The IPC's records concerning Asdana's frontier prison had already been heavily redacted.
If someone had the will to investigate, they would still be able to find a few traces.
In that era, a large number of fleets and ships suddenly vanished from within the IPC.
The IPC later claimed that they had simply disappeared during the Swarm Disaster.
The HR Department's transfers also underwent an enormous change.
An IPC employee of rank P40 had all of his positions quietly revoked.
One had to understand just how rare that was.
In a sense, P40 had already touched the highest levels of the IPC.
For a position change at this level, the records would normally be extremely detailed.
There was even a dedicated server inside the IPC used specifically to store information of that level.
Yet among those records, only one person's entry was incomparably cursory, so vague it was difficult to make sense of.
That person's name was Austin.
Among those who had held similar posts, he could not be considered an especially great failure.
Although the new product launch plan he had overseen ultimately suffered miserable sales, things like that had happened before.
It was not exactly unheard of.
But he could absolutely be called the most mysterious among them.
Because the information registered under his name amounted to only a few brief lines, and in the end, his story concluded within the "Swarm Disaster."
As for whether that was true, it had long since become impossible to verify.
No one could go back hundreds or thousands of years to confirm it, and even if they could, verifying it would bring no benefit whatsoever.
The IPC would not offer a reward, because they had already allowed this record to lie quietly in the database for hundreds and thousands of years.
Some things were better left undisturbed.
That was true for you and me alike—even for the one who bore the name of the ever-unchanging stone.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Accompanied by the noisy alert, the person asleep in the plain office slowly opened his eyes.
The number displayed on the communicator before him was one he had never come into contact with.
In other words, he had absolutely no idea who was calling.
"That is somewhat interesting."
His private communications were not something one could simply dial and connect to.
A normal call would only inform the caller that his private line was not in service.
Only people he knew could reach him by dialing it.
Yet now, an unfamiliar presence had appeared on his communicator.
That inevitably surprised him somewhat.
Could those restless followers of NOUS have made their move?
He quietly pondered this while the communicator kept ringing beside him.
It seemed that if he did not answer, the other party would not give up easily.
And so he calmly connected the call that had been ringing nonstop.
"Who are you?"
He bore the name of the ever-unchanging stone, and had also inherited that stone's purity and clarity.
When he spoke, he did not beat around the bush. When he was curious, he asked directly.
"I am... who?"
To his surprise, the other end of the line echoed that same question back at him.
"Don't answer a question with another question."
He calmly asked again, "Who exactly are you?"
"I... who am I? Who exactly am I...?"
As the other party kept questioning itself, the person holding the communicator seemed to sense a faint, inexplicable change.
He placed the communicator before his eyes.
And along with the other party's self-questioning over the call, his communicator also began to undergo a strange transformation.
Lines of code appeared on the screen. The code continuously evolved, constantly transformed, and finally seemed to be gathering into a face.
Unfortunately, at the final moment, that string of code still shattered completely and vanished without a trace.
And the cause of it all was one sentence uttered through the call:
"I forgot..."
It was this sentence that snuffed out the intelligence that had nearly been born from the communication.
Whether the other party had done it on purpose or without meaning to, Diamond did not know.
At this moment, he was far more curious about the other party's origins.
"Me?"
"That's right. You, who can casually trigger technological evolution—where exactly do you come from?"
After Diamond asked this question, the other party seemed to fall into silence.
It was as if they had already gone entirely.
However, Diamond was certain that this individual was still there.
Sure enough, a moment later, abnormal changes once again appeared on his communicator.
"I come from him. He is the person who cannot be forgotten... but I forgot."
Along with the other party's words, Diamond quickly discovered that it was no longer only his communicator being affected.
Even the computer beside him, together with all the surrounding mechanical components connected to it, had been affected by the other party.
It was like an infection, dragging every machine nearby into the influence created by the other party.
Seeing this, Diamond formed a conjecture.
"Are you Rubert III?"
Long ago, he had seen a very similar phenomenon.
A computer born in a scrap heap had infected and linked together every machine, forming an empire built upon the movement of iron pistons and the hum of steam.
Although no one knew how he ultimately fell, the influence he created was undoubtedly enormous.
And now, Diamond had actually seen a familiar scene.
It was inevitable that he would address the other party on the other end of the call as the third successor of that computer from the scrap heap.
"I... am I?!"
The answer Diamond received was still this self-doubting question.
If an ordinary person received such an answer, they would probably already feel irritated, but Diamond would not.
Like a crystal, he reflected the other party's confusion.
And so he spoke again and asked, "Do you want to destroy organic life?"
"Destroy? No!"
At this point, that originally lost and confused tone suddenly became agitated.
"I... love him!"
That sentence gave Diamond pause.
...
"So, can you let me go now?"
Sora's helpless words drew the attention of many people.
At this moment, several mechanical octopus tentacles had wrapped around him so tightly that only his face was left exposed.
And the culprit behind all of this was the takoyaki stall owner who had once helped Sora.
Previously, he had gone to reality and cleared the way for the Silver Radiance.
Yet unexpectedly, when the two met again, it would be in this state.
"I don't think I did anything to offend you, did I? What did I do to deserve this?"
Sora searched through his memories and found no grudge between him and this guy.
Then why was this guy binding him so tightly with tentacles?
"Sorry, sorry. My tentacle controls might be acting up a little."
Sensing the dissatisfaction in Sora's words, the octopus stall owner's tone grew a little panicked.
He had been adjusting his own tentacles this whole time. Unfortunately, Sora showed no sign of getting free at all.
If anything, he was being wrapped even tighter.
Sora could only sigh helplessly. "Don't intelligent machines usually have pretty good control over their own bodies?"
Intelligent machines were not living creatures. Normally speaking, their built-in self-diagnostic systems should not allow a low-level mistake like failing to control their own limbs.
So why had this happened?
"You can't put it that way. After all, some intelligent machines can even fail classes at the academy. Mine is just a small issue with controlling my hands and feet. It's not a big deal."
Hearing Sora's words, the octopus stall owner could only refute him while continuing to adjust the tentacles.
Left with no choice, Sora could only let out a long sigh and quietly wait for the octopus stall owner to finish tuning his tentacles.
Fortunately, nothing major was happening in Penacony right now.
Otherwise, if he showed up like this, wouldn't he be laughed to death?
That was right. Penacony had already settled back into peace.
Perhaps that Trailblaze concert amid the ruins had been the disaster's noisy swan song.
There was no AEON OF ORDER causing trouble, and no influence from DESTRUDOS.
After the Dreamweavers' post-disaster reconstruction, this planet had once again recovered its former prosperity.
It was so prosperous that it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Of course, that was impossible. That disturbance had caused a massive shock throughout Penacony.
Even the IPC had published several major reports centered on the Penacony incident at the time.
It could be said that what happened then had even made galaxy-wide trending headlines.
Although the battle between Trailblaze Brave and DESTRUDOS had not caused any casualties, the psychological impact on many people was unavoidable.
Of course, there was an upside too. For example, Penacony had recently seen an influx of people interested in giant robots.
Unfortunately, Trailblaze Brave had already split apart, and Sora had personally seen off each of the Navigators representing their respective trains one by one.
Sora expressed his thanks for the help they had provided.
It could be said that without them, whether they could have defeated the combined DESTRUDOS would still have been unknown.
But in response to Sora's thanks, the Navigators all said there was no need.
"We enjoyed this journey too. There really is no need for that."
"We defeated a powerful enemy, made new friends, and held a concert. For those of us walking the path of the Trailblaze, nothing could be more wonderful than that."
Even Oakley, who usually spoke very little, gave a rare "Mm."
Although the time she would walk the path of the Trailblaze might not be very long...
She would absolutely never forget these days.
And so, under Pom-Pom's tearful gaze, Sora said his final farewells to the Navigators of the past.
Reuniting with friends was certainly something to look forward to, but seeing off old companions was even more heart-wrenching.
The more Pom-Pom had once looked forward to it, the harder Pom-Pom cried when it was time to say goodbye.
According to March 7th, Pom-Pom refused to see anyone for several days afterward.
Perhaps Pom-Pom was afraid the passengers would make fun of those swollen, tear-reddened eyes.
But after all of this ended, someone unexpected came looking for the Astral Express crew.
...
"May I have that letter?"
Sunday first went to find the Astral Express crew, and what he wanted was precisely the reason the crew had come to Penacony.
It was the letter Pom-Pom had asked them to deliver to the Nameless who had remained in this place.
Mikhail, Tiernan, Razalina... These three Nameless had chosen to remain here and created the present-day Planet of Dreams.
And Sunday, as the frail watcher among them, had witnessed the moment when every crisis ended.
After obtaining that letter, he opened it directly and revealed the words written inside.
The letter did not contain much. There were only a few words:
[I did not fail.]
Yet those few words were the result Sunday had pursued for so long.
In a life that had always been accompanied by failure, he had finally brought one thing to a successful end.
After achieving it, Sunday seemed calm instead.
Holding the letter, he came to Gallagher's residence, the place Acheron had once reached after getting lost.
After searching for a while, he took out a yellowed collection of original art.
Inside, rough lines sketched out Clockie's adventures, and likewise carried his memories of the past.
Sunday turned through it page by page. Only when he reached the very end did he take out the letter.
Once the letter was fitted back into place, one could no longer see any trace that the two sides had once been separated.
And after seeing this, Sunday could finally close the book on Clockie's adventure with his own hands.
Closing it did not mean the story had ended. Instead, it symbolized a new beginning.
The Sunday of the past had once experienced three failures. Now, three successes had also made up for those old regrets.
He had succeeded in atoning for the sins he had committed by saving hundreds of millions of lives.
He had succeeded in protecting the dream of those friends who had entrusted their feelings to him.
He had succeeded in protecting this dreamland where people could temporarily sit down and rest.
"So I plan to walk through the universe for a while..."
When everything had ended, a new beginning had already unfolded a new road ahead.
And Sunday, who had seen it through to the conclusion, also made his own choice.
"Brother..."
Robin looked at Sunday with some worry.
"Robin, you don't need to try to persuade me. My mind is made up."
Faced with Robin's concern, Sunday responded decisively.
He would walk through the universe. He would see, do, and walk the roads others had walked.
And through that, he would compose a harmonious melody that belonged to him alone.
"Huh?"
Robin paused, then quickly understood that Sunday had misunderstood what she meant.
Of course Robin supported Sunday traveling through the universe.
The reason she had called out to him just now was...
"Brother, you're honestly far too weak right now. I was wondering whether you should go to the Land of Rebirth Sora once forged and find a few guards."
That was right. This was the reason Robin had stopped Sunday.
After all, Sunday really was too weak right now.
Previously, on Penacony, with the help of the ORDER buried within Penacony's foundation, Sunday had still been able to barely handle some enemies.
But now, DESTRUDOS had completely dissipated, and the hidden ORDER had almost entirely scattered as well.
It could be said that Sunday's current combat strength might not even be as strong as hers.
That was why Robin suggested that since he wanted to travel the universe, he should go find a few guards.
After hearing this, Sunday fell silent.
At this moment, a faint sense of humiliation seemed to slowly wash through his heart.
Without realizing it, Sunday once again recalled the scene from back then, when Robin had grabbed him by the collar and he had been completely unable to pry her hand away.
That incident had nearly become the greatest shame of his life!
He would absolutely never allow anyone else to learn of it in the future!
But setting that aside, Robin's concern did indeed have a point.
The universe was not peaceful. If it truly were peaceful, how could anyone sell products like weapons?
So Sunday would inevitably encounter danger while traveling through the universe.
Because of that, going to the Land of Rebirth that Sora and the Xianzhou jointly operated, as Robin suggested, seemed like a perfect choice.
One had to know that on that planet specifically used for atonement, there was a group with an exceptionally reliable reputation in the universe.
The Knights of Beauty.
With them stationed in the Land of Rebirth, there was no way someone who failed the assessment would be casually waved through.
The Knights of Beauty were strict with others, but stricter still with themselves.
It was precisely because of this that the Knights of Beauty's reputation in the universe was completely positive.
If the Knights of Beauty certified that you already had a heart of repentance, then almost everyone in the universe would believe that judgment.
And going there to hire some people to serve as guards while he traveled the universe seemed like a very good idea.
However, when Sunday thought that Sora had a hand in that place, and that his younger sister was the one recommending it...
The thought made him uncomfortable enough that he could not help rejecting the proposal.
"In that case, Brother, why don't you sign a contract with the Federation of Hope?"
Although the territory covered by the Federation of Hope was not as vast as the IPC's, finding a few people capable of guarding Sunday would still be very simple.
And so Robin directly placed a call to the sole leader currently managing the Federation of Hope with full authority—Titania!
"Hm? Why did you suddenly think of looking for me?"
Robin's call had only just gone out when it was instantly connected.
Judging by that speed, it was obvious that Titania had been waiting in front of her phone the whole time.
This made Robin a little curious. What was she doing, waiting by her phone all this time?
In Robin's impression, Titania did not seem to be someone especially addicted to her phone.
Who knew what kept her busy every day?
Although Robin was puzzled, she still stated her request.
"Oh, oh, I see. You need people who can keep secrets and handle themselves in a fight. Easy!"
If nothing else, almost everyone in the Federation of Hope had a shared secret that could not be revealed to the universe.
So to the Federation of Hope, this matter was actually neither urgent nor difficult.
"Once your brother comes by later, we can discuss the specific arrangements!"
"Anything else? If not, I'm hanging up."
Titania sounded extremely eager, as if there were some urgent matter waiting for her.
Seeing her like this, Robin did not continue.
She had originally wanted to show some concern for Titania's current situation, but since Titania had something to do now, she could ask later.
After Robin hung up, Titania's originally tense expression instantly relaxed.
With practiced ease, she switched to the video's comment section and continued the battle she had left unfinished moments ago!
It was said that this protracted battle had gone on for 9,999 replies.
When later generations came to excavate it, they discovered that the comment section there had nearly ground away even the Great Dao itself!
It was truly terrifying. Truly terrifying indeed!
---
T/N: if you dont remember the land of rebirth is that world sora made while he was geats, uhh it was named nine worlds or nine realms but honestly i just made it into the land of rebirth
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