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Chapter 255: Current Era
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 15:58:53 +0000 UTCFire MOTH built a lot of underground shelters in the early days. It then evolved into secret bases and safe houses when Honkai hasn’t broken out in full.
Once the third eruption occurred, most of these places were opened as public shelters. The rest of the safe houses were converted into base of operations.
‘They didn’t fall off during the tenth eruption…’
Aleph recalled the ‘general knowledge’ he gained from this parallel Earth.
The ‘Tragedy of Binding’ did not happen here. It resulted in many Fire MOTH operators being active right before the fourteenth herrscher’s descent. These bases with traces of the Sea of Quanta remained as a result.
‘Mobius really did a number.’ He thought. ‘She’s willing to bear being humanity’s greatest sinner…’
He cast these thoughts to another part of his mind. Aleph’s main attention went to remotely controlling his ELF body.
Click.
A connection was established to a place far away from them.
{Notice. A recorded base with serial number, Q310-O201 has been detected to remain functional. It is currently located within the oceanic crust of the 'Atlantic Ocean'.}
Unsurprisingly, Metatron came along with Aleph.
‘It works. The Binding Vow limiting five authorities pushed my sorcerer abilities to the maximum. What a cheat code.’
Clap-!
Zoom-!
All that was left in their prior position was a noticeable dent.
*****
Ten minutes later.
“It’s strange.”
The newcomer frowned the moment she stepped onto the ground. Her pink eyes scanned everything around her as her frown deepened.
The very first thing that came to her mind was her dark memories. The gloominess of her surroundings made her think of a one-sided massacre caused by the Herrscher.
That was how it was before; that still holds true now.
Herrschers and major honkai eruptions are a tandem that causes unimaginable disaster.
The last time it happened, the entire North Asia was nearly turned into a death zone.
The woman—Ragna—shook off the depressing thoughts in her mind.
“Reporting to mission control. No sightings of hostile beings spotted in the vicinity. The honkai energy levels seem to decrease as we speak.”
She thought for a while before she decided to consider the ‘strange’ feeling she had.
“Mission control. Can you tell whether there is a large settlement around this place?”
“...Mission control to the field operator. There is none. Another team is heading your way. ETA is five minutes.”
“Understood.”
Ragna grew more confused.
“This is real. Then what is it?”
A sudden alert from her Battlesuit woke her up.
{“Detected unknown quark interference within the field. The operations of the honkai furnace has been disrupted by 40%.”}
A cold and mechanical voice came from her earphone. It further added mysteries to the already mysterious incident.
“...Just what happened here?”
*****
“Cough…”
The lack of air flow caused the thousands of years of dust to enter Siegfried’s nose and mouth. That was despite the excellent and up-to-par circulation systems the base had. It could not hold up to the relentless flow of time.
There was not a single light source present inside the base. Pure darkness greeted them.
Hum.
A small red dot appeared on Aleph’s fingertip. It attracted dust particles from all over the room.
Clang-!
Bam-!
The attraction wasn’t exclusive to dust alone. All sorts of ancient stuff fell from their prior places.
Snap-!
By the time a ball of fire emerged from his palm, the entire place was a huge mess.
Hum-!
An intangible white light descended from the father and daughter duo. It stopped Siegfried from sneezing continuously.
“Ha—?”
The feeling of sneezing but being unable to do so brings forth a universal experience of annoyance to everyone. Siegfried was no exception.
It was important to know that Aleph used [Limitless] on the girl before they entered the base. The subsequent reversed cursed technique was for extra precaution.
As for Siegfried…
Well, it was Aleph’s personal grievances towards this deadbeat dad.
‘Speaking of deadbeats…’
He let out a laugh as he remembered who the original owner of [Yamato] was.
“Eh. It’s broken. This one too.”
Siegfried watched as the palm-sized ELF tinkered around the entire base in minutes. He found a couch, took off his coat, and used it as an extra sheet before putting his daughter down.
Being completely idle, he stared at their “savior” emitting golden lights all around his body. Various mechanical components moved on their own. Dozens of clicking sounds resounded as he repaired the broken components one by one.
Ten minutes later, Aleph managed to restore the base’s functionality—lights, ventilation system, heaters…
He took out several smaller cogs and used it to form a makeshift chair made of black iron.
“It’s time for a proper talk, no?”
“I haven’t thanked you yet.”
“Gratitude accepted.” Aleph nodded as he replied. “I will be introducing myself first. Ahem.”
A tinge of embarrassment rose up in Aleph’s mind.
‘Forget about it. I won’t make fun of my ancestor status this time.’
“I am Aleph. Aleph Ainsworth. Does it sound familiar?”
“Aleph… Ains…”
Much to Aleph’s surprise, Siegfried did remember about him.
“...No way.”
“The same goes to you.”
His joke flew over Siegfried’s head again.
“That’s impossible. I mean, two thousand years…” Siegfried muttered. “You are our ancestor’s friend!”
“Kevin Kaslana? He’s my best friend.”
The look of shock Aleph received fueled his smugness. It increased the small vanity he had.
“As to how I am alive now… Everything’s possible nowadays, isn’t it?” Aleph added, “Thanks to honkai.”
Siegfried took a while to process this revelation.
“Did you really face off honkai beasts with pure strength?”
“That’s how it went? But yes, I did.”
Siegfried did not spend much time on their family’s library. The only reason he visits it occasionally was the ‘epics’ of the Kaslana Family Ancestor. The thousands of years gap did not change the fact that honkai existed—as humanity’s enemy, to be exact.
These epics entailed their Kaslana Ancestor having the pure power to bring down colossal honkai beasts at will. Later historical confirmations pinpointed them to emperor-class honkai beasts, with a few verified judgement-class honkai beasts.
‘Judgement-classes… This is a change, I suppose.’ Aleph recalled the knowledge he intercepted. ‘The overall strength of Herrschers and honkai beasts seem to have entered a new level.’
Due to humanity being stronger than their original version, honkai grew to match them. An example of that is the standard of Schicksal’s S-rank Valkyries.
Instead of emperor-classes, they have to face off judgement-classes.
Siegfried was one such person who passed that test.
For a while, their topic was the past. Siegfried asked many questions to Aleph.
“Why didn’t you establish your own family?”
“You didn’t read this part at all, did you?”
“Yes.”
Aleph sighed at the inherent recklessness of the Kaslana bloodline. In terms of classical knowledge, Kevin was still better off.
He could tell that Siegfried only consumed practical knowledge about the honkai, nothing else. That was why Aleph thought it was useless to show off.
How could he do so when Siegfried hasn’t read his name on the books?
“We are straying off the main topic.” Aleph reminded. “It’s your turn to tell your story.”
“Ah. Right.”
Siegfried sent a complicated gaze towards the white-haired girl before presenting their story.
