Countdown

Nerve bundles convulsed under the surgeon's knife as Kane's consciousness plunged into the ocean of Lia's memories. In the Church laboratory, the shadowless lamps blazed like instruments of torture; as green liquid was injected into her spine, droplets of blood escaped from her bitten lip, each one casting Kane's face onto the metal floor. A researcher's voice, cold and mechanical, echoed from beyond the glass:"The agony of Container 71 is the best fuel for the Holy Remains Project. Continue injecting the catalyst."

In reality, the altar trembled amidst the cannon fire. The fleet of Everbright Holy City tore apart the vault of the graveyard, and the cascading lasers from the silver assault ships evaporated the stardust into mist. Alice's pegasus lost its wings under the hail of projectiles, and the ice-blade shield she had woven with her sword shattered repeatedly—each fragment reflecting the face of her father, the High Inquisitor, who stood at the command deck with his wooden sword pointing at the altar.

Ash's flaming greatsword plunged into the base of the altar as black blood dripped from his mouth, searing scorch marks onto the stardust."Kid, if you fail, I'll burn your pottery workshop—even in the afterlife!"

Kane's mutation had spread all the way to his neck. Just as the procedure stalled at 98%, Lia's memories suddenly shifted—inside a dark incubation chamber, she had carved the crooked letters "Don't be afraid" into the chamber wall with the tip of a catheter, and the silver blood seeping from her incision had gathered to form Kane's silhouette.

The moment the bony blade severed the final nerve bundle, Lia's pupils flew open, their amber hue replacing the abyssal black. The incubation chamber shattered, and she tumbled into Kane's arms; her fingertips brushed over his transformed cheek, the icy touch evoking memories of the frost on the pottery workshop's winter windowpanes."Big brother's pottery… still as lousy as ever."

The low hum of the fleet's main cannon charging reverberated through the stardust. Lia grasped Kane's bony blade and guided it to plunge into her own heart. Silver blood erupted into a river of stars as the tombstones of the first-generation Godslayer resonated in unison, and starlight converged to form a colossal sword that sliced toward the heavens. The fleet of the Holy City vaporized in the brilliance—like dandelion seeds blown apart by a child—while burning wreckage cascaded into the sea of clouds, transforming into a rain of iron and fire.

Kane's howl was swallowed by the explosions. Lia's body dissolved in his arms, leaving only her four-leaf clover earring to tumble onto the ground, and her whispered words mingled with the starlit wind:"Go find the real me…"

Ash used his broken sword to pick up the earring; the dying embers illuminated the inscriptions on its inner side—completely matching the coordinates left by Elena."The Church has uploaded her consciousness into every clone," he sneered, flashing bloodstained teeth. "Just like your mother hid the virus in the ice blade… People of the Saint Roland family are all liars."

Alice picked up her mother's ceremonial sword. The small inscription on the crossguard, stained ever more clearly by black blood, read:"For Alice, may your sword be drawn only for the truth."She recalled how, at seven, she could barely grasp the hilt, and how her mother had cupped her hand in her palm, saying,"A sword is not a weapon—it is the measure of a guardian."

Beneath their feet, the stardust flowed and formed a new route:"The Eye of the Abyss, the Pupil of Truth."

The pegasus's shadow skimmed over the crumbling graveyard, its wings casting fractured silhouettes under the blood moon. The gear-like scar on Kane's palm glowed faintly, and Lia's voice emerged from the void, imbued with the dampness of a rainy day at the pottery workshop:"Come find me, where the gods lie."

Downing the last swig of fiery liquor from the lab, Ash flung the empty bottle toward the burning sea of clouds."Time to sprinkle some paper money on this funeral."