The elevator ascended swiftly, and with a ding, the girl arrived at her destination. She walked down the quiet, deserted corridor to its very end.
Gently placing the pass Welt had given her against the verification panel by the door, she waited for the verification tone. With a soft click, the laboratory door swung open.
A blue-haired woman lay on the lab sofa, her eyes closed as if lost in a dream. The sound of the door opening caused her brow to furrow slightly. She clutched a book on relativity in her hand, a pen clipped between its pages—as if she'd been making corrections just moments before.
"Didn't I say—not to disturb me before noon?"
Dr. Einstein was finally roused by the girl's footsteps. Her tone was flat, tinged with irritation as she squinted, trying to drift back to sleep.
"...All perfection arises from imperfection, and all imperfection will ultimately achieve perfection... Dr. Lieserl Albert Einstein—he's waiting for you."
"He's waiting for someone to awaken him—"
"Welt Joyce... is waiting for you to awaken him from his ancient slumber."
The girl's words were like long-awaited rain, moistening the parched earth in Einstein's heart and coaxing green shoots to emerge once more from the barren ground.
"Joyce! Where is he?!"
Dr. Einstein jolted upright from the sofa, her gaze snapping to the blonde girl standing before her—an uninvited guest, to say the least.
"Wait, Miss Snow... why are you here?"
"I saw Welt Yang in the Sea of Quanta, and the Sire of World Serpent, Kevin Kaslana, had already agreed to my terms beforehand—they finally reached a consensus—"
The girl didn't explain how she'd arrived; instead, she cut straight to the chase, telling the Anti-Entropy Executor stories about her connection to him.
"At my request, Su, a MANTIS (Fusion Warrior) from the previous era and the Awakened One who bestowed blessings upon the Apocalypse Family, helped Welt truly infiltrate the Herrscher Core—the collective will of three hundred thousand Berliners."
"They found Joyce—"
"But..."
With a mischievous glint in her eyes, Snow deliberately paused, watching the fleeting moment of panic flicker across the doctor's face.
"But?"
Einstein's voice was steady, but the subtle tremor in her words betrayed the turmoil within the Doctor.
"But... they couldn't awaken Joyce in the Core. The man lies quietly on the living room sofa in Laboratory 42 of the Imperial Research Institute within his memory, a copy of Relativity resting on his chest, waiting for a beloved to call him back to the Current World."
"After examining Joyce's mental state, the Predecessor told us he had left himself a mental suggestion—a trigger that only a specific person could activate to bring him back—"
"Of course, neither I nor Welt can do it... Among the remnants of his era, only Tesla and you remain."
"So you believe he's waiting for me...?"
"What else could it be? His very name is derived from yours—you are the only vibrant stroke of color in his otherwise blank life."
"I see... I understand now."
"Sometimes, excessive rationality can make people miss so much... Dr. Einstein, though reason may be the greatest virtue for a scientist—"
"If you had simply whispered his name during the previous experiments, perhaps you would have received a response?"
The blonde girl smiled warmly.
"...And Welt?"
"He's gone to arrest Cocolia. He'll be back soon... We can wait quietly for a while."
...Time began to trickle by slowly.
Einstein had never felt time pass so slowly before. Then, the girl's voice rang out again—
"Every moment of waiting is an endless torment, and every moment of torment will be the most genuine emotion. And that most genuine emotion will transform into words imbued with magic, awakening him—and at last, the high moon will no longer be incomplete."
"Doctor, have you decided on the first words you want to say to him?"
"I have... but I advise you not to speak like that."
"Oh? I'm intrigued—"
Snow's eyes sparkled with interest.
"Every time you talk like that, we're reminded of that blonde, blue-eyed guy. You know, your insufferable Dad, Otto."
"If you use that glib tone with Joyce... do you know about PTSD?"
"Ah, post-traumatic stress disorder. I know. Many Valkyries develop those symptoms after retirement."
Snow nodded, signaling, "I'm familiar with that."
"Good to know. We have our own... and they're specifically aimed at your Apocalypse family. If you don't want Joyce, fresh out of her coma, to reflexively punch you, you'd better keep your mouth shut."
"Your old man's Soulium Body back then? Joyce twisted his left cheek with a single blow."
"Ah~ Otto's Soulium face creaked under my fist!"
Seized by a surge of filial devotion, Snow cracked a joke that Dr. Einstein couldn't quite grasp.
"Thank you. I'm truly touched by your filial piety," the doctor said dryly, wiping a bead of cold sweat from her brow.
"I've got even more 'filial piety' lined up. Want to hear it?" Snow rubbed her hands together, hinting at more to come.
"Forget it. I suggest you tell Tesla instead—she'd love this stuff," Einstein said, rolling her eyes.
"For that Overseer to have a 'precious daughter' like you is the karmic payback for all his 'good deeds.'"
"Oh, by the way, Doctor, you mentioned my dad's left cheek got punched by Founding Leader Joyce back then?"
"That's right. Why?" Einstein asked, looking curiously at the Schicksal heiress.
"Just thinking about something funny. Imagine, right when Dad's about to revive Sirin and Schicksal's war is nearing its end..."
"How about we make Welt Joyce run up to Dad's face and land another punch on his right cheek?"
"You have some kind of symmetry obsession with punching people...? Besides, Joyce running up to Otto's face—the Overseer already confirmed Joyce's death during the Second Eruption. You're basically trying to give the Overseer a heart attack."
"What's wrong with that~?"
"And if a dead man suddenly comes back to life... wouldn't that make your father suspicious?"
"He might have been in the past, but now... he's found his own path."
"Ah, though I'm destined to snatch it away~"