Ever since having that "Happy End of the Previous Era" dream, Elias' spirits had been exceptionally high—he was determined to turn that dream into a "prophetic dream."
And when the savior is motivated...
Naturally, it is the Honkai that suffers.
In just two months, approximately three million Honkai Beasts appeared across the world. Yet, whether high-ranking or low, Judgment-level or Chariot-class, all of them ended up under Elias' command!
Even the Fire Moth could never have imagined that one day they would possess an entire army of Honkai Beasts. Mei even approved funding to build a Honkai Beast zoo.
Moreover, after repeated experiments, they discovered something remarkable.
When a fusion warrior fought alongside a Honkai Beast—especially one that shared the same Meta-Morph factor—their combined strength increased by far more than a mere sum of parts.
Thus...
Elias: "Mount distribution time!!"
Everyone: "OHHHHHHHHHH——!!!"
After that, the Fire Moth's combat strategy changed significantly. Every soldier was now equipped with a Honkai Beast partner for combat support, and the mission objectives shifted from extermination to capture.
Captured Honkai Beasts were brought back for Elias to charm and control, turning them into new assets for Fire Moth.
At first, some resisted the idea of fighting alongside Honkai Beasts, but after trying it once or twice, they quickly changed their minds.
To assist this process, Vill-V even invented several portable capture devices—red-and-white spherical tools that could imprison any Honkai Beast they hit.
The interior of these red-and-white spheres was expanded using the Herrscher of the Void's authority, allowing them to store even massive Honkai Beasts despite their palm-sized exterior.
Of course, if a Honkai Beast resisted, the capture would fail easily, so they still had to weaken their targets in combat first.
Elias: "What the hell is this, the Honkai version of 'Poké—' whatever, if it works, it works! Everyone, go catch me some pets—uh, I mean, Honkai Beasts!"
Fire Moth soldiers: "Yes, Eli Gate!"
This approach surprisingly boosted morale.
So Elias decided to stoke their enthusiasm even further—by employing some good old capitalist motivation.
Elias: "I know some of you only have Chariot-class Beasts right now, but don't lose hope! Capture enough, and one day, everyone will have Emperor-class, Judgment-level, or even Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast mounts!"
Fire Moth soldiers: "!!!"
Instantly, the image of themselves riding a Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast across the battlefield set everyone ablaze with excitement.
Once, they all wished for fewer Honkai Beasts.
Now, they prayed for more to appear.
Of course, safety measures were in place. Every captured Honkai Beast had a self-destruct device implanted inside. If any of them ever broke free of Elias' control, they would immediately turn into fireworks.
Thus, Fire Moth had truly achieved their goal: "defeating Honkai with the power of Honkai."
Elias couldn't help thinking that if he were the Honkai itself, seeing the power of the Nine-Tails being so "creatively" used, he'd probably wake up at night just to slap himself.
It was almost laughable—a gift too good to be true.
In fact, it was even more useful than a Core, and it would prove instrumental in dealing with the upcoming Herrschers.
...
Three months after the appearance of the Ninth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Earth—the Herrscher of Dominance finally descended.
But unlike in the first cycle, this time, the Herrscher of Dominance had received an epic-level upgrade!
Although Elias still completely dominated them, if he were to give an evaluation...
Elias: "Back in the first cycle, they were the weakest of all Herrschers. But now? They've become the most troublesome—not because of strength, but because of how much preparation I have to do!"
Normally, Herrschers appeared one at a time—but this time, there were a thousand of them! Just thinking about it made Elias' hands twitch.
Every cycle, harvesting the Cores of the Herrscher of Dominance left his hands aching. More than once, he even considered abandoning the idea and simply wiping them all out with a single Shamash Assault instead.
Worse still, he had to use the Herrscher of Death's authority to create one thousand physical bodies and simultaneously protect one thousand human consciousnesses!
Elias: "I'm exhausted..."
Fortunately, during the first cycle, Elias had already memorized every name, face, and address of the Herrscher of Dominance.
So before the Herrscher personalities could descend upon their hosts, he had already made thorough preparations.
He dispatched Hua to contact each of the Herrscher of Dominance vessels and attach a feather from the Fenghuang Down to every single one of them.
Then, at the very instant before the Herrscher of Dominance descended, Elias decisively activated the Zeroth Power in all one thousand feathers, preserving the human consciousnesses of every vessel!
That maneuver nearly drained him completely.
After all, activating a thousand Zeroth Powers simultaneously required an impossible amount of Honkai energy. The Fenghuang Down's internal reserves weren't even close to enough—so Elias had to use his own energy to compensate.
"If it were my first-cycle self, I could've saved maybe six or seven hundred people at most. Even with 800,000 HW of Honkai energy, that wouldn't have been enough for a thousand Zeroth Power activations. But! Now!"
"This is already the twelfth cycle! I've absorbed far more high-tier Honkai Beasts than before. My current Honkai energy exceeds 1,600,000 HW—more than enough!"
The stronger civilization grew, the stronger the Honkai became.
And the stronger the Honkai, the more powerful the Chimera.
By this point, Elias had long lost count of how many Honkai Beasts he had devoured, but one thing was certain—his Honkai density had more than doubled compared to the first cycle.
Enough to perform one thousand Zeroth Power activations simultaneously!
Through this absurd method, Elias successfully saved the human minds of all Herrscher of Dominance vessels. However, the price was steep—the Divine Key, Fenghuang Down, was completely destroyed. Not only its soulium shell, but even its consciousness gem was cracked.
Even with the Herrscher of Reason's power, it would take a long time to repair.
And saving them was only the first step.
Because of the increased Honkai intensity, the newly born Herrscher of Dominance this time were much stronger than before.
For instance—they all possessed companion Honkai Beasts!!
Each Herrscher of Dominance had an accompanying Emperor-class Honkai Beast, bringing the total to one thousand such creatures!
Having experienced this in past cycles, Elias was already familiar with their traits. He could only describe them as fitting companions for the Herrscher of Dominance.
Uniform in form—doll-like Emperor-class Honkai Beasts.
Their power wasn't remarkable, but they possessed the ability to become invisible.
Without these companion Beasts, Elias' plan would've been simple: have Fire Moth fusion warriors lie in ambush near each Herrscher's vessel, then coordinate simultaneous captures.
Even though the Herrscher of Dominance shared telepathic links, if they were all subdued within a few seconds, that ability would become useless.
However, with the addition of these Emperor-class doll Beasts as bodyguards, things often went wrong. In previous cycles, some always managed to slip away.
Thus...
Elias: "Let's change tactics—use bait. As long as we display something that poses a sufficient threat to the Honkai, the Herrscher of Dominance will come to us on their own. Then, we'll capture them all at once."
Vill-V: "Oh? Something threatening to the Honkai? Elias, don't tell me you mean—!"
Elias: "That's right. The Moonlight Throne battleship—we'll use it as bait."
A weapon capable of converting Honkai energy into other energy forms—something even the Herrscher of Finality would find troublesome. Its threat level was off the charts.
When the Fire Moth publicly revealed information about the Moonlight Throne battleship, ordinary civilians of the Previous Era were merely awed by its mystery.
But the Herrscher of Dominance? They were terrified. After all, this was a warship capable of threatening even the Herrscher of Finality!
Thus, the Herrscher of Dominance all gathered and began a stealth operation toward the Moonlight Throne's construction base, intending to destroy it.
The result? They were all captured in one sweep…
Fire Moth didn't lose a single soldier, because the moment the Herrscher of Dominance assembled, Elias took control of all their companion doll-type Honkai Beasts.
The Beasts that were once loyal bodyguards collectively turned traitor, stabbing their own masters in the back. Before the Herrscher of Dominance could even react, they were all subdued.
Then came the physical labor.
Elias spent the entire night extracting Cores!
Afterward, he even stayed up late to expand the Deep End facility.
...
When the Herrscher of Dominance were relocated to the Deep End, they were utterly shocked. Among the First through Ninth Herrschers, everyone except Sheele was already there—and all of them were dressed neatly in maid outfits.
Herrscher of Dominance: "What the hell?! Have all our seniors betrayed us?! And what's with those outfits? Have you forgotten your duty as Herrschers?!"
Herrscher of Reason: "That rebellious attitude… reminds me of my younger self."
Herrscher of Thunder: "This batch of newcomers sure is numerous."
Herrscher of the Void: "Damn it! This is so embarrassing."
Herrscher of Wind: "It's fine. They'll end up just like us sooner or later."
Herrscher of Fire: "Agreed. Look at Sentience and Earth—they fell faster than we did. I still remember how badly Elias—uh, Master—beat up Earth. I think she awakened some kind of strange… tendency."
Indeed, among those captured by Elias, the Herrscher of Sentience was like a mischievous child, while the Herrscher of Earth—originally a queenly figure like the Void and Thunder Herrschers—had, after one particularly brutal defeat, awakened an odd personality trait.
Herrscher of Earth: "Yes! That's it! Don't hold back!"
Elias: "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Herrscher of Earth: "I don't know why, but this feels so nostalgic~"
Elias: "..."
Watching the once proud queen reduced to this state left not only Elias speechless, but the other Herrschers dumbfounded as well.
The system's response? Perfectly logical.
In the first cycle, Elias had barely achieved a pyrrhic victory against her—he failed to obtain her Core or collect Honkai Beast materials, and her self-destruction took the entire Mu Continent with her. Even Elias himself had been gravely injured.
So, in the next ten cycles, he made sure the Herrscher of Earth received his personal attention each and every time.
Elias was nothing if not vengeful, and in nearly every cycle, he completely broke her—body and soul.
This time, the only reason he "spared" her was simply because he'd grown tired of it. Even so, she still ended up the most beaten-down Herrscher of them all.
After ten cycles of repeated defeats, something inside the Herrscher of Earth seemed to… change. As the saying goes—if you can't resist, you might as well enjoy it.
Herrscher of Earth: "Keep going! Don't stop!"
Herrscher of Dominance: "Eeeehhh——! We definitely don't want to end up like her!"
Elias: "...Utterly revolting. Someone, find a trash bin and throw her in."
And so, with the Herrscher of Dominance now housed in the Deep End, the underwater Herrscher prison deep beneath the Pacific became livelier than ever.
There had been riots and escape attempts, of course.
But in the end, they only served as mild amusement for Elias.
After all, the Deep End didn't need guards. Built from soulium, the facility was indestructible to Herrschers without their Cores, and Elias had reinforced it several times over.
He even removed the exit entirely.
After all, he could come and go freely using the Herrscher of the Void's authority—doors were simply unnecessary.
"Ahem, Reason, Void, Thunder… Earth—you're the seniors here, so teach Dominance the rules. Anyone who doesn't behave, I'll feed to the sharks."
"...Understood." ×8
Ever since that fateful bet, although they hadn't turned into someone like Sheele, the Herrschers' hostility toward Elias had nearly vanished.
After all, the Honkai granted Herrschers the mission to annihilate humanity—but Elias, despite considering himself human, was fundamentally a Herrscher. Therefore, they felt no instinctive urge to kill him.
That was why Elias could advance his plan to reclaim the Herrschers so smoothly. Had it been anyone else—a normal human—even if they perfectly replicated his methods, it would have been completely useless.
Strictly speaking, the captured Herrschers now submitted not to humanity, but to another Herrscher—Elias himself. Until the day they were freed from the control of the Honkai, that would not change.
Except for Elias and Miss Pink Elf.
For everyone else, Herrschers and humans remained mortal enemies.
Elias: "Well, that day isn't far off. Once the power of Origin activates, the Herrschers' chains will be severed."
The authority of the Herrscher of Origin could not only change Herrschers fifty thousand years into the future—it could also affect those already born in the Previous Era. Proof of this existed in the story of Higokumaru, the Herrscher of Corruption.
As the only Herrscher of the Previous Era to survive into the Current Era, Higokumaru had once played the role of an antagonist—but that was merely the result of resentment from being sealed for fifty millennia.
When she finally chose to let go of her hatred, the chains of the Honkai no longer bound her to oppose humanity.
This proved that even Herrschers born before the Herrscher of Origin's power awakened could still regain their humanity and escape the curse of the Honkai once that authority took effect.
...
After the subjugation of the Herrscher of Dominance, something completely unexpected occurred—something that had never happened in the past ten cycles.
That day, in front of Mobius' laboratory,
Elias received a confession from none other than the ever-diligent Klein.
"Elias, thank you for saving me. It's all because of you that I didn't become a Herrscher. I... I like you!!"
Klein's face was flushed red as she mustered every ounce of courage to speak.
"Uh... thank you. That's... pretty sudden..."
Elias was utterly stunned—the script had once again taken an unexpected turn.
Though this time, it was an unexpectedly pleasant one.