‘Thinking’
“Talking”
“Attack”
Act 4 – The Hunter and the Unknown Variable
[ Location: Unknown Star System – Stellaron Hunter Base, Cafeteria ]
[ POV: Kafka ]
Today was turning out to be such a fine day!
No reports of local Stellaron disasters, no urgent objectives, and no immediate scripts to carry out for Elio.
Blade walked over to my table, setting down a cup of hot tea and a plate of light snacks.
I offered him a warm smile and thanked him before taking a sip.
“Have you seen our group’s little troublemakers today?”
Blade pulled out a chair and sat down with a heavy, bone-deep sigh, looking thoroughly exhausted.
“Stelle went out to search trashcans again.
That is the fifth time in the past two days…
and every single time, she drags out something different.
Sometimes I genuinely wonder if she’s a failed biological experiment created by Dr.
Primitive.
The moment she spots a trashcan, she acts like a rabid raccoon.”
He paused, staring into his teacup as all color drained from his face.
“After what I saw last time…
I still have nightmares.”
Seeing a man possessing the cursed immortality of an Emanator of Abundance look like he was about to die of psychological trauma was…
quite a sight.
I leaned forward, trying to console him.
“What on earth could you have possibly seen to shake you up like this?”
Blade looked me dead in the eye, his voice trembling slightly.
“You don’t know the horror I witnessed, Kafka.
I would rather take Lan’s Lux Arrow head-on than relive that scene.
At least with the Lux Arrow, my body would be vaporized instantly instead of suffering permanent mental backlash.”
His breathing grew irregular.
Now I was genuinely curious.
“Deep breath, Blade,” I said gently, making sure he was grounded.
“Tell me what you saw.
Elio and I will help you process it.”
Blade took a slow breath, forcing himself to speak.
“I saw Stelle…
flirting and whispering love talk to a trashcan.
The worst part?
Somehow, the trashcan was responding.
It sprouted tentacled constructs, creeping toward her like she was its blushing bride.
Before those abhorrent things could wrap around her, I grabbed Stelle and fired a charged wave to obliterate it.”
He shuddered violently.
“The thing let out a blood curdling scream, as if I had just kidnapped its wife and unborn generations.
Stelle tried to break free from my grip, crawling toward the burning wreckage and screaming, ‘My love!
I will come save you!'”
Blade rubbed his temples, his eye twitching.
“After that declaration, my perception warped.
I saw a vision…
a beach wedding.
A fire hydrant was the priest.
A rainbow God watched over them.
A letterbox was the best man.
A trashcan was the groom.
A lamppost was the maid of honor…
and Stelle was the bride.
I could literally taste sugar in the air!
Right before I knocked her out, she looked up at me and cried, ‘I love you, my hero!
Please save me from my demon king father!'”
He straightened his posture, a rare look of grim pride washing over his face.
“After that, I knocked her unconscious, burned the trashcan to ashes, and made sure not even a single atom remained.”
I pictured the nightmare scenario in my head and involuntarily shuddered.
“That is genuinely horrifying…
Did he stumble into a reality-bending prank from Aha?
Honestly, coming from the Aeon of Elation, that’s not even far-fetched.”
Regaining my composure, I took another sip of tea.
“And what about Silver Wolf?”
Blade rubbed his forehead again, clearly questioning his ability to raise young adults.
“She turned herself over to the IPC just to collect her own bounty.
After breaking out of their high-security prison, she hacked into Topaz’s private account, stole the equivalent of Firefly’s bounty, and broadcasted the achievement across the entire IPC network.
Her personal bounty just went up by another hundred million.”
Those two were truly handfuls.
I picked up my data pad to check the galactic news feeds, only for a breaking headline to pop up across the top of the screen.
My eyes widened slightly.
“Blade, come look at this.”
Blade leaned over, reading the floating display aloud: “‘A new genius joins the Genius Society!
Kiana Kaslana, Member #85, proves a unified cosmological model of the multiverse and parallel timelines.
Confirmed by Nous to the entire cosmos.'”
Blade frowned.
“That’s…
“According to Elio’s scripts, there wasn’t supposed to be a new Genius Society member for at least another Amber Era,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing.
“How could one appear out of nowhere right now?
I need to speak with Elio.”
I looked at Blade with a serious expression.
“Do you know where Elio is?
We might be looking at a fundamental shift in the script.”
Blade looked equally concerned.
This was the first time Elio’s foresight had encountered a blind spot.
He closed his eyes, utilizing his life-force detection to track the base.
“He’s in the primary meeting room.”
Before I could stand up, the comms system buzzed awake, and Elio’s voice echoed through the cafeteria.
“All members, report to the primary meeting room for an emergency briefing immediately.”
The sheer urgency in his voice was undeniable.
‘Looks like this is serious.’
[ Location: Unknown Star System — Stellaron Hunter Base, Meeting Room ]
[ POV: Firefly ]
When I stepped into the meeting room, Elio was already waiting at the head of the table alongside Kafka and Blade.
I greeted them quietly and took my seat.
A minute later, Stelle walked in, looking slightly dazed, followed immediately by Silver Wolf, who materialized into her chair using Aether Editing.
Silver Wolf popped a bubble of gum and glared at Elio with an annoyed expression.
“What’s with the urgent summon?
I was right in the middle of hacking the IPC servers to dig up dirt on the new Genius Society member.”
Elio looked up, his tone gravely serious.
“This emergency meeting is directly concerning Member #85 of the Genius Society: Kiana Kaslana.
The exact individual you were trying to investigate.”
Every eye in the room snapped to Elio.
I tilted my head, confused.
“When other members like Herta or Stephen were inducted, we never called an emergency briefing.
What makes Member #85 so different?”
“She is different because she is not supposed to exist,” Elio answered coldly.
“In every single timeline script I have ever observed…
I have never seen her.”
Silver Wolf scoffed, blowing another bubble.
“Maybe she’s just irrelevant to the main timeline?
That’s why she didn’t show up in your vision logs.”
Kafka shook her head, correcting her smoothly.
“Simply becoming a member of the Genius Society creates massive ripples across the cosmos, Wolfie.
Even introverted members who lock away their research like Herta or Screwllum leave heavy footprints in the script.
The scripts Elio provided explicitly state that the Genius Society’s roster capped at Member #84, Stephen Lloyd.
There is no Member #85.”
“So either she possesses the ability to alter the absolute fate of the cosmos like Stelle,” I pondered aloud, “or she ascended after Elio stopped observing this specific era.”
Blade added grimly, “Or she died in every previous timeline before ever reaching the Genius Society.”
Silver Wolf leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands.
“Alright, cat-man, what did Terminus have to say about her?
What’s your analysis?”
Elio looked at us, his eyes unreadable.
“She does not appear in the scripts because she does not originate from this universe.
And Terminus provided me with a direct warning regarding her.”
He paused, letting the weight of his next words hang in the air.
“‘UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE AN ENEMY OF HER GROUP.
COOPERATE WITH HER WHEREVER POSSIBLE.'”
Elio continued, “When I pressed Terminus for further details, I received only a single line of revelation: ‘SHE IS AN ARBITER OF THE IMAGINARY TREE.
A PART OF THE COSMIC PRUNING FORCE KNOWN AS THE HONKAI.'”
Silver Wolf cracked a smirk.
“Cosmic pruning force?
What, is she a gardener going around clipping leaves off the Abundance trees?”
I frowned, feeling a strange chill run down my spine.
“What…
is the Honkai?”
Blade turned to Kafka.
“Did the IPC news release any specifics regarding her research?”
“Yes,” Kafka replied, pulling up the broadcast on her data pad.
“The headline states she published a complete mathematical model of the multiverse, including parallel world timelines.” She glanced at Silver Wolf.
“Wolfie, hack into the IPC and Intelligentsia Guild servers.
We need the full theoretical breakdown.”
“On it,” Silver Wolf muttered, her fingers dancing through glowing holographic keyboards as she deployed her Aether Editing.
After five minutes of intense cracking, she stopped typing and projected a series of massive floating documents into the center of the room.
“Here it is,” Silver Wolf said, scanning the data.
“Nous validated her model, which outlines a multiverse framework governed by two core domains: the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta.
Our universe is merely a single leaf on one of the Tree’s branches.
The Intelligentsia Guild is calling her model ‘absolute lunacy’ but ironically, because Nous officially announced it, they can’t disprove a single equation.
There’s a massive crisis happening in the scientific divisions of both the Guild and the IPC right now.
They’re used to analyzing single worlds like Punklorde or Path energies, and suddenly this woman drops a mathematical proof that the multiverse exists on a cosmic scale so terrifying it makes you feel like an insect.
Some scholars literally lost their sanity trying to parse one of her scalar equations.”
Kafka smiled faintly.
“So the Imaginary Tree isn’t tied to the Abundance at all, but to the conceptual weight of existence itself.
No wonder ordinary scientists are losing their minds.”
I looked at the floating equations.
“That brings us back to the main question…
What is the Honkai?”
“And what does ‘pruning’ mean?” Blade added.
“Based on what I have deduced from Terminus’s prophecy…
the Honkai is a mechanism operating on the scale of an Aeon, spanning across multiverses.
Its purpose is to test and judge civilizations.
If a world stalls out, reaches a dead end, or becomes corrupt like the spawns of the Abundance the Honkai prunes it from reality.
It is the cosmic balance…
judge, jury, and executioner.”
A dead silence smothered the meeting room.
Silver Wolf broke the tension with a nervous chuckle.
“So…
basically like an Arbiter of Ho-Oh, except every single member is as powerful as Ho-Oh itself?”
“That analogy might actually be accurate,” I whispered, shivering slightly.
“The more you think about it, the more terrifying it gets.”
Stelle looked around the table, completely lost.
“Can someone explain this to me in simple terms?”
Blade looked at her.
“Imagine an organization like ours…
except every single operative is an Aeon.”
Stelle visibly shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Okay…
now I get why you guys look so freaked out.”
Kafka chuckled at Stelle’s reaction, then turned to Elio.
“So, Boss?
Do we attempt to establish contact with her now, or wait?”
“We will attempt contact when Stelle’s script officially begins,” Elio decided after a moment’s thought.
“We must ensure no major deviations occur beforehand.” He looked at Silver Wolf.
“Keep tracking any new data regarding her, her home star system, her inventions, anything.”
I swallowed hard, looking at Elio.
“Is it…
is it possible she could cure my Entropy Loss Syndrome?”
Kafka offered me a soft, reassuring smile.
“If anyone can, a genius who understands the fabric of the multiverse certainly could.”
I looked back at Elio.
“Could I contact her as Firefly…
instead of SAM of the Stellaron Hunters?”
Elio remained silent for a beat before nodding.
“You may reach out to her during your personal downtime.”
Silver Wolf suddenly raised her hand, interrupting.
“Hey, I just located her current origin coordinates.
She’s operating out of the Yagami Star System a secluded sector on the edge of the galaxy.”
Blade nodded.
“If I recall correctly…
that is the home sector of Genius Society Member #81, Ruan Mei.”
Kafka’s eyes glinted with interest.
“My, my…
now that is an interesting development.”
Silver Wolf leaned back in her chair, letting out a frustrated sigh.
“I tried hacking into the Yagami system network to get a direct feed, but I got booted out the second I touched their firewall.”
Bzzzzzt—
Before anyone could respond, the spatial coordinates in the center of the room violently distorted.
The Stellaron Hunters instantly drew their weapons, taking combat stances as a shimmering, golden hologram materialized out of thin air.
The silhouette was unmistakably female, wrapped in a shimmering, void-like aura that obscured her face.
“Good afternoon, Stellaron Hunters,” a cool, synthetic voice echoed through the room.
“And specifically to you, Elio the leader known as the Slave of Destiny.
I am the Void Archives, assistant AI to Miss Kiana Kaslana.
I have manifested here to deliver a simple warning: do not pry into secrets young hackers cannot possibly comprehend.”
Silver Wolf glared at the projection, clearly irritated by the condescending tone.I looks at the projection “The way this construct manifested…
it looks like Aether Editing, but the underlying power structure is completely different!”
Kafka stepped forward smoothly, placing a hand on her hip.
“Can we schedule a formal meeting with your master?”
The Void Archives turned its featureless gaze toward Kafka.
“And what would be the topic of this proposed meeting?”
Elio spoke up, his voice steady.
“The first topic concerns the ultimate end of the universe.
The second concerns a cure for Entropy Loss Syndrome a disease currently classified as incurable.
Is a discussion regarding these matters possible?”
The hologram paused, as if processing the request across light-years.
“Entropy Loss Syndrome…
A rare structural decay of physical data indeed.
I shall convey your inquiry to Miss Kiana and inform you of her decision.”
I looked at the hologram with deep, sincere gratitude.
“Thank you for passing the message along.”
The projection offered a subtle nod before dissolving into golden particles.
Silver Wolf let out a long sigh, stowing her virtual screen.
“Well…
that was intense.”
Kafka let out a soft laugh at her expression.
Elio sat back down, stowing his notes.
“Now that a line of communication has been opened, we will adjust our approach.
Firefly’s personal outreach plan is approved.
We will proceed with Stelle’s primary script as scheduled.
Meeting adjourned.”