Chapter Text
"All-seeing presence, I ask you this...
...What is divinity?"
The darkness in her office returned to light, all the magic mirrors surrounding her floated away and disappeared in an instant, leaving only one to stay beside the inimitable, the one and only, Madame Herta.
It had been a very, very long time since Herta revealed herself in her true form. She felt her body was so stiff as she tried to stretch herself.
Looking at the mirror, she talked to herself, "Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm~ I still got it. My beauty is still unmatched, as always." She lifted her hat and gave it a spin while flicking her smooth, silky hair. "Oh Aeons, I love myself~"
Every pose that she made deliberately always earned a delightful hum from the genius herself, indeed. And while there were still more than a thousand words she could vocalize to praise herself, for now, that would have to wait. She had someone to meet.
. . . . . . . . . .
The door to her office opened with a snap of her finger, and as the Emanator stepped out, two guards who had been standing outside straightened up at the sight of her; their mouths didn't dare to ask any questions.
As she walked to the elevator, myriads of eyes were on her, as well as their reactions. Though the Genius already knew that most of said reactions were glazing, praising, and simping, yada yada yada.
In the past, only a select few people were considered lucky enough to have met her in person. Though, she probably didn't care about such trivial matters anymore about who was blessed to have their presence acknowledged by her. If one saw her face, so be it; she wouldn't make a fuss.
...
Once she reached the Seclusion Zone, Herta's grin got wider as she prepared someone a surprise. She opened the door to a secret lab.
"Ruan Mei--"
Only to be met with a foul odor resulting from another failed experiment conducted by another fellow member of the Genius Society.
"For the love of Nous, what is this smell??"
"Ahh, I see you finally got out from your confinement after hundreds of years. Welcome back, Herta."
"Do you really take me for a shut-in? FYI, I'm very busy with other matters that unfortunately remain confidential even to a fellow Genius Society member like you." Herta proudly explained, but Ruan Mei just shrugged it off.
"Whatever. What brings you here, anyways?" Ruan Mei asked.
Herta snickered, "Why, to surprise you, of course~"
"And with what?"
Herta, on the other hand, playfully spread out her arm; the other one was placed on her chest. "Me, of course!"
Seeing Ruan Mei's unimpressed face, she continued, "Oh, come on now. Don't you miss me after not being able to see me for a long while? You've only been able to see me in a form of my puppets up until now!"
The woman in the qipao remained silent for a few seconds until she mumbled, "Unfortunately, I prefer the smaller one."
"Oh. Oh, I get it. You're not happy to see me? FINE." Herta started sulking, turning around with her arms folded tight. Ruan Mei began chuckling and hugged her from behind.
"I'm just messing with you~ Glad to have you around again, Herta." And Herta instantly melted.
"H-hmph."
"But when I said I prefer the smaller one, I still half meant it."
"I'm starting to regret this friendship of ours."
Ruan Mei chuckled again. "In my defense, your puppets are just that adorable. Even the Trailblazer said that."
"Who, Caelus?" Herta raised her eyebrow, then scoffed. "Ah, who cares about what that trash guy's opinion is, anyway?"
"You said that, yet you knew exactly what he's always up to." Ruan Mei said while letting out a faint smile.
"...!" A light blush started to appear on the witch's face. "I--I just don't want anything bad to happen to my guinea pig, that's all!"
"Mmm-hmm," Ruan Mei just hummed while preparing tea and cakes. "Sure thing."
.
.
.
Herta, in her pajamas, sat comfortably on her bed, with her phone in hand, thinking about her last conversation with Ruan Mei earlier. 'Why did she have to bring him up?' she thought.
Caelus was, indeed, an interesting individual. Herta was the type that always got bored with something so fast, yet he quickly got her back on interest, and she thought that there was some strange dynamic going on between them, even though she dismissed it at first.
Just who the hell is this guy?
She hadn't talked with him since she showed up in this new form. Why should she, when all she did to him was for him to test her Simulated Universe? No, actually she did talk with him about other things, but it was not often, considering Herta did not like wasting time.
But teasing him once should be enough.
. . . . . . . . . .
Caelus was a bit grouchy these days.
Not because he failed his mission or lost something or someone; it was simply because he lost his 50/50 on gacha pulls on his mobile game. He may have had a lot of money to top up, but still, the feeling of losing was just... ugh.
He was completely engrossed in his phone, and since he had nothing to do these days, he shut himself in his room playing games and stuff.
Ding!
"Argh... What now??" Caelus groaned, pissed. Who the hell messaged him late at night?
With the game still on, he popped open the message on his phone.
??? : Caelus
??? : Congratulations on receiving this message.
??? : Who do you think I am?
??? : Hint One: Genius
??? : Hint Two: Human
??? : Hint Three: Female
??? : Hint Four: Young
??? : Hint Five: Beautiful
??? : Hint Six: Cute
"What in the fuck is this?" Caelus asked himself, clearly dumbfounded. Was this some kind of a scam? he wondered. But with him still concentrated on his game, he decided to just give it a random answer. "To hell with this..."
Caelus : Ruan Mei
.
.
.
"What the--!?"
It felt like her blood pressure suddenly spiked up when she saw her friend's name appear on her chat. Fortunately, she calmed herself down immediately after realizing something.
"I--I mean he's never seen me in this form, has he? So it makes sense... I guess..."
Ruan Mei... Herta knew she was pretty, but there was no way that her beauty surpassed hers. These two geniuses, while they were friends, were also secretly rivals. They would argue this and that, and debates were almost unavoidable. And this topic of which one is the most beautiful still remained the top of their unspoken rivalry.
"Hmph, I'll just have to surprise him tomorrow, then."
With a snap of her fingers, she summoned a puppet of hers, "Text that Caelus guy to come and see me tomorrow," and bunked herself to sleep.
. . . . . . . . . .
Caelus was walking on the way to her office with eye bags underneath his eyes and slightly messy hair. It looked like he left in a hurry; he must have overslept again.
"Just what did she want from me now? Sigh, probably doing Simulated Universe again," he mumbled. The number of times he became a test subject for that project of hers should have earned him a raise for his rewards.
The door opened, and he stepped inside, only to be met with a tall lady with a large witch hat on boots wearing a corset.
"Um... who are you?"
The lady turned around elegantly for him to see; his eyes went wide once he figured out who she was.
"H-herta?"
"Didn't expect to see the real me, did you?" Herta said with a slight smirk.
"I mean--yeah? What is going on exactly here?" Caelus scratched his head.
"Ahh, things happened, and I just have to reveal my true form." Herta explained. "And since you're at it, consider yourself lucky; not everyone got the chance to converse with me in person. Let's just say that you're... the 7th person to be able to form an exclusive friendly bond with me~ And a lucky number seven that is, can you even imagine that? Remember that as your lucky Herta number."
Caelus only raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know who the other 6 people are?"
"Ahem," Herta cleared her throat, intending to change the topic. "Anyways..." She spread her arms open wide, gracefully closing her eyes. "You've got something to say to me?"
"Huh?" Now Caelus got even more confused, evident by his blinking eyes. "You called me, remember?"
But Herta didn't say a word. Instead, she kept standing there with a smirk plastered on her face and slightly tilted her head.
"Seriously, what are you trying to pull?" Still no answer whatsoever coming from her mouth. Both of them kept silent for exactly 7 minutes until a light bulb appeared above Caelus's head.
'Don't tell me, she wanted to be praised?'
Looking at her, he knew from the start that she was very, very pretty. Once someone told him that her puppets merely glimpse about 10% of her beauty. But to him, she wasn't by his definition of beautiful. Not yet, at least.
"I'm waiting~"
"You're... pretty..."
Herta grinned.
"...I guess..."
"Why, thank you for your compli-- eh?" Herta glared at him in an instant; the Trailblazer averted his eyes away from her. "Could you repeat that? I didn't hear you quite clearly."
Now Herta leaned her ear close to him, and Caelus tried to back away, but his answer remained the same. "You're pretty... I think."
"Caelus."
"Yes?"
"Why do I not feel sincerity from you?"
At this point Caelus only felt ire towards her. Did she really think she could get him to simp over her? "What more do you want to hear from me? I told you the truth!"
"Liar! Your face even shows doubts! Who in the world had more captivating beauty than me!?"
"Well, I mean, there are some--"
Herta grabbed him by his collar. "If you mention Ruan Mei, I'll kill you."
What's her problem with Ruan Mei? He thought. Herta and Ruan Mei are both pretty in their own ways, no?
Caelus suddenly felt her breath on his face; she was getting too close! In a split second, as if it was in slow motion, his eyes ran down on every feature on her face, but one thing stood out the most... her deep purple eyes. He didn't even realize his face blushed so hard as his eyes locked with hers; gold meets purple.
But eventually, he pushed her back, not wanting to drown any further.
"Alright... That's enough teasing for today! Besides, what's the matter with you, Herta? Puppet or not, you sound different."
"H-huh?"
"Look, if we're not going to do any tests on the Simulated Universe today, then I'll just leave for now. I'll... uh, see you around!"
With that, he hurriedly left her office and made his way to the nearest Space Anchor, leaving the witch alone.
Herta stood still, her fists clenched by her sides. The thought of him calling someone else beautiful just doesn't sit right with her.
She knew that this wasn't like her, because the usual Herta wouldn't even want to waste time for something like this. Yet when it came to her personal test subject...
"Heh..."
Well, time to put in a little effort.
The Trailblazer will be brought down to his knees, worshiping her as if she were a goddess.
Herta summoned her mirrors; her smirking indicated that she may have formed a plan.
"I'll make sure you can't keep on living if you don't think about me... Even for a second... Caelus~"