Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

"So, that's why she always went to the Sea of Quanta…"

After causing planetary-scale destruction, Aleph came back to his reality. He was currently inside the Mu Continent branch's sparring area.

"If she didn't, I would have definitely caught her by now."

From the time Aleph saw Ling disappear on her own, he already understood how she accomplished her spatial displacement (teleportation). It was more or less similar to what he did.

The information dimension has something called 'projections'. These were the manifestations of things—living or inorganic—from the physical world to the information dimension.

What he did was to turn himself into a concept and enter the information dimension himself. It was similar to how warp drives worked in sci-fi literature. He entered a dimension and came out of it, thus achieving the purpose of traversing distances akin to spatial displacement.

Only, Aleph found himself 'anchored' when he entered from a physical world. His existence itself carried unimaginable information. It resulted in the entire Earth being destroyed inside the training space.

If he enters the information dimension from another dimension, such as the Sea of Quanta, the influence of his information would be carried over there. 

So long as Aleph and the Sixth Herrscher enter from a different 'anchor', they would find it difficult to interfere with each other, unless their information was complex enough.

"I need to enter the Sea of Quanta to deal with her. But then…"

The pricking sensation at the back of his neck became stronger. He had a bad feeling about going to the Sea of Quanta.

In the first place, it was a place where bubble worlds sank into destruction. These are the 'possibilities' that fell off the Imaginary Tree. It was a dimension, perhaps even an entity, that complements the Imaginary Tree and forms a balance with it.

Aleph does not know what would happen if he went there in person.

Theoretically, his Yamato could cut a pathway straight to it—even to the Imaginary Tree. The information dimension was no exception, though one needs to become an 'information' to enter it. Without that pass, he wouldn't be able to enter no matter what.

"Ugh… Vill-V's work has to be done soon. I have a feeling we'll have results on Imaginary Space once it's over."

*****

Flames.

Endless flames.

Crimson flames so hot they could burn someone with a touch. A dizzying sensation followed next.

The sole high-level MANTIS with them was sent flying on a burning skyscraper. There was no doubt about his death. The few thousand people he tried to protect by counteracting the extreme heat soon began to be affected by the flames themselves.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Herrscher did not emit any honkai energy, most of them would have outright turned into an undead at worst.

Even so, these few thousand people who evacuated on the Fire MOTH branch soon fell into heatstroke. It wasn't a normal one as their surroundings began burning.

Rumble-!

The few remaining MANTISes tried their best to salvage the situation. Some of them froze their surroundings, creating white steam once their ice melted. Some others held the falling debris, making sure they would not harm the civilians.

It was a chaotic scene. Inevitably, the superstar who was supposed to perform became dazed.

'These brave souls…'

It was impossible not to be touched. Despite losing their captain, none of the MANTISes present retreated. Their irregular horns, scales, and furry ears and tails did not matter. 

They are humans… fighting for humans.

"Miss Eden, this way."

One of Eden's bodyguards tapped her shoulder, waking her up. Aside from this group of bodyguards, there are three MANTISes who arranged her escort.

She was currently headed to the underground shelter of this Fire MOTH branch. The same went for the other people. Everyone was frantically walking towards the only 'safe' zone they knew, though it was debatable whether it was truly safe.

Thud-!

Thud-!

…

Several people collapsed due to the intense heat. It wasn't just them. More and more people collapsed to the ground.

Creak-!

Crack-!

Some of these bodies were stepped over by the crowd. The squelching of their flesh and breaking of their bones was overpowered by the sounds of explosions outside.

Such a sight chilled Eden down. It was only now did she see how far desperation could push others.

The screams, wails, and explosions drowned out her songs.

'...Can I still do something?'

Her inner conflict was halted when a sound akin to an explosion swept everyone.

Boom-!

Rumble-!

The entire building swayed along the impact. The rumbling created an earthquake enough to make others lose their balance.

The next second, 'something' swept over them. The moment it did so, their injuries receded. All of the broken bones, pierced flesh, crushed organs, recovered to their previous state.

This bewildered everyone, creating seconds-long silence amongst the survivors.

"Look… There… there's no longer any fire outside!"

One of the shouts attracted Eden's attention. When she previously saw the scenery on a large window, it depicted a crimson hell.

Now, only the burnt infrastructure remained. There were still small to medium-sized fires present, but the crimson hell was no longer.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. This must be Sir Aleph. Yes, the captain told us there would be reinforcements..!"

Nearly everyone inside this building knew who Aleph was. His feats of defeating the fifth Herrscher alone, as well as cleaning nearly all of the emperor-class honkai beasts in the Eastern Continent was a prestige matched by no one.

"Sir Aleph…" Eden muttered.

She looked at her surroundings. The previous bleak and dreary atmosphere was quickly turned into a hopeful one.

"He should be able to deal with that Herrscher, right?"

"Of course he can! He can make earthquakes this strong!"

"That was him? How can you be so sure?"

Although the chaos did not die down completely, these people walked towards the shelter in a slightly more organized way. Basically, nobody died due to the stampede anymore.

The surviving MANTISes soon received a new directive from their current acting captain—Hua.

"Listen! We are going to walk slowly towards the underground shelter. Then, we will board the carrier ships one by one."

"The threat outside has been dealt by Sir Aleph. Only the evacuation remains. I repeat, stay calm…"

In such a manner, everyone managed to do the evacuations properly. Once the nearly twenty-thousand survivors stepped into the underground shelter, the floor moved further down the basement level. The carrier ships were designed to withstand extreme environments and were placed beneath each Fire MOTH branch in the entire world. These were the culmination of their years of preparation.

At the very least, the ships are enough to accommodate more than a hundred thousand survivors theoretically. It was far more than what the number of survivors in a scenario like this could be, but the Fire MOTH analysts accounted for other factors. They were proven right this time around.

Eden thought of everything she had seen up until they boarded the carrier ship.

'Brilliance like the sun… He is the true star.'

A single man changed the outcomes of many. Her current reputation paled compared to his. Her music brought solace; his power ended the conflict from the get-go.

Thinking of her own powerlessness in the face of this despair, Eden became determined to change this status quo.

'If… If I can do something…'