After breakfast, Kalpas was dragged away by his adjutant—apparently, headquarters had finally assigned him a mission that suited him. Having been idle at the base for so long, Kalpas actually showed a flicker of interest in what lay ahead.
His missions were rarely confidential; within Fire Moth's internal network, anyone could look them up. After all, he wasn't a Cocoon-born operative, so there was no need to send him on shady jobs. Silas pulled up the details out of curiosity.
"Emperor-Class sighted, huh," he muttered after a glance, before heading to the training grounds.
The Emperor-Class was the pinnacle of lower-class Honkai beasts, second only to Judgement-Class types—but only just that much.
By the time the group had gathered at the training grounds, Pardofelis arrived late, stifling a yawn.
"Sorry, Brother Silas, everyone…" she mumbled, still half-asleep. "I stayed up too late talking with Sis Dys last night, so I couldn't get up this morning…"
"It's fine," Silas reassured her. "Dystopia's situation is worrying, after all. So, in the end, did she manage to come to terms with things a little?"
Pardo glanced toward Kosma. "She said she'll definitely show Kosma her resolve, and that she'll make sure you regain the person you once were."
Silas then turned to Kosma. "And you? What's your plan?"
Kosma fell silent for a moment before answering, "…I'll wait for her to show me."
Elysia tilted her head. This conversation felt oddly familiar—hadn't she and Silas had something similar before? Though, in truth, it was only superficially alike.
Kosma simply wasn't good at communicating with Dystopia. Silas, by contrast, was far more straightforward. And poor Dystopia… she knew far too little. She had no idea of Kosma's previous life, and Kosma would never tell her. So…
All they could do was hope Kosma would eventually figure things out and have an honest talk with her.
At least Silas wouldn't have handled it so one-sidedly—last time, Kosma had simply stated his stance, refused any discussion, and walked away.
Right now, though, Kosma's inner world was more complex than his words suggested.
(I didn't expect Dystopia to be so serious… Then I must respond in kind—with actions to prove my stance. On the path against Honkai, sacrifice is inevitable. Sometimes those sacrifices are even meaningless… I can't be the hero who saves everything, not like I once dreamed. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to be a hero. Before the day comes when we're forced to choose between two evils, I'll give everything I have to prevent that choice from ever appearing.)
His mindset had shifted. In his previous life, he had witnessed too much helplessness—he had seen the downfall of that fallen angel who now shared daily life with him, and knew what choices she had made in that other timeline.
To put it in perspective: if faced with the choice of sacrificing himself to defeat a Herrscher, or sacrificing an innocent person to do so, the current Kosma would still choose himself without hesitation.
But for this incident? He would make the same judgment as the others.
Because this wasn't something that could be solved by throwing his own life away.
It had to be weighed by the interests of humanity as a whole.
That was Kosma's change.
He still had the courage and resolve to sacrifice himself—but now he also had the rational judgment to know when that wasn't enough.
"Since Pardo's finally here, why don't we do a squad battle for training?" Elysia suggested brightly.
"A squad battle?" Kevin considered it. "Team coordination is important too. Then…"
"I'll take Silas, Sakura, and Pardo—we're already a team anyway." Elysia cut in quickly, not giving Kevin the chance to mess around. "As for you, Kevin, team up with Kosma and Hua. To keep things fair, our side will start with half health points. How about it?"
Dystopia, unfortunately, had to go to Mobius' lab today and couldn't join the training. Otherwise, she would have been added to Kevin's team.
Kevin had originally thought he'd be teamed with Silas and Kosma. After all, boys vs. girls in a team wasn't a problem, right? But with Elysia speaking up so convincingly, would it really look good if he insisted on his idea?
Of course it would! He was Kevin! Backing down wasn't in his nature. With determination in his voice, he said firmly, "While what you said makes sense, I still think organizing by male and female teams is reasonable in terms of team composition."
"But Silas and I are already a team," Elysia replied with a smile.
"There's no rule against switching teams, is there?" Kevin retorted without hesitation. "Besides, having only one male in your team might cause some trouble for Silas, don't you think?"
Elysia decided to pass the question to Silas. "Then, Silas, what do you think?"
Silas: "…"
Could he just not answer this question?
After a brief pause, he decided on a compromise. "Since this is training, we can try both ways of grouping. As for the order, let's decide by drawing lots."
Kevin immediately responded without a second thought, "I have no objections."
Elysia shot Silas a look of mild grievance but still agreed. She had expected Silas wouldn't give a clear answer, so it wasn't too disappointing. Besides, if in the upcoming squad training her coordination with Silas outperformed his team with Kevin, next time Kevin would have no choice but to defer.
And Kevin was thinking the same thing.
Meanwhile, Dystopia arrived on time at Mobius' lab.
"Hello, Dr. Mobius. I'm—"
"Alright, no need for introductions. I know you're Dystopia, and I know why you're here," Mobius waved dismissively. "Since you came at Silas's request, I'll honor the agreement and guide you through this process."
"Thank you very much, Dr. Mobius," Dystopia said, bowing politely.
"By the way, you went to the Fifth Research Institute with Su yesterday, right? How did it go?" Mobius asked, flipping through some files. The preliminary treatment plans from the Fifth Research Institute had already been sent to her. Out of respect for her agreement with Silas, she wanted to hear Dystopia's firsthand thoughts.
Dystopia thought for a moment. "I'm not a specialist in this field, but from what I can tell, Director Spasi's treatment plan seems very reasonable. So… will you be using the same approach here?"
"You think it's reasonable, huh? Makes sense. The Fire Moth already has a plan in place for this. You came here just to see what I would do, right?" Mobius stood up. "Follow me. Let's see the person you want to save and what condition they're in now."
Mobius led Dystopia to the First Research Institute. Through the glass windows, Dystopia saw the patients with moderate erosion symptoms undergoing extremely complex examinations. They lay among stacks of equipment, eyes closed.
Looking around, Dystopia asked, "Where's the elderly man?"
Mobius glanced at her indifferently. "You know him? Hah… he was too old, with low resistance to Honkai. When he was brought in yesterday, his condition had worsened and he was already handled. Want to see him one last time? You'll be disappointed—his remains were sent to the Second Research Institute."
Dystopia's pupils constricted. She wanted to ask if there was any way to slow the erosion symptoms, but then realized she was speaking to one of the top scholars in this field. So, she remained silent.
Mobius turned back to the other patients. "As for them, since they are moderate erosion cases, they will be the first to receive the drugs developed. Regarding slowing erosion… currently, there is no effective method for moderate cases."
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