Such a massive wave of popularity naturally didn't escape the opportunistic eyes of the Interastral Peace Corporation.
Setting aside the arms sector for a moment, the entertainment division was practically salivating at the prospect of churning out merchandise and fanworks for this pure white Unicorn Gundam.
We're talking model kits of every scale, fan-made animations, comics, games—the works.
The planners at IPC Entertainment were ready to bet their careers on it; if they could market this image, it would be an absolute goldmine.
Normally, the IPC's style when encountering such a galaxy-renowned icon was simple: take it.
They rarely bothered with copyright issues, or at the very least, they'd skirt the legal gray areas. Usually, whether through a courtroom or sheer corporate muscle, no one could stand against them.
But this time was different. This was something potentially designed by the hand of an Aeon. It might even be the work of a god's Emanator.
To make matters stickier, this particular deity wasn't shy about intervening, was known to wander the cosmos, and stayed remarkably close to the mortal plane.
That kept the IPC on its best behavior. Others might fear the Corporation's reach, but a god seeking accountability wouldn't care about corporate hierarchy.
If they decided to erase you with a single flick of a finger, the IPC wasn't going to step in to back you up.
Consequently, Madam Pearl, currently far off in Punklorde, tried to use Jade's connections to get in touch with 'Hysilens' to talk business regarding the Unicorn.
Unfortunately, 'Hysilens' had been hard to reach lately. The masks she left scattered about the galaxy weren't programmed to entertain calls from outsiders.
This forced Pearl to take a detour through Madam Herta, which was the only way the message finally landed in 'Hysilens' hands.
It was a wasted effort, though. 'Hysilens' had only whipped up the Unicorn Gundam for Reveria because the girl had asked for it. So, despite hearing about the incredibly generous terms Pearl was offering via AI Herta, 'Hysilens' wasn't interested.
For one, she didn't have the spare time, and for another, the Unicorn was Reveria's unit now. She wasn't about to go over Reveria's head to cut a deal.
Putting the matter aside, she had AI Herta send a polite refusal to Pearl and withdrew her consciousness from the puppet.
Returning to the borders of IX, 'Hysilens' went back to her study of the Nihility Equation.
As she delved back into her research, 'Hysilens' was pleasantly surprised to find that her resistance to the interference of Nihility had improved significantly since her last session.
However, the System detected this phenomenon almost immediately.
Out of "respect" for its host—and to ensure 'Hysilens' could perceive and study Nihility even faster—the System dialed back its protection. It recalibrated the barrier to the absolute limit of what she could endure without breaking.
The smile 'Hysilens' had just started to form vanished instantly. She couldn't even complain about the System's dynamic adjustments; after all, it was only following her own will to master Nihility.
If she didn't want to study it, the protection would have remained rock-solid.
"...Look on the bright side," she muttered to herself, feeling the crushing weight of Nihility once more. "At least every adjustment makes the research more efficient."
Nearby, Acheron watched with growing astonishment. She could feel that the person beside her was grasping the essence of Nihility even faster than before.
It actually gave Acheron a bit of a fright.
Usually, any Pathstrider tainted by Nihility spends their life struggling against it, desperately searching for a reason to exist. If you actually surrender to it, you're assimilated and gone.
'Hysilens' was the anomaly.
She was the only one truly trying to deconstruct the nature of Nihility and find meaning within the void. Every time they talked about the Path, Acheron felt her heart skip a beat.
With every exchange, 'Hysilens' understanding deepened, but lately, the speed of that progress had become terrifying.
Acheron was genuinely worried that 'Hysilens' wasn't analyzing Nihility so much as being consumed by it without realizing.
If 'Hysilens' hadn't promised she was fine—and if Acheron hadn't checked her over several times without finding a single crack in her psyche—there's no telling what the self-annihilator might have done.
While 'Hysilens' appreciated the concern, having Acheron jump at every little shadow was getting a bit tedious.
She decided Acheron needed a distraction—something to do other than staring at her every waking second.
"Let's run an experiment, Acheron."
"...?"
Acheron stared at 'Hysilens', her expression a mix of confusion and mild suspicion, as if bracing herself for some truly outlandish suggestion.
"I told you before, didn't I? The point of me studying Nihility is to pull you out of this mire."
"I remember. So, what do you intend to do?"
"I want to establish a set of rules right here that can take over your job of guiding the Sin-Thirsters," 'Hysilens' proposed.
She was thinking of something similar to the rules Razalina established in Penacony using her own life.
She wanted to try building an automated system at the edge of Nihility to guide those lost souls.
"You want to imitate Razalina and build a Law here? But this is the domain of Nihility; the Void is the only truth here. You've only just begun your research—isn't it too early?"
Acheron had a sort of blind faith in 'Hysilens', believing she could eventually achieve this dream. But doing it now? 'Hysilens' had only been studying the Path of Nihility for about half a month.
Even with her genius, she had surely only scratched the surface. Could she really produce something functional this soon?
"I know it's early, and my understanding isn't complete. But I'm not trying to finalize the Law yet; I'm just looking for the right method," 'Hysilens' explained.
Even if it was partly a distraction for Acheron, she wasn't just shouting nonsense.
"For example, we could go the Razalina route and use the power of Nihility itself to anchor a Law. Or, like the dream world I fashioned for you, we could create a dream realm for the Sin Thirsters and simply use the pull of Nihility to guide them inside."
Acheron thought of her own world of Izumo. It was indeed a peaceful dream.
If the Sin Thirsters could enter such a place to resolve their regrets or come to terms with their passing, it would be a mercy.
Compared to trying to build a rigid system out of pure Nihility concepts, the dream world felt more tangible—and much kinder.
"The latter is more feasible," Acheron noted. "But how will you maintain its existence here? Will you have to manually replenish its energy forever?"
That was the crux of the problem. Nihility was infectious. Even the world Acheron carried was constantly being eroded. It only held up because 'Hysilens' had packed it with a massive amount of power.
If she wanted to build a permanent, wide-scale world, the energy required to fight off the erosion of the Void would be astronomical. Could she really shoulder that burden?
"We'll give it a shot. If it doesn't work, we'll pivot," 'Hysilens' said, unconcerned.
Building a world to house lost souls would meet resistance from Nihility, but it wasn't like she was going toe-to-toe with the Aeon itself. She was just dealing with the lingering aftershocks at the boundary.
For someone who held the Paths of Elation and Propagation, energy consumption was the least of her worries.
"I'll put together a prototype. Once it's ready, I'll need you to find a Sin Thirster to help us test it."
With that, 'Hysilens' began her work. First, she needed to construct a world capable of containing those drifting souls.
However, considering that Sin Thirsters were a motley crew of Pathstriders—many of whom were, frankly, a bit unhinged—a simple, normal world wouldn't survive their presence for long.
Given that different Pathstriders had wildly different philosophies, 'Hysilens' decided to use the core concepts of the various Paths as a foundation, creating sub-worlds within the dream that corresponded to each one.
Of course, she couldn't perfect the details beforehand. Every soul's obsession was unique.
The best she could do was categorize them by Path and then let the dream world adapt to the individual's lingering regrets to dissolve their fixation.
That was the tricky part. These souls were born from the shadows of Nihility, meaning they were usually in a state of semi-consciousness.
Once they entered the world, she had to find a way to suppress the influence of the Void enough for them to regained their lucidity.
'Hysilens' figured she could delegate this task to NPCs within the sub-worlds.
Since the souls themselves weren't exactly thinking straight, they couldn't build a functioning society on their own. But figuring out how to make NPCs subtly ground these souls was a project in itself.
It would require a master's understanding of Nihility.
Otherwise, "suppressing" the Void would be no different from violently snuffling the souls out entirely.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL