"After entering the Observation Hub."

"All the scenery you see is a product of Dr. Mei and I manifesting the mental world in a way that humans can comprehend."

The dark silver metal door slid open with a swift "click."

Su, clad in his combat suit, listened to Spaxi's rapidly spoken introduction as he quickly strode into the Observation Hub.

"The [Nightmare] is essentially a mixture of Honkai energy and mental power."

"After潜入 the dreamscape, they will appear before you in the form of Honkai Beasts; and the city you are in is a simulated aggregation of the mental worlds of everyone present."

Leaning back gently.

A control bolt loaded with [Consciousness Shackle] secured Su's body to the coffin-like metal bed — all a棺材板似的金属床ll the devices within the Observation Hub were designed to maximize the amplification and enhancement of the user's mental power.

"A Herrscher's Honkai energy is not infinite."

"There's an upper limit to the speed at which it can be replenished from the Imaginary Space."

"As long as you eliminate them quickly enough, you might be able to force out the opponent's mental entity!"

"At that time—"

Spaxi used the most concise language possible to inform Su of all the crucial aspects of the Observation Hub and the current operation. Psychic-perception type Fusion Soldiers were already rare, and of those who had entered the Observation Hub to battle the Herrscher up to this point, how many would awaken had become a complete unknown.

The Eighth Herrscher's erosion of the Flame-Chasers was accelerating.

If Su's addition couldn't turn this disadvantageous situation around, then…

"Understood."

Su had completed his preparations for the Observation Hub. As the metal door "clicked" shut completely, his consciousness was instantly uploaded to a battlefield others could not reach.

"Leave it to me…"

"Teacher."

"Whoosh."

The moment he opened his eyes.

A pillar like an iron tower descended from the sky — Su, having just appeared in the mental world, was immediately attacked by a Chariot-class Honkai Beast's [Heavy Crush].

"Clang!!"

It was indeed his first time.

But Su took only a fleeting moment to instantly understand how to fight in this world: as a world of "illusion," as long as his mental power and Honkai energy were sufficient to support it, he could use any power he knew.

An invisible shield sprang up before him.

This was the psionic barrier Destobier was most adept at using. Forget the mental world; even in reality, with Su's current strength, manifesting this ability would not be difficult.

His perception spread out like ripples.

His teammates fighting in the city… Before Su entered the Observation Hub, there were a full 26 devices in operation.

As for now.

Not even counting those still fighting, there were barely less than 10 comrades who still showed signs of life.

Although they were fighting in the most conservative way — mostly imitating the combat styles of their respective squad captains — their remaining Honkai energy… If Su had arrived just three minutes later, the Flame-Chasers would likely have lost all their deployable psychic-perception type Fusion Soldiers.

"It's not too late."

"Bang!!"

The Chariot-class's massive body was sent flying directly.

Vast mental power took shape around Su.

The energy level displayed by this mental power alone was stronger than that of all the other Fusion Soldiers combined.

For Su, the power most familiar to him was naturally—

"Come forth!"

"Rumble!!"

A giant locomotive roared out of the void!

The Second Key of God, Key of Eternity: Cosmic Juggernaut!

The Cosmic Juggernaut created by Vill-V was not particularly suited for combat; it was more inclined towards being a functional tool.

But here, in this world of illusion, anything was possible!

"Whoosh!"

Under Su's control, the Cosmic Juggernaut transformed into a surging torrent of light!

A dazzling ocean of light enveloped the entire city. The pillar of light soaring into the sky converged in Su's hand, forming a resplendent golden longsword!

A slender and straight blade.

A wide and solid hilt.

And those gleaming engravings, depicting epics, and its sharp edge!

Sword of Light, Sword of Kings.

This was—

The Sword in the Stone!

(Although Su, as the "Lady of the Lake," should have bestowed Excalibur (the Sword from the Lake) upon King Arthur, the Cosmic Juggernaut in the original work is indeed the true form of the Sword in the Stone, so this book will continue to "adopt" that.)

"Weng!"

The clear ring of a sword echoed through the city.

Light enveloped Su's entire body like a divine blessing.

Raising the longsword high, the space before its tip trembled frantically, until a pitch-black spatial rift was born from it!

"Zzheng!!!"

Swing arm, slash sword.

The radiance surged skyward like a divine judgment.

In the next second, just as it was about to fall upon the city, the torn space swallowed the entire pillar of light.

The next instant…

A rain of light filled the sky!

Of the millions of strands of rain falling from the heavens, every drop was an avatar of the Cosmic Juggernaut's power.

They were countless sword gleams compressed to the extreme, descending with imposing momentum upon the head of every Honkai Beast!

"Boom!!!"

The city remained unharmed.

The Honkai were reduced to ashes.

The ocean of light swept over the entire city, and the other Fusion Soldiers immersed within it even found their strength slowly recovering in warmth like a mother's embrace.

With just one strike.

Su, with a wave of his hand, eliminated all Honkai Beasts in the entire city.

This also meant.

All the [Nightmare] entities the Herrscher of Sentience had used to attack the Flame-Chasers were completely cleansed by Su's mental power.

This strike could not bring back the lives lost.

But it completely shattered the Eighth Herrscher's plan to annihilate the Flame-Chasers using [Nightmare].

And an attack of such intensity…

"Crack."

The space above the city was torn open again, and a somewhat solitary figure appeared within.

This was not a product of Su's power.

"This is…"

"The First Herrscher!?"

Su had not experienced the First Herrscher incident.

However, he had encountered this Herrscher's existence many times in various documents.

Not to mention, Vill-V had once revealed to him that Dr. Mei was planning to use the First Herrscher's Herrscher Core to create a super-AI named "Prometheus."

Therefore…

Su still had a fairly clear understanding of the Herrscher before him and its abilities.

However, this move by the Herrscher of Sentience indeed exceeded Su's expectations. Although he had long known that Honkai Beasts wouldn't be the limit, he hadn't expected the opponent to be able to recreate even a Herrscher-level entity in the mental world.

The next second—

"Crack!"

A large amount of weaponry began to materialize: from individual rocket launchers to battlecruisers, countless inventions of human civilization densely filled the sky.

Humans were using the power of Honkai.

The Herrscher was utilizing the creations of civilization.

This was truly…

Cannon fire roared from ship guns, the holy sword brandished its cutting edge!

"Boom!!!"