The Astral Express eventually departed from Belobog. Nothing of note happened other than the brief pest infestation problem and the unauthorised entry of someone who claimed to be from a faction known as the Knights of Beauty, but the crew put that event behind them soon enough.
The warp navigation meeting took place. The meeting got gatecrashed by a wanted criminal from a faction known as the Stellaron Hunters. He cannot help but note that Himeko did look very put off by that woman's presence.
In any case, the Stellaron Hunter came bearing news and a proposition: one of the Xianzhou ships (which one was it again?) was being infected by a Stellaron and the Astral Express happened to be in the vicinity, so she proposed for them to make a destination alteration. The Stellaron Hunters possess the power to foresee the future, apparently, and the future the criminal spoke of, if she was speaking the truth, will be detrimental to all but the devotees of the Destruction.
Sure, the Astral Express could just ignore her words, treat them as senseless ramblings, and leave for their original destination. The Xianzhou Alliance is a very powerful group, they surely are capable of handling almost all crisis on their own, but the nagging whisper of "what-if" will always speak at the back of their minds. Personally, Lucine had no reasons to believe that the mysterious woman was lying due to his innate power to discern truth from lies. She genuinely believed what she told the Express will come to pass if they do not help the Xianzhou, so either she's a delusional lunatic, or she's misinformed.
A decision still had to be made, however, and the crew came to a democratic vote as per tradition. Lucine voted to assist the Xianzhou and take the Stellaron Hunter's advice because if the Xianzhou was plagued by a Stellaron, and if the future the Kaf… Kaf-something woman said will come true if the Astral Express did not extend their assistance, then he had no reasons to not help. He wields his sword to right the wrongs and uphold justice. Allowing the Cancer of All Worlds to plague the world is an injustice that he will not ignore.
Dan Heng looked very reluctant to head to the Xianzhou at all. In fact, he was the only one who voted against going to the Xianzhou. March and Stelle probably were the only ones who could not tell that he was from the Xianzhou because the former was too dense and the latter being an ignorant newborn, but neither he, Welt nor Himeko pried any further despite Dan Heng's obvious Xianzhou origins.
They were eventually granted entry into the port of the Xianzhou ship after being left to wait outside for an unknown left outside. The customer service really was terrible in Lucine's opinion, very different from what he remembered experiencing from the foxian woman during that particular grocery run.
Wonder if he would run into her on the Xianzhou ship?
Dan Heng and Himeko had stayed behind this time, and Lucine joined Welt, March and Stelle in exploring their new destination. They weren't expecting such a reception… or the lack thereof.
"T-The port's empty… This looks like the starting scene of one of those horror movies!" March exclaimed the moment the group disembarked from the Express after the train had been docked. They ventured a little further under Welt's lead and soon came across a group of heavily wounded soldiers, some of which looked to be fatally injured. Lucine could no longer ignore what was presented in front of him.
"I will stay and heal their injuries, at least until I'm sure they will not be life threatening. You guys go ahead first, I will catch up later," Lucine told the group.
"H-Huh? You are staying behind? Um, why not all of us just stay–"
"It's fine, I have my phone with me, fully charged," Lucine took out the proof from his pocket and showed it to them. "I will be contactable and you guys are plenty safe with Welt around. Just go, I won't take long. Something's not right with this place and the sooner we get to the bottom of it, the better."
"Agreed," Welt nodded his head. "In that case, we shall scout ahead first. We will be waiting for you."
"Don't take too long!" March told him before going ahead with Welt and Stelle. Lucine returned to healing the soldiers' injuries with his mysterious power. He did sense an odd power of overwhelming vitality in them though– something comparable to even his. It felt almost like… some sort of blessing from a higher power, possibly an Aeon.
It also felt weirdly similar yet different to the affliction he remembered helping to stabilise from the Xianzhou swordswoman who wields that blade of frost. Could a blessing become a curse somehow, or vice versa?
"Th… Thank you…" The soldier who he had helped heal the worst of his injuries weakly gave his thanks. Lucine merely gave him a silent nod before moving on to the next. He had no idea how long he took but soon, those that were still able to stand up and move helped him to gather the wounded and arrange them neatly for him to do his work with greater ease.
"Thank you, benefactor, thank you," a representative of the group thanked him profusely once he was done. He's not a certified doctor but he could at least ensure that these soldiers wouldn't keel over and die before they received proper medical treatment.
"Don't worry about that. What on earth happened anyway?"
"This…" The soldier shared a hesitant look with his comrades before turning back to face him. "I'm afraid I cannot disclose the details, but…"
"Oh wait, it must be the Stellaron," Lucine suddenly recalled the reason why his crew was even here on the Xianzhou at all. The Cloud Knight went slack jawed underneath the cover of his helmet. His benefactor had the ability to read minds?
"Uh… yes," the Cloud Knight saw no reason to hide certain things from their benefactor and saviour at this point. "The Stellaron propagated mara across the port and our platoon was assigned to evacuate the citizens and halt the advance of the disciples of the Sanctus Medicus. Those despicable bastards… they even caused some of our brothers to be mara-struck!" The Cloud Knight visibly seethed at the memory of having no other choice but to slay his brother-in-arms with his own hands.
"W-We know it might be too much to ask, but there are other platoons out there on the port that we had lost contact with. If they are injured like we were… Will you be able to help?" Another Cloud Knight made a bold request and Lucine saw no reason to refuse. Healing physical wounds is child's play to him and he barely broke a sweat when healing this platoon of… what did they call themselves again? Crow Knight?
"Lead the way," he replied and someone from the group volunteered to do so while the rest split off to either continue to patrol the deserted port or escort their comrades who were no longer capable of exercising their duty to safety. The knight which helped lead Lucine to his next destination was a chatty one, however, and it wasn't long before he struck up a conversation.
"Where are you from, benefactor?"
"I forgot."
"Huh?"
"I'm an amnesiac. If you are asking where I originally came from, I am incapable of answering your question. If you are asking about my current affiliation, I'm a Nameless of the Astral Express."
"The Astral Express? Sounds familiar…" The Cloud Knight wondered aloud. "I-In any case if there's any monsters ahead allow me to deal with them, benefactor! These mara-struck are danger–"
Lucine pulled on the cross hanging from his neck and it transformed into a longsword in the blink of an eye. He made a slash to his right without even sparing a glance and a hound-like monster– one that the Cloud Knight recognised to be a Wooden Lupus– was cleaved into two. By the time the Cloud Knight gathered his wits and recognised that his platoon's benefactor just saved him from an ambush that he failed to detect, his benefactor was already walking ahead and the longsword had reverted back to being an ordinary necklace.
"... rous… Maybe not for you," the Cloud Knight muttered the last part under his breath and quickly ran up to catch up to Lucine. Are all Nameless that powerful?
"They are over there! Stay here, benefactor, we will deal with them!" The Cloud Knight pointed ahead when he finally spotted his comrades from the other platoon, also valiantly defending their last line of defence and it would seem that many had already fallen. The Cloud Knight that guided Lucine here raised his sabre and with a warcry, made a valiant charge. Lucine cannot help but facepalm when he spotted his guide being smacked away by a powerful blow from one of those weird tree-human things almost immediately.
"A for effort, F for execution," he cannot help but give his verdict to nobody in particular. The Temporal Sword heeded his call and the matter was finally quelled in the next couple of seconds.
"I… I'm so ashamed," Lucine's guide hung his head low in embarrassment. The duelist gave him two pats on the shoulder before walking past him to do what was needed. He approached the soldier who he deemed to have suffered the most severe injury and began to work his magic.
"Anywhere else that you need me to assist?" He asked his guide while healing the physical wounds of his newest patient, stopping the blood flow and closing the opened wound with his power.
"T-This should be all," Lucine's guide replied. The other soldiers who were still capable of moving had also helped to bring their injured comrades over to where Lucine was in an orderly manner. Like how the other platoon did before, this group profusely gave him their thanks, which Lucine waved off.
Lucine's phone rang. However, his hands were full and he's currently in the process of healing a severely injured soldier who had his arm cut off by one of those monsters. He does not have the power to grow back the missing limb but he needs to fully concentrate on the healing process to pull him out of mortal danger.
"Can someone help me answer my phone? It's in my left pocket. It should be my crew, just tell them that I'm fine and will be joining them once I'm done here," Lucine asked aloud and the scatterbrained guide immediately did as told.
"On behalf of the Cloud Knights, we thank you, benefactor!" A soldier who was obviously the highest ranking person-in-charge voiced his gratitude with a voice far too loud, his head bowed at a perfectly ninety degree by his waist. Lucine didn't really think what he did was worthy of mentioning. The entire process was merely a little time consuming, and he really barely broke a sweat.
"It's fine, but I really have to go meet up with my crew now. Hey, guide, did my crew say where they would meet me in that call earlier?"
"Huh? Ah, y-yes! They mentioned to me that they will be waiting for you at the Palace of Astrum! Just follow the route there, take a starskiff, set a course to Central Starskiff Haven and you will be there in no time!"
"Palace of Astrum, Palace of Astrum…" Lucine softly repeated the name of the meeting venue a few times to ensure that he won't be forgetting the name anytime soon. "Understood. Goodbye, soldiers, and stay safe."
"Let us escort you–"
"I will be fine, save your energy for your patrols and the monsters that you might have to face later."
The remaining soldiers who could still move all saw their benefactor off with a Xianzhou military salute and only relaxed a little the moment Lucine's figure disappeared round the corner. Their saviour did not tell them his name but he did say that he was from the Astral Express, and if the Astral Express was indeed here on the Luofu as a visitor it wouldn't be too hard to find out the name of their saviour to express their gratitude to him at a later date.
"Alright, brothers, back to work. Those monsters aren't going to disappear on their own," the captain of the platoon stationed here clapped his hands twice to gather everyone's attention. "Those who can still move, help to move the injured. We are heading back to Sector B to regroup with the main party before– Hey newbie, don't space out."
"Y-Yes!" The knight which acted as Lucine's guide previously quickly got himself back in working order. He put his phone back into his pocket and–
Wait a second.
He took out the phone again, and only just realised in growing horror that this wasn't his phone.
"Newbie? Hey newbie, move it! We ain't got the time to dawdle–"
"B-But sir…" The newbie shakily raised the phone in his hand a little higher for the captain to see. "T-The b-benefactor's phone…"
A collective facepalm could be heard echoing throughout that section of the port.
The user interface of the Xianzhou starskiff was not any much different from the usual spacecraft Lucine had piloted before. He used the starskiff's in-built navigation system to chart a course to the Palace of Aster that the guide said his crew would be waiting for him at so…
Why on earth is he now back in space?
"That damn guide must have given the wrong instructions," Lucine grumbled under his breath and quickly override the AI assisted controls so that he could now manually control the starskiff. He wasn't paying attention initially since the starskiff was on autopilot after he had set his destination, but he knew something was off when he realised his starskiff was suddenly docked on the acceleration belt that propels spacecraft back to space. It would be too dangerous and also too late to undock the starskiff so the only thing he could do was to wait until the process was over before piloting the starskiff back onto the Xianzhou ship.
Somehow or another, that acceleration belt also caused the starskiff that he's on to warp to… somewhere. The only silver lining was that the navigation was still working fine, and he could just chart a course back to the Xianzhou ship to where his crew was at.
"Palace of Amber… Dammit, which ship was it?" Lucine failed to recall the exact Xianzhou ship the Express docked at and decided to take out his phone to check, only to realise that his phone was not with him.
"Where'd my phone go? I swear it was– Urgh, Pom-Pom is going to tear me a new one," Lucine muttered with a defeated sigh. He couldn't possibly float aimlessly in space forever, so he opened up the navigation menu of the operation interface, narrowed his search, and soon a list of options popped up on screen.
Please select your destination:
The Xianzhou Fanghu
The Xianzhou Luofu
The Xianzhou Xuling
The Xianzhou Yaoqing
The Xianzhou Yuque
The Xianzhou Zhuming
Lucine mulled over his options very carefully. Six options… What are the odds that he's going to get this right on the first try?
No, Lucine, close your eyes and think. The crew must have mentioned the exact Xianzhou ship during the warp navigation meeting. Think, Lucine, think.
"It should be… Xianzhou Xuling? No, wait, wait, it sounded more like… the Luofu? No, it couldn't be, whenever I'm lost every second option I tried to recall was always wrong. I'm not going to get tricked again. If it's not the Xuling or Luofu… Hmm… four options, twenty-five percent chance… What a gamble."
His finger ultimately pressed onto the Xianzhou Zhuming and his starskiff zoomed off like a comet across the starry sea. Lucine closed his eyes and sighed. Only time will tell if his choice will be the right one.
"Hmm?"
He manually halted the starskiff when he sensed the faint presence of Destruction. He narrowed his eyes at the direction which he sensed the taint from, trying his best to get further confirmation.
No, he certainly wasn't imagining it. There definitely were beings of Destruction in that direction and their presence was never good news. He still held a grudge against the Doomsday Beast that tried to kill March twice.
And furthermore, the presence of the Destruction had just provided him the perfect excuse if Pom-Pom asked him why he's lost and why his phone was also lost. Perfect.
He overrode the course charted by the AI and manually took control, driving the starskiff towards where he sensed the Destruction were at. He eventually arrived at a large burning merchant ship floating aimlessly in the middle of nowhere, one that looked vaguely familiar to him. Had he seen this ship somewhere before?
That wasn't the important question to ask, however, so Lucine quickly found a safe spot to dock his ship and boarded the burning ship. He tried his best to see if he could find any survivors but all he saw were dead corpses. They definitely were Xianzhou natives judging from their attires, now soaked with blood and their faces frozen in an eternal expression of fear and horror. His fists clenched at the sight of injustice that he was too late to stop but he didn't dare to pause his search. He hadn't finished searching the ship. If he's fast enough, maybe…
He ran from one sector of the ship to another, using his power over water to try and put out the raging fire in the meantime as he passed by. All he found were lifeless corpses and every cinder of hope in him extinguished a little as his search was gradually getting more and more complete. He was about to lose hope entirely when he pushed open the door to the only sector of the ship which he hadn't yet searched, only to have that faint hope reignited.
He sensed life here. Faint, weak, on the verge of being extinguished, but definitely still alive.
He ran in without hesitance and soon found a severely injured foxian lady lying within burning fire and collapsed debris. He extinguished the fire and used his sword to cut a path for him that was blocked by the debris. He gently pulled the woman out of the debris, the wounds, the scars, the burns, the blood; they all told a story of her suffering and how close she was to knocking on death's doors. If he were to arrive later…
"Cus… tomer…?"
The foxian roused, her breaths weak and her eyes barely opened, and now that Lucine was able to take a good look this was the same foxian lady that had impressed him with her outstanding customer service on his last supply run. What a coincidence.
"Don't speak, you are injured," Lucine quickly placed his hand over her chest and injected his power into her, soothing her pain and trying his best to heal her wounds. He grimaced when he felt a very severe taint on her soul, one that he recognised to be a mark of Destruction. He tried to remove it but found that endeavour impossible, so he tried to quickly stabilise her condition like how he tried to do so for the Xianzhou swordwoman who wielded a frosty sword.
But even his best just wasn't enough. The scales just… weren't in her favour.
"Hey, you still there? Try to stay awake, fight through this. You can do it, don't give up now."
The duelist still wasn't planning to give up, however, and tried his best to encourage the foxian lady to do the same. To give up would be turning a blind eye to the injustice in front of him. The flickering life was also still stubbornly fighting to prevent herself from extinguishing and he will do all he can to ensure that she can tide through this crisis. She had fallen unconscious again, but still alive.
The Temporal Sword hanging from his neck briefly glowed a dim blue. Lucine had heard its warning. Like the Temporal Sword, he had sensed another presence approaching them, one that he had no idea if it would be friendly or hostile. Yet, if his hands were to break contact with the foxian's body right now her life might just end the moment he did so.
He's stuck, but he's not entirely without options.
The power of water is its ability to take any shape– a voice that sounded like a forgotten dear friend reminded him. He mentally willed a copy of him to manifest as he utilised his ability to manipulate water and the Temporal Sword flew into the grasp of the copy. This will have to do until he can think of a better option.
The door was pushed open. A beautiful woman who also looked like she hailed from the Xianzhou walked through the entrance without flinching even when a sword was pointed at her face.
"Oh my, what a warm reception," Ruan Mei remarked without a care in the world as her finger pushed the sword away from her face by the flat side of the blade. "I was told to save a certain foxian but… I wasn't told that there would be somebody who would beat me to the punch."
"Who are you?" Lucine asked without turning back to see just who had entered since his back happened to be turned towards the door and it wasn't convenient for him to adjust his position due to the debris around them. Ruan Mei silently observed the stranger and spotted the ticket-like badge pinned on the left side of the stranger's robes.
"You are a Nameless? That should make things simpler. I am Ruan Mei from the Genius Society, maybe you have heard of me since the Astral Express have close ties to Herta?"
"Might have, might not, I don't have the best memory."
"Is that so? In that case, what do I need to do to prove to you that I am not your enemy, but here to save the girl you are trying to save?"
Lucine spared some attention to give the stranger a single glance. His power to perceive truth from lies helped him to arrive at a decision.
"Can you really save her?"
"I can only say that I will do my best. The girl's already been tainted far too deeply by the Destruction, helping to find a perfect equilibrium to coexist with that power will be… an uphill challenge, but not impossible. But if there's anyone who can save her in spite of the current odds, that will be me."
Another truth, Lucine detected. That was all he needed to know.
"What do I need to do to help?"
"For starters, you can help to carry her to my spaceship. And oh, it goes without saying that you should still continue to do whatever you are doing to maximise her chances for survival. That's a peculiar power you have there, one that even I cannot recognise. I really wish to study that power in detail when I have the time."
Lucine ignored the second half of Ruan Mei's statement. He had heard enough from Himeko that the Genius Society consists of geniuses of all kinds: the good, the bad, the naive, the idealistic, the raving lunatics. Ruan Mei didn't seem inherently evil to him, at least for now, and she really probably was the best bet in saving the unconscious foxian. His power can stabilise the foxian's condition and had healed the worst of her wounds, but it cannot suppress the taint of Destruction that threatened to consume her very existence the moment he stopped supplying his power to her.
If this Ruan Mei can do that… it's worth a shot.
He carried the foxian in his arms and followed after the genius who claimed to have close ties to Herta. Ruan Mei led him to where her own spaceship was docked on this burning merchant ship and gestured for him to place the foxian in a pod. He slowly and gently lowered the foxian into the pod.
He felt a tug on his sleeve. The foxian had roused again, her eyes opened but half-lidded, her lips moving as if wanting to say something but unable to due to how weak she currently was.
"You will be fine. I don't know who she is but she's genuine in her intentions to save you," Lucine lowered himself closer to the foxian and reassured her, patting her head twice. The cat-eared girl he vaguely remembered raising used to like it when he patted her head like this, maybe the foxian will too. Ruan Mei was also strangely patient in waiting for them to finish saying whatever they had to say.
"Bene…fac… tor… Thank…"
"No need for that. Just get well. You are from the Xianzhou, aren't you? It just so happens I'm heading to the Xianzhou too. Is there any message you wish to bring back to your loved ones? Your name?"
"From what I was told, her name is Tingyun," Ruan Mei finally spoke up. "You might want to inform Yukong of the Sky-Faring Commission from the Xianzhou Luofu, I believe that is where Tingyun worked."
"Tingyun, Yukong, Luofu… Got it," Lucine did his best to imprint those important information in his impaired mind. He gently took off the jade bracelet on her left wrist as proof, just in case Yukong wouldn't believe his claim, whoever she may be. Someone needed to know about what happened to the merchant ship and its crew. He can be that messenger, even if the Luofu wasn't his intended destination but he's sure his crew wouldn't mind the delay if they knew what had happened.
"I'm closing the pod. Please step back," Ruan Mei spoke and Lucine stepped back, allowing the pod to close shut. Tingyun finally closed her eyes and fell unconscious once more. Ruan Mei's spaceship soon left and warped away, leaving Lucine alone as he saw its departure.
He returned back to the starskiff and changed the coordinates of his destination to the Xianzhou Luofu. He will be very late to the meeting and Welt probably would have things to say about that, especially how he's now uncontactable with his phone mysteriously disappearing without Lucine knowing when or how, but he had managed to save a life today. He's content.
That didn't mean he wouldn't enact justice on those beings of Destruction the next time he sees them and when that time comes, he will exterminate them.
With extreme prejudice.