High above a planet covered in ice and snow, a special train was stationed.
"It's rare to see you trust someone so much."
The red-haired woman, a big sister type, walked over to Welt, who was sitting in the observation car, carrying two cups of coffee. She set them down and said with a smile.
"Because he is indeed a reliable person."
Welt gently picked up the coffee Himeko had set down and took a sip: "Thank you, it's delicious."
"You're welcome. From what you just said, he's someone from the past?"
Welt nodded: "He has always been very mysterious, always possessing methods no one else can imagine. Perhaps that is his secret. However, seeing him here means that time has formed a closed loop."
Welt smiled slightly, looking at the cane leaning beside his seat.
This cane was his weapon, and also his memento of that world.
Ninth Divine Key: Star of Eden.
A weapon created using the Herrscher Core of the Herrscher of Earth, possessing the ability to manipulate gravity.
After being modified by the power of the Herrscher of Reason, it became its current form and is Welt's main weapon. However, no one knows that inside this cane there is a hidden compartment, and within that compartment is an item he has kept for many years.
"Sounds like a very interesting matter."
Although she found it interesting, Himeko did not press for details. Not delving into a companion's past is one of the rules on this train.
Once someone becomes a companion, one chooses to unconditionally trust their companion; this is the rule on this train.
Welt usually wasn't very willing to talk about his past. Everyone only knew some rough information, knowing that Welt couldn't return to his former homeland.
This time, perhaps this person who came from the same place as Welt could bring about some interesting changes.
Himeko took a sip of coffee and looked out at the ice and snow planet outside the window.
…
Meanwhile, in the fighting club in the Underworld.
"Takatsuki-nii, is it really okay not to help?"
Seele and Takatsuki stood below the stage, looking at the two people who had run onto it, asking with some concern.
"It's fine. After all, it's a ring match; there won't be any life-threatening danger. And since they can travel through various worlds, they must have self-defense skills. This is a good opportunity to observe their skill level."
Takatsuki said, looking at the battle that had already begun on the stage.
The information just now had a much greater impact on Takatsuki than on anyone else.
Future?
Why would the system's instance connect to a future world?
Did he himself use the system in the future to throw the other party into another world?
That's right, Takatsuki was thinking about whether the other party was a friend or foe.
From what he knew about the background, Old Yang should be a friend, but looking at Old Yang's appearance, it must have been more than ten years. Who knows what changes might have occurred during that time?
"Wait a minute… I remember in the Post-Honkai Odyssey…"
Takatsuki suddenly thought of the Post-Honkai Odyssey plot in Honkai Impact 3rd. In that story, Old Yang seemed to have been abducted by Void Archives into a Star Gate, going to another world.
However, the subsequent plot was not shown in the game, but in a comic or novel, which Takatsuki had not read.
So he didn't know where Old Yang had gone.
In other words…
"Is this the world of a certain comic or novel?"
Combining this with the fact that this world has Seele, Cocolia, Bronya, and Himeko, this world should belong to the same universe as Honkai, meaning it's a world within the branches of the Imaginary Tree.
Therefore, it's highly probable that Old Yang wasn't thrown into another world by him, but rather that his current situation was caused by Void Archives.
So, a large reason for Old Yang's excitement upon seeing him was that he wanted to rely on Takatsuki to return to the world bubble of Honkai Impact 3rd.
This was Takatsuki's thought.
In that case, the other party was at least not an enemy.
Takatsuki made this judgment.
While Takatsuki was thinking, the battle on the stage had already ended.
Although the three Trailblazers' enemies were robots encased in iron, with the application of Void Energy, their fists truly became harder than iron.
Furthermore, due to the robots' clumsiness, these self-destructing robots couldn't even self-destruct before being knocked down by the three.
Takatsuki also took this opportunity to discover the fighting characteristics of the three.
Dan Heng's fighting style was highly technical, while Stelle leaned towards brute force, and March 7th was nimble, playing with her opponents.
"Hmph! Was my fighting prowess beautiful to behold?!"
After coming down, March 7th said to Takatsuki irritably.
"You fought quite well."
After praising March 7th, Takatsuki looked at Dan Heng: "We meet again. Did you gain anything?"
Dan Heng also nodded.
"I've learned about the basic situation of this world. March 7th has already told me the situation. Welcome to the team."
Dan Heng expressed his welcome directly through his actions.
"Hmm, what are your plans next? There might not be any clues about the Stellaron in the Underworld. I came here before and met a member of the Wildfire. They helped me ask their leader, but their leader also didn't know."
Dan Heng propped his chin with his hand, deep in thought.
"This makes things troublesome. I heard on my way here that the Wildfire is like the police of this underground area. If even they don't know…"
Dan Heng thought for a moment and said, "I still want to meet that cadre. Perhaps they just don't know the term 'Stellaron'."
Takatsuki thought the same. After all, he didn't fully understand Stellarons. Perhaps the other party knew about this thing, but just called it by another name.
"Alright, follow me. I've already located Big Seele."
March 7th blinked her eyes.
"Big Seele?"
Takatsuki nodded: "This is Small Seele."
Seele smiled awkwardly at the others.
"Isn't her name Seele? Why did it change?"
March 7th expressed her confusion.
"To differentiate them; both Seele and Seele are called Seele, making it impossible to tell who is who. However, fortunately, they are of different ages, so we distinguish them by size."
Only then did March 7th understand the complexities.
"Like Mini March 7th?"
Stelle suddenly said from the side.
"That's not the same at all!"
Watching the two bickering, Takatsuki led Seele outside.
"No time to waste, let's go."
With Dan Heng joining them, the five quickly returned the way they came, and under Takatsuki's guidance, found Big Seele, who was on patrol.
"Takatsuki? Why are you here?"
Big Seele greeted them and looked at the few people behind Takatsuki: "These must be the new people in the Underworld."
Big Seele was about to warn them about something, but Takatsuki spoke first.
"These are juniors of a friend of mine, so they're friends of a friend. They are all trustworthy people."
Big Seele nodded: "Oh, they're your friends, then never mind. But I don't have much time right now. Something happened in the Great Mine, and I need to go deal with it."