Turns out, the ELF Aleph was doomed from the start.
Swoosh-!
"How annoying."
His chibi face showed a hint of displeasure upon seeing one airship flying past his head after another. A momentary look was enough to see the ships' affiliations—Schickshal.
It was one of the biggest organizations in the Current Era. Built upon the ruins and inheritances from the Previous Era, they managed to become a global force that flights against the honkai.
"Oh, well. It's not surprising to see them turning the Truth Arsenal into Void Archives." He muttered. "This should be a recon team."
Retrofitting Divine Keys did not pose that much of a problem for Vill-V. Numerous weapon and material data was already stored within the original Truth Arsenal.
"Hm. 2008…"
This parallel world diverged from the real Earth during the Previous Era's sixth eruption. "Aleph" disappeared all of a sudden, leaving Fire MOTH to fend for themselves. Fortunately, Aleph had the insight to leave his knowledge in the form of diaries. That, along with the fact that the Aleph of this world managed to explain things fueled their main fighting force against the Honkai.
Fire MOTH contained the Ninth Herrscher well enough. The damage of its black hole became limited to a third of the Mu Continent, thus preserving humanity's strengths.
The Tenth Herrscher was contained with the help of the Divine Key, Fenghuang Down. It was one of the few Divine Keys that Aleph deemed crucial to their fight.
By pacifying the Herrscher of Dominion's puppets and removing their Herrscher Core 'fragments', there was a hope of recovery for the affected people who were in a coma. Fenghuang Down had to be used full-time to explore the depths of the so-called 'mind'.
While this research happened, the Eleventh Herrscher was defeated easily.
Unlike the tragedy, the best approach against the Herrscher of Binding that nullified every kind of energy was to test its upper limits. They dumped nuclear wastes at first, followed by honkai energy wastes. It was estimated that more than 90% of the world's nuclear waste and 50% of the honkai-related wastes were eaten up by the Herrscher of Binding alone.
By the time the newborn Herrscher reached her limit, Kevin, Hua, and Kalpas were able to kill it in one go.
Such an easy operation flipped the desperate scenario that once killed thousands of MANTISes.
As for the Twelfth Herrscher…
Everything went well. Its host was neutralized successfully, with the Herrscher Core itself taken out from her. She went into the same 'recovery state' as the victims who became the Tenth's puppets.
Things did not end there, however.
Mobius came up with an experiment involving the Twelfth Herrscher's Core.
Then…
"They shouldn't have placed everything within the Void Archives."
Aleph's current knowledge came from when he pierced a gap to this parallel Earth. An Aeon's thought speed was incomprehensible to humans. One moment was all it takes to see a planet's past and present.
The knowledge advantage was enough for the ELF Aleph to work his way on opening a passageway from this parallel Earth.
Bang-!
The ELF Aleph had to dodge sideways to avoid the sniper bullet.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
Three more shots rang beside him. Strangely, they made a circle of bullet holes on the ground he stood on.
"No doubt. These bullets… Was the Third Divine Key retrofitted by Vill-V too?"
Swoosh-!
Bam-!
Seeing the figures coming down from the sky one-by-one, ELF Aleph knew the situation became a bit more complicated.
"If I use my current power sparingly…"
*****
"Ha—!"
The sneeze did not completely leave Aleph's mouth. The uncomfortable feeling of being left hanging midair remained the same even after becoming an Aeon.
"Did something bad happen? If so… it's somewhere on Earth."
He made several back-up plans to ensure his return to Earth. He could complete the so-called "trial" in Terminus' expectations, but he could also complete it beyond their expectations.
Aleph would rather have the second option in that case.
"Mei and Kurumi should be able to handle the other two… I hope so."
Thinking of Mobius' crazy experiment on the parallel Earth, Aleph felt extremely relieved with his past decisions.
In that world, Mobius was pushed into a corner. She could see the honkai cornering humanity despite the apparent 'equal' standing. The evolution rate of the honkai was simply too godly for humanity to catch up. Without any exceptions, Mobius knew humanity would come to an end.
It was the same when she desperately wanted to replicate Kevin's success as a high-level MANTIS in the original timeline. Her decisions led to hundreds of deaths caused by her experimentations alone.
It was even worse with the parallel Earth Mobius.
She attempted to create a 'virus' that will awaken humans' deepest potential. Everyone that lives gets to become the strongest people humanity will ever have. Its cost was the death of ninety percent of humans. It has the same cost as the final phase of Project Stigma.
As to what happened…
There's nothing more to say.
In exchange for the way out that she saw, she was willing to bet everything.
"...It won't happen."
Aleph did not deny the self-blame he felt. His gut feeling told him that his disappearance has a lot to do with Mobius' decisions. It pushed her into making that insanely cruel choice.
"You are thinking something deep."
He was awakened by Hua's pat to his shoulder. He looked at Senti who was sleeping on his lap before looking at Hua.
"I'm thinking of Earth. The world where Senti came from."
A look of realization appeared on her face.
"Was it about the Previous Era?"
"...Mobius' doings."
"Ah."
Hua's face turned complex.
If it weren't for Mobius, there would have been billions of humans who have survived until the fight against the Herrscher of the End.
In a sense, the cryo chambers would not have worked with so many people. Even with the Fifth Herrscher's Core, it would not work.
Mobius' actions were both an atrocity and a blessing.
"She achieved her goal. The remaining humans are talented enough to give birth to people who can fight emperor-class honkai beasts. The only issue was the growing collateral damages on the surroundings…"
For the nth time, the two talked about the events of the parallel world Earth. The heavy feeling in Aleph's heart gradually became lighter.
'The weight of the world… isn't that heavy, after all.'
He was soon lost to this kind of calming atmosphere.