Chapter 42: Magician

It was only a few months for Einstein, yet she managed to see the drastic changes Aleph went through within those five months. Be it the mutation he underwent to become far stronger than most humans or the technology he kept making, she saw them all.

That was the reason why she felt that Aleph would most likely participate in the Herscherr fight.

Click-!

Click-!

Click-!

The metallic footsteps rang throughout the abandoned hangar.

"DEFCON 2 was declared while you were preparing. The airspace around the Far West continent is under strict surveillance."

"I got it. I asked someone for help." He replied.

"I will be setting off."

Swoosh-!

The only sound left within the hangar was her sighs.

*****

"O-oh?! You are completely serious this time, no?!"

"Yes, that's right."

Aleph's mouth twitched as he heard the response on the other side.

"What kind of perf—I mean, what are you planning to do?"

"Observe some data closely."

He recalled the times he spent with Vill-V.

At first, she was normal. He couldn't see why Mobius called her "crazy". Everything remained like that until three months ago.

From her taciturn and professional tone, it became a rowdy one. The changes were too drastic for Aleph to not notice anything.

These changes continued as she went from being rowdy to classical before reverting back to her professional self.

It was also at that moment did he realize that Vill-V has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

"Can you sneak into the emergency channels?"

"The one from the first institute? Sure, wait a moment."

A while later, Aleph's GUI indicated the connection of the comm-link.

Beep-!

"Adamson One is down. Visuals haven't been confirmed."

"Fifteen confirmed casualties over the last minute. Proceed to the alternative plan."

Clear shot of the fourth Herscherr was captured. Run through the identity checks now!"

The chaotic comm-link made him understand the gravity of the situation. 

'The Fourth Herscherr is flying over the Western Airspace…'

"It's too… ugh, noisy. I lowered the overall volume. Hope you don't mind."

"No, I don't."

A while later, the "identity checks" came back.

"Alice, 29, the headmaster of an orphanage. Highest educational attainment is college, majoring in Visual Arts…"

Aleph heard some sighs of relief on the other side.

Knowing that the Herscherr this time didn't have any educational attainments on science, it has a disadvantage when it comes to grasping her power.

"Well, she was a magician at a troupe? Interesting." Vill-V spoke. "If there is something they are good at, it would be their magic."

"Magic? Wait…"

An answer came at the tip of his tongue.

"Vill-V, please check the honkai energy readings over the last fifteen minutes. Start at the point of origin."

"I'm already on it."

Aleph was currently flying at the speed of a fighter jet as he spoke with her. Estimating his speed, it would take him an hour and a half to reach the fourth Herscherr.

"Check this out!"

A graph was presented in his GUI. It was similar to a weather report. Several areas were under the dark red spots, while the surrounding ones were in the orange hue. The image was dynamic as it showed the changes within the area.

"...There."

The movements were paused the moment he spoke.

In the readings, a dark red line streaked into the area of the orange hue. It appeared in a second.

"A strong tornado. It's flashy enough to take our attention. But, it won't fool the ones in the MOTH for long."

"I'm going in the direction of the red streak. If I'm correct…"

Aleph made a series of predictions and marked the path ahead of him.

Just then, Vill-V spoke up and corrected some of his suggestions.

"The most effective way is to have someone with similar minds. Am I not correct?"

"You are correct."

"Aw, that's it? I thought you'll play along with me!"

Even for Aleph's carefreeness, Vill-V's sudden changes in attitude was enough to consume his energy. Just the Vill-V who liked to act as a magician made his mouth twitch several times a minute.

He suddenly thought of something and smiled inside his helmet.

"You want a performance, right? I'll give you one."

*****

An hour and a half had passed since the beginning of the fourth major eruption.

Similar to Aleph's expectations, Fire MOTH soon noticed the abnormality of the tornado. The suspicion of the fourth Herscherr not being inside the large tornado made them split their troops. A portion went to the tornado while the others began tracking where the fourth Herscherr 'might' have headed to.

After one hour, they discovered that the 'upper ceiling' of the tornado was reached. It wouldn't be strong enough to wipe out a continent as most feared. 

Due to the strength of the tornado, it couldn't be 'wiped out' by explosives as of the moment. It resulted in Fire MOTH waiting for a chance to deal with it.

"A large energy reading is up ahead."

"It couldn't hide any longer…"

Aleph stopped flying. He used his GUI's zoom-in function to better see the small silhouette in the sky.

It was a woman with blonde hair. Her long hair swayed down her waist as flashes of wind appeared every now and then.

At that moment, the woman looked straight in his direction.

"What the…"

The sense of 'danger', characterized by brief spikes of unease, became increasingly stronger.

Hum-!

Aleph didn't hesitate and turned on his APS. The lines of purple glowed beneath his skinsuit. At the same time, a black-purple energy came out of him. They looked like black flames that blazed under the night sky.

Sensing the 'danger' slowly disappearing, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Herscherrs are that sharp? No wonder it took a dozen nukes just to wear out one…"

"...How did you do that?! It turned away from you! I thought you were about to fight…"

"There's a city underneath. I can't do anything about the honkai energy, but I can leave the others with a sliver of hope…"

On his way, Aleph saw a lot of destroyed cities. It was fortunate the honkai beasts were split up—one gathering around the tornado while the rest followed the Herscherr's trace.

Still, the honkai energy emitted by the Herscherr was enough to single handedly turn the three cities they passed like Sapphire City. Countless undeads already infested them, with the honkai beasts dealing the finishing blow.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the fourth Herscherr's damage went beyond the scope of the third Herscherr.

Click-!

A line was drawn atop his shoulder blades. A tattered black cloak came out of the compartment and surrounded Aleph.

Immediately, his presence became even weaker.

Sssh-!

The plain silver sword was unsheathed.

"Juezhao…" (Masterstrike…)

A second silhouette soon streaked in the sky.