Record - Boost Leg
“Huff… huff… My body… it won’t move.”
Nova lay spread-eagled on top of the train, breathing heavily with great effort. The aftermath of that brutal collision crushed her entire body. Sure, it was her first real fight like this, so nerves had played a part, but she couldn’t help questioning whether it was normal to be this wiped out—too exhausted to even twitch a finger.
Sensing her state, Stella delivered a brutally honest assessment.
“Even though I lent you my power, your body hasn’t adapted to the sudden surge in strength. Well, you’ll get used to it if you transform frequently.”
“Ugh, but like this, I can’t fight anymore.”
“Don’t worry about that. The Deviant can’t fight anymore.”
Right then, something shrouded in thick black smoke plummeted off the tracks beside the train, erupting in a blinding flash of light. The train shuddered from the shockwave, but nothing serious happened.
It all occurred so fast she couldn’t make out the details, but she vividly remembered it being a white metallic lump.
“Did we… defeat the Deviant?”
“Yes, Nova. You defeated it.”
“Ah……”
She’d been terrified the thing might still be okay somehow, but Stella’s firm confirmation finally let her relax.
She had won. She’d taken down that terrifying villain. Nova—the B-rank hero everyone always dismissed as worthless—had done it.
“Hehe… we really won……”
Even if it was with Stella’s power, Nova savored the thrill of her first victory, quietly closing her eyes.
She’d beaten the villain, so there was nothing left to worry about—
“Wait a second.”
Nova’s eyes snapped open. The train’s speed hadn’t dropped at all. Something felt off.
“What’s going on, Stella? Why isn’t the train stopping?!”
Sigma had promised to halt the train once his subordinate was defeated, but there was no sign of the speed decreasing.
She urgently asked if the guy was still kicking, but Stella was resolute.
“You defeated the Deviant. You saw that explosion, right?”
“Then why……”
“Association President? Yes, I hear you loud and clear!”
It was the Association President she’d met just a couple days ago. Surprised to hear from him of all people, Nova hurriedly explained the situation.
“Please listen, President! A moment ago, Sigma hijacked control of the train, and……”
“You… know?”
Nova had no idea she was on live broadcast, so she was briefly flustered, but with the crisis unfolding, she didn’t press the issue.
“Then that makes things quicker! Yes, I just took down the Deviant—the villain—but the train’s speed isn’t dropping! Can you do something remotely from there?”
Unlike her, the president surely had ways to stop the train, she thought. The Association would figure it out. But that hope shattered quickly.
“What…? Wait, what do you mean……”
After a brief pause, the president spoke in a heavy tone.
“Too late…?”
Nova’s heart sank. She didn’t want to accept it, but she knew exactly what he meant.
“……”
The president’s cold reality check left Nova speechless for a moment.
“……Then what happens to the train? To the civilians inside?”
Those words ignited her fury. Nova shouted back, voice laced with passion.
“Give up?! How can you tell me to abandon the civilians?! If we can’t protect people, what’s the point of being heroes or an Association?!”
“I don’t want to hear it! If you won’t save them, then I will!”
Nova cut the comms abruptly. Yelling at the president himself might earn her discipline, but her mind was elsewhere.
Breathing ragged from rage, she turned to the Stella on her wrist.
“Stella, help me. No matter what, I want to stop this train!”
"Sigh, are you sane? Even with my power boosting you, this goes beyond physical limits!"
She knew. No matter how strong Nova had become, beating a villain was one thing—stopping a runaway train was another.
Still, her eyes burned with desperate resolve, fiercer than ever.
“Please, Stella. Isn’t there any way? I want to save everyone.”
She knew it was an absurd ask. She knew it was forcing the issue. Even a mighty Core Relic had limits.
But Stella was the only thing she could rely on now. If she gave up, the civilians inside would die pointlessly.
"……It’s not that there’s absolutely no way."
“! Stella!”
Hope lit up Nova’s face in an instant, but Stella’s tone was more serious than ever.
"Listen up, Nova. Just like how the Deviant used the Core Relic-Accel for acceleration, I have my own unique ability."
“Your own unique ability?”
"Yes. Not sure if it’ll work, but if we use my Record ability… we might be able to stop it."
“Tell me more.”
Nova focused intently, her expression grave.
"My unique ability, Record, lets me store the powers of defeated foes and manifest parts of that power as armaments."
“Powers of defeated foes? You mean the Deviant’s just now……”
"Exactly. Its power gives us a shot."
“Phew……”
Nova exhaled deeply and forced her screaming body to move. Her muscles felt like they were burning away, but she couldn’t stop.
"Hurry, Nova! Less than two minutes till impact!"
Time was not on their side, just as Stella said. She was in no shape to even stand, but gritting her teeth, Nova drew the Nova Magnum and aimed at the coupling between cars.
Chiiiik—blue particles condensed at the barrel, then a charged blast of energy obliterated the metal ring in one shot.
The engine car separated completely from the rest. But splitting the cars wouldn’t slow the rear ones. Even without physics knowledge, that was obvious.
Still, no disappointment or negativity crossed Nova’s face.
“The engine room’s definitely empty, right?”
"Scanned it a dozen times—no ants, not even one. This era cuts staff with all its automation and AI talk. Guess engineers got the axe too. Relying too much on machines is never good."
Nova swallowed the urge to point out that Stella was a machine herself. This was no time for distractions—absolute focus was required, zero margin for error.
“Ready, Stella!”
"Good. Record manifest!"
With Stella’s command, the blue Core on her chest glowed brightly. Dazzling light particles streamed from it, gathering around Nova’s legs and taking shape.
>Record Manifestation
>Boost Leg equipped.
As the system voice finished, heavy white armor encased Nova’s lithe legs—identical to the Accel Unicorn’s she’d just fought. The turbo engines whirred to life with mechanical groans, preheating.
Shoooooo!
Energy on the verge of exploding surged toward the exhaust ports on her legs. Meant for acceleration, but what Nova planned was the exact opposite.
"Brace yourself, Nova. The backlash will be brutal in every way, but you brought this on yourself—deal with it!"
“Exactly what I wanted!”
Leaving the separating engine car behind, Nova gripped the second car’s body tightly.
“Here we gooooooo!!”
With her war cry, massive flames erupted from the white exhaust ports on her legs. Stella’s power had elevated her natural enhancements to superhuman strength levels, letting her withstand the reverse thrust’s recoil.
That allowed her to slam head-on into the train’s immense inertia and mass.
Bwoooooom—!
A deafening roar tore through the air as the train’s speed visibly dropped. The gap to the still-accelerating first car widened rapidly.
But no time to relax. Soon, a massive crash echoed from ahead, flames shooting up—the first car had smashed into the terminus wall and exploded.
The end of the line was right upon them.
“Gyaaaaaaaah—!!”
Nova grabbed the train’s front, planting her feet directly on the tracks to brake forcibly. The exhaust flames turned from white to an explosive blue.
Even with superhuman strength, booster thrust, and her whole body committed, the train skidded on for dozens of kilometers without stopping.
"Damn it, it’s not working! We’re gonna crash! Run, Nova!!"
“I won’t give up!!”
"You idiot—!!"
Amid Stella’s scream-like shout, Nova glared ahead and poured even more power into her legs. The barrier at the track’s end loomed massively in her vision.
Time to impact—
And then—