"I never realized Stellarons possessed such a psychological effect."
"From that perspective, the Stellaron Hunters traveling across the universe to collect them might not actually be a bad thing." Jingliu leaned casually against the stone wall, her voice calm and analytical as she spoke.
The absolute mystery of Stellarons remained unsolved to this day. Everyone in the cosmos knew they were capable of devastating, world-ending explosions, but no one had realized they could cause something as insidious as the psychological erasure of fear.
Judging by what had happened to Kafka's homeworld of Pteruges-V, Stellarons clearly had a profoundly twisted impact on biological civilizations. And the Stellaron Hunters' core mission—gathering them all up—just happened to solve that cosmic problem.
That made Jingliu wonder if maybe the Stellaron Hunters' existence wasn't such a terrible thing after all.
"Heh. To think the famed former Sword Champion of the Luofu would actually praise me—I'm flattered." Kafka smiled lightly, casting a graceful glance at Jingliu.
Jingliu didn't respond, she merely gave the Hunter a cool, impassive look.
Kafka didn't seem to mind the cold shoulder. She turned her attention entirely back to Yuki.
Seeing how Kafka kept looking at him, combined with her earlier words about coming here specifically for him, Himeko had a pretty good guess about what the Hunter was really after.
"Kafka… did you come to Yuki to have him help you with your 'condition'?"
"That's right. Sharp as always, Navigator of the Astral Express." Kafka nodded gently in response to Himeko.
"I saw it out there on the battlefield, after all."
"That sword strike of Yuki's, I saw something entirely new in it. A concept of fear that goes far beyond mere death. Even if it was just for a fleeting instant…"
"I truly felt it. A kind of absolute thrill, a dread I'd never experienced before in my entire life. Something much deeper, coming from the soul itself." Kafka wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she recalled that reality-severing moment, her perfect figure trembling slightly with anticipation.
"So I thought, maybe this is my chance. My one true chance to change."
"For that, I had to take the risk of coming here. I couldn't let this opportunity slip away." She raised a gloved hand toward the ceiling, making a small, delicate grasping motion, before turning her pink gaze back to Yuki.
Sure, Elio had promised her that she would change one day—but that would likely only come after their ultimate, grand script was complete. But now, there was a tangible, immediate possibility sitting right in front of her. Kafka had absolutely no intention of letting it go.
"You're not wrong. I could change you right here, right now. I could permanently free you from the Stellaron's lingering influence."
"But… what exactly would I get out of it?" Yuki smiled, his tone calm and unreadable as he turned the question back on her.
Kafka seemed to have fully expected this negotiation. She didn't hesitate for a single moment.
"Everything. Everything I have."
Her blunt answer actually startled Himeko.
She hadn't expected the notoriously calculating Kafka to go that far—and judging by the deadly serious look in her eyes, she clearly wasn't joking. Himeko was taken aback.
Even Jingliu looked at Kafka with a strange, complex expression. A Stellaron Hunter willingly offering up her entire existence like this—she had to admit, it was certainly something new.
Since Kafka had already laid all her cards on the table, Yuki didn't see any reason to drag the conversation out.
"Alright."
"I'll help you."
Yuki rose slowly from his chair, walked over to Kafka, and gently lifted her chin with his fingers.
"Since you've already made your stance perfectly clear, I take it you won't regret this?" He looked deeply into her eyes with a faint, knowing smile.
Kafka let out a soft, magnetic laugh.
"Of course not."
"After all, I wouldn't dare play games with a man like you." She made absolutely no move to guard herself, willingly letting Yuki take the lead.
Her attitude was crystal clear, so Yuki saw no reason to hold back.
"I'm going to help her with her situation."
"Don't wait up."
With those parting words, Yuki focused his intent, and in an instant, a spatial portal enveloped them both, vanishing before Himeko and Jingliu's eyes.
Himeko wanted to ask more, but since Yuki and Kafka were already gone, she let it be with a heavy sigh.
Meanwhile, March 7th was still utterly absorbed in the multiversal group chat, completely unaware of the tense exchange that had just happened. It wasn't until she finally looked up from her phone and saw that Yuki and Kafka had disappeared that she asked Himeko what was going on—and realized she'd missed literally everything.
The pink-haired girl felt a massive pang of regret. She really shouldn't have been so glued to her screen!
On Yuki's side.
Kafka blinked, and suddenly found herself standing in a completely new, luxurious room.
She glanced around, taking in the elegant decor, then walked over to the sturdy wooden table, leaning back against it as she smiled at Yuki.
"This is the Astral Express, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Yuki nodded in response.
"So… what exactly do you need me to do?" Kafka's gloved fingers traced lightly across the edge of the table as she asked, her voice dropping an octave.
Yuki stepped closer, tilting her chin up gently once again.
"What do you think?"
"It's part of the ritual." A playful, dark smile tugged at his lips.
Kafka seemed to perfectly catch his unspoken meaning—a flicker of genuine surprise crossed her elegant face before she smiled knowingly.
"Well… in that case, I think we should probably head over there." Her gaze shifted toward the large, comfortable bed in the corner of the room, a hint of a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth.
"Not necessarily. We could just start right here at the table." Yuki shook his head, implying they wouldn't be needing the bed just yet.
Kafka gave a small, obedient nod.
"Up to you."
With that, she left absolutely everything in Yuki's capable hands.
To permanently free her from the Stellaron's psychological influence, Yuki first had to ease her formidable mental and physical defenses, then carefully explore the deepest, most vulnerable depths of her being.
After a while of intense exploration, he finally found the absolute root of the problem—a cold, unnatural hollow at the very core of her existence.
Throughout the intense process, Yuki's immense, overwhelming power caused Kafka some undeniable pain. But to finally be rid of her lifelong affliction, she endured it all without flinching.
And it was all incredibly worth it.
Because after the pain peaked, Kafka soon experienced something she had never, ever felt before in her entire life. Seizing the climax of the moment and pushing deeper into her soul, Yuki decisively infused her core with the pure essence of fear.
Under the overwhelming influence of his conceptual power, the Stellaron's unnatural hold over Kafka's mind was swiftly and completely undone.
The numbing affliction that had plagued her for so many years was finally resolved—just as she had always hoped.
While Yuki was diligently "treating" Kafka on the Express, things were progressing rapidly on March's side down on the planet as well.
After a solid night of rest, the native resistance fighters had completely regained their strength and set out to strike at dawn. Equipped with the highly advanced tech seized from the Abundance forces, their military operations became terrifyingly efficient.
In less than an hour, they had forcefully recaptured the neighboring territories.
Using the Denizens of Abundance's own teleportation devices against them, the resistance split into three massive groups and struck at multiple occupied cities in rapid, devastating succession.
Before the remaining, highly demoralized forces of the Abundance could even react or establish a chain of command, the vast majority of their strongholds across Planet Gokan had been violently retaken. The few remaining cities had no actual Abundance combat troops stationed in them—posing absolutely no real threat to the advancing army.
As word of the resistance's impossible victories spread, it swept across the entire globe in less than half a day. Emboldened by the fall of Shuhu, the subjugated native people violently rose up in the streets and joined the resistance en masse.
In just a day and a half, the resistance's absolute blitzkrieg strategy had successfully liberated the entire planet.
As for the ordinary, surviving followers of the Abundance, they were all heavily shackled, now reduced to prisoners awaiting their final judgment.