Walking across the dimensional bridge was something I'd never get tired of. The bridge continued forward and backward as far as I could see, the place where we entered having vanished from sight the moment we stepped through.

Countless lights floated around us in myriad hues; colossal stars shrunk to a size you could hold and flecks of space dust expanded to sizes greater than that.

The bridge itself seemed to be made up of thousands of individual channels of light, all flowing in the direction we were walking.

Whenever we took a step, a faint crunch could be heard as translucent shards plunged into the flowing streams of light, forming swirls and eddies that slowly smoothed themselves back out once we passed.

"It's been a long time since I've seen this with my own eyes." Aya said, in a voice filled with wonder.

I grinned down at her. "Yeah, I wish we could see it like this more often."

She just laughed. "If another situation like this is what it takes for this to happen, I'd be happier watching it through your eyes."

"Well, wait until we reach the other side before deciding that. It's not like this is a suicide mission."

"Dammit Neb, why do you always jinx it?"

"Hey! Usually you're the one—oh, I think we're here."

A moment after I said that, Aya's grip on my hand tightened and the scenery around us began to distort and swirl. 

"You know the drill. If it gets too dangerous, just stab me and I'll deal with it. It'll still be better than that time."

"Famous last words." 

I smirked, then everything went black.

 

***

 

Lighthouse Hub #2, nine minutes after the gates to Anomaly S0001 closed.

The mysterious messenger vanished into the void, the only trace of his passing was the enigmatic words that still rang in Professor Arctus’s ears. 

However, he didn't have any time to ponder them. Seconds after the man disappeared, the room's light turned crimson.

"Parasitic Assimilation type Chaos detected." The Stronghold's AI spoke in a flat voice. "Origin depth… Incalculable. Estimated threat level: Fatal."

"I was hoping that my death would be by a malfunction or something… not this." Arctus murmured, starting to unconsciously tremble. Not out of fear of death—if he had been scared of that, he would have been shaking when the man had told him a few minutes ago—but out of fear for the ones he delivered to that Chaos.

"Record match: Overall Danger Rank #4, Subtype Danger Rank #1. Designated name FALSE ORDER."

Arctus's trembling slowly stopped at the latest words of the AI. So that's what that guy was talking about. He thought, recalling the confusing statement the man had left him with.

"Input accepted. Self-destruct protocol activated."

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes after he finished giving the AI instructions.

"Quarantine barrier overloaded. Separation from primary timeline confirmed. Spacetime annihilation initiated.

But if it's that thing… at least they'll have the opportunity to live a happy life. Was the last thought of Arctus Glint before the entire Stronghold's timeline vanished as if it never existed.

***

"Good morning."

I blinked a few times, my eyes slowly adjusting to the pale red light. The first thing that entered my vision was a massive tree, and as I slowly took in my surroundings, I realized I was lying in a small open area that looked like the brush had been sliced away by a blade.

"Good night." I responded, eliciting a small giggle from my partner.

Despite my words, I glanced over at the small figure that sat merely a few centimeters away from me.

She sat cross-legged, a short katana laying unsheathed across her knees. She tapped the handle of the sword lightly, causing it to vanish. She then lightly jumped to her feet and stretched, revealing a full height of slightly more than 130 cm.

Her long, silver hair that ran down past her waist shimmered in the red light as she turned around and stretched out a hand to me.

"Up!" She called.

"I'm not a dog, you know." I said, though I grabbed her hand and pulled myself up anyway. Despite her almost childish figure, she effortlessly pulled me to my feet.

"You sleep as much as one, though."

I rolled my eyes, which brought a smug smirk to her face. "How long was I out?"

"Close to an hour. I've been blocking something from attaching itself to us, which would explain why you took so long to come back."

"Makes sens—wait, what!?" I exclaimed, now fully awake.

"I don't know." Aya replied, a hint of concern now audible in her tone. "The signal from Hive Control also vanished entirely."

"Dammit." All traces of our previous laid-back conversation had vanished. "So this is the worst case scenario, and we don't even know which Number we're up against."

"Not entirely," Aya shook her head, "Remember that I've been blocking soul invasions nonstop since we got here?"

"Oh right. That means an Assimilation type of some sort."

"Right. And there are only so many of those that are Numbers."

"So that's either…" I started counting on my fingers. "False Order, Mindweaver, Fatharel, Ventanis, or Ud. Did I miss any?"

"It can't be Mindweaver, I wouldn't be able to easily block it if that were the case."

I sighed in relief. "Good to know. Mindweaver and Ud were the ones I was most scared of, and the chances of it being Ud are almost nil."

"Neeeeeb…" my companion groaned, "I keep telling you to stop jinxing it!" She sighed. "Well, at least I'd tell you that if I didn't think the same. I doubt even I would notice that thing."

"So we've narrowed it down from one hundred to three. Sounds pretty good to me. Did you find our precise coordinates and verify the catalogue?"

"About that…" Aya trailed off hesitantly.

I wordlessly raised an eyebrow.

"I found the entry for our current coordinates without an issue. The problem is that it's completely wrong!"

I frowned. In the past, the Stargazers had always provided accurate and shockingly detailed information. "Are you sure it's not just out of date? There was that time Rin and Leo got one that ended up being almost a century old."

"No way." Aya stated with finality. "Look at these trees around us. Your Conduit has thawed enough to do that, right?"

"Oh true, it's been over an hour at this point." I focused inward, feeling the point of connection located within my heart.

It took quite a bit of effort to open, having barely started recovering from the trip, but I managed to open it enough to activate the First Step: Soulsense.

"Holy…"

“See what I mean?”

I nodded dumbly, far too astounded by the sight that surrounded me to formulate any sort of coherent response. I’ve been to dozens of different worlds and seen incredible sights impossible to normally find on Earth, but this one could easily rank within the top ten.

The instant I cracked my Soulsense open I was buried under a tsunami of movement and color. 

"...how in the hell has this planet not birthed an Aspect yet!? This forest hasn't been touched for millennia!" I almost shouted.

"Probably something to do with the Chaos here." Aya said in a subdued tone that fiercely contrasted my own astoundment.

"Oh. Right." Her words were like a cold bucket of water. "If they did anything to her…" I snapped my Conduit shut, sealing my dark thoughts inside before I accidentally Applied or Realized anything.

"Come on Aya," I said, grabbing her hand. "Anything at this point is just conjecture. No use in getting angry about something we might just be imagining."

"Hoooo…" she breathed out a long sigh. "Right. We need to figure out what our target is and what it's done before we decide on how we'll maul it."

I smiled, glad to see that she was back to normal. "Yup. So what if we're up against a Named? Assimilation-types can't manifest fully, so at worst they'll just be a few million times stronger than us." I said jokingly.

"Not like we haven't faced worse before." Aya said, grinning back up at me.

I nodded mock-seriously. "So it's just business as usual now. Find someone to ingratiate ourselves to, update the codex entry—"

"—find out that they're actually a community of warlocks, nearly get sacrificed, then commit genocide!"

"NO!"

Taking my exasperated yell as her cue, she skipped a few steps ahead of me and shot a cheeky grin back at me before running along the path ahead of me. The sight of Aya acting the age that she appeared was incongruously heartwarming.

 

***

 

“Huh? A sudden quest? That’s odd.” A man murmured, willing open the notification that popped up in front of him.

As soon as he focused on the word 'tracked', a rudimentary compass popped up, pointing southward.

"Intriguing. Well, nothing to lose. It's probably just another Angel Order kill quest." He mentally dismissed the Demon King Order notification windows before heading south, into the forest that marked the borders of The Old World.