Chapter 70: Collapse

Ein, Aponia, Kosma, and Su were preparing a birthday party for Griseo as she was scheduled to come at the base today. "You think she would like my present?" Ein asked the others as he took out a set of canvases, paintbrushes made from the finest of hairs that he created himself, and multitudes of vibrant paint that could last generations.

"Un, she would love it Ein-sama. Those are excellent gifts for her." Aponia said softly as she finished decorating the room for her party.

Kosma just silently nodded and Su gave a smile. Vill and Phyllis then entered, with Vill bringing some gadgets that could make realistic holograms so Griseo would be able to see different kinds of sceneries. Vill was now very efficient, as she integrated with a honkai beast that could control metals. Now she could weld, bend, and make alloys quickly.

"Griseo's gonna love this!" Phyllis took out some jewels that were shaped like little animals. Ein sighed at her as he now know why she requested for some gems. "I don't know about that one Phyllis. Griseo isn't like you ya know?" She just laughed it off and waved her hand nonchalantly.

"I want to know if Griseo can have more inspiration with these." Vill activated the gadget and they looked to be in a beautiful forest. Ein could see that it was fake, but others without his vision wouldn't as he patted Vill's head. "Umu, she'll love this Vill."

They were finally finished with it all. And was preparing to surprise Griseo, but a strong earthquake rumbled. "What? This is the 1st earthquake I've experienced here." Ein noticed that it was quite strong. About magnitude 7 on the richter scale.

Then sirens blared and everyone got tense. "Attention all staff. Prepare for sortie, the 9th herrscher has appeared. We are approximating its location." Everybody started to go to the command room and ran quickly.

Opening the door, Ein quickly asked for a status report. "Mei, what's the situation? Do we know where it is?" Mei massaged her temples as she showed them a video feed that caught what happened.

Above a country, light started to bend and what seemed to be a glitch in space appeared. A circular back void came to be and descended on the country, as it disappeared. Then earthquakes were felt all over the world.

Ein gasped from the display. "Th-that's a blackhole!" He replayed the video as he couldn't believe it. After repeating it, he sighed in relief, but was still tense.

"A quasi-black hole." Mei stated as she fixed her glasses. "That's not a real one. Or we'll be out of orbit the moment that thing appeared. But it still has properties of one." He nodded gravely, as 1, it bends light. 2, it must have a singularity and event horizon as a black space devoid of light still appeared. He was sure it causes time dilations as well because of the overwhelming gravity.

"Good thing it fizzles out after use. But it probably has no mass, or it just disappears." If it had mass, that black hole would explode and vaporize the solar system. He sweated at the thought of its energy imploding on the planet.

"Is her power making black holes?" Su asked Mei as she shook her head. "Yes, and no. We suspect that she could control gravity. As there's a strong gravity well on the site we suspect the herrscher was born." She highlighted a place on the map.

Ein's eyes dilated as he saw that it was on the continent of Mu. Griseo and her family was on a vacation there, as it was her birthday. And her parents thought that they were giving her to Ein and the others a little too much. So they decided to take her on a vacation.

Mei then received a live video feed of the herrscher that the observation team caught. Griseo's father Ato was in the area. And he was in bad shape, trying to stall the herrscher as much as he can. Ein's blood turned cold as he quickly teleported to Einstein's base in the continent of Mu, without a word.

"Quickly! Follow him to the site! You can arrive in approximately 30 minutes! Go now!" Mei shouted her orders as every combat oriented MANTIS sortied to the place.

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Ein arrived at Einstein's base as he saw her trying to control the situation, barking orders. "Einstein! Evacuate everybody in the area! I'll deal with the herrscher. Quickly!"

She nodded as he disappeared and flew at breakneck speeds at the site. He arrived in a few seconds and he plummeted to the ground because of the immense change of gravity. He quickly stood up, but he saw Ato and he was getting crushed on the ground.

He quickly countered the gravity around him as he floated him to himself. "Ato! Where's your wife and Griseo!?" The barely alive man shook his head as he spoke weakly. "Griseo... Is in bad shape. My... Wife." He just closed his eyes.

Ein scanned the area and tried to find Griseo. She was approximately a mile away, but the herrscher didn't want to make things easy.

"Hehehe... HAHAHAHA! I'll swallow up this world! Your struggles are meaningless humans!" The light around her was distorted, as immense gravity in her vicinity tried to crush everything.

"Tsk! Damn!" He didn't have divine keys on him as he gave the latest one to Mei as well. Because it wasn't his style in using illusions and mental attacks.

He crossed his fingers and made a portal to Griseo's location. Fortunately, Ato didn't get left behind the void in space as he saw Griseo. He frowned as she had broken limbs, and her organs ruptured from the intense gravity change. He tried to stabilize her, as he quickly thanked the heavens that she was still alive.

He stopped her bleeding, but she would die for sure if she isn't taken care of properly. He opened another portal to the base of HQ and hoped that they'll arrive in one piece. They were transported as an immense force weighed down on him.

"Kekeke~ Did you think you can escape human? Or should I say. Traitor?" The herrscher noticed that he was mainly honkai beast. She misunderstood that it was a beast that assimilated humans.

He narrowed his eyes on her as his eyes turned to slits. "Herrscher. You are sorely mistaken if you think you'll leave here today alive..." As he started to prepare for battle. But he couldn't release his seals, as the aftereffects of their battle would cause too many casualties. He decided to fight defensively and wait for the others. He'll protect the continent 1st, but he will sure as hell try and kill her.

"Then come and try?" He leaped at her with immense force, as the ground beneath him exploded and a large crater appeared. Causing earthquakes at the city, on his way. He didn't feel a single person that was alive so he could at least do damage to the city.

He appeared behind her with blinding speed. But as he was about to kick her, he plummeted to the ground like a piece of lead in water. Landing face 1st on the ground.

"Hahahaha! Come on! Try again human!" She provoked him as he clicked his tongue. "Damn, how much gravity is there near her?" He changed his plan of attack and flew high up above, then he made daggers of ice as he launched it at her in high speeds. With the extra gravity, thousands of shards of ice flew at her in break neck speeds.

The herrscher was pelted with the relentless attacks. He also made crystals and fired omnidirectional beams of honkai energy at her. Hoping to turn her into swiss cheese.

He heard a laugh as the beams refracted, the gravity at her self repulsed everything that came at her way. As the beams went everywhere, slicing every building in half just like shin godzilla.

"You cannot hurt me human!" She gathered her power as she increased the gravity all over the city. Flattening everything to the ground like a soda can.

His weight multiplied to insane levels as he fell like a meteor. Making an explosion of dust and debris as he landed.

His body creaked from the pressure. He started to use his partial form to increase his strength and be much faster. He gathered material to fuse as she didn't notice the air slowly converging.

"Is that all you can do!? Bow do-" She was monologuing, but a nuclear fusion reaction exploded at her face as she was launched hundreds of miles away. If there was still a city there, it would've been leveled by the explosion. As the world heard an explosion.

And the awe inspiring fight was just beginning.

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Griseo and Ato appeared at the command room which greatly surprised Mobius, Mei, and Su.

As they saw that she was in dire conditions. Along with her father, Mobius quickly shouted. "Get them to the medical bay now! Immediately!" As Su floated them up and took them to the trauma area for operation.

He quickly checked them, and it was a miracle they were still alive. Ato opened his eyes and looked at Su, "Please... Save her!" His breathing labored. Su frowned, this man won't make it he thought.

Su nodded quickly, but still tried to save them both. The emergency operation was quickly prepared as Mobius operated on Griseo, while Su tried to stabilize her father.

But when he started, Ato immediately went into cardiac arrest. His wounds and physical trauma was too great. His bones were like dust, his organs turned to paste. His insides, now like soup.

Su stared at the ground as he gritted his teeth with a grave expression on his face. "Time of death. 11:24 AM. Due to multiple physical trauma." He clenched his fists and looked at Mobius, she was concentrated to the max as she sweated while trying to save Griseo.

After 15 minutes, she knew that it was inevitable. "This is no good. She's too fragile, we can't save her with her current body." She then remembered that there was one honkai beast that she has just sequenced. Brahma, the very 1st emperor class. They also have a prototype of the new ICHOR, it was an alternative to the meta morph surgery, so they would have less casualties. It was now a serum that wouldn't activate if the one with it wasn't compatible, instead of instant death. It would slowly corrode your body instead.

"This is her only chance... Su! Stabilize her for now! We need to inject Brahma's ICHOR into her! She has no matches." She looked at Su.

"What!? We can save her without risking it! She'll be a cripple if she can't assimilate it!" Su tried to give a counter argument. But Mobius just narrowed her eyes at him and spears appeared from her shadow that pointed at his vitals.

"Shut up Su! Do you want to try and save her? Or kill her!? Choose your poison!" Su immediately thought of the options, he was just in denial, but he immediately gained his wits, when he saw the little girl's condition. He remembered the girl he tried to save with his prototype serum, but she still ultimately died. "Fine... Go now!" He swapped with Mobius as she tried to prepare the genes for Griseo.

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Kosma, Elysia, Kevin, Eden and Sakura were on their way to the site of the battle. Then, they saw a massive explosion that lighted up the surroundings, blinding them from the brightness. After some time, a deafening explosion was heard and their VTOL shaked violently from the turbulence. When it stabilized, they saw a mushroom cloud in the distance.

Everybody frowned with grave expressions on their faces. "That's Ein's doing isn't it? Bloody hell." Kevin didn't want to know how fierce the battle was.

"We must support him immediately. Kevin, go to Ein's location. You have the most firepower, we'll deal with the honkai beasts and try to quarantine the area as much as possible." Sakura said quickly. Being in the special forces, she is a more capable leader than Kevin in strategies. As she quickly made a conclusion that they will be not much use in a battle of that caliber.

Kevin nodded as he thought that Elysia was more suited to precise crowd control, being a technician. Kosma, Eden, and Sakura would probably not be much help in the epicenter.

They then saw another spectacle as massive spears of ice, the size of mountains dropped into the battle. Black lightning, with the same size transformed to an eastern dragon as it flew all over the battlefield, and flames that vaporized everything spewed out everywhere.

The driver started to panic as the craft was starting to get damaged. But Kevin covered them with ice as they started to prepare. "Squad. God speed." Kevin said to them as they all nodded gravely, seeing the destruction that ravaged the area.

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Ein quickly followed up on the herrscher in just a split second as he frowned. She only had minor burns, and was clearly angry.

"Damned human! I'll crush you to the ground like an ant!" She raised the gravity once again as he strained from the pressure. He willed mountain sized spears of ice high above the sky, as they were launched like celestial bodies on a crash course to earth. It impacted her repulsive barrier as the 2 opposing forces made titanic shockwaves. Flattening everything and grinding it to dust.

"Vanish with the thunderclap! Kirin!" A huge black eastern dragon appeared from the clouds, with arcs of electricity on its body. It then clashed with the herrscher with lightning speed. As the heat and plasma glassed everything as far as the eye can see.

He then raised his hands and flames, at least a hundred thousand degrees bathed her location. He gritted his teeth in frustration as he couldn't raise the temperature too high, or he'll destroy the planet.

The herrscher appeared once again, battered from the intense attacks. She lost a limb and had 3rd degree burns everywhere. But she was regenerating quickly.

"Ahhhhh! You insect! How dare you!" She started to materialize her quasi-black holes in numbers as Ein frowned at the display. Everything floated and was attracted to the immense balls of gravity as light was bent and it looked like a glitch in space.

He willed a spear of fire with immense heat. And contained it as much as he can, or it would vaporize the continent. In his other hand, a black sword made of lightning.

He released the seal of Vishnu so he could have better control as the heat created a haze. "Let's dance herrscher!" He roared and threw the spear at her. She blocked with the black hole, but it was pierced. Confirming his hypothesis that it can be overwhelmed by stronger attacks, and it isn't the real thing.

His spear though weakened greatly and bounced off of her as a gravity well appeared on her limbs. She cast a net of gravity, as the surroundings creaked. Earthquakes ravaged the world as tectonic plates started to have great movements. Miniature black holes orbiting herself as she flew quickly to him. Using repulsion as a speed boost.

He strained from the gravity as he became slower. He noticed that the gravity was pressing on him above, so he wanted to capitalize on it.

The herrscher screamed as she went near. The orbiting balls of death around her tried to hit him. He dodged upwards and calculated an opening. As his muscles bulged, scales appeared all over his body as his fingertips turned to sharp claws. Boosted to the max with honkai energy.

"Nerf this!" He clasped his hands together and gave her a hammer fist on the head as the air ignited. A massive explosion upon impact blew up, as she flew like a bullet back to the ground at immense speeds.

The ruined city cracked in half at the immense energy she impacted the ground. With gravity so high around herself, she was like an asteroid that hit the earth at breakneck speeds.

Kevin that was nearing the battle flew away from the shockwave. "Ein! I'm here to help!" He heard Kevin from the distance, as he flew to his location.

"You distract her, and I'll finish her off." As Kevin prepared for battle. The herrscher stood up and was disoriented from the attack, her arms were bent in an angle, as she managed to block with them in time.

"DAMN YOU! I'LL SHOW YOU MY TRUE POWER!" She raised gravity and quickly flew away. Ein and Kevin tried to follow, but with the immense pressure slowing them down they could only see where she's going.

Ein had enough after a few seconds. "Kevin, prepare Shamash." As he nodded and held the sword tightly. Ein teleported themselves above the herrscher as Kevin slashed at her. Bathing her with the flames of Shamash.

Ein quickly maneuvered at her blind side as he tried to pierce her chest. His claws blazing with immense heat, but the herrscher quickly gained her wits and gave her all in protecting her core. As Ein tried to go through just millimeters away from her chest.

"Get off!" She concentrated her powers on her hand as she decked him on the face. Ein didn't expect that, having tunnel vision on ending the fight and being stuck because of the black holes nearby. As he flew away like a meteor, hundreds of miles away.

Kevin tried to attack again, but his sword was blocked by the black holes orbiting her. Shamash can destroy them, but she just created more.

With the chance she created. She flew high up into the air and started to make a massive black hole that quickly gained size. Kevin looked at it as it expanded, now at the size of the whole continent.

Ein shook his head while on some rubble as he looked at what's happening. "This is bad." The herrscher quickly completed her attack as she laughed like a maniac.

"AHAHAHAHA! This is my true power! Get crushed insects!" The massive celestial body started to descend as the populace saw doom. It was slowly getting closer, but the result would be the same nonetheless.

Einstein saw this and she immediately came up with a solution. "Think! Think! Think!" She frantically thought of what to do. She then had a glint in her eyes when she saw a file of project Veluka.

She then received a comm from Ein. "EINSTEIN I'LL TELEPORT YOU TO HQ! PREPARE EVERYONE THAT NEEDS TO COME WITH YOU!"

"No! I have a plan! I'll create a rift to the sea of quanta! Mu won't fall! Please! Prevent it from dropping as much as you can!"

He gritted his teeth at her decision, but he prepared himself. He unleashed his seals as he started to activate all of his cores. He flew high up into the sky as he made a dome of honkai energy to try and push against it with all his might.

"KEVIN! FINISH HER OFF! I'LL DELAY THIS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!" His loud voice was heard by Kevin as he held his sword tightly.

Ein clashed with the massive black hole. Its immense weight and gravity bearing down on him. His shoulders carrying what seems to be the weight of the world just like Atlas.

He roared as he used his telekinesis to the maximum. His cores pumped out immense amounts of energy, as his body superheated. Like a nuclear reactor.

Einstein quickly tried to make a rift big enough for the continent. As it started to open up, the void was now visible as it swallowed them up slowly.

Kevin quickly arrived at the herrscher's location. She was exhausted and he capitalized on it. "This ends now!" He stabbed her on the chest as she laughed. "Kekeke... It's already too late human! I have prevailed!" She coughed up blood as she started to choke on her own blood.

Kevin took out her core, but the black hole was still there. As he frowned heavily, he contacted Elysia and the others to retreat as they cannot do anything about it.

"Ein! Just a little more!" Einstein saw that the looming ball of doom was nearing the continent. "I'm doing what I can here!" He pushed against it with everything he could. His bones creaked, and muscles started to tear as Vishnu's genes healed him up in a seemingly endless cycle of destruction and restoration.

After a few more minutes, the rift was finally complete as Einstein teared up and smiled tenderly. "Ein... Thank you for everything. Goodbye."

"Don't you dare die in there Einstein! You can just return after!" He had a bad feeling as she was unnaturally calm.

"I will... So long. I wish we could've hanged out more, unraveling the secrets of the universe." The continent was then swallowed up by the sea of quanta. As it disappeared completely with all of its inhabitants.

"UOOOGHHHH!" He now wanted the black hole to not hit the crust of the earth. Or disaster will fall unto the world. He tried with all his might and strained.

It started to enter the pacific ocean, as everything got swallowed up. The tectonic plates got agitated as earthquakes ravaged the world. Volcanoes erupted and the world was in a panic. People all over the planet that were relaxing, enjoying their day. Having the time of their lives felt the earth rupture.

Ein was now thousands of meters deep in the ocean as the massive black hole created a deep trench below the deeps. This trench would be known as the mariana trench.

Without his intervention though, this thing would've cracked the planet in half. As it fortunately started to dissipate. Ein then contacted everyone as he tried to stabilize the tectonic plates.

"Status report Mei!" He frowned deeply, as this was the worst one yet. "It's not good Ein. Earthquakes ravaged everything, HQ is safe because it's built different. But society as we know it might collapse." Mei said with a somber tone. Receiving reports of strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world.

"Try to contact Einstein. She saved the continent by putting it into the quantum sea and travelling to a bubble universe." He hoped that they could still get in contact.

"Sure. Great work..." Mei ended the call as Ein quickly flew to HQ to know of Griseo's situation. "Great work huh? But it's still not enough." He frowned as he saw the cities he passed through. Completely leveled by the strong earthquakes.

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Thanks for reading guys. The 9th herrscher has made her descent, and left a mark that would change the world forever. Ciao.