Chapter 13: Why We Fight

'Father…'

Counting the time since the lockdown, Hua should've already gone to her hometown two weeks ago. All of her plans were disrupted by the appearance of these huge white beasts.

Now, her sole mission was to survive through everything with her only friend. Unfortunately, just as she was buying some amenities, hell broke loose. After the earthquake generated by the honkai eruption, hundreds of honkai beasts appeared out of thin air. The number of people who collapsed in several districts were too many to count. When these people got exposed to the epicenter of the honkai eruption, their only fate was to turn into undead.

It wasn't long before Sapphire City, with its ten million or so residents, faced a calamity. Undeads rose up in high numbers as explosions were set off one after another. The city turned into a battleground. Nearly half of the residents turned into undead.

On the way, Hua fought dozens of such undeads. She was even able to strike the seraph-class honkai beasts with makeshift weapons such as crowbars and metal pipes.

However, when the chariot-class honkai beasts came, it was a disaster. She saw them killing dozens of humans in one go. It was even worse with the bigger Templar-class honkai beast that sliced through an entire apartment. The screams of hundreds as the building fell was a memory Hua would never forget.

All of these things made her doubt herself—of her being able to save someone.

In the midst of this mental breakdown, she encountered a strong person. Three strikes was all it took to deal with the honkai beasts she feared. That meeting was more than enough to verify something in her mind.

'Can we fight them?'

The strong man gave her an answer.

"If you're planning to fight them with just that, you will die."

The man, Aleph, continued lecturing her.

"First of all, did you plan on a route?"

"...Yes."

"What about a second one? The third one?"

"..."

Hua could no longer respond.

"The point is, you should have considered the other ways. For example, asking for others' assistance. Planning some ways to force them to actually come with you. Something like that."

"But that's…"

"Troublesome? Yes." He replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "As the weak ones, we have to come up with a lot of tricks. If you are strong enough, couldn't you just bulldoze through those honkai beasts?"

Hearing these words were enough to make her heart skip a beat.

Strength.

At first, Hua took up their martial arts heritage for her father. She intended to take up the mantle for their dojo. Her martial arts were simply due to this goal.

There wasn't anything wrong with it… in a normal world, that is.

Now that the honkai began to run rampant, power is now a means of protecting oneself. That was evident when she defeated dozens of undeads and saved numerous lives.

"Anyways, this discussion should be continued later on. Every second counts." Aleph declared. "Give me the address of your friend. I will go there myself."

For a moment, Fu Ha blanked out. She could not think of any reasons why Aleph would help her.

Even so, she did not shy away from this opportunity.

Upon seeing that Aleph offered his tablet with a notepad present, she swiftly typed the address of their shared dormitory. Aleph then proceeded to copy and paste it on Fire MOTH's local GPS database.

"Is this the place?" 

He asked as he pointed at the pinned area on the map.

"Yes."

"Alright. Can I ask for some stuff that only you and your friend would know?"

"Things that we only know…"

After a while, Hua recounted several things to Aleph.

"Wait for the news later."

Just as he was about to leave, she let out a question.

"Mister Aleph… When will we meet again?"

Aleph vaguely felt that the next time wouldn't be that long.

"Soon."

*****

Similar to the previous times, Sakura served as Aleph's driver once more. The former was already accustomed to the overwhelming strength he demonstrated. The ability to wield a 15-kilogram greatsword, more than seven times heavier than the heaviest recorded zweihander in history, was enough to prove it. Moreover, he was handling it with a single hand.

What she didn't know was the actual consumption on his side.

'Around five cursed energy units per minute…'

From the moment Aleph unlocked the [Power System] of the [Sorcerers], he learned many ways on how to utilize it. The dormant and unused cursed energy on his body has a passive strengthening. If he wills it, he could use these unused cursed energy to actively enhance the said strengthening.

To carry the fifteen kilogram load in his right arm, Aleph had to spend five cursed energy units every minute.

'...But it's now two units per minute.'

Aleph explored the changes on his body.

'When the maximum capacity increases, my body becomes stronger.'

Compared to himself prior this night, he had half as much cursed energy. Even when he awakened with 120 cursed energy during his first chariot-class kill, he could only deliver three strikes with [Ratio] before his reserves were fully exhausted.

Now that his capacity increased and the specs of his weapon became better, this consumption became lower.

Moreover, he seems to have found a special characteristic in him.

When his capacity increased, the rate of energy regeneration became faster. That became evident when he only needed to rest for ten minutes to restore his consumption during the chariot-class kill this night as well as the undead massacre he did.

It was just that the exhaustion of his body could not be dealt the same way as it.

Aleph could vaguely feel that it was related to the [Ratio] technique he awakened. Perhaps, what he gained was not only this technique, but something else.

'Come to think of it… I felt more angry towards the honkai compared to before…'

He vaguely grasped yet another rule of [Sorcery] once more.

Seeing Aleph entering his deep contemplation mode, Sakura chose not to disturb him. His current serious side was in sharp contrast to the cheerful one he showed her before.

This continued until several chariot-class honkai beasts blocked their way.

'I see.'

It was just in time to verify the new conjectures Aleph made.