Chapter 2236: Departure and Staying |
Papa Oliver and Miss Bevanna also saw Chocolate transform into a girl, and Papa Oliver’s mouth fell slightly open in astonishment. He knew Jenkins and his cat far better than any of the young women did; after all, Jenkins had brought Chocolate to the antique shop the day after finding her on that autumn night last year.
Papa Oliver had long suspected there was something unusually close about the bond between Jenkins and his cat. Seeing this, it all suddenly clicked into place.
“You knew all along?”
Miss Bevanna inquired, her voice laced with concern as she stood beside him.
“Even so... shouldn't things be a little more... normal?”
“How could I have possibly known?” Papa Oliver replied. “I always said there had to be a reason Jenkins was so attached to that cat.”
“What on earth have you been teaching Jenkins this past year?”
Miss Bevanna asked, her tone filled with apprehension.
“Don't ask me. I don't know either.”
Magic Miss, Mr. Hood, and their other friends had also witnessed the cat's transformation, but they were far more accepting of it than Jenkins’s fiancées and mentors.
“See? Jenkins went and turned a young woman into a cat just so he could keep her by his side. I knew he wasn't as straight-laced as he pretended to be,”
Magic Miss remarked teasingly to Silver Flute Miss, leaning out of the locomotive's window.
The silver dragon had already reverted to her human form. The silver-haired young woman, Anettasia, stood atop the train with Princess Sophia. When she saw Chocolate become human, she tilted her head and whispered something in the princess’s ear. The princess’s face flushed red, and she clenched a small fist, giving the silver dragon a light punch on the waist. Anettasia, in turn, feigned a look of pain.
The silver dragon must have said something risqué.
Jenkins had no time to worry about what others thought of him. His attention was fixed on the spherical phantom floating before him.
“Do you have any last words?” he asked. “If not, I'm turning the key.”
The projection of the Difference Engine's core wavered in the sea of stars.
“Can you truly not spare me?”
“There is no chance of that.”
“Then so be it. I will return one day. I will return to the material world. Savior Williamette, I will be waiting to see this future you envision, to see if the civilization you guide is truly superior to my ‘Land of Steel’... When that time comes, you had better not disappoint me...”
Click.
The Evolution Key turned. The key’s very power was tied to the concepts of Evolution and Devolution. Its evolutionary aspect had spurred the growth of Jenkins’s World Tree Seedling, while its devolutionary power had allowed Papa Oliver to suppress his own abilities. Used against a foe, it could do the same to them.
Now, however, the key was unleashing its power of Devolution. It wasn't targeting the seal, but rather the very essence of the Difference Engine—its body and core—imprisoned within. Jenkins forced the key to exert its full potential, the only way to affect the Beast of Calamity.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the key's surface. In the end, just like the two keys before it, it disintegrated into motes of light in Jenkins's hand. But these motes were golden, infused with Jenkins's own spirit, which merged with the key's essence to amplify its power against the Difference Engine.
The seal before him finally shrank to the size of a pendant. Golden patterns emerged on the surface of the nine stone slates, the runes forming chains that intertwined with the existing silver and black-iron markings, sealing the Difference Engine completely.
The cube was now embedded within an equilateral triangle formed by three of the slates, and traces of tri-colored light flowed ceaselessly across the stone. Jenkins pulled a long thread from the coat of the now-mortal Oviya and looped it through the seal, fashioning it into a pendant.
Holding the pendant, he smiled and gently patted the head of the girl beside him. His hand ruffled her black hair, and Chocolate tugged his arm in mock protest, her face blushing as she lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze.
He turned to face the others, who were all watching him.
“Is it over?”
After a long moment, Papa Oliver asked cautiously.
“It's over.”
He affirmed with a nod, holding the pendant aloft from his high vantage point in the sea of stars. Silence reigned for another moment, then a wave of cheers erupted across the astral expanse. Jenkins smiled, watching them all. Hathaway gripped Alexia’s hand tightly, while Jessica, J-Miss, and Miss Windsor waved to him from a train window. Sigrid and the elves were tending to the elder elf, but they too turned their gazes toward him. The other women hadn't accompanied them on the train; for their own safety, they had been kept away from the final battle.
“Are we going home now?”
Amid the cheering, Hathaway called up softly to Jenkins. He maintained his smile and shook his head.
“You all go on ahead,” he said. “Leave this place. It's about to collapse. I need to take care of something.”
He gestured with the pendant in his hand.
“I have to hide this somewhere no one will ever find it. So please, leave first.”
The utter defeat of the Difference Engine meant that the primary force sustaining this dimension had vanished. This Mysterious Realm had been forced to contain far more than it was ever meant to; it was merely a fragment of space to begin with, lacking true structural integrity. Now, with the Difference Engine gone, the realm itself was beginning to perish.
Signs of collapse were already appearing at the edges of the starry sea. Taking Jenkins at his word, the others didn't question him. Magic Miss immediately got the train moving again, circling through the cosmic vista to pick everyone up.
Their arrival in the Mysterious Realm had been a chaotic leap from the carriages, like a sudden downpour of people. Boarding again would not be nearly so simple.
So, while everyone was boarding, Hathaway and the others took the opportunity to speak with Jenkins, who had descended back to the circular platform. Papa Oliver and Miss Bevanna didn't interrupt, though the old man did step forward to pat Jenkins on the shoulder.
“You're my finest apprentice.”
Miss Stevel, who had been about to offer Papa Oliver a supporting arm, hesitated, then drew her hand back and gave Jenkins a mischievous look.
Hathaway threw her arms around Jenkins in a sudden embrace, much to the displeasure of both Chocolate, who was still holding his hand, and Alexia, who stood just behind her.
“It's finally over,”
the red-haired woman whispered in his ear.
“It's over.”
“You'll be back soon, right?”
“...Of course.”
“Our wedding next summer, you still remember, don't you?”
“Of course.”
“That's good.”
She pulled away from Jenkins, quickly wiping the corner of her eye before pulling Alexia forward.
“Dolores and Julia wanted to come, but we wouldn't let them,” she explained. “They're at the church protecting Briny. You have no idea what a mess the material world is in right now.”
Hathaway continued, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand.
“Even with the Difference Engine defeated, it will likely take years for this catastrophe to truly end,”
Alexia added. Her eyes weren't red like Hathaway's, but her expression was strained.
“You promised you would come back immediately.”
“Of course. As soon as I've taken care of things here, I'll be right back.”
He kissed Hathaway and then Alexia on the forehead before gently nudging Chocolate, who was still clinging to his hand, toward them.
“Chocolate, you go with them. I'll be fine here on my own.”
“No!”
Her voice was a soft plea. The petite girl wrapped both arms around Jenkins’s, her amber eyes gazing up into his.
“Listen to me.”
He patted her head gently. Only then did the girl with the fish-shaped hairpin reluctantly release his arm.
“I'll wait for you.”
she whispered, before turning and walking toward the train with Hathaway and Alexia, glancing back over her shoulder with every step.
Everyone squeezed aboard the somewhat crowded train. Beings of different races and faiths mingled together, with no thought given to designated carriages. The Dawn Express was about to depart once more. Magic Miss leaned out of the locomotive's window and called to him:
“So, what do you think of my masterpiece?”
She slapped the side of the engine twice with a loud thump, thump.
“I'm thinking of naming it the Dawn Express. What do you think?”
“It's perfect,” Jenkins replied. “Now go. It'll be dangerous if you stay any longer.”
Magic Miss gave him a final wave and ducked back inside the cab. After a flurry of activity, black smoke finally billowed from the locomotive’s smokestack, but the train remained stationary.
“What's wrong?”
Jenkins called out. Magic Miss leaned out of the window again, looking somewhat sheepish.
“Not enough power! To get in here, the Nolan Church performed a ritual that required nearly every level-four-and-above Enchanter in the city, followers of both Righteous and Pseudo-Gods alike. It was only enough for a one-way trip!”
“No problem. Sigrid, this is for you.”
He called over to Sigrid, who was with the elves, and held out his staff to her.
“Use this for power,” he said. “You and I are both descendants of the World Tree’s priests. You should be able to use it.”
“But if I take this...”
The young nun hesitated. Jenkins leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, causing her to blush instantly.
“The battle is over. I don't need a weapon anymore.”
“Then... alright,” she agreed. “Come back soon. We'll all be waiting.”
She murmured with her head lowered. But before she turned to head for the locomotive, she suddenly rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Then she hurried aboard the locomotive. As a cascade of viridian light washed over the engine, the train's whistle shrieked. A transparent energy track materialized in the collapsing starry void, and the train slowly began to pull away. People leaned out of the windows, waving hands and hats in farewell.
Jenkins stood alone on the circular platform, its nine emblems pulsing with light, and waved back. He watched as the train circled the sea of stars twice before accelerating abruptly.
A green and gold luminescence enveloped the train as it shot forward, faster than light, into a white portal that had suddenly appeared. As the portal vanished, Jenkins turned his gaze in another direction. From the depths of the starry sky, the Star Spirit and Mr. Augustus emerged from their concealment.