I am a hero of the former civilization.

Do you know how important you are?

"I had a feeling about it, but I hadn't thought about it."

hiss.

Ryan leaned back tactically. This Aponia was so strange; he couldn't quite figure her out. Only her pure eyes showed no malice whatsoever.

Do you want to know the plans for what's to come?

“Without a second thought, I can’t see your fate, which makes me even more excited.” Aponia was still smiling, but she was subtly restraining Ryan’s most proficient logical thinking.

Ryan calmed himself down for a moment, quickly summarized the information in his hand, and then glanced at the voluptuous nun.

Forget it, as long as it works, why think so much?

At least Aponia doesn't object to stepping into the vortex, nor does she understand what the internal struggles of the Firemoth are; her gaze is already set on the distant future.

She has a rather charlatan-like quality, but as long as we're sure she's safe, that's all that matters. Without Aponia, the rest of the plan would be a waste of time.

Ryan comforted himself, thinking that he actually had a backup plan, which was to wait for the Herrscher of Knowledge, but who knew when this Herrscher would arrive, or even if she would arrive at all.

There's too much uncertainty; Aponia is more reliable.

"You two stay together tonight and hide well."

"Teacher, is there anything I can do to help?" Pado asked hesitantly, still looking like she wanted to do something but was terrified.

"The biggest help you can give is to stay with Aponia quietly."

Dusk Street will be very dangerous tonight, but Ryan still decides to trust this duo of mystical experts. After all, one is someone who can see into the future, and the other is a lucky person who was not taken away by the Herrscher of Binding.

"Roger that!"

Pado stood ramrod straight and gave an awkward military salute. The way she looked relieved made you want to pat the little timid cat's face.

Nowhere on Dusk Street is safe, so it all comes down to luck. Ryan wasn't in a hurry to leave, sipping his drink slowly. Aponia didn't ask any questions either, sitting there like a relief, looking like an outsider if it weren't for the expectant expression on her face.

The ceiling fan whirred as Pado poured wine for Ryan, then licked it herself and immediately showed a look of disgust.

No one spoke, and before they knew it, the sporadic gunfire outside had stopped, and the silence was unsettling.

"The calm before the storm." Padofelis suddenly recalled the words in the book and secretly glanced at the man.

Ryan sat upright on the round table, seemingly deep in thought, stroking his wine glass and occasionally taking a small sip, like a majestic mountain that remained unmoved even as a storm approached.

She was filled with admiration for his demeanor. Although she didn't know the full picture of the plan, Pado could vaguely sense the extreme danger, as if one wrong step could lead to her annihilation. She was terrified.

'As expected of a teacher, she gives off such a strong sense of security. Miss Aponia is also amazing, maintaining her composure. Padre, Padre, you need to step up your game!'

The girl frantically tried to cheer herself up, carefully suppressing her anxiety, as if focusing solely on her 'maid' career, but just then...

Boom!

Like a thunderclap, the sound shook the ceiling, causing dust to fall in a flurry. Padofelis, who had just been calm, immediately shrank back, looking around in alarm.

"It's started? Hmm, this feels like a thousand tribulations, I didn't expect you to be able to get him to cooperate." Aponia finally spoke, her eyes filled with laughter.

"I don't have the ability to make Qianjie obey."

"Then what happened to him...?"

“I just left him outside and went back to Twilight Street by myself. You know Qianjie’s personality; he’s never been very patient.” Ryan shrugged, looking quite helpless.

Aponia's smile froze, and after a long while, she managed a wry smile: "It seems you are his nemesis."

He accurately grasped Qianjie's personality and achieved his goals without being deceived. He manipulated Qianjie in a short period of time. He is a truly terrifying person.

"Don't worry, Qianjie is also very important to me, I won't send him to his death." Ryan raised his glass in a toast, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp, then stood up with a slight smell of alcohol on his breath.

"Then I'll be off too. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Aponia pursed her lips. Being in the thick of it, she didn't really understand what was happening. She just felt like it was a chaotic battle between several parties. Originally, she didn't want to ask. She just wanted to see how it would end and whether Twilight Street would be as she had predicted, with no one surviving.

But after his second encounter with Ryan, he couldn't hide his interest and hesitated for a moment.

"Whom do you really represent?"

"The fire-chasing moth."

"Hmm? I heard those people are the Moths of Flame, and you're some kind of pseudo-Herrscher." Aponia's expression turned strange. She hadn't been idle; she had already gotten the answer from some gangster boss.

According to him, this was a military operation by the Moths of Fire, targeting a pseudo-Herrscher. She and Thousand Calamities were among those affected. She got the answer to what a pseudo-Herrscher was from Patona.

“Whoever protects humanity is a moth drawn to flame, and besides, I am not a pseudo-Herrscher.” Ryan held his gun in one hand, and a black, mud-like shadow crawled up his body, covering him completely.

Aponia was momentarily confused. The information she had was far from sufficient to grasp the full picture of the events, and she didn't know where to begin asking her many questions.

"You don't need to think so much. No matter how complicated the plan, it all boils down to just one problem." At this moment, the black monster asked in a strange voice: "Tell me, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. But what comes after the oriole?"

Aponia's eyes flickered, and she answered instinctively in an uncertain tone, "You?"

thump.

The wine glass was slammed back onto the table, causing it to crack, and the man in front of her vanished as if he had dissolved into thin air, leaving only the answer carried on the wind.

"Yes!"

Chapter 241 The War Begins!!!

Ignoring the ultimate goal, everything is extremely simple in terms of the situation on Twilight Street.

Thousand Calamity is the cicada in the open; he is powerful and volatile, making him perfect for attracting hatred. The Fire Moth, on the other hand, is a mantis. Led by 'Ice-Shattering Fist' Andevich, they were tricked the night before last and are now spitting fire in their eyes, ready to take revenge. It can be said that Aponia is their bait, certain that Thousand Calamity will come to rescue their companion.

But in Ryan's eyes, the Herrscher behind the mantis, who was preparing to take advantage of the situation, was the real oriole, and this was the oriole he wanted to catch.

"Here it comes, finally."

A vague feeling arose in Ryan's mind as he stopped on the clock tower and gazed at the largely intact Twilight Street.

The streets were nearly deserted, mostly with reckless bounty hunters. The rest of the population had been evacuated to the North District, as Andevich, who was leading the team, was a regular soldier with his own set of procedures.

boom--

A muffled rumble of thunder came from the edge of the mountains, accompanied by the roar of machine guns, and was getting closer and closer to Dusk Street.

"You want to lure Qianjie in to fight, and then surround him with heavy troops? But do you think he's just a hot-tempered old man?" Ryan couldn't help but sneer. Qianjie was actually very shrewd in combat and had an amazing intuition.

Judging from the aftermath of the battle, Qian Jie had no intention of going all out. Instead, he focused on the fusion warrior squad that was luring the enemy. Even though those lower-level fusion warriors were wearing the latest combat exoskeletons, they were having a very hard time fighting Qian Jie.

A glancing blow would cause injury, a direct hit would be fatal. He even saw small black dots being blasted hundreds of meters into the air, their alloy armor, tens of centimeters thick, being smashed into iron discs.

"He hasn't taken the bait yet, he should make his move by now."

Ryan, perched atop the clock tower, stood like a spectator. Two minutes later, a vibrant crimson cosmos suddenly bloomed on the edge of town.

From Ryan's perspective, the thousands of petals blooming were like lasers, dividing everything in their path in two, whether it was buildings, steel, or anything else.

"It's that red-robed man. Even Mei has trouble finding information about him. Is this a cutting ability?" Ryan's pupils reflected the dazzling flowers, knowing that the other party had to make a move.

These two fusion warriors were unaware that a Herrscher was also planning to take advantage of the situation. Without the cover of their subordinates, it would have been difficult for them to even defeat Thousand Calamities, let alone with a pseudo-Herrscher assisting them.

Andevich was still waiting, afraid that I would take the opportunity to sneak into Twilight Street. Even when he was at a disadvantage, he kept thinking of ways to help. He was indeed a good soldier.

Ryan nodded slightly, once again weighing the strength of both sides.

'Padre and Aponia are negligible. Thousand Calamities are already engrossed in the fight and won't follow the plan at all. On the enemy side, there are two high-ranking Fusion Warriors, three squads, and several regular troops. The most troublesome thing is that I don't know how many Herrschers and pseudo-Herrschers have arrived.'

Their combat strength was undoubtedly at a disadvantage, but fortunately, Qianjie would not run away, thus avoiding being betrayed by his teammates.

We still need to outsmart them.

Ryan made up his mind, stretched out his hand, and an invisible current gathered in front of him, the swirling dust resembling a human figure.

The shadow quickly spread up, including the air currents, making it look like a real person, a 'person' not much different from Ryan's current appearance.

The shadowy figure couldn't replicate facial features and body details, and it needed a vessel to possess it. But nothing in the world could be a better vessel than the Power of Wind or pure Honkai. As for its appearance—

"Why do you think I would disguise myself as a dark-skinned monster that looks like 'Venom'? Wouldn't it be better to be cooler?"

Ryan grinned and flexed his hand; his other self did the same, almost without delay—a characteristic of the 'shadow'.

Shadow Puppet.

It was Adam's signature skill back then. This thing is much more useful than the abilities obtained from Honkai Beasts, but it consumes a lot of energy.

Ryan had practiced it a few times in private and knew that this thing was all show and no substance. It was good for crushing noobs, but it couldn't withstand opponents of the same level.

"But it's quite useful for deceiving people, since you don't know what abilities the real Adam had anyway."

Snapped.

With a snap of his fingers, Ryan merged into the air and manipulated the puppet to jump off the clock tower.

Clang clang clang.

As the clock struck twelve, the two-meter-tall, dark-skinned monster raced down the road toward the port, leaving the bounty hunters utterly dumbfounded.

"The monster has appeared!"

After realizing this, they scattered and fled without any intention of stopping them, and then frantically dialed the reward hotline.

Ryan ignored the people and continued walking in a straight line, leaving deep footprints on the cement road. The stench of the sea breeze hit him in the face, and he suddenly stopped and raised his hands.

Shadow Blade.

His arms transformed into twin blades, which he swung rapidly in the air in front of him, leaving behind trails of dark blade marks.

boom--

Gunshots finally reached their ears. Several large-caliber armor-piercing rounds traveling at several times the speed of sound turned into fragments in front of them, and the shrapnel that flew out smashed a bunch of houses.

They had indeed prepared a backup plan.

A four-man squad was ahead, dressed in full black heavy armor, their thrusters leaving long trails as they retreated while firing.

Ta da da da...

The machine gun fire was continuous, then it was all sliced ​​apart by the swinging shadow blades. Ryan charged forward and, after closing the distance, saw the four people scatter.

The two men took to the sky to suppress the enemy fire, while the other two drew their molecular vibration blades to meet the attack head-on. The man's thick thighs slammed into the ground, releasing Honkai energy through his exoskeleton—

Advance!

Accelerating in an instant, covering dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, Ryan leaned back, his body almost touching the ground, watching two sword lights flash past his face, while the Shadow Blade held horizontally slashed.

Click.