Chapter 111: The Calm Before the Storm

"Right. You also told me about an interesting girl."

"Ah, right."

Aleph went straight to the fifth institute after he settled the eastern continent's problems. During the eight days he was gone, there had been dozens of new MANTIS, including the ones Aleph originally recommended. 

Numerous doctors watched the surgery. They argued that seeing Mobius' process would be more beneficial to learning skills to produce MANTISes stably. It was completely unrealistic to rely on Mobius even on lower-ranked MANTIS surgeries.

With the samples Aleph brought from the battlefield, the councilors became even crazier when it came to letting their assistants and trusted people undergo the said surgery.

Nevertheless, what mattered to Mobius were Aleph's recommendations. All of them, without fail, managed to successfully embrace an emperor-class ICHOR.

"The girl you told me who has psychic-related abilities. When will she come here?" 

She asked with a hint of interest.

"Not now. Let's wait until things calm down."

"If you say so."

With that topic out of the window, Mobius addressed the elephant in the room.

"Since when did you like cats?"

Her snake-like pupils narrowed towards the black cat atop Aleph's head.

"Since a long time ago? We don't need any reasons to love cute things, you know?"

'There it is.'

Mobius had the same feeling as when Vill-V made a huge fuss. This time, this inexplicable feeling is even stronger.

"Oh." She nodded perfunctorily. "Can I touch it?"

The moment she asked that question, the cat opened her eyes. A pair of heterochromatic eyes—black and gold—met her gaze.

Mobius felt a mix of smug and teasing look from it. It was as humane as it ever could.

"Tch. Nevermind."

"Mn? Are you allergic to cats?"

Aleph was somewhat bewildered by Mobius' sudden change. 

Numerous thoughts flashed in his mind, his gaze becoming a bit complicated.

"Forget about it. You're free right now, no? Then, help me."

He wasn't even given a choice.

'This is on me. I am really fooling around, huh…'

The black cat atop his head, Kurumi, could've stayed inside his shadows. He could've even chosen to conceal her existence.

Still…

"I want to see your world."

With those words, Aleph brought her along as a cat.

What he didn't expect, however, was that she would start a fight with Mobius.

'Once she meets Mei…'

Aleph had a foreboding feeling that things won't go well after that.

"Let's go. I need more of your blood." Mobius said with a cynical tone.

"Alright, alright."

Once again, he was dragged off to work.

*****

Western Continent.

Just like the eastern continent, it also suffered from devastating damages. The amount of collateral damages, human casualties, and permanent damages were beyond imagination.

Bam-!

A blazing greatsword descended from the sky. It accurately hit the back of a whale-shaped emperor-class honkai beast. 

"I got you!"

Fuzz-!

Only a portion of its back was present in the sea surface.

Bam-!

The moment Kevin's figure landed, his radius was turned into a boiling lake. The greatsword that was stabbed deeply into its silicon shell continued to blaze with bright red flames.

When he held it, its intensity became even higher. The thin honkai reactor present on its back began to glow dimly.

Woo-!

The whale struggled. Kevin nearly lost his footing as the whale accelerated swimming.

"This guy..!"

Their fight ensued until half an hour later, to which it died due to continuous internal frying.

"Huff… Herrschers are easier to deal with than this."

A path of ice was created in front of him. The whale's body was transported by creating ice around it. Even so, this act was quite strenuous to the current Kevin.

"How did he manage to kill one in two minutes? He's really on another level…"

Kevin knew that Aleph's record of three emperor-class honkai beasts in an hour included travel time as well as killing dozens of other templar-class honkai beasts and the like. In reality, all Aleph took was a minute or two to kill an emperor-class.

If it was a newly-born Herrscher, it was possible to MANTISes with Emperor-class ICHORs, provided that it would be a swift and strong strike. If not, they could be counterattacked using its authority.

It was precisely due to this standard that Aleph became an insurmountable monster in the eyes of others. His unbelievable feats during the eight days in the eastern continent pushed him to the forefront.

It wasn't wrong to say that nearly all active Fire MOTH personnel knew his name now.

Beep.

Kevin pressed several buttons on his earpiece before he connected to a line.

"Ahem. I want to ask for a retrieval team…"

He smiled wryly as he recalled how he went on a surfing spree with this emperor-class honkai beast. It could create ice and launch headache-inducing 'shouts' to attack others, which forced the helicopters with him to retreat.

Fortunately, he didn't need to wait for long.

"Understood, Captain. Director Mei's ship should be passing your location."

"Alright."

Two minutes later, a jet-black transport ship decelerated to his position. A single rope was thrown at him, yet he managed to use it as an assist as he created footholds out of ice.

Hum.

The rest was taken care of with the battlesuit's 'glide' function. It wasn't a continuous fight like Aleph's, but it was enough to propel him to the hangar.

Tap.

Tap.

"Don't mind the body. There's another transport ship behind us. It will take care of it."

Seeing Mei, Kevin heaved a sigh of relief. His mission was now over. He sat on the transport ship's seats without wearing any seatbelts. He was surprised to see a familiar person appearing out of thin air on the seats across him. It was none other than Sakura.

'Since when did Miss Sakura become a ninja..?!'

Without minding them, Mei made another call. Her arms were crossed as she stared at the ocean.

Puff-!

Tck-!

Once the hangar closed, the call connected.

"You called?"

"I'm heading over there."

For a moment, Aleph's voice on the other side went completely silent.

The thing he feared the most minute ago came true.

"Oh, before I forget about it… I fished out someone else in the ocean."

"Let me guess… Kevin?" Aleph replied normally. "If that's him, do ask him if he prefers a mission in the desert or glaciers next. I've heard that the view there is good."

"Huh? I feel like Ainsworth's saying something bad…"

Although Kevin could hear their conversation with his enhanced hearing, he chose not to do so. Nevertheless, he knew from Mei's expressions that it was Aleph whom she was talking to.

"...when will you arrive?" Aleph asked on the other side.

"Hm. Maybe around fifteen minutes or so."

"Alright. Take care."

When Mei hung up on the call, her fingers tapped her crossed arms. Her eyes were narrowed down to her front.

'Something's wrong… again.'

Seeing her like this, even Kevin shuddered on the corner. The last time he saw Mei like this was when she saw Aleph's reaction to her lunch box. It was Mei's ''Where did it go wrong?' phase.

'Man… I'll pray nothing happens. If something does…' Kevin thought. 'You're on your own.'

Kevin swore not to interfere on what would happen today.