"If, when that day came, I still left like I did before, what would you do, Feng?"
"My choice would not change in any way. But you, Elysia, if..."
"If what?"
"Never mind. It's nothing."
"Feng, stopping halfway through a sentence is a very bad habit! I'll get angry!"
"..."
Dawn's Fallen Angel chose to look away, gazing toward the distant, dreamlike sky.
Until the very end, he never told her what that "if" was, because what ultimately stood before her was "reality."
This was a dreamlike garden, with a vast labyrinth, towering spires, and a pink sky.
There was no concept of morning or dusk here, because time held no meaning.
The fragrance of countless flowers filled the air, while the shadow of a ray flickered in and out of sight in the sky.
Atop the tower, a pink-haired fairy girl slept.
Suddenly, the girl slowly opened her eyes and looked toward a certain direction in the garden.
There, purple-black matter eroded the edges of the labyrinth. Scarlet flames swept through the flowers and grass within it, setting even the sky ablaze as it crumbled.
The girl came to the edge of the tower. What met her eyes was a gigantic humanoid monster floating in the air, countless scarlet threads radiating from its back. Each thread was connected to a purple-black monster.
The monsters' target was obvious: this tower at the center of the labyrinth—or rather, someone or something within it.
"This presence... an Imaginary Divine Core?" The girl examined the enormous monster. "But... it's different from every Imaginary Divine Core I've seen before. Did something happen in the outside world?"
As she pondered, pinkish-purple light gathered in her hand and formed a longbow. She drew the string and aimed at the enormous monster, searching for its Imaginary Cores.
"It actually has six Imaginary Cores?" She was slightly surprised, but she did not hesitate. Pulling the bowstring taut, she fired a powerful arrow. In flight, the arrow split into six streams of light, each flying toward one of the six Imaginary Cores she had spotted.
The streams of light struck the Imaginary Cores and shattered like crystals crashing against hard diamonds.
Her attack had failed.
"What a troublesome child." The girl furrowed her lovely brows slightly. "It seems something really may have happened outside. I'll have to ask Mobius properly what's going on later. But before that..."
The longbow in her hand dissolved into motes of light, transforming instead into a spear. Gentle flowing radiance shimmered across its surface. She looked at the spear as though she were looking at someone who had already departed.
Then, she raised the spear in her hand.
"Let me... borrow your power once more, Feng. Thirteenth God Key, second rated output, release."
Far East coast.
"Urgh..."
Sakura pressed a hand to her right shoulder and knelt on one knee, using the blade of Seven Thunders of Purification embedded in the ground to support herself.
"Sakura! Are you all right?!" Pardo hurried to Sakura's side, warily watching the puppets that continued to regenerate around them.
"I never expected that, even after Hua severely injured you with the Tai Xu Sword God, you could still unleash that attack..."
Half of Apokronia's upper body had already been charred black, while the monster forming her lower body lay limply on the ground, unable to move.
Sakura had destroyed her almost abnormal regenerative ability. She would basically be unable to recover again anytime soon.
"But you no longer have the strength to act either, do you?" Apokronia sneered. "I won this battle..."
To create as much space and opportunity as possible for Sakura to fight Apokronia, Pardo had been facing nearly all the puppet monsters alone. But against enemies that could not be fully defeated and kept regenerating, she was beginning to struggle.
"I'll take your lives—"
Before Apokronia could finish, half of her upper body was sent flying.
Scorching heat swept across the entire battlefield.
"Say that again, Herrscher?" said a man whose entire body seemed to be burning, his voice hoarse.
He was the one who had just punched half of Apokronia's upper body away.
"Jie Ge?!" Pardo cried out his name in delight.
"Hmph. Getting trapped by a bunch of things like these—have you gotten so comfortable that your bodies have rusted?" Qianjie snorted. Then he looked at Apokronia, whose upper body he had sent flying, raised his hand again, and smashed his fist brutally into the monster's head, pulverizing it.
"Qianjie..." The girl's upper body lay on the ground as she closed her eyes. "A miscalculation... but it doesn't matter. One failure is nothing..."
The next second, a spatial passage appeared beside her. Several dark-purple threads extended from within, coiling around her body and dragging her inside.
"Don't even think about running!" Pardo tried to stop Apokronia from leaving the battlefield, but in the next instant, she found herself briefly unable to control her body. In that fleeting moment, Apokronia had already vanished into the spatial passage.
"That's enough, Pardo. Let her go." Su's voice rang out. "I've used the Second God Key to leave a mark on her. Their main base is hidden in The gap between imaginary and reality. We'll soon know where it is."
As Apokronia withdrew from the battlefield, the other puppet monsters quickly lost their ability to regenerate as well. They were either smashed apart by Qianjie or vanished along with Apokronia.
"Su, you guys arrived at just the right time." Pardo let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, right, Hua..."
"Don't worry. When Qianjie and I used the Second God Key to reach Sky Peak, Hua had already defeated the Tai Xu Sword Sect puppets that had become Herrschers of Corruption," Su said. "Though Hua also paid a considerable price."
"A price?" Pardo saw the Vermilion Bird standing alone behind Su, lost in thought. "Doesn't Hua look perfectly fine?"
Su sighed softly. "She used Feather Dust's first rated output. She only defeated her opponent by burning away part of her own memories."
"Hua..."
The Vermilion Bird came back to her senses, smiled at Pardo, and said, "Don't worry. I haven't forgotten you all. Memories of you... are the hardest to let go of."
Pardo fell silent. Burning away memories was not something that became harmless just because those memories were unimportant.
Sakura steadied her breathing and rose from the ground. "Hua, about what happened before... I owe you my life."
"There's no need to dwell on it. You were also beguiled by Midrash." Hua shook her head. "Besides, wasn't it because I injured you that you fell into such a hard battle just now?"
"What happened between you two again?" Qianjie ended his collapsed state and looked over.
"Nothing. It isn't something we need to discuss right now," Su said. "The urgent matter is to gather every bit of fighting strength we can and make sure no one is left alone again. The Herrschers of Corruption have begun launching large-scale attacks against humanity. Anyone left alone could become their target."
"Then Ling..."
"Don't worry. I contacted Ling through Thousand Worlds. She is currently safe and has not yet been attacked by the Herrschers of Corruption," Su said. "Eden has already gone to meet up with her."
Before you continue