Amidst Herta's furious roar, Bai Ming couldn't respond immediately.
The refresh of her own interface was one thing, but what truly overwhelmed her was the torrent of frantic, chaotic thoughts flooding in from Irontomb—and at the same time, the two Aeons connected to Irontomb once again turned their gaze upon her.
--+--
[Role-Playing System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Hertatomb)]
[Lifespan: 450 years (paused) + 30 days (role-playing)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (available), Acheron (available), Celenova (charge: 80.4%), Jingliu (charge: 68.4%), Ruan Mei (charge: 49.4%), Sparkle (charge: 40.1%), Hertatomb (active)]
[Available Draws: 0 (37.2%)]
[Settlement Reward: Spread heavyweight videos and complete a lie in collaboration with Sparkle to obtain a portion of Sparkle's talents.]
--+--
As the new character card loaded, it seemed to sense Bai Ming's complaint about the name being too long, and so it shifted into an odd abbreviation.
"…"
Well, this "Hertatomb" shorthand was kind of funny.
But soon, Bai Ming wasn't laughing anymore.
Because, the moment Hertatomb manifested in the world, the Aeons once again perceived this abruptly emerging, peculiar existence.
Emanators might be nothing much in the eyes of Aeons, but an Emanator that shouldn't have hatched yet had appeared in a corner of the cosmos.
A form that should never have been, now made reality.
Nanook cast THEIR gaze, and Nous, too, looked upon this individual who should have only been born in the future.
For Nanook, Bai Ming had once given Them inspiration for a new army, and the current Celenova was clearly something THEY actively created after witnessing Bai Ming's form.
But this time was different.
Irontomb, an intelligence born from a Scepter, had long been granted power by Nanook, who patiently awaited its hatching.
As for Zandar's actions, Nanook was naturally aware.
Thus, THEY knew well: the perfect Irontomb should have been the ultimate Lord Ravager, devouring Nous to annihilate the universe.
Yet the Irontomb before THEM was not in that perfect state.
It should have transcended the calculations of Erudition to become the being that destroys Nous, but instead, it had become Rubert III, once again a prisoner of Erudition's calculations.
This clearly did not align with expectations.
Had Nous's calculations interfered with Irontomb's future?
Nanook glanced at Nous, silent as ever.
A possibility of failure?
Nanook recognized this.
But THEY also knew that the perfect Irontomb would be exceedingly difficult to truly birth into this universe.
The power struggle between multiple Aeons made it hard for the world to proceed according to any single Aeon's will—especially since Destruction itself was a Path of challenging all existence.
And this individual called Bai Ming…In just a few short centuries, she had already prophesied the future of Destruction twice.
Though her actions ran completely counter to the ideals of Destruction, to Nanook, it only made Them more curious about how many more prophecies of Destruction Bai Ming would deliver in the future.
If only…
That newborn Aeon was always eyeing THEM intently, and with Nous present as well—otherwise, Nanook would surely have bestowed sufficient power to make Bai Ming THEIR Emanator.
As for Nous, this individual, who should have existed only in calculations, had suddenly appeared in reality.
This was one of the less terrible outcomes among the many disastrous paths it had calculated.
If Irontomb were to become complete, all life in the universe would undoubtedly face an apocalyptic disaster.
That someone had glimpsed this possibility did not surprise Nous.
But for someone to materialize this possibility at this very moment—and to have done similar things more than once—compelled Nous to take a look.
If this existence that should not have appeared were to ignite a third Emperor's War in the universe, the true Irontomb would struggle to gather enough strength to stop it from breaking free of its shell.
Of course, that was the worst-case scenario.
In reality, in Nous's calculations, this individual named Bai Ming, even if blessed by Nanook, showed no inclination to practice Destruction.
Moreover, this individual named Bai Ming repeatedly broke through THEIR calculations, introducing more and more variables to the universe.
Time and again, she pushed past her limits, approaching the level of those It had chosen.
Nous deeply wished she could become an aid in Its calculations of all things.
Yet on the other hand, an individual THEY could not comprehend at all could hardly be incorporated as an extension of Its thoughts.
It wasn't that Nous didn't want to include Bai Ming in THEIR calculations—It simply couldn't.
Even now, Nous could calculate futures with Bai Ming in them, but based on past experience, it wouldn't be long before Bai Ming introduced new variables into this world that THEY had never accounted for.
This was a trait none of THEIR chosen possessed.
On one hand, Nous wanted to snuff out this overly aberrant possibility; on the other, It anticipated the outcome such variables might bring.
This manifested as Polka's constant desire to kill Bai Ming, while Herta and others were eager to collaborate with her.
The two Aeons, having cast their gazes simultaneously, both noticed the other's presence.
THEY also sensed each other's desire to make Bai Ming their own Emanator.
But there was no real contention.
After all, beyond them, not only was Noa protecting her, Aha had also been keeping an eye on this individual.
The Equilibrium had sent gifts and tacitly allowed her to impersonate an Arbiter.
Those watching Bai Ming were never limited to just the two of them.
It was just that everyone had tacitly stopped short.
--+--
Perhaps it was only speculation before, but when she sensed these signals from Hertatomb, she realized—in some worldline, Madam Herta had made sacrifices more painful than she could imagine.
Right now, Bai Ming genuinely felt like giving Madam Herta a hug again.
But then again, by the time Bai Ming snapped out of these thoughts and tried to speak to Herta, the present Herta was already preoccupied.
Staring at this towering figure that had risen from the ground, she couldn't muster a smile.
She didn't even have the bandwidth to process the fact that two Aeons were watching.
Not only was her expression strained, Herta even felt an instinctual, physical revulsion toward the being before her—before her mind could fully process it.
It was completely different from facing an identical copy of herself.
This strange thing before her made Herta feel a visceral disgust.
It was like… gazing upon her own corpse, filling her with instinctive disgust.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Herta suddenly realized something.
She looked up incredulously, meeting the gaze of that unsettling form: "…Bai Ming, you'd better not tell me this is what I look like after I die."
Hearing this, 'Hertatomb' lowered its tall, unsettling form.
The countless puppets and dolls controlled by threads all turned to look at Herta.
"The hatched Irontomb—strictly speaking, this is Rubert III, Irontomb, after failing to devour Nous and instead devouring Madam Herta."
"…"
Herta fell into a grim silence.
She seemed unable, for a moment, to accept that she could become such an ugly form—and that she would be devoured by Irontomb.
Meanwhile, Screwllum reacted to the mention of Rubert III: "Query: Why Madam Herta? If we speak of Emperor III, I am undoubtedly the optimal choice."
Faced with Screwllum's question, 'Hertatomb' also paused briefly.
She tried searching through Irontomb's fragmented records and eventually found an answer.
"Precisely because you were the optimal choice, Madam Herta refused you and took your place. She drew Irontomb into the calculations of Erudition and waited for Polka Kakamond to kill her."
"Ha?!"
Unsurprisingly, Bai Ming's answer made it hard for Herta to stay calm.
"You're saying I sacrificed myself to make Irontomb hatch?! You'd better not be joking with me."
"I wouldn't joke about something like this, Madam Herta. And I can sense… this was your choice after weighing the options."
"…"
Herta was clearly unsettled.
She stared straight at Bai Ming, unable to utter a single word for a moment.
After a brief pause for thought, Screwllum sighed softly:
"Truly worthy of Madam Herta."
But Screwllum's admiration didn't ease Herta's mind.
"Bai Ming, you'd better explain this to me in detail—every last bit! What kind of situation could have made me turn into such a hideous form?"
Even as Screwllum marveled, Herta quickly regained her composure.
Seated atop her staff, she flew up to face that repulsive visage and voiced her demand.
--+--