Chapter 16: Nanook, I've Come to Bring You Destruction!
Just as the group was locked in a fierce, desperate struggle against the towering Doomsday Beast, a stirring, high-fidelity melody suddenly echoed across the metallic platform.
"Tearing through the physical shell, liberation~"
"The thunderous roar of ten thousand bolts~"
"Shaking the heart and soul with surging waves~"
The sudden, dramatic background music startled everyone. The relentless tempo of their offensive involuntarily ground to a halt as heads turned.
Following the source of the booming audio, they found Leon. At some point during the life-or-death struggle, he had casually set up a heavy-duty portable speaker on the edge of the battlefield. He sat beside it, eyes closed in appreciation, tapping his foot perfectly to the rhythm.
Even more bizarre was the reaction occurring across the platform. Dan Heng stood frozen, his spear lowered. A faint, ethereal blue aura began to swirl around his body, reacting to the music. It was as if some ancient, slumbering power buried deep within his bloodline was being forcibly dragged to the surface by the sheer hype of the melody.
Dan Heng stared at his own hands, utterly bewildered. He could feel a torrential energy surging against his ribs. 'What is this feeling?'he thought, his breath catching.'Why does it feel like I am about to transform?'
"Don't mind me," Leon called out, flashing a bright, innocent smile as if he were doing something perfectly normal. "I just thought the fighting was getting a little too monotonous. I'm just playing some BGM to liven things up for everyone!"
Unfortunately, the Doomsday Beast didn't come with its own boss music, so Leon had taken the liberty of temporarily borrowing 'Water Dragon's Chant' to fit the occasion.
Besides, he reasoned internally, maybe this specific track really could help Dan Heng awaken his hidden form a little early?
Hearing his casual explanation, the expressions on the faces of the Astral Express crew became incredibly colorful.
"You... you're really something else..." March 7th stammered, her mouth hanging open so wide she completely forgot to draw her bowstring to full tension. "Who plays background music in the middle of a life-or-death boss fight!"
Dan Heng took a long, deep breath, closing his eyes as he tried his absolute hardest to suppress the restless, draconic power boiling inside him. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze toward Leon was filled with deeply complicated emotions.
"Mr. Leon, you always manage to bring us... surprises," Himeko murmured. She pressed her fingers to her forehead with a light, exasperated sigh, though the corners of her elegant lips couldn't help but curl upward in amusement.
While the veteran members of the crew were left entirely speechless by Leon's impromptu DJ session, two specific individuals had a very different reaction.
"Ohhhhh!"
"I'm fired up!"
Hearing the surging, heroic soundtrack, Stelle and Caelus felt their adrenaline spike through the roof. Their eyes practically burned with excitement. Gripping their baseball bats with white-knuckled intensity, they threw themselves back into the fray with twice the vigor, swinging at the antimatter monster like they were aiming for the major leagues.
"Yes, yes, yes! Just like that!" Leon cheered, smoothly transitioning into the role of a passionate sports commentator while casually cracking a handful of roasted melon seeds between his teeth. "Go for the feet! Trim its toenails! Hit its eggs! Hit its eggs!"
He spat a seed shell onto the floor, raising a fist. "Once you cross this mountain, they will hear your story!"
"Where would a Doomsday Beast even have eggs!" March 7th shrieked back, her voice cracking as she fired a volley of freezing arrows at the creature's massive wings.
"In other words," Leon said, his eyes widening in exaggerated, theatrical shock, "if the Doomsday Beast did have eggs, you would specifically aim for them? So you're that kind of person, March 7th. I really misjudged you!"
"Hey, hey, hey! When facing a powerful enemy like this, of course you target their weaknesses if you find them!" March 7th's face flushed a furious shade of pink, though the rapid-fire pace of her arrows didn't slow down for a single second. "That's tactics! Do you understand tactics!"
She risked another glance over her shoulder, only to catch Leon pulling an entirely new bag of snacks out of his coat. Her temper flared. "You have the nerve to lecture me? Do you look like you're here for an outing?"
She pointed an accusing finger at his little setup. "Where did those peanuts, melon seeds, and mineral water even come from? Are you here to help us save the station, or are you here for a picnic?"
"I am a member of the clerical staff, with low martial power and absolutely no talent for combat," Leon recited, delivering his signature excuse without so much as blinking. He popped another peanut into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Besides, haven't I already set up this excellent BGM to cheer you all on?"
In truth, Leon felt a distinct, nagging sensation that he could probably crush this towering Doomsday Beast to death with a casual squeeze of his hand.
But there was simply no need for that.
If he crushed it now, Stelle and Caelus would miss out on awakening their Path of Destruction. Who was going to provide them with their core power-up if he stole the kill?
Besides, it wasn't like he was the only one holding back. He could clearly see Dan Heng and Himeko slacking off on the sidelines. If Dan Heng really wanted to tap into his Imbibitor Lunae form, he could obliterate the Doomsday Beast in a heartbeat. Himeko calling down a strike from her orbital satellite cannon would achieve the exact same result.
But neither of them was going all out. In this grand siege against the antimatter leviathan, the veterans were strictly playing support. The ones responsible for dealing the vast majority of the kinetic damage were Stelle and Caelus, with March 7th providing heavy crowd control and freezing the beast's joints.
As for the two Trailblazers, they were fighting to their absolute heart's content, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the brawl.
Every strike of their bats was heavy, vicious, and packed with raw kinetic force. Under their relentless, synchronized assault, the Doomsday Beast was forced to retreat step by step. Deep, jagged cracks began to spread across its dark, armored shell, making it look as though the massive creature might shatter apart at any given moment.
However, right at that very moment...
"Roar—!"
The Doomsday Beast suddenly threw its head back and let out a heaven-shaking, agonizing roar. A heart-palpitating, dark red energy began to rapidly condense within its gaping maw.
Countless arcs of violent black lightning flickered and lashed out from the gathering energy beam. The sheer, terrifying density of the antimatter power caused the projected starry sky above the platform to tremble and distort.
In the next instant, the entire world was swallowed by a blinding, monotonous wave of black and red.
The destructive torrent of energy poured out like a localized supernova. However, as the beam scorched across the platform, it completely bypassed the attacking Stelle and Caelus. Instead, it carved a molten trench straight toward Leon, who was still sitting on the sidelines, peacefully munching on his melon seeds!
Leon paused, a seed halfway to his mouth. '?''Wait, brother?' Leon thought, blinking at the incoming apocalypse.'I'm just a spectator sitting in the audience, and you're blasting me with your ultimate attack?'
It seemed he really was going to have to step in and teach this overgrown lizard some manners.
Just as he shifted his weight, preparing to move, two blurs of motion flashed into his line of sight. Stelle and Caelus threw themselves in front of him from the left and right, raising their weapons and resolutely using their own bodies to block the path of the annihilating energy torrent.
'Fine, fine, fine. So I've somehow taken over March 7th's role in the cutscene, have I?'
Realizing exactly what narrative beat was currently playing out, Leon immediately relaxed his stance, slumped back into his comfortable posture, and went right back to peacefully munching on his snacks while the Trailblazers took the brunt of the cosmic blast.
A split second later, the world dissolved. Leon felt his consciousness detach, following Stelle and Caelus as they were pulled into the ethereal void known as the Abyss of the Path.
"It's time to set out..."
A gentle, echoing voice slowly drifted into his ear, sounding both infinitely distant and intimately close.
Leon opened his eyes. The space around them was surreal. The sky above looked like a gigantic, cosmic wound, with a brilliant golden glow flowing sluggishly within the cosmic flesh like the blood of a dying god.
"Use your own will to reach that end."
He looked into the distance. There, standing amidst the shattered void, were the figures of Stelle, Caelus, and a towering, majestic entity.
"Look..." the gentle voice whispered. "He has already noticed you!"
That entity was Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction.
The shattered, bleeding sky above them wasn't a real sky at all—it was merely the reflection of the horrific scars carved across Nanook's own divine body.
Just by meeting Nanook's burning, golden gaze, Stelle and Caelus felt their minds shake violently. The sheer weight of the Aeon's presence bore down on them, making it feel as if their very souls were trembling under the pressure of absolute annihilation.
Just as the overwhelming pressure reached its peak, and Stelle and Caelus's consciousnesses were on the verge of being forcibly ejected from the Abyss of the Path, they saw something impossible.
Leon casually stepped forward, walking right past them.
The corners of Leon's mouth curled into a handsome, utterly fearless arc.
Looking up at the majestic god of annihilation, a highly inappropriate thought crossed Leon's mind. He thought about the internet jokes back home—the 'Stewed Noodle'Aeon and his legion of'Noodle-Chewing' Emanators. The sheer absurdity of the meme contrasting with the terrifying cosmic god standing before him almost made Leon burst out laughing on the spot.
He quickly swallowed his amusement, expertly adjusting his facial expressions. In an instant, he switched to a look of passionate, burning fervor. He pointed a finger at the sky and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Nanook, I've come to bring you destruction!"
Fully immersing himself in the role of a dramatic, world-saving hero, Leon kicked off the invisible ground. He shot toward the Aeon of Destruction like an arrow released from a heavy bow, completely ignoring the laws of physics and divinity.
"...?"
Hearing this bizarre declaration, Nanook clearly paused. The grinding gears of cosmic annihilation seemed to halt for a fraction of a second. A strange hint of a smile actually seemed to ghost across that habitually majestic, scarred face.
Bring him destruction?
He was Nanook. He was the literal embodiment and Aeon of Destruction. For a mortal to charge up and declare they were going to destroy the Aeon of Destruction... how was that any different from a passionate confession of love?
'This new kid is good,'Nanook seemed to muse.'He wants to bring me "Destruction"! How delightful!'
Thump!
In the very next second, all divine majesty was shattered. Leon's right fist suddenly expanded rapidly, blowing up like a cartoon balloon being inflated with a high-pressure hose. With staggering, logic-defying force, the massive fist slammed squarely into the center of Nanook's face!
Ssh...
The impact echoed through the void. Nanook was actually knocked backward, his massive form staggering. A trail of glowing, golden blood seeped from the corner of the Aeon's lips.
Stelle and Caelus stood completely dumbfounded, their jaws practically hitting the floor of the Abyss. Before their brains could even begin to process the shocking, utterly absurd scene of their lazy clerical worker punching a god in the face, they were violently ejected from the Abyss of the Path by a massive repelling force.
Click.
Left alone in the void, Leon unhurriedly pulled a compact camera out of his pocket. He framed the shot perfectly and pressed the shutter, capturing a high-resolution photo of Nanook, who was still reeling and had not yet regained his divine composure.
Only after securing the blackmail material did Leon turn around and leave the Abyss leisurely, thoroughly satisfied with his work.
'I am the real Memory Aeon Fuli!' Leon thought to himself, admiring the photo.
Somewhere in the infinite cosmos, a certain entity was watching the entire exchange.
'Hahahaha!'Aha's voice echoed wildly in the unseen depths.'This really is too much fun~'
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