Three days later.
"Yoshino, Mako, remember to eat properly over there, keep a regular schedule, and don't cause trouble for the Commander..."
"Get along well with everyone and try to make plenty of friends. Hmm... And if you have time, you can always come back and visit your hometown."
Inside Ikuta Shrine, Mako and Yoshino packed their luggage while listening to Tomotake Yasuharu's endless nagging.
"These are Hoori specialties. Remember to take them with you and share some with your companions..."
"And this is what Ikuta Shrine has saved over the years. Yoshino, Mako, keep it safe. If you ever run short of money..."
Like every aging father sending his daughters on a long journey, Tomotake Yasuharu had taken worrying to an outrageous extreme.
He forcibly stuffed several huge bags of snacks, dried goods, and other things into their suitcases, then handed Yoshino a thick envelope filled entirely with cash.
"...Father."
Yoshino Tomotake hesitated, unsure how to put it.
"Um... the Commander gave us a lot of... money. Uh, like, many times more than the richest person in the world has."
"And the Starsea Empire's homeland doesn't even use currency. It's a utopian society where everyone takes what they need."
"Oh—"
Tomotake Yasuharu slapped his forehead, realizing he had been worrying for nothing.
"So, you've made your decision?"
Setsuna looked at the two girls, who had finished packing.
"Mm."
Yoshino nodded.
"I want to see the world beyond Hoori."
Over the past few days, she and Mako had gone through a general overview of the Starsea Empire's information.
There was magic there, starships that crossed the universe, and all sorts of races that had previously existed only in imagination and manga.
Had she never heard of such magnificent sights, Yoshino might have peacefully spent her entire life in Hoori Town under the title of the "Princess of the Tomotake Family."
But once she caught even a glimpse of that interstellar empire, she realized there was a far broader world beyond Hoori.
Even if she was merely an ordinary human, she could still find a place that belonged to her there.
"I'm going to protect Lady Yoshino! It doesn't matter what world we go to!"
Mako Hitachi energetically struck a few poses.
"Oh, right, Mr. Alien. Is there anywhere in the Starsea Empire where I can learn ninjutsu?"
"Uh..."
Setsuna thought for a moment.
"If you mean traditional ninjutsu, then no. That stuff doesn't have much practical combat value."
"If you want to learn something like magic, though, I can have you undergo an aptitude test at the Magic Academy first."
Mako Hitachi could be considered one of the relatively combat-capable ordinary people in the Senren Banka world.
Even then, that only amounted to knowing techniques like substitution and using ninja tools such as kunai and shuriken, along with being somewhat more agile than the average person.
"Oh... Then please take care of me!"
The Angeloids helped the two girls transfer their packed luggage onto the Astral Express.
"Oh, right. Hold on."
Before departing, Setsuna suddenly remembered something.
"Come with me."
He took Murasame by the hand and walked deeper into Ikuta Shrine.
They passed through the main hall and continued underground through a gloomy hidden passage.
Everything around them was pitch-black, and a faintly decayed odor lingered in the air.
"This... This is inside the shrine?"
Yoshino and Murasame were both startled.
"Father said there was a barrier here protecting the sacred object. No one is allowed to approach it, not even the successive heads of the Tomotake family."
"That's right. This barrier is quite old. It was essentially created around the same time as the shrine itself."
The area beneath the shrine was much larger than expected. After walking for roughly five minutes, they arrived before a sealed chamber.
Setsuna raised one hand. Several layers of barriers shattered with a thunderous crash.
When he pushed open the heavy wooden door, everyone felt as though time itself had briefly frozen, as though they had stepped into sacred ground.
The atmosphere around them instantly became extraordinarily solemn.
Click—
Once the lights came on, the interior of the room was dimly illuminated.
At the center of the small chamber stood a raised altar, and atop it rested a coffin.
"What is this?..."
Out of curiosity, several people leaned forward to look inside.
"Ah..."
The instant she saw the person within the coffin, Yoshino covered her mouth and instinctively took two steps backward.
Murasame herself simply froze.
Inside lay a green-haired girl whose appearance was completely identical to Murasame's, her eyes closed as she rested peacefully within the coffin.
Her clothes had already crumbled into fragments over the long passage of time, yet her body remained perfectly preserved without the slightest wound.
Aside from the pallor of her face, she looked as though she were merely asleep.
"Th-That's... me?!..."
Murasame stared in a daze.
"Mm."
Setsuna nodded.
"This is you from more than five hundred years ago, when you were sacrificed as a human pillar."
"You are the sacred object Ikuta Shrine has worshiped all this time. After your soul took residence within Murasamemaru and became its custodian, your body was left here."
"The barrier froze the passage of time around your body, preserving it all the way until the present day."
"Ah..."
Murasame remained dazed.
If Setsuna had not known this world inside and out, she would never have learned that her body had been stored beneath the shrine all this time.
"I... I..."
Her memories drifted back into the distant past.
Back then, she had been suffering from a terminal illness and had willingly offered herself as a sacrifice in order to oppose the demons.
It had not been driven by some lofty motive. Rather, since she was afflicted with an incurable disease and could die at any moment, she had thought she might as well bring things to an end sooner.
And so the girl had accompanied Murasamemaru, wandering the mortal world and struggling against the cursed gods for several centuries until Setsuna arrived and completely eradicated the curse.
"If you want to become human again, I can return your soul to your body."
Setsuna gently stroked the girl lying inside the coffin.
"The terminal illness you suffered from in your previous life was pneumonia. Five hundred years ago, that really could be considered incurable. Nowadays... curing it would take practically no effort at all."
"Or, if you think living as a spirit is more convenient, you can remain like this."
In the original storyline, Murasame's best choice would naturally have been to become human again and experience life once more from a human perspective.
But in the Starsea Empire, whether she was human or a spirit hardly mattered. The capital was filled with all kinds of strange and unusual people. She could live in either form entirely according to her own preference.
"Mm..."
Murasame looked hesitant.
"If I become human, I can live like an ordinary person... but that would be really inconvenient..."
"What would be inconvenient about it? If Lady Murasame became human, wouldn't you be able to eat, sleep, and rest just like us?"
Yoshino found that a little strange.
"Didn't you really like the desserts Roka and Erina made before? You even complained that having to rely on the Commander whenever you wanted to eat was inconvenient..."
"...That's true."
Murasame's voice dropped.
"But... But right now, as long as Master carries Murasamemaru with him, I can appear beside him whenever I want."
"If I had a human body, wouldn't I have much less time to stay with Master?..."
"Huh?"
Even Setsuna had not expected the little blade's thoughts to be so simple.
He gently wrapped his arms around Murasame from behind and patted her softly, leaving the choice entirely to her.
"Uh..."
While she was still struggling with the decision, a certain embodiment of humanity's evil raised a hand again.
"I have a brilliant idea!"
"You can normally live in the capital as a human. Whenever the Commander heads out, just become Murasamemaru's sword spirit again and go with him. Problem solved, right?"
"Learning how to separate your soul from your body and then return to it shouldn't be that hard, should it? If it is, we can always ask Herta."
"..."
Everyone stared at her in astonishment. Setsuna gave her a thumbs-up.
"You're a little genius."
...
"Then this world will be your responsibility from now on."
"Manage it according to our standard principles for subordinate worlds. Integrate the world's resources as quickly as possible, elevate humanity to the space age, and then begin large-scale cosmic development."
Two more days passed before Setsuna issued Sophon her final instructions.
Now that the cursed god had been destroyed and the girls had been taken away, the Senren Banka world had become an entirely ordinary human civilization.
It was essentially no different from twenty-first-century Earth.
Sophon already had extensive experience managing worlds like this. All she needed to do was proceed step by step, unify the planet, develop the solar system, and establish teams for interstellar expansion.
"As for Hoori Town, you can give it a little special treatment. Preserve the scenery there. I like that place."
After finishing his instructions, Setsuna added another line.
"Understood. We will carry out appropriate modernization of Hoori while preserving its original character."
Sophon nodded in acknowledgment.
Hum...
At the Angeloids' direction, the natives of the Senren Banka world boarded the small spacecraft one after another.
Besides Yoshino Tomotake, Mako Hitachi, the two girls from Tatsumiya who had lost their shokugeki and been bundled off with them, there was also a blonde, purple-eyed girl with low twin-tails following the Angeloids with a completely bewildered expression.
She wore a short-sleeved top and shorts, had an especially impressive figure, and carried a backpack. She looked brimming with energy.
"Huh? I can go study abroad in the Starsea Empire? Really?"
"Hoori Town is going to be under the Starsea Empire's administration from now on?"
Lena dragged a suitcase behind her and curiously observed everyone around her.
She was an exchange student from Northern Europe who had come to Hoori. One of her ancestors had once lived in Shinatose Village while working there as a railway engineer, and she herself had eventually settled down while studying and working part-time.
Then, completely out of nowhere, she received a transfer order from her school.
"That's right. In the Starsea Empire, you'll have the opportunity to enter institutions of higher education."
Nymph answered with a perfectly serious expression.
There was no need to expend much effort dealing with this natural airhead. She could be handled with ease.
"Besides ordinary subjects such as language, mathematics, and physics, you can also choose vocational courses such as Gundam piloting, Spirit magic, and magecraft from the Fate system."
"Huh?!"
Lena stared blankly as she listened.
"O-Okay..."
She obediently sat down beside Yoshino and Mako.
"Ooooooh—"
"We're flying! Yoshino, we're flying!!—"
Even though it was merely an ordinary atmospheric shuttle, these country girls were incomparably excited.
As Hoori Town grew smaller and smaller through the window until it finally became a black speck hidden beneath the clouds, Yoshino and Mako both fell silent for a while.
They realized that they had truly left their homeland behind and were about to begin an entirely new journey and a new life.
The shuttle continued climbing.
Before long, it reached the vicinity of the Astral Express.
"Huh? We're transferring from a spaceship to a train? Are we taking the train from here?"
Everyone blinked as they looked at the two trains floating amid the sea of stars.
"Mm. These are the Astral Expresses we use to trailblaze new worlds. This world is only one stop along our route."
Inside the carriage, Setsuna instructed Himeko to arrange rooms for the new temporary passengers.
"We'll be heading to other worlds next. You can choose to continue traveling aboard the Astral Express, or you can return to the Starsea Empire's homeland."
"I'll arrange for someone to receive you in the capital."
The Senren Banka world had merely been a place for temporary rest. Naturally, their trailblazing journey would continue.
As for what the girls they had brought back chose to do, that was entirely up to them. They could follow the train and enjoy the journey, or return home first. Either option was fine.
"I want to stay with Master!"
The little blade raised her hand without hesitation.
"Um... I also want to see places beyond Hoori. Commander, if we come along, will we cause you trouble?"
Yoshino asked.
She had discovered that the Astral Express was filled with powerful people. She herself was only an ordinary human whose combat strength was practically nonexistent.
"It doesn't matter. Just follow instructions. If there's danger, stay on the train. In low-risk or safe worlds, there's no problem with you wandering around and sightseeing."
Setsuna thought for a moment.
"Then let's go see them?"
Mako agreed as well.
"Mm... We wanted to continue our studies in the Starsea Empire. Maybe we should return to the capital first?"
Roka and Koharu exchanged glances. After thinking it over, they boarded the spacecraft returning to the homeland together with Mizuha and Lena.
They did not possess quite as much of an adventurous spirit and decided to visit the Starsea Empire's capital first.
"See you again!—"
Boom—
The spacecraft passed through the teleportation anchor and vanished into deep space.
...
"So, we've picked up three more temporary passengers this time."
After arrangements for Earth were completed, the two Astral Expresses underwent some preparation.
This world had been discovered by Crew Six, Gudako and Grey's group. Setsuna had been so intensely interested in Senren Banka that he had brought Crew One charging over as well.
The two trains traveled slowly through the sea of stars, one following behind the other.
"Commander, where are you going next?"
Gudako asked.
"I'm going to take a look at the universe Crew Four discovered. Albedo's group encountered a universe of an extremely high tier, one capable of altering the structure of the cosmos itself."
"They can't handle it alone, so I need to go there personally."
Setsuna transmitted the star chart to her.
"Also, Elysia from Crew Five has been calling for me. They're in the WorldEnd universe."
"Mm... Theoretically, they should be able to clear that place themselves, but just like you, Elysia enthusiastically invited me over."
The worlds being trailblazed by Crews Two and Three were relatively straightforward.
He glanced at the reports they had sent back. The Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress world had already been completely secured, and they had collected several Kabane samples along the way and sent them back to the Research Department.
The Love Live! world was still busy gathering idol groups from all over the planet. The task itself was not difficult, merely somewhat tedious.
He had already begun looking forward to the day when the Starsea Empire could form a few idol groups of its own to sing and dance for him.
Beyond all the fighting and killing, watching beautiful girls in glamorous outfits perform onstage was enjoyable in its own right.
"You can keep trailblazing new worlds if you want, or you can come with us."
Setsuna said.
"Uh..."
Gudako thought for a moment.
"Since we've already run into each other, why don't we travel together?"
"They're all new worlds anyway. I can go with you to see those two first, then decide whether to head back or keep trailblazing afterward."
She figured Elysia's crew would have no trouble dealing with WorldEnd. Elysia simply wanted Setsuna to come over so she could cling to him.
"Sure. Then let's keep going."
Setsuna selected a coordinate on the star chart and handed it to Himeko.
Boom—
The two Astral Expresses immediately set out.
They gradually accelerated above Earth, faster and faster, sweeping past the major planets of the solar system and the edge of the Milky Way before transforming into streaks of light that shot toward even more distant reaches of space.