—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "Holy crap!!"
Stelle: "Is this what Hotaru looks like when she transforms?"
Stelle: "IT'S JUST SO DAMN COOL!!!"
Stelle: "I'm rooting for you, Hotaru!"
March 7th: "I'm so jealous!!"
March 7th: "The transformation is so flashy!"
March 7th: "I wish I could have a suit of armor like that, too!"
Hu Tao: "Who would've thought, the usually quiet and low-key Miss Hotaru is actually the one who knows how to look the coolest…"
Hu Tao: "With this transformation scene and the lines, I'd call this a legendary scene, right up there with Aventurine!"
Furina de Fontaine: "'Like fireflies to a flame... life begets death!'"
Furina de Fontaine: "Miss Hotaru's line is simply perfect."
Furina de Fontaine: "These short eight characters perfectly embody the willpower in Miss Hotaru's heart!"
Hotaru: "Cough, cough… Please, everyone, stop commenting so seriously."
Hotaru: "I didn't think much of it before… but now…"
Hotaru: "It feels so embarrassing…"
Silver Wolf: "Embarrassing?"
Silver Wolf: "Isn't it cool?"
Silver Wolf: "Everyone is really satisfied with your transformation scene."
Hanabi: "This armor is really nice, very interesting~"
Hanabi: "Should I build a Hanabi armor of my own, too?"
Hanabi: "And then go impersonate a Glamoth Iron Cavalry in the galaxy?"
Sampo Koski: "Whoa, that's too difficult."
Sampo Koski: "Such troublesome things, old Sampo here isn't interested."
Lumine: "Sam is really cool."
Lumine: "If only I could have a suit of armor this cool…"
....
『 The scene shifts back to the scene where Hotaru and Blade are driving.
[ ….. ]
[ After today, Jepella's name will disappear from cosmic history, and the Ever-Flame Mansion will take its place, receiving an invitation in the near future.... ]
[ That is your next stop. ]
After a moment of silence, Blade spoke slowly.
[ The land of dreams, Penacony. ]
Hotaru whispered.
[ I wish you find the answer you're looking for there… or, release. ]
Blade offered his own blessing.
[ ... ]
[ Are you talking about… those three deaths? ]
Hotaru asked.
[ Silver Wolf told me about that. ]
[ I only regret that they aren't in my script. ]
Blade's words were filled with a sense of sentiment.
[ While I want to live, I'm never afraid of death. The opposite of death is eternal life, and that's... that's something I'll never desire. ]
[ People die, and I am no exception. ]
[ Death is like a script, a fate that cannot be defied. ]
[ But precisely because of that.... ]
[ We must choose our own burial ground. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Hu Tao: "Huh?"
Hu Tao: "This scene feels familiar, haven't we already seen it?"
Guinaifen: "Miss Hu Tao, think about it carefully. We've seen the first half."
Guinaifen: "But we haven't seen this latter half of the conversation."
Paimon: "Mr. Blade feels very regretful because those three deaths aren't in his script….."
Paimon: "Oh my god, it feels so weird."
Blade: "Just seeking death, nothing weird about it."
Blade: "If anyone can grant me a death, I will offer a generous gift."
Stelle: "Good grief, if someone who didn't know the situation heard this, they'd think you're crazy beyond belief."
Furina de Fontaine: "I have a question, can Mr. Blade really not die?"
Furina de Fontaine: "If Miss Acheron were to do it, could she succeed?"
Acheron: "I have no absolute certainty, but I could try."
Qingque: "Aiya, it's better to live than to die."
Qingque: "Why must you seek death….."
Qingque: "I really don't understand it."
March 7th: "Maybe…. he's just lived too long?"
March 7th: "Cough, don't misunderstand, I'm just stating facts."
Amber: "Mr. Blade is seeking death, but Miss Hotaru is seeking life."
Amber: "The two of them are completely opposite."
Stelle: "I feel like Hotaru's last sentence makes a lot of sense."
Stelle: "Death is unavoidable, but we can choose where we're buried after we die."
Stelle: "Alright, I've decided!"
Stelle: "When I die, I want to be buried in the Express!!"
Stelle: "That way, after I die, my ashes can continue to Trailblaze!"
Stelle: "Wouldn't that make me a model representative of the Trailblaze?"
March 7th: "Ashes buried in the Express???"
March 7th: "Are you trying to turn into a ghost and make the Express a haunted place?"
March 7th: "What kind of horror movie is this?"
Li Sushang: "Originally, this was supposed to be a slightly sad thing."
Li Sushang: "But once it comes out of Stelle's mouth, it completely changes flavor..."
....
『 [ Your survival is for the sake of destruction? ]
Blade asked curiously.
[ Aren't you the same? ]
[ Blade, the end you crave... has never been defined by others. ]
[ If I die now, I'm just a weapon. ]
[ But I think... I should die as a person. ]
[ Even though that definition is still far from me, isn't that the very answer that ordinary people spend their whole lives searching for? ]
[ A short name..... that can be left on a tombstone. ]
[ The one belonging to me, it once had Glamoth Iron Cavalry carved on it, now it has Stellaron Hunter, but one day..... ]
[ It will have the name Hotaru written on it, along with the brilliant colors she bloomed at the end of her life. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Nahida: "I suddenly realized."
Nahida: "What Miss Hotaru craves seems to be just a life like an ordinary person?"
Hotaru: "That's right, that's exactly it."
Hotaru: "As a Glamoth Iron Cavalry, before joining the Stellaron Hunters, I only lived as a weapon."
Hotaru: "The various experiences of ordinary people were a dream out of reach for me...."
Hotaru: "I was born a weapon. If nothing went wrong, I should have been like the other Iron Cavalry, broken on the battlefield as a weapon."
Hotaru: "But, perhaps due to fate, I wasn't broken on the battlefield, but survived instead."
Hotaru: "It's just that I still don't count as a complete person."
Furina de Fontaine: "Just from these few words, I can feel the tragedy of Miss Hotaru's past."
Furina de Fontaine: "A living person, born to be nothing but a weapon….."
Furina de Fontaine: "This is too unacceptable!"
Hu Tao: "Um, treating people as weapons, isn't that a bit disrespectful of human rights?"
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Unfortunately, in the eyes of the Glamoth Empire, gene-cloned soldiers do not count as people!"
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Rather, they are more like disposable items and tools."
Stelle: "Damn!"
Stelle: "This empire is no good either."
Stelle: "Not a shred of moral bottom line."
March 7th: "Clones are people too!"
March 7th: "They have their own thoughts, their own ideas."
March 7th: "How can they be treated like cold weapons?"
March 7th: "If you ask me, if they wanted to build weapons, they should have just built mechanical soldiers from the start."
March 7th: "Why did they have to create living people?"
Zhongli: "It should be that the potential of living people is greater."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Exactly, that's basically it."
Navia Caspar: "Sigh, having such a tragic background, I really feel sorry for Miss Hotaru."
Stelle: "It's okay, it's all in the past. From now on, there is no Glamoth Iron Cavalry."
Stelle: "ONLY MY CUTE HOTARU!!!"
Hotaru: "(^▽^)"
....
『 Meanwhile, Dreamflux Reef, Gallagher is staying next to the forever-slumbering Mikhail.
[ Didn't expect it, old man, your reckless plan actually worked. ]
[ Are all you Nameless just fools who only know how to act on impulse? ]
[ I can smell it, the false dream is about to end. ]
[ That group of Nameless might be young, but they truly have the ability to do this.... ]
[ Just like you guys did back then. ]
[ It's a pity, I couldn't let you witness this scene with your own eyes. ]
[ I'm afraid I won't have that privilege either..... When fictional things are seen through, they cease to exist. ]
[ Hmph, not talking about those Nameless, that kid with wings on his head is exactly like you, stubborn as a mule, refusing to give up until he hits the wall..... ]
[ Fate is cruel. If not for this damn Path, we might have really been able to chat together. ]
[ But, I did get a good vent in the end. ]
[ That feels good. ]
[ Still remember how those bastards cursed us back then, huh? ]
[ They said: Go to hell, you damn traitors.... ]
[ Mikhail, oh Mikhail, I don't know if what they said is true, but if longing for freedom means deserving to go to hell... ]
[ Then I'll be going down to find you soon, old thing. ]
[ Let's have dinner together in hell again.... ]
[ Oh, almost forgot, one more thing….. ]
[ A toast to you with this drink, a glass of Hello and Goodbye... Stelle... ]
[ To the imperfect... tomorrow. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "Gallagher?"
Stelle: "You're not gone yet??"
Gallagher: "....."
Gallagher: "What? Am I still here disappointing you??"
Stelle: "Cough, cough, that's not what I meant."
Stelle: "I thought you would be gone after we left."
Stelle: "Didn't expect you to still be alive."
March 7th: "But looking like this…. Mr. Gallagher is really going to be gone this time, right?"
Furina de Fontaine: "Hmm, the ending is already obvious."
Hu Tao: "Don't, they're clearly good people, why do one after another have to sacrifice themselves in the end?"
Gallagher: "If no one sacrificed themselves, how could Penacony return to the right track?"
Gallagher: "Besides, I was a fictional character to begin with. After completing the mission, fading away is my destination."
Gallagher: "Mikhail, that old guy, didn't like loneliness, so he imagined a Clockie."
Gallagher: "Now that Clockie can't go down to accompany him, I, this old dog, will have to do it instead."
Stelle: "Don't, I haven't even had that drink you were toasting me with!"
Stelle: "If you're really gonna go, wait until you finish mixing my drink, okay?"
Gallagher: "Want that drink, Hello and Goodbye?"
Gallagher: "Fine, you'll have it."
Gallagher: "When the time comes, let's toast together to the imperfect tomorrow!"
Stelle: "Okay, to the imperfect tomorrow!!"
Stelle: "And also, to an imperfect life!"
....
『 The scene shifts, entering Acheron's memory.
[ It's warm here, isn't it? You're lucky to have found shelter from the rain, let alone fresh berries, in this desolate place. ]
Inside a cave, the bonfire flickered, reflecting the figures of Acheron and an old man.
At this moment, the old man looked at the bonfire and smiled at Acheron.
[ Just followed the scent of life. ]
[ In a place like this, this scent is especially distinct. ]
[ It's just a pity, it tastes a bit bland. ]
Acheron held a fresh berry in her hand, tasting it little by little, seriously.
[ Really? ]
[ You might not know, this fruit is quite juicy, the only problem is when you chew it in your mouth.... ]
[ ...It becomes extremely spicy. ]
The old man's expression was a bit complex.
[ ..... ]
Acheron was silent for a moment, then put down the fruit in her hand.
[ You...have lost your sense of taste? ]
The old man asked after a moment of pondering.
[ Some tastes can still be tasted....like a slight sweetness. ]
[ Before coming here, my last stop was Orkron. ]
[ There are also desolate cliffs there, and nights illuminated by bonfires. ]
[ It would snow purple-red in the sky, and when held in the mouth...it tasted like raspberries. ]
[ That taste wasn't sweet, but it was memorable. ]
[ Whenever I look back, I always find that the path connecting them… ]
[ isn't the big events, but rather these small yet unforgettable moments. ]
[ Don't worry about it. ]
[ The existence of gradually losing oneself.....is a reality every Self-Annihilator must face. ]
[ At least, I haven't completely lost my senses and memories. ]
Acheron's expression was very calm and very composed.
[ Then congratulations on adding a new footnote to your journey. ]
[ Speaking of which, are you alone? ]
The old man was a bit curious.
[ No, I had a companion in Orkron. ]
[ She was small, Nameless, and wanted to launch herself into IX.... ]
[ She always said she wanted to walk a path deeper and further than Akivili... ]
Acheron shook her head, discussing her former companion.
[ Not big, but with big ambitions...and the result? ]
The old man asked.
[ She....turned into a pool of stagnant water. ]
Acheron paused for a moment, then answered.
[ Heh...my condolences. ]
The old man sighed softly.
[ Sadness? ]
[ I don't think so. ]
[ That girl left with a smile, she never regretted her choice, and she must have hoped that I could say goodbye to her with a smile...… ]
[ I did exactly that. ] 』
『 ....』