To Take Back the Right to Pioneer, For Them, For Me!

Firefly looked at this companion who had once fought by her side, now twisted into such a hideous and distorted form.

She slowly raised her head, gazing at the starry sky torn to shreds by the swarm, and the ruins of the city laid waste before her.

Her voice carried a faint trace of lament:

"My world is always destined to be scorched into a wasteland."

"Then let it burn."

"As long as I can keep burning, wherever I stand shall be a raging fire, not mere ash."

From within the armor of Dark Sam, a cold, mechanical voice emanated.

"Directive: Shred."

Firefly looked at her former comrade, now forced to draw blades against her, and a look of nostalgia involuntarily surfaced in her eyes.

She whispered softly:

"Actually, I once envied you."

"Even as a catastrophe yourself, you feel no pain in your heart."

The corners of her mouth curled slightly, forming a smile tinged with pride.

"But now, you should aspire to be like me."

"I do not wish to face death, I do not want to continue this fight, but in the face of destiny..."

Firefly took quick strides, walking toward Dark Sam.

Her gaze was unyielding as she spoke, word by word: "I will never run away."

Firefly's body suddenly ignited with raging flames.

The fire seemed to possess the power to consume everything, scorching the very air.

She pressed her hands tightly against her chest, and scalding tears surged from her eyes.

She clenched her fists, teeth gritted, her voice trembling with tears yet resolute:

"My dream is a scorched earth, where not even a single new bud has ever bloomed."

"But I will still burn, burning on and on!"

Firefly's tears hit the ground, instantly evaporating into white steam.

She took a fierce step forward, flames erupting from beneath her feet and rapidly spreading across her entire body.

The roaring inferno completely enveloped her.

Immediately after, a silver-white suit of armor tore through the flames, emerging slowly like a phoenix reborn from the fire.

The voice emanating from the armor had shifted from the girl's soft tone to a powerful, magnetic masculine voice.

"Until the ashes, reborn in fire!"

Firefly had fully unleashed the power of the Sam armor.

Brilliant emerald light instantly erupted from the silver-white armor.

A pair of massive, glowing green wings suddenly unfurled from behind the armor, carrying her straight into the sky.

In the armor's hands appeared two emerald longswords, their blades shimmering with cold light, both stylish and formidable.

She pointed her blades at Dark Sam, her voice resolute:

"If you are the Dream Master's answer, then please, take his place and listen to my reply..."

"People do not hold onto hope because they have never faced their destined death."

"It is precisely because we are destined to lose that we hold onto the hope of changing things!"

The battle was on the verge of breaking out.

The blue-green sword light of the Sam armor collided violently with the gray-purple energy of Dark Sam.

Every clash unleashed unparalleled destructive power, causing the entire space to tremble.

The dense swarm of insects that blanketed the sky continued to dive at Firefly, causing her no small amount of trouble.

Yet, Firefly gritted her teeth and persisted, manipulating the towering flames around her armor to incinerate the swarming insects into charred husks.

The sword in her hand struck again and again, hacking fiercely at the twisted, deformed frame of Dark Sam.

This brutal battle reduced the entire dream world to a state beyond recognition, filled with shattered architectural debris and residual energy waves.

Finally, fueled by Firefly's burning rage and her intense desire to live, She drove her sword deep into Dark Sam's chest, pinning the hideous armor firmly to the ground.

As Firefly completely struck Dark Sam down, a golden sphere slowly emerged from the wreckage of the armor.

It was a Stellaron.

As long as it existed, the dream would endlessly spawn massive swarms of insects.

That sky-darkening, all-consuming swarm would bring endless fear and destruction to the entire dream world.

Firefly reached out and grabbed the Stellaron.

She looked up at the grey-purple sky and the swarm that continued to circle overhead.

She knew very well that this battle was far from over.

She also understood clearly that at this very moment, she was about to face her second death.

"If embracing fate is also a form of resistance, then this time..."

Without a moment's hesitation, Firefly slammed the Stellaron in her hand toward her own chest.

Once, twice...

Her body's instincts resisted this immense power frantically, and the Stellaron would not embed itself.

Finally, she pressed both hands against the Stellaron, using every ounce of her strength to force it into her chest.

A blinding golden light erupted from the Stellaron, its brilliant energy instantly saturating everything around her.

The forced integration of the Stellaron caused Firefly agonizing pain, as if every bone in her body were wailing.

Yet she gritted her teeth and held on, letting out a deafening roar:

"I shall embrace death!"

As the Stellaron merged perfectly with the armor's core, the glowing green energy surrounding the Sam armor was instantly transformed into the same grey-purple energy as the swarm.

The Sam armor was completely swallowed by the flames erupting from beneath its feet.

The next second, the new form of Sam, radiating grey-purple light, charged violently out of the flames.

It shot straight into the sky, and the dense swarm of insects surrounding it followed her call, soaring upward together.

One by one, the insects turned into streaks of grey-purple light, shooting into the high heavens before exploding with a roar.

The entire sky shattered layer by layer, like a mirror being torn apart.

Finally, the cage-like dream barrier was completely broken, revealing Stelle behind it.

Stelle descended slowly from the sky, her body still unsteady.

At that moment, Firefly, having completed her transformation, maneuvered the armor and flew rapidly toward Stelle.

She grabbed Stelle's wrist, and the grey-purple Sam armor carried her as they circled and soared through the sky.

Stelle looked up at the Sam armor before her, both strange and familiar.

A look of worry and fear could not help but appear on her face.

A gentle smile appeared on Firefly's face.

Her voice drifted out from within the Sam armor, faint yet incredibly soft, whispering to comfort Stelle:

"Don't be afraid..."

"Even if all of this is destined to dissipate at dawn..."

"I am no longer afraid to wake up from the dream."

Then, Firefly maneuvered the armor to hold Stelle tightly.

Endless grey-purple power erupted from the armor once more.

The massive wings on its back snapped open, carrying them both toward the highest reaches of the sky.

Not until they reached the very top, where the dream shattered and touched the golden light as dazzling as the sun, was Firefly's power completely exhausted.

Using her final strength, she flicked her finger gently against Stelle's chest and gave her a fierce push upward.

Stelle's body flew toward the higher heavens like a kite with a broken string.

A few scalding tears squeezed from Firefly's eyes.

Her voice was weak, yet filled with unprecedented determination and defiance:

"Go and reclaim the right to trailblaze for them, and for me!"

As her words fell, the Sam armor lost all energy support and began to fall slowly toward the ground.

During the descent, the armor's body dissolved slowly like foam, finally turning into a cluster of golden light that vanished completely into the horizon.

Watching Firefly dissipate before her eyes, Stelle felt as if her heart had been torn apart, aching until it was ready to shatter.

However, upon hearing Firefly's final request and remembering the mission she bore, she slowly closed her eyes.

The moment she opened them again, she had completely awakened from that beautiful dream.

Standing side by side with the members of the Astral Express Crew, she faced Sunday.

Ready to welcome their own God War of Trailblaze!