Herrscher of Dominance in Honkai, starting with the abduction of Kiana

"With this blazing fire, I shall cut through all."

In the blazing red light, the sky was cleanly divided in two. And at that dividing line, the sounds of exploding transport ships echoed endlessly.

If the Schicksal Valkyries hadn't landed in time, then this single strike would have wiped them all out. But even so, most of the troops that had been sent out this time had been taken out. The intense heat was something that ordinary B-rank Valkyries couldn't endure.

They had basically all been severely injured. If it weren't for Schicksal's exceptional equipment, just the flames alone would have been enough to kill them.

In a Herrscher-level battle, those below A-rank were nothing more than cannon fodder, and that was with Ren holding back. Now that the civilians of ARC City had essentially been evacuated, he didn't have to worry about casualties. After a brief pause, he raised his 40-meter greatsword again.

Just as he was preparing to unleash his second strike, a large number of beam weapons had already targeted him. To capture a Herrscher, Schicksal had spared no expense. There were even quite a few battleships of the Eos's level.

The light-based weapons had arrived in an instant, but just like before, a Herrscher's abilities were at the level of a cheat code. Ren simply controlled the air molecules around him to form a convection current, creating completely different refractive indexes in the same area.

Although it wasn't enough to completely deflect the beams, it was enough to distort them.

It was useless. The Herrscher of Flame, who could control the movement of molecules, essentially controlled energy weapons.

If they wanted to fight him, then they either had to use physical weapons, or Honkai energy weapons. The most direct method was to send out warriors like Durandal to fight him in close combat and act as a distraction.

Unfortunately, even Bianka couldn't withstand this level of attack now. She had been knocked back to the ground by the flames, and there hadn't been any movements from her since.

Having easily resolved Schicksal's ambush, Ren's second strike was already descending. This time, his target was the remaining battleships.

The sky was filled with scorching flames from the high temperatures. Even though it was nighttime, it was like a fire cloud during sunset, igniting the sky like in a fantasy novel.

No one noticed that, within the flames, spatial rifts had quietly opened, swallowing all of the damaged battleships.

These were The Obsidian Concord's spoils of war. How could he let them go to waste? Once they entered the Dominance Theater, all of the monitoring systems Schicksal had designed would be disabled, and after being scanned by Dominance, he would obtain some free battleships.

Thanks to the deterrence of Ren's previous strike, Schicksal, to avoid any Valkyrie casualties, essentially didn't have any personnel on board the battleships. It was all controlled by AI, and some of them had even been perfectly preserved. It was truly effortless.

Once the in-game story events had occurred, if Dr. Tesla still dared to use battleships to bombard his puppets, then he would let her understand what true firepower suppression was.

Of course, simply having the battleships wasn't enough. He didn't have a scientist puppet yet. Even if he did obtain them, he wouldn't be able to figure them out for now.

In any case, with the power of these two strikes, Ren had already made his presence known. Just the information that he was a Herrscher was enough to attract the world's attention, not to mention that the leader of The Obsidian Concord was the Herrscher of the Void who had almost destroyed the world. An organization formed by the two strongest Herrschers… just thinking about it was terrifying.

Floating in the sky, Ren looked down. A large number of Valkyries had fallen like dumplings.

The strongest Valkyrie force, huh? It seems Schicksal has overestimated themselves.

If Schicksal was only at this level, then he would have to re-evaluate Otto's abilities. Even after travelling all the way to Shenzhou, this combat strength wasn't at all like that of the strongest organization.

"If you don't appear, then I really won't be able to hold back with my third strike." The scorching air flowed through his chest as Ren softly murmured to himself.

For a Herrscher, showing mercy to your enemies wasn't a good habit. If it weren't for Kiana, none of these troops who had been ambushing him would be able to leave this city.

The only one who could be considered his opponent was Durandal, but after she had been knocked back to the ground by the flames, there hadn't been any movements from her since. It was unknown what corner she was hiding in to recharge her powers.

As a villain, he truly loathed these protagonist types who could recharge their powers. Kiana had at least gone through a lot of growth before mastering the power of Kindling. Durandal's unreasonable talent and bloodline simply being explained with training, hard work, and strong will was a little too far-fetched.

Against this type of enemy, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't suddenly pull out some kind of super power and instantly kill him.

The flaming greatsword in his hand converged again. The battleships in the sky had all been cleared, with only a few left pursuing Taxue.

The tip of the sword was now aimed at the ground. The Herrscher of Flame from the Previous Era had directly destroyed a continent. Ren couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't accidentally destroy the entire city.

Finally, before the flames could fully converge, a starlight flickered from the ground.

Then, the golden light collided with the flaming greatsword. The air, which had been compressed by the high temperatures and high pressure, suddenly expanded.

The densely packed high-rise buildings were cut in half. The upper portions had been completely crushed by the shockwave. Anything that wasn't steel or concrete was directly vaporized.

「This strike, will pierce the stars!」

The God-Killer armor was no longer able to fight against Ren. Only the power of the stars could rival a Herrscher. The power of the World Bubble materialized, transforming into golden armor that covered Bianka's body. Vigorous star flames burned in her hands. Of course, it wasn't actually fire, but a manifestation of the power of stars, which was why Ren couldn't control it.

「Starlight, take form.」

Abandoning the useless Schicksal technology, Durandal returned to the battlefield with a brand new appearance. Only in this way could she maintain her strength against a Herrscher.

The high temperatures in the sky were no longer scorching under the protection of the starlight armor. Combined with the Kaslana bloodline, she could essentially ignore the high-temperature environment that Ren had created. What was left was a true clash of strength.

The clash between the flames and star flames once again set the sky ablaze. That was no longer a battlefield that a Valkyrie could participate in.

Schicksal also didn't expect the Valkyries to be able to deal with a Herrscher. Their objective was Kiana.

Now that the Herrscher of the Void had fallen into a deep sleep, she was in her weakest state. And, aside from the Herrscher, the other Obsidian Concord members were only at the level of a top-tier A-rank. Using numbers was still very effective.

The remaining battleships had already gone to intercept Benares. As long as Durandal could stall the Herrscher, they could capture her.

In this situation, the puppets began to intentionally create a diversion. While fighting the Star Cat, Ren still had time to control his other puppets, so the pressure wasn't too great.

Unfortunately, Himeko didn't know about this. Faced with Schicksal's advance, she became ruthless, and single-handedly challenged the entire Valkyrie squad, including Rita.

The violent flames not only spread throughout the sky, but they also scorched the earth.

And Mei, who was riding on Taxue in the sky, after seeing the entire city, finally understood how intense the battle was. She saw the members of that organization, with their black and white insignias, desperately covering their retreat, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of respect.

Each of them was facing at least ten times their number. They used their crazed actions to proclaim the arrival of The Obsidian Concord, their demise the cost.

Even Kalpas, who had just sent her to Kiana, had recklessly charged into the encirclement of the Valkyries, covering Taxue's escape. It lessened the displeasure she had felt towards him.

And now, she would also become a member of The Obsidian Concord. What path would she choose in the future?