Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Could it be a Herrscher?" Mobius asked.

Elysia, nibbling on her finger, shook her head. "Shouldn't be. If it were a Herrscher, Fire Moth would've raised the alarm immediately, and we'd have gotten a heads-up through the systems Vill-V hacked—so, it's probably just the handiwork of some high-level Honkai beast."

"Dr. Mobius, Miss Elysia, everyone, I could…" Su spoke from his inconspicuous corner, his presence even fainter than Hua and Sakura's. It wasn't until he spoke up that Elysia seemed to finally notice him.

"Oh my! You're that doctor named Su, right? Just say what's on your mind! Mobius definitely won't mind, right?"

"Tch."

"Somehow, that doesn't sound like 'won't mind' at all…" Su's lips twitched. After a moment of hesitation, he continued, "It's quite simple. The reason why what you call a Honkai beast has only affected Mr. Mikael and Seele so far is twofold. First, its abilities are limited, preventing it from influencing more people. Second, Mr. Mikael and Seele must share some commonality, making them more susceptible."

Sakura looked astonished. "Dr. Su, you weren't familiar with Honkai before, right? How can you accept this supernatural phenomenon so quickly?"

Su gave a wry smile and shook his head. Having lived through the 3rd Honkai Eruption, he had some understanding but didn't want to elaborate.

Mobius nibbled on her lip, her eyes darting around, before declaring defiantly, "Anyone can spout theories, but what use is it? Where am I supposed to find common ground between Mikael and that girl?"

"Sigh…"

In the next moment, everyone—from Mobius, to Elysia, to Kevin feigning sleep, to the inconspicuous Hua and Sakura, and finally to Su—let out a collective sigh.

But Su's sigh was especially long and heavy.

As if struck by a sudden thought, he abruptly stood up, his expression grim. He strode over to Mobius, towering over her.

Mobius initially stared back defiantly, but quickly averted her gaze, a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Dr. Mobius, it's one thing for the others here to not understand, but why are you refusing to acknowledge it?!"

"What are you talking about?" Mobius blinked rapidly, signaling him not to reveal the truth.

But Su had inexplicably lost his composure. His expression and movements weren't outwardly angry, but the whites of his eyes were bloodshot, making him appear terrifying.

"Mr. Mikael has severe psychological trauma! That's the common ground he shares with Seele! Why won't you admit it? Do you believe he has to be someone without any wounds?"

The corner of Mobius's mouth twitched upwards as she gritted her teeth, a crack echoing in the room. Her eyelids drooped slightly as the image of Mikael's vulnerability from the previous day surfaced. No, that's not right!

"What do you know?!"

She couldn't accept it. Not the idea of someone having a vulnerable side, but the idea of Mikael having that much of a vulnerable side.

He was the epitome of a perfect "human" in her eyes, the ideal she was striving for…

How could… how could he have a vulnerable side?

"By my hand, ascend to godhood…" That was her lifelong pursuit. With Mikael as her target, she once believed that this Herrscher, one who retained human consciousness, was perfect, a being worthy of becoming a god.

But… a god… how could a god have a vulnerable side?

Rather than overturn all her previous "beliefs," her mind had chosen the less risky option of selective ignorance. That was why, despite realizing Mikael's mental state might be unstable, she hadn't given a diagnosis or prescribed medication.

Of course, back then, she also hadn't believed she would be rendered speechless by someone, unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.

But now, she couldn't deny it, especially with Su practically spitting in her face.

She instinctively took a step back, and Su instinctively stepped forward.

"Dr. Mobius, I still remember that psychology and sociology paper you published years ago… *Ugh!*"

Elysia smoothly retracted her karate chop. She grabbed the now-unconscious Su by the back of his shirt, propping him against the wall.

"He's been affected too."

As her voice echoed through the meeting room, the others stared at her in surprise—it was the first time they'd heard Elysia speak like that.

No girlish cheerfulness, no playful teasing.

It turned out Elysia could speak normally.

But only that one sentence.

When she turned around again, she wore her trademark Elysia smile.

"Looks like the Honkai beast is getting stronger! So… if no one objects, I'll be taking command from now on!"

"Tch."

Mobius, as usual, was the first to respond. However, for her, not voicing opposition was a form of agreement.

"I have no problem with that." Sakura nodded slightly, her long ears swaying uncontrollably, catching Elysia's attention.

"Yawn…" Vill-V yawned, slinging an arm around the still-dazed Hua. "If you guys don't object, what can Hua and I say? We're counting on you, Elysia."

"Leave it to me! I've been with Mikael for so many more years than you guys…"

"Does that make a difference?"

"Nope~"

"…"

As everyone fell silent, Elysia twirled her fingers. A long table made of pink crystal materialized before them, followed by flower-like chairs sprouting from the ground.

Imitating Mikael, she tapped the table twice with her index finger before turning to Sakura. "Kalpas, Rin, Seele, and Pardo are all taken care of, right?"

"Yeah." Sakura replied with her usual efficiency. "I gave Rin and Pardo smaller doses, Seele the normal dose. Kalpas sensed me at the last second, but I was faster. I'll just have to explain things to him when he wakes up. And of course, the crystal flowers you gave me are in their rooms."

When she mentioned the crystal flowers, she couldn't help but glance at the unconscious Su.

Did Elysia's crystals really block mental interference? If not, why place crystal flowers in their rooms and cover the walls and floor of the meeting room with them? But if they did work, then why did Su…?

So, he hadn't been affected, right?

She opened her mouth slightly, but Elysia gave her a knowing smile.

So, she swallowed her words. No need to show off her deduction skills to someone who already knew everything.

"Enough with the small talk, Elysia. How do you plan to find the Honkai beast?" Mobius coughed, urging her on.

"Don't be so impatient!"

"Don't tell me you haven't even thought that far ahead."

"Grandma Mobius, casually questioning a pretty girl's abilities is hurtful, you know!"

Despite her words, after biting off a piece of dead skin from her finger, Elysia finally got down to business. "Our Honkai energy monitoring equipment isn't even as good as Fire Moth's. Pinpointing its location directly is way too difficult… so, Vill-V, can you upgrade our equipment?"

High-level Honkai beasts had significant energy signatures, but due to budget constraints, Anti-Entropy's single Honkai energy monitor could only provide readings with a 200 HW margin of error. After the widespread Honkai sickness outbreak, a densely populated area could easily have a reading of over 50 HW, essentially masking a high-level Honkai beast that wasn't actively engaged in combat… making the device basically useless.

Vill-V's solution to this was leeching—hacking into Fire Moth's network and directly accessing their monitoring data. That's how they'd discovered the anomaly Elysia had dealt with earlier.

However, for Vill-V, upgrading their equipment wasn't impossible, as long as…

"You pay up!"

"Never mind then… Just kidding!" Elysia shook her head and, imitating Mikael again, raised her index finger. "Even though we can't pinpoint its exact location, we can make an educated guess, right, Sakura?"

Sakura was initially confused, but Elysia's continuous winking seemed to be hinting at something…

Which she still didn't understand.

"You mean, Seele's house?"

"Mobius is so smart after all!" Elysia clasped her hands together in genuine praise.

But Mobius wasn't buying it. "That's just a baseless guess. Nobody knows the Honkai beast's range of influence. We can't just assume it's there based on the first case we encountered."

Elysia frowned, shaking her head and sticking out her pink tongue.

She reached out, wanting to ruffle Mobius's hair like Mikael would, but realized that Grandma Mobius, after more than six months of "growth spurts," was now taller than her again…

So, she stood on her tiptoes.

Mobius stared at Elysia's hand, her lips twitching, and then she too stood on her tiptoes.

"…Fine, fine!" Elysia waved her hands awkwardly, taking two steps back. "But my guess isn't completely baseless! Sakura, remember those guys in black? Do you really think their behavior was normal? They could've split into two groups, one searching the villa and the other looking for Seele. Why didn't they?"

"So, you think the Honkai beast was influencing their minds, making them its unwitting guards?"

"Of course! It's just a theory, though – based on the beast's presumed abilities. Don't blame me if I'm wrong. After all, this is the first time we've encountered a Honkai beast that can mess with people's minds, right?"

"That's true…" Sakura scratched her head. "But I scouted the villa, and I didn't find anything… Also, if the Honkai beast is in the villa, why not just… um… um?"

"As for the first question… Sakura, are you sure you weren't seen by anyone, or any animal in that area?"

Sakura went silent. At least those two ravens had spotted her.

"And the second question… I don't know either!"

"…"

"Then allow me to pose the final question," Vill-V stood up and asked. "How do we confirm your theory? And just pinpointing the villa is too broad. We need a more precise location."

"About that…" Elysia gave a strange smile and turned to Hua, who had remained silent throughout the discussion.

"Uh… me? Is there something I can do?"