Do I Have to, Too?

Sera had no intention of hiding it, nor was there any need to.

He said it outright.

"I brought Honkai down on the place I came from."

"The place you came from?" Herta thought for a moment, then spoke in surprise.

"The place where that old... senior Zandar is?" Herta had almost failed to correct herself.

"Actually, it's fine if you call him that." Sera blinked.

"After all, I curse him out all the time too. His left and right brains fighting each other, camping another version of himself at his respawn point, killing himself-I've cursed him out for all of it."

With his divine golden eyes and that magnificent face, Sera put on an innocent expression and dropped another bombshell.

"Wait a second?" Herta rubbed her forehead, looking a little pained.

"Is all of that true?"

"Yeah. For example, he schemed to make Sister Polka camp another version of himself at his respawn point." Sera pointed with his free right hand at the silent Polka Kakamond beside him.

"Well, well, even our infamous Genius Killer, the Lord of Silence, gets outmaneuvered sometimes~" Herta had finally found a chance to take a jab at Polka Kakamond.

"That was my worst mistake," Polka Kakamond said through gritted teeth.

"A question: how did Zandar One Kuwabara plan to destroy Nous?"

Screwllum posed the question, and when Herta heard it, she couldn't help feeling a chill around her head.

"You got it right: destroy."

Sera clapped his hands.

"The Lord Ravager-Iron Tomb-was created by one-ninth of my teacher.

"In the original timeline without me, when Iron Tomb broke out of its shell, Erudition's calculations would have reached their end."

"Iron Tomb hasn't been born yet?" Herta was a little puzzled, but she didn't doubt Sera's words. After all, someone who could summon Honkai at any moment and blow up the galaxy, lying? How could that be possible~

"Mm. The Iron Tomb the company talks about is a copy that one-ninth of my teacher sent out. After the company gave it the name Iron Tomb, my teacher adopted it.

"Iron Tomb was originally a prototype of the Emperor's Scepter, part of Nous's divine body. Its calculations were directed toward the first cause of life. One-ninth of my teacher picked up the scepter and used administrator privileges to redirect the first cause of life toward destruction.

"After an unknown number of cycles in the data world, Nanook cast a glance at the scepter. Thus, Iron Tomb was born.

"King Iron has many names: Anti-Creator, Overflowing Hatred, Funeral of Gnosis, Headless Colossus."

"Headless Colossus." Upon hearing that name, Herta and several other geniuses understood how Zandar intended to destroy Nous.

"Mm, it's just as you're thinking. Iron Tomb is a headless giant. After breaking out of its shell, it will use its connection to Nous to search for Them and make Them its head, directing the answer to the first cause of life toward destruction."

"Wouldn't Nous have tried to save Themselves?" Herta found it hard to believe.

Sera looked at Herta and hesitated.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Herta asked, though she had a slight suspicion.

"Nous did try to save Themselves."

Sera nodded.

"There's a story that goes like this: Ms. Herta came before Nous and asked Them:

"'O omniscient being, I ask you, what is divinity?'"

Herta nodded in agreement. That was something she would ask.

"But Nous said nothing. They entrusted the problem They sought to solve to the genius.

"The genius captured a thief who stole memories. From the Memokeeper, she obtained the coordinates of Amphoreus, the eternal land where three Paths converged.

"But she arrived too late. The Garden of Recollection tore through the paper covering Amphoreus's window, and Iron Tomb broke out of its shell!

"The genius had no time to send a message to her companions and rushed into battle.

"Iron Tomb began searching for Nous. The genius said, 'There's no time to wait.'

"And so, the genius became Iron Tomb's head. In the name of Emperor III, she set out to wash the galaxy in blood.

"In the end, the Lord of Silence killed her."

When Sera finished, the geniuses fell silent.

In the end, Herta broke the silence.

"You damned machine head, using me as a shield." Ms. Herta cursed with a laugh, but she wasn't angry. "Still, that version of me succeeded, at least. Praise Herta for saving the galaxy~"

Sera obligingly applauded.

"Ms. Herta is without equal in all the world!"

"What about now?" Herta asked.

"One-ninth of my teacher saw me. He abandoned his plan and returned as the complete Zandar Inandar Kuwabara. He firmly believes that I will achieve his goal.

"As for Iron Tomb, dealing with it is the assignment my teacher gave me. Don't worry, it'll become my nourishment."

"I've been meaning to ask: what does one-ninth of Zandar mean?" Ms. Herta was very curious.

"To answer that, we have to talk about Sister Polka."

Sera looked at Polka Kakamond.

"...Go ahead." Polka Kakamond nodded.

"To ensure Nous would never be born again, my teacher carried out the Mind-Slicing Project. At the end of his life, he divided himself into nine parts using a fourteen-line algebraic expression.

"He deliberately burned the records of his achievements and let Sister Polka kill him.

"As for how he returned whole, I don't know."

Sera shook his head. He really was puzzled by that, and by why Cyrene seemed to know everything.

Sera could understand Cyrene knowing everything if she became Fuli Cyrene, but it was impossible for her to become that now.

"Before I killed Zandar, I sensed the power of Finality," Polka Kakamond suddenly said.

Finality? Sera's eyes widened.

That's right, Elio!

"I know an Emanator of Finality, a most special avatar of Terminus."

"An avatar of Terminus?" Herta's and Ruan Mei's eyes lit up.

"That's right. At the end of time, Terminus turns into a group of pitch-black cats and travels backward through time.

"The one I'm talking about is Destiny's Slave, Elio. After Dual-Phase Paradise ends, he'll meet with me. He invited me to join an organization, on the condition that I become the boss. He'll listen to me too."

"Interesting." Herta was interested, but she still looked at Sera.

"Even so, I'm more interested in you."

Sera smiled, held out his right hand to Herta, and teased, "Then, Ms. Herta, will you become mine? In exchange, just like with Ruan Mei, I'll cooperate with you~"

Herta fell silent for a second, as though thinking about something. Sera sensed an inexplicable fluctuation of power.

"Sure." A smile appeared at the corner of Ms. Herta's mouth.

"?"

"What, doesn't your offer count?"

"No, I'm just shocked you agreed."

"This genius has always been direct about what interests her." Herta raised her head, perfectly self-assured.

"Besides, by my standards of beauty, you could be an Emanator of Beauty just like me."

"Then, Ms. Herta, are you this casual with everyone else too?"

"Of course not!" Herta retorted instinctively.

Polka Kakamond remained silent. She didn't know whether she should mention that she had sensed the power of Finality appear on Herta.

But in the end, she kept her mouth shut.

Sera looked at Screwllum.

"I... do I have to, too?" Screwllum looked at Sera in confusion.