"I… I…"
The Remembrance Pathstrider's body gradually sank into the Fourth Mirror.
"Shh, don't make a sound. This is my highlight moment. All you need to do is listen obediently."
Large Herta pressed her finger against the Remembrance Pathstrider's lips.
"You snuck in here simply to steal Nous's memories, didn't you?
You made a complete mess of my precious 「Audience System」 just to lure me here and have me lead the way for you… What a pity. You were just one step away from completing your mission and reporting back..."
As she spoke, countless black hands stretched out from the mirror surface and slowly dragged the Remembrance Pathstrider's body into the abyss.
"Mm… mm..."
"Just kidding. You never had even a sliver of a chance from beginning to end. Hehe."
After dealing with the Memory Thief, Large Herta's confidence and imposing presence were on full display.
[So this is the value of the Genius Society?] [I feel like she's carrying a little chick!] [What did you expect? In all this time, how many people — no, how many species — have even appeared in the Genius Society?]
— —
"The 「Audience System」 has been restarted. Finally, we've reached this point... Machine head, I went through so much trouble just to stand before you. You'd better not ignore me."
Large Herta activated the Audience System. In the blink of an eye, she arrived in the Path Stratum.
"The Path Stratum… This isn't a virtual scenario constructed by the Simulated Universe. It's real, something I can actually touch... Now isn't the time to get sentimental. Machine head… will you respond to me?"
With that, she slowly walked forward.
At that moment,
the First Mirror appeared before her. "Lady Herta… We've captured some 「voices」 within the Stratum."
"Oh? Let me hear them."
From the background came a familiar yet faint voice.
"0001..."
"..."
"0011..."
Large Herta frowned. "This voice is… binary code? Could it be the machine head?"
The voice did not stop.
"1111..."
"0002..."
Large Herta was still trying to decipher the meaning when she suddenly heard the number "2" and instantly broke down. "Wait, how can there be a 「2」 in binary code? Are you messing with me..."
Large Herta didn't take it seriously and continued forward. After all, she had already spent far too much energy just to see Nous again.
However, the Second Mirror appeared once more.
"Lady Herta! Those voices appeared again! What do we do? What should we do?!"
Large Herta let out a slight sigh. "Calm down, Second Mirror. What did it say this time? Play it for me again."
"0126..."
"Wait… this door seems to be unlocked."
Large Herta's confusion deepened. "Door? Lock? No, this isn't the voice of any Path at all… What's going on?"
She shook her head and stopped thinking about it. The most important thing right now was still to face Nous directly.
However—
"Ehehehe… Lady Herta, the guys outside… seem to be saying some very interesting things. Would you like to listen too? Ehehehe..." The Third Mirror arrived right on schedule.
"Third Mirror, can you tone down that creepy laughter? You just mentioned 「the guys outside」? Could it be..."
"Ehehe… Lady, why don't you listen for yourself?"
"She fainted?" "Yeah, looks like it."
Large Herta finally pieced everything together. "Something's wrong. Someone must have broken into the laboratory!"
At that moment, Sunday's voice came through the background audio. "Should we wake her up, Mr. Welt?"
"Mm, let's do that. It's a bit rude, but we really are in a hurry."
Large Herta shook her head like a rattle drum. "Wait! Wait wait wait... No, no, absolutely not! Whoever you are, don't interrupt me at a time like this! I need to keep going forward… Just a few more steps. Just a few more steps and I can see the machine head!"
Large Herta approached the Fourth Mirror and tried to advance the audience process.
"What's wrong, Lady Herta?" The Fourth Mirror asked when it saw Large Herta suddenly sigh for no reason.
"No, nothing. I was just thinking..."
"Uh, Lady Herta… You should listen to the voices coming from outside the Stratum..."
The background audio played again.
"Can I trouble you, Mr. Sunday?" "Leave it to me."
"Wait… what are they trying to do?" Large Herta was somewhat puzzled.
"My apologies, Lady Herta—"
Before the words even finished, Large Herta was affected by Harmony, just like Aventurine had been.
"This is… 「Harmony」?" Large Herta was silent for a moment, then casually waved her hand and interrupted the Harmony casting. "How childish. You think you can influence me with such petty tricks? Not a chance!"
The background audio sounded surprised. "She resolved the 「Tuning」 so easily just with her subconscious… As expected of an Emanator."
"Any other methods?"
[Hahahaha, let me laugh for a while.]
[Wait, how come I don't understand any of this?]
[Basically, Large Herta's consciousness entered the Audience System, but her body is still in the laboratory. At this exact moment, Sunday and Old Yang arrived.]
[Then what was that 0001 earlier?]
[They were trying to crack the laboratory password using brute force. Then halfway through, they realized the door wasn't even locked!]
[Hahaha, so that's what happened?]
[I feel like Aventurine has something to say.] [As expected of an Emanator. She neutralized Sunday's move so easily.]
— —
"Haha! These overconfident fools actually thought they could interrupt Lady Herta's experiment? Ignore them. Let's continue to see Nous!"
The Fourth Mirror reminded her.
However, Large Herta didn't seem to have that intention. "Forget it. Mirror, let's leave this place first."
"Leave? Y-You mean… you want to interrupt the audience experiment right now? That's insane, Lady! We spent so much effort to get here. We're just one step away from contacting the Aeon's true body… You know how expensive it is to restart the 「Audience System」!"
"But if I ignore those two intruders and keep going forward… when the machine head casts its gaze upon the space station, that single instant of energy will definitely burn them to charcoal. The experiment can be done a second time. But if people are gone, they can't be revived."
[Wuwuwu, Lady Herta is peerless!]
[Lady Herta is a beauty that could topple nations!]
[Lady Herta is incredibly intelligent!]
[Lady Herta has a pointy head!]
[Get the person above kicked out of the group!]
[Black Tower is usually just a bit willful and fierce, but she's actually always been a good person.]
[Black Tower isn't tsundere. She's just straightforward with a sharp tongue but a soft heart.]
— —
Although she felt it was a pity, Large Herta also thought everything had happened too coincidentally. They didn't come early or late — they came at this exact moment.
Perhaps an invisible hand was controlling everything!
Maybe today really wasn't the right time.
...
Back in the laboratory.
Welt Yang saw Large Herta slowly open her eyes. "Lady Herta? You're awake?"
"Sigh… You two..." Large Herta took a deep breath. "My plan was completely ruined by you!"
Sunday and Welt looked at each other. Then Sunday asked, "Your plan?"
Welt Yang apologized sincerely. "I'm very sorry, Lady Herta… We didn't know you had other arrangements. When we arrived at the space station, we only found it completely dark. Both Sunday and I thought some emergency had occurred. We came all the way down searching for the source of the accident, only to run into your… true body here."
Since things had already reached this point, Large Herta could only passively accept everything. "How… did you two get in?"
Sunday pointed expressionlessly toward the door. "That door wasn't locked."
"Huh?"
[Hahaha, I'm actually going to die laughing.]
[From now on, Black Tower will learn to lock the door.]
[Black Tower couldn't hold it in anymore.]
[So it really was Old Yang trying to crack the password, and then Sunday discovered the door wasn't locked!]
[Hahahahaha, this is way too funny.]
— —
Large Herta didn't want to ask any further. "Fine, fine… I'm a reasonable person. I can't really blame you two for this. I remember Mr. Yang from the Astral Express. And this person beside you is..."
Welt Yang and Sunday looked at each other once again. "It seems Lady Herta isn't very sensitive to news across the galaxy."
Sunday nodded slightly and bowed. "Please forgive me. In the heat of the moment, I even forgot basic etiquette — My name is Sunday. I'm just an ordinary passenger."
Large Herta: "An obscure traveler… yet a Pathstrider of 「Harmony」? Hmph, who would believe that. So, I'm guessing the two of you didn't come all this way just for sightseeing, did you?"
Welt explained: "Although the current situation is very different from what we expected… no matter what, it's good that the space station is safe. Lady Herta, we came for 「Amphoreus」."
"Oh, not surprised at all."
"Did you think of something?"
"No. I already told Himeko — this matter is very strange. The machine head has cast its gaze upon so many worlds before… They're all recorded in my mind. How could there possibly be one that slipped through the net?
Either you were fooled by someone from the Garden of Recollection. In any case, I already used the Simulated Universe to search for those four characters. Although I filtered out a bunch of irrelevant results...
There's still an astronomically large list left — things like 「『Amphoreus God King Team』 will use King Bavilu to replace their team emblem next season」 — I hope that helps you all."
"It's fine. Please show it to us.
But I'm still curious — didn't the Astral Express already depart? Is that world really so magical that you had to make a special trip back?"
For the third time, Welt looked at Sunday. He paused for a moment. "Because… we've fallen into a dilemma. Especially after witnessing it with our own eyes. If Amphoreus is truly closely related to Aeons, Paths, and even 「Erudition」, then we need the wisdom of a genius."
"This 「dilemma」 you speak of — why don't you explain it in detail, Mr. Yang?"
"Two companions who are extremely important to us lost all contact after entering Amphoreus." A rare trace of melancholy appeared on Welt Yang's face. "Furthermore… there's another companion who has developed terrifying symptoms that we cannot explain."
— —
The scene changed.
Inside Amphoreus, in the private bath palace shared by Caelus and Dan Heng.
The moment Caelus opened his eyes, he saw Mem running around everywhere.
Dan Heng couldn't help but complain, "It's been acting very excited since just now… Did you feed it something?"
Caelus shrugged. "Maybe it stole something and ate it on its own."
Mem angrily said a whole bunch of things.
Caelus was about to translate for Dan Heng when Dan Heng interrupted him. "It's fine. No need to bother translating. My intuition tells me it didn't say anything meaningful. Time is almost up. The Chrysos Heirs are probably already preparing at the Genesis Vortex Core, right?"
Caelus nodded. He had slept enough. It was time to witness Phainon's process of accepting the Coreflame.
Once everyone had gathered, Aglaea signaled that the Coreflame trial ceremony could begin.
At that moment,
Castorice interrupted. "Lord Mydei hasn't arrived..."
Phainon smiled faintly. "He already gave prior notice, Miss Castorice. I told him that recovering from his injuries is the top priority — the ascension ceremony that a good comrade only experiences once in a lifetime isn't something to take too seriously. I'm ready."
["Only experiences once in a lifetime" "Not something to take too seriously."] [Putting on the pressure, huh.] [Who would dare not come?] [Mydei would dare, because he's not afraid of death.] [Mydei is already sweating bullets.]
— —
Everything was in place. Trinnon began chanting the oracle.
Not long after,
Phainon indeed received the approval of the Strife Titan and was allowed to enter the trial.
However, he would still have to face the fear in his heart.
But Phainon firmly believed that he could completely overcome the trial and inherit the Coreflame.
Following the Titan's whisper, Phainon disappeared.
After Caelus communicated with everyone present, they all expressed absolute trust in Phainon.
Among them, Aglaea was the most confident.
Not long after,
a figure hurriedly ran over.
"Still one step too late..."
Caelus glanced at Mydei. "Now you won't get to eat it while it's hot."
Afterward, according to Mydei, he believed that Phainon might not be able to pass this trial.
Before being chosen by the oracle, Lord Phainon had already lost everything: his hometown, his family, his closest friends… everything he had once sworn to protect.
The young man had become an empty shell, with only the flame of revenge in his heart driving him to walk across the land.
The oracle granted him a new mission, allowing him to restart his life as a Chrysos Heir. But between this new mission and the desire for revenge, which one was lighter, and which one was heavier?
Perhaps only he himself knew the answer… No, perhaps even he himself was wavering.
Mydei's face was filled with worry. "I acknowledge his strength, but fear — no matter how sharp the sword, it cannot cut through fear. I hope you have already strengthened your resolve, Deliverer... Because only a will as unyielding as stone can shatter the deepest nightmares."
— —
At this moment, the screen went black.
When light reappeared, it was already above a wheat field.
A pink-haired girl was leaning against a large rock.
Phainon looked at the pink-haired girl, somewhat anxious. "What's wrong?"
"Hm...?"