140 World Serpent

World Serpent.

A hidden organization created by MANTIS who survived the previous era. In the darkness, this organization has reached the entire world, and no one is aware of it except its loyal followers.

They were different from the Schicksal and Anti-Entropy because at least those organizations protected humanity from the threat of Honkai, not with this organization. After all, they were still in hiding even when the Second Eruption occurred.

No one knew why they were hiding and what their true purpose was.

They hid from the public for over 50,000+ years, they influenced the past histories of humanity, and created legends and myths.

But that's all changed, ever since the blinding, sky-soaring light had appeared in the world, the remaining MANTIS have gathered in one place with one purpose.

The Shadow had returned.

__

In a dark hallway with little lighting, Shadow walked with Raven to their destination.

Only the sound of their footsteps could be heard in the hallway until a moment later they stopped, and looking to the side, behind the dim light, a person in a black cloak could be seen walking slowly.

Raven muttered looking at that person with a complicated gaze.

"Gray... Serpent..."

Gray Serpent was a metallic masked man with red eyes, he was wearing black clothes that covered his entire body.

He seemed to stop and looked at the two of them with his shining eyes.

"Gray Serpent, do you know why Dr. Mobius called us all?" asked Shadow.

"I don't know... Dr. Mobius-sama did not tell me anything... But, from what I can see this meeting is very important... Because the remaining MANTIS will be attending this meeting." Gray Serpent said in a deep, hoarse voice.

"What?! All the MANTIS?" Shadow and Raven had shocked expressions.

It was because almost all the remaining MANTIS chose to retire and live a normal life that they rarely or never contacted World Serpent at all.

But now Gray Serpent was saying that all the remaining MANTIS were gathering?! How could that be?

He seemed to think for a moment before asking, "...Is it because of that light in the sky?!"

"Perhaps... Because Dr. Mobius-sama's expression looked so happy when she saw that light..."

"Happy? That Dr. Mobius?" Shadow put on an expression of disbelief, that's because Mobius never put on a happy expression, wait a minute, he remembered that Mobius put on a happy expression when taking a blood sample of a person named Hanagami Kouro because it was similar to that person...

Does that mean... That light has something to do with the Herrscher of Shadow?

Thinking of this, Shadow furrowed his brows because he knew that the core of Herrscher of Shadow had been stolen by Ashborn decades ago and the existence of the core disappeared without a trace.

He had originally thought Ashborn had hidden it or even thrown it into the Sea of Quanta, but it didn't seem to be the case, given that the ray of light appeared...

Shadow subconsciously held his chest, he still remembered the sensation of his heart racing when he felt the light and now after hearing Gray Serpent's words, he could finally confirm that the light was directly related to Herrscher of Shadow.

Was that light a sign of the birth, no, the resurrection of the Herrscher of Shadow?

Shadow knew that his purpose was to serve as a vessel for Herrscher of Shadow, but failed for unknown reasons.

If the original Herrscher of Shadow has risen... Wouldn't his existence now be useless?

Shadow was silent when he thought of this.

Well... There was no need to think about this for now.

He kept this thought tightly in his heart.

Shadow did not realize that a seed of hatred had grown in his heart.

(E/D: Seed of Hatred... Seed... Seed you say. *Lenny intensifies.*( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

Raven who was beside him looked at him with worry, she could sense Shadow's complicated emotions, she opened her mouth for a moment before closing it again when she saw his expression.

"Let's go." Shadow said coldly.

Gray Serpent and Raven followed him, they hadn't realized that Shadow's eyes were currently shining brightly.

They walked for a while before coming to a spacious room that was more brightly lit than the previous hallway.

The room had a meeting table, they saw that the remaining MANTIS was already seated on the chairs.

After looking for a while they finally went next to Mobius who was currently at the front desk along with a woman who had long brownish-black hair and brownish skin with golden eyes, she was also wearing a Jackal mask and a white researcher's coat.

"Jackal..." Shadow nodded his head to the woman.

Jackal nodded back.

Moments later, a pink-haired girl emerged from the hallway pushing a wheelchair that was occupied by a pink-haired girl with fox ears.

Aponia stared at Shadow for a moment with a subtle gaze before turning her attention to the girl in the wheelchair.

Shadow also stared at the girl in the wheelchair for a moment before turning his attention back.

The girl then reached Aponia's side.

"Rin-chan... Sorry for troubling you to bring Sakura here." Mobius said looking at the two girls.

Rin shook her head, "It's okay."

Rin was a young girl about 17 years old and had short pink hair and ocean blue eyes.

After that Mobius then looked at the MANTIS slowly before giggling, "~Fufu... I think this is the first time we've gathered like this-"

"~Sorry! I'm late, the signal in my place is a bit unstable, so it took me some time to connect..."

A hologram of a girl appeared on one of the chairs.

The girl had grayish blonde hair on her right side and on her left side she had brown blonde hair, she also had gray eyes with pink pupils.

She was wearing a brown colored witch hat with gear accessories and also wearing a brown-colored, slightly revealing typical Victorian era outfit.

"Vill-V..." Aponia murmured.

"Vill-V... nee-san." Griseo who looked sleepy woke up immediately when she heard the girl's name.

The tall man beside Griseo just nodded his head to Vill-V.

"Hello, Hello everyone~" Vill-V waved her hand to all of them.

"Too bad... Kevin, Su, and Hua are unable to attend... " she mumbled sadly before appearing to sit on a chair with a relaxed expression, the change of expression was fast, as fast as a Sichuan mask.

"Ahem! I gathered you all because... I think you guys already know the reason. "

"You mean his resurrection, I can sense his energy even in the special dimension...But aren't you saying that his core was stolen by Ashborn? How can he be resurrected?" Vill-V said in confusion.

"You're right, because of that bastard, my hard work almost went to waste, fortunately, it seems like that bastard has the perfect host for the gem."

After saying that, Mobius then opened the information screen, showing all the information regarding Hanagami Kouro.

Seeing Kouro's image, several people's eyes lit up besides Aponia, Griseo, Shadow, and the tall man.

"Woah... He is really like a copy of Kouro... Are you sure he's not a clone?"

"Of course, I've checked his DNA and he has no relation to Kouro."

"But... If his have awakened shouldn't he be here by now?"

"He is not fully awakened... His powers may have awakened but not his memories..." Aponia chimed in on their conversation.

"Well that's the reason, I called you here to discuss that."

Aponia looked at Mobius, "Do you have a plan?"

"Hehehe, it's good that you ask, actually I want to capture him and place him here until he regains his memories~"

Everyone's expressions softened as they heard her words.

'You might not even make him regain his memories, but instead, traumatize him...'

"What about you Vill-V?"

"Mhn? Me? If it's me... Hehehe~" she suddenly laughed creepily.

'Oh... This woman isn't normal either.' everyone thought.

Do all MANTIS not have any normal thoughts, well... Griseo probably does.

Seeing both of their unpleasant solutions, Griseo finally said softly, "How about we befriend him first... And watch him slowly to let him recover his memories..."

"Perhaps... You can also get him to look through his belongings from the previous era to recover his memories. " said the tall man beside her.

"Good suggestion... Griseo-chan, Kosma."

After some debate, they finally agreed on Griseo and Kosma's suggestion.

Now they were discussing who should carry out this mission.

"~I really want to do it... Too bad I'm in a place so far away..." Vill-V said sadly.

Griseo and Kosma, could not because they were both quite far from Kouro.

Aponia and Sakura couldn't either, because Aponia was currently focused on taking care of the orphanage and Sakura... Well... She's handicapped.

Mobius couldn't either because even though she wanted to do it, as the leader of World Serpent she couldn't do anything carelessly.

Then the only person who could was...

Everyone spontaneously looked at Shadow.

As the only person who watched over Kouro in the past, he was indeed the right person for this mission.

"Alright, I'll do it. But... How should I keep an eye on him? Don't tell me it's the same as before?"

"No, you should join as a Valkyrie and keep an eye on him." Mobius said quickly.

"Huh? What does Schicksal have to do with that guy, and... isn't a Valkyrie necessarily a woman, why should I be a Valkyrie?" Shadow didn't know what this had to do with the topic they were discussing but he answered anyway.

"Power. The power of the original Herrscher of Shadow is that it can grow stronger when it kills its enemies, and the only place he can use to kill Honkai is Schicksal." said Mobius.

She continued, "And it's also true that there is a rank of 'Knight' for men who fight on the front lines but it's too conspicuous."

After saying that, Mobius smiled at him.

Shadow suddenly felt goosebumps.

"Since the Valkyrie has to be a woman... How about I cut off your manhood, Shadow?" she said casually.

"No!" he replied firmly and backed off holding his manhood.

(E/D: Shadow's manhood be like: Haha. I'm in danger.)

He would rather fight a Herrscher one-on-one with his bare hands than being told to cut off his manhood.

After all, he was a normal-oriented man, losing his manhood meant losing his future.

"Hmm..." Mobius was still smiling.

"Hahahaha~" Vill-V laughed loudly.

Raven looked to the side and covered her mouth as she seemed to be holding back her laughter.

Jackal seemed to be silent even though her body seemed to be trembling either from fear or from holding back her laughter.

Rin only responded to this with a worried smile.

"No need to do that... Griseo can make him a 'woman' without the need for surgery..."

She was then seen taking out her painting equipment, and with a wave of her brush, Shadow's body began to transform.

A delicate white face with long white hair and supple violet eyes with delicate pink lips, she also gave off a soothing aura like a musk flower.

They were astonished by Shadow's face which had completely transformed into a great beauty.

Touching his face, Shadow then touched his bottom with a worried expression before letting out a sigh of relief, his masculinity was still there.

"Hmm... Not bad but are you really not considering losing your manhood?"

"No!" his voice was still the same and unchanged, it seemed this disguise was only useful for appearance and aura.

"Well... Since you don't want to, then you should practice behaving like a woman... You have one month."

"Okay." Shadow ran away immediately, he felt that if he stayed here longer, his manhood would disappear.

(E/D: The Council of Men. I need your capital and I need votes. In the Comments go and vote for Shadow as Waifu. Go my men, for the greater good, for the love of traps, for the glory, scream my men, charge my men, spam your comments, and power stones my men! For the Waifu!!!.)

Aponia and Griseo stared at his back with subtle expressions.

After Shadow was completely out of sight, they then resumed their discussion.

"Vill-V what about your situation now?" Mobius asked.

"~Hmm... Not good and not bad either, progress is very slow." He said with a sullen tone.

"Well... But for a genius like you, it's only a matter of time."

"Hehe~ Of course, as the greatest genius, it is indeed only a matter of time. I'll be going then, bye~" After waving her hand the hologram disappeared.

Feeling that it was time to go, Rin then excused herself and left together with Sakura.

Mobius looked at Sakura who was in a wheelchair, "Maybe this will be a chance for her to fully heal..." she muttered.

Sakura was paralyzed not because of her physical injuries but mental injuries, if it was just physical injuries, Mobius could easily heal her, but if it was about the heart and emotions... Sorry, she is not a psychologist, Su can help her although it is not very effective. Only the Herrscher of Shadow could help her.

"Then we're leaving too..." Kosma stood up with Griseo before slowly leaving.

"Bye mama Aponia~ Bye aunt Mobius~" Griseo said.

Now that only Mobius and Aponia were left in the room, Jackal, Gray Serpent, and Raven could see that the two of them had something to talk about in private so the three of them quickly excused themselves.

Mobius and Aponia stared at each other, their reptilian eyes and sad eyes clashing.

"Aponia~ You haven't told me the truth, have you?"

"..."

"I can still tolerate your actions when helping that bastard because you said that his resurrection had a higher chance... But..." Mobius' reptilian eyes flashed.

"~I hope you don't play around anymore now, his resurrection is getting closer... Tell me... Where are the remaining core fragments of Herrscher of the End?"

"I don't know."

"Don't say that, I still remember that bastard besides stealing the core also stole the Herrscher of the End shard, but considering his resurrection...he might have already given the shard to him."

"Now it's just a matter of finding the remaining shards, ah... Is it Higokumaru? Considering she's the only Herrscher left."

Mobius started to feel strange when she found Higokumaru A.K.A Herrscher of Corruption still alive after that impossible battle.

Although she often met her and always fought, even before when in Nagazora city she met her, Higokumaru still seemed to be in good spirits and exuded a positive aura, as if his death... meant nothing to her.

Although it was just a guess for her, the more she thought about it the more she felt that her guess was correct.

"...It's true that one of the core fragments of the Herrscher of the End is in her hands, but I suggest you don't take it now... Or you'll wake her up."

Mobius immediately fell silent at her words, Aponia would not lie about something so serious as this.

"Fine... I won't go after her."

"Do you know about the other core shards?"

Aponia shook her head, "I don't know, my power can't reach the remaining fragments."

After saying that, Aponia stood up, "That's all I have to say, I'll take my leave."

Only Mobius was left in the room.

She looked at the deserted room before muttering sadly, "With this... I hope you can forgive me now..."