Chapter 2: They Were All Reborn
"Dr. Mobius! Wake up—Dr. Mobius!"
That voice… was it Klein?
Mobius slowly opened her eyes from a long slumber and looked up in surprise at the figure before her—her former assistant.
She remembered clearly—Klein had already been turned into the Tenth Herrscher...
Sitting up, Mobius suddenly felt a familiar heaviness on her chest. A sensation she hadn't felt in a long time.
She looked down—
Chapter 2: They Were All RebornAnd froze.
She had… been reborn?
It took Mobius several days to confirm the truth. She had, indeed, returned to the past.
But… why?
What principle could explain this?
What power could bend time and rewind reality?
For days, her mind was in turmoil.
It took everything she had to drag herself out of that obsessive question—Why had I been reborn?
Yet even when she managed that, a new problem emerged: What was she supposed to do now?
The "Infinity" she had once pursued…
Her ideals…
In the last timeline, all of that had been realized—by that boy.
"By my hand, mankind shall ascend to godhood."
"With my body, I will sit upon the throne of divinity."
"…Silas."
She softly whispered the boy's name.
She remembered him—how he bore all the world's sins on his shoulders.
How he disappeared alone in the end.
Mobius clenched her fists.
At the very least, this time… he must live.
He owed the world nothing.
It was the world that owed him far too much.
If she remembered right, his earliest identity was that of a survivor saved by Elysia during a Honkai-related incident.
Thinking of that, Mobius turned to Klein.
"Klein. Where's Elysia?"
She honestly couldn't recall which incident Silas had been rescued from. Back then, she hadn't even known his name. But she remembered his physiology in great detail—she knew every measurement and anomaly in his body.
She roughly remembered that he was discovered before the Third Eruption.
And if this point in time lined up with that...
Then as long as she followed Elysia, she'd find him.
"Elysia?" Klein looked at her with a bit of exasperation.
"Doctor, she was just dispatched a few days ago to investigate a minor Honkai outbreak. You even got the investigation report. Or did you forget?"
(Didn't you always say you couldn't stand her?)
"Let me see it," Mobius ordered.
Klein rummaged through a pile of casually discarded reports and pulled out the one Mobius had previously tossed aside without even glancing at. "Here."
Mobius snatched it, eyes scanning immediately for the word survivor.
"Survivor: One. Name: Silas."
"Klein, inform those old fossils in the council—I'm going to meet this survivor."
Klein raised an eyebrow. So the Doctor had her eyes on a new specimen?
"But Doctor, even if he's the sole survivor, and even if he shows unusually high resistance to Honkai energy… we'd still need his consent before he can be involved in any experimentation, right?"
"He'll agree," Mobius said with absolute certainty.
"Klein, don't waste time. I want to meet him as soon as possible."
Whether Silas had been reborn or not didn't matter—Mobius was certain he would still agree to her terms.
Besides, she didn't believe she was the only one who had been reborn. There was a high chance others had returned as well.
She had to reach him before anyone else did.
Especially Elysia.
She knew, at least vaguely, that Silas had joined MOTH in the beginning because of Elysia.
But that didn't matter now.
If the hoe is swung well, no wall is unbreakable.
Just look at Lilith. Perfect example.
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Meanwhile, at Sundown Alley
"Come on, Sister Nia! You seriously don't have any plans right now?! This is the perfect chance to go rescue Bro Silas!" Pardo looked like she was losing her mind as she stared at the calm and composed Aponia.
Normally directionless and carefree, Pardo had immediately rushed to Aponia's orphanage the moment she realized she'd been reborn. She wanted to confirm if Aponia had come back too.
She had. And gave a very clear answer.
Pardo's goal was simple: pull Silas out of the mess that was Honkai—drag him away from all of this—and just go live a quiet, ordinary life together.
"Pado, there's no need to rush. We'll meet again—when the time is right," Aponia said softly.
"Now is not that time."
"APONIA! GET OUT HERE!"
A rasping shout rang from outside the door.
If Pardo still had a tail, the fur on it would've bristled straight up.
"Ka… Kalpas?" she stammered.
"You've known Kalpas this early?" Pardo turned to her with wide eyes.
Aponia shook her head.
She hadn't met Kalpas until the Fifth Herrscher incident—when he literally tore the Herrscher apart with his bare hands.
Back then, he had been nothing like this loudmouthed brute screaming outside the door.
Based on the timeline, the Fifth Herrscher hadn't appeared yet.
Which meant…
"Kalpas… you were reborn too?"
Aponia's heart quietly asked.
And if that's the case… then Elysia… you must've been reborn as well, right?
She still remembered Elysia's lonely expression at that final banquet.
Still remembered how, afterward, she'd asked Silas why he didn't come.
And his reply:
"There was no reason to go. There was nothing left between us worth seeing."
That boy, who once chased Elysia's light with all his heart—
In the end, he had chosen to part ways with her.
Aponia walked to the entrance and opened the door to find Kalpas waiting for her.
He got right to the point.
"Aponia, you still remember where MOTH's nearest base is, right?!"
Kalpas wasn't one for nuance.
The moment he'd been reborn, the first thing he wanted to do was go find Silas and beat him to a pulp.
If possible, cripple him so he couldn't join MOTH.
The problem?
He didn't know the way.
So he'd come all this way to find Aponia, figuring she had probably been reborn too.
If she hadn't, he would've just waited for the Fifth Herrscher to appear and ripped it apart himself—then waited for MOTH to show up.
"Kalpas," Aponia said calmly, "that is his fate. Even if you reach MOTH, you won't be able to stop him from becoming a Fusion Warrior—or from becoming the vessel of Satan."
What are you doing, Sister Nia?! Pardo screamed internally. So you do know where MOTH is?!
Pardo's eyes darted around. Clearly, Aponia wasn't planning on doing anything to stop Silas from joining MOTH.
That left her with only one option:
Vil-V. Vil-V definitely knows where MOTH is.
She just needed to find her.
"SCREW FATE!"
Kalpas exploded with rage.
"Is that what you call fate?! Letting Silas die alone on the moon?! Letting him never sleep peacefully ever again?! Bullsh*t!"
"Aponia, don't forget—it was you who nearly got him killed by those bastards!"
"…That was my sin." Aponia exhaled softly.
During the Twelfth Herrscher incident, Silas had been the first to reach Rin's side. While protecting her, soldiers had fired Honkai disruptor grenades directly at him.
The massive number of hyper-mutated cells within his body began rejecting one another violently—
He never once fought back.
And the result?
He nearly died at the hands of the very people he had sworn to protect.
Died—beneath her Precepts.
Even the awakening of the Twelfth Herrscher had been linked to her.
"Aponia… why don't you guess?" Kalpas clenched his fists, his voice gravelly and on the edge of losing control. "Guess whether I can crush you into dust right now."
Aponia remained calm, her gaze unwavering. She didn't respond.
Because she knew—more than anyone—just how important Silas was to the future of humanity.
He was the only one she had ever seen who could defy fate… and change it.
He had to become a MANTIS.
He had to become the Vessel of the Serpent—Satan.
That was his will.
Unless Kalpas killed him first, Silas would walk onto that operating table and undergo the procedure regardless.
She couldn't change his ending.
But she could change the path.
At the very least… she would never let him face fate alone again.
"U-uh, Brother Kalpas, c-calm down!" Pardo quickly stepped in to diffuse the situation. "We still have other ways to find Bro Silas, right?!"
Kalpas turned to her. "Say it."
"We can find Miss Vil-V!" Pardo suggested. "She definitely knows where MOTH's nearest base is—and she shows up in Sundown Alley from time to time. If we just wait here, we're bound to run into her!"
Then, he could go and drag Silas out of that damn place.
She, on the other hand, would steal him away and go live a rogue's life together. Win-win, right?
"That woman?" Kalpas paused, considering the option. "Fine. I'll let you off this time, Aponia. But next time—"
"Um… Brother Kalpas?" Pardo cut in again. "Where are you planning to stay while you wait for Miss Vil-V?"
Silence.
"…You could stay here," Aponia offered, as calm as ever. "There's still an empty room. And you can work as a porter, just like before."
Kalpas gave her a death glare—but ultimately turned away and went to find the room he'd lived in during the last timeline.
"Phew…" Pardo wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "You really owe me one this time, Sister Nia. Brother Kalpas's still terrifying when he gets angry…"
Aponia said nothing.
She simply raised her head and looked up at the setting sun bleeding across the skies of Sundown Alley.
I can't pull you out of that eternal abyss…
But this time, Silas—
I won't let you fall into it alone.
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Far away, watching the whole exchange unfold from the shadows—
Vil-V stood with her hat tilted, expression unreadable.
"So… everyone's been reborn," she muttered to herself. "Then that means Elysia probably has been too…"
She tapped her lip thoughtfully.
"Hmm… does this mean I'll have to compete with Elysia now?"
On one hand, the person she adored most.
On the other, her best friend.
She wanted both. So what now?
Suddenly, her entire expression shifted.
A wicked gleam lit up in her eyes, and her entire aura turned sinister and haughty.
"Hmph… so what?"
"She missed her chance. That's on her."
"We're all back at square one now. Starting from the same line."
"And if Silas really has been reborn…"
"Then he and Elysia have even less of a chance!"
Unlike the others, Vil-V hadn't come back alone.
She had returned along with all eight of her personalities.
And while she still had some control over who came out when, it was far weaker than before. Sometimes, she'd shift personalities without warning.
The one speaking now—was the one known as Pure Evil.
Her pride incarnate.
The personality that, in the previous life, had been sealed away.
And the reason it wasn't sealed this time?
Well… let's just say someone had convinced her otherwise.
Vil-V turned to look in another direction.
There—at the entrance of Sundown Alley—Eden, flanked by her bodyguards, was making her way toward the orphanage where Aponia resided.
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Meanwhile, in a noodle shop somewhere in the Far East—
Kevin and Su sat across from each other. One with a stoic face, the other with eyes half-closed.
Both had been reborn.
And both still carried the habits of their past lives.
Su, especially, struggled to adjust. In the previous era, he was used to keeping his eyes closed, sensing the world through other means. But now—before undergoing the Fusion Warrior procedure—closing his eyes truly meant seeing nothing at all. His compromise was to keep them squinted: not ideal, but still better than blindness.
As for Kevin?
Well, he had long since grown used to the expressionless mask of a hero.
Especially in the final years of the fight against the Honkai—what was left for him to smile about?
Silas had been the only exception.
Even while enduring pain like molten lava burning through his body every moment of every day… he had still managed to smile.
Until the Tragedy of Binding.
Even he couldn't smile anymore after that.
Kevin still hated himself for not being strong enough. For not being the hero everyone expected. For not being able to defeat the Honkai as they had all hoped.
"Kevin," Su broke the silence. "What do you plan to do?"
"I'll wait for the Third Eruption to happen," Kevin replied without hesitation. "Just like before. I'll join MOTH with Mei… and then I'll bring him into my squad. If possible, I'll keep him from meeting Elysia."
Of course he knew Elysia had feelings for Silas.
But he also knew Silas's first reason for fighting the Honkai had been Elysia herself.
If Silas had never fallen for her… would he have suffered less?
Still… if Elysia had been reborn as well, Kevin knew she wouldn't give up so easily.
Su was quiet for a moment, then asked, "And before the Third Eruption? You're just going to sit around?"
"What can I do?" Kevin shot back. "You and I both know Honkai outbreaks are random. Herrschers emerge only in the chaos of such disasters. With what we have now, we can't stop it—not the Honkai, not the Herrschers."
"You're right…" Su sighed lightly.
Kevin stared down at his empty bowl, speaking slowly.
"Su… you weren't with us in that final battle against the end. So maybe you can't understand what we felt back then…"
"Silas stood alone. Bearing all of humanity's sins. Even after burning through his entire life, he never fell."
"Only after I made him a promise—that mankind would defeat the Honkai—did he finally close his eyes."
"Only then… did he begin to fade."
"Do you know what that felt like for me?"
"…I do."
Su's eyes—already squinted—finally shut all the way.
What surfaced in his mind wasn't that final battlefield, but the Twelfth Herrscher Incident.
Aponia had claimed it as her sin. That it was her Precept—prohibiting Silas from harming any MOTH members—that led to the tragedy.
But Su knew better.
He knew Aponia's Precepts had no effect on Silas.
Which meant… in that moment…
The reason he didn't resist wasn't because he couldn't.
It was because he chose not to.
Su had never told anyone.
He didn't want to deepen their grief or rage.
It was a truth even the Enlightened could never come to terms with.
Both men fell into silence.
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Elsewhere, at a private residence—
Sakura wiped the blood off her blade and gave her report. Mission complete.
In return, she received what she truly wanted: intelligence on the latest suspected Honkai activity.
She hadn't joined MOTH yet—not in this life.
Last time, she only joined after a failed assassination attempt on Dr. Mobius.
Now, the city of Changkong remained untouched. The Third Eruption hadn't happened yet.
None of that mattered to her.
Only he did.
Now that everything had reset, she would make sure the Twelfth Herrscher Tragedy never repeated itself.
For Rin.
And for him.
This time, she would join MOTH early.
And she would fight by his side.
"Silas… this time, please…"
Let me protect you instead.
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