With this thought, Sparkle's mind moved. In an instant, an invisible force suddenly descended upon those followers.
Crack crack…!
Sounds of bones fracturing rang out. In just a few breaths, the skeletons supporting their bodies had been shattered into pieces. The soul-piercing pain shot through their neural centers and into their brains.
The agony like an Asura hell made the followers' eyes bulge wide, bloodshot threads appearing in their eyeballs from ruptured capillaries.
"Urgh…"
The followers desperately tried to open their mouths to shout for help, but no matter how hard they tried, all that came out were muffled whimpers.
And the instigator of all this—our Miss Sparkle—acted as if she knew nothing at all and simply left the themed bar called "Winter Is Coming."
The girl's figure gradually disappeared from people's sight, and along with her, the restraining force imposed on the followers also dissipated.
"Ah—!"
Having lost that strange restraint, the followers whose movements had been restricted all collapsed to the ground.
Just as they were about to cry out loudly for help, they suddenly discovered in astonishment that there wasn't a single injury on their bodies right now—as if everything that had just happened had been like flowers in a mirror or moon on water, an illusory dream.
Even so, they no longer had the courage to continue following. After all, this was simply too eerie.
...
"What? Is this real?! That's great, Elio—we'll head back right away."
Whoosh—!
"Time to get up, my little Wolfie~"
Morning, 8:15 universal system time. It had already been quite a while since the first ray of daylight pierced through the night and announced the arrival of dawn.
Having stayed up all night gaming and now in the middle of her usual catch-up sleep, Silver Wolf vaguely heard an excited female voice by her ear. Then, with a whoosh, her vision suddenly became blindingly bright.
"Ugh… Kafka, what the heck are you doing so early in the morning…" Hearing someone call her name, the extremely drowsy Silver Wolf forced her eyes open and grumbled discontentedly at the purple-haired beauty before her.
"Alright, alright, Wolfie—get up quick. We need to head back~"
Seeing this, Kafka couldn't help but laugh helplessly before reaching out with her jade hand to gently shake Silver Wolf's shoulder.
"Head back? Head back where?"
Hearing the words "head back," a trace of confusion flashed in Silver Wolf's eyes, her heart filled with loss and sorrow.
"Our headquarters is gone, Firefly is gone… us Stellaron Hunters are basically loners now…"
Seeing Silver Wolf looking so sad, Kafka gently stroked the girl's little head.
"Wolfie… actually, Firefly isn't dead. Our headquarters is still there too."
Hearing Kafka's words, Silver Wolf was momentarily stunned. The girl opened her mouth but ultimately couldn't say anything. She had already subconsciously assumed that what Kafka said was a kind white lie meant to comfort her.
"Silver Wolf, I'm not lying."
Reaching into her pocket and fumbling for a moment, Kafka pulled out a phone wrapped in a purple case. Then, under Silver Wolf's half-believing, half-doubting gaze, she handed it to the girl.
"This… this is real?!"
Staring fixedly at the message on the communication interface, after a long while, Silver Wolf finally let out an incredulous murmur.
Firefly wasn't dead—not only was she not dead, but she had even caught the eye of that Aeon of Causality, "Lord Samsara." She had become an Emanator of Causality and, as a bonus, had her long-standing terminal illness—"Entropy Loss Syndrome"—cured.
Come on, come on—what kind of female protagonist novel template did Firefly pull?!
"Now you believe it, right? Silver Wolf, how's the recovery of your Path power going? After about a day, the power you've regained should be enough to construct an ether channel back to headquarters, yeah?"
"Ether channel? Ah, this…"
Hearing "ether channel," an awkward expression suddenly appeared on Silver Wolf's face. At the same time, her gaze became evasive—she didn't quite dare to meet our Mama Kafka's eyes directly.
"Wolfie, you couldn't have…"
Silver Wolf's little movements naturally didn't escape Kafka's notice. The purple-haired stunning beauty narrowed her eyes slightly and stared fixedly at the evasive Silver Wolf.
"Sorry! I used up the Path power I just recovered!"
Sensing the dangerous aura emanating from Kafka's entire body, our little Wolfie knew that if she didn't confess right now, she was probably in for a scolding.
"You really used ether editing to play games…"
Kafka covered her face. This brat Silver Wolf—dropping the ball at the critical moment…
"Sigh~ Whatever, whatever. Worst case, we'll be a day late getting back. You better recover your energy properly. If there's any more trouble… my dear little Wolfie~ You know what happens~"
Watching Kafka give her a weird smile and wave her hand, the girl named Silver Wolf instinctively covered her little butt, her mind flashing back to some unpleasant memories.
A few seconds later, she finally spoke in a trembling voice: "I-I got it…"
————————————
Belobog Interstellar Port… Interastral Peace Corporation Dedicated Dock…
A massive luxury spacecraft was slowly docking under the guidance of the berthing personnel.
The spacecraft was about three hundred meters long, shaped like a giant cruise ship sailing on the ocean—yet unlike a ship, this vessel sailed among the stars.
Once the docking procedures were complete and the spacecraft had stabilized, the luxurious cabin doors—facing away from the rising sun—slowly opened.
"Jarilo-VI… I never thought that after so many days, I would set foot on this land again. This feeling is really somewhat nostalgic…"