One twisted vortex after another appeared densely packed together, making the already deep-red, distorted sky look even more sinister!
From afar, it looked as if the sky had grown portals one after another!
And Aquila's, voice could no longer be heard as even remotely human. It was piercing and shrill, like the screeching of some kind of insect.
On the platform. Everyone stared in horror at Aquila, who had flown into the sky.
That posture, that appearance. It was almost exactly the same as when she had released the helium flash earlier!
But the terrifying pressure they felt now was a hundred times greater than when the helium flash had been released!
A warning born from instinct made everyone's hair stand on end! Although they did not know what kind of attack the dragon was preparing to unleash, everyone had already prepared for the worst!
Stelle once again shouldered the Flaming Lance and stood in front of everyone.
But after the long, bitter battle, and with Seliose's terrifying attacks after being corrupted by the black tide, once they suffered damage, they could not heal, Stelle's stamina and condition had been steadily declining.
Now, even she had no confidence that she could withstand this unknown strike.
"If I'd known, I really would have avoided its edge."
They had no way to retreat. Beside Stelle, Dan Heng and Phainon stood with her at the front, their expressions extremely grave.
Dan Heng had also prepared for the worst, and Phainon was the same.
They were all already exhausted. Yet they could only watch helplessly as the final step of the re-creation of the world became stuck here.
Behind the three of them, Hyacine gripped her healing staff and used all her strength to construct a healing barrier.
Little Ica flapped its wings uneasily beside her.
"We absolutely… cannot fall here." Hyacine's eyes were resolute as she thought this with determination.
Seeing everyone facing the enemy as if on the brink of despair, the viewers' hearts rose into their throats.
Their feelings were even more direct. This Aquila boss fight was just too damn ridiculous!
Since Honkai: Star Rail's story episodes had come out, this was the first time the audience had ever seen a boss with three health bars!
And from their perspective, the protagonist group… no longer had any trump cards left.
At this very moment, aside from themselves, no one else could extend a helping hand to them.
Phainon had no Coreflame. Stelle was completely exhausted.
Dan Heng could use his Vidyadhara High Elder power. But in the current sky, where was there even the slightest water left?
It was all twisted black, red clouds, disgusting and dangerous. Without the right time or place, relying only on Dan Heng transforming, could he really hold it off?
The viewers had no confidence either.
…
: This is way too hard to fight! Holy shit!
: Seliose is cheating, right?
: First Aglaea's returning blade, then Aquila playing dead, I feel like something bad is going to happen.
: Nooo!!!
: Rise up, Stelle! Hurry and use your hidden power!
: Stelle's almost burned out already. What hidden power could she still have?!
: Phainon! Phainon, go berserk!
: Phainon doesn't even have a Coreflame, seed. Being able to rely on his own strength and repeatedly seriously injure Aquila is already amazing.
: Then this time… are they really done for?
…
The viewers were full of worry. But deep down, they still held a little hope.
Stelle, Phainon, and the others were the same. After all, until the very last moment, it was still hard to say who would win!
Just then, the abnormal changes in the sky had reached their peak.
Everyone subconsciously raised their heads and looked at the curled-up Titan.
Space trembled violently around its body. The oppressive black, red cloud layer grew thicker and thicker.
Even Aquila's body itself seemed almost unable to contain it.
Suddenly, a clear voice exploded in everyone's minds.
"Unmaking Ashes: Godsfall!!"
Seliose's voice carried neither sorrow nor joy, as if announcing the arrival of divine punishment.
And in that instant, a violent buzzing sound burst outward with Aquila at its center!
The two heads wrapped around Aquila's eyes, along with its curled, up body, opened at the same time and stretched to the limit!
Above Aquila's head, at the center of the sky, a huge, twisted pupil suddenly appeared!
Around this pupil, the densely packed vortices nearby all transformed into identical pupils, one after another. Thousands upon thousands of eyes locked onto the platform from every direction.
This twisted yet shocking scene made the well, traveled Stelle and Dan Heng, the fearless Phainon and Hyacine, and even all the viewers staring straight at the screen feel chills run down their spines!
And in the next second, those pupils began to melt…
They turned into viscous liquid. The liquid fell rapidly downward, then transformed into purple, red meteors.
The camera followed the speed of the falling meteors, pulling rapidly away from a wide, angle perspective.
Everyone saw the red sky, twisted like an oil painting, begin to rain.
Only, it was a meteor shower. And the tails dragged out by those meteors remained connected to the sky the entire time.
It looked like rain, and yet also like some grotesque, indescribable mass. Magnificent, yet enough to make one lose their sanity!
There was no chance to react. The camera did not even turn back to anyone's expression.
That meteor shower came crashing down, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.
First, the first one landed on the platform.
With a thunderous boom, the floor was lifted up, and the surroundings were torn to pieces.
Red smoke and shockwaves spread outward from the point of impact.
Then came the second…
The third…
More and more, more and more!
Within just a few short seconds, the originally distinguishable roars and explosions merged together, turning into an even more deafening and terrifying wave of sound.
And those explosions also linked together, turning into a sea that swallowed everything within sight!
It was not only the platform. Even the sky fortress, which had not yet completely collapsed, was instantly covered by saturated firepower.
The city walls were immediately pierced through. Before the things inside could even be exposed, they were swallowed by the explosions and reduced to ash.
The camera pulled farther and farther away.
The viewers watched with their own eyes as everything between heaven and earth began to dissipate under an attack of this level.
It was like being slowly erased by a deep, red eraser, bit by bit!
The comments briefly went blank. No one was in the mood to send comments anymore.
The viewers' eyes had gone dull. They were completely stunned. They had imagined that, at most, it would be an attack on the same level as the helium flash.
Perhaps it would come with some even more troublesome effects. But they had never expected it to be this kind of destroying attack!
Even the most cultured person could only use the words to describe this scene:
Heavenly punishment. True heavenly punishment.
And under this kind of attack, could Stelle and the others… really survive? No one could laugh anymore.
…
This unusual downpour lasted only a short while.
When the roaring and firelight dispersed, only silence remained.
Because the camera had pulled too far away, the viewers could not see clearly whether anything still existed in that stretch of sky.
Amid the unsettling silence, as the camera drew closer.
The audience's eyes, originally filled with tension and fear, suddenly lit up with a faint glimmer.
The platform was still there! It was still holding!
That meant everyone was still alive!
But before the audience could cry out in surprise, they saw the scene on the platform.
It was not the same intact platform as before. There were traces of patchwork everywhere.
Clearly, it had been rewound and restored by the divine power of time.
This meant that, under that previous attack, the platform had truly been blown apart.
And the people on the platform all looked terrible. Dan Heng was covered in injuries, panting heavily as he supported Stelle.
Stelle's eyes were closed, and she had fallen into a semi-conscious state, but her hand still gripped the Flaming Lance.
Beside them, Phainon was leaning on his sword, trying to stand up, but he failed several times.
Hyacine was sitting sideways on the ground, her pupils unfocused, and the medical staff in her hand had long since shattered.
...
: Th, this...
: They were beaten this badly?
: Damn... is Stelle okay?
: It's over. For the first time, I'm feeling true despair.
: Are they really going to lose?
: I can't even speak anymore...
: Is this really where it ends?
: Everyone looks so desperate...
: Oh my god...
·······
The comments finally began to roll again.
But they were all filled with despair. And in the scene, everyone finally recovered from the devastating impact.
That attack just now had severely wounded all of them. Stelle had been the first to be swallowed by the impact.
The Preservation power of the Flaming Lance had lasted for a good half of the attack before it was torn apart head-on, and Stelle stopped the attack on her own.
After that, Dan Heng rushed forward, braving the explosion to pull Stelle into Hyacine's barrier.
And it was also thanks to that extremely brief cover from Stelle that Hyacine was able to change her healing barrier, pouring all of its healing power into each individual.
But it was still a drop in the bucket. What that violent explosion brought was even the rapid corrosion of life itself.
She could barely keep everyone alive. The disastrous battle situation caused despair to begin spreading in Hyacine's heart as well.
But not because she was about to die. This despair was because of the Flame-chasing Journey.
So many people had sacrificed themselves for this journey. One companion after another, friends, loved ones, all had left for the sake of this journey.
As long as this flame was lit, it could become the dawn that illuminated the apocalypse.
And they were only that little bit away. As one of the last few Chrysos Heirs, how could she possibly accept this?
The apocalypse needed light. Everyone needed light too.
Mortals... needed light even more.
But where was the light? As this attack gradually faded, those pupils also reappeared within the sticky clouds.
The sky had already been covered by an impure crimson. The last bit of light was also blocked by the clouds.
An endless darkness began to swallow everyone on the platform.
But was this really the end? Many things suddenly appeared in Hyacine's mind.
First were Aglaea, Anaxa, Tribbie, Mydei, and the others.
They too had lived in the apocalypse. They too had watched helplessly as the apocalypse spread, as the darkness spread.
They had decided to fight against the heavens, fight against people, and make themselves into the dawn that tore apart the darkness.
Not merely for their own survival, but also for all life in the entire world, to become the sun that illuminated the whole world.
And even the ordinary people who lived after the end of Era Chrysea. They could not lead the world, change the tide of thought, or do the things only heroes could do.
They were not noble either. They were coachmen, cooks, laborers, beggars, farmers, craftsmen...
What these insignificant people sought was not grand either. They merely struggled to survive in troubled times, earning just enough scraps to fill their stomachs.
But they too were not living only for themselves. Because they might be fathers or mothers, sons or daughters, husbands or wives.
As ordinary people, what they could illuminate was only their own small home. But that too was light that illuminated others.
That too was the sun. These memories, flashing past like a revolving lantern, lasted only an instant in Hyacine's mind.
A realization rose in her heart.
What is light? Light is the principle that Teacher Anaxa said could be structured; it is the symbol Aquila spoke of.
For Hyacine, light is hope. In the darkness, Hyacine raised both hands.
The Coreflame within her body instantly appeared in her palms. A faint firelight also lit up at this moment.
This firelight illuminated Hyacine's little face, illuminated little Ika beside her, and illuminated the audience beyond the screen.
Within the despairing darkness, a hopeful female voice sounded together with a prelude that seemed to herald the dawn.
In a daze, everyone seemed to see the golden sky before daybreak.
"With just a glimmer of light... I'll be able to pierce through the clouds..."
Hyacine held the Coreflame and said softly.
All it takes is a little bit of light.
Even the humblest life can survive. Even the greatest miracle can be created.
Just like the nearly thousand-year history of Amphoreus, just like those heroes and mortals.
"Use mine, Hyacine."
Phainon stood up, gripping his sword, his eyes free of any unnecessary emotion.
He poured all of his strength into his great sword.
At this moment, the beautiful greatsword burst forth with dazzling radiance. Phainon stepped forward with his right foot, took his sword stance, and slashed toward the sky!
"I am... the one who bears the world-"
A sword wave cleaved toward the crimson clouds, but it immediately sank into them and vanished.
Phainon ignored it completely. He straightened his body and raised the greatsword before his eyes, covering half his face.
The next moment, he suddenly lifted the greatsword high! The words resounded together with it!
"I am the blazing sun, destined to rise!"
As his words fell, the sword wave within the clouds exploded at the same time, completely tearing apart that section of clouds!
Countless rays of light rushed in through the opening. Behind Phainon, they transformed into the shape of the Worldbearing Titan's divine mark!
The audience was already stunned. The despair before hope, the suppression before the eruption.
Everything, all of it, was pushing their emotions toward that peak!
Beneath the light, the music's melody became more and more filled with hope.
And Hyacine, holding the Coreflame in the scene, also floated into midair.
At the same moment the music reached its highest point! She twisted her small hands and spread both hands wide!
Countless rays of light burst forth from her tiny body. They transformed into a dazzling divine mark across the sky.
Like a true sun, it shone upon the world! And in an instant, it dispelled all impurity!