Me? Fighting Sukuna? Seriously?

In the pitch-black space, three people who looked ninety percent alike had gathered together.

Two were sitting, and one was lying down.

The three looked almost identical. The few differences were that one had a slightly cleaner face, though it bore some fluorescent markings; another had far more markings on his face, as if he were about to shatter; the last looked the worst of all. He only had a few fluorescent markings, but his clothes were tattered and he was covered in wounds.

"So your starting point was a spaceship drifting through space..." Morien from Lord of Mysteries rubbed his temples.

He had just received the memories of the other two "selves," and his head was throbbing.

"Yes." The Morien lying on the ground replied weakly.

He was the one with the most obvious markings on his face.

The tattered Morien sat nearby, occasionally poking him with a finger.

"Then the AI on the ship injected you with something called a 'Synesthesia Beacon,' and you immediately gained the ability to understand other languages." Morien from Lord of Mysteries sorted through the memories flooding into his mind.

"Oh, this thing not only lets you understand any language, it also lets you read any kind of writing stored in the Synesthesia Beacon database."

"That's right." The Morien lying on the ground raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up.

"Ah..." Morien from Lord of Mysteries drew out the sound. "I think I can guess what world you're in."

"What a coincidence. I guessed it too." The tattered Morien replied.

"What a coincidence, I guessed it too." The Morien on the ground said.

"Honkai: Star Rail." Morien from Lord of Mysteries said. "Hmm... a spaceship... You really have nowhere to go, above or below. Your situation is even more extreme than mine."

The timing of Honkai: Star Rail Morien's transmigration had been incredibly unfortunate.

This was a spaceship belonging to the Interastral Peace Corporation.

The ship's pilot had died suddenly from long-term exploitation, while the AI installed aboard was merely artificial intelligence without self-awareness, not a living mechanical intelligence. It could not communicate.

As an outsider, he had no authority whatsoever to control the ship.

As for why the AI provided food and a Synesthesia Beacon for communication—

The reason was simple.

The Corporation always needed to travel to all kinds of planets, and often used a negotiation tactic of "locking up the natives for a day or two" to "resolve" problems peacefully.

The area at the back of the ship that could serve as a detention room was an excellent choice.

"To be able to talk to yourself for a week without breaking down, you're seriously incredible." Morien from Lord of Mysteries gave him a thumbs-up.

Drifting alone through the universe, with no one to talk to, unchanging darkness outside the window, and only a corpse as company...

"Hehe, I think so too." Honkai: Star Rail Morien laughed a little nervously. "This starting point is insanely good."

He was full of resentment.

"But you aren't much better off." He turned to look at the tattered Morien, who was still poking him.

Among the three worlds, the world where this tattered Morien lived was probably the lowest-level one.

Yet he was currently in the most danger.

"It's one thing to joke about it online, but in real life, who wouldn't want to risk their life and become a speed bump for the Four Disaster Curses?" Jujutsu Morien grinned.

The world this Morien had transmigrated into was Jujutsu Kaisen.

He had arrived on the day of the Shibuya Incident.

At the time, he had inexplicably appeared in a subway station.

Seeing Japanese posters all around him, he had thought he had transmigrated to Japan in a parallel world.

Just as he was wondering whether he could find a way to sneak back home without a passport, he ran headlong into a modified human transformed into a monster by Idle Transfiguration.

It was... pretty sudden.

A truly brutal case of love at first collision.

Seeing his scorched hair, ragged clothes, and wounds all over his body, Morien from Lord of Mysteries and Honkai: Star Rail Morien both gave him pitying looks.

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of looks are those? I awakened cursed techniques!" Jujutsu Morien shouted indignantly.

Perhaps because his body had adapted after transmigrating, he really had awakened a technique and cursed energy. Yet the other two still looked at him with pity.

Honkai: Star Rail was a world driven by will, where even an insect had the potential to become a god.

Lord of Mysteries had complete Paths of the Divine. As long as one worked hard, becoming a god was not impossible.

But the world of jujutsu was different.

It valued talent. Whether someone could become a jujutsu sorcerer was decided from birth. Everyone's cursed energy was fixed, and it was nearly impossible to break through afterward. Their techniques were also innately engraved in their minds.

Jujutsu Morien's cursed energy was only barely a little higher than that of an ordinary person, while his technique was even more embarrassing.

It was called Resonance Curse Technique.

Its effect was to make his voice directly appear in the minds of targets within a certain range.

It consumed an enormous amount of energy. He could maintain it for no more than three minutes, its straight-line range could barely exceed a hundred meters, and he could only use a normal speaking volume—he could not blast out sound bombs.

"My enemies' abilities are controlling fire, controlling forests, controlling the sea, and controlling souls."

"And my ability is sending voice messages without a phone."

"If I work hard enough, I can even send them in groups."

"This is absolutely amazing."

Jujutsu Morien patted his chest proudly.

Looks like he had been driven mad.

"Excellent. One day, it'll be your turn to fight Sukuna." Honkai: Star Rail Morien pointed his thumb at Jujutsu Morien.

"Huh?" Jujutsu Morien looked shocked. "You actually expect a Little Smart to fight Sukuna?"

"A Little Smart can send messages pretty far, actually," Morien from Lord of Mysteries reminded him. "At most, you're a toy walkie-talkie."

"And a one-way one at that."

Wonderful. He had not disgraced himself. At the very least, he could earn the title of the most roadside jujutsu sorcerer in history.

"Then there's you..." Morien from Lord of Mysteries stroked his chin and looked at Honkai: Star Rail Morien. "You embarked on the Path of Propagation?"

"Maybe..." Honkai: Star Rail Morien answered half-heartedly.

"That's pretty miserable too..."

Those on the Path of Propagation died if separated from the Swarm. As the only anomaly in the entire universe, if Honkai: Star Rail Morien had not entered this mysterious space and found his "kind," he probably would have died alone before long.

"If only you became a Beyonder." Honkai: Star Rail Morien rolled over. "Then maybe I could leave the ship myself and find a planet."

"I probably can't be counted on." Morien from Lord of Mysteries spread his hands. "I feel like even if I became a Beyonder, solving your problem would be difficult."

"I'd have to become a Demigod, or even an Angel."

"That's true..." Honkai: Star Rail Morien said dejectedly.

"I'm even less useful." Jujutsu Morien shook his head. "You can't expect a toy walkie-talkie to do anything for you."

He was a grudge-holding walkie-talkie, too.

"Sigh..." Honkai: Star Rail Morien let out a heavy breath. "If only a really powerful 'me' could show up right now."

At that moment, Morien from Lord of Mysteries pointed at his own face, at the fluorescent markings on it.

"Come to think of it, when I first noticed this, I thought it was something special I brought with me after transmigrating."

"But now that I look at it, did you bring it to me?"

"Seems like it." Honkai: Star Rail Morien nodded.

This was Entropy Loss.

Apparently, because he had become the only anomaly in the universe as a transmigrator, his loneliness had resonated with the Path of Propagation.

Loneliness, division, death upon leaving the Swarm.

Those were the characteristics of the Path of Propagation, and all of them manifested in him.

Whether it was his initial loneliness aboard the ship or the current situation where the identity of "Morien" had split across countless worlds, both perfectly matched their present circumstances.

The markings that had first appeared on him were the manifestation of "death upon leaving the Swarm."

It was a phenomenon unique to the Path of Propagation, a phenomenon unique to Honkai: Star Rail.

Yet it was also a "disease" that Morien, whose starting point was the world of Lord of Mysteries, should not and could not have suffered from.

"Then that's strange..." Morien from Lord of Mysteries said in confusion. "I hadn't been here before..."

How had he gotten saddled with a negative effect in advance...

He was certain that only after coming here and touching each other would they synchronize memories and abilities.

Just like when he touched them earlier, he could clearly feel that he had synchronized the physical qualities Honkai: Star Rail Morien gained after embarking on the Path, making his body far stronger than that of an ordinary person.

And after touching Jujutsu Morien, he had gained a tiny bit of cursed energy and Resonance Curse Technique.

But why...

All three Moriens pondered the question.

At that moment, the pitch-black space gradually began to destabilize.

The three suddenly had a premonition that they were about to return.

Honkai: Star Rail Morien, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly sat up. He looked at his other two selves and spoke rapidly.

"I don't know how much longer I can hold on."

He had barely recovered this time, but before long, he felt that he would truly break down.

"So, for my sake, become a Beyonder." He raised his fist toward Morien from Lord of Mysteries.

Thinking of Honkai: Star Rail Morien's experience, Morien from Lord of Mysteries could not help making a face as if he had eaten shit.

It felt like he had it even worse than himself...

He truly wanted to help his other self, but...

"But even if you say that, becoming a Demigod or even an Angel in a short time..."

Honkai: Star Rail Morien pressed his hands together and raised them over his head.

"Please, other me!"

"...All right... I'll do my best..."

"I'll come in from time to time! You two have to remember to come in often and talk to me too!" Honkai: Star Rail Morien left them with those final words.

He did not know how long this space's cooldown would be, but he would definitely enter again whenever he got the chance.

He truly could not stand having no one to talk to.

That was also why, even though they could directly view each other's memories, the other two Moriens had chosen to communicate through conversation.

They only had time to say that much before the three Moriens were swallowed by the darkness spreading around them.

When the world before his eyes finally began to brighten, Morien found himself back in the original cabin.

"Ah... I'm back."

Morien shook his head.

The buzzing sound in his ears had vanished.

Having found "companions," Morien no longer belonged to the state of being separated from the Swarm.

The manifestation of Entropy Loss on his body was no longer so obvious.

The driving force of Propagation was loneliness.

He had embarked on the Path because of the loneliness of not belonging in this world, then stabilized after finding a Swarm.

At last, the loneliness that had always lingered in his heart disappeared.

The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.

He was finally no longer "alone."

The impassioned chants around him continued. Morien blinked and listened carefully.

Having synchronized the effects of the Synesthesia Beacon, Morien discovered that he could actually begin to understand what those chants were saying.

At first, he could only barely understand a few words, such as "demons" and "resistance."

As he heard more and more words, he understood more and more of what was being said.

Morien watched Tris pace around the cabin, swinging his arms as he walked and speaking with fervent passion.

"The greed and brutality of those demons threaten every one of us! So we cannot be lambs awaiting slaughter! If I fall, I will rise again. But I will not fall! There will only be two outcomes in this counterattack! Either they destroy us, or we destroy them!"

Ah... Had Emperor Roselle brought The Rise of the Empire into this world?

Morien finally understood what Tris was saying, and those lines sounded more and more familiar.

Roselle had probably used them while showing off.

"Come to think of it..." Morien suddenly sensed something.

"Does Propagation really have an ability to hide itself?" Morien touched his face.

It felt hard.

True Sting could create illusions.

But that used their scale powder.

Yet he had already confirmed that he had never actively released scale powder.

And it could not have been an effect caused by something synchronized from another world.

He had not even brought back the Synesthesia Beacon. He had only brought back the effects of his body being modified by the Synesthesia Beacon.

He seemed unable to synchronize "matter," and he had no scale powder.

Morien frowned and thought.

On closer consideration, that did not seem to be an "illusion," but control over other people's "attention."

"No... Something's wrong..."

Morien leaned his head back so Tris's constantly swinging arm would not hit his face.

If he had to name something related to that, the only thing he had was Entropy Loss Syndrome.

It would cause him to gradually dissipate and silently leave the world.

But that was clearly a negative effect. Back then, as half a Pathstrider, he had been even less capable of actively controlling a negative effect.

Then either he had another ability, or something had helped him control Entropy Loss.

He carefully recalled the memories brought by his other two selves.

Morien frowned, thinking and remembering.

Suddenly, he seemed to recall something.

In the other memories, there had been a moment when both of his other selves saw their own reflections in glass.

The reflection in the glass was different from his mutated face!

Morien examined it closely, but he still could not make it out.

That feeling... that feeling... it was as if...

"That's it!" He suddenly saw clearly.

As he saw what was in his memories, Morien finally noticed that there had always been a "background sound" in them.

Morien of the Honkai: Star Rail World should have broken down long ago. But a "background sound" had constantly been helping him regulate his emotions, keeping him cheerful enough not to collapse.

That sound had been playing all along, yet none of the three Moriens had noticed it.

Cheerful... cheerful...

Morien slowly raised his head. At that very moment, Tris looked at him as well.

In the reflection in Tris's pupils, he saw his own face.

Tris saw nothing, but Morien did.

He had stepped onto [Propagation] and another Path, giving him vision far beyond that of ordinary people.

He saw an orange-red mask on his face, its mouth stretched into a sneering grin.

He heard laughter.

"Aha."

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