Even the smallest happiness requires a price—this was the cruel truth Sirin learned at the Babylon Laboratory at the age of 14.
...
"How could this happen? This is too cruel."
When she saw Elias' battered body, Sirin was utterly devastated, her heart twisting in agony.
Cuts, injection wounds, burns, frostbite, lacerations, punctures, bruises—countless surgical stitches, precise yet far too numerous.
His body was a patchwork of scars, with no intact skin in sight. Just looking at it made her chest tighten, suffocating her with pain.
Elias was like a broken doll—shattered, stitched back together, only to be broken again. This cycle had repeated countless times.
And yet, he covered his wounds with clothes, hiding his mangled body from their sight.
Tears streamed down Sirin's face.
The strongest of the four girls had turned into a sobbing mess. She clung tightly to Elias, refusing to let him leave her sight again.
"This is too much! How could they do this?!"
"Why? Why did they have to hurt you like this?!"
"These monsters! I won't forgive them!"
Galina, Avrora, and Agata were equally horrified. Their hearts felt like they were being crushed in an iron grip.
Elias had always returned with a relaxed demeanor, his warm smile healing them—but deceiving them as well.
Until now, when the truth of his suffering was laid bare.
Every scar on his body told the silent tale of the unspeakable tortures he had endured, beyond their view.
And they finally realized—the comfort they enjoyed, the food, the clothes, even the storybooks they held in their hands—all had been bought with Elias' blood and pain.
In this hellish tower of Babylon, Elias had sacrificed himself to carve out a small haven for them.
Now that they knew the truth—
How could they possibly accept it?!
"Elias, please, don't go through the experiments anymore! We don't need anything!"
"The clothes, the books, the beds and blankets—we'll give them all back! Just beg them to stop!"
"I—I can take your place! Let me be the one they experiment on instead!"
"Idiot! Elias, you big idiot! I don't care about any of those things! I just want you to be okay! Hey! You bastards outside, you hear me?! Experiment on me instead! Do whatever you want, just stop hurting him!"
...
Looking at the girls before him—crying, despairing, even offering themselves up in his place—
Elias, who had never shed a tear despite enduring knives, burns, frostbite, electric shocks, and Honkai injections, suddenly felt a sting in his nose, his vision blurring.
Overwhelmed with emotion, he opened his arms and embraced the little angels before him.
"Thank you… thank you, Sirin, Avrora, Agata, Galina. I'm so happy."
In the past, Elias had always felt a distance between himself and the girls.
After all, he wasn't truly their childhood friend—that was just a fabricated past, a lie created by the system to justify his presence in this timeline.
But now, that hesitation had vanished.
Even if his past memories were false—their feelings for him were undeniably real!
And that was enough.
If Elias had initially decided to save Sirin and the others out of pity for their suffering, now he genuinely wanted to protect these girls—girls who had become no different from family to him.
So he could not stop now.
"Give me a little more time. Soon… very soon, we'll be able to leave this place."
"Elias…"
"When that time comes, let's find a better place to live. Somewhere warm, full of sunshine and blooming flowers—a place where we can be happy."
"Mm."
Sirin bit her lower lip and gave a soft response, but her heart ached. She knew exactly what Elias meant—he was going to continue undergoing the experiments.
That night, the five of them huddled together for warmth.
But nothing changed.
The next morning, when the iron door opened again, the adults came to take Elias away. Once again, all they could do was watch.
Sirin: "...I can't do anything."
...
The experiments became more intense. Even Elias was beginning to struggle. The researchers were astonished that he had lasted this long.
But sympathy? Impossible.
These demons had found an unbreakable toy and were delighted to push him further, subjecting him to increasingly cruel experiments.
Some even placed bets on how much longer he could endure before finally breaking.
(Break? Not until I've killed every last one of you, taken Sirin and the others, and started a new life. I will never lose before that happens!)
Elias listened to their words and let his battered body continue accumulating Honkai energy.
That power was becoming clearer. It wouldn't be long before he reached the threshold—before he obtained the strength to escape this hell with Sirin and the others.
But no matter how strong his will, his body was reaching its breaking point.
After today's experiment, Elias could barely control his limbs. Every step left him gasping for air.
And yet, the grueling experiments continued for days, until he was completely immobilized, unable to even climb off the examination table on his own.
In the end, the researchers simply dragged him back to his cell.
Sirin and the others had never seen him in such a pitiful state. Their long-repressed emotions finally erupted.
"No! Don't touch Elias!"
"Get away! Stay back!"
"Take me instead! I'll go in his place!"
"Put him down! Give Elias back to us!"
From that day on, they did everything in their power to stop Elias from being taken away. The girls—who had nothing, not even a single rock to throw—could only clench their tiny fists and strike at the adults who came for him.
But the outcome was obvious. As young and powerless as they were, they could do nothing to stop the cruelty. No matter how hard they tried, Elias was always taken away in the end.
All they could do was cry for him and, when he returned battered and broken at night, hold him tightly—doing everything they could to bring him warmth.
...
This continued until today.
Inside the Babylon Laboratory.
The dull-eyed boy lay on the examination table once more. In his current state, the researchers didn't even bother restraining him anymore.
Elias scanned the room with weary eyes, reflecting on the countless times his blood had been spilled across every corner of this place.
But today would be the last day Elias served as their experiment subject.
"Prepare 500HW concentration Honkai energy injection."
"Honkai energy erosion at 90%."
"Looks like this is the final session."
"Tsk, I wonder when we'll find another test subject as exceptional as this one."
As the final drop of Honkai energy was injected into the boy's body, the expected transformation into a mindless soldier did not occur. Instead, Elias' body began to heal.
His battered and broken form was undergoing rebirth, and at the same time, an overwhelming surge of Honkai energy erupted from him.
The entire room trembled and warped under the sheer force.
"WARNING! WARNING! Test subject's Honkai energy concentration is rapidly increasing—exceeding safety limits! Exceeding safety limits!"
"W-What's happening?! What's going on?!"
"This energy level… 2000HW?! Impossible! H-He's undergoing Herrscher transformation!"
"Activate emergency termination protocols! Quickly! Kill Test Subject X1 immediately!"
The researchers trembled in fear.
The power of Honkai had descended upon Elias.
When his eyes reopened, it was as if a god had awakened!
In that instant, an overwhelming sense of authority filled the entire space!
Elias gazed down at them with cold indifference, his voice sharper than the icy winds of Siberia.
"Are you prepared to face judgment, insects?"
At this moment, he was Honkai!