The breath of death was about to swallow his consciousness whole.
The helplessness felt like having lead weights bound to his body before sinking into the abyssal depths of the sea.
Suffocating, silent, lightless.
Absolute stillness, for he had already lost all sensation.
As the humanoid monster draped in clown masks breached the physical space where the Astral Express resided, everything around it began to rot and twist.
The eerie power of contamination wrought indescribable changes upon the train cars.
Cold metal walls transformed into squirming blood vessels and chunks of flesh, with crimson tentacles swaying across their surfaces like vermin.
If any place deserved to be called hell, the Astral Express in this moment might well earn a nomination.
Aha was still laughing wildly.
“Hahaha!
Do you believe in miracles, kid?” The pink-haired girl slowly raised her palm.
Grinning maniacally while tears and snot streamed down her face, she seemed to be shaken by a mighty force of will—so much so that the Aeon of Elation’s control over her body began to waver.
A girl who had lost her past was now reclaiming her own arm from the grip of an Aeon purely through her own willpower!
Though Aha was not an Aeon specializing in mental control, such a feat was still enough to move Him.
“Fascinating!
Hahaha!
How fascinating!” Gazing at the source of contamination—which He had previously banished to a parallel universe only for it to return to the car—He casually relaxed His grip on her body.
Thus, the instant she regained control, March 7th lunged forward, throwing her arms around the flesh-draped humanoid skeleton from behind and pressing her palm over the back of its maggot-infested, rotting hand.
“Believe in yourself, Cang,” she whispered.
“You can do this…” Though she too was consumed by fear and the unknown of everything before her, she could feel a deep, undeniable empathy for the emotions swirling within this skeleton.
Meanwhile, the hideous monster covered in clown masks made its move.
The mask on its head split open with a sharp crack, exposing a vertical maw lined with jagged rows of fangs.
Dark red and pitch-black tentacles snaked out from the mouth, slowly reaching toward the pink-haired girl and the rotten skeleton whose backs were turned to it.
These tentacles were not merely disgusting; each one oozed intense visual and mental contamination.
A single glance would drive an ordinary human into hysterical madness or trigger an unspeakable mutation.
The power of contamination saturated the cabin.
Even the colossal will of an Aeon was affected to a degree.
Yet March 7th seemed oblivious to it all.
A translucent phantom separated from her body, stepped toward the source of cosmic contamination, and stared at it with unnatural composure.
It was only when the faint rustle of a pen nib scratching paper broke the quiet that the phantom burst into a laugh of profound relief.
Aha laughed.
Just as He had laughed long ago upon reaching the boughs of the Tree of Existence, when He heard the first cry of a newborn child.
Life was fragile as paper, yet capable of birthing infinite variables and endless possibilities—so it was with that wailing babe of the past, and so it was with this boy now, who clung tightly to the fountain pen in his hand even as his final spark of will flickered toward extinction.
To understand joy is the exclusive privilege of intelligent life; neither cold stone nor burning stars can appreciate the humor of existence.
Elation is the dignity of life.
And in this moment—the dignity of life lived within the girl’s joyful smile, within the woman’s tender gaze, within the man’s silent vigil, within the youth’s quiet march forward, and beneath the boy’s icy pen point.
For uncounted eons, Aha had pursued a joy incomprehensible to others— Seeking worthy rivals to play against, games to pass the age, and endings unconcerned with victory or defeat; Seeking knee-slapping jokes, absurd misunderstandings born of chance, and wild, soaring ballads.
And now, all of it was being trampled by an unspeakable contamination.
The dignity and joy of life were reduced to meaningless chaos within the twisted corruption.
At the thought of such senseless disorder spreading across the universe, Aha saw it as the greatest obstacle on His Path of Elation…
and, of course, the ultimate source of fun.
So He had answered the prayer of [Cang] and descended to this place.
And there He found another intriguing creature besides the [Source of Abominable Contamination].
Ye Cang’s life force had dispersed, but his consciousness was not entirely dead— In the suffocating darkness, a pair of warm little hands cupped his cheeks.
The girl’s gentle voice called him back from the endless gloom.
When he opened his eyes, all he could see was the fountain pen gripped in his fingers, and five contorted hands resting lightly atop the back of his hand.
He did not need to look up to know which companion aboard the train each hand belonged to.
The power surging into him sequentially caused flesh, blood, and sinew to knit over his withered bones.
Stimulated by invisible neural fibers, his wrist moved once more— “The Curse of Eternal Damnation!” Indeed, it was no simple immortality.
Even if he were deeply infected by the source of contamination, even if his soul were reduced to ash by an Aeon, this body would not perish easily!
This way, once he took control of the body…
This was the answer Ye Cang had reached.
He lifted his head and followed his spiritual sense toward Aha, only to perceive several equally terrifying presences alongside Him—without exception, all were terrifying entities on the level of Aeons!
Vertigo swept over him as Ye Cang felt his soul dragged from his body by an irresistible, grand force, casting him out into the boundless galaxy.
Freed from the shackles of flesh, his sight and hearing were restored.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a swirling galactic vortex beneath his feet, countless brilliant stars flowing like shimmering sand in a dazzling display.
And then, he saw the “Tree.” It spanned heaven and earth, stretching across the cosmos.
Every branch connected to stars; every root plunged into the limitless sea of space.
It was impossible to tell whether the universe had birthed this invisible “Tree” or whether the “Tree” upheld the tangible universe.
Rather than a tree, it was more like light gathered from countless worlds, which merely happened to form the shape of a tree.
Ye Cang was no stranger to this tree.
After all, it was one of the two foundational pillars of the Honkai universe.
The Imaginary Tree, also known as the Tree of Existence.
Here and now, beneath the branches of the Tree of Existence, Ye Cang stood in silence, surrounded by four colossal avatars of Aeons.
He kept his head lowered, not daring to look upon the faces of these supreme beings.
Instinct burned deep within his soul, warning him that to raise his eyes would mean instant death!
A mortal’s vision could not contain the true form of such transcendent beings.
The philosophical concepts and cosmic truths they embodied would instantly shatter his mind, obliterating his consciousness and soul along with it.
These Aeons were far more powerful than anything depicted or described in the game Ye Cang knew!
They were entities comparable to the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods!
Two of them in particular gave him the distinct impression that they could destroy the universe with a wave of their hands.
“Well, Mr.
Aha?
Are you satisfied with the person I chose?” One of the Aeons spoke with a smile.
He bore a human form with exquisite, slightly feminine features, his entire body radiant.
With his palm facing upward, he seemed to cradle an isolated world in his hand, while the galaxy swirled behind his head, forming a majestic halo set against the backdrop of the cosmos.
Among the four Aeons present, this one gave Ye Cang the most unfathomable feeling—as if he were the universe itself, infinitely powerful, holding endless mysteries.
“My test has been passed!
Hahaha—Mr.
Yue, I approve of your judgment!
What a hilarious little fellow.
I look forward to him bringing me even more amusement in this chaotic, eerie future!” Ye Cang was familiar with Aha’s voice.
The form He manifested was a chaotic cluster of weeping and laughing masks, alongside symbols of Elation—ribbons, balloons, goblets, rubber balls, music boxes…
Compared to “Mr.
Yue’s” humanoid incarnation, Aha’s existence was closer to the pure essence of Elation, a physical manifestation of all joyful things.
“The memories of [Cang] were delicious.
In exchange, little fellow, your memories of the past, present, and future across countless death cycles shall belong to me.” The rasping, icy voice belonged to the third Aeon.
Made entirely of ice crystals, his sovereign form was carved from pale, ethereal quartz, with stars suspended like jade beads from the fringe of his ritual crown.
Compared to “Mr.
Yue’s” unfathomable strength and “Aha’s” playful delight, this Aeon evoked the most singular sensation in Ye Cang—like a vessel carrying the lives and memories of uncounted beings.
Indeed, a repository of Remembrance, a heavy chronicle of history: Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
“In return, I bestow upon you…
an additional function for the *Death Diary*.” Fuli plucked a stellar bead from his crown and gently pressed it into Ye Cang’s chest.
At that touch, a *Death Diary* constructed entirely of Remembrance crystals manifested in Ye Cang’s mind.
Whenever he wished, he could draw it forth from his Remembrance!
Ye Cang was profoundly shaken.
As he suspected, the origin of the *Death Diary* was tied to Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
Furthermore, the power of the Path of Remembrance was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined!
It wasn’t just about freezing or archiving a living being’s memories—it could extract artifacts from the “remembered past” and even materialize people who belonged to history!
Ye Cang had no doubt that with the archive of memories Fuli had accumulated over the eons, it was truly possible to recreate a world that existed only in the past—a perfect [Remembrance] of the entire universe!
Vaguely, he glimpsed Fuli’s terrifying foresight and ambition.
“Ahahaha!
It’s rare for old man Fuli to be so generous!
We can’t hold back either!
Let me think…
what’s the best [Starter Pack] for you…?” “Got it!” Aha clapped His hands, causing every mask across His form to quiver.
Touched by His power, the three surrounding Aeons smiled in unison.
“Ta-da!” A peculiar mask separated from Aha and fell into Ye Cang’s hands.
Its material was unknown, half-black and half-white, split down the middle into a weeping face and a laughing face.
What emanated from it was not merely Elation, but an indescribable, profound sorrow.
It seemed entirely at odds with Aha’s Path of Elation.
“This is the item of my ascension—the final mask I wore before taking command of the Path of Elation, and your reward for passing the test.” “Put it on, and you will see the world through my eyes: a world of Elation.”