Chapter 175: Locked

Aleph did not go too far. Hua was the one with the least tolerance when it came to things like this. The farthest he did was to initiate a deep kiss.

He wrapped his arms around her body. Her head barely reached his face. Aleph had to lower his head to do so. This gave Hua a strange feeling.

'He is so tall…'

She did not have much of an impression of the so-called idols in her school, but if there was one, Aleph would be it.

Gradually, she lost herself in it. The embarrassment she felt popped like bubbles. She placed herself completely in his hands. 

Neither of the two could extricate themselves from this peaceful and addictive state. It lasted until something touched her stomach. Her heart skipped a beat as she woke up.

Aleph felt her body freeze before he realized what caused it.

"Um… I'm sorry for…"

"No. There's no need to…"

An awkward atmosphere crept up as they separated. Fortunately, Aleph was skilled enough in dismantling such a situation.

"Right. Did you talk with Miss Eden?"

"Eden? The singer?"

Unlike most people, Hua treated the superstar simply as a talented singer. That was how isolated she was from the others until her best friend introduced new things to her.

"I did. She was easy to talk to." She paused for a while as she remembered something. "She asked me how to contact you."

"Hm?"

Aleph knew Eden from his foreknowledge. She was someone who chose to stay with this era rather than to enter the cryogenic pods. After being left by so many, she chose to live in the Previous Era—that the future no longer belonged to her.

'She's one of the few mental-types, not to mention how she got along with most of the Flamechasers…'

"Did she give any number?"

"Yes."

Hua took out a folded piece of paper and gave it to him. She silently waited for his response.

"It should be related to official business. You know, she has always been Fire MOTH's biggest donor…"

*****

Most of the battlefields have been stabilized. Without the overwhelming numbers of Emperor-class honkai beasts, the rest of Fire MOTH's combat power could deal with them, although they have to work extra overtime.

Another strange phenomenon followed.

'The number of honkai beasts… and those Judgement-class honkai beasts…'

Aleph planned to kill the Judgement-class honkai beasts before. However, before he could do so, he couldn't find them any longer.

'They're probably taken by that girl. I won't be surprised if they turned the Moon into their base.'

In a sense, he was the 'Satoru Gojo' of this world. His mere presence was enough to deter any sorcerers from creating a mess. They know it will be over once they face Aleph.

The best they could do was to either have someone comparable to him or use their smarts to figure out a plan. That was how Satoru got trapped inside the Prison Realm—not that it would have any effect on Aleph.

'Where will I find that last fragment..?'

He thought of the missing final fragment of his Sephira Crystal. He had a hunch that he would be able to fully exert Albion's full power once it was completed.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get it up until now. He thought of many angel-related achievements, but to no avail.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Aleph snapped out of it as he arrived in front of a door. The moment he opened it, he saw a room clouded with smoke. The built-in vacuum inside the vents are working overtime, yet the smoke's thickness remained like this for a while.

Snap.

The force generated by Aleph's finger snap created a hole out of the thick smoke. They were dispersed into the vents' directions. Some of the apparatuses shook. Several things were scattered on the ground. Papers flew into the air.

Amidst all of that, he saw Vill-V whose face was filled with several lines of wounds. Her entire right arm was dripping with blood with her clothes tattered.

"Oh… You came at a bad time."

"What happened to the safety protocols?" 

He asked as he raised his pointy finger on her head. An imperceptible white light entered her body, healing all of her wounds in an instant.

"Heh. There's no need for that."

"..."

"Really! This kind of accident won't kill me."

Aleph's elemental sight scanned her wasted workshop. A crimson orange gemstone lay quietly among the pile of scraps.

"Did the limiter you placed malfunctioned?"

"You got it." Vill-V nodded. "It's already finished. This error is all I need to complete it before."

Vill-V bent over and picked up the Herrscher Core with her bare hands. Lines of purple appeared on her hands, only to disappear the next moment.

"So, why did you come here? This Divine Key is about to be finished."

"I dropped by to check on you. It looks like you haven't slept for a week."

"Hm? It's all thanks to the body you gave me. I can finally match Mobius' schedule for once."

Her jokes were responded to by a sigh.

"Alright, alright. I'll help you with the Second Core. You… just sleep for a while."

"Oh?! I'll gladly take that!"

*****

Aleph's promise to Vill-V prompted him to stay in a hotel within the Second Institute's vicinity.

Click.

The moment he entered their designated room, he heard a clicking sound behind him.

"Kurumi?"

"Mn? It's nothing, Ain."

He was greeted by her calm smile. Her back was facing him. Her dress exposed most of it due to her dress' design.

'It's definitely something…'

Countless thoughts ran inside his head.

"Do you want to take a bath first?"

"No, I'm good. You can go first."

The two organized their luggage inside the room. The hotel has all the amenities they need. Aleph found out that they didn't need to actually prepare anything, except for a change of clothes.

"Oh." 

Kurumi was about to head to the bathroom when she took a look at him.

"You can peek if you'd like."

"..."

Click.

The bathroom door was closed… but he did not hear the sound of the lock. With his elemental sight, he could actually do such things. Using it as an X-ray was but one of its simplest functions. Some eccentric people might use it to do inappropriate things—not him.

'Three months…'

Aleph thought of their last three months. Ever since they were continuously interrupted, he enjoyed having intimate contacts more, such as cuddling and handholding.

As for the final base, he hadn't thought of that. It didn't help that they were all busy dealing with the honkai. When they were supposed to rest, there were times when official matters interrupted them.

Having a rare moment of peace such as this was rare.

'She wants to do it.'

Aleph came to a surprising yet unsurprising conclusion. His thoughts remained afloat until Kurumi came out of the bathroom. Her hair was tied by a pair of red ribbons. She was currently wearing a set of black pajamas.

Dum.

Dum.

Dum.

His heart started to beat faster.

"Ain?"

It was unknown when she arrived in front of him. Her scent caused even more fluctuations in his heart. 

Kurumi teasingly poked his nose. Then, their eyes met.

Her golden and crimson irises widened. She knew Aleph realized what she was about to do.

She went directly to the point. Kurumi pushed him down to the bed before crawling atop him. She did not even wait until he took a bath.

"Do you… prefer it with lights on?"

With a devilish smile—in extreme contrast to an angel's—she came close and sealed his lips.

*****

A/N: Lemons incoming. I thought it was missing some things, so I wrote it in two (approx. 2.5k words each, 5k words total). No worries though, there might be a bonus chapter tomorrow.

After this big character development and a chapter or two of closure for the seventh eruption arc, we're heading to another arc. Every hint I set up until now should be revealed in that arc, including what will happen to Aleph and the rest. The 'aftermath' of the seventh eruption took quite a long time to write since I still had to deal with the timeskips (at least a gist on what happened to others). 

This won't be necessary in the next timeskip.

As for the lemons... I'll leave the judgement to everyone tomorrow.

Happy Reading~!