"Aaaaah—!"
It was merely the afterglow of dusk, yet when it shone upon Landro, it was as though he had been placed directly over a bonfire.
"This sunlight... It's blinding! No!"
Landro's body began to melt and slough away beneath the scorching sunlight.
Expert was not surprised in the slightest.
"Three hundred microwatts per square centimeter—no, two hundred and ninety microwatts per square centimeter." As Expert observed, she gave an impassive analysis. "Although sunlight is abundant in summer, the polluted smog layer absorbs ultraviolet radiation. Yet this intensity of ultraviolet light alone is enough to destabilize the fusion between human genes and Honkai Beast genes until they break apart. As expected, he is a defective product."
Conductor added, "The weakness of vampires fits perfectly as well. Perhaps this is where the earliest vampire legends originated."
Landro moved his limbs, trying to return to the shadows, but the moment his foot took a single step, it melted like cheese dropped into hot water.
Even his hard bones shattered beneath the sunlight.
The light permitted no creature of darkness to set foot within it, nor did it permit one to escape.
Landro could only remain imprisoned within the "cage of light" and watch himself slowly melt away.
It would not take long.
Vill-V was certainly not standing nearby to admire the sight of Landro dissolving.
Vill-V had no habit of appreciating an enemy's death.
Expert raised her leg and kicked his core organs out of the light.
As for how she knew those were his core organs, Expert had understood the moment she saw Landro desperately wrapping those areas in the remnants of his hooded robe, even as he died.
He had been willing to abandon even his manhood to protect his heart and cerebral lobes. What reason could there be besides survival?
When she saw biological chip circuits engraved across his cerebral lobes in Dr. Mobius' distinctive style, a gleam flashed through Expert's eyes.
As expected, the cautious Dr. Mobius had left behind a means of communication.
Strictly speaking, it was not a communication device. It merely allowed her to confirm whether a lab rat had truly died after its supposed death, preventing it from faking its demise and escaping. That was all.
But that was more than enough for Vill-V to have some fun.
...
Several minutes later.
Landro's entire body was exposed beneath the final rays of sunlight.
Ah—I'm finally free from this torment!!!!
Landro seemed to realize that death had arrived. The remaining half of his mouth opened and closed, but without vocal cords, he could produce no sound.
Boom!
The final explosion spoke in his place.
Landro transformed into a unique firework in the sky.
It was almost as though it were celebrating his release.
After all, the sunlight could no longer reach the ground, so Vill-V had no choice but to send him into the sky.
"It seems this little assistant was truly enthusiastic. Even his exit had to be spectacular. I could never imitate that."
Magician was merely being modest. Implanting a nuclear bomb in her own heart was absolutely something she might do.
When Landro's underlings saw their boss explode, their pupils contracted violently.
They watched Azure Empyrea slowly stroll toward them, cracking the knuckles of her fists with murderous intent in her eyes. Terror seized them, and thoughts of retreat sprouted one after another.
"Monster! She's a monster!"
"What even is immortal magic? Is it some newly developed superpower?"
"There's no way we can beat her!"
At that moment, however, they suddenly saw Vill-V stagger and nearly fall.
Herrscherization had ended...
Magician had vanished along with it.
Conductor braced her hands against her knees and gasped heavily, fine sweat emerging across her forehead.
She complained, "This feels awful, Magician. You were the one who wanted to have fun. Hah... Couldn't you at least endure the side effects for a while before leaving?"
"It's just like that time Magician arranged for me to wear a lion costume and leap through flaming hoops on a magic stage for two straight hours."
At least Vill-V had grown accustomed to the side effects by now. She no longer collapsed face-first the moment Herrscherization ended.
But it still felt far from pleasant. For the entire following day, her body would remain weak, her head dizzy and swollen, her skin itchy all over, and her ears filled with ringing.
"Hah... Twelve minutes and twenty-six seconds. Mm, that's quite an improvement... Like hell it is. I deliberately avoided using any Herrscherization abilities this time to make it last longer, yet I still couldn't maintain it for fifteen minutes. That's not even enough time to finish a set of broadcast calisthenics."
"Looks like I still can't use it too much during battle. Otherwise, if it fails me at a critical moment, I'm finished."
Fortunately, after the earlier display of power, the surviving bikers from the Ghostfire Syndicate did not dare take advantage of Vill-V's weakened state to attack her.
Instead, they seized the opportunity to flee for their lives, gritting their teeth as they mounted their motorcycles and sped away, leaving only devastation behind.
At least this time, the area had not been reduced to ruins.
...
The Mobile Response Unit arrived.
But when they failed to see any bikers, they immediately left without even offering a word of concern.
That was normal for them.
Apart from matters mandated by "company" regulations or explicitly requested of them, they ignored everything else.
Even if someone committed suicide right before their eyes, they would not move a single step.
How much money could saving someone possibly earn?
Besides, that person was not even a corporate wage slave.
And so, every residential district on Twilight Street came under the Taixu Gang's control.
Quite a few people had survived here, numbering well over a hundred.
Inori, who had not appeared during the earlier battle, had been secretly investigating the area.
The investigation revealed something shocking. Madam Ma had planted a large number of blood thralls among the residents.
So-called blood thralls were people who had consumed the blood of vampires.
Unless these people regularly drank their "master's" blood and used the serum within it to stabilize their Honkai genes, the Honkai energy residing within them would spread until they ultimately transformed into zombies.
That was how Old Hans had become a zombie.
Ordinarily, even if these people did not transform into Honkai zombies, they were still utterly obedient "living dead" who followed the vampires' every command.
Without the serum from a vampire's blood, they would die all the same.
Although they did not possess the vampires' abilities, their strength was still beyond anything an ordinary person could resist. Fortunately, Inori had been the one to deal with them. Had it been any other noncombat intelligence agent from the Mad Hatter Party, they probably would have been bitten to death.
The good news was that once they learned the Taixu Gang possessed a method of suppressing Honkai Sickness, these death-fearing thralls immediately surrendered and exposed every hidden agent Madam Ma had left among the residents.
They did not care whether they served the Ghostfire Syndicate or the Taixu Gang. As long as they could survive, they would obey.
Anyone incapable of obedience had already been disposed of by Madam Ma.
This made Hua feel even more strongly that those who lived in this free district were both hateful and pitiful.
The sealed well was also reopened. After testing, no Honkai energy was found within it.
After all, groundwater filtered through soil was the least susceptible to Honkai energy contamination.
Everything had been a lie fabricated by Madam Ma, merely so she could further extort the residents' possessions.
Naturally, the residents who had once survived by drinking the blood of others would never again have the chance to enjoy the water here.
They would all be taken to the police station, where they would face Reporter Tan's accusations and receive the punishment they deserved.