Hold over Myriad of Worlds

I continued working on Space Gate. Because the Loufu has a size similar to the moon, the Space Gate, which needed to be bigger, was hard to build.

I and Zhongli worked to exhaustion for over a month to complete the main structure of the gate. Now Hephaestus has to inscribe divine runes onto it, and Vill-V builds electrical components responsible for operating it. They estimated that it would take four months to complete it.

I left the construction site and went to Astral Express. They decided to perform a test drive into another world. The plan is to drive out of the range of Imaginary Tree and travel right by the edge of Chaos.

That way, they may check the influence of Chaos on them and Astral Express. After traveling for a week in Chaos, they will enter some World Bubble under the Imaginary Tree to see how Trailblazing is in a world where the Nameless are not known at all.

I was asked to accompany them for safety during this first long dive into Chaos. They invited some other people, and for the first drive, a total of ten people agreed to go with Astral Express, the original five-person crew, in addition to me, Venti, Shenhe, Sakura, and Jingliu.

Gathering together, we confirmed the details of the journey and agreed to start tomorrow. I prepared equipment for the travel and lent from Fu Xuan and Hanya some techniques to learn on the way.

The next morning I entered the Astral Express and took the room that I used all those years ago. Leaving my belongings, I returned to the parlor car and sat down, waiting for the rest.

-"It's almost like in the past. Coming first and waiting for the rest."

-"Well, I was always on time. It was Akivili who was always late."

-"Right. Sigh, I hope that THEY are all right."

-"Don't worry, Pom-Pom, I found traces of THEM. Akivili became the teacher for siblings who are in Ningguang's world. Aether is an emanator of Trailblaze, meaning that Akivili must be alive."

-"Good to hear that."

Soon, the rest started arriving. Not even ten minutes later Venti, who was the last to arrive, sat ready for the jump. 

-"Sorry for being late."

-"First time it was not me!"

-"I don't think it's something to be proud of."

-"Don't be such a bore, Dan Heng"

-"Even in his next life, Imbibitor Lunae is still such a serious person."

-"I'm not him."

-"I know, but you shouldn't deny the past."

-"So you guys ready?"

-"I can't get used to this that you are our senior in Astral Express."

-"Don't think about it too much. Most of the existing fractions under Aeons can consider me their senior. I'll even tell you a little secret. I'm P50 in IPC, making me one of the board members."

-"What!!! Doesn't that mean that you are like... super rich?!"

-"Yes. But money stops playing a role when you are an emanator."

-"Envy."

-"March..."

-"Guys, we're starting."

As soon as Himeko said that, Pom-Pom made his announcement, and Astral Express started moving. Soon, warp jump began. The next moment, everything around us started turning gray, and soon we disappeared.

The next moment, we arrived in Chaos.

-"It was not as bad as I imagined."

-"Why did you think it would be bad?"

-"Ehem... Probably, because I once used my own power to simulate warp jump. It was not so smooth."

-"..."

-"..."

-"You can do this?"

-"I, after all, can use the power of Trailblaze.

-"Right..."

-"So, from now on, Welt and Himeko will take care of taking the measurements and checking the state of Astral Express."

-"Will do."

-"The rest of you are free, but be careful. Chaos is not a safe place."

-"Yes."

At first, everybody had many things to do. Playing games with March and Stelle, listening to Venti's stories and songs, and even reading books. But you can only spend so much time before becoming tired, especially when you have no way of knowing the time of day in Chaos.

After three days, I returned to my room and started learning techniques. Jingliu moved in with me and also decided to learn some things. Shenhe and Sakura got room to themself and started getting along quite well.

During the travel, I spent most of the time with Jingliu, resulting in our relationship getting more and more intimate. I also got to know more about Sakura and Shenhe, though their stoic and detached character made it hard to break the ice.

We all gathered together for meals thrice a day and often did some activities, making us quite a close-knit group. Time soup was slowly passing, day by day.

-"Yue, can you tell us about Akivili or other Aeons?"

-"Hmm? What do you want to know about THEM?"

-"I wanted to know how it was to travel with Akivili?"

-"THEY had a knack for making friends. Even on most hostile planets, THEY were able to find a group to befriend and follow."

-"Were THEY powerful?"

-"That is hard to explain, but Akivili is one of the weaker Aeons, but almost none can catch up to THEM in terms of speed."

-"You mean that THEY are good at running away?"

-"Basically, while not pacifist, THEY always opposed violence as the answer. This is why, as Nameless, your job is to connect, not conquer."

This surprised them a little.

-"Don't be so surprised your motto about Unknowable also has origin in THEIR character. Akivili hated being told what THEY couldn't do, especially disdaining limits."

-"You mean what our motto represents is to break the limits."

-"Yes, know and unknown are things you achieved or failed to. Unknowable are things you haven't even tried to achieve. It's good to fail, but don't let yourself be limited and always strive to reach even further."

-"I see."

-"Don't be so silent now. Do you have any more questions?"

-"I want to know more about Nanook. Why does he want to destroy everything?"

-"There is nothing grand in that story. Nanook and Aha come from the same origin. A mortal who witnessed the worst world has to offer during the Swarm."

-"It all comes to the Swarm."

-"One of the most tragic events in history."

-"I wanted to ask about Long. Can you share something about him?"

-"Well, I can tell you that Aeons can be roughly divided into two types, human and ancient. Before the birth of human races, there were many other beings, some of whom became Aeons."

-"Why such division?"

-"Ancient ones never had a mortal perspective on the world. Nihility, Permanence, Voracity, and Propagation. THEY represented the Primality of the world."

-"I see. Other paths have a mortal aspect in them, emotion, understandings about the world, things like that."

-"Exactly. Primal paths represent wild nature that does not require thought. Of THEM, Long was the most 'not bad'."

-"That does not sound like a great complement."

-"It is not. Permanence was never good. THEY pursued an understanding of life, life here meaning existence. Why does the world wish to grow and continue?"

-"Isn't this a great thing to understand?"

-"It is. But when you use everything you can to do so... Scions of Long were all experiments about the nature of life. I'm also the same experiment, seeking the meaning of life as a permanent part of the world."

-"No matter the price or consequence."

-"Indeed."

-"Then, can you explain the difference between Abundance and Permanence? Don't both pursue endless life?"

-"The greatest difference is what life represents. To Long, life is existence or, better to say, nature or world. Yaoshi meanwhile thinks of life as a blessing for every singular person, not as a whole."

-"Hmm... Not sure I understand that correctly."

-"Imagine such a situation. On a certain planet, there are two species. The first one kills the second, and the second is necessary for the world's ecosystem."

-"Ok, I can see that."

-"If Permanence visited such a world, THEY would kill the first species to ensure the world continued. If Abundance visited, THEY would bless every living being, even if that would mean the first species killed second and in the end destroyed that world."

-"Now I understand, but aren't those Aeon too nosy? Can't TEHY do nothing?"

-"Would you not help if you can?"

-"Of course, I would help!

-"There you have it, THEY are simply helping."

We talked a little more about similar subjects, but nothing too interesting was mentioned. The journey continued with no trouble. Astral Express easily resisted the influence of Chaos.

From time to time, I would spend time outside the Astral Express to catch a glimpse of Laws floating around, helping me understand many things about my own powers.

But finally, our trip was coming to an end. We had already spent a month in Chaos and finally found World Buble stable enough for us. 

-"March, Dan Heng, Stelle, and Venti would be ones to explore the situation."

-"Yes"

-"Good. Rest of us will watch over you, and if the need arises, we will assist."

-"Leave it to us!"

After a briefing from Himeko, they started getting ready to descend. When we finally stopped over the planet, hidden within space, Welt and I rose to our feet with a shocked expression.

-"This..."

-"Honkai? Fascinating coincidence. I can feel similarities in the origin of you and this world."

-"This world is similar to the one I came from."

This has not changed the plan much. The only difference is that Welt also descended to search for discrepancies between this and his original world.

They left. Himeko started deploying her satellite to allow communication with those on the ground. My party of four decided to watch everything happening and be on standby.

It didn't take long for the ground party to run into trouble, continuing the tradition of the Nameless always being involved in a mess just after arrival.

During their fight, I noticed that Honkai here was much weaker. This enforced the hypothesis that Honkai is linked to the Imaginary Tree, as this World Bubble was almost outside influence of it.

March and Stelle made quick work of the enemies and continued forward to meet a group of three girls.

One of those girls looked just like Dr. Mei, but not only had a gentle smile, but her polite language almost made Sakura almost spit out her drink.

Taking another look, we also noticed the similarity of another girl to Kevin. Taking photos of two of them, I decided to have a little fun. Finding Mei in my contacts, I started writing.

Yue

Yue

Yue

Mei

Now, it was Kevin's turn.

Yue

Yue

Yue

Kevin

Leaving the mess, that I had just created, for the future me to deal with, I focused on what was happening on the ground. March and Venti become fast friends with new arrivals, who introduced themselves as Mei, Kiana, and Bronya.

They explained about being traine Valkyrie on a mission and invited them to St. Freya school. Venti was first to agree, and after persuading the rest, they joined together to complete the mission.

I rolled my eyes, seeing Venti trying to make himself into a teenager. Promising to ruin his reputation by mentioning his age later, I listened as they explained what their mission was.

Hearing that they were chasing possible Herrscher, we started thinking that the trio of girls was not the brightest. Especially Sakura looked displeased by the underestimation of the Herrschers.

-"Is this world serious?! Send three children after Herrscher?!"

-"Calm down, Sakura. With Venti there, nothing will happen to them."

-"Master is right. Even on the off chance something goes wrong, we can rush to help."

-"Sorry for losing my composure, my Lord."

-"You are a person who probably knows the best the tragedy of Herrscher, so I understand your anger."

-"Yes, if not for you, my Lord, I would have lost everything."-Sakura smiled slightly, thinking of her sister waiting for her return.

-"I believe there is something more going on in this world. Why would they have to chase a Herrscher? Why does Herrscher need to run away?"

-"Hmm, thinking about it, there is indeed something wrong in this situation. But Master, maybe it's because Honkai here is too weak."

-"If that were true, that Herrscher wouldn't be born at all. Honkai has a will. It will not do anything pointless like wasting energy on creating useless Herrscher."

-"You mean this Herrscher is not natural?"

-"Yes. I hope that I'm wrong, as Herrschers being born by human experiments is not something I want to see."-When I said this, I reached to hold Sakura's hand as bloodlust could be felt from her.

-"How dare they!"

-"Calm down, let's wait until we have full understanding of the situation."

I returned my focus to the ground party. After some more fighting, they found the Herrscher we identified as the Herrscher of Wind. Now, they're involved in a standoff with two other organizations. One used mechs as main units, while other was represented by a knightly-looking blond woman.

Herrscher was suppressed by Venti, and the situation started becoming tense. It lasted until Herrscher suddenly recovered their sanity. This shocked everyone who knows how much effort it took me to help Rin do the same. 

Now recovered Herrscher introduced herself as Wendy. Venti suggested she come with him, and she agreed. Of course, the other two groups don't agree with that, but keeping Barbatos in one place is easier said than done.

Soon, the even stronger wind than before manifested. Surprised, they thought that Wendy went on a rampage again, but she was just standing there, surprised as they were. 

Using that as a diversion, Venti quickly flew away, taking the group with him. He asked Mei where to head, and she instructed him how to get to St Freya school. 

Their arrival caused a stir, but after an explanation of what happened to a teacher who was identical to Himeko, our ground crew was accepted inside. It seems that they will wait for the principal to make a decision on what's next.

Our ground crew and Mei followed the teacher Himeko. They were led into a room where a child was sitting behind the desk. After introductions, they explained what had happened before and asked for details about the other two organizations involved.

The child-like principal, Teresa, explained about Anti-Entropy and Schicksal, giving them basic information about the situation between the three parties.

As they were talking, yet another commotion happened. Wendy and Kiana were apprehended and taken away. Hearing this, Teresa told everyone to gather, and soon, they all went to a floating aircraft carrier called Hyperion.

Arriving at the headquarters of Schicksal, Teresa led the attack to take Kiana and Wendy back. Anti-entropy also found its way into the fray, and soon mayhem ensued. 

In the chaotic fight, nobody could locate Kiana or Wendy. But under the guidance of Teresa and their Himeko, they were able to push through opponents and get to the center of the enemy base. Inside, they were stopped by the elites of Schicksal, and just as the situation was getting worse, an intense explosion of Honkai energy rocked the surroundings.