At that moment, Sirin, having finished her work in Shenzhou, finally returned to her 'palace'.
Just as she reached her front door, she was surprised to find it sealed shut, preventing her from entering.
"What's going on? I made a special trip to fly back. Why is there an Imaginary barrier?"
Sirin's head was full of question marks.
After finishing her work, she had rushed home without even bothering to chat with the local organizers in Shenzhou. But upon arriving, she was blocked by an Imaginary barrier.
She, the Herrscher of the Void, could be stopped by an Imaginary barrier?
Just as Sirin was preparing to force her way in, a patrolling youth hurried over to stop her.
"You can't go in there. This place has been sealed off for commemoration."
'What's going on?'
Sirin, who had been away from home for some time, was extremely puzzled, wondering why her home had been sealed off for commemoration.
"You don't know about something this big? Our Academy City's General Director is considering becoming the emperor in the sky."
This youth spoke a bit strangely, seeming rather proud of his current gatekeeping job.
"What? What are you talking about?" Sirin looked inside, confused. "What's wrong with me going back to my own home?"
This Imaginary barrier didn't just enclose Noldrei's original residence; it had even expanded to include the neighboring houses. Raiden Ryoma had already taken the opportunity to acquire this area long ago.
"What do you mean, your home? This is the Emperor's Forbidden Palace! His Excellency the Director has now seized the ultimate leadership authority over the Venusian civilization, the Earth civilization, the Sugars civilization, and the power of the Honkai. He has become the emperor of the new era. This place has been cordoned off by Academy City for exhibition purposes, to pay homage to the Emperor's early, simple life of hard struggle."
The youth couldn't help but boast endlessly.
Sirin's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at the villa district.
Wasn't this Raiden Ryoma's villa district? The worst of them were three-story mini-villas. How had it become a simple life of hard struggle?
She looked at the youth, puzzled. "Then what do you do? Where did you get that United Student Council uniform?"
"You're out of the loop, aren't you? I'm an old-timer who's lived in this area for years. I'm already 82 this year. When the Emperor was moving a while back, he even came to see me. Said he'd been a bit chaotic here these past few years, causing quite a stir. All the people who used to live here have moved away. I heard his first landing spot was at the home of a lonely old man."
"Sigh, the Emperor really hasn't had it easy. So he asked me if I had any plans for the future. Said he could help out."
The youth seemed to be reminiscing about some bygone era.
"I don't have Prime Minister Hikigaya's skills, so at the time, I really couldn't think of any plans. I originally thought my house would be taken away directly. After all, that's how it's always been done."
"I gritted my teeth, stomped my foot, and said I wanted to guard this land forever!"
"And His Majesty the Emperor immediately gave me a reward!"
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, as if he had returned to that very moment.
"The Emperor said: 'Your lifespan isn't quite enough to guard this place forever. I can see from your bone age that you're already over eighty. I happen to have some MANTIS genes here. I'll help you transform in exchange for twenty thousand years of gatekeeping work.'"
"That's a MANTIS! The genes of the Previous Era's heroes who saved the world, as written in the history books!"
"I only have to be a security guard for twenty thousand years to get it! What an honor!"
Sirin was at a loss for words, staring blankly as this guy gesticulated wildly while recounting his story.
'You really hit the jackpot, didn't you! He actually just created a new MANTIS to watch over his old home?!'
Sirin didn't know what to say. Was Noldrei being generous? Or did he simply not care about these things?
She thought for a moment and asked, "So where has the Emperor moved to now?"
The youth pointed at the sky. "Right up there. He's rebuilt the old Schicksal floating island into a new imperial palace, a fusion of government and monarchy."
Sirin looked up and indeed saw the massive floating island.
Faintly, she could even see many, many 'little ponies' flying around the cluster of floating islands.
Sirin felt that things were changing a bit too quickly. How had so many 'little ponies' appeared while she was away?
She had intended to come back and give him a 'surprise'.
But who would have thought she would be the one to get a surprise first?
Thinking of this, Sirin also flew up into the sky.
At that moment, the Schicksal floating island in Sirin's eyes was no longer the kind of island full of mechanical modernization. There were no longer the giant armaments and other objects from people's memories.
It seemed they had all been dismantled, either to save space or simply to satisfy Noldrei's personal preferences.
This guy didn't have the feeling of "letting the horses loose on the southern mountain" to signal peace. He had simply turned this place into his own base and transformed it according to his own needs.
After Sirin landed, her ID was scanned. It seemed no one had even considered the possibility of hostile forces attacking this place.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Noldrei had led people to usurp the authority of Finality.
He himself didn't fear any kind of weapon. What else could threaten him?
Since there was no threat, no one would naturally think of provoking Noldrei's subordinates.
There was no safer place in the world than by Noldrei's side.
Thinking of this, Sirin surprisingly became happy.
She hadn't seen Noldrei in a while. She'd been out digging rivers when she got the news that Academy City had seized the authority of that celestial body in the sky—the Cocoon of Finality.
This news had already been announced to the whole world by Academy City.
Sirin, being in Shenzhou, naturally knew about it as well.
Now, she no longer had to worry about things like the Honkai or Herrschers. These troublesome matters had been completely swept from her mind.
Without the pressure of these things, the first thing Sirin did upon arriving at the floating island was to contact Rita, who was most familiar with this place.
"Rita, where did he go?"
Rita hadn't expected to have time to receive Sirin's message. She was currently helping Noldrei run errands on another matter.
"Mr. Noldrei? Him? Let me think..." Rita pondered for a moment. "He came back from Dr. Tesla's place. Could he be staying the night there? Or maybe at Bronya's place? Or... Kiana's? That doesn't seem likely."
"He wouldn't be sleeping with all of them at once, would he? Oh dear, I don't know either. Sometimes I have to go look for him myself. The old Schicksal HQ is so big. Besides some government workers who can turn into little ponies to fly, the rest of the 'little ponies' at home are managed by Mei."
"If you want to find him, it's really not that easy..."
"The industrial zone has been abandoned. It's no longer necessary to keep these industries separate from Earth. The various sectors have been turned into work and residential areas. The biggest one is where His Majesty the Emperor holds meetings."
"And then there's, uh... the place where you all live? Enough for you all to develop some special... pastimes?"
Rita also seemed to be wondering: how had the perfectly fine Schicksal floating island become so corrupt?