: Don't-Laugh Challenge? Sounds interesting, I lost.
: Sorry, I really couldn't hold it in at all.
: How can it be this funny?!
: Now it's really turned into a Don't-Laugh Challenge!
: I'll laugh first, as a sign of respect!
: Hahahahahahaha! Didn't expect even Sunday to have a day where curiosity backfires on him!
: Sure enough, it's precisely because of these embarrassing moments that Sunday feels more and more like a person.
...
The audience was laughing wildly in the comments.
On the screen, Sunday took the initiative to invite Welt to travel together with him.
The three of them passed through layers of heavily guarded streets and arrived at the grand theater.
In this place that the audience was by no means unfamiliar with.
Welt calmly asked, "This time, returning here, what are you planning to do?"
Sunday replied lightly, "In order to set out, I've always believed that a person's starting point should be his ending."
"I will bid farewell to my past self here!"
As his words fell Wonweek on camera instantly changed from a Pepeshi into another Sunday.
But this Sunday narrowed his eyes slightly, wearing a smile that was hard to describe, looking rather cynical and world-weary.
And after Wonweek revealed his true self. The audience discovered a detail that had been overlooked before.
From the moment Sunday appeared, the halo behind his head had never been seen.
Instead, that halo was behind Wonweek's head.
The audience instantly understood.
So that was why the power of Harmony operated through such a detour?
"I see."
Welt also sized up the two of them and said, "This is why your demeanor has always felt subtly off. Ever since we met again, the halo symbolizing Harmony has never once appeared above your head."
Sunday nodded and explained, "Yes. At the starting point of entering the dream, in that corridor of thoughts, I chose to completely strip away my own halo."
"Why?" Welt asked.
"I am, after all, a fugitive, so I should sever all possibilities of being perceived by The Family."
"The other reason is pain."
"Like falling after having one's wings broken, the pain was enough to wake me."
Sunday recalled the situation at the time, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. Clearly, the pain of removing the halo still left a deep impression on him, but he did not regret it.
"Only then could I completely abandon the blessings of Harmony and Order and, for the first time in my life, walk through the beautiful dream as a mortal."
After Sunday finished speaking, Welt expressed his understanding.
As for Wonweek's appearance, it was purely an accident caused by the Don't-Laugh Challenge.
As for why he looked like this.
Sunday guessed, "I was once a child too, with all kinds of thoughts buried deep in my heart. Perhaps if my childhood self had made just a tiny change, I would have become no different from him."
Wonweek curled his lips slightly, elusive and sly.
Welt nodded and said, "So, you intend to return to being one here?"
"Yes, and so Wonweek will disappear completely," Sunday replied.
"I'm saying, isn't it possible the one who disappears will be you?" Wonweek shot back with a grin.
After trading a few barbs, the two stopped talking.
They turned and walked toward the very center of the theater.
The light emanating from there was the Stellaron hidden within the planet of Penacony.
They needed to rely on the power of the Stellaron to accomplish certain things.
Welt crossed his arms, silently watching their backs.
No matter what these two were about to do, he was the final safeguard. Once things went out of control, say, if Sunday were to go berserk, Welt would immediately let gravity flood the entire theater.
And then tear them apart. The audience's feelings were even more complicated.
After realizing Wonweek was another version of Sunday, they found this other side of Sunday extremely interesting, but at the same time felt that the parting had come a little too fast.
...
: Wonweek is basically Sunday on an if-route.
: Thinking back, this guy's good at sarcasm and is totally straightforward, not caring at all about his own image or feathers!
: He's practically the complete opposite side of Sunday!
: Not just Harmony and Order, but an enormous product born under long-term suppression.
: Before this, he probably forced all those emotions down into his heart.
: Just imagining these two clashing already makes me laugh.
...
The comments continued to scroll by.
At the center of the theater, Sunday and Wonweek had already arrived there.
Bathing in the glow emitted by the Stellaron, the two faced each other.
"You really have changed, huh, Sunday," Wonweek said with a cynical smile. "To think you could tolerate traveling with me, after all, I'm the kind of possibility you hate the most."
"I'm about to embark on an unknown journey. Just like today, I have no choice but to travel alongside the unexpected,"
Sunday shook his head and said frankly. "Being overly afraid of the unknown was my former shortcoming. Meeting you benefited me greatly. I'm glad I could encounter another side of myself, and I'm also fortunate to have the chance to say to you in person ..."
Hearing this, the corner of Wonweek's mouth lifted, clearly ready to accept Sunday's praise and gratitude.
However, the next moment, he heard Sunday say, word by word, "I really do hate you."
The camera cut to a close-up of Wonweek.
The smile on his face gradually froze as he exclaimed in shock, "What's going on? Are you sure you didn't say that backwards?"
The audience was speechless as well. Wasn't the usual development supposed to be reconciling with oneself?
Sunday glanced at Wonweek and then slowly said, "Many of the traits you possess are indeed hidden within my own heart."
"In many situations, I also want to crack a few witty remarks and directly express what's on my mind."
"Or openly show my dislike or fondness for someone without any worries."
"I also want to tell her directly that I like every one of her songs."
Wonweek spread his hands helplessly. "Then go do it. You're always talking about locking the little bird in a cage. Honestly, the three bars confining you are all of your own making."
"Look in the mirror, aside from self-discipline and endless inner turmoil, your life has nothing else. That's why you ended up shattered to pieces!"
In response to Wonweek's rant, Sunday simply said, "But I won't become you. I can't do it."
"I hate frivolous people. Even imitating their mannerisms makes me uncomfortable. Even if I experience failure, I won't easily abandon certain principles, such as propriety, such as dignity."
"So this time, I will choose to stay true to my original intentions."
"Whether it's things like tuning, things I inherently dislike, but which may later become something I rely on."
"Or perhaps other things I was unable to accept before."
The chorus echoing through the theater elevated Sunday's confession, making it feel all the more grand.
He stared straight at the light.
Looking back on the road he had walked, he realized just how stubborn and blind he had been.
"Failure is always the best teacher."
"To save more people, you must first understand why they are born, and why they die."
"The best way is to put it into practice yourself."
"I entrust the outcome of this tuning to fate, to test whether I can open my arms and accept everything I once despised."
It's coming! The ending the audience had already guessed the moment Sunday appeared this time.
Now, it was finally about to surface.
Back then, some audiences speculated that Sunday would choose one of two reconciliations, each representing a completely different path.
But now, Sunday left the audience utterly stunned.
Because he didn't choose either one, but instead chose to embrace both systems!
...
: Holy shit, this guy really manages to catch me off guard every single time!
: That's why he's Sunday!
: The symbolic meaning packed into this guy is just off the charts!
: Breaking the halo and walking among mortals, he's basically like those saints. And now he's reconciling with himself and with the world at the same time.
: This time, the bird passed through, and the road he never walked has finally been completed!
...
What Sunday intends to do is to acknowledge the imperfection of the world, and his own imperfection.
He realized that he had long been trapped in a kind of extreme binary opposition.
For example, he hated an imperfect world and longed to remake everything.
He hated the unknown, wishing everything could be known.
But the true answer of the universe is sometimes not choosing one over the other, but allowing both to coexist.
The reason Sunday is Sunday is because of the unignorable religious symbolism on him.
But as he personally stripped away his own halo and endured the pain, stepping into the mortal world and experiencing it firsthand this completed his final flaw.
The change Sunday is now practicing has that very concept as its core.
Now, after reconciling with both the world and himself, he healed that once overly rigid self.
This is a path far more difficult and far greater than simple abandonment or stubborn persistence.
He chose to continue holding onto his ideals, the pursuit of perfection, of fairness, and of liberating all people.
Then he leapt into the imperfect sea of stars, embracing the world and everyone within it.
Advancing unceasingly toward that ideal world of his own.
Granted, Sunday has already realized that his ideals can only ever be ideals.
But he doesn't care, if this universe is destined to need someone to endure and bear the burden,
Let that person be him.
Perhaps even Sunday himself didn't notice, that what he was doing could also be seen as a different kind of Trailblazing.
Constantly blazing forward amid imperfection, until imperfection itself gives rise to perfection.
...
On the screen, Wonweek and Sunday underwent their final transformation.
Immediately after, at the center of the theater, they carried out a fated collision between the two sides.
With the help of tuning and the Stellaron, Wonweek recreated Dominicus here once more.
Of course, at this moment, Dominicus existed only in the hearts of Sunday and Wonweek.
He was not a true Emanator of Order. The result was naturally beyond question.
In front of a Sunday who had already accepted everything, bidding farewell to his past self felt more like a ritual.
When Dominicus fell, and Wonweek merged with Sunday,
A reborn Sunday once again appeared before the audience. The halo also reappeared behind Sunday.
"Who won?"
Welt looked at the approaching Sunday. "Wonweek, or Sunday?"
"Both won," Sunday replied with a smile, his tone still gentle and polite. "Perhaps Wonweek is mocking me coldly in my heart right now."
"Looks like a good ending."
Welt pushed up his glasses and said, "Since matters here are settled, I should be leaving first… What do you plan to do next?"
"Plans? Let's put that aside for now. There's something I must tell you first,"
Sunday shook his head. "At this point, there's no need to hide it anymore. I believe the Stellaron incident in Penacony has something more behind it."
"?!"
Welt's gaze sharpened behind his lenses. "You mean… the one manipulating the Stellaron wasn't the Dreammaster?"
He never expected that, even though the Penacony affair had ended so long ago, there would still be a follow-up!
The audience was also stunned in an instant.
"Please don't worry. The Aeon who usurped the Stellaron and revived through deceit has already been completely erased."
"The mastermind was indeed someone in The Family."
Sunday first reassured Welt, then continued: "But Mr. Gopher Wood once told me that everything Order is doing now is to avoid repeating the tragedy of Harmony."
"And… The Family from the Montor Star System must be involved!"
"Unfortunately, this matter can no longer be verified. Penacony is merely a small territory; the heads of the families are nothing but exalted administrators, and their authority really unquestionable."
"Let alone questioning the true intent of a god."
With just a few words, Sunday revealed a shocking secret before the audience!
It was almost exactly the same as what some viewers had previously guessed!
Behind Penacony, there are still greater players!
The Family itself as a whole is not a monolith!
The undercurrents within Penacony are merely the spillover of internal conflicts within The Harmony itself!