"Shamash—ASSAULT!!"
The scorching flas of Judgnt burned away all negative energy with overwhelming violence. In just an instant, the grand Theater of Domination was reduced to ruins.
And that was far from all—how could a re theater withstand the might of Elias' Shamash Assault?
Even the alternate dinsion that sustained the Theater of Domination was engulfed in crimson fire. A cataclysmic blaze swept across the entire space, as though the entire world had been set afla.
"So this... this is the real ..."
Behind his mask, Elias' face was twisted in fury.
At that mont, he felt as though he had reclaid his true self. During his journey through the Previous Era, Elias had always acted rationally—following the best possible steps with calculated precision.
But the real him had never been calm. He was impulsive, reckless, and utterly unrestrained.
Especially when soone important to him was hurt—in those monts, every ounce of reason within him would be consud by madness, transforming him into an avatar of absolute destruction.
"W-what's going on?!"
"Y-you... who are you?!"
"My theater! Our theater!!"
"Damn it, wait—you're a Herrscher too?!"
"An unfamiliar Herrscher... you're a traitor as well!"
The thousand Herrschers of Dominance were completely terrified. Staring at the ruin of their headquarters—at the very dinsion they lived in now burning before their eyes—they were dumbstruck.
Even for Herrschers, such destructive power was beyond comprehension. Elias had nearly obliterated the dinsion itself.
"I'm... not dreaming, am I... Elias? Is that really you?"
"Ahem... no, I'm not."
Elias' fury faltered for a brief mont. He lifted a hand to his face, checking that his mask was still intact. Sohow, Kiana had recognized him anyway.
"I'm just a passing savior, that's all. No need to rember ."
"..."
Kiana's gaze locked onto him. Her body trembled uncontrollably. She had no proof, no logical explanation—but her heart scread that the man before her was Elias.
For a second, she wondered if she had finally gone mad from longing. Yet the sight of his long, pure white hair turned her intuition into certainty.
"Please... let see your face."
"...You should go back, Kiana. Everyone must be worried about you. We'll et again—soon."
As Elias spoke, he opened a portal with the Authority of the Void.
Kiana's eyes widened in shock, but before she could react, she was thrown inside. She struggled for a mont, but the strength of the White Cot was nothing before the might of the Chira.
After sending Kiana away, Elias waved his hand again, sealing the entire alternate dinsion.
Under the Herrscher of the Void's Authority, the space beca a prison—no one could enter or leave.
"Have you made peace with your sins, Herrscher of Dominance?"
Behind the mask, his golden eyes blazed with a terrifying light. His gaze swept over the surviving puppets, his mind conjuring hundreds of ways to make them suffer.
In the Previous Era, Elias had intended to save every Herrscher—but these things? They were beyond saving. Worthless. Disgusting.
"Damn you... what are you?!"
"I already told you—I'm just a passing savior. Rember that."
Flas flickered within Elias' eyes. He could no longer suppress his rage. The existence of the Herrscher of Dominance filled him with nothing but loathing.
"You defiled the humanity Elysia granted you. You abandoned your chance to beco human. The future she wished for with her very life—you wasted it."
Those words were spoken through gritted teeth. They touched the very core of his fury.
"So co, Herrschers of Dominance—let show you true despair... and then, I'll end you."
Upon the smoldering ruins of the Theater of Domination, the surviving thousand Herrschers trembled before him, their bodies frozen in primal terror.
"W-what is this guy?!"
"Damn it... why am I trembling?!"
"So scary, so scary, so scary, so scary!"
"No! Don't let him get any closer!"
"Danger, danger! Kill him—kill him now!"
The fear that the Herrscher of Dominance from the Previous Era once held toward Elias seed to have carried over into this generation's Dominance Herrschers.
That deep, instinctual terror—etched into the very bones of their being—was sothing no amount of reincarnations could erase. Even after thousands or tens of thousands of years, that primal fear remained unshakable.
Of course, it was only natural. After all, they were Herrschers—and fearing Elias was only logical.
Had there been only one puppet, perhaps it would have cowered in silence. But when a thousand gathered together, even if each one trembled with dread, the sight of so many companions sparked a delusion—
"Maybe... maybe we can fight back."
When too many gather in one place, everyone becos stupid. That, too, is a law of the world. As for the idea that a group possesses more strength than an individual... well, that depends entirely on who the individual is.
Even a thousand ants gathered together cannot overco a true dragon.
"What's wrong? Not going to attack? Aren't you going to use your words to provoke ? Co on, Herrscher of Dominance."
"U-ugh... ughhh!"
Even the thousand Herrschers of Dominance instinctively knew—the white-haired youth before them was soone they must never enrage.
"Don't get cocky! You used an Authority just now, didn't you? We don't know why you can wield the Herrscher of the Void's power—but in this Theater of Domination, anyone who uses their Authority will fall under our control! Now, hand over your power!"
"Such arrogance. Truly pathetic."
Elias noticed countless threads of light entwining around his body—but that was all. He could see them, yet felt nothing at all.
These threads were far too fragile to affect him. Even taking them head-on, he couldn't sense a single ounce of restraint. With just a wave of his hand, he could shatter them effortlessly.
He understood the Authority of Dominance better than the Dominance Herrschers themselves. What was the power of a thousand puppets combined? Still weak. Still laughably fragile.
"W-what?! How—how can this be?!"
"We can't take it! We can't take his Authority!"
"Even our own power... it's being disrupted!"
"What's happening? What kind of monster is this?!"
"A monster... this guy's a real monster!!"
The Herrschers of Dominance stared at Elias in abject terror.
They had just attempted to ensnare the white-haired youth with their threads of Authority, hoping to seize his power—but the result was utter failure, as expected. The difference in strength was simply too great.
To the Herrschers of Dominance, their power felt like fragile strands of spider silk, while Elias was an impossibly vast mountain reaching into the heavens.
Trying to dominate Elias' Authority was like trying to pull down that mountain using a spider's thread.
"Do you want to know why? It's because you're too weak."
Elias' voice was cold and rciless.
The process of seizing another's Authority was, in essence, nothing more than a contest of strength. The strong devour the weak—the victor claims all, and the defeated beco enslaved.
When faced with soone stronger than themselves, not only would the Herrschers of Dominance fail to steal power, but their own Authority would be thrown into chaos.
In short, they were bullies who could only prey on the weak.
At best, they could strip Bronya's license for a while—after all, before her full awakening as the Herrscher of Truth, the Herrscher of Reason's Core could only operate at roughly twenty percent of its rated power.
"D-damn you! Don't get so arrogant! If that's the case, then let us show you... our true power!"
The thousand Herrschers of Dominance gathered together—and in the next instant, a massive chanical puppet took form. Its joints and chest glowed with golden inscriptions, and triangular wings unfolded from its back.
This was the true Herrscher of Dominance.
Forged from a thousand sorrows, a thousand despairs, a thousand madnesses, a thousand curses—an amalgamation of pure malice and distortion.
Its na was: Herrscher of Dominance — Minion.
"Don't think it's over yet! Co, my puppets—crush him with sheer numbers!"
In the next instant, thousands of luminous threads extended outward, connecting to Honkai Beasts, chs, and Quantum Shadows alike.
This, too, was the Authority of the Herrscher of Dominance—the ability to control lifeless puppets through puppet cores. Each individual puppet could simultaneously command three to five sub-puppets.
However…
"Chariot-class Honkai Beasts, Titan chs, Basic Quantum Shadows—is that all? You dare bring such trash before ?"
Elias frowned slightly, as if insulted.
"Pathetic. If you want to summon allies, at least do it properly. Co forth—my pets!"
ROOOOOAR!!!
GRRRRAAAAHHH!!
Awooooo!!
Countless roars of terrifying beasts echoed through the Theater of Domination. To the Herrschers' disbelief, an overwhelming army of high-level Honkai Beasts materialized beside Elias.
Emperor-class Honkai Beasts: Shesha, Asura, Yaksha, Parvati, Ganesha, Assaka, Mitra…
Judgnt-level Honkai Beasts: Garuda, Shesha, Chiyou, Foggy Dragon, Golden Lion…
Vipralopa-class Honkai Beasts: Benares, Maheśvara, Vishnu, Nine-Tailed Fox, Platinum Elephant…
Elias stood proudly atop his favorite—Benares. His unique Honkai Beast, Heaven Devourer, granted him the ability to summon any beast he had once fused with.
In the past, he could call upon hundreds at most. But now, his power had grown so imnse that he could summon every Honkai Beast he had ever fused with—all one thousand of them. This was his ultimate army.
The Herrscher of Dominance was completely stunned. Never before had they faced an opponent so unreasonable, so far beyond comprehension—the very Savior who had once annihilated every Herrscher of the Previous Era singlehandedly.
To them, this was nothing less than a dinsional collapse—a battle they could never hope to win.
"Are you out of tricks already? Then die quietly. All units—attack."
"W-wait, I haven't—"
ROOOOOAR!!!
Thousands of Honkai Beasts unleashed a simultaneous roar. Honkai energy condensed in their maws, and before the Herrscher of Dominance could even scream, countless beams of annihilation converged upon her.
Feeling a familiar itch in his fingers, Elias raised the Judgnt of Shamash once more.
"Shamash—ASSAULT!!"
In that instant, a storm of divine fire erupted, joining the bombardnt of thousands of Honkai Beasts. The Theater of Domination—the monstrous amalgamation known as Herrscher of Dominance: Minion —was obliterated so completely that not even ashes remained.
The grand structure itself, once a majestic fortress, was erased from existence.
"...Seems I might've overdone it."
Elias surveyed the wasteland that had once been an alternate dinsion. Every puppet had been completely annihilated—only a thousand Herrscher of Dominance Cores remained, scattered across the scorched void.
He raised his hand, using telekinesis to collect all one thousand Cores. Then, his gaze shifted toward a certain point in space.
"Only a thousand Cores... still missing one. Well, that's fine. Let's leave things as they were ant to be. I'll let one of you escape—for now. Consider it a gift, Otto Apocalypse. I wonder what your face looks like right now... it must be priceless."
Elias deactivated the spatial lock, deliberately allowing one of the Dominance Herrschers to flee—for the sake of his next plan.
The birth of a new Herrscher would never go unnoticed. Naturally, not only Anti-Entropy, St. Freya Academy, and World Serpent would respond—but Schicksal as well.
And, of course, Otto would not miss his chance to ddle.
Earlier, he had used the power of Fenghuang Down to invade the consciousness of one of the Herrschers of Dominance, entering the Theater himself.
Originally, Otto should have witnessed Kiana awakening as the Herrscher of Flascion, defeating the Herrscher of Dominance: Minion with the help of Fu Hua and Bronya.
But this ti, things were different. What he saw instead was the Savior from the Previous Era—the absolute being whose strength rendered all of his sches aningless.
At that very mont, within Schicksal's headquarters, as Otto prepared for his apotheosis and his journey to the Imaginary Tree—he froze.
For the first ti, Otto Apocalypse felt true panic.
"Otto... I really wish I could see your face right now. I bet it's even more entertaining than one of Griseo's paintings."
Elias smirked, then spread his arms wide as the thousand Herrscher of Dominance Cores before him floated into the air and were absorbed into his body. With his Finality physique—one capable of infinitely fusing Herrscher Authorities—he devoured them effortlessly.
The thousand Cores offered no resistance. In fact, they seed almost eager, drawn toward sothing familiar within him.
"Hmm... so this is the Authority of Domination. Excellent. The final piece of the puzzle—finally mine."
Elias was in a remarkably good mood. Although one out of the thousand and one fragnts remained missing, such a fraction was insignificant. Its absence would change nothing.
Now that he had beco the Herrscher of Dominance—no, the true Herrscher of Dominance—no new Herrscher would ever be born. Those puppets would never rise again.
He began to experint with his newly acquired power.
Unlike the useless version from the Previous Era, this era's Authority of Domination was genuinely useful.
The first ability—multiplication.
He could now create up to a thousand clones. Though each lacked the full strength of his true self, even a single clone vastly outclassed any of the thousand puppets he had just annihilated.
Moreover, Elias could share his powers among his clones. Back in the Previous Era, with this ability, he could have singlehandedly replaced the entire Fire Moth organization.
The second ability—puppet control.
Compared to the charm-based manipulation of the Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast Nine-Tails, this ability covered a far broader range. It could control not just Honkai Beasts, but any non-living construct.
(Honkai Beasts, strictly speaking, are condensed manifestations of Honkai energy and therefore do not count as living beings.)
"Still, I probably can't control Planet-class Honkai Beasts... oh well, better than nothing."
Elias shrugged. Though the increase in raw power was marginal to soone of his level, the fusion of the thousand Dominance Cores had still boosted his Honkai energy output.
Roughly one hundred thousand HW in total—aning each Core offered a ager one hundred HW of output. Laughably weak, fitting for what was once the weakest Herrscher type.
"Now then, ti to create a Theater of Domination worthy of . What kind of design should I go with..."
With the thousand Cores absorbed, ownership of this alternate dinsion automatically shifted to Elias.
Although the original Theater had been utterly destroyed, that rely symbolized the end of the old Dominance Herrschers. Now, as the new Herrscher of Dominance, Elias would naturally build sothing grander.
He wasn't particularly interested in architecture—but it was a necessary step. The Theater of Domination served as the foundation for its Authority, directly linked to the Imaginary Tree itself.
Only within the Theater could the Herrscher of Dominance exercise full control over others who bore Herrscher Authorities.
"This will be the stage for the final act. It has to be magnificent... extravagant enough for the end of all things. Ah... I've got it."
Elias' golden eyes glead with inspiration.
He had just thought of the most opulent, breathtaking theater in existence—and decided to build his own after that very image.
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