Big liar!

Aemeath's smile froze on her face instantly, and her pupils contracted to their maximum size in a split second.

"What happened?!"

An indescribable sense of panic instantly gripped her heart.

In an instant, the beeping of the surrounding instruments, and even her own heavy breathing, seemed to be pulled into another world.

She recalled the scene in the simulation where the mech's hand passed through the body of Lahai-Roi woman.

That feeling of emptiness, of having no substance and being unable to touch any matter,

Could it be... that the price of Overclocking is...?

My body has been assimilated into nothingness? I've become a ghost without a physical form?

Will I never be able to touch him again?

She bit her lower lip hard, cold sweat trickling down her forehead and dripping onto the cold floor, creating a small splash.

Unconvinced, she took another deep breath and withdrew her hand, which had been hovering in mid-air.

Then, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the application form, as if he could stop the paper from reacting if he was fast enough.

This time, I felt the rough texture of paper against my fingertips.

This time, she truly grasped the piece of paper.

She could even feel the slight creases on the edges of the paper caused by her excessive force.

The sense of resistance from the material world traveled along her nerve endings back to her brain.

"Phew~~~" Aemeath let out a long sigh of relief, her whole body slumped down as if a great weight had been lifted, her tense nerves completely relaxed.

She clutched the application form tightly in her hand, then pressed it against her cheek, feeling the real touch. She patted her still-pounding chest with lingering fear, muttering to herself:

"That scared me to death... I thought I was really going to turn into a ghost that can't touch anything..."

That brief feeling of penetration was probably just an illusion caused by the body's Frequency not yet being synchronized after the Overclocking ended.

After all, that kind of energy output would have torn any ordinary body to shreds hundreds of times over.

Under A-Yan's watchful gaze, my body is still intact, and the world is saved. I've truly become a great hero!

Aemeath was happy, and a smile unconsciously appeared on her face.

"A-Yan!"

Aemeath turned her head excitedly, and the most radiant and proud smile of her life bloomed on her bright and beautiful face.

Her eyes sparkled like stars, and even the tuft of hair on her head stood up straight with a lively air.

She couldn't wait to take credit for the person who had always stood behind her and given her boundless courage:

"Did you see it! The hero's... great... statue..."

Before he could even utter the word "now," it was abruptly stuck in his throat.

Aemeath's smile froze and shattered instantly, replaced by a look of utter terror as if her composure had been completely shattered.

With just one glance, it felt as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out, the pain making it hard for her to breathe.

Lu Yan, standing behind her, was standing there quietly.

He didn't rush over the moment he heard her call, as he usually did, to ruffle her long hair with his large, warm hands, nor did he praise her with that doting tone, saying "Well done."

Lu Yan maintained his gentle gaze, a faint smile on his face that made her feel incredibly at ease.

(A-Yan gazes at you tenderly, saying nothing more...)

But A-Yan's body... how could his body have become like this?!

What was once a normal body is now covered with shocking cracks.

The cracks were like spiderwebs spreading across shattered porcelain, densely covering his neck, his face, and his arms that had once warmed her.

Those dazzling golden rays, representing Frequency, were uncontrollably leaking out wildly from those cracks.

His body could no longer even maintain its complete outline; the edges were turning into fine gold dust at a visible speed, drifting into the cockpit.

"A-Yan... Lu Yan --!!!"

Aemeath let out a piercing scream, and the application form in her hand fluttered to the ground again.

She stood up as if possessed and stumbled towards Lu Yan.

"A-Yan! What happened to you! How could you become like this!"

Aemeath's hand hovered in mid-air, wanting to touch him, yet afraid that her touch would hasten his shattering.

Her tears instantly burst forth, her face filled with terror.

Lu Yan looked at Aemeath, who had suddenly started to cry, and wanted to raise his hand to rub her hair and comfort her as usual, but his hand had only been raised halfway when his fingertips turned into a wisp of sand and disappeared into the air.

Lu Yan's eyes darkened slightly, filled with undisguised bitterness.

He could only helplessly lower his arm, enduring the tearing pain, and trying his best to make his voice sound calm and gentle:

"It's alright... don't cry. Aemeath, maybe..."

His voice had become ethereal and otherworldly, even carrying faint, intermittent noises, as if it were coming from a very, very far place:

"This... time... has been too long. My time here... is almost up."

He finished speaking with a smile, albeit haltingly.

"Liar! Liar! Liar--!" Aemeath shouted hysterically, shaking her head.

"When you disappeared before, you always gradually became transparent! You never had these cracks on your body!"

"What did you do! Who hurt you like this?!"

She is not a three-year-old child.

She knew all too well the difference between the natural dissipation of Frequency and its forced tearing by external forces.

The chilling thought finally took shape in her mind.

She remembered the moment her finger pierced through the paper.

She recalled the terrifying suction force that should have instantly destroyed her body during the Overclocking, but which suddenly became negligible halfway through.

It was neither a miracle nor good fortune.

It's because someone took all the blame for her!

"A-Yan, it was you... you took the blame for Overclocking for me, didn't you!"

Aemeath trembled violently, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads.

Those memories of their childhood together now seemed like the sharpest blades, relentlessly severing her reason.

She finally realized that the gentle warmth that had enveloped her while she was in the center of the raging energy was not a miracle at all.

A-Yan took on most of the pain for me.

Inside the cockpit, the dazzling golden light shone even brighter.

The fragments of light that surged wildly from Lu Yan's body were both poignant and deadly.

She could no longer care about anything else, and suddenly stretched out her arms to tightly hug Lu Yan's collapsing body.

Cold, empty.

What she was holding no longer seemed like a real object, but rather like a dissipating phantom.

She was unwilling to accept it; the hands that had just created a miracle and saved Rinascita were now trembling uncontrollably.

"No! No! I am the savior now, I have resonated with the Tunneler... I can save you! A-Yan, I can definitely save you!"

Aemeath desperately tried to reactivate the Frequency within her body that had just subsided.

A dazzling light emanated from her palm.

She recklessly forced this energy into Lu Yan's cracked body, attempting to forcibly mend the collapsing structure.

"Heal... heal me quickly! Please..."

However, what drove her to utter despair was that the moment those Frequency touched Lu Yan's body, it was like water flowing into a bottomless abyss.

His broken body was like a sieve riddled with holes. Her power not only failed to repair it, but instead, along with his own Frequency, dissipated even more rapidly into the air through those cracks.

"Why not... why!"

Aemeath broke down in tears, her sobs mingling with scattered fragments of light. "Please, give me your life... A-Yan, I'm not going to be some savior anymore, don't scare me..."

Looking at Aemeath, who was crying so hard she was Frequency broken, Lu Yan felt a pain in his heart that was even worse than the pain of his heart being torn apart.

He lowered his head slightly and gently placed his remaining left hand, which had not yet completely turned into golden dust, on the back of Aemeath, which were frantically channeling energy, interrupting her futile efforts.

Even in this dying moment, the movements of his palms remained as gentle as ever, striving to preserve the last trace of warmth he wanted to soothe her.

"Fool... Don't waste your energy, quickly put your power away."

Lu Yan's voice was soft, carrying an undeniable weakness, yet it was so tender it was heartbreaking.

"You are no one else! You are my A-Yan!" Aemeath gripped his hand tightly, which was gradually becoming ethereal.

Lu Yan smiled bitterly yet with a sense of relief.

He looked at the girl's face, which was completely soaked with tears but still intact. Seeing that she was truly alive and well made it all worthwhile.

Aemeath wanted to forcibly gather those scattered Frequency together, wanting to keep him by her side.

"A-Yan, don't disappear! Don't disappear!"

Aemeath buried her face in Lu Yan's cracked chest, crying her heart out, "I don't want you to shield me! I've become stronger, I've become the savior!"

"I promised to protect you... Why, why did you do this!"

"Please don't disappear... I beg you, A-Yan... don't leave me alone again..."

Lu Yan lowered his head and looked at Aemeath, who was crying her eyes out in his arms.

He could feel Aemeath's sadness. He wanted to say sorry, he wanted to say that he was actually waiting for her in another world.

But the law of causality, like an invisible shackle, firmly blocked all his words about the future.

The cracks on his body grew larger and larger, and the golden light had completely engulfed him.

With his last ounce of strength, he lowered his head slightly and gently rested his chin on Aemeath's shoulder.

"Um..."

Lu Yan's voice still carried that unique gentleness that belonged to her. "Our... family's Aemeath... is really... amazing."

"He has... become... a savior like Katya, a great hero who saved Rinascita..."

"Go see... this world you saved... go feel the wind, go see the flowers..."

"Live a healthy and happy life... Aemeath."

His body began to collapse and shatter in large areas, transforming into a dazzling yet poignant golden rain of light.

"Don't... be... sad..." These three words echoed softly in the cockpit.

Lu Yan's body was completely shattered.

The last rays of light slipped mercilessly through Aemeath's fingers, leaving not a trace of warmth.

"A-Yan--!!"

Aemeath suddenly clenched her arms, trying to grasp the last glimmer of light, but she only managed to grab empty air.

The only thing she tightly hugged was the Black Shores uniform, still warm from Lu Yan's touch.

She stared blankly at the empty clothes, then looked up at the golden lights in the cockpit that gradually dimmed and eventually vanished completely.

"A-Yan... A-Yan, where are you?"

Aemeath choked back tears, forcing a smile as she looked around, trying to convince herself, "Come out... please! Stop playing... hide-and-seek... okay? Hide-and-seek... isn't fun at all... let's not play, okay?"

"I give up, I'm not playing anymore... okay? Come out... as long as you... come out, I'll do whatever you say..."

Like a child who has lost the whole world, she waved her hands in the air, grabbing at the air haphazardly, trying to catch even a speck of his dust.

But they grasped nothing.

The cockpit was eerily quiet, save for her heavy breathing.

Like the sobs of a child, they gradually seeped out of Aemeath's throat.

The sound grew louder and more mournful, eventually turning into a heart-wrenching wail.

Her legs gave way, and she collapsed heavily onto the cold metal floor in a duck-like position.

She covered her face tightly with her hands, and scalding tears streamed down her face like broken pearls, falling one by one onto the Black Shores uniform he had worn, staining it with dark water.

She saved the world, she saved Rinascita.

She saved hundreds of millions of lives and the future of Rinascita.

However, the person who said he would watch her shine, the person who always gave her warmth in her loneliest moments, shattered completely before her eyes in order to protect her and ensure that she could live in this world unharmed.

"Big liar..."

"You clearly... promised... I... wouldn't... die..."

"You... big liar..."

Aemeath sobbed, curling herself into a ball.

She pressed the uniform, still bearing a trace of his scent, tightly against her chest. The uniform still carried his unique, warm, sunshine-like fragrance, but this faint lingering affection was slowly slipping away in the cold air as he left.