AN: Well.... Hi?
Before we begin this chapter, first I would like to say that I originally planned to post this chapter last week, but something happened that made me change my mind.
This chapter actually wasn't supposed to play out like this. I have an original plan and direction for how things will proceed. But as I was reading the previous chapters and my drafts for the future volumes... it came to me. Something was not right. Somehow the original chapter for this contradicts and created some holes in the future planned direction.
Which is why, while I was lying on my bed, the 3 am creator instinct called... and made me rewrite the entire ending of this Arc. That was around five chapters I had to overhaul what I wrote just to align with the new progression of the story.
So after a week, I finished 3 of those chapters and am now rewriting the rest... And thanks to that, somehow along the way, the events of the Rewrite for Volume 2 got included. Right now I could freely say that Volume 2 will have a major rewrite and restructure. Half of it is already planned out, and the prologue already has the draft written out.
Last week was a productive one... I had to juggle quite a lot to make this work.
Anyways... here is chapter 239 for everyone to enjoy! Please share your comments and what you think about this chapter.
PS: I might post later on the Original progression of this chapter as an If line by the end of the volume! Enjoy reading, and please don't forget to comment!
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Non-Administered World #97, Star Rail Universe…
Noah stared blankly at the sky as the dark-purple beam faded above him and his body fell from the Force Platform. The image of Reinforce Zwei pushing him away remained fixed in his mind, replaying over and over while everything that had happened during the last few minutes refused to fully make sense.
He crashed into the ground hard enough to scatter broken stone and debris around him, but even then, Noah barely reacted. The shockwave from the beam swept across the area and sent dust, pieces of pavement, damaged cars, poles, and shattered debris flying in every direction, yet he remained where he had fallen, completely unresponsive to everything around him.
Something inside Noah had gone distant. It felt as though pieces of him had died together with Hayate, Sirin, and Reinforce, leaving behind only a body that still breathed because it had not yet realized it was supposed to do anything else. The battlefield around him descended into chaos, voices flooded the communication channels, and people shouted orders as the situation continued to worsen, but none of it seemed able to reach him.
He remained flat on his back with his arms resting uselessly beside him, his chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths. His hair and eyes had already returned to their original color, and nothing remained of Blaze. The anger, hatred, grief, and overwhelming power that had nearly burned Mahora only moments earlier were all gone, leaving Noah completely hollow as he stared toward the empty sky above him.
Smoke drifted overhead while Alliance aircraft crossed between the clouds. Farther away, the corrupted World Tree continued glowing with dark-purple light as soldiers, mages, and operators shouted across the battlefield. Several people were calling Noah's name as they rushed toward him, but their voices sounded impossibly far away.
The only thing he could still feel was the memory of Reinforce's tiny hands against his chest and the force of her pushing him away. He could still see the smile she had given him right before the beam reached her.
…Noah-san, live.
Noah's lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. Hayate and Sirin were gone, and now Reinforce was gone too. He continued staring into the sky, unable to understand what he was supposed to do next or how he was supposed to keep moving after losing all three of them.
—-----
Across Mahora City, the Alliance immediately reorganized around the advancing corruption. TSAB barrier teams abandoned several positions that had already been consumed by the dark-purple wall and regrouped farther west, creating overlapping defensive fields across the remaining evacuation routes. Chaldean combat personnel moved alongside them while Clock Tower Enforcers and Mahora mages covered the retreat, destroying the flaming creatures crawling out from corrupted streets before they could reach the civilians. High above them, Arthra continuously redirected its aerial units toward whichever section of the defensive line began to weaken.
[Barrier Squadrons Three and Five, reinforce Sector Seven! Medical teams are moving through the western area so keep that route open at all costs!] Chrono ordered from the bridge while Amy updated the tactical map beside him.
[All remaining aerial mages, do not waste time trying to destroy the wall itself! Protect the evacuation routes and delay anything coming through it!]
At Mahora's command center, Konoemon Konoe was dealing with an equally impossible situation. The city map in front of her was becoming increasingly covered in purple as entire sections of Mahora disappeared beneath the spreading corruption.
"We lost another two blocks on the eastern side," one of the operators reported. "The defensive barriers slowed the expansion by less than twenty seconds."
"Then stop trying to hold fixed positions. Fall back in stages and make the damn thing work for every meter it takes!" Konoemon immediately passed out the order.
Another warning flashed across one of the nearby displays. "Headmaster! Corrupted creatures are appearing ahead of the wall now!"
Konoemon immediately turned toward the new readings, his expression tightening as he realized what was happening.
"The leylines are carrying them forward…" He stood up from his seat. "Tell every team the underground passages are compromised. Nobody uses the subway, tunnels, or anything else connected to Mahora's leyline network anymore. Keep everyone on the surface."
Inside Starblazer, Himeko, March, Caelus, and Dan Heng were still shaken by what had happened to Reinforce, but none of them could afford to remain frozen while the battle around them continued to collapse. Himeko closed her eyes for only a moment, forcing down the grief twisting inside her before turning back toward the battlefield displays.
"March, track every civilian group still outside the western perimeter. Caelus, coordinate with the ground forces and reinforce whichever defensive line gets too close to breaking. Dan Heng, keep monitoring Noah."
March swallowed hard and quickly wiped her eyes before returning to her station. "Got it."
Caelus said nothing at first. His expression was still twisted with anger and grief, but after a moment he gave a firm nod and opened the ground communication channels. Dan Heng, meanwhile, glanced toward the image of Noah lying motionless inside the crater before checking the readings again.
"He's conscious," Dan Heng reported, "but barely responding to anything around him."
Himeko's hands tightened against the console. She wanted to go to him. Every part of her wanted to descend immediately, pull Noah out of that crater, and stay beside him after everything he had just lost. But thousands of people were still depending on Starblazer, and abandoning their position now would only put even more lives at risk.
"Keep watching him," she said quietly. "The moment his condition changes, tell me."
At Chaldea, the situation was deteriorating faster than the operators could update their displays. The planetary leyline map that had once shown the corruption spreading outward from Japan was now covered in dark-purple networks stretching across entire continents. Marisbury stood silently before the main projection while Kirschtaria moved between several stations, comparing reports from SHEBA, Atlas Academy's analysis systems, and the Alliance observation network.
"Director!" One of the Chaldean operators suddenly raised her voice. "The assimilation rate just accelerated again!"
"Percentage?" Marisbury immediately turned toward her.
The operator hesitated before bringing up the latest planetary model. "Dormammu's life energy has now assimilated approximately fifty percent of the planet's leyline network."
A heavy silence fell over the Command Room as half of the world's magical circulation changed color on the projection. What had begun beneath the World Tree was no longer confined to Japan or even the surrounding regions. Purple lines stretched beneath Asia, Europe, Africa, and portions of the Americas, spreading through the interconnected leylines faster with every passing moment.
"Fifty percent already…?" Kirschtaria stared at the model in disbelief.
Another operator nodded grimly. "And it's still accelerating. The more of the leyline network Dormammu assimilates, the more pathways become available for the corruption to spread through. We're approaching a cascading state."
Marisbury studied the projection, his expression darkening as he followed the rate of expansion. "Meaning once enough of the planetary network is assimilated, the remaining half will fall even faster."
"Yes, Director."
Before anyone could respond, another warning flashed across the main display as SHEBA began recalculating the planetary survival projections. Several red windows opened one after another, and the operator monitoring them slowly lost color.
"Our remaining time has dropped again."
"How much?" Kirschtaria asked sharply.
The operator stared at the changing numbers before answering. "We no longer have enough confidence to give an exact estimate. But if the assimilation continues accelerating at its current rate, complete planetary takeover could happen within minutes."
Marisbury looked toward the image of the corrupted World Tree displayed at the center of the Command Room. "Then delaying the surface wall is no longer enough. Even if Mahora manages to hold its defensive line, the planet itself is already halfway gone."
His words immediately spread through the Alliance command channel. Aboard Arthra, Chrono briefly stopped as he stared at the updated planetary projection. Konoemon fell silent in front of Mahora's tactical map, while inside Starblazer, March looked toward Himeko as Caelus' expression hardened and Dan Heng quietly closed his eyes.
Half of the world's leyline network had already been assimilated, and the Alliance was rapidly running out of time.
—------
Three years ago, Alden Estate, Asterisk, Chronicle Universe…
Fifteen-year-old Noah Alden sat in the pilot's seat of his Master's starship, the letter Phainon had left behind still held tightly in one hand. As the holoprojector activated in front of him, pale light filled the cockpit and gradually formed the familiar figure of the man who had trained him ever since he was rescued from the Stellaron explosion that consumed Eridu when he was a child.
Phainon stood within the projection wearing the same clothes he had worn the previous night, his white coat resting loosely across his shoulders and his lightsaber still secured at his waist. He looked toward the recording lens for a moment before smiling. It was an expression Noah had seen countless times throughout their training, yet something about it felt different now. The familiar warmth was still there, but the usual ease behind it was missing.
"Noah." Phainon immediately fell silent after saying his name. He glanced away from the lens, rubbed the back of his head, then released a defeated sigh.
"Ah… this is already going badly. I had an entire speech planned before I started recording this, but I seem to have forgotten most of it the moment the recording began." An awkward laugh escaped him. "Perhaps that proves your criticism about my explanations was correct after all."
Even through the recording, Noah could almost imagine the blank look he would have given his Master in response. Phainon seemed to anticipate it as well, because another embarrassed smile briefly crossed his face before he drew in a deep breath. When he spoke again, most of the humor had left his expression.
"I'm sorry for leaving like this. I know there are better ways to say goodbye than disappearing before sunrise and leaving a letter behind, but if I stayed much longer, I suspect I would only start inventing excuses to remain." His expression softened. "Noah, my duty here on Asterisk is finished. You don't need me standing behind you anymore, telling you where to place your feet or which direction you should take. Most of the time, you understood where you needed to go before I even finished explaining it."
A faint smile returned to Phainon's face as his attention briefly wandered toward something outside the recording. "But while your time with me is ending, my own journey isn't finished yet."
Something changed in his expression after those words. Noah could not explain why, but for the briefest instant, he thought he saw something behind Phainon that was not part of the starship or wherever the recording had been made. A ruined landscape stretched beneath a pale-white sun, golden blood flowed between shattered stones, and something burned far beyond the horizon.
Then the image disappeared.
Only Phainon remained before the lens, standing exactly where he had been as though nothing had happened.
"I still have a long way to go," he continued. "There are things I have to do, people I still need to find, and promises I haven't kept yet." His eyes returned to Noah through the recording. "And so do you."
Phainon paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "Your journey will not always be kind to you, Noah. You will face hardships that you cannot solve by simply becoming stronger. There will be trials that make you question yourself, fear that makes every choice seem wrong, and sadness that leaves you wondering whether moving forward is worth whatever pain might be waiting at the next step."
His expression became more serious. "You will lose. You will fail people. Sometimes you will arrive too late, and sometimes you will make the correct choice and still hurt someone because there was never an answer where everyone walked away happy."
Noah's fingers tightened around the letter in his hand.
"And there may come a day," Phainon continued, "when hope feels like the cruelest thing anyone ever taught you. A day when believing tomorrow can become better feels almost insulting after everything today has been taken away from you."
He closed his eyes briefly before adding in a smaller voice, "But that will never be everything waiting for you."
When Phainon opened his eyes again, warmth had returned to them. "You will find love, companionship, trust, courage, happiness. You'll meet people who argue with you over the smallest things, people who somehow follow you into decisions that everyone else correctly identifies as terrible, and people who drag you home whenever you decide that carrying everything alone is somehow a brilliant idea."
His smile widened. "And somewhere along the way, without any of you noticing exactly when it happened, some of those people will become your family."
Noah's thoughts immediately returned to the previous night. He remembered the crowded table, the laughter, the arguing, and everyone speaking over one another until following a single conversation had become nearly impossible. Touya and Mahiru had been caught in one discussion while Renako complained loudly from the other side of the table, and someone else had somehow dragged Haruna into an argument that she had clearly not been part of when it started.
Looking back now, Noah wondered if Phainon had been watching all of them that night knowing it would be his last evening at the estate.
"Never forget what your grandmother taught you," Phainon said, leaning slightly closer toward the recording lens.
Noah already knew what was coming, but Phainon spoke the words anyway.
"Hope will always be your weapon."
Noah continued staring at the projection as his Master repeated the same words his grandmother had told him so many times.
"It will carry you farther than any blade you could ever hold, farther than any ship could take you, and farther than whatever road you can currently see." Phainon rested one hand against the lightsaber hanging from his waist. "Power can open the way forward. Sometimes power is necessary just to create that first step."
His hand then moved away from the weapon and rested over his chest. "But hope is what allows you to keep walking when the way forward disappears."
Noah's vision slowly blurred as tears gathered in his eyes, but he made no attempt to wipe them away.
"Your destiny will not fall short, Noah." There was no hesitation in Phainon's voice now. His expression remained gentle as he continued. "You are going to meet extraordinary people. People who will stand beside you when the horrors hiding throughout the universe finally reveal themselves. Some will need your light when theirs begins to fail, and some will become the light that saves you when you can no longer find your own."
Phainon looked straight into the recording lens, and for a moment Noah almost forgot that he was watching something recorded earlier. It felt as though his Master were sitting directly across from him.
"Just as you were there for me."
The words seemed to embarrass Phainon almost immediately. He glanced aside and cleared his throat, apparently deciding that he had already been serious for far too long. "Also, take the ship."
Noah instinctively looked around the cockpit.
Phainon gave another awkward laugh. "A small warning. It is somewhat temperamental. The left engine overheats if you push it too hard, the navigation system becomes strangely offended whenever someone corrects its route, and the landing gear occasionally refuses to deploy unless you hit the console."
Noah's mouth trembled despite himself.
"I have tried repairing that last problem several times," Phainon added with complete seriousness. "At this point, I am beginning to suspect the ship simply enjoys being hit."
A small laugh almost escaped Noah before he caught it.
"But I think the two of you will understand each other." Phainon smiled again.
Then something in his expression changed. The warmth remained, but beneath it Noah could see exhaustion and determination that his Master rarely allowed anyone else to witness. It was the face of someone who already knew another battle was waiting somewhere far beyond Asterisk, and who had accepted that eventually he would have to answer its call.
"Until we meet again, my Padawan."
Phainon's gaze grew distant, as though he were looking toward something Noah could not yet see.
"On the day we face THEM."
He flashed Noah one last small smile and gave him a nod.
"On the day we face DESTRUCTION THEMSELF."
The recording ended, leaving Noah completely still inside the spacecraft as the cockpit fell silent once more. Only the faint hum of the ship's systems remained around him while the letter stayed clenched in his hand.
Eventually, Noah lowered his eyes and read it again. The handwritten farewell contained considerably fewer words than Phainon's recording. Apparently, despite all of his complaints about being terrible at speeches, speaking had still been easier for him than writing.
When Noah reached the bottom of the page, he found one final sentence written beneath Phainon's name, separated from everything else.
Your next step is still yours.
—-------
Another section of Mahora disappeared beneath the dark-purple wall as it continued its relentless advance, leaving more corrupted creatures behind in its wake. Some crawled through the ruined streets on twisted limbs while others flew between damaged buildings, their bodies burning with Dormammu's corruption as they rushed toward the remaining evacuation routes.
The Alliance met them head-on. TSAB aerial mages crossed the sky in formation and fired repeated volleys into anything attempting to breach the defensive perimeter, while Clock Tower Enforcers, Chaldean combat personnel, and Mahora mages held the streets below. Defensive barriers appeared one after another throughout the city, only to crack beneath the pressure of the advancing wall and force the defenders farther back.
[Sector Nine has fallen! Fall back to the secondary line! More corrupted entities are coming from the eastern district!]
Reports flooded the Alliance channel as Chrono stood at the center of the Arthra's bridge, watching more territory disappear from the tactical map with every passing moment. [Stop trying to reclaim the affected sectors! Protect the evacuation routes and keep moving! Every minute we hold is another group of civilians we can get out!]
Amy immediately redirected the remaining squadrons, but another warning appeared across her station before she could finish. [Chrono! The wall is accelerating again!]
Chrono's expression tightened as another section of Mahora vanished beneath the corruption. "Then move the secondary line farther west. We are not sacrificing people just to defend empty streets."
Inside Starblazer, Himeko watched the number of enemies multiply across every targeting display. The grief over Reinforce still twisted painfully inside her, but she forced it aside and turned toward the others. "Starblazer, prepare every available weapon system. Dan Heng, mark the largest concentrations. March, cover the evacuation routes. Caelus, reinforce whichever line comes closest to breaking."
"Got it!" March answered, immediately returning to her controls while Caelus gave a firm nod and opened the ground communication channels. Dan Heng's hands moved across the targeting system as several clusters of enemies became highlighted across the battlefield. "Targets marked."
Starblazer raised its weapons and unleashed everything it had.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Cannons fired continuously across Mahora as beams and explosive rounds crashed into the corrupted creatures below. Entire groups vanished beneath the bombardment while March and Caelus coordinated supporting fire with the defenders on the ground, and Dan Heng continuously adjusted Starblazer's targeting as new enemies emerged from corrupted streets and buildings. Yet no matter how many were destroyed, more continued to appear behind them.
At Chaldea, the planetary leyline map changed again. One of the operators stared at the newest reading, and the color slowly drained from his face. "Director… the assimilation has reached seventy percent."
Marisbury immediately turned toward the display as nearly three quarters of the planet's leyline network changed to dark purple. Dormammu's life energy had already spread through most of the world's magical circulation, and the remaining unaffected pathways were disappearing faster with every update.
"Seventy percent already…?" Kirschtaria murmured as another operator brought up the projected spread.
"It's accelerating beyond our previous calculations," the operator reported. "The remaining thirty percent is beginning to collapse into the corrupted leylines. Once the assimilation reaches the next threshold, we may not be able to stop it anymore."
Marisbury's expression darkened as he studied the rapidly changing projection. "Then we are almost out of time."
The report immediately spread across the Alliance command network. Chrono received it aboard the Arthra, Konoemon Konoe heard it at Mahora Command, and inside Starblazer, Himeko, March, Caelus, and Dan Heng all went silent as the same warning appeared across their displays.
Then the World Tree pulsed again.
THOOOOOM!!!
The shock spread through Mahora as the dark-purple wall suddenly pushed forward with enough force to shatter several defensive barriers at once.
[SECONDARY DEFENSIVE LINE BREACHED! ALL UNITS, FALL BACK! THE WALL IS ENTERING THE CITY!]
Himeko's eyes widened as Mahora's remaining defenders began retreating toward the final evacuation perimeter. "Starblazer, maximum bombardment!"
[Confirmed.]
Every available weapon opened fire at once. Beams struck the wall in rapid succession, missiles exploded across its surface, and TSAB aerial mages added their attacks from above while Clock Tower Enforcers and Mahora defenders fired everything they still had from below. The battlefield vanished beneath explosions, smoke, and blinding light, but when the bombardment finally cleared, the wall was still moving.
"It didn't even slow down…" March stared at the display in disbelief.
Caelus clenched his fists while Dan Heng silently watched the distance between the corruption and the final evacuation zone continue shrinking. Himeko bit her lip as another barrier collapsed, and the last line of defenders began pulling back again.
The wall finally entered the city zone.
Dark-purple flames spread across every building it consumed, swallowing streets and structures before more corrupted creatures emerged from the destruction. Alliance personnel retreated toward the final evacuation line while the remaining barrier teams desperately reinforced whatever sections had not yet collapsed.
Then, just as the situation reached the point where nobody knew what else they could do, the wall stopped.
"…What?" March blinked at the display.
Chrono stared at the Arthra's readings while Konoemon slowly raised her head at Mahora Command. Chaldean operators immediately began checking their instruments again, convinced something had malfunctioned.
[The wall stopped advancing!]
[No change in Dormammu's output! Something is opposing it!]
Down on the ground, an arm stretched toward the wall.
Noah was moving.
His hand trembled violently as he pushed against the corruption with the Force, while his other arm struggled to support his weight against the broken pavement. His breathing had become uneven, his clothes were covered in dust, and exhaustion showed in every part of his body.
There was no sudden confidence in his eyes this time. No miraculous recovery erased everything that had happened. Hayate was still gone. Sirin was still gone. Reinforce was still gone. The grief remained exactly where it had been, and tears continued running down Noah's face as he slowly forced himself upward.
He pushed onto one knee, then the other. His body staggered once, nearly collapsing again, but Noah gritted his teeth and forced himself upright among the rubble. His shoulders trembled as he stared toward the enormous corrupted wall looming over Mahora.
Then Phainon's voice returned somewhere inside his mind.
Hope is what allows you to keep walking when the way forward disappears.
Noah closed his eyes and released a shaky breath that almost became a laugh.
"…Seriously, Master…" Another tear slid down his cheek. "…this is really unfair."
When he opened his eyes again, the pain had not disappeared. Neither had the exhaustion or the grief. He still did not know how he was supposed to live with what had happened, and he did not know whether tomorrow would hurt any less than today.
But he was looking forward again.
Noah slowly raised his other arm toward the corrupted wall and planted both feet against the ground, adjusting his stance despite how badly his legs were shaking. Then, with everything he still had left, he called upon the Force one more time.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
An invisible wave slammed into the corruption with enough force to shake the entire city. The wall shuddered from Noah's power and, for the first time since it had begun spreading, was actually forced backward.
From Starblazer to the Arthra, Chaldea, Mahora Command, and every surviving Alliance position, people stared in disbelief as the wall that had swallowed everything in its path slowly began retreating away from the city.
Noah clenched his jaw as his legs nearly gave out but he remained standing. Tears continued falling freely down his face while every muscle in his body screamed from the strain.
He had not overcome his grief. He had not accepted what had happened, and he had no idea whether tomorrow would hurt any less than today.
But his next step was still his.
And Noah Alden chose to take it.
====== Chapter 239 END ======