After Daybreak Come Countless Stars

As the train packed with residents roared away and vanished into the depths of the tunnel, the platform fell quiet.

But the quiet did not last long.

At the other end of the tunnel, countless lights were drawing closer.

A clamor of footsteps, roaring engines, and faintly audible orders—the Public Security Department had arrived. More precisely, Vision Corporation had arrived.

Wise watched the approaching lights through Eous's eyes and fell silent for a few seconds.

"Griseo. When they get here... could you go a little easier on them? Try not to kill too many."

These people wanted them dead. Who was he to play the good guy and plead for them?

Was he putting on an act for Griseo?

Even Wise felt a little hypocritical saying it.

But to him, Griseo was still an innocent, kind little girl. Killing seemed utterly out of place beside those sky-blue eyes.

Griseo lowered her gaze to the Bangboo in her arms. "Wise, what is death?"

"Uh-na? Uh-na?"

Wise froze. For a moment, the only sound came from Eous.

Back at the video store, Belle stopped with her hand in midair. Why would Griseo ask that?

"Griseo wants to be a hero. Someone who can help everyone."

Her gaze settled on the lights drawing ever closer. "There's a lot of black over there... so much black I don't like."

"Black?"

Wise looked toward the far end of the tunnel. The first figures had already rushed out.

Uniforms, guns, a disciplined combat formation—wait. These weren't ordinary security guards.

Of course, Wise didn't know that those people, the "black" Griseo spoke of, represented the Praise Society.

"Griseo... can you handle this?" Worry crept into Wise's voice.

Griseo said nothing. She simply hopped down from Mr. Knight's shoulder.

Her bare feet landed steadily on the platform's gravel. Then she raised her paintbrush, and her soft little voice rang across the empty platform.

"Mr. Knight, it's time to paint."

Mr. Knight nodded silently and stepped forward, placing himself between Griseo and Eous and the approaching soldiers.

Griseo swept her brush through the air. In Wise's eyes, its stroke formed another Signet he had never seen before!

Golden light burst from the Signet, like the sun rising before dawn in the pitch-black tunnel.

Daybreak was coming. The Stars would shine across the world.

Griseo completed the final stroke, and the Daybreak Signet settled gently onto Mr. Knight.

Then the Ether Energy began to surge, and Mr. Knight's form started to change.

When the light faded, it was no longer Mr. Knight standing there, but the spectral figure of a young man—Kosma.

This was the "Elation Griseo could create that would catch Fate itself off guard," as Aha had put it.

And so the young hero of Daybreak and the young painter of The Stars fought side by side once more.

Across the tunnel, the figures who had rushed out stopped short.

"Captain, we've found the targets!"

The captain at their head narrowed his eyes at the two figures on the platform, one large and one small.

A little girl, a Bangboo, and something else... What was it? An Intelligent Construct?

"The train has left." He made a quick decision. "First and second squads, pursue the train. Third squad, stay here."

"Yes, sir!"

The group swiftly split in two. One contingent sprinted deeper into the tunnel, while the dozen or so soldiers who remained raised their guns and aimed at the figures on the platform.

"Fire!"

The captain gave the cold order, and gunfire erupted.

A terrifying hail of bullets tore through the air toward Griseo.

But in the next instant, Kosma moved. He stepped forward.

Ether Energy churned wildly around him. The Daybreak Signet flashed, and the young man's form swelled rapidly as he entered a state of partial collapse.

Monstrous bone spines crossed before him to form a barrier, shielding Griseo and Eous.

"What?! What kind of monster is that?"

The soldiers' eyes widened, but the counterattack came before they could react.

Griseo lowered her brush, and motes of paint in three colors appeared from thin air.

Red motes landed on the soldiers' weapons. Explosions rang out in rapid succession, blasting guns, ammunition, and communications equipment to pieces in an instant.

Blue motes sank into the ground, spreading a deep-blue lake beneath their feet. Every soldier struggled as though mired in a swamp.

Golden motes rose into the air and wove themselves into a giant picture frame that enclosed them all. Their plan to split into two groups came to nothing.

"Wh-what is this?!"

"I can't move! Captain! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

Their terrified cries echoed through the tunnel.

Griseo lowered her brush. "Go on, Kosma."

Kosma's spectral figure nodded. With a wave of his hand, an Ether curtain formed, blocking Griseo's and Eous's view.

Then he stepped into the golden barrier.

Inside the barrier.

The soldiers stared in terror as Kosma slowly approached. He stood straight as a pine, yet vicious bone spines jutted from his body.

Was he human? Or some unknown Ethereal?

"Stay away!"

Some struggled desperately to escape, but the blue light held them fast.

Some shouted for help, only to find that communications had already been cut off. Rescue would never come.

Some slumped to the ground, without even the strength to struggle.

Kosma said nothing. He simply approached in silence...

Outside the barrier, the Ether curtain blocked every sight and sound.

Through Eous, Belle and Wise could only watch Griseo. The abilities she had displayed today were unlike anything they had seen before.

Qianjie and Kosma—those two spectral figures were nothing like the original Mr. Knight. They possessed a remarkable degree of autonomy, as though they were real, living people.

"Griseo..." Wise hesitated, unsure whether he should ask.

Griseo did not turn around. She quietly watched the golden barrier, the Signet on her brow flickering faintly.

"Wise, Uncle Qianjie said, 'Humanity is the darkest abyss.' But Little Sister Elysia said, 'Humanity is eternal and flawless.'"

Griseo said no more, but her question was clear: What do you think?

Though she could not see what was happening inside the barrier, Griseo could see the black within slowly thinning, changing, and being cleansed.

Yes, cleansed in the physical sense.

Would the world become a better place once all the black in it was gone?

That was what Griseo wondered.

When Kosma's spectral figure reappeared, the platform fell silent again.

"Take good care of her!"

After giving Eous that solemn instruction, Kosma vanished and returned to the form of Mr. Knight.

For one thing, the real Kosma was painfully shy and a man of few words. For another, remaining in that form would place too great a burden on Griseo.

After all, Griseo had used several Signets in a short time, including Qianjie's Decimation.

Among the Flame-Chasers, Qianjie's combat strength was surpassed only by Kevin's and Ely's.

"Welcome back, Mr. Knight. Let's go!" Griseo hopped onto Mr. Knight's shoulder, hugged Eous, and headed in the direction the train had gone.