"You are…"
Welt spotted Acheron standing beside Koji. He pushed up his glasses. He'd already heard Koji describe the "purple-haired woman with a tachi," but seeing her with his own eyes still made his expression crack.
She looked too much like her—way too much. That face had an absurdly high resemblance to Raiden i.
Over the course of their Trailblazing journey, he'd already run into many familiar old faces.
"Uncle Yang, what's wrong?" March 7th looked at Welt. His expression changes were so dramatic.
"Ahem… it's nothing. I just rembered so things from the past," Welt said, giving a light cough.
She looked similar, yes—but he knew this wasn't i. Just soone who looked very much like i.
Stepping outside for a trip and suddenly feeling like you'd co ho—yeah, that kind of feeling.
"i, let introduce you. This is Welt Yang," Koji said, barely holding back his grin. He wanted to see Old Yang make that face.
"What's your na?"
Welt had just managed to calm down, and now he completely lost it again. He stared at Acheron in shock and uncertainty.
"Raiden Bōsen i. Of course, you can just call Acheron now," Acheron nodded.
She wasn't who she used to be. She said her na naturally, without hesitation.
Raiden…? i…?
Welt's expression instantly beca extrely colorful. The "Bōsen" in the middle sounded like so kind of official title—aning her original na was simply Raiden i.
Was that… right?
He'd assud she was just a counterpart, but this counterpart was also nad Raiden i.
…Bad. This was bad.
Honkai was still chasing him. He'd already left Earth, and Honkai still refused to let him go.
That made him have to wonder—was that Luocha guy actually nad Otto?
In that mont, he honestly wanted Pom-Pom to drive the Astral Express straight back to the Xianzhou so he could confront Luocha face-to-face.
"What is it?"
"Have you seen soone who looks a lot like ?" Acheron asked, puzzled. Welt's expression was seriously off—like he'd just witnessed sothing unbelievably shocking.
She had so impression of Welt. She'd seen similar people before as well.
"Yes. I have," Welt said with a sigh. "She was… once my student."
Even though he'd been laying low at St. Freya Academy, he'd always taken teaching seriously. He never half-heartedly dealt with those kids.
"I see. Mr. Welt, I'm not the student you knew. I'm only similar," Acheron shook her head.
Welt knew that too—similar, not the sa person.
Still… that Luocha guy bothered him. If his real na was Otto, then even if he wasn't the Otto Welt knew, he'd still be a dangerous figure.
But thinking about it, forget it. Luocha had been detained by the Xianzhou; Welt didn't have the chance to visit him whenever he wanted. By now, he probably wasn't even on the Luofu anymore.
"Ms. Acheron, may I ask what you've co to Penacony for?" Welt asked.
After learning Acheron's real na, he completely lowered his guard. Soone with that face and that na—how could she possibly be a bad person?
That wasn't judging by appearances. It was instinct telling him: this is a teammate you can trust.
"I made a promise to a deceased person—to co to Penacony and take a walk here, and to deliver his belongings to his colleagues," Acheron explained simply.
"My condolences," Welt said, assuming the deceased had been Acheron's friend.
"Speaking of which… he also had ties to the Astral Express. He should've been one of the Naless back then," Acheron added.
"One of the Naless… from back then?"
"What was his na?" March 7th asked curiously. Acheron actually knew a forr Naless. She looked young, but her age was probably… not small.
After all, the Express only resud traveling the cosmos after Hiko repaired it—so the Naless Acheron knew would've been from before the crash.
"Boreklīn Tierenan. You've heard that na, right?"
The Express crew couldn't help reacting. Of course they'd heard it.
That was the Naless Pom-Pom had asked them to inquire about before they got off the train.
"To think we'd hear news about that senior… Thousands of years have passed, and in the end, he still left this world," Hiko said softly, a trace of sorrow in her voice.
Thousands of years ago, three Naless had gotten off at Penacony. Tierenan had been a guard of the forr Astral Express—also a highly skilled gunslinger.
"Pom-Pom is going to be really sad when they find out…"
March 7th's chest tightened, a sour ache rising. That Naless must've been a very good friend of Pom-Pom's.
"Ms. Acheron, when did you last see this Naless?" Welt asked.
A figure from thousands of years ago—and Acheron saw his end. Just how old was she?
"These past few years," Acheron said.
"When I happened to see him, he had already beco a Bloodguilt Spirit, repeating the actions he'd perford while alive. I gave him release, and I promised to deliver his belongings to his colleagues."
Welt and Hiko both frowned. They knew what a Bloodguilt Spirit was—an obsession of a Pathstrider, born from the shadow of IX. It regarded itself as a servant, without realizing it, endlessly repeating what the deceased once did.
Born from Nihility, returning to Nihility.
"Tierenan… Back then, outside Asdana, he encountered an attack by the Swarm. He was saved by a Galaxy Ranger, joined the Galaxy Rangers to take part in the campaign to exterminate Zhulu, and then—as a survivor—vanished without a trace…"
Koji very simply recounted Tierenan's experience.
No Emanator involved, yet they still managed to surround and wipe out an Emanator of Destruction… The Galaxy Rangers really were fearless.
There were two more famous factions under the Hunt: the Xianzhou and the Galaxy Rangers. Koji admired the Galaxy Rangers more—swift vengeance, clean and satisfying.
As for the Xianzhou Alliance… its internal ss was too chaotic. It looked powerful on the surface, but once internal conflict truly erupted, the Xianzhou would definitely be shaken.
"I've heard of that campaign. I never thought Senior Tierenan was part of it too," Hiko said, stunned.
Many people knew the campaign happened, but nobody knew who was actually there. They only knew it was the Galaxy Rangers—yet that battle had hit the Rangers so hard they went silent for a long ti.
"Thank you for telling us."
Hiko spoke with solemn sincerity. If it weren't for Acheron, they'd never have known any of this. In Penacony, how many people could still rember those few Naless at all?
"If you want to know about the other two Naless, you can go to Dreamflux Reef," Acheron said.
"…?"
Hiko and the others looked at each other. They'd never heard of a place like that in Penacony.
"It seems Penacony is hiding a lot of things that people don't know about."
They all slled sothing off. The Family had been concealing a lot—especially things related to the Naless' contributions.
"We understand. If we get the chance, we'll go take a look."
They were used to it. The Naless ran into trouble everywhere they went. If this trip stayed calm and uneventful, that would actually feel unfamiliar.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20 chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]
User Comments
0 comments from readers