[You and Herta arrived at the Luofu's Artisanship Commission, where you found a grim-faced Ron.]
[The forging of the Guiding Spirit Lantern was not proceeding smoothly, and during your interrogation of Phantylia, you received some dreadful news...]
[She had called upon Nanook of [Destruction]. This Arbiter of Destruction was approaching, treading upon molten rock, poised to incinerate the entire Xianzhou Luofu.]
[It seemed that all had reached its end... but Ron offered a viable solution.]
[The Aeon of [Destruction] was not born as the cold and merciless being he is today... He, too, once possessed a flicker of compassion, but it has since been erased by the fixed trajectory of fate.]
[Ron needed someone to carry the lantern for him, to walk the long road of [Destruction], and to use the light of the flame to illuminate the Path of [Destruction], awakening that god of malice who rampages across the sea of stars—]
[But you had no suitable candidate.]
[Herta is bound to the Path of [Erudition]; it is not a bond she can easily shed at will.]
[You might have a chance to break free from the Path of [The Hunt], which has long been intertwined with you in a thousand ways, but you have no experience following [Salvation] and lack the strength to raise that lantern and walk the lightless, endless road.]
[It seemed this path, too, was impossible to tread... but Bronya had arrived.]
[She accepted this heavy burden. Bearing the possession of [Lord Ravager Phantylia], she raised the lantern with its faint, flickering flame and began her solitary, resolute walk down the long road of [Destruction].]
[You admired her, but you admired Ron even more.]
[The moment Bronya departed, Ron departed as well.]
[In that instant, he crossed the boundary between mortal and Aeon in an unimaginable way, ascending to the divine throne of [Salvation]... yet had not yet worn the crown.]
[He molded for himself an empty shell of the Path of [Salvation] but scattered nearly all of his power, forcefully suppressing all his might as an Aeon, merely to prevent the great enemies who watch over the sea of stars, and the other Aeons, from learning of [Salvation]'s ascension.]
[He ascended to the throne, yet it was as if he had never arrived...]
[Flames of brilliant gold fell with him into the great Furnace of Creation. The searing blaze scorched his body. You could hear faint groans coming from within, and the anguish they contained was enough to tug at your own heartstrings, as if you could feel the same agony of being burned by that fire.]
[The Lantern of [Salvation] had been taken by Bronya. To forge the Guiding Spirit Lantern, Ron used himself as the material, beginning an incomparably bloody "forging."]
[You had almost never heard tales of an Aeon's fall... Tayzzyronth of [Propagation] died, but did He truly die? The Swarm King's bereaved still wreak havoc across the sea of stars, and those terrifying insects have never ceased their self-propagation. How could it be impossible for the Swarm King to still be hiding among them?]
[Idrila of [Beauty] has perished, but fragments of [Beauty] are still scattered across the sea of stars. The Mirror Holders greedily salvage them from the cosmos, and the Knights of [Beauty] praise Idrila's unparalleled grace. She seems to have died, yet it is more as if she is merely in hiding.]
[Taiyi of [Order] has perished, devoured by Xipe of [Harmony]. The chorus of the Grand Ensemble fell silent the moment He passed, yet He is still able to crack a smile now... but only upon the face of [Harmony].]
[Perhaps you had anticipated seeing an Aeon fall... but that was seeing the Light-Arrow of [The Hunt] pierce the chest of [The Abundance], watching the Progenitor of Plagues and its endlessly growing evils wither away together. You had never imagined witnessing the fall of another Aeon.]
[But now, you were seeing it.]
[You saw the Aeon of [Salvation] personally send himself into the cold embrace of death. To forge himself into a cold artifact, He exhausted his mind, first perfecting the Path of [Salvation] bit by bit, only to then burn himself, severing himself from that Path, "giving up" the so-called [Salvation]...]
[He was in such agony that he nearly lost his sense of self... You could hardly imagine an Aeon falling into such a plight.]
[But in the end, he succeeded. With Herta's help, despite the immense pain and his fading consciousness, he was still guided by Herta's tireless efforts. Gradually, he melted his divine body and, piece by piece, began the forging of the Guiding Spirit Lantern.]
[The brilliant golden molten liquid within the Furnace of Creation slowly took shape under the will of Ron and Herta. Time trickled by, moment by moment. To protect Ron and Herta from being disturbed, you had long since used an Edict of the Reignbow Arbiter as a pretext to temporarily clear out all personnel from the Artisanship Commission, giving the entire commission a holiday...]
[Until you permitted them to return to work, no one had any reason to come back here. The Artisanship Commission was completely sealed off by you.]
[You stayed awake all night, your nerves stretched taut as you stood guard by Ron and Herta's side.]
[You knew that everything they were doing now was crucial to whether you could achieve your goal in this simulation. You absolutely could not allow them to be disturbed at this moment. Absolutely not.]
[But your prohibition might stop the people of the Xianzhou [Luofu]... yet it was utterly powerless to stop an Aeon.]
---o---
[A vast and mighty echo resounded from the horizon. The entire Jarilo-VI system seemed to transform into a hollow valley at that moment. A mysterious sound echoed through this valley, ultimately pointing toward your location—]
[In the distance, you saw the world begin to shatter. Beyond the fragments was a void and a twisted tree trunk, upon which stood an Aeon holding a set of scales.]
[He looked toward your location and intoned... "Equilibrium."]
Looking at the text on the screen, Fu Xuan couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
"It's only been one day... why so soon?"
HooH of [The Equilibrium] had clearly arrived, but Ron and Herta had not yet finished forging the Guiding Spirit Lantern.
Forging this blade capable of piercing the veil of fate was obviously not simple... A single day had only brought the progress bar to just over half. It would take at least another day or two to ensure the Guiding Spirit Lantern was perfectly completed.
But now, HooH of [The Equilibrium] had already come before them... What were they to do?
Although Fu Xuan could bluff her way through daily life by invoking the "Edict of the Reignbow Arbiter," that didn't mean the Master of the Divine Bow had actually bestowed an edict upon her...
That star of light was still traversing the sea of stars, hunting the quarry it sought for vengeance. Its gaze had not fallen upon the current Xianzhou [Luofu].
"I can only place my hopes in Bronya..."
Fu Xuan sighed softly. To be honest, she didn't have much faith in Bronya...
Though they had only met a few times and she wasn't very familiar with Bronya, she already had a certain impression of her.
In a previous simulation, Neo-Belobog and the Xianzhou Alliance had cooperated. Fu Xuan at that time was the liaison with Neo-Belobog and had interacted with Bronya, who was then one of the twelve "Grand Knights."
At that time, Bronya was indeed a competent commander. She could lead her Knights of Salvation and Star-River Guardians to coordinate with the Xianzhou Alliance and complete various combat missions. She was a competent military officer.
But that was all she was—a competent military officer.
To Fu Xuan, although she was still quite young for a long-life species, she already had hundreds of years of experience on Bronya.
Bronya was as naive as an ignorant young girl. Fu Xuan never had a strong impression of Bronya, only remembering her as being unreliable.
And now, she had to shoulder such a heavy burden, holding the Lantern of [Salvation] to awaken Nanook of [Destruction]... while also guarding against the corruption of Phantylia within her. Fu Xuan had no idea how she was supposed to do it!
She looked at the screen before her. The text on the screen faded, and a new scene emerged—
A turbid golden light rippled from the horizon, and a low chant echoed in her ears.
The chant rolled in, wave after wave, as if echoing in a valley. The words were indistinct, and one could only make out the clear intonation of two words in the low chorus: "Equilibrium."
The reality on the horizon shattered in an instant, like smashed glass. The distinction between the illusory void and reality was stark, the sharp, fractured edges looking as if they could slice through flesh and blood.
And from within this shattered void, an illusory "branch," seemingly wrapped in infinite colors, extended. An Aeon whose form was indistinct slowly strode forward. Hazy gray ripples spread from his feet across the illusory branch. In his hand, he held an instrument that left a deep impression on all who saw it—a golden "scale."
On the scale rested weights of different colors. The left side was white, the right side was black, and the pointer in the middle was a turbid gray.
Right now, the scale was tipped heavily to the right. The black weight was incredibly heavy, yet it subtly lacked the force to press it all the way down.
The white weight seemed to be increasing in mass, and the gray pointer was slowly shifting to the left.
The Aeon's turbid, hazy face turned towards the bubbling cauldron of golden liquid, and a heavy sigh escaped his lips.
"Equilibrium... The world needs equilibrium."
He raised his hand from afar. It was clearly a simple gesture, and nothing happened, yet in that instant, Fu Xuan felt the hairs on her body stand on end as a cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
It's... It's about to happen!
As if in response to Fu Xuan's thoughts, the bubbling golden liquid in the Furnace of Creation suddenly seemed to have a block of ice thrown into it. Its temperature plummeted, and the boiling liquid metal appeared to thicken at that moment, then slowly began to solidify.
Ron's already faint consciousness seemed to be rapidly dissipating, fading away bit by bit. Everything about [Salvation] seemed destined to become a completely dead thing because of this.
But...
A handsome Aeon with dark skin, white hair, and a rugged build broke through the limits of the endless void and arrived.
The moment he appeared, endless flames and molten rock surged forth from the infinite void. A tyrannical heat, like the rings of a planet, swirled around Nanook, [The Destruction], accentuating his form as the embodiment of all heat and ruin.
The crimson-gold tyrant stepped into reality, carrying an endless fury, and smashed his fist viciously into the face of HooH, [The Equilibrium].
In an instant, brilliant golden lava and furious flames scattered in all directions. The Aeon of [The Equilibrium] was completely shattered by this punch, turning into a pool of scattered, hazy mist. Only the scales remained unaffected, the weights upon them not even shifting in the slightest.
However, the stagnant golden liquid in the Furnace of Creation began to flow once more, continuing to take new shape under Herta's calm guidance.
The hazy mist gathered together again. HooH, [The Equilibrium], once more held up the scales and murmured in a low voice:
"Equilibrium..."
The next moment, a heavy, gray fog enveloped everything... The conflict between Aeons should not be witnessed by the world. This should have been concealed by a certain hardworking Aeon who obsesses over secrets, but now, even he was trapped within this gray fog. No one could know what was truly happening within it.
Fu Xuan could only see this gray, heavy fog expanding bit by bit, from enveloping just the two Aeons to gradually becoming a canopy over the entire Xianzhou [Luofu], and then growing to cover several stars, the entire star system—
As time slowly passed, at the very moment this gray fog was about to completely disperse and envelop the entire system, consigning everything to darkness...
A single ray of light shone from the Xianzhou [Luofu].
It was a lantern.
A lantern that should have appeared at this very moment, to illuminate the darkness and pierce the fog.
The Guiding Spirit Lantern... was complete.