So, how did the showdown between Scott and the Mouse Squad's special agents turn out?
That kind of trivial matter can be put aside for now. After #4, the Lord of Silence, withdrew, Kiyono Inori began checking the spoils from this trip. To fight the Fourth Seat, she had dumped all the tickets she had saved into pulls.
"You have repelled #4, Lord of Silence (Incomplete)."
"1600 Cat Biscuits acquired; Curio: Kill That Butterfly acquired; Interwoven Blessing: Data Reinforcement acquired."
"Kill That Butterfly."
"An experimental result from the Genius Society's Psychohistory School. The scholars attempted to use a scepter to derive a deterministic future of the universe."
"In theory, it can indeed predict the future with high precision. The Psychohistory School once predicted the destruction of nine stars in the White Tin World."
"But regrettably, any tiny change will affect the accuracy of future predictions. Assuming all information and possibilities are taken into account, this curio is roughly equivalent to an Omniscient Domain, youth edition."
And.
"Interwoven Blessing: Data Reinforcement."
"An interwoven blessing of Erudition, Nous, and Nihility, IX."
"Equipping this blessing grants the ability to recognize the action most suitable for oneself. As the equip time increases, it eventually grows into an ability to roughly predict the future through intuition."
"While equipped, the mind will be eroded by Nihility. The longer it is equipped, the deeper the erosion."
"Unequipping the blessing resets the stacks of buffs and debuffs."
In short.
She had accidentally triggered a limited-time mission from the Cat System and gotten two Omniscient Domain youth editions from #4.
They were just a bit too youthful.
The curio would completely crash with even a 0.01 percent information error.
The blessing came with an absurdly brutal debuff. If someone could endure Nihility erosion long enough to stack the buff to full, it would be terrifyingly strong.
Kiyono Inori tried it on herself. Almost the moment she equipped it, she felt extreme psychological and physical discomfort. In other words, for her personally, it was basically unusable.
"Fourth Seat, do you have some connection with the Nihility faction?" the girl asked, looking at the fragment left behind by #4, the Lord of Silence.
"Oh? Why ask all of a sudden?"
"Just curious."
"Other than your research topic, I have no obligation to answer your questions. These are not things you should know."
The Fourth Seat crossed her arms. She was a bit shorter than Kiyono Inori, yet at this moment it felt as though she were looking down at her. And this was just a fragment.
Besides the mission rewards, the things Kiyono Inori pulled from the gacha were:
Destruction: Disciplinary Flash Shift; Destruction: Harmful Afterimage; Erudition: Crown of Intersecting Conduits; Remembrance: Responsive Excitement; Propagation: Excitatory Glands.
Weapon: Shadow of the Past Serpent.
The most noteworthy were the Propagation blessing and the weapon.
As everyone knew, the Cat System's Destruction blessings were sourced from the Spicy Brine Guest. Their purity was high enough to awaken a second personality in a pink pig-cat. This Propagation blessing could only be described as equally pure.
When this sickly girl equipped it, she felt like she was about to turn into some kind of hulking alpha.
And this was after the skill set Mastery: Self-Discipline had offset part of it. If an ordinary girl used this blessing, she would probably turn into a super generator. She decided to pretend this blessing did not exist from now on.
As for the weapon, it was Dr. Mobius' signature weapon. A weapon forged by the future Fusion Warrior Mobius using the remains of a Judgment-class Honkai beast.
Snake doctor ecstatic dot jpg.
Sadly, the snake was not a cat. Otherwise, she could equip it on her immediately. For now, it would have to wait until they returned to the Honkai Impact 3rd world.
While sorting through her inventory, Kiyono Inori suddenly noticed a byproduct from pulling the new Stelleron Cat. Flowers of the Past.
Because the pink pig-cat had already used fairy magic to craft one, this pulled signature weapon had been used by Kiyono Inori herself all along. Looking at the bow, gorgeous like a blooming flower, the beautiful girl caretaker suddenly had a bold idea.
"Lord of Silence."
The cute girl leaned in toward #4 again.
"…" The fragment of #4 sighed. "I am starting to regret leaving my fragment with you."
"This time it is serious! I want to run an experiment. Your Omniscient Domain might start beeping and flashing warnings, but do not be scared. I promise this experiment will absolutely not step outside the circle of knowledge."
"Oh? Are you going back to beyond the domain?"
"No, no." Kiyono Inori shook her head quickly. "I want to call a friend. I might also set up a stable communication circuit between parallel worlds or something. Big sister, please do not mind!"
#4, Lord of Silence: O underscore O.
Establishing a stable communication circuit between parallel worlds. And you call that not stepping outside the circle of knowledge? This was practically hopping back and forth beyond the knowledge circle anchored in the Omniscient Domain.
But.
"Go ahead," Polka Kakamond said. "When I tell you to stop, you must stop immediately. Otherwise, I can only stop you physically. You understand what I mean, right?"
#4's left and right brains started arguing.
In theory, she should have shut this down immediately. But she was also curious about knowledge of parallel worlds. More importantly, the girl had promised it was just to contact a friend, and not to pull some massive stunt like the geniuses of the Genius Society.
"Okay! Thank you, big sister."
Heh. Kid, the combined ages of everyone in your family tree probably do not add up to my age. The Lord of Silence grumbled internally, but did not say it out loud.
Her mood was dismissive.
As an antique who had lived for over a thousand Amber Eras, being called big sister by a minor was still somehow hard to refuse.
…
The Beautiful Girl Caretaker's Nest.
"Mmm… the snacks my caretaker bought are so cute and so tasty, meow!" The pink pig-cat kneaded her soft belly with her paws. "So strange. Where did all those little snacks go, meow?"
Being a magic cat was just too great.
Elysia Cat had already eaten all the takeout cake her caretaker ordered. That was about a week's worth of intake for Elysia in her human form, since she was dieting to maintain her figure.
But after eating, her kitty belly was not bulging at all. She did not even feel full. If she did not clearly feel herself growing a bit, the pink pig-cat would have thought the cake had gone to another world.
Humming happily after dessert, Elysia Cat tossed the trash into the takeout bag and deftly used her paws to control a cloth and wipe the table clean.
"Sigh. As the first cat summoned by my beautiful caretaker, I was supposed to be the most reliable senior. But in the end, I became the only cat excluded from the adventure. Fate really loves messing with cats, meow."
Elysia Cat meowed to herself and pushed open her caretaker's bedroom door.
Inside, it was quiet. Her beautiful caretaker slept peacefully. Stellar Treasure Cat and March Cat were both there.
If there was any difference.
Kiyono Inori had probably turned over a few times in her sleep.
Stellar Treasure, who had been leaning against her, was now wrapped up in the blanket, with only a gray tail visible.
March Cat, who had been far from Kiyono Inori before, had moved closer. Her body lay nearer, and her tail rested diagonally on Kiyono Inori's pillow.
Elysia Cat: wide-eyed.
Weren't you all out saving the world? The Xianzhou Luofu and all that? How did I just go eat some takeout and come back to find you sleeping so intimately? I want to save the world too, meow.
The pink fairy lady was full of envy.
But.
She also had the small perk of not being allowed to save the world.
Elysia Cat jumped onto the bed and looked at her caretaker, who was making soft breathing sounds.
Her caretaker was incredibly innocent and adorable when asleep.
Elysia had noticed this on her first day after crossing worlds. Maybe because of her frail body, early maturity, and upbringing, her caretaker usually wore a cool and distant expression.
Even when she smiled, it was a practiced, professional smile. Cute in its own way, but the pink fairy lady preferred the unguarded, heartfelt smile of a girl.
Now she could have her caretaker all to herself, meow.
She could stroke the smooth long hair, poke the soft cheeks, even crawl into the blankets, all allowed.
Normally, her caretaker woke easily. But when she used the Turn-Into-Cat Magic Wand to go to another world, no matter how much you rubbed her, she would not wake up.
Poke smooth cheeks dot jpg.
Rub slender legs dot jpg.
Open the girl's palm and compare hand to paw dot jpg.
…
After doing a bunch of silly things, Elysia Cat stretched lazily and lifted her tail high. This was actually a habit from when the pink pig-cat was human.
"Ah, I will turn in early today, meow. I hope next time I come, everyone will have returned safely, meow."
It was still early.
But Elysia Cat planned to sleep. Her caretaker was fun to rub while using the magic wand, but no matter how much she rubbed, there was no response. It lacked interaction.
The cat turned fluid-like and slipped into the blanket.
"One Inori Cat, two Inori Cats, three Inori Cats…"
The soft mattress, warm blankets, her whole body curled up in the cloud-like embrace of her caretaker. The pink pig-cat brewed drowsiness.
Then.
Just as she began to feel a hint of sleepiness, a super hypnotic girl conversation suddenly reached Elysia's ears.
It even included her caretaker, who had crossed to another world.
"If the goal is to add an imaging module, you need to keep the output of the motherboard beta circuit within a stable range, then input the highest-privilege key of this machine. If it originated from the Genius Society, the key is definitely this."
A cold woman's voice, unknown.
"So that is how it is. No wonder Herta said the Omniscient Domain is the most suitable ability for research. It really is powerful. Should the modification command for this module use the triangle-square-star formula or the diamond-down-arrow formula?"
That was her caretaker's voice.
"The traditional approach is triangle-square-star, but in practice, maximizing module utilization can use…"
Pink pig-cat: hold on, hold on. Weren't you three out saving the world? Why do I hear the sound of cram-school lessons beyond the syllabus? Am I being excluded?
Elysia Cat woke up instantly.
Dr. Snake and her caretaker always called her silly. But she had been studying really hard lately, meow. She had even lost a few strands of hair. And yet she still could not keep up with her caretaker's learning pace.
So that is how it is, meow.
On the surface, her caretaker went to Stelle and March 7th's world to save the world. But actually, she was secretly going to get tutoring from experts.
How awful. They were already studying such difficult material? I do not understand a single word here. Wait, does that mean Stelle Cat and March Cat are also studying, and I am the only one eating snacks like an idiot?
That is too mean.
They lied to me about saving the world, but actually went to another world for group tutoring. They just want to slap the silly label on me forever.
I will not accept this kind of stereotype.
I absolutely will not allow this, meow.
The pink pig-cat burned with determination, forcing knowledge into her little brain with all her might.
Three minutes later.
The invincible pink pig-cat was defeated by out-of-syllabus knowledge.
Her figure lost all color.
She was completely burned out.
#4, the Lord of Silence, was not Dr. Mobius. She had not personally taught many students in her long life. Kiyono Inori, with the boost of the Pioneer of the Stars, was a good seed in every sense.
The kind who only needed a hint to understand everything thoroughly.
As a result, the learning mode was leap-based. In three minutes, they essentially covered two to three months of Genius Society university coursework.
Then.
While Elysia Cat was drowning in the sea of knowledge and had not yet recovered, wearing a blank stare, a data-formed projection screen appeared before her.
A woman in a candy-colored gauze dress, her face indistinct.
A mature version of her caretaker, one size larger than usual. A limited form only seen within the Emperor's Scepter.
"Yes! It worked! The Parallel Universe Intercom can do video calls now!"
Her caretaker looked cheerful, revealing a youthful energy different from her appearance.
But she quickly noticed something wrong. "Wait, my dear Elysia, what are you doing? Why is it so dark over there? I can only see your shiny eyes. Go somewhere brighter!"
"I am burrowing into your blankets, meow!"
Still suffering from pig-brain overload, the pink pig-cat blurted out the truth and subconsciously wriggled out.
A round face, chubby cheeks, a wide forehead, big eyes, a pink little nose. Super cute on the outside, utterly silly on the face. Elysia Cat appeared on the Parallel Universe Intercom screen.
Kiyono Inori: stunned.
Was it just her imagination, or did the pink pig-cat look even sillier than usual? She turned to look at #4, the Lord of Silence.
The Lord of Silence wore a thoughtful expression. "So, the world beyond the domain is actually full of cats? This body of yours is also constructed by the Emperor's Scepter. Your true form is also a cute cat."
"What are you saying? Do not have such a weird misunderstanding, meow! In my original world, I was a cute girl!"
"If that assumption holds… then it means you dragged me here, modified the intercom's circuit, built video communication across parallel universes, all that effort, just so you could chat with the cat you keep at home?"
The atmosphere around #4 froze.
Kiyono Inori could not see her expression behind the cognitive filter, but it was probably spectacular.
"Well, what else would I do?"
The girl said it with total confidence.
But actually, being able to contact Elysia Cat through the Parallel Universe Intercom was only step one. Step two was to use the Cat System's signature weapon, Flowers of the Past, to summon the pink pig-cat's consciousness into the weapon.
The video function was necessary because the summoning magic circle needed to be drawn by Elysia Cat herself.
Kiyono Inori had to guide her and gently fool her into believing the magic circle really worked, that it could truly transport her over to help save the world.
If the magic circle was not confirmed via video, Elysia Cat might think she drew it wrong, or lose confidence in her learning, and so on.
Which would ultimately prevent the primal "I think therefore it is" authority from functioning properly.
This plan not only allowed the pink pig-cat to participate in the Xianzhou Luofu adventure, it was also a great opportunity to study the primal authority in detail and collect related data.
The inspiration came from this incident. When the Cat System fished Little March out of the Simulated Universe, the data attracted Herta's attention, which eventually drew #4, the Lord of Silence.
As long as Elysia Cat could think herself into crossing over into the Cat System, she would one hundred percent be able to collect data on the primal authority.
The primal authority was the key to modifying the logic of the Cocoon of Finality.
Only the final crucial step remained. Belief. As long as she believed in Elysia's primal authority, that would be enough.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.