Celenova seized the chance to swiftly put distance between herself and 'Hertatomb'.
She watched the two figures warily.
The Eighth Lord Ravager, whose identity was unknown, and the Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamond.
She had just experienced the former's strength firsthand.
As for the latter, the infamous title of "Omniscient Killer" was one she knew all too well.
"Madam Herta has protected you exceedingly well. For your sake, she even sealed off her own Herta Space Station, cutting it off from the Knowable Domain's control. It truly makes one curious, doesn't it?"
Unaware of the full truth, Kakamond had always believed Herta's lockdown of the Space Station was solely to conceal Bai Ming's existence.
That Herta would go to such lengths for a strange woman who wasn't even a genius… Frankly, Polka Kakamond was beginning to wonder if Herta had taken a fancy to this Bai Ming character.
"Oh~ So that's what you think. Well, never mind. I can tell you plainly, even if you pierced my core with that scalpel right now, you couldn't kill me."
'Hertatomb' let out a light chuckle.
It seemed Polka Kakamond, for all her fame with her Knowable Domain, was completely in the dark about what she had been through.
Who knew if it was mutual concealment among the Aeons, or perhaps Aha had meddled?
But since that was the case, 'Hertatomb' had little to fear.
"Hm? It seems the reality differs from my assumption."
"Since when does the prestigious Lord of Silence bother with such gossip?"
Seeing the other's reaction, Kakamond realized her guess might have been off the mark.
But it was no big deal.
Such trivial matters of the heart held no interest for her anyway.
Her interest lay solely with Bai Ming.
An existence that could not be locked onto by the Knowable Domain.
She could not tolerate such a thing.
Just as she had said herself.
After the earlier probe, in Polka Kakamond's own detection and calculations, she had arrived at the same conclusion.
With her abilities, this current vessel could be dealt with—given more time and at some cost.
But that was all.
The vessel could be destroyed, but Bai Ming's life could not be taken by a scalpel.
Forget killing her; Polka Kakamond couldn't even figure out what kind of being she was.
That's why she stood there now, in no hurry to deliver a second strike.
Polka Kakamond had pursued Bai Ming for centuries.
Only now, upon finally meeting her, did she realize: to kill the other, she first needed to understand just what she was.
"I may not be able to kill you, but destroying this vessel of yours is well within my power."
Polka once again raised her scalpel, pointing it at the colossal 'Hertatomb'.
Though she understood now that killing the other today was impossible, Polka Kakamond had no intention of giving up.
If she didn't destroy this vessel, how else would she get a chance to study what this creature truly was?
So this fight was still on.
Just how powerful was the Lord of Silence?
Hard to say.
How much of her strength came from the Knowable Domain?
What level could Polka operate at without it?
'Hertatomb' had no idea.
It couldn't be helped.
The character had far too little screen time in the game.
Her only notable showing relied entirely on the Knowable Domain, and once that was broken, she simply retreated.
But anyway, the other had already admitted she couldn't be killed, and even if this body was destroyed, she had backup cards to play.
She could just flee to the Herta Space Station and shake off Kakamond's pursuit.
And most importantly…
Was she really no match?
Not necessarily.
While 'Hertatomb' usually treated this body as belonging to a Lord Ravager, one shouldn't forget it was also Rubert III.
In terms of computational ability, it could also be called a Genius.
Coupled with Bai Ming's own formidable qualities and power…with the opponent's Knowable Domain unable to fully cover her, was she really no match for Polka Kakamond?
Not necessarily.
'Hertatomb' felt a surge of fighting spirit.
"Your past hunts of numerous geniuses may have made you arrogant enough to believe anyone can be easily slain by your scalpel. But go ahead and try. See if that scalpel in your hand can pierce the logical core of this body."
The power of Harmony expanded outward, gathering and converging the strength of all the Voidrangers and Legion troops under her control.
As her computational core began operating at full load, the overflowing Imaginary Energy tides even caused waves of spatial tremors.
Back when she first decided to hold off Celenova alone, she had already prepared for the possibility that 'Polka Kakamond might attempt an assassination.'
And 'Hertatomb' wouldn't mind testing the true extent of Polka's strength.
Since the mutual conflict between Nous's left and right brains was already the norm, getting Polka Kakamond to abandon her assassination attempt was clearly unrealistic.
Wouldn't it be just as well to trade this body for a chance to seriously wound Polka?
After all, if the character card expires, it's just a matter of waiting out the cooldown.
And with outsiders watching, having this suspicious persona of hers 'eliminated' by Polka directly would also eliminate a lot of future trouble.
Putting on this little show wasn't a bad option either.
The Legion troops, infected by the black tide, swarmed towards Polka Kakamond like a raging flood.
Meanwhile, 'Hertatomb' grabbed Celenova—who hadn't gone far—by the arm, pulling her along as they created more distance.
"...What are you doing?"
Celenova looked at 'Hertatomb' with utter confusion.
"Force of habit. But that's not important. Let me tell you straight—Polka Kakamond will definitely want to kill Irontomb. Why not join me in beating her up?"
"Ha! Says you. For all I know, you're no different?"
"We are different. I have no reason to lie to you about this. The Fourth Instant calculated by Nous is the birth of Irontomb. We can't be bothered to overturn that moment—too troublesome, and we might not even succeed."
'Hertatomb' explained the information to Celenova in a tone dripping with impatience, trying to lure her over to her side.
"Irontomb will be born. Our plan is to suppress the catastrophe his birth will cause, not to kill him."
For instance, having Amphoreus directly subvert Irontomb's calculation, letting World Herta devour Irontomb's consciousness…
Irontomb would still be born then, but which faction he'd belong to afterward would be a different story.
Of course, such details definitely wouldn't be shared with Celenova.
"Whether you trust me or not is one thing, but you at least know the threat the title 'Lord of Silence' carries. She might just kill you as a side thought. Celenova, you wouldn't want to…"
'Hertatomb' kept babbling, trying to rope Celenova in, but Celenova cut her off directly.
"Shut up. You talk too much. Though you're right about one thing—compared to the Lord of Silence, I'd much rather take you down."
Celenova didn't believe a word of 'Hertatomb's nonsense.
Even if their goal wasn't to outright kill Irontomb, for the Antimatter Legion, it certainly wasn't anything good.
Gathering so many people? Claiming they didn't want to cause major upheaval—only a fool would believe that.
The real reason she chose to help 'Hertatomb' was simple.
From their earlier exchange, Celenova understood one thing: 'Hertatomb's body could be replaced; her consciousness was well-hidden.
So, if 'Hertatomb's current vessel was truly destroyed by Polka Kakamond, and 'Hertatomb's consciousness chose to flee…
Then finding her again would be like searching for a needle in a haystack once more.
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