Scene: Elsewhere, Under the Gaze of the Stars.
Beneath the myriad stars, in another corner of the cosmos.
The Aeon of three faces—Xipe—stood silently within the flowing harmonies of the universe.
Her trinity of heads faced different "directions." Boundless starlight cascaded and intertwined around her, yet it could not obscure the majestic will radiating from her very existence—a will that compels all things toward unity.
At this moment, her gaze fell upon a figure before her, one utterly incongruous with the solemn harmony of the surroundings: Aha, the Aeon of Elation, forever brimming with disordered mirth.
"Aha..." Three distinct voices, yet perfectly resonant, emerged in a trio from Xipe's three heads simultaneously, carrying a melodic echo not of accusation, but of pure bewilderment. "Why... did you... prevent me... from reclaiming... my 'fragment'?"
That "fragment" referred to the immense power of Harmony that had coalesced within Phaethon, born from the resonance of thirty million cycles and the collective prayers of all sentient beings.
To Xipe, every Emanator of Harmony is but a piece of the puzzle that is her own self.
Aha's form shimmered slightly in the starlight, as if he had just heard something utterly delightful. He first let out a low chuckle, a sound that seemed to shatter a sacred silence, causing the surrounding starlight to ripple with playful undulations.
"Why?" Aha mimicked the cadence of Xipe's triple voices, but filled it with exaggerated silliness, before reverting to his own characteristic, endlessly mischievous and cheerful tone. "Do you even need to ask? He's—*my—fun*! The most entertaining move I've made in this whole game on Amphoreus! What other reason could there be?"
His form seemed to lean in, giving the illusion of a wink. "So, little Xipe, take Aha's advice—" His tone suddenly shifted, becoming light yet razor-edged, like a warning wrapped in candy coating. "Don't touch Aha's fun, okay~?"
Aha spread his arms wide, his voice brimming with mischievous anticipation: "Aha just wants to watch closely! To see what that interesting little guy will do, faced with a 'prize' that's right in front of him, yet forever just out of reach."
"The Path of Elation won't have any substantial effect on his destiny, but it might still change his behavior. Isn't that process itself the most worthwhile fun to observe?" Aha let out a deliberate, snickering laugh.
"You wish to... protect him?" Xipe's triple voices wove into a calm yet penetrating melody, easily piercing through Aha's grandiose facade of "fun." In her perception, Aha's logic was far more complex than it appeared on the surface. A mere "interesting bit of fun"? How could that possibly be enough for this Aeon, renowned for chaos, to offer an entire Path of Elation as a misleading "prize"?
Aha's laughter seemed to pause for an almost imperceptible beat, but then it grew even louder, as if Aha had been caught red-handed in something amusing.
"It's useless, Aha..." Xipe's voice resonated like three harmonies gradually merging into a single main melody, carrying a calmness that saw through fate itself—a serenity touched with something near pity. "When Nanook successfully ascended, driven by the will to Destroy the very concept of 'Path' itself... the 'possibilities' of the universe had already converged. If one could return to the past, perhaps there might still be a chance to become a god. But... the 'past' of this universe... cannot be changed."
Her triple gaze seemed to fix simultaneously on the starting point of the timeline and the present. "Destruction will not allow a truly 'new' Path to be conceived, acknowledged, and elevated within the very era it exists. All subsequent Paths are, more or less, supplements and extensions of existing concepts. Destruction, theoretically, should be the last Path born in this universe."
"Not to mention..." Xipe's focus returned to Phaethon, her three voices creating a peculiar resonance. "Within him, at this very moment, echoes such a clear, such an immense... aura of Harmony. It is the resonance of wills born from thirty million cycles, the convergence of all prayers. Harmony forged him, but it has also fundamentally placed upon him another, even more solid 'shackle'."
"Even if you now mark him with the 'joke' of Elation, and his strong will as Asterion might prevent him from being completely assimilated or losing his individuality in the torrent of Harmony... however," Xipe's tone held an unshakable certainty. "The Path of Harmony itself... cannot possibly allow such an important part, which already belongs to the whole, to break away from the collective harmony and attempt... 'independent deification'."
"So..." Xipe's triple voices sounded like a perfectly calibrated chord, as if stating the optimal solution for the whole. "It's better to let me guide the nascent, unpredictable trajectory of his Path, and assimilate it into a stable and glorious voice within the grand symphony of Harmony."
"This way, when the inevitable moment finally arrives, the possibility of me uniting all hearts, gathering all strength, and leading the universe through the Finality might be just a little bit greater."
However, Aha rarely shook his head. The playful mask patterns surrounding him seemed to fall silent for a moment.
"I think..." Aha's voice shed some of its usual flamboyance. "If he truly can withstand Destruction's veto on new concepts, your Harmony's pull on its returning part, and all those other greedy eyes hidden in the shadows... if, amidst this myriad of desperate situations and paradoxes, he can still walk that almost-certainly-doomed path and truly become a god..."
He paused, his eyes gleaming with an ecstasy of pure excitement. "Then that would be the biggest, most unbelievable fun in the universe since Nanook burned through the concept of Paths! Bar none!!!"
"And besides," Aha's tone grew even more certain, "I think he's destined to become our... 'kindred spirit'."
"Kindred spirit?" Xipe's three heads seemed to subtly tilt at different angles. The word caused an extremely brief, almost "stagnant" pause in her harmonious triple voices.
Xipe hadn't expected Aha to use that word to describe Phaethon. "Why? Simply because... his future cannot be determined?"
"No," Aha's reply was exceptionally concise. "He will walk the same path as every Aeon before him."
The figures of the two Aeons seemed to grow clearer against the stellar backdrop, and also... infinitely more solitary.
"And, all for the sake of his... 'heart'."