"Oh~ this is Rhodes Island? I thought it would be more futuristic..."
"It's really incongruous for you to say that. Shouldn't you be the one who knows it best?"
"It's because Hypergryph is reluctant to draw character illustrations; they keep changing the same few images of internal structures."
Babel Tower, inside Rhodes Island --
Vera strolled across the deck, touring the vessel that held such significance for her, with Lucky (Vane) on her shoulder.
Lucky flicked its wings and flew into the air.
"It's really big, but there aren't enough people. I haven't seen any familiar faces yet."
"It's just you who's familiar with it. Stay put and don't cause any trouble."
"What nonsense! I'm just a small, cute little bat, what trouble could I possibly cause?"
"... Do you really have to set your voice like this?"
Vane, who knew Vera's true nature well, felt deeply uncomfortable hearing the deliberately childlike voice he used.
"And with your current state, if you had Immortal Body, changing your form would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?"
"I'll dress up occasionally so you can see me at high frame rates."
Lucky wrapped its body with its wings, and the black sphere bounced twice on the ground.
"Staying the same way all the time is tiring; it puts a lot of strain on your graphics card!"
"... Hopefully, that walnut-sized brain won't affect your IQ."
Vera sighed, picked Lucky, and walked down the gangway.
"After all, next... we have to go see that [evil spirit]."
"Are you there, Doctor?"
"Come in, Your Highness, it's not time to rest now."
Pushing open the door, a towering stack of documents filled Theresa's view.
She walked around the desk and finally saw the Doctor surrounded by documents.
"... Aren't there a lot of these documents?"
"Not many, just processed documents that you need to review again."
"All?"
The Doctor nodded, Theresa resignedly picked up the documents and went to another desk.
"Doctor, you can finish reading it after you've done it, and so can Kal'tsit... Why do I always have to read it again?"
"You are the leader of the Babel Tower, and that will not change. Besides, you need to know what happened while you were gone."
"... But I'll be leaving soon."
The scratching sound of the pen on the paper stopped, and the Doctor looked up at the figure behind the desk.
The afternoon sun slanted in, illuminating the hem of her skirt, but not the shadow between her brows.
He knew why the king was worried.
The Flame Demon... a race that should have vanished from history has returned to the Daichi.
Even though everyone was pessimistic, the merciful demon king still intended to go and communicate.
"... Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes, someone has to extinguish the Avengers' rage."
"You should tell everyone, regardless of their perspective."
"I know everyone is uneasy about the recent changes in Kazdel," Theresa, her eyes lowered.
Even so, are you still going to choose to keep it a secret?
"Isn't that a bit willful?" Theresa sighed.
"I hope everyone won't hold a grudge against me then..."
They won't hate you; they'll only hate their own powerlessness.
The Doctor lowered his head, unsure whether he was referring to the operators or himself.
That's precisely why I can't tell everyone.
Theresa flipped through the documents, looking at the various small events that had recently occurred in Babel Tower, and her smile returned.
"Babel Tower needs them, Kazdel needs them."
"Whether it's the Flame Demon or the Sarkaz, the people of this Daichi have suffered far too much. The suffering will never end unless someone is willing to step out of hatred."
"But that person doesn't have to be you..."
"That's not like something you'd say, Doctor."
Theresa looked up, her eyes filled with concern.
Are you tired?
"... How do you plan to ensure the survival of civilization?"
Without answering Theresa's question, the Doctor changed the subject.
"Crown, Doctor, would you be willing to help keep it safe?"
"Crown without a master will automatically seek out the most suitable person; it's a program that was set from the beginning, and even I cannot change it."
The Doctor shook his head, rejecting Theresa's suggestion, his gaze towards the Crown quite complex.
"But now, its symbolic meaning outweighs its practical meaning."
Over the long course of time, the Crown has accumulated too much useless data, and the brilliant knowledge stored within it has also been buried, making it difficult to find any trace of.
Moreover...
"The Crown has never been important; it records the history of civilization, but it has always been just a sample."
"Terra civilization must forge its own path, otherwise... it will only repeat the tragedy of the losers."
Sensing the sadness emanating from the Doctor, Theresa tried to change the subject.
"Speaking of which, could we consider Crown as books that record civilization?"
"That's one way to look at it, but its role goes far beyond that."
As expected, when it came to explaining the knowledge, the Doctor regained his composure.
"So, are there no templates for such books? Or rather... are there no backups?"
"A backup?" The Doctor's voice sounded somewhat doubtful.
"Of course not. The continuation of civilization will not be disrupted, and its internal space is sufficient to store the information of the entire civilization... Why do you think that?"
That's because...
Thump thump thump--
The knocking interrupted Theresa. She looked at the door in confusion, then at the Doctor.
"The guest with the appointment has arrived," the Doctor explained.
"Please come in, Miss Vera."
The door opened, Vera arrived as promised.
The first meeting between humans from two different worlds was marked by scrutiny and curiosity in the eyes of both sides.
"You're the Doctor? I've heard so much about you."
"Me too, leader of the Golden Storm."
Vera's face stiffened, feeling a sudden discomfort at the shameful title.
By observing the other party's reaction, the Doctor gained some confidence in his next recruitment attempt.
"Miss Vera, let us..."
"I'm sorry, Doctor."
Vera interrupted the Doctor and looked at Theresa, who was standing to the side.
Can we talk alone?
"Strictly speaking, Theresa is the true owner of the Babel Tower," the Doctor tried to remind her.
"Yes, of course I know."
Vera shook her head, her expression becoming even more serious.
"Perhaps I should put it another way."
"Let's talk alone... Prophet."
"Doctor!?"
Theresa gasped in surprise at the intense emotion emanating from the Doctor.
No, I'm fine.
Raising his hand to indicate that he was alright, the Doctor slowly stood up, staring intently at Vera.
"Excuse me, Your Highness, could we have some private time?"
"... I won't go too far."
"Thanks."
Theresa glanced at the two of them with concern, then got up and left.
Please sit down.
The two sat facing each other.
The desktop wasn't spacious, and several unfiled documents were piled up in the middle.
The Doctor pushed them aside, making room for a clean table.
"Tea?" the Doctor asked.
"No need," Vera shook her head. "Let's get straight to the point."
The Doctor nodded, about to speak—
"Wow! Your Highness is much prettier than in the character portrait! She's practically a mother's daughter!"
On Vera's shoulder, the bat that the Doctor thought was a toy bat Lucky its wings and flew away.
"The Beast Lord?" the Doctor thought instinctively.
"No, no, I'm not that kind of thing."
Lucky (Vane) flapped its wings and clung to the Doctor's mask, startling the Doctor so much that he leaned back.
"Looks like your eyes aren't anything special. Is your body really just like a normal person's?"
"Wait..."
"By the way, are you a boy or a girl? Your voice sounds like a boy's, right? How old are you? Do you count the time you spend sleeping? Does that mean you're some kind of ancient old man?"
"You'd better stop now!"
Vera slammed her fist down, Lucky was stuck to the table like a pancake, only bouncing back to its original shape after two seconds.
"Excuse me," Vera said expressionlessly, withdrawing her fist. "This guy isn't quite right in the head."
"... fine."
Seeing that the other party didn't seem to care, Vera breathed a sigh of relief and began to explain their origins.
UHHH...
"So," the Doctor said, resting his head on his hands, understanding dawning on him.
"You come from another world."
He spoke so calmly that Vera couldn't help but ask him a question.
Aren't you surprised?
"I am indeed somewhat surprised," the Doctor nodded.
"But the spatial structure of this planet is inherently unstable... Although the probability is extremely small, the intersection of different worlds is not impossible."
Vera was speechless. She had thought she would have to spend a lot of time explaining their origins, and was even prepared for the other party not to believe her.
But the Doctor's reaction was much more subdued than she had expected.
"So... how did you obtain my information?"
A probing gaze fell upon her, and Vera was about to explain—
"Still don't you recognize what I am?"
Lucky jumped up from the table, and the Doctor shook his head.
"Really? If Lu knew you couldn't even recognize her creation, wouldn't she cry?"
The Doctor's fingers tightened suddenly.
"Land?"
The sea-blue hair, the quiet eyes—my colleague's face, which I hadn't seen in a long time, became clear in my mind.
"You are... Seaborn?"
The Doctor's voice sounded somewhat incredulous; Seaborn's transformation far exceeded his expectations.
"To be precise, this body contains components of Seaborn."
"I see. So it was information obtained from the Deep Blue Tree? I didn't expect... Lu would have recorded our information there."
The Doctor didn't ask how they came into contact with the Deep Blue Tree, and Vane didn't explain either.
Some misunderstandings are much easier to accept than the truth.
The Doctor looked up, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Vera and Lucky.
"I think I understand why you've come. You want to find out how to get back through me?"
Finally, they got to the main point, and the four people on the same communication channel suddenly tensed up.
"May I?"
Vera's voice was soft, with a hint of pleading.
"Terribly sorry..."
It's getting dark...
The moment the Doctor uttered those words, the bright sunshine was obscured by dark clouds.
As if sensing something, beings everywhere suddenly shivered.
"Although I have the methods, I no longer have the ability to implement them."
The dark clouds dispersed, sunlight streamed in, and Vera said hoarsely:
"... What's the meaning?"
Having broken free from that strange atmosphere, the Doctor said regretfully:
"In the past, we could have used Star Gate to locate your home planet, and even anchored time to send you back to the point in time you left."
"But our civilization has vanished, the Star Gate is Destruction, and even another part of this planet's space has been occupied by a group of monsters."
"The civilization on this Daichi is already struggling to survive. It has exhausted all its strength to fight those disasters, and there is no extra power or resources to repair the Star Gate."
The Doctor's voice sounded somewhat helpless, and also somewhat guilty.
Perhaps he shouldn't have spoken up; the shattering of hope is more cruel than a decisive rejection...
Seeing Vera's silence, the Doctor lowered his head.
But--
[Vera: It works! The Star Gate really can send us back!]
[Gregor: Can we still anchor time? Can we... go back to when we left!?]
[Gorth: What about your body? Is there any way to fix your physical condition!?]
[Vane: Calm down, I already said the Star Gate is Destruction at this stage, don't get your hopes up too high...]
[Not important!] x3
[Vera: Since the person is still alive, the knowledge of restoration has not been lost either.]
[Gregor: The monster occupying the space, is it the Demons that the fourth brother mentioned?]
[Gregor: If they're in the way of getting home, then they must be swept away!]
[Gorth: Are the resources of one country enough to repair the Star Gate? What about two? Or do we need the entire continent?]
[Vane: So everyone calm down!]
The problem of the Demons is not so easy to solve. The Star Gate is more of a reconstruction than a repair. Although the Doctor is a member of the Precivilization, he may not necessarily be in charge of the Star Gate project.
[Vane:... Anyway, calm down.]
[...]x3
[Vera: Besides the Doctor, are there other Precivilization humans who possess this knowledge?]
[Vane: Priestess, still asleep; Friston, who was transformed into artificial intelligence in the Preserver Project; they are the only ones left.]
[Vane: But the Preserver Project still has hundreds of thousands of "failures," and it's currently uncertain whether their bodies will be preserved. If necessary... we could try to resurrect them.]
[Vera: I... I'll give it a try.]
[Gregor: What kind of monster is this Demons? Is it impossible for us to defeat it with our current strength?]
[Vane:... Their existence is too complex. Simply put: a monster that doesn't exist in any material form, capable of devouring fear and polluting reality.]
[Vane: Not only that, their existence is quite vast. The Terra civilization is currently facing only a small portion of the true enemy, which is backed by the entire Warp Space.]
[Gregor: Can he be killed?]
[Vane: There have been cases, such as granting the concept of existence to the Sui Beast through its illusory and real powers, or like the endless cycle of the Twin Kings, but these are far from actually killing it.]
[Vera: Why would the game developers create a monster that's practically impossible to defeat!?]
Seeing the emotion practically leaping off the screen, Vane gritted his teeth and said:
[Vane: Seaborn! Seaborn, with its infinite evolution, has the potential to surpass even the Demons. Combined with your infinite energy, boss... it's feasible!]
[Gorth: What about the resources to repair the Star Gate? Is the resource supply on this Daichi... no, on this planet, sufficient?]
[Vane: That's enough! I told you to calm down, we still have the Magic Stone as a route!]
[Vane: Didn't the Doctor say that the Precivilization could anchor time? No matter how long we stay here, we can return to the point in time we left!]
[Vane: So... don't rush, okay?]
[Gregor:... Sorry.]
[Vera: We got emotional.]
[Gorth: I'll listen to you this time.]
While the four were engaged in a heated discussion, the Doctor felt guilty about the silence and tried to comfort them.
"Perhaps I can try to help you..."
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but the Doctor couldn't bring himself to say them.
What kind of help? Help them get back to their homes?
What an irony...
Having long since lost his home, what right does he have to promise to help them?
The Doctor slowly lowered his raised hand, and the memories of the day he awoke from the Sarcophagus resurfaced.
Humans stand before the instruments, repeating useless operations time and time again, receiving only cold, impersonal programs in response.
[Search: Saver... No signal.]
[Search: Deep Blue Tree... No signal.]
[Search: Paradise Pivot... No signal.]
[(Unknown noise)... No signal.]
[Search complete, no signal across all frequency bands, would you like to retry?]
In that Daichi where civilization had not yet been established, all the sounds of home fell silent.
[No response...]
[Just me...]
As if losing all support, the Doctor's raised hand suddenly fell.
But before it could return, another pair of warm hands cradled it.
Vera grasped the Doctor's hand, and in those eyes, the Doctor saw a familiar look.
"Doctor..."
"You may not believe it, but we can prove it to you."
"As long as we can find our home--"
"All the resources of this planet are at your disposal. If you wish, we can destroy any enemy you desire. All power is at your disposal."
"If you wish, you are welcome to treat us as your compatriots, and we will treat you like family."
"So..."
Vera stood up, casting a shadow over the Doctor.
"Please come to us..."
Boom--!!!