Since Elias couldn't stay by Bronya and Seele's side forever to shield them from fate, he chose the only path left:
Not to protect them from fate—but to bear it for them.
Just like he had during the Second Eruption.
Now, the X-10 Experint, which was originally destined for the two girls, would be undertaken by Elias himself. Their predetermined fate had been stripped away by him.
From now on, they would be free from the corrections of fate, able to forge a new future with their own choices.
anwhile...
"Y-You're going to participate in the X-10 Experint yourself?!"
Cocolia's eyes widened in disbelief at Elias' declaration.
She never expected him to storm into her research facility like this—only to demand participation in the very project he had vehently rejected.
And not just offering soone else—but himself. To Cocolia, this was madness.
"Is there a problem? Oh, and before I vanish, let give you a warning. Don't even think about touching my girls while I'm gone."
"If you even dare to entertain that thought... I swear, one year from now, you'll find yourself in the most excruciating hell this world has to offer. You'll regret and curse your decision for the rest of your life."
Elias' golden eyes locked onto Cocolia, his voice carrying the weight of a curse, as if burning his threat into her mind.
To her, he no longer looked like a man—but a terrifying demon.
He spoke as though his disappearance was already certain. And yet, he still made threats about returning—as if it were inevitable.
Cocolia couldn't understand Elias at all.
But Elias didn't need her understanding.
All he needed was her obedience.
He didn't have ti to waste.
"N-No, it's not possible," she stamred. "The experint can only be done on subjects under twenty. That's why I used the orphans from my facility..."
"Tch. You really said that out loud, huh? Cocolia, you have no right to call yourself a mother. I pity your future children. Actually—do us all a favor and don't have any."
"You...!"
Elias' cruel truth cut deep.
Because it was true.
Biological or not, the mont she sent those children into the test chambers, she lost all claim to the title of 'mother.'
"There are always exceptions. Special people get special treatnt. I'm the sa as the girl you people are so obsessed with—Seele. I also bear a Stigmata. Even if I'm over twenty, my success rate is definitely higher than using children."
Elias pulled off his shirt.
Revealing the elaborate, radiant stigmata etched into his back.
Cocolia instinctively swallowed.
Not just because of Elias' perfectly sculpted physique—but because that stigmata was more magnificent, more awe-inspiring than any she had ever seen.
In truth, Elias could've altered his body's biological age if he wanted to. With the Herrscher of Death's power, he could easily adjust his cellular state to mimic that of a teenager.
"Enough talk. Let's begin."
After displaying his stigmata, Elias spoke flatly.
Monts later, he changed into a blue experintal bodysuit and stepped into the chamber filled with liquid oxygen and Honkai energy.
He didn't even need help.
By himself, he connected the injector tube into the port on his back.
His movents were so practiced, it was as if he had done this experint hundreds of tis before, leaving everyone speechless in stunned silence.
To be honest, Cocolia considered trying to eliminate Elias then and there. But the overwhelming display of his power left her with no choice but to obediently comply with his demands.
Even as the test subject, Elias was still the one commanding the room.
"Inject 3ml of Honkai energy."
"The experint is progressing smoothly. His adaptability to Honkai energy is off the charts. The energy was absorbed instantly."
"Increase the dosage."
"Tch, stop dawdling. Just pull the damn lever to max—I'm on a tight schedule!"
Under Elias' impatient urging, the trembling researchers yanked the dosage lever all the way down. Instantly, a torrent of Honkai energy, a hundred tis stronger than before, surged through the injection tube into Elias' body.
"Mmm. That's the stuff."
If the chamber had been any larger, Elias would've stretched and yawned like he was lounging in a hot spring.
Cocolia and her team twitched in disbelief.
Every other test subject they had used had scread in agony—crying, writhing, begging for death.
Elias? He looked like he was enjoying a spa day.
(Huh? My control over Honkai energy is rising rapidly. I only ca here to shoulder their fate, but it's actually powering up too. Not bad. A win-win.)
"The experint is progressing flawlessly! He's manipulating matter at the atomic level using Honkai energy!"
"Don't stop. Continue," Elias instructed calmly.
He understood that things were only just beginning. Although he originally intended just to bear the girls' fate, now that the experint was proving beneficial, he was determined to maximize its potential.
As more agents were injected, Elias felt his control deepen further.
Atoms. Subatomic particles. And then—he reached the quantum domain!
At this point, his control over Honkai energy rivaled, if not surpassed, that of a Herrscher.
It ant he could wield his power with absolute perfection.
But more importantly—he had acquired Quantum Energy!
"I think I can do this now!"
Elias focused on a tal test sphere, manipulating it with quantum-level Honkai control.
The space around it distorted. The ball shone with blinding light—
And then vanished completely.
Elias had transferred the object into the quantum dinsion. It could no longer be observed in physical space.
"It—it worked!"
"The X-10 Experint succeeded!"
"This... This is a miracle!"
"Wait! Look at his body! It's disappearing!"
Just as the researchers began celebrating their historic success, one of them scread.
Elias' body was fading.
Like a ghost on the verge of vanishing from the world.
Cocolia's expression changed drastically.
The experint had succeeded—but the outco was nothing like she had expected.
Gray Serpent had claid this experint would grant perfect Honkai energy resistance. But the result Elias had achieved looked nothing like that.
Was she deceived...?
"What's happening to him?!" Cocolia demanded. "Didn't you say the experint was a success?!"
"W-We don't know! But according to the data, his physical structure is collapsing—his existence is vanishing from this world. This... This might be quantumization!"
One researcher said in utter disbelief.
In truth, Cocolia had misunderstood everything.
Elias' X-10 Experint had indeed succeeded perfectly. He had fully mastered quantum power and, unlike Seele in the original tiline, he did not collapse under the pressure or lose himself in the Sea of Quanta.
Though the symptoms appeared similar…
This wasn't due to the experint—it was because the ti limit of his ti travel had run out.
[Ti travel ending in 3 seconds...]
(Elias: "System, did I succeed?")
[Yes, Host. Because you took on the burden of the X-10 Experint, the fates of Bronya Zaychik and Seele Vollerei have been fully shouldered by you. The effects of fate's correction on them have vanished. From now on… they are free.]
(Good… that's all I needed to know.)
With the system's confirmation, Elias let out a breath of relief.
He let himself fade from this dinsion, his mind filled with the images of the girls from House of the Hearth. Even though he had prepared everything for his absence, he couldn't help but worry about them.
"Bronya… Seele… Rozaliya… Liliya… Sin Mal… live well. I'll be waiting for you in the future."
When the final second ticked down, Elias vanished from this space-ti and returned to his original tiline.
...
Two days later.
Inside House of the Hearth—
"Bronya, how long are you going to sit there?"
"Aren't you sitting here too, Dark Seele?"
Bronya and Dark Seele stared at each other with blank expressions. The two had been sitting on the front steps of House of the Hearth for over two hours, as still as statues.
Like stone figures of devoted wives—confird. (lol)
Since Elias had gone on his journey, the girls would gather at this ti every day, waiting quietly. Bronya stared blankly down the road, hoping soone would appear at the end.
Dark Seele scoffed, refusing to admit the truth.
"I'm only here because White Seele fell asleep waiting. I ca out to replace her, that's all."
"Really? Then you're saying you don't miss Papa Elias?"
"Hmph. Not one bit. I'm glad he's not ho. Now I can do whatever I want—stay up late, bully Sin Mal however I please, and eat as many desserts as I want. Freedom~"
"Oh? Do you believe that yourself? Because I sure don't."
Bronya's expression didn't change.
Papa Elias wasn't ho, so who was this tsundere act for? Did she really think they didn't know who had been sneaking into Elias' bedroom every night since he left?
She missed him.
So much that she treated his belongings like pieces of him, handling them with reverence.
Every night, she wrapped herself in the blanket he'd used just to fall asleep.
(If only she were a little more honest, maybe she could truly be my rival in love. But right now? Being tsundere is so outdated.)
"Stop looking at like that! I said I don't miss him, and I don't! Hmph... It's been two whole days and he hasn't even called. Even if he can't co back, he could've at least sent a voice ssage. What's the point of buying him a phone otherwise?"
She kicked a pebble across the ground in frustration.
"Dark Seele..."
"Ugh, forget it. I need to blow off so steam. Seriously, how co all those enemies who used to show up like clockwork suddenly disappeared? Now that I want to vent, none of them show their faces! What the hell is wrong with them?!"
Dark Seele scratched her head violently. A flash of light shimred in her hand, summoning her signature blue-and-white scythe.
She wanted to find so of the intruders who occasionally appeared, to vent her frustration. Right now, only the blood and frenzy of battle could distract her from thoughts of Elias.
To stop her mind from being overwheld by mories of him.
However, for the past two days, it was as if the intruders had disappeared along with Elias. Not a single one showed up. Even the recent string of strange incidents had stopped.
It was as though when Elias left, he took all danger with him.
Though this might seem like a good thing on the surface, it made Bronya and Dark Seele even more uneasy.
Because it only confird that Elias' reason for leaving them was not sothing as simple as work.
"!!!"
Suddenly, a commotion erupted inside the Hearth House.
Bronya and Dark Seele simultaneously furrowed their brows.
They weren't the only ones feeling down because of Elias' absence. Everyone in the Hearth House felt the sa.
Just this morning, Rozaliya and Liliya had even packed their bags, saying they were going to look for Elias.
Though the others managed to stop them, no one could deny having felt the sa impulse—to sling on a backpack and go find him imdiately.
"What now? What are those girls up to?"
"Cut them so slack. Papa Elias isn't ho, everyone's in a bad mood. It'll probably go on like this for a while."
"Tch... Who can stand this?"
Just as the two stood up to check on the situation, Liliya ca running out of the house in a panic, looking like she'd seen a ghost.
"Sothing's wrong—sothing's really wrong!"
"What happened, Liliya? Did soone get hurt?!"
"No, it's not that—it's the fire!"
"The fire? What fire?"
Bronya and Dark Seele frowned deeper, praying it wasn't sothing like an accidental fire. It had only been two days, and so many things were already going wrong. How could they possibly explain this when Elias ca back?
But five seconds later, they found themselves wishing it had only been a fire—
Because what happened was far worse.
"The fire in the hearth—it just went out!" Liliya shouted, breathless.
"What did you say?!" x2
The two girls were utterly shocked. Without a second thought, they rushed back into the house.
When Bronya and Dark Seele reached the living room, a group had already gathered around the hearth.
The girls stared in collective fear and disbelief.
The ever-burning fire that had been there since the day they ca to this ho—
Was gone.
The fireplace was cold for the first ti ever. Just like the emptiness they now felt in their hearts.
It felt like sothing vital had been ripped away.
A flood of sorrow and anxiety surged through them.
"Sothing's happened to Papa Elias..."
Bronya felt her limbs go cold—as though plunged into ice.
She knew this hearth's fire was no ordinary fla.
Elias had never explained it in full, but he never hid it either.
Everyone in the house knew that fire existed because of Father's power. It never needed fuel. Even pouring water on it wouldn't put it out.
Especially after Elias left, the fla had beco their emotional anchor—
They poured all their longing and love for him into it.
But now, the fla had gone out.
Sothing that had always been there—
Was suddenly gone.
The girls of the Hearth House didn't dare think about what it might an.
"Bronya, what do we do now?!"
"...We find him. We find Papa Elias!"
Bronya dropped to her knees in front of the hearth, her breath trembling.
Her usual calm and composure were completely gone.
She cupped her hands around the remaining embers—just faint glimrs of dying fla.
She swore in her heart—
She would not let it go out completely.
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