Chapter 62: Duke Inferno: Declaring War on the Astral Express!
The game wasn't just a digital playground for ordinary civilians. Even for seasoned Pathstriders, the opportunity to witness an Aeon with one's own eyes—even a hyper-realistic digital recreation of one—was an impossibly rare treasure. After all, even among the chaotic, thrill-seeking ranks of the Masked Fools, the vast majority had never once felt Aha's gaze fall upon them.
The hype had already been building, but the moment Herta Space Station released an official statement confirming that the events depicted in Leon's game perfectly mirrored reality, public interest skyrocketed into pure frenzy.
As the hours ticked by, Guinaifen's livestream progressed steadily until she finally reached the climax of the prologue: the descent of the Doomsday Beast.
"So cool! The rendering engine in this game is absolutely insane, and the character models are all so gorgeous!"
"This Doomsday Beast looks terrifying..."
"Relax, no big deal. It's literally just a mini-boss from the starter area."
"A mere Doomsday Beast. How laughable."
"Look at you keyboard warriors sneering at a Doomsday Beast in a game. If you met an Antimatter Legion grunt in real life, you'd feel like two legs aren't enough to run away!"
After a frantic flurry of button mashing and tactical ultimate usage, Guinaifen successfully depleted the boss's health bar. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and blew out a long, exhausted sigh of relief.
Immediately after, the screen faded to black before snapping into a high-fidelity cinematic cutscene.
"ROAR—!!"
The Doomsday Beast thrashed, throwing its massive head back as a sky-shattering bellow tore through the audio channels. Heart-palpitating, dark red energy began to pool rapidly within its gaping maw. Countless jagged arcs of black lightning whipped around the concentrated beam, causing the digital starry sky in the background to warp and tremble under the sheer gravitational pressure of the attack.
In the next moment, the world washed out into a blinding, monotonous flash of black and crimson.
A devastating torrent of pure antimatter energy erupted forward. Its target? Not the active party members. The beam aimed directly at Leon, who was currently standing off to the side, leisurely cracking melon seeds between his teeth with zero regard for the apocalyptic laser hurtling toward his face!
In a fraction of a second, two figures blurred into existence right in front of him.
It was Stelle and Caelus.
They planted their feet, gripping their standard-issue baseball bats with white-knuckled intensity, fearlessly raising their weapons to intercept the Doomsday Beast's breath of destruction!
Guinaifen had linked her game to Leon's primary account data. Because of this, a hidden Easter egg triggered during the character selection phase, causing both Stelle and Caelus to spawn into the world simultaneously rather than forcing a choice between the two.
"Wow! Stelle and Caelus are so brave! They rushed up without a single second of hesitation!"
"I'm crying, I wish I had kids this filial."
"Hahaha, kids? Stelle and Caelus have already started calling him 'Big Brother' in the dialogue options."
"Leon is such a massive troll, and the twins aren't much better. They called Leon 'Dad' so naturally earlier."
"Oh god, wait. I just realized something. If Kafka is the 'Mom'and Leon is the'Dad'... doesn't that make them..."
"No! Stop typing! It's not like that!"
Before the live audience could finish their degenerate lamentations, the Doomsday Beast's attack slammed heavily into Stelle and Caelus.
Their bodies acted as an unbreakable rampart, shielding Leon completely behind them as they absorbed the full, agonizing brunt of the energy torrent.
As millions of viewers held their breath, the chaotic space station suddenly vanished. The scene before Stelle and Caelus shifted entirely—it was as if they were suddenly standing beneath a bizarre, suffocatingly vast expanse of stars.
"It is time to set out..."
A low, echoing voice vibrated through the void.
Stelle and Caelus opened their eyes. The sky above them wasn't a sky at all. It looked like a gaping, ragged wound torn through the fabric of reality, bleeding a strange, molten-gold substance that flowed like sluggish magma.
"What's going on?"
"I don't quite get it, but based on my extensive experience watching anime, this has to be a mental mindscape, right?"
"This is the Abyss of the Path..."
Ordinary civilians didn't recognize the bizarre dimension, but the actual Pathstriders watching the stream felt their breath catch. They recognized that golden, bleeding void instantly. A heavy wave of deep interest washed over them. A game developer could only replicate the Abyss of the Path with such terrifying perfection if they had personally stepped into it, right?
However, in the next moment, every single Pathstrider watching gasped out loud.
In the game, the camera slowly pulled back, zooming out to reveal the true scale of the environment. The full, imposing appearance of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, materialized before everyone's eyes.
That shattered sky from before wasn't a sky at all; it was a glowing, golden scar etched across His colossal, muscular chest.
He was not a human. He was a god.
The Aeon representing Destruction, Nanook!
[Silver Wolf]: You're actually insane! You put Nanook, the literal Aeon of Destruction, into your game. Are you so badass that Nanook just lets you use His likeness?
Leon leaned back in his chair, humming a light tune as his fingers danced across his holographic keyboard.
[Leon]: Nanook said he has no objections.
He lazily toggled over to a highly classified, heavily encrypted communication channel—the 'Aeon Group Chat'.
[Leon]: @Nanook, you don't have any objections to your cameo, right?
[Nanook]:...
[Leon]: Good. Silence means consent.
[Silver Wolf]: I don't believe a single word you type! You're such a menace!
[Silver Wolf]: Seriously though, watch your back. The Grand Army of Destruction might actually track you down just by the scent of this data.
Leon shook his head, a dry, amused smirk playing on his lips.
If the Lord Ravagers ever discovered the ultra-secret Easter egg he coded into the game—the one where the player character shouts, "Nanook, I shall bring destruction to you!" and literally knocks the Aeon down with a single punch—they would definitely come knocking at his door.
Fortunately, that specific achievement wasn't easy to trigger; it required clearing a ridiculous number of obscure 'IF' timelines to unlock. For now, the players were only experiencing the standard, canonical meeting with Nanook. Yet, that alone was more than enough to shake the universe to its core.
The exact moment Nanook appeared on screen, all the players and stream viewers involuntarily held their breath.
"Holy crap!!!!!!!!! This is the legendary Aeon of Destruction?! It matches the IPC records perfectly!"
"Damn! Nobody told me Nanook was actually a hottie?!"
"Where did this thirsty hillbilly come from? You seriously didn't know what the Aeon of Destruction looked like?"
"Cut them some slack, not every backwater planet has the tech to explore the universe."
"Wait! Entering this space means receiving the gaze of an Aeon, right? Does that mean Stelle and Caelus just stepped onto the Path of Destruction?"
"How many times do I have to type it? This is the 'Abyss of the Path'! Since Nanook gazed upon them, they've absolutely began the Path of Destruction."
"But why them?! What do those two have to do with destruction?!"
"Why... why would the Master gaze upon those two?!"
Far across the cosmos, within the blazing, oppressive halls of the Ever-Flame Mansion.
Duke Inferno stared at the holographic broadcast. The flames composing his demonic head flickered wildly, his composure entirely shattered. His soul trembled, and he gripped his staff until the dark metal groaned under the pressure.
"Wh... why?" His voice rasped, sounding as though he were weeping liquid fire.
"I burned my own kingdom to the ground! I turned the agonizing wails of my subjects into hymns of sacrifice!" He took a staggering step forward, the flames around his shoulders flaring with unstable, violent heat. "I followed in Your footsteps, turning vibrant, breathing worlds into mere footnotes of Your great power!"
He slammed the base of his staff against the obsidian floor. "I walk this universe with the sole purpose of practicing Your Path! Destruction is my breath, my blood, the absolute and only meaning of my existence!"
When he spat out the names "Stelle" and "Caelus," his tone dripped with bone-deep jealousy and deep, maddening bewilderment.
"What are they? Ignorant infants! Mere prototypes of power stumbling through the dark! They do not even comprehend the true art of destruction! Why... why was it they who received Your divine gaze?!"
A sudden, frenzied spark ignited within the hollow voids of his fiery eyes. His posture straightened, the despair twisting into pure, unadulterated malice.
"That's it... It must be that wretched Astral Express. They tampered with the grand design! They defiled the Master's glory and stole His attention!"
He stood tall, the ambient temperature in the hall skyrocketing as his killing intent boiled over. His voice boomed, shaking the very foundations of the mansion:
"Declare war—on the Astral Express!"
Meanwhile, back in the safety of a much cozier room.
"...So this is what the Abyss of the Path actually looks like. I've certainly learned something new today." March 7th sat back from her own screen, having just cleared the exact same Doomsday Beast plotline.
She had never entered the Abyss of the Path herself, so the visual spectacle left her wide-eyed.
"But I still can't figure out why Nanook would gaze upon Stelle and Caelus?"
She tilted her head, her pastel-pink hair swaying gently with the movement. Her bright eyes blinked at the monitor, her face a picture of absolute, adorable confusion.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]