Within the spacetime of Finality, The Herta, Aeon of Spirituality, and Terminus, Aeon of Finality, concluded Their conversationa and each turned Their gaze toward the past.
In fact, during the time They had spent conversing, the power of the Aeon of Spirituality, the Sovereign of Spirituality, the God of Souls... Spirituality had already followed the currents of spacetime and reached an anchor point in the present.
That anchor point was none other than the location of The Herta's true self in the present. At that instant, The Herta sensed something, raised her head toward the sky, and discovered an endless river appearing within the Warp.
What flowed within that river was not ordinary water, but time itself.
More importantly, something was currently traveling against the current through the river of time. It was a Soul Gem?!!
This discovery left The Herta somewhat dumbfounded. She could not understand why the river of time had suddenly appeared, much less why a Soul Gem would exist within it.
Could some magical girl from the future have accumulated an absurd amount of causality and crossed spacetime to reach this era, intending to alter history this way?!
The Herta fell into deep thought, then waved the magic wand in her hand. In an instant, the Soul Gem within the river fell into her palm.
The Herta lightly rubbed the surface of this peculiar Soul Gem with her fingertip and discovered an astonishing fact.
The appearance of this Soul Gem was identical to the one she herself carried. More importantly, her intuition told her that the consciousness within it felt extremely familiar, almost as though it were another version of herself.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
There is only one The Herta in this world!
Could the Mirror Holders have used some power from the Path of Beauty to orchestrate a conspiracy?!
With that thought, The Herta prepared to throw the Soul Gem in her hand away.
Yet at that very moment, the Soul Gem resting in her palm suddenly erupted with light and shattered.
In that instant, The Herta heard an extremely familiar voice—her own.
"Don't be suspicious. I'm not some conspiratorial creation manipulated by the Mirror Holders, nor am I a false life-form extracted from concepts of history by the History Fictionologists... I am you, Herta!"
"Of course, I'm not Herta of this era. I come from another era, from the spacetime of Finality."
"With your intelligence, you're probably still questioning my identity. But what I'm about to say will prove that I really am you!"
"Listen to my voice. Only the two of us can hear what I'm about to say. Herman is your..."
Every word spoken by Spirituality entered the genius Herta's ears, leaving her completely stunned.
The one who traveled here along the river of time actually knows about Herman. She even knows that Herman has helped me so much.
In other words, she really is my future self...
The genius The Herta's heart trembled violently. Eventually, she drew a deep breath and asked her future self, "What exactly happened in the future that forced even you to use a Soul Gem to travel against the current, altering the history of this era in the same manner as Terminus?"
"You aren't an Aeon who has created a Path and stands at the pinnacle of the universe. If the backlash of time falls upon you, you'll die!"
"Who said I'm not an Aeon?" The voice of the Aeon of Spirituality was filled with amusement. "In the future, I became an Aeon and created the Path of Spirituality... As for the process of creating that Path, I manufactured the Hogyoku and used it to break through the soul's limits without end."
"Spirituality, Aeon of Spirituality." The genius The Herta froze for a moment before realization appeared across her face.
"I see. By allowing the soul to break through its limits infinitely until its infinite spiritual mass occupies the universe's concept of the soul, one can also become an Aeon."
"Of course, it took me countless Amber Eras to accomplish that," the Aeon of Spirituality added. "It's simply that once one proves oneself as an Aeon, that proof becomes eternal. Since I created the Path of Spirituality in the future, within the spacetime of Finality, I also became the Aeon of Spirituality."
"And now, using you as my anchor, I've reached the present point in time... Before long, everyone on this timeline will know that another Aeon has created a new Path."
"—The Path known as Spirituality!"
"Oh, right. If you want, I can bless you and make you an Emanator of Spirituality."
"Then bless me. Do we need to perform something similar to the Rainbow Ordainment used when Lan, Aeon of The Hunt, blesses the Arbiter-Generals?"
"There's no need for anything that troublesome. In fact... the Soul Gem that just shattered already contained my blessing." The Aeon of Spirituality laughed. "All right. You're now an Emanator of Spirituality. I'm also giving you a special item—the enhanced Hogyoku."
"Use it well. It will allow you to surpass the speed at which I progressed back then, rapidly complete your spiritual breakthroughs, and become Spirituality, Aeon of Spirituality, thereby completing the spacetime causality between us."
As her voice faded, a special object materialized from the void. It was a gift from the future—the Hogyoku. It contained an extraordinarily concentrated blessing from the Aeon of Spirituality, capable of shortening the time required for The Herta's spiritual breakthroughs without limit.
The Herta raised her hand and caught the Hogyoku. She immediately sensed a stream of energy continuously flowing through it and merging into her soul, causing her soul's spirituality to rapidly increase and evolve.
It was a form of passive leveling.
The sensation was extraordinarily strange, but it also made The Herta realize that from now on, she truly had someone powerful backing her.
Her backer was her future self!—Aeon of Spirituality!
Even the Droidhead and Nanook of Destruction were merely Aeons. There was no difference in rank between Them and her future self.
In other words, she could be even bolder with her research.
As The Herta thought this far, a trace of delight appeared across her breathtakingly beautiful face.
Seeing the joyful expression on her past self's face, the Aeon of Spirituality could not help saying, "There's one more very important matter I forgot to mention. The future is extremely dangerous... More precisely, the entire universe is irreversibly collapsing toward Finality. Multiple Aeons have attempted to stop it, but none have succeeded."
The smile vanished from The Herta's face. "Including you?"
"Yes, including me," the Aeon of Spirituality said seriously. "The power of the Aeon of Spirituality alone is not enough. We need more—far more power—to accomplish the feat of mending the heavens and saving the universe from Finality!"
"I spoke with Terminus within the spacetime of Finality. They told me that you and Stelle are the only two possibilities capable of saving the universe."
"So, The Herta, conduct your research even more boldly. If you encounter difficulties or crises, use the power I've left behind for you."
"All right, HooH, Aeon of Equilibrium, has noticed me... I have to leave now, or They'll come looking for trouble. Do your best, my other self!"
The Aeon of Spirituality departed.
Yet the turmoil within The Herta's heart continued.
I'm one of only two possibilities capable of saving the entire universe!
My future self, Spirituality, seems to have left me a trump card—one capable of opposing an Aeon.
In other words, I really can be even bolder with my research from now on and continue strengthening myself!!
After all, my future self said that being merely the Aeon of Spirituality isn't enough. We need more, far more power before we can resist the overwhelming trend dragging the universe toward Finality!!
The Herta clenched her fist as she thought this.
...
Meanwhile, at the very instant the Soul Gem within the river of time was taken away by The Herta and shattered in true spacetime, the aura belonging to the Aeon of Spirituality spread throughout the Warp.
Eventually, it pierced through the Warp and reached the true universe, instantly radiating across trillions of galaxies.
The Blue's star system, Jarilo, Planarcadia, the Xianzhou Alliance, the six Xiandan vessels, Amphoreus, Pier Point... At that moment, the beings of trillions of galaxies all came to understand a single fact.
Another Path had been created within the cosmos. The newly created Path was known as the Path of Spirituality.
And the one who had become an Aeon was the God of Spirituality, the God of Souls, the origin of the spirituality of all things.
At once, the entire cosmos shook. Countless factions, including several Aeons of the present era, were all stunned by the news of the Aeon of Spirituality's ascension.
The Interastral Peace Corporation in particular immediately activated its emergency protocols and began searching for major events across the cosmos, attempting to uncover clues surrounding the ascension of the Aeon of Spirituality.
After all, in the past, both Lan of The Hunt and Nanook of Destruction had caused enormous disturbances at the moment of Their ascensions.
At the moment Lan of The Hunt became an Aeon, the generals of the Xianzhou Alliance became Emanators on the spot, while Lan Themself immediately began relentlessly hunting Yaoshi.
When Nanook, the youngest Aeon, ascended, They set Their homeland, Adlivun, ablaze with a single fire, utterly destroying it. The flames consuming Adlivun were visible throughout the entire cosmos.
—So what exactly had this newly ascended Aeon of Spirituality done to create the Path of Spirituality and accomplish the feat of ascension?!