Chapter 86: Half a Student

Aleph had the brief moment to group the achievements and the rewards he amassed during this expedition. There are more than a dozen of them, ranging from 'small' achievements to the 'major' ones. 

He first sorted out the major ones.

[Let it Go: Fight against a formidable opponent with cold-type powers without being frozen once.]

[Paragon of the Craft: Fight against a formidable opponent and dominate them.]

[Staying Motivated: Defeat a formidable opponent with an alter-ego and separate them.]

[I'm Not a Fraud: Use ten or more Black Flash consecutively for the first time.]

[Catching a Stray Angel: Properly receive an angel from another world.]

Out of the dozen or so achievements, five of them constituted the 'major' achievements. Their rewards are equally as 'major' as them.

[Perfect Energy Box]

[A Warrior's Lament]

[Yamato]

[Limited Instance: Shibuya Incident]

[Blank Sephira Crystal Fragment]

'A crystal fragment… just like this.' 

Aleph had that ridiculous thought. He didn't expect to receive the crystal fragment out of nowhere—like a pie that fell from the sky.

'I'll use the energy box later. For now…'

He looked at the description of the three other rewards.

[A Warrior's Lament: A spear once belonging to a certain warrior. When used, gain the unique insights, ideas, and knowledge of Li Shuwen (Young) for thirty minutes.]

[Yamato (Converted): The sword of the man who raised the flag of rebellion. It is potent enough to cut through space as well as activate one's innate prowess.] 

[Limited Instance: Shibuya Incident: A fixed point in time in another world. Upon completion, gain various rewards.]

'...Li Shuwen.'

A name enough to make Aleph pause. Throughout his battles against the honkai, his influence was undeniably huge. From the [Sphere Boundary] he learned up to [Juezhao], and now the [No Second Strike], it wasn't wrong to say Aleph was half a student of his.

With that reward, he became more certain on using [No Second Strike].

'Yamato… It's this Yamato, isn't it?'

Aleph was lucky to have knowledge with this regard. This sword is none other than the one used by man in a monoblock chair. The deadbeat dad who evaded child support yet still gained a dad's humor.

Vergil, the son of Sparda.

'It should… uhm, awaken the devil side. But then, it is converted. Maybe it'll awaken my Meta-Morph or something?'

Aleph deliberated for a while before putting his attention inside the [Limited Instance].

'Is this a dungeon? Maybe. But then, Kashimo already experienced that past.'

He chalked it up to either parallel worlds or time travel. Either way, there were rewards to be looked out for.

Hum.

A small golden box appeared atop his palm. When Aleph crushed it, a prompt appeared correspondingly.

[Cursed Energy (Converted): 2400 → 2799]

The [Perfect Energy Box] should've given anywhere from 100 to 1,000 energy units. He got less than half of it, which was already quite lucky.

The sensation of his capacity increasing reverberated through his entire body. A small wave of strengthening followed in his body.

Aleph had long surpassed the minimum limit of a herrscher. Coupled with the special state where he could finely control his cursed energy, cursed energy strengthening (or Active Power State), cursed techniques, and even reversed curse technique wouldn't be enough to deplete his cursed energy reserves. 

Unless there was a cursed technique that depletes his reserves that much, all he had to work on was his output.

Click.

Aleph looked inside the glass window and saw the completion of the surgery. Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

"What's the matter?"

"Sir Aleph, the girl you brought to the infirmary woke up."

Klein's voice came from the phone.

"I'll be heading over there."

"Understood."

*****

The world was turned upside-down.

It was the common consensus of the ordinary people—the civilians. MOTH's official announcement, the existence of monsters, superpowers…

There were simply too many things to count. Society already has a huge problem even before the honkai, much more now that its existence was revealed.

The more prosperous areas didn't have much impact except for emotional shock. There are people who believed it was fake, only to be greeted by the slowly increasing cases of undeads sprouting out of dark alleys—the streets, even.

They did have enough military force to quell the chaos.

However, the same couldn't be said in other areas. 

Anarchists, activists…

It became chaotic. It was as if these cities suddenly turned to a Sundown Alley ripoff in terms of chaos and lawlessness.

The price and demand of everyday goods rose sharply. There are people accusing others of being infected, or there were riots due to the honkai beasts that spawned out of nowhere.

It would be fine if there were only a few seraph-class honkai beasts. When their numbers became large—or the appearance of chariot-class honkai beasts—everything was overturned.

Fire MOTH's military force was stretched too thinly, to the point there were considerations of abandoning several cities. It was akin to shrinking the defensive line.

As to the issues that would ensue once it was passed, there were too many to count.

'Every…one is de…ad.'

'Dead.'

'Kill.'

'Blo…od.'

The girl inside the infirmary room stared at the corner of the room in a daze. Everything became meaningless when you lost everything.

Family.

Friends.

Even her pet cat.

Nothing was left.

…Nothing.

The girl's chest tightened. Her eyes threatened to spill out tears for the nth time, only for it to fail due to her dried up tear glands. She didn't find any solace in her sleep, either. All she saw were nightmares. Her memories prior to the five minutes that changed her life.

She was watching the television with her younger sister when the emergency broadcast system came up. Mere seconds after it, a huge earthquake occurred. Everyone beside her lost consciousness. The girl herself bumped her head into the ground and followed suit.

When she woke up—

"Eek..!"

Her family became dead set on biting her to death. It didn't help that there were honkai beasts that occasionally made chilling noises outside. That, and the huge scythe held by her younger sister threatened to cut her head off her body.

Finally, after five minutes of hide-and-seek, their house collapsed.

"...lucid by now. I will…"

'That voice..!'

The girl was disturbed by the sound of the door opening. There, she saw someone.

"Um. It was lucky we met outside, miss."

The same voice that saved her overlapped with the voice just now.