At the sea of quanta. Ein was almost done, due to one reason. His body absorbed the properties of the surroundings, and his understanding about the universe went above and beyond.
His body is now in a full quantum state. And he is trying to appear before the others, especially Elysia. As he noticed that she is amassing immense amounts of honkai energy, and that isn't a good sign.
He started disappearing, starting with his hand. And then his torso, as his ghost like figure appeared inside Fire Moth. It was a wreck, and he frowned upon seeing it. He just hopes that his stem cells did their trick and were able to suspend Rin and Sakura indefinitely, because he was sensing a convergence of honkai energy in the horizon.
His hand came out of Elysia as she yelped at the weird phenomena. His head then popped out of her chest as he gave a greeting. "Yo, Ellie. I missed you guys." Elysia started to tear up as she tried holding his disembodied head.
Her hands went through, and it made her frown. "Are you back? Moth is in chaos right now... Kalpas is getting rebellious, Kosma and Hua are starting to resent Mei." He was surprised and asked what happened.
Elysia reiterated the story as he gave a deep frown. "Mei, what the hell were you thinking... I guess she is bad at reading people emotionally." He sighed and then he narrowed his eyes at Elysia. "Elysia... Are you planning something?" She scratched her cheek and beads of sweat started falling down her brow. "Ahhh, you see. This can't go on, if this continues. Infighting will be the norm, and we will inevitably doom ourselves. Mobius especially, as she wants to make humans into self aware viruses just like the 12th herrscher. Things are tense between her and Su."
"Damn, don't do anything stupid Elysia... They need you the most, as you have the best relationship with everyone. Even Kalpas." He then gave a device filled with the energy of the sea of quanta that was highly regulated. "Give this to Vill and Mobius, tell Mobius that this would be much better. Because people in quantum states won't be influenced by the honkai energy that much." Elysia nodded and pocketed it immediately, as she thought that it might be their key for survival.
"I'll be returning soon. Promise me Elysia, you won't do it... You know that Hime has already gone through a route similar to that." He then disappeared like lights, Elysia pinched her cheek to know he was real, but the device was still in her pocket. As she immediately went to Mobius.
"Moby-chan~" Mobius looked at her and frowned, starting to get annoyed. "Elysia... What is it now! I'm very busy, I have no time for your games." Nuwa had an argument with her, as she was very against the idea of Mobius turning humans into viruses. Now, Fuxi and Nuwa were in project Ember. Leaving Klein and Mobius alone in their lab.
"Fufufu~ you won't say that when you get a load of this." She took out the device as Mobius eyed it suspiciously. "What is that?" Elysia puffed her chest and gave a smug look.
"Ein gave it to me, pretty cool right? He said it can allow humans to exist in a quantum state, whatever that is." Mobius' eyes widen as she scramble to get the device in her hand. Knowing the implications of it. "This, did this really come from him?" She held it carefully and started to read the letter that came with it.
"Umu, he appeared from inside me. Scared me a bit too." She chuckled as Mobius started to work on it. She then left quickly to meet up with several other MANTISes. "Tsk, if they only agreed in turning humans into viruses. It's not like they'll be little microscopic things their whole lives." She then started tests on live animals and after being in proximity with the energy of the sea of quanta, it started to become transparent and then it disappeared like smoke.
"I see, it has been transported to the sea. He did say that in collaboration with Mei's bubble universe, we can go retreat there and be free of honkai's influence for the mean time." She then called Mei to give her some news about this.
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Elysia was in a meeting with several individuals. They are Aponia that now wields the 11th key, the Oath of Judah, it can disperse honkai energy in the surroundings just like how the 11th herrscher could. Making it a very effective weapon against MANTIS. Kalpas, who is now very much disgusted with Moth due to the incident of the 12th. Eden, Elysia's best friend since a long time ago. And surprisingly, Kosma. As he thought that things shouldn't continue this way. Griseo was on Aponia's lap while listening to some music, as she might get influenced by their talk. Hua was also here, as she thought that if things don't change. They'll suffer dire consequences.
"As you all know... Moth is turning into factions, we've got Mei and Kevin. Mobius is alone and wants to turn humans into viruses. Su is mostly neutral, but completely denies Mobius' experiments. While Vill is kind of in limbo, as one of her personalities doesn't take kindly to Kevin. But she still has to support Moth with the spiral workshop." Elysia was uncharacteristically serious in the meeting, making the others perk up.
"What do we need to do Ellie? We're in a tight spot right now. Can we even do anything drastic? Infighting will cause the downfall of Moth." Eden spoke and gave a good point.
"I've felt the presence of Ein-sama. He has contacted you... Didn't he? Elysia?" Aponia looked at her as everyone got surprised.
"Hehe~ that's right. He loves me too much you see? Anyway, we need to have unity. Because Ein gave Mobius a pretty cool device that will help us escape. And Mobius must collaborate with Mei and Vill, or the device might not make it. It's a race for time." She narrowed her eyes as she touched the middle of her chest where a core was consolidating.
Everyone nodded and made the biggest faction. Even Kevin can't beat them with all of them teaming up together, and Aponia has the 11th key as well. So they planned to go rogue to make a point.
Meanwhile, Mei and Mobius were talking about the new device as Mei was almost done in completing the ether anchor. "This would be the best of both worlds, we'll be able to escape quickly and go to the sea of quanta after we are able to use this." Mobius nodded and scoffed. "Ein would've understood my plans, it wasn't permanent. And we should've been microscopic by now, able to weather the 14th's attack. But you guys have to make me research about it alone." Her brows twitched, remembering the tons of failures about researching the 12th herrscher.
"Hahhh. You know that normal people won't want that right? And you can't explain to them that they'll be able to consolidate again to their human form Mobius." Mei already had this conversation with her, and it was making her head hurt.
"Quickly, we have to make this work now. Su can eat dirt somewhere trying to make a cure." She has some bad blood with Su, arguing time and time again on why Mobius' experiments won't work. As they started to complete the ether anchor as the 1st step to their escape.
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Elysia and the others have been missing for some time now, and this was very concerning. Kevin then received a video. "Hi~ Kevin and Mei. You see, Moth has been in the dumps for quite some time now... And we want to change things~" Elysia then started to float in the air as pink wings of honkai energy started to appear behind her back. "Fufufu~ and we apologize for being impolite. Sayonara~ See you guys later!" Kevin and Mei were then dumbstruck as they saw 4 of the combat oriented MANTISes behind Elysia.
"Kevin, I don't know about you. But can you beat Elysia? I think Aponia alone would've been a big problem." Mei knew only Kevin would fight on their side, as Su definitely will not, Vill is neutral, Phyllis is a non combatant, and Mobius is too busy working.
Kevin sighed as he took Shamash. "I'll go talk to them. This must have been Elysia's idea of course. I'll bring everyone just in case."
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In a wide barren plain, every single MANTIS were gathered. As the two sides were in a stand off. "Enough of these games Elysia. You do know that Mobius, Mei, and Vill-v are now creating our possible escape route right?" Elysia sweated as she thought that Mobius would still work on it alone. "Uhhh, yes?" Elysia's faction then face palmed at her as they started to calm down.
They came back to the base and Eden was seen scolding Elysia. "Ellie, you know... That could've been a catastrophe. You should've at least talked with Mei and Mobius 1st." She sighed and massaged her temples.
"Mou~ not you too Eden!" She hugged Eden and pouted. "I thought you were my very best friend! Now you're siding with them, not me..."
She bonked her on the head. "Shush, you were about to do something stupid, and when did you turn into a herrscher!? You should've told us!" Elysia frowned as she remembered what Mei did to Rin. "Eden, you do know what might've happened if I did that?" Eden gulped as she reminisced about what happened with Rin. "And I'm actually staving off the influence of the honkai. It still has a connection with me, good thing Ein told us to practice our control. The will whispers things to you like a devil in your mind." Eden then nodded and patted her on the back.
"Well then, I guess we should help with whatever we can."
After a few weeks, a building sized sphere was built by Mei and Vill, the ether anchor was complete and they were about to test it. The energy in Ein's device gave them the necessary clues to make the bubble universe they'll create stable inside the sea of quanta. And now they could go with the 2nd phase, put everyone in a state that is similar to the properties of the sea so they could resist the influence of honkai energy.
They started to dip it inside the sea, as it absorbed the energy in the surroundings. Then the device activated fully, dispersing the energy around, making a stable environment that could house a bubble universe.
But a gigantic rip in space right above them appeared. As a white haired woman with golden wings appeared, looking down on them like they were trash. "Hmmm, humans. Did I surprise you?" (pic here)
She was stellar in scale, as the others were absolutely shocked. "I'll give you humans a gift. The gift of release." She started to poison the earth with honkai energy as it seeped deep in the lands. She then disappeared and materialized in front of them, now in her human sized form. "Kukuku~ Let me see how you would struggle. Humans. Without him to protect you, you're just ants." The will of the honkai expedited the final herrscher, as the 13th betrayed them. And they would make a loophole to escape the influence of the imaginary tree.
She raised her hand and was about to do something. Then they heard a voice. "Hey, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light? And unlike that faker Kizaru." Everyone froze and a gigantic hexagonal barrier appeared right above the planet.
Ein's universe was mostly completed, but it wasn't perfect. Though the rip in space gave his vessel a window to enter through, and the ether anchor made a stable enough space where he could materialize himself fully.
Nobody saw what happened, but a blinding light suddenly bathed the surrounding, then it was accompanied by an explosion the MANTIS can't even imagine how strong it is. As it impacted the black barrier, and they crouched as a reflex.
After that, they saw a man with long silver hair. Swaying with the wind, but his body parts looked like they were glitching. "Yo. I'm sorry I am late everyone." He then disappeared and after a few seconds. They saw a decent chunk of the moon explode into smithereens. (pic here)
"Quickly! maneuver the Selene at their location! Wha?" Mei barked orders, but she felt a wet sensation on her legs. As her water broke. Kevin gasped and didn't know what to do. Su then quickly carried her and went to the medical facility, as Mobius barked orders in her place. "What are you guys dilly dallying for! Realign Selene at the location of the battle!"
As everyone scrambled to their places, and another explosion on the moon was seen from earth, storms ravaged the celestial body and what could only be fire balls of nuclear explosions dotted the place thousands of times.
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Thanks for reading, the 14th has appeared. And I don't think they can interfere much here except using Selene. Anyways, ciao.