Stelle tried hard to open her eyes. At the edge of her vision, there seemed to be the faint glow of flames...
She felt dizzy and lightheaded. During the final battle between Acheron and Aventurine, she felt like a weed being blown back and forth by a violent wind.
Thinking carefully about what had happened, Stelle only remembered that after Aventurine launched his final attack, her eyes were practically blinded. After all, there were shining chips everywhere. Then, Acheron drew her blade.
Immediately afterward, some indescribable force cut through Preservation. The space and time around her instantly fell into stagnation.
She also stopped thinking because of that burst of power, and all her thoughts seemed to be twisted together like a braided rope.
As Stelle's five senses lost their original form, her mind was filled with strange lines tangled together, and then her consciousness fell through a bizarre and dazzling scene.
And then... there were those... flickers of fire that occasionally appeared at the edge of her dim vision.
Her thoughts gradually became clearer during this process. Stelle suddenly opened her eyes, then froze.
The flames at the edge of her vision gradually faded away. A silver-gray suit of armor with a metallic sheen entered her field of vision.
The huge metal knight had his back to her, flames dispersing from his body. A male voice with a hint of an electronic quality came from within the metal knight, "...You're awake. I've been waiting here for you for a long time."
Hearing this, Stelle raised an eyebrow. She felt that the way he put it was rather strange.
Of course, Stelle knew the person in front of her. Although Nero's presence had allowed her to avoid a confrontation with him in the original storyline, because of Nero, Stelle had also gotten to know this Molten Knight much earlier.
He was one of the members of the Stellaron Hunters, someone Silver Wolf had mentioned during a previous communication, Sam.
Because of Silver Wolf, Nero's contact with the Stellaron Hunters was sometimes far too frequent. As a result, the others on the train had also learned more about this group of cosmic terrorists...
It was worth mentioning that Stelle really liked Sam... She really liked the look of this mecha.
Since she had basically been a blank slate when she woke up on the space station, and had been influenced by a certain train family's head, the little raccoon had little resistance to cool-looking things.
"You..."
"Stellaron Hunter, Sam."
Sam seemed unwilling to give Stelle much of a chance to ask questions and directly revealed his identity, then immediately started making some complaints about the script.
According to Sam, the original development of events should have been somewhat different from what was happening now.
However, for some special reason, the script written by that "slave of fate" was no longer very useful. Fortunately, there had not originally been much in his own script that needed attention either.
After confirming that the script had become ineffective, this Stellaron Hunter adopted the strategy the other members had used on the Luofu before, observing... his fellow travelers.
The Molten Knight said that he had been watching Stelle from the shadows all along, and things had developed more smoothly than he had imagined.
What he needed to accomplish was to have the Astral Express crew pursue the so-called "Watchmaker's Legacy," and during this process, the crew had chosen to investigate a case.
Although their starting points were different, they would reach the same destination. Whether they investigated the case or pursued the legacy, they would end up on the path of uncovering the secrets of Penacony.
To be honest, Stelle didn't really understand the other party's complaints. She could only sense from between the lines that... that Elio's mental state might not be very good...
And the whole "I've been watching you from the shadows" thing sounded a little scary too... Although judging from all the clues, after Acheron swung her blade, it was the other party who had taken her away from the dangerous area...
There was no doubt that Sam had pointed out quite a few things to Stelle, but she hadn't really listened to most of them.
The one thing she couldn't stop thinking about was that he had been observing her from the shadows all along.
Having someone constantly watching you from somewhere you couldn't see was terrifying just to think about. Even if the other person was a very cool mecha warrior, that couldn't ease the unease and disgust it created deep down.
However, soon after a cluster of flames burst into bloom, Stelle no longer felt disgusted or uneasy.
Stelle believed Sam's words and thought that he had no hostility toward her. After all, the things he... she said sounded very sincere. This definitely wasn't because the person inside Sam was a beautiful girl, and one she knew at that.
Stelle had to admit that when she saw Firefly inside Sam, she was a little surprised.
At the same time, her brain, which was good at making connections, thought of more things.
For example, when Silver Wolf had contacted them, she had once mentioned Sam's enthusiasm.
Stelle had originally thought she meant those high-temperature high-tech weapons, but now that she thought back to her experiences in Golden Hour and Dream's Edge, it turned out she really meant the enthusiasm of a beautiful girl.
After Firefly explained things further, Stelle gradually sorted out the current situation and noticed where she was now.
She had already come here when she first entered the dream, and had received Misha's guidance here and successfully made her way to Golden Hour, although she had ended up taking a tumble.
Thinking about it now, if she had brought out the Flaming Lance back then, maybe she could have made a very cool heroic entrance.
The reason she hadn't done that at the time must have been because she was too sensitive to Memoria, which had caused her brain to break down.
Because they had missed the confrontation, the atmosphere between Stelle and Firefly wasn't tense now, and there was little difference from when they had first met at Dream's Edge.
After all, the Stellaron Hunters weren't exactly strangers to Stelle.
Not only did she keep running into them, there was also a child at home who played games with the Stellaron Hunters every day...
For an ordinary person, that alone would count as a legendary experience.
"In short, you once stepped into Golden Hour from here, and you'll also step into the real Penacony from here."
Firefly said this to Stelle with a gentle smile on her face.
"Speaking of which, why am I the only one here? What about everyone else?" Stelle asked.
Firefly shook her head. "After that Miss Acheron's blade cut through the dreamscape, I only received you and that Miss March 7th in this deeper layer of the dream."
"As for the others, I don't know where they are either. But that Miss March 7th woke up a little earlier than you, and she's already gone to the place we're heading next. Maybe she's trying to contact the others?"
Stelle nodded.
However, she wasn't very reassured about March 7th.
But it didn't matter. If March 7th forgot to make contact, then she would do it herself when the time came.
After making that decision, the two of them didn't stay in this deep dreamscape for long.
Under Firefly's guidance, a Memetic Entity from the Memory Zone, whose head had been beaten very evenly, emerged from the shadows and sent the two of them toward their next destination.
Stelle recognized Something Unto Death at a glance. Moreover, judging from its current appearance, this guy was quite different from when it had launched its initial attack.
After learning about its purpose from Firefly, Stelle wasn't very afraid this time. She even had a question...
'Does Something Unto Death's current state... count as a work injury?'
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