"We need to reach the Master Control Zone. That's where Asta would most likely be if something happened to the space station," Himeko said, her calm voice carrying an edge of quiet urgency as we left the Supply Zone behind.
"Everyone, let's hurry to the Master Control Zone and find Asta," she added, her voice urging us to hurry, her steps steady, tone firm but calm.
"Yes!" March and Dan Heng replied in unison, their voices bright against the low hum of machinery.
I simply nodded and followed along quietly, my gaze shifting between the scene unfold right in front of me and the long sterile corridor ahead, with not much expression on my face aside from seriousness.
But my mind wasn't on Asta. It was on something far more immediate.
As I walked with them, my thoughts weren't on Asta. There was something far more important on my mind aside from the whole player appearance and main character selection. It was on something far more immediate.
Fighting.
That single word hung in my mind heavier than anything else.
While I had written in my lore that I had lived long enough to see eras rise and fall, I had only ever drawn the outline. A long-lived doctor who had survived countless eras, a travelling musician. But the rest, how I had survived the wars between Aeons, escaped the Family's hunt, or endured the swarms of Propagation. Those were the parts the system had filled in for me. It knew how I had supposedly lived through them…
But I didn't.
It bothered me.
Did that mean I knew how to fight?
Would my hands move on their own if danger appeared?
Or would I freeze, a doctor with no weapon, a musician in a battlefield?
Would my body remember what I never lived through?
Could I fight?
Would I really be able to fight?
The lore I wrote emphasized music, medicine and understanding — not combat, not survival. I had no weapon beyond my hands and what the system claimed I knew.
Had I known I would be given the memories, emotions and experience from the lore I had written, I would have spent more time writing it and added sections about my fighting experience, but it was too late to regret anything and too late to change everything.
Even if I could have change it, I didn't know what trigger I would need or if I would get those memories, emotions and experience immediately or would I gain them after engaging in combat.
If I get those memories and experience during an engagement with an enemy, would I experience the same disorientation and the overwhelming flood of memories, emotions and experience that I just had earlier on the train?
The game never showed what happened between the moment the Express arrived, and the crew finally met Asta or when Asta handed her access card to March 7th. Whether they fought the Antimatter Legion before that or simply navigated through the chaos untouched was anyone's guess.
But they obviously must have met considering what Dan Heng says during the elevator scene in the start of the game, where march had forgotten the access card, so it was confirmed they had met behind the initial scene.
If we were retracing that same unseen path—the same unwritten sequence hidden between cutscenes and skipped moments—then somewhere ahead, danger was already waiting for us.
I glanced at the others walking ahead, their steps steady and confident, as if they had done this countless times. But I hadn't. I only knew the story from a distance, from behind a screen. I had written my own lore, not lived it.
And now, the thought of facing what might come next of not knowing whether I could defend myself, or if I even had the strength to unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.
Still, I thought was a chance for the Astral Express crew not to encounter any fights during the process, but just as the group were approaching a corner ahead of us, a group of Antimatter Legion spawns suddenly appeared and were rushing towards the crew as soon as we were since.
That's unfortunate.
"Antimatter legion?! how'd they'd get into the space station?" March was surprised by the appearance of the Antimatter Legion in the Herta Space Station, especially when the station was heavily protected with highly advance weapons and defenses.
Dan Heng didn't say anything but immediately got into a combat stance, materializing a spear called "Cloud-Piercer" in his hands.
"Herta Space Station must be under attack by the Antimatter Legion, we need to hurry to the Master Control Zone to find Asta." Himeko explained, her voice carrying a tinge of urgency while still being firm and calm.
"Yes!" March and Dan Heng replied in unison, their voices bright against the noises the Antimatter Legion Baryon spawn and a few Voidrangers: Reavers in the mix.
March got serious materializing her bow using her unique ability "Six-Phased Ice" and immediately shot a volley of frozen arrows down on the Legion spawns in front of us.
"You're not very lucky, running into me ~" March taunted as the frozen arrows pierced many of the antimatter legion in front of us, freezing them in place.
"The time is now." Dan Heng said taking the opportunity march had provided and striking down the enemies in one strike of his spear.
"Come one, come all." Himeko seeing the stronger ones still standing, she swung her briefcase and as it swung it change into something that when it hit the voidrangers: reavers they were lit up and as she thrusted her briefcase into them, it exploded.
Seeing the fight unfold so quickly and decisively, I couldn't help but marvel at the scene in front of me, especially how well coordinated March and Dan Heng were and how Himeko was watching over them.