Chapter 4: Honkai Beast

While Aleph was left wondering, he learned about his situation from the man.

Apparently, they found him on the brink of death. The thing… rather, the so-called "Honkai Beast" that he fought was severed into pieces beside him. 

After some initial treatment and several twists and turns, he ended up being treated in the Mu Continent—the largest and most advanced continent in the entire world.

According to the man in black, the things he regarded as a 'side project' turned out to be important projects sent to him by a Head Researcher who believed in his talents.

"...Those beasts have been present since years ago? How did you even do the cover-ups?"

"I am a part of the organization who safeguards humanity, Fire MOTH. Our decision-makers, the Council, are made up of several world leaders."

Aleph was introduced to the Honkai. It was a type of energy that rivaled nuclear energy in terms of effectiveness. Only, it was an extremely uncontrollable energy spawned out of nature. 

Excessive amounts could turn a normal human into an undead, all the while continuously spawning "Honkai Beasts". These beasts had classifications, but one thing remained clear during their conversation.

Huge honkai beasts could only be dealt with exoskeletons, mechas, and strong artillery.

The one that he faced was the Chariot-class. Its build and swift movement made it so that they had to deal with it at an extremely long distance or through bomber planes.

Without any kind of 'superman' who would deal with them one-on-one, humanity was forced to rely on technology to surpass their initial limits.

Since Fire MOTH, the organization fighting against it, consisted of several world leaders, it wasn't a surprise as to how they could cover things up.

'Honkai… Honkai beasts…'

Aleph could vaguely sense the threat it held to humanity as a whole.

"What happened to Nagazora? You told me it was isolated from the rest of the world."

"A strong honkai eruption occurred, giving birth to an entity known as a "Herscherr"." The man explained solemnly. "The entire city was destroyed before it was dealt with. Its aftereffects spread to the surrounding areas as well."

"..."

At present, there are three Herscherrs that appeared from humanity. Each time they faced each other, they had to sacrifice a lot.

Just now, barring the residents who were able to luckily escape, nearly all the fifteen million residents died. Nagazora was considered a major city, thus its inhabitants could easily reach that number.

With the current census and statistical analysis, only a hundred thousand or so managed to escape.

Even now, Nagazora was considered a 'dead city' where honkai beasts and undeads spawned.

All of that was caused by the impact of a single Herscherr.

"Your assistance has greatly contributed to humanity's cause. Doctor Ainsworth's assistance will be even more appreciated within Fire MOTH."

As expected, the man threw an olive branch at him. Perhaps that was the reason why he explained everything—to make him understand that things are a lot more drastic than it seems.

'An organization funded by all world governments… I should expect large corporations and financial giants as well…'

Apart from his elusive memories, he did not have many goals as of now. However, Aleph acknowledged that honkai is something he will face in the future. This olive branch is, in fact, an opportunity—one that will allow him to deal with such a threat properly.

'Based on his words, I will be enlisted as a kind of researcher. If I recover my previous memories, I should be able to do that role well.'

In the end…

"I'll do it."

…he chose to join.

******

"You really grew up. Two weeks of coma does this?"

"Stop joking. If you hadn't been lucky…"

Currently, Aleph is strolling the hospital's garden along with Kevin. The latter was wearing a black battle uniform underneath his coat. His physical training was evident.

From what he said, Kevin joined Fire MOTH when Mei was invited by them. He was undergoing basic training until he was to be deployed to areas that suffered from small-scale Honkai Eruptions.

"No, really. Mei became a bigshot while you became a soldier. It's a little difficult to process."

"Haven't you accepted their offer too? You could surely reach a high status with your skills."

"Maybe. Let's not think of the future first. About Su… have you contacted him?"

"...No."

"I see."

With the current state of Nagazora, they couldn't ensure the safety of everyone. Even if Su, another good friend of theirs, was away from Nagazora at that time, he might've been caught with the aftereffects that its battle caused.

"Let's trust him. He'll definitely show up one day all of a sudden."

"...I hope so."

Sensing that the atmosphere became a bit more depressive, Aleph decided to break it.

"How about finding a girlfriend? It shouldn't have been hard with your looks, no?"

"You're telling me that? Who often bragged about being single by choice?"

"...I did?" Aleph replied in disbelief.

For this brief period of time, the duo had fun talking about random things.

*****

A few days had passed since Aleph woke up. Aside from reading books to 'recover' his knowledge, he tested the technique that he received from his 'power system'.

Psshk-!

Cut-!

Using a handkerchief, he was able to perfectly cut a paper into two. The moment the handkerchief struck the seventh division, a strange force emerged and cut it down.

"The energy spent is barely negligible. I might be able to make dozens of slashes before I reach my limits… in this instance."

Aleph learned several things about the "Ratio Technique". The most important thing that he learned was that the amount of 'energy' required to 'strike' at the seventh division is proportional to the object's toughness.

He might only be able to strike a Chariot-class up to four or five times at his maximum limit, but he would be able to strike the paper with a handkerchief dozens of times.

Both the toughness of the 'target' and the weapon affected this scaling.

"It's still strange… as if I had a full recharge when I awakened it."

After he grasped the "black spark", Aleph noticed that his bottoming out 'energy' was refilled in an instant. That was the main reason why he was able to defeat that beast.

"Hm…"

After having knowledge about Honkai, Aleph had never used his [Purple Lines] again. Fortunately, the technique functioned without fully activating that strengthened state.

For now, he decided to dub it as "Active Power State", or APS for short.

Other than that…

[Chariot Headhunter: Kill a chariot-class honkai beast for the first time.]

[Reward: Gene Stabilizer]

True to its name, he managed to gain a reward after killing the chariot-class honkai beast.

[Gene Stabilizer: Stabilizes a phenomenon of gene collapse during operations.]

Aleph managed to figure out some of the mechanics of his [Achievement Hunter] at this point. For once, it gave importance to the 'firsts' achieved by the user.

[Blank Sephira Crystal Fragment: A fragment of a perfected sephira core. Its concept originated from another world before being optimized to the fullest.]

This reward was something he got when he killed the 'birds' for the first time. Later on, he found out that they were the Seraph-class honkai beasts, which should coincide with this reward.

'It sounds powerful, but I couldn't use it…'

The name itself stated that it was merely a fragment. Only when it becomes a whole would he be able to use it.

Other than the rewards, Aleph also thought of several interesting scenarios.

"Hah… If I faced that Herscherr…"

Aleph closed his eyes. He imagined the strength of the Herscherr based on the information that he could gather.

'She was the Herscherr of Thunder. The ability to control electromagnetic forces could go as far as controlling the fundamental forces. If she wills it… without proper protection, I'm damned.'

Carbon-based creatures (i.e., humans) are weak against her attacks, simply due to how they don't have an ounce of resistance against it. They are merely paper to be shredded apart by her 'authority'.

To counter that, humans could either recreate something that resists that power to take her at close range or deal with her from afar. That was what happened when they sent the 'clean' nuclear bombs as well as their strongest combatant. Even then, the entire city has to be sacrificed.

Currently, one name resounded atop of the Nagazora chaos.

"Elysia… She could take on Herscherrs alone."

Aleph thought for a while before continuing to explore the limits of his technique.