Chapter 8: Team Wipe the Astral Express
[Center stage, your once-beautiful suit is rapidly covered by a bizarre substance, a mix of carapace and flesh. Your head is encased in a shell, from which crimson compound eyes emerge.]
["Wh-what is that monster?!" March 7th's voice trembles as she instinctively raises her bow.]
[Welt's expression is grim. "The aura of his Path has completely changed... Wait, could this be... Propagation?!"]
["No, not just Propagation," you say with a twisted smile. "The constraints of Order are too fragile, and Propagation is too ancient. What I seek is a new Order—endless, devouring all, propagating all, unifying all..."]
[You open your arms, and a tide of insects spews forth from your body, instantly covering the entire stage!]
["Come, witness the birth of a new Aeon, and then... become a part of it!"]
[Instantly, the stage floor, the walls, even the air itself, begin to madly grow, twist, and multiply! Countless glowing compound eyes open as unspeakable creatures of slime and carapace emerge like a tide, letting out piercing screeches as they swarm the Astral Express crew!]
["No... there are too many! We can't kill them all!" March 7th shouts while fending off the swarm.]
["Damn it..." Trailblazer swings their bat, but the locust-like creatures seem to feed on the power of Harmony, making them difficult to defeat!]
["SAM!" Firefly's voice rings out as the crimson mech unleashes a torrent of flames, temporarily clearing an area, but more insects pour out from the shadows.]
[Welt tries to use a black hole to control the field, but the number and regeneration speed of the swarm exceed his expectations. His attacks are useless.]
[Boothill's bullets accurately tear through the monsters, but he quickly finds that it's too inefficient against the swarm.]
[Even Acheron seems to be having trouble with the sheer numbers.]
[You float in mid-air, coldly observing the battle. This is Propagation, mixed with Order, and a touch of Harmony... simple, brutal, perfect, and effective. Now, you can see each of their weaknesses, and Propagation and Order provide you with endless means to exploit them.]
[...The battle rages on. The theater has turned into a wildly breeding locust nest.]
[Although the Astral Express crew fights hard, they are gradually overwhelmed by the endless swarm under your precise control.]
[Acheron's figure darts through the monster tide, each slash annihilating swaths of insects, only to be met by more swarming from all directions.]
[Sam's flames have a huge range, but you drive the swarm to wear down her energy with suicide attacks, and she gradually tires.]
["It's over." You look at them, your patience gone.]
[You directly infuse the power of Propagation and Order into the entire Grand Theater!]
[A red-black substance pours out from the walls, ceiling, and floor like a living thing, forming a giant, writhing cage that completely envelops and consumes the resistors! Their struggles are futile against Aeon-level power.]
[Soon, they are all consumed. But because this is a dreamscape, they are not truly dead. No matter. You have already invaded their minds through the dream. Whether it's the Astral Express crew, the Stellaron Hunter Sam, or even the Emanator of Nihility Acheron, none can escape your control.]
[The dream shatters, reality overlaps, and in that instant, you attain the power of an Aeon.]
[In the real world, an endless swarm of locusts has already submitted to your new will of "Unification," combining the traits of Order and Propagation. They are no longer a chaotic tide, but disciplined legions of the undying. They cover the skies and streets of Penacony, surrounding the Astral Express, leaving no escape. Every inch of its metal hull is covered by the dormant swarm. The engine and exits are completely sealed.]
["The first step of Unification is to eliminate redundancies," you announce softly.]
[With a single thought, the swarms, like precisely programmed machines, silently surge forward, engulfing and consuming Welt, March 7th, Boothill, Acheron, and the others who are still sleeping in their hotel rooms. There are no screams, no struggle, only the rapid process of matter being unified.]
[Only the Trailblazer, "Stelle," the one who carries the Stellaron, is left alive. Her eyes are vacant, her mind still firmly under your control.]
[You approach her, your terrifying body, a fusion of Order and Propagation, enveloping her as you traverse space in an instant.]
[You arrive above a long-forgotten, lifeless planet.]
[You look down at the numb "Stelle" without a shred of pity. She is the embodiment of variables, your greatest threat.]
["Become a part of 'Us.' That is your final value."]
[The words fall, and a torrent of Propagation from your own body surges towards her. The swarm covers her, beginning the final assimilation and consumption.]
[However, just as "Stelle's" body is about to completely dissolve, the dormant Stellaron within her, as if detecting the death of its host, suddenly erupts with a massive amount of light and heat!]
[The energy of Destruction erupts in an instant. The singularity of a star's explosion blooms with one final flash of light on this dead planet!]
[BOOM—!!!]
[The terrifying explosion engulfs everything, but even this power cannot shake you, who has already attained the status of an Aeon.]
[At the core of the explosion, you merely frown, and then absorb the rampaging Stellaron energy, along with the last traces of "Stelle's" existence, into the "Unification."]
[Target [Astral Express Members] and related personnel have all been consumed.]
[Villain Points +1000!]
'I won!' Jiang Mo rejoiced. 'Hahaha! A team wipe! So satisfying! That damn Astral Express, that Emanator of Nihility, they're nothing before my Unification! This Propagation thing is awesome! And with Order, it's even more awesome!'
[You turn and look towards Penacony. There, a canary is still waiting for her brother's return.]
["Robin, my dear sister..." A smile that is both gentle and insane appears on your face. "Did you see? Brother has cleared away all the obstacles for you, creating an absolutely safe world for you. Soon, it will be just us, and the endless 'Us'..."]
[From then on, you, a fusion of Order and Propagation, become a new Aeon—"The Unification."]
[The entire cosmos is conquered by you and your new swarm—until the heat death of the universe.]
[Simulation End.]
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