Chapter 181: One Slash

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Aleph was woken up by the sensation of raindrops. They steadily fell on his face that was looking upwards to the sky.

The first thing he saw was the dark and cloudy sky. It was a normal thunderstorm at first glance, but he caught something else with his elemental sight.

His thought processes moved at a god-like speed. No organic matter could match up to him. Even mechanical beings did not have the same speed as him.

However…

"Ugh..!"

Aleph closed his elemental sight. He tried his best to 'forget' what he had seen, but to no avail.

"This again…"

It wasn't his first time experiencing something like this. When he scanned the sixth Herrscher's traces, he accidentally stumbled into a 'white dot'. A small and unnoticeable thing overloaded Aleph's mind. All of the thoughts caused by the 'white dot' contaminated his mind, causing his extremely fast thought speed and elemental sight to backfire on him.

Simply put, it was an information so complex it belonged to a whole another level. His current level wasn't enough to let him handle it on his own.

Aleph stood up from the cold floor made of gray cement. Raindrops continued falling into his body.

He looked at his clothing and saw an unfamiliar set of outfits. He was wearing a two-layered top consisting of a white kimono with blue ribbons and a tight-fitting black inner shirt. He looked down and saw a dark-blue wave pattern found at the edge of his kimono. A set of geta and tabi was worn on his feet, and a hakama to tie them all.

"Hm… It's amazing."

Such an outfit would have hindered a person's ability to fight. Kimono was a formal outfit. Even Satoru chose to wear a haori, a loose jacket, to better fight against Sukuna.

However, Aleph was different. His current strength was enough to fight most of his enemies with ease, more so when his outfit itself was imbued with the 'indestructibility' factor.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he recalled why he entered this instance after a month.

"Modern Magic…"

There had been huge changes right after he received the opportunity to learn magic. 

First was Great Sage. Its adaptability to it was off the charts. Aleph even discovered that he did not need the so-called Magic Calculation Area (i.e., Magic Processor) due to how Great Sage alone could use magic independently.

That's right, independently.

It was no longer an auxiliary support that provided detailed analysis during combat. It could now affect the battlefield with the magics it was able to cast.

Although, Aleph discovered that magic did not have much effect on him. Counter Magic, one of the branches of modern magic, aimed to interfere with 'Magic Sequences' (i.e., the spells) using another magic sequence.

It did not have much meaning to him with his Neutralizing Domain available.

There was also the Systematic Branch that altered weight, acceleration, vibration, and the likes. None of them could compare to the convenience and power Star Rage demonstrated.

As such, Aleph designated this instance as a place to learn more about magic—to be specific, developing new magics that could actually help him greatly. 

"Can I release my honkai energy here…"

Aleph scanned his surroundings. He was currently on the rooftop of a moderately tall building. What greeted his sight were the rows of closely-packed buildings filled with neon light. It was nothing short of the word 'cyberpunk'.

Boom-!

The sudden explosion attracted his attention. He looked up and saw a flying ship—akin to space cruisers—creating a bright red explosion.

Bam-!

Rumble-!

Its fragments fell near his vicinity. It caused the ground to shake severely.

It did not end there.

Boom-!

Boom-!

RUMBLE-!

The fall caused a massive chain reaction. One by one, buildings exploded. The sheer amount of destruction extended to Aleph.

Soon, the ground supporting his feet fell to the ground. His entire body floated mid-air.

He silently watched over this entire city, only to see more destruction.

"How many Amber Eras were there? Less than ten? Then, converting it into our years… it lasted between seven-hundred years up to two thousand years…"

It was a terrifying number. Aleph knew that the Previous Era only had less than ten years to fight against the Herrscher of the End. His interference only made it shorter.

"There's no Herrschers in this city. As for those monsters…"

Unlike honkai beasts, it would be apt to call them 'shadow monsters'. Their bodies were dripping with black fluids. They did not follow any regular shapes. 

Most importantly, he witnessed several living beings being devoured by the sticky black fluid. Moments later, the said living beings turned into monsters as well.

While Aleph was looking for the enemy, a burning bright light appeared in the sky. Its length was exaggerated enough to go across an entire city.

{Result: The estimated length of the high-temperature flames is eight thousand kilometers.}

"..."

For a moment, he fell silent. 

'Herrschers… They can also do this.'

The Ninth Herrscher popped up inside his mind. If it wasn't for humanity's swift actions, the destruction wouldn't have ended with the Mu Continent.

"Hm…"

Buzz-!

A somewhat metaphysical sound rang in his ears. Aleph knew it was related to the information carried by what he sensed.

Along the trail of crimson flames, countless bolts of lightning appeared. They crawled to the flames as they destroyed them one by one.

The similarities the two phenomena exhibited lied in their source of energy.

'Destructive… just like honkai energy. But there's something different.'

Aleph could not put his finger on it. The energy carried by the monsters he saw as well as the flames and lightning was similar to honkai energy, but different.

"Sigh…"

The two phenomena cut off the black thunderclouds. The rain itself was stopped by their sheer power.

Nevertheless, Aleph knew that the lightning was losing. Perhaps it was inadequacy, or it was lack of control, but the flames remained burning brightly in the sky.

A familiar sheath appeared in his hands. His left thumb, which was habitually placed on its handguard, was lifted.

He looked at the long line of flames in the sky. His cursed energy started converging into one point. Invisibly, a trail of black dyed his blade—Albion's destruction factor.

"Ten thousand should be enough to deal with it."

As his words fell, the world fell into silence. 

It was unknown when, but a clear silver blade shone dimly amidst the darkness. Its tip was already pointed downwards, indicating that the attack had been completed. The eerie silence was enough to shut up all living beings who witnessed it directly, if there were any.

Buzz-!

A deafening sound struck the ground. It was akin to a sonic boom, which earned their attention in one go. The impact it produced was no less than a major earthquake on Earth.

Fortunately, their buildings were built with technology far more advanced than Earth.

"W-what is that..?"

"What?"

"That is—"

At this moment, all the beings in this world saw an unimaginable black crack more than ten thousand kilometers long.

*****

A/N: Remember how I said I would upload a chapter once I wake up? Welp, disaster struck. After being sleep deprived for a few days, I caught a flu. I will be resting for the time being, so except for the regular chapters (which will continue), I won't be able to dish out the chapter debts for a while. I'll try to write one or two chapters within this week, though.