Several days passed after that.
"Elias, Elias, are you free right now? I've got a big treasure to show you~ This is the greatest, most magnificent invention of the century, carefully crafted by this genius! It's a god-tier item countless people have fantasized about!"
Vill-V's excitement was palpable.
"Oh? The Eighth Divine Key is already finished? As expected of you, Vill-V—your efficiency is impressive."
Elias raised his brows, pleasantly surprised.
Ever since he had dug out the Herrscher of Sentience's Core and handed it over to Vill-V, the great inventor hadn't stepped outside for five days.
Now she had finally emerged from the Helixcraft workshop, brimming with excitement. Of course Elias guessed this meant the new Divine Key had been completed.
He was slightly amazed at her high efficiency this time. But before he could say more words of praise, Vill-V suddenly shoved a phone in front of him—its screen showing a spinning black spiral.
"Uh? This is…"
"Hypnosis App, Zeroth Power, start! Vill-V has altered your consciousness. From now on, Elias, you're mine! You must obey every word I say, and treat me the same way you treat Elysia. Understood?!"
Elias: "..."
Vill-V spoke with fervent excitement.
Finally! After working day and night for five whole days, the Eighth Divine Key—Hypnosis App—was complete!
Looking at the handsome, elegant boy before her, Vill-V's own eyes began to sparkle with hearts.
Just imagining herself receiving Elysia-level treatment made her nine personalities breathe heavily all at once. Inside her head, they were already holding a conference on how to divide up tonight's time.
However…
"Are you done fooling around?"
"Eh?"
"Who told you to make a Divine Key like this! Don't bring items from doujinshi into reality, Vill-V!"
Elias snatched the phone from her hand and delivered a sharp chop to the great inventor's precious genius head. She immediately saw stars, clutching her head and crouching down defensively.
"N-no way… Elias, how are you unaffected? My invention never fails!"
Vill-V held her head, unable to accept it.
After all, the Zeroth Power of a Divine Key was theoretically equivalent to a full-force strike from a Herrscher. Caught off guard, anyone in this world should have succumbed.
In fact, Vill-V had already tested it on herself.
Before using the app on Elias, several of her personalities had tried it on [Yandere]. Now [Yandere] had fallen into a state of mental suggestion… well, she'd become even more dangerous, her thoughts more extreme!
If before she was just a bomb, now [Yandere] had become a nuclear warhead—and one that could explode at any time.
She was now completely out of control.
But that was only a mistake in her instructions. The Hypnosis App as a Divine Key really did work, which was why Vill-V had been so eager to try it on Elias.
And given Elias' personality—never guarding himself against his own allies—their success rate should have been extremely high.
Yet the result was…
"With Misteln here, any mental control ability affecting me would be a miracle! Now lift your rear!"
"Eh? W-wait, already? I haven't prepared myself mentally yet. Elias, what are you going to do?!"
"Vill-V, are you ready to repent?"
Elias said this as he pinned the unrepentant inventor across his lap, lifted her skirt, and brought his right hand down hard on the brown leather shorts covering her backside.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Wait! Elias, this is really…"
"This is the punishment you deserve—for trying to control my mind. You've gone too far this time, Vill-V. Take your spanking quietly. Oh? Still trying to run? Still struggling? Good. It seems you haven't realized your mistake yet."
As Elias spoke, his hand came down even harder.
"Waaah! Aaah! Aaaahhh!"
Vill-V's screams grew louder with each strike, tears flying from her eyes. Good thing she was a fusion warrior—otherwise, with Elias' physical strength, a slap from him could turn rock into powder.
Though Vill-V's cries were truly miserable…
This time Elias had no intention of letting her off easily.
"Remember this lesson well. There mustn't be a next time."
"Y-yes…"
"Louder."
"Yes, yes! I was wrong, I'm sorry!"
Hearing Vill-V's loud, unashamed admission of guilt, Elias finally nodded in satisfaction.
His great inventor possessed the power to change the world. If she focused her talents in the right direction, she might even surpass Dr. Mei and reach the pinnacle of human intellect!
But precisely because of that, Elias had to guide her talent properly. He absolutely couldn't let Vill-V turn into some kind of evil inventor. Yet…
"Hehehe… ghehehe… h-harder…"
After a while Vill-V lay across Elias' lap, trembling all over, wearing a rather dangerous expression.
"Hentai!"
Elias raised an eyebrow, unable to stop himself from cursing.
"Ehehe~"
Vill-V shuddered again, even more excited.
(Ah, being looked at with garbage-disposal eyes by Elias feels so good. Ehehe~)
At this moment the Yandere personality was online.
Vill-V's inner conference had already descended into chaos.
Magician: (Ahhhh we're done for! She's ruining our image!)
Conductor: (Expert! Where's the Expert! Start developing a time machine immediately! We must go back and stop the birth of [Yandere]/this black history!)
Expert: (I'm working on it! Damn it! Why did you let this pervert out? Just to embarrass us in front of Elias?!)
Self: (I'm sorry! I never should have split her off! Stop right now, Yandere!)
Magician: (So it was you, Self! Yandere my ass! She's turned into a full-on pervert! Ahhh Vill-V/I'm finished!)
Just imagining having a genius-level pervert as a new resident in their mind—with higher permissions, no less—filled Vill-V with despair.
Expert: (Forget the time machine. I'll invent a consciousness-transfer device first. I can't stay in this brain anymore…)
In the end, Elias knocked Vill-V unconscious.
He figured maybe she had been under too much pressure lately and had some mental issues. With proper rest, she should return to the great inventor he knew.
If not, he'd have to send her to Mobius' lab and pay the heavy price of side effects to see if there was any remedy.
"Eh~ This kind of thing should really stay in doujinshi. Otherwise, if it draws the attention of the censors, we're doomed."
Elias said as he crushed the so-called artifact countless people had dreamed of, then pried the gray-black Herrscher Core of Sentience out of the phone.
"Actually, it's not like I absolutely need Vill-V to make a Divine Key. I can handcraft one myself."
Muttering to himself, Elias activated the authority of the Herrscher of Reason and constructed a pseudo Fenghuang Down.
Then he inserted the mental gem into it, and instantly it was no longer "pseudo."
After all, the only difference between a true Divine Key and a pseudo one was the addition of a Herrscher Core.
Now, with the Herrscher Core of Sentience, the Fenghuang Down Elias had crafted by hand could truly be called the real thing.
In fact, the app's functions were already encompassed by Fenghuang Down—only with even more variety. In a way, it was just a change of appearance. Both were fundamentally mental-control tools…
"Mm, I'll find a chance to hand this over to Hua later."
Thinking thus, Elias stored away the Fenghuang Down.
The ultra-variation factor of the Judgment-level Honkai Beast Garuda had granted Hua incredible regenerative abilities.
If one day she were to reach that stage with Elias, she might be the only woman who wouldn't require his Herrscher of Rebirth powers to assist her.
But this overwhelming regenerative ability primarily acted on her brain cells (or perhaps her chest, who knew), allowing Hua to retain every memory without ever forgetting.
And as a MANTIS, Hua would one day possess an unimaginably long lifespan. Those unforgotten memories would continue to accumulate endlessly, eventually exceeding the capacity of her brain and causing harmful effects.
Fenghuang Down could help her store excess memories, sparing her that burden. But that was only part of the reason. The more important reason was…
"Leaving Fenghuang Down in anyone else's hands would be too dangerous. There's a high chance it would become an indecent tool. Only putting it in the hands of the most honest person can give peace of mind."
Elias spoke solemnly to himself.
Truth be told, even he wasn't entirely confident he wouldn't misuse Fenghuang Down's powers. After all, when his brakes called "rationality" occasionally failed, he would also find ways to pursue Sakura.
Handing it to Elysia was absolutely impossible—Miss Pink Elf was hardly proper herself.
Mobius was even more dangerous—Snake was the very definition of a high-risk element.
Even giving it to Sakura wasn't reassuring. Though she usually acted like an honest person, when it came to matters involving Elias, this pink fox would immediately reveal her true fox nature and sneak around without hesitation.
"Mm, in the end Hua really is the most reliable."
Elias thought of everyone he knew, and still found Hua the most suitable. She was simply too honest! How she would one day pull off "scamming her own daughter" was beyond him.
...
After the Eighth Herrscher was successfully contained, humanity once again entered a period of respite. Taking advantage of this, Fire Moth pushed forward with development.
The [Project Chimera] officially began.
The [Holy Blade Durandal] was nearing completion.
The [Project ELF/Equipment: Living Form] had been set in motion.
And unlike in the original history, Elias also proposed a revised version of the [Project STIGMA].
But to his surprise, this revised project was unanimously rejected. The reason given was the same across the board—there was no need.
Mei: "With you here, Elias, is there any reason to pin hope on a future civilization with the [Project STIGMA]? We all know you'll lead us to victory against the Honkai."
Elias: "Uh…"
Because Elias had been too reliable, the Previous Era was now entirely free of pessimism.
Though each Herrscher was indeed stronger than the last, and global Honkai energy concentrations were rising by the day, everyone believed Elias would lead them to triumph.
So these pessimistic future-hope plans were dismissed by everyone as needless worry from their savior.
For that reason, the [Project EMBER], [Project ARK], and [Project VALUKA] were never even proposed.
Some time ago, Vill-V had indeed created the Second Divine Key—Cosmic Juggernaut—based on Elias' suggestion.
Sometimes Elias would remove his Herrscher Core of the Void and mount it inside. Then Mei would borrow Cosmic Juggernaut as an "otherworldly telescope," using it purely for research.
As for observing other civilizations to learn how they fought Honkai? Mei scoffed—when had a top student ever asked a failing one for help with homework?
Still, due to Elias' insistence, research into stigmata technology did begin. The very first stigmata created was the [Herrscher of Death Stigma], born from Sheele's memories.
In time, with more research, the engravings of the Flame-Chasers could surely be developed as well.
All in all, everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion. The situation of the Previous Era was looking very bright.
Since combat power was now more than sufficient, Elias no longer needed to sortie every day to hunt down high-level Honkai Beasts. As everyone said, he only needed to conserve his strength for fighting Herrscher-level enemies.
So Elias tossed the Judgment of Shamash to Kevin. That white-haired husky immediately went wild—shouting Shamash Assault! over ten times in a single day, nearly draining himself dry.
Kevin: "So refreshing~! This Divine Key with its own BGM is way too hype! The more I fight, the more I can't stop myself from unleashing Shamash Assault!"
Elias: "Though it's not Might of An-Utu, only the normal greatsword mode, being able to unleash Shamash Assault ten times in a row even before undergoing the Chimera Project—Kevin, you truly are Kevin. Not bad, not bad. Your dad is very proud."
Kevin: "Shut it! Now I'm also a fire greatsword upperman! Elias, dare to fight me again in the training grounds?!"
Elias: "Inflating already? I just praised you and you're already swelling with pride. Fine then, I'll deflate you and show you what the difference really is."
That very day, the two of them demolished half of Fire Moth's base. Kevin, believing himself invincible with Judgment of Shamash in hand, was frozen into an ice sculpture by Elias' Herrscher of Ice powers.
Since becoming a MANTIS with the power of Parvati, this was the first time Kevin truly understood what "cold" meant. He even caught a cold and needed a full day to recover.
Elias sat at Kevin's bedside that day, eating his offerings right in front of him.
Kevin: "Achoo! I don't accept this! Elias, how can you be so strong without even using Shamash? You're cheating! And leave me some fruit, you bastard!"
Elias: "What's wrong with eating a bit of your fruit? Kevin, you're still too naive. The reason a sword can be called my weapon is because only I can break it with my own hands. Even if Shamash's flames can burn all things, I can still freeze them. If you can't reach that level, you're unworthy of being the wielder of Judgment of Shamash."
Elias shook his head, speaking seriously.
To perfectly master one's weapon—that was what every warrior should strive for. No matter how powerful the Judgment of Shamash was, in the end it was still just a weapon.
A man cannot be strong because of a weapon. If so, that strength is nothing more than a false illusion.
In truth, even if Elias lost all his Herrscher Cores, he would still be humanity's strongest. Even if he fought only with fusion warrior power against a self with seven Herrscher Cores, though he could not win, he still had a thirty percent chance of mutual destruction.
"…Elias, I will surpass you one day!"
Kevin bit through his thermometer with his teeth, clenching his fist with determination.
"Haha~ Good, Kevin. But I won't be standing still waiting for you. At your current pace, you might need fifty thousand years to catch up to me."
Elias chuckled softly. Honestly, he felt like he was already ready to take on the demon kings—no, the archfiends.
"Tch! We'll see!"
Kevin's eyes burned with persistence. He loved challenging Elias, but not out of resentment—rather, it was like chasing after his idol.
In this war between humanity and the Honkai—
Elias was the one standing at the very front.
And in any war, it always starts with one man standing tall, and countless others following him into battle. Kevin was one of those who followed.
Because Kevin had fought side by side with Elias, had witnessed with his own eyes how the white-haired boy reversed despair time and again, he had made Elias his goal to pursue.
For after all, boys always yearn for heroes.
And Elias was the brightest hero of this era.