"Sixth sense? Well, it's only normal to make some preparations just for that."
After hearing Elysia's reason, the cat girl nodded in full agreement. "I get those weird sixth sense feelings too, you know."
"Like, when I wanna do something, but I keep feeling this inexplicable unease in my heart—I usually just drop it outright. So far, that feeling's saved me more times than I can count."
"Is that so...? Then Pardo, you'd better always follow that feeling, okay?"
Elysia stroked the cat girl's head, feeling Pardofelis's soft hair slip through her fingers, and couldn't help a slight smile.
"'Course! I'm way too scared of dyin' to go lookin' for trouble."
Pardofelis narrowed her eyes, her cat ears trembling slightly under the head-patting assault—a clear sign the girl was thoroughly comfortable.
Then, the two of them froze at the same time.
"Ah, Pardo, it looks like I need to step away for a bit~"
After focusing for a moment, Elysia decisively chose to take her leave. Because, if she wasn't mistaken, just now...
That familiar ripple of Herrscher of Origin authority, which she'd felt not long ago, had appeared again within her perception.
This time, though, that power didn't carry the unique, decipherable message meant only for her like last time.
Instead, it felt more like a normal use of power—which left Elysia somewhat puzzled. How could another source of Origin power appear in the Elysian Realm?
So, she decided to go see for herself.
"No problem, Elysia-sis! I've actually got stuff to do too."
Pardofelis's tail gave a light flick as she nimbly hooked a fruit from her little stall.
"Not sure why, but Can seems to be havin' some kind of problem—she's been naggin' me to come over... Gonna check if she's found somethin' good again."
"Then Pardo, be careful not to let Can lead you to any more strange places, alright?"
"N-No way! Last time we accidentally barged into Kalpas's place was just a fluke!"
Pardofelis waved a hand, then—with a flicker—vanished right before Elysia's eyes.
"Pardo is as lively as ever..."
Elysia smiled faintly, then casually opened a portal and stepped through.
And then... the two of them ran into each other at the very same Elysian Realm node, staring blankly face to face.
"Uh... pretty wild, huh, Elysia-sis? You goin' this way too?"
Pardofelis scratched her head, somewhat awkwardly.
"Yes~ And maybe... we're headed to the very same place?"
Elysia winked playfully, a guess already forming in her mind.
--+--
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lynelle wasn't faring too well.
"Damn, nobody told me Can would be this hard to catch!"
Dashing rapidly through the data space, Lynelle felt she was sweating buckets.
The original works never spelled out what Pardofelis's abilities as a MANTIS were—only emphasizing her innate insane luck.
But from her feats like freely using the Second Divine Key, "opening a door" on the Herrscher of Finality, and being confident she could rescue Rin from the MOTH's lockdown—it wasn't hard to guess Pardofelis's power was probably space-related.
But what Lynelle never expected was that whatever abilities Pardofelis had, Can had them too!
When she saw Can casually tear open a hole and jump inside, Lynelle initially thought it was just a unique way of getting around inside the Elysian Realm.
But when she switched to her main Herrscher form, she realized something was off... Can was clearly hopping between different data spaces!
This stumped Lynelle. Can only needed a little swipe to teleport, but for Lynelle to move between spaces, she had to carefully restrain her own power, terrified that the slightest leak of her Corrosion authority would trigger the Realm's auto-defense mechanisms.
So...
"Huff... F-Finally caught you..."
By the time Lynelle successfully scooped up Can, her transformation time was nearly up.
"Meowrr!"
"Hold still, little one, I just wanna talk— Ow! That hurts!"
Caught completely off guard, with only seconds left on her transformation, Lynelle got a sharp scratch from Can.
But it was fine. The Corruption Authority only needed an instant to take effect. Before her transformation ended, Lynelle still had time to seal away Can's memories of her... right?
As both Lynelle and Can stared in shock, two figures materialized in the area amid a spatial ripple.
On the other side, the cat girl and Elysia, who'd followed Can's trail here, also fell into silence.
A moment later, the cat girl clutched her own head.
"W-What's going on?! There are two Elysia-sis?!"
--+--
"Well now, Dr. Mobius. Seeing the child and her mother finally meet—aren't you a little moved?"
"Moved? Moved my foot! Are you looking for a fight, Vill-V?!"
Mobius looked like she was about to leap off her floaty platform and take a bite out of Vill-V.
"I've told you, there's no way she's my child! Besides, what kind of mother starts flirting with her daughter the moment they lay eyes on each other?!"
"As if you could actually beat me in a fight..."
Vill-V snorted lightly. The snake's combat power wasn't exactly top-tier among the MANTIS—she was more about being annoyingly persistent.
If Vill-V switched to her Anti-Kevin Armor Model No. 8, she could reliably suppress Mobius. So she wasn't exactly worried about the snake throwing a tantrum.
"But, seeing them side by side like this... she really does look just like Elysia, doesn't she? Apart from the height, there's almost no difference."
"And their aura," Aponia added. "This child Lynelle has a much meeker aura... The kind where, even if you bully her badly, she'll just look at you pitifully, which only makes you want to bully her even more... Mm, yes. A classic 'uke'."
"Oh?"
Vill-V's eyes glinted. "It just occurred to me—seems like Dr. Mobius is completely helpless against Elysia, huh? So that's it."
"This personality was actually designed to satisfy your own desire to bully Elysia, right? Just like how someone implanted underlying code in Klein to make her love overtime?"
"Or perhaps, Dr. Mobius, you weren't actually making a daughter, but because as time passed, you missed the departed Elysia so much that you made a little Elysia to keep you company? Am I right, Dr. Mobius~?"
Vill-V turned with a mischievous grin, but instead of an angry, flushed expression, she found Mobius wearing a look of sudden, stunned clarity—followed by a wave of palpable guilt.
"..."
Vill-V's expression shifted slightly.
"Wait, don't tell me this kid actually is related to you, Mobius?"
"W-Well..."
Feeling like she'd just pieced everything together, Mobius immediately turned away guiltily and vanished from the depths of the realm.
"J-Just wait till I go back and study that little pink mouse properly!"
Vill-V swiveled her disbelieving gaze toward Aponia.
"Don't worry. Though Mobius talks tough, she knows her limits."
Aponia offered a resigned smile. "This is probably just a... beautiful misunderstanding?"
"Though, in the futures I have seen... a misunderstanding may yet lead to a good outcome."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.