Chapter 202: A Glimpse of the End
The question, "Mom, is he Dad?" hung in the air, so loud in the silence that it felt like a physical explosion.
"Pfft—"
Silver Wolf, who had just taken a large sip of soda, projectile-spewed the entire mouthful across the GBA consoles and a good portion of the lounge carpet.
Firefly, standing next to her, was also stunned, her face flushing a bright, incandescent red. "Wha-wha-wha—?!"
You, even more so, were utterly bewildered.
Your mind, which had been a cold, dark void filled with the echoes of Jiang Li's death and the roar of the Reign-Bow, short-circuited.
What?
Mom?
Dad?
Kafka, the only one unfazed, was noncommittal about the address "Mom." She merely smiled as she said, "We are all family, Stelle. However… him," she gestured to you, "you can call him whatever you like."
The moment those words left her mouth, Stelle's golden eyes lit up as if she'd been given a divine command.
"Dad!" she suddenly yelled, and with the explosive force of a high-velocity cannonball, she pounced on you.
"Wait—"
Before you could even raise your arms, she tackled you. You, a man who had faced Servants and Emanators, were sent tumbling backward onto the carpet.
A soft touch, a faint fragrance of ozone and new linens… Is this the newly created vessel? Her behavior… why is it like an unrestrained, super-powered child's?
"Dad!" Stelle clung to you, refusing to let go, wrapping her arms around your neck with surprising strength. She proceeded to rub her cheek against your chest like an affectionate cat and whined, "Play with me! I'm bored!"
You tried to push her away in a genuine panic. The cold, dark aura you'd been nursing for days was shattered by this sheer, baffling absurdity.
"No! Get off! I'm a Foxian! I'm definitely not your dad! Our species aren't even compatible!"
"Aren't you?" Stelle looked up, her golden eyes, so eerily like your own, full of pure, innocent confusion. "Mom clearly said I could…"
Firefly and Silver Wolf were completely dumbfounded. Silver Wolf, still wiping soda from her chin, stared. "Is... is she broken? Is Elio's script a buggy mess?"
"Are the Stellaron Hunters going to have such a big child now?" Firefly murmured, her head tilted in absolute confusion.
You looked at Kafka, exhausted, your voice pleading. "Kafka! A little help here? Explain!"
She, however, had one hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking slightly. She was elegantly enjoying the farce. This was, you realized, her plan all along. This was her idea of "team building."
Finally, after letting you squirm under the gray-haired girl for another ten seconds, she spoke, her voice laced with laughter. "Alright, Stelle, that's enough. The joke ends here."
Only then did Stelle reluctantly let go. She stepped back, and her entire demeanor suddenly changed. The innocent, whining, child-like expression vanished, replaced by a somewhat embarrassed, mischievous smile.
"Hehe, I got a bit carried away," she said, her voice now that of a normal, if slightly awkward, teenager.
The three of you just stared. "???"
Stelle ran out of the lounge and quickly returned with a few small, neatly wrapped boxes. "Um…" she shyly handed one to each of you. "Consider it a welcome gift."
You took one. It was a small, white box. Inside, on a paper doily, was a meticulously made small cake, decorated with a (somewhat lopsided) frosting smiley face.
"I... I was just joking earlier," Stelle scratched her head, her face a little red. "Kafka said this was a good way to... break the ice. Thank you for naming me. And, you know. Playing with me."
"So that's what it was…" you breathed a sigh of relief, your heart finally slowing down.
Soon, the four of you sat around on the floor. The tension from your return, and the awkwardness of Stelle's "birth," finally melted away.
You were patiently teaching Stelle the basic controls of Pokémon. "This is 'A'. It selects. 'B' cancels."
"So if I want to... attack... I press 'A'?" she asked, her eyes wide with focus.
"And if you want to run like a coward, you press 'B'," Silver Wolf interjected from your other side, giving pointers like a smug backseat gamer.
Firefly, meanwhile, had thoughtfully cut Stelle's cake for everyone, handing out small slices. The lounge was, for the first time in days, filled with laughter and joy.
Kafka stood at the doorway, watching this scene, a satisfied smile on her lips.
Just then, another figure appeared beside her, a dark shadow in the bright room.
"The newcomer," Blade looked at the lively scene, his voice a low rasp. "Seems... quite lively."
"Yes," Kafka said softly. "She and us, we will definitely become the best companions…"
One week later, a new mission began.
Stelle participated for the first time as a formal member. Elio's script had pointed to a remote, abandoned planet where a Stellaron was guarded by ancient, inorganic life forms.
When encountering the automatons, Stelle displayed an astonishing, raw combat power. Wielding a simple lance, she moved with an unpolished, brutal grace, smashing the machines to pieces, her golden eyes lit with the thrill of her first real fight.
You, meanwhile, were responsible for clearing the last of the enemies, a massive automaton that had barricaded itself in the planet's core.
You stood before the towering machine. "Firefly, Stelle, clear the perimeter."
You drew your blade.
Mystic Eyes activated.
The world dissolved into a black and white net of death lines.
Death Line emerged.
You didn't charge. You simply walked forward, your sword a blur as it traced the dozens of conceptual 'end' lines on the machine's armor, power core, and cognitive circuits.
Just as the last enemy fell, its components clattering lifelessly to the ground, the world suddenly fell silent.
The hum of the core, the drip of water, the sound of your own breathing—all of it ceased.
The gaze of a higher existence descended. It was not a physical pressure, but a crushing weight on your very consciousness.
You looked up and saw, not in the cavern, but in your mind's eye, a giant, swirling pupil floating in the endless void. It was vast, ancient, and utterly indifferent.
Terminus, the Aeon of Finality.
[Inorin's Note: Terminus is the Aeon of Finality, an enigmatic being that allegedly moves backward in time, witnessing the inevitable 'end' of all things as a foregone conclusion.]
He... It... was watching you. Your use of the [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]—your ability to perceive and enact 'The End'—had attracted its attention.
Then, something cold and profound surged into your body… You saw a vision: a star, a galaxy, a universe, all fading to black. An inescapable, perfect, beautiful end.
You became a Pathstrider of Finality.
After the mission, Kafka fulfilled her promised reward. You stood in the cargo bay. Several small, sleek, black destroyers were parked in front of you.
"This is what you asked for," she said with a smile. "Use them well."
You knew she understood what you were going to do.
In the following days, you began your hunt. The scattered, nomadic Borisin tribes across the universe began to disappear, one by one.
First, you hired local mercenary fleets to launch devastating sneak attacks, using the destroyers as your command ships.
Then you and Firefly personally descended, a two-person army, slaughtering the remaining Borisin.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Firefly asked you before the first operation, her hand resting on the hilt of her own weapon. "This isn't a mission, Orion. This is... an extermination."
You just looked at the coordinates of the Borisin war camp. "They killed my friend."
Firefly was silent for a moment. Then, her gaze hardened, her usual gentleness replaced by a cold resolve. "I understand. I'll help you."
From then on, you spent more time with Firefly. Training, eating, planning the hunts, and chatting during the long warps between star systems.
The smiles on her face, once rare and hesitant, also increased. She was, you realized, the only one who didn't just see your coldness, but understood the pain beneath it.