Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Nobody likes the prospect of war. Most of its impacts were negative. Still, the one making everyone move was the order of the higher-ups. The common folks has no choice but to fight for their countries.

Boom-!

Boom-!

Bang-!

The smell of gunpowder smoke choked Ainsworth’s mouth.

“Cough…”

The hands holding his M4A1 were shaking uncontrollably. He wanted to keep himself together, to pull the gun’s trigger, yet he was unable to do so.

“Huff… Huff…”

It was a panic attack. The bullets and projectiles were fended by the huge boulder on his back.

“Fire..!”

“...Cover!”

“Hold!”

The battlefield was extremely chaotic. The conscripted guys only had fifty or so days to train before being expedited to the battlefield. While some were able to get a hold of themselves, there were others who couldn’t do so such as him.

His silver-rimmed glasses were misaligned as another explosion happened near them.

“Fuck… Fuck! FUCK!”

Ainsworth let out curses after curses. Only then did he feel slightly lighter—his hands starting to remain steady. The tension in his heart was slightly removed.

“A bullet to the head will kill me quickly. I won’t feel the pain at all..!”

Ainsworth became more and more focused. The messy thoughts inside his head began to calm down. All that was left was to give cover fire and capture their objectives. He, just like others, began fighting fully in this war.

While they were resting, they saw several streaks of white light in the sky. It was as fast as fighter jets, yet the silhouettes were much smaller.

“Halo… No, it’s literally Iron Man. Everyone has an Iron Man Suit, haha…” 

The Third World War came all of a sudden. Though, when the miniature nuclear reactor technology was revealed to the public, it became reasonable all of a sudden. It was an arms race of the strongest countries that managed to get hold of such technology.

Now, the main theaters are divided into three: humans, robots, and iron suits.

The warring countries tacitly decided to do these divisions, lest there will be higher casualties.

“Haa… If I can pilot such a thing… or even a huge mecha, I’m already good.”

The first battle made it evident for Ainsworth that death is commonplace. There’s no such thing as a protagonist buff. The anti-tank shells will ruthlessly pierce through such metaphysical beliefs.

It didn’t take long before he joined more battles. Ainsworth saw his peers get replaced as soon as they died. He himself gets panic attacks occasionally. It couldn’t be easily shrugged off as one thought. 

That was the beginning of his nightmare. His dreams were filled with war, and nothing else.

“Huff… That thing fell here.”

In one of his missions, he had a so-called “fateful encounter”.

The rising smoke pillar pinpointed the location of the fallen iron suit. Ainsworth immediately saw the piercing hole in its waist. Its pilot raised his right hand and was seemingly stuck there.

“...”

He grasped the right side of the suit’s helmet before he felt a small button. He clicked it and saw the man’s sleeping face.

Ainsworth removed his gloves and placed his hands on the man’s nose. The next thing he did was to check the pulse.

“...Negative. He’s dead.”

He pushed back the confusion in his mind. This war theater was supposed to be fought by humans only. Yet, there was an iron suit who came here.

Just as he was about to radio everything he saw, a streak of light passed by in the sky.

“What the…”

Ainsworth had a bad feeling. He looked at the sky and the dead man inside the suit. It was obvious he fought an enemy and lost. Now, that same enemy might be the one he saw just now.

Between dying and disobeying military orders, Ainsworth knew which one to choose.

“Manual… Manual… Alright. I can still recall the basics.”

His concentration left him no room for doubts. His thoughts weren’t as messy as they used to be. It was a certain talent that he developed over those fights.

“Huff… Let’s do it.”

That was the encounter that changed his life. He used a broken iron suit to defeat an enemy iron suit who infiltrated the human-only battlefield.

His kills continued piling up until the war had officially ended. It was the time he gained the position as the Director of the Specialized Weapon Division.

Unfortunately, the continuation of the Third World War occurred suddenly.

“Can’t humans… really go against a huge tide (Trend of the World)?”

His last moments consisted of being blown to pieces.

******

“Nagazora… Nagazora…”

Five years ago, Ainsworth… no, Aleph found himself reborn as a baby. He retained pretty much all of his consciousness. Though, the memories of his past life were extremely fragmented. He couldn’t recall them properly no matter what.

It was only until now did he show signs of recovering them. Coincidentally, the trigger that pushed this recovery was a familiar name.

“Nagazora… Honkai..?”

Honkai was something at the tip of his tongue. He knew about it, yet he couldn’t properly explain it.

It wasn’t until a few months later did he recall what it was.

“Honkai… fuck!”

Aleph frantically looked at the world map. Upon confirming the Mu Continent’s presence, his jaw dropped. It was the first time he felt that huge of a shock.

“Previous Era… will be destroyed within nine years after the Third Eruption..?”

It was a sense of powerlessness at first, followed by an itch.

“I… I really… came to this world?”

It was a world he only knew from his smartphone—a game, even. Its memories should’ve been blurred by time, given how long he spent on the battlefield. Most of the online games at that time were shut down. If not for his nostalgic sentiments urging him to search for the game when he became the Director, he would’ve completely forgotten about it.

Most importantly, it was a new world where he had the chance to rectify his mistakes.

“All of the suffering… I can interfere with them?”

A strong emotion rose up from his heart. Not even the conscription he received back then could compare to it. This was, after all, a world that he loved during his childhood years.

“Nine years… Nine years…”

It was the moment he began his preparations. Knowing the Honkai’s tendency to become stronger as the civilization progressed, he didn’t dare spread his knowledge this early on. There are too many problems to be fixed within Fire MOTH.

All of his thoughts were written down in diaries.

“MOTH’s internal problem needs to be solved first.”

“The Divine Keys shouldn’t only be for combat. The first can be used for a weapon factory, the third for electricity…”

“The nuclear suit must be created first. Its combat capabilities will be important even if the MANTIS Surgery becomes successful.”

“MANTIS surgery… It’s too bad I don’t specialize in that field. But then… I will put some theories…”

It continued until the unfortunate accident in the Third Eruption…

He died.

*****

***

*

The soul and the body are intrinsically linked.

For the Jujutsu Sorcerer, the body is the shape created by following the soul.

For the Honkai, the soul is something that holds down memories, a unique aspect.

Although the two have differences, one thing remained the same—

Once the soul breaks down, it results in a true death.

The world will no longer permit someone to piece back a destroyed soul. Their uniqueness will no longer be recovered.

Aleph experienced a “true death” once and recovered on his own. When it happened for the second time, a timely assistance from the [Achievement Hunter] pushed him from the brink of true death (i.e., destruction of soul).

His soul was stitched together, yet it was a stopgap. Only now was it properly dealt with.

{Answer: The soul’s original state has been restored.}

The [Great Sage] analyzed everything before fixing them. The many things Aleph didn’t know, it somehow knew.

Just then—

{Initiating forced disconnection.}

Aleph’s soul, which had been kneeling down in the plain white space, soon disappeared. 

Moments after he did, a small crack appeared. A hand tried to reach out, but to no avail. Seeing it couldn’t get out, it forced one of its fingers in the crack. When the crack disappeared, all that was left was the severed pinky finger made of white light.

It slowly melted into the ground until there was nothing left.