Anyone with sharp senses noticed in that brief instant that their position had been shifted.
Rappa only saw a flash of white before her eyes, and when she opened them again, Evil Ninja Osaru and the others was nowhere to be found.
Instead, she was standing on a street, with many passersby stopping in surprise to stare at her.
"Did I fall under the ninjutsu of Evil Ninja Osaru…?"
Rappa wasn't particularly worried about this situation.
As someone who roamed the Ninja world saving those in misery, she had encountered similar dangers before, dangers that always arrived in an instant, catching people off guard.
Beep, beep, beep!!
"Hey! You, little girl up ahead, what are you doing? You wanna get hit or what?!"
A road-raging office worker.
"Apologies, Ninja Initiate Driver, I did not intend to obstruct your path.."
Rappa quickly stepped aside and bowed. Seeing that this fashionably dressed girl was sincerely apologizing, the office worker, who was still "dutifully" commuting, let her expression soften.
"Next time, be more careful. Not everyone's got driving skills as good as mine."
With that, she hit the gas, rushing past the green light at the very last second, the eternal ambition of the working class.
After resolving this small problem, Rappa leapt into the air once she reached a deserted corner, landing lightly atop a high building.
From above, she surveyed this unfamiliar city.
The streets bustled with crowds; thin mist drifted upward; it was a lively scene.
But,
"This place is wrong."
Rappa was certain.
Her heightened perception told her that not only was this city wrong, this entire world she stood in was wrong.
Overall, it lacked the vitality of life.
For a world capable of hosting a city of this size, that was far too abnormal.
"And I haven't seen Gamer Ninja or the others."
Rappa vaguely remembered standing beside the Gamer Ninja and the Drama Ninja when the white light flashed. The details after that were unclear.
Fortunately, they were all highly skilled Ninja Heroes. Normally, nothing would be able to harm them easily.
For now, she needed to find a way out, and stop Evil Ninja Osaru when his true plot revealed itself.
Once she thought of this, Rappa's figure flickered rapidly across the steel jungle. Those who happened to look up stared blankly.
Mom… people can really fly!!
….
Bang!!
A gunshot broke the dawn, announcing its arrival.
Spinning his revolver, Boothill looked down in confusion, nudging the corpse of a strange creature.
"What kind of bana species is this? I've been to so many places and never seen one. Is it native to this damned place, bana?"
He shook his head, unable to make sense of it.
Looking around, all he saw were the "beasts" he had swiftly dispatched.
He let out a snort of laughter.
A grand welcome the moment he arrived, though they seemed to have underestimated him.
"All that nonsense those guys said was giving me a headache. But I guess Dr. Primitive changed our coordinates."
In other words, he had been moved to some random co-ordinate.
Boothill immediately recalled the boastful conversation with that doctor earlier, he should currently be within the Quantum Sea.
"A world that's already been destroyed, huh."
Watching the beast on the ground slowly dissipate, Boothill's expression remained indifferent.
He was simply a Galaxy ranger who upheld justice. Saving the world, that was for the Preservation or Trailblaze paths.
The Hunt path only focused on revenge.
Besides, there were so many destroyed worlds within the Quantum Sea; even if he wanted to manage them all, he couldn't…
Like a banana grove bearing bananas, he might eat ten, but others could eat a hundred.
… Wait.
"Banana grove!?"
….
At the same time, Screwllum.
He had not been swept into the Quantum Sea with the others.
That place was unknown, tempting, yet every drop of coolant in his body warned him not to act rashly without understanding the truth.
Just like now.
"Yo, long time no see. I thought you'd jump in with them."
Screwllum turned slightly, meeting her gaze.
"What, you thought I wouldn't come?" The doll girl put her hands on her hips, looking proud.
Screwllum shook his head slightly.
"Weren't you conducting a brand-new research project with Ms. Ruan Mei?"
Ouroboros.
That legendary Leviathan still had surviving genetic factors, something hard to imagine. Ruan Mei and Herta were actually working with the genes of such an absurdly resilient creature.
"Already finished. And that experiment is related to this incident. How's the situation here?"
Screwllum replied:
"Hypothesis: Dr. Primitive gathered multiple Pathstriders here to obtain a large number of stable anchors, stabilizing the passage between the real world and the Quantum Sea. It is known that he discovered an imaginary-number cavity within The Family territory. I speculate it is a special path of the Imaginary Tree extending into this place."
Herta tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"I see. That guy actually used a method like that to get in."
The will of the Path striders was perfect for use as an anchor.
But the Path Striders were only an added bonus. The real focus was the Imaginary Hole itself.
"The Family has something like that?"
Herta glanced sideways at the three people standing nearby.
Meeting Herta's curious gaze, the Iris Family head gave a bitter smile.
"Lady Herta, you may not know, this cavity appeared out of nowhere not long ago. At first, The Family was delighted to find the immense Imaginary energy flowing from within. We thought it would be our chance to rise again."
"But after pouring who knows how much resources into it, and losing far too many people, we finally explored only a small distance before this disaster occurred."
If she could go back, the Iris Family head would rather abandon the site entirely. Even if others disagreed, she would have led her followers far away.
They gained nothing, and only suffered losses.
Dr. Primitive certainly didn't acquire the rights to use that cavity through "negotiation."
Herta nodded slightly.
As expected, something like this could never have been created by The Family. She knew exactly how limited their capabilities were.
If they really had that kind of ability, they wouldn't have been stuck at a disadvantage in their clashes with The IPC all this time. They could have used used it to force out a new balance.
Mm, but now even that option is gone.
Honestly, Herta was actually quite curious to see just how far the Dr. Primitive could go.
Making such a huge commotion, dragging along a whole group of strong-willed "Anchors," crossing the Imaginary Tree and flowing straight down into the Quantum Sea.
It wasn't hard to guess what he wanted to do.
He wanted to become a savior.
The true savior of all the worlds floating around in the Quantum Sea!
"What a bold dream," Herta couldn't help commenting.
She admitted it, aside from herself, there weren't many good people in the Genius Society.
Seeing that the two geniuses before them didn't look the least bit anxious, the three people next to them exchanged glances. The head of the Iris family stepped forward, speaking earnestly.
"Lady Herta, Mr. Screwllum, for the sake of the many innocent members of our family and all those being dragged along by the Dr. Primitive, please lend us your aid."
"The Family will certainly prepare a proper reward for the two of you. If you ever need anything in the future, The Family will do everything in its power."
The Family's sincerity was unmistakable, every word came from the bottom of their hearts.
If Herta and Screwllum were willing to act, The Family was truly prepared to pay any price.
They had no choice. This was the heartland of The Family. If anything went wrong here, they wouldn't be able to lift their heads for who knows how many Amber Eras.
The worst result might even wipe out everything The Family had accumulated over countless years.
"Screwllum." Herta looked toward the mechanical genius beside her.
"I've already seen through the structure of the Dr. Primitive's portal. I just need a stable core."
Time was short. Even if Screwllum had brought his own materials and rushed with all his strength, he couldn't possibly build a suitable core in time.
But, who said the core had to be an object?
…
"Are you sure this will even work?" The Herrscher of Sentience, having circled three times already, glanced suspiciously at Sparkle.
"Heh heh, Director Sparkle's full-effort masterpiece, definitely no problem."
Patting her chest lightly, Sparkle looked very pleased with herself and urged, "Hurry up. That chicken-wing boy is going to get impatient."
Though still doubtful of this unpredictable girl, there was no other option with even a slim chance of success.
Gritting her teeth, stomping her foot, the Herrscher of Sentience nodded.
Here goes nothing!
Sparkle chuckled, and with a swish, pulled out a tiny toy gun from who-knows-where.
It even had a little Sparkle doll printed on it.
Clearing her throat, the Herrscher of Sentience opened her mouth slightly.
…
"Hey, can you hear me? Can you hear me?" A shout suddenly rang out in his mind.
Sunday slowly lifted his head. The Harmony told him that was the source of the disturbance.
"Hey, you with the chicken wings, do me a favor. If you want to get out of this dump, I need to link all these guys together. Sparkle said you're the best at this, so hurry up, don't waste time."
Sunday was momentarily stunned. But he quickly understood.
Even though the Dr. Primitive had used special means and countless contingencies to trap them in these left-over worlds, he couldn't hide the traces of connection on them.
They had all been transferred by him, and thus were inherently connected.
If it were anyone else, even with this link, it probably wouldn't matter. But right now, it did matter.
For here stood the Herrscher of Consciousness, and the a path strider of Harmony.
Anything was possible. Closing his eyes, a calming aura slowly spread from Sunday's body, encircling him.
He would carry the halo of Harmony across one suffering world after another, spreading the radiance of Harmony to countless worlds. That was the meaning of Harmony's existence, and his.
Today might just be that.
Sparkle grinned, closed her left eye, and without hesitation,
Bang!
A brilliant purple light shot toward the skies, trailing a long violet plume. Before anyone could react, it exploded with a thunderous boom!!
As the roar surged upward, the radiance of Harmony began to spread across all realms. Worlds once distant yet unreachable started forming connections.
All because they came from the same place and bore the same resolve.
…
Where Rappa was.
"That's… the ninjutsu technique to gather all Ninja's!"
Though she had never seen that light before, Rappa instantly understood its meaning. Without another thought, she went full power and dashed away.
…
"That damned… huh? I'm okay?"
Boothill muttered out of habit, then froze.
His Synesthesia Beacon, was it back to normal?
Who cared. He twisted his neck hard, looked toward that direction, and snorted.
"You little bastard cutie, Daddy's coming!!"
…
Kafka lifted her gaze slightly. The energy was invisible, but she could feel it, at least, she could.
"Silver Wolf… I'm looking, I'm looking. Stop rushing me." Silver Wolf waved irritably.
Blade retained his cold expression. Since they weren't too far apart and each had set anchors on themselves before coming, they could sense each other's positions.
Combined with Silver Wolf's Ether editing, they easily regrouped.
But that was the limit. This place was nothing like Silver Wolf's familiar cosmic game zone.
Still… with a stable signal now, she could get to work.
…
At the same time, the other Galaxy Rangers and the Path Striders all turned toward the same direction.
Without speaking, they began to move.
When everyone reached the edge of the world nearest their own, the Herrscher of Sentience's voice echoed in their minds.
"All of you listening, stop thinking. I'm going to tweak your consciousness a bit."
The speaker was anything but polite, but the people didn't hesitate. Though her words were vague, their sheer willpower let them suppress every stray thought.
Their speed and decisiveness surprised even the Herrscher of Sentience.
Her expression turned odd. Had none of them considered the possibility of a trap?
The people were all different, so doubt naturally existed.
But the faint undertone of Harmony in that voice made them set aside their vigilance for now.
Anyone who still walked the path of Harmony now was without doubt someone of unshakable conviction. With such a person pulling the strings, they trusted her voice.