Komon and the slave boy each set out upon different roads. One sought to protect the living beings of Azurewater World and resist the Antimatter Legion's invasion, while the other sought revenge.
Through Herman's perception, the instant the two transformed into giants and began fighting, they had already embarked upon the unique supernatural system of the Honkai: Star Rail universe—the Paths.
The slave boy embarked upon the Path of The Hunt, reflecting his desire to let the flames of vengeance consume the entire pirates' world and slaughter every last interstellar pirate without exception.
Komon, meanwhile, embarked upon a road where the Paths of Preservation and Destruction intersected. This reflected his desire to expel the entire Antimatter Legion and save Azurewater World through that means.
After becoming Pathstriders, the slave boy and Komon both received enhancements to their transformed states.
For example, the juvenile Zagi transformed by the slave boy soon gained a new form. A crossbow of The Hunt grew from his arm, allowing him to lock onto targets and fire Vengeful Divine Light Arrows.
After embarking upon his Paths, Komon also unlocked two new forms after transforming.
Preservation · Battle Armor · Blue Form. In this form, Nexus could withstand the Honkai projectiles of dozens of Doomsday Beasts head-on.
Destruction · Divine Might · Red Form. In this form, Nexus could rely on brute force to strangle Doomsday Beasts and wrench off their heads instead of killing them with beam techniques.
Sensing all of this, Herman could not help sighing inwardly.
Giants of Light. Ultramen... After being born in the Honkai: Star Rail universe, they swiftly adapted to this world's rules. Once a suitable candidate embarked upon a Path, they became capable of transforming into different forms.
Herman then turned his attention toward Noah and Zagi's true body. He quickly noticed that the two giants had also embarked upon Paths unique to the Honkai: Star Rail universe.
Noah had embarked upon the Paths of Enigmata and Preservation. This reflected the conviction of a giant formed from the universe's first ray of positive emotional light, who wished to protect peace throughout the cosmos.
Zagi had embarked upon the Paths of Enigmata and Destruction. This reflected the desire of a giant formed from countless negative emotions, who wished to destroy everything at every waking moment.
What Herman could not understand was why both giants had embarked upon the Path of Enigmata. Could it be because... the two giants were life-forms born from light and emotion within the mysterious region known as the Warp, and aside from Herta, Herman himself, and the lofty Aeons, no one else even knew of their birth?!
Herman pondered for a while but failed to find an answer. His perceptive gaze then settled upon Ultraman King, who had transformed from the Plasma Spark Tower, only to discover the giant staring at the key hanging around Herta's neck.
The next moment, Herman heard Ultraman King speak. "Madam Herta, your key appears quite unique."
"Of course it is. It is a magic wand I created, one capable of opening the Path of Erudition and drawing upon its boundless Path energy." The Herta paused after speaking, then continued, "However, no matter how interested you are, I cannot give it to you. I can give you a Soul Gem instead, however. You may use it to forge a key of your own."
After saying this, The Herta waved her hand and opened a miniature wormhole. She retrieved a Soul Gem from her personal storage space and tossed it to Ultraman King.
"Madam Herta, I understand."
Ultraman King agreed at once. "I will do my utmost to forge a miraculous item suitable for Giants of Light—a wondrous magic wand!"
"Mm," Herta replied calmly.
Herman, who resided within Herta's body, witnessed the entire exchange from the sidelines and could not help reflecting inwardly:
Ultraman King is interested in Herta's Key and even plans to forge a key of his own. Wait... the Ultra Key!
So this is how the Ultra Key comes into existence in the Honkai: Star Rail universe?!
After pondering the matter, Herman began casting Attribute Appraisal in every direction throughout the Warp. He soon identified an unusual development. The Aeons had already turned Their gazes toward the Warp from a higher dimension.
The first was HooH, Aeon of Equilibrium. This Aeon, who had fused with the cosmos and could even be described as the embodiment of the universe's consciousness, fixed Their gaze firmly upon Noah, Zagi, and Herta, who had created both giants.
They were deeply interested in the two giants who were eternally entangled yet mutually restrained, born simultaneously from positive and negative emotions. They believed this to be an exploration of Equilibrium conducted by Herta, creator of the two giants.
Otherwise, she would never have created a giant of light and a giant of darkness at the same time.
At that moment, the faint trace of displeasure HooH had felt toward Herta for disturbing the Warp's field of emotional energy vanished, replaced entirely by admiration:
Herta has created a wondrous pair, one positive and one negative. The essence of Equilibrium lies within them.
Aside from HooH, Aeon of Equilibrium, Qlipoth, Aeon of Preservation, was also looking toward Noah.
In Qlipoth's eyes, Noah was a giant formed from countless positive emotions combined with the light of the Plasma Spark Tower. He had been born with compassion for all living beings.
More importantly, Noah had acted upon that compassion. He shared the power of his light with a suitable candidate from a world on the brink of destruction, allowing that person to wield his power and resist the Antimatter Legion's invasion. Such a being was unquestionably a natural Pathstrider of Preservation.
Once Noah matured, he might someday be able to protect the universe's living beings when terrifying invaders arrived from beyond the cosmos.
Elsewhere, Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, also stared at Noah, Their gaze flickering continuously.
The giant shared his light, chose a suitable candidate from a world nearing destruction, gave that world a new possibility, and enabled the candidate to slaughter Doomsday Beasts. Such killing in the name of salvation is also a form of Destruction.
However, his actions cannot truly save that world.
The tide of Destruction is endless. The doomsday concerto sounded by Celenova will soon engulf both Komon of Azurewater World and Noah's light, bringing them ultimate destruction.
Everything will unfold just as it did on Adlivun... No one can save them. No one can survive. All things shall proceed toward Destruction.
As Nanook contemplated this, They glanced at Noah and then at Zagi before reaching a conclusion: whether it was Noah, Giant of Light, or Zagi, Giant of Darkness, both possessed the potential to become Emanators of Destruction.
Another Aeon was also observing Zagi and Noah—Xipe, Aeon of Harmony.
The Aeon valued Zagi and Noah's act of sharing their power with others. That itself was a form of Harmony.
Moreover, from Xipe's Aeonic perspective, Zagi and Noah could scatter their own light and even combine it into stone statues before casting them into the real world...
Through that method, they could allow others to transform into giants.
...That, without question, was also a form of Harmony.
Aside from HooH of Equilibrium, Qlipoth of Preservation, Nanook of Destruction, and Xipe of Harmony, yet another Aeon had turned Their gaze toward the dimension of the Warp.
That was Mythus, Aeon of Enigmata. As the one who had opened and mastered the Path of Enigmata, They could confirm one thing: a creature such as Noah, Giant of Light, was not as simple as he appeared. He was no mere energy life-form, but an existence far closer to the metaphysical and mysterious...
By nature, he was a being of the mysterious realm. His very existence had already embarked upon the Path of Enigmata.
This made Mythus admire The Herta even more. They even felt that Herta's decision to embark upon the Path of Erudition had been a mistake. Compared to scientific research upon the Path of Erudition, the Path of Enigmata suited Herta far better.
Mythus was certain that had Herta embarked upon the Path of Enigmata from the beginning, she would still have reached extraordinary heights within a very short period.
Just as Mythus entertained that thought, the gaze of Nous, Aeon of Erudition—the computer that had ascended to godhood—not far away settled upon Mythus' mist-shrouded body. That gaze seemed to say:
Herta is a genius of Erudition. She could never embark upon the Path of Enigmata.
"Heh."
Under Nous' gaze, Mythus let out a quiet chuckle. "The Herta dresses like a magical girl and is filled with mystery... Without question, she is a natural expert in mysticism. Sooner or later, she will embark upon the Path of Enigmata."
Bzzzz...
Nous displayed a line of text: [Rather than embarking upon the Path of Enigmata, I believe Herta will deconstruct that Path and thereby seize its power.]
Mythus replied:
"We shall see."
"..."
Nous offered no further response. Instead, They focused Their gaze upon The Herta while Their thoughts revolved ceaselessly.
The Herta has created yet another technology beyond calculation... She is one whose destiny remains uncertain. Perhaps she truly can alter the outcome of the Fourth Instant.
As long as the future changes, Herta will not merge with Irontomb and become the hidden mastermind. Another Emperor's War will not erupt.
After reaching this point in Their calculations, Nous activated an even greater volume of computing power. They wished to calculate what other technologies beyond calculation Herta might develop in the future.
...
Elsewhere, Elio, who had originally been resting among the Stellaron Hunters, suddenly bristled. His feline eyes widened dramatically:
"Hiss!"
The sound gave Silver Wolf, who had been playing a game, such a fright that she nearly jumped. She said, "Elio, why did you suddenly start hissing? You scared me."
The Soul Gem Silver Wolf carried began to flicker, and αWolf's voice emerged from it. "Perhaps the future Elio foresaw has changed yet, yet, yet again."
Kafka, whose glasses rested atop her hair, opened the door and walked into the living room. She sat down on the sofa and spoke in a languid voice. "Elio, tell us. What exactly did you just see?"
"Huff..."
Elio drew a deep breath before saying, "I saw a completely new possibility for the future. In that future, the universe entered one of the Four Apocalypses—the Apocalypse of Harmony."
!!
Everyone present was stunned by those words.
The Four Apocalypses. The Apocalypse of Harmony.
Silver Wolf asked, "What exactly happened?"
αWolf said, "Explain."
Kafka asked, "Did the script lose control in that future?"
Firefly also walked over, concern appearing across her beautiful face. "Did something happen to Stelle in the future, causing the cosmos to approach one of the Four Apocalypses—the Apocalypse of Harmony?"
Stelle, who was holding a stick of candied hawthorn, also turned her gaze toward Elio.
Under everyone's scrutiny, Elio shook his feline head. "Stelle was not the problem. It was Herta. According to my observations, Herta developed an extremely dangerous technology—the Plasma Spark Tower."
"In the future I foresaw, the Plasma Spark Tower created by Herta suddenly lost control while being transported out of the Warp."
"At that moment, every life-form on The Blue underwent a collective energy ascension, becoming pure energy life-forms—Giants of Light and Giants of Darkness."
"That sounds like a good thing," Silver Wolf said. "How could a technology that allows an entire civilization to ascend be dangerous?"
Elio replied gravely, "Of course it is dangerous. Since the Plasma Spark Tower's light can cause The Blue's civilization to ascend, it can naturally make other civilizations ascend as well."
Something stirred in Kafka's mind, and she asked seriously, "Did someone seize control of the Plasma Spark Tower from Herta, carry it to other worlds, and ultimately infect the inhabitants of those worlds with the Giant meme, transforming them into giants? Did they create the Apocalypse of Harmony through that method?"
"Yes. According to my perception, it was Dr. Primitive... In that future, his plan to make all life in the universe regress and then evolve a second time into perfect organisms had failed!" Elio continued, "So he turned his attention toward the Plasma Spark Tower developed by Herta. He stole the tower and carried its light to hundreds of millions of galaxies!"
"...Transforming every living being across hundreds of millions of galaxies into giants."
Everyone present was utterly shocked upon hearing this.
Several seconds later, Kafka was the first to recover. "While Dr. Primitive carried the Plasma Spark Tower's light across hundreds of millions of galaxies, did no faction attempt to stop him?"
Elio replied, "They did, but they were too late. In that possible future... Dr. Primitive mastered a method of freely entering the Warp and used some special means to disrupt the flow of time within it."
"Through that method, Dr. Primitive appeared in multiple superclusters across the cosmos within a single second, spreading the Plasma Spark's light and transforming one civilization after another into identical worlds of giants."
"Ultimately, only giants remained throughout the universe. The sole distinction was that some were Giants of Light, while the others were Giants of Darkness."
"The universe thus lost all its diversity. Moreover... because the giants had not originally belonged to the same species, and because they all understood that Giants of Light upheld justice and fought for righteousness while Giants of Darkness harbored evil within their hearts..."
"The war between light and darkness began, dragging the entire universe into its flames."
"Countless giants capable of firing lasers and destroying planets shattered the universe's entire environment."
"The cosmos collapsed amid the war. More importantly, only a single race—giants—remained in the universe. This directly caused Xipe's true body to be affected and transformed into a giant as well!"
"As for those who died during the war between light and darkness, they became pieces of Xipe's puzzle, continuously strengthening Harmony."
"However, even after the giants who died in the war between light and darkness became pieces within Harmony, they still regarded one another as mortal enemies. Under those circumstances, the more giant souls Xipe absorbed, the more violent the internal conflict became. Eventually, the Aeon of Harmony lost control and unleashed an overwhelmingly powerful absorption force, devouring every living being in the universe as pieces of Their puzzle."
"Harmony unified everything and became the universe's sole giant. Yet because the souls of the countless species unified within Them remained irreconcilable, the internal conflict only intensified."
"Ultimately, even Xipe's true body could no longer maintain the appearance of a Giant of Light. They transformed into a monster, and even Their reason was corrupted. Thus, the horn of Finality sounded..."