"Mm, maybe we don't need to be this nervous after all." Himeko once again went back to drink her coffee.
-----------------------------------
"After all, being nervous only leads to anxiety, it's useless in reality."
" ... "
" ... "
" ... "
" ... Pom."
Himeko blinked, still smiling and continued, "Isn't that right?"
March 7th covered her head, leaned back weakly, looking like she had worried herself sick.
"That may be true, but isn't the fact that the past can be changed a really terrifying thing?!"
Dan Heng frowned: "Indeed, just as March said, if the past can be changed, then…"
Wouldn't that mean even the birth of an Aeon could be prevented? Or worse, wiping out an entire species from its very origin, no matter how you look at it, such a thing is utterly horrifying.
Even Aeons cannot change the past. What has happened is a fixed fact, impossible to alter. Yet something that should have been impossible is now unfolding right before their eyes.
With Welt's personality, he would never joke about such a thing.
"Pom-Pom, do you know of anything like this?" While the others focused on the altered past, Star looked curiously at Pom-Pom.
As the conductor of the Astral Express, who had seemingly always been aboard, Pom-Pom was undoubtedly more "well-informed."
"The conductor isn't omnipotent, you know! Changing the past and all that, even Akivili couldn't do it. No matter how far the Express travels, it can't go back to the past, pom." Pom-Pom shook its head and waved its hands.
He couldn't even leave the express, let alone… whatever it was the passengers were now facing.
To be able to change even the past, such a thing was unheard of.
...
Meanwhile.
"Hmm? Elio has sent new information." Kafka, comparing two coats, glanced at the phone glowing on the table, her crimson lips parting slightly.
"I got it too." Silver Wolf raised her hand.
"So did I," Blade said.
"And me." The voice came from Silver Wolf's phone, where Firefly's face appeared on the screen.
After a long time, Elio had finally remembered the Stellaron Hunters, who had been on extended leave.
Sliding her finger across the screen, Kafka fell silent, a trace of confusion hidden beneath her eyes:
"Hmm, Elio says not only the future, but even the past is now shrouded in shadow. What does that mean?"
Kafka couldn't understand.
Before anything was changed, Elio could see the future, the so-called slave of fate.
But what did it mean to see the past as well?
Besides, the past is the past. Why would Elio bother looking at it?
In the meantime, Silver Wolf had already cracked the hidden message inside Elio's transmission…
"Pu!!"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
...
"So that's how it is, no wonder you lost your composure." Blade calmly wiped his hair, speaking indifferently.
"Knowing something like that, not reacting would be the strangest thing."
His tone was normal, but the tension was undeniable.
Looking at Silver Wolf cowering behind her, Kafka sighed softly.
"Not only the future, but now even the past has been altered…"
"Sounds unbelievable," Firefly exclaimed.
"It is very unbelievable. Changing the past, even Aeons cannot do that. At most, [Finality] can only witness the predetermined future and the already fixed past."
Kafka felt utterly exhausted. Things had just gotten even more complicated.
"Did Elio say which part of history had the problem?"
Firefly's projection peeked out curiously.
"No, he only said the past is being shrouded in shadow. He doesn't know the specifics either. He only noticed this phenomenon and informed us, asking us to keep an eye out for strange occurrences."
Silver Wolf shook her head.
If she had known exactly what kind of existence could even change the past, her reaction wouldn't have been so agitated.
The past, that was a fixed fact even Aeons could not alter.
"Doesn't that make us like headless flies now?" Firefly frowned.
The cosmos was vast. Trying to locate a target within it was harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
By the way, the reason it's called the cosmos is because of observation systems.
That is, all observed worlds are collectively called the universe.
In other words, even if countless unknown star systems were discovered, once they entered orbit, the name remained unchanged, just another galaxy added to the term.
The result was obvious: easier categorization, but with significant implications.
The most striking being that the so-called "cosmos" was in fact unimaginably vast, to the point of being staggering.
Under such conditions, trying to find some unknown existence, whether human, object, energy being, or genetic life, whether alive or dead, with not even a name, was as difficult as expecting someone else other than Silver Wolf to reach first place on the Universal Game Leaderboard without using any cheats.
"But no matter what, we still have to do it." Kafka sighed softly, helpless.
Starting off with such a troublesome matter, was this the price of taking a vacation?
"Blade?" Kafka turned her head, looking at the pensive Blade.
"You're not seriously thinking about changing the past, are you?" Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes, asking with suspicion.
"…Changing the past is nonsense." Blade gave a short scoff, replying.
"Eh, thinking about it is fine. It's not like it's shameful. Just now I was even wondering if I could send a newly released game back to the past, let developers study it, and make even better ones."
Silver Wolf casually revealed her idea of contributing to the gaming world.
And so, after a long hiatus without any missions from Elio, the Stellaron Hunters began to take action once more.
...
The disturbances of the outside world cannot affect the world that has not yet connected with it.
In the sky not far from City of Nagazora, a space battleship was floating, as if it had been pressed by an invisible pause button, stopping in midair.
"…This joke has gone too far, hasn't it!?"
An A-rank Valkyrie, a battle-hardened survivor who had been through countless battles against Honkai and always fought on the front lines.
Himeko, at this moment, was staring blankly at the figure in the distance that radiated scorching heat and fear.
"Major Himeko, Hyperion's temperature is dropping, it has passed the overload danger stage."
The crew member responsible for monitoring the ship's condition reported to Himeko.
Yes, the reason Hyperion stayed here, instead of moving forward, was because it would have overloaded.
Just one step closer and it really would have turned into popcorn in the sky!
Himeko was confident that even if she jumped from this height, she would only be injured, at most needing half a year or so to recover.
But not everyone on the Hyperion was a miracle like her.
"Do we have the results of the scan? What exactly is that thing?" Himeko asked in a low, heavy voice.
Her tone revealed the full weight of the situation.
She was an A-rank Valkyrie, had trained many others, seen all kinds of storms and waves, what hadn't she faced before?
But before today, she had never seen a heat wave like this.
"Major Himeko, after testing we didn't find any similar biological entity in the database. The energy it emits seems endless, and it is not Honkai energy! Finally, based on this characteristic and the features captured, we compared it with the global database, including various strange stories, and in the end, we found this…"
"…Are you serious?"
"Yes! This is the collective result of all twenty-three members of Hyperion's tech department, absolutely serious!"
Himeko's eyelid twitched.
Inside, it felt like ten thousand Honkai Emperor Beasts were rolling around.
If it weren't for the unwavering look in the other person's eyes, she really wanted to pry open her head with her great sword to check if she had stayed up late watching movies yesterday.
But…
Looking at the distant existence, whose overwhelming presence could still be felt despite the long distance, Himeko knew that no matter how impossible it seemed, this was the truth.
"Phew, reconnect the call to the Headmistress."
"Yes!"
...
St. Freya Academy.
"Sigh, when will Himeko come back? This mission shouldn't have any problems, right?"
The petite, white-haired headmistress, forever stuck at the same height, sat on the headmistress' chair, lightly swinging her legs, worried about everyone on the mission.
Just earlier, she was on a call with Himeko, but suddenly the connection cut off, making her instantly nervous. If the tech department hadn't told her that Hyperion was fine, she would have already grabbed Judah and rushed out.
Just then…
"Hm? Himeko! I'm so glad you're okay, the call just cut off suddenly, what happened over there? Did something go wrong!?"
Before the joy could fully appear on Theresa's face, it was pulled down by Himeko's heavy expression.
"Theresa, there's something I need to show you."
"What is i- pfft!!"
...
As it turns out, Godzilla was not only strong individually, but also an unstoppable force in the midst of Honkai beasts.
After wiping out countless Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts, Godzilla slowly lowered its head, its cold vertical pupils staring at the little purple-haired figure on the rooftop.
Look, sparks of lightning were still flashing in her hands.
'You, want to spar?'
That was the meaning in Godzilla's gaze.
The Herrscher of Thunder's whole body tensed, her breath ragged.
Normally, Herrschers were those who, after enduring all kinds of human suffering, finally fell into the embrace of the Honkai and became its apostles.
But this Herrscher of Thunder was different.
In essence, she was a Herrscher consciousness artificially forced to maturity. In many aspects, she could not compare to a true Herrscher, except for that inherited arrogance and hatred of the world.
But… now even the Herrscher who had felt hatred against the world, actually felt that the world was still beautiful.
Gulp.
Under Godzilla's gaze, the Herrscher of Thunder slowly receded, and Raiden Mei's consciousness returned. However, after that experience, she still fainted.
"Eh, Mei!"
The fluffy white-haired dumpling, stunned on the side, rushed forward to catch Mei before she fell, nervously looking up at Godzilla, forcing a smile at the corner of her lips.
"Hehe, big guy, have you eaten yet today?, No no! I mean, is there something you need us to do for you? Or you could leave a way to contact you, after I settle Mei I'll help you out."
Kiana spoke nervously.
She didn't think she could do anything in front of such a powerful being, but her fool's instinct told her that this giant was just curious.
'Look at those big eyes, wasn't that the look of curiosity?'
It's fine, Kiana believed in herself. At worst, she could believe in that stupid dad of hers, though he was useless at everything, couldn't cook, only good at eating, but he was still reliable in his own way.
Thinking positively, he was probably nearby watching over her right now, ready to collect her body, no wait, why did it come to that!?
After a whirlwind of thoughts, Kiana suddenly realized,
"Eh? Where did it go?"
In her field of vision, nothing remained.
Standing on tiptoe to look forward, she saw that an unknown stretch of land all around had been destroyed by that immense wave just now, leaving behind desolation and silence, like a desert in the middle of a city.
...
Return back to the familiar dream.
Godzilla recalls the traces of that world just now.
Very weak, that was his first impression. But there were still some strange and bizarre things that existed.
During the time he appeared, he sensed that something was "watching" him.
"Watching" was just a figure of speech. Strictly speaking, it was as if the unique mechanism of that world glitched... crashed? after his appearance.
Roughly so, from Godzilla's perspective.
As if that world was wondering how such a creature suddenly popped up in its territory.
Apart from that, Godzilla sensed a few still immature "keys."
Instinct told him that the places reachable through those keys would be excellent territories.
Similar to that of his kin under the sea, but even better.
Unfortunately, that place was hidden a bit too deeply, the keys were not yet mature. He could go there, but it would require spending time and effort searching.
Godzilla was unwilling to move, and he didn't want to.
Anyway, with his current sense of time, he could wait thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
In reality, at the thought of reaping without effort, Godzilla's tail happily swung faster of its own accord.
Many green trees were knocked down.
...
"This is Herta, no time for now, if you have anything please... wait! Did you all encounter some trouble?"
Just as she was about to hang up, Herta heard a familiar voice from the phone.
She looked, it was Himeko.
"Aren't you on the way to Amphoreus? How do you have time to chat with me?"
"Herta, there's no one else near you, right?"
"Mm, just me. Other than a risky experiment, there's nothing else."
"That's good. Herta, what I'm about to say, aside from those you completely trust, you must not let anyone else know!"
"So serious? What happened?"
Hearing the heaviness in Himeko's tone, Herta raised her brows, her eyes gradually lighting with interest.
Madam Himeko was someone who could always remain elegant no matter the circumstance. What could make her react so strongly?
Could it be that some Aeon had made a new move?
"Have you noticed? The past is being changed!"
"Oh, hm? Ha!"
...
The call switched to projection dialogue. Herta, with a serious expression, looked at the projections of Himeko and Welt, and spoke.
"You're certain the past is being altered?"
Welt nodded slightly, his voice deep.
"My past memories and my prior ones have deviated. I am sure this is not some means like the Garden of Recollection. That truly was a reflection of the past!"
Hearing Welt's affirmation, Herta... gradually grew excited!
"What form did that memory take? Could you see that shadow clearly? Did your body experience any abnormalities? Or any other features...?"
Herta's words shot out like a machine gun. It was clear how excited she was at this moment.
"Ahem, Madam Herta, please calm yourself a little."
"Calm? How could I possibly calm down?!" The small-statured Herta radiated an aura of a hundred and eighty meters.
"That is a phenomenon of altering the past! How can I calm down?! As a Genuis, if one could stay calm when encountering something like this, they would already have been kicked out of the ranks of Genuis Society, I say!"
Herta stood proudly, her tone sharp as a whip.
"Madam Herta, the past that was once a fixed fact being altered, do you know what that could lead to?" Himeko asked, worried.
Her expertise lay in physics. In facing such an unknown field, the genius Herta was undoubtedly the best option.
Hearing Himeko's question, Herta began to ponder. After a moment,
"From the perspective of the universe, the past of a world that has never connected with the interstellar stage being altered doesn't actually mean much. Even if that planet's fate was originally destruction, and after being altered it survived and stepped into the interstellar age, that doesn't necessarily prove anything."
"Madam Herta means that if a planet's fate was destruction before connecting with the interstellar, but in the future it still connected, what does that really signify?"
Herta nodded slightly.
The reason the future is the future is because of its uncertainty.
Even if an Aeon sees the future, she tends to believe it is merely the most probable one. Beneath that, there are countless more futures waiting to be realized.
Thus, for her, Godzilla being able to influence the past was undoubtedly another kind of future, but one too shocking for the world.
"I've been staying on Jarilo this whole time. Godzilla has also been calm, with no intention of going out. So under what circumstances did he reach Welt's world, and what is the history of that world?"
Herta fell into deep thought...
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T/N: Another bonus chapter; Enjoy~