At the Edge of Time, The Finality…
Noah stared at Kiana wide-eyed after she made her offer. She wanted to send him back to the point before everything went wrong, before Dormammu consumed Non-Administered World #97, before Hayate threw herself in front of the Killing Curse, before Sirin fell, before Reinforce disappeared protecting him, and before Noah reached the moment where the only answer he could find was carrying an entire world's corruption into Finality with himself.
She wanted to give him another chance to become part of the tomorrow he had fought so desperately to protect. It would not erase what had happened or pretend their choices had never mattered. Instead, they would return with the knowledge of where that path had ended and try to find another answer before reaching the same conclusion again.
"…Can you really do that?" Noah asked.
Kiana gave him her usual confident Kaslana grin. "Captain, you're asking the Herrscher of Finality if she can send someone backward along a timeline even after knowing I already sent VA, AI-chan, and Hyperion into the past?"
"…Ohh… right."
"Hmmp!"
A faint laugh escaped Noah despite everything. Kiana squeezed his hand before turning toward the endless white horizon surrounding them.
"The path you used to reach this place still exists from Finality's perspective. You reached its endpoint, which means I can trace that journey backward to any point before this conclusion becomes permanent." She glanced back toward him. "I won't erase what happened here, and neither of us will forget it. We're simply returning to an earlier point and creating another possibility from there."
Noah blinked and stared at her strangely. Kiana noticed his actions immediately and tilted her head in confusion.
"What?" She blinked back at him. "Why are you looking at me like I'm some kind of exotic animal?"
"…Well…" Noah licked his lips and carefully considered his next words, which probably should have warned Kiana immediately. "It's just… hearing you explain something that intelligently feels… weird."
Kiana's smile vanished. "CAPTAIN!!!!!!!!"
"OW! OW! OW! HEY, STOP IT!!!"
"We are having a serious conversation, and you still found a way to insult my intelligence?!"
"OW! Hey! I'm against domestic violence!"
"SHUT IT!"
"OW! But you sounded so smart that it felt completely unlike you! OW! HEY, DON'T BITE ME!"
"CAPTAAAAAIN!!!!!!!!!"
Kiana completely ignored his protests and kept her teeth firmly planted against his shoulder, one hand gripping the front of his clothes while Noah desperately tried to pull her away without using enough strength to actually hurt her.
After several failed attempts, he simply surrendered to his fate and endured the punishment while muttering increasingly desperate complaints.
Only when Kiana finally decided he had suffered enough did she release him and step back with a satisfied huff. Noah stared at her as though he had just been personally betrayed by the very concept of affection.
"Hisss… did you really have to bite me that hard?" He complained while rubbing the shoulder she had bitten.
"Hmmp! Whose fault do you think that is?!" Kiana crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks as she glared at him. "And just for the record, I am smart!"
"Himeko-sensei and Teri would probably say otherwise… especially with your grades back then," Noah whispered.
Kiana's eyes narrowed dangerously. "DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?"
"Nothing," Noah answered quickly.
She continued glaring at him, clearly not believing a word of it. Noah wisely cleared his throat and dragged the conversation back toward safer territory.
"Ehem… where were we?" He thought for a moment. "Right. So the future after we return to the past won't automatically change just because we know what happened."
"…Nope." Kiana shook her head. "We still have to earn it."
"Now that sounds more realistic."
"Of course you'd say that." Kiana rolled her eyes.
Noah raised an eyebrow at her. "A guaranteed perfect ending would be suspicious."
"Yep. Definitely still you." Kiana laughed.
Then she stood and extended one hand toward him. Noah accepted it, allowing her to pull him to his feet. The light of Finality moved playfully around them, responding at Kiana's will, and the endless white world gradually brightened.
Countless moments appeared across the distance like windows suspended within an impossible sky. Battles, conversations, departures, reunions, victories, mistakes, and decisions surrounded them, connected by countless routes that only Kiana seemed capable of fully understanding.
Noah studied the sight with a mixture of awe and immediate discomfort.
"I really hate temporal mechanics."
"You already told me that." Kiana raised an eyebrow, a smirk appearing on her face.
"Important things should be repeated for emphasis," Noah replied dryly.
"Says the man who created a Trail toward the conceptual endpoint of existence."
"That was different."
"It really wasn't."
Noah sighed while Kiana grinned.
Eventually, one point among the countless possibilities began shining brighter than the others. Kiana raised one hand toward it.
"Found it."
Noah followed her gesture. He could not see every event contained within the glowing point, but he could feel where it led. It was a moment before the chain of events that had ultimately forced them into Finality, before every decision and disaster narrowed their choices until sacrifice became the only answer Noah could see.
Kiana's smile faded slightly as she looked toward it.
"Once we cross this, there's no pretending we don't know what happened. Hachan, my sister, Rein, Dormammu, everyone who fought there… all of it stays with us."
"As it should." Noah's expression softened as he stared at the chosen point. "If we forget the price of this ending, then going back becomes meaningless."
A warm smile appeared on Kiana's face.
"Yeah," she said softly. "That's exactly what I hoped you'd say."
Finality's light gathered around Kiana's raised hand and wrapped itself around the chosen point in time, gradually shaping a passage through the endless white expanse. Noah watched the path take form for a few moments before a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"Kiana."
"Hm?"
"What happens to you after I go back?"
Kiana stopped moving. The question itself was simple, but Noah immediately noticed the small change in her expression. She looked toward him and offered a careful smile that hid her feelings.
"Hmm… things will continue the way they always have here."
"Meaning?" Noah frowned.
"I'll remain here." Kiana gestured toward the endless world surrounding them. "I'm Finality, Captain. I carry Terminus' authority, just as you carry Akivili's Trailblaze. This is where I belong. I watch over time, make sure things don't collapse into complete nonsense, occasionally stop timelines from doing extremely stupid things, and keep certain people from abusing the fact that cause and effect are more like suggestions from this side."
"…You made that last part sound very specific."
Kiana gave him the classic Kaslana smirk, but Noah did not play along. His eyes moved toward the endless horizon before returning to her.
"So once I go back… you'll be alone here again."
"…Mhm." Her smile weakened for only a moment before she waved her hand dismissively.
"I'll be fine. I'm not completely alone anyway. I have an extremely annoying vampire multiverse-traveling honorary uncle who keeps appearing without permission and bothering me whenever he gets bored."
"…Why does that sound oddly familiar?" Noah's cheeks twitched.
Kiana looked at him with amusement. Then, without warning, an obnoxiously loud laugh rang out from somewhere far beyond the boundaries of the space around them.
"Wuhahahahahahahaha!"
Both of them flinched.
Noah immediately glanced around the empty white expanse. "Who the hell was that?!"
Kiana looked around as well, but nobody else was anywhere near them. Her expression slowly flattened as realization caught up with her.
"…Uncle Zel."
"Uncle who?" Noah turned toward her.
"Of course. He left us alone." Kiana covered her face with one hand.
"You're telling me someone else was here?!"
"...For a while."
"And you didn't mention that?"
"My focus was the unconscious you!"
"That still feels like important information!"
Another distant chuckle reached them before fading away completely. Noah stared toward the empty horizon for a moment before his eyes narrowed.
"…I already dislike him."
"You haven't even met him properly." Kiana lowered her hand and gave him an amused look.
"He laughed at me from outside reality!"
"That is actually a fairly normal Uncle Zel greeting."
"…How annoying," Noah said dryly.
Kiana burst into laughter. The sound filled Finality with something warm and alive before slowly settling. Noah watched her with a faint smile, but the question he had asked earlier had not disappeared from his mind. When Kiana finally noticed the seriousness returning to his expression, her own smile softened.
"Captain…"
"Sorry. No." Noah crossed his forearms in front of his chest, forming a very obvious X.
Kiana stared at him. "…I haven't even said anything."
"I already know what you're going to say."
"…And what exactly am I going to say?"
Noah puffed out his chest and planted both hands on his waist. "That you'll be fine. That you've been doing this for who knows how many years. That it's the responsibility you accepted. That you're used to it. That you…"
"Waah! Waah! Waah!!!!" Kiana jumped at him and slapped both hands over his mouth. "I get it already! So stop it!!!"
Noah raised one eyebrow and stared at her smugly over her hands.
"…Tsk! Annoying."
Kiana released him with a huff and looked away. Noah somehow became even more smug. In the end, Kiana sighed and planted both hands on her hips.
"But I'm not wrong. I can send you back, Captain, but I can't simply abandon Finality and pretend the position doesn't exist. This isn't like leaving someone else in charge of the Express while I take a vacation."
Noah considered her words for perhaps three seconds before snorting.
"Minor issue."
Kiana stared at him. "…What?"
"Minor issue."
"Noah, I just told you I'm responsible for maintaining Finality."
"I heard you."
"And your answer is 'minor issue'?"
"Pretty much."
"Captain, even by your standards, that is ridiculous." Kiana's eye twitched.
Noah only smirked before reaching toward his Trailblaze Authority.
Her irritation disappeared almost instantly. Silver light gathered around Noah and spread through the endless white world. At first, Kiana assumed he was simply preparing to enter the temporal passage she had opened, but the Trailblaze energy did not move toward it. Instead, the silver light curved around them, forming a single Rail between Noah and Kiana.
"Captain…?"
Noah raised one hand, and Trailblaze answered. The Rail slowly stabilized between them, establishing a connection between two points without attempting to pull Kiana away from Finality or interfere with the Authority she carried.
Noah was not trying to change what she was. He was creating something much simpler. A path between two places. One endpoint remained here within Finality itself, while the other stretched impossibly far across the Chronicle toward the place Noah still considered home. Kiana stared as the connection formed, Trailblaze establishing a stable route where none had existed before.
"Noah… you…" Disbelief filled her expression.
"You said you can't abandon Finality," Noah began gently.
Another Silver Rail appeared beside the first and locked into place, strengthening the connection. Noah looked toward Kiana with the same expression he always wore whenever reality presented him with a rule he considered inconvenient rather than absolute.
"So I'll make you a path that lets you freely travel between these two points."
Noah grinned and gestured toward the Rails stretching between them before pointing toward the distant endpoint.
"You stay here in Finality. You keep doing everything you need to do here." His expression softened. "And when you're done, you come home. To us."
Kiana opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She tried a second time, only to stop before a single word came out. By the third attempt, Noah simply continued speaking as though his solution were the most obvious thing in existence.
"A stable Trailblaze path between Finality and our home universe. Both endpoints stay connected regardless of temporal position. You don't need to abandon your role, but you don't need to be alone here either."
"You…" Kiana stared at him blankly. "Did you just build a commuting route to Finality?"
"Well, when you say it like that…" Noah tilted his head.
"You built a commuting route to Finality!"
"It solves the problem." Noah shrugged.
Kiana remained speechless for another moment before laughter suddenly burst from her. It was nothing like the restrained amusement she had carried after spending countless years watching histories unfold. She laughed openly until tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, one hand holding her stomach while the other reached toward Noah for support.
"Of course! Of course that's your answer!"
"Kii?"
"You reach the literal end of existence, discover that I'm bound here because I became Finality, and instead of accepting it, you build me a way home!"
Noah gave her a mildly offended look. "You're acting like that's unreasonable."
"It is completely unreasonable!"
"But it works, right?"
Kiana looked toward the Silver Rails stretching through Finality. They remained perfectly stable, one endpoint anchored within her domain while the other reached toward the home she had believed she could only watch from afar.
Her laughter gradually softened.
"…Yes," she admitted quietly. "Yes, it works."
"Then it isn't unreasonable." Noah smiled.
Kiana looked back toward him with a helpless expression. "You really never changed."
She wiped the tears from her eyes before suddenly throwing herself at him and wrapping both arms around his body. Noah caught her instinctively and returned the embrace without hesitation.
This time, however, the thought of Noah leaving did not carry the same unbearable weight it had only moments earlier. For the first time in longer than Kiana could remember, there was now a path leading away from Finality and another leading back whenever she wished to return.
She was no longer trapped at the end of everything with home forever beyond her reach.
"You troublesome idiot," Kiana murmured against his chest.
"You say that affectionately." Noah wrapped his arms more firmly around her.
"Unfortunately."
He laughed. They remained like that for a little longer before Kiana finally pulled back, though she kept both of Noah's hands within hers.
"So…" Her expression softened. "Are you ready to rewrite this ending?"
Noah looked toward the path she had prepared.
Everything that had happened remained with him: Hayate's death, Sirin's fall, Reinforce disappearing, Dormammu consuming the planet, everyone arriving moments too late, and Noah himself deciding to carry the enemy into Finality. Returning would not erase any of it from his heart, nor would it erase the choices made by everyone who had continued moving forward because of his final decision.
"Yeah."
His hand tightened around Kiana's. Kiana smiled and called upon Finality. Violet-white light answered her, tracing backward through the Chronicle timeline toward the moment before tragedy closed its hands around their future.
Countless possibilities opened beyond the light, none predetermined and none guaranteed. They were not being offered a perfect world without pain, nor were they being promised that every decision would suddenly become easy.
They were being given another chance. Another opportunity to choose differently with everything they had learned. Kiana stepped beside Noah until their shoulders nearly touched. Neither stood behind the other this time. They faced the path together.
"Captain?"
"Yeah?"
"No disappearing by yourself this time."
Noah looked toward her and smiled faintly. "Then don't let go of me this time."
"As if I ever planned to."
Kiana intertwined their fingers more tightly.
Trailblaze and Finality answered together as silver and violet-white light surrounded them. The path opened completely, carrying the two of them toward yesterday and toward the people who still believed Noah Alden's journey had ended.
Hand in hand, the Trailblazer and Finality stepped backward through time, not to erase an imperfect story or deny everything it had cost them, but to give that story another chance to become something they could both accept.
—----
In the Star Rail Universe, a translucent silhouette of Finality Kiana appeared around Non-Administered World #97. The enormous figure raised both hands and gently held the planet between her palms. A massive hourglass materialized behind her, with a clock suspended at its center.
The clock's hand continued moving forward for several moments before gradually slowing. Then they stopped completely. The next moment, they began moving backward.
Time across Non-Administered World #97 followed with them.
Cities, battles, movements, destruction, and countless events reversed as the entire world retraced the path it had already taken. The hands continued turning backward until they reached a certain point.
Then they stopped.
A moment later, the clock began moving forward once again.
—---
The first thing Noah felt was the strong winds hitting his face.
He carefully opened his eyes, and instead of the endless white horizon of Finality, he found himself falling through a painfully familiar sky. His hair and clothes flapped violently around him as he fell, while far below was Mahora Academy, the World Tree, and the city everyone had fought so desperately to protect.
Noah twisted in midair and scanned the city again, comparing every detail with what he remembered.
The World Tree was only in the early stages of corruption. The massive dark-purple wall had just begun spreading outward, and the evacuation had barely started.
He knew this moment.
He knew where the wall would reach within the next few minutes, which civilians were still trapped in its path, when Chaldea and the Alliance would begin desperately searching for a solution, and when Voldemort would eventually make his move.
More importantly, Noah remembered everything that had happened after this point.
Before he could remain lost in those thoughts, however, a familiar voice suddenly entered his mind.
'Captain? Can you hear me?'
Warmth immediately returned to Noah's chest as he recognized the owner of that voice.
"Perfectly, Kii." A relieved smile slowly appeared on his face. "You did it. I'm back."
A delighted laugh reached him through their connection.
'Of course I did! Did you really doubt the Herrscher of Finality?'
"I was mostly worried I'd wake up inside the World Tree."
'CAPTAIN!'
Noah laughed as the ground continued rushing toward him. With a small movement of his hand, the Force gathered at his feet and compressed into a broad invisible platform. His fall slowed immediately, allowing him to land upon it without difficulty.
That was when he noticed the group below.
Noah Schweinorg stood near the edge of the evacuation zone together with Olga Marie, Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, Hayate-chan, Arisa, Suzuka, Reines, and Gray. Every one of them had stopped whatever they were doing and was now staring upward at him in disbelief.
They recognized Noah Alden immediately.
That was exactly why seeing him descend from the sky had stunned them so completely.
They remembered fighting beside him through everything that followed this moment. They remembered the corrupted planet, the desperate battle, and the final moment when Noah carried Dormammu beyond everyone's reach before disappearing into Finality.
Yet now all of them stood here again, returned to the exact point before everything had gone wrong.
Noah's gaze eventually met that of his younger alternate self. Noah Schweinorg stared upward with his mouth slightly open, clearly trying to process what he was seeing.
Finding the expression somewhat amusing, Noah grinned and winked at him.
The younger Noah's eye twitched immediately.
Kiana groaned inside his mind.
'Seriously, Captain? You just came back from Finality, and one of the first things you do is wink at your younger self?'
"He looked like he needed reassurance."
'That was not reassurance!'
"It would have worked on me."
'You're impossible.'
Noah's grin widened, but the approaching wall quickly dragged his attention back toward the battlefield.
He turned toward the enormous mass of dark-purple corruption and planted both feet firmly against his Force Platform before stretching his arms outward.
The Force answered immediately.
An invisible wave exploded forward and slammed directly into the advancing wall. The enormous structure shuddered under the impact as its outward expansion rapidly slowed, finally stopping only meters before another section of Mahora could be swallowed.
Familiar pressure rushed through Noah's arms and shoulders before climbing into his chest as the overwhelming force behind the corruption pushed back against him.
This time, however, Noah knew exactly what to expect.
Instead of relying entirely on raw strength, he widened the area over which his Force was distributed and redirected portions of the wall's pressure back against itself. It was a method he had only figured out after struggling against the same force during the previous course of events, but now that knowledge was already his.
The strain remained enormous. His muscles still trembled beneath the pressure, and every pulse from the corrupted World Tree pushed against him with enough force to crush almost anyone else.
But compared to before, the burden was far more manageable.
'Better?' Kiana asked through their connection.
Noah gritted his teeth as another pulse struck against his Force.
"Much better." His arms trembled slightly. "Still horrible, though."
'Don't push yourself too far.'
Noah gave a strained laugh. "After everything we just talked about, do you really think I'm going to answer that honestly?"
Kiana released a long, suffering sigh inside his head. 'I already regret sending you back.'
Noah laughed despite the pressure bearing down on him. Below, Noah Schweinorg finally recovered enough from his shock to understand what was happening.
"No way… did we just return to the exact moment when older me first stopped the wall?!"
Olga Marie stared between the halted corruption and the man floating above them. The sequence of events matched what she remembered perfectly, so she did what any magus would do when faced with a temporal incident somehow connected to Zelretch: she pressed one hand against her forehead and let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"So even the older alternate version can cause a Kaleidoscope-like incident…" Her shoulders slumped. "The multiverse is doomed."
Before Noah could comment on that, three more figures descended beside him. The instant he sensed them approaching, his head snapped around, and his breath caught. Sirin, Hayate, and Reinforce were all alive, floating beside him, but unlike before, none of them immediately moved into position.
Sirin stared down at her own hands as though she could not believe they were there. Hayate touched her chest, then her face, checking herself with growing confusion, while Reinforce hovered beside them with both hands pressed against her body as her wide eyes moved between Noah and the battlefield.
What had happened to them was still painfully clear. Sirin remembered Voldemort's Killing Curse hitting her. Hayate remembered throwing herself in front of the curse meant for Noah. Reinforce remembered spending everything she had left to protect him before the Dark Dimension beam swallowed her. Yet somehow, all three of them were here again, alive and whole.
The sight nearly broke Noah's concentration. His vision blurred as tears gathered in his eyes, forcing him to blink several times while still holding the wall in place. Knowing that Kiana had returned them to this moment was one thing, but actually seeing Sirin, Hayate, and Reinforce alive in front of him after everything he had witnessed was something else entirely.
Sirin finally looked toward him. Hayate followed a moment later, and Reinforce slowly turned as well.
"Welcome back, you three." Noah smiled through the tears in his eyes.
"Noah-kun…" Hayate's lips trembled as she stared at him.
"Noah…" Sirin whispered breathlessly.
"Noah-san…" Reinforce pressed both hands against her chest.
The three remained stunned for a moment before they shouted at almost the same time, "WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!"
Noah burst into laughter. He could not help himself. Relief, happiness, exhaustion, and everything he had carried since losing them finally broke through all at once. Tears escaped his eyes as he laughed, even while keeping the enormous wall pinned in place with the Force.
"You three have no idea how happy I am to hear you yelling at me again!"
"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Sirin immediately flew closer and pointed at him accusingly.
"Ahahahaha! Perhaps!"
"I REMEMBER DYING!"
"Funny story, so do I!"
Sirin's eye twitched. "That is not something you should be saying that cheerfully!"
Hayate looked between Noah, Sirin, Reinforce, and the corrupted World Tree with rapidly growing panic.
"I remember Voldemort attacking Noah-kun, then I jumped in front of the curse, everything went dark, and now we're suddenly back here before it happened!" She stared at him. "Noah-kun, what did you do?!"
"Technically, this one wasn't me."
'Excuse me?' Kiana immediately protested inside his mind.
Noah's mouth twitched. "…Mostly not me."
Reinforce stared at him helplessly. "That somehow made it even more confusing, desu!"
Before Noah could explain anything further, an enormous shadow swept over the battlefield. Everyone looked upward and saw Starblazer descending through the clouds exactly as it had before.
Noah had barely registered its arrival when a communication window suddenly opened directly in front of him, March's furious face filling almost the entire screen.
"NOOOOOOAAAH ALDEEEN!!!"
Noah flinched so badly that he nearly slipped from his Force Platform.
"Whoa!"
"DON'T YOU 'WHOA' ME!" March's voice nearly exploded through the channel. Tears were already gathering in her eyes despite the fury written across her face. "You… you disappeared! We saw you take Dormammu away! You were gone, Noah! We couldn't even follow you!"
Noah's expression softened immediately as March jabbed a trembling finger toward the screen. "And now suddenly we're back here, you're alive, Sirin and Hayate are alive, Reinforce is alive, and I don't even know what happened anymore!"
Warmth spread across Noah's face as he watched her rant. "I missed you too, Granny March."
March opened her mouth to yell at him again, but whatever furious lecture she had prepared vanished before another word could come out. Noah simply smiled at her, the affection in his expression carrying everything he could not properly say through a communication window.
March's face crumpled. "You stupid…"
She scrubbed furiously at her eyes, but there was no hiding the tears now. "You stupid, stupid idiot…"
Caelus stepped into view beside March and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, giving Noah a look that somehow managed to combine relief with the very obvious desire to punch him. "You're seriously unbelievable. We watched you disappear, and now apparently we're doing this entire disaster again."
"Ahahahaha…"
Caelus sighed, but a faint smile finally broke through his expression. "Good to have you back, Noah."
Himeko appeared behind them next. Her expression remained composed, but Noah could clearly see the redness around her eyes. "Welcome back, Noah."
Something tightened painfully inside his chest. "Thanks, Miss Himeko."
Dan Heng then appeared near the edge of the screen, his relief far more restrained but no less genuine. "There will be plenty of time to determine how and why we returned to the past. For now, I suggest we focus on preventing the same events from happening again."
"There's the Uncle Dan Heng I know." Noah chuckled.
"I'll take that as agreement."
Their reunion might have continued if the Force had not suddenly screamed a warning through Noah's senses. His smile vanished as space twisted several meters away, and Voldemort apparated onto the battlefield with a POP!
Unlike the first time, there was no exhausted confusion in Voldemort's expression. His pale face was twisted with fury as his eyes locked onto Noah, Sirin, Hayate, Reinforce, and Starblazer behind them. Just as Kiana had warned, everyone remembered what had happened in the future.
That meant Voldemort remembered everything as well: his humiliation at Hogwarts, his defeat at the hands of March and Caelus, Dormammu reducing him to little more than a disposable vessel, and the desperate attempt he had made to murder Noah before everything finally collapsed.
"I do not know what sorcery has dragged us backward," Voldemort snarled, every word carrying barely restrained rage. "I do not know what power has returned this world to a moment already lived, but I remember everything."
Sirin immediately moved between Voldemort and Noah while Hayate raised Schwertkreuz and Reinforce opened several magical circles around them. The sight only twisted Voldemort's expression further.
"This time, I will kill every last one of you before you have the chance to humiliate me again!"
He raised his arm to cast a spell, but before he could even begin the incantation, a loud BANG was heard in the sky.
A bullet hit Voldemort directly in the side.
His eyes widened as the impact point suddenly twisted inward. Space collapsed around the wound, compressing violently before forming a miniature black hole that swallowed and tore apart more than half of his body. Voldemort barely had time to understand what had happened before what remained of him crashed to the ground.
Everyone stared at the place where he had been standing only a second earlier. Their minds seemed to lag behind the sudden turn of events. The source of the tragedy from the previous timeline had just been black-holed before he could even cast a single spell.
Then a familiar voice drifted down from above them.
"That guy wasn't your friend, right?"
Noah, Sirin, Hayate, and Reinforce all looked upward.
A figure descended casually through the sky and floated beside them as though arriving in the middle of a temporal catastrophe and shooting Voldemort with a gravity weapon was the most normal thing imaginable.
"I kinda shot him with a gravity bullet because he looked annoying," Hajime Nagumo said casually as he lowered his Astral Gear Pistol, Event Horizon, which was still releasing faint traces of gravitational distortion. He glanced at where what remained of Voldemort crashed before looking back at Noah and the others. "It's fine, right?"
Noah opened his mouth, but for once nothing came out. Sirin, Hayate, Reinforce, and everyone aboard Starblazer simply stared at Hajime in stunned silence.
Hajime raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"…Hajime?" Noah finally managed.
"…Yo."
The indifference in Hajime's face disappeared the instant he heard Noah call his name.
Another wave of emotion slammed into Noah. He had barely managed to process Sirin, Hayate, Reinforce, and the Starblazer crew being alive again, and now Hajime was floating directly in front of him as though the impossible had simply become ordinary.
Before Noah could say anything else, another enormous shadow passed over them. Everyone looked upward. The unmistakable figure of The Hyperion descended through the clouds.
Its arrival immediately sent the Alliance communication channels into chaos as overlapping signals flooded every frequency. At the same time, Starblazer's sensors lit up with dozens of familiar energy signatures appearing aboard the ship.
Noah could only stare upward. He knew exactly why Hyperion had entered this universe. More importantly, he knew who was aboard.
In the future Kiana had told him about, Hyperion had reached Non-Administered World #97 only after everything was already over. Hayate had been killed, Sirin had fallen, Reinforce had disappeared, and Noah himself had already carried Dormammu into Finality by the time the rescue team arrived.
They had crossed an entire universe only to reach the battlefield moments too late.
But not this time.
Hajime had arrived before Voldemort could fire the Killing Curse, and Hyperion had reached Mahora while everyone was still alive. The rescue team that had once arrived only in time to mourn them had finally reached the battlefield before the tragedy could happen again.
Kiana's voice entered Noah's thoughts, carrying unmistakable satisfaction.
'Looks like we're already changing the ending, Captain.'
Noah stared upward at Hyperion as tears gathered in his eyes once more. A wide smile slowly spread across his face while he tightened his hold on the Force and kept Dormammu's massive wall firmly restrained.
"Yeah, Kii…" His voice softened. "This time, everyone made it."
====== Chapter 244 END ======