High-end hunters often appear in the guise of prey.
In fact, BB's words were not wrong.
If one wishes to thoroughly perfect this Path tailored for the 'Returner,' a foundation capable of bearing an essence at the level of divinity is required for its successful construction.
And for BB, rather than doing it herself, there were no more suitable materials than the great existences born within this universe—the 'Aeons.'
As long as They do not proceed to the Land of Return, their existence, and their interpretation of the essence of 'Coming,' is utterly useless.
To hunt the wild boar before it grows its tusks—this was the intention BB had held from the very beginning!
"Don't put up a stubborn resistance. What's so bad about honestly being beaten into a human stake—oh no, a divine stake—by BB-chan?"
The third-party force known as the Crawling Chaos injected itself into this barely balanced situation.
Although the upper limit of the power BB could exert with her fragmented essence was the weakest among the four parties, it was barely enough to qualify as the straw that broke the balance!
"This is your honor, you know! Others aren't even qualified to curry favor with Senpai!"
The Chaos that transforms into all phenomena symbolized pure unknowability, surging toward the Wounded God who was currently extinguishing layers of space-time that trapped Him.
The golden blood dripping from the Wounded God's injuries was tainted by the grey mist of Chaos, which then surged upstream against the flow of blood into the wounds!
When the grey, unknown turbid blood flowed into the divine body of the Wounded God, those flickering golden eyes were also dyed with a trace of grey light!
If there were any audacious person who dared to look directly at the face of the god at this moment, they would discover that the furrow of the brows on the Wounded God's usually solemn features had deepened.
Boom, boom, boom, boom—
A sound like stars being torn apart echoed in the void, resembling a beast biting into its prey, desiring to tear and swallow it piece by piece!
Without hesitation, the main body of [Destruction], far outside the universe, made a prompt decision to begin withdrawing power from this divine body manifested within the universe!
"Trying to run? It's not that simple!"
However, the grey mist of Chaos pursued relentlessly.
Supported by the infinite space-time behind it, in an instant, it followed the connection, tracing back toward the essence of [Destruction]!
But the decisiveness of the Wounded God also exceeded the expectations of all observers.
They saw Him show no attachment whatsoever to this divine body He used most frequently. Like a warrior severing his own wrist, He directly and instantly cut off the connection between [Destruction] and the 'Wounded God'!
Seeing the opponent go to such lengths, the grey mist of Chaos did not continue to press the attack. Instead, it turned back to engulf the divine body dripping with golden blood.
With the cooperation of infinite space-time, it turned to attack the Three-Faced God who was wrestling with the Primordial Witch!
This caused a subtle expression of speechlessness to emerge on the eternally smiling human face of the Aeon of Harmony.
It seemed like a sigh, or perhaps a complaint, mourning the conflict stirred up by these outsiders.
He had never harbored malice, although His goodwill was not something living beings could bear.
What He did and enacted was merely a desire to unite the universal gods and humans into one, just as the essence of the power of the Witch confronting Him did.
He only wanted a fair fight.
That way, regardless of which side won, the victor would inherit the loser's Path.
Because the path belonging to the Primordial Witch was the same as His; one must seize all mighty power to reach the other side beyond the end.
But unfortunately, those who pursue divinity cannot understand the thoughts of those who pick up humanity.
Only a stubborn god would refrain from doing things contrary to the meaning of their own existence.
Simply put... it was a gang beating!
Who said god wars have to follow martial ethics? Is it not allowed to beat you up just to vent anger because you're an eyesore? How boring it would be if everything had to maximize benefits!
You know, many villains capsize precisely because of this!
"This [Harmony] isn't simple."
"Could He also be related to your essence, Little Yuki?"
Held by the hand by Tsukishiro Yuki, watching as they jointly surrounded and hunted the Aeon of [Harmony], Suke recalled some details about Xipe.
She is not a singular Aeon, but a trinity with [Order] and [Beauty].
The core concept She represents seems related to 'faith,' and Her subordinate faction known as the Family has a very familiar scent, causing Suke to feel a bit of worry.
One must know that a certain Yhwach, after assembling the essence of a trinity, could erupt with might far exceeding his original power.
If the already tyrannical Aeon of [Harmony] achieved this, wouldn't the entire Star Rail universe be turned upside down?
"You noticed, Animus."
"She is indeed very strong. If we had arrived later, and waited for this universe to merge and touch the universe we are in, thoroughly activating Her essence, perhaps no one other than Miss Mabel descending in person could defeat Her."
Tsukishiro Yuki smiled faintly. At this moment, bathed in divine light, she exhibited far more divinity compared to her usual appearance in Stardew Valley.
"Essence is just such a thing, visible everywhere across the heavens and the universe. After all, everything originates from Them, making everything unable to resist the desire to become Them."
"Homologous sources attract, until they return to one. To become that surviving One, we must fight each other at all costs..."
Tsukishiro Yuki looked toward Abigail. Hidden deep in her eyes was envy towards her, but in the end, she shook her head and cast it to the back of her mind.
"...But I already have Animus, so I don't plan to participate in this meaningless struggle."
"Let Them fight if They want to fight. After the dust settles, who knows if the guy who merged with others countless times is even still themselves?"
"As long as I can stay with you, Animus, what does it matter if I discard this power?"
Really? Then doesn't that mean I finally don't have to live off a woman?
Suke felt his teeth were getting worse lately; he always felt that if this continued, his status would sooner or later be reversed with Tsukishiro Yuki and the others, getting dominated by them!
Of course, this was a joke.
What kind of joke is that? Isn't his wife getting stronger the same as him getting stronger?
Is getting stronger such an inconvenient thing!
Actually, if he hadn't learned from BB that she had already built more than half of the Path, Suke wouldn't have bothered letting them fuss over it.
With the time spent fulfilling the Path, he might as well go back to Stardew Valley and mine for a while longer.
Of course, Suke wasn't the type of person to hypocritically refuse rice fed to his mouth.
Since they had worried to this extent, he might as well try it; he wouldn't lose two pieces of flesh, right?
Under the comprehensive encirclement of three foreign divinities, the God of [Harmony], whose 'puzzle pieces' were constantly peeling off His divine body, let out a sigh.
After losing another half-arm's worth of 'puzzle pieces,' She ultimately broke out of the encirclement and vanished into hiding in a slightly wretched state.
It had to be said that He was still much stronger than Nanook.
Although Her appearance seemed wretched, in terms of losses, compared to [Destruction] who left behind an entire divine body, She was infinitely better off!
"Ran really fast."
BB, who had re-manifested her form, muttered. Though she wouldn't dare to chase after Him alone, especially seeing that Tsukishiro Yuki had no intention of pursuing.
In fact, only BB herself knew that as the one with the relatively most scarce and fragmented essence among the three, she truly felt like 'a hemp stalk beating a wolf—scared at both ends' when facing these Aeons who interpreted the essence of 'Existence (Coming).'
But there was no helping it. Who asked her to be the AI Senpai trusted most? It would be too pitiful not to seize such a precious opportunity.
It seemed the construction schedule for MOONDUBAI needed to be accelerated; BB did not want to be the one holding everyone back!
A certain pink-haired female passerby strolling in the Cindersap Forest of Stardew Valley: Achoo!
"Haa... Haa..."
"Big Brother, Abi is so hungry~"
After the phantom of the Aeon dissipated, the eye in the keyhole on Abigail's forehead closed. She exhaled a breath, revealing a bit of fatigue on her small face, which was flushed red as if she had run a lap around the farm.
Although she could borrow the power belonging to her uncle without limit, this power ultimately did not belong to her. Hunger was unavoidable under prolonged output.
"Do you want to drink Soda Soy Juice?"
Suke took out a can of Soda Soy Juice from his backpack. This seemed to have been bought by Stelle; he didn't know why she would like this kind of thing.
"No, that tastes terrible! Abi doesn't like it!"
"Then what about Immortal's Delight?"
"That is pretty tasty, but Abi wants that hard, long, colorful thing of Big Brother's..."
"...Is it the Magic Rock Candy?"
"Mhm~"
Abigail stuck out her tongue playfully, not caring in the slightest about the look Stelle gave from the side—a look that seemed to understand yet not understand—making Suke truly worry she would lead the child astray.
An adult little sister leading a minor big sister astray; how could I dream such a thing?
"Boss... was that an Aeon descending on the Xianzhou just now?"
It had to be said that Stelle's reflex arc was quite long. Only after Abigail started licking the popsicle did she recover from that magnificent scene just now.
In fact, the duration of the battle between Tsukishiro Yuki's group and [Destruction] and [Harmony] was extremely short.
If one did not possess a corresponding level of Path energy as a buff, ordinary people couldn't even see the process of the 'God War' clearly within that immeasurable light.
For most people on the Xianzhou, what they saw was the sudden simultaneous appearance of the phantoms of the Celestial Lord of Harmony and the Ruin Author.
Then a strong light accompanied it, and in just a few breaths, the phantoms of both disappeared.
Everything on the Xianzhou proceeded as usual. Many people staying indoors didn't even react, thinking they had just hallucinated.
Only a very small number of people knew what had happened.
For example, Jing Yuan, who fell into silence looking at the titles 'Faceless Heavenly Lord,' 'Void Gate Heavenly Lord,' and 'Calamity Ancestor' written in the file registered by BB.
If not for the fact that Stelle had been glanced at by [Destruction] and felt incredibly familiar with that aura signature, even Stelle wouldn't dare to be sure what exactly happened just now.
Is my newly acknowledged Boss this awesome? He can beat Aeons away!
Stelle realized she had still underestimated the gold content of her new thigh.
Later, when the Astral Express crew goes to Penacony, if she encounters anything unsmooth, she will immediately call for backup!
Kafka and the other Stellaron Hunters who claim to know her well might not help her, but her Boss definitely would. After all, he is so generous and so handsome!
"Probably. I'm not too clear on the specific process either, but looking at the result, we still came out on top."
The embryo of the Path, used to attract the gazes of the Aeons to induce them to act, fell under BB's operation, giving Suke a wondrous feeling.
Discussing the meaning contained within the Path itself, 'Barrier Breaking' was close to 'The Trailblaze,' yet different in certain aspects.
'The Trailblaze' emphasizes the view after the obstacle.
'Barrier Breaking' emphasizes the obstacle itself.
In the Honkai: Star Rail universe, there is actually no distinction of high or low nobility among Paths; there is only their compatibility with the universe and sentient beings.
If discussing 'breadth' and 'width,' [Nihility] should undoubtedly be the strongest.
And as the counterpart to [Finality], although the Aeon of [The Trailblaze], Akivili, has long fallen, its gold content is also not low in the slightest.
Theoretically, if this Path hadn't been forged by the power of BB and Abigail, Suke really suspected it would have been swallowed whole by [The Trailblaze] the moment it was born.
But well...
For some reason, Suke always felt that the 'obstacle' in 'Barrier Breaking' was not as simple as he thought.
It seemed to imply a kind of metaphor, just like how Meltryllis considered him 'Master,' and Tripoka also recognized him as 'Your Appearance.'
Suke looked at BB, who was busy processing the wreckage of Nanook's avatar like draining blood from a freshly slaughtered New Year's pig.
The bubbling golden blood flowed from the Wounded God's scars into a basin. It looked like this 'World-Cleansing Golden Blood' capable of creating Lord Ravagers was about to become goods in BB's ranch store, available for wholesale.
Wonder what it tastes like made into blood curd?
One could only say it fit her job as a ranch boss very well; that was Suke's evaluation.
As for Tsukishiro Yuki's side, she was filling the 'Barrier Breaking' Path with 'puzzle piece' fragments peeled from Xipe. Clearly, she had already discussed this with BB.
This made Suke unable to help but look forward to what kind of power he would obtain after stepping onto this Path once it was built.
This was the first time he would gain power from an object outside the farm system. He wondered to what extent it could strengthen him?
With this, the trip to the Xianzhou to purchase festival supplies came to a temporary pause.
Because of the need to build the Path, BB did not return to Stardew Valley with Suke and the others for the time being. Instead, she stayed in MOONDUBAI in the Star Rail universe and began her new round of busy work.
Of course, saying she stayed, it was actually just a matter of a single thought if she wanted to return to Stardew Valley.
The Cross-Realm Gate opened inside the Astral Express carriage. Although the scale of the universe is vast, compared to the reality-twisting mighty power of the Crawling Chaos, it was but a stone's throw away.
Suke first sent Meruru back to the Island of Witches, then began preparing for the Festival of Ice affairs with Tsukishiro Yuki and the others.
It had been a long time since the last Spirit's Eve, and Suke was still looking forward to what changes would occur in Stardew Valley during the Festival of Ice.
If possible, Suke even wanted to take the opportunity of the festival, when all doors are fully open, to take Haji-Hiro to the Star Rail universe to fulfill the challenge he promised Yanqing.
Let him see if Haji-Hiro, with her Shikai Zanpakuto Witch-transformed, could elbow past the Cloud Knight Lieutenant of the Xianzhou?
Stardew Valley, Year 3, Winter 8th.
The opening of the Festival of Ice is today!
At 6:00 AM, after tucking in the Great Witch beside him—who was appearing utterly lazy and chose to sleep in because they had tossed about too intensely last night—Suke couldn't wait to roll out of bed.
Calculating it, he had paid off one of the two requests he lost to Tsukishiro Yuki when playing Celestial Jade earlier. Tossing about with her alone from 8 PM last night until 2 AM, his energy bar almost hit zero!
Next, he had to go to the Island of Witches to pick up Meruru and Hiro, then go to the Deep Sea Cyber Paradise to pick up Gudako.
Of course, there was also Stelle. In a sense, he had to run quite a distance back and forth between different worlds.
But just as Suke was preparing to set off, he suddenly saw a reminder message sent to him by Mabel on the public channel:
"Seele she... woke up?"
____
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