Chapter 4: Compass of Omni

Welt and Himeko went over the information to be shocked by the age of the compass. "This doesn't make any sense; this compass was made at the start of the universe. How is that possible?" Himeko wondered.

'Not to mention about those organic robots they fought who are Cogna troops. Also, they can infect someone with something and turn them into another grunt. What did we get ourselves into it," Welt said.

"Well, we are too deep into it now. I know the guy who has the compass in his collection. I will send up a message to set up a meeting for us to take it with a fair price of course," Himeko said as Welt is very bothered by the origin of the compass.

Elsewhere March and Tingyun are in her new room which is fully stocked with all sorts of stuff and things with it being a mix of modern and classical Luofu decoration. "Wow, this looks so cozy here," March said to smile at this.

"I tried my best to make myself feel comfortable," Tingyun said as March looked around the room to see all the trinkets she brought to make her room come alive.

"Oh, this looks cool," March said to pick up a jade statue on the table.

"That is a fox statue I got from mail order. It was so beautiful I had to get it and put it on display. It's beautiful just like me," Tingyun said with a bright smile.

"Oh, look at this," March said to grab onto her blade fans. "You put them here?" she asked.

"Yeah, I need to keep them nice and sharp. Maintaining them is key to making them in peak condition," Tingyun said as she used the table as a workbench to fix up her weapon when needed.

"You are a warrior at heart," March said as this Tingyun is a capable warrior, unlike the previous Tingyun. Turning her loving fans into deadly weapons to aid them on missions.

"Yep, I have been training myself after what happened with my memory was stolen. I forced myself into a fighter for justice and a rookie explorer. Going to interesting worlds is a dream of me and being part of the express is making that come true," Tingyun said.

"I am so happy to hear that. You are in good hands," March said as she looked over to see a closet which has her travel outfit inside. "Your outfit looks pretty good in movement," March said.

"Yes, it's pretty and comfortable. I am very glad it worked out pretty well," Tingyun said.

"Yeah, you were very strong and graceful. It's like art unfolding in front of me," March said.

"Oh, thank I was trying my best to stop those monsters," Tingyun said as March looked at the shelf to see her Diting Ace sitting there on standby mode.

"Oh, such a cutie, I am happy you got your Diting here," March said.

"Yukong is so nice to send him here. He lights up the room and he will be useful with various sensors and systems," Tingyun said as March went to her underwear drawer to see what kind of cute undies she had.

"I want to take a peek at your undie drawer," March said.

"Oh, I hope you like them," Tingyun said as March opened the drawer to see a nice collection of bras and panties which has elegant pretty designs.

"Wow, they look so pretty," March picks up a pair of brown boyshorts panties with a yellow bow in the front and yellow swirl patterns. "This one is very nice," she said.

"Oh, I am wearing a pair of them now," Tingyun lifts off her nightgown's skirt to show them off. March is envious of how wide her hips are hugging out the underwear perfectly.

"Damn, she got killer hips," March thought. "With your body, you can make anything look good," March said.

"Thanks, you have a cute pair to show off?" Tingyun asked.

"Oh yeah," March lifts her skirt to see white silk boyshorts panties with a blue bow in the front and two bows around the waistband.

"Wow, those are very cute," Tingyun said.

"I know right, I have a few pairs of these. They are my favorite ones," March said.

"It suits you, very cute," Tingyun said.

"Your panties are elegant yet pretty like you," March said.

"Thanks, I wonder what kind of underwear Miss Himeko would wear?" she asked.

"Here stuff is fancy and no cute patterns like polka dots or stripes," March said as Tingyun was confused by this.

"How would you know that?" Tingyun asked as March blushed in embarrassment.

"Well, I was helping clean up her room and I took a little peek. I was curious what a refined lady like her would wear. It's nothing I would wear though," March said.

"Well, we all have our style that fits us," Tingyun said.

"That's for sure. I will let you go upon enjoying your new room, I will see you later," March walks out of the room.

Caelus comes into Tingyun's room to see her in a red silk nightgown. "Hello there, very nice nightwear," he said.

"Thank you, do you want to see what's underneath?" she teased him to make him blush.

"Oh, that is nice but…" Caelus said as Tingyun placed her slender fingers on his lips.

"It's so cute when you are like that. So, this is my new room," she said.

"It's quite a good mix of modern and traditional. Suits you well," Caelus said as Tingyun nodded her head.

"Thank you," she goes over to turn on Ace who is fully powered up. "Hey Ace say welcome to Caelus," she said as the robotic dog leaps into Caelus's arms to lick his face.

"He is so cute," he said.

"Yes, he is. He will be very handy in the future on our missions. That was pretty scary," Tingyun said to mention about their mission on Thanzo 2.

"Yeah poor Gwen, transforming into a cybernetic monster. Those things were strong," Caelus said.

"Indeed, we need to be on our toes. We managed to work well together," Tingyun said.

"Yeah, your movements were precise and grateful," Caelus said as Tingyun got close to him.

"Oh, you paying attention to me. You should be focusing on the battle but I can't blame you for turning your head towards my Foxian charms," she flirted with him.

"You look killer in your outfit showing off your movements with no wasted sight," Caelus said as she put her lips near his ear.

"Keep watching me, I will make sure you and our friends are safe," Tingyun said as she blew her warm breath into his ear making him shiver with delight. She giggles as he places the dog on the floor.

"I wonder, a Foxian can live longer than a human. How old are you now?" Caelus asked curious.

"My dear knight, you know it's rude to ask for a woman's age," Tingyun said as she was faking being offended. She giggles to drop the fake pouting. "I am joking, I am 50 years old," she said as Caelus looked on with surprise.

"You are fifty years old?" he asked as she nodded her head.

"I am damn good for 50 years old huh," she asked in a flirty tone as she can feel his eyes gazing on her youthful body which is similar to a 21-year-old human woman.

"Yep, yep. I am pretty young for Foxians. I would be at 1/5 through my life since Foxians can live up to 300 normally and rare cases up to 450 and beyond," Tingyun said.

"Wow, pretty crazy," Caelus said.

"Yeah and with my Nine Tails powers. I become ageless due to my stem cells being supercharged not being able to age anymore along with a crazy healing factor which is a nice perk," Tingyun said.

"Crazy stuff, that Lord Ravager is so stupid. Seeking immortally yet it was here all along," Caelus said.

"Yeah her loss," Tingyun said.

"Well, you should get ready. We are heading for the contact's location on the planet Sophia," Caelus said as he patted her thighs enjoying how soft they were. Tingyun felt his strong hands which she very much enjoyed.

"Okay, I will get ready my sweet knight," Tingyun said tracing her finger across his shirt and feeling up his slender chest. "Damn I love my favorite cute pretty boy," she thought within her mind having lewd thoughts of his tall lean naked body.

Caelus didn't want to leave that room only wanting to be beside this foy beauty but he had to get ready. "Well foxy, see you in the main area," Caelus said as he turned away to the door.

"Hey Caelus," she said as Caelus turned around to see Tingyun lift her skirt to reveal her panties to her crush with a big smile on her face.

"How do you like them?" she flirted as he noted him having a nosebleed to look in awe at her wide hips and curvy butt filling out the boyshorts panties.

"it looks nice, it matches your hair color," Caelus said.

"You are the only guy who is blessed to see me like this," Tingyun said as she blew him a kiss and gave a cute wink. "I will see you in a bit," Tingyun said as Caelum turned around to open the door.

"I will and you are one fine piece of work foxy," Caelus said to show her a smile to leave as she was cooing at this.

"Oh, so cute, trying to act cool. Such a sweetheart, we need to have a proper outing with him one of these days," she said happily grabbing her travel outfit to get herself together to meet with everyone in the lobby.

"Well to time visit this guy. Pom-Pom watch the train and contact me if you find anything on the surface," Himeko said as the little guy saluted to her.

"Yes madam," Pom-Pom said as they teleported onto the planet's surface to be in front of a mansion on a set of mountains far away from civilization.

"Seems like the place," Himeko said as the six went up to the compound to ring the doorbell.

"Very fancy here," March said.

"Unless Nass, Mr. Wells is a more honest man. He keeps to himself within these mountains," Himeko said as the door opened to reveal an elderly man greeting them at the door.

"Good to see you missy, you came just on time," Mr. Wells said as he allowed them to enter his very huge home.

"Very specious," Dan Heng said.

"Indeed, it is," Caelus said.

"You have a nice house, sir," March said.

"Yeah, very fancy yet elegant," Tingyun said.

"Thank you, I wanted a certain feeling to this place. Making this very homely despite its vast size," Mr. Wells said.

"We are here to find this Compass you have," Welt said.

"Oh yeah, come with me," Mr. Wells leads them to his private collection underground beneath his complex.

Alice noticed the Astral Express's movement on the planet Sophia. "What are they doing, I need to send a group of Cogna Units along with a Great Cogna Unit. They need to report what are they doing," Alice said as he warped them to the mission location and awaited her orders.

"Alice, I have managed to find all the compasses and destroyed them," Ren said on the radio.

"Excellent, the Astral Express will not be able to find the Omni Keys and slow them down greatly. Good work," Alice said as she awaited her units to report about what the crew of the Express were doing on this planet.

Back with the group, they were taken to the basement which has Mr. Wells's vast art collection there. The group is impressed by this as it's even bigger than Nass had. "Looking lovely sir," Tingyun said as Caelus noticed a pair of punching daggers endowed with the power of an Aeon.

"Sir, what are those?" Caelus asked.

"Those are the weapons of an ancient warrior who is blessed by the Path of Erudition using the power of wind. Quite amazing but it has no power, to my knowledge," Mr. Wells said as Caelus could sense the power sleeping within it.

"Interesting," Caelus looks on with deep interest.

"I have built a big collection for a long time and this compass you are talking about is my most prized possession," Mr. Wells said as he showed a golden orb within a glass case.

"So, this is the compass they were talking about," Caelus said as they noticed this orb was growing bright.

"Was it glowing like this before?" Himeko asked.

"This was happening recently. Very odd, it's made from an alien material that is completely unknown," Mr. Wells said.

"We heard about this sir," Welt said.

"I wonder if this was a joke but it was true I have something completely out of this universe," Mr. Wells said.

"There are very dangerous people seeking these compasses out. We want to take it off your hands and you won't get hurt," Himeko said.

"Oh yes, poor Nass got his butt blasted by a thief. I understand," Mr. Wells said.

"I will give you a fair price to match the artifact. We need it," Himeko said.

"Oh yes, you will take the compass with you. Thank you for the heads up," Mr. Wells said.

Pom-Pom detects a weird signal to see a weird pod that is heading for the surface of the planet. "Oh no, Pom-Pom doesn't like this. I need to tell Miss Himeko about this," Pom-Pom begins to call their phones.

Himeko looks at her phone to see Pom-Pom calling her. "What's up Pom-Pom?" Himeko asked.

"We got a problem. There is a weird pod coming through the atmosphere, it's heading for your location," Pom-Pom said as the pod slammed into the mountains to unleash a bunch of Troopers and Wasps along with a huge worm-like machine appearing as well.

"Time to tear this planet apart," Alice ordered as the Great Cogna Unit called Gravedigger. It is digging through the earth of the planet heading for the crew of the Astral Express.

The crew feels the earthquake nearby. "The hell is that?" March 7th asked.

"Something big is coming," Dan Heng said.

"No shit," Caelus said as they go towards the first floor to see a few flying machines called Wasps hovering in the air to begin peppering energy bolts at them. "Take cover," Caelus said as they ducked and were covered with laser bolts tearing through the rooms burning holes inside.

"Wel they offer up the red carpet treatment," Himeko pulls out her special suitcase to unleash a barrage of fire orbs to strike down the Wasps.

"Is that suitcase?" Tingyun asked to be confused by her weapon.

"Yes, I never leave home without it. It has tons of tools I need to defend myself and my crew members," she transforms her suitcase into a cannon and unleashes a beam of flames to burn into the other Wasps. The troopers burst into the mansion flooding the area and getting up close with others backing them up with their arm cannons.

Welt is wielding his cane to unleash waves of gravity to make several threats float in the air with Himeko blasting them out of midair with her suitcase. Welt is slashing the air causing rifts of gravity to tear into the Troopers breaking them to pieces. Dan Heng is dashing and slashing into the Troopers with his deflecting the arm blades of the weird organic robots.

"A pick me up," March fired arrows of ice to freeze the machines with Dan Heng smashing them to pieces.

Caelus and Tingyun are fighting together to cut and bash into several Troopers and Wasps. "Sir get away from here," Caelus said.

"Yeah, you don't want to get hurt," Tingyun said as she was zapping Wasps with lightning bolts. She is swinging around her blade fans to slice up robots nearby trying to protect the elderly man but an explosion knocks both of them away.

"Oh crap," Caelus said as they look over to see Mr. Wells take the full force of the blast looking gravely injured. "Damn it, sir," he said as he looks over to see blood scattered all over his body.

"It's too late for me kid. You need to stop this evil force. I saw you were attached to those daggers. You are going to need them to fight back," Mr. Wells said.

"Yeah thanks," Caelus said as Mr. Wells died in his puddle of blood.

"Caelus, I will cover you," Tingyun spreads arcs of lightning to zap flying drones to knock them out. Caelus slams the glass case open as he grabs the two punching daggers to feel a surge of energy within him.

"The blessing of Nous. The path of Erudition. The swiftness of the wind," Caelus is empowered with a surge of wind power.

"Very cool, let's see what you can do," Tingyun said as she swiftly zapped enemies with Caelus using his new speed to cut and stab several enemy units. Caelus conjures a vortex of wind to suck up all the enemies within the area to be ripped apart within it. Tingyun follows up with her zapping the wind vortex mixing it with lightning to vaporize everything inside.

The other crew members noticed Caelius had gotten some new powers. "Interesting Caelus has the blessing of Nous. He now has three paths he walks," Himeko said being very impressed with his and Tingyun's teamwork.

"That is so cool," March said.

"it will be useful," Caelus said as they looked down to see the old man was dead on the floor.

"Oh no, he is dead," March looking sad. "he was a nice old man," she said as the drone detected Himeko holding the Omni Compass.

"I have detected the last Omni Compass. The Astral Express has it," the drone reports back.

"So, they managed to find one here in the middle of nowhere. Bested we came prepared," Alice said as she decided to greet them about their findings. The drone was flying towards them as the six were ready to fight again. "I must say, I am impressed you managed to find the last Omni Compass. My partners had managed to destroy all of them except two. Your great reputation is not a façade," Alice said as she appeared as a hologram in front of them.

"You must be a Pathfinder," Welt said.

"Yes I am, I am the leader. My name is Alice, a loyal follower of the Cogna and aiding them in their war against the Aeons," Alice said as they saw she was a tall, beautiful woman sporting long blond hair tied in a high ponytail, striking blue eyes, and snow white skin. She is sporting a white and blue combat bodysuit showing off her curvaceous frame.

"Damn, she looks so pretty," March said as she can't stop staring at her large chest.

"See something you like sweetie?" Alice teases March to make her glow in the face.

"No, your suit is very tight in places," March failed at hiding it as Alice laughed.

"Don't worry, I get looks like that a lot," Alice said.

"What do you want with the Compass?" Himeko asked.

"These were made by a person who wanted to keep the Omni Keys hidden away and needed the compass to keep watch over their locations," Alice said as the others were curious about this other person who made the compasses.

"You wanted to destroy them so you had an advantage over us," Caelus said.

"Yep but you managed to find the last one," Alice said.

"We saw the video of your minions talking about the war with the Aeons. That is madness," Welt said.

"First off, they are not minions. They are loyal followers and seconded. It's not crazy, what is crazy is we let these fake gods run the universe and people worship them like pathetic freaks," Alice said.

"Why would you do this?" Himeko asked.

"Simple, the Cogna and I want the same thing. Have all people reach their full potential without the Aeons holding them back with the Cogna becoming the unifying force for all of us," Alice said.

"Gee, sounds like a nightmare," March said to see the weird Cogna units being robots mimicking living things.

"It's quite the opposite. The Cogna showed me the truth about the universe and how it is used to it. Then the Aeons and their followers ruined it. The Cogna only want to return the universe to its natural state and let the chosen people gain the rewards,"

"You sound like a cult leader," Tingyun said.

"If you knew the truth, you would understand it's necessary. I think our little talk is over and Gravedigger will take care of you," Alice said as a mountain erupted with a huge mechanical worm bursting out to let a big roar shaking the whole area.

"That thing is as big as a mountain," March is frightened by this sheer size. Then they feel something weird as the surface begins to shake.

"What is happening," Tingyun said as Pom=Pom was talking with them on their phones.

"Guys, I am detecting some weird readings in Sophia's core. It's going haywire," Pom-Pom said as everyone was surprised by this.

"Impressed. Gravedigger is a Great Cogna Unit that can go into the planet's core and use the Cogna's unique energy to set off a chain reaction which will take 20 minutes to make the planet implosion," Alice's voice came from a drone nearby.

"That is insane," Tingyun said as Alice laughs at this.

"Oh, there are more powerful great Cogna Units who can kill stars, wipe out entire star systems, and subvert entire galaxies. We are playing for keeps, I hope you understand how serious I am in destroying the rule of the Aeons. Now kill them all," Alice said as the other Cogna Units like the Wasps and Troopers regain enough strength to keep going to engage them in combat.

"We don't have time for this," Dan Heng said.

"I know right, this is going to explode. I don't want to die," March said.

"We are not going to die. I swear on this," Tingyun said as she let out a blast of lightning to knock them into walls.

"Hey Pom-Pom. Did you set up my satellites?" Himeko asked.

"Yes I did, they are at your command," Pom-Pom said.

'Perfect, we need bigger guns to take that thing out," Himeko said as she pulled up her display pad to direct commands to unleash beams of dire from the sky to take down groups of enemies purging them.

"Very handy," Tingyun said.

"A lady must always be prepared," Himeko said as she set up the countdown before the planet explodes which is in 18 minutes. "We need to do this quickly," she said as March tries to teleport but can't.

"We can't teleport back to the Express," March said.

"I figured as much, using a powerful jamming signal to prevent someone from leaving the planet's clever trap," Welt said as he lifted enemies into the aim with March firing her arrows to freeze them. Caelus cuts down them with torrents of wind.

"Me, Tingyun, and Himeko will deal with the Gravedigger while Dan Heng, March, and Welt will take care of the ground troops," Caelus said.

"Seems good to me. You two fight while I deliver the heavy support," Himeko said as the duo slid down the mountain to see sections of the Gravedigger appearing.

"No time to hold back," Tingyun enters her Nine Tails state showing off grace, strength, and beauty in one nice package. She unleashes beams of plasma to cut into the section making the worm yelp in pain as white blood oozes out of its wound.

"Seem like we got its attention," Caelus said as the Gravedigger unleashed beams of energy to seek their targets. Caelus unleashes a gust of wind to cancel the attacks out. Tingyun unleashes a wave of plasma crescents to crave into the sections of the Graverobber out of the ground.

The head of the Gravedigger appears and begins to unleash waves of energy beams and orbs with Caelus and Tingyun fending off the energy attacks. Himeko lined up her satellites to begin peppering the beast with laser beams to slam into the machine which managed to tank the shots.

"Tough cookie here," Himeko said as the duo fought against the giant machine with white fake blood splashing across the ground with each strike from the duo.

"Eat this," Caelus releases a wind twister to slam into the head of the beast with it getting knocked into a mountain. Tingyun summons an orb of plasma which spews out a ton of mini orbs to seek their target pounding into the head of the Gravedigger. The huge plasma orb stops and she flings it at the worm robot to trigger a huge explosion that rocked the mountains.

"Gee, those two are really something else," Himeko is deeply impressed with how strong a duo Tingyun and Caelus can hold their own against a planet-busting threat. She looks to see there are 13 minutes left until the planet explodes. She lines up her satellites to aim for the Gravedigger's head.

Tingyun conjures a phantom copy of herself to trick the machine into striking the clone. It slams into the clone to strike only dirt with Himeko using satellites to slam energy beams into its head doing more damage.

"We got ten minutes left," Himeko said as Caelus used several tornados to cut into the head of the monster worm. Tingyun mixes her plasma into the twisters to leave a path of superheated destruction.

"I am going to end this," Tingyun begins to power up with her long slender 9 tails spreading out glowing with power. She gathers Plasma into her palms and unleash twin beams of energy which bore right through the head of the Gravedigger leaving behind a giant burning hole. The heat is so intense the Gravedigger is unable to heal itself due to the extreme heat of Tingyun's very hot Plasma attack.

"Remarkable, the power of the Nine-Tails," Himeko said as she felt the raw heat of Tingyun's plasma even miles away.

"Guys, you can teleport back now," Pom-Pom said as they all teleported back onto the Express to go off at the speed of light to get out of there. Sophia's core collapses and implodes destroying everyone and everything on the planet becoming an asteroid field.

Everyone is worn down and tired on the floor in the main area. "Goodness, that was insane. Thanks for the save Tingyun," March said as Tingyun went back to normal to feel very tired.

"My pleasure, I am happy my power is of use. I am still getting used to it, I need to train harder," Tingyun said.

"You did great foxy, we made a great team," Caelus said as they were in sync in battle against a powerful machine capable of destroying an entire planet.

"Yeah, your new powers are pretty cool too. I am looking forward to teaming up again. My handsome knight," Tingyun said as Pom-Pom had an image of Sophia becoming a graveyard with asteroids still hot from the explosion. "Gee, that is crazy," Tingyun said with a sense of dread.

"This is only going to get worse but we managed to find the compass which will lead us to these Omni Keys," Welt said.

"Now we have a crazy woman in control of an army of organic machines made to conquer entire galaxies. We will stop them and end this nightmare," Caelus said.

"Yes we will stop this, together along with the others," Tingyun said as they went back to Thanzo 2 to recover and restock supplies.

Alice was watching the fight to see the Trailblazer gain a new path from the Aeons along with Tingyun using her destructive powers. "That Nine Tails power is a top-level threat among the crew of the Express. She managed to burn through the special alloy of the Cogna unit making healing impossible," Alice said as she had a holographic display of Caelus and Tingyun.

"It matters not, our plans will come underway. Wait until the compass activates and follow where it goes," Vector Prime said in her head.

"Yes, we will continue our operations as planned," Alice said as she looked over various groups in the Universes who are slaves to the Aeons. "The Nameless, The Antimatter Legion, the IPC, the Genius Society, and even the Stellaron Hunters among others are all slaves to the Aeon in some way or form. They are all enemies and to make a new peaceful reality. They all must be destroyed," Alice said as he was in her room planning out her war with the Universe with her powerful partners the Cogna.