Long Tone of the Distant Horizon

Himeko paid no attention to Inukai as he left alone and walked up to the kidney.

The thing had no consciousness of its own. Himeko swung her saw, trying to cut off a piece of flesh.

The contaminated Six-Phased Ice exerted its power, blocking the saw. Himeko tried several times but could not break through its defenses.

"Do I have to use some other method?"

As Himeko pondered, the extremely irritable Himechi Cat offered a more direct solution.

"Forget all that! Blast it with a cannon! Summon the Starblazer and show it what Trailblaze means!"

The Starblazer?

Himeko would have liked to, but she did not even have the blueprints.

Even if she did, with her current abilities, never mind summoning the Starblazer-summoning one of its toenails would have been an outstanding feat.

Even when Himeko used Imagenesis to create a Railgun, she could only produce the cheapest of the cheap versions, and firing a single shot sent her rolling far away like a bowling ball.

"Hmm... what should I do?"

Unable to think of any good ideas for the moment, Himeko could only turn her attention to the rewards she had accumulated.

She had not originally intended to use these things. As a distinguished alien overlord, after all, she rather looked down on these local specialties.

But none of the various tools she had brought could handle the current situation, so Himeko could only branch out and try unlocking a few new skills.

Three skill draws and one Guardian Deity draw.

She would start with the Guardian Deity.

"What would the Astral Express's Guardian Deity be?"

Himeko felt a little expectant. Could she draw Akivili?

It could hardly be more reasonable for the Aeon of Trailblaze to protect the trailblazing Astral Express.

She used her Guardian Deity draw. An intense flash of light blazed, its golden radiance making Himeko's eyes ache a little.

"Long time no see, esteemed Navigator."

A robot walked out from behind the light.

The golden glow just now had come from the colored lamp in the robot's hand.

"I am your Five-Star Guardian God-Shut Up. Tell me, are you my Master?"

"..."

Looking at the noisy Shut Up and the super-bright lamp in its hand, Himeko fell into a prolonged silence.

[Guardian Deity: Shut Up. Star rating: none. A drink-mixing robot from the Astral Express's Party Car. Do not expect much combat capability from it.]

"Five-Star Guardian God?"

After reading Shut Up's description, Himeko spoke in a low voice. But the instant she opened her mouth, she regretted it.

"Indeed, I am your 'no-star' Guardian Deity. 'None' and 'five' sound alike-a pun that is sure to make you chuckle."

"Shut Up, shut up!"

Himechi Cat bared her fangs at Shut Up, looking ready to pounce on it and tear it into parts at any moment.

"Your Himechi Cat seems somewhat irritable. Would you like me to connect you to Fuzzy Two-Dimensional Teacher Ma for a detailed consultation?"

As a qualified attendant, Shut Up excelled at reading expressions.

"You can connect to Dual-Phase Paradise?"

"Haha, my apologies. I misspoke just now. There is no connection to outside signals here at all. I will search for a better solution right away... found it! What should you do when your pet is irritable? Let me give you the most straightforward..."

"Shut Up, shut up!"

Himeko forcibly held Shut Up down.

Instead of telling bad jokes, it had started spouting idiocy, making Himeko wonder whether it had caught some kind of virus.

The Guardian Deity would be no help, and she would have to drag it back to the train herself. Himeko could only pin her hopes on the three remaining skill draws.

She prayed to the mysterious god of coffee to please give her something useful.

[Skill acquired: Mystical Coffee Art]

[After entering this state, the coffee you brew will be artistic, extremely artistic, as artistic as a great artist.]

It was a very good skill, and Himeko was happy to have it in her skill list. But she did not like drawing it at a time like this.

She spent another skill draw, once again learning a useless decorative skill.

[Skill acquired: Floral Art]

[You have considerable expertise in designing potted landscapes. All greenery that passes through your hands will thrive.]

Pom-Pom tended all the plants on the train, and every plant transplanted aboard inexplicably grew more luxuriantly. Presumably, that was Pom-Pom's doing.

Having this skill made little difference.

This was her last chance. If she drew more bizarre garbage, dealing with the Amusement Park Monster would mean spending more time constructing a complete Railgun piece by piece.

By then, the other contestants would probably be miles and miles away. March 7th would also keep exploring ahead, and there was no telling whether she would encounter danger.

"Come on. Please give me something good."

Himeko committed her last skill draw.

Reality was cruel. Not every hope received an answer.

[Skill acquired: Invisibility]

[Upon activation, you will become invisible to the naked eye for the next sixty seconds. Ends upon taking an attack. Cooldown: 30 minutes.]

It was a skill that was neither particularly good nor particularly bad. It offered no help whatsoever in her current situation.

Was her only option to build a Railgun by hand and blast the Amusement Park sky-high?

Himeko sighed. Just as she was about to resign herself to her fate, the system finally stirred.

[Draw three skills within the instance to earn the achievement: You can never have too many skills (When out in the world, you must always master a few skills that are utterly useless in everyday life but can make a bit of a clown of you once used).]

[Reward obtained: Randomly repair one damaged component of the Astral Express.]

There was no shortage of damage awaiting repair aboard the Astral Express.

The interior was in tatters, cars were missing, doors would not open, and many things had been lost.

Himeko watched the repair options scroll past, including [Complete the Data Bank], [Repair the warp function], and [Open the Party Car]. Where it finally stopped, however, made her feel that her luck had turned.

[Astral Express: Support attack repaired.]

[Skill available: Long Tone of the Distant Horizon.]

The tense expression on Himeko's face finally relaxed.

As for how powerful a collision with the Astral Express was, one could ask the Amber Lord's wall. If the wall could not speak, one could always ask Sunday.

"Now it all depends on what Inukai chooses."

If Inukai came to his senses before everything was settled, Himeko would not mind helping him again.

Otherwise, Himeko would not mind getting a little something extra under the Astral Express's wheels. The worst outcome would merely be another trip to the Car-Washing Star afterward.

Himeko's suddenly relaxed expression left everyone in the livestream baffled.

[What skill did she get? Why did the atmosphere suddenly get less tense?]

[What is Shut Up? How did it fail to get even a star rating? Why are all the Guardian Deities Himeko draws so weird?]

[Three useless skills and one useless Guardian Deity. No, Huaxia is finished.]

[Huaxia is finished? I don't see it. The gate is right behind her. She can leave whenever she wants. Even I could just dust myself off and clear the stage, let alone Himeko.]

[Then why isn't she leaving? Can't she beat that monster?]

[Inukai has already gone to collect the monster's power. If she doesn't leave now, she'll have to fight Inukai after he gets it. Himeko is so wary of that monster. Once Inukai has fully obtained its power, won't he send her flying?]

In the studio.

WarGreymon looked at the four additional skills on Himeko's panel, counting them off on his fingers.

"Wait, that's not right. How did three chances give her four skills???"

He skipped straight past the first three.

Aside from Invisibility being somewhat interesting, the other two were trash, not worth discussing in the slightest.

The inexplicable fourth addition, however, deserved some thought.

"What kind of skill is this?"

He opened its description.

[Long Tone of the Distant Horizon: The will of Trailblaze cannot be stopped.]

There was nothing in there, just one cryptic message.

"Can the riddlers get out of the livestream already!"

In the Amusement Park.

After scouting outside and thoroughly investigating the place, Himeko returned to the Wax Museum, standing before the Darkroom corresponding to the heart.

The place she was currently in contained the liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

They corresponded to pensiveness, sorrow, fear, and anger respectively.

The heart on the other side represented joy.

According to Shut Up's database, these four organs each corresponded to a different emotion, and each emotion would cause some damage to that organ.

Anger harmed the liver, joy harmed the heart, pensiveness harmed the spleen, sorrow harmed the lungs, and fear harmed the kidneys.

Other than the heart, not one of them matched.

"Is that why they're on this side? If the incorrect emotions are adjusted to match, that organ will appear on the other side. Once all five organs are gathered on the other side, the monster stealing March 7th's power will be reborn."

Himeko now fully understood where the Amusement Park Monster was hiding. Meanwhile, Inukai was traveling around the Amusement Park, influenced by the strange voice in his ears, taking those emotions where they belonged.

With each location he completed, another layer of indelible marks was left inside his body. The enormous organ would also disappear.

Guided by the voice in his ears, he took only a few hours to finish adjusting all four emotions.

The instant he completed the last one, countless emotions poured into his body.

Anger, fear, grief, worry.

His own emotions were scattered and diluted. A consciousness that was not his occupied his brain, while a power he could not understand wore away at his memories little by little.

Contaminated Six-Phased Ice fell from those fleshy buildings and struck him, becoming part of his body. Under the Amusement Park Monster's influence, nothing remained in his mind but malice toward the other contestants.

Apart from him, Himeko was the only contestant left in the Amusement Park.

Inside the Wax Museum, Himeko sensed that heart-rattling power and sighed.

She gripped her spear tightly, with the navigator's flag tied beside it.

Leaving Himechi Cat and Shut Up behind, she headed alone toward the place where the energy was spilling out.

By the time she arrived, Inukai's body had become unbearable to look at.

His short limbs could no longer support his body, and he moved entirely by means of newly grown fleshy tendrils.

His five internal organs were as tall as houses, having absorbed all the park visitors' emotions, and struggling human faces covered their surfaces.

Their features were difficult to distinguish. Some laughed wildly, while others wept bitterly.

"I warned you."

Himeko pointed her spear tip at Inukai. His face, too, had been overrun by countless different, shifting faces.

Even when he spoke, each syllable could differ from the one before.

"No! I chose to obtain this power! I am no less than anyone!"

Inukai's howls were utterly deranged. Nine tails burst out behind him, the power bestowed by his Guardian Deity.

They were called tails, but everyone could see that they were actually lengths of multicolored intestines.

There was no question that Inukai was now a genuine monster, and he himself reveled in it.

Once Inukai displayed all his power, an instance notification quietly arrived.

[Hidden monster: Inukai (an amalgamation of the visitors' emotions). Danger level: 6.]

[You have discovered the visitors' whereabouts, but they have now fused into a single person, who is also a contestant like you. Having fused with numerous visitors and obtained the power of an extraterrestrial crystal, it is extremely powerful.]

[Kill Inukai to obtain a hidden reward.]

Inukai screeched. One tail curled around an enormous chunk of Six-Phased Ice and hurled it at Himeko.

A filthy monster wielding a filthy weapon.

"Taking over someone else's abilities without their owner's permission. Little March's power is not yours to defile like this."

Himeko leaped high, easily dodging the filthy Six-Phased Ice.

Using the Six-Phased Ice, Himeko darted and twisted around. Shell after shell landed, blasting open numerous wounds that healed in an instant.

"It's useless! I've already stopped being human! Now I'm the strongest! Everyone will kneel at my feet!"

Himeko said nothing. Seizing an opening, she fired a shot straight at Inukai's head.

Inukai's face began to swell. His brain broke free of his skull and wrapped around his head instead, perfectly defending against Himeko's attack.

"Isn't protecting the brain more important?"

Himeko's mouth twitched. She really could not think highly of his fighting style.

This stuff would be the hardest thing to wash off the train. Could the next stop be the Car-Washing Star?

Unable to deal with Inukai, Himeko had to resort to her final measure, however reluctant she was.

"Pom-Pom, start the train! Support attack!"

The roar of a whistle followed immediately.