"Elias, everything is ready."
"Mm, as expected of Vill-V. You actually managed to build such an amazing 'cage.' Hehe~ the Herrscher of Dominance are really in for it this time."
"Ugh~ If I were you, I'd cut her funding by ninety percent. She's built yet another ridiculously resource-draining structure."
Mei sighed and shook her head. With Elias providing her limitless resources, Vill-V had been running wild—creating whatever her eccentric imagination came up with. This time, she had pulled off another massive project.
Still, despite criticizing her for extravagance, Mei had to admit—Vill-V's sense of design was impeccable. The Herrscher of Dominance were about to face a true nightmare.
"Forget it, let's spare her this time. Now, how do we go about leaking your information?"
"If we just announce it openly, anyone can see it's a trap. Even if the Herrscher of Dominance take the bait, they won't all show up. There'll definitely be stragglers."
Mei frowned slightly as she spoke.
Fire Moth had already released the news that Elias had survived the critical stage, and the Herrscher of Dominance were naturally aware. Recently, they had been frantically trying to locate his position.
But perhaps because Fire Moth had handled things too efficiently—or because this generation's Herrscher of Dominance were simply too incompetent—they had yet to find any trace of him.
Mei had even considered publicly revealing his location, but that would be far too obvious and would surely raise their suspicion.
They needed a plan—something that would make the Herrschers believe there was no trap, drawing every last one of them into the net.
"Don't worry. I have an idea."
Elias patted Mei on the head as he spoke.
After days of rest, he had fully recovered—his eyes, left arm, and right leg completely healed. What's more, having absorbed a massive amount of Honkai energy from the Herrscher of Earth, his power had surged dramatically.
Currently, his baseline Honkai energy storage exceeded 70,000 HW, and his [Palatinus] resistance had grown severalfold stronger.
"Oh? You've got a plan, Elias?"
Mei blinked in surprise, though she wasn't worried—only relieved.
She thought to herself, while the sight of Elias in a hospital gown looking frail had been endearingly pitiful, the confident and powerful him was undeniably the most charming. With someone like him by her side, she felt there was nothing to fear.
However, Elias's expression turned oddly complicated as he sighed softly.
"Ah… but this time, poor Mobius is going to lose her mind."
"Hm? You mean Mobius?"
"…Yeah, Mei, after this Herrscher mess is over, make sure to increase her research funding."
As Elias spoke, he gathered his thoughts, silently praying that Mobius would be able to handle what she was about to hear.
…Ten minutes later…
"My dear little white mouse, what did you call me for? Don't tell me you've finally made up your mind to become my test subject?"
When Mobius heard that Elias was looking for her, she immediately dropped her experiments and hurried over, completely unaware of the devastating news awaiting her.
"Mobius, after we deal with this batch of Herrschers, I'll let you do whatever you want. But right now, I have something very important to tell you. Brace yourself—please, make sure you can take it."
Elias placed both hands on her shoulders, his expression grave.
Seeing his serious and solemn demeanor, Mobius raised an eyebrow, suspecting for a moment that she might have contracted some incurable disease.
"Hmph~ Elias, you underestimate me. There's nothing in this world that Mobius can't handle. Go on, say it. I'm curious what could possibly shake me."
Mobius crossed her arms, calm and confident. After all, what kind of chaos hadn't she already faced?
However…
"Klein is one of the Herrscher of Dominance."
"..."
"Klein is a Herrsch—"
"Stop! Don't repeat it!"
The moment Elias spoke, Mobius froze like a statue. For a few seconds, she didn't move at all.
Then, pressing a hand over her chest, she took several deep breaths—but in the end, she couldn't suppress the fury boiling inside her.
"Honkai! Damn you! Why Klein?! Why does it have to be Klein! You bastard! Bastard!!"
This time, Mobius truly broke down.
She knew Elias would never joke about something like this—so it could only mean one thing: her most trusted and closest assistant, Klein, had indeed been chosen by the Honkai to become one of the Herrscher of Dominance.
In that instant, all her composure shattered.
Anger, sorrow, despair, grief, resentment—every negative emotion surged within her at once.
If the Honkai itself had manifested before her at that very moment, Mobius would have used every means imaginable to tear it apart.
There were very few people Mobius truly cared about.
Elias and Klein were the two most important people in her world—so precious that she would risk her own life for them, even commit the most forbidden of acts.
Mobius walked the path of pursuing [Infinity], a lonely and endless road few could ever comprehend.
Elias and Klein were the only ones who understood her—the former walked beside her, and the latter bore witness to her journey.
To Mobius, the lives of everyone else combined still couldn't compare to those two.
However—
The two most important people in her life… Elias had nearly died days ago, gravely wounded by the Herrscher of Earth, and now Klein had been chosen by the Honkai as a damned Herrscher of Dominance!
How could she not be furious? How could she not hate it with every fiber of her being?
Mobius: "Damn it! Damn it all! No matter what it takes, humanity will defeat the Honkai!!"
In that moment, she swore vengeance upon the Honkai.
Elias gently embraced her.
He knew that, though Mobius often acted sharp-tongued and cold, she was someone who burned deeply for the few she held dear.
"We will, Mobius. I promise you."
"...Elias, I know what I have to do. I don't care about the other Herrschers—but don't kill Klein."
"Of course. And don't worry—long ago, I had Aponia implant the same [Discipline] that Himeko once received. Klein's consciousness won't be devoured by the Herrscher persona. She can still be saved."
Elias gently stroked Mobius's soft green hair, his tone soothing.
With Aponia's [Never forget that you are human] commandment active, even though Klein had been chosen by the Honkai, her human will would remain intact.
As long as that human self persisted, Elias could eventually restore her when he found a way to redeem Herrschers.
"...Thank you."
It was rare for Mobius to utter words of gratitude.
Without hesitation, she turned and returned to her laboratory.
When her gaze once again fell upon the small, pale-green-haired figure busily working inside, the softness and mischief once present in her eyes had vanished completely—replaced only by coldness and sharp hostility.
"Hm? Doctor, you're back already?"
The Herrscher of Dominance inhabiting Klein's body looked at Mobius in puzzlement, doing her best to mimic the real Klein.
But honestly, she was at her limit.
After all, Mobius's lab was a workaholic's nightmare.
It had already been five days since she took over Klein's body, and in those five days, she hadn't closed her eyes once—working nonstop without rest.
This Herrscher of Dominance felt like she was about to die of exhaustion.
She didn't even have a spare moment to chat on the Herrscher of Dominance' consciousness network.
"Doctor, you usually stay with Elias for at least half a day whenever you visit him. Why are you back in less than twenty minutes this time?"
"Hmph! Nothing. I just suddenly felt like finishing my experiments early."
Mobius's expression was carefully neutral, concealing her seething hatred behind a mask of calm.
She forced herself to resist the urge to crush the impostor in front of her. To Mobius, the body was meaningless—what mattered was Klein's mind and soul.
The one before her, though wearing Klein's face, was nothing more than a counterfeit—a Herrscher of Dominance who had crossed her bottom line.
As Mobius quietly planned how to "accidentally" leak Elias's location to this fake Klein—baiting her to summon the rest of the Herrschers for their annihilation—
"Um, Doctor, I also bought some fruit to visit Elias, but I don't know where he is right now. Could you… take me to him?"
The Herrscher of Dominance—Klein—spoke nervously.
Several days had passed since Fire Moth's announcement that "Elias has passed the critical stage," and now the Herrscher of Dominance were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
They knew all too well how terrifying Elias' power was.
He was absolutely not someone they, in their weakened state, could confront head-on. Their only chance of success lay in striking while he was still wounded and unconscious.
However, the Savior's recovery site was, without question, Fire Moth's highest-level secret. And after being thoroughly frightened by Dr. Mobius's brutal methods, the Herrscher of Dominance no longer dared to act recklessly. Thus far, they hadn't been able to locate any concrete information.
"Heh~ You really came knocking on my door, huh."
"Eh? Doctor, what did you say?"
"Nothing. You're asking for Elias' location, right? Others aren't qualified to know—but you, Klein, are my assistant. Here."
Mobius smirked, handing over the coordinates. "He's right here. Once you're done with your current work, you can go visit him yourself."
The woman sneered as she leaked Elias' location, adding a "friendly" reminder.
"Don't tell anyone else, alright? It's confidential. But since Elias is already past the critical stage, in another day or two he'll regain consciousness. When that happens, the Herrscher of Dominance will just be a bunch of ants waiting to be crushed."
"!!!"
The Herrscher of Dominance—Klein—trembled violently.
She swallowed hard, recalling Elias' overwhelming might and the fate of her fellow Herrschers who had been sent to Mobius' operating table in recent days…
(No, no! I have to kill Elias right now! If I hesitate any longer, I'm really going to die. I have to move now—)
She grabbed a soulium scalpel and was just about to leave her seat to "visit" Elias when—
"Klein, you haven't finished your work yet. You can't go visit Elias. Now~ organize this data for me first."
Mobius pressed her back down into her chair.
"D-Doctor, I haven't slept in five days—"
"So what? Didn't you once set a record of working three months straight without rest? Come now, let's push beyond that limit and see if you can handle four. Don't worry~ I have plenty of work for you. Enough to test how far you can really go."
Mobius smiled sweetly as she dropped a thick stack of data onto Klein's desk—then pointed to the towering pile of unfinished tasks beside it.
"Until you finish all of this, you're not allowed to rest, eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom~"
"T-That'll kill me, Doctor!!"
Klein's whole body trembled.
"Ah~ Don't worry, Klein~ With me here, even if you wanted to die, I wouldn't let you. So now… work. Harder."
Mobius's eyes gleamed with a mix of cruelty and satisfaction.
She had decided—this Herrscher of Dominance wouldn't be sent to The Deep End for containment. No, she would keep this one right here, in her lab, working endlessly, forever.
If they dared to turn her Klein into a Herrscher, then she would turn this Herrscher into her personal slave—no, her beast of burden.
And though the Herrscher of Dominance was weak, she was still a Herrscher—her endurance far exceeded that of a normal human.
Mobius: (A Herrscher, huh? Working 25 hours a day shouldn't be a problem~)
(Demon! This woman is a demon! There's no way I can finish all this work in my lifetime! And she's a MANTIS—I can't even fight back! What do I do now…)
The Herrscher of Dominance—Klein—shivered, regretting ever taking over Klein's body. She didn't want to become the first Herrscher in history to die from overwork!
And at that moment, she could almost hear a faint voice from within her body—the original Klein's consciousness, the one she had failed to completely consume.
(Klein: "Finally… I can rest. My work… is yours now, Herrscher of Dominance. Thank you for descending upon me. It's… wonderful.")
(Herrscher of Dominance: "Maybe… maybe I should just give the body back to you. Waaaah, when will all this work ever end…")
(Klein: "From my experience, I'd say it probably never will. Endless work—perhaps this too is one form of the Doctor's pursuit of [Infinity].")
(Herrscher of Dominance: "???")
And so, under the oppressive might of Mobius the Snake, this particular Herrscher of Dominance ultimately descended into an eternal hell of endless overtime.
Within the Herrscher of Dominance's consciousness network—
"According to reliable intel, Elias' location has been confirmed. He's on a small island base built by Fire Moth—coordinates xxxxxx. Hurry and get there! In another day or two, his consciousness might recover!"
The Herrscher of Dominance—Klein—barely managed to steal a few seconds from her overwork to transmit the location information she'd obtained, urging the other Herrschers to strike.
"Really? Can we trust that intel?"
"Absolutely! I paid a huge price to get this. Just go! I've got to get back to working for this demon—I don't have time to chat."
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
"Alright, sister, once we kill Elias, we'll come rescue you right away!"
"Please hurry—I'm begging you!"
Little did she know, the day of her rescue would never come.
Even when the human Klein was later saved, Mobius retained the Herrscher persona as part of her—and continued to make her labor endlessly… for over fifty thousand years!
...
Having finally obtained Elias' supposed location—
The remaining Herrscher of Dominance across the world immediately mobilized.
When fewer than eight hundred of them arrived at the coordinates provided by Klein, they found a Fire Moth base built on a remote island. The defenses appeared lax, almost suspiciously so.
"Wait, isn't the number of guards way too low? I count fewer than ten."
"Not sure, but since we're here, might as well check it out."
"Yeah, with our numbers, even if it's a trap, we won't all get wiped out."
"Exactly! And we can't afford to wait any longer—if Elias recovers, we're finished!"
"It's just a small base. What's there to worry about? Let's charge!"
But as the Herrschers advanced within a kilometer of the island—
The base suddenly began to shift and transform! Massive walls rose from the ocean, snapping together with deafening force, connecting, restructuring, enclosing.
Before the Herrschers could even react, they were all trapped within a gigantic labyrinth.
Then, a familiar voice echoed through the island's speakers.
Vill-V: "Welcome to—The Labyrinth of Domination!"
Herrscher of Dominance: "Ah… we're doomed…"
—
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