Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Harvest Festival.

It was a phenomenon from another world. It was the procedure that happens when someone becomes a True Demon Lord—a special status in the said world. The World (i.e., Voice of the World) supports them in their 'transcendence'. 

A requirement of ten thousand souls from a sentient entity needs to be done along with other hefty things to germinate the so-called "Demon Lord Seed".

The current situation showed its similarities by forming a hazy gray cocoon. The crates inside the basement level had long since disappeared. The ceiling to the upper level was breached as the cocoon expanded.

Energy fluctuations emerged. The first place to notice it was none other than the third institute.

Rumble-!

There were only a few personnel inside the command room. Most of the Fire MOTH researchers had been vacated. The only ones left were the ones who voluntarily wanted to stay to give out commands to the mech pilots outside.

Clang-!

Rumble-!

Several computer monitors fell to the ground. The remaining dozen or so people had to hold onto the table.

"Did it come from below..?"

The head of security whom Aleph interacted numerous times, Morris, has a keen sense of direction. The rumbling came from below them, not from their horizontal distance. Some researchers did not care about this and watched the ongoing fight between the Herrscher of Wind and two of their high-level MANTISes.

The spare mechas and ten or so ELFs handled the honkai beasts brought upon the Herrscher's descent.

"Below?"

Einstein looked at the floor. She was already confused with the Herrscher's sudden appearance, more so the huge number of honkai beasts that appeared out of nowhere.

The eighth eruption started with the typical high readings on a certain city. High-level MANTISes and hundreds of mechs were deployed to that place along with Kevin.

Everyone thought that they could handle this major eruption properly. 

What happened next was the simultaneous appearance of four other Herrschers in crucial areas—three institutes and a huge military base, to be exact.

Their sudden appearances and close proximity made it difficult for Fire MOTH to use their normal anti-honkai weapons. They could not just bomb themselves for an uncertain chance of killing a Herrscher.

As such, the high-level MANTISes present had to hold them out. That was but one of their biggest problems. 

The spike in honkai energy brought by these four Herrschers was no joke. It has only been a few months since the official start of Project Soldier. More than half of Fire MOTH's troops were still 'ordinary humans'. They were either inflicted by honkai corruption or had their combat capabilities disabled.

In such a situation, the lower-leveled MANTISes had to bear the brunt of the pressure until they could handle the situation.

All of these happened within the last fifteen minutes.

"Ignore it."

"Director?"

"If we're lucky, we might be able to resolve this situation soon. For now…" 

Einstein decisively turned on the sole ELF sitting on the desk. His features have a huge similarity with Aleph's. It was simply a chibi version of him.

The ELF's golden pupils were revealed as he woke up. Flashes of light came from his pupils.

The most noticeable thing was his missing right arm. Sparks of electricity came out from it as soon as he woke up.

Aleph's ELF stood up shakily.

"Please open my hangar, director."

A voice similar to Aleph's—only being slightly more childish—came out of its mouth.

"Kevin is headed to the Herrscher of Flames. Elysia went and dealt with the Herrscher of Thunder. Sakura was headed to the Herrscher of Death…"

Rumble-!

Beep-!

The ground shook for the nth time. An alarm was prompted to their communication line.

"Director! The reinforcements were intercepted by several unranked honkai beasts. It's… their messages stated it was the long lost unranked Honkai Beasts!"

Kevin and the others did not remain still when the entire fiasco happened. The three strongest combatants were sent to deal with the three other Herrschers. Kalpas needs to guard the hospital-slash-orphanage headed by Aponia. The two Herrschers were left to deal with the Herrscher of the Wind.

As for Hua…

Buzz-!

Smoke came out of the Aleph ELF. A certain someone forcibly established a communication link with it, causing its processing capacity to overload.

After a while, Einstein saw a frown appear on him.

A projection came out of his finger and was placed atop the desk.

A string of message was read by her:

[Hua turned into the eighth Herrscher.]

The projection went out the moment Einstein finished reading. The latter was surprised by the revelation.

Her questions turned into a deep sigh.

"...It's surprising, but possible."

Einstein wordlessly walked to the empty computer seats and opened Aleph's hangar remotely. Consequently, the Aleph ELF flew out of the room.

After doing everything she could, Einstein returned her gaze to the satellite feed.

*****

Hua did not know what happened. Out of literal nowhere, she found herself collapsing into the ground. Her memories after that event became hazy ever since.

"Ah…"

She tried to speak but couldn't. Hua felt as if she was underwater. All she could let out were muffled shouts. She could not do anything meaningful by trying to talk. Hua turned her attention to other things.

For example, her surroundings.

The thick gray fog brushing her nose instinctively made her cough. She then noticed how she was surrounded by thick gray fog. 

Sou-!

She swung her hand and created an open space. Moments later, it was filled with gray fog once again.

Her eyes widened as she tried all sorts of things to get rid of this gray fog. In the middle of this process, Hua found she could walk.

She did not know how much time had passed. She was about to proceed when something halted her.

Bam.

"..!"

Her nose hit the 'something' first. She touched the solid roadblock covered with gray fog.

In an instant, the fog around her was cleared.

Swoosh-!

"This is…"

Hua was surprised to be able to talk. She touched her throat as her sight went to the roadblock.

What greeted her sight…

"...images?

… was an endless white wall with countless images.