prynovel Chapter 260: Brahma (Part 1)
Chapter 260: Brahma (Part 1)
Chapter 260 - Brahma (Part 1)Click—
"Yo, Mobiu— Sorry, am I interrupting something?"
A muscle twitched slightly at the corner of Mobius's mouth. She quickly shoved the full-length mirror back into the wardrobe, then hastily stripped off the pink blouse she hadn't quite finished putting on and tossed it back into the closet as well.
Michael silently helped her close the lab door, then leaned against the doorframe with a trace of awkwardness, pulling the brim of his baseball cap down, pretending not to notice Mobius's disarray.
However, he could have easily pulled the brim lower. At its current angle, from his perspective, it barely concealed anything above Mobius's chin.
The arm he used to adjust the cap conveniently blocked half his face. If Mobius were bold enough to lean down and peer up past the obstruction, she would have seen the corner of his mouth quirked upwards, a stark contrast to the tightly pressed other half of his lips.
Michael watched Mobius rummage through her wardrobe until she finally located her usual green blouse and hurriedly pulled it on. He then pointed towards her lower half: "Aren't you going to change out of the pink plaid skirt?"
"?"
Poor Mobius. Caught secretly trying on a cute pink blouse and matching skirt in her lab, trying desperately to pretend nothing happened, only to be called out directly by Michael...
Blood rushed to her face, and Mobius essentially 'blew a fuse'—quite literally. Faint electric arcs crackled around her as her long green hair slowly began to float upwards. She puffed out her cheeks at Michael: "Change what? I'm not changing!"
She snatched her nearby lab coat and wrapped it around herself. The coat, tailored for Mobius's 'largest' form, practically reached her ankles on her current frame, perfectly concealing the offending pink skirt.
"Come on!"
After that little interlude, Mobius was naturally not in the best mood. Tossing her head, she didn't even wait for Michael, simply striding deeper into the lab complex on her own.
Compared to Spacy's lab, hers felt considerably more cramped. This was mainly due to the sheer number of projects she managed, each requiring its own isolated experimental space. These individual labs were all connected by a winding, dimly lit tunnel. The outermost room they were currently in was merely a lounge area – though, often enough, it also served as Mobius's bedroom.
In the dim green light, her pale, slender, bare feet flickered in and out of view beneath the swirling hem of her oversized lab coat, looking almost translucent against the floor. Michael stared intently at the ground, swallowing hard.
Bare feet... Griseo's are cute-dangerous, Mobius's are not-dangerous... Good, good...
"Are you malfunctioning? What are you standing there gawking at?" Mobius's impatient voice snapped Michael back to reality. He quickly wiped his mouth with his thumb and hurried after her.
Mobius's lab complex was vastly different now. The passageway stretched on seemingly endlessly; the overall scale rivaled the former abandoned Poisonous Cocoon base.
Contrasting sharply with the vastness was Mobius's solitary figure. Before Michael had taken Klein away, there had at least been another voice echoing in these halls. Now, Mobius was truly alone.
It wasn't just about worrying over Mobius's workload. With extensive AI assistance, managing such a large facility and simultaneously running over a dozen complex projects, while still unimaginable for an ordinary person, wasn't entirely impossible for a time-management master like Mobius.
The more critical concern was... could anyone truly endure facing nearly all of Fire Moth's darkest secrets, alone, in such an oppressive environment, day after day...?
Michael had heard that Fuxi, Nuwa, and Blanka, upon learning about Mobius's situation, had requested transfers back to the primary lab. However, when Mei presented these requests to Mobius for her opinion, Mobius had bluntly shut them down with two sharp sentences—
"We walk different paths; those two girls should just stay out of my way."
"Honestly, they're adults now. Instead of wasting time trying to get an extra salary slip here, they should spend more time with Griseo. If this continues, that child will start calling Aponia 'Mom'."
Remembering this, Michael bit his lip, struggling to suppress a smile.
Since the path ahead was still long and silence was boring, and having just thought of Griseo, he asked casually, "By the way, Mobius, what was your childhood like? You've never mentioned your father."
He remembered her mother; he'd seen her photo in the Fire Moth archives. She too had been a doctor. Her file photo showed her with short, vibrant green hair – upon closer inspection, almost the only visible difference between mother and daughter.
As for her mother's cause of death... complications during childbirth.
Additionally, Michael had once heard an unverified rumor from Elvin – supposedly, Mobius could speak the very moment she was born.
Her first words were allegedly: "Mobius... is that my name?"
Of course, this story was widely circulated, even appearing in motivational textbooks for elementary schoolers. Its veracity... was debatable. Mobius herself had never commented on it.
But regarding her father... even the notoriously loose-lipped Elvin became extremely reticent on the subject. It wasn't that he didn't know; it was that he dared not speak, or could not speak.
As for Mobius's father's official file, it had been completely destroyed by some unknown individual. The method was crude, blatant, practically screaming "I did this," with no attempt made to cover the tracks.
That's why Michael asked now. He figured, given their current... unconventional relationship, even if Mobius didn't want to elaborate, she wouldn't get overly angry or sensitive, right?
"Hmph..."
As expected, she just snorted lightly. Her arms, crossed over her chest, shifted slightly. Her right arm lifted, resting on the back of her left hand, while her right palm slowly came up to press against her cheek.
Michael didn't quite understand the gesture's meaning, but he could tell Mobius was displeased, so he naturally didn't press the issue further like an idiot.
Silence descended between them again, broken only by the pat-pat of their footsteps. Thinking back, unlike his interactions with Elysia, his time with Mobius seemed to involve much more silence.
After a while, perhaps Mobius herself felt the silence was awkward, she initiated a new topic: "By the way, have you ever heard the myth... about Mahāmāyūrī?"
"Not really clear on it."
"Hmph. I thought you might pay more attention to the name of the Honkai Beast that woman fused with."
"I pay attention to Elysia herself. Besides, I'm not that idle."
"Tch!"
Honestly, even Michael felt saying he wasn't idle in front of Mobius sounded a bit much...
But it was true he hadn't delved into those myths. Ultimately, he didn't believe the myths and legends of this era held much practical value in defeating the Honkai. You couldn't exactly fight by praying... well, Aponia excluded...
He had only briefly skimmed the world's major mythological systems out of initial curiosity early on. When he found they largely matched his vague recollections from his past life, he hadn't investigated further. Even then, his focus hadn't included the peculiar mythologies of South Asia.
The fragmented, contextless prophecy about "a certain day" did intrigue him greatly, but there were no further records about it.
Mobius seemed intent on giving him a theology lesson. Even though Michael projected an attitude of complete indifference, she patiently began her explanation: "To be precise, it's about the myths concerning Mahāmāyūrī and Vishnu. No... that sounds too discordant. It should be Shiva and Vishnu / Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten."
"Damn South Asians," Michael muttered nonsensically, unclear if he was recalling the bizarre artistic depictions of their deities or simply harboring some irrational prejudice.
Mobius ignored his interruption and continued: "Among the numerous deities of South Asia, Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten are actually relatively late arrivals. Before them, the deity who received the most worship was Brahma, the Creator."
"Brahma?" Michael felt the name sounded vaguely familiar, but couldn't immediately place where he'd heard it. "Is it related to that Afeitian beast Kalpas and Sakura killed earlier?"
He thought it might be a translation issue or a slip of the tongue, but Mobius immediately turned and shot him a look that clearly said, "Are you stupid?"
"Afeitian refers to Asura. What does that have to do with Brahma? Oh, right. After Mei returned, she re-examined the battle site and combat logs. Although both Kalpas and Sakura were capable of finishing it within ten minutes, based on the sheer destruction it caused, Mei upgraded its classification to Apocalypse-class."
"Tsk, Apocalypse-class is getting cheaper these days... Alright, Mobius, just say what you want to say. No need to beat around the bush with a bunch of mythology. I'm not as smart as you think."
Hearing Michael's preemptive "surrender," the corners of Mobius's lips curved upwards almost imperceptibly.
"Actually, the myths I just mentioned are highly relevant to what you came here to see today."
"Such as?" Although he knew she wasn't likely speaking completely baseless nonsense, the old adage "Mobius's mouth, a lying ghost" held true. Michael certainly wouldn't believe her completely.
"Hmph. Before Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten became widespread objects of worship in South Asia, the primary figure they revered was the creator god, Brahma. However, Brahma fell from grace, so people's veneration for him waned. His powers and attributes were subsequently divided and attributed to the later deities Mahāmāyūrī and Myōbitten..."
"Wait a second..." Michael interrupted her again. "It couldn't be what I'm thinking... You didn't actually... based on a myth... fuse the cells of two Apocalypse-class Honkai Beasts together, did you?"
"Is there a problem?" Mobius tilted her head, clearly displeased by Michael's skepticism. "Thanks to the Honkai, humanity's current so-called scientific re
"Hm? Who?" Michael startled, wondering how Mobius knew he'd peeked.
"No need to pretend. As a MANTIS, I'm quite sensitive to the flow and changes in Honkai Energy. Besides, you weren't exactly subtle..."
"I'm similar to your father? Although I don't know how, just for that filial sentiment, I approve. Good daughter."
Michael slightly regretted bringing up Mobius's father earlier. He hadn't expected her childhood to be like that... He was also somewhat surprised that while the memory of her father was clearly deeply ingrained, it lacked any palpable hatred or resentment towards the man himself. All her hatred seemed directed at "weakness" itself. No wonder she became...
Somehow, awkwardly, they started walking forward again, side-by-side.
And Mobius finally spoke a sentence from her heart: "Actually, regarding the artificial Honkai Beast cultivation... I do need to utilize your power. Not just because accessing the Divine Key is problematic, but a living Herrscher power is far more useful than a dead one... But it's absolutely not just about utility...
"With Klein gone... I just wanted someone... someone who understands, standing beside me, to share the joy of that achievement. That's all."