Listening to 'Robin's' helpless tone, Ruan Mei let a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.
"As you wish, then."
"Mm-hm. If you want to study Propagation later, you can just contact me directly."
'Robin' nodded in response, all while controlling the Irontomb giant behind her to deliver the final blow to this newborn Emanator of Propagation.
And it was at that exact moment.
Hum—
The gaze of an Aeon descended.
'Robin' felt her vision blur. Before the summoned spiral lance could fall, she was dragged into Path Space.
Within that narrow space, Nanook looked down, eyes falling upon 'Robin' and the Swarm King—who had likewise been pulled in, currently drowning in the extreme, self-destructive thoughts of its own mind.
"..."
'Robin' looked at Nanook with a flicker of confusion.
Wait, I'm involved in this too?
Honestly, 'Robin' didn't think the Swarm King's current state—obsessed with destroying itself and the Path of Propagation—was enough to catch Nanook's eye on its own.
It felt more like the creature merely had a slight inclination toward it, and Nanook, having been stalking it for a long time, decided to come knocking.
It was just like when Celenova was born.
The Eternal Centurion hadn't exactly planned on throwing themselves into Destruction either, but that didn't stop Nanook from showing up at the front door to set them on fire.
And then, out popped the white-haired Celenova.
The problem was, if that was the plan, why didn't THEY show up earlier?
THEY waited until she had her spear raised and was ready to finish the job before sprinting over.
She'd almost thought Nanook considered it beneath THEM...
Even assuming THEY'D been delayed by something and only just arrived, 'Robin' still couldn't wrap her head around why she had been dragged in too.
Surely THEY wasn't about to share THEIR power with her?
She didn't think her charm was that high. Not unless she immediately swore an oath of fealty to Nanook right this second—then maybe.
However, Nanook didn't actually do anything to her.
Instead, THEY cast down the will of Destruction indiscriminately.
It wasn't the kind of will that truly sought to annihilate you; rather, it was an attempt to teach you how to accept destruction, drive it, and spread it.
To put it simply, Nanook was teaching her how to be a Lord Ravager.
As for the side effects, it was naturally meant to make her embrace the Path of Destruction and switch sides.
Of course.
With the System protecting her soul, this kind of mental interference had never been effective.
Aside from giving 'Robin' a deeper look into the essence of Destruction—and making her feel a bit dizzy—it accomplished nothing.
The Swarm King, however, wasn't so lucky.
Already spiraling into chaos due to the memories 'Robin' had injected, and possessed by self-destructive tendencies, the creature was led completely down the path of ruin under Nanook's "guidance."
The answer it found within Destruction was the annihilation of the self and the annihilation of Propagation.
But first, it had to break free from the control of its Path. And so, it launched a final, desperate charge toward Nanook, letting the Aeon's golden blood drench its body to incinerate its very existence.
'Robin' watched with wide eyes as the Swarm King threw itself into the golden wound on Nanook's chest.
It turned to ash under the searing heat of that golden blood.
Then, a cluster of flames erupted from those ashes.
The embers were reshaped within the fire; no longer in the form of an insect, it was gradually molded into a unique entity, similar to the Lightning-Lord of Propagation.
It leaned toward a humanoid shape, yet its body retained the jointed limbs and wings of a bug.
Its intellect seemed somewhat fragmented, as if waiting for a certain presence to fill the void.
Even 'Robin' felt the call of this obsidian giant through the lingering power of Destruction.
It felt as though, if she wished, this titan of Propagation could become a summoned creature—much like a Spiritus—to be used at her command.
However, that dense will of Destruction didn't seem to recognize 'Robin'. If it truly tried to cross over to her, it likely wouldn't be able to exert much of its strength.
So, it's been turned into a summon like a Spiritus?
Considering the state of Propagation and the Swarm King's final thoughts, this outcome seemed understandable.
If it had retained its sense of self, it would have been 100% influenced by Propagation again, unconsciously driven to become the Aeon of Propagation itself.
But like this, it only needed to find a compatible contractor to bypass the influence of its Path, allowing the contractor to carry out Destruction in its stead.
Without a doubt, it was a logical choice.
"...The Eighth Lord Ravager is a summoned beast? Doesn't that mean the contractor can be swapped out whenever?"
Just as 'Robin' began to weigh whether this new model would be easy to deal with or a massive headache, Nanook's gaze shifted toward her.
He even took the initiative to make contact with her power of Harmony.
Before that abyss-like will of Destruction—so vast it was difficult to even comprehend—could pour into 'Robin's' consciousness through the melody of Harmony, an information packet was sent into her mind by Nanook.
Then.
'Robin's' vision blurred.
She was cast out of the Path Space by Nanook.
The chessboard, which should have been the site of a fierce battle, now held only a few lingering traces of the Swarm King's memory matter.
The embers representing its existence had already been taken by Nanook.
The others only knew that Nanook had cast THEIR gaze down; they had no idea what had actually transpired. They simply assumed 'Robin' had moved to annihilate the Swarm King herself.
"Hey? Bai Ming! Snap out of it. What just happened?"
Herta's urgent voice pulled 'Robin' back from her daze.
Even with the System's protection, catching even a glimpse of the true scale of Destruction was enough to rattle one's spirit.
But what concerned her more was the message Nanook had left behind.
THEY hadn't dragged her into that space just to watch the show.
THEY wanted to implicitly convey a message—to warn her.
Aha had tampered with the Simulated Universe, orchestrating the events that allowed the Swarm King and Ena to override reality.
THEY had even tried to leave a mark on the Swarm King to infect Destruction itself.
At the same time, other Aeons had noticed the Simulated Universe and were secretly pulling strings.
At the very least, she could confirm HooH the Equilibrium had interfered. The fact that her chessboard could summon a swarm of that scale was proof enough.
So, what was Equilibrium's angle? Was it facilitating the birth of the Eighth Lord Ravager?
"Nanook guided the Swarm King to embrace Destruction and molded it into a creation similar to the Xianzhou's Spiritus'. Once it chooses a contractor, it will be the complete Eighth Lord Ravager."
"...Is that so? But why would THEY specifically show that to you?"
Ruan Mei voiced her doubt at the opportune moment, and 'Robin's' answer was unexpected.
"Nanook is still thinking about dragging me over to the Destruction faction. And while THEY were at it, THEY wanted to remind me that our Simulated Universe is being watched by more than one Aeon."
"Huh? So it really was Aha causing trouble?"
Herta's voice came through the comms, though her tone was a bit odd—somewhere between annoyance and a strange sort of pride.
"More than that. The reason that chessboard opened up so wide just now was because Equilibrium had a hand in it too."
"HooH? Why is it paying attention to the Simulated Universe? It's not like it wants to 'balance' things inside the simulation too, right?"
Herta couldn't help but snark.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL