Hold over Myriad of Worlds

-"Call for Matra! Let them bring all great sages before me! Morax, can you go and free Nahida from her prison in the meantime?"

-"Leave it to me."

-"Be careful. Inside is a somewhat disgusting presence."

Zhongli nodded and left.

-"Can I call you Yue?"

-"Yes, of course."

-"Then you also call me by my name, Aranyani."

-"Aranyani, what do you plan to do with the sages?"

-"Bring all their deeds to the surface, and let people decide their fate."

-"Then I can help uncover their past."

-"Please."

Aranyani started arranging, making space for trial, and calling for needed people. Soon, the whole city became aware of what had happened and wanted to come here. In order to allow people to know what is happening inside, We used the System to show people all around Sumeru this place in real-time.

-"Yue, are you ready?"

-"Yes."

-"Good, then let the General Mahamatra bring Sages inside."

-"Yes!"

I looked over to the entrance of Akademiya. Form opened the doors, group of people exited. First was one called the General Mahamatra, who wore traditional clothes of the Emirates. After him walked four sages, it seemed the other two were away at the moment.

-"Thank you, members of Matra. Now, what do you have for your defense? As leaders of Sumeru, you have forsaken your duties. As Great Sages, you have broken Akademiya's principles. How do you plead?"

-"Lord Rukkhadevata, we just did what we had to."

-"Yes, lord Kusanali is too weak. She can't defend Sumeru from threats."

-"Fools! You were pushing us into hellfire!"

-"Interfering with human evolution. Revering gods without acts of devotion. Attempting the forbidden and fearing none. You committed those sins, 1ts, 5th, 6th if you forgot what principles those are."

-"Then let's start with you, Azar. Imprisoning Dendro Archon, concealing countless things, even researching into the taboo, and harming peoples of Sumeru to further your own interests."

-"I did what I could to save Sumeru! The danger posed by surrounding nations was something I couldn't ignore. With no god, we were in no place to choose our means."

-"Hypocrisy and fallacy."

-"Believe him for now"-I interjected-"Let his actions speak."

-"Hmm?"

I chuckled and let my tails appear before everybody. I used the same power as in the throne room and mausoleum before. Shadows of the past unfolded around. Many scenes involving Azar were shown.

-"Let time be the judge. History will show the truth people chose."

Conversations with Fatui, disregard for life. It all showed in many conversations unfolding. The eyes of people showed disgust and anger for what was done behind their backs.

-"Thank you, Yue. Now, what can you say for yourself?"

-"I have done no such thing!"

-"Heh. Few dare to question the power of Finality. Let me show you why."

I pointed at a nearby tree. Soon, it started growing. In the blink of an eye, its height more than doubled. Then, I pointed to another plant nearby. It started shrinking until it turned into a sapling.

-"Normally, I would use a person doubting me as a prop for this little show, but today, I'm in a good mood, so you get to live some time more."

Azar face paled as he took a step back.

-"Has your excuses ended?"

-"..."

-"Then, people of Sumeru. What is your decision?"

Many voices screamed for his execution, some for exile, almost none for lesser punishments.

-"It seems that people have spoken."

-"NO! I won't agree to such an ending. Il Dottore, I know you are here, come out and help me!"

But no one showed.

-"Few would dare to show themself before Archon and oppose him."

-"I believe you are more scary than me."

-"It's not a nice thing to say Aranyani. Most consider me rather beautiful, not scary."

-"In my eyes, you are scarily beautiful."

-"Hmm... Not bad, I'll take it."

-"Ehmem. Excuse me for that. Now, Azar. Your punishment was decided. Now surrender your life."

General Mahamatra stepped forward. He made the former sage kneel. 

-"Lord Rukkhadevata, who is to perform the execution?"

-"I'll do it."

Aranyani nodded, and so I approached. A sword appeared in hand. Slash. Head rolls.

-"Khajeh, you are one of the Azar conspirators. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

-"I agreed with Azar's plans, knowing the lack of ethicality in them. I can only say that I truly believed in the need for a strong god in Sumeru. I have not known of Fatui's involvement."

-"Yue, can you?"

I again showed the past of the person charged. This time, one could see the truth of his words before. Even though he was mistaken, he didn't agree to do any harm to people.

-"While your intentions were pure, you still violated the taboo. You cannot escape punishment for your sin."

-"I'm ready for punishment."

This time, people were unsure what to do. They understood the nuance of this situation. A good person, walking an evil road.

-"Then how about I suggest exile? To redeem his banishment, he is to help the people of the Emirates for a duration of 20 years. Only by then his sin can be forgiven."

-"Hmm. Not a bad proposition."

Those around also voiced their agreement. Some wanted harsher punishment, but their voices were drowned in the crowd.

-"Then let me declare. Khajeh, from now on, you are banished from Sumeru. After 20 years of work in the sands of the Emirates, you may return."

-"Thank you for your lenency."

-"Matra, lead him away."

Khajeh was removed from this place. Aranyani sighed and focused on the two remaining sages.

-"I know what happened to you. Imprisonment for disagreeing with the rest of the sages, in addition to other threats. You suffered to uphold the principles Akademiya was founded upon. Your actions should be an example for all scholars."

-"I just did what I thought was the best. As a member of Vahumana, I'm well aware of why taboos were labeled as such."

-"I also just did that. I'm more happy that Yue cured the Withering, which stumped me for years."

-"That does not change what was done. You deserve praise."

It was decided that they may receive the reward they wished for. Soon, most of the important things were taken care of. Two sages were sentenced to punishment in absentia.

After judging the Sages, I and Venti followed Aranyani to where Zhongli and Nahida were already waiting. The disgusting aura I felt before disappearing some time ago.

-"Yue, I'll take you to the heart of the Akasha system. It is founded upon two pillars, one being the Gnosis, the other is Irminsul."

-"Irminsul?"

-"It is a tree growing upon leylines and the root of my power."

-"You literally used yourself to create Akasha System?"

-"Not exactly. Irminsul is closer to the origin of Dendro, and I'm spirit born of it."

-"Interesting, I know a few people who would wish to study or even dissect you." 

-"Please tell me. I want to know who I should avoid."

-"They are not bad, just passionate."

-"Ok. This is where Gnosis is held."

Before me was a floating green chess piece. I started looking around and analyzing how it works. While asking for some additional info from Aranyani, I was able to get some understanding of the Akasha System.

Later, we moved on to Irminsul, and I again tried to uncover its secrets. This time, it was much harder, as Irminsul itself was an integral part of the world. Only after more than two days I finally created a blueprint of the System.

-"Thank you for your time Aranyani. Without you, it would be impossible to fully understand how to recreate the System."

-"I just replayed for your help before."

-"What are your plans from now on?"

-"I plan to assist Nahida in ruling Sumeru. Aside from that, I don't know." 

-"Then how about joining Hold like Zhongli?"

-"Hmm, that thing to travel between worlds? Why not. I'm quite interested in what you are trying to achieve."

-"Then I'm happy to have you on board. I can offer you the position of Librarian or ask for some other if you wish."

-"No Librarian is enough."

-"How about a little tour of Hold?"

-"Much appreciated."

I took Aranyani, while Zhongli took Venti. Apparently, the windy bard was invited by him after talking with Elysia to accept him into Hope. We toured around. Venti was almost ecstatic when he met Eden, who was eating with Elysia. Two of them started talking about art, and soon, an impromptu concert was held outside the Hold.

After listening to two of them, I went to the workshop with Aranyani, where Hephaestus was already waiting. We started working on recreating the System with [Grand Library] as its center.

After spending a whole day, we found two issues that needed addressing before we could start setting the System up. Energy source and terminals.

We lack something akin to Gnosis for the whole System to function, but we decided to create a powerful Nexus in the image of the first prototype to hold that role.

Terminals, on the other hand, needed a few functions we had not created yet, and as such more work was required. Luckily, my ship arrived near the place, where Ruan Mei was waiting for me.

I left the Hold and returned to my ship. Through the window, I could see a space station. A docking procedure had already started, and soon, I was exiting my ship.

-"It's good to see you again, Yue."

-"I'm also happy to meet you again, Ruan Mei. How is your research going?"

-"Not bad, but I could use some assistance."

-"Presumably, that's why I'm here."

-"Yes. Oh, right, let me introduce you, this is Herta, and next is Mr. Screwllum. Both are my colleagues from Genius Society."

-"Welcome, I'm Yue."

-"It is indeed great to meet Lord emanator of Finality."

-"Greetings, I hope you will assist us in research."

-"Truth be told, I also want some assistance in research. I believe we can both satisfy our needs."

-"Please follow me. Let us sit somewhere more comfortable."

While we walked, Ruan Mei explained to me their Simulated Universe project and some issues they ran into. Catching glimpses of Aeons is not something easily done.

-"I have some experience with Aeons and can tell you that without using something powerful as the source for your universe, any image of Aeon you generate can corrode the whole thing."

-"We just found out about that issue. Not long ago, a new member of Astral Express tested the simulation and summoned Nanook. Since then, we can't stabilize it again."

-"Let me take a look."

Seeing a great program capable of simulating the universe was an eye-opener. I soon found the trouble they were referring to.

-"Well, you are quite lucky you had Stellaron here just before, so it absorbed most of the Destruction from here."

I used Path of Destruction to absorb traces left by it in the code of simulation.

-"You should be able to stabilize that now."

-"Let us try."

It took an hour but they succeded. Running a few more control tests confirmed that all was right.

-"Thank you for your assistance."

-"No problem. Now, can I interest you in something?"

I explained what I wanted to create in Hold, keeping information from another world's secret. After detailing the troubles we need to solve, Herta becomes interested in the subject.

Screwllum also agreed to help with creating the terminal capable of operating the New Akasha System. Only Ruan Mei was not exactly interested in this project.

-"I have other projects that may interest you, Ruan Mei. I'm not involved in it that much, but I know its progress."

-"Hou? You have many projects, Yue."

-"I'll explain about that next. Now let me tell you about MANTIS."

We talked a little more about both projects until the subject of the origin of those was brought up again. Explanation about Hold was difficult, but when I shoved proof, they had stars in their eyes.

-"We agree to work with you. Just take us to that Hold of yours."

-"Yes, an opportunity like that is rare."

-"Then come with me."

I took them inside. Herta and Screwllum instantly went to Hephaestus to start work on the System. I took Ruan Mai to Mobius, who was working on many new specimens. Two of them instantly hit it off and started talking about their pursuits of life and evolution.

I left shortly after they started talking about strapping me to the table. In their words, 'You are born to be an experimental subject'.

I returned to the workshop and joined the rest to finally create the System. We worked the next three days and finally completed the whole thing.

We set it up within [Grand Library] and gave terminals to other people. Terminals were made to look like phones with functions to write messages to others and search through information within the library.

In order to secure the interests of Hold we created 5 ranks of information access ranks within the System: minimal, normal, executive, administrative, and total.

Minimal access gives you access only to knowledge of the world you are a member of. It was created with those not directly affiliated with Hold in mind. For example, the family member of a soldier to contact them.

Normal access is for all members of Hold who do not hold higher positions. It allows one to get the most of the nonsensitive knowledge from all worlds.

Executive access is for those who have decision power within the ranks of Hold. It grants them access to an expanded database depending on their needs and authority.

Administrative access is for the highest members, Principles and deputies in addition to researchers. As people under my Progress, I allocated them higher ranks as worker benefits. It allows users to use everything inside the System.

The last rank, 'total access', is given only to me. It is only rank allowed to modify the System when needed. It also allows me to check operational logs.

When everything was said and done. We decided to hold a little party to celebrate. Discussions also started on new projects, Herta proposed joining a simulated universe and System, while Screwllum decided to continue upgrading the terminal with technology from other worlds.

Soon after, Ningguang called me to come with her. Seven days passed since our meeting, and as such, today, we will hear an answer from Jing Yuan. When we arrived in [Great Hall] he was already waiting there.

-"Yue, Ningguang, it's good to see you again. We, the Loufu, decided to join you in Hold, so please take care of us from now."

-"We welcome you, General."

-"Yes, in the future we will walk together."

-"I have one more thing to say. I contacted the rest of the Alliance. They also hold an interest in Hold, but they declared that you'll have to do one more thing for them to join. Kill Yaoshi."

-"This is quite the demand."

-"I'm aware, but Alliance as a whole, is bound with the promise of ancestors to do so. Only by completing that mission, we will swear allegiance to Hold."

-"I'm incapable of killing Aeon."

-"I know. Just, if and when you do, the Xianzhou will follow you even beyond the end of the world."