The long wait finally came to an end. As the spherical drone floating beside Einstein beeped a few times and flew over to her, Einstein waved to Snow, who was standing nearby.
"The Leader's back with Cocolia. They're about to land on the helipad. Do you want to go see?"
"Ugh... what's so interesting about a troublemaker and a meddler?"
Snow grumbled, but seeing the urgency in Einstein's expression, she obediently stood up.
"Ah, well, lead the way, Doctor~"
"Come with me," Einstein said, turning sharply and striding toward the door as soon as the young woman stood up.
"She's really in a hurry..." the blonde girl murmured, shaking her head helplessly before hurrying after her.
-
"Yo—if it isn't Executor Cocolia! Long time no see, what's with the sorry state?"
Snow stood at the entrance of Anti-Entropy's main hangar, greeting Cocolia, who was being escorted by two Anti-Entropy soldiers with Welt Yang by her side.
Cocolia looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
"How did you get here—?!"
Her question cut off abruptly as she seemed to suddenly realize something, her gaze fixing intently on the golden-haired girl before her.
"So, this was all part of your Conservative faction's plan?!"
Watching Cocolia, who seemed to have mentally constructed a novel's worth of backstory in her head, Snow shrugged indifferently.
"If that's what you want to believe, go ahead~"
She waved goodbye as Cocolia was escorted away, suppressing the urge to do a mocking squat to maintain her composure. Turning toward the open cargo bay of the transport ship, Snow remarked, "Captain, disappearing for a year without so much as a word—is that really okay? Some of the new recruits don't even know what you look like anymore..."
Under Snow's gaze, Simon Lailey emerged from around a corner of one of the ship's compartments, approaching the group.
"I don't mind. Having Kyuusyou is enough for me. But you—I've always been curious, what was your original reason for joining Anti-Entropy?"
The blonde girl's eyes sparkled with interest.
"Ah? Let me tell you, the Leader is super cool—"
"Ha?"
Snow turned to look at Welt Yang beside her, who wore an awkward expression.
"Ah, this... As expected of the man most popular with the Schicksal Valkyries. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Snow clicked her tongue at Welt until Einstein stepped in to defend him.
"I believe Miss 'The Fool' has other matters to discuss, wouldn't you agree? And Leader, Miss Snow, shouldn't we also be getting to work?"
"Oh, right! I still need to impersonate Cocolia and summon the Radical faction members to Headquarters for a meeting."
"Leader Welt, Dr. Einstein, Snow, I'll take my leave now?"
Simon Lailey waved at the trio and hurried toward the distant Headquarters building.
"Summoning the Radical faction members to Headquarters for a meeting... Tsk, tsk, tsk. Are you planning a major purge?"
Snow glanced at Welt Yang, her tone laced with confusion.
"Cutting the Gordian knot with a swift stroke. That takes some real guts."
"Cough, cough, cough... It was just a warning. They've been growing increasingly restless lately. It's one thing to deploy the Aerial Fleet to New Zealand without authorization, but the sole returning ship... the ground crew's exact words to me were: 'Stripped down to just the handbrake. Rebuilding it from scratch would be easier than repairing this mess.'"
Welt shook his head in exasperation.
"Besides, we're still secretly constructing that thing... If the Radical faction were to set their sights on it..."
"Then they'd truly live up to their name... But Cocolia has already been taken care of, and the Radical faction's leader is now effectively one of us. No need to overthink it."
Snow curled her lip dismissively.
"Oh, speaking of that thing, here's the box."
Snow produced a peculiar, elongated box wrapped in black material with gold-patterned inlays.
"What's this?" Welt asked, his expression puzzled.
"The Core of that thing..."
The man's face immediately turned serious. He solemnly accepted the box and tucked it away.
"I'll safeguard it with my life."
"Perfect. Regrowing another branch would be quite a hassle."
"Speaking of which, what about Doctor Yssring?"
The blonde girl peered curiously into the transport ship.
"Doctor Yssring seems very attached to her laboratory. When we were on the warship, Simon startled her, causing a malfunction in one of her remotely operated experiments. She rushed to the lab before you arrived to assess the damage."
"Hmm... I did hear a muffled explosion upstairs before I went to rest. So that was Doctor Yssring's experiment? I thought Sin was causing trouble in the Doctor's lab again."
Dr. Einstein seemed to recall something and added, "That doctor really is popular with Cocolia's daughters..."
"Are you sure it's 'popular' and not 'tormented'?" Snow rolled her eyes.
"Are you all ready? If there's nothing else, we should depart for Kevin and Su's World Bubble. We'll still rely on Predecessor Su's abilities to resolve Joyce's issue."
"I came specifically for this purpose," Welt nodded, confirming he was ready.
"I've already tidied up the lab. I'm ready too," Dr. Einstein nodded, a hint of urgency in her voice.
"Then—let's depart."
The golden spear tapped lightly against the ground, opening a swirling vortex that swallowed the three figures whole.
"...Couldn't you just open a door directly?" Welt asked just before being pulled in.
"No."
"Then don't you feel like we're being flushed down a toilet?" Dr. Einstein asked just before vanishing.
"No?"
-
Deep within the Sea of Quanta, within a World Bubble, two figures burst forth from the golden vortex before Kevin and Su, while the last, a young woman, calmly stepped out of the swirling portal.
"...It seems you two aren't in the best condition," Su observed, glancing at their pale faces. "Would you like to rest before proceeding?" He offered them glasses of water.
"Thank you," the Anti-Entropy duo accepted without hesitation, draining their glasses in a single gulp.
"Snow... you did this on purpose, didn't you..."
Kevin glanced at the girl beside him, who seemed completely unbothered by her conscience.
"Ah...? This method is the fastest, though it's a bit uncomfortable—I could tell they were in a hurry to teleport like that."
The blonde girl scratched her head, looking puzzled.
So this is what they mean by a natural-born dark-hearted type...
Kevin rolled his eyes.