The Herta Doll looked actually wigged out as she pushed Stelle and me back behind her as she demanded. "What manner of being are you? You do not bear any connection with Imaginary Energy, yet you are radiating a whole lot of anomalous energy yourself!"
The... Bloodborne Doll merely tilted her head to the side. And even with an unmoving face with no moving expression of any sort. There was no disguising her patient amusement as she answered calmly. "A looker for the Truth of the world... You do not want these answer's, but I know your kind so I will say this."
Her glassy eyes filled with too much... 'Soul' radiated a deep dark light. As though someone was shining a light at the bottom of the sea and the light went nowhere.
"I am the Mother, I am the Blood, I am the Dream, and I am Jake's humble Doll. That is the manner of being I am."
Every title she gave herself was like a haunting bell filled with the roars of mad beasts. The smothered cries of bloody malformed infants, and every word was a malignant madness that we coudn't... Shoudn't understand.
Stelle groaned lightly and said quietly. "Yup... Nope, not dealing with this Big Bro, you need to throw her in the closet and put a cover over her."
My face twitched at that. And after a moment of thought, I literally leaned over and threw a thin sheet from the hospice bed that Stelle was previously on. That she had been resting on during the tests to see how a Stellaron was sealed within her.
And as the sheet was thrown over the Doll, I actually breathed in relief as the heavy gaze was cut off with Herta snorting and saying flatly. "Sealing an otherworldly being that doesn't belong in our reality via a bedsheet. I do hope you have a better idea."
I shook my head and said helplessly. "Nope... I do not have a return from sender option."
Thankfully, the Doll said ever so helpfully. "Do not worry, for my gaze is tempered and heavily filtered by this lesser form. No one shall develop new eyes unless they begin worshipping my true form."
A smacking noise rang out. As I coudn't help but facepalm at the horrible thought of Herta throwing a tantrum when a bunch of scientists on her space station started growing new eye's inside their brain...
But then again, she was a Genius Society member. Asking her not to be interested in an eldritch being and Insight was a damned fools errand.
Then again... I watched as Herta tsked in her smaller doll form as she gave the other doll a thoughtful look before she said in some annoyance. "An otherworldly being whose logic run's counter to our own mortal view... It's rather annoying as I can literally feel parts of myself being tainted by your logic."
She shook her head and said flatly. "Jake, here I have a Curio wardrobe that can seal away her troublesome aura. Go put her away on the Astral Express, which will also suppress her nonsense as her eldritch core is antithetical to the Path of true Erudition."
Herta's voice was rather... Heavily annoyed it seemed, and to be fair, she had every right to be. The Doll was something akin to a memetic hazard and to a genius like Herta, this was just the most annoying enigma that she could come across.
Not even a moment later, another Herta Doll came into the testing room with a large wardrobe that was being carried between another two more Herta dolls.
And as they opened up the wardrobe... Clearly waiting for me to just yeet the Doll into the wardrobe and then close it up. I asked the Doll quietly. "Uhm... I hope you don't mind if we put you away for a bit. We can't have you wandering out giving people eye's on their brains."
The still covered Doll's form was silent for a moment before her still patient voice rang out. "It's no issue for me. The contained void within that wardrobe will be a calm repose from the screaming minds of the mortals surrounding me anyway."
So with the Doll not swearing some form of bloody vengance/Mental destruction upon us. I put the Doll away into the wardrobe who fit just fine in a sitting position inside the large wardrobe.
And as the wardrobe was closed off. I could literally feel a weight leave my chest as the curio wardrobe did, in fact, seal off whatever presence that she radiated.
"Well... That was something." I said with a sigh.
"More like that was a waste of brain cells lifespan. Did you at least get another ticket from that mess Jake?" Herta demanded with a huff of annoyance at this being just a flub for both of us at this point.
I mentally checked the Chaos Gatcha... Just hoping there was a hidden achievo for you know. Having an eldritch god thrown into my fucking lap to torture me for the rest of all time for all I knew.
But nope, having the Doll thrown into my lap was somehow considered a positive for my life for some reason.
I exhaled in some annoyance before I shook my head and said helplessly. "Nope. Apparently, the Doll doesn't count as a curse even if she is a sweetheart of a caretaker."
Herta's expression in the main doll she was controlling was anything but amused.
But after a moment, Herta thoughtfully put a finger to her chin and said. "Hmm, but even still. You did gain a ticket from interacting with me in special manner. Which makes sense with yourself being very much a man."
"And you said you got the best ticket from when you interacted with and was gazed at by Fuli right?" And at my nod, she hummed and said thoughtfully.
"Interacting with an Aeon gives the best tickets which will almost certainly have the most interesting results to look into... Normally, it would be very difficult, almost impossible to force an interaction with a person with a particular Aeon basically."
Then the Herta grinned before she said proudly. "But I am Herta! A true genius! And with the Simulated Universe, which is almost a complete reflection of reality itself. There is little difference in the digital world and realities, Aeon's when they gaze upon you!"
For a brief moment I was thinking that the Simulated Universe woudn't really count for the Chaos Gatcha... Until I remembered the event where Polka came in to gank Herta, Ruan Mei, Screllum, and Stelle.
And they were basically saved by the Simulated Universe's version of Aha, the Elation Aeon doing his weird nonsense to send Polka packing.
I shrugged with my lips twitching as Stelle said shamelessly. "So long as you pay extra haha!"
Herta just said lazily. "Yes, yes, just send a receipt or whatever to Asta. Now come on! Science and discovery awaits!"
Herta brought us from this particular test room, and after heading down a couple of long halls, which had several security features. We reached the infamous Simulated Universe testing room.
It was a long room that had several holographic photos of Herta in her doll form as she posed in different forms. And at the end of the room was the entrance to the Simulated Universe in a spectral light that would bring us into the simulated universe.
By transforming us into some kind of digital life form through a form of Ether Editing, apparently.
'It makes sense that Herta understands at some level what Ether Editing is... Plus how could you make a simulated universe without knowing how to change the base universe through coding and hacking as well.' I thought as Stelle bounced happily in place.
It was like just blinking as we were shifted into the digital world of the Simulated Universe. One blink we were in the testing room, and the next blink we were on some random long hallway that was clearly modeled after Herta's own space station.
"Ooh look Jake! Bad guys!" Stelle pointed out excitedly towards a trio of void ranger's. The base and lowest level of Destruction unit's in the Anti-Matter legion.
I pointed my hand at them and with a flash, Himiko's sword Surtr left my Path storage space and filled my hand with it's warm weight.
Then I paused before I said thoughtfully. "Wait, actually give me a second. I want to try something."
I remembered in the Naruto show, Orochimaru losing his shit at seeing the Totsuka mirror and a mythical sword was part of Itachi's Susanoo... I was curious if I could actually just add my own goodies to act as part of my own Susanoo.
The skeletal structure quickly formed around me, all the while I tried to intergrate Surtr into the body of Susanoo and for a moment... I was completely lost as to what I needed to do to make this work.
But then something seemed to pop into place with Surtr fading from my hand, and with a roar of dark burning flames. My Susanoo formed a massive sword of flames within the single arm that I conjured up.
As even with the power of a Pathstrider of Remembrance at this point. I didn't nearly have the energy stores of a 'Kage' level ninja. So I didn't want to waste too much energy to form even a half-body Susanoo.
Then as the void ranger's beings of simple destruction ran towards us as was the norm for their ilk. I mentally controlled the Susanoo into swinging the massive blade of flames into the three void rangers
Of which were utterly destroyed along with a portion of the metal floor in front of being melted into slag by the sheer heat of the sword.
"Uhhhh, why did you use a finisher just to kill some mobs?" Stelle said as she nudged me in the side with the shaft of her unbreakable bat with a pout.