Looking at the peaceful sleeping look of the girl in his arms, Aleph recalled the Anna that he knew.
'She's also the fifth herrscher. If this is not fate, then…'
His mind flew to the other girl whom he asked to be monitored.
'The sixth and seventh… It should… no. It will be different this time.'
For now, he made contact with the suspected sixth herrscher as an online fan. The girl worked as an idol, and as such, he easily became a supporter with his current financial power.
While he was thinking, a loud rumble occurred not far away from them.
A huge figure came crashing down.
BAM-!
RUMBLE-!
Its destructive tendency caused numerous buildings around them to collapse. It was far more destructive compared to the mess created by the fifth herrscher. The enemy in question did not utilize any form of authority, only its sheer strength.
"Figures."
Aleph, who had already expected it, gave Anna to Vill-V's remotely-controlled suit.
"I'll deal with it."
"Alright, then."
With Vill-V's disappearance into the backlines, Aleph met the eyes of the predator. It was a silicon beast more than thirty meters tall. Its body resembled that of a templar-class honkai beast, but without any form of legs. It soon floated and got out of the ground.
The familiar honkai beast matched with the one he knew from the game—Frost Emperor.
Without any warning, numerous ice crystals appeared all around Aleph. The ground he was stepping on turned into ice before transforming further into long spikes.
Shatter-!
Shatter-!
A streaks of black light circled around Aleph, breaking all the ice shards thrown at him.
Klink-!
Klink-!
…
The streak of light revealed itself. It was none other than the [Knight Killer] he received months ago.
Underneath his glove, one of the golden lines turned red. The dagger floated into his grasp.
Instantly, Aleph felt an increase to his physical power out of nowhere.
'Float for three seconds. It's a game changer, indeed.'
It was the upgrade received by the [Seven Swords]. The tattoo on the back of his right hand allowed him to manipulate these weapons to float briefly in air as well as retrieve them remotely.
Hum-!
The world in Aleph's eyes turned blue. Outwardly, it turned into a cold gaze directed straight to the Emperor-class honkai beast.
'There's still two minutes for Blink. Nevermind, I'll do it.'
The situation changed all of a sudden. The aura in Aleph's body rose as dark-black scales started emerging from his body. The already damaged skinsuit was further torn. A small black horn emerged from his forehead as his eyes turned into that of a reptile's.
Coupled with cursed energy enhancement, Aleph went into his strongest state.
Bam-!
He vaulted more than fifty meters in one go, closing the distance between him and the emperor-class beast immediately.
Numerous ratio lines appeared all over its body—one in its torso, two each on its arms and legs…
Fuzz-!
Shatter-!
Cold threatened to affect Aleph's body entirely but to no avail. His territory as a half-baked spirit prevented any direct interference towards his body. Just like the fifth herrscher, it could only use the surroundings to indirectly affect him.
However, it didn't impede his combat capabilities against the herrscher, what more of an emperor-class honkai beast?
Hum-!
The dagger in his hands changed into a huge greatsword. It was the greatsword—Nitro Crystal—in his possession.
Tilting it diagonally, the blade was swung down upon the honkai beast's shoulder.
Fuzz-!
Numerous ice shields emerged in an attempt to block it but to no avail.
Shatter-!
Shatter-!
Shatter-!
Psshk-!
The crystal clear blade went through its right arm. It was severed in an instant. His feet landed on the ground.
Rumble-!
He utilized the momentum to jump once again.
Swoosh-!
Using the leftover force, Aleph spun his entire body around. He carried the greatsword as he made a horizontal strike right at its upper torso.
Psshk-!
Its "head" was cleanly severed.
Bam-!
Aleph's feet landed into the ground. Without pausing, he vaulted once more. He did the same thing to its other arms and feet. Ten seconds later, only a honkai beast with severed body pieces was left.
"Hm. So this is it…"
Fizzle-!
The imaginary sound came from his head—his brain, to be exact.
Elemental Sight, under his deliberate adjustment, ran at a whole another level. It was akin to the time inside the Sanctum. Only, he was able to handle it without any internal injuries.
Although it was taxing, the effects were there to see. For once, the cursed energy inside his body was accurately being supplied and recycled. Aleph entered a state where his 'wasted energy' got reduced to five percent at best.
{Result: Generation of cursed energy is ongoing…}
It didn't take long before Great Sage compiled a detailed report.
Soon, Aleph left that state. His body reverted to normal as his Meta-Morph transformation got canceled.
Ding-!
[Achievement Unlocked…]
Aleph dismissed the notification once again.
"It should be over…"
The long night came to an end.
*****
"...Doctor Mobius. This…"
"You are seeing things correctly."
"Is that so…"
From the moment the major eruption occurred, Vill-V messed with all the satellite feeds. It rendered every form of remote surveillance into the four areas ineffective.
However, it was relative to most official channels. Vill-V was mindful enough to show it to Mobius.
Currently, there was only her, Klein, and another trusted assistant, Blanca.
The former two did not show any reaction to the feed of Aleph utterly demolishing the fifth herrscher as well as the Emperor-class honkai beast.
Only the "newcomer", Blanca, reacted differently.
She was already half-retired at this point. She was the one who recommended Klein to Mobius as her replacement when family matters got a hold of her, though there are still times where she would work on the fifth institute.
As Mobius' 'former' assistant, she soon connected the dots on her own.
"Was this a product of that study? The Meta-Morph Surgery inside Project Soldier."
"A part of it was that. The rest should be attributed to that guy."
"...Doctor Aleph."
There are two resounding names within Fire MOTH. One of them was Mei, who was unanimously named as the director of all five institutes. Her talents and insights were terrifying enough for her to be placed in that position.
The other one was Aleph. He was infamous for taking down a Hind Chopper on his own. In others' opinion, his research capabilities were also terrifying. Within eight months—his time of induction—the third institute released more than five new models for their mech series, eight new exoskeleton suit designs, and so on. These were enough to upgrade the technological limits for the mechs and exoskeleton suits that doesn't use honkai energy.
He was also involved in several collaborated projects with the second institute.
Their main highlight as of the moment was the Divine Key Project. It was a project cooperated by the second and the third—by the eccentric Vill-V and Aleph, respectively.
However, it seems like the most shocking thing was yet to be revealed.
"Don't think much of it. I am giving you a heads up. Once this achievement is reported, we will choose from the volunteers to do this surgery on." Mobius explained. "I will tell you first… that this is a safe project."
'Safe..?'
For it to be rated as such, one has to think about Mobius' other experiments. Just her track record of killing everyone in the early stages of the Project Soldier was enough to deter the many. That also painted Mobius' reputation as a scary doctor who would experiment on you without consent.
Simply put, if Mobius said it was safe, it was far above the usual standards, even Mobius'.
"I will keep this in mind."
Upon hearing Blanca's reply, Mobius returned to her daze—to the blurry figure in the other side of the screen.