"Oh? That magical? What's his name?" Silver Wolf, who had just finished fine-tuning the parameters of Firefly's medical pod, slowly walked to the observation window. She looked at the starry sky outside that had returned to "normal," a hint of piqued interest in her voice.
"Asterion..." Elio uttered the name.
"A new character added to the script?" Kafka seized on the most crucial point. "So then, is our choice to guide the Astral Express toward Amphoreus... still the correct one?"
A brief silence, as if Elio was searching for the definitive anchor point amidst countless turbulent tributaries of fate.
Then, a flash of irrefutable certainty gleamed in those clear blue cat eyes: "Fortunately, the Astral Express is still heading in the right direction."
Its voice carried a faint, barely perceptible note of relief. "At least... among all the possibilities I can currently observe, the outcome points to this."
"If the Express hadn't gone to Amphoreus, if it hadn't intervened in this variable... the future the cosmos could welcome would be reduced to only two suffocating possibilities."
"Possibility A:" The clear blue pupils of the black cat seemed to reflect a cold river of data.
"The individual known as Asterion would still walk alone on that extreme path of Preservation. Through tens of thousands of world resets, he would maintain his eternal persistence and vigil."
"Then..." Elio's tone took on a note of almost cruel calm. "When that curious genius, The Herta, finally joined forces with a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection to poke through the 'paper' of Amphoreus..."
"What she would run into would no longer be a Deliverer obsessed with salvation, but an Emperor of Erudition who had already crowned himself."
"In the name of Rupert II, he would bathe the entire universe in blood."
"In that spacetime, whether carbon-based flesh, or silicon-based Intellitron, whether brilliant civilizations or ancient stars, all would be analyzed and compressed in his hands, reduced to streams of cold data within a colossal computer."
"In the name of Preservation, this man would degrade all living beings, sealing countless lives and civilizations within planet-sized supercomputers, one after another."
"He would carry out this grand and cruel 'salvation' for the sake of one twisted promise—to bring the 'starry sky' he had once promised to the companions forever beyond his reach in his memories..."
Elio's voice paused here, as if chilled by the very vision:
"And so... Erudition, became the universe's fourth type of Finality."
Kafka let out a soft sigh, a sigh laden with complex emotions. She tried to lighten this heavy future with a touch of almost cruel humor:
"Sounds like... a future little Silver Wolf might enjoy?"
"He couldn't bring his loved ones to the real sea of stars, so he chose... to bring the entire sea of stars to the ones he loved."
Hearing Kafka's words, Silver Wolf shivered violently and waved her hands repeatedly, her expression one of undisguised revulsion:
"No way! Kafka! I like playing games, I like virtual worlds, but I know the difference between reality and games!"
"That Asterion guy wants to 'turn' all the living people in the universe into NPCs in a game!"
"For us 'players,' that's the scariest horror movie!"
Elio ignored this minor interruption, its gaze still fixed on the void outside the window where the morning star had once shone, continuing to narrate the deeper despair in its unchanging tone:
"And then, Possibility B."
"This is... an even more terrifying, even worse possibility."
"When the path he walks completely derails from Preservation, when the smiling face of Elation can no longer suppress the rage and despair accumulated over billions of cycles—enough to incinerate the entire sea of stars..."
"At that moment, without any push from existing Paths, without any need for the so-called Four Traces of the End, Finality itself would descend, in the most direct and instantaneous way."
"Life would fall silent without a sound, stars would shatter in an instant, and even the radiance of Aeons would flicker and fall like a candle in the wind."
"Ultimately, the entire vast universe would become a silent, meaningless, enormous graveyard... no survivors, no recorders, not even any 'life' besides him... All efforts made by the universe to delay Finality would turn to nothing."
Kafka was silent for a moment, even her eyes, accustomed to the vicissitudes of fate, rippled slightly.
After a pause, she picked up the unfinished glass of red wine beside her again and took a small, self-deprecating sip, as if needing the alcohol to suppress the chill rising in her heart.
"So then," her voice carried a faint, barely audible hoarseness,
"Should I feel grateful? That without anyone knowing, without anyone being able to predict it, our choice to guide the Express to Amphoreus... by sheer chance... chose the best, the least despairing path for this universe?"
Elio, nestled in Kafka's arms, did not echo her sentiment. Deep within those clear blue eyes, countless threads of fate and blurry figures seemed to intertwine and flicker intensely.
It spoke slowly, its voice carrying the calm of one who perceives a cruel truth:
"The best? No. The script hasn't clearly revealed whether the final outcome of this path is 'the best.' It's merely... that it averts those two certain ends."
The black cat's tail swept lightly. "However, the price is already visible. The flames of Destruction have been thoroughly ignited, their intensity far exceeding any previous script simulation. On the road to the unknown destination, the Astral Express is destined to collide head-on with Destruction with even greater ferocity."
"You mean..." Blade, who had been leaning against the wall with arms crossed, slowly walked to the window. His cold gaze pierced the deep starry sky, his voice low.
"That Stelle will run into a Lord Ravager ahead of schedule?" He paused, his tone carrying a hint of subtle relief, perhaps for his companion who was recuperating.
"...All I can say is, it's a good thing Firefly is in the medical pod right now. Otherwise..."
"Yes." Elio's confirmation carried an undeniable weight. "Before the Astral Express has the chance to establish deeper strategic bonds with other forces in the cosmos, be it the Interastral Peace Corporation, the Xianzhou Alliance, or other potential allies—"
"They will have to face the destructive threat from a Lord Ravager first. This will be... an early boss fight."