Chapter 456
Despair can make them stronger, unleashing a more dazzling flame, but it can also make them as fleeting as fireworks, drowning them instantly.
With this hopeful lie, Liang Xiaoxiao dragged the whole team forward. The group seemed to be in a bloody, violent, and bizarre fantasy horror movie, during which the riverbed and the earth's veins began to crack, as if the entire tectonic plate was about to take off.
Therefore, the magical energy consumed when resisting the pull of gravity becomes increasingly enormous.
Liang Xiaoxiao was beginning to feel overwhelmed. She looked back at Bao'er, who was showing signs of fatigue, Wutong, whose flight speed was starting to slow down, and Chen Yining and Ji Shuzhu, who were also starting to slow down on their own. Her gray eyes, which were being eroded by the disaster energy and were becoming increasingly cold, revealed her reluctance and sorrow.
For the first time, the girl prayed in her heart for a miracle to happen.
What surprised her was that when she actually prayed, the strange energy she called Holy Radiance spread warmly and gently through her soul, its transparent light radiating a few brilliant colors, which brought out a sense of security like an anesthetic deep in her subconscious.
It was a gentle, grand, and dazzling illusory shadow, like a mother's embrace, bringing a cradle of hope, as if whispering in her ear, "It's okay," "Nothing will happen." So, as if possessed, she believed it, miraculously forgetting all her worries and anxieties, and resolutely walked forward.
This emotion infected the still somewhat wavering teammates, causing the Soul Flower to radiate even more magic, supporting them as they continued to soar through the dark sky, heading towards the unknown future.
At the same time.
Atlantic Ocean, Edward Islands.
Central China, Esmeralda.
The Land of Extreme Winters, the Coronel Strait.
These areas, located outside the radiation range of the Sky Stage, resembled the Forsaken Lands, and all reproduced the tragic fate of the Red Stone Country. Cities, continental plates, deep crust, hundreds of millions of hectares of seawater, and countless Calamity Beasts and humans were all swept up by the terrifying gravity and dissolved in the phenomenon of the [End], leaving no trace.
At this moment, if the satellite still existed, from its perspective, it would reveal that the entire planet is like cattle and sheep placed on a dining table, being cruelly dismembered silently. The floating humans are like skin flakes, the countercurrent seawater is like blood, and the broken plates and mountains are like bones, playing a tragic song of destruction.
The stars trembled, and humanity crumbled.
The prophecy of the Super AI Dream Weaver is rapidly approaching its final outcome as time goes by.
But...
Located in the center of the Donghuang Federation and the Holy United States, the fireworks symbolizing the brilliance of humanity and hope are still flickering. Whether it is the lone [Lighthouse] - the Doomsday Diva, or the four-person "Pure White" band that has never given up, they will shine to the extreme, using magic, emotion, and miracles to offset the widespread heat death and forcibly protect the billions of people under their command.
There is still hope.
"Don't give up."
"Please lend us your strength!"
"Courage is an immortal hymn; humanity will live on forever."
"Our stage hasn't been defeated yet, let's save the world together!"
These world-renowned idols, risking everything, giving their all, and resolutely standing at the top, facing the end of the world, had such passionate, shining, hopeful, and persistent thoughts flashing through their minds.
This emotion was conveyed to every household through their stage, and in countless moments of despair, it awakened hope in the hearts of countless people. In countless miraculous moments, it gathered a purer brilliance, reaching the dome in the name of humanity, to fight against the concept of heat death of infinite entropy.
Currently, 471 seconds have passed, which can be described as a death countdown, before the Great Cataclysm occurs. The efforts of Charlotte, Tang Liuli, Kiriwake Yayoi, Xie Qingxuan, and Chu Wangshu have delayed the event beyond the limits of Dream Weaver's data calculations. Even the five foreign Disaster God are entangled by humanity's last remaining strength and have not yet broken through the defenses.
However, as the Great Cataclysm spread, the idols who survived the initial swarm attacks and continued touring the world were forced to stop performing, a large number of Obsidian Base were forcibly destroyed, and the number of deaths and injuries was in the hundreds of millions.
At the same time, the originally planned structure of the technique collapsed directly, barely preserving the main network beneath the two Sky Stage.
In this situation, the two Sky Stage can no longer gather as much brilliance as before. No matter how brightly the [Lighthouse] shines or how much Pure White burns with conviction, it is powerless and feels weak after the fundamental support has been lost.
At this moment, the once bustling internet was completely silent, and the scene of the Calamity Beasts rampage just hours earlier, which had caused a frenzy and a flood of panicked comments, was almost unrecognizable.
The reason is simple: even if they are within the radiation range of the two Sky Stage, ordinary people will still face Calamity Beasts death if they do not stay at the stage site radiated by the Obsidian Base. Major cities are trying their best to transfer citizens to underground shelters.
To avoid detection by the Calamity Beasts, the signal was very weak, retaining only the bare minimum means of communication with the outside world.
Therefore, those who are still surfing the internet right now are citizens who were not placed in shelters, were not on stage, and were not attacked by the Calamity Beasts.
Sea Capital, Longhe District, Olympic Garden.
Outside the park across from the residential area, Xu Ling was sitting by the green belt, with a Green Eyed Cat poster torn from a mailbox that had been blown away by a self-destructing insect under her bottom. She held her phone and looked at the stage scene projected in the sky. The row of seats nearby was full of citizens, making it a bit crowded.
A few hours earlier, after being attacked by exploding bugs, the police officer suggested that she stay near the various stages arranged by the state. There was an Obsidian Base in this park, and Pei Xiaotong was assigned to one of them. So she simply didn't go home and obediently sat outside with the crowd.
In theory, Tong Bao should have been exhausted long ago and reminded by the bracelet to leave, with someone else taking her place. However, whether it was due to the attack by the Calamity Beasts or the concern that clearing people out of the venue would cause a riot, the other party did not come out for several hours.
Considering it's relatively safe to stay inside, this is good news.
In contrast, being attacked by exploding bugs right after leaving the venue seemed incredibly unlucky.
Xu Ling's feelings were complicated. As someone who had been protected by the other party's dazzling presence and had managed to save her life, she had been watching Pure White on stage for several hours.
Kiriwake Yayoi, Xie Qingxuan, Chu Wangshu, and Tang Liuli —they all fight for humanity and for the world through song and dance. Yet, she cannot even offer a glimmer of light to these admirable idols. She can only anxiously await the judgment of fate, just like... one of the most ordinary members of the general public.
The girl lowered her eyes slightly, looking a little disappointed, and glanced at the Kiriwake Yayoi fan group on her phone.
The art style shifts dramatically, creating a sense of transporting the viewer back to a time before anything happened.
"This Pure White... anyone who doesn't fall in love with it after just five seconds is a genius???"
"Sha, ice, is it the purest ice???"
"Can Xuan Bao play the drums on his older sister's arrangement one more time???? And make me, Kucha-zi, look incredibly cool again???"
"Liuli is so cute! She sang with such seriousness today???"
"Yue Bao was so full of conviction today, and everyone worked so hard. This performance felt like the grand finale of a girl band anime, with an indescribable sense of destiny."
"Dude, the world's about to end, this stage performance definitely has a sense of destiny."
"Fine, fine, fine, everyone's going crazy, still going crazy, are you guys going to keep going until the end of the universe?!"
"That's not important. What's important is that this is clearly Little Sakura's fan club, so why isn't anyone praising Little Sakura? You bunch of fake fans with the title of 'Chun Ni'???"
" For Little Sakura's dedicated fans, all they need to do is figure out how to praise Little Sakura herself, but for us DDs, we have to consider so much more???"
Xu Ling scrolled through the pop-up comments with mixed feelings, and couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.
Although the world seems to be on the verge of destruction, thankfully the group members are still as silly as ever, which brings back some of the sense of everyday life from the past and allows us to temporarily numb reality.
To be more precise, the insane comments popping up in the group chat were more like a final celebration.
Even without knowing the truth, people can sense an ominous premonition from the turbulent atmosphere online, the terror of the Calamity Beasts descending and ravaging the city in reality, and the chaotic shadows looming over the Sky Stage, telling tales of misfortune.
Not to mention, just a few hours ago, in order to extract the most brilliance, the Supreme Council fully revealed the truth through holographic projections covering all parts of the world, informing them of the resurgence of the Disaster God and the crisis of another enemy from beyond the heavens, stating bluntly that the fate of mankind was now tied to those two Sky Stage.
In this situation, aside from praying, the healthiest option left for these viewers seems to be going crazy.
Xu Ling closed the group chat, looked up at the sky, and sighed softly, her heart filled with complex emotions.
"The stage determines destiny."
"I never imagined that, just a few months later, Dream Weaver Rabbit's words would come true to this extent."
The girl's pupils reflected the figures of the four on stage, a pure white light flickered in her mind, and the images before her overlapped, as if an additional shadow had appeared between the four. She murmured in a daze:
"How strange, why do I suddenly feel like... it would be great if there were one more person up there?"
At the same moment, above the Donghuang Federation, amidst a dazzling torrent, the thoughts of several people on the stage slowed down, as if they were in a peaceful paradise where time and space seemed to stand still.
Chu Wangshu glanced at the cracks at the edge of the stage, then looked up at the intractable, world-destroying ailment that had spread to the edge of her vision, seemingly unstoppable. Her expression was solemn, and she said earnestly with her small face:
"It's reached its limit."
"As expected, after the first step failed, we had no chance of building the Shining City and had to abandon the Countermeasures Bureau's original 'Flash Dance' project."
"In the near future, the entire planet will be gravitationally unbalanced and explode. We can no longer afford to accumulate the brilliance of all humanity; we must make a decision immediately."
Tang Liuli's emerald-green eyes were filled with tension, and the beauty mark at the corner of her eye was tinged with melancholy as she said, conflicted:
"The fate of humanity thereafter will depend on how we utilize these Sea of Shine that are scattered throughout the world, the stars, and the deep dimensions."
"This is our only bargaining chip against external disaster groups, domestic disaster groups, and the phenomenon of Great Cataclysm, but how can we use it to solve the crisis facing humanity?"
Xie Qingxuan was silent for a moment, then said softly:
"Human civilization is still in a prosperous stage. After today's performance, my existence has gained weight that surpasses even the journey to the destination in a week. Share a portion of my brilliance, and I can use [Titan's Authority] to exchange for the Great Cataclysm."
The Demon King in the first playthrough is someone who, in a world with a population of less than ten million and an extremely impoverished civilization, can reverse the existence of the Disaster God and forcibly steal the [Solar Era's ] status, body, authority, and even all the terrifying characters.
Now, with the mechanism of magical compensation and blessing, the shining assistance that is essentially the radiance of humanity, and the support of a greater existential weight, she says that if she can change the Great Cataclysm, then she really can.
It's simply a matter of how much it will cost.
Kiriwake Yayoi shook her head and said:
"No, you'll definitely die that way."
The essence of the Great Cataclysm phenomenon stems from the Entropy of Chaos. The swarms of disasters merely use a clever method to cause the entire world to decay on its own. This is even more unsolvable than spreading cancer cells into a human body, and its terror surpasses even Charlotte's past management of the "Funeral Procession."
If nothing unexpected happens, it will collapse everything—matter, concepts, and even the stars—like a snowball, crushing the entire "bubble," then overflowing into the mother sea, destroying many worlds similar to them, and finally being swallowed and disappeared by [nothingness].
In other words, erasing the existence of the Great Cataclysm is even more difficult than usurping the positions of several Disaster God. She has no doubt that Xie Qingxuan can do this, because the Great Cataclysm has not yet truly developed, but the price will most likely be a complete and utter annihilation, leaving no trace of cause and effect.
Tang Liuli also voted against it, saying:
"Xiao Xuan, don't think about 'self-destructing' all the time. Even if we replace the Great Cataclysm, losing you is the same as losing a Combat Power who can fight the Disaster God. And if we can't solve the two calamity groups, the outcome will still be the same. Before finding the optimal solution, exchanging pieces is the dumbest thing to do."
The girl points out the harsh reality:
"Based on the information transmitted by the AI, the Countermeasures Bureau can't help us much now. All their Combat Power and resources are being consumed in suppressing the Twelve Forbidden Zones, global riots, and intercepting external disaster groups."
"Now, we can only rely on ourselves; everyone else is important."
Chu Wangshu was unwilling to let the other party sacrifice themselves so easily, but she couldn't think of a good solution.
If she had to say, she had another backup plan: regardless of the Great Cataclysm or the <Flash Dance> project, she could go directly to the Twelve Forbidden Zones and devour those Disaster God, evolving into her strongest form in the future dream world, enough to escape from the clutches of a certain Savior.
As long as the framework of the Supreme Lord is forged, even if one cannot defeat the all-powerful external horde of calamities, there is a chance that one can lure them into one's own body, repeating the ending where one perishes together with the horde through the [Sange].
With good luck, the stalemate could even continue, and with the accumulated strength of the disaster victims, Yang Sheng could truly ascend to godhood and end all the tragedies.
But this is too risky and too risky.
Once she leaves, Pure White, who is barely holding out against the Great Cataclysm, may not be able to protect the Donghuang Federation. On the other hand, the stage where Charlotte's mother is located will suffer even greater disaster, and in the end, she will only have a few minutes, or even tens of seconds, to devour the Disaster God.
Even with mastery of spacetime techniques and the ability to minimize travel time using the Lotus Realm, the Disaster God is not a helpless prey.
Based on the fate prediction of [Herdi]'s power, even with the debuffs applied by [Pure White] and a bunch of Magical Girl predecessors, a maximum of 7 can be consumed, and they must be consumed strictly in the order predicted by the power, which is extremely troublesome.
Most importantly, she wasn't sure how many people would die during this period.
Yayoi- nee, Sister Xie, Liuli, Charlotte's mom, friends at school, familiar and kind neighbors, the Magical Girl senior I haven't had a chance to meet yet, so many fans who love and support me, and so many kind, gentle people in this world who live positively...
All of this may cease to exist after that.
Chu Wangshu was unwilling to live in such a world. Call her naive or greedy, she simply wanted to walk a path that could protect more people and safeguard more precious things.
Therefore, she did not want to choose this option, but wanted to fight side by side with these senior colleagues and Charlotte's mother, who was standing alone on the front line, until the very last moment.
The Green Eyed Cat fell into deep thought, trying to delve into her extraordinary wisdom. She had not inherited the blessings of the past. After she reached full bloom, she might be able to compete with the apostles at their peak, but she had not yet grown to the point where she could fight against the Disaster God.
Therefore, relying on oneself is impossible, so that option is immediately ruled out. The only option left is to look among the other available resources.
Similarly, Xiao Xuan won't work either. Unless she raises her magic power to [Klein] on the spot, the one-for-one exchange of [Titan's Authority] won't affect the entire disaster swarm.
So, all that's left are Charlotte, Xiao Shu, and Yayoi.
Charlotte, like herself, did not receive any blessings. Her only advantage was that her aptitude for Magical Girl was extraordinary, and her adaptability to Shining was far superior to the other four. Theoretically, she could quickly reach [Klein], but the prerequisite was that the Stars had enough resources to support her to reach such a high level.
You can't raise a dragon in shallow water.
The upper limit of blessings is so high because it is a power that humanity randomly unearths and awakens after connecting to the Sea of Truth, and naturally possesses infinite possibilities.
While Magical Girl are indeed magical and renowned for their miracles, they are essentially native extraordinary beings born from the stars, belonging to a budding seed that is not yet fully mature. It is already quite an achievement to have nurtured a group of Magical Girl who can suppress the riots of the Disaster God" with their " Sange ".
Next is Charlotte's biological daughter, Chu Wangshu.
The child had shared fragments of his future dreams with them.
Tang Liuli could completely guess what Xiao Shu was capable of doing, but after her memories were partially obscured by [Void], the future dream seemed to her as both her own doing and a smokescreen dropped by [Herdi], making it difficult to judge.
So, she temporarily focused her thoughts on the last idiot Sakura Girl...
"[Heart Forging]!"
Tang Liuli had a sudden inspiration and suggested:
"It doesn't matter if the spell failed, Yayoi, why don't you just use [Heart Forging] to forge the city?"
"The Shining City is said to be a spell, but it can also be regarded as a large-scale Mythical Weapon. Using our magic as fuel and the shimmering light that spreads throughout the world as material, can we reconnect the broken spell framework, achieve our goal indirectly, and recreate the world?"
Upon Kiriwake Yayoi was taken aback. She pondered for a moment, her cherry-pink eyes sparkling, her face showing joy, but then she fell into hesitation.