Twenty hours later, I helped Mobius out of the surgery room. Everyone surrounded us with hopeful eyes, waiting for the outcome.
-"The surgery was a success, and Griseo is now in a stable state. We still need about three days to observe if any rejection occurs, but with the compatibility as high as hers, it's unlikely."-I spoke in a calm voice, conveying the good news.
When others heard it, everyone erupted in cheers even greater than after defeating Herrscher. Eden and Mei ran forward to hug me, with Mobius ending up sandwiched in between. Sakura followed soon after them, and even Hua defeated her inner shyness and embraced me.
But after being squished for a fourth time, Mobius finally had enough and gave all of them a piece of her mind. In the end, she dragged me to her lab to rest, and, as we were already there, to 'compensate' her. By the time I walked out of her lab, the Griseo's observation period had already ended, and she was awake.
I went directly to visit her and found her painting with Ato watching over her. Noticing me walk in, the man stood up and came to my side, hugging me as tightly as he could.
-"Thank you, Eno. Thank you."-He muttered while trying to not cry.
-"There is no need for that. Griseo is important to all of us, like a little sister of the whole Fire-Moth."-I patted his back to calm him down.
-"As a father, I have to thank you. You saved my daughter, my entire world."-He didn't budge.
-"Then I accept your gratitude, Senior Ato."
-"As you should."-He let me go, his eyes red from fighting back tears.
-"Papa is silly."-Griseo commented while looking at us.
-"Yes."-Ato smiled foolishly at his daughter.
-"How are you, little Griseo?"
-"I'm good, Brother Eno."-She put down her paintbrush and canvas, patting the side of the bed to show me where to sit.
I approached her and sat where she wanted me to. As soon as I did, she used her short arms to hug me tightly.
-"Thank you, Brother Eno."-She muttered softly.
-"It's good that you are safe."-I smiled and patted her head.
-"Mhmm."-She hummed in agreement.
I sat there as long as she wanted me to, ignoring the increasingly jealous and envious gaze drilling into my back. Only when the nurse appeared and told us the diner would be served shortly did little Griseo let go of me. I spoke a few more words with her and decided it was time to leave, but as I turned away, she called out one more time.
-"Brother Eno."
-"Yes?"
-"I want to marry Brother Eno like Sister Eden or Aunt Mobius when I grow up."
-"What!?"-Certain daughter slave father exploded after hearing that.
I just looked at her and smiled.
-"You are a little too young to make such decisions. Wait until you grow up."
-"Mhmm. But Brother also has to wait for me to grow up."
I just shook my head in amusement and exasperation.
-"Just grow up safely and healthy."
After that, I left the room and decided to run from the infirmary as quickly as I could, just in case some rabid 'silly papa' decided to take a child's words too seriously.
The next three months passed rather uneventfully. Some time after Griseo's recovery, Mei visited the Deepest Place and made an offer to Kalpas and Aponia. In exchange for becoming MANTIS and joining Fire-Moth, their crimes will be pardoned after the end of their service. Though reluctantly in Kalpas's case, both agreed to this and, not long after, underwent their surgeries.
Both survived and gained power that fit them well. Aponia strengthened her Discipline, becoming one of the most feared MANTIS in the whole Fire-Moth. Kalpas, on the other hand, gained strength great enough to rival Kevin, which resulted in the two of them often fight… training together.
Following that, Aponia joined my Project SWARA and helped us to create a prototype of a Mantra. It had precisely a hundred commands, each 'recorded' as an abstract, phonological syllable, which cannot be recorded, only passed orally to work. With this proof of concept, I approached Mobius to create a modified MANTIS operation that included modifications which will assist in fully unleashing power as SWARA.
As for who will undergo it: Hua. She was already on the list for the future surgery, and now that the genome fitting her was found, she only needed to wait for her turn. So, while three of us finished preparing Mantra fitted specially for Hua, Mobius prepared the modified surgery plan.
To be honest, I was somewhat worried for Hua, as even with all our experience in MANTIS surgeries, it still only had about a 15% success rate, and with additional modifications, it'll only be lower. But Hua herself strongly requested to proceed, saying that she wanted to help everyone.
On the subject of motivations, I also asked her what 'obsession' she used as a core of the Discipline's precepts. I was expecting something along the lines of destroying Honkai or saving this world, but to my surprise, she answered that it was her wish to guard me. She explained that I saved her twice when she was most desperate, and she didn't want to ever experience this feeling; thus, she desired power. But power for power's sake was something she, as a martial artist, looked down upon, so she turned her motivation into gratitude and a wish to repay me with her life.
Seeing her so serious like that, I couldn't deny her wish, and as I already planned to recruit her and Sakura as my Knights, I decided to agree. So, when the day of the operation arrived, what I saw on the operating table wasn't a stranger, nor just an acquaintance or a friend; it was my person.
With all the modifications, the surgery lasted for ten hours, during which Aponia recited the now 462-syllable-long Mantra over and over as Mobius and I worked with our ears plugged. But we overcame those impediments and succeeded in completing the operation. Hua woke up an hour later, and after three days of observation, she was discharged from the infirmary.
Hua's Honkai genome came from a beast named Garuda, which granted Hua both immortality and regeneration, making her unkillable in any conventional way. Only something like shattering her soul could kill her now. Aside from that, she now possessed hyperthymesia, or Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory.
An ability to clearly remember everything that she experienced, as if her memory became a hyper-specific autobiography. While at first glance it might appear as a great boon, in truth it's a curse that will make you relive your past over and over again. Factoring in her immortality, it was outright horrifying to think what future awaited her.
As such, I quickly consulted Vill-V, and together we created a Divine Key from the 8th Herrscher Core, a weapon capable of burning one's memory in exchange for power. Not only did it allow Hua to have a powerful trump card, but it also gave her a way to solve her hyperthymesia.
While I was trying to prevent a tragic future from happening, Hua quickly adapted to her new abilities, even leveraging her new memory to have Mei send her for training to learn how to be a proper secretary for me. While she was still short compared to powerhouses like Kevin, Kaplas, or Sakura, she still jumped into the ranks of the strongest.
On the subject of powerhouses, lately Elysia started to organize something on her own. She called it the Flame-Chasers, a gathering of the strongest MANTIS. Aside from her, she invited Kevin, his deputy Kosma, Mobius, Sakura, Su, Kalpas, Aponia, Vill-V, Eden, even little Griseo, and our previous temp guide, Pardofelis, were invited. Now that Hua also joined their ranks, our whole circle, aside from Mei and me, was part of her little club.
When asked why she didn't invite us two, Elysia responded that Flame-Chasers are purely a combatant group, while two of us have no business to be on the battlefield. She also told me, and I quote: 'Mei is the leader of Fire-Moth; thus she is the leader of us Flame-Chasers. And you, you are the flame we are chasing.' When I asked her to explain, she just smiled and escaped, leaving me to ponder what she exactly meant.
I mention it as it's connected to a Project Elysia proposed to Vill-V and Mei. Project Elysium, a training ground created from memory constructs of Fire-Chasers. Surprisingly, it got approved, and it's already partly completed, though I never saw it in person. I only learned about it when Elysia came to borrow my Key of Revelation to create said memory constructs. She returned it shortly after, even giving me some self-made cookies as a thank you.
-"Quite good."-I commented after trying one.-"The consistency could be a bit better, and a bit more sugar would also make it even nicer."
-"Mou! How can you give such a response to a gift from a beautiful girl?"-Elysia pouted in aggravation.
-"It's the truth."-I shrugged.-"Better to receive the truth than lies."
-"Hmpf. I'm angry! Cheer me up."-She turned away and crossed her arms to show how angry she was.
-"Sigh. It's my fault; your cookies are delicious."
-"Of course they are; I made them myself!"-She instantly switched to acting proud.-"But I won't forgive you that easily. You have to promise me one thing."
-"What will that be?"-I asked first, just to be safe.
-"Tomorrow, we'll go together to the city on a date!"-Elysia put her hands behind her back and leaned toward me, accenting her already beautiful curves even further, as if in an attempt to charm me and act cute.
-"Sure, I don't have anything planned for tomorrow as of yet."-I decided to agree, as it would be easier than dealing with an annoyed Elysia.
-"Then I'll be waiting for you by the gate after breakfast! Don't be late!"-She shouted as she ran out of my lab.
Shaking my head, I got to finishing all my tasks at hand so that I could indeed leave the lab without issues tomorrow.
The next day, I met up with Elysia as I promised, and we went into the city. No matter how much I treated Elysia as an annoyance, I must admit that she was a beauty who could turn every head her way, and I mean every head, even women. And today, she appeared even more stunning after carefully putting on some makeup and an outfit for our date.
When I saw her, I was dazzled for a solid moment before I returned to myself, but after that, I noticed that compared to my confidantes such as Eden or Mobius, I didn't see her as an object of pursuit, but rather as a close friend. For whatever reason, she always kept that slight distance, seemingly hugging here and there, yet that barrier remained solid.
Noticing that, I started to pay more attention to her during our date, deciding to treat this outing with full seriousness, not just a chore to calm her down as I had planned before. Our first stop was the cinema, and after a clash of opinion about which film to pick, we chose a popular comedy. In the midst of enjoying and laughing at what was happening on the screen, I grabbed her hand and intertwined our fingers.
She was surprised by that and stiffened slightly when she felt my palm in her hand, but after looking at my profile for a moment, she smiled and also grasped it back. At some point, she even leaned on my shoulder and relaxed, no longer acting like a pink ball of pure energy. When the movie ended, we exited the cinema hand in hand, deciding to visit the nearby trading street.
As we walked, we tried some food from local food trucks and stalls, even playing some street games we encountered. Both of us fully forgot about our duties and powers, behaving like a normal young couple on a date. Of course, even while holding back, Elysia almost caused a stall owner to cry when she won all the plushies that interested her in his shooting game.
As the sun was starting to set, we noticed a stall that offered a divination. Elysia decided that we should try it out, so soon we sat in a small tent facing a crystal ball and a set of tarot cards. Elysia chose to predict our future, so we decided to draw cards one by one.
-"First card depicts your present, where you are now and what you face."-Spoke the owner of this stall, his face covered by a strange red theatre mask.
Elysia picked the first card: the Upright Chariot.
-"As of now, you are in control; you steer your life and decide how you will face the future."
It was my turn, and I revealed the Upright Tower.
-"The tower is a symbol of ruin, an impending tragedy. This is the challenge you are facing, a disaster even your control can't rule over."
The next card was the Reversed Emperor.
-"The disaster you face was caused by a tyranny of the unseen; its roots lie far in the cold and hostile sea."
Now I picked the Upright Stars.
-"Soon, you'll find yourself losing your faith, and even your hope might disappear, but it shouldn't stop you from your goal."
Elysia turned over the Upright Hanged Man.
-"To achieve your goal, you'll be forced to make sacrifices; some might even be a price you are unwilling to pay."
This time, I uncovered the Reversed Hermit.
-"Then, you'll lose your way, fall into the doubt and loneliness you can't imagine."
Next card, the Upright Wheel of Fortune, was already revealed by Elysia.
-"All of that will only be an inevitable cycle, a fate that you are bound by. Yet, it won't be an end, only a change that will bring you a chance to turn everything around."
The card I chose this time was the Upright Justice.
-"When the clarity is returned to you, and the truth finds its way out from where it was hidden, you will find all the causes and effects, bringing an end that will allow you to recover all that you lost."
Elysia's final card was the Upright Death.
-"But for that future to exist, you must let go. Never stay where it all ended, or you'll drown in a stagnant abyss; only when you accept the new beginning, you'll experience the metamorphosis you seek and need."
And the last card was the Upright Lovers.
-"When that revival is completed, and the truth prevails, you'll truly gain what both of you desire: a union of equals. The partnerships you've built will be the foundation of an even further future, one even the cold tyrants wouldn't be able to threaten."
As the person stopped speaking, they waved their hand over the crystal ball, where a cloudy smoke appeared at some point. When it cleared, I saw a scene that made my eyes narrow.
I saw myself and Elysia encased in two crystals, drifting apart in an empty space. The crystal she was in looked similar to my Originium Glintstone, but its inner hue was purple instead of amber, giving it a hallowed feeling. I, meanwhile, was sealed in what looked to be pink ice; it even caused my hair to appear as pink as Elysia's.
As we drifted out of the picture in the orb, an anomaly occurred: a shooting star streaked through the empty space, destroying everything in its path; even time, space, and fate. It curved, and soon it was flying toward us, almost as if it tried to leave the crystal ball. When it appeared closest as it could, the image disappeared, but before the person in front of us could cover it with a cloth, I saw that it had cracked.