"Well then, we'll take our leave. Oh right, Mr. Elias—if you have ti, please spend a little more of it with our dear Raven. That girl's been in a bad mood lately, sothing about a certain partner who hasn't contacted her for over two months."
Grey Serpent spoke with a teasing tone.
Though he knew their paths were different, he genuinely hoped to maintain a friendly relationship with Elias.
After all, Grey Serpent understood very well—it was never wise to antagonize soone powerful unless absolutely necessary. Even if Elias wouldn't join World Serpent, having him as an amicable ally was still a win.
Unlike a certain delusional fox, Grey Serpent knew how to conduct himself... though, to be fair, he wasn't exactly human either.
Anyway, goodwill didn't cost much.
And while every Grey Serpent clone was loyal to the cause, so of them were also... more playful.
Like this one.
He quite enjoyed trying to push Elias and Raven together.
After all, in a way, Grey Serpent could be considered a father figure to Raven. It was only natural, right? (Totally not.)
"Ah, right... cough. I'll talk to Natasha when I get a chance. That blank check should calm her down a little... maybe a third. I'll take on a few missions with her too."
Elias finally realized he'd indeed been neglecting Raven lately. He'd been busy enjoying ti with his girls at ho and dealing with threats targeting the House of the Hearth.
But she was just a little island-bombing Raven—easy enough to placate. A few joint missions and maybe a 10% bonus should do the trick.
"Heh, then I'll excuse myself. Rest assured—I won't disturb your peaceful life again."
"Hmph. I don't mind you personally, but that vixen over there? Next ti I see her, I won't hesitate to split her in half."
"..."
Elias shot a glare at Cocolia, who imdiately flinched in fear.
She left looking like a fox that had been skinned—completely defeated.
(That should take care of it. Bronya and Seele's biggest threat has been removed. With here, that fox won't dare try anything. The X-10 Experint won't happen to them now.)
Elias sighed in relief.
Finally, before his ti in this world ran out, he had cleaned up the last major problem. Bronya and Seele could now look forward to a different future.
Just as Elias let his guard down—
Sothing strange and deeply wrong began to unfold.
...
First, the number of organizations targeting Seele's stigmata—which should've been decreasing—suddenly surged several tis over.
Still, that wasn't a problem. No matter how many small fry showed up, Elias could wipe them all out with ease.
Five more days passed.
Then, in an area near the House of the Hearth that Elias had thoroughly cleared of all Honkai beasts—
A high-level Honkai Beast suddenly spawned: Parvati.
And Parvati attacked Bronya, who happened to be out on a walk nearby.
Thankfully, Elias rushed to the scene and turned the icy beast into a thousand frozen chunks. But Bronya had been accidentally exposed to Honkai energy and began to show early signs of Honkai disease.
Even that, however, wasn't a real issue.
Elias carried within him the Schariac's Holy Blood, which could erase Honkai energy completely. And with the Herrscher of Death's enhancents and refinents, the combination had beco sothing akin to Otto's fad "God-Killing Spear"—a Honkai-purging serum.
Bronya's Honkai disease was cured completely that sa day.
But then, another five days passed—
Seele, who had gone out to buy groceries, also encountered sothing strange.
She had walked the path between the House of the Hearth and the market over a hundred tis. But this ti, she sohow got lost—and ended up wandering into a research facility owned by Cocolia's faction.
Thankfully, Elias noticed that she had been gone too long. He went out to search and brought her back safely.
But...
Elias: "Sothing's not right. Nothing about this feels right. This isn't just off—it's a hundred out of ten on the off-the-charts scale."
...
Late into the night.
All the girls at the House of the Hearth were sound asleep.
Elias sat alone in the main hall, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the fire in the hearth. His golden eyes reflected the flas, yet held a depth like an ancient well.
Corpses of several intruders lay sprawled across the floor.
Their crimson blood stained the wooden panels, as if soone had scattered rose petals made of blood across the house.
"..."
More and more unusual events had been occurring lately.
To ensure safety, Elias now kept watch in the hall every night. No movent, no sound could escape his senses.
It was exhausting, troubleso—but necessary if he wanted to ensure no intruder slipped through.
At the sa ti, Elias was deep in thought.
What exactly was going on here?
These anomalies weren't part of the original story. Why were they happening one after another?
The more he thought about it, the more disturbed he felt.
It was like an invisible enemy sat across from him—on the other side of a massive chessboard.
Bronya, Seele, Cocolia, Grey Serpent, Raven—everyone had beco chess pieces, trapped on the board.
That unseen opponent was trying to capture his pieces.
And Elias? He was protecting them.
Their battle was evenly matched for now. Neither side had the upper hand.
But... Elias was running out of ti.
Who?
Who was it?
His mind raced for answers.
No matter what, one thing had beco certain in this eerie and off-kilter reality—
Soone, soone he didn't know, was actively trying to hurt the ones he held dear.
"System. Are you there?"
[Dear Host, I am always here.]
"Tell —who is my enemy?"
If he couldn't figure it out on his own, then he would just ask.
Elias clenched his fist slowly. He no longer intended to play this chess ga.
He would uncover his enemy's true face—and crush it with his own two hands.
Because he was no longer weak.
In this current tiline—
Kevin was still sealed in the Sea of Quanta, Durandal had yet to rise to prominence, the Immortal Phoenix's power had greatly diminished, Otto's forces were still recovering, and the remaining Herrschers wouldn't appear for quite so ti.
That ant Elias now had the power to challenge any faction—be it Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, or World Serpent.
As long as he had a na, he could solve everything with pure, overwhelming force.
But the answer the system gave made his pupils widen instantly.
His enemy wasn't Otto.
It wasn't Kevin.
It wasn't Honkai.
It wasn't even trash like Cocolia.
It was—[Fate]!
[Host, your true enemy is fate itself. You are currently fighting against destiny. Fate is your true adversary!!!]
"..."
Elias fell into long silence.
He sat so close to the flas—yet in that mont, it felt like he was trapped in an icy abyss.
So cold... it felt like even his soul was freezing.
Fate. What a vague, ethereal word.
No matter how tightly Elias clenched his fists, no matter how sharp his scythe, there was no way to make such an enemy bleed.
"System, explain clearly. Very clearly. What exactly is fate? And why is it my enemy?"
[Host, the X-10 Experint is the fate that Bronya Zaychik and Seele Vollerei are destined to face. It is the most critical turning point in their lives—sothing set in stone that should not be altered.]
[To put it in terms of stories you know, think of Mayuri Shiina from 'Steins;Gate'—no matter how hard one struggles within the confines of a world line, her death is inevitable. Or like Chen Motong from 'Dragon Raja V,' whose heart was destined to be pierced by Gungnir, Odin's causal weapon, unless a bug was found.]
[Bronya and Seele are the sa. Their destiny is to undergo the X-10 Experint. Only through that can they walk the predetermined path ahead. The world will go to great lengths to ensure it happens. They cannot escape fate's corrective power.]
Crack!!
Elias crushed the armrest of his chair.
His clenched jaw and furious glare resembled a wrongfully imprisoned man, raging with indignation.
"There's no way to change it?"
[Even if you know it in advance, when the mont cos, you'll still be powerless—unable to run, unable to hide... That's why it's called fate. Because it's so utterly unreasonable.]
Humans cannot change fate.
Just like in Honkai Impact's previous era, among the Fla-Chasers, there was Aponia—The Discipline.
She possessed the ability to perceive the threads of fate and foresee the end of all futures. She saw humanity's path and tried to intervene, to guide it toward sothing better.
But her good intentions only led to worse outcos.
She tried to save others—and ended up dooming them instead. Her efforts culminated in 410 tragic events during the previous civilization.
Anyone who attempts to defy fate will taste despair.
This was the "Threshold of Deep Sin."
"No... System, you're wrong!"
Suddenly, Elias shouted, his voice low and fierce.
"You told before—I'm not affected by corrective forces! And anything I change also won't be affected by fate's correction! So why is this happening? Why haven't I changed Bronya and Seele's fate?!"
Indeed, ordinary people couldn't defy destiny.
But Elias wasn't ordinary. Whether it was due to the system or the fact that he didn't belong to this world, fate's influence on him was negligible.
[Host, you've already changed it.]
"What?"
The system's response made Elias blink in confusion.
He hadn't grasped the aning right away.
[You truly have changed the fates of Bronya Zaychik and Seele Vollerei. Again and again. Again and again. The endings that should've been inevitable—you've intercepted them 37 tis in total. The fact that both girls are still safe is the best evidence.]
There was admiration in the system's tone.
Fate's corrective forces truly had no effect on this man.
Perhaps Elias didn't even realize it himself.
But he had stopped fate's hand over and over again.
Normally, fate couldn't be resisted. Even if a one-in-a-billion anomaly occurred, fate only needed a single correction to steer the outco back on track.
And yet...
Elias had stopped what should've been an unbreakable correction—thirty-seven tis.
Even Aponia had never accomplished such a feat.
[Host, as long as you remain by the sides of Bronya Zaychik and Seele Vollerei, fate's corrective force cannot touch them. No matter how many tis it tries, you can snap fate's reaching hand each and every ti.]
Yes. As long as Elias stayed near them, the girls were safe. Only Elias, who could resist fate's correction, could save them again and again.
It was a miracle only he could achieve.
It was a resistance only he could mount.
Yet Elias' expression darkened further upon hearing this.
"So you're saying... as long as I'm near Bronya and Seele, they'll be safe. But if I leave them... fate's correction will activate again?"
[...Yes, Host.]
"Damn it!!"
Elias took a deep breath, trying to suppress the frustration bubbling inside him. Then he turned to the system interface.
It displayed how much ti he had left in this tiline—less than five days.
In five days, he would be returned to his original tiline.
Without his protection...
Bronya and Seele would no longer be able to resist fate.
"Damn it! Isn't there any kind of permanent solution?! Back during the Second Eruption tiline, I didn't run into anything this unreasonable. System, you better have a good explanation for this!"
[Host, actually—you did encounter sothing similar.]
"...Huh?"
Elias blinked, stunned. Had he? Why couldn't he rember?
[Back then, you unconsciously found and resolved it. The survival of Sirin and Cecilia is the proof. That tiline was already a cleared ga for you. Please have faith in yourself.]
"Wow, I didn't realize I was that aweso." Elias stood frozen, dumbfounded.
[The previous tiline was even harder, and you succeeded. This one will be no problem.]
"System, you better not be lying to . I've read a lot of books, you know. If you're pulling a fast one, I swear I'll load you up with every virus known to man."
Elias waved a USB stick in mock threat.
It was sothing he'd prepared during a mission with Raven to destroy a corporate server... too bad the system didn't have a USB port.
[You're cruel. Please have rcy.]
"Next ti, tell earlier. You scared the crap out of ."
Now that he knew he had a way forward—one he'd even used before—Elias felt the tension lt away. His tone lightened, returning to his usual cheeky self.
He closed his eyes, recalling the events of the Second Eruption tiline, trying to rember how he had unknowingly accomplished that feat.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes.
All the earlier anxiety had vanished.
He smiled—confident and at ease.
"So that's all it is? Turns out it's pretty simple."
[...This system feels it's actually quite difficult. At least for normal people. Especially the psychological strain.]
"System, don't be dramatic. That's nothing."
Elias stretched his limbs to the fullest, as if shedding all the gloom that had weighed him down monts ago.
The system silently observed its host, thinking, Fine. At least ntally, this guy is unshakable—abnormally so.
Though Elias' physical age was pushing thirty, his stubborn nature was like that of a child who refused to back down. If he didn't agree with sothing, no one could make him compromise—not even fate!
And it was precisely because of that...
That this man could accomplish the impossible: defying fate itself!
It was also certain...
System: (Once this ti-travel mission ends, there'll be even more girls falling head-over-heels in love with him. But go forth, brave host. An endless harem war is waiting for you in the original tiline!)
Elias: "Achoo! Who's talking behind my back?"
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