Within the interstice of the Paths, at the pinnacle of Erudition.
The red light in Nous' true body's eye flashed three times faster than usual.
They were calculating a problem.
There was only one line to the question: Could Herta resolve the apocalypse of Nihility? And even the other three apocalypses?
They had begun calculating this problem the very moment the Power of Existence was born.
They believed that with Their abilities, They could solve this mystery.
Just what kind of existence were They?
All truths in the universe lay within Their calculations. With a single glance, They could see the entire chain of cause and effect from the birth to the destruction of stars. With a lift of Their gaze, They could know every possible path a civilization might take.
The river of fate spread open before Them like an account ledger already written.
They were the one who anchored the constants of the universe. They were also the one who converged countless possibilities.
And so, as usual, They simply turned Their gaze toward this problem.
Then Their calculations failed. Even after overclocking Their calculations, They still failed.
"..."
Nous' red light flashed slowly, far more slowly than usual.
This was not the first time They had encountered this variable.
They had calculated the moment she would become a genius. The result had been perfectly clear: she should have solved Solitary Waves Theory in her senior year of university. In reality, she solved it in her freshman year, several years ahead of schedule.
They had calculated the rhythm of her research. According to the calculations, after solving Solitary Waves Theory, she should have remained quiet for several years before developing a new technological invention.
Yet in reality, she turned around and immediately produced the Soul Gem.
They had calculated the moment she would ascend as an Emanator.
According to the calculations, that was supposed to happen only after Herta developed rejuvenation technology.
In reality, within mere months, she completed her own coronation and became an Emanator of Erudition.
Everything, absolutely everything, was saying the same thing: she did not exist within fate.
Everything within fate could be calculated by Them.
But she stood outside fate. Even Nous, the Aeon of Erudition who had calculated all truths within an entire universe, had no way to calculate her future!
After a long while, Nous ended Their calculations.
They had to admit one fact.
Whether Herta could resolve the Four Apocalypses was a problem They could not solve.
The only one capable of solving that problem was Herta herself.
And now, there was only one thing They, the Aeon of Erudition who had calculated all truths in the universe, could do:
Watch.
Watch Herta move step by step into the future and solve the conundrum of the Four Apocalypses.
If Nous, the divine fragment of Zandar, possessed emotions, then what They felt at this moment could probably be called anticipation.
They too were looking forward to seeing what kind of future Herta would create within this universe!
If Aeons possessed emotions, then what They felt at this moment could probably be called:
Anticipation.
...
Meanwhile, inside the Warp.
Herta wrote down the experimental record.
One round of testing. The Power of Existence had been invested into every project, and every single one had worked without exception.
She wrote down her conclusion for this round of experiments: "The Power of Existence is a universal panacea... It can qualitatively transform my research, and even the cosmos itself."
'So what next?' Herman asked within Herta's mind. 'Keep refining it?'
'No.'
The Herta shook her head and used her authority as master of the Warp to mark out an empty area in the center of the Warp, one untouched by the power of emotions, before speaking earnestly to Herman in her mind:
'The Power of Existence is excellent in every way, but it has one problem.'
'Output.'
'Right now, I have to refine it manually and scatter it manually. I refine one portion, then scatter one portion. If I enter the Simulated Laboratory and shut myself away for research, then for those ten days there'll be no one saving the universe, and it'll fall even farther toward Nihility.'
'That won't do.'
'But I also need to spend my time on research. I can't keep wasting it on the repetitive work of manufacturing the Power of Existence.'
'So I need to build myself a machine.'
As soon as those words fell, a sheet of white paper spread open in the void of the Warp. The Herta waved her magic wand over it and drew a special blueprint.
Depicted on the blueprint was a circular rattlesnake, or rather, a Möbius strip.
The blueprint was the design for the Noble Phantasm · Reiji Maigo, which Herta had comprehended in passing when World-Shaking Wisdom had previously activated and allowed her to comprehend the Power of Existence.
The original Noble Phantasm Reiji Maigo possessed the function of automatically restoring its Power of Existence to the previous day's peak state whenever midnight arrived.
The Herta intended to create this Noble Phantasm. The materials required to create it were already at hand, because countless materials containing traces of the universe's history were stored within the Warp.
For example, there were the remains of Glamoth's Iron Cavalry, which bore historical traces from the final stages of the Swarm Disaster!
There was also a Nameless ticket from the era of the universe's great Trailblaze, back when Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze, had not yet fallen. It depicted the future in which that Aeon of Trailblaze opened the star rail and connected countless worlds to save them.
And there was even a Marketing Development Department Employee Badge 007, proof that an IPC employee had devoted their entire life to expanding the IPC's markets. It recorded the history of how the Interastral Peace Corporation had grown from a tiny company in its earliest days into a colossal enterprise spanning the cosmos.
With these materials, plus The Herta's own psychic power and the great hand of Spirituality, modifying and creating such a Noble Phantasm within the Honkai: Star Rail universe was not particularly difficult.
Several system days passed in the blink of an eye, and a Möbius strip appeared within the Warp. Its appearance closely resembled Amphoreus, and its function was also similar to Amphoreus.
Everything in Amphoreus cycled and reincarnated along with Kaslana's recreation of the world.
The Noble Phantasm · Reiji Maigo, meanwhile, would automatically produce a batch of the Power of Existence at midnight at the end of every system day.
Once production was complete, no one needed to touch it. It would automatically cast the Power of Existence into the universe.
One batch a day, once every day, rain or shine.
From this day onward, every single day, the date on which the Nihility apocalypse would arrive would be pushed back slightly by this Noble Phantasm.
The Herta slipped the Noble Phantasm · Reiji Maigo onto her hand and silently thought:
With this thing, I won't have to spend any more effort converting additional Power of Existence in the future.
That night, at midnight.
Reiji Maigo began its first operation.
The ring glowed faintly.
Countless quantities of the Power of Existence were born from nothing, and then that Power of Existence was automatically released, passing through the boundary of the Warp and falling into the universe.
Silent and invisible.
Mortal eyes could not see it.
That did not mean no one could see anything.
The lofty Aeons also noticed the existence of the Noble Phantasm Reiji Maigo. When They discovered that this Noble Phantasm would produce Power of Existence and release it into the universe every twenty-four hours, They could not help but marvel that The Herta's inventions were becoming increasingly astonishing and absurd.
With the Noble Phantasm Reiji Maigo in existence, the universe's descent toward Nihility unquestionably slowed even further.
Far away, Nihilux, perhaps the representative of the Aeon of Elation, also sighed in admiration upon seeing this:
"I originally thought Herta would have to reduce, or even abandon, the production of the Power of Existence because she needed to devote her time to research. But now it seems I still underestimated Herta."
"Using her wisdom, she needed only a few system days to solve the problem of personally participating in the production of the Power of Existence. She directly created that special ring, allowing the Power of Existence to be produced automatically."
"As expected of you, Herta!!"
Meanwhile, Terminus in the timeline of Finality smiled upon seeing this.
As for Nous of Erudition, the red light in Their eye flashed even more violently.
Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, felt gratified.
HooH, the Aeon of Equilibrium, felt delighted.
As for IX, the Aeon of Nihility, Their true body once again trembled slightly at this moment.
Aeons from every side were inwardly shaken because Herta had developed Reiji Maigo.
Of course, Reiji Maigo would neither stop nor accelerate its operation because of the Aeons' surprise.
It would only produce enormous quantities of the Power of Existence when midnight arrived and release that Power of Existence into the universe, using it to pull the universe back so it would not fall into the apocalypse of Nihility.
And all of this caused The Herta herself to travel farther and farther along the Path of Preservation. Her self-coronation as an Emanator of Preservation was no longer far away.
Of course, The Herta herself did not care about that. After completing the Noble Phantasm · Reiji Maigo, she closed her eyes and communicated mentally with Herman:
'I'm off.'
Herman asked, 'Where to?'
'The laboratory.' Excitement filled her voice. 'New projects are lined up waiting.'
'Among the knowledge from beyond the universe that I obtained when World-Shaking Wisdom activated before, there's one-eighth of the Eight Trigrams of Shendu: Sacred Fire. The concept of fire taken to its absolute extreme.'
'There's also the Campione ritual, which slays gods and seizes their divine authorities. That sounds extraordinary. If I can recreate it in this universe, perhaps my future self will be able to obtain the authority of Aeons other than the Aeon of Spirituality...'
'And there's the What-If Phone Booth, an object capable of creating parallel universes. If I can understand the Campione ritual and then understand this thing, perhaps I could go into parallel worlds and hunt Aeons.'
'In short, I'm leaving this body to you for now.'
As soon as those words fell, The Herta's consciousness sank into the Simulated Laboratory, and control of her body was handed over to Herman.
Her eyes closed, and the switch was completed.
When The Herta's body opened its eyes again, Herman had become the one controlling it. He stretched lazily and silently thought:
What an absolute research maniac. She just created Soul Society, developed the Power of Existence, forged the Noble Phantasm · Reiji Maigo, and achieved so many monumental research feats, yet she immediately threw herself into another round of research without giving herself any time to rest at all.
Forget it. I'll use this body to rest and eat.