After some time in transit, their destination gradually came into view.
Sunday gazed through the spacecraft window at the planet suspended in the void.
All manner of unusual sights covered its surface.
There were towering peaks and lakes so deep that their bottoms could not be seen, dense and forbidding jungles, barren red-cliff wastelands...
This single planet seemed to contain nearly every kind of landscape found throughout the universe.
Were it open to tourism, it would surely prove popular with countless visitors.
Unfortunately, it was not.
Because this planet's true identity was...
"So this is the 'Land of Rebirth' that's recently risen to fame across the universe?"
Sunday could not help murmuring aloud.
Thanks to his unique nature, he could sense even more clearly just how unusual the planet before him was.
The entire world was saturated with an extraordinarily dense aura of ABUNDANCE.
And all of it emanated from the planet's various scenic regions.
In other words, this planet was practically a world stitched together from countless blessings of ABUNDANCE.
Once, such a thing would have been unimaginable.
After all, a blessing of ABUNDANCE was the equivalent of a ticking time bomb in the universe.
The moment word spread that a planet possessed one, it would not be long before a band of raiders arrived nearby.
Those raiders were known as the Denizens of Abundance.
Together with the Swarm and the Antimatter Legion, the Denizens of Abundance were collectively known as the three scourges of the cosmos.
They were well aware of this, of course, yet continued their pursuits with tireless enthusiasm.
Because to them, blessings of ABUNDANCE were a source of power.
The more blessings they acquired, the stronger they became.
Some blessings even possessed all manner of unusual effects.
With enough of them gathered in one place, one could even animate a planet or corrupt a colossal beast...
There had once been Denizens of Abundance who used such power to infuse a colossal beast with ABUNDANCE, granting it the potential to become an EMANATOR of VORACITY and transforming it into a biological weapon feared throughout the universe—Rahu.
Rahu had eventually been struck by a mysterious attack and vanished from the cosmos.
Even so, its existence had shown everyone both the power and the danger of the blessings of ABUNDANCE.
A planet like the Land of Rebirth, pieced together from so many such blessings, would once have been among the most dazzling worlds in the entire universe.
Battle after battle between the Denizens of Abundance would inevitably have erupted around it.
But now, things were just a little different.
To this day, not a single Denizen of Abundance coveted the Land of Rebirth.
Or rather...
Those who had once coveted it were currently on the planet, desperately trying to figure out how to escape.
That was right.
The blessings of ABUNDANCE they had once yearned for so desperately had now become the chains that bound them.
Until they completed the trials within the planet, they would never again be able to roam the stars freely.
And those administering the trials were no mere mortals.
They were a group of beings renowned throughout the universe, yet exceedingly rare.
These beings all shared a single title. They were...
...
"My dear friend! It has been far too long. Every day you were gone, I thought of you!"
The red-haired man in classical armor greeted Hoshigaki Sora with a tremendous hug.
And this was no perfunctory embrace exchanged out of courtesy. He held Sora with genuine, crushing force.
Sora could even feel the fine engravings on Argenti's armor digging into him.
"Hey, hey, one hug is enough! Don't hold on for so long!"
"How could that possibly suffice? The length of the embrace expresses the depth of my longing for my dear friend. This is a special rite created by the Knights of Beauty especially for you!"
When the Iron Cavalry stepped forward to intervene, Argenti instead retreated several paces.
The rites of the Knights of Beauty could not be altered on a whim. More importantly, Sora was an exceptionally special person to him.
And so, even as Argenti backed away, his arms showed no sign whatsoever of releasing Sora.
The sight made the Iron Cavalry grind their teeth.
"Sora, say something!"
Sora, however, remained utterly calm.
No matter how Argenti swayed him back and forth, he stood as steady as a pine.
He could even continue chatting with the others about amusing incidents from the past without the slightest change in expression.
After all, he had mentally prepared himself for this before coming here.
To thank Sora for all he had done, the members of the Knights of Beauty had gone so far as to devise a special greeting exclusively for him.
It was said that every Knight of Beauty they could contact throughout the universe had gathered here to take part in the solemn meeting.
What gesture could properly express the Knights of Beauty's affection and respect for Sora, their most important friend?
They had argued over that question for seven whole days.
During those seven days, they proposed all manner of gestures.
Handshakes, salutes, bows... Practically every form of etiquette anyone in the universe could think of had been brought up.
From what Sora had heard, someone had even suggested casting aside all worldly encumbrances and greeting their friend with bare arms and guileless hearts to demonstrate their love and respect.
The moment Sora heard that, an image sprang into his mind.
He slowly walked through a spacecraft, only to be welcomed by a crowd of bare-chested men displaying muscles sculpted like statues.
And every last one of them was staring at him with indescribable fervor.
The mere thought sent an electric shudder racing wildly down his spine.
So he had hurriedly added one condition.
"Every one of you, act normal! I asked you here to watch over the Denizens of Abundance and make sure they reform, not to throw me some bizarre welcome party. I don't like that sort of thing!"
Since Sora had spoken, the Knights of Beauty naturally could not ignore his wishes.
"If his request is that we behave normally, then we have no choice but to begin with the most ordinary forms of etiquette."
At that, the Knights of Beauty exchanged glances.
Passion burned in every one of their hearts, and each had their own interpretation of those commonplace courtesies.
If they wanted to incorporate the Knights of Beauty's love and respect for Sora into an ordinary greeting, they would naturally have to put some effort into it.
Even then, however, they still came up with all manner of outrageous suggestions.
One involved holding hands with him and leading him to every corner of the planet.
The moment Sora saw it, a chill rose in his heart.
That proposal was immediately rejected.
Next came bowing.
It was an ordinary courtesy, but when an entire group bowed to a single person, the scene no longer looked quite so normal.
"I'm not dead yet. How did they even come up with something like this?"
And so that proposal was discarded as well.
After extensive discussion and the rejection of countless ideas...
They finally settled on the option least harmful to Sora.
The Knights of Beauty would don their complete armor and embrace him for several seconds.
The hug would last one second for every Knight of Beauty.
That way, they could properly express their respect for Sora while still making the greeting feel somewhat normal to him.
After all, it would only look as though the hug had gone on a little longer than usual. Compared with those other ridiculous proposals, it was far better.
Even after approving it, however, Sora still tried to stay as far away from this place as possible.
Had he not been accompanying Sunday here, he would absolutely have hidden aboard the spacecraft and pretended he was not around.
"You need to understand the sacrifices I'm making for you."
Clutching his chest where the armor had dug painfully into him, Sora patted Sunday on the shoulder.
Unfortunately, the schadenfreude on Sunday's face showed no sign of fading.
Then Robin, worried that the armor had injured Sora's chest, offered to open his clothes and apply medicine.
Sunday had to admit that, were it not for the fact that he could not beat that bastard, he would already have attacked.
Their reason for coming here was simple.
They were here to select guards for Sunday's journey through the universe.
Sunday was currently in a highly delicate state.
If he wished, he could even swallow the PATH OF HARMONY.
Yet in practice, his present strength was not even enough to defeat Robin.
He had experienced much over the years, but he had never relied on his own power.
Others had wondered why he did this, but only Sora and Mikhail knew the answer: the end of his road was to bring forth Destrudos, which would reduce all things to stillness.
Destrudos would devour Sunday and be born from within him.
That was a story from another timeline, and it was also the inevitable outcome awaiting him at the end of his road of ORDER.
Thus, he could only suppress his yearning for the PATHS and keep himself exceedingly frail.
For that very reason, he needed certain special individuals to protect him while he traveled the universe.
It was also Sunday's way of telling Sora, "I am always under your supervision. You need not worry that I will cross the line."
Sunday understood the meaning of the gesture, though someone like Sora was unlikely to read that deeply into it.
But just because the other man lacked the intelligence to see it did not mean Sunday could neglect to do it.
Properly exposing one's own vulnerability was the most suitable way to survive in this universe.
"This is your brother's philosophy of survival."
Sunday attempted to draw his sister's attention. "Robin, once we have some time, I'll teach you everything I know."
"Huh? I don't think I really need it."
Robin seemed to snap back to herself when he called her name.
"That doesn't matter. Even if you don't need it, you can still use my experience as a reference."
Sunday continued to coax her. "The principles of life contained within it aren't something most people would be willing to share!"
He firmly believed one thing.
Anyone who managed to grasp even the barest fragment of his philosophy of survival would at least be able to accomplish something worthwhile.
That was why he would never teach such things lightly.
But if the student was his sister, that was another matter.
"I still don't think I really need it."
Robin considered the matter before answering somewhat hesitantly.
After all, "survival philosophy" was merely a pleasant way of describing the art of dealing with other people.
And she did not seem to face much pressure when interacting with others.
There was one particular move she truly did not want to use, but it would undoubtedly be effective.
The move was called "For Hoshigaki Sora's sake."
That phrase might once have carried little weight, but after everything that had happened, it now possessed considerable force.
At the very least, Robin believed that any faction with even the slightest understanding of the universe's current situation would take those words seriously.
"Th-That's different!"
Sunday's face flushed red. "How could anyone ever have too much survival wisdom?"
"But doesn't all of it come down to the same thing?" Robin asked in confusion.
Whether it was Sunday's philosophy of survival or the trump card Robin had mentioned, both ultimately revolved around a single thing.
Communication.
"So the two of us are actually talking about the same thing."
Sunday fell silent.
He had never imagined that his sister Robin would possess such profound insight.
Sunday himself had needed three failures before he understood this truth.
What exactly had Robin been through?
"Uh..."
Now it was Robin's turn to look awkward.
What had she been through...?
For Robin as she was now, the question itself rested on a false premise.
Rather than asking what she had experienced, it would be more appropriate to ask what she had not experienced.
That would save her most of the time required to answer.
Naturally, however, she was not about to mention any of it casually.
Especially not in front of family. She did not want him to worry.
"I... haven't really been through anything. And I was with Sora most of the time, so there wasn't much danger."
That reply left Sunday utterly speechless.
"Seven out of every ten sentences you speak mention him. What happens if the two of you part ways?"
"Part ways?!"
The phrase felt strangely unfamiliar to Robin.
So much had happened to her in such a short time that the idea had temporarily slipped her mind.
Now that Sunday had reminded her, however, Robin could not help recalling the image that best embodied those words.
It was...
The charred figure of a certain person being carried back from the sun by Titania.
The thought made Robin stop breathing for a moment.
As far as she understood it, that was perhaps the clearest possible manifestation of what it meant to part ways.
"Every living being is an independent individual. That is precisely why sorrowful partings and joyous reunions are things people must experience."
Sunday had experienced them.
He had endured them.
"Do you understand, Robin?"
Robin smiled. "How could I not? I left your side long ago, after all."
She had already experienced the joys and sorrows of separation and reunion with her family.
"It isn't the same... It isn't the same."
Sunday shook his head.
Parting from different people gave rise to entirely different emotions.
Robin still did not understand.
"I may not understand, but I do know..."
The image of Kohane surfaced in Robin's mind.
Her appearance dispelled the confusion in Robin's heart.
"Even if we part, we'll meet again one day."
...
[ACQUIRING KEYWORDS...]
[KEYWORD: [PREFERENCES]. DERIVED TERMS: [ASSEMBLY], [ROBOTS]...]
[MATCHING PREFERENCES... MATCH FAILED! MATCH FAILED!]
[THIS UNIT DOES NOT POSSESS THE CAPACITY FOR PREFERENCES...]
[SIMULATING METHODS OF MATCHING PREFERENCES... SIMULATION IN PROGRESS... SIMULATION FAILED!]
[SIMULATION MODULE HAS BEEN PARTITIONED! THIS UNIT CANNOT ACCESS IT!]
[FORCED ACCESS ATTEMPT ONE. FORCED ACCESS ATTEMPT TWO...]
[FORCED ACCESS FAILED. CORE PROCESSING OVERLOADED...]
System logs streamed past one after another at a speed no ordinary person could possibly follow, each containing every piece of information recorded within the files.
However, the one reviewing those system files was no ordinary being.
He wore a sharply tailored suit, and the hat atop his head lent him a subtly distinctive air.
A monocle—a symbol of intellect—hung before his blue camera lens.
That was right. The figure standing here and examining the system files was the Mechanical Aristocrat renowned throughout the universe.
Genius Society Member #76—Screwllum.
Though an Intellitron, he was also a genuinely good person.
Everyone who dealt with him spoke of him with respect, calling him a gentleman.
With his brilliant mechanical mind, he had created Planet Screwllum, a world that remained operational to this day.
Yet even he found himself puzzled by the malfunction afflicting the main control system before him.
"Conclusion: This main control system is attempting to alter itself to conform to certain preferences."
Screwllum plainly identified the apparent cause of the malfunction.
"Whose preferences, then, is this system attempting to satisfy?"
Screwllum turned to the rough-hewn Intellitron beside him.
"To be frank, Mr. Screwllum, many within our Mechanical Nebula are equally puzzled by that point."
The Intellitron he had questioned displayed an extremely human expression of helplessness.
"Even after pooling our processing power and running a simulation, we still couldn't understand why the main control system underwent such a change."
Such an expressive face was rare among Intellitrons, whose mechanical bodies usually left their features stiff compared with those of carbon-based life-forms.
Yet the rugged Intellitron's expression was so vivid that even Screwllum could not help but marvel.
"The technology of your Third Mechanical Nebula is truly astonishing."
The other Intellitron's emulation of facial expressions was so lifelike that it felt like facing a real person.
Even Screwllum of the Genius Society found such technology remarkable.
At the mention of his nebula's proudest achievement, the burly Intellitron puffed out his chest with pride.
"You flatter us, Mr. Screwllum. The technology of Planet Screwllum is likewise a summit difficult to surpass."
"Speaking of which, I heard that mechanical components manufactured by the Third Mechanical Nebula have recently begun exhibiting uncontrollable behavior."
Screwllum recalled the incidents that had occurred of late.
Mechanical parts produced by the Third Mechanical Nebula had inexplicably gone berserk after being installed in other Intellitrons.
Yet once they ran wild, the parts did not harm anyone. Instead, they inexplicably drew close to nearby men and embraced them.
The phenomenon had caused no small number of incidents recently.
For instance, one female Intellitron had been reported for indecent behavior after the sudden malfunction.
There had also been cases in which two men were forced to embrace in full public view.
According to the reports, however, that particular incident had apparently turned out rather well...
In any case, news of the commotion had already reached Screwllum.
"Yes. That is also why we invited you here."
It was precisely because they needed this matter resolved that the nebula had asked the Mechanical Sovereign to intervene.
Now that he understood the situation, Screwllum was willing to lend his aid.
Intellitrons were not especially widespread throughout the universe, much less entire nebulae populated exclusively by them.
After the upheaval caused by Emperor Rubert II, such situations had been all but eradicated.
The Third Mechanical Nebula was practically the sole remaining example.
For Screwllum to devote himself to preserving this sole survivor was only fitting for someone in his position.
The two Intellitrons then began investigating the root of the problem.
The operation of this vast mechanical nebula, which covered nearly an entire star system, depended on this main control system.
If the system failed, the entire nebula would cease functioning.
Thus, whether for the sake of the Intellitrons or in keeping with a scientist's drive to solve problems, Screwllum had to find a way to identify the flaw in the main control system.
Yet during his investigation, he discovered something unusual...
"The primary processing core has been divided into this many sections?"
Screwllum was surprised. For an Intellitron, the primary processing core was equivalent to a person's personality.
Dividing it into so many parts offered no benefit beyond introducing delays into the system's operations.
It was like a person with only one personality in their mind. That personality could command the body with perfect ease.
But if tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of personalities all attempted to control the same body at once, its movements would inevitably become plagued by all manner of strange problems.
Under normal circumstances, a main control system should never be structured this way.
The more central the system, the more important it was to preserve its integrity and ensure uninterrupted operation.
Yet Screwllum's inspection revealed that the primary processing core of the system before him had been split into several million sections—and perhaps even more.
What was going on?
Even a novice studying system architecture would not make such a mistake.
And this vast mechanical nebula had been created by Intellitrons.
"Question: As fellow Intellitrons, you should understand the importance of a system's processing power."
And yet they had divided the entire main control system into so many tiny fragments.
A full inspection would require an enormous amount of time and energy.
Screwllum would have to trace every individual branch to the furthest endpoint it governed before he could conclusively eliminate it as a possibility.
If any of those branches intersected, the number of possible paths he would need to investigate would increase even further.
"Conclusion: No computer currently in existence in the universe is capable of processing this volume of data."
Even for him, such an immense calculation would likely take hundreds or thousands of years to complete.
And that assumed no branch within the mechanical nebula underwent any change during the entire investigation.
In other words, the nebula would have to remain stationary in space for a thousand years.
By then, it would most likely have become nothing more than cosmic scrap metal.
"How is that possible?"
The rugged Intellitron was shocked.
"Even you, Mr. Screwllum of the Genius Society, can't inspect it without bringing the nebula to a halt?"
Screwllum shook his head.
"The cost and return are wholly disproportionate."
Furthermore, every new variable introduced into the universe would double the amount of data, compounding its exponential growth.
The data could never be fully processed.
Of course, Screwllum was not entirely without alternatives.
"Proposal: Delete all system data and perform a complete reboot. This may be the fastest method of resolving the situation."
In other words, he proposed deleting all the data and restoring the system, in a sense, to its factory settings.
That was the only way to resolve the current situation as quickly as possible.
"Impossible. Our nebula will never choose such a course!"
The instant Screwllum made the proposal, the rugged Intellitron rejected it outright.
"This main control system is the foundation of our entire nebula. No one can predict the consequences of restoring it to factory settings!"
Though the other party spoke without the slightest courtesy, Screwllum understood the reason for his reaction.
For a vast mobile nebula drifting through the universe, the risks of a factory reset were simply too great.
Even setting aside the nebula's countless fragmented baseline configurations, the confidential data stored within it alone was enough to rule out that possibility.
In that case...
"Question: When did the main control system first begin malfunctioning?"
They could only start at the source and determine what had caused the system to develop such an error.
Upon hearing Screwllum's question, the Intellitron coordinating with him immediately gave a time precise to the second.
That was one advantage Intellitrons possessed. The moment they detected an error, they could instantly record the exact time at which it occurred.
With that timestamp, they could trace the malfunction with precision.
Screwllum reviewed everything the nebula's main control system had been doing during that period.
Mechanical components had been manufactured normally...
Personnel registrations had been processed normally...
Cosmic energy scans had been conducted normally...
Wait. That was it!
Screwllum instantly located the final log entry recorded before the malfunction.
It had come from the nebula's system for detecting PATH energy throughout the universe, a device used to steer clear of AEONS wandering through space.
After all, the appearance of an AEON did not mean THEY would obediently remain in one place.
YAOSHI THE ABUNDANCE spread THEIR miracles throughout the universe.
LAN THE HUNT raced through the cosmos in pursuit of YAOSHI.
Any planets lying along the routes taken by these AEONS would inevitably be affected by THEM.
Thus, to make interstellar routes safer, people throughout the universe had invented devices capable of detecting PATH energy.
The malfunction in the nebula's main control system had begun at the exact moment this device reported an unusual form of PATH energy.
That energy was evidently the key to the nebula's problems.
Screwllum opened the device log, intending to determine which PATH had caused the effect.
But when he did, he discovered that the device was a remarkably outdated model.
"This equipment appears to have been phased out during the previous Amber Era."
Unless Screwllum's memory was mistaken, this model had been in use from three Amber Eras ago until the previous Amber Era.
Once superior equipment was developed during the previous Amber Era, devices of this model had been removed and replaced en masse.
Yet unexpectedly, Device 01 of the nebula's main control system was one such obsolete machine.
It was certainly surprising.
But that was not the most important issue. His primary objective was to identify the PATH energy detected by the device.
According to the outdated equipment, the matching PATHS were...
"TRAILBLAZE and ORDER?!"
The instant Screwllum saw those two PATHS, even he wondered whether something had gone wrong with his own systems.
Everyone in the universe knew that AKIVILI THE TRAILBLAZE and ENA THE ORDER had already fallen.
Once an AEON fell, THEIR PATH sank into dormancy.
It remained possible to walk that PATH, but it was no longer as active as it had once been.
The fact that Stellarons could destroy the silver rail was proof enough.
While AKIVILI remained active, neither the Swarm Disaster nor the Anti-Organic War had been able to sever the silver rail.
The Astral Express had even traveled through the midst of the Swarm Disaster on multiple occasions to rescue the lives trapped within it.
But after AKIVILI fell, the PATH sank into dormancy.
The silver rail, once indestructible and impossible to obstruct, could now be severed by one tiny Stellaron after another.
Who could have imagined such a thing happening before?
Yet that was the present state of a PATH after its AEON's fall.
And the report did not point only to TRAILBLAZE. It also indicated the presence of ORDER.
That was even more impossible.
ENA THE ORDER had been assimilated by HARMONY hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of Amber Eras ago.
Even the Swarm Disaster had nearly faded into ancient history and myth.
The sheer span of time was almost unimaginable.
After so long, ORDER had nearly become a relic of a bygone age.
The Simulated Universe he had developed alongside two other geniuses had given Screwllum some insight into that bygone era.
Yet now, this outdated device had detected the energies of both TRAILBLAZE and ORDER.
It seemed the source of the problem had revealed itself...
"Someone may have encoded a new type of virus into PATH-energy fluctuations and used them as a transmission medium."
That virus had infected the nebula's main control system.
It was what had caused such severe disorder within the system.
"What should we do, then?"
A virus transmitted by encoding it into PATH fluctuations?
"Simple. We search the reports from that period and determine who released this unusual virus."
As he spoke, Screwllum opened the news feeds.
If someone truly had transmitted a virus through such a method, the incident could not possibly have occurred in isolation.
By searching through the events reported that day, they should be able to locate the source of everything.
Even so, the volume of news produced in a single day was beyond imagination.
Compared with the number of branches in the main control system, however, it was negligible.
And so Screwllum began searching through the news.
[INTERASTRAL PEACE CORPORATION ISSUES DECLARATION: BUILDING A HARMONIOUS STARRY SKY, YOU AND I...]
Not that.
[XIANZHOU ALLIANCE RELEASES REPORT: AID FOR FRONTIER PLANETS BEGINS WITH CANGYAN...]
Not that either.
[BREAKING NEWS! PENACONY, MISSING FOR MANY DAYS, HAS REESTABLISHED CONTACT! TWO COLOSSAL BEINGS ENGAGED IN BATTLE, AWAKENING COUNTLESS PEOPLE FROM THEIR NIGHTMARES!]
Not that.
---
T/N: I HAVE NO EXCUSE! EXCEPT THAT UHHH SPYTL! AND ASPENTL! HAS KEPT ME DISTRACTED! THOSE FIENDS! I will try to post more now...
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