A brief silence filled the scene.
BOOM—!
The next instant, Nanook's form expanded again, the destructive aura erupting violently and instantly blasting a massive crater beneath him.
Endless rage and the desire for destruction blazed through his mind.
But he still retained a sliver of rationality.
Though it was Jerry and the Hunt Aeon who made him appear this pathetic, the enemy's speed was something he could never match.
More importantly, the one who had humiliated him the most wasn't Jerry nor the Hunt Aeon—it was Tom!
His strength was rapidly recovering. With enough divine blood, he vowed to make Tom pay dearly!
Nanook took massive strides forward, droplets of divine blood falling with every step, destructive flames climbing higher and higher as he chased after Tom.
Seeing something bigger than himself charging toward him, Tom instinctively felt terrified, his legs immediately whirling into a mini-tornado as he turned tail and ran.
Nanook pursued frantically, and Tom fled just as desperately.
Reaching behind him, Tom randomly tossed out several hoes, scattering them carelessly, before pulling a handful of nails from his pocket and scattering those as well.
Then he continued fleeing madly into the distance.
Nanook soon arrived at the spot. Facing these trivial obstacles, he dismissed them completely.
After all, the destructive aura radiating from his body should have instantly reduced these petty objects to dust.
Yet, bizarrely, Nanook's left foot inexplicably stepped on a rake—one that was not destroyed but remained perfectly intact.
BAM—!
A dull impact echoed as the rake handle violently sprang upward, smashing mercilessly into the little toe on Nanook's giant foot.
"AHHHHHHH—YAAA—OOOOWWWW—!"
Nanook immediately howled in pain. The sensation was exactly like a human stubbing their little toe against a table leg, a feeling of indescribable agony.
He instinctively hugged his left foot, hopping on his right leg like a giant rooster. Each leap shook the ground fiercely.
But then, to everyone's shock, he hopped directly onto another hoe.
BAM—!
Another dull blow—the hoe swung upward fiercely, striking Nanook's right little toe.
Nanook clamped his mouth shut, desperately suppressing the scream, his dark face flushed bright red. Twin streams of destructive steam shot out from both ears.
He tried forcing himself forward, enduring the pain as he chased Tom.
The sharper the pain, the greater his fury and his overwhelming urge to destroy.
But the agony in both feet was too much. He stumbled forward a few more steps before losing balance and sitting backward onto the ground—
Right onto the nails Tom had scattered.
Nanook's previously enraged expression froze instantly.
His dark body flushed white with shock from bottom to top, then turned green from top to bottom, before finally flushing entirely red in an instant.
Nanook clutched his rear desperately, unable to contain himself any longer.
"EEEEEYAAAAA—OOOOWWWWWWW—!!!"
Rocketing upward, flames of destructive energy burst from his backside, launching him vertically into the sky until he vanished from sight.
Seeing this, Tom laughed gleefully, smacking his knee with delight.
He brushed his hands together, believing the matter settled, and began strolling back towards Yevenko and the others.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, Nanook streaked downward again, propelled like a rocket, grazing right over Tom's head.
In an instant, flames ignited atop Tom's skull, leaving a perfectly bald patch.
Tom reached up nervously, feeling the smooth emptiness.
Whoosh—!
The sound returned again. Tom quickly spun around to see—
Nanook had made a full U-turn mid-air, and was now hurtling back toward him.
Tom leaped into the air in fright, limbs spreading wide. His eyeballs sprang out cartoonishly on springs, hit the ground, then snapped back into place.
He immediately turned and bolted, with Nanook close behind, feet now pounding furiously on the ground again.
They continued running until—
BAM—!
Tom slammed directly into an invisible wall.
He touched it carefully, realizing he had unknowingly run to the absolute edge of Feixiao's inner world.
Panicked, Tom turned around. A massive shadow loomed ominously over him.
Nanook's body had now expanded to nearly ten meters tall.
Like an imposing "City Wall"—a character that never existed in Star Rail—Nanook stood towering over him, leaving no escape.
Tom stretched his neck nervously and swallowed hard.
His mind raced desperately, searching for any weapon that could stop Nanook.
An oval-shaped speech bubble appeared at the top-left corner above Tom's head. From it emerged a double-barreled shotgun. Tom immediately grabbed it, trembling as he aimed at Nanook, ready to shoot.
Yet suddenly, several cartoonish black-and-white eyes popped out from the shotgun's barrels, carefully examining Nanook's massive form. Immediately, the barrels wilted limply, as if struck by sage mode.
The limp barrels promptly wriggled free from Tom's hands, scurrying behind him, before re-stiffening again, jabbing Tom in the back as if ordering him to deal with Nanook himself.
Who knew he'd be threatened by the very weapon he pulled out himself?
Facing Nanook's menacing approach, Tom frantically looked around for an escape route before finally fixing his eyes directly upon the speech bubble.
Using the shotgun as a pole, he immediately performed a pole vault—
—And jumped directly into the speech bubble.
Nanook froze for a moment, massive amounts of divine blood gathering in his chest. Destructive power had already accumulated to its peak, ready to annihilate Tom.
Yet, even cornered like this, Tom still somehow escaped.
Without further hesitation, Nanook's entire body leaned toward the speech bubble. But his body was far too huge now. Just as he tried shrinking his form—
A sudden suction force erupted from inside the speech bubble, instantly drawing him in. Inside, Nanook glanced around frantically, noticing Tom's figure now just a tiny black dot in the distance. He quickly soared forward in pursuit.
While chasing, he continuously gathered destructive energy into spheres, launching them toward Tom one after another.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
Tom dodged frantically, darting left and right.
...
Everyone followed Tom's tracks until they reached the oval-shaped speech bubble.
Seeing only a tiny black dot and a slightly larger black dot retreating into the distance, the group exchanged awkward glances.
Meanwhile, Stelle, standing beside Yevenko and Aha, chattered excitedly, gazing admiringly at the form of Kamen Rider Elation, stars glittering in her eyes.
"Wow!! That's way too cool!"
"This texture, this feel!"
"Yevenko, next time can you fuse with me? I wanna look badass too—I'm tired of being a sidekick!"
At those words, Yevenko's deep, magnetic voice drifted enigmatically through the mask.
"Fusion with me requires fate's blessing; it's not something you can do just because you want to, you know…"
Before Yevenko could finish speaking, Stelle immediately interrupted:
"Next time Himeko gives you coffee, I'll drink it for you."
"Deal!" Yevenko replied instantly, sincerely shaking Stelle's hand.
"You and I share plenty of fate! Wanna fuse right now? I can kick Aha aside anytime."
Aha: "…"
Stelle blinked thoughtfully, genuinely tempted. But then she recalled that Aha was very likely the Aeon of Elation, and a small flicker of fear held her back. She whispered quietly:
"Then…kick lightly, please."
March 7th noticed Stelle and Yevenko's conversation getting more and more sidetracked, and she quickly opened her mouth, urgently interrupting them.
"Wait, wait, hold on! You guys can discuss this later! Right now Tom is still dealing with the Destruction Ae—"
Before March could finish, Stelle cut in again:
"March, we can add you to the fusion too."
March 7th's eyes suddenly lit up, sparkling beautifully. She clenched her tiny fists in excitement, her voice full of anticipation:
"Really? Then what are we waiting for?! Let's fuse right away! I can't wait another second!"
Jing Yuan shook his head slowly. He was holding a candle in his hand—the flame itself unmistakably Phantylia. Although Jing Yuan knew clearly that this wasn't her true body, merely a fragment of her soul.
It seemed the Aeon of Elation had previously bound Phantylia to the candle, leaving her unable to voluntarily disperse or end this fragment of herself.
In that case, this fragment held significant value: it could reveal precious intel about the Antimatter Legion and the hidden dangers Phantylia had laid on the Luofu.
Though it was technically secured by the Aeon of Elation's power, Jing Yuan still felt uneasy—like a gold bar kept safe only by placing the safe in the middle of a busy street.
Thus, he'd simply decided to hold onto it himself.
Watching the utterly unpredictable Astral Express trio, Jing Yuan suddenly missed Welt-san and Dan Heng terribly. If just one of them were here, at least they'd keep the trio a little more grounded.
He was just about to speak up and caution them—
But someone else was even more impatient, speaking up first.
Feixiao's voice was gentle but firm:
"Our immediate priority is assisting Tom in defeating the Ruin Author. Everything else can wait."
Feixiao had no choice but to hurry—after all, this place was her inner world.
Every moment the Ruin Author regained a fraction of his strength, the cataclysmic aura of Destruction made her heart tremble. Others might escape, but she couldn't.
Though she did not fear death, she didn't want to die meaninglessly, crushed by the collateral damage from an Aeon-level fight.
Yevenko nodded slightly at Feixiao's words.
He gazed at the speech bubble, momentarily unable to think of a good way to help Tom—though in reality, Tom might not even need their help.
Right now, Tom was at a disadvantage. But given enough time, he'd gradually seize the upper hand.
Still, since someone had requested his aid, Yevenko decided he'd speed things along.
But directly entering the speech bubble to help Tom would be no different than dragging Tom out of it, or repeating the earlier chaos.
Yevenko himself had no bright ideas—but fortunately, he had an external brain:
"Jerry, what do you think?"
Jerry stood at Yevenko's feet, happily nibbling on a piece of cheese he'd grabbed from the dining table. Upon hearing Yevenko's words, he immediately swallowed the entire cheese block in one gulp, leaving a perfect cheese-shaped outline in his belly.
He glanced thoughtfully at the speech bubble, and a bright glowing bulb immediately appeared above his head. Jerry had a plan.
He quickly dashed beneath the speech bubble, pulling out a rope from behind his back and casually tossing it upward, effortlessly looping it around the speech bubble. With a sharp tug, he dragged it down onto the ground.
Jerry fiddled around with the speech bubble, pulling and stretching the oval shape until it became a roughly 100-inch rectangular screen.
Then, picking it up again, Jerry neatly hung it onto the invisible air-wall.
From his pocket, he pulled out a remote control and pressed the power button.
Instantly, an image appeared on the screen.
Before everyone's eyes, a pixelated world appeared, accompanied by strangely upbeat, cheerful music.
There were pixelated clouds, pixelated bricks, pixelated pipes—and a tiny pixelated Tom fleeing frantically from an enormous pixelated Nanook who relentlessly chased him.
Yevenko's lips twitched slightly beneath his mask.
Isn't this just Mario?
Rather, it was Cat Mario, except Mario's image was now replaced by Tom's. And behind Tom was a relentless boss—Nanook—who continuously fired pixelated energy balls.
At that moment, Jerry reached behind his back and pulled out a gaming controller, offering it to Yevenko.
Seeing this, everyone finally understood Jerry's intention.
Jing Yuan's golden eyes filled with increasingly complicated emotions. He stared at the screen, muttering under his breath:
"Every time I see Tom and Jerry's actions, my understanding of reality is forcibly updated."
Hearing this, everyone nodded solemnly, deeply resonating with Jing Yuan's words.
The speech bubble itself was already beyond any conventional explanation, and yet Jerry had somehow managed to reshape it into a gaming screen.
Most incredibly, the screen was now displaying Tom leading Nanook into an entirely different dimension—a pixelated world.
Jing Yuan felt that if the Genius Society attempted to understand Tom and Jerry's actions, even the Erudition Lord Nous himself would burn out his mechanical brain.
One careless moment, and he might even fall from his position entirely.
Meanwhile, Yevenko accepted the gaming controller from Jerry.
The instant he grasped it, Tom—who had been fleeing non-stop on screen—abruptly stopped moving altogether.
Realizing something, Yevenko quickly tested the controller. Immediately, Tom on-screen moved precisely as he commanded.
Yevenko's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Who knew I'd get to play Tom-rio? I'm a master at this! Watch me beat it in one go!"
In the next instant, countless pixelated destruction-energy balls filled the screen like bullet-hell projectiles. Yevenko confidently smirked.
"I'll dodge!"
Controlling Tom-rio, he confidently jumped to the left—and collided headfirst into a destruction-energy ball.
Tom instantly turned to ash.
The screen played a familiar death jingle:
Dun-dun~ dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun…
Yevenko: "…"
This was definitely Aha's fault messing up his controls!