Inside the Xianzhou Alliance's online conference room, after the Arbiter-Generals received confirmation from the Marshal that Herta truly might be able to create new Emanators for the Alliance, they unanimously made a decision.
Of the Xianzhou Alliance's six great Xianzhou worldships, all except the Fanghu, which still needed time to recuperate, would travel to The Blue star system!
After all, new Emanator-level combat power was extremely important to the Xianzhou Alliance. If the Xianzhou could gain another one or two Emanators, the Alliance might have a chance to completely eradicate its mortal enemies, such as the Wingweavers and the Borisin.
Thus, after the online meeting concluded, the six great Xianzhou worldships scattered throughout the cosmos began assembling, entering the star rail and performing interstellar jumps.
Their destination was The Blue star system, where they would visit the genius Herta and formally invite her, in person, to join the Xianzhou Alliance.
As the Xianzhou Alliance began its operation, the various galactic factions also learned through their respective intelligence networks that Herta had successfully completed the cosmic megastructure known as the Herta Xianzhou.
Dominicus, the Harmonious Choir and an embodiment of Harmony, had already departed The Blue star system and was currently singing upon a certain stage. At that moment, through the power of the Path of Harmony, he sensed what was happening in The Blue star system, and a thought stirred within him:
Herta has completed another round of research and created an entirely new Xianzhou!
Her research success rate remains one hundred percent. It is as though failure simply does not exist for her.
Such wisdom is extraordinary... If she could join The Family and embrace Harmony, perhaps she could cure Harmony's cancer and restore the Stellaron that distorts countless worlds to normal... allowing it to fulfill people's true wishes instead of granting wishes twisted by malignancy.
Dominicus wanted to extend an invitation, but he was stopped by the will of his greater self, Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony.
"Too many gods throughout the universe have their eyes on her. She is one upon whom the stars have fixed their attention. A forceful invitation would inevitably provoke direct retaliation from other Aeons."
"However, we can have those beneath us actively show goodwill toward Herta... allowing her to recognize the beauty of Harmony and tempting her to join The Family."
Dominicus' heart trembled. He had now fully realized just how extraordinary Herta was.
Meanwhile, the senior executives of the Interastral Peace Corporation also learned that the Xianzhou had been completed. More importantly, the company's informants had detected unusual movements among the Xianzhou Alliance's worldships. All of them were gathering toward The Blue star system, seemingly intending to formally invite Herta, the creator of a Xianzhou, to join the Alliance.
"As expected of her. She completed the Xianzhou in barely a dozen days."
"Indeed, our decision to deepen our cooperation with Herta was correct... Even the Xianzhou Alliance now wants to bind itself to her."
"Perhaps we should also find a way to strengthen our cooperation with Herta."
"While we are at it, we should ask whether Herta is willing to sell some of the Herta Xianzhou's technology so the company can upgrade its spacecraft."
The Corporation's seven-member Board of Directors discussed the matter animatedly.
Elsewhere, the History Fictionologists had spent the past dozen days using the power of their Path to alter their appearances and identities before infiltrating The Blue star system once again.
They personally witnessed the Xianzhou's completion and began discussing it with great enthusiasm.
The Fabricator of Histories spoke first. "That Herta Xianzhou is definitely not simple."
"I agree," another Fictionologist said. "The Path of Enigmata I command has already informed me that an enormous secret lies within that newly completed Xianzhou."
"I have an idea. Madam Ruan Mei's mount, the Ruanruan, possesses transformation abilities. It can transform into a gas-giant combat form and unleash endless storms."
"Could Madam Herta's Herta also possess the ability to transform and assume a combat form?"
"The Herta is larger than a star. I feel that transforming something of that size would be difficult."
"So what if it is difficult? We are Fictionologists. We only need to fabricate it."
"Aren't you afraid Madam Herta will hunt you down?"
"Even if our identities are exposed, we can simply use the Path of Enigmata to create new ones!"
"The Fabricator writes, and the grand serial continues!"
The History Fictionologists began fabricating history and inventing stories about the newborn Herta.
For example, they claimed that the Herta had been jointly developed by Herta and Screwllum for the purpose of strengthening Intellitron civilization, and that under the craftsmanship of the two geniuses, the Herta had already acquired a will of its own.
They further claimed that the consciousness of the Herta Xianzhou had infused itself into one of Herta's puppets and was now walking among mortals.
...
Meanwhile, at the Stellaron Hunters' headquarters, Destiny's Slave, the black cat named Elio, saw a new future that day. Within that possible future:
The universe still moved inexorably toward total destruction and Finality, yet someone had managed to change certain parts of it.
That person was Herta. In that possible future, Herta joined the Xianzhou Alliance and created Wisdom Cubes, fusing them with the Alliance's six great Xianzhou worldships.
Before long, six Galactic Shipgirls named the Luofu, Zhuming, Yuque, Yaoqing... and others stepped onto the galactic stage. Together with the Herta, there were seven Galactic Shipgirls in total.
More importantly, in that possible world, all seven Galactic Shipgirls possessed Emanator-level combat power.
This meant that in that possible world, besides the seven Arbiter-Generals blessed by Lan the Hunt, there were also seven Galactic Shipgirls blessed by Herta. Both groups possessed Emanator-level power.
Thus, the Xianzhou Alliance had fourteen Emanators. Of course, if one included Herta, the phantom fifteenth member, the Alliance's number of Emanators would be even greater.
More importantly, in the possible world Elio witnessed, Herta reached a terrifying level of strength through the ever-expanding Warp.
Ordinary Emanators could not withstand even a single move from Herta. She had reached the level of the strongest being beneath the Aeons. The so-called Silver Wolf LV.999 was simply no match for the Herta of that possible world.
It could be said that in that possible world, Herta's achievements had already approached those of an Aeon. ...She bestowed blessings upon the seven Xianzhou, created seven Galactic Shipgirls, and produced seven Emanator-level combatants!
She herself became the Lord of the Warp, possessing heaven-shaking, earth-shattering strength. She could contend against Leviathans and even clash with the remains of the Voracity, an entity that was both a Leviathan and an Aeon.
Every action she took erased billions upon billions of stars into nothingness, and every clash of her power sent entire galaxies trembling on the brink of oblivion.
After witnessing this newly born possibility, Elio blinked, raised his head to gaze at the stars, and thought silently:
Herta has already completed another achievement by creating the Herta Xianzhou. She is advancing along the path of scientific research at an astonishing pace.
As she continues to progress, she has developed machine spirits and shipgirls, further perfecting the Paths of Erudition and Abundance.
As Elio thought this, he sensed something and became aware of a gaze from his past.
His past was the future of nearly everyone else in the cosmos. It was the gaze of Terminus, the Aeon of Finality, from a future timeline.
The Aeon of Finality sat within a despairing cosmos where the stars had already gone dark, Nihility was about to devour everything, and all existence was nearing the end of its burning. Gazing at Elio, Terminus smiled and slowly spoke:
"Within this origin possibility, Herta created seven Emanators, just as Lan the Hunt blessed the seven Arbiter-Generals and Nanook the Destruction bestowed seven blessings to create the seven Lord Ravagers. This is truly excellent!"
"As expected, I was not mistaken. Like Akivili, Herta possesses the possibility of changing the cosmos' predetermined Finality!"
"From now on, Elio, you must pay close attention to Herta. Should anything happen to her, I permit you to wield the power of Finality from the past, or rather, the future, beyond the bounds of the script! Reverse everything and grant Herta another chance!"
Elio nodded vigorously, then asked Terminus whether it would be necessary to give a Stellaron to Herta for research. He also wondered whether, if Herta were the researcher, she might be able to alter the cancer of Harmony, the Stellaron, and prevent it from distorting wishes...
"Even Aeons cannot accomplish such a thing. Herta most likely cannot do it at present, but if she is given enough time to continue progressing, perhaps she truly might..."
As Terminus spoke, a knock sounded at the door, followed by Stelle's voice:
"Elio, it's time to eat."
Upon hearing this, Terminus said nothing more. He merely gave Elio a look that seemed to say that it was not yet time to meet the Akivili who had yet to embark on her journey, and that he had to leave.
The next moment, Terminus' figure vanished together with the burning cosmos and the despairing cosmic river of stars.
Click.
Stelle opened the door, a puzzled expression appearing on her innocent face. "Just now, I thought I heard you talking to someone."
"You must have imagined it. I was merely muttering to myself," Elio explained earnestly. "In fact, not long ago, I witnessed a new future."
"A new future? In that future, did I surpass the limit of Silver Wolf LV.999?" Silver Wolf followed Stelle into the room, set down the game console in her hands, and looked at Elio expectantly.
Elio shook his head. "Unfortunately, no... In the new possible future I witnessed, the person who truly broke through her limits was Herta."
"She became an Aeon?" Silver Wolf's pupils contracted, and she hurriedly asked, "What Path did she create in the future?"
"No. She did not become an Aeon, nor did she open a new Path. However, she participated in the war among the Aeons and successfully survived that brutal conflict, living until the end of the universe and the birth of Terminus..."
Elio paused, then continued, "Of course, what I truly mean to say is that in that possible future, Herta created seven Emanators through her own power."
She survived the war among the Aeons and created seven Emanators by herself?
Herta must be cheating, right?!
With that thought, Silver Wolf hurriedly pulled out the Soul Gem housing the will of αWolf and seriously asked whether the world αWolf had lived in had survived the war among the Aeons, and whether anyone there had ever artificially created an Emanator.
"..."
αWolf remained silent for a long while before replying speechlessly, "Had I survived the war among the Aeons, I would not be trapped inside this Soul Gem. In truth, not long into the future, Oroboros the Voracity, the ancient beast of Gluttony, will fully revive and devour the moon of Biphasic, along with Aha himself."
"At that moment, the Holy Furboly, the Aeon of Madness, will open a Path known as Madness and immediately merge it into the universe."
"From that day onward, the universe will descend completely into chaos and war. One could say that the instant the Path of Madness is born, the universe will begin moving irreversibly toward Finality!"
"Once the Path of Madness merges into the universe, HooH the Equilibrium will also suffer a catastrophic problem. They will no longer be able to preserve the universe's balance. The concept of madness will become part of the universe's foundational logic, and the contaminating meme of madness will spread throughout the cosmos."
"After the Aeon of Madness merges with the universe, every Pathstrider born thereafter will become infected by the madness meme and descend completely into insanity."
"At that time, the flames of war will engulf the entire cosmos. Every faction will attack the others. Even the Corporation, which claims to preserve universal order, will be no exception... It will enter a massive war over grudges accumulated throughout ordinary times!"
"Even The Family, once the most harmonious faction of all, will become infected by madness and suffer countless deaths in a civil war."
"At that point, cooperation and unity will become impossible, severely wounding Xipe the Harmony. Immediately afterward, Zephyro, Lord Ravager of Destruction, will act. Joining forces with Nanook, she will unleash a destructive harmony from within, causing Xipe the Harmony to fall and die!"
"With Xipe's death, the very concept of unity will disappear from the universe. Everyone will fall into overwhelming loneliness, causing Tayzzyronth the Propagation to revive and the Swarm Disaster to return!"
"And this Swarm Disaster will be even more violent than the last... Every newly born insect will be influenced by the foundational logic of madness within the universe and begin slaughtering without restraint."
"Once a divine war begins, it cannot be ended within a short time. Moreover, because of the influence of the Path of Madness, which has merged with the universe's foundational laws, even the Aeons will be affected. Lan the Hunt will go from hunting only Abundance to killing everything. Light arrows will be fired continuously, shattering the entire cosmos."
"In a war like that, even Emanators will be as powerless as ordinary people, unable to accomplish anything."
"In the very end, I died... As I turned to ash, I saw the shadow of Finality. Then Elio pulled me to Punklorde so that I could meet you!"
Silver Wolf froze slightly upon hearing this:
Was the future αWolf came from truly that hopeless?
Even Aha fell... and an Aeon of Madness appeared. That Aeon was also extraordinarily cunning, immediately choosing to merge with the universe's foundational logic like HooH before any of the other Aeons could react, causing a conflict with HooH.
The concept of balance represented by HooH was severely damaged, and the universe lost its equilibrium.
Madness gained the upper hand!
On top of that, Aha the Elation and Xipe the Harmony both died within a short period. That left the universe with nothing but negative emotions, while living beings became incapable of uniting.
Under such circumstances, the war would naturally grow increasingly vast and violent until everything reached its end and Finality.
Such a future was truly incomparably hopeless.
As Silver Wolf's thoughts reached this point, she heard Elio's voice. "As long as we follow my script, the cosmos will not reach the despairing future experienced by αWolf!"
"That's right. The script is in our hands, and the future can be changed." Stelle nodded in agreement. "Besides, Elio just said that Herta is continuously changing the future. With her and us Stellaron Hunters working together, we will definitely guide the universe toward a perfect future."
Silver Wolf nodded, then shook her head vigorously, casting away all the negative emotions within her. She then seriously asked αWolf whether she could create seven Emanators like Herta.
αWolf rejected the idea. "No. The Invincible Player cartridge merely represents the pinnacle of Emanators. At most, it can function like Diamond, head of the Corporation's Strategic Investment Department, splitting off cartridges to empower others."
"Of course, those cartridges would not possess power equal to level 999... Their strength would probably only reach the level of the Corporation's Ten Stonehearts."
"In fact, to my knowledge, no one in the cosmos has ever managed to bestow blessings upon seven people and create seven Emanators before becoming an Aeon."
After saying this, αWolf seriously asked Elio whether the claims about Herta were true.
"They are naturally true. In fact, Herta has already created the prototype of her first Emanator. It is a shipgirl known as the Herta. She resembles a Herta Puppet in appearance, but her actual output is terrifyingly immense. Destroying an entire star system is something she can easily accomplish."
αWolf fell silent. She had never imagined Herta would grow so quickly. She had only completed her self-coronation and become an Emanator of Erudition last month, yet one month later, she was already capable of independently creating an Emanator-level combatant.
Such technology was far too outrageous!
The Herta of this world was so brilliant that it was simply unreasonable!
At that moment, αWolf even began to wonder whether Zandar One Kuwabara, the first member of the Genius Society and the genius who created the celestial computer Nous, was truly as intelligent as Herta.
While αWolf was still marveling, she heard Silver Wolf ask quietly, "With your power alone, could you fight seven Emanators?"
"No... The Invincible Player at the pinnacle of an Emanator is not an Aeon. How could I possibly fight seven Emanators alone?" αWolf paused before continuing:
"I suspect that the only human capable of fighting seven Emanators alone would be the future Herta Elio described. After all, according to Elio, that future Herta survived the war among the Aeons and lived until Finality arrived. She only truly died after the cosmos burned and the laws of the world collapsed."
"..."
Silver Wolf fell silent. At that moment, she realized that Herta had not only surpassed her in the present, but would continue surpassing her in the future.
Everything was exactly as Herta had said when Silver Wolf first met her. Herta had no limits. ...She was forever advancing.
Silver Wolf, however, was different. Even now, she was still playing games. No, this would not do. She had to keep working hard... After all, she was a cheating player who carried αWolf's consciousness with her.
By all logic, her rate of progress should have been faster than Herta's.
Huff.
Silver Wolf exhaled deeply and said to αWolf, "Let's continue playing. I need to defeat you... and inherit all your power as the Invincible Player."
"All right."
αWolf agreed immediately.
The two of them were just about to start playing.
At that moment, Blade approached while wearing a kitchen apron and carrying a pot. "Eat first. The food is ready. It will get cold if you don't eat."
Silver Wolf refused. "No. Herta is working so hard, overcoming one difficulty after another and continuously improving in such a short time... I, Silver Wolf, must keep improving too!!"
A trace of confusion flashed through Blade's eyes, and Kafka's voice followed. "Silver Wolf, what happened to provoke you so badly that you won't even eat?"
"Yeah. What happened?" Firefly also asked.
The next moment, Silver Wolf told them that Herta had already created an Emanator and would bless and create another six Emanators in the future.
This time, both Blade and Kafka were stunned:
Herta herself was only at the level of an Emanator and had not become an Aeon... yet she could create Emanators and would even create seven of them in succession in the future. Was she still human?!
Or was Silver Wolf truly speaking nonsense?
Kafka and Blade looked toward the most reliable figure in the room, the black cat Elio, only to see him nod.
Elio nodded!
He actually nodded!!
That meant everything Silver Wolf had said was true!!
Kafka and Blade exchanged glances, each seeing the tremor in the other's pupils.
...
In The Blue star system, Herman spoke at length with Screwllum and Ruan Mei, learning that Screwllum had also made progress during the dozen days he had spent conducting closed-door research there.
After studying the Super Herta Celestial Computer, Screwllum had successfully derived a method for upgrading the algorithms of the Screwllum Celestial Computer.
Screwllum was certain that once he returned to Planet Screwllum, he would be able to give the planetary computer a substantial upgrade.
At the same time, Screwllum could not help lamenting.
Back then, I was the one who gave Herta the blueprints the Planet Screwllum's Celestial Differentiator so she could observe and learn from them... Yet now everything has been reversed. I am the one learning from the celestial computer Herta created. This is simply absurd.