However, what Kazuki did not expect was that Welt Yang, currently stationed aboard the Astral Express, happened to be gazing out through the cabin porthole at that exact moment.
Seeing the retreating figure of the fiery-haired girl, a sudden, inexplicable jolt struck the older man’s chest.
“Why does she look so familiar…” Welt murmured.
He slowly pulled the glasses down the bridge of his nose, his eyes widening as he stared intently at the girl’s back.
That long, vibrant red hair.
That unmistakable high school uniform.
He had seen countless skirts of that exact style back during his days as an Associate Professor at Caltech on Earth.
Memories he thought long buried began clawing their way to the surface.
“Conductor, I am heading out for a moment.”
Welt maintained his usual calm composure on the surface, but the sudden elevation in his volume betrayed his urgency.
Sweeping the floor nearby, Pom-Pom looked up and offered a quick reminder.
“Passenger Welt, you are the only one left on the train right now.
Do not wander too far from the Astral Express, pom.”
Welt gripped the Star of Eden tightly in his hand and hurried down the boarding ramp.
But by the time his boots touched the platform and he looked back toward the corridor, the mysterious girl was already gone.
Not even a shadow remained.
On the other side of the station…
Kazuki gathered his thoughts, pulling his consciousness inward until he entered the pristine white expanse of the System Space.
Without hesitation, he selected the Card Space for the Black Tomb Puppet.
When he opened his eyes again, the sterile walls of the space station were gone.
He found himself standing at the edge of a scorched, desolate city.
The towering statue of Kephale stood in the distance, its once-glorious light now a dim, dying ember against a hazy, ash-choked sky.
‘Is this…
Okhema?’ Kazuki thought, taking in the sheer scale of the devastation.
Following the faint guiding markers provided by the system, he walked slowly toward the ruins.
He reached out and placed his hand against a charred city brick.
With only a light squeeze, the solid stone instantly disintegrated into fine powder.
“What the hell?”
He flicked his wrist, watching the gray ash scatter into the dead wind.
Looking further down the streets, he could not sense a single trace of life.
Everything was reduced to absolute ruin.
But the moment his foot crossed the threshold into the inner city, a low, mechanical hum vibrated through the air, as if an ancient defense mechanism had just been triggered.
“This is playing out exactly like a horror movie,” Kazuki muttered, keeping his guard up.
“I highly doubt any Heirs of Chrysos are going to come looking for me in this wasteland, but if something is out there, at least give me a quick end.”
A sudden blur eclipsed his vision.
He squinted, barely registering a dark projectile tearing through the gray sky straight toward his face at an impossible speed.
In the blink of an eye, Kazuki was dead.
“I died just like that?
That was way too fast.
I did not even feel any pain.”
Kazuki blinked, his expression completely blank.
Opening his eyes again, his heart hammering wildly against his ribs, he instinctively touched his forehead.
He was completely intact, standing right back outside the ruined walls of Okhema.
However, there was one glaring difference this time.
The hostile target marked by the system was hovering directly above his head.
Kazuki slowly looked up.
Standing atop the crumbling city wall was a puppet roughly the same height as the Herta models he had seen around the station.
The Black Tomb Puppet had arrived.
Compared to the pristine, porcelain refinement of Herta’s bodies, this puppet exuded an powerful aura of brokenness and decay.
She wore a dark crown draped with a black mourning veil.
Her pupils glowed a piercing, violent crimson, and thick purple veins pulsed visibly beneath her exposed synthetic skin.
Bizarre, jagged geometric patterns crawled across the fabric of her dress.
“A Spear of Longinus!” Kazuki yelled, staring at the massive, blood-dripping twin-pronged lance gripped in the puppet’s hands.
He would bet his life he was not mistaken.
This was a miniature replica of the apocalyptic weapon wielded by the Lord Ravager Iron Tomb in the lore.
“I could accept you crushing me with a giant hammer, but you are actually going to stab me with a Spear of Longinus?
That is completely crossing the line!”
Kazuki barely finished his complaint before the crimson spear flashed.
In the next second, he was instantly obliterated again.
Opening his eyes for the third time, he realized he had respawned deep inside the city of Okhema.
It seemed the system had at least granted him a different spawn point so he would not be endlessly camped at the gates.
But death, inevitably, came for him anyway.
“Unknown organic organism detected.
Initiating purge protocol.”
“Unable to purge.
Target suspected of infinite resurrection.”
“Linking to host.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep…”
“Lost connection with host.
Unknown environment detected.
Current mission: Completely eliminate the target.”
The Black Tomb Puppet’s mechanical voice echoed endlessly through the ruins, repeating the exact same diagnostic lines as she hunted him down, killing Kazuki with a single, brutally efficient strike every single time he respawned.
“Fine, you win.
I give up.
Just you wait.”
Kazuki shook his head, baring his teeth in frustration as he forcefully severed his connection and exited the Card Space.
Standing safely back in the real world, he immediately deactivated the Student Himeko transformation.
His form shifted, and he selected the Black Tomb Puppet card to initiate a new transformation.
His body rapidly began to shrink.
Smooth, spherical ball joints materialized at his elbows and knees, and a heavy crown draped with a black veil settled onto his head.
Kazuki blinked his new crimson eyes, instantly muting the original puppet’s consciousness within his mind.
A violent surge of destructive emotion threatened to flood his thoughts, but he ruthlessly suppressed it, successfully seizing total mastery over the puppet’s mechanical body and arsenal.
Right before being completely silenced, the puppet’s residual AI echoed a final, desperate warning in his head.
“Protocol error.
Purge priority: highest.
Executing command: Eradicate.”
It was completely useless.
Kazuki was now the Black Tomb Puppet.
The trapped AI could do nothing but watch helplessly from the dark corners of his mind as he hijacked her identity to mess around on a space station.
‘Iron Tomb connects the brain, destruction replaces thought.
I am now the Perfect Tower!’
The corners of Kazuki’s synthetic mouth slowly curled upward into a smug, highly inappropriate smirk.
Despicable.
He was simply too despicable.
Yet, the great and terrifying Perfect Tower soon realized a fatal flaw in his grand plan.
He was completely lost.
Staring blankly at the glowing holographic sign reading ‘Master Control Zone’ right in front of him, Kazuki felt his vision swim.
He almost short-circuited on the spot.
He had specifically intended to handle toward the Storage Zone to intercept Stelle’s awakening, but he had somehow wandered into the Master Control Zone in a total daze.
Given how much time he had wasted dying repeatedly in Okhema, March 7th and Dan Heng had almost certainly found Stelle by now, which meant Silver Wolf and Kafka were already long gone.
The dark veil of his crown brushed lightly against his delicate, synthetic cheek.
Without thinking, he raised a hand, his fingers painted with glossy purple nail polish, and idly scratched his face.
“Madam Herta?
Is that you?”
An urgent, breathless female voice called out from behind him.
Asta jogged over, wiping a thin layer of nervous sweat from her forehead.
A panicked staff member had just reported seeing a strange, gothic-looking Herta puppet wandering aimlessly through the corridors.
Asta naturally assumed that Madam Herta had caught wind of the station’s crisis and had personally logged in to take command.
It was just that this particular puppet model looked incredibly strange…
though, admittedly, quite cute.
As the station’s lead researcher and Herta’s self-proclaimed number one fan, Asta was deeply thrilled to witness a brand-new puppet chassis in action.
She quickly straightened her posture and began her damage report.
“Madam Herta, this Antimatter Legion invasion is no accident!
I have analyzed the telemetry and found that this is just a small vanguard unit that was teleported directly into the vic-vic-vicinity of the space station for some unknown reason.
Eh?
Madam Herta, what…
what are you doing…”
She had started her report at a rapid, professional pace, but her words devolved into a stuttering mess.
The strange puppet had suddenly stepped forward, its expression completely deadpan, leaning in so close that its head was nearly pressing against Asta’s chest.
The puppet’s glowing crimson pupils stared unblinkingly up at her, reflecting Asta’s rapidly reddening face.
[Entered optimal extraction range.
Extract Asta’s Destiny Card?]
[Extracting…
100%]
[Extraction complete]
[Obtained Card: Star-Sea Wanderer]
[Card Owner: Asta]
[Card Wishes:]
[1.
A sense of being alive.]
[2.
Having wealth beyond imagination.]
[3.
Roaming the stars.]
[Difficulty: Normal]
[Card Status: Transformable, Unfulfilled Wishes, Can be stored in Card Slot]
Kazuki scanned the glowing blue text of the system interface, his synthetic eyelashes drooping slightly in disappointment.
‘Although the stats are marginally better than the Student Himeko card, it is still completely useless for combat.
No offensive strength, no special survival traits.
Just a rich tourist who wants to roam the stars.’
He mentally tossed the card into his storage slot.
There was absolutely no need to enter the Card Space to interact with Asta’s consciousness.
Her life was simply too heavy with wealth for him to bear.
Snapping back to reality, Kazuki perfectly mimicked Herta’s signature flat, arrogant drawl.
He placed one hand casually on his hip while the other hung lazily at his side.
“Oh?
There is no need to report such trivial matters to me.
I believe you are perfectly capable of handling this yourself, Asta.”
Hearing those words, Asta’s eyes instantly widened to the size of saucers.
Her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides.
‘Madam Herta is actually acknowledging my abilities?!’
Her shoulders, which had been slightly hunched from the crushing exhaustion of managing the evacuation, instantly snapped straight.
She stomped her boot hard against the floor decking, her voice ringing out with absolute, fiery determination.
“Yes!
Madam Herta, I guarantee the defense mission will be completed!”