"Oh! My dear Conductor! Long time no see!"
"You're still as healthy and adorable as ever! Heehee!"
Aha's clown mask lit up like they'd spotted an old friend, all smiles and cheerful greetings.
Unfortunately, to Pom-Pom, Aha was the ultimate enemy. If not for this jerk blowing half the train to dust back then, the Astral Express wouldn't be so short now. How could Pom-Pom not hate them?
"You menace! Take this!"
"Yah yah yah! Invincible Pom-Pom Revenge Punch!!!"
Pom-Pom didn't waste words. They leaped up, tiny fluffy fist aimed straight at Aha's shifting clown mask.
It looked fierce, sure. But to anyone watching, Pom-Pom was too slow, arms too short. No real threat at all.
Sure enough, before the punch could land, Aha leaned back slightly. Pom-Pom's fist swung through empty air. They passed each other, and the conductor punched absolutely nothing.
"Heehee haha! Too bad, Conductor! That punch? Zero points!"
Aha's dark form crouched down, the mask still grinning at Pom-Pom. To the furious conductor, that smile was pure, unadulterated mockery.
"You jerk!!! Take another Pom-Pom punch!"
Pom-Pom swung again.
But no matter how many times Pom-Pom tried, with those stubby legs and arms, Aha was just out of reach. Aha didn't even bother defending. A slight, theatrical shift was enough to dodge every single attack. Pom-Pom's repeated swings all met dead air.
"Uh... Conductor, maybe just give up? At this rate, you could keep at it for days and never land a hit."
March 7th watched the display of consecutive misses and couldn't bear to look anymore. Harsh? Maybe. But undeniably true.
"How dare you! Passenger March 7th, whose side are you on?!"
"This guy is Pom-Pom's sworn enemy! An archenemy! Pom-Pom will not tolerate them appearing before Pom-Pom all smug like this!"
Pom-Pom's face flushed red with rage, practically steaming from the floppy ears. They looked ready to tear the Aeon apart with their bare paws.
"Heehee haha! Oh, about the past... my deepest apologies, dear Conductor! Can't you be magnanimous and forgive Aha? Heehee haha—!!!"
Aha laughed loudly, offering a so-called apology that dripped with amusement.
"A laugh-filled apology? No sincerity at all! Pom-Pom will never forgive you!" Pom-Pom huffed, planting their hands on their hips and glaring daggers at Aha.
But they stopped attacking. Even Pom-Pom knew it was physically pointless.
So, smart little conductor that they were, Pom-Pom turned their gaze directly to Yuki.
"Ahem! Passenger Yuki! Could you help Pom-Pom restrain this guy?" Pom-Pom rubbed their tiny hands together nervously, embarrassed to ask.
They knew that, on this train, Yuki was the only one who could actually help. Yuki was the real boss here.
"Sure. Since the Conductor asks, as a passenger, I'm happy to lend a hand." Yuki smiled lightly.
With just a single thought, Aha was frozen in place.
Time and space locked down entirely. Aha's connection to the Path of Elation was temporarily severed. Their cosmic power faded away into nothingness. In an instant, Aha became a powerless, mortal entity,all shell, no substance.
"Oh no!"
"Aha can't feel the Path anymore! This is terrible!"
"But that's not the worst part! The worst part is... Aha's about to get beaten up by the Conductor! Poor Aha! Aha has lost face!"
All of Aha's floating clown masks drooped into highly exaggerated, dejected expressions.
Meanwhile, Pom-Pom cracked their furry knuckles and advanced.
"Revenge for the train bombing! Pom-Pom's cashing in that debt now!"
With that, Pom-Pom leaped up and started wailing on Aha. Every punch that landed whether on Aha's amorphous body or one of the masks made the mask on that spot physically twist into a sobbing, agonized face.
"Ooh! This looks fun!" March's eyes lit up. She jumped up and ran over. "Conductor! Can I join?"
She requested formal permission to join the beatdown.
"Oh! Passenger March 7th! You may!" Pom-Pom gave the green light without hesitation.
And so March joined in. She decided to use the powerless Aeon as a live test subject.
Channeling her newly awakened Imaginary Energy, she activated Imaginary Fusion, combining it directly with her Crystallized Memory. Then, picturing a weapon in her mind, the six-phased ice reshaped itself accordingly.
"Hey! Not bad! I actually did it!"
March stared at the glaze-like crystal sword materializing in her hand. It shimmered with iridescent light—beautiful, deadly, and elegant.
"I'll call this move 'Star-Slicing, Universe-Breaking: Great Glaze Sword'!" March gave her new technique a highly dramatic name.
Then she raised the heavy crystal sword and swung it right at Aha.
The moment Aha saw that blade, they visibly flinched.
"N-No, no, no! Beautiful miss! Please don't use the sword! That's too brutal!" Aha's voice was frantic, desperate to stop March from actually chopping them up.
The Aeon could clearly sense it, the pure, profound Imaginary Energy radiating from March's blade. It dwarfed even the foundational energy of the Aeons. If the Aeons' Imaginary Energy was like a child's, March's was like the mother. The very source of all Imaginary Energy itself.
Sure, March was still vastly weaker in raw output compared to Aha but right now, Aha was completely powerless. Yuki had sealed their strength. Without their cosmic durability, one swing from March's terrifyingly pure sword could actually kill or permanently cripple them.
"Uh... you're scared of this move?" March paused her swing, thoroughly confused.
Yuki chimed in from the sidelines, looking highly amused: "Don't worry, Aha. I'll make sure you don't die. So go ahead, March. Chop away."
"You got it!"
"Even without you saying that, I was gonna do it anyway!"
March swung the sword down, slicing cleanly into Aha. Whether the Aeon lived or died? March didn't care. She wasn't entirely sure why Yuki wanted to keep the annoying jester alive, either.
But Yuki's reason was simple: he wanted Aha to experience infinite, looping torment.
And so, March kept slicing Aha in half. Each time, Yuki's transcendent power flawlessly restored the Aeon. The deep cosmic erosion of March's Imaginary Energy turned every single one of Aha's masks into a mask of genuine, unbridled agony.
Once the torment had gone on long enough, Yuki strolled over, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Aha, you came looking for entertainment. Now you've become the entertainment yourself. Mission accomplished, right?"
Aha heard this and thought:
You're the real God of Entertainment here! Using the God of Entertainment as entertainment. If we're talking ruthless, you take the crown!!!
All of Aha's restored masks drooped in total defeat. Today was a complete, humiliating loss.