It turned out that money might not be the strongest power, but it was certainly one of the most versatile.
In less than half an hour—
"Miss Eden, on behalf of Fire Moth, I welcome your joining us. From now on, you are one of the council members."
Mei gritted her teeth as she welcomed Eden's entry. Her appearance of bowing to money left the Miss Pink Elf behind her completely shaken, utterly unable to understand.
"Mei, what are you doing, Mei!"
Elysia was panicking.
That bad woman Eden had come here for Elias! How could Mei let the wolf in just for a little money? Wasn't Mei also fond of Elias?
"Shut up, Elysia. You don't understand how tight Fire Moth's finances are right now! Do you think I wanted to agree? She simply offered far too much!"
Mei's face was filled with despair.
Did she want to let this obvious rival join them? No, but she truly had no other choice!
Right now, Mei was not just a scientist, but also one of the top leaders of Fire Moth.
If the Previous Era were compared to a kingdom, then Elias would be the war god king who could defeat Herrschers head-on, while Dr. Mei would be the grand strategist.
She had to be the calmest and wisest, maintaining stability and development at home while the king went off to battle.
It could be said that with Elias present, humanity had both the will and confidence to defeat the Honkai.
And with Mei present, Fire Moth would never make wrong decisions, always following in Elias' footsteps.
"I'm sorry, Elias, truly sorry. Our funds are really in dire straits recently, I had no choice but to do this…"
Mei hung her head apologetically toward Elias.
Leading an organization was not like conducting scientific research.
In the latter case, if funding ran out, she could just ask her superiors for more. But in the former, she had to allocate resources properly. And for a massive organization like Fire Moth, there were always areas lacking funds.
But who could Mei ask for money? After all, they were an organization fighting against the Honkai. They couldn't exactly point cannons at the United Nations and force them to cough up more funding, could they?
Well, actually, the United Nations couldn't provide money anymore. Fire Moth had long since surpassed all political organizations, becoming the absolute and sole voice of humanity.
They had already completed their overthrow of the old order.
Mei's current position was basically equal to humanity's leader, though she still had Elias above her.
Being a corrupt leader would be fun.
But being a qualified leader was exhausting!
Ever since taking this seat, Mei had been pinching every penny. Recently she had even revoked Mobius' unlimited funding privileges, cutting them down significantly.
(Snake very angry.)
And after merging with Helixcraft, although Fire Moth's strength had grown, the number of areas needing funding had also increased. Mei had been fretting about where to find money.
Then suddenly Eden, the super-rich lady, showed up to deliver funds—and her only request was to join Fire Moth and get closer to Elias.
Even knowing Eden's intentions, Mei couldn't refuse. There was no helping it—the amount offered was simply too much!
"It's fine, Mei. I don't mind."
Elias raised his hand and patted Mei's head. So what if there was now another stunning beauty eyeing him nearby? He truly didn't mind at all.
"By the way, how much did Eden give?"
"Fifty billion euros… and that's just the first payment."
"Hissss—!"
Elias sucked in a sharp breath. So this was the wealth of the Flame-Chaser with the Signet of [Gold]? Fifty billion euros as just the entry fee!
Eden smiled slightly, as if it were pocket change.
"Actually, I originally intended to buy all of Fire Moth outright. But you turned out to be even larger than I imagined. Even with all my assets, I could only purchase less than a third, so I had to settle for this instead."
"Buying Fire Moth? Only Eden would dare to think like that. The boldness of the wealthy really is overwhelming."
Elias' lips twitched as he laughed bitterly, while Eden shook her head. She too felt her wealth was excessive.
In truth, Eden had never pursued riches. She simply displayed her talents to the world, and wealth naturally poured into her pockets. (A certain Kojima explodes with envy.)
She also understood that no matter how much money she had, it was still just an external possession. Money was versatile, but it was far from omnipotent. For example…
"Elias, if I wanted to buy an entire day of your time, how much would I need to pay? Name your price—whether it's one hundred million, one billion, or even ten billion, I won't bargain."
Eden suddenly spoke up, the very picture of a domineering CEO pursuing a handsome young man.
"Uh, why so sudden, Eden? I don't really care much about money. As long as it's enough to live on, that's fine."
"…I knew you'd say that."
There were still people in the world unmoved by wealth. Eden gazed at Elias with satisfaction. No matter how many mountains of gold she possessed, none of it could buy even a single day of Elias' time.
However…
"Then, can I occupy one of your days? I'd like to invite you to my home, to have a proper discussion about art and music."
"Of course. I'd be glad to."
Elias agreed without hesitation.
Eden's eyes grew softer and more admiring. Things that not even tens of billions could make him agree to, he accepted with just a simple invitation.
In her career, she had seen countless people betray for wealth. Few could truly place their feelings above money. Such people were rarer and more dazzling than gold itself.
"Ahem… Miss Eden, about the fifty billion—when will it…"
Mei coughed lightly, reminding the wealthy lady to make the payment.
She herself had little interest in money, but reality was reality—Fire Moth needed funds to pay its vast number of members. She certainly didn't want to be strung up on a lamp post one day.
"Oh, don't worry. It will be transferred today."
"That's good. You're truly generous."
Mei instantly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the suffocating finances would finally be saved. At least next month she wouldn't need to cut Mobius' research budget just to pay wages.
Although it was frustrating, she really did have to thank Elias for drawing in this wealthy lady. But in truth…
Even without paying, Eden could still have joined.
In fact, Fire Moth would have begged her to join.
Because while Eden wasn't a combatant, she possessed something even more valuable than combat ability—her unparalleled fame!
In this Previous Era where the entire population were fans of Eden, Fire Moth having her meant they held the voice of the people. They were preparing to officially announce the existence of the Honkai.
Even with careful preparation, panic among the populace was inevitable. But if Eden herself spoke out to reassure them, the problem could be solved immediately.
And it didn't stop there.
Eden's voice could grant hope. For those who had suffered tragedy from the Honkai, the songstress with the Signet of [Gold] could grant them the strength to keep living.
Elias had already witnessed Eden's ability to stir emotions with her songs. If she wished, she could arouse whatever feelings lay in people's hearts—
Sadness, joy, will to live, battle fervor, and more.
Thus, Eden was essentially a wide-area support unit, able to buff countless people at once. With her around, Fire Moth would never again need to worry about unstable public morale.
Mei: "Honestly, Eden is way more useful than Elysia. We've welcomed a powerful rival… To balance things out, why not just expel Elysia?"
Elysia: "???"
Listen to yourself, Mei-chan—does that sound human to you?!
"Anyway, Elias is more than enough to deal with Herrschers. We now have more fusion warriors too, and with Helixcraft's mech armies, our military power is already excessive. So… cutting off the pink glutton who makes food so expensive wouldn't be a problem at all!"
The more Mei spoke, the more tempted she became. In the eyes of the strategist, her gaze glimmered with the cold light of absolute rationality.
Elysia was indeed strong—strong in every sense! But with their combat power already abundant and the situation of the Previous Era looking bright, whether this pink elf stayed or not hardly made a difference.
Now Elias, Kevin, and even Kosma and Sakura all had the strength to take on Herrschers one-on-one. So why not just dismiss Elysia and save the cafeteria an extra mouth to feed?
"Waaah, Elias, Mei is bullying me!"
Seeing herself being targeted, Elysia dove straight into Elias' arms, seeking protection.
"Uh… Mei, don't scare Ely like that."
"Tch, Elias spoils Elysia again. Just once, spoil me too… (muttering softly)."
Mei turned her head away unhappily. She thought today really was a bad day—not only had she failed to eliminate the pink elf, but now a brand new rival had appeared.
And somehow, Mei also felt deeply embarrassed.
So much time had passed, yet she still hadn't managed to win Elias over. For some inexplicable reason, she always felt this was shameful, though she herself couldn't quite understand why.
(Raiden Mei: "Pathetic! You wear my same face, and yet after all this time you still haven't claimed Elias. Not only did you not take his first time in this era, but not even his second—or maybe even third. What a waste of my face!")
In the end, thanks to sheer financial power, Eden successfully joined Fire Moth—landing directly in a council seat. Theoretically, she had even become Miss Pink Elf's superior.
In this timeline, the two could no longer be close friends. Eden, who in destiny was the ultimate Elysia-fan, had now become the ultimate Elias-fan, shifting her devotion from the Church of Ely to the Church of Eli.
Elysia had, to her sorrow, lost a best friend but gained a powerful rival.
After that, the pink elf stuck even closer to Elias, unwilling to leave his side even for a moment—afraid some vixen would jump out of a hidden corner to steal him away.
But the result was… she could only block the snake.
Sakura was quick enough to sneak her chances every time Elysia let her guard down for even a moment.
Hua, still thick-headed as ever, hadn't even realized her own feelings toward a certain someone. Whether she guarded or not didn't matter—in fact, even Griseo's progress was advancing faster than that of this flat-chested immortal.
As for Eden, despite being a superstar of the era, she never signed with any agency and had always been independent. When she held concerts was entirely up to her, so she had plenty of free time to seek out Elias.
And Mei… she too had been spurred into action recently, hastening her own attempts to win over a certain someone.
Incidentally, although thanks to Eden, Fire Moth was flush with money again, Mei still hadn't restored Mobius' research budget.
Mei: "It took so much effort to shave it down bit by bit. Restoring it would waste all that progress. Absolutely not."
Thus, the world where only Mobius suffered was completed.
Mobius: "***********"
...
Months later—
At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, a lightless prison was finally completed a few days ago.
Built with the full effort of the Previous Era's greatest genius inventor, Vill-V, it was the strongest prison in history. Even if Mark Defriest himself came, escape would be impossible.
Its name—the Deep End!
The entire prison was constructed of soulium, filled with countless weapons designed against Elias that had all failed in trials. It could be said that as long as one was still human, escape was absolutely impossible. After all…
This was a prison created to imprison gods!
And yet…
Boom—!
With a thunderous crash, the gate of the Deep End was blown wide open. A white figure escaped, relying on nothing but sheer physical strength to resist the crushing water pressure and burst up to the surface of the sea.
"Five minutes and thirty-one seconds. Escape successful. Elias, honestly now—how much of your power did you actually use?"
"…Seventy percent."
"I don't believe you for a second! You didn't even break a sweat!"
Vill-V, utterly broken, flung her pocket watch aside—only for Elias to casually catch it with ease.
"Are you kidding me?! My Deep End prison was designed to suppress even Judgment-level Honkai Beasts without issue—so why can you escape so easily?!"
...
Vill-V scratched her head as she studied the blueprints, wondering where the flaw lay. Yet though troubled, her eyes still burned with fiery excitement.
Her ultimate goal now was to construct a little black room capable of imprisoning Elias—lock him inside, then go in herself, and the two of them would never come out for the rest of their lives!
(Raiden Mei / Dark Seele: "A true soulmate!")
After undergoing the Meta-Morph surgery, Vill-V had completely mastered the ability of thought segmentation.
She split her consciousness and created personas besides her original self: the Conductor, the Magician, the Expert, the Occultist, the Flavorful, the Elias-Weapon Model-15, and Pure Evil.
A total of eight personalities.
The Pure Evil occupied half of her mental space, but even with the remaining half divided among the other seven, each still retained the level of a genius.
Elias had often sighed, thinking perhaps Vill-V's talent was the strongest of all. If she ever focused all of it in one direction, she might even qualify to join the Genius Society of that other world across the stars.
But recently, it seemed Vill-V had sliced herself again—splitting off yet another strange personality…
"Just wait, Elias! I'll definitely turn the Deep End into a prison even you can't escape from!"
"What's even the point of that? Honestly!"
Elias rolled his eyes. To lock him up? Even if it was Vill-V saying so, it was pure fantasy.
Forget that there was no material in the world capable of stopping him—even soulium he could shatter with a single punch. Just with the Herrscher of the Void's portals and quantum shifting, he was already the freest person alive.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Vill-V. You've done well enough already. I think the Deep End is more than sufficient to imprison Herrschers."
Elias spoke earnestly. At least for now, it could hold any Herrscher encountered—even the Herrscher of the Void.
For according to his advice, Vill-V had installed a device within the Deep End called the [Imaginary Interferometer].
This device could release a special electromagnetic field that disrupted the connection between Herrscher Core and imaginary space, twisting their "pathways" and throwing the Honkai energy inside them into chaos, making it difficult to use Authority.
It could be called a Herrscher's nemesis. Though against Elias himself the output was far too weak—after all, no matter how strong the Imaginary Interferometer was, it couldn't simultaneously disrupt seven Herrscher Cores.
"Thanks for the compliment, but it's only theoretically possible. We don't know if it really works—unless you bring me a Herrscher to lock up for testing."
Vill-V said it jokingly. In this world, those who could face a Herrscher head-on were few enough to count on one hand. And of those, only Elias had ever single-handedly slain one. As for capturing one alive…
Even she, with all her madness, had never dared to imagine such a thing.
But just then—
[Alert! Alert! Honkai Eruption detected! Honkai Eruption detected! The Sixth Herrscher has appeared! MANTIS squads, prepare for deployment immediately! Captain Elias, prepare to depart at once for North Ursus!!]
Elias and Vill-V both turned sharply toward the communicator. The former instinctively noted the time, then curved his lips into a grin.
"My great inventor, fix up the Deep End before I return. We've just been handed a Herrscher to test your masterpiece on."
"No problem! Leave it to me!!"
Vill-V was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Hoisting her tool kit, she leapt straight into the sea.