“What… should I do?”
It was a very simple questio most humans did ly know what the answer was.
Most of the time, they chose to be swept by the flow. It was an aimless journey with a goal far too generalized—such as living a “good” life, repaying one’s parents, and so on.
Anna’s dilemma could be thought of that. She went through ups and downs since her enlistment in Fire MOTH.
It started with an actal enter with the honkai, as most recruits did. Like Hua, she underwent a crash course before beio missions. Though, Anhe advantage of being ihe military prior to the recruitment. She was transferred from the military branch directly into Fire MOTH’s military force.
A few years ter—and tless deaths—she rose to her current position. She art of the senior officers along with Major Himeko and the others.
However, like the others, she had seen far too many—
Deaths.
Deaths.
Deaths.
“Was this what I wanted..?”
It slowly culminated into a rese of sorts. Anna saw her rades dying out in the open, all the while the higher ups kept making stupid mistakes. It was a huge waste of resources. Fire MOTH was riddled with problems reted to the cilors’ politics. The soldiers wore the yokes while the cilors reaped all the bes.
In the end, it turned into a sihought:
‘If everything ends… there won’t be such a thing anymore.’
The higher ups would no longer be able to abuse their authority for potential bes. There wouldn’t be any soldiers who would die an unjust death. Civilians would be able to have their peabsp;
Giving up was akin to having soce.
“Was this what I wanted?”
“Was this what I wanted?”
“Was this what I wanted?”
Buzz-!
Blitz-!
Sou-!
Anna didn’t have any time to react as the darkness receded. The feeling of her head being uer disappeared. Her crity returo her mind.
“...Ah.”
Cough-!
A siderable amount of blood came from her mouth. From being lightheaded, she became fully awake.
Although…
Anna started losing sciousness once again.
The st thing she saw was—
“Sleep well, major.”
—the calm gaze on the pair of purple pupils.
*****
Ding-!
Ding-!
Ding-!
…
Several notificati in Aleph’s ears. He put these achievements aside and focused oter at hand.
‘A third… This ption was high.’
He instinctively reviewed this battle. His main ption didn’t e from his Bck Fshes nor reversed curse teique, but his territory—Sphere Boundary.
Aleph’s “territory” allowed him to stop any form of phenomena alteration to himself. It was simir to a Simple Domain. The tter only worked on a Jujutsushi’s domain while the former worked on all situations. That was the reason why the fifth Herrscher couldn’t directly mess with his body. That became his biggest prote.
The ohat came after that was the reversed curse teique. The recovery of new cursed energy could simply not keep up with that, more so he still had to use cursed energy enha and Bck Fsh.
‘Satojo… Okkotsu Yuta.’
For once, Aleph wondered how these figures in Kashimo’s words were able to virtually have unlimited amounts of cursed energy. He could feel the limits of what he has now. Though he could enter a state simir to Satoru's "Six Eyes" through Elemental Sight, the load will be bore by his brain... which limits the duration of that state.
‘Either they have that strong trol... or they have that high of cursed energy reserves.'
If it were like that, they would be even more terrifying pared to Herrschers.
Sizzle-!
Aleph used the reversed curse teique. This time, it wasn’t on him, but on Anna. Her most serious injuries started to visibly heal.
Once again, he saw the wonders of this teique.
A thought immediately entered his mind.
'Wait a minute. If I use this... to heal my exhausted brain. Then, I should be able to st longer in that state..?'
Most of his minds were preoccupied by verifying that notion. The rest was left to heal Anna's wounds.
‘Alright. This should be enough.’
He didn’t choose to heal her pletely, only her “severe” injuries. Things would be hard to expin, for now, that is.
Sou-!
A silver figure blitzed through the airspad arrived before Aleph.
“How was it?”
“Everythi well. I made it look like the disruptions happened across all four areas.”
Vill-V’s proud voice came from the suit’s speaker.
“What about Mei?”
“News came on her side. Sakura hahem pretty well.”
“...Hm.”
Vill-V’s attention was then taken away by the unscious Anna.
“Would you mind expining?”
“It’s a long story. For now, there shouldn’t be any is that will affect Mei’s pns.”
*****
It was a straightforn.
After the MANTIS surgery took pce, Mei asked for a three month buffer time. She was to use the advantages offered by being a MANTIS to deal with the most annoying problem within Fire MOTH—politics.
During these three months, she id out tless baits attractive enough to elicit assassination attempts and the likes. In the end, Mei saved her life but lost numerous valuable assets such as fundings, leaked research results, and the likes.
heless, it was all but a preparation for the “main course”.
“Ugh… Bait…”
Psshk-!
A swift thrust of the bde ehe man’s life. It wasn’t just him. The surroundings were filled with corpses of men dressed in tactical gear. These numbered in the hundreds.
Amidst them all, the pink-haired girl walked forward. It didn’t take long before she arrived in front of a kneeling gray-haired man. He was in his thirties with several scars in his arms. His left hand was severed ly, drops of blood ing out from it.
“Heh. I see. What a py!” The man said with a huge smile. “I like it!”
The man in front of Sakura was the one responsible for her indu. He was the one who decided to utilize Sakura’s skills by subtly threatening her with her sister. At the same time, he was the one who ensured her sister’s safety.
Now, the tables were turned.
“You are pnning to eat it in one big bite. Aren’t you afraid of choking yourself?”
“That’s none of my . What’s certain is…”
Sou-!
Psshk-!
An arc of crimson red blood spttered uhe moonlight. The man’s head flew off from his body.
Thud-!
Footsteps came from ihe building, revealing the silhouette of a purple-haired woman. She didn’t seem bothered by the corpses on her feet. Though, she was still partially affected by the metallic st all over this pce. Mei did not let her expressions tell anything oside.
“It’s done.” Sakura stated ftly.
“Mn. ving them is up to you.”
Sakura g the headless body on her feet before looking at the man’s head. A plicated feeling arose from her. She didn’t expect her goals would be achieved just like that. At the very least, she trusted Aleph enough to keep his words.
She didn't expect that he would really brihe freedom she wanted.
Soon, only Mei was left in the midst of this sughterhouse.
It was a plete ce. The fifth major eruption(s) broke out when she was outside the first institute. It was a plete godsend to her enemies who sought to eliminate her.
What they didn’t know was that Kevin’s departure was a smokes. Sakura’s existence was Mei’s true safeguard.
“Everything is set in pce.”
She muttered as she thought of Aleph’s battlefield. Their fights were different, yet their goals were the same. It was all to give humanity a better fighting ce.
“As long as she vinces half… that’s fine.”
Thinking of Vill-V’s “iion” that could trol the ones in Sakura’s group, Mei saw a turning point.
“A strong front… and a united bae.”
The ideal situation started to take shape.
