The world is separated into various dimensions, some of which may be imperceptible to the naked eyes. It doesn't apply to Aleph, however. His elemental sight was enough to see all the information there was within a space. He even had a vague feeling of being able to see someone else at the opposite side of the world. Only, the sense of distance seems too "far" in human cognition. It prevented him from doing as such.
Crack-!
Shatter-!
The crack of white light spread on his arms to the space above. It was small enough for a cat to fit in… to which it did.
Ding-!
[Achievement Unlocked...]
An achievement coincided with its appearance..
Sou-!
By the time a black blur came from the white cracks, the transport ship moving at hypersonic speeds destabilized for a moment.
Hum-!
Fortunately, both Anna and the girl were strapped in an emergency stretcher attached to the plane itself.
"This is strange. Let me check out what happened for a while."
Vill-V's voice came from the intercoms before disappearing.
'This is..?'
Aleph's attention wasn't on anything else but the cat in his arms. He instinctively reached for it the moment it appeared.
Soon, the analysis from both his elemental sight and Great Sage arrived.
{Result: The cat is a semi-conceptual lifeform invisible within the perceivable realm. Its nature is similar to the nonexistence of the Sanctum.}
'...This is Kurumi..?'
The black cat on his lap was intent on sleeping. Aleph's Elemental Sight easily unveiled the cat's true form… which was his childhood friend, Kurumi Tokisaki. At least, that's what the past images indicate.
As to whether what she went through to arrive in this world, it's another question altogether.
For a moment, Aleph didn't know what to feel. Seeing his friend jumping out of nowhere was enough to make him blank out.
'Thirty… no, nearly forty years…'
A girl with a red dress filled with black frills remained deeply asleep. Only Aleph knew she was more than thirty years old. More than twenty years had passed since they last met.
Time had left no traces on the girl whatsoever. She did look more mature compared to her appearance the last time they met.
"Oops. I'm back. The plane's altitude destabilized due to some sort of system error. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'll continue sleeping now."
"Then… good night."
*****
Four hours had passed since the resolution of the fifth herrscher. Aleph, who was now wide awake, placed the black cat on his lap. Whenever he's moving around, he places her atop his head.
Only he could see Kurumi. It would be strange for him to carry her on his arm.
This incident opened up something with Aleph.
'I'm sure they must've noticed some things already.'
From his method of killing honkai beasts in a ratio to his unexplained powers, he had been setting back the explanation. Aleph knew he wouldn't be able to keep the secret of being an otherworlder—or at least possessing something special—hidden for so long. The only reason why nobody asked him about it was due to trust.
It has been months since he got to know numerous Fire MOTH personnel. His initial meeting with Mobius was nine months ago. He got to know Vill-V more than half a year ago. Even Elysia talked to him every now and then ever since the surgery from three months ago.
'It's time to speed things up. I'll ask Mei to assist director Einstein with the Project ELF. The plans for the first herrscher core needs to be sped up too.'
The simultaneous honkai energy eruption was a wake-up call. His meddling with that white space—presumably connected to the Cocoon of Finality—stirred up the ants' nest. Project Soldier has been pushed forward drastically.
Simply put, Aleph pulled the trigger on the foreknowledge he has. All he had to do was to leverage on it until there's nothing left to squeeze from it.
After all, what he had been planning was to change the future. It's meaningless to stick with the tragic future he knew before.
'It should end here. The rest… no, everyone from the Current Era shouldn't suffer.'
He snapped back from his thoughts. He looked at the operation room beyond the glass window and saw that it wasn't finished yet.
Moments ago, Aleph managed to talk with the real Anna.
…
"Doctor… no, Sir Aleph."
"She should be sleeping for now. It packed a punch."
The gray-haired girl touched her abdomen and felt the phantom pain from it. It was a complete miracle she woke up without any of those serious injuries.
"...Thank you. If it wasn't for you…"
Anna remembered everything. From the herrscher's massacre of everyone within the base up to the murder of ten thousands, she knew it all. She continued at that line of thought and became dazed.
"I won't say it isn't your fault." He stated. "It is partially your fault. However… so does everyone else."
From Anna's files, Aleph immediately pinpointed her grievances. Fire MOTH's seemingly inadequate treatment—inhuman even—to their soldiers was chilling. That was why most veterans were numbed by it, only kept forward by their will to fight for humanity.
What honkai leveraged on was the bad sides of humanity… and it is impossible to completely extinguish it.
That has always been honkai's recurring theme.
Would the beautiful things best the ugly things? Was it worth fighting for it?
The ending shown by a certain tuna answered that question long ago.
"There are bad things… things so vile that will make you question yourself. But then, there are also good things."
Aleph paused for a while before he continued:
"How many have you saved, major?"
"..."
The faces of everyone Anna saved over the years flashed. A strong feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction was what usually followed after that.
"They are two sides of the same coin. I think… The best we could do… is to focus on the beautiful things. That's what I'm fighting for."
Aleph's lengthy speech came to an end.
'Beautiful things…'
Albeit still confused, Anna seems to have grasped onto something.
"...Sir Aleph. Do you have a way to restrain myself?"
…
In the end, after deliberation, Anna is to be planted a nanobomb inside her heart by Mobius. It would immediately activate once her Herrscher persona awakens. That way, it serves as a deterrent for it to never resurface blatantly.
Aleph was currently waiting for the operation to end.
'That simp… and the tuna… I can see why they turned out to be that.'
One fought for the only beautiful thing in the world.
The other fought for all the beautiful things in the world.
They had different ways of fighting for their purpose—the reason for their existence. Both of them achieved their goals in some way. In turn, it created a beautiful story that captivated many. That was enough to serve as Aleph's driving force.
'I failed once… I won't fail twice.'
The remnants of past embers were set ablaze, once again.