Countless fragments of rubble rained down upon the Twelve Moments, resembling a barrage of falling meteorites.
Curiously, however, the massive chunks of debris that formed the main structure did not plummet; instead, they remained suspended in mid-air, frozen in their fractured state.
At that same moment, Sylvia felt the entire dreamscape tremble.
For reasons unknown, the resonance of the dreamscape had been disturbed.
If it weren't for the fact that Sylvia possessed certain means of retaining memories, she never would have been able to catch such a subtle anomaly.
The once-tranquil afternoon garden was instantly filled with gasps of shock and terrified shouts.
Yet, Sparkle—the mastermind behind this chaos—merely giggled, looking genuinely delighted. It was a laugh that came from the heart; Sylvia could tell.
"Hee hee~ It really blew up! I wonder how many people aren't going to be able to sleep tonight."
"...How did you do that?"
Sylvia was deeply puzzled. She had been with Sparkle the entire time, and it was perfectly clear that The Family and Sunday were monitoring their every move. How had Sparkle managed to pull this off under their noses?
"That's a secret~"
Sparkle stared at Sylvia with a mischievous grin.
In truth, what she did was simple. She had merely given a nudge to a certain Fool who hadn't yet managed to leave Penacony, using the very bomb that Sylvia had assembled herself.
Sparkle had long been aware of Sylvia's unique nature—even Silver Wolf had mentioned it before. It seemed that whenever Sylvia was involved, that uniqueness could be activated.
At the very least, she had genuinely managed to tear up the original script.
It was certainly amusing. Rumor had it that Elio had been busy rewriting the script so often lately that he was losing quite a lot of fur. He would likely continue to shed even more after today.
Thinking of this, Sparkle couldn't help but giggle again.
Just then, Sylvia's phone buzzed. She pulled it out to check, only to find a message from Robin:
[Robin: The people guarding me suddenly left. They said the Grand Theater was bombed?]
[Robin: Was this Miss Sparkle's doing?]
[Robin: Have you discovered any intelligence?]
"Heh... hilarious."
Sylvia couldn't help but laugh. Robin knew it was Sparkle's handiwork the moment she heard the news. Clearly, Robin already understood Sparkle's personality all too well.
Sparkle leaned over to look, and her expression immediately soured.
"Why does she assume it was me? Why couldn't it have been you?"
"Because you secretly blew it up, didn't you? I'm not wronging you."
Sylvia raised her hand to push Sparkle's face away. She then typed a reply to Robin:
[Sylvia: Unfortunately, even after the explosion, there's no sign of anything resembling a Stellaron. Plus, the theater is still floating in the sky despite being blown to pieces.]
[Sylvia: How long will it take The Family to repair it?]
[Robin: Let's discuss that later. Someone is coming.]
After sending that, Robin went offline. Sylvia furrowed her brow.
Sparkle, having peeked at the message, giggled. "What a great opportunity! Isn't this the perfect time for the little songbird to sneak off and steal some data?"
"This will be the only chance we get. Now that the theater is destroyed, investigating will be even harder." Sylvia shot Sparkle a look of annoyance.
She had underestimated Sparkle's ability to stir up trouble. The people of The Family were likely furious; any investigation moving forward would be an uphill battle.
"Hee hee, Sparkle knows nothing~"
Sparkle chirped happily, and Sylvia didn't even have the heart to be angry. They hadn't had any real leads anyway, and their investigation had been at a standstill; in reality, nothing had changed.
"Alright, alright, little white-hair, get up. We still have things to do."
"What things?"
Sylvia sat up and took off her sunglasses. Before Sparkle could answer, several figures approached them. The person in the lead was none other than Gallagher.
The people behind him looked grim; clearly, they were not in a good mood. This was hardly surprising—who could be happy when the Penacony Grand Theater had been blown to bits?
"You lot, go elsewhere and help calm the visitors. Leave this to me."
"Yes!"
The others quickly dispersed, and Gallagher stepped closer. "Ladies, regarding the destruction of the Grand Theater—"
"She did it."
Before Gallagher could finish, Sylvia raised her hand and pointed directly at Sparkle.
"Hey! Little white-hair, you actually—!"
Sparkle puffed out her cheeks, staring daggers at Sylvia as if trying to bore a hole through her with her eyes. However, Sylvia simply curled the corner of her lips into a 'wicked' smile and pulled out her phone, hitting the record button.
"I have proof."
"Waaaahhh!! You're despicable!"
Sparkle lunged at Sylvia with both hands, attempting to wrestle her. She looked genuinely furious.
Even more abstract, however, was the notification that popped up:
--+--
[Target: Sparkle]
[Affinity: 73 (Intrigued)]
['Clearly, Sparkle doesn't know you well enough. She didn't expect you to sell her out so easily.']
['She admires you.']
--+--
Hmm...
She could gain affinity even from this? That was truly hard to judge.
"..."
Gallagher stood with his hands on his hips, sighing speechlessly. "Enough, stop the act. Come with me."
Hearing Gallagher speak, Sparkle immediately scrambled down from Sylvia's head.
"Sparkle, off you go!" Sylvia pushed her toward him.
Gallagher and Sparkle both looked at her in surprise.
"Here, this is the proof." Sylvia sent the recording directly to Gallagher and patted Sparkle's head. "That kind of work suits you better anyway. I'm going to go investigate further."
"Damn you!"
Sparkle grumbled, but she flashed a grin at Sylvia for a long moment before skipping happily toward Gallagher. Gallagher tacitly accepted Sylvia's actions; he simply nodded at her before leading Sparkle away.
As for Sylvia, she activated Stealth and used her mask to shapeshift into Sparkle's likeness. She stepped onto the air and flew toward the shattered Grand Theater. She wanted to take another look.
That inexplicable tremor in the dreamscape had made her realize that perhaps Sparkle had been right to blow it up. At the very least, the Stellaron had shown a slight reaction.
Perhaps now, she could finally pick up on something.
She had to get there before The Family managed to seal off the area. Otherwise, once the Nightingale Family arrived, she feared she wouldn't be able to feel a thing.
Upon returning to the ruins of the theater, Sylvia immediately sensed a strange flow of Memetic energy.
It was a bizarre sensation, as if something on the other side was constantly siphoning off power... and the disturbance in that energy was causing the dreamscape to warp.
Sylvia could clearly see the fractured stones in front of her becoming abstract and distorted—the visual manifestation of the dreamscape's unraveling.
She couldn't confirm if this was the influence of the Stellaron or the aftermath of Sparkle's bomb, but one thing was certain: among the shattered bricks, those brilliant, complex ripples seemed to be radiating from the very debris still floating beneath her feet.
Sylvia wasn't a researcher of Memetic energy.
She could sense the anomaly, but she couldn't fathom its mysteries. Perhaps there was truly a secret here, and Sparkle blowing this place up might have been a stroke of genius.
As she pondered this, Sylvia wondered if the secret contained within those massive shards was linked to the Stellaron. She decided to wait for Black Swan.
Given her work as a Memokeeper, Black Swan would surely come to investigate such a major event. Perhaps she could find a lead. She just hoped the lady would be kind enough to explain things to her.
But—
Before Black Swan could appear, another unexpected visitor arrived.
"Outsider from a land unknown, your actions today are a bit presumptuous."
A low, resonant voice echoed from behind her. Hearing that address, Sylvia knew her disguise was likely useless.
She dismissed the transformation, turned around, and looked at the figure before her—a person wearing a standard uniform.
Whether they were a woman, a man, a Pepeshi, or even an animal, she couldn't tell.
These people gave Sylvia a strange feeling. How to put it? They weren't a collective acting in unison; rather, they felt like a single individual partitioned across multiple bodies.
Sylvia didn't know who this entity was, but to be able to find her so accurately at this moment and speak such words, it could only be someone from the side of Sunday or the Dreammaster.
But regardless of who it was, the act of merging multiple individuals into one—or having one person replace them all—meant that their version of 'Harmony' was deeply twisted.
"Who are you? Why does the Family's Harmony allow for such an existence?" Sylvia stared at the person standing before her, her brows knit in frustration.
It was unsettling. Though they looked different, their expressions, gazes, tones, and even their gait were identical. It was sickening.
"Heh~ who I am is unimportant. What matters is that I am of The Family, and you—Sylvia—have destroyed the symbol of Penacony in full view of everyone."
"If you can find me this quickly, then you surely know this was Sparkle's doing. I can't exactly keep a Masked Fool from having her fun."
"Sophistry is meaningless. The other four lineages won't believe such an excuse. Even if just to pacify the dreamseekers of Penacony, the Bloodhounds will hunt you down without mercy."
Sylvia didn't deny it. With the theater bombed, the Family—as the hosts—had to act, otherwise, how could they govern Penacony?
But the issue was, if the current stalemate between them and the Family was what the Dreammaster desired, then this mysterious person's words weren't just about accountability.
And come to think of it, while she could basically deduce the situation in Penacony and the sphere of influence of the traitor, she still didn't know what they were after.
If it was for power, the Dreammaster was already the supreme leader, and Sunday was the head of the Oak Family; what power was left to seize?
"Speaking of which, ever since I started touching upon the affairs of Penacony, I've gathered plenty of intel, but there is one thing I've never understood." Sylvia smiled, shifting the topic entirely, refusing to take the bait from the stranger.
"What is your true goal? Fighting for power doesn't seem to be it. Is it the Stellaron? That doesn't seem to fit, either. And you intend to act soon—likely during the Charmony Festival."
"I am genuinely curious. What is your goal? What could possibly entice a leader to betray their own faction in a place like Penacony?"
"..."
The figure opposite her fell silent, offering no answer. Were they close enough for such a revelation? Of course not. After a brief silence, the stranger spoke again:
"That is not a matter for you and me to discuss. Outsider, I require you and your train to leave Penacony for a while."
Sylvia wasn't surprised by the refusal. Such crucial intelligence would never be revealed so easily.
"I don't doubt that Sunday will protect Robin, but how do you intend to maintain the situation you want? If we leave, Robin will surely be liquidated. Sunday will inevitably be forced to intervene, and you will be the ones pushed into the spotlight."
Once Sylvia left, Acheron and the others would leave with her.
Sparkle was a wild card, but she clearly had her sights set on Sylvia now, and might not provide help to Robin as she had before.
A helpless Robin would be vulnerable; surely Sunday would step in to provide sanctuary? At that point, the state of affairs the Dreammaster wanted would be impossible to maintain.
"Sometimes, balance does not require absolute force. You will agree to my suggestion. Besides, the tricks you and your companions play cannot hide from me."
Sylvia remained noncommittal. So, the Dreammaster was indeed willing to help Robin—but this time, it wouldn't be in the open.
After all, the theater had just been bombed; if the Dreammaster spoke in their favor now, the other four Family heads would likely revolt on the spot.
She just didn't know what they would offer, or why they were so certain she would accept this demand.
"I want the Family's research data on the Stellaron."
"...I hope we do not have to draw steel against each other."
Sylvia had made an audacious demand, ignoring whether it was appropriate. The mysterious figure fell silent for a moment, having no intention of continuing the conversation.
She's really bold, the figure must have thought. Why don't you just ask for the entirety of Penacony while you're at it?
The crowd surrounding Sylvia dispersed rapidly, leaving the ruins without caring whether Sylvia continued her investigation or not.
In such a short exchange, reaching a consensus was difficult, but the message had been conveyed.
--+--
Sylvia's involvement in Penacony was driven almost entirely by her concern for Robin.
If she were to be honest about what truly interested her, it was partly the wealth of Penacony, and partly because of Robin herself. The girl was truly beautiful and had a lovely personality; one couldn't help but want to pull her into their arms and pamper her.
The other part was the research data on the Stellaron she had learned about recently. Sylvia had tried swallowing a Stellaron herself in the past, but the result was a clear failure.
Her physical body couldn't withstand the power of the Stellaron, and she couldn't suppress the energy waves it leaked.
The situation of the Trailblazer, Stelle, didn't seem replicable for Sylvia, as Stelle couldn't fully master the Stellaron's power.
But the Family's research could.
This Stellaron, hidden away and running normally and stably for so many Amber Eras in perfect concealment—Sylvia was now extremely curious about how the Family had managed to achieve such a feat.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL