Before long, Screwllum also set out for the Warp. He intended to personally thank Herta for reserving a place for the souls of Intellitron lifeforms in the afterlife—the Soul Society.
Meanwhile, Polka Kakamond, the 4th Seat of the Genius Society and Lord of Silence, had already completed her immigration procedures with the Blue Federation's immigration authorities and used her technical expertise to upgrade the Blue Federation's surveillance system.
The reason given publicly was that too many immigrants had recently arrived on The Blue from all across the cosmos. To maintain public security and social stability, she could therefore assist Herta's homeland by upgrading its surveillance system.
However, Polka Kakamond's true purpose was to better study Herta. She wanted to understand exactly how Herta had managed, time and again, to surpass the calculations and predictions of the Knowable Domain.
On this day, the surveillance network throughout Herta City, and indeed the entire Blue Federation, finally completed its upgrade. Polka prepared to begin formally observing Herta.
Yet at that very moment, her Knowable Domain told her that there was light outside, that even the entire cosmos was being illuminated by that radiance.
But where was the light?!
She walked to a massive floor-to-ceiling window. Her candy-colored skirt draped around her as her mosaic-covered face silently gazed up at the sky, yet she saw no light whatsoever.
She frowned slightly and invoked the power of the Knowable Domain. In an instant, all data, causality, pasts, and futures of everything in existence surfaced before her eyes.
Through it, she saw an immense tidal wave of light extending from the Warp, covering the entire Blue star system, the Yongmei Star System, Planarcadia... even the entire cosmos.
At the center of that great wave stood a tower.
The Plasma Spark Tower—Astronomican.
Moreover, she could see the Astronomican guiding endless souls throughout the cosmos into the Warp. More precisely, it was guiding them into a newly opened dimension within the Warp—a genuine afterlife.
The Knowable Domain told Polka Kakamond that the afterlife called the Soul Society was fundamentally different in nature from the Warp.
The Soul Society was filled with a universal form of energy called reishi. It could truly sustain the continued existence of souls, preventing them from falling into Nihility... and allowing them to live a second life.
One could even say that the Soul Society... this newly born world, had been forged upon the principle of opposing Nihility.
But who had created and opened such a miraculous world?
The instant that thought arose in Polka Kakamond's mind, she already understood the answer.
The Soul Society had been opened within the Warp. Whoever created it must have been exceptionally familiar with the Warp. Barring any surprises, it could only have been that woman.
The Herta.
And that tower lit for the dead of the entire cosmos, radiating immeasurable brilliance, looked remarkably similar to the Plasma Spark Tower she had once seen... It, too, had most likely been created by Herta.
"But where did Herta get so much energy? Making a tower unleash enough radiance to illuminate the cosmos requires an enormous amount of power."
After Polka Kakamond murmured softly, she pushed the Knowable Domain to full output, countless streams of data flowing through her mind.
Ultimately, the Knowable Domain's calculations told her that what fueled the Astronomican was neither energy from the Path of Erudition, nor Abundance, nor Enigmata, nor any other known Path energy in the universe.
Instead, it was an entirely new and extraordinary form of Path energy.
Spirituality.
An unfamiliar concept.
Polka Kakamond used the Knowable Domain to search those two words and soon discovered that this was the new Aeon who had only recently proclaimed Their existence to the entire universe. The Path opened by this newly born Aeon was none other than the Path of Spirituality.
At that, Polka fell into deep thought.
"The Astronomican was personally built by Herta, yet its energy comes from the Path of Spirituality..."
"So the Aeon of Spirituality is connected to Herta, perhaps even granting her the blessing of an Emanator?"
"But according to my observations, Herta has never befriended anyone in the past who could become an Aeon."
After thinking this far, Polka Kakamond overloaded the Knowable Domain and drove it beyond its limits. Following the Astronomican's energy and the causal chain of the Path of Spirituality, she traced everything backward.
Eventually, she calculated that the Aeon of Spirituality was born at the moment of Finality in the future.
Through this, Polka Kakamond glimpsed a corner of spacetime at Finality. At the end of the universe, in a future where all things had become nothingness, she saw a familiar figure.
That figure wore an extremely pointed hat and held a black-and-purple magic wand. Standing at the pinnacle of the Path of Spirituality, she even winked at Polka Kakamond and revealed a confident smile.
...
Self-coronation.
Ascension.
The Aeon of Spirituality—Spirituality.
The Herta of the present era was the past anchor of this future Aeon of Spirituality.
After Polka Kakamond calculated these results, her brain crashed on the spot.
At the same time, her Knowable Domain also crashed. Having been pushed beyond its limits, it had completely overloaded and required time to cool down.
Just like her mind, which also needed time to accept the fact that Herta had become an Aeon.
After a long while, a rare trace of almost self-mocking emotion appeared across Lord of Silence Polka Kakamond's mosaic-covered face.
She hadn't created an Aeon. She had become one herself?!
That was absurdly outrageous.
At that moment, Polka Kakamond recalled the first time she had met that supremely confident girl in the pointed hat. It had been in the library of the Genius Society's stronghold, reached through a Society Ticket invented by the 56th Seat, Elias Salas.
That day, her Knowable Domain had told her that the timing of Herta becoming a genius was wrong.
She should originally have become a genius upon graduating from her fourth year of university, yet in reality, Herta had become one a full four years earlier.
Back then, Polka had thought it was merely a small accident of fate.
Looking back now... Herta herself was an existence that had surpassed fate and exceeded everyone's imagination.
One could even say that from that day onward, her Knowable Domain had never again managed to catch up to Herta.
Polka Kakamond turned around, returned to her laboratory desk, spread out a sheet of paper, picked up her pen, and wrote down a definition of genius.
Geniuses painted upon the circle of knowledge with their brushes, yet no matter how brilliant or magnificent their works became, they were still merely truths that Nous had already discovered long ago.
That had always been the case, even for Polka herself. After all, the Knowable Domain... merely imitated Nous' formula of thought. Even so, she was the only person in the entire universe capable of accomplishing such a feat.
Because of this, she had received Nous' blessing and become an Emanator of Erudition.
Thus, many people called her the one closest to Nous besides the 1st Seat of the Genius Society.
That was the height at which she stood.
Yet now, Herta had broken free from the shackles of the circle called Erudition.
From the ancient Dusk Wars until the present day, across countless Amber Eras and more than eighty geniuses of the Society, only two people had ever accomplished such a thing.
The first was Zandar One Kuwabara. He was the first to create an Aeon and was the 1st Seat of the Genius Society.
The Herta, meanwhile, had elevated herself from human to Aeon. She was the 83rd Seat of the Genius Society and the youngest genius in the Society.
Thinking this far, Polka Kakamond sighed inwardly.
"In terms of the endpoint of wisdom, Herta has already reached Zandar's level, perhaps... even gone farther."
"After all, Zandar created an Aeon, while Herta turned herself into one."
"Every other genius, myself included, is already separated from those two by a gulf as vast as the cosmos."
After writing this, Polka Kakamond set down her pen.
At that moment, she recognized a reality. The subject she wished to study had already leaped beyond the circle of knowledge and reached a position where even Aeons had to treat her as an equal.
At that moment, a thought arose in Polka's mind. She would seek out Herta, pursue Herta, observe Herta, and completely uncover whatever quality within Herta allowed her to transcend fate, then replicate it.
If she succeeded, perhaps she, Polka Kakamond, might also...
After thinking this far, Polka Kakamond did not hesitate for even a moment. She pushed open the laboratory door and strode toward the Warp.
...
A corner of space in the Blue star system.
The gateway to the Warp hung high overhead, billions of rays of light pouring out from within.
Today, three visitors arrived before that gateway.
Almost one after another, Ruan Mei carrying the newborn shipgirl Ruanruan, Screwllum wearing his top hat and monocle, and Polka Kakamond dressed in candy-colored formalwear arrived at the Warp's entrance from three different directions.
Then, the gazes of all three met in midair.
"Lord of Silence."
Ruan Mei was the first to recognize the person before her. Her arms tightened slightly around Ruanruan, and vigilance flickered through the eyes that had undergone countless biological modifications.
At that moment, memories of the many assassination operations Polka had carried out in the past surfaced in Ruan Mei's mind.
"Rational deduction: The individual before us is Polka Kakamond, the 4th Seat of the Genius Society, who once assassinated Emperor Rubert and caused him to fall into a Twilight of Thought." Screwllum's monocle flashed with light.
"Analysis: Her objective on this trip is highly likely to be the assassination of Madam Herta."
The next instant, the two geniuses, Ruan Mei and Screwllum, stepped forward in unison and blocked the entrance to the Warp, preventing Polka Kakamond from entering.
The reason the two were so wary of Polka was simple.
After all, the Lord of Silence was infamous throughout the universe.
In the past, she had killed more than one genius and was known as Nous' scalpel, the one who sought to kill every genius who became diseased by touching forbidden knowledge beyond the circle of knowledge.
More importantly, Herta they were about to visit had now created a tower capable of illuminating the cosmos, which looked very much like an application of forbidden knowledge. Thus, they believed Polka Kakamond intended to assassinate Herta.
Yet faced with the vigilance of two geniuses, Polka Kakamond remained exceptionally calm.
She simply raised a hand and revealed something.
A card.
A permanent resident card of the Blue Federation.
"Relax. I'm not here to attack anyone."
Polka Kakamond spoke blandly. "I've already immigrated. I'm now a legal resident of The Herta's homeland. Over the past few days, I even upgraded the Blue Federation's surveillance network and participated in local public-security maintenance."
Ruan Mei: "..."
Screwllum: "..."
Both Ruan Mei and Screwllum were rendered speechless by Polka Kakamond's words.
After all, one of the universe's greatest assassins had immigrated to the hometown of her assassination target and, while she was at it, upgraded the local surveillance system?
That was far too absurd.
"As for why I've come to the Warp, it's simple as well." Polka Kakamond put away her resident card, took a deep breath, then said something that caused both Ruan Mei and Screwllum's minds to freeze.
"I've come to seek guidance from Herta."
"Huh?"
This time, Ruan Mei and Screwllum were both completely dumbfounded.
Polka Kakamond wanted to seek guidance from The Herta?
This was someone who possessed the Knowable Domain, understood nearly everything in the universe in exhaustive detail, and was even called the genius closest to Nous aside from the 1st Seat. Yet now she intended to seek guidance from Herta, the youngest genius who had only joined their ranks a few months ago?!
"Lord of Silence, are you sure you didn't misspeak?" Ruan Mei could not help asking. "You created the Knowable Domain. You should possess the greatest breadth of knowledge in the entire Society."
Screwllum nodded in agreement from the side. "According to my understanding, you not only possess the Knowable Domain, you are also the creator of Device IX. The amount of knowledge you command should far exceed Herta's."
Hearing this, Polka shook her head and raised a finger toward the interior of the Warp gateway.
"You two don't know yet, do you?"
"The Madam Herta you're about to visit has already ascended to godhood."
"In the future spacetime of Finality, at the end of the universe's causality, she will personally open the Path of Spirituality, crown herself, and become an Aeon."
"She is now the Aeon of Spirituality."
"And Herta of the present era is the past anchor of that future Aeon. The energy currently fueling the Astronomican within the Warp is precisely the power that the future Aeon of Spirituality, Spirituality, left for the present-day Herta."
Boom!
Polka's words crashed into Ruan Mei and Screwllum's ears, causing both of them to freeze simultaneously.
Screwllum's CPU in particular began overheating wildly, white smoke rising from the top of his head. No matter how he calculated, he could not derive how Herta had managed to ascend into an Aeon.
After recovering from her shock, Ruan Mei recalled the absurd guess she had instinctively dismissed when leaving her laboratory.
Could it be that while I was shut away researching Galactic Shipgirl technology, Herta ascended to Aeonhood?!!
At the time, she had immediately rejected that idea and arrived at a more reasonable hypothesis: like Zandar, Herta had coincidentally created an Aeon.
Yet now, Polka Kakamond had personally told her otherwise.
The guess she had rejected back then had been true.
Herta had not created an Aeon. She had turned herself into one!
Ruan Mei pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling deeply shaken.
But the next moment, the lips of the 81st Seat of the Genius Society and Emanator of Erudition slowly curved upward.
It was a smile of shared pride.
"So you've become an Aeon, Herta."
"You once said that you had no limits."
"So that wasn't arrogance. It was confidence. It was simply a statement of fact."
With those thoughts, Ruan Mei stepped into the Warp. A powerful sense of urgency had arisen within her.
After all, her junior and close friend Herta had already become an Aeon. As the senior, she had to advance further no matter what and at least touch the threshold above Emanators!
"Analysis: Zandar One Kuwabara created an Aeon and is the 1st Seat of the Genius Society."
"Analysis: Madam Herta, the 83rd Seat of the Genius Society, became an Aeon herself."
Screwllum's CPU stopped overheating, and after reconsidering everything, he arrived at a conclusion.
"The Genius Society is no longer an honor belonging to Madam Herta. Quite the opposite. Madam Herta is now the honor of the Genius Society."
"Now, we should properly congratulate Madam Herta."
With that, the mechanical monarch straightened his hat and solemnly stepped into the Warp.
Polka Kakamond, the last to enter the Warp, murmured softly amid the brilliance of the gateway.
"We're finally going to meet, Aeon of Spirituality—Herta."
...
Deep within the Warp.
The Herta herself watched the Soul Society gradually settle into proper operation under the diligent work of the little Herta administrators, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Then, through her authority as the master of the Warp, she sensed three familiar presences entering the Warp one after another.
They were Ruan Mei, Screwllum, and Polka Kakamond.
Soon, The Herta also noticed that the essence of the white-haired little girl in Ruan Mei's arms was that of a Galactic Shipgirl—Ruanruan.
She understood. Ruan Mei's research into Galactic Shipgirl modification had succeeded, and the shipgirl Ruanruan was the finest result.
Beyond that, The Herta also noticed that Screwllum's monocle had already developed a machine spirit.
This meant Screwllum had likewise completed his theoretical research into machine spirits. The monocle that now possessed one was the best proof.
As for Polka Kakamond, had this woman come to see her because the Knowable Domain had sensed something?
Thinking this, The Herta invoked her authority as the master of the Warp. With a single step, she appeared before the three geniuses.
—
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