Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Everyone was deathly silent.

They saw how Aleph moved from one position to another. Most of these positions ought to be random. He didn't try to close the distance between them, but rather, slowly closed in on Hakuhatsu Ki's radius.

When the latter attempted to move thirty meters in one go, Aleph appeared on his trajectory out of nowhere. Add to that the 'stun' effect brought when he forgot "who" Aleph was, it became easy to settle everything in one blow.

'What… There's nothing wrong with me. Why did I forget him?'

Kevin's expy was conscious when he was sent flying. The events that occurred just now remained stuck in his mind.

'He was fifty meters away. Then… he disappeared. I couldn't react when he attacked me after that..!'

Disappearing mid-combat was an absurd ability. It was his first time seeing such a thing.

It wasn't only him.

'Nothing is wrong with my brain. My memories are all intact. But why…'

'He disappeared. It's not wrong to consider that our minds blanked out.'

'Just how…'

Aleph's practical demonstrations were far from what they expected. They predicted his use of overwhelming force, going as far as destroying this entire training venue. Yet, they were shown strange combat techniques instead.

Ironically, the impact was far higher than what it should have been.

"I am sure you would not stop with this. Let's go. I'm giving you another chance."

Hearing Aleph's words, a mix of fighting spirit and trepidation emerged from Hakuhatsu Ki.

Kevin's image overlapped with his, eliciting a somewhat evil smile from Aleph.

'Is my destiny beating up Kevins?'

*****

One day was all it took to visit the other four Sentinel holders. All of them suffered the same fate as Hakuhatsu Ki's. 

No matter how much destructive power they released, their endings did not change. Aleph easily dealt with them. During that time, all he used were his fists.

Looking at the setting sun, and then to the crepe in his hand, he felt out of place. The clean yet futuristic look of the city held a certain charm. 

One moment, he was going through buildings that fit the description of cyberpunk. The next moment, he sees a section of the city that held semblance to his Earth. One would only snap out of it when a streak of black appears in the sky.

Izumo's technological tree was extremely advanced, nothing short of what Aleph glimpsed in the research papers inside the Sanctum.

'Izumo is what Earth would look like… given five hundred more years.'

Unfortunately, the Cocoon wasn't patient when it came to finding a suitable 'embrace'. If an iteration of civilization fails, it would reboot everything back to square one. 

Only the places tainted by Sea of Quanta's influence would remain the same, hence the ruins from the Previous Era being unaffected by the 'time loop'. The same holds true for the places connected to the Imaginary Space.

As for the rest of the supposed 'ruins' from iterations beyond the "Previous Era", he did not factor them, mainly due to how this information was a ret-con in the original canon—the game did not offer any good explanations regarding them.

'...Hold on.'

Aleph's train of thought continued this way.

'They are opposing forces. But… why did I feel danger when I planned to go to either of them?'

Yamato had the convenient ability to cut open a portal between dimensions. As early as when he obtained it, Aleph tried to enter the Sea of Quanta, only to be stopped by the dangerous feeling he sensed. Later on, he tried to enter the imaginary space through Yamato but was met by the same sensation.

Finally…

'The Cocoon. I haven't done anything bad to it as far as I am aware…'

What would cause two opposing natural forces to have a common consensus?

That question was like a bucket of cold water poured on his head.

'The Singularity achievement. Did I cause something big when I came to this world..?'

The doubts in his mind began to resurface. Aleph had hundreds of guesses regarding this matter before he went to Izumo. When Great Sage analyzed the Divine Power's nature and the Black Sun, he eliminated most of these guesses. 

The few guesses with enough rationale were retained.

For example, the true nature of Divine Power. It was a power similar to Honkai Energy. The latter was formed by the Cocoon's conversion of the Tree's imaginary energy. This line of thought made him think what was behind the emergence of Divine Power aside from IX.

There was only that Aeon who did not show up until now.

"Sir Aleph."

"Oh?"

He was woken up from his deep thoughts by Mei's voice. Of course, to the outside world, he only stood still for a second.

Aleph saw a blueberry crepe on her grasp. He was the one who asked Mei out after all the meetings with the Sentinel Holders.

"When will you leave?"

He paused for a moment.

"You noticed that? You are sharp… just like the Mei I knew."

The moment Mei heard his words, she knew he was talking about his "world".

"Remember when I told you that I am not from this world? I wasn't joking at that time." He said. "I came from a place called Earth. It's much similar to yours… down to the conflicts."

Aleph told her about the honkai and the corresponding disasters they had to face. 

"Just like Izumo…"

"That's why I wanted to offer help. Our worlds suffer from similar disasters. I might as well shoulder some burden for you, although temporarily."

He did not shy away from the details. He told her the general gist of Earth up to their current situation.

"In my world… there's someone much like you." Aleph looked at Mei's unchanging look. "She's my girlfriend."

"..."

The unchanging look fell the next second. Her widened eyes were enough to show the surprise she felt.

"Is that why you helped me?" 

"No."

Once again, Mei was surprised by his answer.

"I will be wronging the two of you had I treated you as the same person." He explained slowly as he corrected her. "I want you to go further."

Aleph cut his words short before reorganizing them.

"I have seen the future of this world. Much like ours… it was headed to destruction."

"..."

"The future I saw wouldn't necessarily happen. It could be a vision… a possibility. But I have seen it."

Mei fell silent. Both the news he revealed and the serious look Aleph wore stunned her.

"If there comes a day when things seem hopeless…"

Numerous thoughts came on how he could end this sentence.

It boiled down to one:

"I want you to remain yourself no matter what happens."