Non-Canon Omake: The Foolish Genius, Part 3

Herta POV

Idiot!

Stupid idiot fool!

There were millions upon millions of the swarm there, there was an Emanator, there were giant Swarm Mothers that continued to spawn more of their number by the tens of thousands every few minutes!

There was enough that they were able to check three combined fleets and still advance past four worlds before they were stopped!

However……

“Herta!” 

My puppet turned to see the crew of the Astral Express enter the Simulated Universe Room.

I regret giving them full access now, as I forced my puppet to calm down.

“Hey Herta, where’s your husband?” Stelle looked around.

“He’s not my husband!” I scowled.

“Really? He sounded like he really cared about you.” Stelle grinned.

“Regardless, he is not my husband; we’re not married.” I crossed my arms, refusing to even humor it.

“Madam Herta, where is Mr. Schweinorg?” Welt asked, pushing up his glasses.

“He went inside the Simulated Universe.” I flung some holograms over, showing a video of what was happening inside. “See for yourselves.”

“What’s going on? That’s a lot of Swarm bugs.” Stelle asked in surprise.

“It’s an untested Swarm Disaster simulation.” I said simply.

“That’s an army.” The dragon hiding as a man stated.

Most of everything visible was just endless ‘bugs,’ as she put it. As far as the eye could see, even blanketing the stars in the sky, it was nothing but the massive insects of the swarm.

The alerts began sounding, and I immediately took over the controls.

Simulation operation at 71% and falling.

Swarm Host is deviating from parameters; what’s going on? 

Checking systems—all systems showing optimal operational efficiency. 

Running second diagnostics—no errors discovered.

“Hey, where’s your husband, Herta? I can’t see anything inside that big mass of icky bugs.” Stelle asked. 

I furrowed my brow as I looked over the strange readings. Why were such anomalous readings coming from Wilhelm?

I flicked my hand and let the screens find Wilhelm and focus on him as he stood before the Swarm.

“Madam Herta, is…that a Swarm Emanator?” The Astral Express’s engineer asked me incredulously.

“Are you sure, Himeko?” Yang looked at her.

“It does look a little like the thing we beat up in the basement.” Stelle rubbed her chin. “Though this one looks a lot…bigger.”

“The one you fought was a half-baked attempt at replication. This is a true Emanator, name unknown.” I replied simply.

“Oooh, he took out a sword.” Stelle clapped. “Wonder what he’s going to do. Hey, Herta, can you turn the sound on?”

I ignored her but did so, too busy looking through the system to try and find what was wrong.

Not because I was worried about Wilhelm.

I just…had to find the discrepancies.

However, suddenly, the systems started blaring several warnings. The anomalous energies that were faintly detected before, now it was like they were being blasted.

“Bankai.”

I snapped my head to the screens; a large pillar of energy erupted from Wilhelm, and the simulation trembled slightly.

Why did that word feel heavy?

Thunderstorms rolled in from nowhere. 

Lightning began to fall down, eviscerating the bugs by the thousands.

Next was a roar; the sounds reverberated throughout the simulation world.

“Holy shit, is that a dragon?” Stelle exclaimed as a large red dragon right out of a child’s fairy tale had appeared and tore into the mass of insects. “Herta, you did tell me that you had Dragons in the SU!”

“...we don’t.”

“That’s a real dragon.” Dan Heng said softly, the Vidyadhara easily recognizing one of its own as a descendant of the Long Aeon.

The door to the room slid open. “Madam Herta.”

“Screwllum!” Stelle greeted him.

“Greetings, Nameless.” He looked at them. “Query: Madam Herta, why was I not informed of the arrival of Wilhelm?” He displayed a tablet that showed the scenes of what was happening in the simulated universe.

“Pointless.” I scoffed.

“Query: Why did you utilize the untested Simulation of the Swarm Disarted? Follow-up: Why were the safety parameters disengaged”?

“Pardon, Screwllum, what do you mean by safety parameters?” Welt asked, making me frown.

“Answer: All Simulated Universe simulations include an array of safety procedures for the users protection. Question: Why does being ‘killed’ within the Simulation Universe feel unpleasant but not painful?”

“Some type of pain dampener then?” Welt asked.

“Affirmative.” He answered. “Many safety precautions to protect the psyche of the users.”

“I see, that makes sense. Then, Madam Herta, why are they not active?” Welt asked. 

“...I just wanted to scare him away.” I watched as a talon narrowly missed his head but cut his cheek on the way by.

“Madam Herta, this Swarm Disaster simulation was untested and dangerous. We did not include it in the normal Simulated Universe for a reason.”

“There are a lot of bugs and an Emenator, but it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right?” March asked.

Screwllum merely responded by adjusting the focus of the screen so they could pan out fully.

What they had seen before was just the tip of the iceberg. The mountains that were in the background were in fact Swarm Mothers Behind them were millions more bugs. And further beyond, still swarming around the planet itself, were millions and millions more.

“...that’s a lot of bugs.” March, she said softly.

“What simulation is this? I thought you knew the Swarm Disaster simulations were derived to better understand the Swarm? This seems…pointless.” Himeko asked. 

“You are correct. This specific simulation was calculated and created from the data we could recover from the civilizations that perished during the onslaught.” Screwllum responded. “Answer: It was an attempt to manage a large-scale scenario to facilitate and experience a true battle at the height of the Swarm Disaster as it swept across the universe.”

“It was something meant to be fought by armies, and there’s one person in there.” Dan Heng summarized. “If there are no safety precautions, you should pull him out. I don’t know if being eaten alive would be healthy for someone’s mind.”

Why did I feel my heart tightening?

“...He has the ability to exit the simulation at any time of his choosing.” I replied.

“Madam Herta, what are these readings I’m getting? I’m picking up several esoteric energies that are unrecorded in our databases.” 

“Unknown.” I replied as I too was trying to understand what was happening.

“It seems that Mr. Schweinorg is full of surprises.” Welt commented. “It’s not a one-sided slaughter; he’s currently storming the enemy. Screllum, what are the numbers of defeated swarms?”

I perked up too because I hadn’t been paying attention to that in all this commotion.

“Currently, Wilhelm has slain 195,478 Stings.”

The number left a chilling silence.

It was hard to tell with the sheer number of the bugs, but then I realized they were along with them.

“He hasn’t lost ground; in fact, from his starting point, he has gained ground.” Welt pointed out.

Everyone started to pay closer attention then.

Lightning bolts rained from the sky. From Wilhelm himself, he released bolts of lightning that eviscerated thousands of their number with each passing moment.

Not only that, he had a plethora of weapons at his side, each of them giving off foreign readings, but each one was…powerful enough that one could tell at a glance.

Lastly, that dragon of his was currently colliding with the Emanator of Propagation that sat above the swarm, commanding it.

And it wasn’t losing.

However, more waves of the bugs were flying at it, as if noticing that they weren’t gaining ground. It was like they weren’t taking him seriously before and now saw him as a threat and were moving on him properly.

It didn’t matter how many he beautifully sliced in half, or how he moved breathlessly between the hordes, leaving but corpses in his wake; there were one, two , three, or ten to take its place.

Their numbers were endless.

Finally, Wilhelm came to a stop, completely surrounded by the creatures.

His breathing was a little heavy, and there were some cuts across his body.

Surrender, you fool.

Just say you quit, and it’ll automatically kick you out!

However, underneath him, something bright began to shine.

It was a circle with thousands of strange markings, lines, and symbols that were incomprehensible to me on sight alone.

“Blessings of the World Tree – Yggdrasil.”

All words would be completely impossible to hear over the sounds of the millions of insects buzzing about, stomping the ground, and reverberating in the air. Yet, these words were completely clear as day.

It started small for a split second, then it burst out of the ground. On this completely barren world that had been stripped clean of every morsel of life by the swarm, a tree began to sprout and push towards the sky.

A sword made of fire, a golden spear of light, a bright bow in the air, a strange box of ice. Many more phenomena appeared, and what looked like a sure conclusion once more was overturned.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of bugs became frozen solid as waves of frost swept over their numbers.

That fiery sword, with but a wave, reduced an uncountable number to ash.

The spear, it moved at impossible angles, finding the particularly annoying bugs, the one that exploded, the ones that ‘commanded,’ or the ones that had other annoying abilities. And it pierced right through them without leaving a visible trail other than corpses.

The bow sat high up in the sky, its string pulled back, and it released tens of thousands of arrows, each one ending the life of a bug in the air, not allowing them to take the aerial advantage.

“Interesting, Yggdrasil is known as the tree that holds up the Nine Realms in Norse Mythology.” Welt commented, and everyone turned to him. “It’s an ancient belief system, fallen out of practice and barely written down by the original believers. They believed that the world tree connected various realms, including our own world and the realm of the gods, together.”

They’re from the same world?

He never told me what world he was from.

“Total deaths have passed the five million mark; at this rate, he is destroying them faster than they can reproduce.” Screwllum informed everyone. “Two of the Swarm Mothers have been destroyed; their reproduction ability has further been reduced by 27%.”

“...this was supposed to be a big galactic battle simulation, right? Like warships, armies, and big boom weapons blowing up bugs?” Stelle asked.

“.....yeah.” Himeko nodded.

“Alright… just checking.”

The Simulated Universe didn’t operate at a one-to-one ratio to the true universe. It would be ridiculous to sit here every day for tens of hours when it could be sped up within.

That’s why, of the hours that passed inside, only about an hour passed here, yet…it felt excruciatingly long.

And more of the planet had been cleared of living bugs than there were bugs left at this point.

“Madam Herta, what path does Mr. Schweinorg walk?” Welt asked.

Path…..

I didn’t check what path was registered.

“Unidentified.” Screwllum answered before I could. “Unable to determine what path Wilhelm walks.”

“Screwllum, check the simulation stability.” I told him, finding it hard to pull away my eyes from the screen.

“Simulation stability is at 39% and falling. Chance for anomalous error has entered the danger zone.”

I listened as I kept watching. 

Wilhelm looked exhausted; blood sprinkled his body now, and he was breathing heavily. That big tree of his had slowly begun to dissipate, presumably requiring great mental or physical strain to sustain.

The various weapons of his were no longer as vigorously flying around, most of which had simply fallen to the ground.

Idiot…why go through so much effort?

Thousands of bugs all flew at him at once, and it looked like he was caught on the back foot as he was drowned.

It only took a moment for a blast of energy to push through, and his sword began to slice away at them, but there was a stinger sticking out of the side of his stomach.

I felt my hands clench as he pulled it free, blood gushing out of the large hole.

Yet, he continued to fight.

The numbers of the insects dwindled considerably; less than a million remained.

All the Swarm Mothers dead, and their innate ability to reproduce was being stymied purely by the speed at which they were killed.

Mountains of bug carcasses piled up on the horizon amidst the barren world.

Eventually, Wilhelm hunched over as he killed the last of the stings.

An impossible feat.

A bloodied and exhausted Wilhelm stood there.

There was one enemy left.

The Emenator hit the ground, causing a small earthquake as the Red Dragon landed next to Wilhelm. Both of the large entities were bloodied and tired, just as Wilhelm was.

Immediately, they fought again.

This time, there was no wondrous display of mystic powers or breathtaking skill. They clashed head-on, both sides utterly exhausted and at their limits.

The dragon and the Emanator tore at each other with claws and teeth.

Wilhelm joined in, his blade seeping deep into its flesh.

The Emanator still had a bit of power and was pressing both of them.

March was the first to gasp.

The Emanator had torn off one of Wilhelm’s arms.

Wilhelm then took one of its eyes.

The Man and the Dragon fought together, driving the Emanator into desperation, and with a titanic quake, it fell over for the last time and didn’t get up.

How much pain was he in? His body was….

There wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t covered in blood.

He had holes all over him, and he was even missing an arm.

Why was this so important to you?

Couldn’t you have just let things be? Why did you have to push yourself so much?

…..idiot.

Thankfully, the simulation didn’t collapse due to all the unforeseen variables. However, it finally ended, and the machine churned as Wilhelm reappeared in the room. 

Everyone looked at him with varying gazes, but he only focused on me.

“Will you finally talk to me?” There was no smugness in his tone, no taunting, no teasing….

“Stupid!” I threw something from my workstation at him. “Idiot, fool!” I don’t know what I was throwing; I just grabbed anything I could and threw it at him. “Who told you to do something stupid like that? You were supposed to give up, and you wouldn’t have had your stupid arm torn off!”

He was smiling. Why was he smiling!?

I hit him because he was being stupid! No, I needed to keep hitting his shoulder so he knew how stupid he was!

“I’m sorry.” He finally said.

I huffed, crossing my arms. “Stupid.”

“I am.”

“Idiot.”

“I’m that as well.”

“The biggest fool I’ve ever met!”

“Probably.”

“Hmph!” Stop smiling, you idiot! “Fine! What did you want to say to me!?” Even though he was physically alright, he looked…tired.

I was worried as he fell to a knee, but then my eyes widened as he held up a small box and opened it. “Herta, will you marry me?”

“...idiot.” I whispered. “I hate you.”

“I know.”

“...this is just a puppet.”

“I know that too.” He still smiled. “But Herta is still Herta, and I love her anyways.”

I stomped my foot in anger. “Stupid!”

Who allowed him to say something like that! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I grabbed his collar. “How dare you say that to me! Do you have any idea who I am? I’m Herta, the greatest genius in the universe. I’ve conquered death; I’ve recreated the Aeons. I’m the magnificent, beautiful, genius Herta!”

“Herta.” He looked at me.

“What!?” I scowled back at him.

“Shut up and marry me.”

“Put your stupid ring on my finger!!” I scoffed.

Idiot….

My idiot.

@***@

A/N

People had been asking about this part of the Herta omake for a while. I didn’t want to reveal his Bankai, so I was sort of vague about the fighting, which was hard because I could picture it in my head.

I have a few more ideas for a couple more parts, but we’ll see.