Chapter 98: Prophet

"If it works, it works."

With such a mindset, Aleph left the second institute with his needed materials in tow. They are neatly placed in metal crates inside his personal transport ship.

Without anything to do, he took the black cat on the top of his head and placed it in his lap. All these times, it slept atop his head.

'Was it just me… or Elysia noticed something..?'

During their midnight snack time, Elysia hadn't acted anything out of the ordinary. Though, Aleph had a feeling that she might have had an idea regarding Kurumi.

{Fiftieth analysis finished.}

{Results: Due to a strong external force, the subject "Kurumi" could not heal from it. Known effects include: concept of death, concept of time…}

{...Largest chance of success lies in the repair of the Worlds' Light. The concept of creation…}

Great Sage began listing one finding after another. Her analysis became more in-depth with each iteration it was done. 

For now, the key to waking up Kurumi lies in his strange artifact, Worlds' Light. All he knew about it, however, was its capabilities to cross worlds and give Kurumi a leverage to fight against such a horribly strong being. The fight was the exact reason why the mirror appeared shattered (i.e., broken).

{...Aside from the subject "Kurumi Tokisaki", several other existences were detected.}

Great Sage spit out new knowledge.

{...One of them is the subject "Yoshino Himekawa" along with other "Spirits". They are…}

Aleph's eyes widened as he looked at the sleeping black cat. His elemental sight tried to peer deeper into Kurumi's existence. Numerous information came to his mind. 

The buzzing sound of the transport ship gradually disappeared in his ears. He entered into an extreme state of focus.

'It's not going beyond sub-atomic, but to see through concepts..!'

Elemental Sight is a broken skill. Aleph's evaluation of it continued to rise throughout the time he had it. The most consistent thing about it was its capability—it all depended on Aleph.

When he realized how souls should look like, he gained the ability to see souls.

When he realized he could see the past, he gained the ability to do so.

It became clear that elemental sight depended on "what thing" its holder wanted to see. The only restriction to it was the 'resources' required to do so.

Drip.

Drip.

Blood began to come out of his eyes. His Reverse Cursed Technique ran at full strength to heal the fatigue it brought to his eyes. 

By the time the bleeding became worse, Aleph saw it—

'City of Devouring Time.'

'A separate world. Pocket dimension, if you may.'

'Shielded from any external afflictions.'

'It's connected to the Worlds Light I gave her.'

It was a city made with red shadows. The entire place was in ruins, with all sorts of cracks in the sky as well as the rubbles of the building. Its color was akin to dark-red blood.

Amidst it all, Aleph saw several sleeping girls. One of them was none other than Yoshino who helped him seal his wound during his other world projection.

Aleph canceled his elemental sight. The ringing sound in his ears began to gradually die down. The 'imaginary' sound of fizzling in his head became stronger as his reverse cursed technique could finally deal with the aftermath of his brain's increased activity.

'Before I go to the third, it's time to pay them a visit.'

*****

Four days had passed since the fifth major eruption. 

The world was turned upside-down. The number of honkai beasts and undeads sharply increased since the eruption. A global crisis beyond the scale of Sirin's doing in the Current Era was created. Several cities had already been abandoned.

Fire MOTH's actions spurred public criticism, but the truth of them having too much in their plates was known by all. It was but a helpless move of the affected civilians.

Fortunately, the strongest ones within the four cities that experienced a major eruption had been dealt with. Kevin, Elysia, and Aleph's existence eased the concerns of dealing with stronger honkai beasts. All the emperor-class beasts were dealt by them. The only thing left to do was to deal with the surrounding cities whose honkai energy readings spiked sharply.

Nevertheless, there were simply way too many cities for Fire MOTH to respond to all of them. Not only were there newly generated honkai beasts, the increase of honkai energy also attracted the other honkai beasts from converging into these cities. With millions of such beasts, they easily overwhelmed several cities.

Such a scenario was enough to turn these unsupervised cities chaotic. Cults, gangsters, mobs… everyone and their grandmother could do "anything".

It remained true even in the City of Justice's Sundown Alley.

Thud-!

The final mobster who tried to steal the sanatorium's supplies was kicked straight into the other street's wall. A masked man looked at him coldly before looking back at the orphanage.

Several children were hiding behind the nun. The remaining few were holding slingshots while peeking their heads in the windows.

The mobsters who attempted to steal supplies only stared at the bulky man with fear. They didn't even bother making unnecessary noises as the abled ones stood up before running away.

The nun behind him watched everything calmly. There was a reason why the sanatorium existed in the midst of Sundown Alley.

Just then, Kalpas looked towards the sky.

A swift silver blur descended a block away from them.

Bam-!

The sudden noise alerted everyone. The mobsters, who were running, suddenly ran to the other side.

Psshk-!

Psshk-!

…

Rounds of 'airsoft bullets' were launched at their heads. These men fell one by one until everyone was dead asleep.

"I'll need to submit this to Mei…"

A blue-haired man appeared at the sanatorium's opened gate. He only wore a pair of white t-shirt and shorts. Even so, Kalpas' look towards him didn't change one bit.

The man's purple eyes soon met his.

A moment later, they broke free from this staredown.

"While I am willing to entertain you, I have something to talk to the woman behind you." Aleph said. "Isn't that right, Miss Aponia?"

The bearer of foreknowledge and the prophet met for the first time.