Elias and Bronya didn't return to the House of the Hearth until very late. Joy and emotion filled every moment of their day, and both were certain they had just lived a perfect one.
However, that perfection was shattered the very second they stepped through the door.
Upon seeing a certain uninvited guest sitting in their home, Elias' mood took a nosedive—sunshine turned to storm clouds in an instant.
Bronya, being the closest, honestly thought Elias was about to kill someone on the spot.
"Nice to meet you, founder of the House of the Hearth orphanage. I am Cocolia of Anti-Entropy. I came today hoping to discuss a potential cooperative experiment with you."
A vixen was sitting in the living room.
With wavy golden-blonde hair, a tall and voluptuous figure, and dressed in a green military trench coat, her light-purple eyes made Elias want to gouge them out and feed them to the dogs.
Cocolia. This damn vixen had come knocking.
"You. Get out."
Elias had no intention of talking.
His impression of Cocolia had long since plunged into the negatives. The moment he spoke, a terrifying pressure accompanied that single word: "Get out."
Cocolia nearly dropped to her knees on the spot. Elias' golden eyes radiated unmistakable killing intent.
Cold sweat trickled down her back. She had no idea what she had done to make Elias this hostile—as if he were ready to tear her apart on sight.
"There's nothing to talk about between us."
Elias slightly restrained his murderous aura—not out of politeness, but because he didn't want his precious girls to see him like that.
Still, he looked ready to attack at any second.
Cocolia's reason for showing up wasn't hard to guess. Even if it wasn't what he suspected, this woman had never once done anything good. Elias thought it was already commendable restraint not to cut her down on the spot.
(Mainly, he didn't want to dirty the house.)
He then gave her a certain universally understood hand gesture, silently telling her to scram before he threw her into the trash bin outside the House of the Hearth.
"Papa Elias really hates this woman."
"Yeah, I've never seen him dislike someone this much."
"If he hates her this badly, she must be a bad person."
"Ugh, we shouldn't have let her in. She made Papa Elias upset."
Seeing Elias show open disgust, the girls were shocked—but also unanimously erased any goodwill toward Cocolia and stared her down with open hostility.
Realizing the entire House of the Hearth was against her, Cocolia broke into another cold sweat. But she gritted her teeth and said:
"Mr. Elias! I'm preparing an experiment that could save all of humanity. If it succeeds, everyone would gain perfect Honkai resistance."
"At that point, humans could finally overcome Honkai. For this, I need your help. I need support from the House of the Hearth."
"I know you've been rescuing children orphaned by Honkai, Mr. Elias. But if this project succeeds, there will never be children like that again. Surely you understand the value of what I'm offering!"
After shouting these words, the House of the Hearth fell silent. The girls couldn't understand what this woman meant, so they all turned to Elias.
It sounded like something meaningful. They didn't know the details, but if their Papa Elias wanted to do it, they would agree without hesitation.
But Elias' response was sharp and resolute.
Clang!
At some point, the war scythe was already in his hand.
Cocolia didn't even have time to react—
The next second, Cocolia realized in horror that a deadly, icy blade was already pressed against her throat.
"Hmph. What a noble-sounding speech. But what you're really saying is that you want me to hand over children for your human experiments, isn't it? Cocolia, do you have a death wish or something?"
"The thing I hate second most in this world is human experimentation. The first? Someone daring to target the people I care about. You've managed to do both. Bravo."
"Defeating Honkai? Don't make me laugh. You? Do you even know your own worth? Who do you think you are?"
Just a self-righteous clown.
Thinking she could accomplish some grand salvation of the world.
Elias had one word for it—delusional.
"Tch... forget it. I should probably just kill you."
As he spoke, Elias' war scythe was already mid-swing, about to separate her pretty little head from her body.
Cocolia nearly lost her soul in fear and immediately called for her Titan mech.
At this point in time, Anti-Entropy didn't have access to quantum tech. While they had decent stealth coatings, there was no way a massive Titan could be completely hidden.
With Elias' current strength, there was no chance he wouldn't sense it.
Boom!
He instantly raised his left hand and, to Cocolia's utter horror, caught the Titan's steel fist with his bare hand.
In the next moment, using only the strength of his fingers, he tore off the Titan's arm. Then, with a swing of his war scythe that gleamed with frost, he sliced the mech in half like a hot knife through butter.
"Oh, right, vixen. I heard you started an orphanage too. So tell me—how are the children in your orphanage doing, huh?"
Elias suddenly questioned Cocolia.
"Guh... th-they... they..."
Cocolia stammered, her face paling.
"Speak. They've all become your test subjects, haven't they? What a shameless woman. After ruining your own kids, now you want to ruin mine too? And you dress it up like you're doing it for the good of humanity?"
"..."
Elias' words left Cocolia speechless, her face darkening. She had prepared plenty of persuasive lines before coming.
But no matter how well she planned, she hadn't accounted for one thing—Elias already hated her before she even walked through the door. And as a veteran Honkai Captain from another world, he knew exactly what kind of person this vixen was.
Ambitious—but incompetent.
And most importantly—completely unaware of her own limits.
She might have genuinely cared for her daughters...
But given enough incentive, she'd still put them on the operating table. She'd feel guilty, sure—but she wouldn't hesitate.
"What? You think I don't know anything? You think your so-called X-10 Experiment is going to beat Honkai? I don't even know what posture to laugh at you in."
Elias really wanted to ask where her so-called Stigmata Plan had gone. If giving everyone perfect Honkai resistance were really that easy, then Honkai would've been defeated ages ago.
Elias: "You know nothing about Honkai."
Besides, he was pretty sure the X-10 Experiment wasn't even something Cocolia's department developed. It was almost certainly a hand-me-down plan from World Serpent.
When Elias reviewed the lore back then, the whole thing felt off. They claimed the goal was to grant humanity Honkai resistance—but the real result? Only a handful of successful subjects gained the ability to manipulate Honkai energy on a quantum level.
Elias strongly suspected that this vixen had been manipulated by World Serpent—specifically by Grey Serpent. The X-10 Experiment reeked of their design, probably just a scheme to retrieve Kevin from the Sea of Quanta.
After all, at this stage, the Eye of the Deep (Previous Era relic) was unusable, and the Second Divine Key, Cosmic Juggernaut, was sealed by Su. So for World Serpent, fishing Kevin out of the Sea of Quanta was no easy task.
It was likely the X-10 experiment was World Serpent's attempt at such a rescue.
For now, the Serpent still needed to remain hidden—and needed someone else to run the tests. That person was Cocolia.
Sure enough, what happened next confirmed Elias' suspicions. Just as his scythe was about to slice the vixen in half—
"My friend, you are rather impatient, aren't you?"
"Oh? The main act has arrived?"
"No, no, not at all. I am merely Cocolia's partner. Please, show some mercy, Mr. Elias."
A black figure appeared out of nowhere, using his body to block Elias' blow.
He wore a black hoodie with green lines running through it.
All his limbs and his eyes were prosthetic, and his face was covered with a white mask that revealed only the right eye. On the mask was the black emblem of two crossed daggers.
Even though Elias' scythe had already cleaved into his body, this cybernetic man, comparable in durability to Adam's Warhammer form, seemed completely unfazed. He even greeted Elias politely.
He was none other than Grey Serpent—a high-ranking member of World Serpent!
"Grey Serpent, you're here to help me?!"
Cocolia's eyes lit up at the sight of her partner, thinking there was still hope Elias might be persuaded.
But...
"Help you? Of course not, Cocolia. I came to stop you."
"But our plan—"
"That's enough, Cocolia. Mr. Elias would never agree to the X-10 Experiment. You were nearly killed just now."
Grey Serpent's mechanical eye flashed red, and he looked at her with what could only be described as irritation.
He really hadn't wanted to come save this foolish woman. Even though Grey Serpent had countless clones and had been created by Mobius—the one who transcended death itself...
That didn't mean he wanted to die.
The body Elias had almost sliced in half was already beyond repair. It would have to be scrapped.
But for now, World Serpent couldn't afford to reveal itself. Until their Lord Kevin returned from the Sea of Quanta, they didn't have the strength to confront the other factions of modern civilization.
Cocolia, an executive of Anti-Entropy, was high-ranking, gullible, and easy to manipulate. In Grey Serpent's eyes, that made her a highly useful pawn.
If not for that, he wouldn't have bothered saving her.
"Long time no see, Mr. Elias. Please believe me—I truly wish to maintain a friendly relationship with you."
"Hmph. Grey Serpent, your taste in partners is garbage. You picked a woman this stupid."
"Ahem... You're right. But sometimes, circumstances don't allow for better choices."
Grey Serpent kept his tone low and respectful. Elias wordlessly pulled his scythe from the man's body.
In fact, the two had already been in contact some time ago. Grey Serpent was Raven's superior—and even her mentor. Naturally, Elias, as her partner, had been on his radar.
But back then, Grey Serpent hadn't mentioned the X-10 Experiment. Instead, he'd directly invited Elias to join World Serpent.
Elias' response? A flat-out rejection.
He'd have to be insane to join World Serpent.
What could possibly be better than spending every day relaxing with his girls? Sure, the Elysian Realm was tempting—but Elias understood his mission in this timeline.
Ultimately, his goal wasn't to recover some memory archive or digital fragments.
It was to one day reach the Previous Era and rescue all thirteen original Flame-Chasers—the real ones.
Because even if the remnants were beautiful and brilliant, they still weren't as perfect as the originals.
If he was going to save them—he would do it right. He would erase the regrets at their root.
"Fine. Just this once, for your sake—get this woman out of here."
"Grey Serpent, are you really going to just let this go—?"
"Give it up, Cocolia. Mr. Elias is not one of us. In fact, he's the exact opposite of you. If you try this again, no one will be able to save you."
"What?!"
"To Mr. Elias, defeating Honkai or saving the world comes second. What he truly cares about... are the girls he's adopted."
Grey Serpent spoke with absolute certainty.
He had once approached Elias through Raven, invited him, and even had a few short conversations. That was enough to confirm—they could never walk the same path.
Because what they valued... was completely different.
World Serpent existed to overcome Honkai, no matter the cost. Even if it meant sacrificing humanity to save humanity, they would proceed without hesitation.
But Elias was different. He cared only for the girls he had taken in. If forced to choose between the world and Bronya and the others, he would choose them—without hesitation. Even if it meant destroying the world.
At least, that was the version of Elias who existed in this timeline.
That fundamental difference in belief made Grey Serpent abandon the idea of recruiting Elias into World Serpent.
"..."
Cocolia froze.
It was clear now that Elias would never sacrifice the girls he loved for some abstract notion of saving humanity. He was, in every way, her opposite.
To Elias, family was more important than the world. To Cocolia, family was important too—but not more than her ambition.
In this timeline, Elias had gotten to Bronya, Seele, and the others before she had. Even so, Cocolia had gone on to found her so-called orphanage and took in a different batch of children.
And for the sake of the X-10 Experiment, she had sacrificed them all.
Did Cocolia regret it?
Of course she did.
After realizing the last child she had taken in died due to her experiments, she regretted everything.
But to Grey Serpent, that regret was laughable—pathetic, even.
Grey Serpent: (This vixen's regret is nothing more than the bitterness of a gambler who lost everything and got nothing in return. It's not grief over her children—it's disappointment at having paid the price and gained nothing.)
She didn't regret sending her children to their deaths. She regretted that the sacrifice yielded no results.
There was a world of difference between those two things.
She claimed to love her children—and still put them on the operating table. Rather than repenting after the fact, she should've done as Elias did and protected them from the beginning.
"As an apology for disturbing you and your lovely girls, please accept this as a token of goodwill."
Grey Serpent handed over a blank check. Elias waved his hand dismissively and didn't take it.
"No need. Give it to Natasha instead."
"Very well. I'm sure Raven will be thrilled."
Grey Serpent shrugged. But after a moment's thought, he scratched off the seven-digit placeholder on the check before putting it away to hand off to Raven later.
(If I don't do that, she's definitely going to fill in all nines and immediately resign from World Serpent to go buy herself that dream island.)
As Raven's foster parent, trainer, superior, and colleague—he knew her far too well.
But right now, World Serpent was still in its growth phase. They couldn't afford to lose the wielder of the Third Divine Key and island-destroyer-in-training just yet.
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