Chapter 38: Star’s Hope
Part 1
The world of Genova was a chaos of violet mana and R300 kinetic strikes, but for R98, the world was silent as Liora held him.
He slowly stood up, the weight of ten thousand years settling behind his eyes.
"That’s right," he whispered, his voice cracking with a decade-millennium of fatigue.
"I know everything. I remember every event that went wrong, every timeline that collapsed into red. I know those two," he gestured toward the struggling Reality Siblings.
"It’s not the first time we’ve met. And it's not the first time for you, either, Liora. Or any of you."
He turned to the bystanders—the Prince, the Duke, the Saintess—who looked like ghosts in the shimmering light of the approaching Reset.
"But none of that matters now," R98 said, his eyes flickering like dying stars.
Liora looked at the bloodied, one-armed man before her.
"Sir... you don't really have a name, do you? Not a real one."
"I am R98," he replied, the designation feeling heavier than ever.
Liora smiled, a gentle, radiant expression that seemed to defy the cosmic destruction around them.
"From today, I will call you Polaris. You are like the distant star that guides us from far away.
You never abandon us. You put yourself at risk for us, even when we don't know it."
R98 went silent, the name Polaris echoing in his mind, replacing the cold numbers of his rank. He smiled back.
"Alright. I’ll accept that name, Liora. I’m Polaris... for you."
Liora hugged him one last time, her voice a fierce whisper of resolve.
"This time, I will definitely remember you, even after you Reset. And you have to promise—when I do, you'll come to meet me. Deal?"
"Deal," Polaris replied.
He turned away and walked toward R76, who stood by the glow of his laptop, the Hard Reset interface humming with power.
The people of Genova watched his retreating back.
"I am going to Reset this world now," Polaris announced, his voice carrying over the battlefield.
"If anyone objects—if you hate the idea of being erased and rewritten—you can kill me from behind. I won't defend myself."
No one moved. Not even Derrick raised his sword.
Polaris reached the laptop. The Lore Tree flickered on the screen: 29 Red Lines. The threshold had been met.
He looked at the R300s, then at R76 and R56, and finally back at the people of Genova.
"I believe this is goodbye," he said.
He pressed the Reset button eleven times in rapid succession, triggering the Hard Reset Protocol.
The air turned into a violent vortex. The monster portals began to implode, their jagged edges dissolving into white light. Kiel, sensing the end, looked frantically toward his sister, who lay nearly unconscious under R324’s blade.
"MIYERU! NOW! Come, before the Reset erases our data!" Kiel roared.
R357 stepped into his path, her combat chassis glowing with lethal intent.
"Where do you think you're going, Variable?"
Kiel unleashed a terrifying barrage of reality-warping attacks—not to kill, but to create a distraction.
R357 took the hits without flinching, but in that split second of smoke and light, Kiel lunged forward, snatching Miyeru from R324’s reach.
He tore open a portal of his own—a way out of the 98th sector.
Kiel was defenseless, his back turned as he cast the escape spell while holding his sister.
R357 leveled her heavy star-plasma cannon, her finger tightening on the trigger to delete them permanently.
BANG.
A shot rang out, but it didn't come from the R300s.
R357’s cannon was jerked out of alignment by a kinetic round, the shot sailing harmlessly into the sky. The Reality Siblings vanished through their portal.
R357 turned her visor slowly toward the source of the shot.
Polaris—R98—stood there, his remaining hand gripping a smoking gun, his eyes cold and defiant.
"You know that gun is useless against me, don't you, 98?" R357 asked, her voice a low, mechanical growl.
"I know," Polaris replied.
Before the Elite could respond, the violent shift of the Reset reached its peak. The palace, the garden, and the sky of Genova dissolved into a blinding, featureless white dimension, transporting the Rangers back into the void.
The Reset was successful. The 98th Universe was clean.
Part 2
The air was cold and unfamiliar as a jagged portal spat out two broken figures into a grey, unknown wasteland. Kiel collapsed onto his knees, his mana reserves completely bottomed out. He looked down at his sister, who lay limp in his arms, her breathing shallow.
Miyeru’s eyes flickered open for a brief second. She reached out, her fingers brushing Kiel’s cheek, and whispered something so low it was almost lost to the wind.
"What did you say, Miyeru?" Kiel asked, leaning in close.
But there was no answer; Miyeru had fainted, her body finally surrendering to the trauma of the battle.
[The White Dimension]
The silence of the void was broken by the mechanical whirring of R300 combat suits.
The elite officers surrounded R98, their heavy star-plasma rifles leveled at his chest.
R357 stepped forward, the visor of her helmet reflecting the battered, one-armed Ranger.
"You should be more careful with your choices, kid," she said, her voice a low, dangerous rumble.
R98 didn't flinch. He looked R357 straight in the optics, his expression hard and professional.
"I am still the Manager on duty for the 98th Sector. By protocol, you have no right to question my tactical decisions once the threat has been neutralized.
Your objective is over. Mine is still in progress."
A tense deadlock hung in the air, the "Trash Manager" staring down the Apex Predator.
Finally, R357 let out a short, sharp sigh and signaled her squad to lower their weapons.
"You aren't getting away with this easily, R98," she said coldly.
"HQ will be hearing about your 'intervention.'"
Without another word, the R300 division turned and vanished into the white mist.
[The Kingdom of Genova]
Sunlight spilled over the spires of the Genova Palace, warm and bright. The birds chirped in the manicured gardens, and the scent of jasmine filled the air.
There were no craters, no blood, and no broken stone.
Inside her sun-drenched studio, Liora sat before a canvas, her brush hovering over the palette. She paused, looking out the window with a puzzled expression.
"I feel like... I had a very good dream last night," she murmured to herself.
"But the more I try to remember, the faster it slips away."
In the royal garden, Crown Prince Derrick and Saintess Oralia walked side-by-side.
The atmosphere was peaceful, yet a strange lingering sense of déjà vu hung between them.
"Oralia," Derrick said, glancing at her.
"Did you have a strange dream last night? I woke up feeling... lighter, somehow."
Oralia nodded slowly.
"I did. But I can't remember the details. Only a feeling of being answered."
Back in the studio, Liora’s brush moved with a sudden, instinctive flurry. When she stepped back, the canvas was finished.
It wasn't a landscape or a portrait, but a deep indigo sky centered around a single, brilliant star.
"A pole star," Liora whispered, her finger tracing the paint.
"Polaris? ...Geez, I’m daydreaming."
She laughed softly and turned to clean her brushes, the name feeling like a word from a language she had long ago forgotten.
[Ranger R_0 HQ - Sector 1 Cafeteria]
R98 sat alone at a corner table, staring into a cup of lukewarm synthetic coffee.
His left arm was back, a fresh "D57" replacement perfectly calibrated and gleaming.
R76 walked up and slumped into the chair across from him.
He watched R98 for a moment before speaking.
"Did she remember? The name she gave you?"
R98 shook his head silently, taking a slow sip of his coffee.
R76 reached across the table and gave R98’s ear a sharp, playful tug.
"Come on, don't be sad about it. This is, what, the 236th time you’ve been given a name?
You’ve been called everything from 'Spirit' to 'Demon' to 'Brother.'
No one ever remembers after a Hard Reset. You know the rules. Grow up already!"
R98 let out a long, weary sigh and leaned back.
"Yeah, yeah. You're right. It’s just... that was a good one."
He shook off the melancholy and looked at R76 with a serious expression.
"Let’s focus on the real issue: the massive pile of paperwork and the 'unauthorized intervention' hearing we have waiting for us at the main office."
To be continued...
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