Wait.

—

"My love, it seems Radovid and Manimarco have managed to escape. In the process, they injured Triss, Yennefer, Faralda, and Nemsy. Triss even lost her hand because of it."

Chuckling with cold apathy, Yoriichi observed that the two demons had finally made a move. Knowing they wouldn't want to escape the prison if he were still alive, and realizing only now, after severing ties with karma and forgetting himself from the world, that they had begun to have an idea, he then asked Margarita, "Did everyone see them escaping?"

Knowing what her husband wanted, Rita replied, "Yes. After using the leader of the Aasimar to hack Huginn and Muninn and destroy the Undvik underground bunker, everyone who had used them for experiments was already aware of their escape."

The fruit has already ripened, and Yoriichi knows that this psychological model, created by everyone affected, will help him predict more sophisticatedly. Especially for the next world, where the variables will become too numerous for his calculations to handle, making him rely more on expertise rather than brute force in the future. Simply nodding his head, Yoriichi then said one word, "Good."

"Do you want me to kill them?"

Wanting to use his new method of attacking, he shook his head, "No. Let me do it. I want to exercise my Butterfly Echoes. And for the first victim, I think they are suitable people to practice with."

Nodding her head, knowing this would be their main form of attack when dealing with someone who threatens their daughter, Rita said, "Okay then. Teach me how to do it later."

"Of course, love."

Taking one electron from the air so that the attack becomes subtle and imperceptible, Yoriichi then calculates how he should proceed. On one hand, he wants them to feel despair one last time, but he knows that a slow death will only inspire them in their next life to avoid this kind of attack. On the other hand, killing them instantly does not satisfy him, especially as his love for his daughter and wife grows stronger each day. After ruminating for a bit, he decides to take a middle path.

After calculating six hundred models of superstring theories in his head, Yoriichi flicked the electron like a marble to hit another one in the air. The chain reaction of electrons colliding with one another continued, behaving just as normal particles should. Finally, the last electron reaction passed through the membrane of space-time of this universe into Ciri's, before hitting some kind of rhino monster. The impact caused the creature to run in the opposite direction, its long and short horns pointed at the two demons currently escaping with their lives.

Stab. Their hearts were pierced.

Two people, a human and an elf, who had just moments ago worn delightful expressions, now faced despair as they saw their lives slipping away. They had created elaborate plans to escape the forgotten shaitan, only to have their minds snap and question who the true devil was, just to die alongside a lowly beast that hadn't even reached level two. This filled them with anguish and agony, wondering why fate was so cruel as to offer them not even a shred of hope or salvation.

Unable to find answers, they succumbed to their despair after just two minutes, unable to hold on any longer to their sanity.

Seeing them finally die for good, Richard hoped that they would take the same path in their next life so that he could toy with them in the future. Even if they behaved themselves well in their next life, Richard still had eternity to wait for the next one, and the next, and the next, until every life they lived became the same thing again. So, after watching them being eaten by the rhino, leaving only parts of their bodies behind, he then used his Butterfly Echoes repeatedly to set off a series of chain reactions to make their bodies disappear.

Calculating that the people who created the model had no inkling of their death and were still motivated to avoid the same failure, Yoriichi nodded his head silently. Turning around, he then started to chat with Rita and Nadine, treating this point in his life as merely a slightly chilly wind that made him smarter and more insightful. After a couple of minutes talking with his wife and childhood sweetheart on various topics while waiting for the new world to arrive, Yoriichi noticed Margarita's translucent watch light up.

"Hmm… The Sonic Screwdriver has already been activated. And the content of the wave function is… Huh? Only information?"

Raising an eyebrow, Jaina asked, "Isn't it that you guys told me the thing can be used to edit the Bagua Engine?"

Frowning as she read the information sent by her daughter, Margarita shook her head. "No, apparently not. Ember told me that inside the wave function is only information about what to expect in the new world. There is nothing else."

Laughing to himself, Yoriichi had an inkling this would happen if he decided not to edit it out of respect for their dead bodies. He chuckled foolishly and shook his head, seeing how truly fickle the two doctors were. Especially knowing that in Skidbladnir there are thousands upon thousands of guests from four multiverses, local multiverses, and Otherworlder universes waiting in excitement. Just imagining the look on their faces after discovering that the Sonic Screwdriver is nothing more than a dud filled him with delight.

"It seems Dao are truly impartial. If they want to control the world, the world decides to control them instead. Hihihihi, how peculiar."

Shaking her head and chuckling too, Margarita then raised an eyebrow seeing Ember's subsequent message, "Hmm… It seems there is a passage in the short list of information that our daughter feels directed toward you, love."

Intrigued, he then asked, "What did it say?"

"It doesn't say anything in particular. It's just that Ember feels like these random words she picked, when put together, are telling her something. It says, 'Protect, Endearing, Little Ones, Well.'"

Wanting to use his flaming mark to boost himself and calculate what it meant, Yoriichi found he didn't need to, as his thoughts were drawn toward the fate of Ember's string. He noticed that whenever he thought about wanting to protect her, he always saw answers on how to do it, no matter how far away the infinity was. He just chuckled and let out a sigh of relief.

"Hmm? What happened, dear? Did I miss something?"

"Well… I think we don't need to race toward infinity anymore. For our children, disciples, pupils, wards, or protégés who have the same innocence as Ember, we will be able to protect them from any enemy, no matter how clever or powerful they are."

"But…"

"For those who have ambitions, we must still rely on ourselves if we want to protect them. There are no exceptions."

—