Leon's voice was utterly frail, the light in his pupils gradually scattering, unable to focus.
"The Izumo sword-forging to save the world… was originally… a lie…"
"Those who step into Their shadow—people, things, even the entire world—"
"—how could mortals change the outcome? Every step forward yields no new possibilities…"
The scene cuts away, the memory filter shifts, arriving at a starry sea glittering with starlight.
Leon flaps his wings, shuttling through this starry sea, gradually coming to a stop.
Following his line of sight, the orbits of two planets intertwine, revolving around a blazing sun.
Yet that blazing sun—darkness is expanding from within to without.
Even the starlight projected from the distant starry sea is swallowed the moment it touches that ring of darkness.
As if nothing can stop the darkness from spreading.
Leon halts among the stars, for a long, long time.
A long, long time…
He flaps his wings once more, resolutely flying toward the darkness without looking back, finally making contact.
A light as dazzling as the sun spills from his palm.
Players have seen this scene before on a certain Sky Haven Clan holy envoy.
Back then, under the illumination of that light, a dead world was revived, life preserved, granted salvation.
But this time, Leon's light can only slow the spread of darkness to the greatest extent possible.
He becomes the sun for those two planets.
Stars shift, the cosmos seems eternally unchanged.
Countless years pass—who knows how many—the light begins to dim.
Finally, it completely retracts into Leon's body.
He does not give up. Instead, he employs every method, mobilizing all the power sealed within him that he can control—
repelling the darkness, restoring the sun's radiance.
Yet there is no joy on Leon's face.
He understands this is only temporary.
"Suppress the shadow for a thousand years, temporarily seal it—yet fate still cannot be changed…?"
Leon shifts his gaze, as if piercing through space and time, lingering on a certain place.
"Just another thousand years… what if someone brings a miracle…?"
He seems to be convincing himself.
The wings behind him gradually lose strength, his body wrapped in imaginary energy, plummeting toward one of the two planets.
He awakens on the coastline, a youthful face reflected in his eyes.
Raiden Bosenmori Mei.
A fleeting, blurred glimpse—he loses consciousness once more.
When he opens his eyes again, the scene seamlessly transitions back to the pitch-black curtain of rain.
She chokes with sobs, unable to form words.
"Lies are lies… stop talking! Stop… please…"
Leon's twin pupils are ashen. He leaves behind five final words, and all images completely vanish.
Only pitch blackness remains, along with lingering voices.
"Goodbye… Mei."
Amid the sorrowful melody, the final two lines of lyrics ring out.
[Ten thousand feet of rivers and mountains, perilous peaks a thousandfold;]
[In wind and rain, liver and gall shine… through ice and snow…]
The pitch-black screen leaves only the melody weeping for someone.
※Heavens Overturned, Past Compassion
[Complete!]
[Obtained Limited 5-Star Character: Salvation Emissary.]
Seeing the acquisition illustration of the 5-star Leon pop up, countless players whose emotions were already on the verge of collapse instantly burst into tears and broke down.
Could it be…
He really won't wake up again?
Ah Xian's mouth hangs open, tears streaming down both sides of her face, the heart that had been suspended finally dead.
They gave everything, yet in the end, they still couldn't change the outcome?
"So the original lie Leon spoke of was knowing the ending was set in stone, yet still charging forward without hesitation."
"Risking everything, including himself, to try to save Izumo…"
"Is that it…?"
"Darkness… stepping into the shadow—that is Nihility."
Players already in extreme emotional distress, upon hearing the word "Nihility," felt utter powerlessness well up in their hearts the moment they recalled the lore—if they knew anything about the background.
No matter which Aeon lore video you watch, THIS ONE is the absolute ceiling.
THEY never win.
THEY also never lose.
Against any other Aeon, it's conceptual-level crushing—impossible to shake.
So Leon, Raiden Bosenmori Mei, and everyone in the Izumo Kingdom…
were resisting the erosion of Nihility, giving everything to find a chance to change fate.
"Where is the deception…?"
"As long as hope and expectation live in the heart, it can never be called a lie."
"Leon apologized to Mei because he couldn't save Izumo from Nihility—two thousand years of salvation turned to bubbles in the void…"
"Only when you reach the end of the road and discover nothing can be changed does hope become a true lie."
"That spark of hope in his heart—forging swords to save the world—became the beginning of deceiving the entire world."
"I still remember the two things he said!"
"Whether human or oni, before the eight million gods, all possess wisdom but not strength."
"Without a powerful weapon in hand, no matter how high the martial skill or how great the ability, life is as ephemeral as a mayfly."
"Now I finally understand—those two sentences weren't just for Raiden Ryoma; they were for himself."
"Whether Sky Haven Clan holy envoy or Emanator of an Aeon, before an Aeon, what more are we than wise but not strong?"
"That is IX. No matter what weapon a mortal holds, no matter how high the martial skill or how great the ability, before THEM it is all fleeting mayfly."
"If the downfall of the Sky Haven Clan stemmed from the resolve to revive an Aeon—"
"Then Leon's unwavering choice to save Izumo was putting that resolve into practice."
"Knowing himself as insignificant as dust, yet still carrying Izumo's finest craftsmanship, resisting inevitable fate, toward the impossible—leaving a footnote named 'giving everything.'"
"Ugh…"
Speaking to this point, Ah Xian collapses onto the desk, disappearing from the camera.
Only her continuous sobbing echoes intermittently.
Everyone in the stream feels a complicated mix of emotions, expressions extremely complex.
Ah Xian's words are merely her own analysis; the truth may not align perfectly.
But at this moment, people are more willing to believe what they want to believe.
In everyone's hearts, Ah Xian's analysis is ninety percent fact—and the most sincere original intention behind Leon heading to Izumo.
[If you believe the heavens are unjust, fight them to the end—this is Leon's path of salvation in Izumo.]
[Even knowing he is fated to die, he never once retreated—great, in the truest praiseworthy sense!]
[Father!!! He really… is too great!]
…
That same night, exactly 9 PM.
The missing PV and animated short for the Salvation Emissary limited banner finally appear where they should on all official channels.
Honkai: Star Rail Thousand-Star Tour PV: "Setting Out Alone"
The PV records the successive deaths of the Seven Holy Envoys of the Sky Haven Clan, and Leon bidding them farewell before departing.
Honkai: Star Rail Animated Short: "Lie"
The short, naturally, is the segment of Leon meeting his death in Izumo.
The only difference: the moment [Begin] pierces Leon's heart is no longer controlled by a player's button press.
Players rewatching this scene either laugh angrily or laugh in relief.
What a hellish joke.
Yet because of it, they learn Raiden Mei's true reaction when facing this exact moment in the past.
The truth is unexpected.
Half her face shrouded in shadow, emotions unreadable.
Yet the lips pressed tightly downward, the faintly trembling body, the single tear of blood sliding down her cheek—all silently explain everything.
Personally driving the blade through the heart of a comrade who fought beside her for a thousand years, burying the one who raised her, who struggled together to save Izumo.
For her, how utterly cruel.