Gintama.
Kagura stares at the endless stream of bugs appearing on the screen, tilting her head and asking, "Gin-chan, I still don't get what Lady Herta said. Is Propagation just endlessly spawning bugs?"
"Hmm…" Gintoki lies sprawled on the sofa, lazily picking his nose. "Let me give you an example. Suppose I'm the Aeon of Milk, walking the Path of Milk. Then my authority would be controlling all the milk in the universe—no matter if it's strawberry milk or expired milk, everything has to obey me."
Shinpachi pushes up his glasses and can't help but interject, "What kind of messed-up analogy is that?! And why milk of all things?! You just want to drink milk right now, don't you? Who could possibly understand a metaphor like that?!"
"Don't interrupt me!" Gintoki continues, "Anyway! Under my authority, it wouldn't just be cows producing milk. Every living thing in the world—including Sadaharu and humans—could squeeze out milk."
"Not only that, I could even twist the concept of 'milk.' Anything squeezed out by hand—whether it's toothpaste or shampoo or whatever… would ultimately turn into milk."
"—Oooohhh!" Kagura's eyes practically sparkle with stars. "That Aeon sounds super—super amazing, aru! So if I were the 'Vinegar Kelp Aeon,' could I turn all the snacks in the world into vinegar kelp?"
Gintoki nods. "Of course. If you wanted, the shogunate guys' morning miso soup would all have vinegar kelp floating in it."
That's the Path alright…
So narrow it'd probably get swallowed by other Aeons in a single second…
——
["Let's keep going. Let's hear what Tayzzyronth had to say." Herta eagerly changes Stelle's position once again.]
[Beneath Ena, empires roar; the faithful erupt in harmonious chorus. THEY seem to float yet possess a weighty form; THEIR countenance radiates the brilliance of sacred hymns. Every word THEY utter carries vertically arranged syllables, tinged with shades either dim or resplendent.]
[THEY descend, amicably cradling the vast and dispersed head of the Amber Lord in THEIR embrace; THEY draw closer… and finally Stelle hears THEIR voice clearly. It is the unified roar of imperial weapons sounding in unison, scattering like rays of light beneath THEM—]
["Thou hast finally heeded mine invitation… Qlipoth; the disruptors possess no law nor solitary caution, their deeds shall not be spared."]
["O Will that governs transmutation—Amber Lord, thou wert to bear a weight unfit for thee."]
——
Attack on Titan.
Armin holds his breath, gazing up at the majestic figure on the screen.
He had never imagined that absolute order could be so beautifully terrifying. Within that solemn and divine brilliance, THEY seem to proclaim the ultimate answer to cosmic civilization, and the resonance of myriad harmonies draws him in irresistibly…
"—Armin!"
Eren's voice snaps him out of it just in time. Armin realizes he's been lost in thought for a long while.
"No matter how long you stare at THEM, Order isn't going to respond to you." Eren shrugs. "Looks like even an Aeon's power has its limits. Otherwise, THEY wouldn't have sought cooperation with Preservation."
"So what do you think, Mikasa? Will the Amber Lord accept Ena's invitation?" Armin turns to the girl beside Eren, who's clutching her scarf.
"…Probably not." Mikasa shakes her head. She glances cautiously at Eren beside her and says softly, "The Amber Lord's mission is to build walls. Only by building walls can one practice the Preservation of the Path, right?"
"But ignoring a crisis like this and just building walls—what's the difference between the lives and livestock inside those walls?" Eren stares at the distant fallen Wall Maria, gritting his teeth. "What meaning does that kind of Preservation have? It's just lingering on borrowed time…"
"So you're saying the Amber Lord will accept?"
"Yeah." Eren nods firmly. "To me, the true meaning of Preservation is to kill every single enemy outside the walls without leaving one behind—whether it's Voracity or Propagation. Only by completely eradicating all enemies can Preservation truly be realized."
——
[Scorching sun pours down like molten iron slurry, baking Stelle's back until it burns. She blinks her parched eyes; her rough fingers are caked with grayish-white mud, burst blisters on her palms mixing with grit, sticking messily to her skin.]
["Herta, what am I doing now…"]
["The close-up admiration of Order has ended. If you want to learn more about THEM, remember to come back for more tests~" Herta says in her ear. "This time you're playing as Akivili the Trailblaze. Looks like you're currently among Preservation's faction, the Builders."]
["Akivili was a Builder too?"]
["Stelle, once you're out of Simulated Universe, I really need to have Himeko give you a proper crash course." Herta says irritably. "Akivili is the Aeon closest to humanity. THEY once adventured, fought, and lived alongside mortals."]
["Alright." Stelle lifts her head and looks around blankly—towering walls stretch to the edge of vision, countless ragged-clothed Builders clinging to them like ants. She herself is sitting beside an unfinished wall foundation, with a middle-aged man lying nearby.]
[The man is skinny as sun-dried firewood, a straw hat covering his face, chest rising and falling slowly—he's clearly sound asleep. His hands and feet are covered in calluses, fingernails packed with wall dust, yet a strangely contented smile hangs on his lips.]
[This guy's slacking off—Stelle promptly kicks him awake and asks why he's building walls here.]
["How should I know? Those Builders said they received some revelation from the Amber Lord's hammer strikes, and now they're urgently constructing walls across a bunch of star systems."]
["What revelation?" Stelle presses.]
[The man looks utterly clueless. He lazily pulls the straw hat back over his face. "No idea. Don't know. I'll start working once the Builders tell me what the revelation is someday."]
["Looks like Order really did strike some kind of deal with Preservation." Herta says, puzzled. "…I'm really curious how the Builders received the Aeon's revelation. Getting such precise information just from hammer strikes, preemptively building towering walls to resist external enemies. Qlipoth usually doesn't pay much attention to mortals; overlooking all beings like that seems more like Order's Ena's style."]
["But it's normal for these two Aeons to have some rapport. After all, Preservation and Order do have overlapping domains. Honestly, I quite admire Ena. THEY radiate the brilliance of ancient empires, like solemn marble—which has some similarity to Qlipoth. Both carry the shadow of guardian deities, just in different forms."]