Chapter 189: Conductor, I Was Bullied by Aha
[Path Switching: The Hunt & Propagation -> Elation -> Elation & Voracity -> Voracity & The Abundance -> The Abundance & Voracity -> Elation & The Abundance]
"Cosmic god-man, open your eyes. I am Aha-kimi."
A terrible incident had just broken out aboard the peaceful Astral Express.
A blatant, unapologetic robbery.
That's right—the notoriously evil senior of the cosmos had despicably snatched away his junior's power. As if that wasn't enough of a violation, the loathsome Aha had forcibly stuffed a writhing fragment of Voracity straight into Rekka's hands.
"Conductor! Waaaaah—you have to stand up for me! I was bullied by Aha!"
Rekka lay completely prostrate on the plush carpet of the corridor, dramatically clutching the ankles of Pom-Pom, who had rushed out of their room wearing a tiny, adorable set of pajamas.
"How dare that fellow bully you!"
An angry vein practically popped out on Pom-Pom's furry forehead. To think an Aeon would stoop so low as to bully one of Pom-Pom's most pampered passengers!
Although Rekka had caused his fair share of chaotic trouble when he first boarded the Express, he had spent every single day since carefully grinding the Conductor's favorability. By now, he had thoroughly won the fluffy Conductor over.
"Passenger Rekka, don't worry! Pom-Pom has a special little notebook just for recording the bad things that fellow has done, and every single debt is kept clearly." Pom-Pom patted Rekka's shoulder with a soft paw. "But you... are you alright now?"
"I'm fine." Rekka finally sat up, dusting off his knees. Lying face down on the floor was starting to get a bit uncomfortable anyway.
"Tell Pom-Pom exactly what happened."
At the stroke of midnight, Rekka's daily Path had switched to Elation. Immediately after, he realized a chunk of his power had been brazenly stolen by the ever-laughing Aha. In return for the theft, the Aeon of Elation had tossed a fragment of Voracity his way.
"You actually call that an equivalent exchange?!" Rekka scoffed indignantly. "Look, Conductor, it's this thing. This fragment of Voracity is still moving."
He pointed a finger at the writhing, grotesque black shadow thrashing about on the floorboards. The mass of dark energy was currently tightly restrained inside a heavy sack made entirely of Force Field Containment Cubes that Rekka had hastily thrown over it. There was absolutely no way the squirming monstrosity could break out.
Pom-Pom blinked, their long ears twitching as they looked from the sack back to Rekka. "Then you are...?"
"Then I saw Big Sister Yaoshi. Big Sister Yaoshi is so pretty."
"Oh, so The Abundance helped you."
Looking at the two wooden branches growing directly out of the top of Rekka's head, Pom-Pom suddenly understood the situation. Just for today, the Conductor silently decided to allow a compliment for The Abundance.
However, even with Rekka keeping his guard up, Aha hadn't managed to take absolutely everything. A portion of the authority over Chaos remained firmly in Rekka's grasp. He had, essentially, become a miniature Aeon of Elation.
Even if this particular little Aeon of Elation currently had tree branches sprouting from his skull.
"Where did this veil come from?" Pom-Pom asked, gesturing to the translucent fabric draped elegantly over the branches.
"It was a gift from Yaoshi."
"What about these extra arms behind your back?"
"Yaoshi gave those to me too."
"Then... then what about the eyes on these arms?"
"Yaoshi's."
She certainly knew how to give memorable gifts.
"But after looking at it for a while, it's actually quite cute," Pom-Pom mused, tilting their head.
The Conductor reached out a fluffy, round little hand, attempting to gently poke one of the pale arms hovering behind Rekka's shoulder. But the very second Pom-Pom's paw was about to make contact, a jagged red slit on the back of the hand suddenly split wide open. A blood-red eyeball rolled wildly in its socket before snapping to a halt, staring dead straight at Pom-Pom.
Pom-Pom jumped back in sheer fright, their ears standing straight up as they retreated several paces.
"It... it... it moves on its own!"
Okay, maybe this thing was a bit eerie after all.
"Conductor, let's find a secure room to seal this thing away first," Rekka suggested, pointing back down at the black Voracity fragment that was still thrashing against its cubic restraints on the floor.
"That makes sense."
The man and the Pom worked together to lift the heavy black fragment, which looked disturbingly like a giant, severed monster's tentacle, and carried it toward an empty storage room.
Pom-Pom actually used their two long ears to carry their end of the load. One should never underestimate the sheer tensile strength of Pom-Pom's ears. Not only were they incredibly strong, but they possessed the dexterity to carry seven or eight cups of hot drinks simultaneously without spilling a drop.
"Putting it here should be fine."
Pom-Pom dusted off their paws, looking with deep satisfaction at the black fragment now securely sealed under multiple overlapping layers of force field cubes. It lay quietly in the deepest, darkest corner of the storage room, looking like a forgotten piece of rotting wood, only occasionally writhing to prove it was still very much alive.
"Eh? Why is Stelle sleepwalking again?"
Stepping back out into the Parlor Car, Pom-Pom caught sight of Stelle. The tall, gray-haired Trailblazer was standing completely still in a dark corner of the carriage with her eyes squeezed shut, occasionally muttering something under her breath.
"Forget it, she'll go back to bed on her own. Passenger Rekka, you should go back to sleep early too." Pom-Pom waved a paw and waddled off toward the Conductor's quarters.
Rekka lingered, casting a curious glance at the "sleepwalking" Stelle.
She stood rigid in the corner, her hands aggressively swiping and gesturing at empty air, her mouth mumbling a string of incoherent, frustrated syllables.
In reality, she wasn't sleepwalking at all. She was just mentally projecting herself into the Forgotten Hall, furiously grinding the Memory of Chaos.
Aside from her, there was supposedly no movement in the midnight carriage.
No, actually, there was.
From the far end of the corridor came the faint, stealthy padding of March 7th sneaking out of her room to raid the fridge for juice, providing a soft acoustic backdrop to Stelle's mosquito-like muttering.
Rekka walked silently across the carpet, coming to a halt directly behind Stelle.
Stelle's eyes snapped open.
She hadn't gotten full stars in the Memory of Chaos again. Just one last turn away...
Stelle beat her chest and stamped her foot in silent, agonizing gamer rage. After taking a deep breath and finally calming her racing heart, she turned around, fully intending to head back to her room for a hot, soothing bath.
The very moment she turned around, her gaze met one pair, two pairs... countless pairs of eyes.
In the pitch-black carriage, a tall figure stood completely silently behind her. Dim, silvery starlight spilled through the Express windows, barely illuminating the person's silhouette.
Two thick wooden branches, winding and intersecting like jagged antlers, grew directly from the person's head, with a ghostly translucent veil hanging over them. But that wasn't the most terrifying part. Several pale, lifeless arms extended from the person's sides and back. On the back of every single hand, in the center of every palm, and even running up the forearms, wet red slits had split open, revealing crimson eyeballs that rolled frantically in the dark.
In the dead quiet of midnight, these extra arms wriggled slowly, flexing their fingers like independent living creatures. At this exact moment, every single eyeball locked onto Stelle in perfect, horrifying unison.
It's over. An Abomination of Abundance has breached the Express.
Stelle's brain stalled instantly. Her primal survival instinct hijacked her nervous system, triggering an explosion of incredible speed. Golden light flared violently in her hands, condensing into the solid, heavy grip of her trusty baseball bat.
"Take this!"
Stelle gripped the bat with both hands, her muscles coiling as she swung it down with bone-crushing force aimed directly at the head of the eldritch monster standing before her.
"Hey, it's me."
From among the writhing mass of eerie limbs, two pale arms suddenly shot upward, their palms clapping together to precisely catch the whistling baseball bat in mid-air. The crimson eyeballs on the backs of those hands continued to roll around wildly, completely unfazed by the impact.
Then, Stelle registered Rekka's familiar, somewhat helpless voice echoing from beneath the veil.
Stelle's entire body froze. She maintained her aggressive downward swinging posture, her golden eyes wide as saucers. Her gaze darted frantically back and forth between the creepy, eye-covered hands gripping her bat and Rekka's casual face.
"You... Rekka?"
A faint sound of cheerful footsteps echoed from the corridor leading to the kitchen.
March 7th, happily clutching a massive cup of bright yellow fruit juice and humming a peppy, unknown little tune, strolled leisurely into the Parlor Car. She had clearly woken up parched in the middle of the night and successfully completed her stealth mission for a midnight snack.
"Stelle? You're not asleep either?" March 7th spotted Stelle's tense back in the dim starlight and took a couple of skipping steps forward. "Who are you talking to—"
March 7th's words caught in her throat.
Because from her angle, she had a perfect, unobstructed view of the multi-armed, multi-eyed, horrifying monstrosity standing opposite Stelle, looking exactly like a final boss that had just crawled out of a cosmic horror movie set.
"There's a ghost—AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
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