered his head and saw the sea beneath him solidify. Then, it flipped, forming a "fly swatter" at least a kilometer long, sweeping forward with unstoppable momentum.
A flash of purple lightning shot through the air.
The arc raced across Ryan's body, instantly propelling him forward a thousand meters. He paused for a moment.
'This is troublesome. This Herrscher has already mastered his authority and has control over my manipulation of liquids.'
'Though his ability is similar, it's completely different from Andevich's. It's more like a mage's technique.'
The Herrscher of Ice had been hiding for more than half a year, and Ryan suspected he hadn't rested well during that time. Unlike the previous three Herrschers, he wasn't well-trained and was facing a decisive battle as soon as he got the authority.
With 2000HW of Honkai energy and fully mastered authority, he was indeed a formidable opponent.
Ryan gripped the spear with both hands, and a crack appeared in the gloomy sky.
Hurricane Spear.
Ryan held the spear like a tornado hundreds of meters long, swinging with full strength amid the buzzing roar.
Sea-splitting Dragon Slash!
This attack could indeed split the sea, but now the sea surface was solidifying. Ryan heard the grinding sound of the spear cutting through something incredibly tough—like slashing at a massive shield.
Above him, water vapor condensed.
There was no need to look at it. Freezing requires a carrier, and Ryan's control over liquids provided an early warning. He twisted his body, creating a winding arc of electricity and holding a 100-meter-long tornado in his hand.
Ding Ding Ding Ding.
Thousands of ice needles fell, densely impacting the "ice shield." Ryan moved around the edge, sweeping the hurricane spear with no hesitation.
After a moment, the tornado—capable of cutting through steel—slowed down, eventually freezing the ice sculpture solid. The fluid had turned solid, and after becoming thousands of times heavier, the speed of sweeping slowed, transforming it into a giant spiral gun.
'One trick to eat the world, right?'
Ryan gritted his teeth and yanked out the spear, which was about to freeze. He slapped it hard with his left hand raised.
Thunderstorm sound!
Lightning arced over the giant spiral gun, creating countless cracks. Then, in the center, the compressed air exploded like a propeller, releasing "directional thunder."
Hundreds of ice blocks shot out at several times the speed of sound, creating a thunderous barrage that surged across the sea.
But the reason it's called directional thunder was because Ryan was outside the scattering range. As the fragments exploded, he charged forward and saw a massive ice ball.
To stop a moving object required an immense amount of energy. It was better to shrink into a turtle shell. The ice ball—estimated to be ten meters thick—began to deform. The Herrscher of Ice pressed his hands on the short stick, watching Ryan's violent approach.
If the spear just now was a tornado, it had now turned into a glowing thunder knife, with countless arcs condensing together, radiating around with fangs and claws.
Everything it touched turned into nothingness. Ryan slashed down with the knife.
Dang!
Sparks flew off the surface of the ice ball. It was much harder than before, but it still couldn't withstand the cut, although the cut marks were rapidly recovering with visible speed.
'Are you faster than me?!'
With the advantage of his spear, Ryan could definitely cut through the same spot. Passive waiting equaled waiting for death—unless…
A surprise attack.
Ryan suddenly stabbed behind him, and the distorted air was pierced by him. A vague figure moved at high speed in the sky, constantly throwing wind spears.
Pseudo-herrscher. It was a familiar ability.
Ryan's eyes flickered, and he dived to the side, holding the giant thunder gun, and stabbed it straight into the sea.
Hua La La.
A shot stirred up a thousand layers of waves. A giant, royal blue beetle opened its mouth, spitting out thick freezing ice fog. The thunder gun pierced through the fog and struck its oval head into pieces.
Judgment-level Honkai beast.
Ryan penetrated the beetle, glanced at the thin ice on his body, and slowly turned his head. The giant ice ball was already coming toward him, crashing into an invisible air shield.
Boom!
A pale water line appeared on the sea surface, and then mountains in the north exploded in a series of dust clouds. Finally, a mountain over 100 meters high was shattered.
'Three against one?' Ryan's back was pressed against the rock wall. He quietly watched the three groups of high-concentration Honkai energy reactions and glanced over at the other side of Sundown Alley with his peripheral vision.
The battle over there continued. No matter the red-robed man's position, Kalpas wasn't an ideal teammate. He was already in a state of panic, his only goal to tear his target apart.
It was a luxury to expect him to abandon the prey in his hands and come to assist. Ryan couldn't help but laugh at himself as he looked up at the falling ice star.
"Since you want to kill me, you should stay."
The Herrscher of Ice was truly here to kill him, as he saw an opportunity to end it. This was the most rational calculation.
At this moment, Ryan was alone, and his flaws were finally exposed. Next time, it wouldn't be so easy to find him—if he survived at all. The Fire Moth had spent a lot of effort preventing Skynet detection.
Time, place, and opportunity had all come together.
"Then, you will die!"
The Herrscher pressed both hands down, and the pseudo-herrscher used airflow to blast himself like a propeller, with the Judgment-level collapse beast landing nearby. A 1-kilometer-wide ice ball fell from hundreds of meters above.
Falling Ice Star!
When this thing hit, the shockwave would be enough to destroy Sundown Alley. Aponia and Pardofelis stood at the bar door. The girl instinctively crouched, hugging her head to defend, while the nun forced her eyes wide open.
She felt that the future she had expected was nearing, and she wanted to witness what happened next.
Ryan stood tall, looking at the oncoming destruction. He could feel the air thickening around him. He knew without asking that it was the pseudo-herrscher causing this trouble.
'Do you think I'll panic and flee from the attack area?'
Wrong!
Ryan held the gun with both hands, stepped onto the ground, and faced the falling ice star with his small frame.
Hard against hard, let's see who's harder!
Get up!
Even the soul steel weapons groaned under the heavy load, and the honkai energy dissipated in the collision. Like two waves crashing into one another, they shattered into smaller white debris.
Lightning arcs spread across Ryan's body, extending to the tip of his gun. The hurricane blasted the ground, whistling around, and the mountains and forests bowed their heads.
Boom!
With his feet as the axis, the ground within a hundred meters collapsed, sending cracks spiraling outward. Looking down from the sky, the earth resembled a dry biscuit. The cracks split the mountains, sending boulders crashing into the town. Houses shattered like building blocks.
This was the most straightforward end of the world, even making the Herrscher of Ice twitch.
The Ice Star slowed down in the waves of air, then gradually halted before rising again.
The Herrscher of Ice licked his lips, seeing the fallen Ice Star being lifted. A man with torn clothes and powerful muscles raised his spear high and slammed it down on the Ice Star, with the roar of wind and thunder.
"Give it back to you!!"