Valkyrie

"So there is a way?"

"Yes."

Sera nodded.

"But for now..."

Sera walked over to Himeko.

"This is..." Himeko stared blankly at the screen before her.

"This is your physical condition."

Sera explained.

"Although I can't remove the ancestral weathering curse yet, I can still weaken it a little."

With that, Sera reduced the severity of the ancestral weathering curse as far as he currently could.

"..." Himeko felt how much lighter her body was, as though the pain of the past had all been a nightmare.

Tears filled her eyes and dampened the hem of her skirt.

"Thank you... thank you so much..." Himeko's voice was choked with sobs. Suzi gently held Himeko's hand. She said nothing, but looked at Sera with gratitude in her eyes.

"It's nothing. It only treats the symptoms, not the root cause." Sera shook his head.

"If you want to thank me, why not join us in taking down the boss?"

"No problem." Himeko wiped away her tears, though tears and a smile still shared her face.

"Suzi?"

"I'm fine, Himeko."

"Busitu, can you sense Shuhu's location?"

Sera looked toward Busitu and Yaoguang, who were not far away.

Yaoguang was on a call with someone, while Busitu watched the spot where the monster had died in silence.

"It's a little difficult." Busitu frowned, looking troubled.

"I have a way." Yaoguang ended her call and smiled.

"I prepared for the worst and set up Dharma Realm Illuminated in Ten Directions in Dual-Phase Paradise ahead of time.

"I just contacted the Xianzhou Luofu and had General Jing Yuan inform the Alliance. I also asked my junior sister to activate the Matrix of Prescience and open its dharma eye, so she could help me sustain Dharma Realm Illuminated in Ten Directions.

"Locking onto an Abomination of Abundance is no trouble, even if he's an Emanator."

"But..." Yaoguang looked at Feiying and shook her head.

"There's someone else with fluctuations of the Path of Abundance around us, so it took me some effort to find Shuhu."

"Ehe." Feiying scratched her head and hid behind Sera.

"All right, let's get down to business." Sera looked at Himeko.

"Are you all right, Miss Himeko?"

"I'm fine." Himeko had already set her wheelchair aside and was standing with Suzi.

"Uh..." Sera looked at Himeko, who was holding only a paintbrush.

"Will you be all right with just a paintbrush?"

"I... I think so?" Himeko thought of the little wish power she had left and spoke with some hesitation.

"Never mind..." Sera gestured to Suzi.

Suzi paused, then realized what he wanted and handed him her spear.

"Himeko, can you use a spear?"

Sera pulled up the data on Suzi's spear and asked Himeko.

"No problem. My spear skills are just as good as Suzi's." Himeko rolled up her sleeves to show she was ready.

"All right, then." Sera used the data on Suzi's spear as a model and materialized a similar spear with wish power.

"I added a little something else too~ Give it a try."

With that, Sera returned Suzi's spear to her and tossed the spear he had created with Imagenesis to Himeko.

Himeko caught the spear, and light enveloped her.

"This is..." Himeko curiously examined her new outfit.

It was a pure white dress streaked with touches of bright red, with golden ornaments on both shoulders, a starry halo on her head, stars hanging from the tips of her ears, and a cape fluttering behind her in the wind.

She was like a vivid red rose, yet also like a medieval knight. Oh, no, in this universe, he should call her a Knight of Beauty, Sera couldn't help thinking.

"This is the Valkyrie Battlesuit I made for you. What do you think, future Miss Navigator?"

"Huh?"

Himeko and Suzi both froze.

"Confused?"

Sera raised an eyebrow, and Himeko and Suzi nodded.

"Then just assume I can see the future. Oh, right... a future without me in it. But Miss Himeko becoming the navigator of the Astral Express is destined.

"The Express chose you, and you chose the Express in turn.

"Because I've often heard that a person's character is their destiny."

As he spoke, Sera looked over at Busitu and Yaoguang.

The two nodded, signaling Sera to continue. Shuhu couldn't escape anyway; Yaoguang had already trapped him with her formation. After all, Shuhu was incomplete at the moment.

"Do you want to hear it?"

Sera looked at Himeko as he asked.

"Won't it take too much time?" Himeko hesitated, her eyes turning to Suzi as though she had guessed something.

Suzi smiled. She had realized it too.

"No, don't worry."

"Then... go on."

"Ah... let me think... In this year's Phantasmoon Games, without Finality's interference, Himeko and Suzi defeated the monster from earlier. That day, the people of Dual-Phase Paradise witnessed a giant mecha.

"Afterward, Suzi appeared before the moon's shadow and made a wish.

"'Consider this belated compensation. It's time to set out once more, Akivili.'

"And so, they exchanged destinies.

"Himeko, an explorer of the stars and a navigator, set out on her journey of Trailblaze."

"..."

"Don't look at me like that." Suzi grew a little uncomfortable under Himeko's gaze.

"We both know it. I'm an Imagena, and I'll dissipate if I go out among the stars."

"But... setting out at the cost of another person's sacrifice, I..."

"All right, things will be different in this world with me here, of course." Sera lifted his head, looking proud.

"Mm... thank you."

"You don't have to thank me again, Himeko." Sera waved a hand.

"'Fight for all that is beautiful in the world.' I heard that from someone else, and it's what I long to do too. If you want to thank me, take those words to the stars after you board the Express.

"Now that I've said so much, it's time to deal with Shuhu."

Sera put away his smile, his expression turning cold at the thought of Shuhu.

"Someone who tramples on other people's lives as he pleases doesn't deserve to live."

"There's nothing we can do." Yaoguang sounded somewhat helpless.

"Even that black sun couldn't kill him completely, but..." Yaoguang's expression also turned cold. "To get hold of Shuhu's flesh and blood right under the Alliance's nose... it seems... heh, the Genius Society."

"Leave it to me this time too. I have a debt to settle with Shuhu on someone else's behalf." Busitu gripped his cane, seemingly thinking of an old friend.

Yaoguang raised an eyebrow at Busitu but said nothing.

"Sure. I'll provide support from the side. I'm happy to take it easy."

Sera nodded. He didn't want to come into contact with that kind of thing, so he would leave it to Busitu's Shadow of Voracity.

"But..."

Sera looked at Busitu's arm.

"Wojian gave you that, didn't he?"

Busitu nodded.

"Yes, when my homeland was destroyed by Zhuluo..."

"Then you'd better be careful. Yaoguang may not have told you yet.

"Finality once had two identities. One was Weidi of the Masked Fools, and the other was Navigator Stargazer, Wojian."

Sera gave him a warning.

"...?" Busitu froze.

"Huh?!" Himeko's eyes widened too.