Chapter 235: Trailblaze Will Equally Crash into Every Path
[Path: Elation → Trailblaze & The Hunt (Omen)]
Rekka turned the strange object over in his palm, his thumb tracing the sharp, geometric edges. He counted them carefully. Eighteen sides. What an absolute, astronomical coincidence. Exactly eighteen sides. If anyone tried to claim this little trinket had absolutely nothing to do with the universe's eighteen Paths, he would have laughed in their face.
"Go on, give it a roll and see what happens," Stelle urged, leaning over his shoulder with a gleam of chaotic anticipation in her golden eyes.
With a flick of his thumb, the eighteen-sided die tumbled into the air, spinning rapidly before clattering onto the table. The facets blurred together. A flowing, dark-gold luster of Imaginary energy rippled across its surface like liquid metal. As the die finally settled, a striking, radiant lighthouse pattern materialized on the uppermost face.
"Trailblaze..." Rekka muttered, narrowing his eyes.
That didn't make sense. By all accounts, his current active Path for the day was supposed to be Elation.
Before he could question it further, the die suddenly flipped on its own. A cluster of sharp, piercing arrows—the unmistakable insignia of The Hunt—emerged, layering themselves directly behind the glowing lighthouse of Trailblaze.
Trailblaze and The Hunt.
Frowning slightly, Rekka snatched the die off the table and tossed it a second time. It clattered, spun, and stopped. The result was identical: the combined, overlapping symbols of the Trailblaze and The Hunt Paths shone up at him, completely unchanged.
A realization began to dawn on him. Could the actual purpose of this bizarre artifact be to predict—or even guide—his chaotic, ever-shifting Paths? The pieces were falling into place.
As long as he possessed dual Paths simultaneously, ascending to become an Aeon was fundamentally impossible; only by walking a singular, pure Path to its absolute extreme could one reach godhood. This die had to be a gift from HooH. A perfectly equilibrated tool designed to keep his chaotic existence somewhat balanced.
"My preliminary guess," Rekka announced, tapping the table, "is that this little gadget can forecast my Path changes. From now on, I probably won't have to wake up and play a blind guessing game about what kind of cosmic entity I'm going to turn into every morning."
Whether its true function was active guidance or mere prediction didn't really matter. If his theory held true, he could finally prepare his daily loadout in advance. He glanced up at the ceiling. 'Thanks for the assist, HooH.'
"Ooh, then let me try." Stelle didn't wait for permission. She pinched the die between her fingers and casually lobbed it across the glass surface.
The die settled instantly. Trailblaze. The projection of the lighthouse erupted with such a blinding, intense radiance that everyone around the table had to squint and shield their eyes. It was pure, unadulterated Trailblaze.
"Well, that's very Trailblaze of you," Rekka remarked dryly.
Stelle scooped up the die, staring intently at the lingering, pure light. "Wait, do I really only have Trailblaze?"
"Hmm... maybe it's just because you're basically a walking weapon rack," Rekka teased, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Calling me a weapon rack is incredibly hurtful!" Stelle protested, clutching the die to her chest in mock offense.
"Move over, let me see what I am." March 7th eagerly snatched the die from Stelle's grasp and tossed it onto the table with a flick of her wrist.
The polyhedron tumbled end over end. When it finally halted, the chilling, frozen candle insignia belonging to the Path of Remembrance illuminated the top face. A split second later, the brilliant, warm light of the Trailblaze lighthouse flared to life, completely overshadowing the frozen candle and reducing Remembrance to a mere background element.
"Makes perfect sense," March nodded, looking quite satisfied with the result.
"Allow me to give it a try." Sunday stepped forward, his usual composed demeanor giving way to a flicker of genuine curiosity.
He cast the die gently. It spun like a top across the smooth glass. Sunday watched it with a subtle, uncharacteristic tension in his shoulders, looking remarkably like an anxious student waiting for a strict professor to post the final exam grades.
The three-phase symbol of Harmony materialized—and then violently shattered.
Glass-like fragments of light scattered across the table. It was the first time any of them had seen a Path symbol actively break.
From the shattered remains of Harmony, the rigid, imposing pattern of Order emerged. A massive, unblinking eye slowly began to open. But before it could fully focus, the blazing lighthouse of Trailblaze burst straight through the pupil of Order, completely dominating the projection and forcing both Order and the fractured Harmony into the dim background.
"This..." Sunday murmured, his eyes widening slightly. "Am I... considered a part of the Trailblaze now, as well?"
He looked genuinely dazed. The eighteen-sided die lay quietly amidst the fading holographic projections, the dominant light of Trailblaze keeping both Order and Harmony firmly suppressed—as if proudly declaring his true, current allegiance to the universe.
Rekka and Stelle exchanged a knowing, highly amused glance.
Well, one could only say, as expected of the Trailblaze. The Path of Trailblaze would equally and unapologetically use the Astral Express to violently crash into absolutely every other Path in existence.
"I want to try too!" Rozaliya suddenly vaulted off the plush sofa and lunged for the table, snatching up the die. She pressed her palms tightly together with the artifact trapped inside, squeezed one eye shut, and began violently shaking her hands while muttering an beyond understanding, rapid-fire prayer under her breath. With a dramatic shout, she hurled it onto the table.
The die skittered wildly across the glass, only coming to a halt when it slammed into the side of Stelle's coffee cup. For a fraction of a second, the ominous, burning tower of Destruction flashed across the top face. Then, just as quickly, it was entirely swallowed by the warm, familiar glow of Trailblaze.
"Eh? Did something else just flash?" Rozaliya blinked, leaning in closer.
Rekka had seen it with absolute clarity. That fleeting, violent symbol belonged exclusively to the Path of Destruction.
It made a twisted sort of sense. Back when she operated under the moniker of Delta, her entire personality had been riddled with volatile, self-destructive tendencies. Though, considering how fiercely protective the twins were now, it was entirely possible these sisters had just developed a dangerously sharp 'yandere' streak.
"It was nothing," Rekka reassured her smoothly, waving a hand. "You are walking firmly on the Path of Trailblaze now... which is a very good thing."
The Trailblaze possessed a unique warmth, capable of filling the jagged cracks left behind in a broken heart. Forging bonds and connecting the hearts of lost wanderers was, after all, the true power of their journey.
Rozaliya scratched her head, clearly still a bit confused by the momentary optical illusion. "Really? But I swear I saw something catch on fire for a second... Liliya, do you want to try?"
"Mhm, Liliya will try too," the sleepy-eyed twin agreed, shuffling forward.
"It seems everyone has a little bit of Trailblaze in their heart," Stelle noted, rubbing her chin as she delivered her surprisingly philosophical summary of the morning's events.
A few feet away, Himeko rested one hand lightly against the polished mahogany of the bar counter. Her elegant gaze swept warmly over the chaotic huddle of young people gathered around the table.
"What is everyone playing so intently?" she asked, her voice rich and melodic.
"We're playing with this weird die that tests your Path! It's super interesting!" March 7th chirped, immediately shuffling sideways to make room for the navigator.
The polyhedral die lay quietly on the glass tabletop, emitting a soft, inviting golden glow. Complex geometric patterns continuously flowed across its metallic surface, catching the cabin's ambient light and reflecting sharp glimmers from every conceivable angle.
"Testing Paths?" Himeko mused, a delicate eyebrow arching as she recalled a rather disastrous past incident. "You brought Madam Herta's Curio—the Rating Pistol—onto the Astral Express once before. If I recall correctly, that little gadget ended up giving Pom-Pom a devastating score of one point. The poor Conductor was absolutely heartbroken and sulked in the corner for quite a while because of that."
"Ahaha... right, well, let's not dwell on the past!" March laughed nervously, waving her hands. "Anyway, Sister Himeko, you should definitely try this! This one seems totally legit! The results everyone got just now were fascinating! We originally thought Stelle's head was only filled with trash cans and weird thoughts, but she actually rolled pure Trailblaze! Not even a single hint of any other color..."
"Hey, March! What exactly do you mean my head is only filled with weird thoughts?!" Stelle squawked, looking highly offended.
Ignoring the bickering duo, Himeko looked down at the die. The soft golden light reflected in her amber eyes, and a faint, elegant smile played across her lips.
"Then I suppose I'll give it a try."
She tossed it with effortless grace. The die landed smoothly on the table, rolling with a soft clatter until it bumped gently against the edge of a porcelain sugar bowl. Instantly, the Trailblaze lighthouse illuminated the top face. It was pure, blindingly bright, and completely devoid of any other Path layered in the background.
The warm, golden light from the holographic lighthouse bathed Himeko's face. Her smile deepened, not looking the least bit surprised by the outcome.
"Wow, so Sister Himeko really is a completely pure Trailblazer..." March murmured in awe.
"Yes," Himeko laughed softly. "My relationship with the Astral Express goes far deeper than any of you can possibly imagine."
There was a deep, almost melancholic weight hidden within her gentle smile—a quiet depth that the younger crew members couldn't quite decipher.
It was a silent truth among the crew. The specific details of Himeko's past, and exactly how she had come to repair and command the Astral Express, was a question no one had ever seriously pressed her on. Whenever the topic occasionally surfaced, Himeko would expertly and vaguely brush it aside, promising to explain everything only when the time was truly right.
"Come on, come on, Dan Heng needs to try it too!" Stelle declared, immediately ambushing the stoic guard as he happened to walk past the lounge area, shoving the die directly into his hand.
Dan Heng caught the die instinctively, looking down at the glowing object with mild suspicion. "What exactly is this?"
"It tests your Path," Stelle explained eagerly.
He remained highly skeptical. Given the flashy golden special effects, there was a very high probability this was just some elaborate scam from a space station vendor that Stelle and March 7th had gullibly fallen for. Still, rather than argue, Dan Heng sighed softly and threw the die onto the table.
The moment it stopped, two ethereal dragon heads materialized in the air above it—one pitch black, the other pure white, circling each other in a perfect, endless loop like a yin-yang fish.
The ancient insignia of the Path of Permanence.
But the serene balance of the yin-yang dragons didn't last. The projection was violently torn apart by a razor-sharp streak of brilliant teal light. A volley of luminous arrows representing The Hunt erupted from the center, ruthlessly piercing through the ancient background of Permanence.
However, the fierce light of The Hunt could not maintain its hold. Almost the exact instant the teal arrows fully manifested, dense, web-like cracks rapidly spread across their glowing surfaces. With a sharp, illusory sound of shattering glass echoing in the quiet lounge, the symbol representing The Hunt completely collapsed into a shower of broken, fading pieces.
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