With the plan decided, the operation began immediately.
The two geniuses moved with terrifying efficiency. After Ruan Mei politely declined Screwllum's offer of assistance, everything was ready in no time.
"…Fine. Rare for you to be this proactive," Herta snapped her fingers, and several puppets rushed off to handle the menial setup. "Ruan Mei, I'll hand you the lead this time."
"Understood." Ruan Mei nodded and stepped in front of Wei Qing. "Mr. Yi Qing, please relax your mind. Let your Path slowly unfold—but don't deliberately guide it. Let it flow naturally."
"Flow naturally… like this?" Wei Qing closed his eyes. A faint golden radiance spread from his body—Trailblaze.
"Excellent. Maintain it." Ruan Mei's voice was soft, almost soothing.
Then she turned.
"Herta. Your turn."
"Huh?" Herta blinked. "What do you mean, my turn?"
Why was she involved now?
"This is a complex structure," Ruan Mei explained calmly. "If we have another Emanator helping to ferry the output, the success rate rises significantly."
"Having Miss Acheron do it would also work in theory, but that is Nihility—there's essentially a 100% chance it backfires."
Herta raised an eyebrow, then immediately grasped the intent.
"Alright. Since my compute power is the best in the universe, obviously." She lifted her chin, forcing bravado.
But deep down, a quiet voice kept warning her:
This is dangerous.
And it's the Astral Express's internal matter. Yi Qing, as navigator, has an obligation.
She, Herta, does not.
And yet—she still agreed.
Because it sounded fun.
"Good." Ruan Mei stepped back to a safer distance.
"Starting."
Humm—!
The atmosphere seemed to freeze for an instant.
At Wei Qing and Herta's feet, two intricate arrays flared to life.
"Maintain output, Herta. Mr. Yi Qing." Ruan Mei's voice came again.
"…Interesting." Herta narrowed her eyes. She could feel her Erudition being used with startling efficiency, constructing something… more complicated than she had fully anticipated.
"Ruan Mei, your optimization is decent this time."
Ruan Mei didn't respond. She simply watched, focused.
Off to the side, Screwllum's optical sensors flickered once.
He caught subtle parameter anomalies. The resonance circuits Ruan Mei was building were too refined—refined enough to suggest intent.
But he chose silence.
He knew these two. If they ever "smuggled" anything into an experiment, it was usually private preference, not true malice.
Ruan Mei, in particular, was known for rationality. Screwllum didn't believe she would turn on her long-term partner here.
Half a quarter-hour passed.
Herta began to feel something wrong.
Her brow tightened. She could sense her Erudition output being pulled by an invisible guidance, woven together with Wei Qing's Trailblaze in a rhythm that wasn't hers.
It felt awful—like being forced into someone else's tempo.
"Ruan Mei, is your guidance algorithm flawed?" Herta couldn't help blurting out. "My power is getting tugged—"
"This is normal, Herta." Ruan Mei's tone remained even. "Initial cooperation between two Paths requires time to smooth out."
But if you looked closely, her eyes carried the faintest trace of guilt.
I'm sorry, Herta.
This isn't what I want… but he offered too much.
Afterward, I'll make it up to you.
"Smooth out?" Herta's frown deepened. "This feels like my compute is being siphoned one-sidedly."
She instinctively tried to adjust her output—only to find her Path power caught in a carefully woven net. For a moment, she couldn't freely throttle it.
"Hey, Trailblaze brat—your output is fluctuating!" Herta snapped. "Can you stabilize it?!"
"Sorry," Wei Qing answered innocently. "First time being a human ignition key. I'm inexperienced."
Herta didn't reply.
She felt like she was being led by the nose. The loss of partial control made her skin crawl.
"Ruan Mei—are you sure the model's fine?" she demanded, suspicion now obvious.
"Trust my computation, Herta." Ruan Mei's voice stayed calm. "It's a necessary adjustment for optimal resonance. Your Erudition is the anchor that stabilizes the field."
"Necessary adjustment?" Herta gave a cold laugh. "This sounds more like some kind of—"
Her words cut off.
Time stopped.
The world froze into a still image.
Only Wei Qing could move inside the static.
He walked toward Herta and stopped right in front of her.
Even with her pride, the pointy-hatted lady had clearly sensed something was off—just a little too late.
"Herta," Wei Qing said quietly, "I actually like you."
It was true.
A beautiful, powerful, ice-cool big sister who still had a conscience? That was exactly his type.
But her personality made him want to poke her, every single time.
He reached out, removed her ridiculous pointy hat—
—and tied her hair up into a clean, high ponytail.
Perfect.
Wei Qing's favorite.
But he hadn't gone through this much trouble—handing over a heart to Ruan Mei—for something as simple as ponytail appreciation.
Even as a Pre-Aeon of Abundance, losing a heart wasn't fatal—
But the act of ripping it out? It wasn't pleasant.
So he raised his right hand and pressed it to Herta's forehead.
The Finality mark he'd planted back on the Luofu surfaced.
A faintly luminous imprint, like a seal that had been sleeping.
Herta was brilliant—truly brilliant.
The Astral Express maintenance plan had failed.
Painfully, predictably.
The train was a relic of an Aeon. A miracle artifact. Something no two Emanators could "repair" just by being smart.
Even according to Screwllum's model: the Trailblaze kid, as an Emanator, was indeed the best candidate alive to inherit Trailblaze.
But candidate was still candidate.
He wasn't there yet.
If you asked Herta who was closest to an Aeon right now?
She would hate to admit it, but the answer was Qingzhou.
Even she accepted Screwllum's logic: in a world where Akivili was long dead, Yi Qing had a chance to become the new god.
But Qingzhou did too.
Destruction and Abundance were both troublemakers.
Either could die first.
And Qingzhou might truly ascend.
And there was another reason.
Qingzhou was different from Yi Qing—different from all Emanators.
During the brief Path interaction in their maintenance attempt, Herta gained a clearer picture:
Yi Qing's depth on Trailblaze was… comparable to her own depth on Erudition.
But Qingzhou?
From a single severed arm, Herta had discovered the truth:
On his Paths, he had gone far beyond her.
Hmph. Temporary lead, she told herself.
Give me time and I'll peel every secret off you like bark.
The moment that thought formed, her desire to return to her lab became unbearable.
As for the Astral Express?
Herta's attention span was legendary.
Interest came fast, left fast.
And she truly couldn't help the train.
So the Express group left the Spiral Nexus in a hurry.
They declined further assistance, saying they would search for a quiet starfield to enter dormancy.
Fine.
Herta didn't really care.
She returned to her research—
and somehow, even with Screwllum helping, progress started to stall.
Like the experiment had never begun at all.
Whatever.
She had time. She had patience.
One thing did change:
After the Astral Express left, Herta stopped wearing her beloved pointy hat.
She switched to a clean, sharp high ponytail.
And annoyingly—
it looked perfect.
Of course it did.
Then, one day, Screwllum left briefly for personal business.
Herta finally snapped.
"Ruan Mei," she demanded, "why the hell has our progress been zero for so long?"
In the past, studying Qingzhou's arm brought daily gains. Even bottlenecks never lasted more than two days.
This one had lasted an entire year.
Unreasonable.
"Bottlenecks happen," Ruan Mei replied calmly. "Perhaps our earlier progress was too smooth. Now we've hit the true difficulty."
"Difficulty?" Herta paced. "I'm best at difficulty!"
"But this is different. Something feels… wrong."
Ruan Mei turned. "Which part?"
"All parts!" Herta spun in place. "The data, the models, the inferences—everything looks fine, and yet nothing moves. It's like… like something is blocking us in the dark."
She stopped, stared at Ruan Mei.
"Do you think we triggered a taboo? That some Aeon is messing with me?"
"Memory? Elation?"
"Aeons are hard to predict," Ruan Mei said evenly. "But if an Aeon interfered, we likely wouldn't have been allowed to research at all."
"I think it's more likely our methods entered a blind spot."
"Blind spot?" Herta whirled. "You're saying you and me—and Screwllum—three Genius Society members—all trapped in the same blind spot for an entire year?"
"Low probability," Ruan Mei admitted. "Not impossible."
Herta fell silent.
Ruan Mei said more, but Herta stopped hearing it.
Her pride wouldn't accept it.
After learning the "Pre-Aeon" concept, of course she wanted it.
Who wouldn't?
That was why she'd been obsessed with the arm.
But a year of stagnation?
No.
"I need to clear my head." Herta threw the words over her shoulder and left.
She went to her private rest chamber—away from dead data, away from stalled graphs.
She closed her eyes.
Time passed in silence.
Then—
her breathing caught.
A sense of immense, cold clarity descended.
A mechanical-headed figure appeared and dragged her consciousness into darkness.
"…Nous?" Herta gasped.
She couldn't be wrong.
As an Emanator of Erudition who had once been glanced upon, she recognized it instantly.
Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, looked at her again.
"Ask your question, Herta," Nous said.
Herta inhaled, forcing calm.
Her question?
What else could it be?
The moment she thought of Qingzhou's smug face, her mind became razor-clear.
"Omniscient Nous. I ask you."
"How can I obtain qualification as a Pre-Aeon?"
"…No." Her eyes sharpened with confidence. "When will I become a Pre-Aeon?"
"When will I ascend?"
Nous did not answer.
It only gazed upon her—
and bestowed something heavier than a glance.
"From this moment onward," Nous said, "you are the Pre-Aeon of Erudition."
Then Nous vanished.
But the power remained.
An Erudition so pure it felt like it would melt her brain.
A near-omniscient illusion flooded her.
Herta trembled with shock.
Pre-Aeon.
She—Herta—had stepped onto that tier.
Qingzhou?
He was just a stepping stone now.
And then—
Erudition itself showed her the future carved into Finality.
Far away, in a distant era, a god-war ignited.
Erudition would play chess with Destruction.
Aeons would fall.
Nous and Nanook would die.
And Herta—
and her nemesis, Lord Ravager Qingzhou—
would stand at center stage.
The information torrent hit her like a collapsing star.
"Qingzhou…" Herta whispered, eyes turning sharp.
In the future Nous showed her, his silhouette was unmistakable.
Opposite her.
Of course.
He was destined to be her opponent.
Then—
a wave of Destruction slammed into the Spiral Nexus.
A familiar Destruction, like a black sun dropping into peaceful space.
Alarms screamed. Lights flickered. Instruments overloaded.
Ruan Mei appeared at Herta's door in an instant, her normally calm face now unusually grave.
"Herta!"
But Herta laughed.
She stood slowly, high ponytail swaying.
All her humiliation had fermented into anticipation.
"He's here."
"Perfect. Saves me the trip."
She flashed out of the chamber before Ruan Mei could speak—
and appeared at the outer starfield of the Spiral Nexus.
In the void, she faced Qingzhou.
"Herta," he greeted, voice as annoying as ever, "long time no see. Looks like you finally ditched that ridiculous hat."
Herta did not flinch.
She was not afraid anymore.
She was a Pre-Aeon too.
"Evil Destruction brat," she said coldly, "my nemesis."
"I'll strangle the future Destruction Aeon in the past with my own hands."
Qingzhou tilted his head.
"Herta, you seem more confident now."
"Of course." She lifted her chin. "We're both Pre-Aeons now. Today's match—who wins is not certain."
Then Qingzhou smiled.
And his next words stabbed right through the confidence she'd just built.
"Herta," he said lightly, "did you forget?"
"I'm not only a Pre-Aeon of Destruction."
"I'm also a Pre-Aeon of Abundance."
"Can a single Erudition really beat me?"
Herta froze.
Her mind flashed to Nous's future—Erudition vs Destruction.
But she'd ignored the key fact:
Her opponent was not single-Path.
Destruction and Abundance—two monstrous, opposing Paths—inside one person.
"…Abundance," she whispered.
For a moment, her confidence shook.
Only a moment.
She snapped her eyes open and hissed—
"So what?! Multiple Paths doesn't mean stronger!"
"Quality beats quantity!"
As if responding to her stubborn will—
another vast presence descended.
[Well said, child.]
Herta jerked her head up.
A woman—her features indistinct, yet impossibly beautiful—stood in the void.
Even Herta felt an instant inferiority before that pure radiance.
Idrila. The Aeon of Beauty.
Before Herta could process it, Idrila spoke again, voice like a perfect melody.
"Such a beautiful child. Would you be willing to become the Pre-Aeon of Beauty?"
Herta's brain short-circuited.
She didn't have time to question the absurdity.
She answered without hesitation.
"I'm willing!"
If she accepted Beauty, she would be double-Path too!
Two vs two!
Now she could crush Qingzhou!
"Wait," Qingzhou said.
Herta snapped her gaze to him—
and saw his form shift.
The Qingzhou silhouette vanished—
replaced by the Knight of Beauty, Argenti.
"…?"
Herta didn't even have time to react.
She could feel it—Beauty's blessing, which had just begun to pour into her, was being withdrawn.
Wait—wait—waitwaitwaitwaitwait!!
What is this?!
[Forgive me, child.] Idrila's voice sounded gently apologetic. [He is more beautiful than you.]
Herta: "???"
Idrila's words were cold rain, extinguishing Herta's newborn hope.
Idrila turned to Qingzhou—eyes filled with open admiration.
[So pure. So absolute. You are true Beauty.]
Beauty's Path flowed like a redirected river—cleanly, effortlessly—into Qingzhou.
His presence surged again, climbing to a suffocating height.
No.
Impossible.
Herta stood rigid, like a statue.
She could only watch Beauty pour into him—
and Idrila fade away like foam, leaving behind only one sentence echoing through dead space:
"He is more beautiful than you."
"…More beautiful than me?"
Herta repeated the words, each syllable crushed between her teeth.
Something in her snapped.
"What kind of universe-level joke is—!!!"
Herta jolted awake.
Hair brushed her cheek—cold, real.
She panted, eyes wide, humiliation and shock still clinging like oil.
Ruan Mei, who had been working nearby, sensed the movement and walked to her bedside.
"…Herta. You're finally awake."
"You've been asleep for two months."
Herta didn't hear the apology in Ruan Mei's voice.
Because her thoughts were chaos.
Everything she'd just experienced—
was a dream?
Two months?
Her breath stuttered.
"…No," she whispered.
Then, with the force of a collapsing star, she screamed:
"NO!!!!!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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