The Astral Express.
A tool created by AKIVILI, the AEON of TRAILBLAZE, specifically to carry THEM and the Nameless on their interstellar journeys.
Of course, there was a rumor that circulated throughout the galaxy: the train's core was the heart of AKIVILI, the AEON, and it was what granted the Astral Express the ability to cross worlds.
Unfortunately, no theory or evidence had ever been able to support that claim.
Moreover, throughout the long river of history, there had been more than one such vehicle, and they had not been limited to one particular train.
But after being washed along by that long river of history, in the end, only this train remained, still traveling through the galaxy.
And in people's impressions, the train's appearance had never changed much.
Because of that, the moment people saw it, they could immediately recognize it as the Astral Express—the train that carried dreams and hope.
But now, that might not necessarily be true.
For example, there was the gigantic robot currently standing before DESTRUDOS.
Its enormous body was dozens of meters tall. At a glance, it was already nearly as huge as DESTRUDOS.
The carriage after carriage arranged across its frame made it clear at once that this thing had been formed from a train.
[WHAT IS THIS THING?]
DESTRUDOS looked at the enormous robot revealed after the dust was blown away and felt a wave of shock.
Hadn't there been only one train parked here just now?
How had it suddenly turned into something so enormous?
What exactly had happened?
Yet just as DESTRUDOS was feeling puzzled, great clouds of steam suddenly burst from the massive robot before THEM.
A train whistle sounded from its body, and then the incomparably enormous robot began taking steps toward DESTRUDOS.
CLACK, CLACK, CLACK.
The sound of machinery rang out without end.
Beneath that sound, even the ORDER DESTRUDOS was performing seemed insignificant!
[HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!]
Within the ORDER THEY were performing at full strength, such a dissonant note should never have appeared.
One had to know that THEY were now a fully complete, two-in-one AEON of ORDER.
All the HARMONY in Penacony had been devoured by THEM. Even all the living beings within it had been filled into the land of stillness THEY had created through the performance just now.
One could say that, at this moment, THEIR power had already reached a realm beyond human imagination.
Under the influence of such power, no sound other than THEIRS should have existed in the whole of Penacony.
Then why? Why could this incomparably enormous robot still make such noise?
In an instant, DESTRUDOS covered the robot in transparent seven-colored ice.
LIFE-MOMENT REMEMBRANCE TUNE.
THEY used the power of the Path of REMEMBRANCE to completely restrain the other party.
At the same time, the TWENTY-FOUR MOMENTS behind THEM continued to spin, making the ice imprisoning the robot even thicker.
Because of Sora, whenever DESTRUDOS encountered even the slightest movement, THEY would treat it with full caution.
Let alone when the robot had made such a sound just now.
So THEY gave it one hundred and twenty percent of THEIR attention!
However, what THEY had not expected was that after the robot moved once, it stopped in place.
It was not that THEIR restraints had taken effect. Rather, the robot itself had made no further movements.
[COULD THAT MOVEMENT JUST NOW HAVE BEEN ITS FINAL FLASH BEFORE DEATH?]
The smiling face voiced that conjecture.
THEY did not understand mechanical creations very well.
[IT DOES NOT SEEM LIKE IT. IT IS MORE LIKE A PROBLEM WITH ENERGY OUTPUT.]
The mourning face, meanwhile, could keenly detect the robot's current state.
Although the robot standing within the ice had successfully assembled, there seemed to be a problem with its power output.
That was why, after moving once, it had stopped moving any further.
[WE CANNOT LOWER OUR GUARD...]
The mourning face issued a warning.
Before everything was completely finished, THEY had to seal this robot here completely!
...
The future Miss March 7th, who would one day be renowned throughout the galaxy, was now facing an extremely grave matter.
Of course, it was not that the outside of the train had been covered in the Six-Phased Ice she knew so well.
It was that the train she was riding had transformed!
And by "transformed," she did not mean some tiny change, but a complete and total transformation from the inside!
The observation car had originally been a place for rest. It had always been spacious and comfortable.
But at this very moment, the observation car was no longer as roomy as before.
Aside from the people inside, the place that had originally led into the cockpit had unexpectedly protruded into an enormous set of steps.
And the culprit who had caused the entire Astral Express to undergo such a major change was standing there right now.
March 7th had always treated the Astral Express as her home. Now that such a huge change had appeared, of course anger surged up inside her!
As the saying went, anger rose from the edge of courage, and evil sprang from the heart!
Faced with this situation, her choice was naturally...
"Dan Heng, go talk some sense into him!"
March egged Dan Heng on.
What? You asked what she was going to do? Of course she was going to cheer Dan Heng on!
As the universe's invincible, top-tier beautiful girl and future top-tier Nameless, how could she personally step out for something like this?
Naturally, she had to send her subordinate ahead to probe the situation first!
"What?"
March's call made Dan Heng snap out of his previous state.
"Hey, what were you spacing out for?"
March was somewhat dissatisfied.
This was already a matter of life and death for the Astral Express. Could he please take it seriously?"
"I was observing..." Dan Heng said calmly.
Because he had discovered that the observation car was not the only thing on the Astral Express that had undergone a huge change just now.
The people in the car had changed too.
Normally speaking, the entire Astral Express crew, including Pom-Pom, only had five members in total.
Even adding the rainbow-colored figure who had caused the train to undergo such a major change, that still made only six.
But now, there were more than six.
At a rough glance, there were at least a dozen figures currently inside the train.
And among them were humans, Intellitrons, even a capybara-like creature and a Memoria entity...
One could say that the people who had appeared on the train had, to a certain extent, nearly covered a portion of the species diversity of the entire universe.
And all of these existences had appeared on the train only after that violent change just now.
Dan Heng was certain he had not seen wrong.
"Did we run into a raiding party?"
A crowd of unfamiliar people had suddenly rushed onto the train. No matter how he thought about it, this did not seem like a good thing.
But why had Pom-Pom caused it?
That was what Dan Heng could not understand most right now.
If Pom-Pom had not opened the train door and invited that guy inside, none of this would have happened.
But as the conductor, why would Pom-Pom do such a thing?
"Because we're not a raiding party, foolish boy."
Just as Dan Heng was still on guard, something hard suddenly knocked against his head.
He turned to look and saw a man with messy hair walking past him.
And the thing that had knocked him just now was actually a handgun.
That immediately put Dan Heng on alert.
They had already pulled out weapons, and they still said they were not a raiding party!
Yet that man did not care in the slightest. He turned his head and looked at Dan Heng with a lazy expression.
"Putting aside everything else, when those raiding parties roaming the universe hear the name of me, 'Touslehead' Bob, they have to back off three light-years no matter what."
"Touslehead" Bob?
Dan Heng frowned, faintly feeling that he had heard this name somewhere before.
March, however, did not care about any of that. "Easy for you to say! Look at Mr. Yang right now, and you're still claiming this wasn't your doing?!"
Welt was currently leaning against the train wall, breathing heavily.
"Look at him staring at the glass! Mr. Yang must be yearning for freedom. That's why he ended up like this!"
March spoke with perfect logic and evidence.
Looking at Welt's current state, it was obvious that he had ended up like this because of the people who had suddenly appeared.
With just a little thought, one could quickly reach a conclusion.
They understood the crew's information very well, so the moment they arrived, they had used a special virus to cripple the strongest combatant in the Astral Express crew.
But even so...
"I, March 7th, will still defend the train!"
March faced the crowd alone, full of righteous resolve.
As a future Nameless famed throughout the universe, she could not be afraid here.
Her words made those figures look at her in surprise.
However, although she said it so well, the actual situation was...
"Little lady, this gentleman seems to be overly excited."
A middle-aged man spoke after checking Welt's condition.
Those words instantly froze March in place.
"Huh?!"
Overly excited? What in the world did that mean?
No, wait! How could she believe the words of these strangers?
"I don't even know you. Why should I believe a word you say?"
Her words reminded the other party.
"Indeed. I actually forgot to introduce myself, dear lady."
A bright smile appeared on his middle-aged face. "I am Granholm, Navigator of the Astral Express."
"Granholm...?"
His self-introduction made March and the others repeat the name.
And among the crowd, an old man looked somewhat surprised. "You are Granholm?!"
His startled cry made everyone's gazes fall on him and Granholm.
When Granholm saw the other party, a trace of surprise also flashed across his brow.
"You are...?"
The face of an old friend turned in his mind.
That was the Navigator who had preceded him, and he was also the Navigator from the early days of the Cancer of All Worlds.
In that era when the star rail had been cut off, he had been like the morning star in the dark night.
But regretfully, he himself had sacrificed his life early in the journey's beginning.
And his name was—
"Falcon Amundsen...?"
Granholm's tone was somewhat uncertain, but to him, that old friend had already passed away long ago.
To see the other party again now, and with such a face, was truly... hard to imagine.
When Dan Heng saw this scene, a look of understanding appeared on his face.
If his guess was not wrong, then everyone gathered here was...
"Welcome, Navigators of every era of the Astral Express."
Sora directly stated these people's identities.
That was right. All of them had the same identity as Himeko.
They had all once been Navigators of the Astral Express.
And the reason this scene could occur was the effect Sora had just achieved through alchemy.
He had used Timelord and Ninetail to pull multiple timelines to this moment and refine them into parallel spacetimes.
Immediately afterward, he used Dragonalos to establish the power of myths and legends, supplemented by Xeggdrasil's ability to fix myths and legends in place.
While the train warp existed in an uncertain information state, he pulled them here along with the trains from their respective eras.
And the reason he needed them was very simple: to face DESTRUDOS head-on.
As an AEON's creation, the Astral Express could resist the ORDER performed by DESTRUDOS.
So to deal with that fellow, Sora had to borrow the Astral Express's power.
The power of a single Astral Express would undoubtedly be stretched thin in that moment.
So he directly pulled all the past trains from the parallel spacetimes he had refined to this place.
Sora's sudden words made all the Navigators focus their gazes on him.
"At the time, I heard a vague call, and then I appeared here. And based on my analysis of that voice just now..."
After analyzing it, the Intellitron in the crowd turned its gaze toward Sora. "The one who called us here was you, wasn't it?"
The moment this was said, the train's Navigators could not help focusing their attention on Sora.
"Yes."
Sora nodded in confirmation. "I want all of you to serve as the nodes of this train and clear the flow of power within it."
Only then could this Astral Express Robot run perfectly.
An Astral Express needed one Navigator. After forming such a massive robot, the number of Navigators needed naturally was not small.
"Did you find the wrong person?"
A woman dressed like a cowboy, wearing a hooded cloak and keeping herself well hidden, frowned as she asked.
"I only served temporarily as the train's Navigator. This should not be a place I was called to."
Her voice was cold and clear, revealing her distance toward outsiders.
As for her question, Sora replied, "That was not decided by me. You should ask this train."
"This train remembered you, so I pulled you from the past into the present."
The medium Sora used for his alchemy was not himself, but the train that had traveled through the galaxy again and again with countless Nameless.
He had only given the number.
As for which eras of the train's Navigators would be pulled back from, that had all been decided by this train now.
Besides...
"Oakley, Pom-Pom missed you!"
Pom-Pom, standing beside Sora, kept waving its fluffy hands at that cold woman.
After seeing Pom-Pom, the nerves that had originally kept Oakley thousands of miles away from others loosened slightly.
"Oakley, the Navigator with the shortest tenure."
Dan Heng immediately thought of the information in the data bank.
She had only served as the train's Navigator for a little over six months.
But no one could forget the contribution she had made. If not for her, the train would likely have fallen in some unknown system long ago.
Even now, her legend still circulated throughout the universe.
"The clothing she once wore, Musketeer of Wild Wheat, was evaluated by the IPC as one of the most valuable relic sets. Even one glove was once auctioned for over a hundred million credits..."
As Dan Heng explained, March could not help opening her mouth wide.
So someone who had once been this famous had actually served as the train's Navigator?
"But if we want an existence like that to help, it might be a little difficult."
March clicked her tongue.
Yet what she had not expected was that when Oakley saw Pom-Pom, much of the vigilance in her eyes toward outsiders faded.
After the two greeted each other, Pom-Pom immediately changed to a pleading expression.
"Please. I'm begging you, help me. It's really dangerous right now!"
DESTRUDOS's revival was inseparable from the Trailblazing train, so no matter what, the Astral Express would be dragged into this.
And once DESTRUDOS's power reached its peak, even the Astral Express would be unable to remain exempt from the performance of THEIR ORDER.
One could say that the Astral Express had already reached the point of life and death.
They had to defeat DESTRUDOS head-on here before they could resolve this crisis.
So at this moment, Pom-Pom hoped that Oakley, this friend who had only spent a period of time with it, could lend a hand once more.
Besides...
"I've always dreamed of traveling alongside all of you again..."
As Pom-Pom said this, its gaze swept over the other Navigators in the train.
It did not only want to be with Oakley. It wanted to be with everyone else too.
There was nothing more moving than a reunion with old friends.
Especially for an existence like Pom-Pom, whose origin and age were both mysteries.
It had waited on this train for far, far too long. It had seen far too many people board and leave.
And with some people, once they parted, it was almost an eternal farewell.
Though everyone had once said goodbye, the difficulty of independent individuals separated by the vast sea of stars meeting again was simply harder than ascending to the heavens.
Now Sora had given Pom-Pom this opportunity.
Not only could it meet its former friends again, it could even advance shoulder to shoulder with them once more.
"So Pom-Pom is begging you. Please accompany me through this journey."
Even if afterward, this might become a riddle, an allegory...
Pom-Pom still did not want to leave any regrets now.
The former Navigators could not help looking at one another.
And from one another's eyes, they all saw the same answer.
Former companions and present companions advancing shoulder to shoulder—was there anything more romantic for the Nameless?
Of course there was... not!
Falcon and Granholm looked at each other. They were both existences who had still held innocent hearts even during the time when the Cancer of All Worlds ran rampant.
With such a romantic thing before the two of them, how could they possibly be absent?
"Touslehead" Bob blew the hair away from his forehead. "Looks like I can't slack off after all."
The Memoria entity named Isee revealed an emotion of joy. Just like its name, it would witness everything.
"Squeak~" (What should we do?)
The capybara lying on the ground asked directly.
"Hahahaha! The help Pom-Pom is talking about should be knocking down that big guy outside, right?!"
The Intellitron's hearty mechanical laughter echoed through the carriage. "If that's the case, then no matter what, I have to test my arm strength against that fellow!"
She had arm-wrestled every passenger back then, and she had not even spared those without hands.
Now that an opponent like DESTRUDOS was before her, how could she not be excited?
After she declared her stance, only one Navigator remained who had yet to speak.
She was a woman dressed in magnificent clothing, with a beautiful face and purple hair. Her name was Starry Cape Dancer Dolly.
"For everyone to gather is fate in itself."
Her crystal-clear, elegant voice made people unable to help becoming intoxicated.
Her gentle gaze swept around. "Once everything is over, let us all perform a score of victory together."
Dolly's proposal expressed her decision and made everyone's eyes light up.
So many Navigators from different times had gathered here. This was an exceptionally unique Trailblazing journey!
They absolutely had to celebrate something like this properly!
"Then before that, we have to deal with that bastard making noise outside..."
Everyone inside the Astral Express focused their gazes through the ice on the seated figure in the sky.
What was about to sound next was the music of TRAILBLAZE.
You are far too noisy!!!
As their hearts united, a special card also condensed in Sora's hand.
This was...
...
DESTRUDOS occupied the clouds above.
Looking at the robot below, frozen until its shape could no longer be seen, THEY finally relaxed the heart THEY had been holding up somewhat.
The bindings created by the Six-Phased Ice were now more than ten meters thick. Adding the original restraining force on top of that...
Even if the Astral Express was an AEON's creation, it could not break through.
A creation of a single AEON had its limits, just like the Amber Lord's crystal wall.
Though that kind of thing had extremely high defensive power, in the universe, it was not something that could not be broken.
Putting everything else aside, the fallen AEON of PROPAGATION had possessed a method capable of piercing the crystal wall.
So even an AEON's creation was absolutely not indestructible.
Not to mention that AKIVILI, the AEON of TRAILBLAZE, had fallen for who knew how long.
So a Six-Phased Ice barrier this thick was absolutely not something that could be easily destroyed.
[LET THIS THING BE SEALED WITHIN. WE MUST QUICKLY COMPLETE THE FINAL STAGE.]
The smiling face made the proposal to prevent further complications.
[INDEED. ONCE WE HAVE COMPLETELY FUSED, EVERYTHING WILL BE IN OUR HANDS.]
The mourning face agreed.
After all, the things THEY had experienced were far too strange.
Putting aside everything else...
Just take an AEON igniting THEIR Path and ascending to godhood.
Normally speaking, how could there possibly be this many twists and turns?
An ordinary AEON would produce special omens when igniting THEIR Path, and once those omens appeared, no additional variables could possibly arise during the ritual.
Why was it called ascending to godhood?
Was that not precisely to distinguish an AEON from ordinary existences?
And yet what had THEY experienced?
At the very beginning, "Mechanical DESTRUDOS," who had devoured The Great Septimus, had been heavily injured by some bastard.
That heavy injury directly wiped out the advantage THEY once held.
Of course, one could also say that this was because the twins of the ORDER had not fused together, so THEY were somewhat weaker.
Then tell ME...
Why, after fusing, was the HUNT Tune THEY performed controlled by that fellow?
You said just now that THEY were weaker than that bastard because THEY had not fused.
Then after THEY fused, why were the Lux Arrows THEY condensed still controlled by that bastard?
This situation was simply beyond all common knowledge!
This was something that should never have appeared!
Yet DESTRUDOS had experienced something like this more than once.
So in order to prevent further complications, after sealing that robot, THEY would complete the final ritual!
Following THEIR thought, the wings behind THEM immediately turned into pieces of metal feathers suspended before THEM.
The Twenty-Four Moments turned into countless piano keys and merged with those feathers.
The more than one hundred thousand Family members on THEIR body floated out as illusory bodies, each phantom carrying an instrument.
DESTRUDOS, who had devoured the wishes of all living beings, could finally create a land of stillness that conformed to the wishes of all souls!
And next would be the melody sounded by THEMSELVES—
[MELODIC CONSONANCE—HARMONIOUS ENSEMBLE OF ORDER!]
THUD!
Just as DESTRUDOS was about to issue the command and lead the movement, a muffled sound suddenly appeared.
That muffled sound was so abrupt in the present silence.
[WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?]
DESTRUDOS hovered high above in the sky, wanting to find the source of the sound just now.
THUD!
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!
Yet at that moment, the muffled sound rang out again, followed immediately by the sound of cracking.
This time, DESTRUDOS very keenly found the source of the sound.
It was the sealed Six-Phased Ice.
And imprisoned and bound within that Six-Phased Ice was...
[THAT...]
DESTRUDOS looked at the cracks spreading across the Six-Phased Ice and said through gritted teeth, [...BASTARD!]
What fell along with THEIR words was a tremendous crash!
BOOOOOOOM!
The Six-Phased Ice, like a towering mountain, finally shattered into countless clouds of ice mist.
Against the reflection of that ice mist, an incomparably enormous figure slowly walked out from within.
The sound of mechanisms moving and heavy footsteps seemed to be playing a song of resistance.
The incomparably massive robot stood upon the ruins of the ice mountain!
[WHY?]
DESTRUDOS condensed countless crystals and hurled them down at the robot.
[WHY DO YOU BASTARDS NEVER KNOW HOW TO BE QUIET?!]
This guy again. This bastard again. This son of a bitch again!
Why was it that whenever THEY reached a critical moment, this son of a bitch always came out to cause trouble?!
[HOSHIGAKI SORA!]
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Enormous crystals carrying ten-thousand-jin weight fell from the sky.
Their falling speed was so fast that they even kicked up a mournful howl of wind.
With the naked eye alone, one could feel how terrifying the force of those objects had become!
Unfortunately...
These crystals falling from the sky had no effect at all on the giant robot below!
"Flying targets? Give me a gun, and I'll take care of every last one."
Oakley, connected to the left-hand node, said this.
Before a quick-draw gunslinger known throughout the universe, those crystals were nothing but targets.
"Got it!"
Sora inserted one card into the Driver, while the other card he inserted into the object that had just been born in his hand.
This was the special Chemy born from everyone's united will.
Its name was: Ultimate Decisive Battle Weapon, Supreme Overlord Mobile Combination Trailblaze Brave!
Abbreviated as: Trailblaze Brave!
'[BULLETBAANG RAINBOW TRAILBLAZE BRAVE].'
Immediately afterward, a figure dressed in green suddenly appeared before Oakley.
She looked at it, and it looked at her.
All of a sudden, she felt an inexplicable and wondrous sensation.
She took down the revolver at her waist, while that green figure merely showed a smile and flowed into the revolver.
Immediately afterward, a revolver identical to the handgun she usually used appeared in Trailblaze Brave's hand.
So that was it...
A smile tugged at Oakley's cold face.
Since they were letting her use her own gun, she would have to let that guy in the sky know what a quick-draw gunslinger who shook the universe truly meant!
She inhaled and closed her eyes.
Oakley pressed her hand above the revolver.
"Listen... the wind is announcing your end."
Following that soft murmur, she abruptly opened her eyes.
Immediately afterward came a rapid string of shots!
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! BANG...!
In an instant, she had emptied the revolver's cylinder.
A revolver only had eight shots in total, but dozens, even hundreds of crystals were falling from the sky.
Did Oakley need to wait for the bullets to reload?
No!
She chose to holster the handgun back at her waist.
"Let the bullets fly for a while."
She took out a harmonica and played a desolate melody at this node.
Immediately afterward, something unbelievable happened!
Those eight bullets collided continuously between the crystals in an extremely strange manner.
And under these continuous collisions, the crystals deviated from their paths and smashed straight down to the sides.
It was not that DESTRUDOS had not thought of controlling them, but...
[WHY? WHY DO THESE THINGS NOT OBEY OUR COMMANDS?]
THEIR control had no effect at all.
Those falling crystals seemed to have developed their own thoughts, beginning their own Trailblazing journey toward a patch of ground that did not belong to the robot.
Only at the very end did those eight bullets stop moving.
But they stopped not because they had run out of power, but because the crisis had been resolved!
Oakley had erased a crisis before it could even take shape with only eight bullets.
Seeing this, the others also appeared extremely excited.
"Oakley stole the spotlight that hard? Then I want in too!"
At the right-hand node, the Intellitron Sam-3000 spoke excitedly. "Give me a boxing glove! I'll show that guy the true meaning of the Astral Express Arm-Wrestling King!"
A boxing glove?
This put Sora in a difficult position. He searched through all the Chemies and seemed unable to find a boxing glove.
In that case...
"Sorry, UFO-X!"
He could only use the thing that looked most like a boxing glove as a substitute!
'[UFO-X RAINBOW TRAILBLAZE BRAVE].'
A UFO appeared before Sam-3000 with a bewildered expression, but after seeing it, she showed no fear at all.
She very skillfully grabbed the other party's right hand, then immediately flipped with force, causing UFO-X to turn upside down in an instant.
"Hahahaha! I beat you, so help me out this one time!"
"UFO." (I suppose it can't be helped.)
After UFO-X sighed, it turned into a stream of light and gathered on the Intellitron's right hand.
A disc-shaped boxing glove also appeared on Trailblaze Brave's right hand.
The massive robot crouched, gathered power, then leapt straight up.
The right fist, primed and ready, smashed directly toward DESTRUDOS!
A god's dignity meant DESTRUDOS would not retreat lightly.
[DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HURT ME?!]
With a wave of THEIR hand, DESTRUDOS made the steel wings turn into a round shield blocking THEIR front.
When the two collided, an incomparably heavy sound rang out.
At the same time, countless illusory figures were separated out.
After those phantoms separated, the operation of the TWENTY-FOUR MOMENTS showed a trace of delay.
---
T/N: what the heck bro this shit is so hype