The cosmos flickered. Falling stars dissolved into the silver dragon's breath, suffusing the silver-blue torrent of fire with a stellar luminescence. At last, it held back the black tide of calamity.
Jenkins looked up to see the Star Spirit standing amidst the illusory sea of stars. Rakul offered him a gentle nod.
"We'll hold it off for you!"
Jenkins heard Princess Sophia's voice as Alexia, with great effort, pulled him forward once more.
"Did you really think it was over?"
The voice of the Difference Engine bood across the entire expanse of stars. Chains shot out from the void, snaking toward the pair. Forged from a unique alloy, they were chains of calamity. To be ensnared by them ant the end of the fight.
From the left and right, a parchnt scroll and a flurry of pages intercepted the attacking chains. The little fae, Vinette, and Mr. Pisco poked their heads out of the third train car, giving Jenkins a wave.
The chains coalesced into a great iron ball, plumting from on high toward Jenkins and Alexia. But with the flash of a black scythe, the power of finality shattered the calamitous links into fragnts.
Clad in a black robe, Mr. Augustus seed reluctant to be seen, concealing his figure within the sea of stars.
"We'll stop it for you!"
Vinette, the little fae, cried out in delight as Alexia finally dragged Jenkins before the towering silhouette.
The colossal head turned toward them, its brass-colored eyes seeming to hold the universe within. It was the reflection of a world of steel, the mirrored soul of the Beast of Calamity—the Difference Engine.
"I will hold it back!"
Alexia flung Jenkins toward the stellar vortex, turning to face the great head alone. The Mathematical Maze blossod over the sea of stars. The force of calamity and the girl on the verge of godhood were about to comnce the grand battle foretold by destiny.
But Jenkins couldn't fly. He could only drift forward, propelled by the force of Alexia's throw.
Startled by the rapid turn of events, Chocolate finally rembered its purpose. But before the cat could grab Jenkins with its small paws to fly him forward, Hathaway descended as if from the sky, leaping from a train car to appear right before him. On her wrist, she wore the bracelet that symbolized their love.
"I'm the one who deserves to be by your side! Jenkins, I'll help you!"
The red-haired woman's expression was one of sheer determination. Ignoring the spiritual toll of facing such a calamity, she bravely seized Jenkins's arm and pulled him along, flying toward the vortex.
In the preceding battle, the mirror hanging from Jenkins's chest had shattered, but now, a fragnt shot forth a beam of light, aid deep into the vortex. The white sliver of light pierced the darkness at the vortex's mouth, revealing to Jenkins the edge of a behemoth of seemingly infinite size.
"Now!"
Magic Miss's voice echoed from the distance. The train, its whistle screaming, hurtled across the stellar battlefield. It swept past every soul who had co to Jenkins's aid, finally arriving near the vortex.
Mr. Black Cat and Mr. White Cat flanked Mr. Hood, each gripping an arm. Together, the three of them leaped from the engine:
"I told you I'd find the perfect weapon for this thing! Mr. Candle, I swear I'll repay you for this!"
Mr. Hood yelled, his voice a mixture of terror and excitent. Mid-air, Mr. Black Cat and Mr. White Cat shoved him in Jenkins's direction. An exquisite little golden hamr materialized in Mr. Hood's left hand, and an equally fine silver screwdriver in his right:
"Use these on it!"
Both items radiated a powerful spiritual aura, only slightly less potent than the White Bone Holy Sword. But when brought together, the intensity of their combined aura was unlike anything seen before. If they possessed properties specialized against tallic constructs, not even the Difference Engine would want to take a direct hit.
Mr. Hood couldn't fly either. With the last of their strength, Mr. Black Cat and Mr. White Cat propelled him not toward Jenkins, but into the very heart of the vortex.
"I'll create an opening for you!"
Jenkins declared, pulling the "herbicide" given to him by the old elf from his pocket. The image of a steel World Tree manifested behind him, and his entire body, glowing like a bomb, plunged into the part of the vortex illuminated by the mirror's fragnt.
"Its core's weakest point is located at the wrench-shaped pattern!"
The voice of one of the Jessica Windsors—it was impossible to tell which—drifted from the train. Chocolate's eyes brightened, its tail shooting out to point the way. Without a second thought, Jenkins followed its lead. He first hurled the herbicide, then slamd his body into the tallic pattern before him. To the indescribably vast core of the Difference Engine within the vortex, it was no more than an ant bumping against its skin, yet Jenkins still managed to create a hairline crack.
Mr. Hood, carried by the montum, now slid into the vortex as well. The imnse spiritual pressure and the corrupting power of sin caused blood to stream from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, but the man, driven by conviction, lunged forward without a trace of fear.
He gripped the hamr in his left hand and the screwdriver in his right. He aid the tip of the screwdriver forward and brought the hamr down hard on its handle—
"This has to hit!"
Mr. Hood roared as the hamr struck the screwdriver with trendous force. A bolt of golden lightning shot from the screwdriver's tip, traversing the illusory, chaotic space within the vortex to strike the very crack Jenkins had created.
The crack spiderwebbed outwards, widening. It was enough. Jenkins pressed himself against the tal surface, punched a hole clean through, and thrust his hand inside, touching the spirit of the Difference Engine's core for the very first ti.
"World Tree..."
he sighed.
A brilliant green light erupted from the vortex, flooding the sea of stars. The violent spiritual fluctuations from the internal explosion rendered the stellar expanse even more unstable. Mr. Hood was flung from the vortex by the blast. The speeding train instantly flew to him, and those still aboard reached out, pulling the injured man back into the safety of a car.
"Did Jenkins manage to seal the Difference Engine?"
Still dazed from facing the Beast of Calamity and the ensuing explosion, Mr. Hood was completely disoriented. He had no idea who had asked the question, and could only manage a reply:
"How should I know?"
The spiritual fluctuations triggered bizarre optical phenona within the illusory sea of stars. Grotesque patches of color materialized around the vortex, which now looked as if it were about to collapse.
The tallic minions summoned by the Difference Engine dissolved one by one into the cosmos. Everyone looked toward the vortex with bated breath, and saw Hathaway erge, pulling a battered Jenkins along. Jenkins, in turn, was clutching Chocolate as they flew out of the vortex, which still pulsed with spiritual light.
The demigods maneuvered the circular platform, which glittered with the nine Savior's Emblems, to et them. As her feet finally touched solid ground, Hathaway let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief. From every corner of the stellar sea, those who had co to Jenkins's aid flew in, gathering around the platform.
Magic Miss steered the train closer, illusory energy tracks materializing around the platform. The people aboard cheered for Jenkins.
"Don't start cheering. I wasn't able to seal it."
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