Pioneering, Never Ending

"Did I not... perish together with Kevin..."

"Where is this?"

A crimson world, a landscape of decay, with a black sun resting silently at the center of the horizon.

Lang Lei called out in his heart instinctively, but there was no response...

"You have come, my friend..."

"Ugh, what the!"

Lang Lei followed the voice, only to see a ghost-like creature hovering before him, radiating an eerie red light.

"Who is your friend? What kind of freakish thing is this? Have I been cursed or something?"

"Tiernan..."

"Hm? What did you say?" Hearing the familiar name, Lang Lei moved a little closer, though he remained on guard.

"No need to be tense. Why not... look at yourself?"

"Myself?" Lang Lei glanced down at his lower body and froze.

"This is... me?"

At this moment, Lang Lei's form was no different from the "ghost" before him, save for his body being slightly more solid.

After the initial disbelief, Lang Lei felt a sense of resignation.

"Heh~ Right. I'm dead, aren't I..."

Reflecting on his final moments, he supposed he had played the hero for once, hadn't he?

Kevin had condensed a nearly impenetrable barrier using his 50,000 years of "burden," one that even Kiana, who possessed half the Authority of Finality, the ascended Herrscher of Truth Bronya, and the new generation Herrscher of Origin Raiden Mei, could not shake in a short time despite their combined efforts.

If that barrier were not shattered quickly, once Kevin of Deliverance recovered, the world would truly sink into the Adam of the Spirit once more.

Then, everyone would spend their lives in a collective consciousness, a phantasmagorical dream, and humanity would never make any progress again...

It was at that moment that Lang Lei realized that both his Path of The Hunt and his Path of Trailblaze were coming to an end here.

Kevin was a hero, but his methods were absolutely unacceptable!

Thus, on the moon, Lang Lei carried out his final Hunt, targeting Kevin's 50,000-year-old obsession.

He succeeded, opening a path for the new world. In the moment before he fell into the Sea of Quanta, he seemed to see Kevin's perpetually cold face... smiling?

"So, you are someone who knew Tiernan? Or rather... are you Tiernan?"

"Lang Lei, you are still as sharp as ever."

"Just intuition." Lang Lei gave a bitter smile, though it was difficult for him to make any expression now. "You died too, Tiernan..."

"Indeed, we are all dead..."

"So this is the world after death?" Lang Lei looked around; there were indeed many beings like them.

"No, this is the birthplace of the Blood Sin Spirits, a special existence formed by the obsessions of Pathstriders under the shadow of Nihility."

Just then, a voice rang out behind Lang Lei.

"Raiden Mei?"

Turning around, Lang Lei looked in surprise at the figure who was ninety percent similar to the girl he knew.

"..."

"I may not be the person in your memories... You may call me Yomi."

"Yomi... A fitting name for a place like this." Lang Lei understood and stopped dwelling on her appearance. "So, what you meant just now is that we are merely manifestations of obsession?"

"You can understand it that way."

"And the shadow of Nihility... that would be the black sun in front of us, right?"

"..."

"It's fine if you don't answer; I have the answer in my heart." Lang Lei laughed self-deprecatingly. "Though, as for obsession... I shouldn't have any, should I?"

"No, since you have arrived here, you must have one," Yomi stated firmly.

"Obsession, is it?"

"Perhaps..."

The girl's voice echoed in Lang Lei's mind. Perhaps he would never hear it again, and as he stepped toward the end, his life would be left with a promise that could never be fulfilled...

"That is where Nihility resides..." Lang Lei looked again at the black sun on the horizon, like a black hole, as if one could never leave once they entered.

He did not know why, but Lang Lei was certain of it.

"Tiernan, how did you die?"

"To be honest, after I arrived in this place, I was muddled, even forgetting who I was for a time. Even my name was recalled only with this young lady's reminder. But perhaps because we are obsessions, I clearly remember my death, as well as Mikhail, Azalina, and you..." Tiernan spoke slowly, as if recalling a memory. "In that battle against the Great Extinction Lord, a battle like a moth flying into a flame..."

"It seems I was the lucky one who escaped that disaster, lingering on for so long..."

Lang Lei remembered that day clearly; with just one seemingly casual attack, the enemy had sent him flying, and somehow, he had drifted into the solar system...

With a bitter smile, Lang Lei suddenly felt something appear in his hand.

A purple bullet...

Seeing this object, Lang Lei suddenly felt a sense of relief.

"Yomi, you are still a living person, right? Or perhaps, an Emanator of Nihility should have some special privileges here?"

"I am not an Emanator of Nihility; I am merely stained with more of the 'Nothingness'."

"It matters not. I wonder, could you deliver this to the Sea Rangers who are still alive?" Lang Lei handed over the bullet in his hand. "Perhaps one day, its light will bring dawn to a world once more. I may not be there to witness it, but there will surely be many who share my aspirations, following in our footsteps to hunt across the universe."

Yomi silently took the bullet and opened her other hand, revealing another "medal" belonging to a Sea Ranger—another bullet...

Lang Lei smiled. Indeed, how could Tiernan, who died in that battle to uphold cosmic justice, be any less of a hero than he?

"You are about to dissipate, aren't you?" Lang Lei looked at Tiernan, whose body was flickering, as if he might vanish at any moment.

"Indeed. And you?"

"Me?" Lang Lei looked toward the black sun in the distance. "I wonder if you still remember our original identity?"

"Trailblazers... Nameless..."

"Exactly. Since I have completed my final 'Hunt', it is time to begin my own 'Trailblaze' once again."

Observing Lang Lei's gaze, Yomi thought of a friend she once knew.

"You, too, are choosing to walk into the Nihility?"

"Too?" Lang Lei paused, then smiled. "It seems a predecessor has already done so. My path is not a lonely one..."

"And how long can this obsession of mine endure under the erosion of the Nihility?"

"Connect the known, explore the unknown, and never yield to the unknowable..." Lang Lei murmured, looking at Tiernan. "Paimon once said that sometimes I don't seem like a Nameless, and you once teased me, saying I only became a Sea Ranger on a whim. So, at the very least, this time I must prove myself, must I not?"

"..."

"Just you wait, I shall blaze a trail even the Star God Akivili never reached!"

Having said this, Io turned and resolutely walked toward the shadows of the Nihility.

Tiernan and Yomi stood there quietly, as if witnessing the final curtain call.

"Even if the Path waxes and wanes, the Trailblazer must hold their own resolve!

Even when facing raging storms, the Astral Express Crew must move as one!

Even when standing at the brink of survival, one must still resist injustice!"

Just then, Lang Lei's voice drifted from the distance.

Tiernan was stunned, then began to murmur along—

"Even if forgotten by the world, one must not count the cost of the aftermath...

Even if the galaxy's twilight is vast and dim, one must still illuminate the long night...

Even if the situation is chaotic and disordered, one must still look ahead and crush the chaos..."

"May this journey eventually reach the stars!"

"May this journey eventually reach the stars!"