"O child of man, let us bind the gods..." Su mused, a faint smile on his lips. "A fitting name for the Key of Binding ." Having stayed behind during the moon battle, he hadn't witnessed the moment firsthand—but now, hearing it from those who were there, he glimpsed yet another side of Silas.
"Speaking of which," Vill-V said with a laugh, "when Silas first met me, he asked me a question like this as well." Judging by her tone, this was the Expert Vill-V speaking.
Silas: "…"
Wait a second—let him think—what had he asked the Expert Vill-V…? No way—no way!
Before he could open his mouth to stop her, Expert Vill-V continued, "He asked me if I could build a giant robot or something. He even had a name ready for it—AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder… I believe that was it. Truly a wild and fanciful idea. If conditions allowed, I'd quite like to make one myself."
"AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder?" Everyone turned to look at Silas. His face was one of pure despair. A man's youth is wasted if he's never been chuunibyou—and his chuunibyou phase was now publicly executed.
Kosma's eyes were sparkling.
(AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder? Just the name sounds incredible. As expected of Silas.)
"…Cool," he said.
Expert Vill-V teased, "Back then, he even had an entire series of names ready—the Twelve Divine Arsenal, wasn't it?"
Silas: "…"
Heh… heheh…
Elysia, on the other hand, looked a little upset. Damn it—why didn't she know about any of these things?
Wait—she suddenly remembered something. She looked at Silas. "Ah, I almost forgot until you all brought this up. Back when you were still in my squad, I asked you what the scariest story you'd ever heard was. You told me, 'Open the event, fall into the pit; finish the event, get nothing.' I didn't understand what that meant at the time, and you explained it was a gaming term. For the strongest MANTIS to be scared of something like that…"
Silas: "…"
Was today the Public Exhibition of Silas's Cringe Past? If this went on any longer, he was going to grab his bucket and make a run for it!
"So uh, Brother Silas—you had this kind of side too," Pardofelis said in surprise. When Kosma had mentioned the final battle against the Finality earlier, she hadn't felt much—just thought Silas's words were really cool. But looking back now… maybe he was just being chuunibyou.
Suddenly, she felt just a little closer to him. So Silas… was also just an ordinary person.
"Silas does have his own unique sense of humor at times," Sakura said with a smile. "I even once heard him quietly singing a song… but his voice was so soft, I couldn't make out the words. Something about 'Normal Summoning Aleister' or something like that…"
Silas: "..."
Et tu, Sakura?!
"Mm, during the Eighth Herrscher incident, Silas helped me once," Su recalled. "I asked him if there was anything I could do for him in return, and he asked me to recite a line. 'The inner sea of the planet. The platform of the watchtower. From the edge of paradise, you shall hear my words. Your story shall be full of blessings. ━Let only those without sin pass—Garden of Avalon.' At first, I thought it was a line from some theatrical work. Later, I searched through many books and even asked Eden, but found nothing. Now it seems, Silas, that you wrote it yourself?"
Silas: "…"
Back then, he'd just wanted to see if Su would catch the reference. But thinking back to how seriously Su had recited it, he suddenly kind of wanted to laugh… what to do?
"Oh, he asked me something similar too," Kalpas chimed in, entering full nostalgia mode. "Wanted to know how it felt shouting 'Disappear!' mid-battle. Hm… it sounds pretty imposing, but somehow it still feels like it comes up short compared to others. I stopped saying it after that."
At that moment, Silas's communicator rang. Upon answering, Mobius' voice came through:
"Silas, come to my temporary lab right now. There's an experiment that requires your assistance."
Dr. Mobius, you are my savior!
"Since Dr. Mobius has spoken, I'll be off first." Silas turned and made to flee the scene immediately—but suddenly, someone grabbed his hand.
"Kosma?" He looked in surprise at the still-youthful boy.
Kosma stared at Silas seriously for a long moment before speaking:
"…Do you have any words that suit me?"
Silas: "…"
Is this ever going to end?! Believe it or not, I'll teach Griseo to say "Roar, Kosma!" in the future! …Ah, wait, I already did. Never mind.
All he could do was throw out a hasty, "When I have time," before making a quick escape.
"Do you think we took the teasing too far?" Vill-V couldn't help but laugh as she watched Silas's "panicked retreat." Anyway, it's not like Silas would hold a grudge over something like this—especially since he also knows plenty of her own embarrassing past…
He probably wouldn't spill it… right?
Kosma, however, looked puzzled. This counted as teasing? In his eyes, Silas's lines and that "AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder" idea were really cool—well, except for the things Elysia and Sakura mentioned, which he didn't quite understand.
It was then that Kevin spoke lazily:
"I think… Lilith probably knows even more about such things."
The atmosphere went silent again in an instant.
Mobius' Laboratory
"Doctor! Whatever you need my help with, just say the word!" Silas declared the moment he entered.
Mobius narrowed her eyes, then said with a hint of displeasure:
"Silas, I'd prefer you not keep trying to shoulder all the responsibility for fighting the Honkai alone. Besides, there are some things you can't rush—acting hastily now won't help."
Silas nearly teared up. Doctor… you have no idea what I've just been through… Forget it—better not risk her digging up and sharing his embarrassing past someday…
He cleared his throat and straightened his posture.
"Then, Doctor, what experiment requires my assistance?"
Mobius produced a transparent container. Inside floated a core, glowing with an eerie, ghostly green light.
"As you can see, this is Śeṣa's Honkai Beast core."
Mobius suddenly hesitated. Looking at Silas intently, she said,
"Try making contact with the core. See if you can 'revive' Śeṣa. If you sense anything wrong, tell me immediately."
Silas nodded, took the container from her, opened it, and prepared to reach in to touch the core.
The moment his hand neared it, a powerful surge of Honkai energy spilled out from within. Mobius' eyes narrowed sharply—she quickly grabbed his arm with one hand, while the other took hold of a strange instrument, clearly ready to sever the link between him and Śeṣa's core at a moment's notice.
Even with only its core remaining, Śeṣa could quickly revive under the right conditions—that was what made it so dangerous. But something felt wrong.
Silas could feel the leaking Honkai energy flowing into his body, and the Śeṣa core he touched began to merge into his hand.
"Silas, let go now!" Mobius immediately moved to sever the connection, but Silas stopped her.
"No need to worry, Doctor." He calmly watched as the Śeṣa core tried to fuse with his hand. He had a feeling this might help him unlock… something.
Suddenly, a violent change struck. Pain he hadn't felt in ages tore through his whole body, his expression twisting instantly. In that same moment, a rare flicker of panic flashed in Mobius's eyes as she rapidly calculated whether cutting off his hand could end this phenomenon.
The half-merged core suddenly seemed "rejected" and was expelled from his palm. Silas quickly pulled his hand back and shut the container.
Before he could react further, Mobius grabbed him and pushed him onto the operating table.
"Doctor…"
She ignored him completely, connecting one device after another to his body. Seeing the unusual anxiety on her face, Silas wisely kept silent.
Only when the instruments confirmed there was no serious problem did Mobius let out a small breath. She looked at him.
"Silas… you don't feel anything strange in your body, right?"
He carefully checked. Sadly, he hadn't awakened any superpowers… maybe he should try cutting himself to see if he had Śeṣa's regeneration?
"No. Nothing so far."
Mobius exhaled and sat tiredly on the edge of the table. "I was too hasty… I thought that, as a Herrscher vessel, you might be able to revive Śeṣa, and a version affected by you would be more obedient than before. I'm sorry, Silas…"
She knew she couldn't stop his determination to fight the Honkai. She'd even tested the process on herself beforehand, but nothing like this had happened.
Silas's gaze fell to the faint red lines running from her fingers to her wrist—the sign of Honkai energy erosion. Something in him shifted. He began to reflect on himself.
Then he reached out and held her hand.
"Doctor, this isn't your fault… The impatient one here is me. If anyone should apologize, it's me. You were right—fighting the Honkai isn't just my responsibility. We don't need to rush… we still have time."
Mend the fold after the sheep is lost—but before the flock is doomed.
He wouldn't wait until it was too late to regret it. For now, Mobius's Honkai erosion was mild; as long as she avoided contact with Honkai energy for a while, it would fade on its own. But if the red lines became darker, no matter how small the affected area, amputation would be unavoidable.
"…I'm sorry, Doctor." He tightened his grip on her hand.
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Translator's Note:
The one with Kalpas is a VA joke - both he and Genshin Impact's Xiao share the same voice actor.
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