Cough, cough! "Wasn't I already dead?"
Wearing a combat bodysuit and red-rimmed glasses, a girl with short silver hair similar to Firefly's and a similar appearance coughed as she stood up from the ground.
"You did indeed die in the past. I simply saved you now."
An unfamiliar man's voice rang out. The girl turned around and saw a man with black hair and a black coat looking at her with golden eyes.
"My name is Caelus. I am a Traveler. After learning about your story in Penacony, I extracted your soul and consciousness from the past just before your death and brought them to the present. Then I reshaped your body and placed your past soul and consciousness into this current body. You could say that you are living a second life now. This new body no longer has Entropy Loss Syndrome. Now you can truly pursue your dreams and find the meaning of life."
After hearing these words, which contained an immense amount of information, the girl remained silent for a long time. Once she had organized her thoughts, she took a deep breath and bowed to the man in gratitude.
"Thank you!"
"I'll accept your thanks. By the way, Glamoth is no more. You are now truly free. As far as I know, there is only one other Glamoth Iron Cavalry member left in this universe. She is currently with the Stellaron Hunters. You might know each other. She has now given herself a new name, Firefly."
"Firefly..."
The girl froze upon hearing the name. She seemed to recall that many years ago, during a certain mission, she had been the sole survivor but had lost contact with headquarters. To reestablish contact as quickly as possible, she had made a suggestion and was the first to leave the cockpit, violating the Glamoth Iron Cavalry's military regulations. That was the fastest way to reach command.
Beside that pool, she had also seen many fireflies.
"When I was looking into the past earlier, it seemed you didn't have a name that truly belonged to you. You always referred to yourself as AR-214. Now that Glamoth has vanished into history and you have become a completely free person with your own will, you should give yourself a new name to welcome a new beginning."
"A name..."
The girl fell into a dilemma. From the moment she gained consciousness, she had been a Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier fighting across the stars and battling the Swarm. Later, even though she deserted to pursue her own will and the meaning of life, she had not read many books and did not know what kind of name to choose. So, she had always used her previous designation, AR-214.
Now that everything from the past had settled, and it was time for a new beginning and a new name, her somewhat limited education left her at a loss as to what to choose.
She then looked toward the gentleman who was willing to help her with a pleading gaze.
"Mr. Caelus, this new life was granted to me by you. My existence this time was given by you. For a new beginning, why don't you bestow a new name upon me?"
Caelus thought for a moment. Then a green seedling appeared in his hand. He handed it to the girl and said, "Anhe. 'An' for peace and self-preservation, 'He' for the seedling that grows toward the sun."
"It means guarding one's heart without following blindly, and growing toward the sun like a seedling, with new life and vigor."
The girl took the seedling with both hands, her eyes seemingly sparkling with light.
"Thank you for the name, sir."
"What are your plans next?"
"I plan to look for that other companion. I want to know how she has been all these years and have a good talk with her."
"Firefly should be resting during this time. After all, her Entropy Loss Syndrome flared up quite severely during this trip to Penacony. She will likely be bedridden for a while."
"Sir, is there any way to cure this condition?"
"Are you not going to ask for my help?"
"Since you did not intervene before, sir, you must have had your reasons. I have already received your favor, so I am too embarrassed to ask for anything more. That is why I want to try to find a solution on my own."
"Hmm, I don't know about that. The essence of Entropy Loss Syndrome should be an issue related to the Path of Propagation. As for how to cure it, I have not really researched it. After all, your body, and indeed your very existence, were recreated directly by me, so you do not have those issues."
After Caelus said goodbye to Anhe, he spoke with Sunday for a while longer. He learned that the Astral Express had not refused Sunday's request. Once the remaining matters in Penacony were handled and everything that needed to be handed over to The Family was taken care of, Sunday would embark on his journey.
The Astral Express also seemed to have received an invitation from the Xianzhou to attend the Wardance Ceremony. Of course, this was actually related to General Jing Yuan's internal assessment, as too many incidents had come to light on the Luofu in recent days.
The Stellaron crisis, the resurrection of the Ambrosial Arbor, the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, the Lord Ravager, and the most significant point of all, Caelus's existence.
There were also matters involving the former Luofu Sword Champion, Jingliu, whose situation was unknown to the outside world, and his blond merchant friend, Luocha.
This caused the other Xianzhou ships to send people to the Luofu to take a look. Even if it was not to reprimand Jing Yuan or cause trouble for him, they still had to see if something had gone wrong with the Luofu recently. Otherwise, how could so many things have happened all at once?
Then, an extremely bizarre situation occurred.
March 7th looked with a complicated expression at Caelus, who was sitting on the sofa drinking black tea served by Pom-Pom, with a small cake placed on the small table next to him. She asked Stelle, who was beside her, "You invited him aboard?"
"Yeah!"
Stelle acted as if it were a matter of course and said, "Aren't we all going to the Xianzhou to attend that Wardance Ceremony? It doesn't hurt to give him a ride on the way."
"Geez! Weren't we fighting to the death before? Is it really okay to invite him over now?"
"Are you referring to me being pinned to the ground, you lying on the ground asleep, Dan Heng entering a state of withdrawal after hurting Himeko, Himeko being subjected to bondage play, and Mr. Yang being left speechless after waking up and hearing a speech, unable to fight back? Is that what you call fighting to the death?"
"I wasn't asleep, okay! I was just attacked by memories of the past, which is why I was in a coma!"
"So, did you remember anything?"
"...Geez! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Pom-Pom walked into the carriage, looked at Caelus, who was calmly drinking black tea, and said, "Are you really not Akivili?"
As they spoke, they narrowed their eyes, looking extremely suspicious.
After all, Pom-Pom always felt that if the person in front of them walked the Path of Trailblaze and became a Trailblazer, it would not be long before he became the Aeon of Trailblaze. In this situation, was he really not Akivili's reincarnation?
"Akivili! Oh! My dearest Akivili, why didn't you come to find me after you were resurrected? Aha has missed you so much! For you, I even struck Nanook in the chest, leaving a wound that has not healed to this day. The blood flowing from it is my longing for you, day and night!"
A figure dressed in a black evening gown, looking like a widow but wearing a bright red Eater of Emotions Mask, appeared from nowhere. Leaning against Caelus, the figure shouted in an extremely exaggerated tone.
At that moment, Caelus felt goosebumps rise all over his body. What a bizarre feeling!
(To be continued.)
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