"Speaking of which, why haven't we seen Misteln lately? Where did she go? I still owe her a few dates."
That day, Elias lay in the Valkyrie dormitory, glancing around in confusion. The [Idea] lady who would normally appear the instant he called her name was nowhere to be seen.
Not long ago, Elias had promised to go on a date with her once a week. He had even made preparations—but Misteln herself had vanished.
"Ahem... Misteln mentioned earlier that she planned to travel the world. I'm afraid she won't be coming back for quite some time~"
Raiden Mei coughed lightly as she spoke. At the same time, the others nearby revealed "kind" smiles.
"Huh? That sudden?"
"Oh~ Elias, you wouldn't understand. Girls sometimes just want a spontaneous trip," Kiana said.
"Uh, alright..."
It wasn't that he truly believed their nonsense. It was simply that Elias clearly sensed the danger in the air and decided it was safer not to dig deeper.
After all, some things were better left unknown.
As for Misteln's safety... there was nothing in this world capable of killing an [Idea]. Nothing could possibly happen to her.
Raiden Mei: "She's already been buried, right?"
Vill-V: "Relax. All taken care of!"
Sheele: "Hmph! That's the price for sneaking ahead."
Aponia: "Repent, Misteln."
With their backs turned to Elias, the girls whispered among themselves.
They strongly condemned Misteln's shameless act of sneaking off. They despised those who didn't dare face them head-on and instead preferred underhanded ambushes.
Do these people really have the right to say that...
Elias shook his head and shifted his attention to the list in his hand, his expression immediately turning subtle...
This was the top ten ranking for this month's battle results—the list of those who would receive the reward of "a full day date" with him next month.
First place: Herrscher of Finality. Second place: Durandal.
Third place: Raiden Mei. Fourth place: Sakura.
Fifth place: Jyahnar. Sixth place: Kiana.
Seventh place: Previous Era Herrscher of the Void. Eighth place: Eden.
Ninth place: Previous Era Herrscher of Wind. Tenth place: Bella.
"Wow... I don't even know what to say."
Elias laughed helplessly as he looked at the list. Setting everything else aside, just that first place was already bizarre. That goddess was clearly Honkai's ultimate trump card, yet she was helping humanity slaughter Honkai Beasts.
And she was killing more than anyone.
It had to be remembered that the Herrscher of Finality had once wiped out every Honkai Beast on the planet's surface in a single day. Her achievements far surpassed last season's first place—Durandal.
But Durandal truly lived up to being the new [Palatinus]. The golden holy goose was now massacring Honkai Beasts at a rate of ten thousand per day. Poor Krishna had nearly run her legs off keeping up.
Originally, she was supposed to stay by Elias' side this month at all times to prevent the Honkai Beast genes in her body from going berserk.
However, Durandal had directly refused rest at home, using the excuse that "this is the perfect opportunity to temper my willpower—I'm almost used to it anyway."
As for Raiden Mei and Sakura, there was little to say. The former's crimson lightning excelled at large-scale precision extermination, while the latter's divine speed meant that even the Flash could not evade a single slash of Setsuna.
Kiana and the Previous Era Herrscher of the Void possessed the highest mobility. Those two required no transportation at all, saving tremendous amounts of time, which secured their spots in the top ten. As for the rest, they were either powerful enough or fast enough.
"Wait! What is Eden doing up there?!"
"Exactly! Since when do tanks clear mobs that fast?!"
"Report! I demand an investigation! There's shady business going on!"
The girls collectively cast suspicious gazes at the golden diva ranked eighth.
Eden merely swirled the golden wine in her glass, accepting their accusations with the elegance and composure of a superstar worthy of her era.
In truth, she had indeed used a little cheat.
Eden: "Have you all forgotten? I'm a board director of St. Freya Academy. Theresa, as vice principal—next year I'll donate one hundred billion to the academy. Oh, and this is the deed to my newly acquired premium bitter melon farm. It's yours."
Theresa: "Ahem! I swear on Grandpa's honor that this ranking contains absolutely no insider dealings. It is completely fair and just!"
Otto: "Achoo!"
In short, Eden had successfully secured her ranking through the omnipotence of money. It was rather regrettable. Although she wasn't as obedient and honest as Fu Hua, she had once been among the more morally upright members of the Flame-Chasers.
Eden: "Morality? In other circumstances, perhaps. But on the battlefield called love, it is nothing but a useless thing."
Elias: "You all are seriously overdoing it..."
If rankings were based purely on battle records, Elias himself would actually be second place. Alone, he was equivalent to a thousand-strong S-rank Valkyrie legion. He killed even faster than Durandal.
Incidentally, he had recently been researching how to share his own time resistance with others. Once that research succeeded, he would never have to worry about scheduling dates again.
At that point, if the Herrscher of Finality froze time for him, dating the entire St. Freya Academy in a single day would not even be impossible.
"By the way, Anti-Entropy and Schicksal have both been thoroughly frightened by us lately, haha~"
Theresa placed her hands on her hips proudly.
At present, St. Freya Academy suppressed over ninety percent of the world's Honkai disasters. Compared to them, the other three major organizations were simply incomparable.
It was said that Anti-Entropy was even considering merging directly into St. Freya Academy.
"It's all thanks to you, Elias!"
Standing on a stool, Theresa patted the white-haired boy's shoulder. Without Elias, there would be no St. Freya as it existed now. The Current Era certainly would not be as relaxed as it was.
Every day, Elias not only maintained the affection levels of the Herrscher of Finality, Jyahnar, and the other world-destroying beauties to ensure their emotional stability, but also dispatched numerous clones across the globe to exterminate Honkai Beasts.
If his identity were publicly acknowledged in the surface world, this year's Nobel Peace Prize would undoubtedly belong to Elias. Simply by existing, this Savior Flame-Chaser guaranteed peace and security for the Current Era.
Of course, that peace applied only to civilization as a whole. Inside the Valkyrie dormitory, the air was thick with the scent of gunpowder every single day...
"Don't get careless, Theresa."
Elias casually pulled the white-haired little dumpling into his arms, rubbing her smooth white hair affectionately while reminding her that the more triumphant they felt, the more cautious they had to be. They could not become arrogant.
"Although I'm confident in dealing with Honkai, this is different from the Previous Era. The Current Era is a single, irreversible playthrough for me. There's no loading a save and starting over. And Honkai will not obediently let us keep it pinned under our feet forever."
"O-Oh..."
Theresa, who had been swelling with pride moments earlier, immediately calmed down. After all, those words had come from Elias.
This was the savior who had rescued the Previous Era twelve times. No one in this world understood Honkai better than he did. His words carried the weight of prophecy, inspiring instinctive trust.
Elias activated a holographic projection. A three-dimensional Earth appeared—real-time global Honkai energy data monitored by the Fourth Divine Key [Echo of the Sky] and more than a dozen satellites.
Just as he had done in the Previous Era, whenever Honkai energy in a region rose beyond a threshold, he dispatched forces immediately to suppress it.
Although Elias could no longer rely on reincarnation to grasp every piece of information as he once had, he had still reduced casualties in the Current Era by more than ninety-five percent.
Honkai was, for all intents and purposes, being hammered into the ground by him.
Yet precisely because he had fought Honkai for so long, he knew things could never remain this smooth forever.
Back in the twelfth cycle of the Previous Era, even with complete information, an unforeseen variable named Jyahnar—a Planet-class Honkai Beast—had still appeared.
Not to mention that the Current Era's storyline had already been drastically altered by his intervention. Relying solely on the knowledge he once obtained from a game before crossing over, he truly had no sense of certainty.
"Sigh... For someone like me who has grown used to foreseeing everything, not knowing what the future holds is deeply unsettling. But for now, we'll just respond to whatever comes."
And then—
A region on the projected Earth suddenly turned a vivid crimson.
That color signified a large-scale Honkai eruption.
Elias' expression changed instantly as he ordered the satellites to display live footage.
The room fell silent as everyone inhaled sharply.
Honkai's retaliation always came without warning.
On screen, a densely populated metropolis named Manila served as the epicenter. The once-thriving city had already been reduced to a desolate wasteland of ruins.
"Damn it. Talk about bad timing."
Elias' face darkened as he stared at the projection.
The Manila Honkai Eruption.
Although no Herrscher was born during this catastrophe, it remained the largest and most devastating Honkai disaster ever recorded in Southeast Asia.
Because it had been documented in the original game timeline, Elias remembered it clearly.
(The Manila Honkai Eruption... It was supposed to break out at 4:00 a.m. on May 22, 2015! And now it's happened more than a full year ahead of schedule!)
At that moment, Elias felt an overwhelming urge to flip the table. He raised a furious middle finger toward the Cocoon of Finality on the moon.
That thing was getting more excessive every time.
Though the Manila incident had not been especially famous in the original plot, its significance was enormous.
It was precisely this disaster that left an A-rank Valkyrie named Ana Schariac with deep psychological scars—scars that would later culminate in her becoming the Herrscher of Ice.
Additionally, a young man named Chen Tianwu would also use this calamity as the turning point that eventually led him to become the Herrscher of Stars—also known as the Herrscher of Earth.
(One Honkai eruption giving rise to two future Herrschers... absurd. Honestly, that part of the storyline had been terribly written. Not a single sweet moment—nothing but knives. Wait... could it be...)
"Prometheus, immediately locate Valkyrie Ana Schariac. Where is she?!"
Elias turned sharply to the mechanical girl at his side. Prometheus now served as St. Freya Academy's technical AI and could access all Valkyrie data.
"Understood. Ana Schariac accepted a reinforcement mission to the Manila Valkyrie branch two hours ago. She is currently within Manila," Prometheus responded at once.
"Is she still alive?" Elias frowned.
"Her Valkyrie armor telemetry indicates stable vital signs. Furthermore, as a member of the Schariac family, it is unlikely she would perish in a Honkai Eruption of this scale."
Hearing this, Elias let out a breath of relief, though he couldn't help rubbing his forehead.
This damned fate.
In the original storyline, Ana Schariac had been stationed long-term in the Manila region as a member of Schicksal's Valkyrie squad [Snow Lotus], which was why she encountered this eruption.
But now she had long since joined St. Freya Academy and was even a member of Elias' personal guard Valkyrie squad. And yet she had still collided with this disaster.
It was as though fate itself clung stubbornly to the girl, refusing to let her go.
"Dispatch reinforcements to Manila immediately. The Herrscher of Finality and I will go ahead," Elias ordered.
"..." xN
The girls looked at him in worried silence.
With a Honkai Eruption of this magnitude, most of Manila's population was undoubtedly already dead. Fewer than one in a hundred might have survived.
It had been a long time since casualties of this scale had occurred. Mei and the others could not imagine how heavy Elias' heart must be at this moment—the boy who had grown accustomed to turning every tragedy into a happy ending.
This time, however, the tragedy had already happened. And there was no restart.
Perhaps even Elias would be powerless.
And yet—
"It's not over! It's not finished! There's still a chance!"
There was no sorrow in the boy's golden eyes. Only stubborn resolve.
"Elias, you—"
"No more words. Carry out my orders."
In that instant, he seemed to revert to the supreme commander of Fire Moth clad in black military uniform.
No one could question his command.
No one could deny his will.
Gripping the Herrscher of Finality's hand firmly, Elias opened a portal and stepped into the ruins of Manila.
He still had one final opportunity to overturn this tragedy.
And just then, he spotted the very girl he had been searching for.
"How... how could this happen..."
The beautiful girl with chestnut hair and pink eyes stood trembling, her gaze vacant.
The catastrophe that had descended without warning had reduced a bustling metropolis to a living hell in mere seconds. This was Honkai.
Darkness and despair seeped into her heart. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, like someone suddenly thrown into a frozen wasteland.
Elias did not approach immediately. He simply watched in silence.
"The turning point of fate has arrived. What choice will you make this time? Will you follow the script and make a decision you regret for the rest of your life—or carve out a new future?"
Because Ana had already crossed paths with Elias in the past, her destiny had indeed shifted.
Now she stood at the crossroads of her life. If she could draw strength from that earlier encounter, Ana Schariac might yet change her own fate.
Elias intended to witness it.
If she failed—
Then he would step forward and pull her out of despair himself.