The Final Hand, Making Up for Regrets!

"No, while she might still be able to see..."

Stelle held Firefly's hand, feeling the lingering warmth in it. Her gaze was resolute. She had to fulfill Firefly's wish.

"You said that the outcome didn't matter. Even the process didn't matter. What mattered was how we took part in this journey, and how we viewed it."

"I'll do everything I promised you."

Yet Firefly's gaze never moved again—the light in her eyes had completely vanished.

Stelle gritted her teeth unwillingly, her eyes reddening.

"Was I... still one step too late...?"

Firefly could no longer see anything. It was too late; Stelle could not fulfill this wish of Firefly's.

She had promised Firefly that she hoped this would be a beautiful dream, not another sorrowful nightmare in which Firefly faded away before her eyes.

Stelle closed her eyes in anguish, trying desperately to recall what had happened in Dreamscape Frontier—the photo of her and Firefly at the secret base.

Listening to Robin's songs together, admiring the scenery together, looking up together at meteors streaking across the sky...

Stelle would rather remember Firefly the way Firefly wanted. In Stelle's mind, the ending would be beautiful.

But...

Stelle opened her eyes and stared fixedly at Firefly.

Yet whenever she recalled this day, she would always find one regret—one that could never be remedied.

Stelle was filled with sorrow and unwillingness, her voice trembling:

"Why...?"

She looked behind her. The crowd was growing noisy; the fireworks were about to begin—

"But Firefly can't see them anymore..."

And a ballad drifted on the wind—

"♪Because she is gone forever~♪♪~will she become clearer instead?"

Stelle closed her eyes and listened quietly. It was the sound of a heart breaking.

Listen closely, and it was endless grief.

"♪The bouquet you gave me~♪♪~when its petals fall, can the sound keep me awake forever?"

As she listened to the beautiful yet sorrowful melody, the only one in Stelle's heart was Firefly, smiling gently at her.

She wished Firefly could remain forever, forever...

Stelle abruptly opened her eyes. She remembered what Dahlia had told her before she touched Terminus's divine power. Her gaze firm, she shook her head and said:

"No, it's not beyond remedy..."

"I can turn fate around and make up for what was lost."

"If the world has set an endpoint for our fate, then at the very least, it must compensate Firefly... with the bouquet she wants."

Stelle slowly moved closer to Firefly and closed her eyes once more.

She felt the sounds around her ears gradually grow hazy, fading away—

Stelle recalled the fireworks in her memories, and Firefly catching Stelle as she fell from the sky.

Taking Stelle soaring into the heavens, the words she had spoken then had left the perfect epilogue to the story—one that belonged to her, and to everyone beneath the night sky.

And Stelle knew that now, this epilogue no longer existed.

The power of "Finality" was turning back time, and the girl's final regret was right before her.

"A beautiful daydream"—the moment to fulfill the promise had come.

You can, you will, you surely shall... make it happen.

Give Firefly the best possible ending!

Boom...

Just then, a brilliant firework shot straight into the sky.

Against the ink-black heavens, it bloomed into its most beautiful moment.

Hearing the firework burst, the corners of Firefly's lips slowly curved into a faint smile.

Stelle followed the sound with her gaze.

Firefly raised her empty eyes toward the sky, her entire body radiating a shimmering green light brighter than the fireworks themselves.

Her voice was gentle, as if comforting an injured you, as she said:

"Look, in this land of dreams, everything is allowed. Anything is possible."

"We came here with our own purposes, and achieved them in unexpected ways."

"Whether the result is sweet and dreamlike, or bitter and real, it is the answer we have longed for."

"So why do people choose to sleep? I think it's just as you said..."

Before her words had even faded, Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome suddenly worsened.

Her body fragmented, just like her thoughts.

Before Stelle, beneath the grand fireworks, she dissolved into specks of shimmering green light that represented hope...

Stelle reached out, wanting to hold her back, but it was futile.

Watching the scattered lights fade away, her heart filled with unbearable grief. Her voice choked, and she gasped heavily.

Firefly's third death was something Stelle refused to accept...

She refused to accept such a fate!

Stelle clenched her hands tightly and pressed them against her forehead.

With unparalleled devotion, she cried out with all her heart, desperately begging within her mind!

She prayed that Terminus, who had passed her by, would notice her plea.

To turn back against the current and change the present!

As Stelle pleaded, time seemed to stop, leaving only the sound of gears turning.

Beyond the boundless universe, she saw a pair of enormous hands clutching an hourglass that represented the passage of time. The hourglass turned halfway over, and the flowing sand began to reverse.

The gears in the middle of the hourglass also spun backward.

Then, behind the hourglass, there appeared a huge, simple circular clock.

Its hands suddenly jumped backward.

The twitch of the hands was like a human heart shuddering violently.

Stelle abruptly opened her eyes, and the first thing she heard was Firefly's laughter.

She stared in disbelief at the secret base she was in. This place should have been twisted into a dark red wasteland of death by the power of the Propagation locust swarm.

Yet now, it was just as it had been when she first came here with Firefly.

A shooting star streaked across the sky, while Robin's singing drifted over from afar.

If it had not been ravaged by the swarm, did that mean Firefly had never made a wish to the Stellaron and caused the Swarm Disaster?

Or perhaps she had not forcibly merged with the Stellaron, accelerating her Entropy Loss Syndrome and marching toward death...

She—had changed everything!

She turned toward the sound, and her gaze suddenly froze.

Her pupils trembled violently. Joy and shock mingled together, making her breath quicken.

Then, a gentle smile slowly blossomed on her face.

Unlike last time, when she found Firefly in this secret base, it was not the Firefly who had remained here alone, waiting for death.

Instead, she held sparklers bursting with sparks in both hands.

Firefly spread her arms wide in delight, her smile blooming like a flower as she danced and spun with the cheerfulness of the wind.

Stelle could not help taking out her phone and pressing the shutter, forever preserving the beauty of this moment in a photograph.

Seeing Stelle taking pictures, Firefly smiled at her and extended the still-burning sparkler in her hand toward Stelle, who was running over at full speed.

Inviting her to walk together, in this most beautiful instant, toward an imperfect tomorrow...

Stelle woke from her dream and returned to the Astral Express, where she found this photograph on the table.

Looking at Firefly's flower-like smile in the photo, she knew this was a scene that could only have happened after she had touched Terminus's divine power.

After finding the Firefly who had hidden away following her battle with Sunday.

Stelle smiled gently, her heart surging with excitement.

She had changed Firefly's ending.

She had done it.

She could do anything.

And just then, Silver Wolf sent Stelle a message.

It contained only three simple words.

"She's awake."

Stelle was still worried. Although she had changed some of the outcomes in the dream, Firefly had indeed paid a tremendous price to enter it.

So she replied anxiously:

"...Is she okay?"

Silver Wolf fell silent for a moment.

"Her first words were also"

"Asking whether you were okay"

"She's fine for now."

"When Kafka brought her back, she was like this too."

"She keeps falling unconscious, so she can't even pilot the mech."

"It really is troublesome."

"But it can be cured, so don't worry."

Stelle desperately wanted to see Firefly.

She quickly replied:

"When can I see her again?"

Silver Wolf replied:

"I don't know. The 'script' didn't say."

"Oh, no."

"It did say, but I couldn't understand it."

"You'll have to wait until you 'face yourself.'"

"Return to the past, revise the script, and change the ending!"

"Is that something a person can actually do? Terminus... Black Cat..."

Qian Daoliu stared at the scene revealed on the Sky Screen in utter shock, unable to calm down for a long time.

He had never imagined that someone could save another person in such a way.

And if such power were used elsewhere, it would undoubtedly be terrifying beyond measure.

If he could return to the past, drive Yu Xiaogang out of Spirit City, and prevent him from researching Bibi Dong's Twin Martial Souls or coming into contact with her—

Then his son, Qian Xunji, would not have done such harm to Bibi Dong in order to keep her, when she wanted to elope with Yu Xiaogang, in Spirit Hall forever.

Even if Qian Xunji had later returned to Spirit Hall severely wounded after fighting Tang Hao, he would not have died at Bibi Dong's hands.

Wouldn't that be equivalent to saving his son's life?

Changing his tragic fate.

Or perhaps he could have moved against Tang Chen of the Clear Sky Sect much earlier.

Then there would have been no Clear Sky Sect, the greatest sect in the world, renowned across the continent.

After all, the Clear Sky Hammer's might had been built up entirely by Tang Chen.

Without the Great Sumeru Hammer, Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, Ring Detonation, and the other Self-Created Soul Skills he had created, their Clear Sky Hammers would have been nothing more than slightly more powerful hammers.

In Heaven Dou City, Qian Renxue was completely stunned after witnessing Stelle reverse time and space.

She was immensely shocked, and intense anticipation rose within her as she kept murmuring:

"Terminus, Terminus, Black Cat, Black Cat."

"If I can find a trace of Terminus's divine body, can I return to the past?"

"If I tell Father not to chase after Tang Hao, can Father change the outcome of his death?"

She looked longingly at Stelle on the Sky Screen, her eyes constantly sweeping the surroundings.

She watched every black object closely, hoping with all her heart that it was a Black Cat.

A Black Cat with gleaming golden pupils, like a god.

Then she could touch it, return to the past, and change the ending.

Across Douluo Continent, countless people who wanted to revive their family members, friends, or lovers frantically searched every corner of their rooms for that Black Cat with shining golden eyes.

They hoped to use its power to change the predetermined ending.

But they soon came to their senses as they followed the story.

Setting aside whether they could even meet Terminus in the first place—

Even if they truly found a trace of Terminus's divine body, they might not be able to successfully touch Its divine power.

Dahlia had already said that Stelle was special—and the only one.

If just anyone could use Terminus's power, Firefly would not have needed to wait until the Amphoreus story ended before waking up.