"Ah..."
It took the members of the Express crew some time to recover from their shock.
They stared in astonishment at Pocket Universe No. 15, which Haruhi Suzumiya had created.
It had gone from a small universe thirty light-years in diameter to a genuine greater universe nearly one hundred billion light-years across.
Looking up, they could see the real Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, and countless other brilliant galaxies.
Even the nameless planet everyone had been living on had been transformed into an authentic Solar System. The sun, the eight planets, and the moon orbiting Earth were identical to those of another world.
The only thing that had gone somewhat wrong was Haruhi Suzumiya's attempt to reproduce the Starsea Empire using her "information manipulation" ability.
She had only been able to reproduce a rough framework. The foundations of the Starsea Empire's capital could be seen across Earth.
Architectural complexes spanning the Eurasian continent, antigravity structures stretching from the ground into the heavens, vast starship launch and landing bases, endless farmland covering the great plains of South America, and so on.
Upon closer inspection, however, although these structures looked similar to those in the capital, they were still fundamentally different.
They possessed only the framework, with nothing filling the interior. The Starsea Empire's "information" was too complex for Haruhi, making it impossible for her to restore the details within.
As for the shipyards of Azure, Arpeggio, and the Sirens, the Angeloids' command center, Chaldea 01's base, and several other locations, she could not construct them at all.
They belonged to power systems from other worlds and could not be completely analyzed through "information manipulation."
"Mm... Actually, I also wanted to see if I could create the people from the Starsea Empire, but I don't know why. The moment I thought about doing that, some really strange things started appearing in my head."
Haruhi rubbed her temples.
"It felt like there were some indescribable, terrifying things stopping me. I don't know what they were..."
"If you could reproduce Nyaruko and the others, we'd really be in trouble."
Setsuna laughed, picked Haruhi up, and pinched her cheek.
Setting Outer Gods aside for the moment, Haruhi could theoretically create people or worlds whose scale did not exceed her own.
Resetting Earth's civilization, creating a Trisolaran civilization, or producing characters from other worlds were all possible.
If she spent enough time on it, she could create a girl identical to Jibril, Himeko, or one of the shipgirls in appearance, figure, and every other physical respect.
But that would not be the real Jibril, Himeko, or shipgirl, just as the Trisolaran fleet she had created before had not been the original Trisolaran fleet.
"Then does the Commander want Earthlings?"
Haruhi felt that she had not fulfilled Setsuna's wish very well, so she asked again.
"No need. This is one of the Eternal Snowfall's onboard universes, and it's also my private space."
"This is enough."
Setsuna gently stroked Haruhi's head.
This was essentially equivalent to Haruhi giving him an entire greater universe. From now on, there was an enormous amount he could do inside this hundred-billion-light-year onboard universe.
Not to mention, the Eternal Snowfall carried a total of sixteen pocket universes. Haruhi would have plenty of opportunities to put her talents to use in the future.
"Mm!"
The little girl blushed at the praise and nodded with puffed cheeks.
Being acknowledged by Setsuna made her even happier than getting full marks at school and being praised by a teacher.
"Right, right, isn't it my turn now? What about our wishes? Let me try it!"
Gudako approached with a face full of curiosity.
She had noticed that Haruhi's universe-scale rewriting this time had not caused any major unconscious reality distortions. The entire universe remained stable.
There were no strange aliens or monsters either, proving that Haruhi had already achieved a respectable degree of control over her powers.
"Mm... Sure!"
Haruhi landed on the ground, planted her hands on her hips, and raised her chin proudly.
"Whatever wishes you have, I'll do my best to try them too."
"Uh..."
"How about giving me the same superpowers you have?"
Ritsuka Fujimaru made an even more outrageous request.
"???"
Haruhi was stunned, once again realizing that Humanity's Evil was no simple creature.
She closed her eyes and tried hard to imagine the scene in her mind.
A moment later, she shook her head.
"I can't."
"Why?!"
Humanity's Evil was deeply disappointed.
"Because I can't convince myself that I actually want you to have the same superpowers as me."
Haruhi spread her hands and answered honestly.
Her ability to distort the world originated from her own wishes. Whenever she sincerely hoped for something to happen or genuinely desired to obtain something, the world would change accordingly.
That wish had to be the most sincere desire within her heart and subconscious. Her control over her own thoughts and consciousness was not yet strong enough to defy her subconscious mind.
"Huh... So even when you distort the world, it depends on whether you genuinely want it to happen?..."
Gudako sighed.
"Then what about the Commander? How come you created an entire universe and a bargain-bin version of the Starsea Empire for him without much trouble?"
"The Commander's wish is my wish!"
Haruhi declared with absolute conviction.
"..."
Gudako and the little gray-haired girl both gave Setsuna meaningful looks.
"Allow me to try!"
Murasame floated over. This was the first time she had ever had the opportunity to make a wish before a "god," so she was extremely devout.
She pressed her hands together and bowed according to ancient etiquette.
"At present, I am merely a spirit. I wish to obtain a true physical body, so that I may live like a human while also transforming into Murasamemaru to remain by Master's side!"
"My sacred vessel is still aboard the Astral Express."
"Oh!"
Haruhi studied the little sword spirit and the Murasamemaru in her hand for a while.
She had heard Murasame's story before and felt a certain fondness for this girl who had become a sword spirit to protect Hozumi.
Closing her eyes in thought, she made a wish from her own perspective.
Whoosh—
The space around Murasame underwent a small-scale distortion.
The little girl, who had originally floated half a meter above the ground with a body that was half-solid and half-transparent, suddenly transformed into a complete human body.
Thud.
She dropped out of the air.
"Huh—"
The little sword spirit climbed up from the ground, touched herself, then reached out and touched Himeko and Herta standing beside her.
Her little hands no longer passed through their bodies like they usually did. Instead, she felt real, tangible fabric beneath her fingers.
For the first time, she truly stood upon solid earth. For the first time, she felt a gentle breeze brush through the ends of her hair. For the first time, she breathed air carrying the fragrance of flowers.
Originally, she had planned to return to the Starsea Empire and have the Life Sciences Department reconstruct a body for her, creating a sword spirit in which flesh and soul were united.
Instead, Haruhi Suzumiya had helped her first.
"Ah..."
Murasame was so overwhelmed that she temporarily lost the ability to speak, tears welling in her eyes.
She threw herself against Setsuna and burst into loud sobs.
"Master! I... I've become human!!! Waaah!—"
"Mm."
Setsuna soothed the overly emotional little Murasame.
Yoshino and Mako watched with fascination and cautiously tried touching the little sword spirit.
They could also make contact with Murasame's body, and according to the little sword spirit's will, she could freely switch between a physical body and a spiritual form.
She could both live in the capital as an ordinary human and transform into the sword spirit of Murasamemaru to remain by Setsuna's side.
"Thank you!"
Murasame sincerely thanked Haruhi Suzumiya.
"Me, me, me, me, me!—"
The Stellaron gremlin raised her hand.
"Can you strengthen my weapon?"
She handed over her baseball bat. She had casually looted it from Herta's collection of Curios back then, and somehow it had ended up becoming her signature weapon.
"I'll try."
Haruhi concentrated on imagining what methods might make a baseball bat stronger.
"A bat? Make it stronger?..."
"Should it swing faster and be made from sturdier material?..."
Crack!—
After a burst of spatial distortion, the bat blurred and deformed.
Its material changed to a dark metallic color. Its overall structure remained unchanged, but the energy contained within it increased by several orders of magnitude.
Its weight increased considerably as well, to the point that even the little gray-haired girl struggled somewhat to lift it with both hands.
"What is this?"
Curious, she channeled her power and gave it an experimental swing through the air.
Whoosh!!—
A burst of energy erupted from one side of the bat, sending the little gray-haired girl flying along with it.
"Aaaaaah—What the hell is this?! Aaaaaah—"
"Haruhi modified the baseball bat's information parameters, allowing it to reach near-light speed when swung while ensuring that the bat's own material remains undamaged."
Yuki Nagato answered.
"—In theory, you could exploit relativistic effects to smash the sun apart with this baseball bat, provided you can reach it."
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