"Wait..." I blink a few times, then glance at Senka as if asking for help. But the doll girl only shrugs, acting as if this isn't a big revelation. Looking at Flann's unchanging face, I wait for her to elaborate. But when she doesn't, I can't stop myself from asking. "You're my half-sister?"

"I am nothing more than a mud doll given a temporary soul to fulfill a purpose." Her voice is neutral as always, but the content of her words are nothing but self-deprecating. "I will cease to exist once that purpose has been fulfilled."

"You're my sister." I declare and hug her tightly. Judging by her description of her birth, she wasn't conceived through a union between Maou-mama and Mithra but artificially created in some alien manner. Even then, she's a physical offspring of my mother, and the former court magician gave her life.

At this point, nothing can truly shake me anymore. That Maou-mama and Mithra had a child together in one way or another comes at the end of a long string of shocking revelations. I take it as it happens and accept Flann into the family without a problem. And I'll make sure that she won't be cast aside when Mithra's plan comes to fruition.

"So, are your worries about the future alleviated now?" Senka barges in on our heartfelt moment, and I glare at her with a frown.

"Somewhat." The thought that Mithra is rebelling against a being that could be considered an omnipotent god in another dimension is only making me more anxious. But now I somewhat know my role in all this and understand what must be done.

And learning that Flann is my half-sister is a glimpse of light in this darkness that lies before me. I have Asoko and my two children, but discovering more family is always welcome - as long as they're nice people.

"Sorry for being so unfriendly toward you." I separate from Flann and look her in the eyes apologetically. Since she's the daughter of Mithra, somebody I considered a traitor that let my mother die, I didn't treat her too well. At best, I spoke to her as if she were a servant, but that will change.

"It matters not." The blonde girl on my lap replies, seemingly indifferent to how people treat her. I remember when I grasped her in my tentacles and wanted to squeeze the truth out of her right after she returned with Asoko. Back then, she didn't show any distress at being handled roughly either.

"It matters to me." With a serious expression on my face, I deny her nihilistic attitude. Grabbing her face with both my hands, I force her to acknowledge my feelings. "You will be my court magician. We'll do an official ceremony once we have taken care of the solar winds situation."

"Now, kiss." Senka suddenly appears right next to us and says, causing me to flinch in surprise.

"Do you always have to ruin the glorious moment?" Sighing, I frown at her.

"Why did you even bring me along when all you needed was to talk to her?" Shooting back with a question of her own, she stuns me into silence. Then I remember what I brought her with me for in the first place.

"I want to talk to you about the Imagination Engine... once again." I gesture for Flann to get up and stand up myself. Pacing through the room, I think about how to broach the subject best.

"You think it would be better to destroy it so that people like the Old Humans can never come into existence again." The doll girl correctly guesses my intentions. "And now that you know the Outer One is using the tears it creates in space to send its offspring here, even more so."

"I don't even know how we can stop the solar winds. There's no way we can force Areteniha to call them back unless we threaten the destruction of the Imagination Engine." Even then, I'm not sure it would be enough to coerce her. She lost her son and is willing to destroy all life on Earth at this point. Would she care about keeping her powers afterward?

The problem of the Outer One is something I'll have to worry about for another day. It doesn't seem to have a human understanding of space, sending in Mataku however many millennia ago and only a little over twenty years ago sending the next. It may take an interest in Earth again in another thousand or more years.

"And here I thought you were already so detached that you don't feel the gravity of this situation." Grinning at me, Senka jabs at the fact that I kept my cool during the meeting and talked as if stopping this calamity was a foregone conclusion.

"What did you just say?" But something else in her statement piques my interest.

"Is it time for this cliché now?" The doll girl sighs and rolls her eyes. "I said gravity. I'm sure that's the word you're looking for."

"How could I forget?" Slapping my forehead audibly, I ask myself this rhetorical question.

"Because you're-" Senka begins, but I interrupt her.

"Don't say it." I point at her and narrow my eyes. Then I turn to Flann with a new plan blossoming in my mind - one that could give me an edge over every enemy in the future. Excluding the Outer One, that is. "There's a certain nostalgic place we have to visit."