Black-red, ominous light radiated from the celestial sphere behind Aether, which was enclosed by the Abyssal Divine Wheel.
Centered on him, something utterly unlike anything within the Star Rail Universe began to unfold.
The expansion was unbelievably fast—within milliseconds it covered the entire Star Rail Universe.
It was as if a black-red film had been draped over the Star Rail Universe.
Yet this single thin film completely severed the Aeons from the Star Rail Universe.
It was not that the Aeons were moved outside the Star Rail Universe.
Rather, one could imagine the Star Rail Universe as a piece of glass, with all things upon its front side—yet now the Aeons were forcibly reversed to its backside.
Even though still within the same universe, they could no longer directly influence one another.
And this reverse side was precisely the function of the Pseudo Star Map Creation: Bottomless Abyss.
It temporarily merged with the dark side of the Star Rail Universe, making it a part of his cosmology.
For a brief instant, Aether seized control of the Star Rail Universe's dark facet.
This was possible only because of his Pseudo Star Map Creation. Other Pseudo Star Map Creations merely substituted cosmology for external universes.
But among them, his Pseudo Star Map Creation was one of the strongest cosmologies in Teyvat.
"Come then—this is my domain."
Without further words, Aether swung his golden divine sword toward the most laughably groveling of Aeons—Aha, the Aeon of Elation—unleashing a strike weighted with the mass of a universe.
Under the mass of an entire universe, even cosmic laws would be altered. Even Paths, when struck upon their very concepts, could shatter.
But the Aeons were not so foolish as to sit still before such danger.
After all, Qlipoth had already taken a blow on their behalf once. None of them would dare face such a strike head-on.
"Aiyaaaah—!"
Aha instantly abandoned his ridiculous pose, scattering into countless fragments—his sanctified form of mask and shadow exploded apart.
He split himself into innumerable selves, each mask and each shadow his true body.
Having learned from the last encounter, this time he would never face that attack directly.
This time, he could really die. Though he was unafraid of death—and even thought it amusing—what value had a single amusing death compared to eternal and repeated amusement?
[Deluded outsider—the Path of the Hunt shall never die, vengeance unending.]
The war of single-universe scale had begun. Aha's scattered sanctified form blazed like a signal flare.
The Aeon of the Hunt, Lan, immediately loosed radiant arrows, each one saturated with the causal power of the Principle of the Hunt.
This time, his arrows were not nullified. For within the same reversed domain, they struck directly at Aether.
RUMMMBLE—
Aether's divine body was struck by arrows capable of piercing entire great universes.
Yet under the empowerment of the Pseudo Star Map Creation, he himself was a great universe.
Naturally, he would not simply endure such blows. His every movement carried universal mass; with effort, he canceled out the Hunt's arrows.
"All beings suffer…"
The Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi, spread their power. Countless Trees of Abundance spanning hundreds of thousands of galaxies sprouted into being. Vines of abundance entangled Aether, while healing power flowed ceaselessly to the other Aeons.
When an Aeon personally wielded healing, it could indeed affect another of their kind.
"Universal Equilibrium."
The abstract, mosaic-like sanctified form of the Aeon of Equilibrium ignited the cosmos itself, attempting to forcibly counteract the unfavorable domain.
Among the Aeons, the strongest ranked Nihility, followed by Elation, and then Equilibrium.
Once, for the sake of balance, the Aeon of Equilibrium had even burned an entire universe—though no one had been able to observe such macroscopic destruction.
The mara-stricken bodies of the Xianzhou and the immortal poisons of the Denizens of Abundance were both born of Equilibrium's influence.
For eternal life granted to civilization was no blessing to a finite universe; rather, it plundered other civilizations' right to survive.
Because of Equilibrium's workings, the births of other Aeons had also been tied to it.
One by one, the other Aeons launched their power.
Though once they had been enemies, with their own Paths, now that their very fates were threatened, they all cooperated—if only for the end.
Only when faced with the same crisis could sworn enemies cooperate.
"Hahahaha~ the last time so many friends gathered together was during Propagation~"
"Sovereign of the Abyssal Universe~ Aha will fight back too."
Faced with the Aeons' coordinated assault, Aether cast aside his usual composure, fully immersing himself in the release of power. With a casual motion, he tore open a rift into the Abyssal Universe.
From that rift, the Abyssal power of the distant Teyvat Universe surged forth like a floodgate opening, pouring toward all the Aeons.
The power of the Aeons was indeed exalted—but he wielded the entirety of the Abyssal Universe itself as a weapon.
RUMMMBLE—
A single-universe-class battle was fundamentally simple: a direct clash of philosophical concepts, higher-order Rules, Principles, and Truth. What was measured was the degree of mystery, the density of quality, the very scale of values. Though higher values did not guarantee victory, in most cases they did.
Eleven Aeons fought against Aether within the full dark side of the Star Rail Universe.
Were such a battle to take place on the front side, all habitable regions of the cosmos would be annihilated. Perhaps even the walls of the universe itself would be torn asunder, leading to total cosmic destruction.
But the Star Rail Universe was no ordinary universe. Should such a thing truly occur, the will of the Imaginary Tree would descend.
From the perspective of the Imaginary Tree—
Upon its branches, where the Star Rail Universe hung, endless ripples spread across the surface of its cosmic barrier.
These ripples resembled raindrops falling upon a still basin of water.
Even as the Star Rail Universe shifted, a radiant Ouroboros-like ring appeared outside its cosmic barrier.
Threads of Law were drawn down from the Imaginary Tree, silently sinking into the Star Rail Universe.
Far away, in the Teyvat Great Universe—
Noah's golden eyes observed not only the interior of the Star Rail Universe, but also the Imaginary Tree itself.
"Excellent. The entire Star Rail Universe has plunged into chaos. Then, the second stage of the plan—"
"Fishing in troubled waters! While the black beast tide ravages the universe, I'll harvest the Alaya Will of the entire universe, then ceaselessly shear the wool of the Imaginary Tree!"
"I'll gorge myself in one feast!"
For it was in times of cosmic turmoil that Laws were most easily attracted. The Imaginary Tree would actively cast down Laws.
Under the vast blessings, desires, and resentments of all life within the universe, certain individuals would resonate with those Laws.
The will of such an individual, combined with their philosophical cognition, would forge the birth of a Path.
And at the end of that process—an Aeon would be born.
Memory, Propagation, Destruction, Harmony, Nihility, Hunt, Trailblaze—all had been born this way.
Noah then turned his gaze toward Himeko and Firefly.
"Do not disappoint me. I grant only this one chance."
Within Noah's gaze, the Path cores inside Himeko and Firefly had already grown restless, stirred by the emotional tides of life amidst cosmic upheaval.
From the moment they were granted their Path cores, the two had already possessed the power of top-level Emanators. As candidates for Aeonhood, only by stepping onto Paths uniquely their own could they resonate with Law and ascend to become new Aeons.
Yet the process was far from simple. During ascension, another must walk their Path, abandoning and denying the old one.
For within a single universe, only one Path aligned to the same Principle could exist.
Noah's eyes shifted away from Himeko and Firefly.
At present, they were aiding the Xianzhou Alliance in resisting the black beast tide.
With the Aeon of the Hunt's gaze no longer upon them, the Xianzhou Alliance had been freed from the sword of Damocles. Thus, they fought head-on against mighty Abyssal monsters.
The beast tide had shattered the Alliance's skies to pieces. The Alliance now fought with its back against the wall.
Yet the beast tide was endless, while the Alliance's surviving strength dwindled without end. Internal divisions had already begun to surface, leaving them beset from within and without.
Even with the aid of the Astral Express and the Stellaron Hunters, complete collapse was only a matter of time.
Noah then turned his gaze to another front: Penacony.
At this moment, Penacony had not yet suffered the onslaught of the black beast tide. Some surviving strength of the Interastral Peace Corporation had been relocated here.
Beyond the IPC, remnants of countless other factions ravaged by the tide had also gathered here.
So many fragmented forces converged upon this once Planet of Festivities, yet chaos had not consumed it. This was thanks not only to the IPC and the Family—both great powers bearing Emanators—but also to the presence of Order's power.
A fragment of the Path of Order had rooted itself here, manifesting as a radiant miniature sun, suspended high above Penacony's atmosphere.
Order's power suppressed the entire Penacony star system, compelling all things to follow its rule.
This little sun was none other than one of the unclaimed Path fragments Noah had cast down.
Drawn by the faint lingering resonance of the Principle of Order, it had settled here, absorbed into this world.
And so it lingered, a small sun shining above Penacony.
It had not yet chosen a worthy successor—for as of now, no target had proven absolute enough to be chosen.
This Order was not the same as Ena's former Order—it was an Order shaped by Noah's will.
Of course, Noah's attention was not on this fragment of Order—but on Sparkle, the candidate for the Aeon of Elation.
At this moment, a curious scene unfolded. A red clown mask burst into boisterous laughter, mocking Sparkle.
"Hahahaha, the universe is in utter chaos now, and we Aeons have been locked away to fight each other. Boo-hoo-hoo, how pitiful indeed~"
"So then, oh great, terrifying, beautiful, adorable—well, in short, ridiculously amazing Lady Sparkle, how do you plan to replace poor, pitiful, aggrieved, laughable, absurd old Aha and become the new Aeon of Elation?"
"Aha is truly, truly looking forward to it!"
"Such an outrageous, even ludicrously absurd thing has never happened before."
"If it truly comes to pass, then I, Aha, will laugh myself to death—ohohohoho~!"
At that, the red clown mask spun wildly, darting from Sparkle's left side to her right, then from right to left.
"So then, when shall we begin~?"
Sparkle was entirely unconcerned. Skipping along Penacony's small streets, humming cheerfully, she treated this manifested Aha with no reverence at all—more like a target for mischief.
She seized the mask in her small hand, giggling.
"Heehee~ as expected of the god of fun. To actually egg me on to usurp your title as Aeon—now that is truly delightful."
"But rest assured, old man—Sparkle will certainly become the new Aeon of Elation. After all, this little life of mine may still be nestled in the palm of a certain Lord's hand without me even knowing it~"
"Besides, I, Sparkle, have already written the script for becoming the Aeon of Elation."
"Everyone will be an actor in my magnificent script—including you, Lord Aha~ Heehee, doesn't that sound like fun~?"
With that, Sparkle crack snapped the Aha mask in half.
"Hehehe~ At the very last moment of cosmic collapse, when endless black monsters shatter the firmament, when all cry out in terror, in prayer, in desperate pleading—a young girl will bear the expectations of all and ascend to become an Aeon."
As she spoke, Sparkle spread her arms, manic yet delighted.
"Just as all rejoice, believing the dawn has come—"
"The girl who became a god will, with her own hands, cast them into the Abyss."
"And in that instant, amidst endless curses and denunciations, I, Sparkle, will step forward, laughing, mocking, revealing the script I had planned all along."
"In the grandest drama of deception, mockery, and revelry across the universe, I, Sparkle, will successfully steal away your title, Lord Aha."
"Heeheehee, just imagining it makes me nearly burst with laughter already…"
Sparkle could hardly contain herself at the theatrical brilliance of her own design, clutching her belly as she laughed with unrestrained joy.
"Ooooh~ What kind of script, what kind of script could it be~? My curiosity is about to fill all of Penacony! Quick, reveal just a little, oh great Sparkle!"
The Aha mask pieced itself back together, shrieking shamelessly, utterly lacking any Aeon-like dignity.
Sparkle lifted her gaze toward the small sun of Order suspended in Penacony's skies, her expression full of elation.
The Aha mask also turned toward the sun, its face twisted into something even more grotesquely absurd.
"Oooh~ so that's it. Far too amusing. Scheming to make a human ascend to Aeonhood, then seizing Elation yourself because it's just too much fun—ahahahaha!"
"Too much fun, truly too much fun! Double the fun~!"
"So then~ in the great script directed by Sparkle, who is the lucky protagonist? Tell Aha secretly, I promise my lips are sealed—I won't whisper it to anyone else~"
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