["The War of the Gods has begun?"]
[Stelle feels her mind go blank for an instant. The next second, she appears in a world that has already been ravaged by the swarm, full of devastation.]
[The sticky, uncomfortable sensation under her boots is not dirt — it is some half-digested organic sediment, like secretions excreted by the swarm after chewing and swallowing, giving off a nauseating rotting stench.]
[Stelle quickly asks Herta where she is now, but Herta is not beside her at the moment.]
[She waits in place — until a burst of laughter appears.]
[The first golden spark brushes past her ear, carrying the smug giggle of a successful prank. Then the second, the third — they erupt like shaken champagne, exploding into countless joyful motes of light in the air. One mote grazes her cheek, and her heart truly feels a kind of dancing — as though someone is writing jokes directly onto her nerve endings with a feather pen.]
["Akivili!" Aha appears so openly and grandly. "My Akivili! How fun is the die I gave you? I want to ask: how many faces does my die have?"]
["But your die is a ball." Stelle never expected talking to an Aeon could be this easy. This is the first time in the Simulated Universe.]
["Correct answer! I want to use the ball to knock Tayzzyronth unconscious!" Joy like sparks dances around Stelle. Aha laughs loudly and claps, THEIR ball and playing cards embracing each other. "Everything I do is for Tayzzyronth! Aha is always happy to help — helping other gods is my pleasure —"]
[Then THEY turn THEIR gaze onto Stelle.]
["Won't you join in? Fake Akivili? You don't accept my idea? About the Astral Express and Tayzzyronth." THEIR gaze carries a spine-chilling smile.]
[In an instant Stelle feels all her hair stand on end. Fortunately Aha disappears quickly — and together with THEM, the world beneath her feet also vanishes, leaving only darkness before her eyes.]
["You got dragged into it. I'm taking protective measures." Herta's voice.]
[Stelle lets out a long sigh of relief. The blood that had frozen earlier begins to thaw again.]
["In short, the Path of Propagation threatened Trailblaze. In this War of the Gods, Akivili of Trailblaze may have participated."]
——
Akame ga Kill!
"Aha just now… saw Stelle?" Mine feels her breathing stop.
She suddenly remembers the time Sampo turned back on Jarilo-VI — that guy who should have just been a shady merchant, yet it felt like he broke through the screen and spoke to all of them. Thinking back now, every single moment sends chills down her spine.
"Hey… do you guys think, could the truth be something like this?" Leone swallows hard, her voice somewhat dry. "This so-called 'screen' is just another manifestation of Aha's power? We can see the outside world through the screen… and other worlds can also see us through the screen…"
"Our reactions… are exactly Elation Aha's entertainment."
The moment the words leave her mouth, Leone sees Tazmi, Mine, and the others' faces instantly turn as pale as paper.
Lubbock's voice trembles slightly. "You mean… we're like goldfish in a fishbowl? We think we can observe the outside through the transparent glass, but in reality we're just the playthings of the room's owner?"
Leone slowly nods.
"It's indeed not impossible." Najenda slowly exhales a puff of smoke, her tone serious. "But Leone… ask yourself honestly — this screen hasn't brought any harm to us at all. Even if the Aeon Aha takes pleasure in watching us, that in no way affects us putting on a grand performance of 'raising the flag of rebellion against the Empire' for THEM."
"If what you say is true and our world is just a drop in the cosmic ocean, then it also means that everyone sitting here has the opportunity to step onto different Paths and grasp power even more miraculous than Teigu."
"Once our revolution achieves complete victory and we overthrow the Empire, we too shall unify our faith — just like that isolated city of ice and snow, Belobog, believing in one Aeon. That way, perhaps we might even receive a glance from the divine."
Najenda's words are like the first morning light breaking through fog, causing the previously dejected group to raise their heads one after another.
"But we must also understand the history of the cosmos and determine which Aeon is truly worth following." Najenda looks up at the screen. "So this War of the Gods is extremely important for our future choices."
——
Naruto.
"Ohhh…! So this Aeon Aha also plans to help Preservation and Order beat up Propagation?!"
Naruto's eyes suddenly light up. It's clear that this kind of massive group battle spectacle greatly attracts his attention.
"Naruto, 'Aha's credibility' is not a good word in the cosmos. The revelation THEY gave to those Masked Fools might very well be THEM telling the Fools to run away early. In this Aeon war, what THEY do is probably pretty much the same as what the Fools did."
Shikamaru sighs helplessly. "The difference is that one fools different factions of Aeons, while the other directly fools the Aeons themselves."
From his observation of the Masked Fools, these guys usually take a "chaotic neutral" stance in any conflict. They don't try to extinguish the flames of dispute — instead they do everything possible to make the fire burn bigger and bigger, ideally setting the entire universe ablaze.
And then they dance in the roaring flames. Even if the fire burns their own bodies, every single one of them would die laughing.
…A group of incomprehensible lunatics.
However, through this exchange between Stelle and THEM, he unexpectedly feels that both Elation and Trailblaze are gods that can be communicated with and are quite talkative. Although the former views humans — even the entire cosmos — as mere entertainment, at least THEY are within the range of beings one can talk to.
Voracity and Propagation are completely different — THEY act purely on instinct. He can't even judge whether these two Aeons possess intelligence at all.
"From the result, at least Aha counts as adding a major general to Preservation's side." Naruto says.
"What Aha wants has never been the outcome — it's always been the dramatic process."
Shikamaru stares intently at the screen, recalling the so-called "revelation" the Masked Fools mentioned, and finally reaches a conclusion:
"In my opinion, Aha probably won't just pull Trailblaze into the game. THEY will pull more and more Aeons into this divine war. THEY want to let this little spark burn across the entire universe."