Chapter 24: Internal State

A/N: I did an oopsie two days ago. I unknowingly uploaded a duplicate chapter. I'm sorry about that, my bad. I guess that's what 3 hrs of sleep does to your average uni student .-.

*****

Bits of bright silver metal flew across the simulation room. The two people watching the entire debacle fell silent upon the sight of two chariot-class robots crashing at each other.

"How..?"

The technician with glasses had his mouth agape.

"It's impossible..!"

"You saw it just now." Kevin, who was previously silent, spoke. "From the beginning, Aleph planned it. He has the entire battlefield in his control."

If…

If humans could do something like this, it could've been done a while ago. However, time and time proved that humans have their limits. The two second window to make them crash was basically impossible for humans to leverage on—even for the genetically enhanced ones.

Just the spatial awareness and mental processes required to do such a thing is challenging enough. It is already far from what most humans could do.

"Stop it."

"A-alright!"

Aleph glanced at the window and saw Kevin's thumbs up. He knew that they were done with the simulation room.

A few minutes later, Aleph dressed up and went towards him.

"What were you eating back then?" Kevin asked.

"Uh, normal things?"

"..."

Kevin fell silent before changing the topic.

"That timing…"

"Ah, that?" Aleph interrupted him. "If you're asking how I did it, that was quite simple. You need to tilt your body's weight to your direction of escape. That way, all you need to do is to kick with your leg. It'll be faster that way."

"I see…"

For the time being, the two talked about martial arts as well as their experience with the honkai. Kevin was mentally exhausted within a month of his experience in the military. The amount of deaths he had seen was something that no normal highschool student would've seen. If the world was a slaughterhouse, the honkai is the butcher while the humans are the livestocks.

"Hey, Kevin. Have you already thought of your goal?"

"My goal?"

"In times like this, it's important to not lose sight of yourself." Aleph said with a sigh. "A research couldn't be written without a clear purpose."

"..."

Kevin understood the underlying meaning behind his words.

"If it's about protecting others, fighting for humanity… even for a peaceful life. What are you fighting for, Kevin?"

At this moment, Kevin simply stood blankly. His gray military uniform seemed to be in sync with his increasingly dull eyes.

When he joined Fire MOTH, Kevin didn't have any strong dedication. He only had a mentality of going with the flow. Knowing that Mei and Aleph had contact with Fire MOTH was enough to sway his mind. There is also their friend whose whereabouts and status is currently unknown.

After integrating, the feeling of being a part of something bigger flew past Kevin's mind. It was just that…

No matter how good that thought was, it couldn't prevent him from being mentally taxed upon seeing hundreds of deaths—one where he couldn't even do anything.

"What I'm fighting for…"

Aleph simply stopped walking and waited for him to come to a realization.

'It's not just Kevin…'

Fire MOTH has tens of thousands of active soldiers protecting the world. Their purpose, no matter how noble it was, couldn't prevent a select number of people from being numbed to deaths.

That account alone could be seen on Sakura.

If a senior member of Fire MOTH was like that, it could only mean that the newcomers are headed in that direction.

[Achievement Unlocked: Record Breaker]

[Reward: Nitro Crystal]

[Record Breaker: Steal the top spot on the leaderboards from Elysia.]

Aleph viewed the pop-up from his time in the simulation room. He didn't expect an achievement to be unlocked just by playing with some robots for a while.

Upon closing the prompts, Aleph looked back at his friend. The latter had seemingly made up his decision.

"Let's have some lunch. I'll pay for it."

"No. It's on me."

"Alright then."

In the end, the burden of the lunch fell on Kevin.

"I'll check out first."

There are strict regulations within the Fire MOTH. Going outside the military base needs to be "logged". The procedures are different from visitors and military personnel, hence Aleph was left alone in the base entrance.

"It's hot out here."

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming not far away from him.

"You are…"

One look.

That was all it took for him to see the unique aura emitted by the pink-haired girl in front of him. She was different from any other humans he had met.

"Hehe… I was planning to visit. I didn't expect to meet you, mister~!"

It was her eyes. They seemed exceptionally dazzling, to the point that numerous people fell in love with her at first sight.

Add to that her aura that made everyone around her cease any kind of hostility towards her, her presence became extremely big within Fire MOTH.

Strangely enough, Aleph easily recovered from his shock.

"Did I become famous enough to be heard by Miss Elysia?"

The pink-haired girl, Elysia, nodded in response to his question.

"I thought… nevermind. I won't take much of your time. Let's meet again!"

"..."

Their interaction lasted less than fifteen seconds. Yet, Aleph felt her strange inviolable aura around her.

"...No wonder she has many fans."

That aura made it difficult for others to have any hostile thoughts directed to her. She was inexplicably "likable" by nearly everyone she encountered.

Aleph didn't think much of it and focused on other matters instead.

*****

"He's not like me… That's great."

Underneath Elysia's smile was a sigh of relief.

"Humanity has grown to this extent. We will definitely succeed."

A quiet battle.

Unbeknownst to others, Elysia knew things far beyond what humanity knew. The true "purpose" of honkai, the origin of it all, the moon…

As if thinking of something, her eyes lit up.

"He wasn't interested in a beautiful girl like me..?"

*****

One month later.

"It's done."

Aleph looked at the small reactor glow that emitted a dim blue light. It is a kind of technology not present in the current Fire MOTH. At best, they managed to create its prototype as of the moment.

"Piloting an exoskeleton suit… No, it's different from it." He muttered. "It's more like an iron suit. A combat suit. Should I use a pseudonym like Iron Man? No…"

Aleph felt conflicted about giving it a nickname. The suit in front of him was the nuclear-powered exoskeleton suit in his "past life". Its wide usage changed the trajectory of the war—from human wave tactics to highly technical individual battles involving suit pilots.

Every exoskeleton suit powered by this small nuclear reactor is extremely versatile. The weapons they wielded could cause destruction at a large scale. Even tanks and missiles couldn't bring them down in one go.

Such a suit only needed an experienced pilot to cause untold amounts of destruction. Hence, it was treated as a form of "nuclear weapon" by all the countries who participated in the war.

"No honkai restrictions, and it's only being restricted by the materials used to build the suit itself. If I could find a stronger projectile that could fit in the suit…"

Aleph could only sigh at the thought of it. Gathering the materials to build the nuclear-powered suit took him nearly two months. That's with him being extremely stealthy around it, going as far as to order these materials batch-by-batch.

As for the highly-restricted weapons such as the miniature clean nukes, ballistic missiles, and the likes…

It could only be "ordered" from the higher-ups whenever a major research reaches a breakthrough.

"It's fine for now. I'm looking forward to its ability to withstand force…"