Chapter 486 Marry Acheron - 486

Sylvia hadn't given it much thought before, but now that she'd drawn the gaze of the Aeon of The Hunt, she was surprised to find that it made sense.

After all, such a powerful weapon of The Hunt had appeared out of nowhere. Of course the Reignbow Arbiter would find that strange. Had that heavy stomp just now been a warning?

Sylvia couldn't say for sure. Still, she'd only had one bullet, so there shouldn't be a second incident like this. She let out a long sigh of relief, withdrew her dragon form, and took off her mask.

Looking at the battered platform, she called Asta and asked her to send someone over to repair it. As for the cost, Sylvia wasn't short on money these days. She wouldn't need to ask the little rich girl to cover the bill. They'd have to find another platform for the Astral Express to dock at first, though.

--+--

Meanwhile, in an unknown star system, a spaceship sat parked on a barren asteroid.

Inside the ship, Polka Kakamond sat in a chair, lost in thought.

Her latest operation had failed.

Polka Kakamond had set out to destroy the Simulated Universe and, if possible, kill Sylvia. Yet the results were plain to see. The Simulated Universe hadn't suffered any damage, and Sylvia was still alive and well.

The problem lay with that woman named Sylvia.

Her power had stopped working.

To be precise, whenever Sylvia entered the range of Polka Kakamond's ability, that ability would cease to function.

By eliminating every unknown factor, Polka could construct a realm where everything was known—a domain of omniscience. Within this domain, every event and object had already been understood, which meant she could freely determine how events would unfold.

In other words, she could manipulate probability.

That was the principle behind Polka Kakamond's power.

Her ultimate goal was to eliminate all chaos from the universe and bring everything within her domain of omniscience. By anchoring every aspect of existence, she hoped to delay the universe's inevitable end forever.

But Sylvia had shattered that confidence.

It'd all begun during a routine research session not long ago.

Polka Kakamond had observed an individual who might lead the universe toward chaos. The threat was even greater and more dangerous than Herta.

What surprised her, however, was how weak this individual seemed.

She hadn't even earned the favor of an Aeon.

It was almost beyond belief.

Individuals like Herta, who could expand the boundaries of knowledge through their own abilities and introduce chaos into the universe, invariably attracted the attention of Aeons.

Yet Sylvia was different.

She posed an even greater threat than Herta, but she seemed so ordinary.

Polka Kakamond had never encountered anything like it.

Still, understanding the reason could wait. Eliminating the threat came first. She'd decided to strike while Sylvia was still weak.

Unfortunately, the improbable events Polka manipulated had failed to affect Sylvia.

In fact, even when Sylvia's life hung by a thread, she never seemed to notice the danger. Every single time, some absurd stroke of luck would carry her to safety.

Polka had tried several times, and every attempt had ended in failure.

Meanwhile, Sylvia had continued to grow stronger. Again and again, her power had increased until she'd reached the point where she could suppress even Zephyro.

And today's failure had been the most ridiculous of all.

Not only had her probability-based attacks failed, but even her domain of omniscience had collapsed. The moment she extended it over Sylvia, the domain she'd taken such pride in had vanished without a sound.

Her domain of omniscience had become a domain of the unknowable.

An element of chaos had been forced into her carefully ordered world, causing her methods to fall apart.

Without her domain's support, how could Polka Kakamond hope to contend with three geniuses on their home turf using only her own strength?

After a brief test, she'd realized just how badly the operation had failed and retreated without hesitation.

"Sylvia... What kind of twisted existence is that woman?"

Simply by standing there, Sylvia could introduce an unknown variable and break apart her domain of omniscience.

It was impossible.

It meant Sylvia's very existence represented a chaotic variable that couldn't be understood or analyzed.

For a living being within the universe, that was almost unthinkable. Merely existing was enough to embody unknowable chaos.

What in the world was Sylvia?

In Polka Kakamond's eyes, the woman had become some kind of indescribable monster.

Unless she uncovered Sylvia's secrets, every plan she'd made and every dream she'd pursued would be ruined.

"Perhaps I'll have to go there myself."

Polka Kakamond wasn't someone who'd sit around waiting for disaster. If she encountered a problem, she'd solve it.

If Sylvia's existence was itself a chaotic variable, then all she had to do was erase that existence.

And if her domain of omniscience didn't work, she'd find another way to assassinate her.

Polka Kakamond hadn't spent all these years hunting down the universe's unpredictable variables by relying on one ability alone. She'd never neglected her combat training, and she'd continued to develop all manner of weapons designed to kill geniuses.

After all, she knew exactly what kind of opponents she faced.

These were people whose intellect stood at the very peak of the universe. There was no telling what absurd inventions a genius might pull out of their pocket.

That was why Polka remained confident that even without her domain of omniscience, her combat ability wouldn't fall short of anyone else's.

But just as Polka Kakamond made up her mind to depart—

Beyond the asteroid, a bullet came hurtling through space.

It'd crossed an unknown number of light-years, carrying a brilliant yet deadly radiance as it flew straight toward Polka Kakamond's head!

The bullet transformed into an arrow of light imbued with the power of The Hunt. The instant Polka noticed it, the projectile tore through space, passed the asteroid, and pierced the spaceship's hull and shields.

The beautiful bullet spun through the air, heading straight for the genius's vitals!

"The Hunt?!"

Polka Kakamond's face went pale with shock.

Why was she being attacked by The Hunt?

Her movements had always been unpredictable. Even Screwllum's reverse trace could, at best, identify the star system she was in. That was an enormous area. How could someone pinpoint her exact location with a single bullet?

Who'd done this?

Polka Kakamond stared at the approaching projectile.

In the instant before death, countless thoughts raced through her mind. Her powerful combat instincts drove her to thrust out her arm and stab forward with her scalpel.

Her domain of omniscience struggled to perform its intended function. She unleashed its power without restraint, ensuring that the fragile scalpel would strike the incoming arrow of The Hunt.

The instant blade and bullet collided, their opposing forces began to annihilate each other, sending terrifying waves of energy outward.

Even the shockwaves alone were enough to warp and shatter Polka Kakamond's spaceship.

The immense relative speed made the scalpel impossibly sharp. Like a hot knife slicing through butter, it cut the bullet cleanly in two.

But the danger wasn't over.

As the power of The Hunt began to fade, another force erupted from within the bullet.

The two halves accelerated again, breaking straight through the constraints of her domain of omniscience!

Polka Kakamond tried to manipulate probability, forcing the fragments to miss her body.

But despite being split apart and knocked off course, neither fragment missed.

One half struck the wrist of the hand gripping her scalpel.

The force-field shield Polka had hastily constructed failed to protect her. The bullet tore through her right hand and punched through her forearm and shoulder.

Blood evaporated in its wake, and almost her entire right arm vanished.

The other fragment missed Polka Kakamond's heart by a hair's breadth, tearing a massive hole through the left side of her chest.

Blood gushed out. Her left arm had nearly been severed from her body, with little more than bone left to hold it in place.

In the end, the power Sylvia had placed within the bullet couldn't last as long as the power of The Hunt itself. After tearing through Polka Kakamond's flesh and drinking her blood, it faded.

Only the shattered bullet's momentum remained.

The fragments burst out through her body, ripped through the spaceship, and plunged into the asteroid below.

Polka herself was carried along by the sheer force of the impact. She smashed headfirst through a metal panel and crashed into the asteroid, punching straight through it and causing the entire celestial body to break apart.

By then, Polka Kakamond had already lost consciousness.

She drifted through the barren void of space, her fate unknown.

--+--

Meanwhile, aboard Herta Space Station, Sylvia watched as the maintenance crew arrived with their equipment.

Herta's puppet and Mei had also come to the scene.

Looking a little embarrassed, Sylvia apologized to Herta and gave her a quick explanation of what she'd just done.

"I used the location Screwllum gave me to make that bullet of The Hunt lock onto Polka Kakamond. I just don't know why it attracted the gaze of The Hunt."

Herta's interest was piqued.

"Think it'll beat her? And why didn't you show me something that interesting first?!"

"I'm not sure. That bullet looked powerful enough to threaten an Emanator, but... there's no telling what kind of defenses she might have."

Sylvia couldn't promise that one bullet would be enough to eliminate Polka Kakamond.

After all, she had no other combat records to judge its strength by. Whether it could even inflict a serious wound was uncertain.

And after the bullet had traveled such an enormous distance, there was no telling whether Sylvia's luck would still affect it.

Herta didn't seem disappointed.

If the Lord of Silence were that easy to kill, she wouldn't have been able to roam free for so many Amber Eras.

"All right, all right. Screwllum and I need to upgrade the Simulated Universe, so don't head back just yet."

"Will the upgrade be quick this time?"

Judging by the features Herta had described, Sylvia didn't think it would be a simple task.

Herta gave a small laugh.

"It won't take long. We're not rebuilding the whole thing."

She only intended to integrate some of the Scepter system's more advanced structures into the Simulated Universe.

Back when she and Screwllum had first designed it, they'd deliberately included plenty of expansion interfaces. Herta had always expected more geniuses to join the project in the future, so they'd planned ahead.

Those interfaces would let them add new features whenever they wanted.

"Anyway, something else just occurred to me. It's rather interesting."

Herta turned to Sylvia.

"What is it?"

"That creation mentioned at the end of the Simulated Universe, the one that combined the best traits of inorganic and organic life... Don't you think it sounds a lot like the little Herta you created?"

After asking, Herta watched Sylvia with interest, hoping to catch some kind of amusing reaction on her face.

"Does it?"

Sylvia blinked. She genuinely hadn't thought of that.

She'd borrowed the design of Herta's puppets, not Screwllum's technology. And Herta's puppets weren't purely inorganic creations, were they?

"I used your puppet technology as the basis for Little Herta. Besides, her physical abilities don't seem all that impressive."

Sylvia didn't know the exact design philosophy behind Herta's puppets, but she owned one herself. From what she'd seen, their raw strength wasn't anywhere near that of the finest mechanical creations.

Instead, their design seemed to place more emphasis on lifelike features and flexibility.

"The point isn't how impressive her abilities are. It's the perfect fusion of flesh and machinery."

Herta had noticed Little Herta's unusual traits long ago. At the time, she'd merely raised the project's confidentiality level and hadn't given it much more thought.

But what if—

It was only a theory, of course.

What if the core of the Scepter system required precisely that kind of being?

Countless laboratories had used the Scepter system to develop all sorts of intelligent creations.

Yet out of all those projects, the Scepters had chosen the one individual who attempted to combine inorganic intelligence with organic life.

Was that truly a random choice?

Even accounting for Polka Kakamond's interference, the fact that such a creation had been among the possible choices suggested there was something special about it.

The Simulated Universe had selected that particular point in history for a reason.

And it was precisely that unusual individual the Scepter system had chosen, nearly succeeding in reviving the Emperor.

If that was the case...

What about the little child who'd appeared in their lives?

Might she also be chosen one day?

Herta frowned. She didn't like making speculative connections like this.

"The IPC has been on guard against the emergence of a third Emperor for a long time. Most people have focused their attention on Screwllum, but..."

After witnessing a similar being get chosen in the Simulated Universe, Herta couldn't help considering the possibility.

That was her child!

Sure, Herta found raising children troublesome and had left almost all the work to Asta.

But that didn't mean she'd accept having her own child corrupted by some outside force.

Sylvia's expression grew serious after hearing Herta's concerns.

She felt much the same way. Like Herta, she didn't have much time to spend raising a child, but that didn't mean she didn't care.

"For now, she'll be fine as long as she stays on the space station. You're the one who needs to be careful when you take her out in the future."

Herta wasn't worried about her child being infected while she remained on the station. This was Herta's territory, after all.

But with Sylvia as her father, Little Herta would almost certainly end up traveling aboard the Astral Express someday.

When that happened, Sylvia would have to pay close attention.

"I will."

Sylvia nodded with a serious expression.

"All right, that's everything. Go entertain yourself."

With that, Herta's puppet walked over to a corner and entered standby mode.

Sylvia, meanwhile, exchanged contact information with the head of the maintenance crew so they could send her a quote once they'd assessed the damage.

Money wasn't an issue anyway. When the bill arrived, she could just forward it to The Family, who'd reimburse her for the repairs.

--+--