At the center of the stage, your once beautiful dress was rapidly overgrown, covered by a strange substance resembling fused carapaces, enveloping your head with a shell that revealed scarlet compound eyes.
"W-What kind of monster is that?!" March 7th's voice trembled uncontrollably as she instinctively raised her bow.
Welt's expression was grave: "His Path's aura has completely changed... Wait, is this Nurturing?!"
"No, not just Nurturing." A twisted smile hung on your face, "The constraints of order are too fragile, and Nurturing is too ancient. What I seek is a new order—infinite, devouring everything, multiplying everything, gathering everything..."
You spread your arms, and a swarm of insects surged out from your body like a tide, instantly covering the entire stage!
"Come, witness the newborn Aeon, and then... become a part of it!"
In an instant, the stage floor, walls, and even the air began to frantically multiply, twist, and proliferate!
Countless glowing compound eyes opened, and indescribable creatures made of slime and carapace surged forth like a tide, emitting piercing screeches as they lunged at the Astral Express crew!
"No... there are too many! We can't kill them all!" March 7th shouted while resisting the swarm.
"Damn it..." Trailblazer waved her hat to fight, but those locusts seemed to feed on the power of Harmony, making them difficult to defeat!
Sampo's voice rang out, and the crimson mech erupted in flames, temporarily clearing an area, but even more locusts emerged from the shadows.
Welt tried to tear them apart with a black hole, to control the situation, but the number and regeneration speed of the locusts exceeded his expectations; his attacks were useless.
Boothill's bullets precisely tore through the monsters, but he quickly realized that this was too inefficient against the swarm.
Even Acheron seemed somewhat troubled by the sheer numbers.
You floated in mid-air, observing the battle with indifference.
This was Nurturing, mixed with order, and a bit of Harmony's power... simple, brutal, perfect, and effective.
At this moment, you could see each of their weaknesses, and Nurturing and order provided endless means to exploit them.
...The battle continued, the theater transformed into a madly proliferating locust nest.
Although the Astral Express crew fought valiantly, faced with an endless swarm precisely controlled by you, they gradually became overwhelmed.
Acheron's figure weaved through the tide of monsters; each strike annihilated swathes of locusts, only to be met by even more locusts surging from all directions.
Sampo's flames had a huge range, but you drove the swarm in suicidal attacks to drain his energy, gradually exhausting him.
"It's over." You looked at these few people, losing patience.
You directly infused the entire grand theater with the power of Nurturing and order!
Red and black matter surged from the walls, ceiling, and floor like living things, forming a huge, constantly writhing cage that completely enveloped and devoured the resistors!
Their struggles seemed so futile before Aeon-level power.
Soon, everyone was devoured.
However, because this was a dream, they did not truly die.
But it didn't matter; you had already invaded their minds through the dream. Neither the Astral Express crew, nor Sampo the Stellaron Hunter, nor even Acheron the Nihility Emissary, could escape your control.
As the dream shattered and reality overlapped, you gained the power of an Aeon.
In the real world, an endless swarm of locusts had long obeyed your new "Unification" will, combining the characteristics of order and Nurturing.
They were no longer a chaotic, disordered tide, but had transformed into disciplined, undead legions, densely covering Penacony's sky and streets, completely surrounding the Astral Express.
Every inch of the metal exterior was covered with dormant swarms of insects, and the train's engines and exits were completely sealed, cutting off any possibility of escape.
"The first step of Unification is to clear out redundancy," you declared softly.
Without another word, with a thought, the swarms of insects, like machines precisely executing commands, silently surged forward, completely engulfing and devouring Welt, March 7th, Boothill, Acheron, and others who were still sleeping in their hotel rooms. There were no screams, no struggles, only the process of matter being rapidly unified.
Only Trailblazer, the Trailblazer with the Stellaron, was left behind by you. Her eyes were empty, her mind still firmly under your control.
You walked towards her, your terrifying body, a fusion of order and Nurturing, enveloped her, and instantly traversed space.
You arrived above a barren planet, long forgotten and devoid of life.
You looked at the numb Trailblazer below, without a trace of pity. She was an amalgamation of variables, your greatest hidden danger.
"Become a part of 'us'; this is your last value."
As your voice fell, the Nurturing torrent that formed part of your body surged towards her. The swarm covered her, beginning the final assimilation and devouring.
However, just as Trailblazer's body completely dissolved, the dormant Stellaron within her, as if detecting the death of its host, suddenly erupted with a massive amount of light and heat!
The energy of destruction instantly burst forth, and the singularity of a stellar explosion bloomed with its last light on this dead planet!
Boom—!!!
A terrifying explosion swept through everything, but though this power was strong, it failed to shake you, who had already attained the rank of an Aeon.
At the core of the explosion, you merely frowned slightly, and then incorporated the rampant Stellaron energy, along with the last traces of Trailblazer's existence, into "Unification."
[Targets [Astral Express members] and related personnel have all been devoured.]
[Gained Villain Points +1000!]
Seeing this result, Orion was overjoyed. He won!
Hahaha! Total annihilation! So satisfying!
What a damn Astral Express, what a Nihility Emissary, they're nothing in the face of my Unification!
This Nurturing thing, it's exciting!
And with order added, it's even more exciting!
You turned and looked towards Penacony. There, a Robin was still waiting for her brother to return.
"Robin, my dear sister..."
A gentle yet mad smile appeared on your face.
"Do you see? Brother has cleared all obstacles for you, creating an absolutely safe world for you."
"Soon, there will only be us here, and an endless 'us'..."
From then on, you, having merged order and Nurturing, became the new Aeon—"Unification."
The entire universe was occupied by you and the new swarm you led—until the heat death of the universe.
[Simulation ended.]
[Calculating rating, rewards...]