Souls in Teyvat

"For the last time, yes, your bat is the nuke of this space station" said an exasperated Keith.

"Well, her attack was indeed strong" admitted March, realizing that her title as the strongest was in doubt now. "Maybe...you are the one worthy of the title of the strongest."

"Then what are you left with?" asked Keith, looking at March's frown. "Not the smartest, nor the fastest, nor the strongest."

"..." March looked at Keith with a frown, but suddenly her eyes opened wide. "The cutest!"

Dan Heng, Stelle and Keith looked wryly at March, who was looking smug at her occurrence.

"Well, I mean" started Keith. "I'm not cute, this quiet guy probably isn't too, and Stelle is the furthest away from being cute."

"What did you say?" asked Stelle, hitting her palm softly with the bat.

"You are too violent for the word cute to be associated with you" shrugged Keith, while waiting for the elevator to reach the top. "Rejoice March, you are the cutest out of all 4. And yet, I don't know if that's a merit or a punishment."

"I will take it anyway" replied March with a bright smile.

"We are here" interrupted Dan Heng.

The door opened, and the group of 4 were finally able to see other people.

On the deck of the space station, which Keith remembered as it had been one of the first things he had seen after Himeko's face, dozens of people hurriedly moved around, busy with their own things and trying to rescue what they could from the areas on lockdown.

"Over there" said March, excitedly pointing to one side.

And Keith saw her again, the person who saved him from the vastness of space, made an exorbitantly expensive purchase for a faulty body, and helped him learn everything he needed to know about the new place he found himself in.

And above everything else, she had been the woman to give him his name.

The last time Keith had seen Himeko had been 6 years ago, and Himeko had just been a young adult.

But now, Himeko had grown into a woman whose eyes denoted confidence, and gave off a calmer look than she had done before.

Keith obviously knew that Himeko also had her own adventures while he was with the Stellaron Hunters, and he had always kept track of what the Astral Express was up to, but seeing the change was surprising nonetheless.

And a bit touching, because he could feel how much his friend had grown.

"Himeko!" March quickly ran to the woman who was talking through her phone, but the red-headed woman turned around when she heard March.

"March, did you reach that signal?" asked Himeko with a small smile. "You took your time, I was about to send my drone to see how you were faring."

"We did" said Dan Heng, also approaching. "We found 2 people down there, both unconscious."

"Hmm?" Himeko hummed in thought, and looked at the 2 approaching people.

A tall man with deep purple hair and shiny purple eyes, and a girl with grey hair and golden eyes.

"And you are?" she politely asked, looking at the new arrivals.

And yet, the man walked up to her, and faster than she could react, raised her up by her armpits.

For a moment, Keith and Himeko looked at each other, with the red-headed woman too stunned to speak, under the shocked eyes of those who knew her.

But soon, a spark of recognition appeared in her golden eyes.

"Keith?" she asked, feeling how her feet touched the ground.

"You gave that name, you should at least remember it" replied Keith with a shrug, but he didn't bother hiding his smile.

"You know each other?" asked Dan Heng with his eternally calm expression.

"Of course" replied Keith with a nod. "I'm your sempai."

"Oh!" said March with a clap. "You are the mysterious and annoying person sending those letters!"

Keith looked at Himeko, but before he could ask for an explanation of why he was being called annoying, the whole space station shook violently. Red light illuminated the whole floor they were in, and the siren started buzzing.

"What's goi-!"

Stelle opened her mouth, but he fell to the floor when the space station shook again with unprecedented violence.

Keith immediately stood up, grabbing Himeko's hand raising her, and picking up March like a stray cat by the scruff of her clothes.

"It's here" said Himeko, picking up a suitcase from the ground, that upon opening, revealed some hidden blades and... a rocket launcher. "The Doomsday Beast."

ROAAAAR

Just then, a purple flash passed in front of the giant windows of the space station.

A colossal being with purple wings roared, and the sheer strength of said howl shook the space station again.

"Hey you!" shouted March, aiming at the colossal beast with her bow. "Get back down here!"

"...you aren't cute anymore" muttered Keith. "That was just stupid."

ROAAAAR!

The Doomsday Beast landed in front of them breaking the windows, and only the field around the Space Station avoided all air leaving the floor they were in.

"We need to stop it" said Dan Heng, with his trusty spear in his hand. "The whole station will be destroyed sooner or later."

Keith sighed, March nodded with a concentrated look, and Himeko frowned.

While Stelle only swung her bat in her hands expertly, wondering if this one would resist the power of her mighty bat.

"It's coming" said Dan Heng, seeing the Doomsday Beast raise its arm.

Without any word being guttered, they took the positions they felt the most comfortable in.

Himeko stood back with her suitcase filled with weapons of mass murder, even if the cannon she could commend couldn't be used. They were still in the space station after all.

March also stepped back, because she knew that her physical abilities weren't...great.

Dan Heng and Keith stood in the frontline ready to engage in melee combat using their training.

And Stelle.... was the first one.

Because she had a bat, and was ready to use it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Incoming" shouted Dan Heng when the beast's left hand swept the ground and everything was in its way.

Stelle turned sideways, pushed her waist back, and grabbed her bat with both hands, ready to do a home run.

And yet, but the time the foe's hand arrived where she was, she found herself flying above it.

"Think, trash-obsessed woman" grumbled Keith, having grabbed Stelle's coat Stelle and jumping over the hand. "Look there."

Stelle, without any other option now that she couldn't move, did so.

"Don't you think that looks like the best place to hit?" asked Keith, bending the knees when he landed and putting Stelle on the ground.

In the centre of the Doomsday Beast, a cube-shaped purple fragment stood, floating in the air and screaming one thing.

Weak point.

"When you see a chance" said Keith, making Stelle look at him. "Run towards it and smash it as hard as you can."

Stelle nodded, tightening her hold on the bat.

And a spark of purple appeared on the surface of the bat, unseen by anyone.

A huge arm came from above, making Keith push Stelle away, with him rolling to the opposite side.

The ground under the arm exploded when the hand impacted the ground, sending debris everywhere, but both Stelle and Keith dodged everything jumping back.

"From the left!" shouted Dan Heng, jumping over the arm and trying to find an opening.

And yet, someone else didn't want to find an opening, but create it.

Grasping his sword with both hands, and with one foot a step in front of the other like his teacher had told him, Keith stood in front of the sweeping hand with a hard look in his purple eyes.

And the moment the hand was close, he swung down with every bit of strength he had.

The collision created a small shockwave that made Himeko's hair wildly dance in the hair, and her golden eyes widened when he saw Keith blocking the attack.

"Ngh!" Keith grunted, with his sword trembling with the effort to hold the whole arm in place, but his feet were slowly sliding backwards.

'Not strong enough' realized Keith, so with a brief push, he created some space for him to jump above the seemingly unharmed harm.

"Stelle, stop!" March's voice sounded, and Stelle immediately stopped her rush to the central cube, choosing to trust the pink-haired woman.

"Above you!" once again, Dan Heng's voice alerted the rest of what the Doomsday Beast was doing, and Stelle found a big shadow appearing under her feet.

She looked up, only to see a white arm coming down on her while sparkling with pure power.

But once again, someone covered her.

A stream of fire impacted the arm, creating a small explosion that made the arm land in front of Stelle, who found herself looking at white wall that made her coat sway with the wind it created.

Himeko made the cannon she had in her hands return to the briefcase it had been before, but her eyes narrowed seeing how little damage her attack had done.

She had stronger attacks, but using them inside the Space Station would do more harm than good.

But the arm in front of Stelle started buzzing, and Stelle quickly found out why.

The joints of the arm where the different white plates joined acquired a yellowy shine, and before she could react, it unleashed a wave of Destruction that reached her.

Stelle rolled through the ground, having been sent back a dozen meters due to the savage attack, but she immediately stood up, a bit shocked about her own relatively unharmed state.

"Hehe, got you!" shouted a proud March, making Stelle realize that a small and almost transparent shield had appeared in front of her.

And yet, Stelle only frowned.

She had been saved twice, and that didn't sit well with her, mainly because she knew she could have reacted faster and moved quicker, but the left arm was swinging again, and they prepared to dodge the sweeping attack once again.

All but one, that was intent on doing something more.

Keith looked at the approaching arm with a single thought.

He had been too weak before, but that only meant one thing.

He only needed to hit harder.

A simple thought Blade would have puked upon hearing it, but right now, it was what his body asked him to. So Keith clenched his teeth, raised his hands holding the sword, and swung it when the arm was about to hit him.

Once again, the clash raised a gust of wind, but incomparably stronger than the one before.

"Nh!" Keith grunted once again, clenching his teeth with an effort to block the attack, but this time he was decided.

Decided to block the attack, to not let it pass through, and to create a chance for Stelle to target what seemed to be the core.

So asking his own body for more than what it could give right now, he pushed his sword harder, making sparks appear when it clashed against the armoured arm, and just like it usually happened in his training, the more he asked of his body, the more it seemed to give.

"..." much to Himeko's surprise, she saw the colossal back arm being stopped by a mere human-looking being incomparably inferior in size and seemingly in strength.

Just as did the rest, but one person moved ahead of everyone else.

"Cover me" said Stelle, something inside her telling her that this was her chance.

So Stelle started running against the core, with her bat ready to be swung in a decimating attack that she intended to make a home run.

The black shadow appeared under her once again, revealing that the other arm was about to hit her, but Stelle only sprinted forward.

A torrent of fire once again displaced the arm, a spear collided with the hand and a transparent shield appeared above Stelle, succeeding in making the attack deviate.

But it wouldn't have been needed, because Stelle wasn't in the place the attack would have landed.

She kept running, marvelling at how fast her legs were taking her to her objective, and she let out a small smile covering her face.

So when she stopped in front of the cubical piece she thought with the core with her arms ready to swing, the smile had transformed into a somewhat bigger one.

"HOME" she said just before swinging. "RUN!"

And her bat, glowing with blue energy, impacted the core.

A gust of air incomparably bigger than anything before picked up, revealing the strength of the clash.

Keith felt the strength behind the black arm slowly dissipating, and soon it fell limp to the ground.

The moment the bat impacted the core, a web of purple veins appeared through the whole armour before anyone could realize, leaving behind a shocked but exhausted Stelle, who wondered how could a single swing tire her out so much.

'Is that...' Himeko looked with surprise at the blue veining covering the Doomsday Beast, and realized it was the same kind of energy she felt surging inside her a few days ago.

So her look towards the sweating and panting but smiling Stelle turned into a narrowed one carrying her curiosity.

Stelle let herself fall to the ground, sweating but content. The moment her bat clashed against the Doomsday Beast, she felt something shooting inside her, and a rush of 'something' like nothing she had ever felt before coursed through her whole body, leaving her oddly satisfied.

Maybe she would need to study what it had been in the future, but for now she chose to keep the sensation of her hit connecting with the core in her mind.

"I think...I found my calling" she murmured, closing her eyes in tiredness.

"Aeons save us"

A deep voice made her open her eyes, only to find the face of the man who had been found lying beside her looking at her with a small smile.

And also, the man she felt oddly comfortable with, almost as if someone had told her that this man would always stand by her side.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Keith's addition to the plan Elio had hoped to leave aside, new variables appeared, ones that would forever change the path the universe would take, but above all, ones that would affect the small crew of the Astral Express.

For the better or the worse, fate was changing due to the fragment of something strange inside Keith.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That was amazing!" shouted the excitable March, approaching the slowly standing up Stelle, who grasped Keith's extended hand to rise. "You swung like fwoosh, and then the impact went like BOOM, and- and-"

"Okay March, that's enough" said Himeko, also approaching, but with a relieved and curious expression this time. "But just as she said, it was incredible."

"Of course it was" said Keith, softly hitting his chest with his fist.

"She was clearly talking about my attack" said Stelle, looking at Keith with a smirk.

"And I knew" replied Keith with a smile that caught Stelle flat-footed. "But I also know that what I did was more important than what you did."

"Nu-uh" said March, shaking her head. "She was more impressive."

"...." Keith frowned at March, looking at her up and down. "One, you are still salty because I carried you like a sack of potatoes. 2, you are still salty because I said you weren't that strong or smart. 3, you are salty because the only thing you did was put a mere shield."

"Hey!" shouted March with a pout. "It was a good-placed shield! It's incredibly difficult to place one that far and so powerful at that!"

"Yes, I agree!" said Stelle, clearly seeing some value in banding with March. "And I killed that thing alone. That swing was a piece of art."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And like this, Keith's presence had started to change the future.

But his presence...didn't always mean that the future would be easier.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith felt faintly moving through the edge of his vision, and with reflexes honed in thousands of hours of training against someone that wasn't afraid of drawing blood, pushed Stelle and Himeko aside, just before a punch of a white-armoured hand sent him flying with broken ribs.

The purple veining in the Doomsday Beast was quickly receding, and the deadly beast was rising up, with the core shining like it had never before.

The power of the Trailblaze had the power to change the future, and make the impossible reality by carving a new path for the rest of the trailblazers to follow, be it by fighting back against other Paths, or simply creating a set of coincidences or situations that would allow them to grasp a single chance to succeed.

But this was by no means an unstoppable force no one could fight against.

Nanook didn't care about what Keith or Stelle might be up to, as he was Destruction itself, and as everything would end up being destroyed, it didn't matter what anyone else was up to, but Destruction had already clashed with the power of the Trailblaze, and it learned just like every other fragment of the universe would.

And now, the Doomsday Beast had learned what the power of the Trailblaze could do, as Keith had already clashed at one of the highest levels of concentrated Destruction, a Stellaron.

The Doomsday Beast was ready to retaliate, and it had enough power to do so.

Every single member of the Antimatter Legion inside the Space Station fell limp when they felt their Destruction leaving their bodies, because right now what it needed to destroy the most weren't labs, humans or experimental data.

It was the woman able to charge an exorbitant amount of Trailblaze, and the man who seemed to be the Trailblaze itself.

The core of the Doomsday Beast started to shine brightly, making everyone close their eyes due to the radiant brilliance it emitted, and in the place where the purple veins had appeared, a golden colour of Destruction took place, making the beast look like a completely different one.

ROAAAAAAAAAAAR!

What had once been the Doomsday Beast roared, making Himeko, Dan Hen, Stelle and March crouch on the ground to avoid being blown off.

The right and left arms of the beast started shining with the same golden colour, making the beast acquire a golden and white cover too majestic to belong to a mere agent of Destruction.

The air around it creaked with the sheer power the arms emitted, and before Dan Heng could speak, the arm was swung again.

Infinitely faster this time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indeed, Keith was bringing changes.

They would help people, and bring a brighter future and hope to those who shouldn't have been allowed to have it.

But it also escalated the difficulty for the Astral Express' crew, because even if Keith didn't have the powers of an Aeon, his existence was still a source of curiosity and the target of the animosity of powerful beings.

But, hopefully, they will be okay.

Because they had the power to carve a path to the future.