"Rupert II is dead, and the Self-Coronation has come to an end."

"What if his thinking had continued? Stepping out of the circle of knowledge, creating a knowledge singularity, an Anti-Life Equation that rewrites the definition of universal knowledge..."

"He would have killed all life."

"Organic and inorganic... all life would disappear."

"Pativia couldn't help but be awestruck by such thoughts. If the Staff system was a tool for the Emperor to expand his mind, then she, too, could ask them questions and expand her own brain—crowning herself as the genius of prophecy."

"She connected her consciousness to the Staff core. Under the action of spooky action at a distance, all Staffs within the Empire's territory instantly connected into a complete nervous system, serving their long-awaited new monarch."

"But at the very moment she asked the question, a sliver of self-doubt suddenly gripped her mind."

"It was as if one foot had already stepped into the palace of truth, while the other was tightly entangled by thorns outside the door, forcibly dragged back into the mire. She suddenly raised her head and looked into the depths of the sea of flowers. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but a sweet scent and a candy-colored silhouette of clothing drifted by."

"She had spoken with that lady several times—that ethereal lady, whose face was blurred but who was concise and comprehensive. Her words were as sharp and precise as a scalpel, always cutting through confusion and clearing away obstacles, making Pativia feel ashamed of her own inferiority."

"'With my wisdom... can I truly achieve 【Self-Coronation】?'"

"Pativia lowered her head in shame. After all, she had always been a mediocre person, not a genius."

——

Mob Psycho 100.

"Fortunately, she started to doubt herself. Otherwise, once she completed the coronation, I suspect Polka-Kakamond would have chosen to kill her."

Reigen was now almost certain that Polka-Kakamond's goal wasn't simply to kill the Emperor II, but to prevent him from achieving Self-Coronation.

Once Pativia had the idea of coronation, she immediately saw Polka—though he still didn't know how this genius managed it, he was certain that if Pativia wanted to go any further, she would immediately become a ghost under the scalpel.

"Reigen, that doesn't make sense. Rupert I didn't choose Self-Coronation, nor did he create the Staff system, so why did Polka still kill him?" Dimple glanced at him with disdain. "...Is this guess of yours even reliable? Stop talking about things that have no basis."

Veins popped on Reigen's forehead as he pointed at Dimple above his head and roared, "Then you tell me! If Polka-Kakamond's purpose wasn't to prevent Self-Coronation, then what was it for?!"

"Tch~ Obviously, it was to prevent the organic life in the universe from being harmed by Inorganic Life." Dimple curled his lip, his voice full of confidence. "After Self-Coronation, the Anti-Life Equation that rewrites the definition of universal knowledge will be derived, and then the entire universe will suffer catastrophe again. If Pativia undergoes Self-Coronation, it will surely lead to the derivation of the Anti-Life Equation—and Polka acted precisely to prevent all of this."

"But, I remember that other Geniuses in the Genius Society were also assassinated by Polka, right?" Mob, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up, interrupting their argument.

"If Polka took the initiative to kill two Geniuses to prevent the universe from being harmed, then why were the other Geniuses killed? Did they also harbor thoughts of harming the universe?"

"Right, right... Shigeo, you've finally noticed." Dimple' expression instantly stiffened. "...The universe is a very dangerous place, especially with these Geniuses."

"If Polka were truly for universal peace, she should have gone to assassinate Nanook, or at the very least, Nanook's Emanators... Even if she didn't want to strike anyone outside of the Geniuses, isn't Dr. Primitive in the Genius Society a greater threat to universal peace now? For the sake of peace, she should have killed Dr. Primitive instead."

"This..."

Dimple was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to rebut.

"Don't know how to answer, do you?" Reigen chuckled and gave Dimple a meaningful look. "Believe me, Polka definitely doesn't have the simple sense of justice of a normal person. The people in the Genius Society are all freaks; we can't use normal logic to speculate on their habits. Protecting the universe? Heh... the probability that she's just a simple homicidal maniac is much higher than that."

——

"In external time, Pativia hesitated for about a few seconds. Then, she gave up on Self-Coronation via the 【Staff】 and chose to shift her gaze upward, toward the end of 【Erudition】."

"'I shall receive a moment of His thought...' Pativia said in her heart."

"Everything was as she wished."

"The 【Staff】 rose high, and countless tiny specks of light, as if drawn by an invisible force, flocked toward the crown of her head like tired birds returning to the forest."

"Praise the seeker of knowledge; she shall have her wish fulfilled."

"..."

"A blinding red light flashed, and countless panels instantly popped up in front of Herta, displaying various signals that Stelle couldn't understand."

"Feeling the tremors around her, Stelle vaguely had a bad premonition."

"'Herta, what's going on?'"

"'A small problem. The Simulated Universe's capabilities are limited and cannot calculate the scenes Pativia saw. Just now, the discrete data captured from her cognition alone almost caused the Simulated Universe to crash and restart.'"

"After some intensive debugging by Herta, the Simulated Universe finally returned to stability."

"In the mental world of 【Erudition】, she saw the ocean she had dreamed of—an endless sea of knowledge, vast and unfathomable."

"From the first signals captured to complete solitary waves and ripples in the imaginary background, all of this had once seemed so grand and mysterious to her. However, when she truly stood before this ocean, she realized with a shock that the problems that had trapped humanity for countless Amber Eras were but insignificant spray from crashing waves, ripples beneath ripples."

"They were fleeting, almost imperceptible."

——

Arcane.

Following Pativia's perspective, Jayce and Viktor both captured a moment of Nous's thought...

And it was only for a moment.

A vast sea of knowledge instantly submerged them. Countless formulas and characters they couldn't understand appeared on the Celestial Screen. Just as they picked up pen and paper, these formulas flashed by along with Pativia's dimension-crossing thoughts, like meteors streaking across the night sky.

"Viktor, it's too fast... too fast!" Jayce desperately searched for the pen and paper at hand, trying to catch the fragments scattered from the mind of a god. He was trembling all over, and the lines of the formulas he recorded were crooked and appeared clumsy and ridiculous, but he had no time to think about that... he just kept trying desperately to grasp this fleeting knowledge.