Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Hehehehe… Hehehehehe… Hahahaha… AHAHAHAHA!!"

The man finally laughed, starting with a soft chuckle, then the laughter gradually became shriller, accompanied by the shaking of his body against the totem pole, before finally becoming uncontrollable.

He laughed so wildly, so unrestrainedly. He was the one being tied to the pole and bled, he was the one surrounded by both Honkai beasts and humans, he was the one who seemed to be the most vulnerable—

But in his eyes, the situation seemed to be the opposite.

There were many prey, but only one hunter.

His piercing laughter echoed in the night, the silent villagers held their silent daggers, silently making more wounds on the laughing man, before being silently trampled into mincemeat by the Honkai beasts.

Fresh blood merged with the melting snow, steaming and overflowing to Mikael's feet. It was only then that he felt the passage of time again.

"There's still time!"

The Honkai beasts here weren't powerful. He could resolve all of them in a very short amount of time.

But he hesitated, constantly questioning himself—were these the kinds of humans he needed to save?

The footsteps of Honkai beasts were already behind him, their huge shadows completely obscuring him and Hua.

But he still didn't act.

Suddenly, the thinnest iron chain binding the man's right hand snapped.

A warning bell rang in Mikael's mind. The man's escape finally forced him to make a choice—it wasn't to fight, nor was there any action that could be called "saving."

Even later, Mikael himself couldn't explain why he had made that choice—to stand and watch.

Hua only felt her vision go black, followed by a sense of vertigo, before she found herself standing in midair.

Yes, it was definitely midair. There was nothing below her feet, yet something had solidified into a solid ground for her to stand on.

Before she could fully appreciate this strange feeling, she heard a deafening crash nearby.

The snowfields were burning, the village was burning, and the birch forest was burning.

Flames spread in all directions, and the origin of the blaze had become scorched earth. Large areas of thick water vapor condensed into a low-lying mist.

A strange fragrance lingered in the air. In the hazy mist, the villagers and Honkai beasts had all turned into dry, contorted corpses, mixed with the withered birch trees in the distance, indistinguishable.

And the one who started it all had broken free of his shackles. All the ice and snow on his body had melted. His bloodied feet stepped onto the blackened earth, sounding like a piece of meat being placed in a hot pan.

His whole body was more like… how could it be described… like a heap of embers on the verge of going out. As a cold wind swept past, faint sparks flickered on his body.

Across a hundred meters, Mikael met the gaze of those fiercely burning eyes once more.

"Not good!"

A Void barrier instantly formed in front of him. Without hesitation, Mikael pushed Hua away, and before she could make a sound, she was teleported to the ground through a spatial rift.

"BOOM!"

A hundred meters was no more than an instant for that man. Kalpas's charred fist ignited in flames, slamming into the thick Void barrier. Mikael even felt the entire space around him shake!

"Crack…"

The cracks in the barrier rapidly widened, as if it would shatter in the next second.

"Calm your tits!"

In Kalpas's view, the boy who had been hiding behind the barrier suddenly disappeared. Then, he heard his voice from behind.

"Get lost!"

Mikael reached out, trying to grab his shoulder. Kalpas couldn't stay in the air, which was a great opportunity.

But the bestial man naturally refused to be tamed. He forcibly twisted his body in midair, then stomped his foot on the dissolving Void barrier, turning his body into a cannonball, shooting towards Mikael.

A bright arc flashed across the night sky, and at the peak of the arc, the two of them fell to the ground like shooting stars, tearing hundreds of meters of trenches into the scorched earth.

"I told you to calm down."

In the thin mist, Mikael released his grip on Kalpas's fist.

Kalpas was still in his punching stance, frozen in place—no, not quite frozen. His whole body was shaking and struggling violently, but no matter how much he struggled, the invisible shackles formed by spatial power held him firmly, preventing him from moving.

The unscathed Mikael tilted his chin, pondering… how should he calm Kalpas down?

But when he met the eyes of the beast-like man, his heart jumped.

On his face, which had been burned and was covered in blood, two unextinguished flames burned.

They flickered, conveying their master's emotions to Mikael—happiness, excitement, exhilaration, curiosity…

"You still won't give up?"

That's right. If he were to give up so easily, Mikael would doubt whether this guy he had found was actually Kalpas.

"Hehehe… Hahahaha!"

He laughed wildly again. This unrestrained attitude was both puzzling and unsettling.

Why? Even though he was in a weaker position, it was as if…

"Interesting… this fight has only just begun!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the dead embers reignited. He burned himself, raising a blaze, and even Mikael couldn't help but take a step back from the heat.

The invisible spatial shackles snapped—just like the iron chains that had bound him before.

"Hahahaha… Hahahahahaha!"

Mikael waved his hand, and four lances made of Void energy shot out from spatial rifts, each targeting one of Kalpas's limbs.

"Get lost!"

Kalpas waved his hand, and flames surged like waves, but failed to slow down the Void lances even a little. It was as if the four short spears didn't exist in real space, but were merely projections.

The "projections" pierced Kalpas's limbs without causing any pain, as if they were just 3D projections.

But the next moment, the projections turned into solid matter, and all four Void lances hit their targets.

Kalpas was stunned…

But he wasn't thinking about the bizarre scene from earlier.

He stared blankly at his arm, where blood was gushing from the wound. However, as soon as the blood touched his skin, it began to boil. He barely had time to dab a little with his index finger and put it in his mouth.

"Blood… blood… this is the taste!"

The Void lances formed from Void energy were being melted by the fire.

"This is the taste!"

The second sound came from above. Mikael quickly retreated. The next moment, Kalpas landed, and the entire ground shook, emitting a dull, hollow sound.

Kalpas had gone completely mad.

But Mikael wasn't in a hurry.

It was like bullfighting. The bull might seem stronger than the man, and it charged again and again.

But ultimately, the man controlled the rhythm of the bullfight—just like now.

Mikael continuously dodged Kalpas's attacks, but he didn't seem disheveled. Just by using his spatial powers, he could easily avoid every attack. Kalpas, however, would eventually weaken as his flames died out. That was when the "matador" would attack.

Two figures, one yellow and one red, darted across the scorched earth. Explosions sounded in the east, then in the west. Mikael tried to keep the fight contained to a small area around the village. He had teleported Hua to the ruins of the village, and he didn't dare get too close or too far from her.

But after limiting the space, it was inevitable that Kalpas would occasionally catch up with him.

Like now...

"Run! Aren't you good at running?!"

He quickly punched, smashing through three Void barriers, but after the last barrier shattered, Mikael was gone.

"Up here! Idiot!"

A Void crystal the size of a building suddenly appeared. Under Mikael's control, it slammed down heavily, as if to crush Kalpas into pieces.

"BOOM!"

"Huh?"

Mikael looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief:

The man, who was almost at his limit, stubbornly stretched out his hand to hold back the huge Void crystal, like an ant carrying a pencil.

His feet were buried in the ground, his whole body was tense to the point of twitching, yet he silently resisted.

The fire of battle still burned in his eyes, never straying from Mikael for a moment.

"Oh? So stubborn?"

Mikael brushed the soot off his body. He lightly flicked his index finger upwards. Kalpas felt a release from above, and the Void crystal simply vanished.

But before he could even pull his feet out of the scorched earth, an even larger Void crystal was dropped on him from above...

It's time!

"Finishing move—Wife's Hoeing the Field!"

Again and again, again…

Kalpas was like a nail, being hammered into the ground by the huge Void crystal that Mikael was wielding. The flames on his body were growing smaller and smaller. Even the sparks on his skin were gone.

The countless wounds all over his body burst open, and black blood soaked the black earth.

Even Mikael felt a little sorry for him. He was even worried that he would beat Kalpas to death if he kept hitting him like this.

In fact, anyone looking at Kalpas now wouldn't think he was a living person, if they ignored his eyes, which were still filled with excitement and rage…

So, he could only grit his teeth and continue to swing the Void crystal with a cold and merciless attitude.

Each impact would send more dust into the air. The snowfields, which had once been a vast expanse of white, now only consisted of lifeless scorched earth and smog.

Kalpas had been hammered deep into the earth, with only his chest and above exposed. A huge pit, over a hundred meters in diameter and nearly twenty meters deep, had formed with him at the center.

He hadn't begged for mercy, hadn't even said a word, he just kept his eyes locked on Mikael.

But as the Void crystal slammed down again, his expression suddenly changed—because he had kept eye contact, this surprising look was immediately noticed by Mikael.

"Huh? What could make Kalpas show an expression like that?"

He instinctively swung down the Void crystal, but this time, Kalpas spoke:

"No…"

He had only uttered a short syllable when suddenly, the entire ground began to shake. Within a few seconds, the ground around Kalpas began to collapse rapidly.

"What's going on… the ground beneath us is empty!"