MANTIS Bullying?!

After much agonizing deliberation, Lee finally contacted Elysia. If she remembered correctly, the pink-haired cuddle monster was currently at HQ.

[Lee: Elysia, can we meet? ]

[Elysia: Of course! Be right there! : Don't be too surprised when you see me~]

Instant reply. That's Elysia for you.

Putting her phone away, Lee headed towards their usual meeting spot.

But Elysia's reply, combined with Mobius' recent reluctance to video chat, gave Lee a bad feeling—were they forming a secret club behind her back? Like a MANTIS club or something…

…

They totally were.

"So, Lee, what do you think? Pretty, aren't I?" Elysia leaned closer, showing off the pointed ears now adorning her hair. "Don't I look like a fairy from a storybook~?"

"…This is…?" The obviously non-human features didn't elicit fear or joy from Lee. She just stared blankly at Elysia's ears.

"Well, I guess it's a gift from the heavens for being so adorable. I got these after the surgery~"

"The Meta-Morph surgery…" Lee murmured, dazed.

You became a MANTIS too?!

And Mobius hasn't been contacting me… could it be that she also underwent the surgery and is hiding some side effect?

All of you, sneaking around, becoming MANTIS behind my back… Next thing I know, Vill-V, Kosma, even Kalpas and Aponia will become MANTIS !

Leaving me the only non-MANTIS ?

Lee felt utterly betrayed and isolated, and she was going to be petty about it.

"Isn't that surgery dangerous? After so many attempts, only Kevin succeeded…" Lee stared at Elysia, her gaze fixed. "Why did you…?"

Elysia was about to brush it off with a joke, but seeing Lee's expression, she relented. "…Because there were too many failures, Lee. The Seventh Herrscher dealt a devastating blow to humanity. The Meta-Morph surgery was our only hope, but after Kevin, no one survived… people needed hope."

"Don't worry, Lee, I'm perfectly fine! No side effects, except for these ears that make me even cuter—"

"What about the Doctor?" Lee interrupted sharply. "She's been avoiding me. Did she undergo the surgery too?"

"I don't think so. She was perfectly normal when she performed my surgery, haha… Hey, Lee, where are you going?"

Ignoring Elysia, Lee turned and marched towards Mobius' lab.

Elysia tried to distract her along the way, but to no avail.

Mobius' lab had no security for Lee. When she burst through the door, Mobius was studying data on a screen, about to inject herself with something.

Lee's sudden intrusion startled Mobius, who instinctively tried to hide the syringe. "Lee?! What are you doing here…?"

"I tried…" Elysia trailed behind Lee, looking resigned. She couldn't physically stop Lee, and even if she could, it wouldn't matter. Lee would just come back later. The changes in Mobius were too obvious for Lee to miss.

"Doctor…" Lee approached Mobius, her eyes scanning her, her face gradually paling. "You've… shrunk."

"Knowledge makes one eternally young—"

"I'm not joking!!"

[Energy +18,000]

[Energy +10,000]

Lee's furious outburst startled both Mobius and Elysia. They'd never seen her angry before.

"You performed the surgery on yourself, didn't you?!"

After a moment of silence, Mobius sighed. "…If I didn't dare to do it myself, how could I convince others?"

"Then why did you shrink?"

Mobius was speechless. Lee, giving her no time to react, went straight to where Mobius kept her lab logs. She knew Mobius' habits too well.

"…"

Reading the detailed entries, Lee's anger turned to shock, then to sadness, and finally to silence.

"Immortality… resurrection after death, but with the body reverting to a younger state…" Lee's gaze slowly shifted to Mobius, who now looked over a decade younger than their last meeting. "How many times have you experimented on yourself?"

"…Lee, for the sake of research, this was necessary." Mobius averted her gaze. "Whether it's to fight the Honkai, or to pursue my desired infinity… you should understand."

"Yes, I understand, Doctor…" Lee looked at Mobius, but didn't say anything more.

She simply closed the logbook. "I just… don't agree with it, and I don't want to see you hurt yourself—but I can't change anything, can I?"

"I can't change anything anymore…"

"…Elysia, the Fire Moth recently apprehended two people. One is Kalpas, whom the Doctor should remember. The other is Aponia. I'd like you to try and get them released, or perhaps recruited into the Fire Moth… I think you'll like them."

"Lee…"

Watching Lee walk out, Elysia and Mobius felt a pang of guilt… as if something had shifted irrevocably.

But what had they done wrong?

To protect humanity, to protect Lee, strength was essential, and risks were unavoidable… But their surgeries were successful. Why was Lee so upset? (She jealous)