After Firefly's story finished playing.
All across the Douluo Continent, a deathly silence fell.
The air seemed to freeze in an instant, and every living thing instinctively held its breath.
It was as if they had just witnessed a terrifying apocalypse with their own eyes.
Tang Hao sat rigidly on the edge of a bed in a hotel not far from Heaven Dou City's gates.
His eyes were wide, fixed on the images on the Sky Screen overhead. Terror filled his gaze, impossible to hide.
The hands that could effortlessly lift a several-hundred-pound warhammer were now trembling violently, beyond his control.
Firefly's first death had seemed rather ordinary.
But her second death had left everyone utterly shaken.
They had never imagined that a seemingly fragile young girl like Firefly could possess such terrifying strength.
Though no one knew just how much power the Dark Sam in the images—or those bugs—contained,
just looking at the densely packed Swarm blotting out the sky was enough to make their scalps crawl and their breathing turn ragged.
Even if every single bug had the strength of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast,
there were simply too many of them—hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions.
Forget one Titled Douluo. Even several Titled Douluo working together would have no chance of surviving the Swarm's assault.
Yet Firefly had not only withstood it, she had also pinned the enemy's leader to the ground.
Flames soared into the sky, like the fires of hell, burning wave after wave of bugs to ash.
It was hard to imagine how long Tang Hao could last against Firefly at the peak of her power.
"Dad, this... this is all fake, right..."
Tang San looked at his father, a top Titled Douluo who possessed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring, and saw even him wearing such a fearful expression.
He clenched his fists. His voice trembled, and disbelief filled his face.
"There's no way any world could withstand the devastation of so many bugs..."
"It has to be fake! The Sky Screen said from the beginning that Penacony is a world of dreams..."
"This is all a dream. It's all fake!"
"Even that girl's strength is fake! Stelle's so-called Demigod power is just something she dreamed up..."
The Sky Screen had already explained why the Dream Master had unleashed the Swarm.
Those bugs were merely there to make people feel boundless terror,
to drive everyone into despair and make them pray for the Aeon of Order to descend.
From what the Sky Screen had shown, the Aeons' power in that world was so terrifying it beggared belief.
Those bugs, blotting out the sky, were utterly insignificant before those gods.
But to the people of the Douluo Continent, a Swarm that terrifying would be an extinction-level disaster.
If it descended upon the Douluo Continent, it could devour the entire continent in minutes!
Before such world-destroying power,
Stelle's so-called Demigod strength—the realm just one step away from becoming a god—
was not even close to an Aeon's. The Swarm in Penacony's dream, even if only one ten-millionth of it descended upon the Douluo Continent, would be enough to destroy the land completely.
Stelle's strength had to be far beyond what everyone imagined.
But the more powerful Tang San thought she was, the more he felt it all sounded like nonsense.
The moment he remembered that Penacony was a dream world, and that all these people were, in the end, dreaming,
he began to deceive and console himself, insisting that Stelle was not really that frightening.
Xiao Wu, standing beside him, was already trembling in fear, her little face deathly pale.
As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she felt an instinctive fear of such a terrifying, powerful being.
The Soul Beast world was one where the strong preyed on the weak. Faced with an existence like that, she would normally have no choice but to be devoured.
So Xiao Wu quickly grabbed Tang San's hand, her voice full of concern as she urged him,
"Brother, we should... we should stay away from her."
"Their origins are mysterious. They're not people we should provoke."
All Xiao Wu wanted now was to live quietly. She didn't dare go looking for trouble with Stelle.
People were always best at deceiving themselves.
Tang San had already convinced himself that all of Stelle's powers and abilities were things she had dreamed up.
No matter how powerful you were in a dream, you were still nothing but a phantom.
So Tang San couldn't help snorting, forcing confidence into his voice.
"Hmph, why should I be afraid of her?"
"When I dream, I can lift the 108,000-pound Golden Cudgel with one hand, too!"
"I said my powers were in my dreams. Doesn't that make this all a bit ridiculous?"
Hearing his son's words, Tang Hao finally came to his senses, emerging from his terror.
He had to admit that Stelle and her companions were absurdly powerful.
Especially the young woman beside Stelle, with purple ears, who looked like a fairy among the flowers.
She gave him an extremely dangerous feeling, but at most, her strength was at the Titled Douluo level.
She also carried a trace of a Fallen Soul Master's aura. He wouldn't even need to act; Spirit Hall would take care of her.
His Tang San was destined to become a true god.
All he needed to do now was beat Stelle in these PKs. Then Tang San would receive even more rewards, and his path to godhood would only grow shorter.
Tang Hao's gaze was sharp as he stared intently toward the hotel entrance, as though he could already see Stelle there.
His eyes brimmed with icy killing intent.
If the Sky Screen dared to pull any tricks and harm his precious son,
he would strike at once and kill that little gray-haired girl on the spot,
so she could never participate in another PK or pose any threat to his son.
"The Dream Master used this kind of power to revive a fallen Aeon..."
"With so many bugs... he must be certain that the Aeon of Order can kill them all..."
"It's hard to imagine how such a powerful Aeon could have fallen..."
Qian Renxue murmured, her voice filled with shock.
Residual fear lingered in her eyes as she instinctively glanced toward where Stelle might appear.
Meanwhile, deep in the Star Dou Forest,
Gu Yuena and the many Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had huddled together in terror, not daring to make a sound.
Could the entire Star Dou Forest even have a million Soul Beasts that were over a hundred years old?
The bugs Firefly had fought came in all sizes.
But even the ordinary-sized ones were as large as wolf-type Soul Beasts.
If those little bugs really were as strong as Hundred-Year Soul Beasts,
then, packed together in dense, sky-filling hordes, they had to number at least a hundred million!
And that wasn't even counting the many enormous bugs.
Those behemoths were comparable in strength to Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and there were just as many of them.
The terrifying scale made Gu Yuena's scalp crawl.
Even the Dragon God hadn't commanded an army this terrifying.
Yu Yuanzhen of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, who had been complaining earlier that the Sky Screen's rankings were unfair,
was now huddling with his head tucked in, looking thoroughly shaken.
It was too terrifying. He was practically scared out of his wits.
Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu in Spirit Hall were equally stunned and horrified.
They knew a few secrets about the gods and had received plenty of information from other worlds.
But if a Swarm this terrifying descended upon the Douluo Continent,
the land would be utterly destroyed in moments.
That silver-haired girl had managed to kill Dark Sam in the midst of such a terrifying Swarm.
And in the end, she had even controlled the bugs, sending them flying into the sky to clear a path for Stelle to reach reality...
That kind of strength was beyond imagination.
"Your Excellency, is this the true face of the Swarm Disaster...?"
Castorice watched the images on the Sky Screen to the very end, her voice trembling with disbelief.
"The bugs blotting out the sky are even more terrifying than the Black Tide..."
Before, she had only heard a little about the Swarm Disaster from Stelle.
For instance, when Stelle went to the car wash, the Astral Express had once ended up inside the belly of a gigantic bug.
They said that bug was larger than a planet.
That had already left her utterly shocked.
Stelle gave Castorice a solemn nod and spoke with utmost seriousness.
"Back then, Dream of Taiyi had already spread across the entire star system."
"And the Swarm recreated in that dream was enough to threaten the lives of every living thing in the whole star system."
"The Swarm shown on the Sky Screen is only the tip of the iceberg."
"You have to understand: the dream Sunday wove was meant to recreate, within a dream, the Swarm Disaster that had engulfed an entire star system."
"Mimi! That's so scary!!"
After hearing Stelle's explanation, Mimi immediately cried out in fright.
She had never imagined that the real situation had been countless times more dangerous than what the Sky Screen had shown.
How large was a star system?
It contained at least tens of billions of planets.
It couldn't compare to a little place like Amphoreus.
Just then, a new image appeared on the Sky Screen.
The big sister in the round-brimmed hat, seated before everyone,
was looking at Stelle with a gentle, tender expression.
At once, everyone who had been frightened by Firefly's battle against the Swarm felt their hearts ease.
"Wake up. This dream must end."
Dahlia spoke softly, like a spring breeze brushing past, then gently continued,
Stelle froze for a moment as countless images flashed through her mind.
The memories Dahlia had helped her find and witness earlier.
Firefly had carried her into the sky, taken her into reality, and fought Sunday, winning the battle.
Was that really the end?
She couldn't help feeling that something was still missing.
Stelle lifted her head to look at Dahlia and couldn't resist asking, "It isn't over yet. What happened afterward?"
Dahlia gently shook her head and said helplessly, "Fate won't let me give you an answer."
"And the true ending... is too sad. I'd rather you forget it."
Stelle firmly shook her head, her gaze unwavering as she replied with resolute conviction,
"Even if it's sad, I'll remember it."
Before you continue