1.
They say the Lord of the Heavenly Demon is bored.
The One-Man Legion speaks in incomprehensible riddles.
The Vanguard General averts his gaze.
The beast that devours the sun remains silent.
The Lord of Corrosion shows no interest.
But the Immortal Fruit is afraid.
Everyone talks way too damn much.
When you really think about it, it’s simple enough.
I was finally about to get a new youngest member!
And then he died!
I’m stuck as the youngest forever!
...Damn it, now that I think about it, that pisses me off.
Am I some kind of punching bag?
Not some half-and-half fried chicken, but that black-and-white bastard of a boss keeps beating me up under the excuse of sword training every other day.
And that lunatic with a die for a head keeps messing with me, too.
I don’t have a single decent superior.
Ah! Except for the one with the ring on her head.
She’s beautiful, too, and I have no idea why she walks around like that.
Ahem, I think I drifted off topic for a second.
What I have to say isn’t much.
Bet your life.
If you lose, there’s only destruction.
If you win, you might seize glory.
Put your own life on the gambling table and use it as a chip.
Find the meaning of existence on a tightrope stretched over a cliff.
Even if the end of it all is destruction.
I don’t know what glory and ruin Akibiri will bring on his journey after setting out once more, but in my opinion, Amphoreus, the fourth journey, is a bad ending.
You couldn’t save anyone, Stelle.
You forgot what I taught you.
There is no success without sacrifice.
To save something, you must lose something else.
That story about saving everyone and winning in style? Akibiri couldn’t pull that off either.
At the end of the story, the Astral Express fell.
And though it set out on its journey once more under a newly born navigator, could the ending really be different?
It’s been a while. Let me see your face.
I’ve been wondering whether the Astral Express still looks the way I remember it.
2.
"Ahaha, did I ruin the mood?"
All eyes turned to me.
Colorful lights, beautiful stars each with their own hue.
"What the hell is that monster doing here?"
"...It’s an enemy even [Raucous Ninja Arts] can’t beat."
The first to react were the Galaxy Rangers, who drew their weapons.
I’d seen them once in Penacony.
"I came back as a Nameless, to visit my hometown. Your reaction’s a little harsh."
At the word Nameless, red hair swayed in front of me.
The saw blade mounted on the cover spun. Sparks flew as the blade moved violently. I stepped back lightly and dodged the attack.
"Hey, Himeko. Aren’t you being a little too sharp with your big brother?"
"Shut up."
No, not my sweet Himeko!!!
Since when could she make such a vicious expression!!!
Realizing once again that this was different from the past, I looked around.
The faces were dazzling.
Marshal of the Xianzhou, Genius Society, Nameless, the Astral Express, Galaxy Rangers, the family, the Vidyadhara.
Wait a second. If that’s the case, I’ve walked straight into a tiger’s den on my own.
I acted on impulse without thinking, sure.
"Sob, because you guys killed off the newcomer, I ended up being the newcomer again."
"Is that guy completely insane?"
The one who spoke was a woman dressed like a witch, her hair dyed black and purple.
Insane? That’s harsh.
Though, to be fair, I am insane.
"Calling an insane person insane is an insult, Herta."
"...Yeah, he’s insane."
"Logic: Based on the current situation, the probability of capturing that man is less than 5 percent."
"Thanks for the compliment, tin head!"
Hahaha, my hollow laughter echoed through the train.
And a small life-form that looked as if it had seen something terrifying hid behind the boy with the dragon’s appearance.
"Pom-Pom, that’s cold. Not even a greeting?"
"...Murderer."
"So you’re the Vidyadhara! It’s an honor to finally meet you after only hearing your name!"
At the mention of the Vidyadhara, the boy’s face twisted sharply.
"...So, what brings you here?"
"Don’t stare at me like that, Welt. The story just ended, and I didn’t come here to cause trouble."
Vicious MK.2.
The Nameless I’d spent a brief time with, Welt, glared at me.
The atmosphere was grim.
Even the people from the Astral Express looked like they’d jump at the chance to smash my skull in.
Are they acting like this because I cut off their boss’s left arm last time?
"You want to fight here? Seriously?"
"..."
"If we fight, one of us is going to be destroyed."
I, Adrian Servet, never back down from a fight that comes my way.
In my heart, I wanted to say I was glad to see so many familiar faces after so long.
But somehow, I was the only one acting clueless.
"I don’t exactly want to turn the Astral Express into a lost ship in space and drop it again. I’m serious about that."
I have the power to do it.
Right now, I do.
From the start, I got dumped with the job of destroying every Path except the eight my own side was responsible for, just because I had an unusual constitution.
Does that even make sense?
Competence really is a sin.
Maybe because I wrecked two major planets after becoming Destruction’s subcontractor for the first time.
If this was going to happen, I should’ve just half-assed the job.
"...Do you know how many planets you’ve ruined?"
"Wasn’t it ten after I met you? I don’t remember exactly."
"Yeah, you say you don’t remember, but you know the number exactly. The people you’ve killed number in the billions."
"So what?"
They died because they were weak, died because they lost a wager, died because they fell to schemes.
Was that my fault?
Then they shouldn’t have gambled with me.
"...You’re the one who created the situation where they had no choice but to gamble and play games!!!"
"They made the choice."
"Don’t give me that crap. I... I trusted you. I followed you, calling you big brother. My father did too, and so did you. You said you wanted to become a Nameless."
"And I made you a Nameless."
The conversation ran in parallel lines.
Himeko’s eyes reddened as she glared at me.
"...You betrayed us."
The day I ceased to be a Nameless, I destroyed the planet Punklorde.
It was nothing special.
The planet called Punklorde was already on the verge of collapse, like a tower stacked too precariously.
I just added one more wedge on top of that tower and brought the whole thing crashing down.
Because of that, I picked up a rather dangerous grudge.
No, wait, two grudges? There was already a woman in that group who hated me.
"Try to understand. What am I supposed to do if this is just my nature? I even tried seeing a psychiatrist to fix it."
"..."
"That’s that, and this is this. I still have work to do, don’t I?"
I’m a salaryman.
Without Nanook’s support, I can’t even eat!!!
"Was I a fool to try talking to you?"
"Hey now, we’ll end up meeting again anyway."
Bang—!
A bullet was fired.
It was a shot from the cowboy, who could no longer bear to watch and had lost his temper. Right before the bullet ricocheted, I snatched it out of the air with my bare hand and charged.
"You crazy bastard!!! Do you know how much money I spent fixing this place!?"
"You damn pig! You tumor!"
"...What the hell is wrong with this guy’s way of speaking? Did his beacon break or something?"
The Astral Express lobby, which I had barely managed to restore with my own money.
It had been empty when I first saw it, so I decorated it myself.
After slamming the cowboy who’d tried to turn that lobby into a wreck into the floor and turning him into a wooden plank, I looked at the others left standing.
"If you thought you could kill me with this little force, that’s disappointing."
"Haha, do you know how many apostles are here right now, servant of the Destruction Calamity God?"
"Apostles? Let’s see... two one-tenth pebbles, one army boss, one idiot who only knows how to use his head, and one block of ice. Isn’t that all?"
"..."
"Right, the Vidyadhara too. Add one half-wit dragon! And the preposterous chicken too!"
The Marshal of the Hunt fell silent.
Hard to argue when the facts are hitting you in the face.
"...Should I take back what I just said?"
Come to think of it, that’s a lot.
Four apostles fully unleashing their power?
Holy shit.
Their eyes are scary.
I might actually die if I’m not careful.
Hmm. Delightful!
Exciting!
When was the last time I felt this thrill?
Should we fight? Let’s fight. This might even be my grave.
If I fight and make it out alive, I’ll play poker afterward. Then I’ll drink some Penacony cocktails and fool around with women.
Even if I’m covered in wounds, life has to go on.
That’s my life.
"...We’re not fighting."
The grim atmosphere continued, but no one actually moved to fight.
Damn, the heroes who stopped the Iron Tomb from destroying the galaxy are timid.
There’s no reason to stay any longer.
I should have one last conversation with the protagonist.
"Stelle."
"..."
"You’re still wearing that hairstyle?"
"I’m not doing it because of you."
Not worn loose.
Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, the style I used to do for her often, the style I’d tied myself with my own hands.
"So, did you save what you wanted to save?"
"...You."
"You couldn’t protect it, and you couldn’t save it either. The galaxy got a happy ending, but you didn’t. Right?"
"Ugh, don’t listen to him. You don’t need to hear stuff like that."
A pink-haired girl frowned and covered Stelle’s ears. But Stelle shook her hand off as if it didn’t matter and looked at me.
"What did you come here hoping for?"
"Nothing. I came because it’s fun. And to see the faces of old friends while I’m at it."
"...You’re still impossible."
"You and I are alike, aren’t we?"
"No, we’re not."
Unlike me, who had already lived a life full of shame, she was as clean as a blank sheet of paper.
"Keep going. Don’t give up. You can’t live while protecting everything. What you lose, you can take back. If it’s you, you can do it."
"..."
"A dream is something you can’t quite reach, Stelle."
I pulled the cowboy still stuck in the floor free and set him back where he belonged.
Then I drew on the power of memory and fixed the strange synesthesia beacon, too.
"...This fucking bastard."
"Oh, now that’s more like it."
"What a goddamn piece of shit."
"You swear a lot."
Personally, I like the Galaxy Rangers.
Chivalry, justice, righteousness, and duty.
Pretty cool, right?
"Well then, goodbye. Let’s meet again someday!"
A fading afterimage.
That strange sensation of being pulled into the darkness.
Watching the stars disappear, I left one last line behind.
"Ah, tonight too, the stars brush against the wind."
3.
May I have no shame before the sky until the day I die.
Even the wind through the leaves caused me pain.
A tiny ship drifting through space.
I drank wine and looked out over the vast world.
How long had it been?
Since I fell here.
I’d forgotten how to count time. After more than a hundred years, time had become meaningless. That was around the time I realized life had no meaning either.
Boring.
Meaningless.
By now, all that remained to me was the role of an observer watching other people’s stories.
"How dull..."
I’m short on dopamine.
Why is there no gacha game here?
"If you’re bored, then get back to work."
"For real, damn it."
Silver machinery mixed with red moved before my eyes.
It shifted with a heavy metallic clank.
"Wow, a mecha."
"...Could you stop saying stupid things?"
"I can’t say anything bad to my lifesaver."
"I was a soldier, so please understand."
"So stiff."
Whoosh!
The machine was engulfed in flames and vanished.
What remained was a girl in ordinary clothes.
She had short silver hair and a pretty face.
"Entropy Loss Syndrome is..."
"I’m fine."
"You don’t look fine at all."
Snap!
A bright finger snap rang out.
The cracks of fireflies across the girl’s body disappeared.
"AR-1368. Damn it, that’s such a pain to say."
"It’s a code name."
"I’ll give you a real name, you know."
"No, thank you."
"Do you know how many months it’s been? Your friend got a name and joined that weird bunch called the Stellaron Hunters, and she’s doing just fine."
"They’re not a weird bunch. They’re a group that holds a grudge against you, Teacher."
What did I do wrong?
At most, I only destroyed Punklorde and the planet Pteruges-V.
...Was that wrong, though?
"What about the others?"
"General Jingliu has returned, Kafka is at the gambling den as usual, and the fox is lazing around in her room reading comic books."
Is the Antimatter Legion okay?
Except for two of them, they’re all loafing around and stealing paychecks.
Shocking, but true....
The Antimatter Legion’s executives declare themselves NEETs!
"What about the Amphoreus matter... was it resolved?"
"Resolved? What do you mean? Iron Tomb got completely wrecked and ended up trapped in eternal recurrence, turning into a tin can."
"I see."
"No good. Wanna try saying ‘I’m back again’ for me?"
"What does that even mean?"
"It’s a meta line. Don’t worry about it."
With a heart singing the song of the stars.
We should love everything that is dying.
"Did you meet Firefly?"
"...Yes."
"What did she say?"
"She told me to come out."
"And? Are you planning to go?"
"No."
"You can go."
"I’m fine."
She really was like a soldier whose whole body had gone rigid.
It seemed even worse than when I first met her.
Boring.
"And yet you’re still wearing the clothes Evernesia bought for you."
"...It was something I didn’t need."
"You needed it. You’re not a tool or a machine anymore. You have to live your own life, right?"
"That’s not something someone who sees us as chess pieces should be saying."
"Does it sting?"
"Yes."
"Should I go back to the psychiatrist?"
"You’ve been going for a hundred years. That’s enough effort. Give up."
I stood up from the chair.
After finishing the rest of the wine, I walked out.
Life was so powerless and so boring that, by now, I was looking for the grave where I’d be buried. The stage for a death that would bring my life to a perfect close.
A boring life is a sin.
I don’t need that kind of life.
If it weren’t for the girl I’d gotten in my old age as my final prize.
"How far can Stelle go?"
"I don’t know."
"Will she walk the same road Akibiri walked?"
"Aren’t you the one who most hopes she won’t?"
"..."
"You’re very unstable. Are you all right?"
Past, present, future.
The road not taken.
The road I could not take.
Ah, the scenery of Neon City, where I could not die.
"Where is the Astral Express headed next?"
"The Dreamscape. Should I make preparations?"
"No, that’s Asat Pramid’s territory. Ruining a plan that’s been prepared for fifteen years wouldn’t be fun."
Though crashing into the middle of a prepared play would be fun, too.
I’d already done my part by blocking the eye of the end. A fixed script isn’t fun, after all.
Right, Elio?
"Call them all."
"...Jingliu, Kafka, and Evernesia."
"Yeah. If they’re the Antimatter Legion in name, then it’s embarrassing if they don’t work."
"The Star Peace Corporation may move as well."
"Arch Pojer got there first. I cut off Diamond’s left arm, and the two candidate directors are busy grabbing each other by the throat and fighting, so they won’t be able to move."
Idiots.
They think a board seat matters that much.
They’re covering their eyes and turning away from the truth.
The Amphoreus matter was the same.
"Where are you going?"
"Where did the Stellaron Hunters cause trouble again?"
"...The only planets left are Screwllum Star, Fear Point, and Yepera."
"We’re going to Yepera."
Screwllum Star is too much for the four of us to touch.
Fear Point is a place even I’d have to be ready to die to enter.
Yepera is fine. It’s the kind of place you go to like you’re just stepping out for a casual stroll.
The places I destroyed...
...were 43, not counting that one, and I’d wiped all 43 of them clean.
That way, I could watch the Stellaron Hunters get pointed at and blamed.
I was the cause, sure, but people are so ridiculously simple.
It was fun.
I put on the black fixer coat hanging on the rack.
Pulling up the black sweater that rose to my throat, I gripped my sword.
The world warped and space shattered into pieces.
The girl wrapped herself again in silver machinery.
The man glittered like gold dust and a peacock.
A woman dyed in blue ice, wearing an eyepatch.
A fox glowing with ginkgo leaves and pink light.
"Uwaa~ Do we already have to work? I hate it."
"...Where are we going?"
"You’re making a new board again?"
Voices of every color.
People and beings I had gathered.
"Let’s go like we’re taking a walk. Easy."
"Destroying a planet isn’t exactly easy! You black-hearted bastard!"
"Evernesia, stop reading comic books and get to work."
"You! Are! So! Annoying!"
Yes.
And the Path given to me.
I should walk it.
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