Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

The overwhelming sense of danger.

A chilling feeling.

That was what Sakura felt from Aleph. It was extremely concealed, but she could still feel it. The moment she draws her blade, no matter what she does, she would end up defeated.

"Well, I want to talk about something…"

"Oh. Come in."

Aleph swiftly went into his 'visitor' state.

"Then, excuse me."

This world and his previous world held numerous differences. Although, there were still a lot of similarities. The Far Eastern habit of entering someone else's house was one thing that remained the same.

Aleph took off his shoes before stepping inside Sakura's apartment. Sakura promptly headed to the kitchen section to prepare things she would usually serve to a visitor.

For the meantime, Aleph sat and faced a kid barely at his waist. His tall height required Rin to look high up before she met his gaze. The latter smiled at the kid.

Rin's thoughts weren't placed there.

'He looks familiar…' She thought.

"Hello. You must be Sakura's sister." He began with a small greeting. "She told me quite a bit about you."

"Big sis told that..?"

Rin snapped out of her thoughts. She was very surprised to hear that her sister, Sakura, opened up to the guy in front of her. This was the first time someone like Aleph visited their home.

"That her sister could not stop reading violent stuff? Yeah."

If it was before, Rin was still unsure. It was impossible for Sakura to open up like this to someone she never trusts. It was Rin's first time seeing Sakura trust someone like Aleph.

'Wait a moment…'

She recalled one of their prior conversations. It was during the time she went through the usual gory section of a magazine.

Sakura took it from Rin's hands. 

"Sir Aleph is not this violent… Most enemies he faced wound up dead after a strike or two."

Sakura's words halted Rin. She stared at her older sister in shock.

"Big sis, does that mean… you know him personally?!"

The current issue happened to be talking about the eastern region's guardian. With the power of Hagen as well as Fire MOTH, they used Aleph's feats to further increase humanity's morale.

From the hearsays of soldiers he interacted with, his feats had long spread to the entire world. His name was used as a topic in dining tables several times.

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Nearly a year ago."

"What..?!"

…

"Are you… Mister Aleph?"

"Yeah. Do you want to take a picture or an auto… nevermind. I'll give it both."

While Rin was in shock, Aleph met Sakura's gaze beyond the kitchen desk. 

Knowing it was Aleph's playful prank, Sakura went back to preparing snacks. Her tall ears that stood twenty centimeters tall shook every now and then.

'Is it soft?'

An intrusive thought entered Aleph's mind, which was promptly killed moments later.

'Damn it! This isn't entirely Albion's fault anymore…'

He was not someone who blamed his improper thoughts on something else. At the very least, Aleph could man himself up and accept facts head-on.

"I-I… Is the battle on Topaz City as intense as told? That you faced thousands of honkai beasts alone?"

Rin's hands turned into fists. Although she believed the things she had seen on television—plus Sakura's own experiences—there were still occasional doubts.

Can a human do something as absurd as this?

It was purely instinctive for people to think so.

"It's more absurd than that. Fire MOTH must have thought putting something like that was unbelievable. They toned it down… by a lot."

Topaz City was the place where Aleph went on a rampage. He killed every single undead and honkai beast, be it the weakest or the strongest.

The number of written casualties in his hands reached tens of thousands. Topaz City wasn't a major city as big as Nagazora City. 

Even so, that battle weighed a lot on the minds of others.

"So, what was the real fight like?"

Seeing Rin being this excited, Aleph couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

'Another reason why the doomed future has to change.'

At first, it was merely for his survival that he fought. Even geniuses on-par, if not greater to him, failed. Only when Kurumi confronted him about it did he slowly change his mindset.

After experiencing all the fights during the past year, it changed to saving this 'damned' iteration. What Kevin and the others could not do, Aleph would fill in the gap.

That was the reason why he allowed MOTH to use his name to establish morale. The pros far outweigh the cons, more so when these disadvantages were all about the targeted attacks to him.

From the moment Aleph chose to be aboveboard, he readied himself to face such things.

Hum-!

A projection rose atop Aleph's right hand. It continued growing bigger until it was akin to a 42-inch flat television.

'Information Imprint…'

His memories were imprinted to the space around him, serving as a projection of sorts.

Aleph felt there was a lot of potential to this ability. It was similar to Kevin's quantum entanglement that allowed him to talk with other Kaslanas through the stigma space.

Such a high-potential ability was used by him as a projector… to satisfy a child's whims, at that.

"It sucks to view things from my perspective. I'll change it."

With Aleph manually controlling the 'camera angles', Rin had the front seat to a first-class movie. 

"Oh? Is that what an emperor-class looks like?"

"Yeah. They're bigger compared to this apartment's top floor."

No amount of movies had this kind of visual effects. With realism put into the mix as well as Aleph's attacks being visually stimulating, Rin's eyes became glued to the projection.

Tap.

Sakura swiftly appeared on the Aleph side. She placed the tray filled with juice and cakes on the table.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, Sir Aleph."

Looking at her sister being fascinated with the 'movie', Sakura felt like she did not do a proper job in receiving guests.

"No, there's no need to apologize. I was just curious about your sister, and from the looks of it…" He paused as a smile appeared on his face. "I understand why you fought hard to free her."

Under the eyes of the silent Sakura, Aleph took a glass of apple juice and drank a quarter of it. A stream of cold juice went down his throat.

"Fu… Hm?"

Sakura's unusual silence made him look at her.

Sakura suffered from the most changes after the MANTIS surgery. She gained a pair of tall fox ears as well as a huge tail out of nowhere. She was sitting straight on the sofa, with her pink tail pointing straight upwards.

It was difficult to see what was going on in Sakura's mind back then.

'An expressionless person gaining animal ears and tails… it's a direct counter.'

The once seemingly inexpressive woman revealed a cute side with a pair of fox ears and a fox tail.