Chapter 149 — The Idea of Creating Alaya

"Just who are you?"

The Gravekeeper, now floating in the air, shed his usual playful demeanor.

For the first time, a look of deep seriousness crossed his face as he stared intently at Nagami.

"No... perhaps I should ask—what exactly are you?"

Not human...

As a manifestation of evolutionary elimination, the Gravekeeper's divine consciousness could clearly sense the presence within Nagami—a soul far beyond the bounds of humanity.

"I'm merely a Herrscher," the smiling boy replied, speaking words that made the Gravekeeper's brows furrow tightly.

A... Herrscher?

What even is that?

"So then, why have you come to find me?"

Nagami's eyes narrowed slightly, and a dazzling six-pointed star formed in front of his pupils, radiating a pure glow.

It was the sign of his Alpha Stigma Eyes pushed to its full capacity.

The Gravekeeper wasn't particularly strong in terms of raw power—but what interested Nagami was his very existence.

A physical embodiment of biological consciousness... now that was something worth studying.

Ever since becoming the Herrscher of Reason, Nagami's curiosity and thirst for knowledge had grown to unprecedented levels.

After all, to the Herrscher of Reason—knowledge is power.

In the Nasuverse, the unified will shared by all members of the primate species—the wish to continue existing in this world—formed a collective consciousness known as Alaya.

Undoubtedly, the scale and status of the Gravekeeper couldn't compare to Alaya from the Type-Moon world.

But there was one thing that was certain: the nature of their existence was fundamentally the same.

If the Gravekeeper were scaled up to, say, the size of a fingertip-sized universe, he might actually become an existence on the level of Alaya.

There was definitely a special connection between the Gravekeeper and the Apocalypse Virus.

Even without using the Void Genome, he was still able to extract the Void from a human being.

If Nagami could analyze the fundamental structure and composition of the Gravekeeper using his Alpha Stigma Eyes...

Then perhaps—with the help of the Apocalypse Virus and the Power of Geass—he could create an "Alaya" of his own in the Honkai world.

And that could play a massive role in the fight against Honkai.

Step one: Inform all of humanity about the existence of Honkai in a planned and guided manner—to stir up their inner will to resist it.

Step two: Use a small amount of the Apocalypse Virus to infect humanity, and use the virus as a means of connecting their souls to each other.

Step three: Like how the Power of Kings draws out Voids, manifest the collective will to resist Honkai into something tangible.

'Hmm… that's the general idea.' It might not be impossible if he follows these steps.

A physical manifestation of all humanity's will to fight against Honkai… calling it Alaya wouldn't be far off at all.

Of course, he'd need to experiment first.

'Let's use Terra as a testing ground.'

After all, they have Originium there.

No matter how bad it gets, it can't be worse than the Honkai world.

Honkai was a different beast altogether.

With the Honkai Will lurking, if something went wrong, it could bring out something catastrophic.

And besides…

Inside Yuzuriha Inori is Ouma Mana—the embodiment of the Apocalypse Virus' collective consciousness.

Maybe… just maybe, it would be possible to try creating a "Thousand-Person Herrscher."

Nagami's thoughts raced wildly due to the Gravekeeper's unique nature, but he was pulled back to reality by the man's sudden words.

"Are you trying to become the 'Adam'? I presume the vessel for 'Eve' is the one you rescued?"

A powerful sense of surveillance—with no blind spots—pressed down as silver bands of light wrapped tightly around the Gravekeeper.

"Adam, huh... Well, that depends on whether Eve is Ouma Mana or Yuzuriha Inori. If it's the latter, I wouldn't mind playing the part of Adam."

"Emmm… though if the Apocalypse Virus would kindly leave Mana's soul, I might be able to give it a try."

Ah yes, the attitude of a proud pervert is nothing if not honest.

"Yuzuriha Inori?"

An unfamiliar name—but in the next second, the Gravekeeper reacted.

"Did you name the vessel yourself?"

"Stop calling her a vessel, that's just rude!"

Nagami raised his right hand, and pure energy gathered into brilliant blue particles, coalescing in the air where the Gravekeeper floated.

The particles formed into a glowing cage.

Nagami wanted to capture and study this unique being.

"What… what is this?!"

The Gravekeeper's eyes widened in shock, waves of unease crashing through his mind.

He had never seen such energy before—he couldn't keep his composure.

He transformed into silver streams of light and narrowly escaped the cage of Honkai energy, reforming in the distance as his youthful form once again.

Now extremely wary, he stared at Nagami—his blue eyes filled with dread.

Just by approaching that unknown energy, he had already felt its terrifyingly invasive nature—even though his essence was purely conceptual.

The Honkai's corrosive nature needed no further explanation.

"Oh? I saw something interesting just now."

Nagami hadn't gone all-out.

But the six-pointed stars in his eyes shone even more brilliantly now.

"Give it up. I don't know what you are, exactly—but a non-human like you can't possibly become 'Adam'."

Shaking his head, the Gravekeeper stared at the spinning, radiant six-pointed star in Nagami's eyes, the corner of his mouth curling into a mocking smile.

"Not human, so I can't be Adam?"

Still calmly manipulating the invisible Honkai energy to capture him, Nagami continued analyzing the way the Gravekeeper dispersed into those silver ribbons of light.

But this wasn't something to worry about—after all, the "Fated Ones" in the chat group could solve these kinds of problems easily.

This confirmed one thing:

The power behind this existence... was far from simple.

Void Power is far from just a biological weapon.

Though it manifests as a technological force, that doesn't make it weak.

Let's not forget—Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is also part of the "tech" side of things.

And in the infinite multiverse, how many magic-based power systems can actually surpass the top-tier tech ones?

"If you don't test it, how would you know I can't do it? Besides… I still like to think of myself as human."

"Heh, you really dare say that!"

Silver bands of light spiraled around the Gravekeeper's form as he nimbly danced through the air, dodging the waves of collapsing Honkai energy.

"But unpredictable anomalies like you are better off erased right here."

Under normal circumstances, even if someone had stolen the Void Genome and Eve, the Gravekeeper wouldn't have cared.

As long as the birth of Adam was guaranteed, he didn't care who Adam was.

So long as they were human.

But in the Gravekeeper's eyes, Nagami clearly no longer qualified.

Perhaps it was the fact that Nagami had deliberately held back that gave the Gravekeeper a false sense of confidence.

A high-pitched crack tore through the air.

The Gravekeeper reappeared in a flicker of silver, the strange radiance in his palm bursting forth as he lunged at Nagami's chest.

His speed might've seemed fast to an ordinary person in this world—but to a Herrscher?

It was laughably slow.

'Wait… is this guy some kind of soul-aware perv?'

Nagami, noticing the Gravekeeper's target, couldn't help but roast him in his mind.

He instinctively leaned to dodge—but then caught a glimpse of that strange silver-white glow blooming in the Gravekeeper's palm.

"You're not even dodging? You'll pay for your arrogance!"

With a silver-ribboned fist, the Gravekeeper smashed through Nagami's intentionally weakened Honkai barrier.

The silver glow isolated the corruption, the blow aimed directly for Nagami's chest.

Just before contact, the Gravekeeper switched from a punch to a palm strike—delivering that peculiar energy directly to Nagami's sternum.

Nagami stood still, carefully analyzing the strange light with his Alpha Stigma Eyes, feeling the subtle way it resonated with his soul.

A moment passed.

"Have you… touched enough yet?"

Nagami blinked and looked up at the Gravekeeper with a serious expression.

"As a manifestation of human consciousness, you should know… this kind of behavior is called sexual harassment, right?"

Given that Nagami had the ability to take on a female body at will, he could play the gender card whenever he pleased—before casually jumping back into the male role.

"Impossible…!"

"Your soul… how can it be this vast?!"

The Gravekeeper's eyes flew wide open.

It was as if he'd been struck by thunder, staggering back as he stared at the black-haired youth in disbelief.

Naturally.

Even setting aside Nagami's own soul growth, he had already absorbed several fragments of the Honkai Will's soul origin.

The Gravekeeper's strength alone could never contain a soul of this scale.

"If you were like Alaya from the Nasuverse, manifesting as a cute little girl, maybe I'd let the groping slide. But since you're just some creepy blond old man, I won't be so polite."

The invisible cage of Honkai energy had long since been prepared.

The moment Nagami finished speaking, a deep purple torrent began collapsing inward from a hundred meters out, tearing through the air like a storm.

Within the Gravekeeper's now pale gaze, the Honkai energy crystallized into a tangible prison, the surrounding air twisting with corrosive force.

There would be no escaping this time—not even by dispersing into silver threads.

"Well then..."

Nagami grinned.

"Let's take a little peek at what biological consciousness is really made of~"

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