The screen suddenly turned dark.
In the silence that followed, countless pairs of brightly glowing eyes stared at Yevenko in unison.
He'd just confidently bragged about his skill, only to immediately steer Tom's face directly into a destruction-energy ball. The group felt utterly speechless.
March 7th blinked twice, scratching her head awkwardly, and softly spoke up:
"If it's Tom we're talking about, dying once shouldn't matter, right? Games like these usually give you at least eighty or a hundred lives!"
Just then, the previously dark screen flickered back to life.
Only a small section at the center lit up again.
There, a pixelated Tom was running furiously, his legs spinning like miniature tornadoes. Beside him, the remaining lives were clearly displayed:
[∞－1]
Seeing this line, March 7th pursed her lips, eyes widening with surprise. She muttered quietly to herself:
"What's... what's this symbol? Is it an error where the number eight fell sideways?"
"But even eight lives seems way too few…"
Hearing March's confusion, Jing Yuan's gaze locked onto the ∞ symbol, golden eyes flickering slightly. Calmly, he explained:
"That's not it at all."
"If Dan Heng were here, he'd probably find this symbol extremely familiar. It'd be best explained by him. But since he's absent, allow me to share what little I know. The Vidyadhara are, after all, also residents of the Xianzhou, and I have some understanding of their traditions."
"In ancient times, that symbol was used as one representation of the concept of immortality."
"The infinite loop symbolizes endlessness, immortality itself."
He sighed softly, then continued:
"It truly fits Tom's characteristics perfectly. If it weren't for the fact that I've never sensed any Path in him, coupled with his ability to match numerous Aeons in strength, calling this an incarnation of immortality wouldn't even be an exaggeration."
March 7th's expression slowly shifted from confusion to a vague understanding. Covering her mouth with one hand, she asked nervously:
"Huh? Then wouldn't Dan Heng become a cat-man?"
Hearing March's unexpected logic leap, Jing Yuan paused slightly, then pondered seriously for a moment before slowly nodding:
"If Tom really represents immortality, a shift in its source image might indeed cause such transformations."
The sudden thought of the entire Vidyadhara race becoming cat-people, or even enormous dragons scattered across the universe turning into giant fluffy cats, made Jing Yuan's lips twitch involuntarily. He suddenly found himself mildly intrigued by the idea.
But the moment the thought arose, he hurriedly shook his head, alarmed by his own ridiculousness.
This must be the influence of the Elation Aeon!
Meanwhile, seeing that he had infinite lives available, Yevenko was instantly filled with confidence granted by Grandmaster Tom of the "Wind Spirit Sect."
As the screen returned to normal, Tom and Nanook appeared back at the starting point—but this wasn't a mere game, after all.
Nanook stared at the newly revived Tom, noticing their location had seemingly reset. He stood there frozen, clearly struggling to comprehend what had just happened.
He had undoubtedly blasted Tom to oblivion, yet in a flash of darkness and light, everything was back as it was.
This time, Yevenko took things seriously, declaring loudly:
"Watch closely—I'll clear it on my second life!"
Then, through their shared mind, he urgently signaled to Aha:
"Aha, hurry and help me with the controls!"
Now, the Tom on screen clearly moved differently. When Nanook finally regained his senses and resumed attacking furiously—firing endless pixelated destruction-energy balls like a bullet-hell storm—Tom-rio ran ahead gracefully, smoothly dodging every projectile by slipping precisely through tiny gaps.
When a golden brick with a question mark appeared, Yevenko expertly maneuvered Tom to jump up and hit it from below.
A mushroom popped out, and Tom immediately swallowed it.
He flashed golden, and when the golden glow faded, Swordsman Tom appeared.
Frantically pressing the attack button, Yevenko sent pixelated sword beams flying toward Nanook. Under the relentless assault, Nanook's massive pixel body flashed red repeatedly.
Even Nanook's barrage slowed noticeably.
But Tom seemed to grow excited; suddenly breaking free from Yevenko's controls, he ran swiftly toward the edge of the screen, stepping right onto its border.
He casually strolled upward, climbing along the very top edge of the screen until he reached the far left side, then jumped directly onto Nanook's backside.
He raised his western-style sword and stabbed down fiercely.
"AOOOOOWWWWWW—YAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
The volume was deafening. Jerry quickly pulled out a remote, and a volume-down indicator appeared on the screen.
After his howl, Nanook's massive pixel form trembled violently and crashed down heavily to the ground.
However, hundreds of drops of divine blood instantly poured from his chest.
Quickly climbing back to his feet, Nanook raised both hands to the pixelated sky, charging up a devastating attack.
The sky itself responded to his power, flickering rapidly before turning pure gold.
BOOOOOM—!
The entire pixel world violently shook, frightening Tom into hurriedly diving into a green pipe, with only half his cat-head peeking out.
In the very next instant, Nanook hurled a destruction-energy ball that occupied half the screen toward him.
Yevenko's eyes widened instantly, and he promptly threw the controller onto the ground.
"Is this because you can't handle losing!?"
The gigantic destruction ball surged forward, quickly reaching Tom's hiding spot. Sensing danger, Tom immediately fled the pipe, and sure enough, the next second, the pipe was obliterated.
Tom ran to the screen's edge, pressing his back against it helplessly. Seeing the colossal destruction ball looming closer, he hugged his cat-head with both hands, his mouth stretching wide in terror.
As the destruction-energy ball collided with Tom's open mouth—
Instantly, the enormous energy ball vanished completely, leaving Tom's belly swollen to a gigantic size, exactly matching the ball's shape and size, taking up most of the screen.
Nanook: "…"
Whether from blood loss or Tom's sheer absurdity, Nanook felt dizzy.
CRACK…
Due to Tom's current immense weight, the pixel-world ground began cracking audibly.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the ground collapsed entirely beneath Tom, sending him plummeting downward.
But unlike the game, this time Tom didn't simply die. Instead, he reappeared from the very top of the screen—
—and smashed violently into Nanook, dragging him down again at extreme speed.
When they crashed into the bottom edge of the screen, they didn't reappear at the top again. Instead, an earth-shattering sound echoed out:
BOOOOOM—!
Tom had shattered the very barrier connecting the pixel world to reality.
Tom crashed violently into the Contra world, shattering the ground beneath him as he plunged straight through, tearing open yet another barrier between game worlds.
Then he smashed through the Tetris world, crushing blocks one after another, racking up an astronomical score. Next, he flattened every single tank in Battle City, obliterating the base he was meant to protect, and thus instantly losing the game.
Finally, he crash-landed in the world of Street Fighter.
BOOM!
A muffled explosion echoed from inside Tom's belly—the massive destruction-energy ball had finally detonated.
"BUUUURRRRP—!"
He belched loudly, a plume of thick black smoke billowing from his mouth.
As Tom shrank back to his normal size, Nanook—whom he'd been sitting on—was also forcibly shrunk down to about two meters tall. One cat, one Aeon; both lay sprawled on the ground of the Street Fighter world.
Tom suddenly realized he'd been sitting directly on Nanook's body. Eyes wide, he immediately scrambled to his feet and bolted away.
Nanook instantly surged up and chased furiously after him.
Tom ran straight to the screen's edge and quickly twisted an invisible doorknob in midair, flinging open a door that led out of the screen. Without hesitation, he dashed back into Feixiao's inner world.
Then, Tom slammed the door shut behind him with all his strength.
Nanook, charging after him at full speed, smashed face-first into the suddenly closed wooden door.
WHAM—!
Nanook's body froze midair from the impact, completely rigid. Then, as if perfectly suspended, he slowly drifted backward, finally toppling flat onto the ground.
Outside, Tom dramatically wiped the sweat from his brow, flinging droplets onto the ground like rain.
Then, casually, he peeled off his fur as if removing a sweaty shirt, wrung it dry, and slipped it back on.
Seeing this scene, Yevenko nodded approvingly.
"Alright, the Street Fighter stage—it's my turn to shine!"
Yevenko strode to the left side of the screen, twisted an imaginary doorknob, and stepped through a door directly into the game world.
Although Nanook's exploration value had pretty much been squeezed dry, at this point, exploration points weren't even Yevenko's main concern.
More important was redeeming himself from his earlier failed attempt at dramatically stopping the fight between Destruction Aeon Tom and Hunt Aeon Jerry.
This time, he would absolutely succeed.
But should he outright kill Nanook? Yevenko hesitated briefly.
If Nanook died, would his Emanators all lose their power? Then how would Yevenko continue farming exploration points off them in the future?
He needed sustainable development.
Besides, the Destruction Aeon seemed to have a complex, intertwined connection to the Aeon of Finality. Killing Nanook might trigger unforeseen catastrophic consequences.
But most importantly—he was merciful.
Thus, he decided to spare Nanook's life and merely beat him to the brink of death.
Yevenko glanced compassionately at Nanook, who was still lying pathetically on the ground.
In a flash, he jumped high into the air, opening with a flawless Rider Kick.
His spectacular move flipped the prone Nanook's body a full rotation. Yevenko immediately glanced outside the screen, expecting awe and admiration.
Instead, everyone outside was crowded around Tom, chattering excitedly.
Yevenko: "…"
Absolutely no one was looking at him.
Turning back to Nanook, he noticed the Aeon's chest wound had widened dramatically, its once-bright golden blood now dull and lifeless.
Clearly, he was seriously injured and had expended tremendous power.
His lower half had already vanished, reverting to his former mutilated state.
Nanook's golden eyes had lost their fury entirely, filled instead with a resigned numbness—he had clearly given up on life.
It was obvious: after everything he'd suffered, Nanook now realized—even if he self-destructed repeatedly to regenerate strength—he stood absolutely no chance against Tom.
Pathetic.
Staring at this broken figure, the embodiment of universal obliteration and highest authority, Yevenko actually felt a bit sorry for him.
Forget it—for sustainable development, and since his transformation was ending anyway, he might as well throw Nanook out.
Casually, Yevenko picked Nanook up by one arm like garbage, opened the door in the screen, and started walking out, preparing to toss him back outside.
But suddenly—
HUMMMMM—!
A terrifying, overwhelming aura of Destruction surged violently from the "garbage" in his hand, condensed and horrifying, filled with absolute obliteration.
Yevenko quickly looked down.
Yet instead of expanding outward, this immense destructive energy compressed itself within Nanook's body.
Interest piqued, Yevenko wondered: Was Nanook making a desperate last stand?
Just as this thought formed—
BOOM—!
Nanook's body exploded violently, the concentrated aura drilling sharply downward into the earth like a needle.
Then only Nanook's head remained, which vanished at blinding speed.
He had fled.
Yevenko: "..."
Why go through all that trouble? He'd intended to let Nanook escape anyway, yet Nanook still chose to self-destruct most of his remaining strength just to flee.
But perhaps due to the fading effects of Tom and Jerry's earlier repairs, coupled with the imminent expiration of his Tuffy-Transformation Stone, Feixiao's inner world had gradually returned to its normal strength.
Thus, Nanook was finally able to escape.
Yevenko looked down at the item still clenched in his hand.
A pitch-black arm dangled lifelessly.
Apparently, Nanook had left behind a literal "parting gift." Too polite.
Most likely, he was afraid detonating the arm would alert Yevenko and Aha prematurely, so he'd simply abandoned it.
Hearing Nanook's explosion, everyone finally turned their attention to Yevenko and approached him.
At that moment, wine-red Elation energy surged from Yevenko's body, manifesting into a masked Fool beside him.
Yevenko's transformation as Kamen Rider Elation had also ended. With only residual power from the nearly expired Tuffy-Transformation Stone, he reverted to his normal form, save for two mouse ears atop his head.
Even without seeing Aha's face, Yevenko clearly sensed the overwhelming joy radiating from the Aeon's wine-red eyes.
He made no effort to conceal his amusement.
Aha's reckless laughter echoed joyously in Yevenko's ears:
"Ahahahahaha~!"
"Aha has never been happier than today! Wait, no—that time with IX was also fantastic… which one deserves first place? Such a tough choice!"
"Seeing IX get beaten up was hilarious, but this time so many others joined in! Ah, it's too difficult to decide~"
"Who knew Aha could experience such happy dilemmas? After all, real entertainment is so scarce across the universe!"
Aha's delight made him unusually chatty, but suddenly he seemed to notice something:
"Anyway, here's another photo as a souvenir. I just sensed Fuli's departure—I need to chase after her quickly, or it'll be too late!"
Aha handed Yevenko a photo, then vanished with a celebratory pop, scattering into countless ribbons.
Clearly, Aha had left in a hurry. Yevenko caught the floating photo from the air.
It was exactly like the one he'd seen on the Astral Express—apparently, that one was also from Aha.
Meanwhile, everyone else approached.
Jing Yuan, intending to inquire about Nanook, paused upon seeing the photo in Yevenko's hand, pupils constricting slightly:
"Yevenko, was that photo just given to you by that Aeon?"
Yevenko nodded.
Jing Yuan continued softly:
"Legend says such photos conceal the secrets to becoming an Aeon."
Pausing briefly, Jing Yuan took another identical photo from his robes.
"This time, Luofu owes you all a great debt. Henceforth, the Xianzhou Alliance officially declares our alliance with the Astral Express."
In his view, even if Tom's absurd strength made this alliance seem comical, he'd honor it regardless—keeping events here confidential was in everyone's interest.
After brief hesitation, Jing Yuan handed the photo over to Yevenko:
"Consider this a small personal gift from me."
At that moment, Jerry—standing near Tom—felt his "ten-day vacation" countdown expire. Not wanting to leave, Jerry grabbed the countdown timer popup and snapped it in half like a stick:
[Congratulations! You obtained: Jerry]
Yevenko: "Huh?!"
Can comic relief characters seriously be this unreasonable?!
Can comic relief characters seriously do whatever they want?!