Chapter 100: Mirror

'She's tall.'

A random thought went to Aleph's head.

'If I didn't have any surgeries, or even Achievement Hunter…'

His original height was 165 centimeters. With his improvement of strength as well as the MANTIS surgery, it was pushed to 185 centimeters. The miraculous improvement of 20 centimeters was something that many would die for back in his previous world.

Aponia's height—lying at 175 centimeters—was enough to reach his eyes. Meanwhile, Mei and Mobius were shorter than her, 172 centimeters. Vill-V and Elysia were short enough to only reach his neck at 166 and 163 centimeters, respectively.

'...I need to focus.'

Aleph's mind returned to his dilemma.

Currently, he was walking with Aponia along the halls of the sanatorium. In each room, he saw people—mostly children and young adults—lay down on their beds. The concentration of honkai energy inside their body is a telltale sign of honkai corruption—the official term being honkai sickness.

It was caused by the body's inability to 'adapt' to exposure to high-levels of honkai energy. It happens mainly due to lack of honkai resistance.

'The four cities emitted 2,200 honkai watts worth of honkai energy. If it's dispersed at the rate of four days…'

Aleph ran the calculations in his mind.

'The factors from the outside… the average honkai readings in the entire Far West rose by twenty percent.'

He came to a horrifying conclusion. The last time he ran this calculation was three days ago. Aleph wanted to focus on the Project ELF right away to deal with the huge rise of honkai beasts. He is aware that he alone couldn't save everyone. What he could do is to create large impacts by completing crucial projects.

Even so…

'I need to re-evaluate my plans.'

Sirin's reawakening in the current era peaked above 4,000 honkai watts. Similarly, four cities in the entire world suffered from a major eruption with an average of 1,900 honkai watts. The quantity of the latter was enough to match the former's impacts.

Just in Sundown Alley alone, most of the people who are functioning normally are either outsiders or have a high enough honkai resistance. As to why they sent people like that in the current Sundown Alley, money and resources make the world go around.

After a while, the two finished the swift tour of the place.

"Miss Aponia. These people are holding out due to your power, but I am afraid it isn't enough. I will call for more help from the headquarters. Is this alright?"

"If it works for you, Savior." 

Aleph hastily corrected her, "Please drop with the savior title. Call me Aleph or Ainsworth instead. It's a bit… you know, too formal."

If there was someone who called him "Savior" at every turn, they are bound to feel embarrassed; it's only a matter of when. That, or you are strong or narcissistic enough to actually bear with it.

"I see. Sir Aleph."

Hearing Aponia calling his name in a soft tone, the embarrassment disappeared, replaced by a quaint amount of fluster.

'I am done for.'

While more than half of his parallel minds struggled inwardly, he managed to retain a calm outward appearance.

"If the people who come here subtly or overtly ask how the people here survived, tell them it's a part of my special project."

"Understood."

Aponia's so-called power, "Discipline", has the ability to control a person's mind. It seems akin to mind control at first, but her ability wasn't as potent as a forceful mind control. Rather, her Discipline often occurs as forms of subconscious suggestions. 

That was why she could will humans' bodies to 'fight' against the honkai inside them.

The person themself may not know of it, but their body's subconscious reaction and struggle was empowered by 'Discipline'. It puts them in a constant state of 'fight or flight' mode. The only downside was the nutrition consumed, which could be resolved by a pack of IV-solution.

Even so, it wasn't a long-term solution. Those who are destined to fall will fall. Her 'Discipline' only allowed them to live slightly longer.

It was but one of the perfect representations of her desperation towards the unchanging future…up until now, that is.

"As for the final thing…When it's more convenient, I want to move your patients to a better place."

The person who doesn't have any threads brought forth more unknowns to the future.

*****

"Is this how you greet people? To fight them at first glance?"

"What? You have a problem with that?"

"Why, no."

After Aponia's matters, Aleph hadn't forgotten the aggressive man who fended off the sanatorium against mobsters. 

To not scare any of the children of people inside the sanatorium, the two had their talks outside the sanatorium—on the street.

Since the outsiders came to Sundown Alley to retrieve and guard their assets, it has long been cleaned of undeads and the likes. It temporarily turned the once chaotic alley into a safe zone.

Of course, this safety is relative. The honkai beasts remained in some places.

"You are the first." Kalpas said. "You are more dangerous than that ice girl."

"You mean, the fifth Herrscher?"

Kalpas seemed offended at his question.

"Who wouldn't be disturbed by such a loud noise?!"

"Well…"

Aleph went silent for a while. His battle with the fifth Herrscher brought more than a dozen high-rise buildings down. It was enough to cause an earthquake with the city as the epicenter.

"Before you say anything about fighting, I'd like to postpone it for now." Aleph said. "I still have a lot on my plate."

He couldn't even finish his words when he was impatiently cut off by Kalpas.

"Are you kidding me?"

"This is why you let me finish." Aleph retorted. "We can let out one punch each now. Testing the waters and the likes."

The moment Kalpas heard about it, his entire body turned into a blur. Subsequently, time slowed down in Aleph's eyes. His perception was boosted to the maximum. He could clearly see the trajectory of his punch.

'This is how he did it.'

Aleph thought of how Kalpas was able to fight against a post-MANTIS surgery Sakura.

'He's just like me back then. A glass cannon.'

Kalpas mirrored his past self. He nearly died out of frostbite due to the fifth Herrscher's attacks. Similarly, Aleph could dish out high damage but fell short when it comes to tanking attacks.

Facing this, he decided to—

Bam-!

—catch this punch himself.

*****

A/N: We're finally at the hundredth chapter. Another milestone it is. It's quite funny to think that I've been writing for three years already. Yet, there are still errors that tend to come up every once in a while in my stories (lmao). Either way, writing's fun, and I think I will continue doing this in the future.

Here's to the third fic that I will finish~!