Seeing Herta's displeasure, Sunday hurried to smooth things over:
"Mr. Screwllum means that the Amphoreus Ms. Herta entered might have been a perceptual barrier constructed by Laigushi... something like the power of Harmony?"
Herta gave them both a speechless look.
"To alter my perception without my noticing... even an Emanator of Harmony might not manage that."
"Screwllum, are you saying the world I reached was only a firewall?"
"Precisely." Screwllum nodded calmly.
"And I fear it was no ordinary firewall."
"Amphoreus used space as its first barrier. For Ms. Herta, crossing it was effortless."
"But the second barrier... was time."
At that, Welt seemed to realize something.
"I see."
"Ms. Herta said she saw afterimages of two Nameless in Amphoreus. They looked like both residual Memoria and data projections."
"In that case, even if we enter Amphoreus, we may not be on the same timeline as them."
Sunday said calmly:
"Mr. Welt, look on the bright side. At least this suggests their Trailblaze has gone fairly well."
"The two Nameless are exceptionally capable. Even on such a strange planet, I'm sure they'll be safe."
Welt frowned slightly.
"But now that Intellitron named Laigushi claims... Amphoreus also holds a sealed Great-Eradicator."
"We faced the Great-Eradicator Huanlong on the Xianzhou and learned more about them afterward."
"I don't know whether the Destruction brewing in secret behind Amphoreus comes from Burning Wind, Celenova, or Iron Tomb, whose names are known throughout the universe, or from a Great-Eradicator like Huanlong, still unknown to the wider world."
"But whichever it is... if it breaks loose, countless lives will be lost."
Herta smiled at Welt's concern.
"Heh. From that angle, perhaps Amphoreus is a safe-deposit box."
"After all, if three forces tied to Paths, each at Emanator level or higher, collide, the result will pack far