Rumble, rumble, rumble—
A low resonance rolled across the amber sky.
Caelus looked up. It was dusk. Countless chunks of copper ore, amber, and opal rained down before his eyes. It was a mineral storm grand enough to shake the world. Amid the steaming haze of molten matter, something colossal extended its spine from within the mantle. In its broad hand, it gripped a massive hammer—
Caelus's eyes widened. He realized this was the descent of Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation!
"..."
"The Simulated Universe..." Caelus murmured, his voice trembling slightly with emotion.
What a magnificent, majestic existence, stretching across the sea of stars, so vivid it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing...
If he were not a transmigrator—and if he had not already once bathed in Nanook's gaze—he might have fallen to his knees in worship right then and there.
"Everything is going according to plan—!" Herta's voice suddenly rang out beside his ear, followed by a cryptic little laugh. "The simulated Aeon, Qlipoth, that Ruan Mei and Screwllum carefully cultivated has really shown up. Caelus, by acting as Akivili—the supposedly dead Aeon of Trailblaze brought back to life—you've drawn in an old friend... Hey, did you understand any of that?"
"Not at all."
"..." Herta sounded annoyed. "In short, right now you are Akivili. So go trailblaze your heart out! Cozy up to Them!"
"Got it!"
"Qlipoth..." Borrowing another's authority, Caelus stepped forward and said, "Come on, be good and let me check whether your physical development is normal..."
"...?"
A startlingly human look of confusion seemed to appear on Qlipoth's amber-stone face.
"Not bad. Pretty solid."
[...!]
A deafening roar burst from Qlipoth's body—it sounded like a warning. Then, in the next instant, They vanished before Caelus's eyes.
"So that's how it is..." Caelus nodded in sudden enlightenment. "Qlipoth is the silent upperclassman type."
"Blue Planet profanity!" Herta clicked her tongue. "...Who taught you to trailblaze like that?!"
"You did."
"..."
After a long silence, Herta sighed. "Fine, my mistake. Then again, the real Akivili probably wasn't much more serious than that. Anyway, just keep wandering around the simulated space station I built and see if you can run into some other Aeon..."
"Lady Herta," Caelus said as he swung his bat and smashed a Voidranger: Reaver blocking his path to pieces, "I didn't expect you to apologize so readily. You're a lot easier to get along with than the rumors say..."
"Don't misunderstand. I'm only doing it for the sake of efficient communication."
"Such a tsundere thing to say..."
"Hm?"
"Nothing."
Caelus shook his head.
Herta's clear, slightly mature voice echoed in his ears as she commanded, "...You've been buffed. Now get in there!"
...
Who knew how much time had passed.
With a baseball bat slung over his shoulder, Caelus carved his way from the space station all the way to the Blue, leaving utter devastation in his wake—
"Slay ghosts when ghosts appear, kill Buddhas when Buddhas block the way. Such is the true principle of Trailblaze!"
"What nonsense are you babbling about?" Herta said haughtily. "...No matter how strong you are in the Simulated Universe, it's all fake!"
"..."
Caelus could only marvel.
The level of immersion in the Simulated Universe could only be compared to the full-dive Sword Art Online... compared? No—Herta had obviously surpassed Kayaba Akihiko by a mile.
"Qlipoth isn't showing up again, so forget it. I'm shutting down the Simulated Universe now. It'll happen in an instant—you won't feel a thing. We'll talk again in reality afterward."
"Fine by me..."
Caelus stood there where he was.
In his field of vision, the simulated starry sky stretched vast and pure. Above the Blue hung a single silver moon, its radiance as bright and clear as the moonlight in his memory.
But—
One minute later, Caelus still had not logged out of the Simulated Universe.
"Herta?"
"..."
"Did you disable my logout button?"
"Quiet! ...It's here!" Herta's voice rang in his ear, filled with disbelief. "N-no, it's not Qlipoth... it's another Aeon! It's—"
That familiar voice—belonging to a woman who sounded both like a little girl and a mature beauty at once—suddenly receded into the distance. Caelus felt something strange, as though Herta's words had frozen in place, and the entire Simulated Universe had become somehow less real—
Then he saw a blurry figure.
It was made of shattered mirror fragments, its features refracted over and over through prisms until they became an enigma.
Bzzzzz—!
A blinding light swallowed his vision.
Countless memories surged before Caelus's eyes.
He saw Kafka. Her body was stretched, twisted, and deformed, blending together with the umbrella in her hand until she became a droplet of water falling to the ground at his feet...
He saw March 7th. Curled up with her knees hugged tight, she was sealed within a layer of eternal ice, and within the reflection of that ice there appeared another March 7th—black as shadow...
He found himself to be a crying Adlivun infant, embracing a twin whose umbilical cord had yet to be cut. He remembered a golden scar upon his body, golden blood flowing across a dying planet. He found himself dark-skinned, his long robes sweeping across the wasteland. He found that he was a swift shadow crossing an abyss, reaching out to catch a meteor...
Then, suddenly, Their voice came:
[...robes billowing wrap your travels you open dark skin you sneer exploration threads spinning crossing warp and weft weaving into an ocean of words...]
Every word that emerged from Their mouth seemed linked to the next, like a continuous murmur. Before Caelus could respond, They vanished.
"..."
"..."
He had no idea what had just happened.
His head felt heavy and muddled. Countless memories flashed through his mind, then ebbed away like a receding tide, leaving behind only vague impressions.
Then, all of a sudden—
Something yanked at his navel like a hook, flipping his whole body over. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in Herta's office, with a tiny Herta puppet looking down at him.
So small. So cute.
That petite, loli-like figure was lowering her eyes now, gazing down at him with a sort of lofty disdain...
...and somehow, that was a little exciting.
"Herta..."
"We did it!"
Herta cried out excitedly, her porcelain-white legs swinging back and forth. At her knees, the deliberately designed puppet joints resembled smooth lotus-root segments, elegant in line and shape.
Click-clack, click-clack—
A crisp sound accompanied her pacing. What an ingenious design.
Caelus could not help but wonder whether mechanical Herta might—
"That was Fuli. They mistook you for the fallen Akivili and spoke to you of Their own accord—that turned out even better than I expected. Fuli is extremely helpful to our research, because They possess everyone's memories and know more than anyone except Nous!"
"..."
"I need to hurry and tell Stephen—Caelus, hey, stop spacing out and tell me what memories Fuli showed you!"
"I saw a pair of small, pale..."
"Hm?"
"Wrong thing." Caelus pushed himself up from the floor, dragging his gaze from Herta's slender white legs to her exquisitely pretty face. "Lady Herta, I saw the Stellaron Hunters, the Nameless... and I also saw Nanook ascending to godhood..."
"And then? Tell me in detail! What you saw wasn't necessarily your memory. It might have been fragments of time belonging to this universe itself—slices stretching from ancient ages all the way to the present!"
"I forgot."
"?" Herta's delicate brows drew together. In a proud tone, she said, "You forgot? Something this important, and you just forgot it? ...Think carefully. You couldn't have forgotten everything, right? You still remember some of it, don't you?"
"I've already forgotten about a third of it..."
"What?"
"Now I've forgotten more than half..."
"What did you say!?"
"Now it's all gone. Completely wiped clean!"
"..."
Herta fell silent.
No expression showed on that tiny, exquisitely doll-like face of hers, but her articulated puppet hand tightened. As if by magic, a sapphire hammer suddenly appeared in her hand.
Its head gleamed with light, like a six-pointed magic circle.
"Hmph. Let this genius help you recover your memories, shall I~? Don't be nervous. The pain will only last for an instant..."
"...Couldn't you use a gentler treatment?"
"Hm?"
"Give me one of your puppets, and maybe I'll remember."
"..." Herta put away the hammer and curved her lips into a faint smile. "Heh, you little brat really are..."
As she spoke, she casually brushed back the hair draped over her shoulders.
That flowing light-brown hair. The enchantingly intricate design of her Lolita dress. The layered skirt. The key-shaped ornament at her collar. And the dangerously mature aura utterly at odds with her figure...
Herta stepped closer, meeting Caelus's gaze at intimate range.
Caelus swallowed unconsciously.
Her expression seemed half like a test, half like a seduction. She pressed her lips together lightly, then parted them and said:
"We'll talk about it later."
"Lady Herta...?"
"I am Herta. I'm currently very busy. This is remote-puppet auto-response mode: Hello, hello, hello everyone, have a pleasant day, goodbye."
"...If you leave, what am I supposed to eat?"
Caelus let out a quiet sigh.
He turned and left Herta's office, using the special access privileges she had granted him to return to the Master Control Zone.
Kafka had once said that the more beautiful a woman was, the better she was at lying...
...and that definitely included Herta.
Still, as proud as Herta was, Caelus did not think he could win her favor so easily. If anything, it felt more like he was the one being toyed with...?
Shaking his head, Caelus decided to go find some fries in the cafeteria.
"Come to think of it... where is the cafeteria?"
He looked around. Even after the disaster, Herta Space Station continued to function in orderly fashion. Unfathomable-looking instruments glimmered with faint blue light. Researchers hurried to and fro, busy with reconstruction work. Off in one corner, Caelus spotted a certain white-haired special staff member slacking off—
"Peppy, do you know where the cafeteria is?"
"Woof woof... woof-woof~~"
"Hm?"
"Woof woof... woof? Woof woof woof!"
Caelus crouched down. From the wagging tail of the little white puppy, he could clearly feel its enthusiasm toward him.
But—
"I have absolutely no idea what you're saying. Don't you have a Synesthesia Beacon...?"
"Woof-woo~~ woof...?"
Cross-server communication in progress—
Peppy's figure suddenly rose into the air, lifted by a pair of slender hands. Caelus looked up—and saw pale feet in high heels, long shapely bare legs without stockings.
Smooth and delicate, her skin snow-white, adorned only by a lightly constricting thigh ring—flawless legs without the slightest imperfection. That expanse of fair flesh, exposed so openly to the air, was like priceless jade brazenly parading through the marketplace, tempting people to crime...
"So it's you, Caelus."
Those beautiful legs—no, Asta—held Peppy in her arms and spoke warmly.
"Has Lady Herta finished with her research already?"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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