Caelus watched expressionlessly as the catgirl smiled at him.
The sound of turning gears grew even clearer beside his ears, accompanied by a strange and absurd melody.
The surrounding scene changed once again, transforming into a medieval European street.
The cement road beneath his feet became a cobblestone path, while the electric streetlights were replaced by oil lamps.
The catlike girl smiled and said, "You escaped from this stage, only to be dragged back again, Grimm?"
"It seems you left behind far too many romantic entanglements. Meow!"
Caelus looked at the catgirl, who seemed to be mocking him.
Just as he was about to speak, he noticed that something had touched his memories.
The parts concerning Cyrene were being corrupted.
The mastermind behind everything was trying to blur Cyrene's appearance.
"Nyarlathotep, you should not have done that."
Crimson flames engulfed the entire world.
A massive wound was torn across the sky, and golden blood poured from the opening.
Pure Destruction swept across everything.
The miniature world that had nearly closed was violently torn open again.
Caelus stood with the Spiral of Contradiction in his hand. Red-gold flames burned within his normally calm golden eyes.
For the first time, his expression revealed an emotion other than tranquility.
Anger.
Caelus stepped through the opening and left the miniature world, emerging into the outside world.
He now stood upon an enormous stage as vast as a celestial body.
Not far away were Norden, Bell, Pricket, Lake, Dorothy, and many others Caelus had encountered along the way, each of whom had triggered those memories and visions.
They no longer possessed the liveliness they had previously displayed.
Every one of them stood rigidly like a puppet, watching him with forced smiles that looked as though they had been carved onto their faces.
"We could have continued this game."
"But you should not have touched the one thing I cannot afford to lose."
"I gave you so many hints from the moment you entered this world."
"Your other half came from here. You were Grimm."
"So why were you never able to accept it?"
"Why did your heart not waver in the slightest?"
A puzzled voice sounded.
The crowd parted, and a beautiful blonde girl wearing a blue dress stepped forward.
"I originally assumed it was because of the love within your heart."
"You love the being called Cyrene, so I intended to blur her appearance and find a way to replace her."
"I did not expect you to react so violently and tear apart the entire stage."
Cyrene appeared and wrapped her arms around Caelus, hissing angrily at Nyarlathotep.
"Partner will always belong only to me!"
Cyrene was furious.
Even her eyes had turned crimson, with faint streams of data flowing through them.
Let us return for a moment to Cyrene's Servant status from the Type-Moon Universe.
What had been added beneath her True Name?
Demiurge.
Putting aside what that name represented in actual mythology, within the framework of the Type-Moon Universe, a name represented truth.
With that framework reinforcing her existence, Cyrene retained Demiurge as a genuine aspect of her identity after returning to her home universe.
Then what was Demiurge within the main universe of Honkai: Star Rail?
It was the Emperor's Scepter.
It was Amphoreus.
It was also the soon-to-be-born Lord Ravager, Irontomb.
A name represented a connection.
After realizing that someone was trying to forcibly alter her memories and use hypnosis to steal her lover, Cyrene had become angry enough to nearly activate her Irontomb form.
"Why?"
"Why did you not accept even the slightest part of it?"
"You do not know your own past, do you?"
Nyarlathotep continued questioning him.
This world had already been transformed into an enormous ritual site.
The ritual being conducted was known as the Armor-Clad Ritual.
To become a god by wearing its identity, a mortal had to imitate the god's words, deeds, experiences, and identity until the distinction between truth and falsehood disappeared.
Once the world and its believers accepted the mortal as that god, the mortal would obtain the god's power and status.
Simply put, one had to act, speak, and live exactly like the god until no one could distinguish between the two.
Once everyone believed that person was the god, they would truly become the god and inherit its authority.
Nyarlathotep had learned this special ritual from another world and put it to use.
However, Nyarlathotep knew that using such a ritual openly would alert the System attached to Caelus's existence, causing it to forcibly remove him from the ritual site.
Nyarlathotep therefore found a world that had already been manipulated by another System.
After corrupting it, Nyarlathotep disguised it as a normal world with only a few subtle abnormalities.
Nyarlathotep then used the flower Caelus had once given her as a point of connection, establishing a causal link that ensured he would inevitably visit this world one day.
When the System eventually brought Caelus here, it would notice the world's abnormalities.
It would follow the traces left behind by the previous System and investigate them continuously.
Under Nyarlathotep's interference, it would fail to notice what was happening to Caelus.
Nyarlathotep then continued creating pieces and actors upon the stage she had prepared, intending to perfectly recreate the past of the being known as Grimm.
As long as Caelus walked the same path Grimm had once walked, and as long as even the slightest part of him accepted the possibility that he might once have been Grimm, Nyarlathotep could use that recognition to complete the Armor-Clad Ritual.
She would continuously deepen that state.
Caelus would gradually obtain Grimm's memories, recover Grimm's emotions, inherit Grimm's knowledge, imitate Grimm, and eventually become Grimm.
Once that happened, the Armor-Clad Ritual would be complete.
Caelus's existence would be thoroughly stained by Grimm's existence.
Cause and effect would then be reversed.
From beginning to end, the one who had always remained beside him would be Nyarlathotep.
Cyrene would never have existed.
The System would never have existed.
There would only ever have been Nyarlathotep.
The one who granted him a new life would have been Nyarlathotep.
The one who gave him emotions and taught him everything would also have been Nyarlathotep.
The one he loved would only be...
Nyarlathotep.
"It was such a perfect plan."
"So why did you not feel even the slightest sense of recognition?"
"It was as though you were merely watching a play from the audience."
["Damn it! Why is there another one trying to steal my Host?"]
["Does this ever end? Am I supposed to be the poor bastard who keeps getting cheated on?"]
The System's voice sounded beside Caelus's ears once again.
After angrily cursing, it explained the condition of the world and the Armor-Clad Ritual.
"The reason I never felt the slightest connection to Grimm's identity came from something you said before."
Caelus directed those words toward the System.
"Do you remember what you said when I gave Nyarlathotep that flower?"
["My dear Host, are you planning to become Mahiro Yasaka, or do you want to become Grimm?"]
"The meaning behind that sentence was obvious."
"The two figures associated with Nyarlathotep as romantic partners were Mahiro Yasaka and Grimm."
"If the other existence that formed me truly was Grimm, why would the System tease me by asking whether I wanted to become Grimm?"
Caelus spoke calmly before turning his gaze toward Nyarlathotep.
"The only reason I continued acting in your play was to borrow the chaotic emotions you created and better understand impulse and love."
"So the slight corruption you suffered from devouring those emotions was intentional?"
"That was quite a bold plan."
"Were you not afraid that I would use that corruption to completely contaminate your mind and memories?"
"The supreme existence within the Cthulhu Mythos is the symbolic source of all your power."
"Can your corruption surpass that existence?"
"Or do you believe Nihility is such an easily corrupted foundation?"
"As for my individual personality, the fact that I could give you that flower proves that I am capable of preserving it."
"So the main reason I failed was because of one casual joke?"
The previously eerie atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Among the puppets who should have been completely controlled by Nyarlathotep, Norden turned away and covered her mouth as though she could no longer suppress her laughter.
Pricket made no attempt to hide herself and burst out laughing.
Bell shook her head and stared at Nyarlathotep with open mockery and contempt.
As for Lake, she produced a knife from somewhere and began quietly moving behind Nyarlathotep, apparently intending to cut off her head.
It was worth mentioning that these four were indeed puppets created from fragments of Nyarlathotep.
However, the puppets naturally needed to remain faithful to their established characterizations.
Otherwise, they would be completely out of character, and that would be boring.
Therefore, the personalities of all four puppets remained extremely close to those of their genuine counterparts.
(To be continued.)