"Report... cough cough! Fire in Sector 31 is extinguished!"
"Immediately proceed with all equipment to Sector 38... cough cough! The fire there is the largest, still not extinguished!"
A strange smell permeated the air: a mixture of various burnt scents, oil, roasting meat... It was suffocating, making it hard to breathe.
Flames danced spontaneously, igniting everything they touched, even stone and earth. Streams of cold water shot from high-pressure hoses, but upon hitting the sea of fire, instead of having the desired effect, they seemed to act like fuel, making the flames leap even more arrogantly.
Michael saw clearly: this fire wasn't conventional. The heat it radiated didn't come from the combustible materials themselves but was directly converted from Honkai Energy. Thus, it could bypass the preconditions for reaction, directly creating flames through molecular motion.
Michael was all too familiar with this method of generating fire, as it was the second power he truly possessed—the authority of Flame.
Clearly, a fire caused by Herrscher powers couldn't be extinguished by simple high-pressure water hoses.
"Sakura, I'll leave it to you. Go help them out." Standing on the scorched earth that still radiated enough residual heat to nearly melt the rubber soles of his boots, Michael gave the order without turning his head.
Sakura remained silent. If not for the slight twitch of her fox ears atop her head, it would have been impossible to tell if she had even nodded. The next moment Elysia squinted, trying to focus on her ears, Sakura simply vanished.
"Wow, Sakura is already this fast!" Elysia clapped her hands together, offering sincere praise.
"Heh, Elysia's face has gotten this round!" Michael retorted bluntly.
"Hey! Hey! Michael, why do you always attack me with things like that? It really hurts my feelings!"
Michael tilted his head, pulling at the corner of his mouth, forcefully resisting the urge to continue the banter—Elysia had become increasingly adept at handling these merciless exposures. Seeing her genuinely flustered like when she was younger was almost impossible now.
Since he couldn't provoke his target into hopping mad, the fun of teasing was reduced by more than half. That wasn't even the most annoying part. The most frustrating thing was that not only had her defense increased, but she had actually learned to counterattack:
"Sigh... Honestly, the way you talk now, it's so similar to Mobius... Although Mobius is also cute, she's still slightly inferior to the old you! How about it, Michael? Want to try smiling like you did when you were little? I'll take a picture for you!"
"First," Michael stated flatly, "Elysia, you've said more than once that the little me wasn't cute at all, couldn't even smile properly."
"Oh dear, you found me out... I don't care, I don't care, anyway, any Michael is cute!"
"...Sigh." Michael sighed softly. "Second, let's focus on the task at hand for now."
They didn't linger at the scene. Michael quickly located the two Herrscher individuals killed by the local guards by following the faint traces of Honkai Energy, retrieved their cores, then regrouped with Elysia and Sakura—who had directly frozen the massive fire—before returning to the Fire Moth base.
"How was it?" Mei asked without looking up, continuing her work as the group returned.
Kevin stood beside her, holding the Might of An-Utu, partly to prevent another assassination attempt like before, and partly using the weapon's heat to ward off the late-night chill.
"It's confirmed." Michael paused, and Mei's movements also halted for a fraction of a second.
Confirmed what? Michael didn't explicitly say, but both knew—the Tenth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Legion (Dominance), had been born, just as foretold in the "script."
The others naturally didn't understand, so Michael took out the two cores found at the Rhine riot scene, added Carole's, making three in total, and lined them up on the table.
Noticing Kevin's tense expression, Michael knew what he was worried about and explained, "Relax, Kevin. The Tenth Herrscher's cores are different from previous ones. If you carefully sense the Honkai Energy within, you'll find the energy fluctuations are minuscule. They won't affect Mei."
Kevin's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, but then he tilted his head, blinked blankly, and pointed at the three cores. "No... that's not right, are these supposed to be the cores of the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Herrschers?"
"Quick thinking, but unfortunately, if only it were that simple... No, that wouldn't necessarily be good either." Michael shook his head regretfully.
Kevin also quickly realized. Both Mei's calculations and the inscription found on the Moon confirmed one fact – there were a total of thirteen Herrschers. Excluding the final Herrscher of Finality, there were twelve. If these were the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth, they were far too weak, even weaker than the early-stage Michael with minimal core synchronization before his 'awakening'.
And if they were, it meant the Herrscher of Finality was imminent, which was both good and bad news. Like students eagerly awaiting the final exam, only to panic when it arrived, wishing they had more time to study.
So, unfortunately yet fortunately, these were all cores belonging to the Tenth Herrscher.
"It seems you understand too," Michael continued. "Logically, Herrschers should become progressively stronger, more targeted. They absolutely shouldn't become weaker, let alone three consecutively weak ones.
"And from the perspective of abilities... let's number these cores L10-001, L10-002, L10-003 based on the appearance time of their individuals. The powers exhibited by their hosts: the first, Carole, showed no discernible power. The second is speculated to have partial Sentience powers. The third clearly demonstrated Flame powers.
"Although there's no research proving Herrscher powers cannot reappear, two consecutive reappearances plus one showing no power... leads us to conclude that the Tenth Herrscher's true power is unlikely to be any of these three."
The situation grew increasingly complex. Even Mei, having read the "script," felt a surge of questions. The "script" only provided the outcome, not the detailed process, naturally omitting the Tenth Herrscher's true power, only giving the title "Dominance"...
But what did 'Dominance' actually mean? Mei herself wasn't entirely sure, but seeing these cores, some inaccurate and unreliable speculations surfaced.
Michael gave her a subtle look, then turned without a word and headed towards the small adjacent room. Mei glanced at the pile of local documents needing her attention and shook her head helplessly.
...
"Why did we suddenly move the discussion here?" The small room felt crowded with Michael, Mei, Kevin, Elysia, and Sakura inside – mainly because the table and Kevin's massive sword took up significant space.
"Are you saying... you suspect..." Mei's expression quickly turned grave. Previously, they used the small room during decision-making to prevent certain "truths" from demoralizing ordinary soldiers. But judging by Michael's expression, combined with her earlier suspicions and the "script," it was clear things weren't that simple. Rather...
"Your guess is correct, Mei. We have a traitor among us... cough cough! No, I mean, within Fire Moth, besides Carole, there should be other Tenth Herrscher individuals, and likely high-ranking ones."
"How did you determine that?" Mei asked, though she somewhat knew the answer already.
"It's just deduction," Michael explained. "If these powers were obtained by each Tenth Herrscher individual at birth, wouldn't that mean the Honkai granted them two powers? While there's no rule saying one Herrscher equals one power, previous examples all followed that pattern."
Michael's memory of the Tenth Eruption in the Previous Era was faint, but he remembered one individual being a high-ranking member of Fire Moth. However, the current Fire Moth was vastly different from the original. Whether the Herrscher individuals were the same was uncertain.
But from the perspective of powers, Michael didn't believe the abilities of other Herrschers displayed by these individuals were innate. Besides violating the 'one Herrscher, one power' common understanding, it was also because... during the Current Era's Tenth Eruption, the Herrschers clearly demonstrated how they stole powers from others.
As long as someone used their powers against them within the Theater of Domination, their power would be taken, with the awakened Mei Raiden being the only exception.
This process seemed somewhat similar to how Michael dealt with the Eighth Herrscher, but fundamentally different. Michael's method involved sensing the power within the opponent's attack, analyzing it, and then replicating it.
The Herrscher of Dominance, however, used a tug-of-war method, grabbing onto the exposed portion of the power during an attack and forcefully seizing it.
Simply put, imagine powers are files on a computer. Michael's method is CTRL+C then CTRL+V, resulting in two copies of the power. His use doesn't affect the original power in the core – this is understanding and construction.
The Herrscher of Dominance forcibly drags the file from the corresponding folder (core) into their own folder. The total amount of power doesn't change – this is dominance.
Considering the consistency of powers between the Previous and Current Eras, the Tenth Herrscher Fire Moth now faced must operate similarly—their acquired powers must originate from the Herrscher Cores within the Divine Keys.
Perhaps due to the lack of a Theater of Domination, or the Tenth Herrscher's reluctance to attract Fire Moth's attention prematurely, the amount of power they seized wasn't substantial. This explained why Kevin's Judgment of Shamash wasn't significantly affected even though a Tenth Herrscher individual exhibited Flame powers.
"Are you saying... the way the Herrschers obtained these powers was through contact with Divine Keys... No, more accurately, contact with the cores within the Divine Keys?" Mei quickly grasped Michael's meaning. "Kevin, give me the Divine Key."
Kevin immediately hid the Might of An-Utu behind his back. "Mei, calm down." Despite Mei repeatedly insisting her Honkai energy adaptability was fine, neither Kevin nor anyone else dared let her touch a Divine Key. They simply couldn't risk it.
"Well... fine." Mei reluctantly withdrew her hand and looked at Michael. "Trouble you, then."
Before her words even faded, the scenery shifted in the blink of an eye. They were now standing in Mei's private laboratory. Mei gave Kevin a look, and he understandingly handed the Divine Key to Prometheus.
Prometheus used its mechanical arms to transfer the Might of An-Utu, eventually placing it into a Honkai energy input device. Massive amounts of Honkai Energy began to flow into it. Shortly after, a screen filled with ant-sized numbers lit up.
Mei immediately located the Honkai energy input value. Prometheus, anticipating her need, had already enlarged the data and displayed it as a percentage.
"Eighty-seven point eight percent..."
Considering potential errors and energy loss during transfer, a fully charged Divine Key's percentage should typically be between ninety-five and ninety-nine percent. The current reading of 87.8% clearly indicated a portion of the power had been stolen, affecting the core's maximum charge capacity.
"Meaning, this... no, perhaps more than one. In short, there must be at least one Tenth Herrscher individual within Fire Moth capable of accessing Divine Keys. Hiss..."
From a certain perspective, Fire Moth's control over Divine Keys was even laxer than over conventional firearms. This was due to the 'synchronization rate' factor—don't assume dead cores have no synchronization rate. In reality, different users wield Divine Keys with varying effectiveness.
Take the newly completed Ninth Divine Key, Star of Eden, for example. Only three people in all of Fire Moth could utilize its power to the maximum extent: the two Herrschers and Eden.
This led to the policy of assigning one Divine Key per MANTIS, allowing them to find the most compatible Key and hone their synchronization rate through prolonged combat and daily life together. Hence, carrying Divine Keys was often quite casual.
However, considering the strength of the designated wielders, snatching a Divine Key from them... But despite this, it didn't mean others couldn't come into contact with them. For instance, during routine inspections or testing. Or perhaps lent to fellow MANTIS comrades for training, as battlefield situations might require using others' weapons.
Looking at it this way, the individual who seized power from the Divine Key was either someone in the research department or another MANTIS...
"And that's not all," Michael added in a low voice. "I examined the Rhine riot scene, reviewed the City Hall records. Setting aside the specific cause of the unrest for now, one point is clear—the organizers behind it, regardless of the Tenth Herrscher's involvement level, had one and only one target: the Soulium manufacturing plants in the Ruhr district, specifically Industrial Zones 31 through 38."
This was obvious. The Ruhr district had numerous factories, yet the primary targets destroyed were the Soulium plants, especially the warehouses storing Soulium, which were burned clean by Flame powers—that Soulium was meant for Vill-V's long-pending Fourth and Fifth Divine Key projects.
Such specific targeting...
Mei closed her eyes wearily, once again immediately grasping Michael's unspoken meaning: "You're suggesting that the location of every Soulium factory worldwide is information known only to the highest echelons of Fire Moth and the United Government. Even the Rhine Municipal Governor only knew there was a Soulium factory among the military plants in the Ruhr district; he didn't know which one specifically."
"Mm. And I scanned the Rhine Governor's consciousness with Sentience. He's not a Herrscher individual, nor did he leak any information about the Soulium factories to anyone, not even his most feared... wife." Michael shrugged.
There was a time when using Herrscher powers or any special ability on a human felt like crossing a sacred, insurmountable boundary, a principle he viewed as proof of his remaining humanity. But somewhere along the line, that boundary had blurred, becoming an almost commonplace action now.
"Then... maybe those riot... starving people had connections with the Soulium factory workers?" Kevin questioned from the side.
"Theoretically possible, but... even the workers at the Soulium factories don't know they're producing Soulium..." Michael pointed at Kevin with a look of exasperation. "Forget the workers, Kevin, you've been using Soulium weapons for four or five years now, right? Have you ever seen what Soulium looks like fresh from the factory?"
"Er..." Kevin, of course, had no idea... "It's called 'steel,' so it must be metal plates or something, right?"
Michael closed his eyes, grimaced, and shook his head. "The essence of Soulium is nanobots. That's why, when applied to weapons, it allows for incredibly versatile transformations, exemplified perfectly by both Judgment of Shamash and the Seven Thunders of Retribution. And as nanobots, their initial form is actually like this." Michael materialized a special test tube containing a half-full measure of iridescent, liquid-like substance. "This is what Soulium looks like right out of the factory."
"This... Then why call it Soulium Steel and not Soulium Water?"
"Who knows? Ask Mobius. Or perhaps, even back then, she considered secrecy? Naming classified weapons with unrelated terms isn't new; take the 'tank,' for example. Of course, in terms of application, calling Soulium 'steel' is also technically accurate."
"Alright..." Since even the workers didn't know what they were producing, how could they possibly leak information to the Tenth Herrscher? Thus, the existence of an insider became undisputed.
"However..." Mei pushed up her glasses, asking nonchalantly, "Michael, you seem so certain. You probably already know who this insider is, don't you?"
Hearing this, Michael simply lowered his gaze, leaning silently against the lab wall.
Mei sighed softly—Another acquaintance, another old friend of many years... It was obvious. Only a handful of people within Fire Moth knew the locations of the Soulium factories. If the suspicion fell on someone from the United Government, it wouldn't be so distressing.
But who was it? To access information about Soulium factories, their rank couldn't be low. Was it Ato? Or Elvin? Or Fuxi? Nuwa? Blanka?
"It's Aldemir."
"Huh?" Even Mei couldn't help tilting her head, letting out a soft, questioning hum. Aldemir's rank was actually similar to Elvin's, Fuxi's, and Nuwa's – right on the borderline where they might or might not know this information. She primarily suspected the latter three because they worked in intelligence, making them more likely to encounter data on Soulium factories.
Michael naturally understood her confusion and immediately explained, "If yesterday's riot hadn't happened, he was scheduled to lead a team to Rhine tomorrow to escort the Soulium stored there."
"Is that so..." Mei scratched her head. Although she arranged most of these tasks herself, with so much to handle, she couldn't possibly remember every single detail... Of course, her lack of recollection might also be because she had simply instructed Prometheus to assign someone for this task.
"But... when did you start suspecting him? Just last night? Is the evidence conclusive?"
Michael's chest rose and fell quickly twice. He pushed himself off the wall slightly, standing straight again. His voice was quiet but devoid of emotional fluctuation, as if discussing something trivial: "Those goggles, the ones brought back from R'lyeh. Because the elastic band had a limited lifespan, he hadn't worn them much lately, always just holding them in his hand. But last night, he wore them on his head."
Michael understood perfectly what that meant. There were only two possibilities:
One: The Herrscher consciousness, after probing Aldemir's memories, realized the goggles were significant and deliberately wore them prominently, feigning sentimentality. But this was unlikely. If the Herrscher accessed his memories, it would also see his recent behavior. Why act contrary to his subconscious habits?
The second possibility was far more likely: During the process of being taken over or turned into a puppet by the Herrscher consciousness, Aldemir regained control of his body for a brief moment. His final thought was to put the goggles on his head, trusting that Michael would notice this small, unusual detail.
He trusted that Michael, possessing the power of Sentience and being a Herrscher himself, could identify him as a Herrscher without alerting the possessing consciousness.
This was his final trust in a six-year-long camaraderie, his final trust in his comrade, his friend.