After sending the two children to the recovery ward, Mobius stretched lazily, took off her bloodstained white gloves, and asked with a nonchalant air:
"Whew. So, were the threads of fate altered?"
"Yeah, it looks like the alteration was a success." Fu Li shrugged. Although the surgery was successful, he couldn't bring himself to feel happy.
When you toy with fate, fate is also peering back at you.
Fu Li had never forgotten the system's reminder and didn't dare to take it lightly.
"Since the surgery was a success, then as we agreed, it's time you let me see this so-called precognitive ability," Mobius yawned.
Evidently, for a researcher who believed solely in science, accepting the existence of precognition was a difficult task.
Moreover, she was the one who had chosen the Honkai Beast [Mitra] for Aponia, and that beast possessed no such precognitive ability.
"Doctor, you'll have to talk to Aponia about that. I'm not the one with the precognitive ability," Fu Li said, spreading his hands and passing the responsibility to Aponia.
Mobius turned her gaze toward Aponia.
"If you wish, Doctor, I can certainly write a Book of Fate for you as a gift. Please consider it my way of repaying you."
Aponia was in high spirits, and since she had no qualms about giving away a Book of Fate, she agreed readily.
"Let's not." Mobius stretched again, her serpentine, graceful waist unfurling with a unique kind of allure.
"Compared to some Book of Fate, I am far more interested in your power of [Discipline]."
At the mention of [Discipline], a flicker of excitement appeared on Mobius's face.
"During the surgery just now, there were several times when those little ones were on the brink of failing, yet they miraculously managed to pull through."
"If this technique could be applied to MANTIS surgery, the success rate would increase dramatically, and the number of sacrifices on the path of evolution would be greatly reduced."
"Er…" Seeing Mobius fall back into her research-crazed state, Aponia started to say something, but then closed her mouth.
It was unclear what she had thought of, but a strange light flashed in her clear eyes.
Although she knew Fu Li possessed the ability to shatter fate, the conditions for its use were far too strict and uncontrollable.
If she collaborated with Mobius, perhaps they could find a way to break through the constraints of fate through experimentation.
...…
At the same time, in a lounge at the MOTHs Who Chase the Flame headquarters…
Elysia, who had been teasing Hua, suddenly froze. She turned her head, her gaze seeming to pierce through countless layers of space to look at something far away.
After a moment of silence, Hua asked, "Elysia? What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing…" Snapping back to reality, Elysia turned back. Her usual smile now seemed a little stiff.
"Um, Hua, I have something to take care of, so I won't stay any longer. Goodbye."
"Goodbye?"
Waving, Hua watched the suddenly strange Elysia depart, a frown creasing her brow.
What just happened?
...…
[After the surgery, you brought the children back to The Deep End.]
[There, Kalpas mostly watched the children from a distance, but when Aponia occasionally asked him to look after them, he would throw a small tantrum.]
[As for Aponia, besides caring for the children and the prisoners each day, she would occasionally venture outside for unknown reasons.]
[You would sometimes see Mobius and Aponia together in secret, conducting some sort of strange research.]
[A year passed. The Herrscher of Legion descended. Klein, once again, did not become one of its members.]
[You wanted to eliminate the Herrscher of Legion, but you were stopped by Dr. MEI, who, wearing the Key of Blankness, charged right in.]
[In the aftermath, the Herrscher of Legion was eliminated, but humanity suffered equally grievous losses.]
[At the same time, your research into Imaginary Space reached a bottleneck. You asked Vill-V to temporarily retrieve the Gem of the Void from the Thousand-Worlds.]
[Afterward, you began developing another Divine Key, which you tentatively named the New Second Divine Key - Void Hand, Soul Probe.]
[After hearing your concept, Vill-V said the Divine Key shouldn't be called Void Hand, Soul Probe, but rather "Gimme That!".]
[During this period of research, you somewhat neglected Aponia.]
[Although your interactions with Aponia lessened, you heard that the fear of Mobius and Aponia among the base personnel had intensified. Merely mentioning their names seemed to have become taboo.]
[You felt helpless about this; no matter how much power one possessed, the hearts of people could not be completely controlled.]
[Or perhaps, having spent so much time with Mobius, you had simply grown accustomed to this feeling.]
[But you knew Aponia must be hurting, so you made an effort to spend more time with her.]
[Until one day, Aponia asked to meet you in the church's confessional, in the roles of priest and penitent.]
---o---
Wearing his priest robes for the first time in a long while, Fu Li walked slowly into the church. Treading across the slick marble floor, he passed through the aisle and entered the confessional.
The confessional was separated from the main church by a screen with a stained-glass window of blue and red patterns. Through it, he could faintly make out the graceful silhouette of a woman in a nun's habit.
Through the latticed opening, Fu Li could see Aponia's hands clasped together uneasily.
It was a gesture of self-reproach, or perhaps sorrow.
Fu Li wanted to speak, but remembering Aponia's request, he swallowed the words of comfort that were on the tip of his tongue.
Today, she wanted a formal absolution, and so she hoped the process would be like any ordinary confession.
Fu Li knew Aponia possessed an incredibly strong desire to protect—or rather, an extreme desire for control.
Therefore, he understood perfectly that not even he could dissuade or stop her actions. All he could do was offer comfort when she inevitably met with failure.
Finally, the woman hidden behind the colored glass spoke, her voice laced with fatigue. "Priest, I am guilty."