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Chapter 90: Malice of the World
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 12:34:24 +0000 UTCA huge dragon.
Its body was bigger than any mountains humans had seen. Inside this white space filled with nothingness, its sheer presence immediately took Aleph’s attention.
His mind, which was fuzzy, started recalling what happened.
‘I used Great Sage’s assistance to merge with the fourth fragment. Then…’
His memories were cut after that. He lost consciousness and woke up to this state.
Hum-!
A huge sensation of danger swept through Aleph’s entire being. He looked at the mountain-like black dragon and saw its golden pupils staring at him. His mind blanked out at its pressure, only to recover a second later.
{Detecting external pressure…}
{Analysis complete. Its source was the concept known as Albion.}
A deep voice, unable to be distinguished as a man or woman, resounded throughout the entire space.
“When everything on the surface was gone… I resigned thyself to the fate of having no new joys. You must understand, human.”
Aleph’s accelerated thoughts and split minds began working. Numerous memories flashed inside his mind.
‘Albion’s demise… it’s the Albion from the Lostbelt, not the Proper Human History..!’
‘Understand..? Does he know about my memories..?’
‘The pinnacle of all dragons within Fate...'
All of his complicated thoughts were soon put into a halt.
“...Albion.”
“Having seen thy history… no, thy world’s future is an extraordinary feat. Yet, it is nothing but the inner workings of luck.”
Somehow, the dragon that didn’t have any good impressions towards dragon-like humans (i.e., humans who became dragons) patiently pointed out things to him.
“Thou are looking in the wrong direction. The most brilliant light, a soul with multitude of colors… and the inheritance of a dragon far stronger than I.”
One of its huge claws touched Aleph’s forehead.
“To inherit thy body… show the worth of thee.”
*****
“Huff..!”
Aleph’s eyes snapped wide open. He found his entire body being filled with cold sweat. He found himself sitting on his bedside in a daze.
The lingering remains of the danger from Albion made his body tense. It wasn’t until he went to the dispenser in the room and drank a glass of cold water did he calm down.
“Great Sage. What changed with me?”
A while later, he received its response.
{Result: The fourth fragment has been successfully merged with you. The conceptual power of Albion became extremely active. Currently, the entirety of the crystal is filled with his power. It may cause unknown changes for the Blank Sephira Crystal Fragment.}
Through the results of Great Sage’s analysis and Aleph’s conjectures when he observed himself with elemental sight, they discovered the crystal’s true nature.
Its role was to act as a container of power. The crystal would convert the stored power into something that ‘fits’ with it. It also elevates the level of lifeform of the one who possesses it—mainly the soul.
Simply put, the Sephira Crystal forcibly turns someone into a higher-being, all the while bestowing them an authority of sorts.
‘Conceptual power… It isn’t bad per se, but Albion’s words…’
Aleph recalled how Albion gave a trial to Castoria’s group at some point of the story.
‘Does giving out trials one of its hobbies?’
He shook these useless thoughts and focused on the changes.
{...increased activity of the ICHOR injected inside the body. Its nature began to turn away from the concept of ‘physical’, moving more towards a semi-conceptual form exhibited by Albion.}
“...In other words, it turned my ICHOR into something else.”
The Inter-Chromosomal Honkai Gene Repeats—the honkai genome used in the MANTIS surgery—was the basis of Project Soldier. The human body was pushed to accept the ICHOR as one of its own, thereby adapting and gaining the power to control honkai energy as well as the powers contained within the ICHOR.
Even in his prior state, honkai energy existed within Aleph’s body. Only when he mobilized them did they get automatically converted into cursed energy.
These ICHOR started to move away from their 'physical form'. As to what effects it may bring? No one knows until more time passes.
As of now, only the increased activity could be seen, increasing his progress into his AHR state further. That, and the increase of honkai energy inside his body.
“Trials…” Aleph scratched his head. “I’ll see to it later.”
Aleph had a rest after a long day.
*****
Tap.
Tap.
The sound of footsteps echoed within the hall. Mei’s footsteps were never loud, yet it elicited everyone’s attention. Nevertheless, they went back to their work.
Another set of hurried footsteps went to her.
“Director Mei. We’ve found some strange reports.”
“Hm?”
The woman in long sleeves—her white coat taken out long ago—passed a handheld tablet to Mei. The sound of keyboards being used and people passing on one command after another did not bother her.
“It’s regarding the danger zone in the Mu Continent.” She said. “The frontline reported the entire thirty kilometer radius of the city directly turned into undead. However, when we went through the overall consensus… there were missing bodies.”
Numerous questions appeared in Mei’s mind but she allowed her to finish speaking.
The researcher took a breath before she continued:
“The numbers of undeads reported within the city were lower than usual. On the contrary, at least a million honkai beasts were found converging into the city.”
There are four places to which an eruption above 2,000 HW occurred. One was the city of Justice, Libertia. The other one was in the Far East, Topaz City. The third one happened within the Western Continent, Goldenglow.
All three cities above were the places where Aleph, Elysia, and Kevin got dispatched, respectively.
Only the fourth city, Iranum, didn’t receive such a treatment. Still, as it was within Mu Continent, most of the immediate military personnel that could be dispatched were brought over there.
That resulted in a rather ‘balanced’ situation.
Upon hearing of this strange report, several conjectures came into Mei’s mind.
‘Missing bodies… Were they stolen or destroyed? If so, by which? Honkai beasts? Elite undeads? Or…’
An ominous thought popped up.
“Give me the recorded honkai watts in Iranum. Also, any strange reports tied to it.”
“Yes!”
*****
There are numerous roads that link cities within the Mu Continent. Entry could be easily done through the main highway. Although the choice of ‘walls’ in each city was strange, nobody questioned it before.
Now that the knowledge about honkai became widespread, it turned into a positive reputation for Fire MOTH due to their ‘foresight’.
Vroom.
A truck soon stopped at the rear of the line. The old man looked on the seat beside him. A girl not beyond the age of twelve sat beside him. Her hair was dirty with dust, smog, and the likes. Though, it held a somewhat lustrous look below it.
She held a stitched teddy bear in her arms. Her sleep was interrupted by the old man’s pat on her shoulder.
“Little girl, we’re here.”
“Mn…”
Her pair of black pupils widened. The only thing missing from it was its luster. Nevertheless, the old man did not notice her abnormalities. Her body seemed like the usual healthy one kids who grew up well would have.
“We’ll go to your aunt’s place first. I will go ask her to write a report—”
“There’s no need, mister. We’ll deal with it.”
The girl was someone the old man picked up beside the road. Aside from her broken ID, she did not have anything else in her possession. The old man did not think twice to help her.
Fortunately, she did mention an aunt of hers living in this city.
“...If you say so.”
Unbeknownst to him, nor the millions of residents living in this city, a blue crystal flickered silently within the girl.
