Somewhere in the universe.
A battered and tired Phantylia found Celenova resting in her ship, seated within.
"Celenova... what the hell were you thinking? Throwing yourself in without a word? And it didn't even work."
More than holding her accountable, Phantylia was worried her colleague had finally snapped from too much stress lately. Lost her mind.
Even if you're feeding, you don't do it like that.
With that kind of power, you could've taken some Galaxy Rangers down with you, but no, you had to pick the toughest nut to crack.
And not only did you fail to crack it, you ended up with a mouthful of broken teeth.
"Now you've lost all your elite forces, and you're severely wounded yourself... what were you aiming for? Just to get on her radar?"
Phantylia shook her head with a sigh.
Celenova could rely on her clone ability to cling to life.
But it wasn't without cost.
Especially the body she'd just sacrificed—strictly speaking, that could be called her 'original form.'
Now Celenova had lost everything and gained nothing. Forget rebuilding the Legion; who knew how long it would take her to recover from these injuries?
But Celenova seemed unfazed.
She just clicked her tongue:
"Even attacks on the level of the mind couldn't work... does that thing have any weaknesses at all..."
Phantylia was speechless at that.
"Tch... are you even listening to me? Anyone listening would think you've got a crush on her."
But this muttered remark snapped Celenova back to reality, and she glared at Phantylia:
"What nonsense are you spouting? Did your brains get knocked loose too?"
Phantylia couldn't be bothered to argue, asking directly: "So, were you listening to me or not?"
"I heard you. But neither of us expected the Galaxy Rangers could actually pull off that large-scale Harmony. Failure was inevitable at that point, wasn't it?"
Celenova's tone was so calm it bordered on cold.
As if the loss of her elite corps and her own injuries meant nothing.
"Besides, by then you'd already picked your target, Phantylia, even sneaking into the wounded. I judged your plan was complete."
Once she realized the situation was irreversible and Phantylia's plan was already in motion, Celenova saw no point in wasting time.
She decided to gamble. If she succeeded, and turned Bai Ming, it would be a win.
"..."
Phantylia was momentarily at a loss for words.
How to put it? Celenova's judgment wasn't wrong.
She had found the perfect stand-in back then.
Who knew she'd be found out?
"Didn't think much of it at the time... when did Bai Ming get power over memories again..."
Celenova shook her head.
If she knew, she wouldn't be sitting here.
Phantylia just shook her head with a sigh: "So, we're up against an opponent who's not only powerful but also has countless hidden trump cards? And more importantly, the Aeon is quite fond of her."
"Right."
Phantylia sighed and shook her head.
She couldn't understand why Nanook favored her.
Enough to specifically find a chance to give her a drop of golden blood.
In the end, the only ones suffering were her and Celenova.
"But you still have a backup plan, right?"
Celenova looked at Phantylia.
Knowing her personality, she wouldn't accept failure so easily.
"Well~ I deliberately tore my body apart and left nearly half of the Heliobi fragments on the battlefield. Let's just see who ends up with those Heliobi in the end."
It was only a provisional plan.
After all, Phantylia never expected to be beaten like that.
Just going with the flow.
If Bai Ming went crazy and insisted on carrying those Heliobi herself, then Phantylia would have to accept defeat.
But if not, then Phantylia might have a chance to stir things up.
Celenova nodded.
She figured Phantylia still had the energy to come complain to her, which meant she must have already arranged a backup.
Otherwise, she'd probably just be using communication to check in right now.
As for Celenova, she had to admit.
After realizing that both physical force and mental attacks had failed, she felt a bit frustrated.
To be able to block erosion of that level...basically meant that path was a dead end.
How to deal with her?
Celenova thought lying low for a while might not be a bad idea.
If she couldn't think of a concrete plan, getting back to peak condition immediately would be useless.
--+--
'Jingliu' spent a few days touring the Xianzhou Fanghu.
It was basically a realm mostly composed of water.
But each area had its own unique charm, a great place for a vacation. She imagined Hysilens would really like the Xianzhou Fanghu.
The Xianzhou Alliance handled things just like last time.
They didn't question the black Arbiter-General at all, or the power of Propagation.
Or rather, some people did want to ask, but they were stopped.
As for the swarm of little Heliobi left by Phantylia, the Xianzhou Alliance said they had plenty of experience containing Heliobi and could handle it.
As for their true intentions, 'Jingliu' didn't feel the need to dig deeper.
She just told the Alliance to keep an eye on Phantylia.
After that, 'Jingliu' went back to find Ruan Mei.
Ruan Mei was very interested in the swarm of bugs she had.
Or rather, she was more interested in the black Arbiter-General.
As for the Countertemporal Shot obtained from the Ranger, it was clearly not within Ruan Mei's interests; Herta would probably care about it more.
But she sent a message to both Hertas.
One of them was too absorbed in the Simulated Universe to be disturbed.
Knowing Madam Herta's habits, she probably wouldn't have time for her for a while.
The other one was busy in the Land of Light building her 'Divine Herta City'.
And also, conveniently, hiding from the overly enthusiastic representatives of various major factions outside.
Another genius had been added to the Genius Society, #84 Divine Herta.
Though outsiders had no clue about the relationship between Divine Herta and Herta, rumors swirled that #84 was #83's illegitimate daughter, clone, or artificial human.
Some even thought, because of Divine Herta's race, she was a genius model secretly simulated in Amphoreus, then found by Madam Herta, perfected, and revived, eventually becoming #84.
Some really imaginative people even spun it into elaborate and ingenious fanworks.
If 'Jingliu' hadn't experienced it herself, she might start believing the fanworks were real and her memories were fake.
But regardless of the relationship between Divine Herta and Madam Herta, the fact that she was a member of the Genius Society was undeniable.
So every major power in the universe wanted to court this newborn genius.
Even though she loudly declared she'd joined the Land of Light.
After all... the Land of Light didn't care at all if its members interacted with other civilizations, and Herta had always liked peace and quiet; even Divine Herta inherited this trait.
So, Divine Herta simply stayed in the Land of Light, focusing on building her house, not going anywhere else.
So, at Ruan Mei's place, 'Jingliu' had to tinker with that special bullet by herself.
Until about ten days later, when the emotional energy had successfully filled up.
--+--
[Role-Play System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Destruction · Jingliu)]
[Lifespan: 1200 years (Paused) + 14 days (Role-Play)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (Available), Acheron (Available), Celenova (Available), Jingliu (Available), Ruan Mei (Charge: 88.1%), Sparkle (Charge: 78.8%), Hertatomb (Charge: 39.5%), Cyrene · Fuli (Charge: 1.2%), Lord Ravager · Jingliu (Currently Role-Playing)]
[Available Pulls: 1 (0.3%)]
--+--
'Jingliu' set aside what she was doing and chose to pull!
It was the familiar train and the familiar cutscene.
But this time!
For the first time, a purple light shone from within that door!
This got 'Jingliu', who had been keeping her cool, suddenly excited.
Holy crap!
Finally got purple!!
At the very least, this character definitely wouldn't be some abstract role like Hertatomb or the Eighth Lord Ravager Jingliu.
But seriously, within this gacha pool, why was purple rarer than gold?
Was this pool even legit?
'Jingliu' complained to herself as she watched the purple light fade to reveal the character card.
Wearing a beautiful dress, sporting a familiar face, staring blankly at her.
If it wasn't a Herta puppet, then... wait, no, this one didn't have the ball joints, did it?
"Puppet... not a puppet, it's Child Herta? How can you pull a card like this?? What's with this pool and its obsession with Herta?"
'Jingliu' couldn't help but complain.
Cute, though, definitely cute.
It'd definitely be an easy way to earn emotional energy too.
But if she had to role-play as her, she wondered how Herta would react.
Wait, wasn't Herta too busy lately to pay her any mind?
A mischievous grin suddenly spread across 'Jingliu's' face.
She'd play Herta, while the real Herta was away.
This moment, wasn't it exactly like that moment?
Might as well pull another stunt for Madam Herta.
Since she wasn't going back to Herta Space Station anytime soon, why not arrange a 'surprise' for her there?
Call it the "Herta Completion Project."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL