Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 463

Chapter 463: Is it over…?
The click of Mira’s door opening was a release, both physically and mentally for the two of them.

Alex leaned back in the pilot’s chair, staring through the main viewport as the last embers of Gorath’s destruction faded in the distance.

Mira stepped into the cockpit, moving carefully and subdued.

Her gaze landed on him with a mixture of relief and disbelief.

“Alex.”

She said, her voice a calm counterpoint to the tension still humming through the room.

“Is it really… over?”

“Yeah.”

He replied, meeting her gaze.

“It’s done. Gorath is nothing but dust and memory now.”

The lines in her face softened, though her eyes held onto that wary edge.

She walked forward and leaned on the console, gazing out at the spot where the distant planet had imploded only minutes ago.

“I can’t believe you actually destroyed it. I felt… something break when it happened. That hold it had over me — it was gone, just like that.”

“It didn’t leave me much of a choice.”

He replied with a slight shrug.

“I couldn’t let it keep us under its thumb, playing us like we were tools. It was either that or let it do God knows what to us.”

Mira gave a slight nod, glancing back at him.

“You went all out, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t a bluff.”

He said, a faint smirk on his face as he recalled the fear in Gorath’s final, desperate voice.

“It tried to manipulate us, Mira. Tried to drag us into its misery. I figured, if it was going to trap us, it deserved the same courtesy back.”

She raised an eyebrow, unable to hold back a small grin.

“You and your ‘courtesies.’ You nearly blew yourself to pieces — us with you. I can’t say I’m surprised, but a little forethought wouldn’t have hurt, you know?”

“Hey… it worked out in the end!”

He replied, feigning a casual shrug.

“Besides, the lockdown on the ship was an oversight. Not my finest moment.”

“No kidding…”

Mira said, shaking her head as she pulled up the ship’s console, reviewing the ship’s status and systems.

“The things I put up with…”

She sighed, the slight tension in her expression betraying her lingering nerves.

“Mars, huh? Why Mars? You need to get back to civilization?”

He shrugged, resting his hands on the console.

“Mars felt right. Familiar ground, away from the nonsense we’ve been dealing with. It’s been a while since either of us has seen familiar faces, hasn’t it?”

Alex gazed off into the distance for a second, observing the debris of what used to be Gorath lying in the distance.

“Besides, our goal here has been achieved… somewhat.”

He recalled their original goal for the Telorn system.

When they first returned to this place and learned of the situation that had befallen it, he was overwhelmed with anger and a desire for revenge.

Mira was the same.

While things hadn’t quite gone to plan, it was still over nevertheless.

Well, it was over in the Telorn system…

The war was still very much raging on in the rest of the galaxy.

Mira’s shoulders relaxed a bit as she gazed at the charted course.

“Yeah, it has. Mars isn’t a bad choice.”

They fell into silence as they watched the stars streaking past in the viewport, each lost in their own thoughts.

‘Mars… Man it feels like forever since I was last there. Who’d have thought that I’m still a first year university student haha!…’

They began to reminisce about their time back before the war had even begun.

They were just peacefully… well — somewhat peacefully — making their way through their university life and then all shit hit the fan when the Red Demons made themselves known, as well as the so called trial period of the Primordial Expanse being over.

Alex stole a glance at Mira, wondering if the ordeal with this entire war was weighing on her as much as it did him.

Even worse was this most recent event with Gorath.

They were still barely even adults, having only reached 18 years of age a few months prior, but such crazy and world altering events kept following them wherever they went…

She’d kept her head down and braved the planet’s oppressive influence, her usual composure unshakeable even as Gorath’s grip pulled at both of their minds.

But he knew Mira well enough to know she wasn’t impervious to the experience.

“What was it like for you, down there?”

She asked finally, her voice low and calm.

“Whatever you saw… it shook you.”

Alex let out a long breath, glancing back out the viewport as he considered her question.

“It was… like facing something ancient, something that didn’t understand how to be anything but a planet trapped in itself. It was… lonely, desperate. It clung to us, hoping we’d be its escape, its… release.”

A quiet, thoughtful expression settled over Mira’s face as she absorbed his words.

“So… it just wanted out of its isolation?”

“I think so.”

He replied, rubbing a hand over his jaw.

“I can understand wanting freedom, Mira, but not at any cost. It was willing to use us for that end. If we hadn’t pushed back, if I hadn’t acted — who knows how far it would’ve gone?”

‘Would we even still be ‘us’?’

Alex thought to himself.

Mira nodded slowly, her gaze never leaving his face.

“It’s a dangerous thing, isolation. When you’re alone long enough, your mind starts to break. And if that’s all you’ve ever known…”

“Exactly.”

Alex said quietly.

“But it wasn’t our burden to bear.”

Mira’s mouth curved in a sad smile.

“I suppose not. But I can’t help but wonder if… it could’ve been different.”

Alex shook his head.

“Maybe. But it made its choice. I made mine. You and I? We get to live.”

For a moment, Mira didn’t respond.

She just watched him with a steady gaze, a soft understanding in her eyes.

“I’m glad we’re both still here, Alex.”

He nodded, a faint smile touching his lips.

“Me too.”