Chapter 93: The Sixth

Tap.

Tap.

Swoosh-!

Aleph's figure turned into a blur as he sped through the corridors. He is currently in the third institute. What should've been a night of rest turned into a crisis.

Before he could enter the director's office, Einstein came out first. She was quite surprised by the slight shockwaves caused by his movements.

"I have heard of the news just now. The headquarters is preparing to place the borders into a state of war."

"That's quite useless." Aleph responded immediately. "That Herrscher chose to hide instead of attacking. We lost track of her honkai energy readings. That could only mean one thing."

"You mean… she's the same as the one you encountered?"

"Mn."

Aleph submitted a report to the headquarters regarding his fight with the fifth Herrscher. Although they chose to conceal her existence—burying it under the guise of her death—he still mentioned how Herrschers have a form of human ego now.

Back then, Herrschers only existed for destruction. The moment they appear, they would wreak havoc. Communications were tried to be established later on, only to fail due to the Herrscher's destructive tendencies.

Nevertheless, it turned into their weak point. They weren't as cunning as humans were. It was supposed to be that way.

With the news of Herrschers gaining human-like thinking, Fire MOTH's headquarters were immediately scared of the potential repercussions. It was as if a random nuclear bomb could come off at any time.

"Without showing her tail, it'd be extremely difficult to find her."

"...I'll ask the surveillance team to cover more areas."

"Thanks."

Beep-!

A ringing tone came from Aleph's phone. He exchanged looks with Einstein, with the latter sighing before she said:

"You have some things to do. Go."

"See you later, director."

Aleph's figure soon disappeared from her sight.

"The current developments are heading for the worst. I need to speed things up…"

*****

Icarus, the specialized suit Aleph built solely for flying. It could steadily fly at Mach seven, with its top speed going as fast as Mach ten.

Zou-!

The suit produced strong shockwaves as it accelerated through the skies.

["Oh. Y-you're finally here."]

Vill-V's voice came from the other side of the communicator.

"Can you tell me about the updates?" Aleph asked.

"Right… The headquarters planned to focus their blanket search with Iranum City as its origin."

Several projections appeared in his suit's GUI. Several areas were marked red on the map. 

"No abnormal readings were found. Only the ashes brought from the city were the abnormalities. There aren't any honkai beasts left with matching power, either."

"Hm."

As he talked with Vill-V, he arrived at the city. The travel distance wasn't that long, considering both the institutes and Iranum City are in the same continent.

Hum.

The world turned into a hue of dark blue. Only the dark blue color existed at first, though it didn't take long before there were other colors.

Silver, red, green, purple…

After a scan of his Elemental Sight, he found some useful clues. His eyes began operating on their maximum output. 

Numerous 'information' entered his brain as chaotic thoughts.

'Girl.'

'Herrscher.'

'Decomposition of organic matter.'

'Recreation of organic…'

'Ten thousand deaths. All in the same district.'

Soon, an image popped up inside his mind. The ideas gave form to a kind of memory he was able to comprehend more thoroughly.

It was a black-haired girl. Her body was filled with scars and fresh wounds. Her clothes were tattered. 

'...An experimental subject?'

It was easy to put two and two, considering Alleph was currently standing in an illegal laboratory. The girl happened to be one of the children that was experimented on. Worse, the sources of these children mainly came from traffickers and such.

'...'

Aleph remained silent for a while. He scanned the details inside his head.

In the girl's arms was a clear black marking. These looked like an angel's wings, but there were bones on one side instead of feathers.

'Sixth herrscher…'

Aleph stopped delving deeper and canceled his elemental sight.

'How should I present this to others…'

A familiar dilemma came upon him. 

His strength may seem extremely special in the eyes of others, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. He hadn't used any eye-catching stuff—Stella, to name one. 

It wasn't as if he "should" keep everything hidden from others. Be it his reincarnation, foreknowledge, or things from his Achievement System, they weren't inherently harmful. It's just that…

'I need to find a time to set it straight.'

After some time, he finally thought of a roundabout way to suggest the girl he saw from his elemental sight.

Beep.

"I think I found something…"

*****

The world does not merely consist of a physical world. There are other dimensions beyond the current understanding of humanity.

One such example was the imaginary space. Some consider it as something far beyond a human's perception; that it is a space that could only be accessed through extraordinary means.

It happened to be one of the main strengths of a Herrscher. Their Herrscher Cores are connected to the imaginary space, granting them access to the honkai energy stored within it. It was also their source of power; also the reason why they become stronger the longer they exist.

The black-haired girl was focused on studying the power within her core when she was suddenly jolted out of it.

A strange feeling swept her entire body—the sense of dread.

She instinctively knew what it meant.

'Danger?'

The girl acted wisely by going out of her Herrscher State. The core inside her body became inactive; there weren't any more exaggerated amounts of honkai energy in her body.

Looking at her, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. She is the definition of normal.

However, the corpses around her say otherwise. Unlike the others who got turned into dust, the bodies around her died out of "natural causes". Their guns remained slinged to their shoulders.

At first glance, these people weren't good guys.

'What was it trying to tell me..?' She thought hard. 'Go to the Moon and…'

These messages 'appeared' the moment she became a herrscher. Unlike others, the girl, Ling, did not develop a second personality. She has completely accepted the honkai's mission on her own.

After all she has been through…

'...to be careful of one man.'

Thinking of the "huge threat" painted to her, Ling's footsteps became more hurried.

'I shouldn't stay here for long.'

She soon arrived in a black tinted car. Her entire body was no longer that of a child's, but a more mature version of her prior form. Her hair and eye color soon changed, followed by her face shape. She was no longer recognizable from the former girl she once was.

'I will wait… for the right time.'

Zoom-!

This time, humanity has to face the products of their evils.