Aha, that bastard!
THEY did it on purpose just to mess with her!
Bai Ming wanted nothing more than to drag the real Aha out and pin THEM to the ground for a thorough thrashing.
This simulated version in the Simulated Universe was so capable and mischievous that if anyone claimed it had nothing to do with the real one outside, she wouldn't believe a word of it.
Either way, it was definitely Aha's fault!
After thoroughly scrubbing away the redundant equations from those Aeon Primal Bodies, Bai Ming finally turned her gaze toward this simulated Aha.
What was she supposed to do with this guy?
She wasn't exactly thrilled about keeping THEM inside the Simulated Universe anymore.
If THEY stayed, THEY would just keep causing trouble for her. The Simulated Universe simply wasn't big enough for THEM to keep acting out like this.
No, THEY had to go.
With a wide sweep of her arm, Bai Ming grabbed the simulated Aha and yanked THEM straight out of the simulation.
Using the power of Elation, she forcibly peeled the little Aha away from the Simulated Universe. Then, with a swift motion of her hands, a spatial wormhole tore open in response.
However, opening a wormhole that spanned almost the entire cosmos was never going to be a quiet affair.
To an outside observer, the region around Amphoreus suddenly erupted with a staggering surge of Imaginary Energy. It looked exactly like every recorded instance of an Aeon's descent in history.
That terrifying energy, enough to send detection instruments off the charts, churned violently around Amphoreus.
A moment later, Bai Ming's silhouette appeared outside the borders of the world. Like any other Aeon manifesting, her colossal form—more imposing than an entire galaxy—loomed within the void.
Of course, that wasn't even the most shocking part.
After all, many factions already knew that Bai Ming and her Genius allies frequently gathered here. What truly made everyone's eyes go wide was what she held in her hand.
Clutched firmly in Bai Ming's palm was none other than the Aeon of Elation, Aha!
Bai Ming's expression was clearly sour.
It looked for all the world like the two of them had just been in a massive brawl.
"???"
Countless onlookers were stunned. The divine war between Aeons hadn't even started yet, and we were already getting a civil war within Elation?
Then, they watched as Bai Ming raised her hand, lifted the Aha in her grip, and hurled THEM forward with a violent pitch!
That unreserved motion translated into the purest form of power and speed. The Aha in her hand was slammed into the wormhole, crossing an untold number of light-years in an instant.
At that very moment, elsewhere in the cosmos, the real Aha—who knows what THEY were up to—happened to be looking through the other end of the wormhole. THEY locked eyes with Bai Ming.
"...?"
Aha thought she might have something to say to THEM.
Instead, THEY saw Bai Ming's arm extend. A "little Aha" shot through like a cannonball, traversing vast distances with exaggerated velocity and force, before slamming squarely into Aha's mask!
BOOM—!!!!
Pure speed and power converted into an even purer shockwave.
The impact caused a violent tremor in the fabric of space itself, radiating outward on a massive scale.
Exaggerated spatial ripples and surges of Imaginary Energy expanded through the neighboring sectors, stretching across hundreds, even thousands of star systems before finally dissipating.
Yet, Bai Ming, the architect of this chaos, didn't spare a single glance for the simulated Aha she'd just evicted. After chucking the little thing at the real Aha's face, she didn't even wait to see the result.
She snapped the wormhole shut. Without looking back, she ended their one-sided communication.
She left behind a bruised Aha and a little simulated version who had been forced to fly halfway across the universe, the two of them staring at each other in stunned silence.
With the real Aha there, she wasn't worried about the little one being shattered by the massive impact.
Aha recognized the intruder immediately. It was the one Bai Ming had whipped up in the Simulated Universe—the digital data body gave it away.
But why on earth did she just toss THEM over here without a word?
Rubbing his mask, Aha felt quite perplexed.
THEY also noticed that the Simulated Universe had been sealed off by the combined powers of Elation and Remembrance. This had happened right after the simulated version was tossed out.
Because of the power THEY had granted her THEMSELF, even THEY couldn't easily peer into the simulation or sneak things in undetected like THEY used to.
"...So, what did you do? Actually, never mind. I can probably guess."
Aha let out a snicker. Since THEY were the one who had secretly left a back door in the simulation earlier, THEY had a pretty good idea of what had gone down.
"That's my other self for you!"
That being said, with Bai Ming now on high alert, it was going to be tough for Aha to sneak in any more "surprises" for a while.
Originally, the simulated Aha had intended to pull a big stunt—turning that half-baked little world into a complete, new reality.
Since it had already suppressed all the other simulated Aeons, it could have swallowed up the concepts of every other Path and become the sole Aeon of that new world.
It wanted to use that vantage point to investigate the end of the universe, the finality of IX... things the original body couldn't do in the real world.
As it turned out, the little guy had been working his tail off in the simulation, only to realize upon looking back that Bai Ming, the creator, had become terrifyingly strong.
Even though the plan was in its early stages and it had considered the risk of being caught, the problem remained: Bai Ming was just too powerful.
Now, it didn't even have a chance to go back.
All those preparations would lose their purpose without the mastermind there to lead them.
The simulated Aha had realized this the moment Bai Ming grabbed it.
"Because of the power you gave her, I got kicked out before I could even do the real work! Original me, you didn't even want to leave a little for me!"
"Ahaha~ This one really was on me."
Aha didn't have much to say to that.
THEIR arrangement in the Simulated Universe had been a casual toss-in; THEY hadn't been paying it much attention.
THEY had scattered countless little seeds of chaos like that throughout the cosmos.
In THEIR pursuit of accidents and possibilities, THEY rarely followed up on them. THEY hadn't expected THEIR own past actions to strangle THEIR own plan in the cradle.
This was definitely a "my bad" moment. As things stood, unless THEY personally stepped in, there wouldn't be much of a chance to mess with the Simulated Universe for a while.
As for negotiating with Bai Ming to cooperate on such a bold plan... well, it wasn't that Aha thought she lacked the guts. THEY just figured she'd probably turn THEM down. And frankly, that would be too boring.
How could Aha do something so conventional?
If THEY couldn't complete the plan in secret, snatch away Bai Ming's little world in one go, make that world start jumping around yelling "Aha! Aha!" right in front of her, and record her reaction for posterity... then what was the point?
So, the thought of direct cooperation never even crossed THEIR mind. Besides, having an opponent like Bai Ming who was THEIR match in the "fun-seeking" department was a rare treat.
Why would THEY give that up?
Instead of quitting, THEY decided to double down. THEY started revving up THEIR big brain, brainstorming even more little ideas.
--+--
On the other side...
After kicking the simulated Aha into the distance, Bai Ming began setting up firewalls for the Simulated Universe.
She'd eventually have to remake the simulated Aha, but this time, the firewall had to be Aeon-level. She couldn't risk another "Aha incident" happening the moment she looked away.
While rebuilding the firewall, she also performed a comprehensive, top-to-bottom scan of the entire Space Station. She was terrified the simulated Aha might have planted something there too.
She didn't want to come back one day only to have the Simulated Universe stand up and start laughing "Aha! Aha!" in her face.
Even though she didn't know what the simulated version had truly been planning, she figured it couldn't be anything good. A thorough sweep was the only way to get any peace of mind.
The results gave her quite a shock. The simulated Aha really had tampered with the station.
The entire Space Station, along with the core of the Simulated Universe, was covered in fragmented, nonsensical traces. The little pest had even added code to the source of the simulation.
It looked extremely incomplete, and if she hadn't been looking so closely, she never would have found it. She couldn't quite grasp the intent behind it either.
All she could sense was a vague mix of "Expansion" and "Collection" functions. She had no idea why those traces were left there.
But regardless of what it was, she tore it all down.
Whatever Aha wanted to do, the outcome might be a mystery, but the process was guaranteed to be a nightmare. This Space Station hadn't been easy to build, and the simulation held a massive amount of valuable data. If Aha blew it up, the loss would be devastating.
So, Bai Ming didn't care how long it took. She meticulously overhauled the entire station, ensuring not a single hidden corner contained one of Aha's "gifts."
Even after that, she didn't feel entirely safe. She expanded the firewall, which was originally just for the simulation, to cover the Space Station and even the entirety of Amphoreus.
However, there was one thing that made her hesitate—she wasn't sure if she should delete it.
All those stories the simulated Aha had calculated within the simulation had been compiled and published on a website under Bai Ming's name.
The kicker was that it wasn't just stories; there were even some abstract "fan-works" featuring the Aeons.
This had turned the site into a massive, trending hub for creators, drawing in people from all over.
The traffic was skyrocketing.
Since it was in her name, the harvest of Emotion Points was actually pretty decent. Now was the time to stockpile points, so she was a bit reluctant to pull the plug just yet.
Though, some of the more "abstract" content was wilder than she could have imagined.
Bai Ming found herself critiquing them while simultaneously reading with great interest.
She felt that her future self might never be able to look at the relationships between certain Aeons with a straight face again.
She wasted half a day scrolling through the site.
Coming back to her senses, she thought it over, stared at her status panel for a long time, and decided that since so many users liked it... she might as well keep it.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL