Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers-Chapter 260: Brahma (Part 1)

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"Yo, Mobiu— Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

A muscle twitched slightly at the corner of Mobius's mouth. She quickly shoved the full-length mirror back into the wardrobe, then hastily stripped off the pink blouse she hadn't quite finished putting on and tossed it back into the closet as well.

Michael silently helped her close the lab door, then leaned against the doorframe with a trace of awkwardness, pulling the brim of his baseball cap down, pretending not to notice Mobius's disarray.

However, he could have easily pulled the brim lower. At its current angle, from his perspective, it barely concealed anything above Mobius's chin.

The arm he used to adjust the cap conveniently blocked half his face. If Mobius were bold enough to lean down and peer up past the obstruction, she would have seen the corner of his mouth quirked upwards, a stark contrast to the tightly pressed other half of his lips.

Michael watched Mobius rummage through her wardrobe until she finally located her usual green blouse and hurriedly pulled it on. He then pointed towards her lower half: "Aren't you going to change out of the pink plaid skirt?"

"?"

Poor Mobius. Caught secretly trying on a cute pink blouse and matching skirt in her lab, trying desperately to pretend nothing happened, only to be called out directly by Michael...

Blood rushed to her face, and Mobius essentially 'blew a fuse'—quite literally. Faint electric arcs crackled around her as her long green hair slowly began to float upwards. She puffed out her cheeks at Michael: "Change what? I'm not changing!"

She snatched her nearby lab coat and wrapped it around herself. The coat, tailored for Mobius's 'largest' form, practically reached her ankles on her current frame, perfectly concealing the offending pink skirt.

"Come on!"

After that little interlude, Mobius was naturally not in the best mood. Tossing her head, she didn't even wait for Michael, simply striding deeper into the lab complex on her own.

Compared to Spacy's lab, hers felt considerably more cramped. This was mainly due to the sheer number of projects she managed, each requiring its own isolated experimental space. These individual labs were all connected by a winding, dimly lit tunnel. The outermost room they were currently in was merely a lounge area – though, often enough, it also served as Mobius's bedroom.

In the dim green light, her pale, slender, bare feet flickered in and out of view beneath the swirling hem of her oversized lab coat, looking almost translucent against the floor. Michael stared intently at the ground, swallowing hard.

Bare feet... Griseo's are cute-dangerous, Mobius's are not-dangerous... Good, good...

"Are you malfunctioning? What are you standing there gawking at?" Mobius's impatient voice snapped Michael back to reality. He quickly wiped his mouth with his thumb and hurried after her.

Mobius's lab complex was vastly different now. The passageway stretched on seemingly endlessly; the overall scale rivaled the former abandoned Poisonous Cocoon base.

Contrasting sharply with the vastness was Mobius's solitary figure. Before Michael had taken Klein away, there had at least been another voice echoing in these halls. Now, Mobius was truly alone.

It wasn't just about worrying over Mobius's workload. With extensive AI assistance, managing such a large facility and simultaneously running over a dozen complex projects, while still unimaginable for an ordinary person, wasn't entirely impossible for a time-management master like Mobius.

The more critical concern was... could anyone truly endure facing nearly all of Fire Moth's darkest secrets, alone, in such an oppressive environment, day after day...?

Michael had heard that Fuxi, Nuwa, and Blanka, upon learning about Mobius's situation, had requested transfers back to the primary lab. However, when Mei presented these requests to Mobius for her opinion, Mobius had bluntly shut them down with two sharp sentences—

"We walk different paths; those two girls should just stay out of my way."

"Honestly, they're adults now. Instead of wasting time trying to get an extra salary slip here, they should spend more time with Griseo. If this continues, that child will start calling Aponia 'Mom'."

Remembering this, Michael bit his lip, struggling to suppress a smile.

Since the path ahead was still long and silence was boring, and having just thought of Griseo, he asked casually, "By the way, Mobius, what was your childhood like? You've never mentioned your father."

He remembered her mother; he'd seen her photo in the Fire Moth archives. She too had been a doctor. Her file photo showed her with short, vibrant green hair – upon closer inspection, almost the only visible difference between mother and daughter.

As for her mother's cause of death... complications during childbirth.

Additionally, Michael had once heard an unverified rumor from Elvin – supposedly, Mobius could speak the very moment she was born.

Her first words were allegedly: "Mobius... is that my name?"

Of course, this story was widely circulated, even appearing in motivational textbooks for elementary schoolers. Its veracity... was debatable. Mobius herself had never commented on it.

But regarding her father... even the notoriously loose-lipped Elvin became extremely reticent on the subject. It wasn't that he didn't know; it was that he dared not speak, or could not speak.

As for Mobius's father's official file, it had been completely destroyed by some unknown individual. The method was crude, blatant, practically screaming "I did this," with no attempt made to cover the tracks.

That's why Michael asked now. He figured, given their current... unconventional relationship, even if Mobius didn't want to elaborate, she wouldn't get overly angry or sensitive, right?

"Hmph..."

As expected, she just snorted lightly. Her arms, crossed over her chest, shifted slightly. Her right arm lifted, resting on the back of her left hand, while her right palm slowly came up to press against her cheek.

Michael didn't quite understand the gesture's meaning, but he could tell Mobius was displeased, so he naturally didn't press the issue further like an idiot.

Silence descended between them again, broken only by the pat-pat of their footsteps. Thinking back, unlike his interactions with Elysia, his time with Mobius seemed to involve much more silence.

After a while, perhaps Mobius herself felt the silence was awkward, she initiated a new topic: "By the way, have you ever heard the myth... about Mahāmāyūrī?"

"Not really clear on it."

"Hmph. I thought you might pay more attention to the name of the Honkai Beast that woman fused with."

"I pay attention to Elysia herself. Besides, I'm not that idle."

"Tch!"

Honestly, even Michael felt saying he wasn't idle in front of Mobius sounded a bit much...

But it was true he hadn't delved into those myths. Ultimately, he didn't believe the myths and legends of this era held much practical value in defeating the Honkai. You couldn't exactly fight by praying... well, Aponia excluded...

He had only briefly skimmed the world's major mythological systems out of initial curiosity early on. When he found they largely matched his vague recollections from his past life, he hadn't investigated further. Even then, his focus hadn't included the peculiar mythologies of South Asia.

The fragmented, contextless prophecy about "a certain day" did intrigue him greatly, but there were no further records about it.

Mobius seemed intent on giving him a theology lesson. Even though Michael projected an attitude of complete indifference, she patiently began her explanation: "To be precise, it's about the myths concerning Mahāmāyūrī and Vishnu. No... that sounds too discordant. It should be Shiva and Vishnu / Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten."

"Damn South Asians," Michael muttered nonsensically, unclear if he was recalling the bizarre artistic depictions of their deities or simply harboring some irrational prejudice.

Mobius ignored his interruption and continued: "Among the numerous deities of South Asia, Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten are actually relatively late arrivals. Before them, the deity who received the most worship was Brahma, the Creator."

"Brahma?" Michael felt the name sounded vaguely familiar, but couldn't immediately place where he'd heard it. "Is it related to that Afeitian beast Kalpas and Sakura killed earlier?"

He thought it might be a translation issue or a slip of the tongue, but Mobius immediately turned and shot him a look that clearly said, "Are you stupid?"

"Afeitian refers to Asura. What does that have to do with Brahma? Oh, right. After Mei returned, she re-examined the battle site and combat logs. Although both Kalpas and Sakura were capable of finishing it within ten minutes, based on the sheer destruction it caused, Mei upgraded its classification to Apocalypse-class."

"Tsk, Apocalypse-class is getting cheaper these days... Alright, Mobius, just say what you want to say. No need to beat around the bush with a bunch of mythology. I'm not as smart as you think."

Hearing Michael's preemptive "surrender," the corners of Mobius's lips curved upwards almost imperceptibly.

"Actually, the myths I just mentioned are highly relevant to what you came here to see today."

"Such as?" Although he knew she wasn't likely speaking completely baseless nonsense, the old adage "Mobius's mouth, a lying ghost" held true. Michael certainly wouldn't believe her completely.

"Hmph. Before Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten became widespread objects of worship in South Asia, the primary figure they revered was the creator god, Brahma. However, Brahma fell from grace, so people's veneration for him waned. His powers and attributes were subsequently divided and attributed to the later deities Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten..."

"Wait a second..." Michael interrupted her again. "It couldn't be what I'm thinking... You didn't actually... based on a myth... fuse the cells of two Apocalypse-class Honkai Beasts together, did you?"

"Is there a problem?" Mobius tilted her head, clearly displeased by Michael's skepticism. "Thanks to the Honkai, humanity's current so-called scientific research has long deviated from 'science' itself. In other words, we are merely interpreting the laws set down by gods using our own language. Since that's the case, seeking answers from mythology, what's wrong with that?"

Michael pressed his hand to his forehead, sighing deeply: "Those gods aren't these gods. Besides, we still don't understand the fundamental nature of the Honkai. It's not necessarily a set of laws established by any deity."

"I know that," Mobius retorted. "I merely drew some inspiration from mythology. As for fusing Honkai Beast cells to artificially cultivate stronger ones, that's an idea I've had for a very long time."

"The funding? Alright... No need to even ask." Michael didn't recall her ever submitting a project proposal titled 'Artificial Honkai Beast Cultivation.' This was precisely why he had rushed over immediately upon receiving Mobius's message, without even telling Mei.

After all, misappropriating funds from other projects for unauthorized research was unjustifiable, both legally and ethically.

Of course, Mobius wouldn't care about such trivialities.

She had always been like this, to the point where Michael was used to it. Concealing things from Fire Moth, from Mei, was standard operating procedure for her. And if anyone claimed she didn't hide anything from Michael, he wouldn't believe it for a second.

Take this artificial Honkai Beast plan – Michael had no prior knowledge. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Whenever Mobius suddenly revealed some bizarre, hidden project, it meant one of two things: either the project succeeded, and she needed Michael's influence to bring it into the open, or the project failed, and she needed Michael to clean up her mess.

This time... judging by Mobius's current leisurely stroll, even taking the time to try on pink clothes, it was clearly the former, right?

However, in the eyes of everyone who knew Mobius, the name "Mobius" was synonymous with "unexpected complications." So Michael couldn't help but ask for clarification: "So, you succeeded, right?"

Mobius turned around, frowning strangely. "Hm? Who told you I succeeded?"

"...You failed?" But she didn't look like she'd failed either.

"Hmph—" Her modestly sized chest heaved quickly twice. Mobius clicked her tongue impatiently and retorted, "Why must it be one or the other, success or failure? Couldn't it be that my experiment hasn't even started yet?"

"...Then why did you call me here?" Michael looked utterly exasperated and turned to leave.

Although the experiment hadn't started, meaning theoretically there was still a chance to stop it, Michael knew he lacked the ability to change Mobius's mind once it was set.

Unless he used his Sentience powers, but using them against his own comrade, even with good intentions, even just for a subtle suggestion, was crossing a fundamental line.

Besides, Michael couldn't deny that Mobius's various wild, imaginative ideas held an irresistible allure for his own comparatively barren imagination.

In short, he was actually quite curious to see the result of artificially cultivating a Honkai Beast.

Mobius, of course, knew this perfectly well. She fiddled with the collar of her lab coat, turned around, and leaned lightly against the cold wall, asking in a voice dripping with temptation, "Oh? Are you really telling me you don't want to see what an artificially cultivated Honkai Beast, especially one fused from two Apocalypse-class beasts, actually looks like? You aren't curious about what abilities it might possess? You don't want to know if it can break past the limits of the Apocalypse-class and reach an even higher tier?"

"Please, Mobius... Alright, fine, of course I want to know all that. But you haven't even started yet, right?"

"Oh? Ssssss—" Mobius drew out the sound, then placed her index finger horizontally between her lips, sucking on it lightly. "Is it only the result you care about? Aren't you interested in the process? Don't you want to witness firsthand the birth of a Honkai Beast that might defy even the Apocalypse-class definition? Don't you want... to participate personally in all of this?"

"I knew it. That last sentence was your real goal, wasn't it, Mobius? Because it's an unsanctioned project involving cell fusion, you can't access the Sixth Divine Key's resources, so you came to me." Michael walked back towards her, wearing a resigned smile.

He stopped in front of Mobius. Looking at the significant height difference between them, he couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling her green hair.

"Mmph!" Mobius frowned, shaking her head to dislodge his hand. Instead, she poked Michael's chest with her index finger, which still glistened slightly with saliva. "What? Is our relationship based purely on utility?"

Gulp... Michael's Adam's apple bobbed visibly. "That's not what I meant... I just mean, when have I ever refused to help you when you asked?"

"So this time, you're willing to help me too?"

"Er..." Michael took a deep breath. He felt Mobius was even harder to handle than Elysia right now. Mainly because his relationship with Mobius lacked the purity of his bond with Elysia.

They were comrades-in-arms of many years – that was undeniable.

Between them existed a love that shouldn't have, but somehow did, or perhaps more directly, a physical intimacy – that too was undeniable.

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Yet, even combined, these couldn't negate the fact that when they first cautiously approached each other six years ago, their motives were purely utilitarian. Their initial relationship was based on mutual use, though that aspect had certainly mutated over time as their feelings changed.

But it couldn't be said that the element of utility had vanished completely. Perhaps 'cooperation' was a better term now.

And cooperation doesn't imply absolute closeness. Disagreements and occasional sharp-tongued arguments are common among collaborators... well, even without that layer, arguments seemed frequent between them anyway.

It was complicated to analyze. In essence, the practical manifestation was... Michael had just carelessly allowed Mobius to completely control the conversational rhythm. Her tone – half-tempting, half-mocking, sounding slightly like a threat yet also somewhat like a plea – made Michael break out in a cold sweat, wanting desperately to just throw his hands up in surrender.

In fact, surrendering was Michael's usual tactic...

But a soldier... ah no, a man, must have backbone! Even if surrendering, one shouldn't raise one's hands! One should raise something else!

He slowly exhaled the breath he'd been holding, gently took Mobius's finger that was poking his chest, already formulating a witty counterattack in his mind...

But the damp sensation on his palm registered. Confusion flickered in Michael's eyes, then widened into panic as realization dawned, horror flooding his expression.

With a look of utter disgust, he dropped Mobius's finger, then leaned down, pressing his now-damp palm against Mobius's cheek, rubbing it quickly but gently back and forth.

Only after completing this entire sequence did Michael belatedly realize the inappropriateness of his actions. But time couldn't be reversed, apologies were useless, so he simply lowered his head, silently bracing for Mobius's explosion.

Of course, Michael's action was mostly intended playfully.

But the expected explosion never came. Looking up, he saw Mobius staring down at her toes, one hand cupped over her cheek, hiding her expression.

This posture... it was exactly the same as when they had talked about her father earlier.

Michael finally couldn't resist. He crossed his self-imposed "line," subtly using his Sentience power to feel Mobius's inner state—

First came a searing pain on his own cheek, as if he'd been violently slapped, hard enough to loosen his back teeth. Inevitably, the taste of blood filled his mouth.

Even knowing this sensation wasn't real, Michael still suspected Mobius might have actually sucker-slapped him while he wasn't looking.

But clearly not, because the pain wasn't coming from his senses, but from Mobius's memory.

Through Mobius's eyes, Michael saw the blurry figure of a man. His face was hidden in shadow, impossible to discern clearly, yet the emotions radiating from him – anger, despair, reluctance, and pity – were transmitted to Michael without filter. Michael knew this wasn't due to his own observational skills, but simply because the memory was so vivid for Mobius.

And what was Mobius thinking at that moment?

The instant Michael formed the question, Mobius's memory surged. He felt like he was plunging into the deep sea, instantly engulfed by the "waters" of memory.

At that time, she was thinking, wondering, where did the blood in her mouth come from? Was it her gums or the inside of her cheek?

And... she looked up at the man before her, her own eyes mirroring the same pity he showed her.

Then, her mind flashed through the side effects of the medication the man had just taken. One of them was cognitive impairment, leading to irritability and aggression.

So, she smoothed her hair, a mocking expression forming on her face. "You look truly hideous. I... will absolutely never become a human like you."

SLAP!

Another resounding slap jolted Michael back to reality. He realized the memory fragment ended there.

Mobius's breathing was long and heavy. Michael clenched and unclenched his fists, then slowly raised his hands, cupping her small face with his warm palms. His fingernail brushed against the interlocking double-hoop earring on her right ear, making a soft clicking sound.

So many years had passed. The red handprint was long gone from her pale face, but Michael understood it had never truly disappeared.

"Did you know? You're very similar to him." Mobius's voice was quiet.

"Hm? Who?" Michael startled, wondering how Mobius knew he'd peeked.

"No need to pretend. As a MANTIS, I'm quite sensitive to the flow and changes in Honkai Energy. Besides, you weren't exactly subtle..."

"I'm similar to your father? Although I don't know how, just for that filial sentiment, I approve. Good daughter."

Michael slightly regretted bringing up Mobius's father earlier. He hadn't expected her childhood to be like that... He was also somewhat surprised that while the memory of her father was clearly deeply ingrained, it lacked any palpable hatred or resentment towards the man himself. All her hatred seemed directed at "weakness" itself. No wonder she became...

Somehow, awkwardly, they started walking forward again, side-by-side.

And Mobius finally spoke a sentence from her heart: "Actually, regarding the artificial Honkai Beast cultivation... I do need to utilize your power. Not just because accessing the Divine Key is problematic, but a living Herrscher power is far more useful than a dead one... But it's absolutely not just about utility...

"With Klein gone... I just wanted someone... someone who understands, standing beside me, to share the joy of that achievement. That's all."