Granholm fell silent for a moment. His clouded gaze drifted up toward the cavern ceiling—as if it could pierce stone, see the Astral Express, see countless bygone days.
"…It's not some profound method, Miss Acheron," he said slowly, hoarsely.
"It's just… a very insignificant little deception."
"Deception?" Acheron tilted her head slightly, the question plain and unadorned.
"Yes. Deception." Granholm's voice carried exhaustion—and oddly, a thread of relief.
He raised one hand. A pale gray halo coiled around his withered fingertips.
"You seem to have forgotten, Miss Acheron. I wasn't resisting Nihility. I was… accepting it. Becoming it."
Acheron's pupils tightened. Understanding struck instantly.
"You already…"
"Yes." Granholm didn't dodge it. "Long ago, I stepped onto Nihility. I became a Self-Annihilator."
He gave a bitter, almost self-mocking curve of the mouth.
"On a Trailblaze long in the past, I was… covered by Nihility's shadow. And I began walking that road."
"But I was different from other Self-Annihilators. I deceived Nihility… and I deceived myself."
His eyes turned distant, as if he were looking across a corridor of years toward the moment his fate bent.
"I told myself: I'm accepting Nihility so I can use it to complete one last Trailblaze… to save this world."
He looked at Acheron, expression complicated.
"Ridiculous, isn't it? A Self-Annihilator… clinging to Trailblaze."
"Yet that contradiction—that lie—was exactly what let me keep a final thread of 'self' while Nihility gnawed at me. I didn't become an empty shell."
He let out a rasping chuckle.
"I even fooled the others on the Express. I hid it for a long time. Until everyone left… and not one person noticed."
Wei Qing listened in silence, the pieces clicking into place.
No wonder Granholm could conceive of—and execute—such a near-suicidal method.
He had been a Nihility walker all along. He had affinity. He had understanding.
And the Trailblaze stubbornness still burning in him served as the engine and anchor.
Who would have guessed?
The last navigator of the Astral Express before the main story—had been a hidden Self-Annihilator.
He'd taken that secret into the grave, leaving the Express logs pristine.
Shocking—and yet, it fit.
"So you understand now, Miss Acheron?" Granholm's voice pulled Wei Qing back. "This was my choice… and the only thing I could do that still qualified as a Nameless's Trailblaze."
Acheron watched him for a long beat, as if she were trying to see the faint ember in his soul through all that gray.
"Even knowing the end of this road is complete annihilation… you still continue?"
"Yes." Granholm's answer held no hesitation. "This is the last thing I can do for the Express—for Trailblaze. The train needs rest. It has carried too much. And I… perhaps I can also find my own ending here."
Wei Qing finally spoke.
"Was it worth it? For a planet the universe already forgot—to gamble everything, even to hasten the Express's dormancy?"
Granholm turned his head toward him. For a moment, the murk in his eyes cleared into something startlingly lucid.
"Young man… Yi Qing, yes? The ticket tells me so. Welcome aboard the Astral Express—welcome to Trailblaze."
He breathed, rough and shallow, then continued.
"Worth isn't decided by the result. Trailblaze's meaning is the process—the connection—the witnessing."
"This planet may be forgotten, but its lives are still struggling. I saw it. I couldn't pretend not to. That's the Nameless road… and it's why I stepped onto it in the first place."
He spoke as if he were narrating someone else's story.
"When I was young, I visited a world that feared death so much it sealed itself inside eternal amber. Endless time… and no meaning."
"And here…" He glanced around, as though he could see through stone to the surface, to the Huiguang people still trying to live.
"They didn't flee. They chose the opposite path—facing nothingness, even if the price is losing the colors of feeling."
Wei Qing nodded slowly. "I understand."
"Then, senior—since the Stellaron and the Nihility crisis are resolved… we should return to the Express, right? Pam is waiting."
A flicker of complexity passed through Granholm's eyes. He shook his head.
"No, Yi Qing."
"I still need time."
Wei Qing didn't interrupt, only waited.
"This vessel is at its limit." Granholm lowered his gaze to his trembling hands.
"I absorbed a planet's 'nothing.' It's part of me now—or rather, I'm about to become part of it."
"If I return to the train…"
He looked up. In his eyes were pleading and decision in equal measure.
"I will only bring this Nihility to the Express. To Pam. That… is the one thing I refuse to do."
Wei Qing fell silent.
He could tell Granholm was telling the truth.
Right now the old navigator was like a walking source of Nihility; if he boarded the Astral Express, the already-worn, exhausted train might not survive that burden.
"So that's your choice," Wei Qing said, voice flat. "Stay here, merge with the void, and finally… die here?"
Granholm chuckled.
"Not quite."
"Maybe I always had some talent to become a 'chaos physician.' After I became a Self-Annihilator, I found I could guide Nihility… a little."
A gray thread swirled at his fingertip, then—against intuition—condensed into a wisp of extremely faint vitality.
"Look. Even the most extreme 'nothing'—under certain conditions—can grow a tiny sprout of 'something.' That's the small control I've groped my way toward over the years."
He looked at Wei Qing and Acheron.
"The Nihility on this planet hasn't fully dispersed. I need to stay—not to wait for death, but to digest it."
"It shouldn't take long. About a week."
"A week…" Wei Qing's gaze swept over Granholm's almost-transparent presence. "Senior, are you sure you can last that long?"
"I have to try." Granholm's voice was light, but unshakable. "This is the road I chose—the last thing I can do for this starry sky."
"Win or lose, the process itself has meaning."
Acheron, silent until now, spoke.
"I'll stay too."
Wei Qing and Granholm both turned toward her.
"I came to stop the possible arrival of Fenghuo. The remaining Destruction and Nihility here can still attract him."
Her voice was steady as ever.
"Until you finish the purification, I'll guard this place."
She paused, then added:
"If necessary, I'll help."
Blunt—but unexpectedly reassuring.
With a Nihility Emanator here, at least the worst-case scenario wouldn't be allowed to unfold.
Granholm gave a small nod. "Then… thank you, Miss Acheron."
He turned back to Wei Qing, his face softening into something almost kindly.
"Yi Qing, go back."
"Tell Pam I'm fine. I just need a little time to complete the final cleansing. Tell it… not to worry."
Wei Qing looked at the old man—burned dry, yet still thinking of the Express—and felt a tangle of emotions.
After a long pause, he nodded.
"I understand, senior."
"I'll tell Pam. I'll make sure it waits calmly."
He glanced once more at Granholm, then at Acheron.
"Then I'll leave this place to you."
Acheron nodded.
Wei Qing turned and departed, blinking through the underground passage until he vanished.
Back on the Astral Express, Pam was pacing anxiously in the observation car.
When it saw Wei Qing return alone, panic flooded its eyes.
"Yi Qing passenger! Where is Granholm passenger, huh?! Why didn't he come back too, huh?!"
Wei Qing crouched and patted Pam's head, explaining Granholm's situation briefly—omitting the Self-Annihilator truth, and omitting Acheron's presence.
"…So senior needs a bit of time to finish the final purification. He wants us not to worry."
Pam's eyes shimmered, but it forced the tears down.
"Pam understands… Granholm passenger was always like that—always putting others first, huh…"
It wiped its eyes and puffed out its chest.
"Pam will wait properly! Pam will take good care of the train!"
Wei Qing sighed inwardly.
He could feel it: as Granholm contained Qilan Star's Nihility, the planet was slowly returning to life. The process would be long, but hope now existed.
And the Astral Express truly did need a deep "sleep" to digest the accumulated wear—not a patch job.
Over the following days, Wei Qing remained aboard, settling into life as a Nameless while using Trailblaze authority to nourish the train. He even picked a room for himself.
Under his support, the Express improved noticeably—Pam looked livelier too.
But Wei Qing knew it was only temporary.
Then, on the seventh day—just as Wei Qing believed things would remain stable until the cleansing completed—
A needle-sharp fluctuation stabbed in from Qilan Star's direction.
Not Nihility losing control.
But a pure, scorching intent of Destruction, forcing itself into an area that had only just begun to calm.
"It's here." Wei Qing's gaze hardened.
Almost at the same time, Granholm's aura trembled violently, and he coughed up a mouthful of dark blood. The steady gray flow around him turned restless.
In the cavern, Acheron's still figure blurred—then appeared in front of Granholm.
Her blade remained sheathed, but a far denser "nothing" expanded outward, isolating Granholm from that incoming Destruction intent.
"Fenghuo," Acheron said, confirming it like a verdict.
Above Qilan Star, the sky—just beginning to show hints of clarity after the retreat of Nihility—was torn open by something brutal.
A dot of gray-white burned into the firmament like an ember in clean water.
It spread.
Not light—the concept of burning itself gnawing into reality.
A figure stepped out of that gray-white.
Annihilation Lord. Fenghuo.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin