"You are…"
Welt spotted Acheron standing beside Koji. He pushed up his glasses. He'd already heard Koji describe the "purple-haired woman with a tachi," but seeing her with his own eyes still made his expression crack.
She looked too much like her—way too much. That face had an absurdly high resemblance to Raiden Mei.
Over the course of their Trailblazing journey, he'd already run into many familiar old faces.
"Uncle Yang, what's wrong?" March 7th looked at Welt. His expression changes were so dramatic.
"Ahem… it's nothing. I just remembered some things from the past," Welt said, giving a light cough.
She looked similar, yes—but he knew this wasn't Mei. Just someone who looked very much like Mei.
Stepping outside for a trip and suddenly feeling like you'd come home—yeah, that kind of feeling.
"Mei, let me introduce you. This is Welt Yang," Koji said, barely holding back his grin. He wanted to see Old Yang make that face.
"What's your name?"
Welt had just managed to calm down, and now he completely lost it again. He stared at Acheron in shock and uncertainty.
"Raiden Bōsen Mei. Of course, you can just call me Acheron now," Acheron nodded.
She wasn't who she used to be. She said her name naturally, without hesitation.
Raiden…? Mei…?
Welt's expression instantly became extremely colorful. The "Bōsen" in the middle sounded like some kind of official title—meaning her original name was simply Raiden Mei.
Was that… right?
He'd assumed she was just a counterpart, but this counterpart was also named Raiden Mei.
…Bad. This was bad.
Honkai was still chasing him. He'd already left Earth, and Honkai still refused to let him go.
That made him have to wonder—was that Luocha guy actually named Otto?
In that moment, he honestly wanted Pom-Pom to drive the Astral Express straight back to the Xianzhou so he could confront Luocha face-to-face.
"What is it?"
"Have you seen someone who looks a lot like me?" Acheron asked, puzzled. Welt's expression was seriously off—like he'd just witnessed something unbelievably shocking.
She had some impression of Welt. She'd seen similar people before as well.
"Yes. I have," Welt said with a sigh. "She was… once my student."
Even though he'd been laying low at St. Freya Academy, he'd always taken teaching seriously. He never half-heartedly dealt with those kids.
"I see. Mr. Welt, I'm not the student you knew. I'm only similar," Acheron shook her head.
Welt knew that too—similar, not the same person.
Still… that Luocha guy bothered him. If his real name was Otto, then even if he wasn't the Otto Welt knew, he'd still be a dangerous figure.
But thinking about it, forget it. Luocha had been detained by the Xianzhou; Welt didn't have the chance to visit him whenever he wanted. By now, he probably wasn't even on the Luofu anymore.
"Ms. Acheron, may I ask what you've come to Penacony for?" Welt asked.
After learning Acheron's real name, he completely lowered his guard. Someone with that face and that name—how could she possibly be a bad person?
That wasn't judging by appearances. It was instinct telling him: this is a teammate you can trust.
"I made a promise to a deceased person—to come to Penacony and take a walk here, and to deliver his belongings to his colleagues," Acheron explained simply.
"My condolences," Welt said, assuming the deceased had been Acheron's friend.
"Speaking of which… he also had ties to the Astral Express. He should've been one of the Nameless back then," Acheron added.
"One of the Nameless… from back then?"
"What was his name?" March 7th asked curiously. Acheron actually knew a former Nameless. She looked young, but her age was probably… not small.
After all, the Express only resumed traveling the cosmos after Himeko repaired it—so the Nameless Acheron knew would've been from before the crash.
"Boreklīn Tierenan. You've heard that name, right?"
The Express crew couldn't help reacting. Of course they'd heard it.
That was the Nameless Pom-Pom had asked them to inquire about before they got off the train.
"To think we'd hear news about that senior… Thousands of years have passed, and in the end, he still left this world," Himeko said softly, a trace of sorrow in her voice.
Thousands of years ago, three Nameless had gotten off at Penacony. Tierenan had been a guard of the former Astral Express—also a highly skilled gunslinger.
"Pom-Pom is going to be really sad when they find out…"
March 7th's chest tightened, a sour ache rising. That Nameless must've been a very good friend of Pom-Pom's.
"Ms. Acheron, when did you last see this Nameless?" Welt asked.
A figure from thousands of years ago—and Acheron saw his end. Just how old was she?
"These past few years," Acheron said.
"When I happened to see him, he had already become a Bloodguilt Spirit, repeating the actions he'd performed while alive. I gave him release, and I promised to deliver his belongings to his colleagues."
Welt and Himeko both frowned. They knew what a Bloodguilt Spirit was—an obsession of a Pathstrider, born from the shadow of IX. It regarded itself as a servant, without realizing it, endlessly repeating what the deceased once did.
Born from Nihility, returning to Nihility.
"Tierenan… Back then, outside Asdana, he encountered an attack by the Swarm. He was saved by a Galaxy Ranger, joined the Galaxy Rangers to take part in the campaign to exterminate Zhulu, and then—as a survivor—vanished without a trace…"
Koji very simply recounted Tierenan's experience.
No Emanator involved, yet they still managed to surround and wipe out an Emanator of Destruction… The Galaxy Rangers really were fearless.
There were two more famous factions under the Hunt: the Xianzhou and the Galaxy Rangers. Koji admired the Galaxy Rangers more—swift vengeance, clean and satisfying.
As for the Xianzhou Alliance… its internal mess was too chaotic. It looked powerful on the surface, but once internal conflict truly erupted, the Xianzhou would definitely be shaken.
"I've heard of that campaign. I never thought Senior Tierenan was part of it too," Himeko said, stunned.
Many people knew the campaign happened, but nobody knew who was actually there. They only knew it was the Galaxy Rangers—yet that battle had hit the Rangers so hard they went silent for a long time.
"Thank you for telling us."
Himeko spoke with solemn sincerity. If it weren't for Acheron, they'd never have known any of this. In Penacony, how many people could still remember those few Nameless at all?
"If you want to know about the other two Nameless, you can go to Dreamflux Reef," Acheron said.
"…?"
Himeko and the others looked at each other. They'd never heard of a place like that in Penacony.
"It seems Penacony is hiding a lot of things that people don't know about."
They all smelled something off. The Family had been concealing a lot—especially things related to the Nameless' contributions.
"We understand. If we get the chance, we'll go take a look."
They were used to it. The Nameless ran into trouble everywhere they went. If this trip stayed calm and uneventful, that would actually feel unfamiliar.
(End of Chapter)
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