Chapter 37

Contrary to Yinsen's orders, the LS3 (Longinus Strategic Support Satellites) didn't stop with just bombarding the Honkai beasts, but actually began firing on the Herrscher herself. And while there were no direct hits that they could see, they felt they had succeeded as the Hurricane stationed in Miami disappeared in an instant.

Even as enclosed as we were within the Pelican, the metal wall didn't stop the scream from making us clutch our heads. From watching Zea and Ark, my YoRHa forces weren't affected, however, as I was connected to the SL network, the TSFs were. Specially those using MHD drives, as the electromagnetic systems needed to get some air to function. We're gonna swap those at the Carriers ASAP.

Well… once we end this eruption once and for all.

The Hurricane had dissipated and once the sensor came online, everyone was treated to the scene of utter destruction.

Project Thor was one of those things that since no one had the money to make reality, people tended to underestimate or overestimate its capabilities. What we saw was insane.
The specs flooded my mind, a 17 by .35-meter pole, designed to have a compartment that somehow survived reentry with its contents intact, was launched with a railgun, and then onboard guidance systems made the rod fall on its objective with a projected margin of error of 2 meters.

The terrifying part was that these rods were coated in the same Photon Laminate the Shotrisers used for their own projectile acceleration systems. That meant that the rod conserved up to 70% of all the energy it gained from its orbital speeds.

So, what should have been a few tons of TNT, turned like someone dropped a couple MOABs in the whole state. Pieces of beasts littered the ground as they dissolved, and the sight was made even stranger as there was a clear difference between the bombarded part and ours.

I knew we had little time to waste. "All units, advance!"

I had wanted to save the orbital bombardment to finish off the Herrscher, distracting her before nailing her with a couple hundred tons of tungsten at terminal velocity. But since that plan depended on the element of surprise and we just lost it, we would have to adapt to the battlefield.

The TSF's showed why third generation frames were the best they had… in 2001. They reached speeds close to 700Km/h and while the Pelican wasn't slow, it felt like that compared to the TSFs. And while jets from my era could easily double that, they weren't humanoid giant robots as tall as a F22's overall length. The Hartens, being smaller and lighter, were even faster but stayed behind to provide cover. Those 'little' transforming jets could reach low earth orbit on their own, so they were pretty fast.

We reached Miami in a few minutes, and we saw the effects of the Fourth Herrscher's continued stay. There was no city anymore. It looked as if someone had spread the buildings like butter on toast and then proceeded to flood the place, then we came and bombarded it. There were no recognizable landmarks, and I had no hope for survivors.

Except for one lone figure lying atop a building that had miraculously survived all unscathed. There was a perfect sphere of untouched ground around her, and I could see the air distorting around her I had a moment to shout, "Brace for Impact!" as we lost both our right-side engines and crashed into the ground.

I coughed as I opened my eyes to the inside of an overturned Pelican. "Status!"
"A-OK here!" Those were Zea and Ark.

"Nothing broken!" Those were Watchpoint.

"Raring to go!" That was Himeko.

No one had lost their transformations and Zea and Ark had transformed as we crashed, so we all ran out of the wreck. The Herrscher was not that far from us. She looked at us with contempt that given the youth of her host, was mildly unnerving. "Humans… prepare to face the most holy of justice!" She raised her hand and we ducked at the compressed air blade she sent our way, which sliced off the bottom of our wrecked Pelican.

Her attention was then taken by the salvo of 120mm shells hitting her shields. The roar of jets reached us and with it a storm of 36mm projectiles hit the Herrscher once more. Another hail of energy bullets joined in, but it detonated on its shield. I knew I should have told Naki to keep the LS3s' existence secret up into the last minute.

I felt the ground lift and a familiar sight appeared before me. Another series of tornadoes grew around us and the ground we were on was lifted, what once were rooftops or walls became platforms of all types of materials. And so it began. "Humans! Your defiance has been noted and you shall be punished fairly! You shall serve as an example to all who resists God's will!"
"Yeah, I don't think you got the right god whispering in your ear, kiddo. Don't you know to hang up when strangers are calling?" Oh Yeah, that pissed her off.

"Impudent creature!"

"Language young lady!"

That set her in motion. As we were lifted from the ground, we used what we had in order to navigate the new arena. Watchpoint used their thrusters, Himeko could fly, and I used the AT the same way I remembered those Eva-drones in the movies used in space. It was surprisingly intuitive.

The Herrscher sent mode of those air blades at us and we evaded, answering with our guns, yet the barrier swatted them away. Another salvo from the TSFs was once again sent astray and we began flying around her. She managed deflecting bullets coming from all directions quite well. But the stalemate was broken when purple arrows rained in the top and bottom of her spherical shield, a few of them passed through it yet the Herrscher managed most of them. However, some did manage to find purchase in its body, drawing a scream of hatred I could feel inside my chest.

I pushed my shield in front of me and Watchpoint bunched up behind me. The AT field shone as cut after cut was drawn on it. Any physical thing would have been turned into ribbons by that attack.

The sounds reached me after my ears stopped ringing, various thing hit the floor and I saw pieces of my TSFs littering the ground. Thankfully the pilots were well and had managed to eject before the blender hit them. I saw them getting out and pulling back as much as they could.

I looked back at the Herrscher and saw several holes over all her body, and I knew something was wrong, as the wounds weren't closing and instead, an acrid smell reached me. I saw her wounds glow and I knew my pair of AI had pulled a fast one on all of us.

"Sting Kaban Strike!"

Another volley and we joined with our own guns. Another strafing run from our mechs and the Herrscher was withering inside her shield.

This was going too well, something was off.

The moment I thought about that I noticed the Herrscher sucking in air, my time perception was enhanced, and my HUD began making a strange noise that I identified as a countdown.

What could I do to shield my forces?

Duh, I'm wearing it right now!

[AT Field Shared Distribution Network Spec 2: Online]

In a projected map, various locations shone, and several dots were concentrated in the sea… ah, the carriers! Then…

[CORE YSN: ALL COMPATIBLE UNITS RECALL TO POSITION 0, ATF_SDN AT FULL POWER]

As whatever it was the Herrscher was preparing began leaving her lungs, several mechs almost blinded me as they appeared in front of me in a flash. I saw as they shone with that peculiar blue flame and I knew there was a reason I wanted those mechs by my side.

The distortion was like an explosion with no light or fireball, but I saw the wave rip through the air and splash against the flaming glass dome that appeared around us like the sea around a particularly large rock.

I felt the wave trying to crush my fellow riders inside my AT field and the remaining mechs gathered around the teleported Berkuts. I felt as my thought drifted since I imagine this was how it felt when the loudest flashbang goes off right next to your head.

For a moment I blacked out.

That last attack was monstrous. Much like Yinsen described it was a pressure wave akin to a thermobaric bomb's effect. But unlike the bombs, it didn't burn the oxygen. Instead, it ripped it out of the 'air', wherever it was...

The whole of North America heard in their skulls the Herrscher's screech of pain and fury. Those too close got their lungs pulled out of their bodies, and the vulnerable people, mainly those suffering from psychiatric or heart conditions began dropping like flies, dying from the sheer amount of pain injected directly into their skulls.
And in those places that the Honkai attacked, mainly those big cities, a lot of people joined in her pain and anger.

High up in the upper atmosphere, three young girls stood at the edges of their respective platforms. Each one held a two-handed sword in front of them, tip pointed upwards. Their platforms targeting systems found the intended location and loaded a 5-round salvo in their magazines, rails extending for improved accuracy. The rounds were the simplest yet deadliest, a 0.3x15 meter tungsten rod with some steering engines on its flat end. It was necessary since they were being accelerated by railguns and the engines allowed last second maneuvers.
The trio looked with solemn eyes at their target and the surrounding combatants, carefully calculating how to avoid hurting their already strained shielding. And despite there being no one close to hear them, they broadcasted their message.

"Herrscher of Wind, messenger of the purity you claim to bring."

"This is our heavens you intrude."

"Angel of the Destroyer."

The three opened their eyes and then lowered their swords, pointing the tip at the objective down below.

"WE"

"CAST"

"YOU"

"""DOWN!"""

Under the barrage of KKVs, the little girl shielded herself with a dome of compressed air, however, this made her a bigger target for the orbital bombardment.

"My God! Your Servant beseeches your assistance! That the impurity of mankind be cleansed from your garden!"

She felt herself fade away before she received any answer.

The Herrscher of Wind was silenced via 15 precision orbital strikes.

A mocking voice coming from nowhere yet everywhere was heard by all of us.

"Did you really think it would be this easy?"

Something erupted from the Herrscher's body, no. Her corpse.

As I blinked away the black spots from my vision, I saw a warning in my HUD that I couldn't stop from filling me with dread.

[Warning! Massive Honkai Energy Surge detected. Danger Close.]

[Warning! Honkai Energy Concentration Rising!]

[Warning! Herrscher Energy Signature detected. Evacuate to a safe distance.]

A blade of pressurized water erupted and cut my legs at the knees, I still managed to pump the AT field enough for the others to evade the attack, but with the pain that began hitting me I observed the 'neutralized' Herrscher.

The little kid was nothing more than a corpse dangling on strings, burning holes ate away at her flesh and her whole upper left side was just gone, but the single remaining eye told me that this wasn't the little girl seeking vengeance. This was something far more sinister.

"I Admit that this vessel was quite dedicated but even then, this is a dirty as you humans are…" Her voice was calm, but the inflection was ll over the place, a young throat forced to speak in tune not meant to be used by humans… theories began forming in my mind, but I shoved them aside. This was bad, really bad. She turned to look at me. "Ah, the Irregular. Perfect." She moved closer to me as her shape changed.

The little girl was now floating inside a bigger body made of water, transparent enough for me to still see the corpse which mirrored the movements from the water shell… or was it the other way around?

She was interrupted by a pink blur. "Yinsen! Fall back!" Himeko shouted while she used her Feasabers.

The manifestation of the Honkai's Will was not fazed at all, it just kept looking at me."Hm, a curious specimen… what are you?"

"Watchpoint! Suppressive fire!" A rain of bullets slammed uselessly against the Herrscher. Himeko tried grabbing me but then was sent flying against her will by a water cannon.

"Now, who gave you permission to touch my belongings?" the monster scolded Himeko like one would do to a child, then she bent down and grabbed me by the throat. She lifted me up to just below her eye level, which was very dizzying as I didn't know where to look. Either the little girl's corpse inside the water shell or the thing behind whatever took the place of her left eye. "Now… lets find out what you really are, Irregular."

She said that as her hand pierced my armor and flesh and went straight for my core. My world went white the moment her hand made contact.

I was laying down in the white space.

Well, at least it felt like I was a heap on top of something.

"Oi, are you going to stay there forever?" Someone spoke next to me, I opened my eyes again and…

WHAT.

THE.

HELL.

Why is my old face staring back at me now?