Dominicus of the Collective Will was originally a member of the Celestial Choir under Ena, the Aeon of Order. After Order was devoured by Harmony, the Celestial Choir was inherited by the Aeon of Harmony, becoming a member of the Chorus.
At its core, it was the power of Order, devoured by Harmony.
Now, having been controlled by Sunday using the power of Order, the power of Order contained within Dominicus had overwhelmed the power of Harmony, at roughly a sixty-forty split.
Taking the various buffs into account, the separated power of Order was still at an Emanator's level. Yet, neither Path's portion was substantial enough to fully illuminate its respective divine phantom.
This held true for the Aeon of Order.
In the Pantheon, the Path power of Ena the Order had increased. The phantom emitted a faint glow, but it was still far from being fully lit.
However, the progress for the Aeon of Harmony seemed overly exaggerated.
Since it had been controlled by Sunday, the power of Harmony within Dominicus should have been less than that of Order. But at this moment, within the Pantheon, the phantom of Xipe the Harmony was brightening far faster than that of Ena the Order.
Soon, Xipe's phantom was fully illuminated. Not only that, but the presence emanating from Xipe's form was growing stronger, step by step, even becoming faintly vivid.
One had to understand that even the Divine Body of the Amber Lord, the Sharpshooter's Arrow of the Hunt, a lock of hair from the Abundance, or a doll from Aha could only illuminate a divine statue to this degree.
Within the Pantheon, the only divine statue that had reached a "vivid" state was that of Ruan Mei, who shared her authority with Su Mo.
Yet now, the vividness of Xipe's statue—an Aeon who had never interacted with Su Mo—was rapidly approaching Ruan Mei's.
What was going on? Could it be that the Aeon of Harmony wasn't planning to offer goodwill because They had already decided to surrender?
Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, only Sunday's expression flickered as he realized something.
"Lord Su Mo! Be careful!" he shouted a warning. "This isn't the power of Dominicus... This is the power of Harmony... The Aeon of Harmony is intentionally pouring Their power in!"
Unlike other Aeons, the Aeon of Harmony was known as the "God of a Thousand Faces." Their Emanators were not Emanators in the conventional sense, but true divine avatars.
If Emanator-level power wasn't enough to illuminate the divine phantom, then there was only one possibility for what was happening.
The Harmony had entered the fray! And They were using Dominicus as a conduit!
Sunday didn't understand why the Aeon of Harmony was infusing so much power into Su Mo, but seeing the now-vivid statue of Xipe behind him, he felt a sense of inexplicable unease.
"Heh~"
As if hearing Sunday's words, behind Su Mo, within the Pantheon's phantoms, the divine statue of the Aeon of Harmony, which should have been expressionless, suddenly revealed a mysterious smile.
"You've only just realized? It's too late now~"
Though Xipe's lips didn't move, a voice like music reached everyone's ears.
It was a strange melody, as if a million mouths, each speaking in over a hundred thousand dialects, were weaving all those dialects into a song.
Invisibly, it felt as if tens of millions of eyes were staring at Su Mo, tens of millions of laughs were echoing around the Penacony Grand Theater, and a god of a thousand faces was reaching out to Su Mo in unison.
"Universal Harmony, may the stars shine as one!"
In that instant, everyone was stunned into a stupor.
It was Xipe! Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony, had descended!
"Stop!"
In the moment everyone was frozen, Acheron was the first to react.
Her long blade was unsheathed, her purple hair fading to white. Her attire, aside from gray and white, was now dominated by a shockingly intense red.
Acheron revealed a form that not even Dominicus had forced out of her. The power of the Path of Nihility condensed on her blade as she slashed directly at the arm Xipe was extending towards Su Mo.
Almost instinctively, she sensed the danger in the Aeon of Harmony's actions!
"Lord Su Mo!"
"Stop!"
In the next instant, Firefly and Topaz also reacted. In a flash, three Emanators struck at the statue of Xipe the Harmony simultaneously. They didn't know why, but the Aeon's statue had clearly gone out of control. If they didn't act, Su Mo would be in grave danger.
"The strong shall aid the weak, the living shall protect life," a mystical song drifted through the air. The joy on Xipe the Harmony's face remained genuine. "Do you wish to join the chorus as well?"
The moment They spoke, an incomprehensible melody enveloped the entire theater. Time and space seemed to freeze.
Acheron, Topaz, and Firefly all stopped dead in their tracks, suspended in mid-air less than a meter from Su Mo.
Three top-tier Emanators, subdued by a single, soft-spoken sentence from an Aeon.
"If you wish to join the attunement, wait a moment. Let this one join first!"
Looking at Su Mo, Xipe's gaze burned as They continued to reach out.
Throughout this, Su Mo had no reaction.
And just as Xipe's hand was about to touch Su Mo, a slender figure stepped forward, blocking the way.
"My Aeon!"
Robin looked at the Aeon of Harmony before her, her eyes filled with immense disappointment. She understood better than anyone what the Aeon had just done.
"You once said the strong should aid the weak, and the living protect life... But when my brother made a mistake, you allowed him to continue down that path. Not only did you not correct him, but you hid in the shadows, waiting for Lord Su Mo's aid! And after Lord Su Mo helped, you ambushed him from the dark... Is this how you practice the Path of Harmony?"
Even though she had already expressed her doubts about the Path of Harmony before, she had never, until this moment, felt so disappointed in it.
The Aeon hadn't appeared when dealing with Ena the Order. They only showed up to reap the rewards after Su Mo had ended the conflict, even using the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
No matter how you looked at it, this was treating Sunday as a disposable pawn.
A majestic Aeon, acting in such a despicable manner?
Faced with Robin's inquiry, any other Aeon would likely have ignored her. After all, Robin was just a minor Pathstrider, not even an Emanator. She had no right to speak to an Aeon.
But the Path of Harmony dictated that They could not.
"Robin, one of my myriad avatars!" They spoke the young woman's name accurately and glanced at Sunday. "Your work is to be a singer, to convey the will of Harmony. And my other avatar, your brother, his work was to assist me in completing the attunement of Order."
Xipe did not deny Robin's accusations. The entire disturbance in Penacony had been to help Them further digest the power of Ena the Order.
If events had unfolded as originally intended, Xipe would have barely needed to appear to resolve the conflict and achieve Their goal.
But now, with Su Mo's involvement, everything had changed. It wasn't Harmony that had defeated Order, but Su Mo who had defeated Sunday.
As the focal point of the conflict between Order and Harmony, Sunday had not returned to the melody of Harmony but had instead pledged himself to Su Mo. This alone was a massive obstacle to the Aeon of Harmony's Devouring of Order.
But that wasn't the crucial reason for the Aeon's descent.
"His work is to complete the attunement of the gods." Xipe looked at Su Mo and said, "Therefore, he rightfully belongs as one of us! He rightfully belongs as our avatar!"
With these words, everyone finally understood the reason for Xipe's appearance.
The Pantheon.
This was a skill capable of assimilating the power of Paths, a rarity in the entire interstellar society. Even Xipe the Harmony, who could devour and attune all things, was lacking in this area.
They had devoured Ena the Order hundreds of thousands of years ago yet had still not digested Them. But with Su Mo, this didn't seem to be a problem.
"Therefore, you are also Xipe! You are also me!" The God of a Thousand Faces gazed at Su Mo and made this declaration.
Whether it was out of coveting Su Mo's leadership position in the Aeon Alliance or out of desire for his special power, They had a reason to act against him.
In Their perception, turning Su Mo into one of Their myriad avatars did not violate the concept of Harmony, nor would it harm him, so They were perfectly justified in doing so.
The Aeon of Harmony's speech was grand and righteous.
If judged from the perspective of their Path, even Robin couldn't find a flaw. After all, nothing had more authority to interpret a Path than the Aeon Itself.
However, a simple human, relying on intuition, could easily see the fundamental problem.
"After all that talk, aren't you just a robber?" March 7th said resentfully.
"What do you mean Lord Su Mo is you? Lord Su Mo is Lord Su Mo! You're just using your Path as an excuse to steal his power!"
When it came to injustice involving Su Mo, even if the opponent was an Aeon, Little March 7th had the courage to retort. After all, she knew that a mere Aeon was no match for Su Mo.
"Everyone may have their own understanding. As long as they can merge into my Harmony, I can embrace everything!" Xipe was surprisingly tolerant of such words. "One day, you will all be one of us!"