"A win-win solution?" Madoka looked at Su Mo with anticipation.
She was a saint, not a masochist. If she could avoid sacrificing herself, she would. She was still young and wanted to grow up under her parents' protection, with the companionship of Su Mo and Homura.
"Does such a method really exist?" Homura's eyes also widened.
She wasn't a bad person either. If the people she cared about wouldn't be harmed, she wouldn't refuse to help others. If what Su Mo said was true, and they could avoid Madoka paying such a high price...
"Wait, Big Brother Su Mo, you're not planning on taking the burden on yourself, like Madoka would, are you?" Thinking of a certain possibility, Homura asked with sharp insight.
After the trials of her many loops, she understood deeply that hope and despair in this world were equal.
To give hope to all the magical girls of other worlds, Madoka herself would have to fall into despair. Even if, as Su Mo had said, they could cleverly leverage multiverse-level power, Madoka would still have to pay a price.
So, after hearing Su Mo's words, she was first overjoyed, then suspicious. If there really was a win-win solution, given Su Mo's style, he probably wouldn't have waited until now to mention it.
If Madoka didn't have to pay a price, could it be that the price hadn't disappeared, but was simply transferred to Su Mo to pay?
In this world, the people she cared about most were Madoka and Su Mo. She couldn't bear to see either of them hurt.
"Big Brother Su Mo..." Hearing Homura's words, Madoka also looked over with subconscious worry. Given her rose-tinted view of Su Mo, he might very well do something like that.
"Of course not," Su Mo immediately shook his head.
Homura and Madoka's understanding of him was clearly one-sided. While it was true that Su Mo didn't particularly care about so-called "prices" and didn't mind helping those around him, he was not a saint like Madoka who would sacrifice himself to save others.
It was true that a price could only be transferred, not eliminated. But the key was, who said that after the price was transferred to him, it couldn't be transferred to someone else?
Although he hadn't yet reached a state of being untouched by karma, when it came to basic karmic transference, it was almost too easy for Su Mo.
"Madoka's problem is that, compared to a law that governs the multiverse, her own existence is simply too weak. So much so that after ascending, she becomes bound by the Law of Cycles and cannot be perceived by ordinary people."
The God Madoka had transcended the concept of a human and become a cornerstone of the rules of the multiverse.
To change this, one could start from two directions: Madoka herself, or the law that governs the multiverse.
Hearing Su Mo's words, Homura thought for a moment and immediately came up with the first method. "You mean, we can strengthen Madoka's power so that she grows to a point where she won't be diluted?"
"Theoretically, yes," Su Mo nodded. "But in reality, for Madoka to be able to fully bear a multiverse-level cosmic truth, she would need to grow to at least an excellent three-digit Almighty domain. To eliminate all side effects, she would need to grow to a two-digit level, which is equivalent to my level."
In the face of multiverse-level rules, even ordinary three-digit existences would be diluted to the point of invisibility.
Only a special Arch-God level existence like Indra could bear a cosmic truth.
A two-digit being possessed the capacity to bear the rules of a multiverse.
And even for Su Mo, to make Madoka ascend to the All-Authority Domain level in one step was an extremely difficult task. "It's not entirely impossible, but if we use my method, at best I can only bestow a two-digit or three-digit godhood upon Madoka. While that would achieve the goal, it would also change Madoka's essence, which would be counterproductive."
The biggest problem with this quick-fix method was that it couldn't achieve the true objective.
Su Mo's goal was to prevent Madoka's existence from being diluted. Directly bestowing upon her a three-digit or even two-digit power would not achieve this.
At best, it would only cause Madoka's existence to be diluted by another godhood before it could be diluted by the Law of Cycles.
That was worse than doing nothing at all. After all, the Law of Cycles, born from Madoka's own heart, was a much better fit for her than any other power.
"Then what do you mean?" Homura was a little confused. Although she didn't understand what "three-digit" or "two-digit" meant, Su Mo's attitude was clear: strengthening Madoka herself was not a viable option.
So what else could be done? If they couldn't change Madoka, they couldn't possibly change a law that governs the multiverse, could they?
As she thought this, as if he had read her mind, Su Mo spoke. "Compared to remodeling Madoka, remodeling the world is a bit simpler."
This was a truly unexpected answer.
Homura herself was a magical girl, but she only now realized that her Cosmology was still similar to that of an ordinary person.
The world in the eyes of a powerful being like Su Mo seemed completely different from the one in her own.
"Remodel the world? How do we do that?" Madoka asked, confused.
"Do you remember what I mentioned before, about the cornerstone of the rules that govern the multiverse?" Su Mo looked at the pink-haired girl.
"Mhm, I remember," Madoka nodded vigorously. "You said it was called the Law of Cycles, right?"
Su Mo nodded. "Although the Law of Cycles can govern the multiverse, its original intention was only to save magical girls. It didn't consider the balance of the world. From the perspective of a Cosmology that governs the operation of the universe, this multiverse-level rule is still too immature."
If the Cosmology of Little Garden were already at each other's throats, having not only patched themselves up over a long period of operation to achieve logical self-consistency but also matured and developed towards solving the problem of eschatology, with only the final test remaining to become complete... then the concept of the Law of Cycles was like a newborn chick about to break out of its shell.
One was a hundred-meter dash with only the last meter to go, while the other was a hundred-meter dash where the runner had just tied their shoelaces and was about to take the first step.
In terms of the maturity of the rules, any mythological Cosmology could trounce the Law of Cycles in terms of completeness.
The reason the Law of Cycles could govern the multiverse was not because the rule itself was particularly powerful or complex, but purely because of Kyubey's widespread misdeeds and the lack of other competitors.
For others, between changing an individual and changing the world, changing the world was naturally more difficult.
But for Su Mo, who had mastered numerous Cosmologys, rewriting the rules of the world was actually simpler. The rules of the Law of Cycles were far too crude for him.
"...What are you trying to say, Big Brother Su Mo?" Hearing Su Mo's evaluation, Madoka was a little embarrassed.
It couldn't be helped; she was just a little girl about to enter middle school. It was hard enough for her to understand mythology, let alone come up with some overly complex Cosmology.
"If your current existence is bound to be diluted by multiverse-level rules... why not find a controllable rule to be diluted by?" Su Mo stated his idea.
"The dilution of one's existence itself is not scary. As long as you can freely master multiverse-level rules, you can condense your existence at any time."
Just like the Aeons in the world of Honkai: Star Rail. Although they are theoretically bound by the concept of their Path, as long as they have a deep enough understanding of it, they can use various other methods to circumvent the limitations and carry out their own will.
Aha the Aeon of Elation and Akivili the Aeon of Trailblaze could both descend in human form and rewrite the course of the world alongside humans.
There was no reason a multiverse-level God Madoka couldn't do the same.
The problem with Madoka's control over the Law of Cycles stemmed from a problem with the law's very birth. It was the wish of all magical girls, not Madoka's alone.
Su Mo's meaning was simple. Since the Law of Cycles was a bit too difficult for Madoka to control, why not switch to a rule that was easier for her to control?
"Find a reliable rule?" Hearing Su Mo's words, Homura was dumbfounded. Not because she didn't understand, but because his words were too fantastical, too infeasible. "Where are we going to find a multiverse-level rule so easily? And it has to be a power that Madoka can control..."
No matter how you looked at it, that was impossible!