The day after the Ninth Eruption ended.
"Although we suffered heavy losses this time—Mu Continent was completely obliterated—the overall result is still surprisingly acceptable. After all, thanks to Elias, everyone survived."
"Yeah, I'm relieved about that too. Even if the land's gone, as long as people are alive, there's still hope. But resettling hundreds of millions of refugees must be a nightmare, right?"
"Of course. Just looking at the survivor list made me dizzy, so I immediately dumped all the paperwork onto Prometheus. Haha~ She's probably still working overtime right now."
Inside the ultra-luxury single hospital suite—
Dr. Mei was briefing Elias on the post-disaster summary of the Ninth Eruption. Although humanity had suffered an unprecedented blow—the complete destruction of an entire supercontinent—the unexpected miracle Elias created left no room for despair.
Instead, the world was moved and inspired. Morale in the fight against the Honkai was higher than ever.
Meanwhile, the number of believers in the Church of Eli had exploded. Once a small cult with only tens of thousands of followers, it now had over a billion—making it the world's largest religion.
After all, Elias had saved one-sixth of humanity. Anyone who had witnessed the white dragon's divine descent could not help but worship him.
Now, if anyone dared speak ill of Elias in public, they'd likely be beaten senseless by a furious mob.
"Many places have even built statues of you. Want me to show you some pictures?"
"No thanks! That's way too embarrassing—I don't wanna see it. Besides, I can't see it right now, remember?"
"…Right."
Mei's gaze dimmed as she looked at the boy lying in the hospital bed. Her heart ached.
The Herrscher of Earth's self-detonation had been unimaginably powerful. Elias' Cores were all damaged to varying degrees—especially the Herrscher Core of the Void, which was nearly shattered.
Because of this, he couldn't use his authorities for a while, meaning he couldn't rely on the Herrscher of Rebirth's power to heal himself. For now, he had to recover the old-fashioned way—by resting.
"Eli, I've finished cutting your fruit—ah~"
Elysia sat by his bedside, holding a plate of freshly cut premium fruit, feeding pieces to him with a smile.
"Mmm, tasty. Thanks, Ely."
"You're welcome~ Ah, I never thought I'd get the chance to take care of a hospitalized Eli! Don't worry, feeding you, wiping you down, keeping you company at night—I, Miss Pink Elf, can handle everything! For my beloved Elias, I'm capable of anything!"
She puffed out her chest proudly—but quickly realized the boy in front of her couldn't see the gesture.
Elias lay in bed, dressed in a white patient gown. His eyes were wrapped in layers of gauze, his left arm and right leg were missing, and bandages covered much of his fragile frame beneath the gown.
He was no longer the flawless, graceful figure of before—but that warm, sunlike smile of his remained unchanged.
For a moment, everyone in the room found themselves staring in silence.
The white-haired boy before them looked like a crystal—fragile, ethereal, painfully beautiful. His weakened state only deepened the contrast with the confident hero he once was.
Elysia, Mobius, Aponia, Eden, Sakura, and Mei all swallowed hard, an impulse rising within them—to hold the fragile boy tight, to comfort and protect him.
And maybe, while he was too weak to resist, to do a few things they normally couldn't…
"Oh? Then I want the 'bed-sharing service.' Come warm my blankets, soft-and-squishy cuddle pillow."
Blindfolded with gauze, unaware of just how dangerously attractive he looked right now, Elias reached toward the pink elf, trying to pull her into bed.
"Guh—!"
The pink elf instantly malfunctioned.
Watching the blindfolded boy fumble through the air until his hand finally found her, Elysia clutched her chest, feeling as if her heart had been pierced by an arrow.
(No, no! Calm down, Elysia, calm down! Elias is still recovering—doing that sort of thing would only delay his healing! For now, I must restrain myself… I'll just touch him a little. Just a little! Maybe add a hug… and a kiss or two!)
Elysia's gaze lingered dazedly on Elias.
An indescribably strong wave of protectiveness and possessiveness surged through the pink elf. If it was for the sake of protecting Elias, she felt she could even defeat ten Herrschers—with the power of love!
"Eli, you're just too… sllrp!"
"Ely? What's wrong?"
"N-No, nothing! I'm just a little… excited! I'll come over now, Eli, you—"
But before Elysia could crawl into the bed, several hands landed on her shoulders, firmly pinning her back into the chair.
"Elysia, calm down. You need to stay rational."
"Elysia, you can't handle Elias in his current condition. Let us restrain you instead."
"That's right. Besides, this bed doesn't look that sturdy. If you, uh, happen to collapse it, Elias might get hurt again, don't you think?"
"Please refrain from inappropriate behavior, Elysia."
Since Elias couldn't see, the others didn't bother hiding their actions. They worked together to suppress the pink elf, giving her no chance to make her move.
After all, Elysia wasn't the only one whose protective instincts had flared up. Eden and the others also burned with the same determination to guard the white-haired boy. And in their eyes, the pink elf was simply a mischievous woman looking to take advantage of the wounded hero.
Though, admittedly, none of them were much better…
"Uh, ahem! Anyway, maybe we should change the topic. How's the situation outside? Also, Su, you there? Can you teach me how to 'see' people with my eyes closed?"
Although his sight was gone for now, Elias' other senses had sharpened. He could clearly feel the battlefield of feminine hostility in the room.
On the other end, Su gave an awkward cough.
"Normally, you can't see with your eyes closed. Mine's something different—'insight of the heart.' It requires enlightenment."
"Tch. Blind man," Kalpas sneered, though for him, that was actually being polite.
At least he hadn't called Su a "cripple."
Meanwhile, Elias tugged lightly on Mei's sleeve. Her heart softened instantly as she said gently:
"Don't worry, Elias. Leave the outside affairs to us. Even though Mu Continent sank, both the people and our technology were preserved. The Eye of the Deep beneath the continent is also intact."
"Good… that's a relief."
Elias let out a soft breath.
Although Mu Continent was lost, humanity had only sacrificed a stretch of land this time. Compared to the original timeline—where one-sixth of the world's population died, key technologies were lost, and most ELFs were destroyed—this was a massive improvement.
Even so, Elias still felt like he'd taken a huge loss.
Aside from defeating another Herrscher, there had been no rewards at all! The Herrscher of Earth's Core had been completely obliterated, and the materials from that tantalizing Vipralopa-class war elephant Honkai Beast were gone too!
(Elias: "Damn it, Honkai! Not even a single drop this time?!")
Still, it wasn't the end of the world.
If not this time, then next time.
After all, Elias had already memorized the Herrscher of Earth's appearance, manifestation time, and location. Next time, he wouldn't give that thing a single chance to act.
...
Just then, Mobius slithered closer.
"Speaking of which~ my beloved little white mouse."
The serpent sat by his bedside, her fingers tracing lightly across his chest. Those hypnotic emerald eyes gleamed with intense curiosity.
"How did you survive?"
"…"
Elias' heart skipped a beat.
"I ran the numbers several times. The power generated from the Herrscher of Earth's Core self-detonation wasn't just enough to erase Mu Continent—it was dozens of times stronger than any supernuclear bomb Vill-V ever built."
Mobius spoke as she picked up a piece of fruit Elysia had sliced and gently fed it into Elias' mouth before continuing.
"Your artificial cascade may be strong, but there's no way you survived something like that with only your eyes injured, one arm and one leg missing, and a few broken wings."
"Uh, well… that's thanks to Misteln. She used her spiritual form to become armor and shield me, and she also used her power to turn reality into dream to offset part of the explosion's impact."
This time, the [Idea] Miss deserved immense credit.
Of course, Misteln paid a steep price—she'd taken on heavy damage for Elias and essentially 'died' once. But her consciousness had already returned to the fountain of rebirth—her Stigma space—and she'd be back to full strength after a few days' rest.
"Not enough," Mobius said, shaking her head.
Even if Misteln was powerful, even if the [Idea] factor was absurdly broken, it still had limits. By her estimate, Misteln could've only absorbed about fifteen percent of the total damage.
"Uh, that's, um…"
Elias scratched his head awkwardly.
Mobius really was too sharp. Maybe he should reveal part of the truth… or just come clean entirely.
He was about to confess—to tell them he was a traveler from fifty thousand years in the future—when—
"Never mind, I'm just teasing you."
"Eh?"
"Having backup methods to stay alive is a good thing. I was only curious. Still, just in case, come to my lab for a full physical later. I want to be sure there are no lingering side effects."
Mobius gently patted his head.
Of course she was curious about Elias' secrets. But more than anything, she wanted the man she loved to be safe.
After all, the serpent's ideals had changed.
Once, she had sought [Infinity] for herself. Now, she sought [Infinity] alongside Elias.
Perhaps he had already reached that distant, impossible [Infinity] she once dreamed of.
"Thank you, Mobius. I'll go when I can."
"Good boy~ I've also mixed up a few medicines for you. Maybe unnecessary for someone like you, but still—take them obediently. Don't worry, they're not bitter and have no side effects."
Mobius smiled, satisfied.
"…"
Elias was utterly stunned.
(Mobius, you're being so gentle this time! And… not even a hint of your usual sass!)
He suddenly felt that being hospitalized wasn't so bad after all. Everyone was treating him with such tenderness—more than usual, even.
And though his injuries looked severe, they weren't truly worrisome.
He was already using the remnants of the Herrscher of Reason's power to repair his other Cores. Once he restored the Herrscher Core of Rebirth's, he could fully heal himself in seconds with the power of Creation.
Even without that, his natural regeneration alone would have him mostly recovered in less than three days.
Because Elias' true trump card wasn't his Herrscher Cores.
Nor his MANTIS Meta-Morph factors.
Even if he lost all of those, he could still climb to the top of the world.
His greatest 'cheat'—was the Palatinus Foundation.
The perfect fusion of Kaslana's Stigmata and Schariac's Holy Blood had granted him the path of the Palatinus Ascendant—the same limitless growth potential as Durandal herself.
(Elias: "After all, Durandal's the biggest cheat in the series! Given enough time, she could probably end the Honkai single-handedly.")
It had already been over ten years since Elias arrived in the Previous Era.
In this era, where Honkai energy density was countless times higher than that of the Current Era and Honkai disasters many times worse, the growth Elias achieved through [Palatinus] was beyond imagination.
Aside from the "limitless growth through effort" cheat, the Palatinus Foundation had another ability: the more Honkai energy he was exposed to, the stronger his resistance became.
After fighting eight Herrschers of the Previous Era, Elias' Honkai resistance had reached a level that defied comprehension.
He could one day take Pardofelis' place and open the Cocoon of Finality himself. His body was practically immune to Honkai energy—an absolute insulator.
This overwhelming resistance was the key reason he survived the Herrscher Core of Earth explosion—it had rendered him nearly immune to all Honkai-based damage.
(Though honestly, even if my body had been vaporized, I still wouldn't have died. After all… Welt taught me all his sit-up techniques.)
He thought with amusement.
"A Thousand Ways to Do a Sit-Up — by Welt Yang, Professional Recliner."
Back in the Current Era, when Elias had led St. Freya Academy in alliance with Anti-Entropy, he'd learned more than a few tricks from Welt on how to "die and come back again."
The Herrscher of Reason might not have been the strongest, but he was definitely the hardest to kill.
Even if Elias were completely obliterated, he could hide his consciousness within his Core in the Imaginary Space and reconstruct his body using his authority.
After all, in the original story, Welt Yang had pulled off that move countless times—neither six-core Sirin nor the deranged Kevin could truly kill him.
(Heh~ At this point, other than the Herrscher of Finality, I'm basically invincible. Three left—Dominance, Binding, and Corruption. Easy work!)
Running through his preplanned strategies in his mind, Elias felt victory was already within grasp. His formula for success was complete—no unsolvable equations here!
"Eli, what are you smiling about?"
The pink elf tilted her head curiously, watching the white-haired boy suddenly chuckle to himself.
"Ah, nothing. I just thought of something that makes me happy."
"Oh, okay then. You should rest. We've got a few things to take care of."
"Eh? Ely, you're not staying with me?"
Elias tilted his head slightly, his voice tinged with gentle surprise.
"Uwah—!"
That simple motion and those words struck Elysia's heart like an arrow. She clutched her chest, feeling it skip a beat.
"I-I'll be right back! Just a short meeting! I won't make you wait long, I promise!"
"Alright then, don't take too long."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm!"
Elysia nodded rapidly, then immediately dragged the other Flame-Chasers out of Elias' hospital room.
...
The group gathered in a dimly lit meeting room.
Elysia stood with her hands on her hips, facing everyone below—Kevin, Su, Kalpas, Kosma, Mobius, Sakura, Hua, Aponia, Eden, and Vill-V.
Then, with a rare look of solemnity, she spoke.
"Since Eli's waiting for me, we'll make this quick. Everyone… we need to reflect!!"
"!!!" ×9
Kevin and the others stiffened, inhaling sharply.
"This time, once again, we couldn't do anything! We let Eli bear everything alone!"
Elysia recalled the image of the Savior White Dragon's broken form from yesterday—its tragic, beautiful sight burned into her heart. The pain in her chest returned as she continued:
"Elias isn't a god. He's just like us—a person. He can bleed, he can get hurt. And I… I never want to see him like that again. What about you all?"