In a certain mountain forest in the far north.
Elias and Sakura were walking forward, the latter like a samurai serving her lord, leading the way and slicing apart every Honkai Beast in sight with Frozen Naraka.
"Sakura, shouldn't it be my turn to take point by now?"
"No need. I haven't expended much energy, and these Honkai Beasts are too weak to warrant your personal effort. Let me handle them."
Sakura turned with a gentle smile.
Like a pink cherry blossom blooming in the snow.
Elias couldn't help but stare. He had originally thought this icy land was a cursed place, but upon seeing the girl's smile, he no longer found it so unpleasant.
At the very least, it could serve as a backdrop to highlight Sakura's beauty and warmth.
"It's so good to have you here, Sakura~"
"!!"
Those words were a critical hit to Sakura.
She nearly lost her grip on Frozen Naraka, quickly turning her back to Elias to hide the uncontrollable upward curl of her lips.
Just one compliment from Elias was enough to make her feel her stamina fully restored. Her morale doubled instantly. At this moment, even if she had to face a Judgment-level Honkai Beast or a Herrscher alone, Sakura wouldn't back down.
"But let me do something trivial at least."
Elias snapped his fingers.
The Herrscher of Fire's power formed a ring of fiery light centered on him, instantly blocking the surrounding cold. Wind and snow were kept outside the circle.
"So warm."
Sakura marveled within the circle.
For fusion warriors, most environments posed little threat—whether extreme cold or even vacuum—but cold was still cold.
Now, she felt as if she were basking in sunlight, warmth enveloping her whole body, the snow and ice on her clothes melting away.
"Your ears were trembling from the cold earlier. Feeling better now?"
"You noticed?"
"Of course. The scenery here isn't much to look at, but watching you fight is mesmerizing. And I know better than anyone how sensitive your fox ears are."
Elias proudly reached up to grasp the fox ears on her head, curling them gently in his hand. Recently, whenever stressed, he found playing with Sakura's ears was an excellent way to relax.
The tender yet stimulating sensation on her head made Sakura's face flush, her body instinctively tensing, yet she didn't resist.
After a while, Elias finally let go.
"Thanks, Sakura. I feel much better."
"Mm… You're… welcome… Haa~ haa~"
Sakura's legs nearly gave out. If Elias had continued for a few more minutes, she might have needed a break before continuing.
"Still, we've been investigating for so long and haven't found the cause of the anomaly. Don't tell me it's another Vishnu Honkai Beast?"
Elias scanned the area impatiently.
The reason he and Sakura had come here was to investigate mysterious Honkai Beast deaths.
With Fire Moth now fully focused on defeating the Honkai, they had reexamined past intel.
It turned out this region showed a clear anomaly.
Despite having no Fire Moth garrison or Helixcraft hangar, every Honkai Beast entering this area was dead, and the Honkai energy concentration here was incredibly low.
This made Elias dismiss the idea of another Vishnu Honkai Beast.
While Vishnu was the only type of Honkai Beast known to kill and consume others, it did so to evolve—resulting in rising Honkai energy levels, not suppression.
"According to intel, this region has only one isolated village that still retains some primitive customs. Perhaps the anomaly is connected to them."
"Mm, you make a good point. Let's go take a look."
Elias nodded, already forming a suspicion in his mind. But he wasn't certain—after all, in the game, intel about the Previous Era was always messy, vague, and full of riddles… all thanks to miHoYo!
Incidentally, the reason Elysia wasn't brought along this time had nothing to do with Elias losing interest in her.
It was simply because Elysia was weak against the cold.
With Miss Pink Elf's current strength, she could handle fighting a Herrscher one-on-one. However, the last time she went up against Parvati, she struggled. Although she won without injury, she sneezed for two days afterward.
Elysia wasn't built for the cold—the type of girl who paid a price for wearing short skirts in winter. So for a mission to investigate anomalies in a frozen wasteland, Elias left her behind.
(Elysia: "I'm touched! I knew you loved me, Elias!")
As Elias and Sakura made their way through the snowy forest, they finally found the hidden village.
Whooo—!
A fierce blizzard suddenly struck without warning, dropping the temperature to several dozen degrees below zero.
At the same time, their Honkai energy detectors emitted piercing danger alarms.
[Alert! Alert! Rapid increase in Honkai energy detected! 1000HW, 2000HW, 4000HW… Levels still rising! Leave the area immediately!]
Elias and Sakura exchanged shocked looks.
"This is… a Honkai Eruption?!"
"And it's happening right in front of us!"
Honkai energy surged in the form of an ice-and-snow storm, sweeping through the area. When they reached the eruption's center—the village—the villagers were already frozen solid. In the wind and snow, their bodies cracked apart into crystalline dust. All dead.
Then a white-haired woman in black clothing, wearing a crown of ice and snow, appeared before them—her face obscured.
(The Herrscher of Ice…)
Elias' gaze sharpened, and he immediately pulled Sakura behind him.
"Sakura, your abilities counter poorly against hers. Leave this to me."
"Understood. I'll leave it to you."
The fox-eared girl obediently stepped back.
She wasn't the type to be stubborn. While the Herrscher's true powers were still unknown, her control over blizzards and ice was obvious.
And Sakura's own abilities—ice and speed—were perfectly countered, much like how Rita in the Current Era would be. She didn't mind; in fact, she felt sorry for this Herrscher.
Of all the places to be born, she had to appear right in front of Elias. That was suicide. The earlier blizzard hadn't even made Sakura, protected within Elias' flame ring, feel cold.
...
"Ice and snow shall be ruled by me!"
The newly born Herrscher of Ice danced in the blizzard.
As an apostle of the Honkai, her purpose was to destroy civilization, annihilate humanity, and freeze all things in eternal, unmelting ice.
Spotting the only two survivors—Elias and Sakura—she unleashed her power without hesitation. World-freezing cold rushed toward them, but…
"Herrscher, lament your misfortune. This time, you will have no chance to destroy the world."
The Herrscher of Fire's power erupted. Scorching flames clashed with the Herrscher of Ice's storm.
Elias drew a lance from his back. As he gripped the shaft, flames coated the weapon.
The Soulium lance began to melt under the heat, but it would last long enough.
"Human, I will freeze you into a statue."
"Come and try."
The Herrscher of Ice's power was temperature manipulation, while the Herrscher of Fire's was the control of molecular motion. In this moment, the clash manifested as ice against flame.
With his overwhelming advantage in Honkai energy, Elias easily pushed back the Herrscher's cold wave.
"The lance tip is ignited!"
Elias' Soulium lance finished charging. The armor around the guard opened, and red flames roared out.
If Elias hadn't gripped the shaft tightly, the lance would have flown from his hands. At the same time, countless sparks shot from its surface, bursting like fireworks around him.
They looked flashy and impressive—yet were utterly useless. Without a doubt, Vill-V's handiwork.
"!!"
Sensing imminent death just moments after her birth, the Herrscher of Ice intensified her output, preparing to unleash her full power and freeze Elias solid.
But then—
"You bastard! I'll slaughter you to the last!!!"
"What?!"
From behind the Herrscher, in the village center, an altar's ice sculpture shattered apart. A man wearing a wooden mask, his body covered in wounds and blood, roared in fury.
Like a mad king emerging from purgatory, his rage manifested as flames engulfing his fists. The terrifying aura he released rivaled even Elias' own.
For the Herrscher of Ice—another lethal threat had appeared.
"I'll burn you until nothing but ash remains!!!"
Kalpas' fury peaked.
Her arrival had instantly destroyed the entire village, killing everyone but him. Now, the only thought in his mind was to kill this Herrscher.
(So it is Kalpas! I knew it!)
The moment the Herrscher appeared, Elias had guessed this must be Kalpas' village.
But seeing the man charge forward, fists raised, Elias was startled—this guy wanted to steal his kill?! No way he'd allow it.
Kalpas: "Kneel… and die!"
Elias: "Flame Lance—CHARGE!!"
Herrscher of Ice: "#@!%￥%￥"
The Herrscher was utterly confused. Two blazing forces she could not freeze were closing in from front and back like bread pressing cheese, both delivering mortal danger.
She didn't know what to do—until instinct made the choice for her.
"Stay away from me!!!"
She unleashed her full power, centered on herself.
Temperatures plummeted toward absolute zero, as if space and time themselves were freezing. The ultra-cold wave crashed toward Elias and Kalpas like a tide.
Normally, no one could withstand this. Though she was newborn, the Herrscher of Ice was far from weak—given time, she could plunge the world into a new ice age.
However—
"KILL!!!" x2
Neither Elias nor Kalpas slowed.
Elias, bathed in the Herrscher of Fire's flames, pushed his power to the limit, completely shutting out the cold.
Kalpas couldn't resist such cold with flame alone—but with sheer willpower and his inhumanly strong body, he forced his way through.
Shhh!Bang!
Elias' flaming lance pierced the Herrscher's heart from the front.
Kalpas' fist tore through her back.
The Herrscher of Ice's face froze in disbelief. In her final moment, she felt only confusion.
Herrscher of Ice: (Why… why was I born? Is this what they call… landing and instantly getting killed?)
It had to be said—the Herrscher's spawn point was truly unfortunate. She'd spawned right in front of two super bosses, with not even a single second of newbie protection, and got deleted instantly.
After the Herrscher of Ice perished in frustration—
Elias and Kalpas locked eyes.
Elias' flaming lance, after piercing the Herrscher, now pressed against Kalpas' throat. Meanwhile, Kalpas' steel fist, having smashed through the Herrscher from behind, was aimed at Elias' neck.
"I think we can talk this out."
"Hah hah hah! Talk? Sure—let's use our fists to talk out your last words!"
"Tch, fine—then you can lie down first!"
Battle lust flared in Elias' eyes. He realized he'd made a dumb mistake—trying to talk with Kalpas in a berserk rage was even more pointless than playing music to a cow.
The slaughter of the villagers had driven Kalpas beyond reason.
The weakling Herrscher hadn't satisfied his fury, and now Elias was right in front of him. Both sides recognized—through mask or eyes—that the other was a durable punching bag.
Kalpas needed to vent his rage.
If Elias wanted to talk, he'd have to knock him down first.
So, to Sakura's bafflement, the two men immediately swung at each other. The Herrscher's corpse was sent flying by the wind pressure of their blows.
...
"Face my wrath, haaaah!!!"
"Out of your depth—go down!"
Their clash began—and instantly turned into a one-sided beatdown.
Half an hour later, Kalpas was embedded in the ground. His inner fire still burned, but his body had reached its limit and could no longer move.
The Herrscher's final strike had indeed injured him badly. Kalpas couldn't block the ice with power like Elias could; now, his whole body was covered in severe frostbite.
"Had enough?"
"..."
His mask was nearly shattered, revealing sharp eyes beneath. But as Elias approached, Kalpas stopped struggling, resigning himself.
When he closed his eyes, prepared to be killed—
"Hm?"
An indescribable comfort spread through his body.
Opening his eyes, Kalpas saw countless pure white flowers blooming across his form. In moments, they had healed both the damage from Elias' blows and the frostbite from the Herrscher.
"Mind your own business. I don't need your pity."
"Tch, such a sharp tongue."
Elias ignored the protest. If he hadn't played the game and known exactly what kind of man Kalpas was, and why he raged, he would have gladly kept pummeling him.
Now he also understood why Honkai Beasts kept dying here, and why the Honkai energy level remained low.
It was because Kalpas lived here.
One day, the alien Kalpas had arrived at this village. He treated it as his home, and its people as family, protecting them by hunting any Honkai Beasts nearby.
The truth of the anomaly was that simple.
Unfortunately, while Kalpas saw the villagers as family, they didn't see him that way.
These beasts had tied their savior to the altar's stone pillar, draining his blood repeatedly, believing it could repel Honkai Beasts and cure Honkai disease.
Kalpas could have broken free at any time—but because he saw this place as home, he silently endured the torture.
Until the Herrscher of Ice came and slaughtered them.
Only then did Kalpas break his bonds and exact furious revenge.
Elias: (Huh. Thinking about it that way, I almost want to thank the Herrscher of Ice. Wiping out those ungrateful villagers was satisfying—probably the only Herrscher in the Previous Era to ever do a good deed.)
"You think healing me means I'll thank you?"
"Doesn't matter. I do what I want. And you didn't think it was free, did you?"
"What?"
"Let me take a look!"
Before Kalpas could react, Elias did what countless Captains had dreamed of but never achieved—he ripped off Kalpas' mask and studied his face for several seconds.
"Hoh~ so that's what you look like."
Elias nodded in satisfaction, rating him on par with Kevin in looks, though still a step behind.
At that moment, the mask in his hand finally crumbled—it was only wood, after all. Burned by fire, frozen by ice, it was a miracle it had lasted this long.
"You—!"
"Relax, I'll give you a new one."
Seeing Kalpas about to flare up again, Elias immediately used his power to forge a new mask—and slapped it onto his face.
A Tiga Ultraman mask.
"Like it?"