Vill-V.
One of the greatest scientists of the Previous Era, a genius standing at the top of the field of knowledge just like Mobius.
But such a genius, upon waking up, discovered…
The sky had fallen.
Vill-V stared blankly, bent down, and picked up a gear from the ground.
The once spotless metal surface was covered in black scorch marks left behind by the fire.
She raised her head.
The place where the Spiral Workshop should have been in her memory had been replaced by ruins, and raging flames were still consuming everything in the workshop that could burn.
"Who…"
Vill-V murmured.
"Who!"
Vill-V fell to her knees and looked up at the unchanging sky of the Elysian Realm. At this moment, she really wished rain would fall over the Elysian Realm.
"Who in the world!!!"
Her gritted-teeth roar reached Mobius's ears.
After destroying all the tools she had used to commit the deed, Mobius returned and stood beside the kneeling Vill-V, looking at the Spiral Workshop that had already become ruins.
She let out a very regretful sigh.
"Your newly made magic tool exploded again?"
"How many times has this happened already? I'm starting to wonder whether you possess the rigor that a scholar should have."
Although almost everyone knew that she was the one who had done this, as long as she refused to admit it, what could they do without evidence?
At most, they could only give her a verbal warning.
Mobius looked at Vill-V, the corners of her mouth slightly raised.
'Wasn't it you who called me here to blow it up?'
'And now you're sad?'
She hypocritically patted Vill-V on the shoulder, left a "Be more rigorous next time," and then left the place.
Leaving Vill-V alone to mourn the Spiral Workshop.
On her way out, she ran into Elysia, who had heard the explosion and was rushing over.
Elysia happily greeted her when she saw her. "Hi~ Mobius, long time no see~"
Mobius did not answer. After glaring coldly at her, she returned to her research lab.
Watching Mobius leave, Elysia scratched her head in confusion.
She glanced at the thick smoke rising in the distance and did not spend too much time thinking about why Mobius had glared at her.
She hurried over to check what had happened there.
———
After returning to her research lab, Mobius opened the chat group and looked contemptuously at Levi in the group.
Seeing that she had only come online after such a long time, the group became lively.
Elysia spoke first. "Did she really blow up the Spiral Workshop?"
"Mm-hm." Levi gave a definite answer. "Mobius's divine might is unmatched. Once she decides to do something, even the resistance of the entire world can't stop her."
"At most, she'll just move from doing it openly to doing it underground."
"Heh." Mobius laughed. "She really is a lunatic. She was mourning there just a moment ago, and now she's acting like nothing happened."
With a dangerous person like this, you never knew when she might stab you in the back.
If the Fire Moth had listened to her back then.
How good would it have been to just launch a nuclear bomb at that isolated island.
"Uh…" Asta hesitated for a moment before finally explaining to Mobius in the group, "Actually, we aren't the people you think we are."
"My name is Asta. I'm the acting station master of Herta Space Station."
After introducing herself, she introduced everyone else one by one.
"Kiana, a student at St. Freya Academy; Lumine, an adventurer from Teyvat; Stelle, a Nameless of the Astral Express; Bronya, apparently the boss of a game company called Mi** Games; Levi, a member of the Divination Commission of the Xianzhou Luofu…"
"Heh, you've even written the character settings pretty thoroughly."
Mobius took all of this as Elysia having written character settings for everyone.
Herta Space Station, Teyvat, the Astral Express… all of these had a strong fictional-story flavor to them.
Her gaze turned to the only person in the group who had not hidden her identity, Elysia.
"Then you explain this to me. How did this girl with the same big face, the same name Elysia, and the same ugly smile come about?"
"She's Elysia's daughter.", Levi answered immediately.
A daughter inheriting her mother's name was a perfectly normal operation. On top of that, they were mother and daughter inheriting the same genes, so looking the same and having the same ugly smile was also quite reasonable.
Elysia: "?"
'When did I get another mother whose name is the same as mine?'
Seeing Levi's explanation, Mobius nodded. 'What he said really did make sen...'
'What kind of sense was that?!'
'Elysia didn't have a damn daughter!'
Seeing that Mobius was dead set on believing that the chat group was just a prank Elysia had put together, "All right, all right, I won't tease you anymore."
"Actually, I'm Elysia."
Elysia: "?"
'You're Elysia, then who am I?'
'One Elysia! Confused twice!'
"But I was only planning to tease you. I didn't expect you to actually go and blow up Vill-V's workshop."
"Vill-V must be really sad now."
Mobius suddenly frowned. "You're not Elysia."
Elysia had just been on her way to the Spiral Workshop. If she wanted to say that Vill-V was very sad, she definitely wouldn't have put it that way.
The most correct way to say it should have been, "Vill-V is very sad right now," or something similar.
Adding the word "must" meant that the other party was guessing that Vill-V was sad right now.
They did not actually know what the situation was.
With her brain once again taking the high ground, Mobius continuously analyzed the current situation.
"Doctor, I just heard an explosion…"
"Vill-V's Spiral Workshop exploded. Go repair it."
As Klein looked at the Doctor who was thinking, the image of her leaving while carrying something just now surfaced in her mind.
Could it be…
"Doctor… was the explosion…"
Mobius turned her head, a flash of green light passing through her eyes. "I just went out to throw away some trash. Pardo can testify to that."
"All right."
Klein nodded. She knew Mobius very well.
She could almost conclude that the explosion had been caused by her.
But even though she knew the Doctor had done it, she did not say anything.
After all, the Spiral Workshop exploded from time to time, and she had long since gotten used to repairing that area.
After watching Klein leave, Mobius turned her gaze to the virtual panel in front of her.
She had just opened it in front of Klein, but judging from Klein's expression, there was a high chance that no one except herself could see this thing.
In other words, was this thing actually being projected onto her own retina?
Or was it some kind of mind-manipulation ability similar to the Herrscher of Sentience?
But no matter which one it was, no one in the Elysian Realm could accomplish it.
Even someone who might be capable of doing it wouldn't be bored enough to play a prank on her together with Elysia.
Levi also saw how Mobius had figured it out.
He explained, "I haven't arrived yet, have I? I ran into Kevin on the way. Mm, he also said you went a little too far."
At this moment, the real Elysia stared blankly at Levi using her name to communicate with Mobius in the group.
She herself did not have any room to speak at all.
She took a hard bite of her food. "I'm Elysia!"
Mobius looked at Levi's message. After thinking for a while, she closed her mouth.
In the group, she repeated what she had said before.
"You're not Elysia."
Looking at the message that had been sent normally, a glint flashed through Mobius's eyes.
"..."