"Hahaha! This is truly amusing! Aha, I have to stand up to watch this!"
Somewhere in the vast galaxy, a pitch-black figure hidden behind countless masks let out an extremely loud laugh that shook several surrounding star systems.
At the far end of the vast, pitch-black depths of space, a highly rhythmic sound echoed, like some kind of mechanical operation prompt. The previously dim eyes of an incomparably massive mechanical head suddenly lit up. It even adjusted its gaze, looking toward Penacony. This was none other than Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.
On the land of Penacony, only seconds after Caelus finished speaking, a gaze containing terrifying power descended from somewhere unknown and looked at him. An ordinary Pathstrider would likely have been destroyed on the spot by that gaze alone.
And this gaze, containing an extremely terrifying power of destruction, naturally belonged to Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction.
At the same time, all things flourished, filled with vitality. Emerald branches grew from the void, and pale green dew dripped down from the infinite heights. A gaze filled with love and compassion was transmitted from the farthest reaches of the universe. Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, had cast their gaze upon this place.
A singing voice rang out, a song that seemed capable of soothing all conflict and opposition in people's hearts. One of the faces of Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony, opened its eyes and cast its gaze toward this place.
The sound of freezing ice rang out, and various divine lights appeared. In the moment where ice and light intertwined, a figure that seemed to exist and yet also not exist appeared. Its body, seemingly constructed of crystal or perhaps ice, was Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
"It's so lively! Long time no see, everyone. Did you miss Aha? Aha missed you to death! When was the last time we all gathered together like this? It seems like it was when those little bugs were laying eggs everywhere!"
A bright red circus clown mask appeared near Penacony, then looked with eyes full of joy at the gazes and phantoms descending here.
"Oh, this is truly a promising little sprout. He pulled off such a big stunt and shocked everyone! Ah, this is truly impressive. Aha must give him a big like!"
A cold, calculated voice rang out. Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, ignored the crazed Aha and instead looked at Caelus on the planet Penacony, analyzing the composition of the dream he had forged and discovering that some of the powers within it were unknown forces that did not exist in this universe.
Once his dream was fully forged, for Erudition, it would become an unknown new territory.
And this also meant that the originally anchored moments would be completely disrupted, and all data would have to be reset.
Nous watched Caelus. After watching for a long while, they even suspected that that bastard Akivili had died and been reborn, completely avoiding the Path of Trailblaze to hide their existence, then suddenly pulling off such a massive stunt in this universe.
[Negation]
The Aeon of Erudition did not acknowledge the birth of the dream world and intended to delete this unstable factor.
[...]
The Aeon of Destruction said nothing. This time, he had come mainly because someone had challenged the social logic of the entire universe and the Aeons themselves, so he came to take a look.
The Aeon of Abundance dripped nectar to bless Caelus.
As an arrow pierced the sky, the phantom of the Aeon of Abundance was shattered by the arrow. A tall, centaur-like phantom holding a longbow appeared in the sky. Then, that figure glanced at Caelus on the ground, bestowed upon him a portion of the power of The Hunt, and continued pursuing the Aeon of Abundance.
That was a reward bestowed because Caelus was willing to speak out against and challenge the injustices of this world.
As for Fuli, they said nothing and did nothing, just like a spectator who had merely come to this place to observe the story.
Caelus had originally thought he would face the obstruction of many Aeons, and even thought that the Aeon of Destruction would personally descend to destroy him and prevent the possibility of a new Aeon existing. Unexpectedly, in the end, only the Aeon of Erudition made it clear that they wanted to negate the dream he had created, while the Aeon of Destruction was merely watching from the sidelines.
However, even facing one Aeon, with Caelus's current Tier 5 strength, it was fundamentally impossible to fight them. But now, it was time to reveal his trump card.
He could not wait until the Aeon of Erudition started using methods to deal with him before using it. By then, it might be too late.
Caelus flew away from Penacony, arriving in outer space and facing the many Aeons.
An item constructed like an ice crystal appeared in his hand, with colorful flowing light seemingly circulating within it.
Then the ice crystal shattered, turning into several fragments of varying sizes that danced above Caelus's palm.
[Consumable: Memory Crystal]
[Effect: Seals a certain fragment from memory within it.]
[Description: Once you have sealed a fragment of memory inside and crushed it, everything from that fragment will be reproduced.]
The already broken ice crystal began to shatter even faster, and countless fragments drifted through the universe. Finally, that strange flowing light, which seemed to have been sealed inside the ice crystal, formed a scroll that unfolded in this cosmic space.
"Nana-na! Big Brother! Alice can't find the way home. Can you help Alice find the way home?"
In the scroll, Caelus was standing in a forest. Before him appeared a girl with golden hair and a blue dress, speaking to him pitifully.
The moment the words fell, before the Caelus in the scroll could speak, the golden-haired girl who had finished speaking suddenly turned her head and looked outside the scroll. Her face no longer held the pitiful appearance from before, but instead carried an extremely twisted and morbid love.
A large amount of pitch-black liquid, like petroleum, flowed down from the girl's face, then directly broke through the restraints of the scroll and flowed into the outside world. The entire scroll was being swallowed by the thick, pitch-black liquid, except for Caelus's figure.
A small, snowy-white hand reached out from the pitch-black liquid. Various whispers rang in the ears of all living beings, but those sounds were merely noisy and caused no real impact, simply because their noses smelled a mysterious, faint fragrance. Even creatures without noses, who could not smell, could still perceive this strange scent.
The golden-haired girl stepped out from that pitch-black, writhing darkness. Unlike her image on the scroll, pinned to her chest was a small, pure white flower that seemed completely out of place with both her style and her temperament.
"Long time no see, Caelus. I didn't expect you to be willing to summon me to this world."
Alice Liddell, no, Nyarlathotep, looked at Caelus with a smile.
Following this, the physical laws of this place, the Path energy of this place, and even various forms of logic and understanding were thrown into complete chaos, causing the Erudition attacks that were about to take effect to be interrupted. Even the various common-sense data calculated by the distant Aeon of Erudition experienced a momentary disruption.
"I thought you just missed me a little and summoned me, but I didn't expect it was only to deal with enemies. How heartbreaking."
Nyarlathotep's eyes and tone were filled with resentment.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)