Drip.
Drip.
Drip...
What is this sound... water?
Lin stood in a desolate darkness. Beneath his feet was a frigid water surface, acting like a mirror reflecting his form. The murky sound of dripping liquid echoed near his ears, coming from somewhere within this darkness.
Lin forgot why he had come here. He simply lifted his leg subconsciously, walking toward the unknown depths of the black void.
Splash.
The water at his ankles was stirred. He walked on numbly, not knowing where he was going.
Drip, drip, drip...
The sound of dripping liquid grew rapid.
After walking an unknown distance, Lin looked as far as he could and spotted a figure with its back to him. The figure was also standing in the water, head hung low like a motionless doll.
It was a familiar back.
For some reason, Lin felt as if a hand had squeezed his heart. He quickened his pace, charging toward the figure.
Drip, drip, drip...
Rain began to fall on him. His movements grew larger. At some point, the water rose past his chest. His movements were filled with a sense of stagnation, yet he was only a step away from that back.
"You—"
Lin reached out and shouted, but in the next second, he was submerged in an endless, murky sea. A torrential rain continued to fall. He watched the ripples on the surface as he sank toward the bottom.
No... that wasn't rain, and this wasn't the ocean.
A hint of crimson entered his vision.
A sea made of blood buried him completely.
...
"Awake?"
When Lin saw the long-absent ceiling above him, the voice of a young girl reached his ears. The tone was the familiar, sarcastic one he knew so well.
He stretched his neck, turned his head, and saw a face that was both familiar and strange.
It was familiar because he still saw this face every day on his communicator. It was strange... because it was his first time seeing the shrunken Mobius in person.
Her body had shrunk to a state even smaller than Rin's. Her formerly perfect, curvaceous figure had become nearly flat. The researcher's white lab coat looked excessively oversized on her. Currently, as she sat in a chair next to the operating table, her feet couldn't even reach the floor.
"What? Entranced? Do you have a pedophilic streak?" Everything had changed, except for Mobius foul attitude.
"No... I prefer the non-shrinking version."
"..."
Mobius was choked for words. She glared at Lin, then hopped off the chair and pushed it toward a computer. She looked at the data on the screen and said to Lin: "You certainly have some nerve, hiding this from me for so long. If Vil-V hadn't explained the situation to me, I'm afraid I'd still be in the dark even after your consciousness turned completely into a Honkai creature."
"There is good news and bad news. I know you'll want to hear the good news first, so I'll start with the bad news."
Mobius childish voice said sternly: "Your body is very healthy—abnormally so. When you were first brought back to headquarters, you had a severe abdominal injury and several minor ones. The number of hematopoietic cells in your body exceeded a normal human's by more than five times in a short period. Platelets, adrenocorticoids, and thyroxine are also exceptionally high. Even an ordinary MANTIS heals nowhere near as fast as you."
"Maybe you're wondering if this is Honkai erosion turning you into a monster, just like before. Unfortunately, if that were the case, it would be much simpler." She checked the data again, hit the delete key to clear it, then walked to Lin side and lifted his shirt. "No excessive Honkai energy was detected in your body. The Honkai serum is working normally."
"However, the 'composition' of your body has changed. Your hair is the primary manifestation. Only the silver-white parts test positive for Honkai energy, and it accelerates its conversion when stimulated. Sound familiar? That's right, it's almost the same as Honkai erosion."
"After discovering this, I realized where the problem might lie, so I checked your heart. Guess what I found?"
Mobius smiled coldly, but there was a lingering complexity in her eyes. Lin waited silently for her answer.
"A 'Core'."
"..."
"All organisms have a high-concentration Honkai core, similar to a heart, after being transformed into Honkai creatures. From common Zombies to high-tier Honkai Beasts and Herrschers, they all follow this law. However, except for Herrschers, other Honkai creatures only condense a core after the transformation is complete."
"In short... your situation is similar to the hosts who are being transformed into Herrschers."
Herrscher...
Lin looked down at his heart. Was that thing both a human heart and a Herrscher Core...?
"Don't get it wrong. I'm not saying you've already become a Herrscher, just that the situation is similar. All Herrschers complete their transformation instantly, faster than any Honkai Beast or Zombie." Mobius saw through Lin thoughts. "I call your current state a 'Pseudo-Herrscher.' The strength of a Pseudo-Core is far inferior to a true Herrscher, and you can't even channel Honkai energy yourself."
"However, I cannot guarantee what 'thing' you will become if this continues."
Memories of being eroded by Honkai flooded back. This time, he wouldn't just die; he might become a monster that threatened humanity.
Lin stared at the ceiling for a long time, then opened his mouth...
"Stop. Your thoughts are like what comes out of a pig's rear—plentiful and stinking. Don't start overthinking."
Mobius crossed her arms and turned her head away, only turning back after a moment. Her face was expressionless as she held out her right hand. "Now, for the good news."
"Vil-V and I have hidden your condition. Only you, I, and Vil-V know about your physical status. The high-levels know nothing."
Hidden?
"Heh, if you two can hide things from me, why can't I hide things from others?" Mobius sneered, though it was unclear whom she was mocking. "Be grateful. If those lunatics—who are no different from possessed demons now—knew you were showing signs of Herrscherization, they wouldn't stop until they dragged you off for every kind of live experiment you've done before, just to trigger your transformation."
"The only reason they haven't vivisected the little girl hosting the Eighth Herrscher yet is purely because they can't guarantee the Eighth Core and the Herrscher consciousness would still be useful once separated."