March, Himeko, and Jingliu walked slowly through the first city they had arrived in when they first touched down on this planet.
The city had finally been retaken by the native people of Gokan. The grotesque, flesh-like tree decorations left behind by the fanatical followers of the Abundance had all been aggressively torn down and burned in the streets.
Though the city no longer had that pristine, strange atmosphere it once did, it was also completely free of that suffocating, twisted devotion. In its place was the messy, chaotic, but genuine joy of the natives reclaiming their homeland.
Watching these people—brutally displaced for so many years—finally return to their homes, seeing families torn apart by endless war finally reunite in tears, filled the three women with a profound, deep sense of fulfillment.
All of them had taken a massive part in the global counteroffensive and contributed greatly to the ultimate victory.
March 7th, in particular, had struck absolute terror into the hearts of the Abundance followers with her devastating archery.
Every single arrow she loosed claimed the lives of dozens, sometimes hundreds. What made it even more chilling for the enemy was that the Abundance's prized, cursed immortality meant absolutely nothing against this girl—who looked incredibly sweet and cute but fought like a literal conceptual demon.
Killing an immortal follower of the Abundance usually took considerable, grueling effort from a normal soldier. But for March with her new Rageblade, it was as simple as drinking water.
And what's more, she also discovered she had the ability to temporarily amplify others.
Those she empowered with her Imaginary Energy also gained the conceptual power to permanently cut through the Abundance's regeneration. Under March's blessing, Jingliu's glacial blade carved through the Abundance elites like a hot knife through butter.
And Himeko's orbital cannon strikes became even more terrifyingly absolute. Just like March's arrows, one precisely calculated shot wiped out entire swaths of immortal enemies permanently.
For their overwhelming contributions, the three women were honored as eternal guests of honor by the newly formed planetary government of Gokan—who even immediately commissioned towering statues to be erected in their likeness in the central plaza.
Of course, Yuki's statue was also prominently featured among them, looking appropriately god-like.
Now that the global crisis on Planet Gokan had been fully resolved, Himeko and the others were ready to move on.
After a warm, tearful farewell from the planet's resistance leaders, the three women returned to the familiar, quiet docking platform where the Express safely awaited them.
"Where did Yuki run off to?! We're about to leave! Why isn't he here yet?!"
March stared at the familiar, comforting sight of the Express, completely unable to stop thinking about Yuki. She had tried reaching him through the multiversal group chat over the past few days, but all she got was a brief "I'm busy" before he went completely radio silent again.
It made her incredibly worried that Yuki had actually fallen for that mature femme fatale Kafka's charms.
"Wait… what if he literally ran off with that seductress?!" March's gradient eyes went wide as the horrific thought suddenly hit her.
Himeko heard her anxious rambling but didn't entirely deny the possibility, even if it seemed a bit far-fetched for a man like Yuki.
Jingliu just stayed quiet, her expression unreadable.
Just then, as they finally reached the train, the main passenger door slid open on its own.
A familiar, incredibly elegant figure stepped out gracefully onto the platform.
"Oh, little March… who exactly are you calling a seductress?"
"It's you! Kafka!"
March's eyes widened in sheer shock. The smooth voice, the dangerous presence, the unmistakable style—it was definitely the Stellaron Hunter.
Himeko was equally surprised, especially to see her casually walking right out of the Astral Express. That was fundamentally strange. The Express was currently under the watchful protection of Aha, the Aeon of Elation. How could an ordinary mortal fugitive just wander in unless…
"Kafka, why are you on the Express?"
"Did Yuki bring you back here?" Himeko asked seriously, her golden eyes narrowing.
Kafka's lips curved into a faint, highly satisfied smile as she gave a small nod.
"He's still in his room, showering. He just finished up our business. He'll be out soon."
She folded her arms, leaning casually against the brass railing on the steps of the Express, twirling a strand of purple hair between her gloved fingers. Her tone was light, languid, and almost cruelly teasing.
"Showering?! Finished?!"
"What exactly were you two doing in there for three days?!" March's expression shifted instantly. Her gaze turned incredibly sharp and violently hostile, like an angry little lioness ready to pounce.
"Don't look at me like that. You're making me nervous~" Kafka chuckled softly behind her hand, her tone utterly unbothered by the death glare.
"You—you terrible woman!"
"You definitely did something highly inappropriate behind our backs!" March shot Kafka a furious glare, her voice firm with absolute conviction.
"I wasn't the one doing 'bad things'—it was your Yuki who did bad things to me."
Kafka smirked playfully. She delicately cupped her cheek with a hand as if deeply savoring the memory, a faint, highly suggestive blush coloring her flawless face.
"Argh!"
"That's it! You're just doing this on purpose to mess with me, aren't you?!" March stomped her foot in massive frustration, heavily convinced Kafka was just verbally messing with her to get a reaction.
Himeko watched the exchange silently, a distinct trace of hostility flickering in her own eyes.
"Did you get your psychological problem resolved?" Himeko took a deep breath and asked the crucial, practical question.
"Of course."
"Thanks to Yuki's... intense efforts, my little issue is finally completely taken care of."
"And not only that—I finally got to experience what it truly feels like to be a woman for the very first time." Kafka gently touched her flushed cheek again, a soft, incredibly satisfied smile gracing her lips.
Even Himeko, who usually kept her elegant composure under any circumstance, found herself tightly clenching her fists at those brazen words.
"Alright, enough small talk."
"I should get going now. My partner is waiting. I'll leave him in your capable hands."
Kafka shrugged elegantly and descended the stairs to the platform.
"We'll meet again. Good luck, everyone on the Astral Express."
With that parting shot, she turned and headed off confidently in another direction, her coat billowing slightly behind her.
March desperately wanted to physically stop her and demand exact, detailed answers, but if Kafka had been able to enter the train freely and leave just as easily, it must have been with Yuki's explicit permission. So she held back her temper, deciding she'd just interrogate Yuki directly.
"Let's go. It's time for us to leave too," Himeko understood the exact same thing, so she didn't try to stop the Hunter either.
"Yeah! I'm heading in right now!" March dashed up the stairs and onto the train, deeply eager to track down Yuki and get some serious answers.
Inside the cozy parlor car, Pom-Pom was just coming out of the dining car with a tray when March rushed past like a pink blur.
"Oh! Passenger March, you're back—"
"Sorry, Conductor! No time to talk right now!"
Before Pom-Pom could even finish greeting her, March cut the mascot off and zipped past at lightning speed toward the passenger quarters.
Pom-Pom scratched their large, floppy ears in deep confusion.
"Why the rush, Pom?!"
"Some people, I just don't understand at all, Pom!" Shaking their head, Pom-Pom turned and went back to their own important conductor business.
Outside the train on the platform, Himeko turned and asked Jingliu where she planned to go from here now that her vengeance on Shuhu was complete.
Jingliu simply shook her head—she honestly didn't have an answer either.
She absolutely couldn't return to the Xianzhou Luofu anymore. She was a mara-struck criminal in their eyes. So, she had simply been aimlessly wandering the cosmos for centuries.
Seeing her lack of direction, Himeko warmly extended an invitation.
"Jingliu, on behalf of the Astral Express, I'd like to officially invite you to join us. To become one of us."
"A Nameless…" Jingliu murmured the ancient title to herself.
After a long moment of quiet thought, she gave a small, definitive nod.
"I accept."
"Great! From now on, we're family. Welcome aboard, Jingliu."
"Do you mind if I call you that?" Himeko smiled warmly, offering her hand.
"Not at all." Jingliu gave a brief nod, shook the Navigator's hand, and followed Himeko onto the train.
Once they were both safely aboard, Pom-Pom learned from Himeko that the geopolitical situation on Gokan had been fully resolved. The conductor promptly initiated the launch sequence, setting the Astral Express back on its journey through the stars.
But shortly after the Express safely departed the system, a massive, artificial wormhole violently tore open in the high orbit above Planet Gokan.
Emerging from the spatial rift were over a thousand heavily armed interstellar warships.
All of them proudly bore the exact same insignia on their massive hulls—the symbol of Qlipoth, the Preservation.
This was a heavily armed retaliation fleet from the Interastral Peace Corporation.
.