[No way? This is the truth? This is... too cruel.]
[I thought I was a great hero in the spotlight, but in the end, you tell me that not only am I not, but my arrival was only to fulfill a trivial bet?]
[This was never a story about a hero saving the world. Her life and those of her ancestors, so humble and weak, all hung on a single whim of Seneos?]
[Hyacine was already doubting herself. Now that this has been said, she won't...]
The bullet chat was constantly worried about Hyacine, fearing she might do something drastic.
In fact, Hyacine's eyes were indeed filled with a complex mix of emotions.
She questioned Sorabis and Lunaebis, but after a thousand years, the horse and the lion no longer sought to prove the weakness of humanity.
They had witnessed too much of the Journey of Chasing the Fire—everything that humanity had achieved.
So this time, they were only hoping for the return of the light!
As soon as those words were spoken...
Although she understood that all of this was a lie...
Hyacine gave a smile of relief, then stepped forward to face the rolling Eye of the Titan beneath the firmament:
"Lord Seneos! Whether you can hear me now or not, I want to tell you what's in my heart."
"I want you to know that I am glad! Glad to be the descendant of an obscure child of humanity."
Hyacine smiled, a smile that even carried a hint of pride and contentment.
This was her answer!
An answer that remained unchanged across a thousand years.
In an instant.
The bullet chat in Guinaifen's stream began to scroll at a speed that threatened to crash the server.
[!]
[!]
[!]
[...]
Exclamation marks flooded the screen.
Hyacine was not defeated by the truth. Instead, after seeing its essence, she still loved it all and spoke of humanity's greatness to the god above the sky!
"I want to prove to you that the cluster of resilient hope at the root of human nature will not be worn away by time!"
"Even the most cowardly little person still has a seed in her heart. Perhaps in your era, the light on the horizon was too dim for the seed to sprout..."
"But now, a thousand years later—many shining heroes have emerged from the path you blazed!"
The camera zoomed out.
At this moment, Phainon stood with his arms crossed and a smile, Stelle had one hand on her hip, and Dan Heng remained expressionless.
And there was Hesitation, floating in mid-air with a look of triumph.
Guinaifen was incredibly moved by this dialogue!
"That 'Dusklight' which can be healed and protected even under the apocalypse is the reason we choose to bear our imperfect humanity!"
Hearing this, Guinaifen almost jumped out of her chair, but fortunately, Sushang held her down.
At the same time, Phainon also stepped forward:
"History has proven once again: the Journey of Chasing the Fire itself is a miracle—"
Beginning with a whitewashed lie, it paved a path of salvation for mortals spanning a thousand years.
So everyone returned here; this was Phainon's answer.
"Mortals can accept change, and human nature is worth saving!"
"This race that strives forward in the apocalypse deserves a second chance—we deserve a brand new dawn!"
In an instant.
The stream went completely wild!
[These lines are divine! The writing is so good! I'm truly moved; this is the will of mortals!]
[Hyacine is really... so strong. She recognized the truth yet still loves life!]
[Little Phai is so cool! Because of this, we've come this far, just to win back the Re-creation for mortals!]
[The children of humanity on earth have returned, and we shall challenge the heavens once more!]
[So hype! My blood is boiling.]
[Let the battle begin! Cut down the gods right here!]
"But this time, I will not be overwhelmed by the dark side of humanity."
"Face me, incarnation of the sky!"
Accompanied by Hyacine's voice, Sorabis and Lunaebis turned into streams of light and began charging toward the Eye of the Titan.
The group glanced at each other.
A golden chain dropped down, and Phainon leaped up to grab it firmly.
Then, in the next second!
The BOSS battle officially began.
A giant monster with a pair of massive wings, a halo above its head, and a skeletal body descended from the air!
It let out a sharp roar and a hiss as its sun-blocking body moved, revealing a twisted, hideous eye on its chest.
[Battle Start]
Guinaifen looked both excited and terrified: "This is so shocking..."
"Is this the incarnation of the Sky Titan? It feels even more oppressive than death and strife!"
"Seneos once rebelled against the gods for the sake of humanity, but after becoming a god, she realized the baseness of humans. So this time, let us show her the will of humanity!"
In the stream's chat, everyone followed Guinaifen's lead and started spamming 'the will of humanity'.
...
Meanwhile.
Astral Express.
Himeko was also playing through this story.
She was watching Guinaifen's stream while playing the game herself.
But she had to admit, the BOSS difficulty was indeed ridiculously high. You couldn't win without pulling for the featured characters. The sense of oppression was palpable even within the game!
Himeko couldn't imagine whether Stelle, Dan Heng, Phainon, Hyacine, and the others fighting it on the scene could truly win.
And that wasn't all.
After Himeko finally managed to clear the first phase with great effort...
The BOSS actually flew away, and then the sky became filled with lightning and thunder, while the platform began to plummet rapidly!
Without a doubt.
It had a second phase!
What was even more despair-inducing were the incredibly powerful lightning strikes.
Stelle's Flame Lance focused on defense, and Hyacine had almost no combat power. The only ones who could deal effective damage were Dan Heng and Phainon, who held Eos-Bane.
In fact.
Even if she were there, she probably wouldn't be able to avoid a hard-fought battle.
...
Guinaifen's stream.
After some fighting, thanks to the power of money, she successfully defeated the BOSS's first phase.
And soon brought the second phase down to low health.
Guinaifen was feeling triumphant.
But then, as the platform continued to fall, Phainon spoke first in a low voice:
"There is still another world waiting to be saved..."
"We... don't plan on dying here with you!"
In an instant.
Stelle and Dan Heng leaped up, plunging the Flame Lance and the spear into the pupils beneath Aegle's wings, respectively, to restrict its movement.
It shook the two of them off in a rage, but just as it was about to dive, Phainon below was already poised to strike.
Eos-Bane was shimmering with a golden radiance!
"Titan—!"
"Melt!"
Like a falling meteor, Phainon leaped and charged straight up along its neck.
Light burst forth, and at the end, he sliced that eyeball clean off!
[Phainon is too strong! Use Eos-Bane to shatter it!]
[Dammit! This is our hot-blooded combo move!]
[It worked! As expected of the Deliverer!]
Defeated, Aegle offered no further resistance and crashed onto the falling platform.
But then Guinaifen noticed something was wrong.
"Oh no, guys... we're falling. Are we going to crash?!"
"There's lava underneath! What do we do? Can we fly? What should we do?"
Witnessing the weightless sensation of falling from Stelle's perspective, Guinaifen nervously shut her eyes.
Then, just as they were about to hit the ground...
The screen went black!
Sushang stared intently at the screen.
A moment later, when Stelle stood up unharmed, strands of brilliant golden light enveloped the sky.
Looking up...
Sushang's eyes were filled with deep emotion.
That's right.
It was Aglaea's necklace!
The golden threads it emitted wrapped around the platform, allowing everyone to land safely.