- Chapter 10.5 - Interlude 1 -
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"Fufufu… Interesting."
A purple-haired catgirl sat on the top of a twenty-kilometer high pillar and gazed at the dark night sky. She was none other than Remi, the Goddess of Life of the world she oversees.
The sky in her world was barely lit by a single "blue moon". When dawn arrived, the moon would fade away and be replaced by a bright red sun. Not a single star could be found.
"Ah, there it comes."
For a brief moment, a streak of light was painted on the black canvas. A shooting star has descended, which could be either a blessing or a calamity.
Remi stood up and jumped down the pillar, then propelled herself towards the landing spot of the meteorite, a few thousand kilometers away, with her divine powers.
When she had finally reached the destination, two other cat-eared girls were already waiting for their fellow overseer's arrival.
"Whoops, looks like I'm late."
"It's just ten seconds, not too bad. Here's Niru's territory so she can materialize her avatar freely. While for me... Yup, teleportation."
"Bleh. That's a cheat ability, Shinna. I have to literally railgun myself out. Oh, well. Since we're all here... Let's start the excavation."
"Alright. Phase shift cloaking applied. We won't be bothered by mortals."
Right in front of the three catgirls was a huge pole that was diagonally impaled into the soil. It was still smoking and glowing red from atmospheric friction.
"Niru, please remove the outer layer of the 'courier rod.'"
"Got it. Scanning the composition... Alright, done. Transmutation start."
The catgirl with orange pony-tailed hair, drooping ears, and golden eyes clapped her hands together and started to conjure a spell.
Within seconds, the outer layer of the rod vaporized and disappeared; the elements that compose the structure were transmuted into atmospheric gases. That was only possible due to divinity, which allows a goddess to freely bend the laws of the world within a specific domain.
The payload contained within the end of the "courier rod" was exposed and dropped on the ground with a heavy thud. Remi extended her hand; an arc of electricity flashed for several seconds between the catgirl's palm and the cylindrical object.
"Scan complete. Whew, that's a lot of data for an expedition sent out six hundred years ago."
"And what does it tell?"
"Mission success. The <Obscura> mothership is gone. Blown into pieces by the missiles you've created. From the logs... Only that worked. Great job, Shinna."
Remi made a thumbs-up gesture towards the brown-haired catgirl with emerald green eyes and a bushy, fluffy tail.
"It's rare enough for you to give praise."
"Just this time. Just this."
"So, when are they coming back?"
Niru asked after she had finished cleaning the debris and returned the surroundings to its original state.
"They aren't coming back. Ever. All of them were killed in action, from what's recorded before the 'black box' was ejected. In fact, I'm surprised that they can actually land a kill on the big bad evil guy."
"That's so Remi."
"Since when I've become an adjective, dear Shinna?"
"Since day one."
While Remi and Shinna were hurling words at each other, Niru summoned her personal terminal and connected to the "world tree" where Remi had uploaded the data into.
"This... This is bad. No survivors at all... All killed in action."
"Even if they've magically survived the battle, they can't live long enough for the return trip too. That was six hundred years ago. No mortal could live that long. Especially a mortal from the pre-merge era."
"Ah... What a pity— "
Niru had a soft spot for her followers and would help them as much as possible. It was no doubt she would be dejected at the tragic news.
"There are backup pilots."
""
"Remi, there are some discrepancies here. The logs showed that <Synthesis> engaged the enemies twenty years after launch and ended there. Why did the courier rod return here six hundred years later? I thought it had better supercruising capabilities than the ship itself?"
"Ah, I haven't uploaded that crucial part yet. Now, Shinna, that'll be a big revelation for all of us."
"That is?"
"<Ereus's Prophecy> is true. The <Visitors> told the truth."
The three catgirls looked up into the sky. The blue moon smiled at them as if it was congratulating them finding a conclusion to the truth of their world.
Ereus, the red sun, had long died and has collapsed into a black hole. The catgirls' world was beyond the event horizon of the black hole.
<Synthesis>, blessed with the magical ability to warp space, managed to escape from the massive gravity well and emerged in "normal space". It took a mere twenty years to complete the feat.
However, the courier rod that carried the black box of the ship met with time dilation when re-entering, possibly due to a bad angle of entry. That probably caused the centuries-long wait for the response.
Why would there be a world on the other side of a black hole? Not even the cat-eared overseers know.
"So you didn't base your game on pure imagination and procedural generation, eh?"
"Most of it, yes. But overall, it's based on the galaxy map harvested from the <Visitors>. Even the design of <Synthesis>, you see, originated from the <Visitors>. Just the outer design, though."
"Yeah, yeah. Who knows... No, I don't need to know what kind of eldritch abomination you've stuffed into that ship's hull."
"But it has your blood running in it, though. All three of us. It's our—"
"Ergh, shut up. Look, Niru's uncomfortable too, right?"
"I... uh... Well, since its fate's sealed... We can just forget about it."
"Heh, please do."
Remi let out a giggle that amplified the creepiness of her permanent smile. Then, she manipulated gravity around the area to lift the black box and stowed it away in her dimensional storage, an ability granted by Shinna to some of the world's denizens.
"At least, the threat is no more. If <Synthesis> could ever return, well, we'll welcome them with open arms. If not, then... so be it. We as the 'pillars' can't ever leave this world, after all. And it's not worth sending another expedition either."
"Since the operation is over, I'll return to my territory, then."
"Me too. If you've anything to tell, just upload it to the 'world tree.'"
"Alright, goodbye, and do have a fun time, yeah."
After Shinna had teleported away and Niru had dematerialized her avatar, Remi glanced at the blue moon again before returning to her lair.
"Valkna..."
The celestial body did not respond. It continued to radiate a pale blue light that occasionally flickered.
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Good news. Hope we not hear about cat gods again.
Adventure only for our mc and his cat girl.
Thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter!~