"???"
Bronya tilted her head, looking at the mechanical head and the surging Imaginary Energy around it.
If she wasn't mistaken... this thing asking her questions... couldn't be an Aeon, could it? ᗜ ˰ ᗜ
Bronya pondered... Bronya understood... Bronya realized... Bronya was shocked...!
"This giant mechanical head is actually an Aeon!" Bronya exclaimed belatedly.
But why was it asking her questions? Shouldn't an Aeon be omniscient?
After a moment of thought, Bronya shook her head.
Anyway, she couldn't resist an Aeon right now, so she might as well answer a little, though she didn't know if her answer would meet its expectations.
After all, everyone has a different understanding of truth.
"Truth is understanding, reconstruction, and finally transcendence. Truth is an infinite quest, breaking through the boundaries of knowledge."
Bronya used her current partial understanding of her own clearance as the answer.
But... when Bronya uttered these words, the enormous mechanical head—
Nous, the Erudition Aeon.
The red light in its center began to flash continuously, and an oppressive aura belonging to an Aeon surged towards Bronya.
But soon, Bronya's body was covered in a silver glow, shielding her from the impact.
It was analyzing, it was scrutinizing.
Bronya breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the aura covering her body, then quietly began to reverse-engineer Nous using her own clearance.
It was considering, calculating.
She was analyzing, reconstructing.
After an unknown period, Nous seemed to sense the rule-based analysis directed at it and ceased its observation of Bronya.
As the mechanical head's red light intensified again, Nous's phantom disappeared.
An invitation floated before Bronya.
Curiosity — Genius Society Invitation.
With Bronya's Authority of Truth, joining the Genius Society was not difficult, and it would also facilitate monitoring.
From then on, the Genius Society gained another new member.
#85: Bronya Zaychik
"So it's the Erudition Aeon."
Bronya took the Genius Society invitation and nodded understandingly.
She hadn't known who the Aeons were, so it was normal not to recognize it just now.
But now she knew.
Bronya looked down at her chest, then tucked the invitation inside before returning to the Wangshu Battleship she was guarding.
She really felt that joining the Genius Society didn't matter much; after all, she was just someone who played with clearance—
As Bronya accepted the invitation, news spread throughout the Cosmos:
A new genius has been born.
Meanwhile, somewhere near the Azure Star, a woman wearing a witch's hat looked at the message on her phone.
Her long, brown-to-purple hair was neatly tied back, and she had a tall, cold, and capable demeanor.
"Another newcomer? Perfect, I've been worrying about lacking partners for a new research project lately."
The woman's tone carried a hint of frivolous arrogance, but her eyes showed some Curiosity towards this new genius... On the other side, at the border guarded by Raiden Mei.
Mei, with Ghost Samurai Gauntlets floating on either side of her, calmly observed the Insectoid drifting before her with her pale purple eyes that emitted a faint glow.
Zzz—!
Her right hand slowly extended to her side, and a long blade shimmering with purple lightning condensed in her palm.
With a gentle flick, she then gripped the long blade and pointed it at the rapidly approaching army of Locust-like Insectoids.
"Thunder, tear through the darkness!"
With a soft cry, Mei performed a drawing-slash, and large swathes of purple lightning appeared out of thin air, paralyzing most of the Locust-like Insectoids.
But mere ordinary electric shocks did not completely stop the Insectoids, who possessed the power of Abundance.
After adapting to the numbness, they began to charge towards Raiden Mei's position again.
Seeing this, Mei's lips curled slightly, and then her long blade was instantly drawn from her side with a furious roar of thunder.
A purple lightning sword mark exploded among the Locust-like Insectoid army, and countless Insectoids were cut in half or even charred.
Seeing that they couldn't win by numbers, a man with cat ears and a fluffy, cat-like tail-stinger emerged from the midst of the Insectoids.
The only flaw was that his eyes were the compound eyes of a locust.
Along with the branch-like wings and horns on his body.
It seemed these were the characteristics of the Locust-like Insectoids.
"Oh ho, beautiful, quite feisty, aren't you? I, Huang Pian, like them just like that."
Those disgusting compound eyes shamelessly scrutinized Mei's graceful figure, occasionally licking his lips.
This repulsive behavior made Mei extremely uncomfortable.
Although she had been stared at like this when she was still a Demoiselle walking on the street.
But someone staring at her so nakedly was truly the first... No, there was another... that indecent Kiana... Mei immediately glared with cold eyes, not saying a word, her figure transforming into lightning as she instantly appeared before the opponent.
"Hokushin Ittō-ryū..."
Mei used her clearance in conjunction with her swordsmanship, crouching slightly and delivering a fierce and swift strike.
But the opponent's body bent backward significantly, avoiding the fatal waist-level slash.
"Phew~ that was dangerous," Huang Pian said with a frivolous tone, pretending to wipe away cold sweat.
Then Huang Pian suddenly raised his sharp claws and lunged at Mei's chest.
Just as they were about to touch Mei, a purple blade light flashed, and the claws were cleanly severed.
Furthermore, purple electric arcs emanated from the gash, constantly burning Huang Pian and significantly slowing his self-healing ability.
"Is that all you've got?"
Mei's cold and arrogant gaze calmly observed Huang Pian, as if she didn't take him seriously at all.
It could only be said that Mei, who had now fused with the Thunder Queen, was somewhat influenced by her.
And Huang Pian seemed to be provoked by Mei's words, as he burst into maniacal laughter.
As he laughed, a pair of branch-like antennae on his head twitched, looking towards another direction.
"Hmph, that fellow Huang Wang died so quickly, utterly useless."
With that, he activated the power of Abundance within him, quickly healing his wounds, then clasped his hands together and began to pray in one direction.
"Abundance Insect King, please protect me."
Following this, the energy of Abundance and The Propagation Paths on Huang Pian's body began to surge.
At the same time, Kiana's Starlight Aura had already spread here.
Mei, who was constantly operating her clearance, felt Kiana's aura, and the Breath of God in her core began to merge with the core.
A moment later, a nascent form of Mei's own Breath of God began to take shape.
A deep purple aura began to envelop Mei's entire body, with electric arcs occasionally flashing within the aura.
"Kiana... is actually this strong..."
Mei murmured, looking at the dazzling starlight, her expression slightly lost.
Even so, was she still so far from her?
But she quickly recovered from her disappointment.
Feeling this sacred aura that belonged to her, she slightly clenched her fists, her eyes gradually firming.
She believed that once she cultivated this power to its peak, the distance between her and Kiana would be greatly reduced.
As her mindset gradually calmed, Mei held her long blade vertically in front of her with one hand and slowly closed her eyes.
Just as Huang Pian's aura soared to a certain height and he lunged at Mei with a destructive claw strike.
Space-time—
was briefly frozen—
"With this thunderous strike, I sever space-time—"
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