Something felt… off to Silas.
These past few days, wasn't Elysia showing up around him a bit too often?
She was there during his morning workouts, during training, and even when he went jogging at night.
Did she seriously not have anything better to do?
For the record, Silas hadn't suffered any broken bones under the rubble—he was just pinned. What had nearly killed him was blood loss from being shredded by debris.
The upside? He'd been discharged quickly and immediately transferred to the local MOTH branch for training.
But back to the point—this level of proximity felt very unnatural. He was pretty sure that at this stage in their relationship, Elysia and he weren't that close. No matter how cheerful or extroverted she was, there was no reason she'd be this clingy toward some random guy. He wasn't Kevin, after all—not some walking cheat code.
"Wait a second… Don't tell me Elysia's been reborn too?"
That unsettling thought popped into Silas's head.
But then again—if that were true, it didn't make sense either.
In the final years of their war against the Honkai, his relationship with Elysia had grown cold and distant. He hadn't even shown up for the establishment of the Flame-Chasers.
Yes, because of him, the upper echelon of MOTH had approved the creation of the "Thirteen Flame-Chasers." In the previous life, they were essentially the spiritual successors to the Thirteen Fallen Angels—a squad he had led.
The higher-ups had originally chosen him to lead the new unit.
He'd turned the role down and passed it to Elysia.
The next day, Elysia passed it to Kevin.
But back to the present—if Elysia really was a reborn like him… why was she being so enthusiastic toward him?
Silas racked his brain. Eventually, he recalled the one and only invitation Elysia had sent him before the final banquet. By then, he had mostly forgotten the story details, but he still remembered the general reason—Elysia hadn't sent any invites to the other Flame-Chasers.
He had misunderstood her intention back then. He thought it meant she didn't trust him. That she wasn't treating him the same way she did everyone else. And that had bothered him—a lot.
Plus, at the time, he had just barely recovered physically. He needed to prepare for the final stage of the Divinity Ascension Project, so instead of attending, he gave the letter to Kevin and asked him to return it to her. Just like how Mei had shown Elysia her trust by refusing the invitation, Silas thought doing the same was the right call.
Was it possible… that he had misunderstood Elysia?
"Was I really… the one she most wanted to see at that banquet?"
Silas murmured under his breath.
Then he shook his head.
No way. There's no chance someone like Elysia—someone who loved all of humanity—would care for just one individual. That kind of thinking was just wishful delusion.
But if it was true…
Then… his attitude toward her back then… turning down the invitation…
It must've really hurt her.
Silas sighed.
He got up from bed, washed up quickly, and headed out for morning practice. The moment he opened his dorm door, he saw Elysia—"coincidentally" passing by.
"Hi! Morning, Silas!" she greeted cheerfully. "I slept in just a little today. I thought I'd miss you, but looks like you also woke up later than usual"
"Ah… what a coincidence, Miss Elysia." Silas smiled back, but inwardly, he was spinning in doubt.
Was Elysia really into him?
Or was all of this truly just coincidence?
Same training hours, same routines, same timing for waking up...
Could something this perfect really be random?
Wait—no. His current routine wasn't his original one. He had adjusted it in the past to match Elysia's, and brought that adjusted rhythm with him into this reborn life…
Never mind. Guess it really was a coincidence.
All that overthinking for nothing.
Silas who was "enlightened", dismissed the concern in his heart, chalking it all up to pure happenstance.
Still, he kept a bit of doubt tucked away—just in case. After all, something about this timeline felt different from the last.
What he didn't know was that Elysia had been waiting outside just to pretend she ran into him.
As Silas grappled with suspicion, Elysia was facing doubts of her own: Had he really been reborn?
In her memories, when they first began interacting, his eyes would always light up just a bit more whenever he saw her. But now… his gaze was calm. Distant.
Just like it had been in that time.
If Silas really had been reborn… Did she… still have a chance?
She remembered proposing the formation of the Fourteen Flame-Chasers, and nominating him as the leader.
He'd refused flatly. He hadn't even accepted the vice-leader role.
Even though he had been the strongest of the Thirteen Fallen Angels—a fusion warrior without equal.
She often wondered… was it because of her that he turned it down?
As Elysia continued to spiral inward, someone else approached Silas—and the sound of their conversation snapped her out of it.
When she saw the green-haired woman speaking with Silas, she nearly failed to recognize her.
But then she realized—Mobius!?
Why… is Mobius here?
She shouldn't have been anywhere near this region.
Which meant…
Was Mobius also reborn!?
Elysia narrowed her eyes.
She decided to try inserting herself into the conversation—to get some answers.
"…Because I was the sole survivor of that small-scale Honkai outbreak, you suspect I have an unusually high resistance to Honkai energy… and now you want me to join your lab?"
Silas frowned as he summarized Mobius's explanation.
"But Dr. Mobius… why me?"
Yes, he did have high resistance to Honkai energy. But that was only compared to normal people.
His resistance wasn't anywhere near Kevin's level—and not even as high as Kosma, who would later join MOTH.
What puzzled him was this: Mobius had never approached him this early in the previous timeline.
Sure, her reason sounded reasonable enough, but something still felt wrong.
Mobius glanced sideways at Elysia, who had quietly moved closer, clearly trying to join the conversation.
Then she smiled and said:
"It was Elysia's report that caught my attention. She's the one who brought you to my notice."
"…What?"
Elysia blinked.
What report!?
When did I submit that!?
Silas nodded in understanding.
So that's how it is. That explains why Elysia's been so close to him these past few days—observation, huh? He could get behind that.
Meanwhile, Elysia had immediately caught on.
Mobius was lying through her teeth—but also subtly signaling that she, like Elysia, had been reborn.
Elysia decided to roll with it.
"Right! I didn't expect Dr. Mobius to act so quickly. I guess that means you do care about me, hmm?"
Mobius rolled her eyes and fired back.
"Who the hell cares about you?"
She continued her masterclass in straight-faced deceit, turning back to Silas.
"Your report just caught my attention, that's all. I only came here after conducting a detailed analysis of the potential variables."
By "detailed analysis," of course, she meant thinking on the plane about how best to BS Silas—planning out excuses and fallback answers for any possible reaction.
Silas murmured, "Makes sense…"
Yeah, it all checked out. But something still didn't sit right.
There was one problem no one had addressed:
Why were things developing so differently from his past life?
Everything had started changing from the moment Elysia began acting so… strangely enthusiastic toward him.
Silas narrowed his eyes.
If anyone else had shown this much attention, he might've assumed it was just personality differences—but this was Elysia. She loved humanity in the broadest sense, yes, but she never fixated on individuals.
So that left him with only one reasonable explanation:
Elysia had also been reborn.
And if she had… then maybe she thought that his actions in the previous timeline needed to be corrected.
"How unnecessary," he thought coldly.
What he did back then was the best possible path for humanity. It was the most effective method for resisting the Honkai. No matter how much Elysia wanted him to experience the beauty of human bonds this time around, he would not waver in his resolve.
In the previous life, he had ruthlessly crushed all armed resistance to MOTH—no matter their age, no matter their reasons.
Rebels were cut down without mercy.
By doing so, he ensured that MOTH became the one and only banner under which humanity could unite against the Honkai.
In the original timeline, when Finality descended, only 30,000 humans survived.
Under his command?
100,000 elite survivors—carefully screened and selected—made it through.
And twelve out of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers lived on into the next era.
He didn't think he had done anything wrong.
This was Silas in his purest essence: prideful to the extreme.
When it came to resisting the Honkai, he was beyond obsessive—fanatically convinced that his way was the only right way.
To allies, he never withheld kindness.
To enemies, he showed no mercy.
There was another reason beneath his cold logic:
He wasn't a native of this world.
He was a player—an outsider who had once viewed the Previous Era through tinted glass.
He'd gotten to know the Thirteen Flame-Chasers—not just as characters, but as people, more real than he'd ever imagined.
He'd even formed genuine friendships with Kevin and many others.
But it stopped there.
Aside from his squad—the one he had personally led—he hadn't interacted deeply with anyone else.
And now…
Now he had a chance to do better than he ever did in the previous timeline.
There was no way in hell he was going to waste it.
"Then I'll be counting on you, Dr. Mobius."
Silas extended his hand, and Mobius responded with a victorious smile as she reached out to shake it.
Now that she had Silas's agreement, the rest would be easy. She'd bring him back to MOTH's central HQ and begin his specialized training under the guise of conducting experiments.
Of course, if she could somehow dull that overly strong will of his to fight the Honkai, that'd be even better.
While Silas went off with Klein to take care of the formalities, Elysia and Mobius were left alone for a brief conversation.
Elysia was the first to speak.
"Mobius… you've been reborn too, haven't you?"
Mobius gave a dry laugh.
"Heh… I'm afraid it's not just me. Once I got on-site, I realized things were far more serious than I expected. Not only you and I—Silas has been reborn too."
Her eyes locked onto Elysia's as she continued.
"Do you know what that means? Not only does it increase the odds that Kevin and the others are also back… it also means Silas might become even more fanatical than he was in the last timeline."
Elysia fell silent.
Mobius crossed her arms, tone growing sharper.
"And judging from how you've been acting lately, there's a good chance he's already guessed that you've returned too. You'd better tone it down. The best outcome right now is if he drops that suspicion."
"Why?" Elysia asked, almost pleading. "If that's true… can't we just be honest with him? We've all been given a second chance. We can fight side by side again, start over, and try to build a better future."
Mobius gave her a flat look.
"Elysia… are you misunderstanding what kind of person Silas really is?"
"I guess that makes sense. You weren't the one who spent the most time with him later on—I did. You just don't know him like I do."
Elysia frowned, confused.
She had always believed that the reason Silas became so extreme was because no one ever truly understood him. That it was loneliness that twisted him into who he became.
And in a way, she wasn't wrong.
The problem was… it wasn't that no one tried to understand him.
He was the one who rejected everyone.
Mobius sighed heavily, a rare show of weariness in her voice.
"Silas… is far too stubborn. Think about it—without him, every single Honkai disaster would've been far worse. And he knows that. That's exactly why he'll never change his mind or his methods."
"If he finds out we've also been reborn, he'll expect—no, demand—that we act according to his ideology. And if we refuse… we'll all end up going our separate ways again."
That caught Elysia off guard.
This side of Silas… she didn't know it. And it left her unsure what to do.
Mobius continued.
"The best move right now… is to let him believe only the two of you have been reborn. After all, the one person he's always trusted—has always made exceptions for—is you."
"Even now, he'll still yield to you. But that won't change his way of thinking. What we need to do is change him slowly… silently… without him realizing."
Elysia looked down.
"You're right, Mobius. I was too impatient…"
"The one who needs saving… isn't just this world."
"It's that solitary traveler who's lost his way."
But now that she understood more, her heart ached even more deeply for the stubborn young man.
Because all this time, he had been fighting the Honkai alone—and no one had ever truly been able to save him.
Mobius followed Silas with her gaze as he disappeared into the distance.
Her voice softened.
"He's a good kid. Even if he's headstrong to the point of madness, he's still a good kid."
"He's never owed this world anything. He's never asked for anything in return. He… should never have had to become what he did."
In the last life, she had buried herself in her pursuit of infinity.
By the time she realized what he had become, it was far too late.
But not this time.
This time… they still had time. They still had a chance.
To slowly—gently—pull that boy back from the edge of the abyss.
And Mobius had one more reason to fight.
She stole a glance at Elysia.
"This time… I want to be the one standing beside him."
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