Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

What is worse than a Herrscher?

Four Herrschers.

That was exactly the dilemma everyone was facing just now. Thirty minutes after the seventh eruption, three cities were obliterated. The smaller towns and villages around them did not survive, either. 

As for the places left untouched by tornadoes, explosions, or a nuclear bomb drop, it became infested with undeads and honkai beasts.

The total casualties during the last thirty minutes was sixty million at the very least. It was the biggest loss faced by Fire MOTH since its establishment.

"..."

Aleph did not speak for a while. His eyes stared at the dim white moon high up in the sky.

'...It is confirmed.'

His thoughts went back to Aponia's words. She described it as a 'Great Change'. All the strings in the world had their trajectories changed. It happened exactly on the day he was born—the day he arrived in this world.

Then, there was his time with the fourth Herrscher core. It allowed 'Great Sage' to gain its voice and awaken. As a result, he may have triggered some sort of change. 

Only after the fourth eruption did the Herrscher Cores become different. Major Anna and the sixth Herrscher, Ling, retained their human ego. 

What should have been in the Current Era fifty thousand years later appeared now.

Finally, there was the Gems. It was given to Sirin in the Current Era… yet they appeared now.

Considering the connection and sequence of events, Aleph arrived at a terrifying conclusion:

His arrival caused a huge change in the Cocoon of Finality.

'Albion's words…'

The old dragon's advice rang in his mind.

"I hath seen its attempts to alter thy fate, for it to suffer failure. A momentary misjudgement is capable of faltering its knees."

'It tried to alter my fate but failed. It didn't have any chances due to that one mistake. Then… I am targeted by the Cocoon? Was this why everything happened? All the Herrschers wanted to kill me?'

The cursed energy inside his body slowly became agitated. They overflowed on the surroundings, painting several kilometers of radius with his pressure.

It was at this moment did he snap out of it.

The most basic rule of a Sorcerer is to keep one's emotions in control. Only then would they be able to use them to their advantage.

Just then, a pair of arms embraced his waist. It further contributed to calming his mind down.

The embrace did not take long. 

"I got all of them."

Kurumi turned her palm over and revealed three crystal fragments that made up a dark blue rhombus.

One glance from Aleph's elemental sight confirmed it was the First Herrscher's Core.

"Keep them for now. It's the safest in your hands."

"Um."

These crystal fragments were dropped on her shadow before being melted by it.

Mio Takamiya, the First Spirit, was not able to directly interfere with Kurumi's City of Devouring Time. 

At the very least, it should be able to shield the Cocoon's influence even if it was stronger than the First Spirit.

"Where are we going next?" 

She asked as she caught him in another hug.

"I need to check something out first. Then, let's set off to the four affected cities."

Aleph patted her head before she sunk into his shadow.

In a blink, he moved towards the spot where Ling disappeared. The scene thirty minutes ago was reconstructed in his mind.

The world turned dark blue. A black-haired girl appeared in his sight. 

Time was reversed. From her previously defined and detailed body, she turned into a silhouette of dark blue.

Her existence became similar to a thread's. The information on her physical body was altered, turning it into a form of conceptual life instead.

'A temporary change. I knew it. Quantum Entanglement does work like that.'

Aleph did not stop there.

With some effort, the dark blue world in his sight slowly turned into a transparent blue. Several 'spheres' floated every now and then. Some of them sank downwards, while there were some that remained floating.

It was none other than the Sea of Quanta.

Aleph learned many things in the past three months. He helped Vill-V finish her material sciences; Mobius on her biological science (i.e., operating table); and Mei on her studies in quantum physics.

These things are enough to let him peer into the Sea of Quanta despite being an entire dimension apart.

Aleph saw the 'string' go through several places before disappearing at some point. It didn't take long for it to reappear. The appearance and disappearance continued four more times until it went straight into a white dot.

Then…

Buzz-!

Tears of blood flowed from his eyes and ears. Coupled with his grin, he seemed like a madman at this moment.

{The detected complex information has been encoded.}

{Result: It has a seventy percent match on the subject "gateway to Finality". It has a ninety-five percent match on the subject "Sanctum". Its composition shows no identical logic and science to the known dimensions…}

The Cocoon of Finality rested on a 'place' far beyond most people's reach. It was extremely similar to the composition of the Sanctum, if not more complex. Aleph met the same fate when he tried to peer through the two of them.

However, this wasn't important, but rather…

'A way to enter that white space… the Finality Space.'

Unbeknownst to the Herrschers, they lost more than what they gained.

*****

Seventeen years ago.

There was a bright shining comet. It streaked through countless voids, each having a story of their own. It remained isolated upon itself, not interfering with anything. Still, its brilliance bearing every color in existence was eye-catching enough.

It remained so until it came across a place. Due to unknown causes, it chose to settle down. However, its way of settling down caused a huge trouble.

Its influence, which was kept to itself, was suddenly unleashed into this world. What happened next was the nullification of the so-called 'fates'. Everything was overturned.

In turn, it elicited a response that viewed it as malicious. 

In the Cocoon's eyes, the shining comet should not be here…

…It should not be.