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Chapter 159: Absolute Confidence
🕑 Added 2025-01-01 15:35:35 +0000 UTCThe seventh Herrscher, also known as the Herrscher of Fire.
She was the Herrscher that symbolized the ‘huge leap’. The First to Sixth Herrschers of the Previous Era were manageable. Even without much high-end combat power, they could be dealt with, given some sacrifices had to be made.
The Herrscher of Fire was completely different.
An entire week was all it took to burn the entire continent of Australia into cinders. Nobody could come close to her vicinity, simply because the temperature she emitted was too high.
Any projectiles—ranging from clean nuclear bombs up until the ‘God-killing Spears’ shot from the atmosphere—melted down. They could not do any substantial damage to the Seventh Herrscher.
Only when the first high-level MANTIS was born were they able to deal with her.
“The seventh major eruption occurred here.”
Einstein pointed out a specific location.
Aleph lost all the words he wanted to say.
“Three minutes. That was how long it took to burn half a city down. Communication lines are being established on the MOTH soldiers stationed there.” She explained. “Judging from the signals coming from the Fire MOTH branch, it should still be functional.”
These words calmed him down.
‘Three minutes? It’s… The Herrscher’s stronger.’
The location pointed out by Einstein was none other than Australia. It just so happened that Eden was scheduled to do a concert tomorrow. The number of civilians in that place exceeded the usual count.
Even if the Fire MOTH branch could house people…
‘...Fuck. All the countermeasures we thought of…’
Aleph took a hold of himself.
‘No, it’s not the countermeasures. They are still effective… somehow.’
After Aleph revealed his foreknowledge to others, Mei thought of updating the countermeasures against the honkai. One of them was the ‘limit’ of population per city, so as to lessen the affected population in case a major eruption occurs.
However, Eden’s case was different.
For once, she was heralded as the ‘brightest star’ of this time. Her influence amongst the ordinary people reached its peak.
As such, this concert was done in partnership with Fire MOTH.
It was an operation that aimed to calm down the general populace and lessen the chaos in numerous places.
There are other reasons why the new regulation wasn’t done immediately, but it boiled down to one thing—
The timing was misplaced.
“Four high-level MANTISes were stationed in the incident.”
“What happened?” Aleph asked.
“They were controlling the scope of collateral damage. One of them died during the last three minutes. There are already other high-level MANTISes on their way to Australia, but the ETA was estimated to be ten minutes.”
Einstein’s voice was interrupted by a blaring alarm.
“Director!”
Under their surprised gazes, four more red dots emerged out of nowhere. They were smaller than the red dot in Australia.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Four consecutive satellite feeds appeared. Each one of them was centered on a certain city. All of them were outside the Mu Continent.
In one of the screens, a cluster of flames rained down upon the city. In another, a large tornado tore down high-rise buildings.
The remaining two satellite feeds did not show obvious destruction as the former two. Yet, the honkai energy readings began to rise. It only stopped when it was about to reach the two-thousand mark.
“F-four! There are four of them! Four Herrschers!”
It was a deafening silence. Nobody in the room had the energy to speak after seeing the four new satellite feeds.
‘Gems..?’
Aleph saw through them in a glance. Their readings were barely that of a Herrscher’s. Their honkai energy levels are high, but the rate in which their intensity grew was not the same as a Herrscher’s.
Their ‘powers’ also corresponded to the four Gems he knew before.
Gems are not the same as a Herrscher Core. Normally, their honkai energy levels are lower than it.
However, if a suitable individual possesses it, the gems begin to house more honkai energy until they are indistinguishable from a real Herrscher Core.
A sinking feeling emerged from his heart. It didn’t take long until he realized what it was.
‘The places where they appeared… that’s where the Fire MOTH personnel are the weakest..!’
*****
Mei was more familiar with Fire MOTH’s layouts than Aleph. She managed to see many things in the span of five minutes.
‘As expected… The Herrscher who escaped knew a lot of things.’
The places where the four Gem Herrschers appeared are the half-abandoned cities. Naturally, Fire MOTH has fewer personnel and soldiers stationed on it.
‘Australia… Aleph can handle it. Then, all that’s left are these four Herrschers.’
Her brief decision judged the fate of thousands of people.
‘Route one more high-level MANTIS to Australia. The rest should deal with these four.’
Beep-!
Her projection was swiftly connected to mission control. The commander-in-chief, Hagen, stared intently at the ‘control screen’. It was able to calculate possible human casualties in real-time.
“Four million dead…”
The recent revisions of Fire MOTH regulations stated that a city must have less than twelve million residents. In special cases, fifteen million residents. This was done to reduce any potential damage a major honkai eruption would cause.
Once the population is spread out evenly, there won’t be a case of casualties spiking.
Unfortunately, three months were extremely short. The mass relocation couldn’t be completed in that time span. Complex factors such as a city’s economy, politics, and standard operations had to be considered.
Add to that the “publicity stunt” Fire MOTH wanted to do, it was a fatal strike.
“...It’s already above four.”
Mei’s calm voice prompted Hagen to look once again. The casualty count reached five million.
“Commander, I suggest we leave Australia for Aleph. Reroute the reinforcements to the other four regions affected by the eruption.”
Her suggestions made him pause momentarily. He thought that Mei’s plans would be lenient to Aleph considering their vague relationship, but it was the opposite.
‘...Absolute rationality. I was never mistaken.’
Why did Fire MOTH’s commander-in-chief support Mei?
It was precisely due to her character. Mei was able to earn the comment of a “sane monster” from Mobius herself.
Hagen saw what Mobius did, and as such…
‘She’s a good leader. But…’
A somewhat ridiculous yet rational thought emerged in his mind.
‘Was it her rationality that prompted her or…’
Mei’s eyes did not waver.
Seeing that, he accepted her proposal.
“Will Sir Aleph be fine?”
Hagen asked, to which Mei responded instantly:
“Yes.”
Hagen’s conjunctions were confirmed.
‘...she is extremely confident in Sir Aleph.’
