Evan narrowed his eyes as he lazily regarded the Dreammaster before him.
At the same time, he could clearly feel another power awakening within his body.
The power of an Emanator of Elation.
A true Emanator's authority—standing on the same level as his powers of Erudition and Remembrance.
An Emanator represented the pinnacle of strength beneath an Aeon.
There were rumors of an even higher realm—the power of a Throne.
But what exactly a Throne was...
Even Evan didn't know.
Perhaps, once Herta's upgraded Simulated Universe was complete, he would finally uncover that mystery.
Rubbing the corner of his eye, he sighed.
Aha really is something else.
This was clearly Xipe's territory.
Yet the Aeon of Elation had personally descended into Penacony without the slightest hesitation.
Isn't He worried Xipe might decide to settle the score?
After all, Gopher Wood and Sunday were, at least nominally, followers of Harmony.
Granted...
They were little more than discordant notes now.
Still, what if Xipe decided to clean house Herself?
Then again...
Judging from Aha's words just now, it seemed He also wanted Ena buried permanently.
"So..."
"The Elation seems determined to have me turn this place upside down."
"But..."
"It's still going to be troublesome."
Evan slowly lifted his gaze toward the Dreammaster.
Gopher Wood.
As the true master of Penacony's dreamscape, the methods at his disposal went far beyond what the game had ever shown.
In the game...
He had only displayed a couple of techniques resembling powerful mental manipulation.
But if that was truly all he possessed...
How could he possibly govern the entirety of Penacony's dreams?
At this moment...
Gopher Wood was completely stunned.
Before today, he'd merely regarded Evan as someone carrying a lingering trace of the Trailblaze.
Someone capable of destroying one of his crow avatars...
But nothing more.
Even Mikhail had ultimately died by his schemes, branded a traitor until the very end.
Yet now...
He was looking at an Emanator personally blessed by Aha.
As Dreammaster, Gopher Wood naturally understood the Aeons.
The Family worshipped Xipe.
That didn't mean they were ignorant of every other Aeon.
And among them...
The Aeon of Elation was undoubtedly one of the most infamous beings in the entire universe.
Unlike Qlipoth, who knew only how to build walls.
Or Lan, who knew only how to hunt Yaoshi.
Aha's reputation spread throughout the cosmos.
Only intelligent life could understand joy.
Rocks and stars could never comprehend the humor of existence.
Seeking worthy rivals.
Seeking games to pass eternity.
Seeking endings where victory meant nothing.
Seeking stories that made one laugh until tears flowed.
Seeking misunderstandings born from coincidence.
Seeking songs that let imagination soar.
One Masked Fool who studied the stars had once joked:
"Erudition is a pile of scrap metal.
Preservation's a blockhead.
The Hunt has no sense of humor.
Destruction is insane.
Every Aeon is hopelessly stubborn.
Poor Aha doesn't even get any respect."
Rumor also claimed...
Aha had once bestowed the entirety of Their Path upon a bug whose brain hadn't even fully developed.
Simply...
For amusement.
The result?
The insect exploded, unable to withstand the power.
There was another famous tale.
Aha had secretly hidden aboard the Astral Express for over a year...
Waiting patiently.
Until finally finding the perfect opportunity to blow half the train—and an entire planet—to pieces.
These stories weren't myths.
Evidence of them still existed throughout the universe.
Among all the Aeons...
Aha was simultaneously the most bored...
And the one most obsessed with finding entertainment.
The Aeon of Elation.
And...
An Emanator of Elation.
Gopher Wood finally understood Evan's identity.
A remnant of the Trailblaze.
An Emanator of Elation.
Which meant...
He could now guess why Evan had come to Penacony.
Mikhail.
Everything had been for Mikhail.
An Emanator tied to the Astral Express...
Sent personally by an Aeon...
To restore the honor of one of Their followers.
This Emanator's appearance...
Had always been meant to overturn today's Penacony.
Elation.
Yes.
He had come to plunge Penacony into utter chaos...
And return it to Harmony's embrace.
Only now did Gopher Wood finally understand why Evan hadn't acted back in Dreamflux Reef, despite already knowing he belonged to the remnants of Order.
Because...
He simply wanted to witness an even greater spectacle.
A hateful man...
In Gopher Wood's eyes...
Evan calmly stored away the mask.
Then slowly rose to his feet.
Walking over to the crow perched nearby, he gently picked it up.
At that very moment...
An eerie chuckle echoed beside Gopher Wood and Sunday.
"Hehe..."
"Little bird..."
"Tell me..."
"If your sister learned that you were the discordant note hidden inside the Family..."
"How heartbroken do you think she'd be?"
"Look at you."
"Even as she died..."
"She never once doubted you."
"But..."
"What if I told her..."
"The one who truly killed your sister..."
"...was him?"
"The Dreammaster."
"Gopher Wood."
"A remnant of Order."
"...What?"
Sunday's eyes widened in horror as he instinctively turned toward Gopher Wood.
Then—
"Pfft."
Evan burst into laughter.
"Look."
"You believed me."
"So deep down..."
"You don't trust your Dreammaster all that much after all."
He clicked his tongue before smiling at Gopher Wood.
"This is our second confrontation now, isn't it?"
"See?"
"Those two little birds you raised..."
"Never truly trusted you."
"You've been nothing but a failure your entire life."
"You bathed in Harmony's light..."
"Only to become a remnant of Order."
"So tell me..."
"Why?"
"...Why did you choose this path?"
"...!!"
"Damn you!"
"You insolent wretch!"
"Emanator of Elation!"
"Leave this place immediately!"
"Otherwise..."
"I'll personally cast you out forever!"
The moment his words fell...
The entire Dewlight Pavilion began trembling violently.
Even an Emanator could be affected when trapped within someone else's domain.
After all...
This was Gopher Wood's dreamscape.
He had stolen the authority over dreams that should have belonged to everyone.
Even an Emanator could become ensnared within such a world.
"...The Emanator of Elation?"
Evan tilted his head.
"Were you talking about me?"
"But..."
"Who told you..."
"I'm only an Emanator of Elation?"
As soon as he finished speaking...
The authority of Erudition erupted from his body.
Immediately afterward...
A gigantic mirror materialized before him.
The Mirror of the Garden of Recollection.
Beneath Erudition's power...
An enormous cannon emerged, aimed directly at Dewlight Pavilion.
Within that colossal mirror...
Faceless silhouettes drifted endlessly like fragments of shattered glass.
They struggled to cross the mirror's surface...
Yet some unseen force kept them imprisoned inside.
Meanwhile...
Elsewhere in Penacony.
Within the inverted dreamscape...
A graceful woman veiled beneath a translucent shawl slowly frowned.
"...Authority of an Emanator of Remembrance?"
"He summoned the Mirror of the Garden of Recollection?"
"What exactly is the Messenger planning?"
As a Messenger of the Garden of Recollection, Black Swan immediately sensed someone calling upon the authority of Remembrance.
But...
She had more important matters to attend to.
"...Never mind."
"The Divine Envoy should understand why I can't answer the summons."
"More importantly..."
"There are delicious memories waiting for me."
"For example..."
She looked toward the purple-haired woman before her.
"...Miss Acheron's."
The anticipation in Black Swan's smile deepened.
Delicious memories.
That was what Messengers sought.
Unlike ordinary Memokeepers...
The Garden of Recollection treasured every memory.
Perfect or flawed.
Every memory possessed value.
And what could be more enticing...
Than the memories of an Emanator?
Especially...
One who walked the Path of Nihility.
"The Garden of Recollection."
"A Messenger."
Acheron quietly gazed at the elegant woman before asking,
"Are you certain..."
"You truly wish to read my memories?"
Back in Dewlight Pavilion...
Evan smiled with obvious amusement as he looked at the two men before him.
Even Sparkle found him...
Far more entertaining than before.
He clearly possessed the entire script.
Yet instead of forcing events...
He simply waited for everything to unfold naturally.
Giving fate nothing more than a gentle push.
Naturally...
Firefly couldn't understand what Sparkle was thinking.
Instead...
She had realized something entirely different.
This genius...
Was an Emanator of another Aeon as well.
That alone was nearly impossible to believe.
A person's faith could change.
But entirely different Paths coexisting inside one body...
Shouldn't that inevitably spiral out of control?
Firefly couldn't understand.
She remembered Kafka's script...
And Blade's records concerning the Xianzhou.
There had once been an Emanator carrying the influence of multiple Paths.
General Jing Yuan.
The intrusion of another Path's power into the body of an Emanator of The Hunt had nearly destroyed him.
Though Dan Heng had eventually helped stabilize his condition...
The damage had never fully healed.
Leading to everything that followed.
Firefly hadn't remained on the Xianzhou long enough to learn every detail afterward.
But she wasn't foolish.
Three different Emanator-level authorities...
Existing simultaneously within a single genius.
If that were truly possible...
Then perhaps...
Just perhaps...
He really could cure her Entropy Loss Syndrome.
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