Izumo.
"Nuan… Nuan!"
Raiden Mei's anxious voice broke the silence.
Just moments ago, she'd watched as Nuan eagerly cheered the departing train—only for the child to suddenly collapse onto the ground.
Raiden Mei rushed forward, catching Nuan as she fell. But the moment her hands touched Nuan's body, an icy chill seeped into her fingertips, the girl's small frame trembling uncontrollably. The dense energy of Nihility had robbed Nuan's once-bright sapphire eyes of their clarity, leaving them dull and sightless.
Mei immediately probed Nuan's condition using her Path, only to discover that the child's very essence had largely succumbed to Nihility. For a girl like Nuan—pure-hearted but utterly powerless—this was clearly her limit.
A heavy silence fell upon Raiden Mei.
Yet Nuan herself didn't seem to mind. Her soft, childlike voice, raspy with pain, called out urgently:
"Mei-oneechan, hurry… tell me if the train has hit that big black ball!"
Instinctively, Mei raised her head to the sky.
Just in time to see the Astral Express crash headlong into the Aeon of Nihility.
BOOM—!!!
An immense sound thundered across the universe, brilliant streams of radiant light scattering outward, enveloping all of Izumo.
Raiden Mei felt it clearly: this was not purely the energy of Nihility. There was another presence within it—warm and hopeful, a power from another Path entirely.
A mysterious harmony enveloped Izumo.
The dazzling motes of light drifted gently down, embracing Nuan. Her tense, pained expression gradually eased into a gentle smile.
"Mei-oneechan… I heard it…I heard…the train… hit the big black ball…"
Her voice trailed off, but she hadn't died.
Raiden Mei sensed that the strange equilibrium formed by these two opposing forces had frozen Nuan, had frozen all of Izumo in this suspended moment.
She pressed her lips together tightly, choosing not to dispel the luminous glow. Doing so would mean Nuan's certain death.
Slowly rising to her feet, Mei's long, deep-purple hair swayed gently as the tiny motes of dandelion-like brilliance drifted from her strands. Her gaze remained fixed on the radiant epicenter in the heavens, watching closely.
Waiting…
Waiting for Yevenko and Tom to return.
But as the blinding white glow gradually receded, Mei's eyes widened in shock.
Both the Aeon of Nihility and the Astral Express had vanished completely from the cosmos.
The star, not yet devoured by Nihility, pierced through the clouds again, bathing Izumo once more in gentle sunlight. Sunlight and stardust intertwined, painting a breathtakingly beautiful scene.
Yet the sole witness to this picturesque moment kept her gaze locked onto the sky.
She refused to accept this ending, still waiting, hoping.
Waiting for the Astral Express, more brilliant than any star, to appear again—for those two, warmer than the sun's rays, to return.
...
...
...
---
Blinding radiance flooded the Astral Express, filling Yevenko and Tom's vision until all was white.
Yevenko's sight dimmed, his senses dulled. He could no longer feel his body, which slowly dissolved into Nihility itself. Color, sensation—everything was slipping away.
As for Tom, it merely found the light unbearably bright and squeezed its eyes shut out of reflex.
When Tom reopened its eyes moments later, it found itself in a pure-white world devoid of all color.
No—rather than pure-white, perhaps this was simply a world of Nihility.
Yevenko, who had stood beside him moments ago, had disappeared without a trace.
Tom scratched its head in confusion. It clearly felt Yevenko everywhere around, yet his owner was nowhere to be seen.
With a determined expression, Tom retrieved a small suitcase from behind its back.
After rummaging thoroughly—tossing out an assortment of clothing and cleaning supplies—Tom inspected a broom carefully, shook its head, and tossed it aside.
Finally locating a vacuum cleaner, Tom realized it had become stuck. Bracing both feet on the suitcase, Tom tugged fiercely.
Pop—!
The vacuum cleaner loosened abruptly, sending Tom hurtling through the air in an elegant arc, heading straight for the ground.
Yet, just as its rear was about to hit the ground, Tom's eyes popped out comically as it noticed a sharp nail lying exactly where it was about to land.
Tom instantly halted its descent, freezing a mere millimeter above the nail. With practiced calm, it plucked up the nail and tossed it aside—only then allowing itself to land safely.
Tom wiped imaginary sweat from its forehead. Good thing Jerry wasn't here; if that nail had been Jerry's work, there would've surely been an entire trap chain waiting.
Without further thought, Tom noticed Yevenko's presence rapidly fading. Panicking, it rushed to plug in the vacuum cleaner—only to realize there were no outlets here.
Thankfully, Tom had brought a power strip!
It pulled a power strip from behind its back, promptly plugged its own plug into itself, then plugged the vacuum cleaner into the strip.
Perfect—power acquired.
Switching the vacuum cleaner on, it gave a reassuring hum, ready for action.
Tom dashed around the blank white expanse, furiously vacuuming. After some time, it emptied the vacuum, producing only a tiny heap of blackish sand—Yevenko's remains.
Tom: "…"
Isn't this a bit too little?
But according to its senses, this really was all that remained of Yevenko.
Not nearly enough for a complete rebuild—only enough for a rough approximation.
Tom pinched up some of the dark sand, rolled it between its fingers into a pencil, and quickly began sketching on the blank white surface.
When the pencil was finally used up, a simplistic black stick figure had taken shape, with the name—Yevenko—scribbled over its head.
In the next second, the almost-extinct Yevenko sprang upright from the ground in the form of a stick figure.
After shaking its head vigorously, Yevenko finally regained consciousness.
"Holy crap! I'm alive again!"
"All hail Lord Tom, the invincible god!"
Yet, this stick-figure Yevenko—barely a meter tall—quickly noticed something amiss. His crudely sketched eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"Tom, did you get taller?"
Tom rapidly shook its head, causing Yevenko's confusion to deepen.
"Then… did I shrink?"
He glanced down at his body and immediately froze in horror.
"What the hell happened to me?"
But after some thought, Yevenko vaguely understood. He'd crashed the Astral Express into the Aeon of Nihility, unleashing a massive resonance between two Paths. After that…he died. Then… he was here.
Understood, my ass!
He didn't even know what "here" was.
"Well, when in doubt, stay calm and have some milk first."
Casually pulling a bottle of milk from behind his back, Yevenko's crudely drawn right hand wrapped clumsily around the bottle cap, twisting it open. He promptly poured it into his mouth.
Splash—
Milk poured into his simple-lined mouth only to leak straight out onto the ground.
An instant later, his entire right arm crumbled away, vanishing completely, and the milk bottle clattered onto the white surface.
"?!!!!"
Seeing this, Yevenko's eyes widened in sudden alarm.
"The Aeon of Nihility is still fighting back?!"
Even as that thought flashed through his mind, his right foot vanished, sending him sprawling onto the ground. His body continued dissolving at an alarming rate.
Tom, still perfectly intact, hurriedly picked up the vacuum cleaner and tried frantically sucking again—but this time, even fewer dark granules were gathered compared to before.
Wait a second... Tom is still intact!
Without hesitation, Yevenko quickly activated the [Transformation Stone (Tom)] from his backpack.
A flash of white light engulfed him, and the stick-figure Yevenko disappeared instantly, replaced by another identical 'Tom.'
Tom's eyes lit up as it ran excitedly toward Yevenko, patting him all over before enthusiastically grabbing his hands and shaking them up and down.
But Yevenko wasn't relieved just yet.
The [Transformation Stone (Tom)] had a strict time limit—and it wasn't long.
If they stayed here, he'd end up disintegrating anyway.
Worse yet, the power of Nihility was still active, which meant the Aeon itself had to be nearby. They had to find it quickly and think of a way to defeat it.
Thinking rapidly, Yevenko turned to Tom.
"Tom, did you see anything else around here earlier?"
Tom scratched its head, recalling when it was busy vacuuming up bits of Yevenko. Suddenly remembering, Tom nodded vigorously.
"Lead the way," Yevenko instructed.
Upon hearing this, Tom took up a sprinting posture and bolted away with a cloud of smoke left behind. Yevenko imitated the pose, similarly vanishing in a puff of smoke.
After a while, Tom came to a halt, turning around to point ahead.
Following Tom's finger, Yevenko immediately noticed a small purple-black sphere, no larger than a tennis ball, sitting motionless in the pure-white emptiness.
The Aeon of Nihility! It shrunk that much? Now it really looks like a preserved egg. Yevenko slapped his thigh and laughed out loud.
However, he quickly regained seriousness. Despite shrinking to this tiny size, they couldn't afford to be careless. After all, an Aeon was still an Aeon. Its fundamental power hadn't changed one bit.
This wasn't like dealing with Cocolia back then. She wasn't even remotely close to the strength of an Emanator.
And right now, Yevenko had absolutely no tricks left. Even his vehicle was gone! Otherwise, he could've driven his dump truck and tried to bulldoze the Aeon again.
As Yevenko was lost in thought, Tom confidently strode forward.
Seeing this, Yevenko immediately jumped in front of Tom to block him—but Tom just kept walking forward, casually pushing Yevenko ahead.
Does this mean my [Transformation Stone] version isn't just limited in time but weaker than the real Tom too?
Desperate, Yevenko pulled a door from behind his back and planted it firmly in Tom's path. Tom simply walked straight through it, leaving a perfect Tom-shaped hole behind.
Tom flashed a devilish grin, showing eight shiny teeth. It flexed its right bicep, which promptly jumped over to the left, forming a doubly impressive stack of muscle. Clearly, Tom felt unstoppable.
Swiftly arriving behind the Aeon, Tom whipped out a flyswatter and smacked down fiercely.
WHAP—!
The Aeon instantly flattened into a pancake, only to pop back into shape the next moment.
Then, IX shakily stood back up on its thin, stick-like legs, staring blankly at Tom with empty, white 'eyes.'
Suddenly, from the shadows beneath its feet, a sinister little purple-black beast emerged. According to Yevenko's senses, this small beast had power equal to an Emanator. It was only so tiny due to the Aeon's reduced size from the shrinking milk's effects.
Just as expected—even weakened, an Aeon remained an Aeon. It wouldn't go down that easily.
But in the next instant—
Tom raised the flyswatter again.
WHAP—!
The dark beast promptly became a smear of paste and vanished.
Tom turned back to IX, annoyed that the little "preserved egg" still refused to surrender. Without hesitation, Tom swatted it again.
WHAP—!
Once more, IX became a pancake before popping back upright.
Yevenko: "…"
He suddenly recalled something important: Tom never judged opponents by their actual power or the nature of their strength. Tom only had one standard for assessing enemies:
If Tom thinks they're weak—they're weak.
At the same time, Yevenko felt his [Exploration Value] skyrocketing. Unable to resist the temptation, he eagerly raised his flyswatter and dashed to the Aeon's opposite side.
WHAP—!
IX flattened and restored itself again, its hollow eyes looking vaguely bewildered as it glanced back and forth between the two giant Toms towering over it. Slowly turning in place, it abruptly took off running on its tiny legs.
Seeing this, Yevenko and Tom immediately chased after it, mercilessly swinging their flyswatters while pursuing.
WHAP—!
WHAP—!
WHAP—!
Each slap sent Yevenko's Exploration Value soaring to exhilarating heights.
Despite repeatedly flattened into a pancake, IX instantly reformed, never losing its impressive running speed. But even IX seemed to realize escape wasn't working.
Suddenly, a tiny, spinning black hole of Nihility appeared just ahead of IX. Yevenko instantly understood its intent.
"Stop it from escaping, Tom!"
Yet no matter how they slapped, IX steadily neared its escape portal.
Just as IX was about to leap into it, Tom casually grabbed the miniature black hole with its right hand, sliding it sideways with a quick swipe.
With its escape route moved, IX missed the portal entirely, crashing face-first onto the ground.
WHAP—!
Tom didn't waste the chance, quickly delivering another decisive slap.
Flattened IX: "…"