[Herta] Space Station, platform
Stelle blocked the Doomsday Beast's light wave for March 7th. The Stellaron inside her had taken on too much Imaginary Energy and was about to explode.
Ye Yan came up to Stelle, sensed the restless Stellaron inside her, and flicked her forehead.
Bang!
Stelle's eyes rolled back, and she fell straight down.
That forehead flick was not to be underestimated. Through it, [Shackles of Eternity] directly sealed the Imaginary Energy inside the Stellaron.
"Take care of her. I'm going to fight the Doomsday Beast one-on-one."
Before anyone could react, Ye Yan jumped off the platform and vanished from everyone's sight along with the Doomsday Beast.
Dan Heng looked at the traces Ye Yan had left behind, recalling the move he had used earlier to tear open the void.
"The way he just moved was no different from the Express's warp. It was even faster."
Welt's voice came from behind them. He adjusted his glasses and saw Stelle lying unconscious on the ground.
"Sorry, I'm a step too late."
"Ye Yan, h-he... disappeared?!"
March 7th held the unconscious Stelle, stammering as she spoke.
"Let's talk somewhere else. This isn't a very convenient spot."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Astral Express pulled into the platform.
With Ye Yan taking the Doomsday Beast away, the crisis facing the entire space station was resolved.
Asta also expressed her deep gratitude to the Astral Express crew, bowing repeatedly in thanks.
They had repelled the Antimatter Legion, but the space station had indeed suffered considerable losses.
Fortunately, the station's personnel had not suffered countless casualties as Ye Yan had said they would. Most researchers had evacuated in time and were unharmed.
Only a small number of researchers had suffered minor scrapes. Not a single researcher had died!
As for the damage to the research equipment, Asta did not particularly mind.
She could pay to buy more research equipment, but money could not buy back lost lives.
Remembering what Ye Yan had told her earlier, Asta could not help sinking into thought.
Ye Yan must have had some history with the Antimatter Legion that had led him to hate the Aeon of Destruction so much.
Could it be...
Asta thought of a novel written by the Masked Fools that she had read in her spare time.
The protagonist was a black-haired youth named Yan Ye. His home had been destroyed by the Antimatter Legion, and he had survived by a stroke of luck.
After that... to avenge his dead family, he stepped onto the three Paths of [Trailblaze], [Elation], and [Eternity], vowing to kill every Lord Ravager before finally slaying an Aeon!
The book had plenty of holes in its logic. After his home was destroyed, the protagonist had not stepped onto the Path of [The Hunt], instead taking three unrelated Paths.
After all, it was something the Masked Fools had casually written. What truth could possibly come out of their mouths?
But...
When she connected it to Ye Yan's circumstances:
A Pathstrider of [Eternity], now aboard the Astral Express of [Trailblaze]. She had also happened to hear Ms. Herta mention that Ye Yan's way of doing things leaned toward [Elation].
He was practically identical to the protagonist of that story!
Asta's pupils trembled. She seemed to have discovered something terrifying.
Could that novel have been based on a true story?
At the edge of the galaxy, a mysterious tower flickered in and out of view within a vortex.
Ye Yan appeared there in a fresh set of clothes. Looking at the bedroom filled with magical-girl elements, he thought of his priest.
"Ms. Herta, did you know that just a few system hours ago, your space station suffered a devastating attack from the Antimatter Legion?"
Avoiding all the cleaning puppets, Ye Yan came over to Herta, who was resting.
No wonder Asta had been unable to contact Herta. She had set her phone to Do Not Disturb while she slept.
"Ah... with an Aeon holding down the fort, what does the space station need me for?"
Herta lazily poked half her head out from under the covers. Today was a rare day off.
"Did you know that Ruan Mei's experiment seems to have failed again?"
"An utterly baffling study of life. Don't you find that interesting?" She told Ye Yan about what had happened over the past few days.
A Herta Puppet brought Ye Yan a wooden stool.
Every time she heard that one of Ruan Mei's experiments had failed, Herta would rush over and offer her a hearty round of congratulations.
This time, Herta even planned to make a tasty cream cake as a congratulatory gift.
"For a genius, nothing is more precious than failure."
She looked at Ye Yan, and a question could not help forming in her mind.
"Then... what about for an Aeon?"
"I think... nothing is more interesting than this." Ye Yan pulled the gold-plated trash can out of his system space.
"Know what this is?"
Herta hesitated for a moment.
"You turned Nanook into a trash can?"
"I have to admit, you have a gift for humor."
Herta was overthinking it. These Aeons all had one-track minds, and the one before her had just fought a colleague. Hadn't the Masked Fools said it before?
Erudition is a heap of scrap metal, Preservation is a fool; The Hunt has no sense of humor, Destruction is a lunatic; Voracity will eat anything, Nihility slacks off all day; Finality is nowhere to be found; Eternity runs all over the place, never doing any real work. Aeons all have one-track minds. Aha really has no dignity!
Ye Yan coated the gold-plated trash can in a protective film. "Oh, right, I have some ancient beast fragments here too. Want to study them?"
He took out the Doomsday Beast's remains. The Doomsday Beast had been forged by the [Antimatter Legion], using fragments of the Ancient Beast of Twilight as its foundation and the sorrowful resentment of ten thousand corpses in the [Warforge] as its catalyst.
Ye Yan had not expected the Doomsday Beast's body to be so fragile. It could not withstand even the most basic warp and had been torn to pieces just like that.
He had originally wanted to take the Doomsday Beast to see Nanook. To give little Stelle a taste of an Aeon's shock and awe, he had deliberately taken the form of a trash can.
Why disguise himself as a trash can...
To have some fun, of course! And to help Stelle develop the good habit of rummaging through trash cans!
"Not interested."
Herta casually tossed the remains into the trash can. It was not as though she had never caught a Doomsday Beast to study before.
"So, a Doomsday Beast came to the station this time too?" Herta asked.
"Five, to be precise."
Ye Yan began telling Herta about everything that had happened during that time...
"The Stellaron Hunters turned a Stellaron into a kid? How interesting! Can I do some research on her?"
Herta's interest was piqued for once. She glanced at the gold-plated trash can beside her bed. That research was far too important, so she would set it aside for now.
She had no intention of studying [Destruction] Nanook alone, but she certainly had to give that Stellaron kid a thorough examination!
"You'll have to ask her. What if she refuses?"
"She has a Stellaron inside her! How interesting is that? I'd be helping her myself. This is a service even the Interastral Peace Corporation couldn't buy."
The more Herta spoke, the more excited she became, all her sleepiness gone. But when she saw Ye Yan's faintly amused expression, she forcibly swallowed the rest of her words.
"Ah... in the eyes of you Aeons, a Stellaron really doesn't amount to much."
"You could study her on and off. The Astral Express will stop at the space station from time to time, after all."
"That makes sense. It would keep things somewhat fresh, too. Want breakfast?"
Herta snapped her fingers, and a puppet immediately brought the already-toasted bread before her.
"Your sleep schedule... really needs some adjusting."
"That's what you don't understand. A genius leads a very busy life!"
Herta took a bite of bread. "What do you think about the attack on the Corporation's higher-ups?"
"Aha did it."