"Legris Damien is a dangerous man. He is extremely unstable, unpredictable… and worst of all, he's very petty." Neron's hologram began in a stern tone.
The casual mood from earlier had now vanished, and I could tell from his low pitch and slight frown that he was being very serious now.
"His plan was to scatter as many people through the branches so we would spend forever trying to save everyone and ourselves while he went on with his plans. Unfortunately for him, I intervened and he was only able to get six of us."
Why couldn't Neron have just stopped Legris' plans entirely.
"I couldn't stop what he wanted to do because he would have just sprung something else. It's much better to allow the natural order of events to flow while I use it to my advantage. Besides, if you all didn't go on your separate and group voyages, you wouldn't be as powerful as you are currently."
With that point addressed, Neron's hologram proceeded.
"The problem with saving everyone else was that I couldn't leave them behind since they would be stuck with Legris. Like I said, he's very dangerous. With us gone, he could wipe out everything we know and love."
I understood everything he had done thus far, but it was this part that I was stuck on. Why couldn't Neron just protect everyone by keeping them in a special dimension? He could also give us the coordinates or key to said dimension when we met him in the world he was transported to.
So, why didn't he do that?
"It's much more difficult to protect than to attack. It's harder to construct than it is to destroy." Neron's hologram began.
"Within the limits of my [Timeless World], I had to protect everyone—not just within our planet, but the entire universe."
From Neron's words alone, it was clear that he was looking at things from a much broader angle. Legris Damien was petty, so if Neron had protected us and transported everyone in our planet away from harm, Legris could lash out at the other planets.
He probably didn't want the denizens of the universe to suffer for an incident in our planet.
"There has been more than enough damage caused by this conflict already. No more… at least, that was what I thought when it all took place."
I could understand his rationale now. However, was it really easier to swap universes, compared to just rescuing everyone?
"Swapping branches is easier than you think." Neron's voice echoed out almost as soon as I made the thought.
"I had Aether help me out. She governs the Tree, so you could call her its gardener. Once I sent my will across to her, and revealed all that is at stake, she was able to lend me her authotity to switch universe positions."
How was that easy at all?
"I guess it's one of the perks of being a Singularity." Neron's hologram added, while shrugging his arms like it was no big deal.
'This guy…' Nearly gritting my teeth, I maintained my composure
"It's much easier than accounting for every single entity in this universe and transporting all of them to a dimension I'll have to make from scratch. You realize there are millions of ecosystems out there, right? There are organisms that have certain needs, which can only thrive under certain conditions. Do you think I had the time to carefully craft an entire universe while paying attention to all that detail?"
"You have all the time in the world, don't you?"Kuzon suddenly raised his voice, and I swear, he beat me by one second.
At this point, I could already chalk down everything Neron was saying to one thing.
"... Yeah, it was just easier to swap out the universes. In the end, I was looking for the most efficient way. Is that so wrong?"
I truly didn't know how a recording could be so fluent at reading the room, and our minds, but Neron must have understood how a lot of his ramblings didn't add up.
"A-ahem! In any case, sorry for not telling you anything earlier. In all honesty, I wanted you to find the clues yourself and also come here with your wits and abilities. And as you can see, you all made it here, no problem."
In essence, it was fine for Neron to take the easy approach when it came to protecting everyone, but when it came to us… we had to take the more difficult approach.
I could certainly see how fair that was.
Yes, I was being sarcastic.
"I do not know how much time has passed since then, but know that due to the dimension swapping, there were a lot of things to account for—like the interference of space time, and other minute factors. That means, based on my theory alone…" As Neron's hologram was speaking, I completed the words in my thoughts.
'... The time of our original world might be affected.'
I didn't know to what extent, and to what degree, but it was possible that the people that were in this world had been living without us for longer than a few months.
'It could be double that… or triple.'
What if a year had passed since our vanishing? Just how much devastation would that cause?
My body was already feeling heated up, and anxiety slowly crept in.
Right there and then, I only thought of one thing.
'I want to see everyone!'
"I shouldn't keep you waiting here. Go on and see your friends and family. You've waited long enough." Neron's voice echoed in my ears, and then the buzzing sound from earlier took over.
~ZZZzzzttttzzzz…~
Once the sound died down, the hologram vanished, and silence pervaded the blank room.
No one spoke for a while, and we all stared at each other, but after a few moments of silence, I finally broke the decorum.
"Let's go outside."
The Safehouse had only one entrance and exit, and so everyone followed my lead as we ventured out to the world that awaited us.
As we got closer to the exit, a certain thought suddenly manifested in my head.
'So that explains why Aloe Vida couldn't find her panties…'
It wasn't intentional, I swear.
