"Alrighty, today Old Sampo here will be an arbitrator for a day." Elation's old pal Sampo stood at attention. "I've never been an arbitrator before."
If someone who didn't know Sampo looked at him now, they would definitely feel that a very upright aura emanated from between his brows, not at all like a guy who would scam people into buying fake goods.
"Just leave everything to me!"
After talking big, Sampo came crawling back.
"Arbitrator... so exhausted... how can the workload be so high..."
It was a very sharp contrast to the high-spirited Sampo from this morning.
Aidan's phantom crouched beside him, those four light orbs circling slowly.
"How does it feel?"
"Exhausted... I'm exhausted..." Sampo's voice was weak. "Even though I was mentally prepared for a high workload... there are endless matters to handle, unresolved legacy issues, and those guys who never stop fighting..."
Sampo was treated like a beast of burden today.
Aidan's phantom stood up, the four light orbs rotating slowly and floating around him.
"You worked hard today. Tomorrow, go back to being a jester. This half-day was just to experience life."
Sampo rolled over like a salted fish.
"Experience life... what exactly did I experience..."
"Experienced the hardship of HooH." Aidan looked down at him.
After finishing with Sampo, Aidan also returned to the Astral Express.
He had actually done a lot today, such as causing trouble for the Interstellar Peace Corporation, creating problems for the company's capital chain, and giving the Marketing Development Department some trouble.
Since the Interstellar Peace Corporation was so massive, he had to fleece them for all they were worth.
Aidan looked down at his transparent arm. The speed of the light orbs circling him had clearly slowed down, and their edges were starting to become blurred.
"...Time's almost up."
The second hand of the wall clock ticked away, the sound exceptionally clear in the quiet carriage. Aidan's figure began to flicker, like a TV screen with a bad connection, showing particles like static and noise.
— — —
Today, Aidan was The Hunt, but he didn't look like an Aeon or a Galaxy Ranger—in short, on the surface, he looked unremarkable, with nothing special about him, just like an ordinary person.
"This shouldn't be right; shouldn't The Hunt be... anyway, they shouldn't be so easy to talk to."
March 7th looked at the unchanged Aidan, lifting his hand to see if anything was different.
But unfortunately, she didn't find anything special.
"Is your Hunt form just as washed up as your Elation one?"
March 7th shook her head and sighed.
"Lend me your bow."
"My bow? What are you going to do?"
"Shoot arrows."
"Can you really pull a bow in that state?"
Aidan nodded.
"I can."
"...Alright, don't accidentally scratch your hand. My bow still requires some strength to pull back."
March 7th handed him her bow.
To March 7th's surprise, Aidan stood on the roof of the train and shot arrows into space.
He reached out, a purple energy arrow notched on the bow, and then it was shot out steadily by him, vanishing without a trace, not hitting any target, as if he were just shooting into thin air.
Aidan stood on the roof of the Astral Express and pulled the bow for about 4 system hours, which is roughly eight hours. During this time, he was continuously drawing the bow and shooting arrows...
"Alright, maybe I should take back what I said earlier. At least in your Hunt form, your hands are quite strong."
March 7th looked at her bow; there were no major issues, it was of top-notch quality.
"What have you been shooting at for these eight hours?" she couldn't help but ask. "I see you've been shooting in the same direction. Is there something over there?"
"Nothing."
Aidan replied.
"Then why do you have to stand on the roof of the train to shoot... wouldn't it be better to shoot indoors?"
Hearing Aidan say this, she found it impossible to understand.
"My target is not the present."
But the [Future].
One of The Hunt's abilities—Effect before Cause.
"When the time comes, the arrows I shot today will be lodged in the enemy's body."
After only a brief rest, Aidan took March 7th's bow back to the roof of the train and shot arrows into the universe again.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh...
Sometimes he fired two arrows at once, sometimes three or five...
This continued until midnight, and he had fired at least a hundred thousand arrows.
One need to think which happy fellow will have the fortune to encounter Aidan and take the full brunt of a hundred thousand light arrows.
— — —
Clang, clang, clang.
Today, Aidan was Elation again.
But today's Elation was a bit different.
"What are you making? A figure?"
But when Welt saw what Aidan had finished making, he gasped on the spot and almost whacked Aidan's forehead with his cane.
How did this troublesome kid make a figure of the Aeon of Abundance?!
And it was even one of those slightly suggestive figures!
"I thought Abundance looked quite good, so I crafted a figure of Them"
Aidan reassured Welt.
"Uncle Yang, don't overreact. It's just making some small figures to put on display."
Welt's gaze was ninety percent suspicious.
This kid was definitely planning something big.
"This is an Aeon."
"Yeah, can't an Aeon have a figure?"
"...We usually don't call those figures; we call them statues."
"Uncle Yang, you actually reminded me. I get it now."
Welt:!
Not good!
What do you get?!
The kid's figure was indeed well-sculpted.
But because it was sculpted so well, he was even more uneasy.
"You..."
"Uncle Yang, don't worry, I guarantee this figure is just a normal figure with no special functions. If you don't believe me, check it."
Welt took the palm-sized figure and looked it over several times. It felt warm to the touch, the material seemed to be some kind of special synthetic resin, and there were indeed no energy fluctuations.
"Is it really just a figure?"
"It really is just a figure." Aidan nodded with a face full of sincerity.
Although Uncle Yang strongly suspected this guy was about to pull another major stunt unexpectedly, he couldn't say anything without evidence.
After Welt left, Aidan placed the figure of Yaoshi on the table and then turned to start making a figure of Lan; the style of The Hunt had to be sharper...
The third one, Qlipoth.
A giant hammer, a massive body.
The fourth one, Nanook.
Golden cracks, the oppressive feeling of destruction.
The fifth one, Xipe.
The sixth one, Ena...
After a morning passed, Aidan successfully crafted highly detailed figures of eight Aeons.
Of course, Aidan wasn't planning on just displaying them as figures.