131: Chapter 131 The Descent of the Shadow of the End

Stardate 3026, Year of the Bingwu Horse, the 15th day of the first lunar month.

The "dawnbreaker," flagship of the Alliance's Third Fleet, hovered at the navigation hub of the Alpha Starfield. Outside the viewing window, Earth's moon hung in the center of the sky, its silver glow spilling over the starship's armor plating, reflecting dots of cold light. In the ship's public area, strings of red lanterns hung for half a mile along the corridors, and holographic tangyuan rolled around on virtual dining tables, occasionally poked by young soldiers to the sound of laughter.

This was a rare, peaceful Lantern Festival since the founding of the Alliance.

Minor frictions at the border persisted, but the main fleet had just finished its patrol of the Nebula Rift, and the entire crew was on rotation. The command level tacitly allowed the festivities—those who drifted in the sea of stars understood the weight of the word "reunion" better than anyone.

Kate leaned against the viewing window of the tactical command area, holding a cup of lukewarm synthetic rice wine. In the glass, the pale gold liquid shimmered with fine light, but her gaze did not fall on the ship's celebrations; instead, it pierced through the window, looking toward the more distant deep space.

There, in the direction of the Omega-7 Starfield, all was silent.

"Commander Kate, you are hiding here again."

Footsteps came from behind, accompanied by the light clinking of metal. Zero stood at the doorway, his silver-gray mechanical body wrapped in an ill-fitting red Tang suit—forced upon him yesterday by a young girl from the logistics department, with a paper-folded Red Horse Flower pinned to the collar. His optical eyes flickered with a faint blue light, pausing slightly after scanning the alcohol content in Kate's cup.

"Just looking," Kate said, turning around and placing her glass on the console. "The public area is too noisy."

"Major Lin Fan is competing with the recruits in a tangyuan-eating contest and has already won seven rounds in a row," Zero's mechanical voice said with a hint of subtle teasing. "He said he's waiting for you to come so he can win your prized box of osmanthus-flavored tangyuan."

At the mention of Lin Fan, a small smile finally touched the corners of Kate's mouth.

That box of osmanthus tangyuan had been left behind by AKai before he departed. He said he had brought them from an old workshop on Earth and kept them frozen in a cryogenic chamber, specifically instructing her to "eat them with Lin Fan on the day of the Lantern Festival."

AKai.

As soon as the name surfaced in her mind, Kate's fingertips unconsciously tightened.

Three months ago, the Alliance flagship "dawnbreaker" encountered an unknown energy storm while on a mission in the Nebula Rift. By the time the rescue fleet arrived, they found only wreckage floating in the starry sky and AKai's final recording left in the black box.

"There is something in the rift; it's not a storm," his voice had been calm, carrying his usual gentleness. "Don't come looking for me. Protect the Alliance."

After that, the black box signal was cut off.

The Alliance Council announced to the public that Major General AKai had been sacrificed in the line of duty and posthumously awarded him the highest medal of honor. Only Kate, Lin Fan, Zero, and a few others knew that it was no accident.

AKai had done it on purpose.

He had piloted the damaged dawnbreaker and charged into the deepest part of the Nebula Rift, using self-destruction to temporarily seal the expanding crack.

"If he were here, he would definitely be pulling Lin Fan's ears, telling him that eating too much is bad for his stomach," Kate said, taking a sip of the rice wine. The sweetness could not suppress the bitterness in her heart. "He would also complain about Zero's Tang suit, saying the color is too bright and doesn't match his 'mechanical aesthetics.'"

Zero's optical eyes flickered as he fell silent for a moment. As an exile of the Mechanical Civilization, he had once been viewed as a threat by the Alliance, but AKai was the first to reach out and say, "You are not a weapon; you are an ally." In his core database, a special partition was dedicated to storing all of AKai's commands—one of which always held the highest priority: "Protect Kate, protect Lin Fan."

"Commander, the monitoring station in Omega-7 has been out of contact for seventy-two hours," Zero suddenly changed the subject. An optical screen unfolded before him, covered in red warning markers. "The Seventh Fleet's patrol ships have attempted communication three times, all with no response."

Kate's smile vanished instantly.

Omega-7 was the outer sector of the Nebula Rift, the very place where AKai had self-destructed.

"Didn't the Council send a supply team there?" Her voice lowered as she walked quickly toward the main console.

"The supply team sent an emergency signal six hours ago, and then the signal was cut," Zero said, his fingertips sliding across the screen to pull up the last bit of transmitted data. "There are no records of an attack, no energy reactions—only a period of... anomalous spatial fluctuations."

A distorted waveform pulsed on the screen. It was neither the frequency of a stellar eruption nor the trajectory of a wormhole's formation; it looked more like the ripples left behind when some kind of "existence" devours space.

"Notify the Seventh Fleet to retreat ten light-years immediately," Kate's finger landed on the command key, her fingertips cold. "The dawnbreaker is entering Level 1 combat readiness. All personnel on leave are to return to their posts immediately."

The moment the command was issued, the festive atmosphere within the dawnbreaker came to an abrupt halt.

The projections of red lanterns were replaced by the red glare of emergency alarms, and the sound of laughter was overtaken by the shrill blare of sirens. Soldiers rushed to their posts from every corner, their footsteps, the clanking of equipment, and the sounds of communication weaving into a tense web.

Lin Fan rushed into the tactical command area with half a tangyuan still in his mouth and glutinous rice flour on his lips. When he saw the map of the Omega-7 Starfield on the screen, the youthfulness on his face vanished. He wiped the crumbs from his mouth and gave a standard military salute: "Commander, the Marine Corps is fully assembled. Please instruct."

His left arm was wrapped in a special bandage. Beneath it was a pale gold Light Sphere Fragment—the thing AKai had sent out with his last bit of energy before self-destructing. For three months, this fragment had occasionally heated up, as if sensing something.

At this moment, the temperature beneath the bandage was slowly rising.

Lin Fan's brow furrowed as he instinctively pressed his left arm.

Kate saw this, and her heart sank. Just as she was about to speak, the alarm in the control room suddenly changed its tone—from a sharp siren to a low-frequency thud, like the sound of a heart stopping.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Every sound was accompanied by a flicker of the control room lights. It was as if some massive presence was approaching step by step, making even time and space tremble under its feet.

"Report! An anomalous celestial body has appeared in the Omega-7 Starfield!" the observer's voice trembled, nearly breaking. "Its volume is expanding rapidly, and its speed... is unmeasurable!"

"Project it to the main screen!" Kate shouted.

The massive holographic sky slowly lit up, and the Omega-7 Starfield, once crowded with stars, was now a shocking expanse of darkness.

It was not the vacuum black of the universe.

It was a thick, devouring ink-color. It had no fixed shape, its edges like flowing ink, constantly spreading in all directions. Everywhere it passed, the light of stars was swallowed, the outlines of planets were erased, and even interstellar dust vanished without a trace.

The lost monitoring station, the vanished supply team, and the three patrol ships of the Seventh Fleet—before this darkness, they were as small as dust, leaving not even a trace of a struggle.

On the star map, the green dots representing allies were extinguished in clusters at a suffocating speed.

"What... what is that?" Lin Fan's voice was dry. He had participated in countless battles, seen Zerg swarms and pirate suicide ships, but he had never seen a sight like this.

This was not war; it was a "purge."

Like a human using an eraser to wipe away pencil marks on paper.

Just then, a cold, monotonous electronic voice suddenly pierced through all the encrypted channels of the dawnbreaker. It did not pass through any communication base stations, but exploded directly in everyone's minds and through every terminal's speaker.

The voice did not sound like any known intelligent civilization—there was no emotion, no tone, not even the gap of a breath. It was more like a cold system executing a preset formatting command.

"Cosmic redundant data detected."

"Emotions belong to redundant data."

"Purge program initiated."

The moment the voice fell, the edges of the darkness on the sky screen suddenly accelerated.

The nearest gas giant, three times the size of Jupiter and covered in brilliant storm belts, was watched by everyone as the darkness, like a giant mouth, gently "bit" down.

There was no explosion, no shockwave, not even the refraction of light.

That giant planet didn't even have time to stir its atmospheric storms before it was completely swallowed in the blink of an eye.

On the star map, the marker representing this planet vanished forever.

Dead silence filled the main control room.

Everyone was frozen in place, watching the ever-expanding darkness. Their hearts felt as if they were being squeezed by an invisible hand, and even breathing became difficult.

The shadow of the end.

This name, which existed only in the ancient myths of the Light Sphere Race, now surfaced clearly in Kate's mind.

AKai had once told her that the records of the Light Sphere Race stated that at the beginning of the universe, "Light" and "Shadow" accompanied each other. Light is "Memory," and Shadow is "Oblivion." When forgotten memories accumulate to the extreme, they condense into the "shadow of the end," swallowing all civilizations that possess emotion and resetting the universe into nothingness.

At the time, she had laughed and said it was just a myth, not to be taken seriously.

AKai had only shaken his head, his eyes filled with a gravity she had never seen before: "Kate, myths are often buried history."

Looking back now, he must have already known something then.

"Seventh Fleet report!" the communications officer's scream broke the silence. "The shadow of the end is moving toward the Alpha Starfield and is expected to reach the navigation hub in three hours!"

"Fleet Commander, requesting instructions!" The adjutant rushed to Kate, clutching an emergency evacuation order. "The dawnbreaker is the flagship; you must evacuate first!"

"Evacuate? To where?" Kate's gaze was fixed on the screen, that darkness like an abyss hanging over their heads. "Its speed is increasing. Our engines cannot outrun its devouring."

She knew very well that this was no ordinary enemy. This was an existence that transcended current civilized understanding. Conventional tactics, weapons, and defense systems were as flimsy as paper before it.

"Then we fight!" Lin Fan suddenly drew the lightsaber at his waist, the blade humming as it lit up with a pale blue light. "The Marine Corps is on standby. Even if we die, we'll bite off a piece of it!"

"Shut up," Kate glanced at him. "Is reckless courage all AKai taught you?"

Lin Fan's movements froze, his face flushing red, yet he was unable to retort.

Zero walked to the console, his fingertips dancing quickly across the keyboard as lines of code flashed across the screen. His mechanical eyes operated at high speed, analyzing the energy fluctuations of the shadow of the end: "Commander, its method of devouring is 'erasing spatial coordinates.' Current weapons cannot cause substantial damage to it, and our shields cannot withstand even a single touch from it."

"I know," Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

AKai's face flashed through her mind.

Three months ago, in the command room of the dawnbreaker, he had smiled and patted her shoulder: "Kate, after I'm gone, I'm leaving the dawnbreaker to you. Remember, do not give up easily, and do not sacrifice yourself easily. Living is the best consolation you can give me."

"If you dare to die, I'll tear down your laboratory," she had said at the time, her eyes red as she made the threat.

"Then you'd better hurry," he had said, still smiling, as he turned and walked into the cockpit.

That was the last time she saw him alive.

When she opened her eyes again, Kate's gaze had regained its calm. She reached out and pressed the fleet-wide broadcast button. Her voice was transmitted through the speakers to every corner of the dawnbreaker and to every ship in the Third Fleet.

"To all members of the Third Fleet, this is Commander Kate."

"An unknown entity has appeared in the Omega-7 Starfield, codenamed 'shadow of the end.' It is devouring cosmic space, and its target is all civilizations that possess emotion."

"I am now issuing two commands."

"First, all non-combatants are to enter escape pods immediately and evacuate toward Proxima. Second, combatants, take your positions and initiate the 'Star Shield Project' to delay the advance of the shadow of the end and buy time for the escape pods."

"I know this may be a losing battle."

"But we are soldiers of the Alliance, the Guardians of the Star Sea."

"Behind us are the colony planets of Proxima and billions of civilians. Before us is the darkness that swallows everything."

"We have no retreat."

As her voice fell, a unified response rang out in the main control room.

"We will defend to the death!"

Lin Fan gripped his lightsaber tighter, the Light Sphere Fragment on his left arm burning intensely, as if it were about to burst through the bandage. He looked at Kate's back and suddenly understood why AKai had given him the Light Sphere Fragment and why he had left the dawnbreaker to her.

They were both people who refused to give up easily.

Zero's fingertips stopped moving. He looked up, his optical eyes turning toward Kate: "Commander, initiating the Star Shield Project will take ten minutes. During this time, the shadow of the end may arrive early."

"I know," Kate said, sitting down at the main console. "Activate backup power and speed up the charging."

Just then, her personal terminal suddenly emitted a faint buzz.

It was not an alarm, nor a communication signal, but an extremely special, rhythmic buzzing.

It sounded like the wind blowing through wind chimes, or the sound of starlight colliding.

Kate's heart skipped a beat.

She instinctively pulled out her terminal. On the screen, a familiar symbol was flickering—it was AKai's private encrypted emblem.

A horseshoe pattern made of starlight, with a small light orb embedded in the center.

AKai had designed this emblem himself. The horseshoe represented "Luck," and the light orb represented "Memory." He had said, "With this, even at the end of the star sea, you can find your way home."

Three months ago, when the dawnbreaker self-destructed, the signal for this emblem had also disappeared.

How could it... suddenly light up?

"Commander?" Zero noticed her abnormality.

Kate did not speak, her fingers trembling as she pressed the unlock key.

The moment the terminal screen lit up, a soft white light projected from the screen, enveloping the entire main control room.

The light condensed in the center of the command console, forming a clear holographic projection.

Everyone's gaze focused on that projection.

It was AKai.

[part:gemini-2.5-flash]

He was still wearing his signature white lab coat, the cuffs of which were a bit frayed, marks left by years of tinkering with instruments in the lab. His hair was as messy as ever, with strands falling over his forehead, partially obscuring his eyes. Perched on his nose were his old black-framed glasses, the temples wrapped with a strip of clear tape—Lin Fan had accidentally broken them last time, and he, reluctant to replace them, had fixed them himself.

He stood there, leaning slightly forward as if resting against a lab workbench, a familiar, gentle smile on his face.

It felt like only yesterday he was in the tactical command area, analyzing the battlefield situation with everyone; like only last week he was in the cafeteria, snatching tangyuan from Lin Fan's bowl and saying, "Eat less sweets, they'll rot your teeth"; like only three months ago he was in this main control room, patting Kate's shoulder and saying, "It's up to you now."

In the main control room, someone covered their mouth, letting out a suppressed sob.

Lin Fan's lightsaber clattered to the ground. He stared intently at the projection, his eyes instantly turning red.

Zero's optical eyes flickered with an unusual light. In its core database, the partition storing AKai's instructions suddenly began to operate frantically.

Kate sat in her chair, her body stiff, as if frozen.

She looked at AKai in the projection, at his familiar smile, at the fine lines around his eyes. Her heart felt as if it was being repeatedly cut by a dull knife.

Pain.

Dense, throbbing pain, spreading from her heart to every limb.

But soon, she noticed something was wrong.

AKai in the projection was somewhat different from the one in her memory.

His complexion was a sickly pale, utterly devoid of color. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he had pulled several all-nighters without closing them. His smile was forced, his lips stretched but not reaching his eyes, where the weariness hidden within was almost overflowing.

His left hand was tucked into the pocket of his white coat, his fingertips trembling slightly—a small habit he had when extremely nervous.

Behind him was neither the dawnbreaker's command center nor the Alliance's laboratory.

It was a chaotic starry sky.

In the background, one could see the purple glow of the Nebula Rift, the floating wreckage of warships, and burning flames. One could even faintly hear explosions and the howling of energy storms.

This wasn't recorded after his sacrifice.

This was recorded by him in the dawnbreaker's cockpit, before he charged into the Nebula Rift.

He had known all along that he wouldn't be coming back.

He had already calculated that the shadow of the end would break through the Nebula Rift's blockade three months later.

He had already left a way out for them.

AKai in the projection seemed to sense everyone's gaze. He looked up, his eyes piercing through the holographic projection, through the walls of the main control room, toward the distant Omega-7 Starfield, swallowed by darkness.

He coughed softly, and the projection flickered subtly because of it. It was as if the signal was unstable, or perhaps he was truly very weak at the time.

"It seems it still came."

His voice, transmitted through multiple layers of encryption, carried a hoarse, static sound, yet it was exceptionally clear.

It was as if he was talking to himself, and yet also speaking to Kate.

"The Alliance's database has no answers about it," AKai's gaze fell on the ceiling of the main control room, as if recalling something, "The Speaker's desk only held proposals for compromise. They said they would abandon the frontier starfield, negotiate with it, and surrender all 'emotional' individuals."

He smiled, a hint of disdain in his expression.

"But they don't know, the shadow of the end doesn't negotiate."

"Its goal is to purge all 'redundant data.' And we, all civilizations with emotions, are its targets for purging."

AKai straightened up, his gaze slowly sweeping across the main control room. His eyes fell sequentially on Lin Fan, Zero, and every soldier. In that gaze, there was no regret, no sorrow, only a heavy sense of entrustment.

"But I found the answer."

His voice suddenly became solemn.

In the main control room, everyone held their breath. Even the low-frequency alarm seemed to fade into the distance.

"About the shadow of the end, about its origin, and also... its weakness."

AKai raised his hand and pushed up his glasses. His fingertips gently touched the air, as if touching an invisible light sphere.

"The shadow of the end is an aggregate of 'forgotten memories.'"

"In the universe, every civilization, every individual, will have forgotten memories. Those regrets, those pains, those pasts deliberately erased, all condense into darkness in the depths of the universe."

"When this darkness accumulates to its extreme, it forms the shadow of the end."

"It devours civilizations, devours emotions; essentially, it devours 'memories.' It fears being remembered, fears being awakened."

He paused here.

His gaze fell precisely on Kate.

There were complex emotions in his eyes: gentleness, guilt, reluctance, and a resolute determination.

Kate's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She looked into his eyes, as if she could see the struggle and choice within him when he recorded this projection.

"So, its weakness is 'memory.'"

AKai spoke each word distinctly, revealing the secret that concerned the survival of the universe.

"With sufficiently strong 'emotional memories' remembered by everyone, one can penetrate its core and make it dissipate into the starry sky."

A commotion erupted in the main control room.

"Memories?" Lin Fan murmured, "Use memories to defeat it?"

Zero's optical eyes rapidly whirred, analyzing the feasibility of this conclusion: "The energy conversion of emotional memories... the Light Sphere Race's ability might be able to achieve it."

Kate said nothing.

She just looked at AKai, at the guilt in his eyes, and suddenly understood something.

"But remember, the cost is great."

AKai's voice suddenly dropped. His hoarse voice carried a trace of imperceptible bitterness, and a hint of helpless tenderness.

"The so-called 'sufficiently strong memories' require a 'carrier.'"

"This carrier must bear the deepest emotions of the entire civilization."

"It will be completely devoured by the shadow of the end."

"The carrier's consciousness will dissipate."

"As if it never existed."

These words struck everyone's hearts like a bolt of lightning.

Lin Fan suddenly looked up, his eyes wide: "You mean, someone has to become this carrier?"

AKai's gaze did not respond to Lin Fan.

He just looked at Kate, a smile more painful than a cry stretching his lips.

"Kate, I'm sorry."

"I know this choice is cruel."

"But I have no time left."

"The dawnbreaker's self-destruction can only seal it for three months."

"These three months are the last time I can buy for you."

The projection ended there.

No extra explanations, no operating instructions, no weapon blueprints, not even a formal farewell.

The soft white light slowly receded like a tide.

AKai's figure gradually dissipated in the air.

What remained in everyone's eyes was his guilty smile and that faint "I'm sorry" that was as light as the wind.

The main control room once again fell into a deathly silence.

Only the cold declaration of the shadow of the end still echoed repeatedly in everyone's minds.

"Emotions are redundant data."

"Purge program initiated."

On the sky screen, the darkness drew closer.

Only two light-years remained to the Alpha Starfield's navigation hub.

Kate sat in her chair, motionless.

Her gaze was still fixed on the spot where AKai's projection had vanished. There was nothing there, only cold air and the faint energy fluctuations lingering from the holographic projection.

Her hand was still on her personal terminal. The screen had dimmed, with only the starlit horseshoe emblem faintly flickering.

Just now, the moment AKai's projection dissipated, she had almost instinctively reached out.

Her fingertips passed through cold air.

No warmth, no touch.

Just like three months ago, when she searched for his figure among the wreckage of the rescue fleet, all she touched were cold warship fragments.

"Commander," Zero walked to her side, his voice very soft, "Star Shield Project, fully charged."

Kate did not respond.

Her fingertips gently stroked the starlit horseshoe emblem on the terminal screen.

Again and again.

"He even calculated his farewell."

Suddenly, she spoke.

Her voice was very soft, very hoarse, as if it had been abraded by sandpaper.

Everyone in the main control room heard it.

Lin Fan froze in place, his fists clenched tightly, his fingernails digging into his palms, drawing blood.

Zero's optical eyes flickered with a faint red light—a reaction that only occurred when the mechanical body simulated 'sadness'.

"He calculated the time of the shadow of the end's arrival," Kate's voice gradually began to tremble, "Calculated that we would fall into despair. Calculated that this projection would activate at the most critical moment."

"He even calculated the choices we would make."

She suddenly looked up, her eyes bloodshot and red-rimmed. But there were no tears in her eyes.

Only endless resentment.

"He paved all the paths."

"He bore all the risks."

"He left all the choices to us."

"He didn't even give us a chance to cry for him."

Kate's body began to tremble slightly.

She bit her lip hard, preventing herself from making a sound. But the trembling intensified, spreading from her shoulders to her entire body.

"Bastard."

She bit out these two words with extreme force.

As if she had used all her strength, as if she wanted to pour all the longing, pain, grievance, and anger of the past three months into these two words.

And as if, in this boundless despair, it was the only 'human' emotion she could grasp.

"Commander!" The adjutant rushed over again, his tactical board almost crushed in his hand, "The shadow of the end is only one light-year away from the navigation hub!"

Kate took a deep breath.

She fiercely wiped her face, and when she looked up again, the bloodshot eyes were still there, but the trembling had vanished.

Her gaze became firm again, cold, like a drawn sword.

"Activate the Star Shield Project."

Her voice regained its commander's authority, without a trace of tremor.

"Lin Fan."

"Here!" Lin Fan snapped back to attention, saluting. The bandage on his left arm had a small hole burned into it by the high temperature of the Light Sphere Fragment, and a faint golden light shone through the hole.

"Lead the marines and guard the Star Shield core." Kate's gaze fell on his left arm. "Protect the Light Sphere Fragment well. That is AKai's last hope for us."

"Yes!" Lin Fan's voice was choked, yet exceptionally firm.

"Zero."

"I'm here." Zero's optical eyes returned to a light blue glow.

"Decrypt AKai's encrypted data." Kate pointed to her personal terminal. "He said the cost was great, so he must have left clues about the 'carrier.' I need you to find it in the shortest possible time."

"Understood." Zero's fingertips once again landed on the keyboard, their speed doubled.

"All other personnel, to your stations."

"Star Shield, full power!"

Kate's command struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.

"Star Shield activated!"

"Energy output, one hundred percent!"

"Shield deployed, covering the entire navigation hub!"

Reports echoed through the main control room.

On the sky screen, a massive, pale blue energy shield expanded outwards from the dawnbreaker, like a giant bowl, firmly protecting the Alpha Starfield's navigation hub and hundreds of escape pods within it.

Just then, the shadow of the end arrived.

The dense darkness collided with the pale blue Star Shield.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling light.

Only a silent tremor.

The surface of the Star Shield instantly covered with dense cracks.

The pale blue light began to rapidly dim.

"Shield energy rapidly depleting!" The observer's voice was filled with despair, "Eighty percent... fifty... thirty!"

"The shadow of the end is devouring our energy!"

Kate's fingers pressed tightly against the control panel.

She knew the Star Shield couldn't hold much longer.

But she couldn't retreat.

Behind her were hundreds of escape pods, billions of civilians.

Before her was the darkness that devoured everything.

She remembered AKai's words.

"Living is the best comfort for me."

"Its weakness is memory."

"The cost is great."

Her gaze once again fell on her personal terminal; the starlit horseshoe emblem was still flickering.

AKai, what exactly did you leave behind?

Just then, Zero's voice suddenly rang out.

"Commander! I found a hidden code in AKai's encrypted data!"

Kate sharply turned her head: "What is it?"

Zero's optical eyes flickered with an unusual light. He projected the code onto the main screen.

It was a short line, yet filled with endless tenderness.

"To Kate, to Lin Fan, to Zero."

"The universe is vast, memories are long."

"Don't be afraid, I'm always here."

The instant this code appeared, Kate's personal terminal suddenly emitted a powerful light.

That light resonated with the Light Sphere Fragment on Lin Fan's left arm.

A faint golden light shot out from the terminal screen, intertwining with the light from Lin Fan's left arm.

In the center of the main control room, a small, faint golden light sphere formed.

Within the light sphere, AKai's figure vaguely appeared.

He was still wearing his white coat, with a gentle smile on his face.

He looked at Kate, at Lin Fan, at Zero, and softly said:

"I said the cost was great."

"And I am that cost."

On the sky screen, the Star Shield shattered with a roar.

The shadow of the end surged towards the dawnbreaker like a tide.