Bai Ming didn't quite grasp what Gopher Wood was thinking.
Just like in the past, she always found it difficult to keep up with the logic of these Path-obsessed fanatics.
"You already know that what you're calling upon will only be a deity born from lies, yet you're still going through with it? Why? Based on what you've said, correcting the Family's philosophy should be the path you'd choose."
Gopher Wood was a good man; there was no doubt about that.
If he weren't kind-hearted, he wouldn't have abandoned the comforts of the main family years ago to come to this godforsaken, barren land of Penacony to lend a helping hand.
Even now, he still grieved for those suffering, detested injustice, and was willing to use his own life to pave the way for his friends.
Whether then or now.
In Bai Ming's eyes, Gopher Wood had always embodied Harmony.
However, Gopher Wood's answer caught Bai Ming completely off guard.
"Yes, it is as you say. The Family is ill; the errors should be corrected and the lesion removed. But what if it isn't just the Family that is sick? A human's tumor can be excised by another human, but what if an Aeon is ill...?"
"What do you mean?"
"I am saying, what if the Cancer of All Worlds is actually the Cancer of Harmony?"
Gopher Wood's tone was calm, yet it carried an indescribable weight.
Bai Ming was stunned into silence by this revelation.
Harmony?
The Stellarons are the Cancer of Harmony?
Wait, brother... no wonder Elio specifically asked her back when she was Celenova if she had discovered anything else.
Damn.
So that's what he meant?
But she really hadn't felt anything unusual.
And even if she had, she would have just assumed it was the power of Destruction acting up.
Who would have thought it had anything to do with Harmony?
"When the Family is sick, a Galaxy Ranger can cut out the lesion. But if Xipe is sick, what use are mortals? Who among us can hold the scalpel?"
Gopher Wood's voice was filled with a profound loneliness.
How can a human cure an Aeon's illness?
The only one who can perform surgery on an Aeon is another Aeon.
"The Order born from lies and errors may eventually face self-destruction once more. But before that, if Ena of Order can eradicate Xipe's sickness, everything can return to the right track."
To Bai Ming, Gopher Wood's grand ambition sounded terrifyingly vast and utterly insane.
To excise this Cancer of All Worlds, he was willing to trigger another Swarm Disaster just to resurrect Ena.
In Gopher Wood's logic:
Ena, having merged with Xipe, was surely the candidate with the best hope of resolving the Cancer of Harmony.
As for the Swarm Disaster he would trigger again—never mind whether the Swarm King could actually be revived.
Assuming it did come back, the disaster that was solved once before could be solved again today.
Not to mention, there was now an additional Path of Hope.
With that safety net in place, once the Swarm started to spread, it might even catalyze a magnificent sight where "Giants of Light" appeared all across the universe.
Even if Gopher Wood didn't believe in that specifically, he had to admit that the Land of Light seemed to represent the ideal Order.
If the Land of Light could flourish, Gopher Wood was willing to be the stepping stone.
The sin.
He would shoulder it all himself.
"..."
Another Path-obsessed fanatic.
Bai Ming clicked her tongue.
Through Gopher Wood's narration, Bai Ming realized one thing.
Nous probably wasn't the only Aeon dealing with an internal struggle between the left and right brain.
If Xipe's three faces truly represented three Paths, then Harmony's internal conflict was even more severe than that of Nous.
At least Nous knew how to pick a few geniuses and think from a mortal perspective to minimize the damage.
Xipe was essentially just letting three Paths duke it out inside her own head.
The face of Harmony wished to embrace everything—the good, the bad, the kind, and the evil—all-encompassing.
The result was that if the dissonance of that inclusion couldn't be eliminated, it would instead affect or even potentially destroy the harmonious melody.
The Order clearly couldn't accept such logic; it opposed Harmony's endless acts of inclusion.
And beyond Order, there was even a third Path, and who knows what its attitude was.
One face wants to wrap up everything, one face wants to judge, and another face is doing god-knows-what.
This Xipe is really suffering from a split personality...
Years ago, Order sensed the Paths expanding toward extremes and chose to merge with Harmony.
That choice was likely very deliberate.
A state where Harmony and Order balanced each other might be the only true form of perfect justice.
"Thinking back now, Madam Bai Ming, did you lead the Rangers to crusade against Zulo, and later send Tiernan and Kamu to speak those words to me, specifically to orchestrate this outcome?"
Gopher Wood, lost in some unknown train of thought, suddenly began to sentimentalize.
But Bai Ming wasn't about to take credit for that; she had only just found out how deep the connection was between the Stellarons and Harmony.
"You're overthinking it. I only just learned about the Cancer of Harmony; I didn't have the foresight to lay a trap that early."
But Gopher Wood shook his head and said firmly:
"One does not need to know in order to act. In the past, I did not know of the Cancer of Harmony, yet I vaguely felt that Harmony lacking Order was problematic. I imagine it was the same for you, Madam Bai Ming. Sadly, I realized it too late."
"..."
The corner of Bai Ming's mouth twitched.
What was Gopher Wood getting at? Did he see her as the mastermind behind everything?
"So, the reason you're being so honest with me today is..."
"As my guide, I wish to confess my sins to you. Simultaneously, since you are on good terms with the Rangers and the Land of Light, if I fail, perhaps they will have the chance to achieve what I could not."
"And on a selfish note, I have never been able to achieve control over the Swarm. I had intended to wait for the arrival of a Glamoth Iron Cavalry, but just as the cavalry arrived, I saw the Swarm in your hands."
As Gopher Wood said this.
He even bowed apologetically toward AR-214.
That level of transparency actually made AR-214's skin crawl.
From everything she had learned and from his own descriptions, Gopher Wood was a "good person."
He knew perfectly well that what he was doing was wrong. He never numbed himself with nonsense about "the greater good" or "necessary sacrifices."
But he was going to do it anyway.
These are the most terrifying kinds of people.
Especially when the other party actually has their eyes on you.
Consequently, AR-214 instinctively grabbed Bai Ming's arm and hid slightly behind her.
She couldn't even imagine what she would have experienced here if she had truly been ignorant and stumbled into Penacony headfirst.
Bai Ming reached up to pat AR-214's head, then frowned at Gopher Wood:
"I do agree with your perspective, but why do you think I would approve of your actions? Restarting the Swarm Disaster when there's no guarantee Ena can even solve the Cancer of Harmony... These Stellarons might actually carry the influence of Destruction. If Nanook interferes then, we're in real trouble."
Now Bai Ming understood.
If she hadn't come and let AR-214 go to Penacony alone.
When Gopher Wood's plan inevitably moved forward, Nanook—who was already intrigued—would have added fuel to the fire.
The birth of an Eighth Lord Ravager might have even brought the entire newborn Swarm into the fold of Destruction.
And while it was true that Ena could use the collective fear of all living things to twist their way back to life and grow strong through the disaster,
What if Destruction also grew powerful because of the Swarm?
At that point, a war between Aeons would surely restart, and what the universe would become is simply unthinkable.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL