"…"
Wende lowered his gaze. He could feel it. The [Fire] had been stripped away from him.
Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, divided into [Seven] paths… so you, Aha, passionate as fire… you actually symbolize Fire?
On second thought, Aha's usual antics were indeed related to fire—whether it was setting himself or others on fire, in every sense of the word.
Of course, that also included making others flare up with anger. Take Wende right now, for example. His ability to control fire had been nerfed, and he was feeling quite "fired up" about it.
"Sigh… I misjudged."
Wende shook his head, picked up his sword, and walked toward the next stage, casually smashing a box on his way out.
---o---
"Huh? Where are the boxes? Why are there no boxes in this stage?"
Stelle searched the map with a puzzled expression, looking for things she was supposed to smash. The last stage had so many, why were there none here?
Nearby, "Cocolia," who had been impaled by her lance, watched expressionlessly as Stelle flipped all over the map, looking east and west. Then, she dissolved into light and vanished from the Simulated Universe.
"Strange… that can't be right. This must be a bug. I need to report this to Herta later and make her compensate me with Credits and Stellar Jades!"
Completely oblivious to the fact that the previous stage, filled to the brim with boxes and barrels, was also a bug, Stelle fumed indignantly before grabbing her lance and heading to the next level.
---o---
"Damn it… the program is frozen. Screwllum, do you have any leads?"
Herta, who was searching for the cause of the bug in the Simulated Universe, asked Screwllum beside her anxiously.
"Report: Negative."
Screwllum shook his head.
"What about Mei?"
"I surmise that she has not yet woken up."
"Tsk…"
---o---
"Just now it was a biting cold wind, and now it's the Xianzhou, is it?"
Wende cleaned out his ear, looking at the Golden Automatons before him.
His eyes fell on one in particular—it was painted silver, wielded a weapon that resembled a lightsaber, and looked like it packed an explosive amount of combat power.
"Sigh, March, you were right. We really are going to have to fight this thing… And isn't Mr. Yang's progress a little too fast? Even with the support of the Artisanship Commission, it hasn't even been a week and he's already built this thing? How did Herta get the data so quickly?"
"TREASON!!!"
The group of automatons shouted woodenly before brandishing their menacing weapons and charging straight at Wende.
The sharp blade was unsheathed once more. The white blade in Wende's hand turned black. A silvery-white glint of sword light, like moonlight, pierced through the layers of the automatons' blockade. The ink-black blade, following Wende's form, painted a scroll in the sky with the heavens as its canvas and the sword as its ink.
"Bang!"
The silver automaton seemed to possess some kind of awareness. It launched an attack at Wende in the sky, firing firecracker-like projectiles that shot toward him like missiles.
"BOOM!!!"
A violent explosion echoed through the sky, and clouds of fire blossomed across the celestial scroll like splattered ink.
Wende's figure flickered, his blade lunging forward, but his path was immediately blocked by a pillar of light. With no other choice, Wende opted to temporarily retreat from the brunt of the attack.
Gazing at the silver automaton, which was continuously firing "missiles" from the launcher on its back, Wende stroked his chin with great interest.
"Hmm… he still can't forget his Anti-Electro Mech…"
Looking at the overwhelming sense of déjà vu before him, Wende felt a wave of emotion. He almost wished he had stayed on the Xianzhou to study the automatons with Welt. The sense of pressure from this automaton was even greater than Svarog's.
If Svarog felt like a crouching leopard waiting to strike, then the automaton before him was the king of all beasts, displaying its majesty without a care in the world.
Although… this automaton probably couldn't actually beat Svarog. But damn, it was cool!
Looks are power!
And so, Wende very decorously used his ultimate.
Then, he strode nonchalantly out of the stage.
Mm, the automaton behind me has been dismantled quite neatly. I have to say, with Welt's ideas and Master Gongshu's craftsmanship, those two are a real power couple… If they're allowed to keep researching this afternoon…
Tsk, Dan Heng might not be the easiest person to lose on this train anymore!
Looks like I'll have to have a talk with Mr. Yang when I have time. The big radish you build for others will ultimately be used to fight us. The Astral Express must have its own big radish!
As Wende's mind wandered, he stepped into the next stage.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Having just turned this entire area upside down, a dejected Stelle walked toward the new stage.
"Sigh… why are there no boxes? Even just one would be nice…"
With nothing to smash, Stelle felt an itch all over her body, as if something was missing. She felt completely out of sorts!
"Sigh…"
"Well, this is certainly…" x2
"…" x2
Wende stared blankly at the Stelle opposite him, while Stelle stared blankly back at Wende, who was dressed in a rather sexy outfit that somehow also gave off an air of sanctity.
Rub, rub…
Stelle looked at the Wende before her in disbelief. Then, the corners of her mouth began to curl uncontrollably upwards. The lance she used to impale Cocolia was instantly swapped for a baseball bat.
Since this is the Simulated Universe Wende, that means I can knock him out, right? And after I knock him out… hehehe…
"?"
Wende watched the distant Stelle with a look of confusion. Seeing the girl's expression and those brain-cramping little tics… this couldn't be a simulation, could it? This had to be the real deal! Since when did the Simulated Universe have a co-op mode?!
He'd been Stelle's "Sworn Father" for a while now. If he couldn't even tell if she was real or fake, he had no business being on the Express. This one looked like a blockhead at a glance—she was definitely his kid!
"Stelle… how are you…"
Before Wende could finish his sentence, he saw Stelle burst into maniacal laughter, completely shedding the law-abiding, good-girl persona she maintained in front of him. Wielding her baseball bat, she swung it viciously toward his head.
"Hehehe! Wende! My Wende!"
"…"
"Hmm, this one must not be real. I must have been mistaken."
Wende, his face expressionless, switched back to his four-star state. He straightened the clothes of his now-normal attire, then unleashed thousands of lightning needles at the frenzied Stelle.
"Zzzzzzt!"
"Eeeyaaaa!!"
---o---
"Ssss, could she have been real after all?"
Wende poked the smoking form of Stelle with her own baseball bat, a seed of doubt planted in his mind.
"Did she just get too excited playing in the Simulated Universe and let her true nature out again?"
Looking at Stelle, who was still trembling from the electrocution, Wende suddenly felt…
Maybe I should just kick her out? Keeping this lewd worm around will only interfere with my operations in the Simulated Universe!