99: 'Blank OS'

"47 hours have passed since the discharge of the Phenomenon Collapse Cannon. Activating the 'Hetero Water Mirror.' Confirming the steady contraction of the 'Blank OS' domain. At this rate, the 'Blank OS' domain should vanish within 25 hours, allowing the Memos to safely depart this area."

It had been almost two days since I fired the Event Collapse Cannon · 500 · Error Sepia at Megalynia, blowing up the abandoned guide colony along with it.

Recently, on Planet Flaretanbo One, we discovered a hidden Megalynia base secretly built in a rural groundwater system, seized various pieces of evidence, and across the entire Flaretanbo system, we've been busy investigating the damage caused by a superluminal phenomenon resembling light, resulting from the Event Collapse Cannon attack. Meanwhile, we were aboard the 'Pumpkin Witch,' hovering in the space above the wreckage of the blown-up abandoned guide colony.

"That's good to hear. Then I can rest easy."

"Absolutely. If it had taken a month or two, I'd have been overwhelmed with guilt."

"Same here. Sata."

The reason was simple—the 'Blank OS' had just occurred, as Mebokushi had mentioned earlier.

The 'Blank OS' region refers to areas generally recognized as lying beyond the reach of the 'Vanilla OS,' outside the Vanilla Empire's domain.

But if someone has even a basic understanding of mods and knows what they're talking about, they'd say that this is the kind of area where no OS exists.

And the place that has arisen here now is precisely the latter kind of territory.

"Is 'Blank OS' really this unpleasant? I absolutely don't want to get near it."

"I agree. If I have to enter the 'Blank OS' zone, I'd rather abandon my current body right now."

What's so flawed about this?

It's flawed in every possible way.

After all, if there's no OS, then any Sw or mod that relies on the existence of an OS will cease to function immediately and stop working outright.

For example, if a spacecraft designed to operate with modern mods were to enter the 'Blank OS' zone, it would immediately lose the ability to generate new thrust and would be limited to moving only in straight lines.

Without modifications, weak points would collapse into fragments, airflow would cease, suffocation would set in, temperature regulation would fail, and everything would freeze—lethal events would relentlessly overwhelm the system.

Moreover, some races and humans sustain life through mods, so if such beings were to step into the 'Blank OS' zone, they'd either die instantly at best, or endure agonizing suffering before finally perishing.

In short, the 'Blank OS' zone is extremely dangerous.

"But Satu. If this is the case, we won't be able to use the Event Collapse Cannon casually from now on."

"Yeah. This time it happened at the edge of the star system, we were able to observe it using the 'Hetero Mirror,' and the affected area was relatively manageable. But just imagine what would've happened if it had occurred right in the center of the system—utterly terrifying."

And the cause of that terrifying 'Blank OS'... well, needless to say, it was my event rupture cannon.

The Phenomenon Rupture Cannon, Model 500, Error Sepia, is an attack that fires my custom-made mod into targets running different operating systems, forcibly triggering a phenomenon rupture. This disables the target's OS while using the resulting massive energy to inflict lethal damage.

We'd conducted test firings several times back when I worked at Seiryō, within the Ether Space, and Seiryō researchers had calculated that, given the ability to minimize collateral damage in real space based on those experimental results, it could still be usable... but reality never goes as planned.

"Better, you say?"

"Are you really going to call this 'better' within this range?"

"If we consider the possibility that the entire Flaretanbo system could've been obliterated, then yes, it's better."

"That's true. Although there were accidents caused by the sudden flash, it seems no one has died, so it's certainly better."

In fact, the initial range of the 'Blank OS' event was a spherical area centered on the impact point, extending hundreds of kilometers, and a ribbon-like region stretching about one light-hour in the direction of the guide beacon.

Well, since there was almost no damage within the Flaretanbo system, it's definitely better.

There was no other way to definitely eliminate Megalynia anyway.

"Rather than that, let's consider what to do after confirming the disappearance of 'Blank OS.' With the resolution of the serial murder case, there are no concerns left within the Flaretanbo system. Personally, I'd like to pursue the official duties of tourism and inspection... but..."

Understood. I'll arrange the schedule according to your wishes, Master Vee. Master Johaliss, shall we continue using 'Pumpkin Witch' as is?

No problem at all. As long as we're within the Flaretanbo system, it should be fine to keep using it—though it does depend on higher-level instructions. By the way...

...My report will probably take another several dozen hours, so I'd appreciate it if you could wait a little longer...

"... Please do your best, Master Sata."

"I've already provided the data."

"I-I'll help as much as I can, so let's keep going, Sata."

"The end... it's nowhere in sight..."

By the way, it's been about 45 hours since we fired the Event Collapse Cannon, took a break, and have been working nonstop ever since.

During that time, I've been continuously writing my report on this incident.

And the end still isn't in sight.

Mentally... this one might be a far more formidable opponent than Magelania herself...