Genshin Impact: I, Heavenly Principle, Will Make Teyvat Supreme

As a Pathstrider, she was very clear on the nature of the power she wielded. Though her own strength was far below that of an Emanator, she had encountered Emanators before.

She had also seen their power firsthand.

Emanators were beings who had been gazed upon by Aeons and granted the power of the Path itself.

As a follower of the Path of Elation, she could clearly, viscerally sense the power represented within that small ping-pong-sized sphere.

That was the Path of Elation itself—the very source of her power.

The one who could casually present the Path of Elation—who else could it be? It could only be the Aeon of Joy himself!

Noah looked at the suddenly stunned Sparkle, toying with the little orb in his hand with amusement.

"Hehe~, the God of Joy? Hmm... I suppose you could call me that. But I'm not that reckless fool Aha."

"This thing is a residual echo of the Path, something I tore off his body."

"It's a part of the Path of Elation."

"Little Sparkle, just imagine—when that clown Aha is frolicking madly ahead, only to be suddenly backstabbed by his own Pathstrider and thrown off the Aeon's throne..."

"How hilarious would that be, hahaha..."

The very thought of it made Noah chuckle.

"This thing only gives you a chance to replace Aha."

"The odds are probably no more than 5%."

With that, Noah pinched the glowing orb between his fingers and offered it toward the now-stiffened girl whose expression was still frozen in shock.

"So then, Little Sparkle—this 5% chance to take Aha's place... do you want it?"

"Surely there's nothing more elating in the universe than this, is there?"

If Sparkle was unwilling, he wouldn't force her. After all, this was a chance to become an Aeon. He merely offered the opportunity. Whether she grasped it was not his concern.

Even if she let the chance slip by, he still intended to train her into an Emanator and stir up trouble.

Sparkle stared stiffly at the orb extended in front of her.

Her already elated heart was pounding wildly.

A fragment of the Path, torn from the Aeon of Joy!

Hiss... This was enough to scare Sparkle herself to death.

How could she, of all people, deserve to touch something on this level of absurd fun?

She had initially thought he was merely an Emanator under some Aeon, here in Penacony to mess with her family.

She never imagined his identity would actually be that of an Aeon.

An Aeon—the forger of Paths, the strongest, most mysterious, most unfathomable beings in the universe. Gods in every sense.

Only an Aeon of equivalent standing could tear away a Path.

As a member of the Masked Fools, she knew many secrets.

There were also differences between Aeons. Aha was definitely one of the powerful ones.

Then to have injured Aha and ripped off a piece of his Path—who exactly was this Aeon?

But that wasn't the question she needed to be asking right now.

Before her lay a tremendous choice.

This Aeon wanted to hand her the foundational Path fragment and use her as a pawn to replace the Aeon of Joy.

She didn't know what would happen if she refused, and didn't dare think about it. Most likely, the moment she offended him, she would vanish from this world.

"Aiya~ This has me trembling with fear, Lord Aeon..."

"You want to entrust this to me? Of course I wouldn't dare refuse."

"Just as you said, this might be the greatest joke in the universe, fufufu~"

"Besides, if a Masked Fool like me were to decline or run away like a coward, that'd be more painful than death."

Sparkle said, reaching out both hands to receive the orb offered to her.

But it didn't drop into her palms.

"Eh?"

Noah said flatly, "If this thing leaves my hand and touches you, you'd probably turn into a puff of smoke on the spot. Open your mouth."

"Ah~"

Sparkle obediently opened her mouth.

Obviously—no matter how elated she might be, she was still just a lowly Pathstrider. There was no way she could defy a being like a full-fledged Aeon, someone who could upend the entire universe at a whim.

Besides, getting involved with an Aeon might not necessarily be a bad thing for her.

Noah directly guided the orb into Sparkle's mouth.

But just as it entered, his fingers pinched her tongue.

It was incredibly soft and slick—like grabbing a slippery loach in a bathtub.

"Ngh..."

The moment the orb entered her mouth, Sparkle felt her entire body instantly enveloped in limitless power.

Every single particle of matter in her body was ascending.

Her consciousness separated from her physical form in an instant, and her vision soared.

The space bar beneath her looked like a model set. Her field of view kept rising—star systems appeared like holograms before her eyes.

Her vision continued climbing: the Asdana Galaxy, dozens of surrounding galaxies, thousands upon thousands more, all appearing like glowing points of light, converging into a boundless star map.

She felt as though she were overlooking the deep space of an entire universe.

But the next moment, a faint pain snapped her back.

The orb was still in her mouth, but her tongue was still being pinched between the fingers of the Aeon, tugging her lips outward.

"Mmmph, mmh—"

Noah gently rubbed her tongue with his thumb, then smiled as he looked at Sparkle's panicked yet confused expression.

"Little Sparkle~ Little Fool, I hope your performance can be just as smooth and skillful as your tongue."

With that, he released her tongue. Sparkle immediately jerked backward, her head smacking against the back of the chair.

"Oww ouch ouch..."

When she looked up again, he was already gone.

"Gone..."

Sparkle stuck her index finger into her mouth and touched her tongue—it was a little sore from the pinch.

"That scared me... I thought my tongue was going to leave me."

"Just who is that Aeon, really..."

Before she could even finish the thought, the orb in her mouth melted into her body.

On the outside, nothing had changed—but she alone could tell that she had been fundamentally transformed.

Aeon? No, she hadn't become an Aeon.

But she had become something akin to an Emanator—only much, much stronger.

Emanators could only wield the power of the Path.

But she could directly channel echoes of the Path to subtly influence the universe.

And this was already altering her body at a fundamental level, gradually pushing her closer to an Aeon.

If she could fully absorb this power—then maybe, just maybe, she could truly take the Aeon of Joy's place.

"My luck is as amazing as ever~"

Sparkle looked at the milk tea on the table that she hadn't even touched.

"Milk tea gifted by an Aeon—fufu, I bet I'm the only one in the universe with luck like this~ Not drinking it would be a total waste."

Sparkle sat back down and cradled her milk tea in both hands, taking a sip.

Mmm~ The sweetness level and ratio of ingredients were just the way she liked it.

Beep beep beep...

Just then, her communication device chimed. Sparkle quickly pulled it out.

A message popped up from a contact with a cartoon avatar.

"Friend, have you arrived at the Asdana Galaxy yet?"

Sparkle read the message. "This Stellaron Hunter friend is really a bit impatient, huh? But I'm not like those amateur hacks. A commission this interesting... obviously, the great Sparkle will see it through to perfection."

She sent her reply.

This Stellaron Hunter named Silver Wolf was someone she had met while playing games.

As expected of a Stellaron Hunter, the girl had gotten so worked up in a match that she'd tracked Sparkle down through the galactic network. Sparkle nearly made a huge fool of herself back then.

After much back-and-forth, they became friends.

Talented people always attract one another.

And wouldn't you know it, this friend gave her a commission.

Even better, the commission aligned perfectly in both time and location with the place that Chicken-Winged Boy had invited her to.

The leader of the Stellaron Hunters was none other than the Emanator of Finality, known as the Destiny's Slave, who possessed knowledge of many possible futures.

Silver Wolf's commission had to do with one of the scenarios foreseen by that Destiny's Slave.

"Fufufu, as expected of the great Sparkle. One grand stage after another~"

Sparkle kicked her legs cheerfully.

The Destiny's Slave's script, other Aeons' schemes against the Aeon of Joy, the mysterious plot behind Chicken-Winged Boy's actions...

"Ugh, if I keep thinking about it, my head's gonna catch fire."

"I'm a Fool, not one of those knowledge-worshipping scientists."

Next, she needed to prepare the groundwork for the commission and wait for the stage play to begin.

Even for her as a Masked Fool, this commission was worth a round of applause.

"Then let the great Sparkle see for herself... is this so-called destiny really all that powerful? Three deaths and counting, fufu... But the great Sparkle doesn't believe in things like destiny."

...

Elsewhere, aboard a spaceship currently in flight—

"Has that Masked Fool girl arrived in the Asdana Galaxy yet?"

A stunning girl with purplish-red hair and eyes asked. She wore a black cloak-style coat over a white blouse and tight leather pants.

Her tone and presence gave off the unmistakable aura of a matriarchal big-sister type.

As she spoke, she casually wiped her gun with a cloth.

"Sigh~ I do trust that friend of mine. She's not your average Masked Fool. If it were before, I'd absolutely believe she'd follow Elio's script to the letter. But now..."

A silver-haired girl who looked about fourteen manipulated a holographic projection in front of her, then sighed.

"Now... Elio says he can't detect any future information at all. According to him, it's as if some Aeon's murmuring disrupted the past and made the future uncertain. The original script was just one among many timelines."

"So basically, the future's now completely up in the air. Even Elio doesn't know what'll happen."

"Kafka, how do we even take part in a script like this?"

After speaking, Silver Wolf slumped against the seatback, clearly baffled.

Kafka, calm as always, maintained her serene expression.

"I don't know. Until now, none of Elio's scripts have ever gone wrong. Even if something's off this time, we should still trust his plan."

"After all, things are just getting started."

"Besides, Elio only said he couldn't observe further."

"He never said the script had actually changed, right?"

Silver Wolf nodded. "That's true."

"The Astral Express was repaired years ago, and every Nameless who joined after it launched matched Elio's script perfectly."

"A man with no past, appearing out of nowhere. A memory-sealed girl frozen in ice. And a former High Elder of the Xianzhou Luofu, exiled and adrift."

As she spoke, her gaze fell on the man piloting the spaceship—his aura sharp and icy.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Ah… it's nothing. I just thought hearing the word 'High Elder' might set you off. You're flying the ship, after all. If you go berserk now, we'll be floating in space…"

Blade replied flatly, "I'm perfectly calm. I'm not the type to lose it just from hearing a name."

Silver Wolf muttered, the last time you heard that High Elder of the Vidyadhara was on the Astral Express, you sliced an entire space bar into pieces and had to pay a ridiculous number of credit points.

Granted, most of those credits were ones she hacked out of the company's account.

Kafka turned to the starry expanse outside the ship's window and smiled. "The script's start time is closing in. We'd better hurry to that new Herta Space Station the company just built."

"She's probably getting impatient to be born."

Blade said, "I'll increase our speed. Don't worry, everything will unfold just like the script."

Silver Wolf added, "Once the script kicks off, we'll be in for it."

"After we reach Herta Space Station, we've got to rush straight to the Luofu..."

Elio's script really pulled out all the stops—even the Lord Ravager is part of it. Not to mention they'd have to escape from the encirclement of the Cloud Knights of the Xianzhou.

If she weren't confident in her own abilities, she would've seriously doubted whether she could complete this storyline.

Midway through her grumbling, her gaze shifted to the girl sitting at the back of the ship, staring out the window in silence.

There was a glowing crack running from the girl's cheek down her neck, like porcelain about to shatter.

Kafka also looked her way and smiled gently. "What's on your mind? Worried about the script you'll soon face?"

The girl returned to her senses and looked down. "Three deaths... Can I really make it? I really want to live."

Kafka replied, "I don't know. But we'll do everything we can to help you, Firefly."

"In Elio's script, after surviving three deaths, your life will take a new turn. Even if it doesn't, you'll still gain something truly precious."

Just then, the spaceship abruptly came to a halt.

"What happened, Blade?"

Silver Wolf turned sharply. Kafka stopped mid-comfort and turned toward the front of the ship.

Blade said in a low voice, "There's a situation up ahead."

"Someone... is blocking our path in the vacuum of space."

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