Lu Xing pondered for a moment.
Unlike during his Temple-class period, the three tasks currently provided by the system could theoretically be completed in one go.
But unfortunately, it was neither necessary nor feasible—destroying a city was easy, but when it came to countries, things started to get troublesome.
The number of countries in the Previous Era was not large. South America, the Middle East, and the entirety of Africa had not experienced large-scale independence movements; they all belonged to larger power blocs.
Lu Xing didn't know how the system defined a "country." If vassal states were included, the closest and most suitable target to the Australian continent... would probably be Yingzhou and New Zealand.
The land areas of these two regions were not vastly different. One was located northwest of the Mu Continent, the other southwest. They were garrisoned by troops from Shenzhou and Great Britain respectively. The only significant difference was their population.
They were likely the smallest countries, by area, that Lu Xing knew of in this world—if he were truly to target a country, they were undoubtedly the best choices.
As for a continent...
Lu Xing didn't believe he yet possessed the terrifying power to "sink a continent." To complete that part of the mission, he would probably need to wait for the Ninth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Rock, to be born and then find an opportunity—the Herrscher of Rock's authority was gravity manipulation. With sufficient Honkai energy, it could even create a continent-engulfing black hole.
In the original work, the Mu Continent was wiped out by the Herrscher of Rock using this very move.
Therefore, the ultimate fulfillment of this mission objective would undoubtedly involve the Herrscher of Rock.
Lu Xing wasn't planning to wait for the Herrscher to appear.
Before that, he decided to stretch his muscles a bit—
New Zealand is composed of two main islands, North and South.
On the eastern part of its North Island lies the extremely famous tourist destination, "White Island."
The location where Lu Xing emerged using [Traverse] was high in the sky, less than two kilometers away from White Island.
"A very beautiful place."
New Zealand sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" fault line, and the renowned Taupo Volcanic Zone is located here—undoubtedly, ordinary attacks would have no hope of destroying a country with an area of 270,000 square kilometers.
The rift had just been successfully relocated. The recovery of his legion's numbers and the strengthening of their power still required some time to settle.
As an Emperor, Lu Xing decided to test his hand here.
Just how strong had he become after evolving into an Imaginary Emperor? Did he possess the qualifications to fight Kevin—Kevin, who even without the Might of An-Utu back then, had been able to defeat the Herrscher of Flame that incinerated Australia? He would verify it through this "practical combat" test.
New Zealand, with its 60 volcanoes...
"It's simply too perfect."
Lu Xing's main body had yet to move, but a progressively sharpening hum already began to resonate through the sky as his Space-Time Ring accelerated its rotation.
Under the influence of spatial power, the Space-Time Ring, formed by 64 interconnected crystals, began to slowly detach from its orbit around Lu Xing, drifting towards his back—its final position was on the outer edge of the Honkai energy halo located behind his head.
A large ring encompassing a smaller ring.
The sound of thunder began to intermingle. On the surface of the inner Honkai energy halo, differing coronas of red, blue, and purple light similarly gathered, their energy flow quickening—the overflowing electric light created an exaggerated electromagnetic effect between the two rings. Like the terrifying discharge of a Tesla coil, it turned the space behind the Imaginary Emperor into a horrifying sea of lightning.
This was immediately followed by a frantic change in temperature. The iridescent halo gradually shifted towards a pure crimson. Heatwaves that even the sea breeze couldn't disperse caused the surrounding clouds and air currents to begin to transform...
A hurricane was about to form.
The overflowing heat ignited into a towering inferno; a new sun was born!
In the next instant, as all external phenomena converged into a single core point—
An incandescent pillar of white light tore through the sky, rushing straight towards the North Island!
Everything in its path was utterly melted away within the terrifying light pillar, whether they were living beings, buildings, or the very earth beneath.
Humans and livestock shared equal treatment in the face of destruction.
The pillar of light did not trigger an explosion on the surface. The singularity of all the energy's爆发 (outburst/detonation) was located four thousand meters underground.
As the last of the white light dissipated into flames and dust in the air, a dull, colossal roar instantly echoed throughout the entire North Island region.
Immediately following—
The earth dragon turned over, the flame dragon soared and danced!
All-consuming seismic waves tore at the North Island's terrain from within, an immense earthquake with an epicentral intensity exceeding Grade 12 and a magnitude approaching 9 engulfed the entire North Island!
Magma columns hundreds of meters in diameter erupted from beneath the ground!
Numerous dormant volcanoes, inactive for who knew how many years, roared back to life under this single strike!
Black smoke billowed, and a red tide of lava spread across the land.
In an instant, New Zealand's North Island was unrecognizable.
Was merely the beginning.
This place was a product of the collision between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate, a zone of immense heat and pressure from mantle subduction.
This attack from the Imaginary Emperor had thoroughly activated this volcanic and seismic zone.
The power that destroyed the North Island was merely an appetizer. The changes in temperature and ocean currents triggered by the submarine volcanic activity... Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel(ꜰ)ire.net
They would bring to the South Island and the surrounding waters a baptism by "typhoon" and "tsunami."
His Super Perception quickly scanned the nearby sea and sky.
New Zealand had suffered unprecedented losses. This island nation would continue to endure large-scale natural disasters for months, even years to come—this level of devastation was enough to compel all residents accustomed to natural disasters to permanently evacuate (the total population was merely 5 million).
Regrettably, such an "achievement" could not be calculated into Lu Xing's mission in real-time.
"Should I try Yingzhou next?"
Lu Xing assessed the Honkai energy reserves within his body. That [Atomic Breath] just now, being the most powerful area-of-effect attack Lu Xing possessed, had directly consumed nearly 60% of his Honkai energy—even with constant replenishment from Imaginary Space, a discharge of this magnitude would require several days to recover.
Being near the rift might speed up recovery considerably, but the Honkai energy there... there were too many subordinates eagerly awaiting it. Lu Xing didn't plan to "waste" it himself.
Although it would be somewhat troublesome, firing another, smaller blast wouldn't be a major issue.
However, after much thought, Lu Xing ultimately abandoned this idea... He was more interested in the rewards for the mission he had just completed.