Planet Gokan, southern region.
A small, stealth-cloaked spacecraft hovered silently. In the dimly lit cockpit, a girl with silver-gray hair—its ends fading into a digital blue—sat with her booted feet propped casually on the main console.
She wore bunny-ear headphones around her neck, her signature goggles pushed up onto her head, a black memory card clipped into her hair, and a sleek stud in her ear. Her face was young, carrying an almost unfinished, youthful apathy.
She wore an asymmetrical black-and-white leotard beneath a cropped jacket lined with white fur. Game controller buttons, pixel-art patterns, and little digital logos dotted the fabric. Black fingerless gloves covered her hands, and low-rise fishnet shorts with trailing ribbons completed the look.
She blew a pink bubble of gum.
Pop.
She didn't bother to wipe the gum off her face as it snapped back.
"Kafka. What are you doing?"
Silence over the comms.
She tried again, tapping her headset. "Kafka? You there?"
Nothing.
"Kafka?"
Still absolutely nothing.
She exhaled a long, exaggerated sigh. "Really?"
With a lazy flick of her wrist, a holographic virtual panel materialized in the air before her. Her fingers flew across the light-keys, and a blinking red dot appeared on a secondary tracking screen.
"There you are."
Then, she processed the dot's exact coordinates.
"The resistance camp? Why are you going there?" Her voice pitched up, thoroughly confused.
She had Kafka's exact location, but going after her physically felt like a bad move. Elio's script had been crystal clear: observe the Express crew first. Directly contacting them now would completely break the sequence of events.
But Kafka never acted without reason. If Silver Wolf showed up unannounced, it might actively interfere with whatever her partner was planning.
Silver Wolf pulled her feet off the console and leaned forward in her gaming chair, her brow furrowed.
"This is worse than a buggy escort mission," she muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, the northern resistance camp was deafeningly loud.
Laughter, ecstatic shouting, and soldiers forcefully slapping each other on the back echoed through the ruins. They had won. For the first time in what felt like a painful eternity, they had actually won a major victory.
But they knew it wasn't truly over yet. There were more Abundance strongholds to take, and more of the planet to reclaim. A single, miraculous victory didn't end a global war.
Still. Tonight, they celebrated.
This massive victory gave the three resistance leaders an unprecedented opportunity to seize the momentum. They gathered in front of Yuki and the Express crew to discuss their next immediate course of action.
"I think with morale this incredibly high, we really should press the advantage and launch the next wave of attacks quickly," Himeko offered her tactical thoughts, having listened in on their intense discussion.
"I agree with Himeko." Jingliu was completely on board with the aggressive strategy as well.
Having served as the legendary Sword Champion of the Luofu, she had centuries of experience leading Cloud Knight troops into brutal battles. She knew intimately that striking while morale was at its absolute peak made military operations twice as effective with half the effort.
As for Himeko—while she had no direct experience commanding planetary armies herself—as a brilliant scientist and Navigator, she had at least dabbled extensively in the theoretical logistics of warfare.
The three native leaders nodded in deep agreement.
They quickly issued the orders for the frontline soldiers to rest up, planning to regroup at dawn and push forward to retake several key neighboring territories that had fallen to the Denizens of Abundance.
After issuing the marching orders, they had the quartermasters tally up the number of prisoners taken in the aftermath of the battle.
The final count came back—over a hundred thousand captives from the heavily demoralized forces of the Abundance. And the sheer amount of high-tech weaponry and equipment seized was practically countless.
The three leaders were absolutely over the moon. They kept bowing and profusely thanking Yuki, Jingliu, and the Express crew.
Himeko gently told them not to worry about it. After a bit of polite back-and-forth, the leaders arranged for a few soldiers to personally escort Yuki and the group to a secure location to finally get some rest.
Guided by two awestruck soldiers, Yuki and the others arrived at a stone building that was in relatively good shape compared to the surrounding rubble.
Looking at the incredibly sparse rooms inside—barely furnished with just creaky beds and hard chairs, absolutely nothing else—March couldn't help but sigh.
"Man… it's really hard to imagine how these resistance fighters manage to hold on under conditions like this."
"What keeps them going is their iron determination to protect their home," Himeko's voice was measured, her expression calm and respectful.
She had already seen the unbreakable resolve of the people here—willing to fight tooth and nail against immortal, mutating monsters just to desperately defend their home. Under such harsh, apocalyptic conditions, what did a lack of furniture really matter compared to losing their motherland altogether?
"Well, at least it's clean in here." Yuki ruffled March's pink hair, a fond smile on his lips as he spoke.
"Hey! Don't make it sound like I'm the one being a brat and complaining!" March pouted, grumbling under her breath as she batted his hand away, then obediently followed Yuki inside.
Sure, the rooms were incredibly sparse and couldn't even begin to compare to the luxurious cities they'd seen under Abundance control, but at least there was running water and electricity—enough to cover the bare basics of survival.
After a quick glance around the modest room, Himeko was just about to suggest everyone finally get some sleep when a distinct, rhythmic knock suddenly came at the heavy wooden door.
"Is there something we can help with?" Himeko looked toward the entrance, a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice.
She distinctly remembered that the soldiers who had led them here had already left. With everyone else in the camp wildly busy celebrating or preparing for tomorrow's march, who could possibly be coming to see them at this hour?
She wasn't alone in her confusion—March looked just as puzzled.
"Room service for the Astral Express crew~"
A woman's voice called playfully from the other side of the door. Judging by the smooth, mature tone, it was clearly an adult woman, not one of the gruff resistance fighters.
"That's weird… this isn't a fancy hotel. Since when does a rebel camp have room service?" March scratched her head, thoroughly confused.
Himeko and Jingliu shared the exact same puzzled look. Jingliu's hand instinctively drifted toward where her ice sword would normally rest.
Meanwhile, Yuki was lounging comfortably in a rigid chair, looking completely at ease, a faint, knowing smile playing on his lips.
He already knew exactly who was at the door—and he'd been expecting her to come.
"March, open the door."
"Got it!"
Though March didn't know why Yuki would tell her to blindly open the door without even asking who it was, it didn't really matter. Even if it was trouble, with him and Jingliu right there, there was absolutely nothing in the universe to worry about.
She walked over and pulled the heavy door open without a second of hesitation.
Standing in the dimly lit hallway was a woman gracefully draped in a dark, cloak-like coat. Deep violet hair was tucked neatly behind a pair of stylish sunglasses resting on her head.
A mysterious, perfectly practiced smile graced her elegant, refined features.
She swept her gaze casually across the room, bypassing March and Himeko, her eyes finally landing squarely on Yuki, who was seated off to the side.
For a brief, uncharacteristic moment, Kafka's pink eyes shimmered, and a faint, entirely unfamiliar ripple of genuine nervousness rose in her chest.