'Hm… So that's it.'
Aleph's elemental sight went through the emperor-class honkai beast. From the moment he saw it, he had a familiar feeling.
Turns out, it once cooperated with the emperor-class honkai beast from the fourth eruption, codenamed "Vayu" (lit. God of Wind).
'Heh. It's one of the honkai beasts in this region?'
He placed these thoughts away.
Fwoosh-!
Icarus, whom he left to fly in the stratosphere with all its stealth systems online, dropped something in his position. A tattered black robe fell into his arms.
"Hm…"
Aleph clicked on the two pins positioned at his shoulder. He specifically asked for this little feature when he asked Vill-V to make this.
Click.
Click.
With the black robe successfully attached, his Sphere Boundary followed forth. His existence in this world became unimaginably thin. His footsteps no longer left any traces. Even the gusts of winds that passed through him didn't make any noise.
Such was the effect of Sphere Boundary's nigh-extreme mastery. He was only behind the old Li Shuwen who could disappear in the middle of a fight. Along with the effects of the tattered robe, it was enough for him to launch one fatal attack into the honkai beast.
'This is more comfortable.'
Thinking of the potential aftermath, Aleph chose to bring out [Durandal] instead of [Yamato]. The longsword was held in his right hand as his running speed accelerated.
Soon, his feet left the ground. The built-up momentum from running allowed the electromagnetic propulsers to do their job.
Three hundred.
Four hundred.
…
Nine hundred.
When the distance travelled became a kilometer, he already traversed more than three-fourth of his previous location. The ruined buildings became a blur in his eyes. The surrounding honkai beasts acted as if they hadn't noticed him, however.
'There.'
A huge ratio line appeared in the mantis' body. Its white shell decorated with purple lines all over its body made it look foreign. Its two bladed arms glowed dimly as a large honkai energy reading was detected from them.
In his right hand, the familiar Juezhao was operated on. All of the force created by Aleph's speed was converted into one strong blow. His cursed energy dropped as he did so, only for it to recover at an extremely fast pace.
His brain, enhanced by thought acceleration and parallel minds, was sent to an overdrive. His elemental sight worked full-time to perceive all sorts of information in his surroundings. That complemented his control over cursed energy.
All of this was made possible by the fizzling sound in his head.
Unlike other honkai beasts, its build was thin.
Meaning to say—
Fwooosh-!
Psshk-!
—its head easily comes off in one blow.
Bam-!
Aleph collapsed in a thirty-floor building adjacent to the emperor-class honkai beast. His body made a huge hole into its foundation, causing it to collapse.
Swoosh-!
Before it collapsed completely, his figure came out of the building. A huge cloud of dust was kicked off just as he did so.
"It's this easy…"
Familiar words came out of his mouth.
"Am I this strong now..?"
Aleph couldn't help but think of himself three months ago. Only a short amount of time had passed since the fourth eruption. Back then, he decided to ditch the emperor-class honkai beast coming his way. He was well-aware that he possessed enough power to kill it, but it was risky with his fragile body.
"It started when I became a MANTIS…"
Not only did he acquire [Albion's Remains], he also fixed his body's fragile defense and endurance. He wouldn't need to fear anything so long as he chose his opponents well and activated Sphere Boundary's nullification function (territory).
Since then, he doesn't need to fear his opponents anymore.
"Fu…"
Aleph's deliberation ended with a deep sigh. Even if he has this kind of strength now, it still wasn't enough. He thought of the Herrschers beyond the line, especially the Herrscher of the End. If that wasn't enough, there was also the 'Cocoon of Finality' behind it all.
"I'll focus on what we have now, then…"
He looked at the honkai beast infested city and decided to lend a hand on the cleanup.
Sou-!
Sou-!
Sou-!
All seven of his current swords appeared and disappeared as they beheaded one honkai beast after another. Aleph's current radius was fifty meters at best. He also had to personally take action when it comes to templar-class honkai beasts to ensure they would die in one hit.
An hour later, there weren't any more signs of honkai beasts beyond the chariot-class.
A silver silhouette flew beside Aleph as its back was opened.
Click-!
The metallic portions of the battlesuit slid and became flat as he entered the suit.
Click-!
Tchk-!
"Let's see… Two more cities for today…"
*****
One day.
That was how long it took to utterly obliterate three emperor-class honkai beasts in the eastern region.
Looking at the reports, Himeko fell silent. She didn't expect that the person who was considered Hua's "friend" and a renowned doctor for "research" turned out to be this strong.
'Three… Excluding the travel time, it's an hour per city.'
What kind of power could've allowed someone to kill off an emperor-class as well as all templar-class honkai beasts in an hour?
At the very least, Himeko knew it wasn't solely due to the famous Project Soldier.
One has to know that an emperor-class honkai beast has an insane reaction time, granting it insane levels of speed.
A chariot-class can hit like a truck in under two seconds; templar-classes can do it under one. It could be imagined how strong an emperor-class could be.
Coupled with their tough silicon shells, they were simply a machine for slaughter.
'It was said he killed the fifth Herrscher…'
The entrance to the debriefing room, a large tent, was opened. Everyone who was working fell silent as their sights fell on one man. Once someone saluted, the rest followed.
Seeing this, Aleph responded with a salute of his own before dropping it. Their hands only fell down when Aleph passed by.
"...I didn't expect it, Sir Aleph."
Himeko changed her way of addressing him. Calling someone who demolished emperor-class honkai beasts a 'doctor' certainly doesn't sound right.
"I hope you didn't mind it." He replied. "We'll be working together for the next week or so."
'One week…'
The timeframe he gave was enough for him to wipe off dozens of emperor-class honkai beasts alone.