O Silver Chariot, Speed Toward That Black Earth 2

"Stelle."

The pink-haired girl gave the Trailblazer a strained, weak smile.

"I'll leave my camera with you for now. Make sure you take some gorgeous shots for me!"

Stelle solemnly accepted the camera March 7th handed over and nodded. "Don't worry. I will."

"Oh, right. There's one more thing."

March 7th spoke in fits and starts, as though she were trying her hardest to suppress her physical discomfort. Gazing at the Trailblazer, she earnestly reminded them:

"Judging by our past experiences on Jarilo, the Xianzhou Luofu, and Penacony.

The first local we meet always has some earth-shattering secret hidden on them!

Stelle, Dan Heng, you absolutely have to stay alert."

The Trailblazer and Dan Heng exchanged a glance.

What March 7th said made so much sense!

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her."

"No problem, Little March!"

March 7th was in truly poor condition. After exchanging looks, everyone decided to let her rest quietly in her room first.

After leaving March 7th's room, everyone felt somewhat uneasy.

March 7th had been perfectly healthy ever since she boarded the Express. She had never even caught a cold or run a fever.

Why had she become like this as soon as they approached Amphoreus...?

Setting aside the questions in their hearts, the Express Crew, who had originally planned for everyone to disembark and Trailblaze, reshuffled their plans.

In the end, it was decided that the Trailblazer and Dan Heng would disembark first to scout ahead.

Everyone else would remain aboard the train to prepare for the follow-up matters concerning the warp jump. They planned to disembark and join the ground team once March 7th's condition improved.

"Then we'll have to trouble you two with disembarking first, Pom!"

"The conductor and navigator have decided to activate the backup plan and allocate a train car to you.

After all, based on what we've explored so far, Amphoreus has no signal.

Once you get there, you can at least use the train car as a safe house. In an unfamiliar place, it's good to have somewhere to settle down, just in case."

Pom-Pom and Himeko took turns laying out the plan for the Trailblazer and Dan Heng.

Dan Heng remained as composed as ever on the surface. He nodded, looking entirely unruffled.

But the Trailblazer was nothing like that.

She still remembered that the first line of the script said she would die!

Though she did not know how she would die or when.

Just thinking that going to Amphoreus meant stepping one foot into the entrance of certain death.

Made the Trailblazer feel like crying.

She looked at Pom-Pom and Himeko before her, then turned her gaze toward Welt and the others discussing their subsequent plans not far away.

Though she was terribly reluctant to part with everyone.

For the future of the Express Crew.

She would go for it!

Amphoreus, just you wait!

The others watched the Trailblazer's face cycle through three expressions in a single second. They had no idea what she was thinking, but she ultimately looked enthusiastic and full of drive.

That was a good thing.

Right up until she boarded the train car that was about to be launched, the Trailblazer's face was written all over with so-called motivation.

"Train car separation in three, two, one..."

Inside the train car Himeko had called the safe house, Pom-Pom's voice rang out, announcing the countdown to the Trailblazer and Dan Heng's landing on Amphoreus.

The Trailblazer stood by the window, watching the ever-changing splendor of the "8" flowing through the galaxy.

"Launch!"

As the conductor announced the activation of the train car's thrusters, the car shot toward Amphoreus like an arrow loosed from its bow.

The train car carrying the ground team raced forward at light speed.

At the same time.

The Trailblazer mentally knocked on Aha's door.

Stelle: Alright, where's that content-packed, absolutely no-nonsense script you promised me? I'm almost there. You can't keep hiding it from me.

Aha: I know. Let's do a question-and-answer session, then. Tell me what you care about most, and I'll answer.

The Trailblazer immediately threw out the question that concerned her the most.

"When am I roughly going to die? So I can prepare myself mentally."

Five.

Stelle's eyes widened. "Five weeks? Or five days? Five days is a little short, but at least you gave me a warning."

Four.

"What?!"

Stelle anxiously sprang out of her chair.

Three.

"So it's a countdown? Aha, how could you be so heartless? You caught your most beloved emissary completely off guard?!"

Dan Heng glanced at the Trailblazer, who had suddenly jumped up and started freaking out for some unknown reason.

His eyelid twitched violently.

The scenery outside still streaked backward at light speed. They were already very close to Amphoreus.

It looked as if they were directly above Amphoreus, with little time remaining before landing.

Two.

"I galactic profanity you, Aeon of Elation! You galactic profanity can't do this to me!"

The Trailblazer began cursing Aha furiously and indiscriminately in her heart.

One.

"No, Aha! I don't want to die!"

As Aha's voice announced the countdown—seemingly calm at first listen, yet carrying a faint hint of secret delight upon closer inspection—the Trailblazer erupted in a hoarse cry of desperation: "I don't want to die!"

The countdown ended.

A spear flew out from nowhere and pierced the train car with overwhelming force!

The attacked train car spun out of control and crashed into an unknown place.

Before her consciousness completely faded away, the Trailblazer lay sprawled on the ground in disarray and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Her lips moved as though she said something, but no sound came out.

Then she lost consciousness.

"Aha, you precious little..."

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

Darkness as thick as ink, impossible to dissolve.

Stelle opened her eyes.

As far as she could see, everything was shrouded in chaotic darkness.

She laboriously pushed herself up, yet felt no pain in her body.

Hadn't she and Dan Heng been on their way to Amphoreus just now, before a spear from nowhere pierced their train car?

Why did she seem completely unharmed now?

Stelle spread her hands in disbelief.

Hadn't she been told she would die?

But she was still standing here perfectly fine.

Could it be that the first two entries in the script Aha had provided had come true so quickly?

First: She would die.

Second: She would escape danger.

Could it be that she had already turned danger into safety?

Stelle: Aha? Aha? Are you still there?

She quietly called out to Aha in her heart.

Unfortunately, Aha gave no response.

"Stop calling."

Yet behind her came faint footsteps approaching from afar.

Along with a familiar voice.

"Aha is very busy right now. They have no time, but I have time to come see you."

The Trailblazer turned around.

Only then did she discover that a faint beam of light had fallen from nowhere behind her.

And the person slowly walking toward her through that light was—

The Trailblazer!

Her eyes widened.

No, calling this person "the Trailblazer" was not entirely accurate.

More precisely, it would be more appropriate to call the person before her "Elation Stelle."

(From here on, this is a selfcest plotline. "Trailblazer Stelle" will be called "the Trailblazer," while "Elation Stelle" will be called "Stelle," to distinguish the two.)

The Trailblazer knew all too well what her other self was like.

During her previous conquests, she had handed every person she could not handle over to Elation Stelle.

She knew that nothing in this world could shake Elation Stelle's calm and composed expression.

And that was still true now.

At this moment, Stelle stared intently at the Trailblazer with an interested gaze, the look of someone treating the other as something in her palm.

"Didn't Aha give you a warning long ago? You knew you were going to die, yet you were still screaming in fear just now. What kind of behavior was that?"

Stelle's reaction was utterly calm.

Meanwhile, the Trailblazer, who had just been sentenced to death by Aha's five-second countdown, was clearly anything but calm.

She walked up to Stelle and protested:

"Aren't we supposed to be on the same side? Why are you siding with Aha?

And besides, even though I knew I would die, I didn't expect to croak the moment I set foot on Amphoreus...

Also, who does something like that? Aha only told me five seconds in advance. That warning might as well not have happened."