NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 165: The Gift
The Theater of Domination was dim, the only sound the occasional clatter of Puppets. The vast stage was empty. Ren sat alone in the front row.
A crimson feather floated beside him, connected to numerous invisible threads.
"Done playing?" As Ren spoke, the feather glowed. Older Kiana's form materialized, returning to her original appearance as she sat beside him.
Snatching the feather, she grumbled, "It's not fun. Acting is boring. Next time, you do it. Just call me when you need a punching bag."
She stood up, looking at Ren, feeling increasingly annoyed.
She'd wanted to have some fun, but interacting with the younger Kiana had almost broken her.
She glared at Ren, the cause of her distress. He was probably secretly amused, the biased jerk!
But she knew Ren wasn't one for emotional displays. He wouldn't gloat.
This only made her more frustrated. He was already impossibly difficult to "capture," and someone else had beaten her to it.
"I'm going to rest. Don't bother me!" She waved at Ren, sighing dramatically, and turned to leave.
Ren chuckled, stopping her. "Don't you want your reward for completing the mission?"
"No!" He knows I'm upset, and he's still talking about the mission? She grumbled internally. But curiosity gnawed at her. She wanted to know what the reward was before refusing.
She looked up to find Ren standing before her, holding out a small plush toy.
It was a black cat with white paws and bright orange eyes.
"I saw you liked this one, so I made you one…"
As Ren began to explain his creation, Older Kiana's eyes welled up.
"You… saw?" Her voice cracked. The dusty, handmade toy cat was still with her Puppet body. She hadn't thought he'd noticed, assuming his attention was solely on the real Kiana.
Ren, however, was confused by her reaction. Of course, he'd noticed. She was his subordinate; he paid attention.
Though Older Kiana hadn't said anything, he'd sensed her desire for a gift. A plush toy seemed like a reasonable reward.
He'd been watching her all along. It was her own ignorance of his abilities that made her feel unseen.
"Here's your old one." He retrieved the dusty toy through a portal, flicking it clean. "Don't be childish. Take it. The Herrscher of Reason is here. I have a fight to win."
He shoved the toy into her pocket and returned his consciousness to the Kiana Puppet.
Older Kiana was alone again.
She held both toys in her hands. The smaller one was her own creation, made of felted wool, its eyes simple buttons. The other, Ren's creation, was a perfect replica of Taxue, imbued with a spark of low-level intelligence using his own blood.
The gloom lifted. Her eyes shone.
"Damn you. You're not swayed by emotions(he is). What am I supposed to do?"
Clutching the toys, she vanished from the theater.
Muffled laughter echoed in the empty space.
Himeko, having finished Rozaliya's training, returned, feeling a strange shift in the atmosphere.
"Never mind that. Preparations are complete. Time to rescue that little Tuna from Otto's clutches."
…
Back at Anti-Entropy HQ, the Kiana Puppet opened its eyes. Ren was in control.
Welt was a seasoned Herrscher, far stronger than Bronya or the others.
Older Kiana wouldn't stand a chance. And as a consciousness, her control over the Puppet was limited to the connecting threads. If Welt attacked seriously, he could injure her through those threads.
To avoid that, Ren had to intervene personally.
Twenty minutes had passed since Einstein's call for help. Welt had dropped everything and rushed to their aid. But even with Anti-Entropy's fastest aircraft, it had taken time.
Luckily, he wasn't at their North American headquarters. That would have taken hours.
The plane descended, Welt looking at the damaged base with growing concern. He couldn't land in this storm. He jumped, a blue hoverboard materializing beneath his feet, slowing his descent.
He landed, spotting a woman standing alone in the rain amidst the debris.
Remembering Theresa's report, he raised his weapon.
"Herrscher of Sentience!"
"..." Ren was speechless. He could understand the Hyperion crew's mistake, but Welt, a veteran Herrscher? And pointing a weapon at him the moment they met? Bronya must have learned it from him.
Welt's weapon, the Star of Eden, was dangerous, but Ren wasn't worried. Unless it was at its zeroth power, creating a pseudo-black hole, it wasn't unbeatable.
"I was right. Being trapped in the Sea of Quanta has rotted your brain." He sighed dramatically.
Welt finally realized the woman, though radiating Honkai energy, didn't have a Herrscher's aura. And there was something familiar about her, a trace of the Herrscher of Reason's power.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking Anti-Entropy?"
"Who am I? Shouldn't you know? Joachim." Ren smiled. Welt remembered. His avatar, Joachim, had been killed by this mysterious individual in the Sea of Quanta.
This familiar feeling… it was him.
But how had he changed…?
As Welt pondered, Ren pulled out a crystal. Welt recognized it instantly.
The core of a bubble universe, the one he'd created, now casually held in Ren's hand. He tried to reclaim its energy, but the core didn't respond to his call.
"Want it back?" Ren held the crystal out.
"Let's play a game. Remember the third trial world you created, based on your own descent? As your creation, I died countless times. Now I want to see if the 'hero' Welt is stronger than the 'villain' Welt."
"The rules are simple. I'm not a Herrscher, as you can see. I, a human, challenge the Herrscher of Reason. If you win, I'm yours. If you lose, you forfeit your claim to the Herrscher of Reason core. Hand it over."
"Of course, you can refuse. But I can't guarantee Anti-Entropy's safety."