I Didn't Lie

"Lan of 'The Hunt' has been confirmed contaminated."

The god who had once drawn a bow in the starry sky to shoot down abominations and exact justice was now covered in signs of insect transformation, golden cracks spreading across their entire body.

"Perhaps 'The Wild Hunt' would now be a more fitting name for this god than 'The Hunt.'"

Sera sighed as he watched the suffering god on the screen.

"Embracing hatred, they broke free of the shackles of restraint. Then, fearing loneliness, they tirelessly pursued everything in the galaxy as prey, never stopping until, at last, they turned their bow and arrow on themself.

"'The Hunt,' contaminated by other Paths, ultimately fell and became 'The Wild Hunt.'"

The god in the starry sky let out a roar.

"They still have a shred of reason left."

Ruan Mei spoke softly.

"They're begging the other gods for release."

"As expected of an Aeon whose driving force carries restraint. Even in this state, they can still hold on."

Black Tomb looked at Lan and spoke with a sigh.

"Even an Aeon has ended up like this. Then the Pathstriders of 'The Hunt' have probably all..." Turned into insects.

Sera left the sentence unfinished, but everyone present and everyone listening understood what he meant.

None of those on The Hunt's side doubted him, for their powers were stirring, as though mourning the god on the other side of the screen.

"All ships, fall back."

Black Tomb did not hesitate. She forcibly took control of every ship's operating system. In the face of an Aeon's mighty power, all she could do was save whoever she could.

Under Black Tomb's control, the fleet withdrew in an orderly fashion. But Black Tomb knew full well that distance meant nothing to an Aeon, especially one who controlled causality.

"Put me through to the Company."

Black Tomb spoke to Asta behind her.

"Yes, Ms. Herta."

Asta nodded and connected her to the person with the highest authority in the Company fleet at present: Jade of the Ten Stonehearts.

"Ms. Herta." Jade nodded to Black Tomb as a sign of respect.

"Enough talk. Only a god can stand against another god."

Black Tomb folded her arms and looked at Jade's Cornerstone.

"Could that giant hammer you summoned in Penacony draw the gaze of 'Preservation'?"

"You want to bring the Amber Lord into this?"

"What else? Which of us can beat Lan?"

"To tell you the truth, Ms. Herta, I'm not sure either. But it is a possibility."

"That's enough. Lan's plea for help, the contamination of 'Propagation,' and your Cornerstone should be enough to bring 'Preservation' into this."

Black Tomb waved a hand.

"I understand."

Jade nodded and hesitated no longer.

"I come to pay homage, I come to pour the wine, I come to possess.

"I bestow poison as sweet dew, sow in spring and reap in autumn, and wait for withered fruit to fill the branches.

"All for... the Amber Lord!"

"It worked."

The corners of Black Tomb's mouth, pressed tight with tension, curled into a smile.

"'Preservation' has entered the fray.

"Wait... Is that 'Harmony'? Xipe actually came too."

Black Tomb stared in surprise at the Aeons standing in the starry sky.

"Build walls!" they said.

Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, raised the giant hammer in their hand and saluted the Aeon going to their death.

Xipe of Harmony watched quietly from the side. Then the stars flickered. Lan said nothing, only nodding, as if agreeing to Xipe's words.

Then, naturally,

Lan raised their bow and aimed at themself.

"Whoosh!"

Lan's meteor pierced through their unresisting body.

From that moment on... "The Hunt" died completely, and "The Wild Hunt" was born.

In the next eight seconds, Qlipoth's giant hammer fell.

Then came two more blows.

We don't say that Qlipoth hammered "The Wild Hunt" to death in three blows. We say that the Aeon of "Preservation" fought "The Wild Hunt" for three Amber Eras and won a hard-fought victory.

"Lan of 'The Hunt' severed their own hands and shot dead the greatest injustice about to be born... themself, fallen into 'The Wild Hunt.'

"That also left 'The Wild Hunt,' once born, unable to resist 'Preservation' at all."

Sera explained from the side.

"Wait..."

Sera and Black Tomb stared intently at the other Aeon in the starry sky: Xipe.

Xipe looked at the dead "Wild Hunt" and reached out to tear something away.

"They're taking the restraint of 'The Hunt,'" Sera and Black Tomb said in unison.

"And the Path of 'The Hunt' itself isn't resisting at all. It's as if Lan agreed to it."

Sera thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

"Harmony is an Aeon with three faces. One is themself, one is Taiyi, who willingly went to their death, and the other is the god who governs beauty, Idrila of 'Beauty.'

"Of those, the driving force of 'Beauty' is temperance. And now, before dying, Lan has given 'Harmony' restraint as well.

"That completely cuts off the possibility of 'Harmony' reaching Finality.

"Lan really did everything they could for the galaxy~"

Sera also lowered his head slightly, paying tribute to "The Hunt," who had gone to their death.

Even before dying, they had cut off a possible Finality for the galaxy. They truly were worthy of being called the god who restrained themself.

Unfortunately, Lan had devoted themself to ridding the galaxy of abominations, never expecting the Xianzhou behind them to stab them in the back.

"I see." Black Tomb's eyes lit up as well.

"Excuse me, everyone."

A projection of a gray-haired woman in traditional attire appeared nearby.

It was Hua, marshal of the Xianzhou Alliance's Cloud Knights and the first Emanator of "The Hunt."

"Firebird?!" Feiying cried out and quickly hid behind Sera.

The moment Feiying saw Hua, her body had already hidden in the place that gave her the greatest sense of security-behind Sera-before her brain could react.

"It's you." Hua glanced at Feiying without saying anything more, then looked at Sera and the Black Tomb puppet instead.

"Mr. Sera, Ms. Herta... may I ask what I was doing in that timeline?"

Hua absolutely did not believe she could have accepted this outcome, so she thought something must have happened to her, just as it had to Yaoguang.

And that was indeed the case.

"Sure."

The Black Tomb puppet nodded.

She casually brought up a video.

In the footage, a blond, blue-eyed man spread his arms.

"Cloud Knights Marshal, it's true that my power comes from Abundance. Though I am an Emanator of 'Abundance,' Yaoshi is our common enemy."

Hua looked coldly at Luocha with disgust.

"Your so-called plan to kill a god was to turn all the Xianzhou into hives of 'Propagation'?!"

Hua's voice was tight with suppressed fury.

"You must be mad to dare meddle with 'Propagation'!"

"Hahaha..."

Luocha laughed softly.

"Cloud Knights Marshal, I didn't lie."

Luocha showed her the signs of insect transformation covering her body.

"You actually used your body as an Emanator of 'Abundance' to feed 'Propagation'?!"

Hua hesitated no longer and opened with Sword God.

Luocha smiled as she watched herself burn in the flames of Sword God.

"Take a guess. When one insect appears before you, how many are there on this Xianzhou?"

As she spoke, Luocha's body split open-or rather, it was torn apart by the Starcrusher Swarm King she had been feeding with the Power of Abundance inside her body.