Clack—
Two Angeloids carried over a small storage device.
Click—
After removing the outer protective plating, the object inside was revealed—suspended in midair within a force field, bound in place.
It resembled a golden sphere of light, radiant brilliance swirling around it.
A Stellaron—one of the universe's most mysterious objects.
Herta believed a Stellaron was a lifeform with a special mechanism, connected to the power of a certain Path or an Aeon.
A Stellaron would disrupt the flow of Imaginary energy in its surroundings. When scattered onto a planet, it could bring drastic upheaval to the planet's civilization and ecosystem.
For example, cold waves, the birth of Fragmentums, the appearance of Fragmentum monsters—the effects caused by a Stellaron would continue spreading farther and farther.
Because of this, the Interastral Peace Corporation once gave it another name—Cancer of All Worlds.
To contain this Stellaron, Herta had constructed an entire space station to restrain it.
But now that Herta had joined the Starsea Empire, and Grey had already given prior notice, there was no longer any need for the deciphering procedures among the Nameless.
The Angeloids simply transported the Stellaron safely over, ready to witness the birth of a Stellaron Spirit on the spot.
"Go on. Even though you've changed locations, what you need to do remains the same."
Grey nudged her chin forward. Herta had already rolled out various observation devices, preparing to analyze data.
Compared to suppressing a Stellaron with a space station, turning it into a girl was indeed far more interesting.
"Alright."
Shua—
Silver Wolf operated across a holographic interface for a moment, pulling up two panels from virtual space.
"I've been ready for a while. There are two carriers in total. Pick one?"
"Their bodies have been finely adjusted. Only after the Stellaron is implanted will they truly count as living beings."
"Otherwise, we'd have to throw them back into the furnace."
Grey summarized succinctly.
Bzz—
As if 3D-printed midair, a gray-haired girl appeared. She wore a white undershirt, a black-and-yellow jacket, and a short skirt.
Her eyes were closed. She remained in deep slumber.
Kafka removed the Stellaron and stepped forward, pressing it into the girl's chest with one hand.
Under everyone's gaze, the Stellaron gradually merged into her body.
A few minutes later.
"Mm..."
Lying on the ground, the girl slowly opened her eyes, groggily looking around at the people surrounding her.
"Vital signs are stable. The Stellaron has fully fused with her body. The experiment is a complete success. Interesting."
Herta continued her endless calculations and observations.
"You're awake?"
Grey leaned in closer.
"Congratulations. You were born within Starsea Empire territory. You're officially a citizen now!"
The nanobot enthusiastically shook Stelle's hand.
And conveniently issued her an identification document.
"?"
The newly born girl's mind was in total chaos. She shook her head hazily.
"Starsea... what?"
"Do you remember anything? Your name?" Kafka asked.
"No..."
Stelle shook her head.
"My name... I don't know..."
"Your name is Pink Fluffy Bunny!"
A white-haired dumpling head popped into view.
"Huh?"
Stelle froze, looking even more confused.
"Really? I'm... Pink Fluffy Bunny?!"
Thud—
Himeko knocked Kiana on the head.
"Stop messing around!"
"..."
Kafka held it in for a moment, carefully managing her expression.
"Listen to me. Your name is Stelle. You don't know who you are, you don't know what happened here, and you don't know what you should do next—none of that matters."
"This universe has already become something neither you nor I recognize. You don't remember the past, and you don't need to think about it or doubt yourself."
"You will embark on an unprecedented adventure. You will meet entirely different companions and witness another future."
Considering they were currently inside a Starsea Empire forward base, Kafka refrained from saying anything strange like, "I'm going to leave you alone on the space station."
The script had already been shattered beyond repair anyway. Stelle could improvise freely from here on out.
"Mm..."
Kafka's Spirit Whisper took effect.
Stelle rubbed her head. The dazed confusion in her eyes gradually cleared after her awakening.
Finally, she climbed to her feet and looked at the crowd surrounding her.
"...Who are you people?"
"This is the Starsea Empire. Welcome."
Grey patted her shoulder.
"You might not fully understand yet. Just know we're an interstellar empire from another universe."
"And you're one of us."
"Oh..."
Stelle absorbed the concepts in a daze.
There was too much information. It took her a while to digest it.
"What are you planning to do with her?" Kafka asked Grey.
The original plan had been for Stelle to follow the Astral Express around.
But now, the Stellaron Spirit had been born inside a Xianzhou Delve.
Under the Starsea Empire's influence, who knew what the Astral Express' scripted destinations would even become in the future?
"Send her to party with the Commander—ah, I mean, as a citizen of the Starsea Empire, she gets standard treatment."
"She can stay here and help us with some research first. If she wants to go on adventures later, that's fine too."
Grey thought for a moment.
Digging through the Herta collection she had brought back, she pulled out a baseball bat and stuffed it into Stelle's hands.
"Here. Take it. Go kill Nanook."
"Hm? Me? Okay."
Stelle nodded instinctively, hoisting the baseball bat over her shoulder and walking toward the exit.
Just before reaching the door, she paused.
Something felt off.
She jogged back, scratching her head.
"Wait. Who's Nanook? And where is he?"
"..."
Smack—
Silver Wolf slapped her forehead. Kafka bit her lip, trying to keep her expression under control.
Even in their short time together, they had already witnessed the nanobot's bottomless lack of restraint.
"I'm begging you. Can you let her live something resembling a normal life?"
"Ahem—"
Grey cleared her throat and handed Stelle a tablet filled with educational materials.
"In short, everything in the Starsea Empire is free. Everyone has the right to choose their own future."
"Whether you want to do research, learn magic, pilot starships, or adventure in other worlds—it's all up to you."
"The Empire's homeland is in another world. In this universe, we've got some matters to handle. So whatever you want to do is fine."
She listed several options on the holographic interface.
"Soon, Herta and I will conduct a full-body examination to confirm your physical condition and study the interaction mechanism between the Stellaron and the human body."
"After that... you'll probably have a few choices."
"One, join Himeko and Kiana's team. They'll be piloting the Astral Express to adventure across this universe. You'll get to see plenty of new sights."
"Two, I send you straight back to the Starsea Empire's homeland to meet the Commander. I feel like you and Ritsuka Fujimaru would get along well? You can do whatever you want there too."
"Three, stay on the Xianzhou for a while. See if anyone needs miscellaneous help. Maybe rummage through some trash cans along the way?"
"Mm..."
Each option had its own appeal.
While Stelle was thinking, Asta timidly raised her hand.
"Um, if you don't mind... you could also come to Herta Space Station."
"It's now the Starsea Empire's forward research base. We're currently recruiting researchers. Madam Herta would definitely love to study you..."
"Oh?"
Stelle's eyes lit up.
"Does it provide meals?"
"Well... the benefits for researchers at Herta Space Station is roughly like this."
Asta held up a number with her fingers. From now on, the space station's operations were funded by the Starsea Empire.
"Hmm..."
Stelle fell into deep thought.
"Is a researcher's job... interesting?"
"I've never once felt happy doing research!"
The nanobot suddenly had a bad premonition and shouted loudly.
"...But it sounds pretty relaxed?"
Just thinking about idling around on the space station without encountering bizarre incidents sounded wonderful.
Stelle took two steps forward and grasped Asta's hands.
"Can I do research for the rest of my life? Please, I'll do anything."
"Huh???"
Grey smashed her forehead against the ground.
"You were just born and you're already trying to speedrun life?!"
...
"Ahem. I understand your desire to skip a few hundred years of detours, but please try to act at least a little normal."
"If you've got nothing better to do, you can stay here for a while. Maybe rummage through some trash cans on the Xianzhou while you're at it."
Within just a few minutes, Grey realized that in a certain sense, Stelle belonged to the same species as herself and Gudako.
This girl had pinpointed the speedrun ending with terrifying precision. Granted, the actual future controller of Herta Space Station would also be the Starsea Empire.
"Stellaron brat, I've been wanting to study you anyway. Come here."
Herta beckoned with her finger, sizing Stelle up from head to toe.
She had discovered that research topics within the Starsea Empire were piling up endlessly.
First there was the mountain of things Grey had brought back. Then the Lord Ravager they captured. And now a Stellaron Spirit had popped out of nowhere.
"It's unbelievable. To contain that unactivated Stellaron, I built an entire space station."
"And you actually solved it with just one body. The Stellaron is even stable inside her. Tsk, tsk..."
"You're the brat!"
Stelle planted her hands on her hips, standing before Herta's puppet.
She looked down at her with a face full of pride.
"You've existed for less than an hour. In front of me, you're obviously a brat."
Herta remained unconcerned.
"But you're shorter than me."
"That's fine. Small is cute too."
Stelle patted Herta's head with a look of pity.
"Drink more milk. You'll grow taller."
"???"
Herta surrendered to this newborn prodigy whose talent clearly lay in the wrong direction.
"Come here, Stellaron brat. If you don't know what to do, stay here. I'll run a few studies on you."
"How much does it pay?"
Stelle asked concisely.
Beep—
Grey opened a holographic interface and tossed it in front of her, activating the highest permissions of the Interastral Bank.
"Opened a brand-new bank account for you. Enter however much balance you want."
"Oh!"
Stelle immediately dropped to her knees and performed a dramatic bow toward Grey, then began furiously pressing 9s into the balance field.
"If you will not abandon me, I am willing to call you my sworn father—no, sworn mother!"
"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand..."
Beep beep beep beep—
She pressed until the numbers overflowed, quite literally maxing out the bank balance.
Then she stood proudly before Herta.
"Alright. What research are we doing? I'm ready."
"..."
Herta stared at her for a long moment.
"...I think I'd like to start by studying the Stellaron's effect on human mentality and intelligence."
Meanwhile.
Watching Herta and Stelle descend into chaos together, Kafka and Silver Wolf stood there in a daze.
In theory, their mission was complete.
They had placed the Stellaron into a vessel.
But the process had been entirely wrong. It was predictable that everything afterward would also unfold differently.
Now two Astral Express trains had appeared in the cosmos—one belonging to the Nameless, and one belonging to the Starsea Empire.
The situation of the universe had undergone earth-shaking changes. The scripts for the future would likely become invalid as well.
"What do we do next?"
Silver Wolf felt a bit lost.
Kafka directly initiated contact with Elio.
"Something's wrong."
"A change of this magnitude—there's no reason Elio wouldn't have foreseen it. The script he gave us... is indeed outdated."
She had always trusted Elio's judgment. But the series of absurd events at Herta Space Station and here made her feel things were not so simple.
"..."
Bzz—
The communication connected. Silver Wolf immediately leaned in.
"Elio, your script has a problem!!"
"The situation at Herta Space Station didn't match expectations! That place—and many parts of the cosmos now—are controlled by the Starsea Empire."
"They have all sorts of things that don't belong to this universe. And they even captured a Lord Ravager."
"Also, Herta herself is with the Starsea Empire! We ran into two separate Astral Express teams!..."
The complexity of the situation couldn't be explained in a few sentences. Silver Wolf tapped her screen several times and sent over a large batch of data and images.
Aside from successfully giving birth to the Stellaron Spirit with Grey and Herta's permission, the entire script was riddled with bugs.
"..."
On the communication screen appeared a black cat—the founder and leader of the Stellaron Hunters.
He stood somewhere in the distant depths of space, gazing at the stars.
After reviewing the materials Silver Wolf sent, he sighed.
"...I know."
"You know?"
Silver Wolf froze.
"If you knew, why didn't you update the script? Since unexpected variables appeared, fate should've changed too, right?"
They had just been mercilessly mocked by Herta. Nous had recalculated the future after incorporating the new variable, yet they were still working from an old script.
It created a subtle sense that the Aeon of Erudition had suppressed the Aeon of Finality.
"...I can't."
Elio shook his head gently, his gaze toward the stars growing more bewildered.
"Since a certain moment in the past, fate has become something unknowable."
"The same event, the same script, can branch into hundreds or thousands of completely different futures. Modifying part of the script sometimes changes the future—and sometimes doesn't."
"Even revising the script twice with the exact same content can produce entirely opposite results. It might even give rise to completely unreasonable, incomprehensible outcomes."
He stared into the starry sky, his eyes piercing through the boundless darkness of the universe.
In the past, he could foresee the futures of many individuals and even the cosmos itself, crafting precise scripts to guide events toward the direction he desired.
Now, within the darkness of deep space, he saw only one thing.
Chaos.
Pure chaos.
When he attempted to foresee the future, the future of the universe seemed to gaze back at him like an abyss.
Within that dim abyss churned indescribable power. In his ears, he seemed to hear the whisper of outer gods.
It was like a warning—or perhaps a reminder—telling mortals not to attempt to pry into and alter the future with their own strength.
"Chaos?"
Silver Wolf and Kafka still didn't fully understand.
"Everything is uncertain," Elio said.
"For example, under the simplest script: next Wednesday at 11:24 a.m., you leave a Stellaron Hunters symbol outside the Palace of Astrum on the Xianzhou Luofu. One hour and twenty-six minutes later, the upper echelons of the Xianzhou Alliance will attempt to contact me."
"—There is also a slight possibility that a newly recruited Cloud Knight soldier cleans the symbol away, and nothing happens."
"Mm."
Kafka nodded. This was the most common structure of Elio's scripts—using a trivial action to pry fate and precisely alter the future.
"But now it's different. The same action may lead to countless unrelated futures."
"Beyond those two possibilities, there are infinitely more. For example, the Xianzhou is destroyed. Or you and I are killed. Or one or more Aeons engage in battle, and the aftershocks destroy countless galaxies."
"I cannot determine which part of the script leads to the final outcome. Nor can I foresee what changes revising the script will bring."
"The future is no longer knowable."
"Therefore, I did not modify the script. Every alteration only produces greater chaos and more disastrous, unpredictable consequences. I can only have you proceed according to the original plan and see what happens."
"..."
Kafka fell silent for a while.
Unbelievable.
If altering the script led to chaos and even more unpredictable outcomes, then the best solution was clearly to leave it untouched.
For the slave of fate to lose the ability to foresee fate—what a colossal joke.
"Then what should we do from now on?" Silver Wolf asked.
"..."
"Act according to your own will," Elio replied.
"If the future cannot be seen, then all that remains is to trust your own will."