That tiny spark of light broke apart within the blazing, eternal sea of fire of the star. The chain reaction that followed formed a storm lasting 7.6 seconds across Ao's surface. The immense surge of magic churned the high-energy particle jets on the star's surface, and torrents of flame of astonishing scale erupted from the plasma inferno. During that brief flash, the star's outward energy radiation fluctuated by less than two percent—then everything gradually returned to calm.
The star burned eternally, as it always had.
At the critical Observation Points near Ao, only two tracking observation units controlled by Omega remained. These battered craft still struggled to hold their positions, but their thermal shields were covered in countless fine cracks and peeled scars. Half their observation equipment had been completely burned out by the star's radiance, yet the remaining instruments continued to watch the stellar surface, watching the direction in which that torrent of flame had vanished.
Until the very last moment, Omega kept trying to call out to that torrent of flame, but it never gave any response.
Now, the tracking units' mission was complete. Part of Omega's threads flowed silently through the control systems in their background. He knew he should recover the two craft. Though badly damaged, they still had enough power to barely return to base. Even if they could not be repaired, the materials in their hulls still had some salvage value. Yet for some reason, he never issued the recovery order. After quietly thinking for an unknown length of time, he instead controlled the two craft to turn their engine nozzles around and plunge straight into the sea of fire on Ao's surface.
Through the data link, Omega sensed the two tracking units rapidly falling toward the star's surface. He felt their shields burn