Blue Planet.
Genius Society No. 83, Herta's homeworld, is a planet where oceans cover 81.28 percent of the surface.
At the same time, its total volume is several times larger than Earth's. (T/N: Yikes)
That extra ten percent of ocean area, combined with its massive size, makes geological disasters on Blue Planet unimaginably severe.
Planet-wide tidal surges, superstorms and torrential rainfall caused by excessive ocean evaporation… if this were a world without Paths, civilization probably would never have emerged here at all.
Boom!
Above Blue Planet, a Vanguard of Calamity from the Antimatter Legion slammed its shoulder into Herta's pre-installed "I Told You Not to Bother Me" defense system.
In reality, it was an invisible light-band shield enveloping the entire planet.
During testing, it had withstood seven or eight full-power swings from a Herta puppet wielding a magic warhammer. Its defensive capabilities were outstanding, and ordinary Pathstriders would find it nearly impossible to breach.
But the Vanguard of Calamity was clearly not ordinary.
These antimatter lifeforms, forged in the Crucible of War, could destroy a planet single-handedly. Within the Legion, they ranked just below the Emanators of Annihilation as core combat power.
Antimatter flesh collided with the light-band shield. Golden blood seeped from the Vanguard's shoulder as shockwaves born of Destruction rippled outward, triggering a chain of violent explosions.
A full-power charge, plus taking damage.
Its body temperature spiked rapidly. Destructive particles boiled off its surface, and reinforced crimson patterns flared across its form.
The Vanguard roared and slammed into the shield again.
This time, alongside its innate instinct for destruction, there was a faint hint of playfulness.
Everyone knew this.
Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, was notoriously fond of abducting Emanators from other Aeons and forcibly converting them into Lord Ravagers within the Antimatter Legion.
When the top behaves badly, the bottom follows suit.
Some particularly twisted Lord Ravagers had learned the same trick. If they encountered a powerful local being on their path of destruction, they loved reshaping the remains into new Vanguards of Calamity.
Well.
This particular Vanguard, lured to Blue Planet for various reasons, had once been a Abundance spirit beast that guarded the Wingweavers' homeworld, Muldrasil. Back then, it was known as the Abundance Spirit Beast, Great Marsh.
In appearance, it was a bear.
Even though it had been corroded by the will of Destruction and now acted purely on instinct, its original form was still just… not a very bright bear.
Slamming into the shield awakened memories buried deep in its DNA. Memories of lazily scratching its back against trees back home.
So when Madam Herta arrived on the scene, what she saw was a Vanguard of Calamity using the Blue Planet light-band shield it had just helped create to scratch its own back.
"Huh…?"
The witch, seated calmly atop her staff, laughed in disbelief.
"A Vanguard of Calamity leading an entire Antimatter Legion just to come scratch its back on Blue Planet, right when my research is at its most critical stage. And you even took out the space station's power system while you were at it. Heh. You are not even pretending anymore, are you?"
This was already the twentieth time.
Twenty times. Do you have any idea how those twenty times went?
She had been set up. One hundred percent. Absolutely set up.
This time, though, the scheme was especially crude. After all, her current project was a complete accident. A cluster of data left behind by another world, March 7th being taken away while that data just happened to remain inside the Simulated Universe. It gave her an unusually solid foundation for analysis.
"Don't let me find out who you are."
Herta thought viciously.
She already had some suspects. In this universe, there were very few beings capable of pulling something like this off. You could count them on one hand.
She had not pushed the investigation earlier because she lacked definitive proof. The "suicide of a core member" had not happened right under her nose, and post-event investigations had turned up nothing useful.
But March 7th vanishing?
That happened right in front of her.
On top of that, her experiment had been forcibly interrupted. If March 7th's consciousness could not be recovered in the end, this was no longer a provocation. It was an outright declaration of war.
Madam Herta, who kept grudges so meticulously she filled entire notebooks with them, was smiling.
But her expression was terrifying.
The Vanguard of Calamity sensed an overwhelming danger from the witch and responded with a low growl, exhaling hot breath in warning.
"Hahaha. Now even a bear dares to threaten me?"
Herta laughed coldly.
"You have interrupted my experiments repeatedly and wasted two full minutes of my time. Do you have any idea what kind of price you're about to pay?"
Her staff began to rotate slowly, wrapped in dark purple particles like a miniature galaxy.
The Vanguard growled again, driven by Destruction itself, and charged straight at her.
Space twisted like it had been smeared with a watery haze. Herta's figure blurred. The Vanguard pushed itself to its limits, yet the distance between them only grew wider.
"Hmph."
With a soft snort, Madam Herta finished charging her attack.
Technology so advanced it might as well be magic.
With a flick of her hand, the Vanguard of Calamity was erased from existence.
Do not be fooled by Herta's appearance as a delicate woman. Within the Genius Society, she was absolutely a combat-capable type. A genuine Emanator-level existence.
The battle ended.
Herta was about to remotely command the Herta puppets remaining on the space station to inspect the Simulated Universe equipment when she noticed something strange.
Her network link to the station's Herta system was gone.
Gone completely.
"What?"
"That's impossible. My Herta Network should still be…"
Unless another genius specialized in data warfare was involved, or an Aeon had personally intervened, who could sever her network connection without her noticing?
Unless…
A possibility flashed through her mind.
In the span of a single moment, Herta sent concise "get over here now" messages to Genius Society No. 76 Screwllum, No. 81 Ruan Mei, and No. 84 Stephen Lloyd.
Then she turned her staff and flew back toward the space station at full speed.
"So you've finally shown your tail, haven't you? The one pulling strings behind the scenes, interrupting my experiments twenty times over."
…
A short while earlier.
Herta's Office.
"Whoa, what's going on? Why is there a cute kitty growing out of Lady Herta's computer? Is this magic too?"
A "Little Herta," noticeably shorter than the others, stared in amazement.
"Idiot. Even Lady Herta wouldn't make a cat grow out of a regular computer. That violates basic scientific principles."
"Schemer Herta" adjusted her signature glasses.
"I don't care! Who wants to hear something that depressing? Lady Herta can do anything! You fake fan, I'm kicking you out of the Herta Club!"
"War Herta," who specialized in combat, pulled out two crystal warhammers.
"Lady Herta is unparalleled! Lady Herta is peerless in intellect! Lady Herta outshines fish and sinks geese!"
The one shouting slogans was "Crowd Herta," a group of chibi, two-head-tall Herta dolls.
Kiyono Inori had crossed over using the Transform-Into-A-Cat Magic Staff. What she saw was a scene bursting with life, with Hertas everywhere.
There had to be over a dozen different varieties of Herta in this office alone.
This… this was basically enough people for a full-blown mega music party.
Inori Cat shook her head hard.
What the hell. Had hanging around with silly cats for too long infected her brain? Why would she think of a mega music party? Any normal person would think this was a large-scale research site.
After all, this was Lady Herta's office.
"Herta, has the Astral Express docked at the station yet? Do you know where Stelle and March are, meow? I'm their friend, meow."
Inori Cat rubbed one of the Herta dolls' legs with her paw and meowed as she spoke.
"Ah, um…"
The Herta she addressed looked troubled.
"Are you talking to me? But why isn't my synesthetic beacon module responding? Is there another bug?"
Inori Cat froze.
Right. Back on Jarilo-VI, people could not understand her meowing either. At the time, Stelle had acted as her translator, so daily communication was not too much of a problem.
Other people's synesthetic beacons did not work on her, yet she could understand them just fine.
The Previous Era, Jarilo-VI, Herta Space Station. Logically speaking, these places should not even share the same language.
Unable to make sense of it, Inori Cat switched to outputting language through the Emperor's Scepter.
"Whoa!"
Herta looked shocked.
"You can actually talk? You just said a whole paragraph using a single meow, didn't you?"
Inori Cat blinked.
"Well, Asta's Peppy can talk too, but one woof from Peppy only conveys one or two words at most! Being able to express a full sentence with a single meow… you're a prodigy among cats and dogs!"
The Herta doll rubbed her eyes, almost tearful.
"Your standards for genius among cats and dogs are way too low! And stop changing the subject. Where is the Astral Express? I have something urgent!"
"Don't you understand? This is a small step for you, but a giant leap for the entire cat and dog world!"
War Herta leaned in enthusiastically.
Then more and more Hertas crowded around, gawking at Inori Cat, the one who had made a historic breakthrough for animal-kind.
The Hertas collectively launched into praise.
As dolls that stayed by Herta's side, their Personality Mapping: Praise Algorithm was perpetually overfitted. The situation quickly spiraled out of control.
Inori Cat was elevated into a heroic figure who had made monumental contributions to the cat and dog community.
"What is this supposed to be! Stop praising me with those kinds of sentences! I can't do anything! I'm not some pink pig, this is really embarrassing! I just want to know where the Nameless from the Astral Express are!"
Inori Cat had a splitting headache.
The Hertas were chattering nonstop, louder than a packed marketplace at peak hours. If Elysia Cat called right now, she would definitely think Inori Cat was throwing another music party.
"Well… the Astral Express is currently docked at the station's support module. But we do not recommend you go looking for your friends right now. The station is under attack by the Wingweavers, the Annihilation Gang, and the Antimatter Legion. It's extremely dangerous."
Schemer Herta, the intellectual backbone, answered the question, while the others continued crowding around.
Kiyono Inori froze.
Did the Transform-Into-A-Cat Magic Staff bug out? What timeline did this drop me into? Even at the start, the station only had the Antimatter Legion. Why is it this crowded?
Lost in confusion and deep thought, Inori failed to notice the portrait of a genius hanging in the office beginning to change.
The woman who should have remained a painting was now using some kind of ultra-long-range transmission technique to arrive at Herta Space Station.
Her signature candy-colored gauze dress swayed. Her face remained obscured. She took out a delicate surgical knife and carefully polished it in her hand.
The Lord of Silence, still in a loading state, gazed at the cat surrounded by Herta dolls.
A lifeform from beyond the domain.
Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, had long proclaimed a perfect future model.
If geniuses throughout history were butterflies pinned by insect needles, then this cat was something beyond Nous' calculations. A lifeform that should not exist in this world at all.
"Thirty percent already…?"
The butterfly from beyond the domain had already flapped its wings, altering the stories and endings of countless people. There was still a chance to reverse it, but time was short. She could not be allowed to keep flapping.
Polka Kakamond was in a peculiar state.
She was in the process of transmitting herself to Herta Space Station. Until the transmission was complete, she existed on the boundary between being and not being.
Transporting an Emanator-level entity.
Even with the Lord of Silence's technology, a safe arrival would take three to four minutes. But seeing the cat preparing to leave, she could not wait.
"Why rush to leave, my friend?"
The Herta dolls froze instantly, as if controlled by something. The lights in the office dimmed. The woman who had been a portrait cast her real gaze upon Inori Cat.
"I'm in a hurry to… you…"
The natural tone of her address made Inori Cat instinctively answer, before she suddenly froze when she truly saw who was speaking.
Candy-colored gauze dress.
Facial recognition filter obscuring her face.
The strictest mother of all geniuses. Genius Society No. 4. The Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamond.
The Absolute Safety Equation was clearly active. How did this person sniff her way to the space station?
"The operation of the Omniscient Domain has been extremely unstable. I only came to see what sort of trouble Herta had caused this time, but I stumbled upon something rather extraordinary."
"No matter your purpose, your journey should end here. Before my knife cuts it short, would you like to share an impromptu dance with me, little one?"
The Lord of Silence slowly removed her academic robe.
Danger.
Inori Cat's danger sense went into overdrive. She had seen this scene in the Emperor's Scepter data. No. 4 had removed her robe before killing Emperor Rupert II as well, probably so it would not get bloodstained.
Seventy percent of her existence was still on a distant fringe world tens of thousands of light-years away. That did not prevent the Omniscient Domain from activating. What interfered with it was the cat standing here.
Before No. 4's hand could reach her, Inori Cat suddenly accelerated. Her body flowed into liquid at a bizarre angle, barely slipping out of the Lord of Silence's grasp.
"This is…"
The Lord of Silence paused.
"A blessing of The Hunt. You have already formed a connection with an Aeon. But why…"
Within the Omniscient Domain, probability and coincidence held no meaning. Even a 99.999 percent success rate was no different from zero when facing No. 4.
That capture attempt should have been impossible to fail.
The cat had no ability to escape on her own. What changed the outcome was the sudden appearance of The Hunt's blessing.
This had not been predicted by the Omniscient Domain.
As a lifeform beyond the domain, did this cat partially nullify the domain's causality?
Polka Kakamond sorted through the situation in 0.01 seconds. Beneath the facial filter, she smiled faintly.
So the trump card was merely The Hunt's blessing.
In the face of the Omniscient Domain, that could only work once, as a surprise. The final outcome would still be one hundred percent certain.
If this were an Emanator-level opponent, someone capable of partially nullifying the Omniscient Domain, then yes, they could threaten or even defeat her.
But this cat?
Compared to a true Emanator, she was pitifully weak.
"Interesting," the woman said softly. "It has been a long time since anyone could play a game of cat and mouse with me. Cute little kitty, I look forward to more surprises from you."
Kiyono Inori stared.
The bad news: she had just landed and immediately got elbow-checked by the strictest mother of all geniuses.
The good news: this woman was clearly not taking her seriously.
From an absolute power standpoint, they were not even on the same level. This was someone who could turn Lygus into Prisoner Lygus. Genius, Omniscient Domain, causality manipulation, Emanator-level strength. She was the ceiling of the Erudition faction.
So then.
What kind of experiment did Herta run to summon the Lord of Silence? And why is it chaos outside too? Abundance folk, the Destruction Legion, the Annihilation Gang. Everyone showed up.
And why am I the one getting elbowed?
I'm innocent, meow.
…
Postscript.
While rereading the Unknowable Domain text, the author noticed the foreshadowing involving Cyrene.
Regarding Emperor Rupert II.
Screwllum said that the tomb and the flowers Rupert II prepared for himself shattered our long-held understanding of the Anti-Organic Equation and even the Emperor himself.
Screwllum said that a friend once told him the differences between individuals far exceed those between organic and inorganic life. The fact that an anti-organic virus could spread across species supported this idea.
Screwllum said that although Rupert II was an organic being, unlike the mechanical intelligences, he was willing to believe that under the Anti-Organic Equation, there still existed something that could not be buried: emotion.
Screwllum concluded that, with this premise, the feasibility of writing a program to reverse the Anti-Organic Equation was not zero.
These were excerpts from the text at the end of version 2.6 of the Unknowable Domain.
Prisoner Lygus said: Kids, this is not funny.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.