The first thing Aleph noticed was the tranquility. There was nothing on the Moon's surface.
It was this nothingness that fueled the creepiness he felt.
"Imaginary space…"
He looked out to his left. The pure white dot was extremely inconspicuous.
Strangely enough, Aleph also saw traces of the Sea of Quanta.
Two opposing forces were present at the same place without any conflicts whatsoever.
"The Tree itself acts autonomously. The Sea is a bit biased, but it's not much different from the Tree. "
Only he himself knew how big of an anomaly it was. Everything he knew about this world was overturned right from the beginning.
Aleph's existence affected this world since his arrival, only erupting with great magnitude now.
"I got the order wrong."
A realization struck him.
"My existence messed with the Tree and indirectly affected the Sea. The designated future was forcibly rewritten, resulting in countless other futures to disappear…"
The infinite light he bore has an unimaginable weight. Powered by innumerable adaptations, it caused a huge crater when he landed in this world. It resulted in countless futures to be rewritten… drastically.
Every single possibility now had His existence. The existence of the Current Era he knew becomes questionable. After all, Aleph alone was enough for the Previous Era to win against the Honkai. In that case, the only thing left for the Current Era he knew was to disappear and be rewritten to Aleph's whims.
These actions of his were more than enough to be seen as a malicious act by the others.
In the end, a parallel world designated to house Aleph's heavy existence was made. Once he was sent into that parallel world, everything could be slowly reverted to normal.
Up to that point, it was within Aleph's expectations. What he did not expect, however, was that the Tree and the Sea were the main perpetrators, with the Cocoon acting as the spearhead.
"Huh."
As he had expected, a white translucent plane appeared on the Moon's background. It was none other than the prison designated to Him.
When Aleph looked back, he saw a figure made out of pure white light. He saw it try shifting into his appearance but failed.
It then seemingly settled out of the second best—
"Kiana."
"..."
Its appearance became a one-to-one to the Herrscher of Finality. Her dark purple pupils coupled with a purple star-like gleam reminded Aleph of the very character he thought when it came to his purpose in this world.
To fight for all that is beautiful.
That significant and beautiful quote came from her.
The only sharp contrast he saw was the lack of emotions in her eyes. It was the complete opposite of Kiana who was extremely expressive.
'It's not her. It only used her image.'
"...You understood nothing."
The act of using her image elicited a response from Aleph.
"Even when the story was concluded, you understood nothing. Was it also the case now?"
He spoke using the Previous Era's language, yet it came off universally to its ears. Aleph knew the characteristics of gods bearing complex information. The best way to communicate with them was to "highlight" your intent through words.
"..."
No voice came from "Kiana". He did manage to make out the "words" it spoke.
["Get out."]
"I expected this already. You really won't give a damn." He cut off his words as he continued, "You did not have the need to do so, I get it. You are strong enough. But the rest are not."
"..."
["Leave."]
"You arbitrarily chose the 'best future' but did not think of the others… not even the embrace whom you sought. If you did, this would not have happened."
"..."
["It is you. You caused everything."]
Seeing the Cocoon give out longer replies, Aleph knew it would be the contrary of his ideal scenario. This is the last time it would respond like that.
As he had expected…
["Leave."]
A sigh escaped from his lips.
"I won't." He answered. "Let's get this over with. Whoever wins, it stops here."
"..."
["...Yes."]
Just as Aleph was forced to this point, the Cocoon was also running out of means. If it could not even banish Aleph in this fight, further actions become meaningless.
In the end, this fight turned into a stage to prove who was right.
Rumble-!
The Moon's surface shook. What followed next was the rewriting of their surroundings. Several pristine structures stood in the serene surroundings.
"Palace of Selene..?"
It was a place constructed on the Moon, supposedly before the seventh eruption. It was the place used by Sirin as a base when she temporarily left Earth.
Later on, it was one of the few witnesses of the devastating battle against the Herrscher of the End.
It took a while for Aleph to realize that his surroundings showed that of another parallel world's.
Bam-!
Boom-!
A huge streak of light fell to a portion of the Moon's surface. It instantly obliterated most of the structures on the Moon's surface, leaving a few rubbles here and there. Aleph remained unaffected due to his barrier with the cursed technique, Infinity.
{Announcement. Peculiar conversion between conventional energy and honkai energy has been detected. It is suspected to be the capability of the theoretical weapon [Selene].}
Metatron wasn't wrong.
"It is futile. Things end here."
The cold and emotionless voice of the fourteenth Herrscher rang throughout several kilometers.
Aleph was not the only person who heard it.
Bam-!
An extremely huge streak of flame appeared to refute the said Herrscher.
It was at this moment that an anomaly occurred. Everything stopped moving save for the Herrscher.
"Hm. Are you done watching?"
"You can go on if you want."
With Aleph's words, everything around him returned to normal. A blue light flickered on the fourteenth herrscher's body before it returned to normal.
"Projecting… No. This is outright taking someone from a parallel world. This is how you chose to play?"
He realized that the fourteenth Herrscher wanted to take the "events" of a parallel world and manifest them into the real world. One of them was to project Selene's attack and use it against Aleph. Unfortunately, it could not cross the distance of nigh-infinite, thus ending up useless.
"You are too noisy."
Click.
The world turned into a standstill. The moon's weak gravitational field stopped working. Light stopped traveling between the void. Space particles were put in their place.
Only Aleph, whose radius was turned into a green prairie, remained unaffected.
"Heh. Time, was it?"
A flintlock unknowingly appeared on his grasp. A vague phantom of a golden clock emerged from his back. The flintlock's nozzle was pointed on the seven-o-clock figure before pointing it to the herrscher.
"Seventh bullet, Zayin."
Bang-!
The herrscher saw the trifling speed of the bullet and scoffed at it.
Sou-!
It easily dodged the bullet before reappearing in its previous place. Its speed made it look like she did not even move in the first place.
Just then, her gaze met Aleph's teasing look.
'That—!'
A previously invisible blue sphere was revealed in her sight. The bullet's trajectory brought it along stealthily. The brief moment of lapse was enough for Aleph to take advantage.
"Red."
Zoom-!
The last thing she saw was the endless and disintegrating purple light.