Meanwhile, elsewhere—
In the starfield where the Astral Express drifted.
Beneath the vast expanse of the cosmos, the Astral Express hung silently in the void.
But its condition was clearly not good.
The train had only just escaped from Nihility, yet now it seemed to have sunk into a fresh sea of the same darkness.
Most of the exterior lights had gone dim, leaving only a few emergency lamps blinking with weak, intermittent light.
Inside the train, Pom-Pom—the conductor—was now the only living being still conscious in the carriage.
And even awake, there was almost nothing he could do.
Because Nihility had crept back over the Astral Express, and this time its effects were even worse than before.
Due to his unusual symbiotic bond with the train, Pom-Pom himself had been hit especially hard by that power.
Before his eyes, every single passenger had already collapsed.
March 7th. Stelle. Himeko.
All three lay sprawled across the cold floor of the observation car, their status unknown.
Outside the train, in open space, two figures stood facing one another.
One in black. One in white.
At that moment, blood stained the corner of Welt's mouth. In his hand, the pseudo–Star of Eden still emitted a faint ripple of gravitational force, but its light had clearly dimmed.
Even so, his gaze remained locked on Kallen.
Because now, there was no trace of Preservation left on her at all.
What had taken its place was the same Nihility that had accompanied the Astral Express for three whole months.
That power churned around her, yet there was not the slightest hint of it running wild, as if every strand of it lay perfectly under her control.
"Miss Kallen… why are you doing this?" Welt truly could not understand.
Why attack the crew aboard the train?
Why do this now, when the train was on the verge of reaching Herta Space Station?
Kallen did not answer at once.
She only looked at him in silence, her expression calm to a frightening degree.
There was no guilt in those eyes, no hesitation, not even the faintest ripple—
as though everything she had done was only natural.
"Mr. Welt, do you remember what I said before?"
"Bianka's death was not a peaceful one."
Welt's pupils contracted slightly.
Of course he remembered.
She had said it herself after they left the domain of Nihility.
She had said Bianka died willingly, to prevent Trailblaze from becoming Finality.
Welt had never understood what that meant. But out of consideration for Kallen's feelings, neither he nor anyone else had pressed her for more.
And now that she had brought it up again, could there really be some hidden truth behind it?
"So?" Welt's voice turned hoarse. "What does that have to do with you attacking the Express?"
Kallen looked at him and suddenly gave a faint smile.
"Mr. Welt, do you know? Bianka died for Trailblaze."
"She traded her life for a road."
"And now, the ones walking that road… are all of you."
Kallen's gaze swept past him to the Astral Express behind her—the silent train, now fallen still.
"I don't hate you. None of this is your fault."
"Bianka made her choice, and I respected that choice."
"But I have my own choice to make as well."
The moment the words left her mouth, Kallen raised her right hand.
The gray-black tide of Nihility answered her summons at once, surging together around her palm.
Then she gave a light push in Welt's direction.
Boom!
A torrent of ash-gray darkness exploded from her hand, so fast it could scarcely be seen.
Welt's eyes narrowed.
His body reacted on instinct. The gravity of the pseudo–Star of Eden flared outward, forming a barrier in front of him.
But it was too late.
The torrent was too fast. His gravity field had only formed halfway when that wave of Nihility slammed into his left arm.
"Urgh—!"
Welt grunted, his body hurled backward by the sheer force of the impact.
A moment later, searing pain exploded through his left arm.
Welt lowered his gaze and froze for a split second.
His arm was still there.
But something was wrong.
The power of Nihility was spreading through him.
Grinding his teeth, Welt forced himself to steady his body.
He hovered in the void, right hand still clutching the pseudo–Star of Eden, while his left arm hung limp at his side.
Then he looked at Kallen, his gaze so tangled it was hard to read.
This woman—
No, this Emanator of Preservation, this Emanator of Nihility—
what exactly was she?
What did she really want?
She could have acted from the very beginning.
She could have struck while the train was still trapped inside that sea of Nihility, in a place that might as well have been her home ground.
But she had not.
She had even saved the Express, helping them escape the void that had trapped them for three months.
And then, just as the train was about to reach Herta Space Station—
just as everyone believed the crisis had finally passed—
she made her move.
Himeko. March 7th. Stelle. Pom-Pom.
One after another, they had all collapsed into sleep.
Even Welt himself had only realized something was wrong at the very last moment.
But by then, it had already been far too late.
"Miss Kallen… do you really have to do this?" Welt asked one last time.
But Kallen only looked at him without speaking.
The stillness in those eyes was answer enough.
Welt took a slow breath.
He knew very well that in his current state, he was no match for Kallen.
Kallen was an Emanator—an Emanator of Preservation, and even more so, an Emanator of Nihility.
And he, Welt Yang, might once have stood at the top of the food chain on Earth, and might have earned no small reputation in this starry sea—
but before an Emanator, he was still only an ordinary Pathstrider.
"Below Emanators, all are ants."
The saying was a bit too absolute, perhaps—but in truth, not many people would argue with it.
And to make matters worse, the Nihility devouring his left arm had already spread to the shoulder, leaving his combat strength cut down by at least thirty percent.
But Welt did not retreat.
Because aboard the Astral Express, he was now the only one left who could still fight.
Himeko had fallen. March 7th had fallen. Stelle had fallen. Pom-Pom had fallen.
Dan Heng had gone to Herta Space Station. He was not on the train.
If even he went down now, then the Astral Express would truly be—
completely lost.
So no matter what, he had to stand his ground.
Even if it was only for a few more moments.
Even if all he was buying was time until Dan Heng returned with Herta's help.
Welt's eyes sharpened.
"If that's how it is… Miss Kallen, then I'll have no choice but to ask you to be ready to be torn apart by gravity."
With that, he tightened his grip around the pseudo–Star of Eden.
The orb atop the cane began to tremble violently in his hand, releasing gravitational waves far stronger than usual.
"Then try it," Kallen said, casting him a glance.
Welt raised his right hand, aiming Eden toward her.
Space itself began to twist.
A tiny singularity formed before his palm, then rapidly expanded, spinning, devouring everything around it.
Even the distant Astral Express began to tremble, as though it might be dragged into that pull.
A pseudo black hole.
This was Welt's strongest move.
And also his most dangerous.
Because if it lost control, the consequences would be catastrophic.
But at this point, Welt could no longer afford to care.
His eyes were fixed on Kallen. The black hole in his hand grew larger and larger, the pull more and more terrifying.
And yet Kallen moved first.
Welt's black hole was only halfway formed when she was already right in front of him.
The distance between them vanished until he could almost make out the trembling of her eyelashes.
Welt froze.
His pseudo black hole still needed at least half a second to fully take shape—
but Kallen had no intention of giving him even that.
She lifted her right hand, spread her fingers, and planted her palm directly on top of his head.
Then she twisted her wrist.
Welt's head was driven down, and his entire body was smashed into the Astral Express like a cannon shell.
Bang!
A heavy impact rang out against the train's hull.
Welt's body crashed into the outer wall of the observation car, denting the metal inward in a grotesque crater.
For a moment, his consciousness blurred.
The world before his eyes spun. Starlight and darkness tangled together until neither could be told apart.
Welt wanted to rise again.
Wanted to seize Eden once more.
Wanted to cast the pseudo black hole a second time.
But his body would no longer obey him.
The Nihility consuming his left arm had now spread to his shoulder, and his right arm had gone numb from the impact.
Then Kallen stepped in front of him.
"Mr. Welt, is there anything else you want to ask?"
With great effort, Welt lifted his eyes.
His vision was blurred, but he could still make out Kallen's expression clearly.
There was no killing intent there.
No madness.
Not even much hostility.
"I don't have a bad impression of the Astral Express," Kallen continued.
"So I'm willing to make an exception and clear up a few of your questions."
"While you can still hear me."
Something in those words made Welt's heart clench.
A good impression of the Astral Express?
Who was she trying to fool?
You don't like the Astral Express and then stab it in the back.
That was what he thought.
But Welt understood, too, that this was an opportunity—
perhaps the only chance left for him to understand the madness behind all of this.
Questions surged through him.
But in the end, one thought rose above all the others.
It came from the name Kallen had mentioned again and again.
It came from the stubborn, desperate light that occasionally flashed through her eyes—
the same light he had once seen in Otto Apocalypse.
Otto Apocalypse.
The man who had dragged the whole world toward ruin for the sake of the saint he carried in his heart.
And now, in Miss Kallen, Welt saw the same shadow.
"Miss Kallen… are you doing all this… to bring Miss Bianka back to life?"
The instant he asked it, a terrible sense of familiarity seized him.
History felt like a crude loop, repeating itself right before his eyes.
And yet Kallen's face showed no surprise at all.
She even gave a slight nod, as though the question had been the most natural thing in the world.
"Yes. Everything I'm doing is indeed for the sake of bringing Bianka back into this world."
"In those days, Bianka's existence—and her sacrifice—were inextricably bound to Trailblaze."
"She was born because Trailblaze was heading toward Finality, and in the end, she chose death of her own will to sever that possibility."
"And because I could not accept that ending, I have decided to do something myself."
"And in order to achieve that, I am likewise willing to pay any price."
Welt fell silent.
He understood the literal meaning of her words.
But more than that, he felt with painful clarity the madness and resolve hidden behind that logic.
He looked at Kallen's profile.
The faint light of the stars outlined her fine features, but made them seem colder still.
In those eyes—the eyes of Nihility that had watched him before—he felt a chill rise from the depths of his soul.
Too similar.
That obsession with placing one's personal feelings above all else.
That cool-headed surface masking utter insanity.
Never had Otto Apocalypse's shadow overlapped so clearly with this Emanator of Preservation and Nihility.
An indescribable mix of fury and grief surged into him, tangled with the pain wracking his body and the numb emptiness spreading from the Nihility inside him.
And then Welt laughed.
A low, broken laugh.
It pulled at his wounds and turned into harsh coughing, more blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"Heh… cough… ha…"
"For one person… willing to pay any price… willing to trample everyone else… destroy everything…"
"Miss Kallen… that face of yours… fills me with a disgust I know all too well."
"You and Otto Apocalypse—the man who deceived the world for five hundred years just to revive Kallen Kaslana—are exactly the same."
"For the sake of your so-called love, you'd throw everyone else into the abyss?"
"And you still dare say you have a good impression of the Express… What a hypocrite."
Welt's breathing turned ragged, but the last fire in his eyes burned even hotter.
He stared at Kallen, waiting for some kind of reaction.
Perhaps a furious strike born of rage.
Perhaps a cold denial.
But Kallen merely listened in silence.
There was no look of having been exposed, no shame, no anger.
Only after he had finished did she tilt her head slightly and lower her gaze back to him.
Then Welt's eyelids grew heavier.
Heavier.
Heavier still.
Before his consciousness finally fell into darkness, he looked at Kallen one last time.
"Mr. Welt, I wasn't lying."
That was the final thing Welt heard.
And with that—
the Astral Express, in its entirety,
was wiped out.
oin here to read ahead.
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 180)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl 285
"Is this chat group even serious?" 150
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (This matter is completely finished.)
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 255
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 210
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 305
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer (This matter is completely finished.)
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 130
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 155
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 120
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 155
My Harem Is Indescribable 105
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 110
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 110
Still playing traditional Honk 96
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 95
What Should I Do After Switchi 51
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 80
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 105
Checking In in Demon Slayer 95
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 105
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 95
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel (This matter is completely finished.)
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 95
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 90
Why did they assign me to Uma 80
MYGO Beauties 75
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 80
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 100
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 120
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 65
The Uma Musume Who Became 70
I'm Definitely Not the King of 105
After Maxing Out Every Class 110
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 95
I, the Elden Sword Saint 60
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 60
No One Knows Pokémon Better 60
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 69
From Trilobites to Titans 57
Chainsaw Man: Contracted with 75
DanMachi: My Party Members Are 86
An Anime Heroine Darkened 60
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Links 70
Honkai: The Fire Devil 70
Honkai Transformation Cards Volume2/30
Age of Heroes, I'm Just a Back 60
Uma Musume Has No Weird Fan Le 74
At age 8, she co-starred with 42
Honkai: Schicksal Media 30
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