I'm from the Future!

Welt, carrying Higokumaru flew away towards the lab tower shortly after suddenly came to his senses.

He looked back right where Aponia and Ashborn had completely sunk into the shadows before disappearing.

"What? What happened to my body earlier?" he muttered in confusion.

He came to his senses and remembered that the nun told him, no, rather 'asked' him to go to where he came from, but the problem was that his body instantly complied with the nun's request.

Even now he couldn't stop his body from going to the lab tower.

"That's because of the power of Aponia nee-san..." Higokumaru muttered weakly.

Her expression looked grim and sad.

"Aponia? You mean that nun?" asked Welt with his body currently flying towards the lab tower.

But at the same time, a question crossed his mind.

'If she knows that nun... Is there a possibility that the nun is from the previous era?'

As he thought this, he heard Higokumaru's voice answering his question.

"Umu. She is one of the remaining MANTIS who has an ability called 'Discipline'. That ability allows her to be able to command her target at will."

Hearing this immediately gave Welt goosebumps if Aponia asked him to commit suicide... Would he fulfill that request without hesitation?

As if knowing what he was thinking, Higokumaru then said, "Aponia nee-san's ability is indeed very powerful, but she rarely uses it to directly kill her enemies."

Welt caught a strange word from Higokumaru's words.

'Directly? Does that mean...'

Welt did not continue his thought and then shifted their topic to the main issue.

"What should we do now, Higokumaru? Kouro has been captured by them."

Higokumaru seemed to have a thoughtful expression before sighing helplessly, "We can only let them be, and formulate a new plan."

Although a little disappointed, she was confident that they would not harm Kouro.

After all, the person they captured was someone similar to KOURO.

Yes. Higokumaru had realized from the beginning that Kouro was not KOURO, but she still hid it because...

Kouro himself really reminded her of KOURO.

But just when she was thinking like this, the silhouette of Mobius flashed in her mind.

A bad premonition instantly appeared in her heart.

'Umm... Mobius won't hurt him, right?'

__

Half an hour later, in an unknown place.

"Hmm..."

After some time had passed, Kouro, who had recovered some of his strength, opened his eyes slowly.

Looking at the unfamiliar grayish-white ceiling whose lights were slightly dimmed, he immediately put on a puzzled expression.

'Why am I here? .... That's right, I remember I used the Xuanyuan sword to destroy the meteor using everything I had before finally fainting... Wait, this place... Don't tell me-'

Kouro touched his face, and sure enough, the black mask he was wearing had disappeared.

"You're awake already? What a powerful recovery." said someone beside him.

Hearing someone's voice from beside him, he immediately turned to his side with a wary expression, he saw a short gray-haired man in a red suit and a white mask, Kouro could only see his purple eyes which were currently looking at him with a gaze as if looking at a rare animal.

What's more important is that his black mask is currently in the man's hands.

"...Who are you? Where am I?"

Right after he asked that there was the sound of the door opening, revealing a nun entering in clothes that were... Rather revealing?

Kouro stared at the nun for a long time, certainly not because of her 'assets' which were so seductive and had such a strong gravitational force that his eyes were always drawn to her 'assets'.

He stared at her for a long time because he felt familiar with her before finally remembering that back in the ancient temple, he saw the statue of this nun lined up side by side with the MANTIS.

Thinking of this, Kouro's expression changed slightly.

'Looks like my bet worked, I've attracted the attention of the World Serpent.'

"Are you awake? Are you able to move now?" asked Aponia in a soft and worried tone, although the expression seemed calm at the moment.

"Ah?"  Kouro glanced at his status.

[HP: 28,000/44,000]

[SP: 2,780/18,240]

[Fatigue: 55]

His current status wasn't bad for someone who had just recovered. Well... This was not surprising since his authority had accelerated his recovery.

"Yes. I'm fine now. Who are you guys by the way? Where am I?" asked Kouro.

"I think you should know who we are. Kouro-kun." said Ashborn with a tone of sarcasm.

"Ahh... I see..." said Kouro without changing his expression.

He himself already knew that his identity would definitely be exposed, hence his heart didn't fluctuate too much.

What concerned him now was what action the World Serpent would take against him.

Would they choose violence? Or a more peaceful approach?

"Since you're good now, stand up and follow us, please. There is someone who wants to see you." Aponia said while looking at him before finally turning around.

Kouro involuntarily stood up from his bed before his expression instantly changed due to the system notification that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[The 'Discipline' effect has been detected]

[Ability 'Unknown' has been activated]

[The effect of 'Discipline' has been removed]

He stood still with a serious expression looking at the system notification.

Kouro didn't know what the effect of this 'Discipline' was, but it was definitely harming his body because the 'unknown' ability had activated to eliminate it.

As expected of a MANTIS. Which made him feel wary of this effect because he didn't feel any strange changes in his body.

He raised his head to stare at the nun who had walked out behind him with a gloomy expression before glancing at the masked man beside him.

'No, don't be impulsive. The Xuanyuan Sword must be currently in their grasp.'

Kouro remembered that he didn't have time to put the Xuanyuan Sword into his inventory because he fainted.

He then secretly activated [Status Recovery] to restore his body state back to its peak state.

[HP: 44,000/44,000]

[SP: 18,240/18,240]

[Fatigue: 0]

Kouro sighed feeling the freshness of his body before finally following Aponia followed by Ashborn who was beside him.

There was only the sound of their footsteps in the long dim hallway.

"By the way, you guys haven't answered my previous question." Kouro said with his voice filling the hallway.

The nun in front of him then slowed her pace before glancing at him and saying softly, "My name is Aponia."

'Aponia? Someone who received the core of Herrscher KOURO?' Kouro thought.

He then glanced at the masked man beside him.

The man then replied, "Ashborn."

"Ahem! greetings, Aponia-san, Ashborn-san, my name is Hanagami Kouro."

Ashborn narrowed his eyes after hearing his name while Aponia, her expression did not change, and continued walking.

Kouro caught the change in Ashborn's expression before walking after Aponia.

'Ashborn... Judging from the change in his expression earlier... Is he related to 'Hanagami Kouro'?'

Kouro let this question cross his mind, now was not the right time to ask.

The three of them continued walking before finally arriving at a spacious room with bright lightings and also with a long meeting table.

Kouro raised his eyebrows when he saw this, most of the seats at the table were still empty, other than...

He looked at Mobius, Grey Serpent, a green-haired humanoid creature with a lazy expression whose body was as tall as Kouro's knees, a boy around 8 or 9 years old who looked like him, and a holographic figure of a girl in a tall hat and brown victorian clothes.

They were all staring at him with curious eyes.

Moreover, the gazes of Mobius and the girl in the tall hat were so piercing that they gave him goosebumps.

He immediately turned to look at Ashborn with pleading eyes like an abandoned kitten.

Unfortunately... Such a deathly gaze only made Ashborn feel disgusted, so he pretended not to see it and then sat on the chair followed by Aponia who sat beside him.

Seeing that his tactic didn't work, Kouro could only let out a disappointed sigh before then putting on a calm expression and finally saying in a loud voice.

"First of all, I want to thank you for saving me. Oh! btw, let me introduce myself. My name is Hanagami Kouro."

He glanced at all of them before finally saying in a serious tone.

"I'm from the 'future'."

__

At the same time, on the Moon.

Bella flew in her Honkai Beast form flying towards the altar where Sirin had gotten her new powers.

When she was close to the altar, she changed into her humanoid form and immediately bowed her head toward Sirin who was currently standing behind her.

"My queen... Your faithful Bella has completed your orders. I have neutralized those human weapons..."

The weapon she was referring to was the 'Silver Bullet', a nuclear-powered missile.

This missile was fired by Tesla and Einstein in response to Sirin's attack.

In the original plot too, it was this weapon that repulsed Sirin, so she was taken away by Benares who escaped to the moon.

Well... Although nowwww their attacks were in vain because Bella had disabled their attacks with EMP waves using the Herrscher of Thunder's ability.

(A/N: EMP aka ElectroMagnetic Pulse: It is a short burst of electromagnetic radiation. It is a natural or artificial occurrence that generally interferes with, and even damages, electronic equipment).

"Very good, Bella." Sirin praised without looking back.

"Stay alert... and observe them."

Bella's expression looked confused before seeming to think as if she was choosing the right words before saying, "Just observe them? Forgive your servant's impertinence, my queen, but..."

"Although this servant of yours does not know by what means those humans can destroy those meteors without casualties... But I can be sure that those meteors have weakened them. Thus... I suggest taking advantage and attacking right now."

Hearing the words, Sirin finally turned to look at her with her golden eyes shining coldly which made Bella tremble stiffly.

"Do you doubt my decision Bella? Do you think, you are smarter than your queen?" she said in a sharp and cold voice.

Bella immediately bowed her head deeply before saying in a fearful tone, "Forgive this foolish servant of yours! My queen!"

Sirin looked at her for a moment before approaching her slowly.

"Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you. You should know that we are fighting a cunning plague right now. I gave you the gift of a Herrscher's strength and intelligence, don't take it for granted."

She then lowered her body slightly and lifted Bella's chin and made her stare into her golden eyes that had 'X' like marks on the pupils.

Sirin then whispered in her ear, "They are like ants, there are billions of them. Those pebbles won't be enough to eliminate them. It will only make them hide before they reappear."

She then turned to look directly into her eyes and said in a calm voice, "Keep this in mind, Bella. Never underestimate a human. Especially humans who have given up hope. You won't know what extreme measures they will take."

Her eyes seemed to wander as if remembering the past, even though she was remembering the 'knowledge' given by her god.

Sirin while striking the same pose then turned her head to stare at some inscriptions in an unknown language on the altar wall.

It was these inscriptions that she was reading, with the 'knowledge' that had been given by her goddess, she was finally able to magically read the writings on the inscriptions with ease.

"The writings on these stones... They contain knowledge from the previous era. Math, physics, the art of war... Even about Herrschers like us."

The 'knowledge' only provided a third perspective memory of the previous era up to the point the Herrscher of the End was defeated.

So, the inscription really helped her to fill in all the blanks about science and common sense.

After all, she was previously just an ordinary young girl who had not attended school due to being a guinea pig in the Lab tower.

"We need to master all this knowledge... And I have an idea of what we should do next."

"Eliminating humanity is easy, but it doesn't hurt to be careful, I already have a plan to destroy them one by one... Including the strongest human warriors from the previous era."

Sirin lowered her hand slowly and continued.

"But remember this Bella, your priority, no, our priority is to capture Kouro, the heir to the power of the Herrscher of Shadows, alive."

"And our first plan is..."

__

In the Lab tower, in the meeting room.

Higokumaru, Sakura, Welt, Siegfried, and the others besides Kouro's clone, who suddenly disappeared.

They were surprised by 'Kouro' who suddenly disappeared before Higokumaru explained to them that 'Kouro' was a clone of Kouro.

Higokumaru was able to realize this, because she had a very high detection ability, moreover the Kouro Clone did not have a heartbeat.

"-Basically our plan is still the same as the one formulated by Kouro-kun, right?" asked Theresa.

Higokumaru and Welt nodded their heads.

"That's right. Unfortunately, Kouro-kun was captured by World Serpent's people."

"Hm? What's wrong, Dr. Tesla?" asked Siegfried, seeing her wearing a gloomy expression while lowering her phone from her ear.

"...We just detected several EMP blasts. Our code breakers managed to identify them as being in human language..."

She then continued, "The sender is most likely Sirin. The content of the message was something like this: Bring Kouro here to the moon, otherwise, I will send 12 more pebbles towards the earth every 72 hours of your delay."

...

"Don't make me wait, your queen has many virtues... But patience is not one of them." said Sirin on the moon with her right hand resting on her head and her left hand extended towards the earth.

The silhouette of a girl with white hair and orange eyes appeared behind her looking at the earth with an unknown gaze before quickly disappearing.

[Time remaining: 27 days]