-"Impossible!"-Vill-V looked at the screen showing the location where the Eruption occurred in disbelief.-"Those were the most advanced weapons I designed, the strongest shields… Why didn't they work?!"
Ignoring her hysteria, I also watched the image with both shock and worry. The expected destroyed city was nowhere to be seen; rather, the whole scene was surprisingly clean: no destroyed buildings, no explosions or fires; the only thing that made this image horrifying was the bodies strewn everywhere, each killed in one strike, pierced through the heart or head.
-"Look there."-Sakura pointed out a certain victim.-"The uniform; that person is MANTIS."
-"I recognize him."-Kosma spoke up, a rare occurrence.-"New recruit, fused with a weak genome."
-"But he was MANTIS nonetheless."-Kevin looked grim.
-"No signs of struggle, but it's also impossible that he was taken by surprise; his face is still frozen in fear and disbelief."-I analysed the scene.-"So, either he was defeated with overwhelming force, or couldn't resist for some other reason."
-"Does Prometheus have any new information?"-Su turned to Mei.
-"Nothing concrete."-She shook her head.
-"Strange."-I noticed something that made me furrow my brows.
-"Hmm?"-Eden noticed the change in my expression.
-"I can't see any signs of Honkai. It's like they all died due to conventional attacks."
-"Eh? Isn't it normal?"
-"No."-Mobius also noticed what I did.-"Look around. There are no signs of either Honkai Sickness or Honkai contamination; it's too clean for an Eruption."
-"You aren't implying…"-Mei looked at us in doubt.
-"Reverse Herrscher."-I smiled.-"If an Upright one wields Honkai, then this one negates it, just like my blood."
-"This…"-Others looked shocked as well.
-"How do we fight it?"-Kevin skipped directly to the important matter.
-"I see only two possibilities: use conventional weapons, or it'll require Hua's power."-I answered him.
-"Do we have such weapons?"-Sakura looked to Vill-V.
-"Railgun might be able, but with the basic strength of Herrscher, I doubt it'll be enough. I give it 30% max."-Vill-V gave an objective assessment.
-"Then we'll have to depend on you, Hua."-Kevin turned to her.
-"What should I do?"-She asked me.
-"Fenghuang Down. Using it, you should be able to stun it long enough for Kevin to deal a fatal blow."-I told her.
While the plan was simple, it was the best method we had at hand. Creating plans that would require more variables would only heighten the chances of something going wrong.
-"Then there is no need to waste more time."-Kevin stood up.
-"Herrscher is heading for city D; you should be able to catch him there."-Mei gave them directions and sent them off.
Soon, only Mei, Mobius, and I remained in the room.
-"How bad is it?"-I looked at Mei.
-"Seven cities."-Mei answered without looking up from the camera feed.-"We lost 20% of the population in the last two hours."
I sighed and closed my eyes, the cocoon still looming in the darkness, a constant reminder of the disaster.
-"Eno."
-"Hmm?"
-"I'd like to start another project with you."
-"Sure, just tell me the details."
-"Project TRUE-PROMETHEUS. To create a supercomputer governing all of Stigmata, capable of preserving the souls of humanity."-She explained briefly.
-"That doesn't sound like something you would concern yourself with. There must be a second part of this project."-I looked at her in doubt.
-"We know that the Final Herrscher will possess the powers of all previous… And nothing should prevent you, as a Herrscher of Domination, from gaining its power, right?"
-"Technically. But I don't know to what degree. Let alone if one part of the core of Domination can contain such great Authority, the energy necessary to use it would far exceed the limit of what my Stigmata can provide. Why do you ask?"
-"What if we combined those two?"
-"You mean, rather than a supercomputer in the general sense, you suggest we reprogram my mind utilizing SWARA technology, turning me into that True Prometheus, then steal the Final Authority… First, contain all souls of humanity, then use the power of the Herrscher… You want me to start anew, to restore everything we lost in a new era."-My eyes widened; this plan was truly beyond ambitious or audacious; it was almost pure madness.
-"Yes. To steal the fire from god, and mold humanity anew; TRUE-PROMETHEUS."
-"What will happen to me? What changes would I experience?"-I asked seriously; I couldn't risk my existence here; no matter what, my home waited for my return.
-"I can't be sure."-She admitted directly.-"But I'll make sure no great change happens."
-"Empty words."-Mobius scoffed from the side.-"I can tell you what will happen: you'd stop being yourself and turn into an aggregation of all those souls. We already confirmed that souls carry memory; this is the core of what Stigmata is. No matter who or what you are, you'll get overwhelmed by them and then… There won't be Eno, only True Prometheus.
-"So the only issue is the memories?"
-"Most major, not only. Other two that came to mind would be the burden of all Stigmatas and the feasibility of stealing Final Authority, but those are much less compared to the first one."
Hearing Mobius point that out, I stayed silent to think about this plan. First, I obviously noticed the similarity between this idea and what happened in Camelot at the end of times; as I thought, history does repeat itself. But this gave me some certainty about the feasibility of this Project.
The issues pointed out by Mobius weren't that troublesome when I started to look at them. The matter of stealing Final Authority could be left for the future, while the burden of Stigmatas wasn't an issue for me. Even though I didn't possess my powers here, my soul was still the same soul I have outside, meaning it's constructed upon Azure Dream; carrying this whole planet wouldn't be an issue, let alone a few Stigmatas.
The only thing that made me hesitate was the issue of memories. Even one lifetime of memories would have an impact on me, let alone billions. Accepting them directly would be impossible, so I had to find a different way. The first idea that came to mind was using Hua's Key of Sentience to burn them away, and it was a good resolution, but the issue now turned into how long it would take to burn all those memories away.
With some quick calculations, taking Hua's usage of the Divine Key as the benchmark, the number I arrived at was in the high billions of years of burning away those memories. Even if it was possible, I had to have a way to contain them, and while I possessed knowledge of what could do it, I didn't have it here.
Looking at my left arm, I watched the superimposed Originium Glintstone, thinking if it would be possible to use it from here. I made many tests and experiments, but never found why it existed in such a strange state, so I had no certainty that I would be able to use it in this 'Dream'. Recreating Originium was out of the question; let alone knowing how, I wouldn't dare to do so, as it would only bring another catastrophe to this world.
So, should I take a gamble on whether I would be able to use its powers when I undergo the full SWARA procedure, or not?
-"I can't take such a risk without more certainty."-I shook my head.
-"Right. Sorry for bringing that up."-Mei showed understanding, not trying to persuade me.
-"I can undergo the modified procedure, but I won't accept any memories before I confirm that it'll be safe, so if you can divide the operation so that becoming Stigmata Terminal can be done after the SWARA operation, then I can agree to start this project."
-"Eh?"-Mei looked at me in surprise.
-"Eno!"-Mobius stood up, her face morphing into a look of anger.-"Are you out of your mind!?"
-"I only don't have certainty with those memories, but I know something that could give it to me. If I can achieve it after the first operation, we can progress with the rest."-I explained to them.-"And I believe that with you two working together, the SWARA procedure won't have any issues, so I don't worry about it."
-"You…"-Mobius held her forehead in annoyance.-"It's not like I can convince you otherwise. Whatever, but I have to be present during the whole process, and I need to approve it!"
-"Eno…"-Mei looked at me with guilt in her eyes.
-"Don't worry, I won't joke with my life, nor do I wish to sacrifice for others. This project can bring me more power I need, so that's why I agreed to it."-I looked at the screen where I could see that Hua started her fight with Herrscher.-"I can't stand sitting here and watching how others risk and lose their lives; being so powerless…"
Mobius and Mei looked at me in silence before smiling slightly.
-"I bet all of them are fighting while thinking something along the lines: 'we can't let you do everything, leave the fight to us'."-Mei shook her head.
-"Idiot."-Mobius just looked away.
The fight with the Herrscher was rather uneventful; with the advantage of the information and with some preparations, the plan was executed with no further issues. Leaving aside the property of negating Honkai Energy, the Herrscher's other abilities were average, and with Flame-Cashers training under the effects of my blood from time to time, they were able to react accordingly.
But even then, when the losses were counted, we lost almost half of the Fire-Moth MANTIS and close to 30% of what remained of the human population. This was the power of Herrscher; in its short three hours long life, it could cause so much destruction.
After this victory, there was no celebration, no parties or dances; only somber relief and the sadness for those lost. All MANTIS lost friends and partners in this fight; humanity shrank even further; there was truly no reason to be happy.
In whole Fire-Moth, morale was rock bottom; even some suicides started to appear; but it was nothing compared to the outside. Now, all but three cities were lost; the earth no longer belonged to humans; instead, it was reclaimed by nature under Honkai's watch. The number of Honkai beasts roaming outside the cities and Fire-Moth basses was too great to clear them; they would appear faster than we could kill them.
With so many people no longer believing in the victory, Mei made public some of our Future Era Projects, hoping that those would give them a purpose, and that somewhat helped. She also published our joint research on the Will of the Honkai, hoping to create an illusory enemy to unite everyone. Few people could understand the concept of what the Cocoon was, but revealing just enough made many see Honkai as not some all-powerful force, but an ability akin to those of Herrschers.
With that, a belief that no matter what happened, they would slay that 'god of Honkai' at all costs was born. This restored some motivation to people; even the civilians returned to their work, no longer just surviving from day to day. Truly, there is no greater purpose than spite.
After that, life returned to something that could be called normal. Most of our time was still spent in labs, continuing to make progress on our Projects. Project TRUE-PROMETHEUS pushed my SWARA procedure even further, and even further complicated the Mantra I had to create, but now, with Mei's and Mobius's assistance, the progress was much faster.
In just three months, our joint efforts managed to complete the whole Mantra. 1,365,000 syllables, that how many were needed to reprogram me. With that, the timeline for the operation could be set. Mobius insisted on taking everything slowly, pushing the date further back until we could perfect the Mantra and other elements of the procedure.
This led me to visit the training ground more often, trying to create a matching martial art to the Mantra. The importance of this martial art couldn't be overstated, as it acted both as a way to utilize the power one gets from becoming a SWARA, but also acted as a way to maintain the Mantra, strengthening the effect of Discipline.
Taking inspiration from Hua's martial art, the Edge of Taixuan, and with the assistance of Sakura and Elysia, I created a nascent style; it didn't have a name yet, as it was not mature enough for one, but it was a strong foundation for the future.
After one such training, Sakura and I decided to visit her sister, with whom I was already familiar. Leaving the military part of the base, we entered the residential area, quickly entering the house that belonged to Sakura.
-"Sister?"-A young voice called out from upstairs.
-"It's me. We have a guest, so behave yourself and come down to say hello."
-"Guest?"-She sounded surprised, but soon, sounds of hurry appeared, and not even ten seconds later, a figure similar to Sakura appeared at the top of the stairs.-"Ah! It's the Brother-in-law!"
She quickly ran down, jumping to hug me.
-"Rin!"-Sakura's face flushed instantly.
-"Full of energy as always."-I smiled and ruffled Rin's hair.
Rin just smiled and let me go after a moment.
-"I'll play with Brother-in-law; you can stay in the kitchen, Sis."-She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the living room.
-"You…"-Sakura shook her head.-"I'll make dinner. Please, keep an eye on her."
-"Sure."
Soon, Rin and I started to play a popular fighting game, talking about daily life.
-"Why do I have to go to school? It's so boring there."
-"You have to learn, not to mention, who would take care of you when you are home alone? Sakura has to work, you know."
-"I can take care of myself."
-"Having someone to take care of you is a blessing, Rin."-I ruffled her hair again.
-"Hmpf."-She pushed my hand away, focusing on whatever combo she was performing.
Sadly, as a responsible and serious adult, I wiped the floor with her character, not leaving her any chance. We played a few more rounds before it was time for dinner. I ate together with the two girls before it was time to leave.
Sakura walked me back to base, leaving only when Hua came to take over her guard duty. I watched her leave, then took out my communicator and contacted Mei.
-"Eno?"
-"We have trouble."
-"What's the matter?"
-"Check the recent Honkai concentration in the base."
-"Give me a sec."-Few clicks were heard, then a gasp of surprise.-"Those readings…"
-"It's Rin."
-"No…"
-"Contact Vill-V, and I'll bring Mobius. The four of us will be able to come up with a way to save her."
-"Eno. Both of us know…"
-"I don't care about knowing."-I interrupted her.-"We have time; let's not make rash decisions we will regret."
-"You are right. Let's meet in your lab in 10 min."
-"I'll be waiting."-I ended our call and made for Mobius's lab.