Penacony, Blue Hour.
The luxury cruise ships still drifted beneath the lights, their elegant attendants as polished as ever. Yet the tourists wandering through the dreamscape were no longer as drunk on pleasure as they'd once been.
The flowers spinning at the center of the stage had lost their former splendor, and even the envoys who guarded them wore troubled faces. Hidden behind her mask, Sparkle listened to the frightened whispers around her as she wandered among dancers dressed in extravagant finery.
Of all Penacony's hours, she liked this one best. Its endless feast of wealth and pleasure suited her perfectly.
The dance never stopped, and everyone who stepped onto the floor became the star of that moment. Guests came and went without end, ensuring the stage would never lack a leading actor.
Unfortunately, the arrival of a Lord Ravager had drained the life from the once-bustling ball. The most timid tourists had fled days ago.
Those who remained were either cowardly yet greedy Dreamchasers or ambitious schemers certain they could seize victory. The dream they pursued was no longer Penacony itself, but the Mask of Elation—and the chance to become an Emanator awaiting their crown.
Those greedy Dreamchasers imagined themselves defeating every rival, donning the mask, and rising above the masses. They dreamed of becoming rulers who held dominion over their own corner of the cosmos.
They laughed, cursed, and reveled as they pleased, hoping their wild performance might win Aha's favor. Genuine laughter and hollow imitations rose and fell through the false dream.
Who could tell whether a quiet "Aha~" had slipped in among those voices?
Perhaps every laugh in the dream was Aha's laughter.
"Hehehe~ The climax is almost here."
Sparkle watched the empty revelry with cold eyes hidden behind her mask, though an alluring smile curved across her lips. No one knew what she'd done after dumping the troublesome work on Sampo.
In corners no one bothered to watch, she'd been observing the newly arrived schemers and the Dreamchasers brimming with confidence. They were moths willing to throw themselves into the flames for the sake of a single joke.
"Hmm. Maybe this farce will make enough noise to satisfy the God of Fun after all."
Sparkle pouted. She truly wanted to see what would happen if someone used her mask to become an Emanator.
After all, that red-and-white fox mask had been born from her power.
"But what's so interesting about a hero fighting a dragon? There isn't even a twist."
She casually took a glass from a nearby tray and tipped back her head, swallowing the amber liquid. A few petty disturbances weren't worthy of such a magnificent stage.
"Even NPCs deserve a chance to show their faces~ The spotlight won't overlook anyone who steps onto the stage."
Sparkle shook her head in mock distress, her smooth twin tails swaying with the light movement of her body.
"I suppose I'll have to add a little suspense for you."
Still holding her glass, Sparkle changed into an unfamiliar form while no one was watching. She then approached a nearby member of the Oak Family.
"Hehehe. Little birdie, I'm here to help you catch the traitor. You'd better remember to thank me~"
--+--
Sylvia went out for a stroll with Bailu and Yunli, while Tingyun accompanied them as the responsible adult.
The plan had already been prepared, and Sylvia had nothing else to do, so she'd decided to spend the day wandering around with her friends. March 7th and Stelle, meanwhile, had run off like horses freed from their reins. No one had any idea where they'd gone.
Yunli still hadn't dared to strike up a conversation with Mei, who looked far too cold and imposing. Yet once they went out, she boldly grabbed one of Sylvia's arms while Bailu claimed the other, squeezing Mei into the back of the group.
Even Tingyun couldn't find an opening.
They'd been sightseeing for half a day when they heard a rumor spreading among Penacony's proud and ambitious schemers.
"Followers of Order may be colluding with an outside force in Blue Hour."
Sylvia didn't pay it much attention at first. There'd been no shortage of strange rumors lately, so none of them took it seriously.
That changed when Robin called in a panic and brought up the same matter. Only then did Sylvia realize the rumor had truly alarmed the Family.
--+--
Sylvia next met Robin inside the newly completed Penacony Grand Theater.
To her surprise, the members of the Five Great Families kept a subtle distance from one another. They seemed to be guarding against their supposed allies.
"What happened?"
Sylvia looked at Robin with curiosity. Everyone around them seemed ready to face a mortal enemy, and the different Families were clearly wary of one another.
"The Family discovered a follower of Order among its ranks. The person was a member of the Oak Family," Robin said, worry clear in her voice.
"Uh, did they investigate your brother?"
"Not only my brother. The heads of all Five Great Families were recalled. They should be undergoing the Dreammaster's examination right now."
Robin nodded, then shook her head.
She'd warned the Family about a traitor long ago, but they hadn't treated the matter as especially urgent. Even Robin herself had never imagined that the traitor might be a follower of Order.
The Dreammaster...
Could he really be trusted?
Still, that explained why the Family members were so uneasy. All five heads had been summoned for interrogation, and the situation was serious enough to force the Dreammaster to act personally.
Did the Family truly fear the followers of Order that much?
Sylvia frowned in confusion.
"But the Aeon of Order has been gone for ages. How much trouble could THEIR followers really cause?"
She only had to look at the Astral Express and the dragon merchants of Permanence. Pathstriders who'd lost their Aeon tended to be more miserable than the last, while Harmony had outright absorbed Ena the Order.
The two sides didn't seem to belong on the same level.
Robin shook her head and explained.
"It's different. Ena the Order was assimilated by Harmony, and Harmony came to encompass Order. That means followers of Order can easily hide within Harmony and act in secret."
"Because of that, followers of Order often emerge from within the Family's homeworld. There's no way to predict when it'll happen, and if they're ignored, they can tear the Family apart from the inside."
The followers of Order and the various Family lineages had all been born from Harmony in the first place. The Five Great Families were, at their core, simply divisions responsible for different duties.
If one cockroach had appeared in the Oak Family, that meant there might already be a whole nest hidden inside the Family. Every lineage was suspect.
It was even possible that mid- and high-ranking members from all five Families were involved and had joined forces to strip their leaders of power.
That was why Robin was so worried. If followers of Order had truly spread through the Family's lower and middle ranks, their numbers could be enormous.
"Uh..."
After hearing Robin's explanation, Sylvia finally understood why the Family was taking the matter so seriously.
Put simply, these people could bury themselves deep within the Family, making them almost impossible to root out. Even if the current group was eliminated, new followers could appear at any time.
"How long will the investigation take? When will the five heads return?"
Under normal circumstances, Penacony could continue operating without several Family heads for a while. The problem was that Zephyro was coming.
They needed all five leaders present to conduct the tuning and oppose him.
At that moment, a pleasant female voice came from behind them.
"I'm sorry you had to witness such a shameful sight. I'd like to believe there's nothing wrong with my own family, but..."
Lady Maeven, head of the Iris Family, entered from outside the Grand Theater. Her voice had lost the calm composure she'd shown before.
That was the nature of the followers of Order. Unless they exposed themselves or were subjected to a thorough examination, their presence was almost impossible to detect.
Even as a Family head, Maeven no longer dared to claim with certainty that none of her people had been compromised.
"Lady Maeven, what happened to my brother?!" Robin asked anxiously.
"Don't worry. Sunday has already cleared himself of suspicion under the Dreammaster's interrogation. I was the second to be examined. The Dreammaster sent me here so I could restore order as soon as possible."
"What about the other Family members?"
"We don't have enough time."
Maeven shook her head.
Less than two system days remained before Zephyro's arrival. The Five Great Families had several hundred thousand official members between them. Even if they worked themselves to death, they couldn't finish screening everyone in time.
"For now, we can only declare it a false alarm and preserve the Family's stability. We'll deal with the matter properly after Zephyro has been stopped."
Maeven conveyed the decision reached by the Dreammaster and the five Family heads.
Zephyro wasn't their only concern. The IPC was watching them like a hungry predator.
That woman called Topaz had already caught the scent of trouble and rushed over. Launching a massive internal purge now would be no different from handing the IPC a loaded gun.
Sylvia listened from the side as the two Halovians spoke. Once Maeven paused, she raised a question.
"I understand the logic, but didn't Robin warn you about a traitor earlier? Isn't it a little late to start panicking now?"
"That was indeed our arrogance."
Maeven looked at Robin with an apologetic expression.
They'd assumed the traitor had merely abandoned Harmony. They hadn't expected them to embrace Order.
The difference in severity was immense.
Followers of Order could join the Family's chorus and sabotage it from within while everyone sang together. Because of the unusual relationship between the two Aeons, the entanglement between Harmony and Order was far more delicate than it first appeared.
Had the Family known Order was behind the trouble, the Five Great Families would've begun screening one another long ago. They wouldn't have waited until the crisis was already upon them.
Followers of Order did appear on the Family's homeworld from time to time. Yet across countless Amber Eras, Penacony had never shown any trace of Order.
As a result, the five Family heads—and the Family as a whole—had gradually lowered their guard.
Sylvia glanced at the suspicious looks passing among members of the different Families and frowned.
"In this state, can you still hold off Zephyro?"
The Family's Emanator-level strength didn't reside in any one person. It came from the combined will of its members.
Through the tuning performed by the entire Family, their strength could rise to match an Emanator. The more members who joined, the greater that power became.
The reverse was also true. If their trust in one another broke down, their strength would fall sharply.
The Family claimed it would ignore the traitors for now and focus on Zephyro. But would the followers of Order truly refrain from stabbing them in the back at the critical moment?
"We can," Maeven answered without hesitation.
Whether they truly could was another question.
Sylvia sighed inwardly.
It didn't matter. Even if the Family failed, there was still a backup plan.
The original goal had only been to leave the Family too overwhelmed to act freely.
Maeven had no intention of speaking with Sylvia for much longer. After giving her firm answer, she nodded and left to organize the Family members inside the Grand Theater and calm the unrest.
Robin didn't join her. She wasn't technically a member of the Family, after all. She was only a Pathstrider of Harmony and Sunday's younger sister.
"Speaking of which, how did the Family discover the traitor?" Sylvia asked.
"I don't know all the details. Someone caused a disturbance in Blue Hour, which drew the Bloodhounds in to investigate. Then..."
Robin took out her phone and showed Sylvia a photograph.
It depicted a card with a familiar red design and a red-and-white color scheme. Combined with the infuriating tone that made anyone who read it want to punch its author, the culprit was obvious.
The writer had even signed it "Anonymous," but anyone could tell it was Sparkle's work at a glance.
The card contained several cryptic clues. They seemed to concern the Family, but Sylvia couldn't understand them.
"Sparkle again? Where has that woman been hiding lately?"
"Mm."
Robin's emotions were complicated.
She leaned sideways against Sylvia's shoulder and quietly let Sylvia support her weight. Sparkle had known about the traitor, and her actions had undoubtedly pushed the Family into investigating the matter.
Yet choosing this exact moment also made it clear that Sparkle wanted nothing more than to throw the world into chaos.
Seeing Robin finally relax, Sylvia took her hand and led her into an empty room nearby.
"What's wrong?"
Robin didn't resist. Only after Sylvia pressed her down onto a sofa did she raise her head and look up with curiosity.
This was the first time Sylvia had seen Robin so weighed down by worry. The troubled look made her seem even more beautiful, and Sylvia couldn't help feeling a little bewitched by that face.
She reached out, pinched Robin's cheek, and smiled.
"If you keep frowning like that, you'll ruin that pretty face."
Robin didn't argue. The wings behind her ears stretched forward and rested against the back of Sylvia's hand.
She tilted her head and pressed her cheek deeper into Sylvia's palm.
Sylvia blinked.
Was Robin acting spoiled with her?
"Stop worrying. I'm here. To tell you the truth, I left Penacony for a while earlier, and I'm now an Emanator of Permanence."
"Really?!"
Robin's eyes lit up, but the brightness soon faded.
"But that's Zephyro... You've only just become an Emanator."
Zephyro's reputation as a Lord Ravager was terrifying. He was a monster capable of creating cosmic wonders through his own power.
He wasn't in the same league as Phantylia.
"Don't think of it that way. Emanators aren't ranked by how long they've been training."
Strictly speaking, becoming an Emanator wasn't something one could achieve through training alone.
How many people in the entire universe could become an Emanator of Nihility through sheer endurance, as Mei had?
"Don't forget that I also carry Phantylia's power. If a fight breaks out, it'll effectively be two against one. And that's without counting Mei."
"Really?"
Robin knew about Phantylia, but hadn't Sylvia only been able to use a small portion of her power before?
Could she now use it freely?
"Of course. I'm already an Emanator, so naturally I can wield Phantylia's power without restriction. You can relax."
"You only need to follow the plan. Once the traitors inside the Family reveal themselves, notify Mei."
If Zephyro truly broke through the Family's defenses while Sylvia was still busy sealing the Stellaron and couldn't intervene, Mei would have to hold him back.
She only needed to buy Sylvia a little time.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL