Akivili held back the tears that were about to spill from their eyes and murmured, "You really are the most irreverent believer of the gods."
Zero took off the hat that was blocking his view and deliberately slowed his speech.
"Then what should we do? Would a god really ignore a believer's prayer?"
Sadness showed on Akivili's face.
Of course their closest friend knew how cruel this was for them.
They had known each other for thousands of years. They were close friends who trusted each other, and companions who had gone on strange journeys together.
It was just… the only one the other could rely on was Akivili.
"How could I? Even if you're the worst believer for disrespecting the gods..."
"But I'm the best god."
Akivili took a deep breath and said each word slowly.
"I grant every request my believers make."
So even if it meant letting a god witness the death of their believer, they would still do it.
Akivili lowered their head. When they looked up again, a gentle smile was already on their face.
The Aeon said cheerfully, "Since that's the case, let's do something interesting."
In this final stretch of time, Zero didn't mind fulfilling Akivili's wishes. He agreed without even thinking.
"Sure. What should we do?"
Akivili eagerly picked up a communication device and showed him a post they had seen on the interstellar network forum.
"Look, how about we go camping?"
They read straight from the post.
"Talk all night, properly watch a sunrise and a sunset, watch whales, volunteer once… let's skip that one."
Akivili spoke in a light tone as they counted the things they wanted to do next. As if recalling something, they added, "Do you remember the aurora we missed last time? This time we just happen to avoid the polar day and the rainy season. We'll definitely be able to catch it..."
Zero thought for a moment and said, "When the time comes, we'll just talk through the night at the campsite and wait for the aurora."
Akivili nodded rapidly. They looked around and spotted a bus not far away that was slowing down and about to stop by the station.
The Aeon's eyes lit up. They put an arm around Zero's shoulders and jogged over with him.
In an excited tone they said, "Before that, let's do other things first."
"For example, just pick a random bus, ride it to the last stop, or randomly transfer to other routes halfway..."
One god and one human carefully went through the post, wrote dozens of to-do items and more than ten destinations into their memo, and finally set off on their journey.
With the power of the Aeon, they changed locations frequently.
But the star sea was simply too vast. Some planets had their own unique ways of calculating time.
Combined with their constantly changing destinations, sometimes they would watch a sunset on one planet and then immediately catch a sunrise on another.
For a while, neither of them could even tell what date it was anymore, so they started relying on the sun and moon in the sky to estimate the time.
As time passed, they crossed off one destination after another in their memo, until only one place remained.
It was the pole of a planet, the end of the world. It was covered in glaciers, yet also had more than a hundred volcanoes.
Its unique scenery attracted many travelers from other nations and other planets. Usually they would find a local guide and chase the aurora together with travelers from all across the star sea.
For the god and the human, coming here also counted as revisiting an old place.
They didn't actually need a guide, but Akivili still refused to give up.
What if? What if their friend changed their mind at some moment? What if they fell in love at first sight with someone in the group?
Seeing that Akivili insisted on finding a guide, Zero didn't say anything.
While waiting for night to fall, the two of them went to a rental shop, rented a snow vehicle, and drove wildly through the forest.
Suddenly, a reindeer darted out in front of them. Akivili instinctively yanked the steering wheel, and the vehicle headed straight toward a huge boulder nearby.
With practiced ease, Zero grabbed Akivili and jumped out of the vehicle with them before the collision happened.
Akivili looked embarrassed.
Zero very skillfully comforted the Aeon.
"Hey, it's still progress. At least this time it was just a rock, not a sports stadium."
Akivili couldn't help complaining, "…Don't use that kind of tone like you're coaxing a kid!"
Zero smiled and went to check the snow vehicle's damage instead.
The snow vehicle driven by the Aeon was completely unharmed. Only cracks had appeared on the surface of the boulder.
Akivili even went to check carefully and only relaxed after confirming the rock wouldn't split and hurt anyone else.
They returned to the camp the same way they came and waited and waited until sunset finally arrived.
The Aeon cleared their throat and officially started the conversation.
Zero listened quietly, watching Akivili.
Unlike the Aeon, he was more used to being alone. Socializing was something that drained his mental energy.
Akivili was the exact opposite. It was very hard for the Aeon to stay patient and remain alone in a room. Most of the time they would appear in different train cars, chatting with the Nameless or Pom-Pom.
Even before traveling together, Zero had already noticed this.
Akivili could make even the most ordinary little thing sound interesting. Even when they ran into trouble during travel, they still accepted everything with a cheerful attitude.
A local gave them the wrong directions? No problem, they got to see different scenery.
Accidentally tasted the worst local food? No problem, they could bring some back for the Nameless on the train.
It was as if everything somehow benefited them.
A travel companion with such steady emotions who never killed the mood… was truly hard to find.
Zero looked at Akivili and asked, "When you part ways with the Nameless, do you feel sad?"
A Nameless who had just raised a glass with the Aeon and declared they would travel forever might leave the train the very next moment and stay on some planet.
So what about the Aeon who said goodbye to countless people? When Akivili witnessed those partings, did they feel sad?
Akivili nodded seriously.
"I do. I cry."
Zero's expression froze for a brief moment.
Seeing this, Akivili suddenly changed tone.
"When an Aeon cries, the entire Xianzhou starts raining!"
Zero couldn't hold back a laugh. "Liar."
Akivili knew what he really meant.
He was just worried they would be too sad.
The Aeon shrugged and said in a deliberately relaxed tone, "I don't cry. But I do feel very sad."
"My friend, from the very beginning I knew that as long as people meet, there will be a day they part. Just like how if there's a sunrise there will be a sunset. It's unavoidable."
Their bright gaze met Zero's.
"But it's okay. To an Aeon, parting and death are never the end."
"I'll remember every single person. Even after hundreds or thousands of years, I'll still remember them."
"As long as I remember, my friends will live forever in my memories."
Akivili's eyes became very bright. They avoided Zero's gaze and looked up at the sky.
At that moment, waves of exclamations came from the crowd.
Zero looked up. Above them was the aurora they had been waiting for.
He instinctively reached for his jade communicator to take a picture, but grabbed nothing.
To shake off Guanliang's tracking, he had long ago left the device behind in Xuling.
So there was no helping it.
He had originally wanted to send it to Hua.
Everyone held their breath as they watched the beautiful sight before them.
Some people even dropped to one knee and proposed to their lovers beneath the dazzling and mysterious night sky. They hugged tightly and kissed each other.
People around them cast kind looks and offered blessings in all kinds of languages.
Zero withdrew his gaze and continued looking at the sky.
Akivili suddenly stood up and stepped onto a chair.
They clapped their hands high in the air. After attracting everyone's attention, they crouched down, suddenly grabbed the back of their friend's collar, and forcibly lifted the person who had been sitting in the chair.
Akivili cleared their throat and shouted to the crowd, "Today is my best friend Eric's birthday..."
Zero, "..."
'Akivili, what exactly are you doing?!'
The teasing looks from the crowd made his body stiffen and his expression completely lose control.
Akivili thought to themself, their friend had never shown such an awkward and shocked expression before… if they took a picture, they could probably sell it for quite a lot.
One hand held the back of their friend's collar, while the other grabbed the clothes at his shoulder.
Akivili refused to loosen their grip, and Zero could only be forced to stand.
The Aeon enjoyed everyone's attention. Holding back laughter, they continued,
"Could everyone please wish him a happy birthday?"
Zero, "..."
Fortunately, he was used to smiling. It was already muscle memory.
Zero quickly got his expression under control. People laughed kindly and offered him birthday wishes one after another.
While smiling and nodding in response, he tried to free himself from Akivili's grip.
But the Aeon was incredibly strong and held him there for a full minute.
Akivili was all smiles. Tirelessly, they made eye contact with each person and even thanked everyone on Zero's behalf. Only after thanking everyone one by one did they finally let go reluctantly.
Zero moved quickly and sat back down.
Unable to tolerate it anymore, he said, "…Akivili, you did that on purpose, didn't you."
Akivili jumped down from the chair and smiled back. "Hehe, it is your birthday after all… there has to be some sense of ceremony."
They knew this was their final destination.
What would happen after this? Where would their friend go next?
Akivili knew the answer very well, but they still wanted to delay things a little longer.
Their friend couldn't return to the Xianzhou, so… how about returning to the train? At least the Nameless could celebrate his birthday with him.
Zero opened his mouth, about to say something, when suddenly fireworks exploded in the night sky behind them.
He and Akivili turned around together and saw more fireworks blooming across the sky.
People began discussing it with emotional voices.
"It's the Xianzhou's Gratitude Festival."
"Yeah, they really go all out. On this day, the Xianzhou people make every affiliated planet set off fireworks for half an hour..."
"That means that during the twenty-four hours starting at midnight today, at every single moment, there will be at least dozens of planets in the star sea celebrating the Xianzhou's Gratitude Festival at the same time."
Akivili instinctively looked at the person beside them.
Zero rarely looked stunned. Soon, he withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "There's no need to celebrate my birthday. Akivili, can you come back to the train with me to get something?"
Akivili nodded hard and, using their power, returned to the train.
The god and the human happened to run into Pom-Pom.
The conductor was furious.
They had been tricked by Zero into signing an equity transfer agreement, and before they could even get angry, he had already run off with Akivili.
Pom-Pom put their hands on their hips and stood in front of them, determined to get an explanation from these two Nameless.
If they didn't explain themselves, these two were going to be put on Pom-Pom's "Worst Nameless" ranking list.
Akivili looked apologetic. "Sorry, Pom-Pom..."
After saying just that, the Aeon walked inside with Zero.
After returning to the room, Zero took the strap holster holding the neutron gun out of the wardrobe and stuffed it into Akivili's hands.
"Akivili, don't use this gun."
"I promised… my subordinate that I wouldn't use this gun to take anyone's life again."
Akivili silently tied the strap holster onto themself.
After straightening their clothes, they said softly, "When the time comes, I'll take you back to the Xianzhou."
Zero fell silent for a moment.
How was he supposed to tell Akivili that he didn't want to go back to the Xianzhou?
But that would be too cruel for the Aeon, wouldn't it?
Putting himself in their position, if Aha fell, he wouldn't care. But if it were Akivili, he would definitely try every possible way to bring them back.
No... more accurately, Akivili wouldn't die.
Zero would leave "Tenseiga" to them.
No need to search for the "Imaginary Tree" anymore. Better to just take a star-destroying battleship and crash into the "subspace crystal wall."
So… should he tell the Aeon how to use this blade?
Zero couldn't help hesitating.
If Fuli found out… if he failed and couldn't end the cycle, wouldn't that expose his trump card? That wasn't his style.
After thinking for a moment, Zero said, "Sorry… I changed my mind."
Akivili's eyes lit up.
"Then… should we go to the Luofu together? We'll definitely make it in time for that child's coming-of-age ceremony!"
Zero reached his hand toward Akivili's neck and pressed on their carotid artery.
Akivili blinked in confusion.
"What are you doing?"
Zero continued applying pressure and added considerately, "Relax, Akivili. You'll just sleep for a while. This won't have any negative effect on your body."
Soon, Akivili closed their eyes.
Zero opened his system inventory, took out that sheet of paper filled with hints, and tore it completely to pieces.
Then he took out "Tenseiga" and the "Gnosis."
The former was left for Akivili. With the latter, he formed a contract with them so the Aeon would never investigate the "Imaginary Tree."
Finally, Zero began shutting down the system.
Before he could completely shut it down, Akivili slowly woke up.
Zero froze.
Akivili woke up earlier than he had estimated.
As expected of the true body of an Aeon...
Akivili looked in disbelief. "My friend, what were you trying to do just now?!"
Zero looked apologetic and stepped forward.
Akivili covered their neck and stepped back defensively.
Zero looked around and spotted the wardrobe. He took out a spare holster strap, cut off the extra parts with a knife, and quickly made a leather rope? A leather strap? Something that could tie up the Aeon.
Akivili looked like they were about to break down. "My friend, if something's wrong just say it!"
The Aeon moved quickly, dodging around different parts of the room.
Zero sighed, holding a knife in one hand and the indescribable leather item in the other.
Just as the god and the human were locked in a standoff, a third person suddenly appeared in the room.
"I've been looking forever, finally found you..."
The gray-haired girl complained as she spoke, then looked toward them.
After seeing what looked like a crime scene, she couldn't help asking, "…Looks like I came at a bad time?"
Zero and Akivili said in unison, "No, you came at the perfect time."
After hearing that, the gray-haired girl stepped forward, took the leather rope from Zero, and quickly tied up the resisting Aeon.
Her gaze fell on the "Gnosis" on the table.
"Looks like they came in handy."
"If they knew about this, they'd be very happy."