Good news: Herta's no longer in an angry state. At least we avoided an actual fight.
Bad news: because she was embarrassed and furious, she went full red-hot. If I don't hit the road now, I'm definitely gonna get seriously tuned up.
"Bai—Ming—!!"
That summoning cry, laced with utter humiliation and sounding like a demon from hell, came mixed with a blanket of beam attacks, slamming down viciously toward where 'Little Herta' stood!
BOOM!
This time, 'Little Herta' didn't look back. She just turned tail and bolted.
"I'm making my move now, Big Sister Herta!! No need to see me off!"
"...Don't. Call me that?!!"
With Herta's shout, the firepower level kicked up another notch.
'Little Herta' was speechless. Calling you sister and you're still not happy? What, you'd rather I called you mom or something?
Even though her mind was full of complaints, 'Little Herta's' running speed didn't slow down one bit.
Because the massive spike in the emotion value on her panel told her that Madam Herta's emotional volatility was even greater than before.
So, when it's time to run, you run.
And because Herta had sealed the space and countered the Phase Flame, 'Little Herta', unable to long-distance teleport, could only rely on those gravitational ice skates, trying to blast out of Herta City and head for the nearest warp track.
But Herta had no intention of letting her off.
"Still running?!"
"Then stop chasing!"
Explosions and firelight spread from one end of Herta City to the other.
They even followed 'Little Herta's' figure, all the way out into space.
But in the end, she still managed to board the Star Rail, and with just those shoes on her feet, she warped away.
"Tch, ran fast enough."
Herta watched 'Little Herta' vanish as a streak of light, clicking her tongue.
She flipped over and sat down on her staff.
Truth be told, if she really wanted to catch her, she could have.
But Herta could also tell that this girl was actually just going along with being chased.
After all, this one's true strength—others might not know, but Herta did.
Of course, if it were still like before, Herta definitely would have gladly accepted and strung 'Little Herta' up from the ceiling for a beating.
The main point was that 'Big Sister' thing was really getting to Herta.
It made her genuinely go a bit red-hot. So, half-pushed, half-acquiescing, she used this as an excuse to back down.
Otherwise, if she actually caught her and saw her up close, wouldn't that let that girl see her expression even more clearly?
"Whew..."
Letting out a sigh on the spot, Madam Herta turned her head to look towards Herta City.
After the culprit left, with no target to focus on, Herta naturally started thinking again.
She recalled what 'Little Herta' had said when she first saw her.
According to her, that strange halo the puppets were wearing probably had some peculiar effects.
Also, being able to make the puppets willingly cooperate with 'Little Herta's' actions meant she must have shown them something real to convince them.
"Fine, let me see just what kind of stunt this girl has pulled this time."
Returning to Herta City, which remained completely unscathed even after the consecutive bombings, Herta walked with interest up to that projection.
Without ceremony, she pinched the halo above the projection's head, then casually pointed at one of the puppets:
"You, come tell me exactly what kind of trouble Bai Ming has caused this time."
The puppet she pointed at looked super excited.
Because for them, cooperating with the experiment and successfully 'becoming Herta' was something to be proud of, something they wanted Herta to praise them for.
So, seeing Herta was interested in knowing, this puppet immediately started talking nonstop about everything that had happened over the past few days.
As she listened, Herta started to feel something was off.
This thing... might actually have a bit of clever thinking behind it.
It supplemented every puppet connected to the system, making them become slices of the 'Madam Herta' they held in their hearts.
Then, through the system's integration, all those slices formed by the puppets merged into the 'Genius Herta' everyone yearned for.
And what was even more interesting was that this system didn't alter the puppets' essence at all.
They remained high-precision AIs.
After putting on this system, it was as if they were truly performing a 'self-coronation'.
And the final result was this 'Simulated Herta' standing before her.
Putting aside the antics of that Bai Ming, and being fair, Herta was now genuinely curious to see just how much the 'Herta' created by the puppets compared to her real self.
So, Herta held her staff with one hand and stamped it on the ground.
Looking at all the puppets, she announced loudly: "Since that Bai Ming told you that any puppet could merge into this simulated genius body and briefly become Herta, let me test just how qualified you are to be Herta!"
The puppets were stunned for a moment, then immediately grasped Herta's meaning.
And soon enough, jubilant cheers echoed throughout Herta City.
Even though Herta's tone wasn't polite, the very fact that she acknowledged the individual they created and decided to compete with her meant that at least the 'Madam Herta' simulated by the puppets had passed Herta's initial review.
And given Madam Herta's level of narcissism, for any project related to herself, her review standards were always the highest.
In other words, with Bai Ming's help, the puppets had actually gained Herta's recognition.
How could such a result not excite the puppets?
--+--
Meanwhile, 'Little Herta', who had hastily fled Herta City, glanced at her panel:
--+--
[Role-Playing System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Little Herta)]
[Lifespan: 1200 Years (Paused) + 27 Days (Role-Playing)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (Usable), Acheron (Usable), Celenova (Usable), Jingliu (Usable), Ruan Mei (Charge: 94.1%), Sparkle (Charge: 84.8%), Hertatomb (Charge: 45.5%), Cyrene · Fuli (Charge: 1.9%), Lord Ravager · Jingliu (Charge: 7.2%), Little Herta (Currently Playing)]
[Available Draws: 0 (75.3%)]
--+--
Just in that short time of being chased, the emotion value jumped like it was free.
The fleeing 'Little Herta' headed straight for the Land of Light, arriving at Divine Herta's lab.
As soon as she landed, 'Little Herta' clutched her chest and let out a long sigh of relief: "Whew... Herta didn't follow. Looks like that barrage earlier actually worked."
"You managed to piss Herta off again? How do you manage to get another version of me angry every single time?"
"She's the one who flies off the handle... It feels like everything I do makes her mad."
Divine Herta, draped in a high-quality white lab coat, looking every bit the researcher, walked up to 'Little Herta'.
And before she could even reply, Divine Herta reached out with interest and pinched 'Little Herta's' cheek:
"Whoa, this time it's me from when I was little, huh. Mmm~ so cute, let me get a good look~"
Crouching down, holding 'Little Herta's' face and looking left and right, Divine Herta continued asking:
"So, what did you do this time?"
"I united all of Herta's puppets, gathered their collective thoughts, and made a 'Simulated Herta' that fits every puppet's ideal."
"Pfft..."
Even Divine Herta couldn't hold it together when she heard that.
You're basically tap-dancing all over Herta's minefield here—where did you get the guts to think Herta wouldn't get mad??
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL