"Oh, right—there's one more thing."
Along with the sudden words, the figure that had just disappeared reappeared in the blink of an eye.
Tesla's shoulders jolted reflexively, and she widened her eyes in shock at the voice that came from right beside her.
She instinctively jumped to the side.
"You bastard! Do you know people can be scared to death like that?!"
Exhaling slowly to calm herself, Tesla shot a fierce glare at Nagami.
"Then what else do you want?"
With her usual calm tone, Einstein asked as though nothing unusual had happened.
Nagami shifted his gaze to the screen displaying Welt. His expression grew serious.
"I promised before to find Welt-san a new source of power…"
"That won't be necessary anymore." Welt chuckled softly and shook his head, cutting Nagami off. "Everything we've done is to fight against the Honkai. From that perspective, you, as the Herrscher of Reason, are far stronger than I am."
It wasn't false modesty—Welt genuinely meant it.
He didn't fully understand why the Herrscher of Domination had appeared, but what he was certain of was this: without Nagami, humanity in its current state would never be able to defeat the Herrscher of Domination.
The cost would be unimaginable—perhaps even complete annihilation.
"Be that as it may," Nagami said, scratching his cheek lightly, "I may be a bit unreliable at times, but when it comes to allies, I do have some sense of… contractual spirit, at least."
He reached into the imaginary space gate that opened before him and pulled out a black gemstone, its core pulsing with a dark crimson glow.
"This is the Herrscher of Rock's corresponding gem. I call it the Gem of Destruction. For someone like you, who's intimately familiar with the Star of Eden and can even replicate its zero-rated output, it should serve as the perfect substitute."
Nagami tossed the crystalline core to Einstein.
"But, without a human soul inside to resist the Honkai's will, it's dangerous. If you want to attempt Herrscher transformation with it, come find me first. Until then, let the doctors study it."
Keeping extra cores was useless for Nagami—his Herrscher of the Void core didn't need the added Honkai energy.
Far better to find a suitable vessel now.
When the Herrscher of Rock finally manifested, they could claim the full power of Gravity, boosting their direct combat strength against the Honkai.
"Gem of Destruction…" Einstein muttered, adjusting her glasses.
Her normally composed demeanor stiffened as she carefully caught the gem in both hands.
"Careful, Doctor Einstein!" Tesla yelped in alarm.
"It's alright, Tesla," Einstein reassured, a faint translucent barrier of glowing azure particles shimmering around the gem. "There's an energy shield protecting it."
Only after seeing that did Tesla breathe a sigh of relief—she had almost suspected Nagami of trying to murder Einstein on the spot.
After all, even their bodies—conditioned by the Star of Eden's zero output shouldn't be able to directly touch a gem whose corrosion ranked just below that of a Herrscher core.
"Why'd you call it the Gem of Destruction, anyway?"
Like a kid with a new toy, Tesla snatched the gem from Einstein's hand and peered at it curiously.
"Uh… well." Nagami rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "Let's just say, in the words of a certain pufferfish…"
His expression abruptly shifted to dead-serious.
"The gods gift me a gold slippers; I tread upon gravity as solid stone. The heavens collapse, the earth shatters—behold, the King of Destruction!"
"Pfft—ahahahaha!"
Tesla instantly doubled over laughing.
The fact that this guy could spout such a ridiculously chuunibyou line with a perfectly straight face was too much.
Even Einstein's lips twitched despite herself.
The only one not laughing was Welt.
He frowned deeply, staring in silence at the Gem of Destruction for a long while before finally lifting his gaze to Nagami.
"…I understand."
"Good. Then, farewell"
In an instant, the boy's figure blurred like a fading illusion and disappeared without a trace.
On the screen, Welt rubbed his forehead as if to ease a mounting headache.
"Oh, I forgot one more thing."
The crisp voice rang out again.
Welt couldn't help but cover his face with a weary sigh.
"Can't you just say everything at once?!"
Tesla and Einstein both turned their heads toward Nagami, expressionless. Tesla's eyelid twitched as she stared at him in silence.
"Before long, I plan to head into the Sea of Quanta," Nagami explained matter-of-factly. "So I'll need Dr. Einstein's help to open the Eye of the Deep. That's alright, isn't it?"
The Deep is the ruins from the previous civilization—served as the key to opening the path to the Sea of Quanta.
It was capable of constructing a channel between the quantum realm and the real world.
One had to admit, Anti-Entropy truly had the luck of the gods.
Abyss City lay thousands of meters beneath the ocean's surface—something that under normal circumstances could never be easily discovered.
Even Otto, who had excavated so many relics from the previous era, had searched in vain for it.
To recover the meteorites hurled at Earth by Herrschers during the Second Eruption, Anti-Entropy had ventured into the Mariana Trench.
That's where, on the ocean floor, they stumbled upon this high-tech fortress.
"You want to go to the Sea of Quanta?" Tesla asked.
By now, she was no longer surprised that Nagami somehow knew Anti-Entropy's most classified secrets.
"The dangers of the Sea of Quanta…" Welt frowned slightly, about to voice his concerns.
But when he considered Nagami's abilities, his words shifted mid-thought. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you planning to do there?"
"It's just a personal matter. I'm going there… to save someone."
"Save someone?"
"Who?" Tesla's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me—it's that Kevin you mentioned before?"
Nagami blinked, stunned, then gave her a look of pure disbelief.
"Seriously? How the hell did he cross your mind? Or is it that life with Welt's been too sweet lately, and your brain's gone soft?"
Sure, people said a girl in love loses a few IQ points.
But Tesla wasn't exactly a 'girl'—she was a bona fide science genius.
By all logic, that should never apply to her.
"Pfft—! Cough, cough, cough!"
Tesla choked immediately, pounding her chest while Einstein calmly handed her a glass of water.
She gulped it down, but under Nagami's teasing gaze, her snow-white face flushed crimson.
She whipped her head toward Welt on the screen and glared daggers at him.
Welt: 'What did I do?'
"It must be that little sister named Seele, right?" Einstein asked lazily, patting Tesla's back.
"Correct~"
"I see. So you're a pervert after all."
"Ahem! For the record, I am not a pervert. It just so happens that the person I like is short. That's all."
Einstein tilted her head thoughtfully at that answer, then subtly glanced behind Nagami, as if hoping to catch sight of Raiden Ryoma.
She was very curious—if Nagami spouted such a line in front of him, how would he react?
"Well then, I'll—"
"Wait a second!"
Two voices overlapped.
Welt and Tesla had both spoken, their gazes colliding for a fleeting instant like static shock before darting away.
Both then looked straight at Nagami.
"This time, you're sure there's nothing else?"
Perfectly in sync, their words left Einstein's expression oddly stiff—like she'd just been force-fed a mouthful of dog food.
"No, that's all. Though I'd recommend you two keep the PDA to a minimum in front of Dr. Einstein.
Show some consideration for the elderly, you know? Oh—sorry, I forgot Dr. Tesla's not exactly young either. By the way, Welt, does this make you a pervert too?"
Nagami's words tumbled out without pause.
Truly, only Nagami could casually detonate a verbal nuke like that.
In an instant, the faces of Anti-Entropy's three top figures darkened simultaneously.
Their expressions froze into icy masks, and their glares sharpened like blades of cold steel.
Nagami lifted his head to meet all three hostile stares, blinked innocently, then shrugged. And just like that—slipped away.
Welt sighed at the now-empty space.
"Unreliable personality, huh? Seems that's the hallmark of every powerhouse. Without his strength, someone like that would've been beaten to death long ago."
————————————————————————
Inside the imaginary space, Nagami caught hold of the drifting, dazed Raiden Ryoma.
A quick glance at the time told him dinner at home wasn't ready yet—so he decided not to call Mei over for now.
Funny enough, it really did feel a bit like he was playing the role of a parent.
For Raiden Ryoma, the dreamlike world of collapsing space around him suddenly shifted.
In the blink of an eye, his surroundings transformed entirely.
"Where… is this?" He looked around, startled, taking in the sight of a villa district.
"This is the student dorms at St. Freya," Nagami explained with a polite, elegant smile. "Please wait here a moment. I'll go fetch Mei for you."
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