After Lin Huai's figure turned into particles of light and vanished, the room fell into a long silence.
The heroes looked at the spot where he had disappeared, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
Tony drained his glass in one go, the expression on his face both relieved and worried.
Steve clenched his fists tightly, his gaze firm, offering a silent blessing to his departing comrade.
They all understood that Lin Huai was going to fight a war they could neither participate in nor understand.
And the only thing they could do was protect this World and wait for his return.
...
In the endless void, Lin Huai's consciousness traveled through a surging energy storm, small and lonely.
He held his left hand high, the six Infinity Stones bursting with brilliant light.
This power turned into a sharp blade, forcibly tearing through the World's barriers and prying open the connection to Above the Gray Fog that had once been severed by Antigonus.
It was a crazy gamble.
He didn't know what he would see, nor did he know if he could return safely.
But he had no choice.
Boom!
As if passing through an invisible membrane.
Lin Huai finally broke free from the energy storm and fell into a space both familiar and strange.
The gray fog was boundless, and a towering palace loomed in the mist.
A mottled Bronze Long Table lay quietly in the center, exuding an aura of ancient vicissitudes.
Sefirah Castle.
He was back.
And at the very head of the long table, the figure he had dreamed of was sitting there quietly.
He was still wearing that black classical windbreaker, with a gentle and slightly weary smile on his face.
His black eyes were deep and serene, as if they contained the stars of the entire Universe.
"You're back."
Klein Moretti's voice rang out, filled with relieved gratification.
"Good work, Lin Huai."
"You are not him."
Lin Huai's voice turned cold instantly as he stared intently at that familiar face, saying word by word.
"You feel like you have the winning hand now, so you don't even want to act anymore."
The smile on 'Klein's' face froze slightly before returning to gentleness.
"Lin Huai, what are you saying? I am Klein, and I am also Zhou Mingrui."
"We've met twice, don't you even recognize me? We agreed to go to Chongqing for hotpot together, to eat Sichuan cuisine, and to enjoy the happiness of ordinary people. Have you forgotten it all?"
His voice was still gentle.
"Not to mention that in the memories I retrieved, Klein had long fallen into a slumber. You aren't from that country. If the first thing you said was 'Brother, have you eaten?', maybe even if I suspected you weren't Klein, I would have wondered if you were truly waking up."
"In China, close friends don't call each other by their full names. Celestial Worthy, you have his memories, but you don't have his consciousness."
A terrifying pressure originating from the level of life sequence instantly enveloped the entire Sefirah Castle like a tide!
Lin Huai's body groaned under this pressure, and fine cracks began to appear on the surface.
He felt his consciousness being stripped away and his memories becoming blurred.
"You..."
Lin Huai looked up with difficulty.
He tried to use the power of the Infinity Stones to resist, only to find that the six primordial stones were as silent as dead objects, their connection with him completely severed!
Celestial Worthy!
It really is you!
"Why?"
"Why disguise yourself as him?"
Lin Huai's consciousness roared frantically.
"Disguise?"
"No, I am him, and he is me."
The Celestial Worthy's voice became grand and cold, no longer having any disguise.
"He is just a piece of code, a container on my path of return."
"Now, the container is nearly complete, and the program should end."
"And you, Lin Huai, or rather, the World, you are the most exquisite chess piece I laid down to break his consciousness."
"Your existence was to collect enough humanity to fill this container, making his subconscious lower its defenses and making him think he had awakened."
"Now, you have done well. Your mission... is complete."
As the last word fell, that terrifying pressure suddenly surged!
Lin Huai's body instantly shattered, turning into countless spots of light.
His consciousness was sucked into a dark vortex, and twenty years of life memories—the laughter, tears, love, and hate—were being ruthlessly swallowed and erased by a larger will!
Is it... going to end?
"Amanises, Adam, your damn plan was actually thought up by the Celestial Worthy? I'm truly freaking impressed."
No!
I can't just disappear like this!
I still have to go back to our hometown with Klein for a look, even if it's the hometown of this World.
At the last moment before Lin Huai's consciousness was about to be completely swallowed, his survival instinct allowed him to perceive a final barrier deep within his body.
It was an island wrapped in layers of gray fog, emitting a faint glow of humanity.
The final line of defense left by Klein!
Without any hesitation, Lin Huai crashed his last remaining bit of consciousness frantically into that barrier!
Buzz—!
As if breaking through an invisible barrier.
Lin Huai's consciousness instantly merged with that glow of humanity.
He felt as if he had connected to a control center so vast it was beyond imagination.
A cold, vast power that transcended godhood surged out from every corner of this body!
This feeling...
It was like activating a long-sealed ultimate weapon in a desperate situation.
It was like... piloting a Gundam!
Outside, for the first time, a look of astonishment appeared on the Celestial Worthy's face.
He felt that his control over Sefirah Castle was being frantically seized by a sudden force!
At the spot where Lin Huai's body had originally collapsed, a black-haired young man's body began to solidify.
He slowly raised his head, and those deep eyes that originally belonged to Klein now lit up with the unyielding fire belonging to Lin Huai.
"You seem... surprised?"
Lin Huai spoke. The voice was Klein's, but the tone was his own.
He moved this body that was both familiar and strange, feeling the terrifying power within that was enough to manipulate rules and fool time and space, and he laughed frantically.
"It seems I'm more familiar with the operation manual of this Gundam than you are, Celestial Worthy!"
The authority of Sefirah Castle was split in two at this moment.
One side was the ancient will of an Outer Deity, representing divinity and indifference.
The other side was a mortal soul that merged humanity, tenacity, and madness.
The balance of the battle instantly shifted from a one-sided crushing to an evenly matched tug-of-war!
For the first time, an expression of anger appeared on the Celestial Worthy's face.
He hadn't expected that a chess piece He had casually placed, a tiny Marionette, could merge with Klein's remaining barrier of humanity at the last moment and pry away the control of Sefirah Castle!
This was the most complete desecration of His existence as an Outer Deity!
The terrifying power of authority clashed frantically within Sefirah Castle, and the entire gray fog space trembled violently.
The chains of rules symbolizing Fooling and the mysterious symbols representing Change tore at each other and annihilated.
However, no matter how the Celestial Worthy attacked, Lin Huai tenaciously held his ground and even managed to counterattack from time to time.
He controlled the Klein Gundam; though his movements were clumsy and full of holes, by relying on the subconscious cooperation of Zhou Mingrui's humanity, he always managed to neutralize the Celestial Worthy's divine-level attacks in the most inconceivable ways.
The stalemate lasted for an unknown amount of time.
The Celestial Worthy also seemed to realize that by relying on power alone, He could not eliminate this annoying pilot in a short time.
Thus, He stopped the attack.
"Mortal."
The grand and indifferent voice rang out again, but this time, there was a hint of hard-to-detect irritation.
"Your struggle is meaningless."
"Stop."
"I can promise you to preserve your consciousness and let you remain in this World forever with the status of a Miracle Invoker, becoming a true god of this Universe."
"To you, this is a supreme honor."
This was the first condition thrown out by the Celestial Worthy.
A temptation enough to drive any mortal mad.
However, what responded to Him was Lin Huai's undisguised sneer.
"A god?"
"To be a god who can only watch my brother be slowly swallowed by you while I am powerless?"
"Sorry, the spirit of resistance of the Chinese people is etched into their very bones."