Okhema.
Rattle, rattle—
Castorice slowly pushed the wheelchair, taking her younger sister on a stroll through the streets. Even though Polysia had no memories connected to this place, the sense of familiarity wrapped around her, and she enjoyed it immensely.
Polysia's lips curled upward. The air here was so different from that of the underworld—it had been so long since she'd felt anything like this.
"Sis, what have you been doing all these years?" Polysia asked curiously.
"Uh…"
Castorice's expression turned awkward. Aside from joining the Flame-Chasing journey, she had spent her time writing those taboo novels. It was really hard to say out loud—especially to her own little sister.
Knowing her sister all too well, Polysia teased, "Sis, don't you have some masterpieces? You could share a few with me, you know."
Castorice said nothing and simply sped up her pace.
"A pleasure to meet you, Polysia, little sister of Castorice. Welcome to Okhema." Aglaea greeted the Titan of Death warmly.
"Hello, romantic demigod. Miss Aglaea, thank you for looking after my sister all these years." Polysia replied softly.
Castorice was speechless. Was she really that untrustworthy in her sister's eyes?
"Hehe, Castorice doesn't need that much looking after from us." Aglaea chuckled.
Now that the cat she'd raised had come home, Aglaea's humanity had returned by quite a bit. Smiling was no longer such a rare event.
The parasites in the Senate had already been purged under the baptism of Judgment; they would no longer cause trouble.
"Do you need me to arrange a place for you to live?" Aglaea asked.
"Lady Aglaea, there's no need to trouble you with something so small. We can make our own arrangements." Castorice declined. She didn't want to impose.
"All right. If you need anything, just tell us."
Seeing that, Aglaea did not press further.
Castorice then took Polysia back to her own room.
When Castorice saw her "masterpieces," a rare panic flashed across her face.
"Eh, Sis, what's this?" Polysia picked up a book and asked with a grin.
Just as she suspected—this was absolutely in line with what she knew of her sister.
Castorice's cheeks reddened. She quickly wheeled Polysia out of the room and then started tidying up in a fluster.
She had always lived alone. Because of her aura of death, hardly anyone ever entered her room, so naturally those things had never been put away.
"Heeheehee…"
Polysia beamed. It was wonderful—her sister hadn't changed at all.
…
"Any discoveries?"
Koji had found the two geniuses who had gone deep into the core of Amphoreus. The fact that neither of them, even working together, could fully break into it—that was what was truly astonishing.
Herta, the Erudition representative, had built up countless achievements.
Screwllum, the king of the intelligentsia machines, was no less impressive. In the Amphoreus storyline, Khaslana had carried more than four hundred million coreflames, yet Screwllum's projection alone had been able to pin him down.
When Lygus set up communications jamming, Screwllum simply used that interference as punctuation marks, transmitting information without the slightest delay.
"Conclusion: After the Emperor's Scepters on Amphoreus were abandoned by Nous, they continued to simulate the First Cause of life. A certain destroyed Aeon took a liking to this and grew increasingly eager to annihilate Nous. The world being computed here is essentially a training ground for countering the Path of Erudition." Screwllum said calmly.
Still, for a mere representative to drag an Aeon down from its throne was a beautiful dream and a harsh reality.
Nous, who had calculated all possibilities, could not have failed to foresee this step. He simply couldn't be bothered to care.
Aeons were bound by primal forces and would not normally harbor many other thoughts. Even if he knew this would end in his own destruction, the Aeon of Erudition would not intervene to stop it.
"Even if a single representative can't directly destroy the Mechanical Head, weakening him enough for Nanook to finish the job is still possible." Herta remarked casually.
There were only a few ways for an Aeon to fall.
First, war between gods—battles between Aeons. For example, the Amber Lord had shattered the propagation Aeon Tayzzyronth with three hammer blows.
Second, straying from one's Path. The immortal Aeon was probably felled for forsaking the Path of Immortality.
However, if any Aeon was most likely to die, the Aeon of the Hunt would top the list. The Path was too narrow—and abundance never struck back. If it had been some other Aeon in the same situation, abundance would have been beaten to death long ago.
The Xianzhou Alliance might look formidable, but it was far from united on the inside, and they had made far too many enemies.
When the Hunt resolved the abundant creatures, the collateral damage to innocent bystanders had been immense. Even within the Xianzhou Alliance, there were plenty of people who disliked the Hunt. The Hunt's attacks didn't distinguish between friend and foe—it wasn't unheard of for their own side to get caught in the crossfire.
…
"Where's Lygus?" Koji nodded. The efficiency of these two really was high.
"Heh, that machine? Completely useless." Herta snorted.
Across more than thirty million cycles, the Iron Tomb could have been successfully born in the very first run, but Lygus had popped the champagne early. By letting Khaslana and Cyrene learn the truth behind it all, he'd triggered countless loops and left the progress bar stuck forever at 99.81%.
Put simply, the birth of the annihilation sovereign known as the Iron Tomb had become a case of cosmic difficult labor.
Barring some special intervention, the probability of the Iron Tomb actually being born was extremely, extremely low.
If a representative were to be forever unable to appear in the world because of blunders like this, Aha's laughter would probably shred the universe.
"This place is quite nice—like a Simulated Universe. A sandbox running continuous iterations so the Iron Tomb can keep learning." Herta was more than satisfied with the gains.
…
Once they got back, the Simulated Universe could definitely use another upgrade.
"What do you think of the people of this world?" Koji asked.
Herta replied evenly, "They're lifeforms born of data simulations, but they haven't yet been elevated into true life."
"Still, for one of the Remembered Aeons to take notice, that Cyrene girl does have something to her."
Screwllum said with a cultured air, "They can be considered a type of inorganic life, yet they possess the passions and emotions of organic beings. Their sparks of life have been kindled—truly praiseworthy."
"If you have any more questions, ask them now. Otherwise, we'll go back to dismantling this Emperor's Scepters device." Herta said.
It had been many years since she'd laid hands on this thing. Now was the perfect chance to study it.
Koji shook his head.
"Rin, can you go any deeper?"
On Vill-V's side, she hadn't been idle either. With Rin's authority over corrosion, she was probing Amphoreus in her own way.
"Of course, Vill-V. There's no problem. It's just that there are already two people at the core, so I didn't go all the way in." Rin replied.
As the Herrscher of Corrosion, she moved through the data-space like a fish in water—nothing there could truly bar her path.
If she wished, she could seize control of this entire space outright.
"Incredible. That's the power of corrosion for you."
Vill-V praised her. The power of corrosion really didn't play fair at all.
Especially after Koji had strengthened it—the corrosive authority had become terrifyingly powerful and troublesome. The vast majority of intelligentsia machines could not resist it in the slightest.
(End of Chapter)
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