"This is the legion under Lord Ryuga—they're called Machina!"
Seeing everyone's curiosity, March 7th immediately enthusiastically explained.
After explaining, she looked at Ryuga curiously.
"Speaking of which, Lord Ryuga, why didn't Jibril come? Don't we need the Flügel legion this time?"
Hearing this, Himeko and others' eyes widened slightly, becoming even more astonished.
The Machina army before them was already terrifying enough, sufficient to be called a major force. But listening to March 7th's meaning, this wasn't even all of Ryuga's forces?
"This mission is rescue after all. Given Jibril and the others' style, even if they successfully killed the Antimatter Legion, can you imagine what state the space station would be in?"
Regarding March 7th's confusion, Ryuga responded with a question.
Although the Flügel legion had fewer numbers, with their strength, dealing with this Antimatter Legion was more than sufficient.
Not to mention, now Ryuga had shared the Sword's Protection with them, raising their strength basically to upper-level Divine Spirit Species standards.
The reason for not letting them act was mainly because the Flügel's destructive power was too strong—they didn't know how to hold back.
In this regard, they were quite similar to the Hunt—destruction and annihilation were nearly indistinguishable.
If they had come this time, the space station would have been destroyed along with the Antimatter Legion.
"Oh right!"
March 7th was slightly stunned, immediately recalling Jibril's style and understanding Ryuga's meaning.
"If you just miss Jibril, I can call her over."
Ryuga added another sentence.
"No, no, no! Forget about that!"
March 7th quickly shook her head.
She didn't want to be bullied by that ill-tempered young Flügel again.
Seeing her so familiar with Ryuga, Himeko felt it necessary to properly question March 7th after returning about exactly who this person was.
Just then, Asta beside them asked very curiously.
"Machina? I haven't heard of them! Where is Mr. Ryuga from?"
If there was a force of this level in interstellar society, she shouldn't be unaware!
Regarding this question, Ryuga answered honestly.
"Just from an unknown world. Actually, the Machina are this child's dependents, but she's also my subordinate, so they serve under me."
Saying this, he patted young goddess Holou's head.
The young goddess blinked and looked at everyone before nodding.
"[Correction], Holou is not only the Main God's subordinate but also the Main God's pet."
With her meticulous personality, she hadn't forgotten her setting.
"Pet?"
Hearing this, everyone cast peculiar gazes at Ryuga.
Treating such a small girl as a pet—wasn't he playing a bit too much?
While this interstellar society hadn't abolished slavery, no one was this blatant about it, right?
Himeko's eyes also became slightly wary. If it was normal romance she wouldn't object, but if Ryuga only viewed March 7th as a pet object, as an elder she'd have to intervene.
Even March 7th was momentarily stunned, but fortunately she'd interacted with Holou before and knew this young goddess had a very unique worldview.
So she quickly spoke up, explaining for Ryuga.
"That's not what Holou means! In Lord Ryuga's world, many races are species created by gods. 'Pet' is actually like 'dependent'—both represent the relationship between a god and the god's possessions. Lord Ryuga is Holou's Main God, which is why this term is used. Everyone, please don't misunderstand!"
Although her reasoning process was wrong—Ryuga wasn't Holou's creator—the conclusion was correct. Whether subordinate or pet, both were relationships of complete dependence, basically no different.
Hearing this, the train crew members breathed a sigh of relief.
That made sense—they'd almost thought Ryuga had some special fetish. Thinking about it now, how could someone who got along so well with March 7th like such a small girl's body type?
For such strange relationships, Asta, as a wealthy young lady, could naturally fully accept them.
Understanding Ryuga and March 7th's world as a small world wrapped in imaginary number space, she didn't realize Ryuga came from another world. So after clearing up the misunderstanding, she remained very curious about Ryuga's identity.
"Taking the liberty to ask—the Machina army just now called Mr. Ryuga the One True God, and Miss March 7th said Mr. Ryuga is Miss Holou's Main God. Doesn't that mean Mr. Ryuga is a genuine divine being?"
Hearing this, Himeko and others also pricked up their ears attentively.
Even they hadn't seen genuine gods many times.
"Using this world's terminology, just a planetary native god—nothing special."
Ryuga acknowledged his identity, his attitude remaining calm and composed.
Unlike the Aeons spread throughout the universe, according to the Honkai Star Rail universe's classification, whether the No Game No Life world or the Campione world, these gods were crystallizations of planetary mythology.
Like the Earth Mother of Diamond's homeland, they belonged to primitive faith gods native to planets.
Ryuga's words were both modest and truthful.
Although condensing the planetary mythology of countless parallel Earth worlds was qualitatively different from the planetary native gods born from a single planet in the Star Rail world.
"Mr. Ryuga is too modest. With your strength, even in interstellar society you'd be sufficient to establish your own faction."
Himeko immediately flattered him.
A powerhouse of this level—even as a planetary native god, couldn't be treated like an ordinary planetary native god.
With forces of this level, he could even impersonate a Lord Ravager.
"Wow! Does that mean Mr. Ryuga, like the gods in fairy tales, can respond to believers' wishes?"
Asta's eyes sparkled.
Having read many myths, she seemed to have considerable expectations of gods.
"Generally it's only early pantheistic gods that would absorb faith by granting blessings. After mythology developed, there wasn't much necessity... However, if it's simply answering questions, that's possible. Bestowing blessings or curses on mortals are basic divine authorities."
Ryuga briefly explained without going into depth.
March 7th subconsciously glanced at her bracelet, secretly pleased.
"Amazing! So how can one become your believer?"
Asta continued questioning.
"No need to deliberately seek it. If you have any wish, as a friend I may not be unable to fulfill it."
Ryuga shook his head, not intending to proselytize.
Although the One True God, his core power was mastering mythology, not personally becoming a god.
Faith was not that important to him.
"I see... I suddenly feel like becoming Mr. Ryuga's friend is taking huge advantage."
Asta's eyes flickered—she seemed to indeed have some wish she wanted fulfilled. But as a wealthy young lady, she understood basic social etiquette. They'd just met—bringing up such things now would be too presumptuous.
And more importantly, it was still a critical moment!
Realizing this, she hurriedly pulled herself from the joy of making a new friend and looked at the information analysis charts for each cabin section.
"What?!"
Seeing the images, she was immediately shocked.
"What's wrong, Miss Asta? Did something happen?"
Seeing her lose composure, Himeko and others immediately tensed up.
Even facing the Antimatter Legion invasion, this girl had maintained a calm attitude. What could make her so surprised?
"Did the Doomsday Beast finally appear? Or was an even more terrifying enemy detected?"
They all gripped their weapons, ready to mobilize at any moment.
The Machina army was indeed strong, but if the Antimatter Legion kept attacking endlessly, they might not hold.
"No! Neither!"
Seeing Himeko and others' reactions, Asta quickly waved her hands.
"Everyone, don't be alarmed—nothing's wrong. The situation hasn't worsened but improved incredibly!"
Saying this, her tone seemed dreamlike.
"In just over a minute, the Antimatter Legion on all four main routes has been completely annihilated. All four passages have been completely cleared and closed according to the pre-design. The other dozens of cabin passages have also been completely opened, and all staff along the way have been sent back to the main cabin section, even receiving healing effects."
"Currently the Machina army has spontaneously divided into three teams—one team is cleaning the remaining battlefield and searching for survivors, one team is treating injured staff, and another team is repairing damaged buildings..."
By the end, she looked somewhat dazedly at Ryuga in the holographic image.
"Mr. Ryuga, what exactly is the background of your Machina army? How can they do everything?"
Hearing this, the train crew members also fell silent.
In such a short time, what had been an orange-alert invasion crisis had been resolved to the cleanup stage.
No wonder Ryuga said they didn't need to intervene—this efficiency was faster at rescue than the Antimatter Legion was at destruction.
Being able to fight was one thing, but also able to heal and repair battlefields—what kind of all-purpose legion was this?
"Their learning speed is good, so naturally they know many skills."
Ryuga spread his hands, answering calmly.
Deploying over ten thousand Machina to the battlefield—achieving this result was normal.
Actually, if just pursuing speed, the Machina army could be even faster.
It's just that this time, besides rescue operations, the Machina also had the task of collecting intelligence on this world—mainly this consumed computational power.
Whether fighting, rescuing, or repairing—all these behaviors would let the Machina build a massive database of this world's rules.
No need to deliberately explore the space station's secret materials—even just public information was valuable intelligence for Ryuga to understand.
So while this battle was to help the space station, the gains Ryuga obtained now had actually far exceeded what he'd put in.
"Regardless, thank you for your assistance."
Looking at the staff members being sent over one after another, Asta bowed very gratefully to Ryuga.
"Without you, who knows how many lives our space station would have lost this time."
"No need to be so polite—I'm just fulfilling Miss March 7th's request."
Ryuga didn't excessively decline, only pointing out the commissioner.
"Thank you too, Miss March 7th, and the train crew's assistance."
Asta went with the flow and immediately expressed thanks.
Regardless of whether Himeko and others actually helped, their willingness to act deserved gratitude.
"Hehe~ I'm getting a bit embarrassed!"
March 7th scratched her head, but her expression was very happy—clearly she quite enjoyed this praise.
Just then, Schwi, who had gone to battle, suddenly appeared before Ryuga.
"[Report], Squad Three discovered a suspicious person while cleaning the battlefield. Through connection with space station equipment communications, determined the suspicious person is a Stellaron Hunter member wanted by the Interastral Peace Corporation. Currently in standoff—please advise how to proceed?"
The task Ryuga gave the Machina was to annihilate the Antimatter Legion—others weren't on the list. But the suspicious person was unwilling to follow the Machina army's orders to go take refuge, so Schwi had to come ask Ryuga.
Hearing her words, everyone present suddenly changed color.
"Stellaron Hunters? How could they appear here?"
To be continued…