Noldrei didn't stick around to oversee Tesla's research. He had other engagements—courtesy of two particular friends. These friends, of course, were Overseer Otto and Director Yang.
They both had the same burning question: the future.
But unlike others who craved knowledge of what was to come, they wanted to know how Noldrei had returned to the past.
More importantly, they wanted to know if the process could be replicated.
With an invitation from the heads of two major organizations, Noldrei couldn't refuse. Schicksal and Anti-Entropy weren't just powerful groups—they were the bedrock of the current Academy City. They provided resources, personnel, and even future educational support.
Compared to Cocolia and Raiden Ryoma's groups, which functioned more like Noldrei's personal task force, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were the real power players.
Given their Western backgrounds, Otto and Yang skipped the traditional standing toasts. Instead, they opted for something more... direct. They brought out Theresa.
'I suddenly have a really bad feeling… like I'm being set up for something,' Theresa thought, shivering involuntarily.
Otto's bold move of transferring so many Valkyries from Schicksal HQ to Japan had effectively clipped her wings, stripping her of regional authority. Once the head of the Japanese branch, she was now reduced to a mere principal.
This time, she'd tagged along to hear Noldrei's account of the future—more specifically, to assess any potential impact his time travel might have.
Otto, ever the pragmatist, wasted no time. "Mr. Noldrei, how can you be certain you've traveled to the past?" Otto asked. "Think about it—traversing the river of time wouldn't involve any conscious experience. If you did travel, it would have felt instantaneous, like a blink of an eye."
"Furthermore," he continued, "I hear from Fu Hua that you mentioned the future having no record of the Honkai."
Director Yang remained silent, carefully considering his own line of questioning.
Noldrei didn't deny it. "That's right," he confirmed. "There's no record of the Honkai. We pretty much blew up the Earth in future wars, leaving no trace of even Honkai-related ruins."
He leaned back slightly. "What survived are mainly text records, similar to your historical texts here. But given how often our future descendants rewrote history, even those are mostly unreliable."
Otto listened, expression unreadable.
Noldrei continued, "What we do have are fragments about the development of primitive societies—things like enemy troop numbers, internal conflicts between nations…"
"For example, would the people of this archipelago (Japan) remember how many died in skirmishes between villages over water resources thousands of years ago?"
"Of course not," he answered his own question. "We'd only remember that the villages fought, but not the duration, casualties, or specific villages involved."
Otto conceded the logic of this. From a future societal perspective, if a nuclear war had ravaged Earth, conflicts between nation-states would likely be viewed with the same insignificance as ancient village disputes over water.
To Noldrei, modern nation-states might have seemed as quaint as an ancient Japanese villager proudly hailing from Umiwashi Village—only to lead his people into battle against Sato Village over a small stream. All because the headman's second son was cross-eyed.
Future generations, looking back at such disputes while surrounded by vast, untapped resources, would likely consider them utterly senseless.
If someone today were to lead a village raid over water rights, even Otto would see such a place as ripe for colonization. Formal education might be forgotten, but the lessons of conquest were always written in blood.
After a long pause, Director Yang finally spoke. "If that's the case, how did you determine the possibility of time travel? More importantly, how did you confirm that you had changed history?"
To their surprise, the all-knowing man from the future simply shook his head.
"We can't be certain," Noldrei admitted. "I only knew this was the past because, upon arrival, I used galactic coordinates to pinpoint Earth—humanity's cradle."
"By my time, Earth and the Sun are gone. Since they still exist here, it means I've traveled back in time. It's simple logic—we don't have the power to reverse the entire spacetime continuum."
"This can only mean one thing…"
He glanced between Otto and Yang before continuing. "I did indeed travel to Earth's past. It's just… not quite what I expected. There's this Honkai thing, and you guys aren't exactly primitive."
His expression darkened slightly. "My personal theory? Some entity monopolized the Honkai and initiated a great purge, rewriting history in the process."
"By altering the course of human development, this entity likely ascended to power, erasing any historical records that didn't align with its rule. But at some point, it must have been overthrown and eliminated. From there, fear of the Honkai probably led people to erase all traces of it from history entirely."
Even now, the thought unsettled him.
Who would bother absorbing the Honkai, orchestrating a grand purge, and rewriting history?
It seemed utterly nonsensical.
Otto and Yang exchanged glances.
The entity responsible for eliminating the Honkai and orchestrating the purge…
It was likely either Schicksal or Anti-Entropy.
And if it wasn't them, then it had to be a successor to some Honkai-related organization.
Yang gave Otto a subtle nod, confirming their shared suspicion, then turned back to Noldrei.
"How did the future conduct experiments related to the past? More specifically, how did you determine if the experiments were successful? Was it because someone traveled back and changed something?"
Noldrei's response was a bombshell.
After a brief moment of recollection, he said, "Experiments? It wasn't anything fancy."
"After discovering time-travel technology, we started by bombarding the target's theoretical timeline, trying to eliminate them blindly. But it didn't work. No matter how we attacked that theoretical 'light cone,' the world remained unchanged."
Otto and Yang listened intently.
"That's when we realized—time isn't some loose thread you can cut. It's an integral part of the fabric of reality, not easily altered. If we wanted to erase an enemy from history, we needed something stronger."
A cold, eerie pause followed before Noldrei finished:
"So we decided to send people from our time into the past."
Silence.
Then, something like grudging admiration flickered in Otto and Yang's eyes.
Look at the dedication of these future folks!
The moment they discovered time travel, their first thought wasn't personal gain…
It was to eliminate their enemies.
They even resorted to blind bombardment—just firing at a timeline, hoping for erasure.
Damn. The only reason Earth even survived… is because your future selves missed their targets.
Unbelievable.
In the eyes of future humanity, they themselves were the ultimate weapon.
[YOU ARE THE BULLET MY SON]