(Brendan POV)
"Ok, what do you mean by that?" Sister Tsuki asked me.
I gestured at sister Elaria's machine, "Well, it's obvious that the… Umm… Woman… Pretty much has us beat in terms of getting to those other Universes to find those alternate versions of Master. And since those Universes came about from the different branching paths that could have been made because of Master's decisions… Then sister Eris could technically create more Universes with her domain, right?"
Senior sister Lian Li gasped, "And we get first dibs on those Universes so we'll get there faster!"
"But… Wouldn't that just increase the number of Universes and make no difference to the overall percentages?" Kiyomi pointed out.
I nodded, "That's why we'll ask Master to end a Universe for every new one we make, that way there won't be an increase in the number of Universes left."
Eris thought about it for a moment, "That… Might actually work…"
Diao Chan sulked, "Hmph… And I was enjoying all this before that bitch really just had to ruin everything…"
Enjoying it? What was she… Ah, it's Senior sister Diao Chan after all… I can already make a guess what she meant by that.
"Ara, ara? I suppose we should ask Master about it first and we might want to hurry as well," Manami pointed out, staring intently at the screen that showed our percentages.
It was still at forty six percent for now but no doubt the other side would be increasing soon.
Agreeing with Manami's point, I was chosen to explain the plan to Master while my sisters continued working on the jumps, hoping they could still take away some Universes from that woman's grasp.
I went towards the pavilion in the courtyard where Master was seated. I found Master seated with His legs crossed and His eyes closed, presumably concentrating on trying to disrupt that person and also integrate His other selves from the other Universes.
Since that person was running rings around us, I'd assume the disrupting part isn't going very well.
"Master?" I called out, worried that I might be interrupting Him.
Master opened His eyes and blinked at me, "Ah… Brendan. Did you need something?"
"Yes… Umm… Are you aware of what that… Umm… That person is doing right now?"
Master looked at me silently for a moment before He perked up, "Ah, Iris right? Yeah, she seems to be going all out right now. I'm trying to slow her down by giving her headpats to her main body whenever I could but it seems like she's managed to find a way to avoid getting distracted by it."
Wait… That bitch is doing all this crap and still gets head pats from Master?!! What is this unfairness?! I demand that she…
Ahem… That's embarrassing, I actually let myself be distracted for a moment there.
I coughed to school my features and also to remind myself of what I should be paying attention to.
"Yes… Umm… That's why I have a suggestion for our current predicament Master… I was wondering if you would be open to hearing it?"
"Oh? Well of course I would listen to what my cute disciples have to say. Go on, don't be shy."
"Unn… We were thinking that if we could use Eris's domain to create new branching paths to make new Universes with Master in them so that we convert them while Master destroys the other Universes that have yet to have any influence by us or that woman?"
Master thought about it for a moment, "That's a rather interesting idea… But are you all fine with that?"
Eh? Fine with that? Why wouldn't we be fine with it? Is there something wrong with such a plan?
"What do you mean, Master?"
"I mean like this would be me essentially killing off the other versions of myself and you'd be making, basically, defective versions of me, you know?"
…
"What?" Came my most eloquent response.
Master nodded, "That's normal since Eris is only influencing the formation of these universes with the variations of my decision alone right? In order to make a perfect parallel universe, however, you'd need to take into account the rest of the universe too. As talented as Eris is, I'm afraid this isn't something she is able to do."
Damn… Looks like that idea is out then… I'm not even speaking for myself when I say that having an imperfect Master was unacceptable, but right now I'm fresh out of ideas on what we can do.
I looked at Master, "In that case… What can we do to overturn our disadvantage against her? At this rate she is going to turn Master back to the way you were before."
"Hmm… Is it a bad thing though?"
Eh? Why is Master asking such a question? Isn't it obvious that… No…
I turned back to see the screen was now showing that woman was at forty seven percent while we were stuck at forty six percent. It would be the end if either side reached fifty one percent so we have to stop her now!
But what can we do? If aAster is… Wait, Master only asked if it was a bad thing, He did not outright refuse me. That means there's still a chance!
I swivelled back to Master, "It is a very bad thing, Master! We need your help to stop her right now!"
"Hmm… Well, I suppose there is one thing I can do but I have never actually tried yet… Now that I think about it… Why didn't I try it?"
"What is it?"
"Hmm? It's a rather weird thing I suppose… But my omniscience is showing me that there is a one hundred percent chance of her stopping whatever she is doing for some time and also slowing her down significantly so I suppose I could do that?"
So it's another stalling tactic and we need to get the rest of the Universes while she was distracted? That's good enough for now I suppose.
"In that case, could I leave it to Master to stall her? We'll do the rest and make sure we catch up to her in the meantime!"
Master blinked a few times as though He had just woken up from His sleep, "Eh? Ah. Don't worry, you can leave it to me. I'll deal with her."
For some reason, I don't really feel that assured by Master's words but it's not like we have much of a choice now…
I ran back to my sisters to deliver the news, hoping this would be enough to turn the tide around.
The girls were all there cursing that woman when I returned, all of them turning to me when they saw me.
"What did Master say?!" Lian Li asked, noticeably more pissed than before.
I gulped, "Master said He would be using another tactic to slow her down and distract her, so we just need to work faster while she was incapacitated."
Diao Chan suddenly gasped, "Noooo!! Master is going to fuck her!! Ahhhh!! I'm so jealous!!"
Oh… Was that really Master's plan though?
The percentage on her side suddenly went up by one again to show forty eight percent, leaving her ahead of us by two percent.
Now's not the time to be thinking anymore!! Let's go!
