Chapter 2

As gravity compressed the air within the area, producing dull explosive booms, and the terrifying pressure ravaged the narrow, cramped corridor without restraint, countless clear sword chimes suddenly rang across the battlefield.

"My heart is steel, my heart is glass—"

The world before him gradually began to collapse alongside that incomprehensible chant. Welt frowned and was about to retreat, only to discover that the world behind him had begun collapsing as well. Blades with indistinct forms chaotically blocked off his escape route.

"Space... has been replaced? No, this is... something like a constructed World Bubble?!"

"My forged swords have reached over a thousand—"

"Unvanquished across countless battlefields—"

"Knowing neither beginning nor end—..."

The narrow, cramped space station corridor vanished completely, replaced by a desolate snowfield and countless blades gradually appearing upon it. Then, in the next instant, a heavy metallic impact rang across the snowfield. The still-hazy world solidified completely, constructing a real "new world" before Welt's eyes.

"Therefore, this body was made by 'Unlimited Blade Works'—!"

When the chant finally came to an end, Welt slightly raised his head and looked toward the young man standing amid a mountain of blades and sea of swords atop a snowy hill ahead. He stood upon that lonely hill of swords in the snowfield, gripping a black and a white twin blade, pointing them toward Welt from afar. With a faint smile on his face, as though he had noticed Welt's gaze, he suddenly laughed aloud and shouted,

"Herrscher of Reason, do you still have enough weapons in reserve?!"

The World of Swords

As far as the eye could see lay a world covered in countless blades and swords.

They had been casually left across the ground, piled up like discarded scraps in a junkyard.

But—

Even these swords and sabers, treated so carelessly, were no inferior pieces of scrap iron.

Welt's gaze swept over the millions upon millions of weapons. As the former Herrscher of Reason, although he had now lost his Herrscher Core, he had retained some of his former ability to appraise them.

Every blade here was not something an ordinary person had the right to wield. Had they existed in the Middle Ages, every saber and sword here would have been worthy of becoming a renowned weapon. By Mandate of Heaven's armament standards, there were even hundreds of Sword Weapons here that could reach Divine Seat rating.

And yet, such Sword Weapons had been casually discarded upon this snowy sword hill alongside ordinary blades. Welt could scarcely imagine what kind of terrifying armed force the countless weapons spread throughout this snowfield could form.

"Weapons in reserve?"

Hearing this undisguised declaration of war, Welt laughed. A long-lost glimmer of excitement appeared in his eyes.

"I can't just pretend I didn't hear that."

Although he had long used the Star of Eden as his primary means of facing enemies, Welt Yang, the former Herrscher of Reason, was not some shoddy imitation that only knew how to manipulate gravity. His true power had always been "understanding" and "creation."

"Then let's have a little fun."

Hearing Welt's response, the young man atop the sword hill let out a hearty laugh. Then he came whistling forward like a gale, with hundreds upon thousands of Sword Weapons rising from the ground behind him to guard his body.

"As you wish! Titan Legion—construct—!"

With an eruption of Imaginary energy, hundreds of mecha dozens of meters tall appeared behind the former Herrscher of Reason without warning. They were products embodying the pinnacle of Anti-Entropy technology. Every Titan Mech possessed destructive power comparable to a Temple-grade Honkai Beast.

"Advance—!"

As the command fell, scalp-numbing engines started almost simultaneously and completed their initial operation with maximum efficiency. The combat AI already installed within them locked onto the charging enemy at once.

"Eliminate target! Confirmed—!"

"Beam weapon, locked—!"

"Homing Beam, fire—!"

Beam weapons appeared to be the Titan Legion's primary armament. Shirou Emiya swept his gaze over the incoming beams and rapidly began constructing a defensive Noble Phantasm.

"Seven Rings of Heavenly Domination—!"

Layers upon layers of illusory lotus shields appeared in an instant. Like a moving city wall, they blocked the beam weapons while allowing Shirou Emiya to continue charging toward Welt without obstruction.

As weapons, swords and sabers were most effective not merely when treated as projectiles.

Their true advantage was threatening people at close range.

Beyond seven steps, the gun was faster.

Within seven steps, the gun was both accurate and fast.

But...

What if the distance was less than three steps?

The answer was...

"Crane Wing Drop!"

When he was merely ten steps away from Welt, Shirou Emiya suddenly threw Gan Jiang and Mo Ye from his hands, locking onto Welt amid the Titan Legion. Seeing the black-and-white twin blades flying toward him, Welt merely smiled and shifted two or three steps to the side, concealing himself behind a Titan.

But with his movement, the Sword Weapons floating around Shirou Emiya and in the sky suddenly shot out as well. Hundreds upon thousands of streaks of light crashed down from the heavens like speeding comets.

If they had merely been ordinary blades, they would have produced no more than the effect of a volley of ten thousand arrows. But the weapons gathered here were no ordinary swords and sabers. Among them were famed demonic swords and holy swords from history. Even deprived of the boost provided by the legends of their homelands, the holy swords and demonic swords themselves were of extraordinary quality, forged through techniques tied even to myth.

Spiral Sword.

Red Dog of the Plains.

Gram.

Hrognir.

These weapons, which had originally existed only in the mythic epics of demigod heroes from the past, had all been replicated by Emiya upon the Throne of Heroes. When he communed with that man upon the Throne of Heroes, he acquired everything belonging to Shirou Emiya, Alaya's guardian. He had even transcended the constraints of time and space, replicating "Nameless," "Muramasa," and Alter versions of Shirou Emiya as well.

The blades falling from the heavens struck continuously into the Titan Legion where Welt had hidden himself like meteors. Titan Mechs, which conventional thermal and kinetic energy could barely damage—

Had almost no ability to resist the bombardment of those demonic swords and holy swords. Like scissors cutting paper with ease, in a single exchange, dozens of Titan Mechs were reduced to wreckage incapable of any further movement.

"...Quite unusual Imaginary energy."

Having retreated to a safe area, Welt observed the "strange energy" coating those "Sword Weapons." It was undoubtedly Imaginary Internal Energy, yet its composition contained more than just Imaginary energy. If he had to describe it, it was somewhat similar to Honkai Energy from his home world, mixed with something else. While its purity was slightly inferior, it possessed other properties.

"A new energy composition replacing Honkai Energy?"

"Does it grant objects greater adaptability?"

Raising a hand to manipulate the Star of Eden and knock down the multiple black-and-white twin blades launching a surprise attack, Welt leaped onto the head of a Titan Mech. He looked once more at the man who had wiped out nearly half his Titan Legion within only a few breaths, then slowly spoke.

"Although this kind of arms race is somewhat interesting, I don't have much time to play with you right now. So... we need to decide a winner."

"I don't think it'll be that easy to decide, Mr. Welt, who loves getting knocked down and getting back up."

Facing the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, who seemed prepared to fight with all his strength, Shirou Emiya spoke with a light smile.

"You're too uncanny. Even after losing your Herrscher Core, you survived a hellhole like the Sea of Quantum. I don't want to truly become enemies with you."

"Your Star of Eden's Zeroth Rated Power can create a pseudo-black hole. To be honest, I can't take an attack like a black hole. But... if I slightly alter the settings within this Reality Marble of mine and make Imaginary energy inert, then the two of us can sit down and have a proper talk."

"Now, let me borrow the words of an old acquaintance you once met..."

"Friend or enemy, choose!"

"...Was that your goal from the beginning?"

Within the space filled with inert Imaginary Energy, Mr. Welt sat down somewhat helplessly and honestly waited alongside Shirou Emiya in this snowfield for the time limit of this "World Bubble" to expire.

To be honest, he had not expected this guy to choose such a shameless tactic.

When the main battlefield had first been shifted into this strange "World Bubble," he had not noticed anything. Although the efficiency of drawing upon Imaginary Internal Energy had decreased, it had not greatly affected his combat ability.

After all...

At that time, he could still draw upon quite a bit of Imaginary energy. It was only after being provoked into creating the Titan Legion in one go that Welt belatedly realized he had fallen into a trap.

He had unleashed his ultimate move, emptied his mana bar, and this man had even restricted his means of recovering mana.

What could he do?

Welt looked at the cane in his hand, then at the famed swords spread over the entire battlefield, and ultimately gave up on showing the other man the formidable martial arts he had kept hidden all this time.

He was getting old. It was not as though he was suited to trading fists with youngsters anymore.

"Can you tell me now what you intend to do to that child?"

Welt stared at Shirou Emiya and asked,

"Your objective has already been achieved. Can you answer my question now?"

"Sure, but answering your question costs extra, Teacher Yang. Your brother here is actually very interested in the job of being a Nameless."

"I'll ask Himeko to introduce you afterward."

"Good brother, I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Hearing the man's nonsensical forms of address, Welt helplessly patted his forehead. Still, he had obtained a useful piece of information from his words.

If one of his objectives was to Join the Star Rail...

March 7th and the others probably would not face too much danger.

"The reason I held you back was to give a Doomsday Beast enough time to get acquainted with the other members of the Express crew."

"That child, Asta, belongs to the same organization as I do—the Stellaron Hunters. I assume Mr. Welt is no stranger to us?"

There were countless intelligent planets throughout the boundless universe, and the various organizations born from them were as numerous as river carp. Yet when it came to fame, the organizations capable of making a name for themselves in this corner of the universe were basically all connected, in one way or another, to beings known as Aeons.

For example, the Xianzhou and Lan, the Abundance followers and Yaoshi, the Genius Society and Fuli, the IPC and Klippers.

Whether directly or indirectly, any group connected to an Aeon had the right to raise its banner across the universe.

The Astral Express's Nameless were no exception. Even though the Aeon of Preservation had already vanished or perhaps even fallen, the entire universe had never forgotten Their great deeds and achievements. When Nameless appeared upon the "planets" connected by the universe's star rails, they were usually treated as honored guests.

Of course—

That excluded remote planets without internet access.

As for the Stellaron Hunters, many people knew that traces of the King of Nothing lay behind them. Furthermore, many of their members were interstellar criminals listed on the IPC's bounty board. Though they could not compare to the notorious Destruction Gang, the claws of Destruction, they were still one of the more infamous organizations.

"Slaves of destiny, Acheron's script, is that it?"

Having heard a little about how the Stellaron Hunters operated, Welt slowly narrowed his eyes.

"Why did he arrange a script for you and Stelle to join the Astral Express?"

"How could a lousy extra like me possibly fathom the director's thoughts?"

Shirou Emiya smiled and waved a hand. Some things could not be laid too plainly on the table. After holding back this old man, once Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng had undergone the Doomsday Beast's trial, joining the Astral Express would basically be a certainty. At that point, this old man probably would not forcefully vote against it.

"That child's memories have now been wiped clean. Although she retains faint impressions of a few of us, she is basically a blank sheet of paper. What image and colors will ultimately be fixed upon that sheet will depend on your Express crew and everything she experiences from now on."

"And I, Mr. Welt, possess an ability that neither you, nor Himeko, nor even Pomeranian could refuse."

"What ability?"

"The ability to charge the train—the ability to give you a chance to return home. What ability do you think that is, Mr. Welt?"

Hearing that, the old man froze. After a moment of silence, he suddenly seized Shirou Emiya's hands and enthusiastically said,

"Please, you must join our team."

"Shirou Emiya. The name alone tells me you were born to be a Nameless."

"...You can call me by my nickname, Redp."

"Wonderful, truly wonderful. The meaning of Trailblaze practically washes over me. You were born to make a living in Trailblaze."

"Excellent! I have drifted alone for half my life, regretting only that I never encountered a wise organization. If you do not reject me, I am willing to acknowledge you as—"

"Enough, enough. Stop fooling around. Your background is looking a little too complicated, kid."

"The key is that you old man understood all of it! Gwah! Is this the skill of fifty years spent surfing the internet? Truly powerful—powerful indeed!"

As the two traded jokes, the Reality Marble's duration reached its limit. After all, the "mana" he had left in advance for the Reality Marble's operation had been extremely limited. Perhaps because the two worlds truly had some connection, after arriving in this universe, although he had not immediately stepped onto a Path, he could still barely manipulate the Imaginary energy permeating every inch of space.

Because that so-called Imaginary energy seemed to be Great Source Mana—Divine Era Aether.

Using a small amount of "Lesser Source Mana (Odo)" to leverage nearly infinite "Great Source Mana (Mana)," Mr. Emiya, who had originally been little more than a minor player beneath this universe's starry sky, instantly gained the capital to contend with certain powerful beings.

"Looks like your script has been completed."