Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Time swiftly went by. Without any disturbances, five months had passed. No troubles of sorts came up within the entire Fire MOTH. The death of three councilors placed them all on guard, forcing them to tacitly maintain this peace. 

The first one who jumps out will be punished—and nobody wants to be that person.

That small moment of tranquility was broken by a disturbing news.

"Fourth Herscherr?"

Aleph fell silent. He saw Einstein's extremely serious look.

"The reading came from the first institute a few minutes ago. The headquarters dispatched the nearest troops and fleets near the fourth major eruption. It's just that… it's not enough."

Every "Major Eruption" symbolized the descent of a Herscherr. The sheer amount of honkai energy that 'affects' the place could turn more than 70% of a city's inhabitants into undeads. The remaining 30% was only when a city is too big to be affected by it.

Moreover, there are also the honkai beasts that spawn in such places. There were also the honkai beasts attracted by the descent of the said Herscherr, thus attracting them to the place where the major eruption happened.

Overall, a city will be forced to face more than a hundred thousand honkai beasts external and internally.

"What happened? Did the nukes fail?"

To this question, Einstein nodded.

"Just like the Third Herscherr, it had the ability to alter its surroundings."

The Third Herscherr, the Herscherr of Thunder, had the ability to control electric energy. It enabled her to control the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe. It made it so that all the projectiles thrown at her were shredded into pieces.

More than a dozen nukes were sent to Nagazora before she was exhausted. Only at that moment did Elysia deal the finishing blow.

It was extremely fortunate they eliminated her swiftly. All Herscherrs could "learn" how to control their abilities the longer they are left alone.

If she were given enough time, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

"According to the satellite views, a high-pressure area was formed around the origin. It was suspected to be caused by the Herscherr's ability."

"Wind control… no, the ability to control weather? What about the city?"

"Most of it was destroyed."

The atmosphere turned for the worse.

Unlike the Third Herscherr, the Fourth Herscherr has a wide-area destructive ability. If the high-pressure area was left alone to gather momentum within the atmosphere, it could become devastating enough to wipe out a country—a continent, even.

"More data is being studied at the first institute. They are trying to determine the Herscherr's upper limits."

"The casualties..?"

"It already reached the hundred thousand mark."

"..."

Seeing his silence, Einstein finally asked:

"Are you planning to go?"

"Go? I think… not many people regard me as someone who could kill a Herscherr. Do you think I could do it, doctor?"

"...Yes."

Aleph fell silent once again. 

He thought for a while before responding, "I won't disappoint you."

*****

"Fourth Herscherr…"

Aleph recounted the things he gained over the past six months.

[Cursed Energy (Converted): 1,420]

The first thing was the increase to his cursed energy. It became increasingly harder to find "achievements" that enabled him to increase it—the [Energy Box]. He gained a total of 400-point increase since he became a Grade One.

The next thing was the [Items]. Excluding the ones he gained after the raids he did on the councilors, Aleph decided to roam around every now and then using his suit's flight capabilities.

He encountered honkai eruptions more than a dozen times, with three of them being only slightly lower than the Sapphire City incident.

In the end, he managed to confirm that he could fight Templar-class beasts on equal footing.

A total of five achievements came out after all those raids, which gave out varying rewards.

[Black Blindfold: Limits the sense of sight when worn. In turn, it increases the other four senses.]

[Durandal: A holy sword used by one of Charlemagne's knights, Roland. As long as there is a firm belief in oneself, the sword will grant strength to its user. It will never break, though it may change forms.]

[Stella (Weakened, Adjusted): An arrow released by a heroic spirit. The noble will contained within is enough to split continents and end all conflicts. This version is a weakened version of the original one-time use Noble Phantasm.]

Out of the five, two of them came out to be [Major Energy Boxes]. The remaining three above were the material rewards. 

The [Black Blindfold] seemed useless at first, but Aleph found a way to use it during his training. Later on, he found out that training the other senses will increase his progress in [Sphere Boundary].

After five months, he was able to release his cursed energy more than eighty centimeters away from him. It was no longer limited to his body.

As for [Durandal], it was a weapon that appeared as a normal silver longsword. Until now, Aleph wasn't able to activate the 'grant strength' portion. Though, its toughness was completely out of this world.

It became his normal weapon due to that alone.

Finally, the thing that surprised him the most was [Stella]. Not only did it reveal the so-called "magic", the statement of "splitting continents" caught his eye. That alone made it even more precious than normal hydrogen bombs.

Unsurprisingly, it took the form of an arrow insignia.

"I will bring [Durandal] and [Stella] with me. If things come to worse…"

Although Aleph planned to hide these things as he couldn't give a proper explanation for their origins, he wouldn't hesitate to use them at crucial moments.

He took out the hidden things in the abandoned hangar. After doing so, he stepped on a camouflaged plate on the floor.

Click-!

Swoosh-!

Some areas within the floor started rising. Ten cabins came up on the surface in total. The glass cover protected each of the nuclear-powered exoskeleton suits inside them.

Five months of work was more than enough for Aleph to produce and improve the nuclear suits. There are suits that specialize in some fields such as underwater and flight.

"Should I take the fastest? Or…"

Aleph walked towards the junction of two cabins. The one on his left was the silver nuclear suit, codenamed "Icarus". It was a nuclear suit that has the fastest flying speed due to its specializations. In turn, it was also the one with the least amount of weapons.

On his right was the black nuclear suit, codenamed "Ace". It was the improved version of his first suit. It was the most-balanced out of them all—being average at all fields, but sometimes, it is better than a master of one.

"High-pressure areas…"

In the end, Aleph chose "Ace". 

"The fourth… It could control perfect fluids…"

Within these five months, Aleph recalled numerous things that his past life wrote down. He currently has the abilities of all twelve Herscherrs jotted down in his notebook. He also managed to recall numerous things such as the "MANTIS Project" of Mobius, "Divine Key Project" by Vill–V, and so on.

It could be said that Aleph had already recalled most of the things in his [Past] and [Present] lives. That included his mysterious childhood friend "Kurumi" whom he thought of months ago.

Aleph could be considered to have been cured of his amnesia. The only lacking things were the fine details he missed out.

"That's right, the [Great Sage]..."

He thought of the reward he got from six months ago. Ever since he used it, it hasn't reappeared. Though, he knew it was the reason behind his recovery of his memories.

Aleph ended all idle thoughts with a deep sigh.

"Fourth Herscherr…"

For now, his sights were focused on the disastrous being known as a "Herscherr".