Green light flickered across Ainz's body in waves. In less than ten seconds, it triggered three or four forced calm effects. He stood there with his mouth open, turning to Demiurge beside him: "They're..."
"Lord Ainz... they are probably... reproducing?"
Demiurge admitted that he had been severely attacked by some indescribable mental magic.
He was no stranger to cruelty, bloodshed, or slaughter... he even found them amusing.
But where had he ever seen a scene like this?
"—Lord Ainz."
Albedo's icy voice rang out behind him. Without even turning, he could feel the killing intent behind him solidifying into something almost tangible.
"Please allow me to personally deal with these two irreverent, shameless creatures. To dare perform such filthy acts in the presence of the Supreme Being! They are unworthy of serving Lord Ainz!"
"Just let me—"
However, Albedo's furious roar cut off abruptly. Seeing Ainz slightly raise his right hand, she immediately understood and shut her mouth.
Ainz snapped his fingers. Black flames ignited on Etoile and Terror Public. The flames weren't lethal, but they were enough to severely burn low-level servants like them. Yet what puzzled Ainz was... even as they suffered wounds, they refused to stop their actions and continued their frenzied reproduction.
"I see... so all insect species are affected? No wonder Cocytus..."
Ainz slowly raised his head. After that farce just now, at some point the celestial screen's Swarm Star had been covered by a writhing, churning "dark cloud"—insects swarmed everywhere in the sky, monotonously and repetitively performing a single act—
Reproduction.
——
Arcane.
Zaun.
Pushing open the door to Singed's laboratory, a pungent mix of corrosive liquid and alchemical reagents assaulted the senses.
Under dim lighting, the lab tables were covered with sticky, intertwined insects. Their carapaces gleamed with a metallic sheen in the pale green culture fluid. Silco felt nauseous just looking at them.
"You gathered all these horny bugs together—are you trying to research biological weapons?" Silco frowned, glancing down at the iron cage in the corner of the lab—inside was a juvenile stone beetle and a sacred scarab from Shurima. He couldn't fathom why anyone in Zaun's black market would sell something like that.
Though both were beetles, they were completely different creatures—even Silco could tell at a glance. Yet right now, the two insects were squeezed together in an almost affectionate embrace.
Singed didn't turn around. His hunched back swayed in front of the workbench as his fingers manipulated two vastly different insects—their abdomens had been surgically opened and forcibly connected with alchemical tubes. Viscous solution flowed through the pipes. The two insects convulsed in agony but couldn't break free.
"Don't you find it wondrous?" Singed's slightly hoarse voice couldn't hide his enthusiasm and excitement. "Look—they come from entirely different species, yet under the drive of 'Propagation' they fuse... creating new lifeforms!"
Silco stared coldly at the experimental subjects. He had zero interest in the experiment. Compared to creating bugs... how to make those arrogant, self-important bastards in the upper city kneel at his feet was the topic that truly interested him.
"And then? You plan to use the created bugs against the upper city?"
"Not just that." Singed looked up at the celestial screen. Right now the screen was almost entirely filled with overwhelming swarms of insects, splitting and devouring at geometric rates. Every blade of grass and tree on Swarm Star was covered in thick layers of bugs.
"The Aeon of Propagation has appeared. Though it's only a virtual product in the Simulated Universe, part of Its power is genuinely affecting the entire insect population across the Valoran continent."
"Creating bugs that serve war is indeed one of my current projects." Singed's voice was like a venomous snake's whisper. "But I want to know more—what form exactly does the power of Propagation take inside these insects? If it can be extracted and used by me... that would be very interesting."
"Daring to touch the power of an Aeon? Doctor, you've got some real guts. I like it. If you need any help later, just say the word."
Silco turned toward the door. The glint in his mechanical eye flashed crimson in the shadows. "But if this power gets out of control... I'll personally burn this place to the ground, Doctor."
——
[The sky over Swarm Star was dark red, like a festering scab. But in Stelle's eyes, the sky was black—dense swarms of insects coupled in the air like black blood oozing from the scab.]
[After coupling, the swarms gave birth to entirely new branches. Branches then combined with branches, like a rose constantly changing form, petals interlocking with petals. The reproduction of the swarms was like flowers emitting pheromones of different honey scents... ugliness and sweetness piled upon each other...]
[The sound of wingbeats was like billions of hearts beating in unison. Stelle could feel her eardrums vibrating, as if the insects had already burrowed into her head and were constantly buzzing.]
[Yet even amid this suffocating chaos—]
[Stelle still sensed a gaze.]
[It wasn't from the swarms, nor from Herta. It was something far older, far more distant. That gaze seemed to pierce through dimensions of the cosmos, like an ice-cold metal probe gently pressing against her spinal cord.]
["Stelle... do you feel it?" This time Herta's voice appeared directly in her mind. "It's watching us—no, more precisely, watching Propagation Tayzzyronth."]
["Who?"]
["Order—Taiyi." Herta said. "The Path of Order is to guide the cosmos toward eternal harmony. That is also Taiyi's will. It observes Propagation, probably wanting to see whether this newly born Aeon can interfere with or affect Order."]
[The scene before her switched rapidly. The noisy swarms filling the sky vanished, replaced by a vast ocean.]
[Waves broke into white foam at Stelle's feet. Each retreat seemed to wash away some of the insect blood clinging to her shoes—though this world had no insects. Not even many people, it seemed. In the distance, some unknown seabird cried out, its piercing sound making her feel oddly nostalgic.]
[After spending so long on Swarm Star, any animal felt incredibly endearing to her.]
["Where the hell have you dragged me to now?" Stelle took a deep breath. The warm sea breeze slightly dispelled the psychological shadow Swarm Star had left on her.]
["Mandrake Island on the planet Lapur." Herta spoke leisurely. "This is the first world Propagation descended upon after ascending to Aeon status."]