"Partner, somehow all these years have passed, but why does it still feel like yesterday?"
"It feels like the cycles only began yesterday."
Cyrene was an even greater exception.
Although she originated from a false destiny that should never have existed, she possessed the characteristic of remaining together with Caelus for eternity.
In a sense, within that nonexistent future, this Cyrene had already spent an eternity with him.
Compared with eternity, a mere thirty-three billion years was little more than a drop in the ocean.
One had been born from Nihility, making it impossible for time itself to truly claim him.
The other had been born from an eternity frozen in stasis, leaving time equally incapable of eroding her.
In short, although both of them looked human, neither could truly be considered human anymore.
Perhaps "divine beings" would be a more appropriate description.
[For reference only. Do not treat this as a practical example!]
The System had specifically highlighted that warning in its own records.
After all, if it achieved an exceptionally high score and its results were later published, some future juniors might see those absurdly impressive results and apparently simple methods, then decide to imitate them.
Only to lose everything in the process.
The System had already included the disclaimer in advance and absolved itself of responsibility.
If some other System still failed to recognize the limits of its own ability and luck, copied the method, and caused a disaster, that would have nothing to do with it.
It was basically the same as short-video platforms putting a warning beneath a clip saying:
[Dangerous behavior. Do not imitate.]
The point was not really to stop anyone.
It was simply a declaration that if you copied what you saw and something went wrong, the platform bore no responsibility.
Caelus rose from the hot spring.
Then he extended one hand.
An absurdly thick index appeared above his palm.
How thick was it?
Roughly as tall as every volume of the Oxford English Dictionary stacked together.
And that was only the index.
This was the record of Amphoreus accumulated across more than thirty-three billion years.
Someone might naturally ask:
Since Amphoreus was fundamentally a world of data, wouldn't directly extracting the data have been far more convenient?
That raised another problem.
Yes, this world was fundamentally constructed from data and code.
But the administrator privileges governing that data and code belonged to someone else.
Even if that person never altered anything on a large scale, they only needed to modify a few lines of foundational code or make tiny changes in seemingly irrelevant areas.
Then the Amphoreus reconstructed from that data would no longer be the true Amphoreus.
It would merely be a world shaped according to someone else's imagination.
Furthermore, after repeatedly recording and preserving an entire world for tens of billions of years, combined with the unique nature of the Path of Remembrance, Caelus was certain of something.
Once he returned to the Type-Moon universe, these records would become a genuine great deed.
That achievement would be engraved upon his existence and crystallize into a Noble Phantasm.
If he merely copied a set of raw data, however, it would lack the immense historical weight accumulated through countless years.
The possibility of it crystallizing into a Noble Phantasm would fall dramatically.
Only through this method could he truly reproduce Amphoreus.
Otherwise, he would simply be creating an artificial world based upon his memories.
"This will be the final cycle."
"Everything has already been recorded."
"Once all the Coreflames are gathered in this cycle, the true Recreation will begin."
Caelus looked at the culmination of more than thirty-three billion years of work.
Even he could not help feeling a sense of accomplishment now that everything was finally approaching completion.
...
"This place feels so weird."
Stelle pointed toward several pedestrians on the street who were speaking into mobile phones.
"The clothes, the way people behave, and even the architecture all look ancient."
"So why is everyone using phones?"
"And why does everyone seem so good with them?!"
"Over the more than ten thousand years I've spent here, I also tried changing certain things."
Lygus answered in his usual calm voice.
"Although most of my efforts disappeared whenever the cycle reset, apparently not everything was completely erased."
"Some things seem to have survived."
"That is what produced this rather unusual situation."
The trio had only just entered Okhema, so everything around them still felt fresh and unfamiliar.
March 7th continuously used her camera to photograph the city.
Naturally, Okhema's residents were also curious about the three outsiders whose clothing looked completely different from anything worn locally.
However, because Lygus was accompanying them, none of the residents approached.
Dan Heng quickly noticed this.
"The City of Dawn should have some form of inspection for people entering and leaving."
"Yet not a single guard questioned us."
"It seems you hold a fairly significant position in this city, Mr. Lygus."
"You flatter me."
Lygus answered modestly.
"I am merely an observer."
"The title may sound impressive, but I am ultimately little more than a specialized official."
"Most of the authority within this city still rests with the Senate and the Chrysos Heirs."
As the group continued touring Okhema, a white-haired young man passing along the street suddenly stopped.
Then he stared directly at Stelle, who was standing beside March 7th discussing the strange combination of ancient and advanced elements throughout the city.
"How is that possible?"
Phainon stared at Stelle.
She looked astonishingly similar to his Partner.
Almost like a female version of him.
Phainon immediately felt as though he had stumbled onto something incredible.
With his usual bright smile, he walked over and greeted her.
"Hello, beautiful lady."
"My name is Phainon."
"May I ask your name?"
Stelle froze for a moment when she realized someone was hitting on her.
Then she casually brushed back her hair and looked at Phainon with an expression so deep and magnetic that, if she had placed a rose between her teeth, she could have walked straight into a romance comic.
"Oh..."
"This cursed beauty of mine truly has nowhere to go."
"Poor boy."
"You've fallen for a wanderer destined to drift among the stars."
"Your love is doomed never to bear fruit."
"How tragic."
"I suppose I'm simply far too beautiful."
Somehow, she even managed to give her voice a strangely seductive quality.
No one knew where she had learned to do that.
March 7th's stomach churned.
She suddenly felt like vomiting.
Even Dan Heng, who had been following behind them with a guarded expression, covered his face.
He strongly considered quietly retreating into the crowd and pretending he had absolutely nothing to do with the person standing in front of him.
Phainon froze for a moment.
Then his expression returned to the same cheerful smile as before.
He laughed.
"Haha! I didn't expect you to be this fond of joking around."
"I thought you'd be more like someone I know, always wearing the same calm expression no matter what happens."
Stelle immediately sensed something.
"Hm?"
"Someone you know?"
March 7th's stomach churned again.
She once more felt the urge to vomit.
Even Dan Heng, who had been following behind them with a guarded expression, covered his face.
Again, he strongly considered disappearing into the crowd and pretending he had absolutely nothing to do with the person in front of him.
Phainon paused for a moment before smiling brightly again.
"Haha! I really didn't expect you to have such a playful personality."
"I thought you'd be more like someone I know, always wearing the same calm expression no matter what happens."
Stelle caught onto the implication.
"Yeah."
Phainon nodded.
"He's my childhood friend."
"He looks remarkably similar to you."
"Almost like what you'd look like if you were a man."
"Since the resemblance is so strong, and my friend happens to be an orphan, I wondered whether the two of you might somehow be related."
"That's why I came over to talk to you."
"I didn't expect it to cause this kind of misunderstanding."
"...Ah."
Stelle's expression froze.
"Caelus?"
"No way!"
March 7th's face changed instantly.
"He's here too?!"
The expressions of all three Astral Express members changed at once.
Stelle glanced back at Lygus.
Then she remembered everything he had told them about the cycles.
She swallowed.
Slowly, she turned toward March 7th and pointed at herself.
"So..."
"We have to fight Caelus again?"
"Impossible."
March 7th shook her head rapidly, looking utterly defeated.
"We can't win."
"We should just surrender now."
There was absolutely no beating that guy.
She understood that much perfectly.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)