The ga wasn't just a digital playground for ordinary civilians. Even for seasoned Pathstriders, the opportunity to witness an Aeon with one's own eyes—even a hyper-realistic digital recreation of one—was an impossibly rare treasure. After all, even among the chaotic, thrill-seeking ranks of the Masked Fools, the vast majority had never once felt Aha's gaze fall upon them.
The hype had already been building, but the mont Herta Space Station released an official statent confirming that the events depicted in Leon's ga perfectly mirrored reality, public interest skyrocketed into pure frenzy.
As the hours ticked by, Guinaifen's livestream progressed steadily until she finally reached the climax of the prologue: the descent of the Doomsday Beast.
"So cool! The rendering engine in this ga is absolutely insane, and the character models are all so gorgeous!"
"This Doomsday Beast looks terrifying..."
"Relax, no big deal. It's literally just a mini-boss from the starter area."
"A re Doomsday Beast. How laughable."
"Look at you keyboard warriors sneering at a Doomsday Beast in a ga. If you t an Antimatter Legion grunt in real life, you'd feel like two legs aren't enough to run away!"
After a frantic flurry of button mashing and tactical ultimate usage, Guinaifen successfully depleted the boss's health bar. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and blew out a long, exhausted sigh of relief.
Imdiately after, the screen faded to black before snapping into a high-fidelity cinematic cutscene.
"ROAR—!!"
The Doomsday Beast thrashed, throwing its massive head back as a sky-shattering bellow tore through the audio channels. Heart-palpitating, dark red energy began to pool rapidly within its gaping maw. Countless jagged arcs of black lightning whipped around the concentrated beam, causing the digital starry sky in the background to warp and tremble under the sheer gravitational pressure of the attack.
In the next mont, the world washed out into a blinding, monotonous flash of black and crimson.
A devastating torrent of pure antimatter energy erupted forward. Its target? Not the active party mbers. The beam aid directly at Leon, who was currently standing off to the side, leisurely cracking lon seeds between his teeth with zero regard for the apocalyptic laser hurtling toward his face!
In a fraction of a second, two figures blurred into existence right in front of him.
It was Stelle and Caelus.
They planted their feet, gripping their standard-issue baseball bats with white-knuckled intensity, fearlessly raising their weapons to intercept the Doomsday Beast's breath of destruction!
Guinaifen had linked her ga to Leon's primary account data. Because of this, a hidden Easter egg triggered during the character selection phase, causing both Stelle and Caelus to spawn into the world simultaneously rather than forcing a choice between the two.
"Wow! Stelle and Caelus are so brave! They rushed up without a single second of hesitation!"
"I'm crying, I wish I had kids this filial."
"Hahaha, kids? Stelle and Caelus have already started calling him 'Big Brother' in the dialogue options."
"Leon is such a massive troll, and the twins aren't much better. They called Leon 'Dad' so naturally earlier."
"Oh god, wait. I just realized sothing. If Kafka is the 'Mom'and Leon is the'Dad'... doesn't that make them..."
"No! Stop typing! It's not like that!"
Before the live audience could finish their degenerate lantations, the Doomsday Beast's attack slamd heavily into Stelle and Caelus.
Their bodies acted as an unbreakable rampart, shielding Leon completely behind them as they absorbed the full, agonizing brunt of the energy torrent.
As millions of viewers held their breath, the chaotic space station suddenly vanished. The scene before Stelle and Caelus shifted entirely—it was as if they were suddenly standing beneath a bizarre, suffocatingly vast expanse of stars.
"It is ti to set out..."
A low, echoing voice vibrated through the void.
Stelle and Caelus opened their eyes. The sky above them wasn't a sky at all. It looked like a gaping, ragged wound torn through the fabric of reality, bleeding a strange, molten-gold substance that flowed like sluggish magma.
"What's going on?"
"I don't quite get it, but based on my extensive experience watching ani, this has to be a ntal mindscape, right?"
"This is the Abyss of the Path..."
Ordinary civilians didn't recognize the bizarre dinsion, but the actual Pathstriders watching the stream felt their breath catch. They recognized that golden, bleeding void instantly. A heavy wave of deep interest washed over them. A ga developer could only replicate the Abyss of the Path with such terrifying perfection if they had personally stepped into it, right?
However, in the next mont, every single Pathstrider watching gasped out loud.
In the ga, the cara slowly pulled back, zooming out to reveal the true scale of the environnt. The full, imposing appearance of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, materialized before everyone's eyes.
That shattered sky from before wasn't a sky at all; it was a glowing, golden scar etched across His colossal, muscular chest.
He was not a human. He was a god.
The Aeon representing Destruction, Nanook!
[Silver Wolf]: You're actually insane! You put Nanook, the literal Aeon of Destruction, into your ga. Are you so badass that Nanook just lets you use His likeness?
Leon leaned back in his chair, humming a light tune as his fingers danced across his holographic keyboard.
[Leon]: Nanook said he has no objections.
He lazily toggled over to a highly classified, heavily encrypted communication channel—the 'Aeon Group Chat'.
[Leon]: @Nanook, you don't have any objections to your cao, right?
[Nanook]:...
[Leon]: Good. Silence ans consent.
[Silver Wolf]: I don't believe a single word you type! You're such a nace!
[Silver Wolf]: Seriously though, watch your back. The Grand Army of Destruction might actually track you down just by the scent of this data.
Leon shook his head, a dry, amused smirk playing on his lips.
If the Lord Ravagers ever discovered the ultra-secret Easter egg he coded into the ga—the one where the player character shouts, "Nanook, I shall bring destruction to you!" and literally knocks the Aeon down with a single punch—they would definitely co knocking at his door.
Fortunately, that specific achievent wasn't easy to trigger; it required clearing a ridiculous number of obscure 'IF' tilines to unlock. For now, the players were only experiencing the standard, canonical eting with Nanook. Yet, that alone was more than enough to shake the universe to its core.
The exact mont Nanook appeared on screen, all the players and stream viewers involuntarily held their breath.
"Holy crap!!!!!!!!! This is the legendary Aeon of Destruction?! It matches the IPC records perfectly!"
"Damn! Nobody told Nanook was actually a hottie?!"
"Where did this thirsty hillbilly co from? You seriously didn't know what the Aeon of Destruction looked like?"
"Cut them so slack, not every backwater planet has the tech to explore the universe."
"Wait! Entering this space ans receiving the gaze of an Aeon, right? Does that an Stelle and Caelus just stepped onto the Path of Destruction?"
"How many tis do I have to type it? This is the 'Abyss of the Path'! Since Nanook gazed upon them, they've absolutely began the Path of Destruction."
"But why them?! What do those two have to do with destruction?!"
"Why... why would the Master gaze upon those two?!"
Far across the cosmos, within the blazing, oppressive halls of the Ever-Fla Mansion.
Duke Inferno stared at the holographic broadcast. The flas composing his demonic head flickered wildly, his composure entirely shattered. His soul trembled, and he gripped his staff until the dark tal groaned under the pressure.
"Wh... why?" His voice rasped, sounding as though he were weeping liquid fire.
"I burned my own kingdom to the ground! I turned the agonizing wails of my subjects into hymns of sacrifice!" He took a staggering step forward, the flas around his shoulders flaring with unstable, violent heat. "I followed in Your footsteps, turning vibrant, breathing worlds into re footnotes of Your great power!"
He slamd the base of his staff against the obsidian floor. "I walk this universe with the sole purpose of practicing Your Path! Destruction is my breath, my blood, the absolute and only aning of my existence!"
When he spat out the nas "Stelle" and "Caelus," his tone dripped with bone-deep jealousy and deep, maddening bewildernt.
"What are they? Ignorant infants! re prototypes of power stumbling through the dark! They do not even comprehend the true art of destruction! Why... why was it they who received Your divine gaze?!"
A sudden, frenzied spark ignited within the hollow voids of his fiery eyes. His posture straightened, the despair twisting into pure, unadulterated malice.
"That's it... It must be that wretched Astral Express. They tampered with the grand design! They defiled the Master's glory and stole His attention!"
He stood tall, the ambient temperature in the hall skyrocketing as his killing intent boiled over. His voice bood, shaking the very foundations of the mansion:
"Declare war—on the Astral Express!"
anwhile, back in the safety of a much cozier room.
"...So this is what the Abyss of the Path actually looks like. I've certainly learned sothing new today." March 7th sat back from her own screen, having just cleared the exact sa Doomsday Beast plotline.
She had never entered the Abyss of the Path herself, so the visual spectacle left her wide-eyed.
"But I still can't figure out why Nanook would gaze upon Stelle and Caelus?"
She tilted her head, her pastel-pink hair swaying gently with the movent. Her bright eyes blinked at the monitor, her face a picture of absolute, adorable confusion.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comnt, or Power Stone ans the world to and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shaless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]
User Comments
0 comments from readers