"Back then, I made a promise with Sirin and Bella to meet again in the future. A real man never goes back on his word—I would never break a promise."
Elias said with utmost seriousness.
Welt was stunned on the spot. At this moment, he was completely certain that the boy before him was the Herrscher of the Void from back then.
In fact, at first Welt had suspected that maybe that bastard Otto had created some inhuman clone or something again, but now all those concerns had completely vanished.
Because even though several years had passed—
Welt would never forget the look in that Herrscher boy's eyes back then: so sincere and resolute, just like the color of his pupils, as if gold shimmered within them.
And now, Elias' gaze was exactly the same as before. He was still that same boy, not changed one bit.
"Is that so? Well, you're right, that's exactly how it should be."
Welt nodded approvingly. When a man makes a promise, no matter what, he must fulfill it.
"So? How have my girls been these past years? Didn't Cecilia take good care of them?"
"Don't worry, they're all doing very well, including your Judgment-class Honkai Beast."
Welt adjusted his glasses and sat down, recounting to Elias the life Sirin and the others had lived over the years.
After the Second Eruption ended, Cecilia brought Sirin and the others into the Anti-Entropy organization. She became an Executor of Anti-Entropy, while the girls… were originally going to be arranged to live as normal people.
But Sirin and the others rejected that idea themselves.
They stubbornly refused to live as ordinary girls and chose instead to join Anti-Entropy alongside Cecilia, training hard to improve themselves. Over the years, they've been carrying out all kinds of retaliatory missions against Schicksal.
Elias: "???"
Welt: "Especially that girl Sirin—her strength is nearly at S-rank Valkyrie level now. The rest also have A-rank Valkyrie strength."
Elias: Creak creak creak!
Welt was in the middle of speaking when he saw Elias gritting his teeth, gripping his precious figurine so tightly it was creaking in his hands.
Welt panicked immediately and hurried to explain further.
"Don't worry! They've been completely safe all these years! Not a single incident has happened. We absolutely did not make them do anything bad, nor did we ever intend to use their hatred to turn them into weapons against Schicksal—absolutely not!"
"Tch! I wanted them to live normal lives, and this is what I get."
"What can I say? They just loved you too much. And Schicksal hurt you so badly back then. When they heard about you being hunted down, those kids cried for days. Their eyes were swollen red."
Welt spoke with emotion.
Even though they were just a bunch of young girls—
The bond they had, forged through life and death, was undoubtedly sincere.
When Sirin chose to give up a normal life and officially join Anti-Entropy, Welt wasn't surprised at all… After hearing the news of Elias' death, how could they possibly go on living an ordinary life without a care?
To Sirin and the others, Elias was just that important.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was their entire world.
And after that, the girls' talents blossomed. In just a few short years, they had grown to astonishing levels.
Then came their relentless revenge against Schicksal—countless branch organizations of Schicksal were destroyed by them over the years.
"Your companion Judgment-class Honkai Beast, Benares, has hardly left their side, protecting them closely. Schicksal can't really do anything about them."
"Of course~ My Bella is super powerful."
Elias proudly placed his hands on his hips as he spoke. Back then, he had crafted no fewer than four Pseudo-Herrscher Cores for Bella, and even used the power of the Herrscher of Death to mold a human body for her.
With four layered Pseudo-Herrscher Cores on top of her base as a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, Bella's power was at least at Herrscher level!
It was practically guaranteed that she would break through the Judgment class in the future and reach the domain of Finality-class Honkai Beast.
With that kind of strength, unless it's an S-rank Valkyrie, no one can threaten her—and even an ordinary S-rank would be outmatched.
At the very least, Rita definitely couldn't beat her.
Even Durandal would have to put on her Dea Anchora armor!
Elias: "Oh right, Welt, can you beat my Bella?"
Welt: "Ahem, let's skip that topic for now."
The Herrscher of Reason awkwardly turned his head away.
If he really had to fight her, it would be tough. At the very least, he'd have to pull a few sit-ups before he had a chance of winning.
Welt could never forget the time he challenged her out of curiosity—he had just summoned Star of Eden when Bella bit it to pieces in one chomp, and before he could react, she was in close range dishing out a full combo that nearly forced him to pull off a sit-up comeback.
And it happened right in front of Einstein and Tesla. It was beyond humiliating. Welt quit being the leader of Anti-Entropy that very night and took a teaching job at St. Freya Academy.
"So, Herrscher of the Void, you came to confront me today just to ask about those girls?"
"That's part of the reason. Also, stop calling me the Herrscher of the Void. I don't even have a single core now."
"But you do have a little girlfriend who's the Herrscher of Thunder. What do you think would happen if Sirin and the others found out about that?"
Welt teased. Although usually a serious person, gossip is the number one human instinct—he was very interested in other people's love drama.
Elias' mouth twitched hard a couple of times. He didn't even want to imagine such a terrifying future! Besides…
He picked up the pen holder on the desk and threw it forcefully at Welt.
"Welt, let me be clear—today, the biggest reason I came to confront you is to chew you out!"
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Still asking? Look at what you've done! You've let all kinds of trash into your organization. That Cocolia in Anti-Entropy doesn't even know how to keep herself in check. The entire city of Nagazora was nearly wiped out by that vixen, you know that?!"
"Uh…"
"You're the leader of Anti-Entropy for crying out loud! Can't you keep your subordinates in line? Do you know that woman does nothing decent? Human experimentation, artificial Honkai Eruption, and she even tried to capture a Herrscher alive!"
"Cocolia seriously did that…?"
Welt was shocked, his eyes wide. He truly didn't expect that woman to be so bold behind the scenes.
And Elias' anger was boiling up now.
"Also, isn't Raiden Ryoma—Mei's father—your good buddy along with Siegfried? The man got thrown in jail and no one tried to help him! Do you know how terrible things were for my Mei during that time? She was even bullied in school!"
"..."
"All of that was orchestrated by Cocolia behind the scenes. And you probably don't even know—she's been colluding with some group called World Serpent. Your Anti-Entropy mecha tech has nearly been stolen clean!"
"..."
Welt's face grew increasingly pale.
He was even beginning to tremble slightly. He'd known that Cocolia had a bit of an extreme personality, but he didn't realize she had committed such heinous, despicable acts behind the scenes.
Human experimentation, attempts to create artificial Herrschers… How was that any different from that bastard Otto?
And now she's even a traitor leaking Anti-Entropy tech? Good grief, if Dr. Tesla found out about this, she'd explode—minimum of a three-hour lecture guaranteed.
"I'm contacting Ein right now to have someone detain Cocolia. We can't let her run wild anymore."
"Too late. I've already dealt with her."
"You killed her?"
"No, but what I did to her is definitely worse than death. What? You got a problem with that?"
"No, no! Nicely done!"
Welt quickly shook his head and gave a thumbs up. What kind of problem could he have? Cocolia really deserved it—no, she deserved a fate worse than death. Elias had done exactly the right thing.
"Sorry for causing you so much trouble. Sigh~ This time's just like the Second Eruption. If it weren't for you, who knows how terrible things might've gotten."
"Heh~ Not that terrible. Without me, a few hundred A-rank Valkyries would've died, Cecilia and Sirin would've definitely died, you would've died a few times over, and globally… maybe tens of millions more would've died."
"Uh…"
Welt's heart skipped a beat, his chest tightening as if a heart attack was coming on. Was it really that extreme?
Elias simply shrugged. If he hadn't existed and everything followed the original course of fate, then that's exactly what would've happened.
Thinking of that, Elias puffed up his chest in pride. He'd originally only planned to save a few people, but unknowingly, he had ended up saving tens of millions.
I'm amazing. Time to strike a proud pose!
"Anyway, I suggest you start doing your job, Welt Yang. Since you created this organization, take full responsibility for it. On that point, you should really learn from Otto."
"Even though over in Schicksal, that green-haired Overseer basically doesn't do anything productive, at least with him sitting at the top, no small-time crook dares to make a move."
Elias' point was clear.
If Welt hadn't been slacking off at St. Freya Academy, Anti-Entropy wouldn't have turned into such a mess under its supposed leadership. Cocolia's rise was the classic case of the tiger leaving the mountain and the monkey becoming king.
"Catch."
Suddenly, Elias' lips curved up slightly. He tossed a USB drive to Welt.
"What's this?"
Welt looked at him in confusion.
"Something to get your fighting spirit back. Once you see what's on it, you'll understand why Anti-Entropy needs a full purge—to clear out all the filth and rot, before it turns into an organization worse than the dark side of Schicksal."
"!!!"
Welt swallowed hard. He didn't think Elias was being alarmist. In fact, once he used the Herrscher of Reason's power to conjure a card reader and examined the contents of the USB—
This usually calm and humble Herrscher of Reason—
Now had veins bulging on his forehead, seemingly on the verge of exploding in rage.
"H-how could they dare!"
"Heh~ You ask that? They're villains. What evil thing wouldn't they dare do?"
"...Unforgivable. They even dared to defile the will of Welt Joyce! I won't forgive this!"
Welt clenched his fists tightly as he spoke.
The USB drive contained the clone project of the First Herrscher of Reason, Welt Joyce—a joint effort between Cocolia and the radical faction. Though that vixen was already gone—
The project had still succeeded.
Two clones of the first Herrscher of Reason, Welt Joyce, had already been completed!
The radicals even planned to use the clones in a coup within Anti-Entropy, making them puppet leaders so they could control the organization from behind the scenes.
"If someone doesn't hurry back and handle this, their own house is about to be stolen from within~"
Elias sneered coldly. Though he knew that what truly enraged Welt wasn't that someone was trying to steal his leadership, but that they dared to defile the will of the first Herrscher of Reason.
The files documented those two arrogant, twisted, and deranged clones—Welt I and Welt II—who didn't deserve to bear the name Welt at all!
Welt would never allow those two to act in the name and face of his mentor, doing anything that tarnished the name Welt.
"Thank you, Elias. Looks like I owe you another huge favor."
"Yup. By my count, that's about three times now. Sigh~ Can't you people just stop giving me headaches? You'd better tell me what Anti-Entropy is planning next. I'll help you vet what should and shouldn't be done."
"...Alright. I suppose for this matter, your advice is necessary."
After a moment of hesitation, Welt decided to reveal two of Anti-Entropy's upcoming confidential plans.
First, the recreation of the weapon "Moonlight Throne" recorded in Previous Era data.
If this massive weapon capable of converting Honkai energy into ordinary energy could be built, it would mark a major advancement in modern civilization's war against the Honkai.
"Hmm, the project sounds doable. Go for it."
Elias nodded in approval. Even though compared to the Previous Era's "Moonlight Throne," the version Anti-Entropy planned to build needed four Herrschers to power it—making it look pretty low-end—
It was still the "Moonlight Throne." As long as it helped and did no harm, it was worth constructing.
Too bad Welt Yang, as the Herrscher of Reason, wasn't strong enough. Otherwise, like Bronya, he could just whip up six of them at once. Now that would be satisfying~
"Aside from that, we also have a plan to activate the Eye of the Deep in The Deep. It's a Previous Era relic."
"We're planning to use the Eye of the Deep to open a passage to the Sea of Quanta and throw excess Honkai energy into it in order to lower the global Honkai energy level and reduce the frequency of Honkai events."
Welt then carefully explained what the Eye of the Deep was, thinking Elias might not know much about Previous Era tech or the Sea of Quanta.
But Elias immediately showed him what full-body quantumization looked like—right on the spot, nearly making Welt's jaw drop.
"Y-you, how did you do that?"
"That's not for you to worry about. Lucky for you, though. Lucky you told me about this plan, or I'd be congratulating you again, Welt—for walking straight into another colossal disaster."
Elias looked genuinely shaken, causing Welt to break out into a cold sweat again. Was it really that serious? Could this plan actually have such a fatal flaw?
"Listen to me carefully: whatever you do, do not use the Eye of the Deep to open a passage to the Sea of Quanta. I just got back from there not long ago. There's great terror in that place!"
"G-great terror? Details, please."
Welt gasped.
Elias then explained everything about Kevin.
At the same time, he finally remembered—originally, in the storyline, Welt Yang was peacefully teaching at St. Freya Academy until one day he suddenly disappeared.
Later, it was revealed that Anti-Entropy had used the Eye of the Abyss to open a passage to the Sea of Quanta, nearly releasing Kevin. In order to stop Kevin's return, Welt had entered the Sea of Quanta himself and ended up trapped there.
Elias hadn't realized just how close they were to that point in time. Thankfully, he heard about the plan today.
"In short, shut down the Eye of the Deep project immediately. Kevin Kaslana is a balance-breaker who must never be released. In fact, you might as well dismantle The Deep while you're at it."
Elias spoke with utmost seriousness.
With this, it seemed Kevin was completely sealed off.
The Cosmic Juggernaut was in Otto's hands.
The Eye of the Deep was under Anti-Entropy's control.
Herrscher of the Void, Kiana, hadn't awakened yet.
And then there was Elias—the only successful subject of the X-10 Experiment.
Of the only four known methods to open the Sea of Quanta in the current civilization, World Serpent had access to none of them.
Elias: "...Well, since you've got nothing better to do, Kevin, might as well go pick a fight with Su in the Sea of Quanta."
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