Under the hundredfold gravity, Ato's movements were completely restricted, making it difficult for him to even walk.
And this was just the Herrscher toying with him.
"Look at you, struggling to even walk. And you think you can kill me? Die."
Knowing that villains die from talking too much, the 9th Herrscher didn't waste time. After toying with Ato, he prepared to finish him off.
But just as he was about to strike, he felt a spatial disturbance.
"Ten-thousandfold Gravity Distortion!"
To his left, a gravity distortion field instantly formed, twisting the spatial arrows that had been fired at him.
"An ambush? Heh, I thought you'd fight fair. Since you're here, you can die together."
"Pseudo Black Hole!"
In an instant, a black sphere formed beneath the 9th Herrscher's feet.
It began devouring everything around it, pulling everything into its void.
Seeing this, Chang Yuan quickly dashed to Ato's side and threw him out of the danger zone.
"We can't fight him on the ground. We need to drive him outside the range of the 4th Divine Key's protection."
If they fought within the range of the 4th Divine Key, its defense would be useless.
After all, it protected from the outside, not the inside.
"Understood. Leave it to me. Dr. Mobius said I can perform a MANTIS Breakdown. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but it should be enough to hold him off."
The MANTIS Breakdown had been developed long ago, as it was part of the exposed information.
But so far, no one had tried it, or rather, no Honkai threat had required its use.
After all, the highest-level threats had been dealt with, and the remaining Honkai beasts could be easily defeated by MANTIS warriors.
"Good. Then we'll leave it to you, Hua. We'll cover you."
Taking out the 3rd Divine Key, Chang Yuan transformed it into sniper rifle mode.
Elysia also aimed her bow at the 9th Herrscher.
Since neither of them could fly, they had to support Hua from the ground.
In the next moment, flames similar to those of Garuda ignited around Hua.
Her long hair turned crimson.
"Is this the power you've stolen? Pathetic. Ten-thousandfold Gravity, fall!"
As Hua took to the air, the 9th Herrscher unleashed a gravity field with a radius of one kilometer centered on himself.
In an instant, the area was flattened.
Ato, caught in the field, coughed up blood.
Fortunately, he had already sent Griseo and Blanca to safety, or things would have been dire.
Thinking of this, Ato couldn't help but smile.
As long as they were safe, it meant he had changed fate.
"Elysia, cover Hua. I'll get Ato out of the range. He's too injured to fight."
"Got it!"
Struggling against the gravity, Chang Yuan made his way toward Ato.
Thankfully, the physical strength of a MANTIS warrior far surpassed that of a normal human. An ordinary person would have been crushed into a pulp by now.
But even a MANTIS warrior couldn't endure this for long.
After successfully throwing Ato out of the range, Chang Yuan immediately stood outside the field and fired a shot at the 9th Herrscher, who was floating in the sky.
A purple-red arc flashed, forcing the 9th Herrscher to quickly create a black gravity shield.
The attack was absorbed, but in doing so, the Herrscher had to drop his gravity field, allowing Hua, in her MANTIS Breakdown form, to punch him out of the 4th Divine Key's range.
"Elysia, now! Let's get out of the 4th Divine Key's range and activate it."
Seeing the 9th Herrscher being knocked out of the range, Chang Yuan shouted urgently.
Without responding, Elysia immediately sprang into action.
Soon, everyone was outside the 4th Divine Key's range, and the Divine Key activated instantly.
Now, only four people remained outside: the 9th Herrscher and his three formidable enemies.
"Good. You've driven me out to protect those foolish humans. But you'd better be prepared to sacrifice yourselves."
With a wave of his hand, the 9th Herrscher did something, though Chang Yuan and the others didn't feel any change in gravity. They were now standing on the shield of the 4th Divine Key.
But soon, they realized what the Herrscher had done.
Dozens of kilometer-wide meteors appeared in the sky, followed by a massive one ten kilometers in diameter.
"Meteors! Destroy them!"
Seeing this kind of attack, Chang Yuan's pupils shrank.
This was completely different from the original timeline. This 9th Herrscher was highly intelligent.
He wouldn't engage in close combat but would instead attack from a distance with meteors.
Against these meteors, only the 3rd Divine Key in Chang Yuan's hands could be effective.
After all, Elysia's 2nd Divine Key was only powerful against single targets.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, dozens of crimson arcs shot out, shattering and disintegrating the meteors.
But immediately after, a small pseudo black hole came hurtling toward them.
"Fist of Shattering Heaven!"
Using most of her Honkai energy, Hua punched out, shattering the pseudo black hole. The force of the punch even split the clouds in the sky.
But for the 9th Herrscher, protected by his gravity shield, this was no threat.
To him, it was just a gust of wind.
"Witness the power of gravitational ricochet. Perhaps it can rival the speed of light."
Forming a black sphere in his hand, he tossed it, letting it bounce between gravity barriers.
It grew faster and faster, so fast that even the MANTIS warriors couldn't see its trajectory.
Only when danger was imminent did Chang Yuan sense the threat.
"Watch out!"
Realizing the attack was aimed at Chang Yuan, Elysia immediately encased him in a layer of pink crystal.
But against this near-light-speed attack, the crystal shattered instantly. However, the attack's power and speed were significantly reduced, so it didn't pierce Chang Yuan's body.
Instead, the black sphere slammed him into the shield, making him feel as if all his bones had been crushed.
But the regenerative abilities of a MANTIS warrior quickly began repairing his body.
As he recovered, the 9th Herrscher launched another similar attack, this time accompanied by countless smaller meteors, though not as large as the first wave.
After all, while his Honkai energy was infinite, the amount he could unleash at once had limits. Otherwise, he could easily alter the planet's gravity and achieve the feat of annihilating humanity.