[In her daze, Stelle furrowed her brows. A pungent odor drilled into her nostrils—like disinfectant spray mixed with cheap tobacco, blended with the acrid smell of burning lubricant. The scent clung stubbornly to the roof of her mouth, refusing to fade.]
["This is..." Stelle rubbed her temples and asked the air beside her.]
["The Simulated Universe." Sure enough, Herta's familiar voice came from beside her ear. "Stephen made some adjustments. Your experience this time will be different from before. Your current identity is the navigator of the Elidishna fleet—in a metaphor you'd understand, you're basically the Himeko of the Astral Express right now."]
["Oh..."]
[Her vision gradually returned. Her hands instinctively felt around beside her and soon touched a yellowed notebook with a worn cover.]
["13th reminder." She murmured the words on the title page. The ink had blurred into a faint blue.]
[The bridge lights flickered like a broken neon sign, casting twisted, worm-like shadows on the metal bulkheads. In the distance came the mechanical footsteps of soldiers, their boot soles sticking to some dark red residue—the corpses of insects. It seemed these soldiers had just returned from the front lines.]
["You're awake."]
[A man in an old-style military uniform stood at the door of the medical pod. Half a wing was missing from the Elidishna badge on his chest. He looked like he hadn't rested in a very long time—his eyes were terrifyingly red, as if countless red spiders were writhing inside.]
[Seeing this man, Herta seemed to remember something: "Oh right, I almost forgot—some memories haven't been imported to you yet." Her voice soon vanished, and Stelle found a bunch of unfamiliar memories suddenly appearing in her mind.]
[The man's identity gradually became clear.]
[He was a leader from the Elidishna military. He suffered from a strange illness that limited his memory to only three days. Before arriving at the Swarm Star, he received a babbling whisper from the depths of space—a babbling whisper also about the Swarm Star.]
[He hoped Stelle could remind him every "three days," so that on his path of conquest, he would not forget that half-deciphered reversed whisper.]
["He initiates conquest; he establishes civilization; he ultimately finds his lost self."]
[Stelle read aloud the blurred words from the notebook.]
——
StarCraft.
Atop the high cliffs of Shakuras, Zeratul's emerald-green eyes gleamed in the shadows. He gazed at the starship on the celestial screen in his mind and searched his memory for the nation called "Elidishna."
"Artanis, these humans are not from the Terran Dominion." Zeratul's voice was low, like wind over dry bones. "If we judge by the Simulated Universe's timeline, this ship likely appeared tens of thousands of years before the current universe."
"A civilization so glorious ten thousand years ago?" A trace of astonishment flashed in Artanis's azure pupils. "Truly remarkable... However, rashly intruding into the Swarm's territory is doomed to destruction."
"Not necessarily, Artanis..." Zeratul raised his hand. Psionic energy condensed at his fingertips, switching the projection to Aiur—their fallen homeland. The tendrils of the hive pulsed like living things across the surface, newborn zerg bursting from the blood-and-flesh creep far faster than ever before.
"Do you see it? The evolution of the zerg... growing ever closer to some 'essence.'" Zeratul's voice carried a heavy premonition. "It is possible that the current zerg are remnants of the former Propagation, and this planet called 'Swarm Star' is the origin point of countless zerg in the universe."
"So I want to know how Propagation was born. If we understand Its origin, perhaps it could help us reclaim Aiur."
——
["These whispers may come from the Aeon of Finality." Herta said in her ear. "Finality is a being that moves against time—both an Aeon and a specter traversing the cosmos, murmuring of destinies that must inevitably come to pass."]
["Isn't that basically just spoiling?"]
["Interpret it however you like." Herta urged impatiently beside her ear. "Have you lain there long enough? Hurry up and leave the medical room—we need to head to the next area."]
[Stelle left the medical room, but her next step did not land in the main control section—instead, she stomped and crushed an insect's head underfoot.]
[In the blink of an eye, she found herself in a twisted dense forest. Towering ancient trees were covered in dense clusters of insect eggs, gleaming with a nauseating hue under the dark red sky.]
["Maintain formation!"]
[A hoarse comms voice came from the helmet's built-in speaker. Stelle looked down to see herself already in full combat gear. Her gloves were covered in glowing green insect blood, which was corroding the fibers and producing wisps of white smoke.]
[All around, insect chirps rose and fell like rusty saws scraping metal. In the distance, each flash of a pulse rifle's blue light illuminated swarms of insect fragments fluttering through the rainforest.]
[This was undoubtedly a massacre.]
[The leader's words appeared in her mind at the right moment. He believed this was an inevitable path of civilization's conquest and asked Stelle to carefully record everything before her eyes.]
——
Overlord.
"They call it civilization, but in reality it's just a bunch of barbarians who only know slaughter."
Ainz carefully observed the insect debris floating everywhere on the celestial screen. He had been waiting for the appearance of Propagation Tayzzyronth, but strangely, even after such massive slaughter on Its homeworld, It still had not appeared.
(So many insects have already died. If Propagation doesn't show up soon, these insects will be completely wiped out. Does It lack normal emotions?)
(Hm... no, we can't judge an Aeon's thoughts with human conventions... Could it be that Propagation isn't watching over Its kin? Or in Propagation's eyes, "death" is insignificant, and only "new birth" under the concept of propagation truly matters?)
After much thought, no answer came. Ainz simply turned his gaze to Cocytus—the only insect among the Floor Guardians.
"Cocytus... do you sense anything?"
"Nothing at all... Lord Ainz." Cocytus replied respectfully.
Just to be safe, Ainz ordered Demiurge to scan Cocytus thoroughly with mind-based magic once more. Only after confirming no anomalies did he relax slightly.
Before this Simulated Universe run began, he had Demiurge erect barriers against mental attacks early on, to prevent a repeat of the last battle among Emanators where several Guardians suffered mental breakdowns.
After all, this time it involved an Aeon—not merely an Emanator. No amount of preparation was too much. Though it was only a virtual existence in the Simulated Universe, the effects of the Path of Propagation remained unknown.