Setsuna and the others spent some time thinking about how to deal with the world of Heaven's Lost Property.
A military conquest of a super-civilization wasn't exactly realistic.
It would be better to find a way to cooperate.
Unfortunately, the mental state of the Master of Synapse, Minos, was unstable—a troublesome factor.
After thinking it through, they decided to start with Daedalus.
She was Synapse's most powerful scientist and held the method to create first-generation artificial angels.
Ikaros, Nymph, and Astraea—the three strongest angels—were all created by her.
However, due to internal conflict within Synapse, she had been placed under a kind of soft confinement.
Daedalus had all sorts of ties to the protagonist, Tomoki Sakurai, having appeared in his dreams since he was a child.
She went to great lengths to maintain Tomoki's daily life.
This situation felt oddly familiar to Setsuna.
It was just like the world of Date A Live.
The one who created universal angels, Daedalus, shared similarities with the Spirit of Origin who created Spirits.
Mio had turned the world upside down to revive Shido Itsuka, and Daedalus was just as relentless in protecting Tomoki's everyday peace.
Setsuna couldn't quite understand how a scientist from a super-civilization who had lived for countless epochs could be so invested in a kid like Tomoki.
He could only chalk it up to the magical logic of harem anime.
So, the way to deal with Daedalus would be the same as handling the Spirit of Origin.
If you wait too long, you end up with a mountain of messy problems.
"Using the Spiritron Calculation Device, we can freely choose the time point to enter a world. Conveniently, the Heaven's Lost Property world doesn't span a long timeline—it's within our control."
Two days later, Setsuna announced his plan to the shipgirls.
"Wait, you're not planning to romance her, are you?! Is this another mission where you go date angels?!"
Hearing that they were using the same method as with Date A Live, some of the shipgirls looked conflicted.
"It won't go that far. I respect Daedalus as a scientist, but she's not really my type."
Setsuna was honest.
"I prefer girls like Ikaros."
"..."
The first half of his sentence put the shipgirls at ease; the second half made them tense again. Either way, it meant more rivals.
"We need to reach Daedalus before she develops an interest in Tomoki Sakurai, liberate her, and build a good relationship."
"She holds a lot of black technology, including the Wishing Stone Tablet, universal angels, and probably things I don't even know about."
"If we can recruit her to work for us, great. If not, even a tech alliance or research pact would be acceptable."
Setsuna cleared his throat.
"Build a good relationship? How exactly?"
Taihou rested her chin on her hand, asking.
"Find a way to get her out of her confinement."
Setsuna replied as if it were obvious.
"Daedalus went to great lengths to send Ikaros to the surface for salvation."
"Since we were able to intercept the Spirit of Origin before she met Kusumi Shido, we can do the same with Daedalus—approach her and rescue her before she starts acting strange."
Shut-in scientists who had been isolated for tens of thousands of years were the easiest to gain favor with.
Show her a few novel gadgets from another world and she'd be hooked.
No matter how advanced Synapse's technology was, they didn't have anything from alternate worlds.
For a civilization that had grown bored due to their technological peak, novelty was the most valuable thing.
...
A few days later.
In the plaza outside the capital's administrative building,
Shipgirls, Heroic Spirits, and Spirits gathered noisily, waiting for Setsuna to select members for the expedition team.
"Mio, Tohru, Belfast, Kurumi."
To everyone's surprise, Setsuna only called out four names.
"Eh? Commander, you're not taking us along? We wanted to see Synapse City too!"
A little shipgirl dragged out her words in protest.
"Until we fully understand the situation, we can't bring too many people into that world."
Setsuna patted Tashkent's head and explained.
"Synapse is a technological civilization with unmeasurable advancement. They possess the ability to monitor the entire human world from the sky."
"If we show up with a fleet and land openly, it will definitely alert them."
"Even if we don't manifest our ship forms, a sudden influx of too many unfamiliar beings from another world might trigger alarm among Synapse's observers."
In previous worlds, Setsuna would usually lead the way aboard the Eternal Snowfall, with a squad of shipgirls flattening everything in their path.
That wouldn't work in the world of Heaven's Lost Property.
After all, they possessed the unreasonable Wishing Stone Tablet—a supposedly all-powerful artifact capable of granting any wish, even resetting or creating worlds.
If they showed up with a fleet in grand fashion, who knew what kind of wish a startled Synapse resident might make?
Dealing with them would require finesse.
And against a purely technological civilization, brute-forcing tech wouldn't be wise—magic was the better solution.
Spirit of Origin, Tohru, and a few others in the base were highly skilled in magic, and Kurumi's time manipulation was also extremely useful.
As for Belfast... Setsuna admitted he simply couldn't function in daily life without his head maid.
A day without Belfast's care was an incomplete day.
The selected members were pleased. Belfast, Mio, and Kurumi quietly stood at Setsuna's side.
Tohru wagged her big tail and cheerfully bounced over.
She patted her chest and grinned dumbly. "Leave it to me! Angels? I've eaten and fought a few in that world before. They're way weaker than gods!"
"I can handle anything that isn't a god!"
"..."
"They're artificial angels, thank you, and they're not food..."
Setsuna tried his best to correct the strange ideas bouncing around in this chaotic dragon girl's head.
Then he looked over at the shipgirls who seemed a bit disappointed.
"Don't lose hope. We'll soon set up teleportation anchor points and receivers in that world."
"Purifier, Observer, and Akashi, prepare the adjustments on the Spiritron Calculation Device. We may need to initiate a time jump."
"If we get a chance to capture the Master of Synapse or even Synapse itself, I'll call you all in."
That was one of the major advantages of using anchors in conjunction with shipgirls:
They could rapidly deploy troops across worlds.
"Yay! Let's take down all of Synapse!"
Hakuryuu, Ägir, and other chaos-loving shipgirls conveniently ignored the "if we get a chance" part.
They took it as a firm plan.
"All right, time to depart."
Setsuna opened the communications interface.
[Heaven's Lost Property (Space Age)]
This world, in essence, was the creation of a super-technological civilization. Though their tech had long since stagnated, and much of their advanced knowledge had been lost, they still possessed incredible technology passed down from their ancestors.
Comparison of Strengths:
• Technological Level: Like a God.
• Military Strength: Like a God.
• Economic Power: Like a God.
"..."
Setsuna felt like he was back in a dream from two years ago.
Back when he first landed alone, naked and unarmed, and looked around at his neighbors—they all seemed godlike.
It was absurd.
Synapse was just that ridiculous. Even with everyone daydreaming their lives away, they were still leagues ahead.
It felt like unlocking a new map and stumbling straight into a Fallen Empire.
"From what we know so far, excluding the Wishing Stone Tablet, they should still have at least two 'ant-like' ratings, right?!"
Richelieu raised an eyebrow.
Having risen up from scratch alongside the Commander, she had no love for civilizations that lay idle under the shade of their ancestors' achievements.
"That may be, but we still need to show some respect for Synapse's technology."
Setsuna considered, then opened the communications interface.
Time to see who he could reach.
Bzzt—
After a flash of white static,
A figure appeared on the holographic screen: a man with long flowing golden hair, wearing loose white robes and bearing four wings on his back.
He sat alone on a throne in a vast hall.
His golden hair covered half his face, leaving his expression unclear. He looked a bit haggard.
"A four-winged angel?!"
Tohru flinched.
In their mythologies, this was considered a fairly high-ranking being.
"Master of Synapse?"
Setsuna wasn't surprised.
This was the current ruler of Synapse—Minos, the Master of Synapse.
He didn't look anything like the leader of a super-civilization. His gaze held a mix of madness and nihilism.
"..."
"What is it?"
Minos rested one hand against his temple, staring at Setsuna.
"Ground-dwelling insects? Since when did you gain access to this kind of technology?"
"And you dare contact me without permission?"
As the second greatest scientist in Synapse after Daedalus, he instantly realized this was a long-range communication tech.
But Minos looked down on humanity, viewing them as mere insects crawling on the ground.
"..."
"This guy's really pissing me off."
Richelieu, Tohru, and the others twitched at the corners of their mouths. Their first impression of Minos was horrible.
"Well, then. What insects are you? What do you want?"
"Trying to entertain me? Fine. I've been bored for far too long... But where exactly are you?"
"A city of insects? It's large, I suppose, but laughably primitive..."
Minos leaned back in his seat with arms crossed, sizing up the group and the capital city displayed on the screen.
His expression was one of utter arrogance.
"..."
"Who does this guy think he is?!!"
The shipgirls, Spirits, and Heroic Spirits started chattering angrily after hearing this silver-spoon brat insult the city they had worked so hard to build.
"Commander, let me load him into a cannon and fire him straight into a black hole!!!"
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