Phantylia felt its physical body was about to break apart.
Dealing with a mechanic monster like Stelle was bad enough, but then some "Immortal" dragon descendant suddenly woke from a nightmare, roaring and charging at it like he was ready to die fighting.
If the flame-lance girl woke from the nightmare thanks to Qlipoth's glance, what was this dragon descendant's excuse?
If you're asleep, just stay immersed in the damn nightmare!
And this guy kept shouting bizarre lines, like "I'd rather die than be a delicate boy and get married" or "Stellaron spirits aren't even human"… What did that have to do with Phantylia?!
It was as if it had killed his floating log or something. Come on, Vidyadhara don't even have that thing!
Under the onslaught of the two, Phantylia's situation grew worse. Cracks spread across its body at a visible rate. At this pace, it wouldn't be long before it was shattered into pieces again.
It had to find a way to deal with these two!
But as Phantylia racked its brain, the Divine Lord appeared out of nowhere, swinging its blade down with ferocity no less than Dan Heng and Stelle's.
Another one woke up?!
"Roar—"
Before Phantylia could curse, a massive turquoise-flame beast, hundreds of meters tall, appeared in the distance, eyeing it menacingly.
So, even if Phantylia lost this fight, it couldn't be blamed. The Express crew had too many people—they could wear it down with sheer numbers!
Phantylia knew well that if Himeko, Welt, and Bailu woke up, it was done for. On the surface, Jing Yuan alone was an Emanator on its level, not to mention the crowd of top-tier Pathstriders.
To win, it'd have to call a colleague for help—but Phantylia knew that was even less realistic.
It could already imagine what its colleagues would say:
Asat Pramad, a clown obsessed with its own world, cared only about its anti-Elation nonsense. If it asked for help, it'd probably say:
—"Pardon my bluntness, but what's the point of saving you? What does it matter if we're colleagues? It's utterly unnecessary!"
Luxbane was strong but a brute. If it heard Phantylia was about to get crushed, it'd likely say:
—"What? You're getting blown up? Nice, I'll come watch the spectacular explosion."
Celenova… forget it. Celenova might answer the call, but it'd probably elbow Phantylia along with everyone else—not worth it.
As for Zephyro? That thing was too busy cosplaying a big dog, chomping away, and would likely ignore it.
The remaining Archforger and Irontomb—one was perpetually MIA, the other still in juvie. Compared to them, in the "Extinction Overlord" clique, Phantylia was the only semi-normal one. The rest were all lunatics.
So, it had to resolve this predicament on its own!
"Hmph! You forced me to do this!"
Phantylia snorted, snapping its fingers. The Astral Express nearby suddenly erupted in blazing turquoise flames. "I've long heard there's a hidden guardian spirit on the Astral Express. Let's see what Akivili, the Trailblaze, left behind."
Inside the train, Pom-Pom sat in the driver's seat, watching the turquoise flames around them. Its eyes glinted, and a sly smile curved its lips…
Mind control was one of Phantylia's specialties, so it planned to manipulate Pom-Pom, making the crew deal with the Astral Express as a massive weapon, giving itself a moment to breathe.
And it seemed to have succeeded.
Under the crew's shocked gazes, the Astral Express began to disassemble and transform. In mere seconds, it went from an industrial steam train to a classical-style Gundam, complete with a chest cannon—likely the orbital cannon Himeko installed.
"Holy crap… Since when could the train transform? If Uncle Yang knew, he'd sit up in shock!"
Stelle exclaimed, glancing instinctively at the sleeping crew. Unexpectedly, a shadow flashed, and Welt appeared beside her instantly.
"Huh? Uncle Yang, your base code is that broken? Built-in dispel too?" Stelle jumped, incredulously teasing.
Welt adjusted his glasses. "Sorry, I wasn't actually controlled by Phantylia's nightmare. I was just sleeping and got woken up."
"? What… what do you mean? You were asleep but not trapped in a nightmare? Why?"
Welt's expression remained calm. "Because I don't dream."
Stelle: "… "
Right, right, almost forgot you're the guy who out-elbowed the ancestor. Not dreaming is normal, reasonable, totally reasonable!
Welt: "You focus on dealing with Phantylia. As for the train it's controlling, I'll play with—er, I mean, I'll handle it."
Stelle: "… "
Nearby, Huohuo looked at the Gundam-transformed Astral Express and waved her hand. "Go, Tail!"
"For Sister Huohuo's glory!"
Tail shouted, charging toward the Astral Express with its massive body—
Boom boom boom—
But no one expected that, just as Welt and Tail were about to team up against the train, it ripped off its exclusive logo, emitting an electronic voice: "Backup hidden energy!"
Stelle: ???
This is way too absurd! Pom-Pom, are you really being controlled? I can't tell, I really can't tell!
"Wait!"
Hearing the train's voice, Welt's expression shifted. He stopped Tail. "I've seen this move in an anime from my hometown. It's an extremely powerful self-destruct attack. With the Astral Express's energy, if it explodes, half the Luofu could be destroyed."
Tail: "What do we do then?"
Welt's face was grim. "If it's a self-destruct, there's no stopping it unless the other side halts it voluntarily."
"But with the train under Phantylia's control, if we keep attacking Phantylia, it might make the train self-destruct to take us down with it. But if we focus our firepower on the train, not only do we give Phantylia breathing room, we risk harming our allies inside."
"Unless we can watch both Phantylia and the train simultaneously, but that's incredibly difficult."
"And the only one capable of interrupting both at once, Miss Himeko, hasn't woken up. Without her speed, it's nearly impossible."
Tail (Godzilla) chuckled. "What's the big deal? I'll just be the AOE."
With that, Tail stepped forward and shouted, "Everyone, get down!"
Stelle: ?
A bad feeling rose in Stelle's heart. In her eyes, Tail's figure faintly overlapped with a certain blue figure from the past.
"Dan Heng, get over here quick!"
Stelle raised her flame lance, assuming a defensive stance. "If I'm not wrong, this Godzilla's probably about to… start spinning."