The City of Sighs had never seen the sun. Because when the sky opened up, it was always gray, and rain would pour down, stinging the skin.
But the people would sing and dance in it, welcoming it with open arms, trying to keep it with everything they had, and naming it—the Day of Pardon.
So when the people here saw the "sun" again, their first reaction was fear, a sense of unfamiliarity.
It was only when the warmth of the sun from their memories appeared that people dared to look up in the direction of the amusement park.
Everyone only saw two suns flash by, but in the vicinity of those two suns, Bianka felt as if she had lived a lifetime.
She was held by the Herrscher, almost enduring the impact of the two suns with her.
Heat, shock waves, sonic booms, and other oncoming damage made Bianka think that this might be the end. Just like before, it wasn't that she had no ability to resist, but that she had already made up her mind to die here.
The strong premonition of death made the little person who had always been cowering in her heart rebel. It frantically wanted to take over Bianka's body and escape the range of the two suns.
High temperature was one of the things it feared.
In the past, just a few incendiary bombs were enough to make it so scared that it couldn't even lift its feet. Now, two high-temperature fireballs that could instantly turn a person into ashes were coming at it, how could it not be afraid.
The intense desire to live almost tore Bianka's mind apart. In front of the ever-approaching flames, Bianka's body began to uncontrollably change back to its original form.
The clothes Cecilia had sewn were quite close-fitting. They began to tighten on the rapidly growing Bianka. The sharp outer armor that grew out of her skin tore the clothes, and the pain of her bones twisting and growing made Bianka show a vulnerable expression.
But her hands were still clenched tightly. Even though the sharp nails that had grown out had pierced her palms, Bianka still didn't let go.
I will never... let you out again.
This was the first time she had tried her best to suppress Parvati's consciousness. Although she was losing ground in the battle of wills, she was fighting with the determination to never give up.
To never give up in order to give up... Heh... how contradictory.
Honkai beast... die with me here...
Bianka, whose face had already grown twisted horns and a shell, closed her eyes.
...
"Sorry," a weak voice sounded in her ear. A broad and warm chest held her tightly.
The touch on her skin was ulcerated. It was the surface of a body that had been disfigured by fire. A tattered piece of clothing was draped over Bianka's body, but it brought a strange coolness.
The final power of the Star of Judgment would burn everything within its range, including Siegfried himself. This was undoubtedly a move of mutual destruction.
But since it existed, it was definitely not for Siegfried to exchange his life for another's.
The highest achievement in materials science in Future City, the absolute constant temperature material—[All Things Dormant (The Great Hibernation)].
It could only be destroyed, with no concept of temperature change, even if it was flammable.
A strange material that was in opposition to itself. Except for the core personnel of Future City, no one knew where this material came from. And there were only three places in the world that used this material.
The zeroth sequence, the [Peach Blossom Spring (UTOPIA)] processing center, and—
Siegfried's clothes.
This was the last line of defense that Future City had equipped Siegfried with. As long as he wore these clothes, even if the Star of Judgment exploded in front of him, Siegfried could survive.
There were practical cases of this!
But Siegfried had actively torn it off before the battle... just to put it on Bianka at this moment.
Bianka opened her eyes and saw Siegfried's empty half-body. The flames were devouring this tall man in front of her.
And he was still smiling at Bianka.
"Live on, my daughter," Siegfried's smile turned into a bright one. Even though the flames had peeled off half of his face, even though Bianka could see the scorched muscle fibers and exposed teeth, Bianka could still tell that it was a smile.
A smile that would only be seen at the last moment of death.
"This world..." Siegfried's voice was as faint as a mosquito's. His eyelids had already drooped... no, one of his eyelids had already disappeared... his voice was distorted by the heat wave, and was about to disappear with his life in these two suns.
"Actually..." Bianka's breathing had stopped with Siegfried's head. She looked at the flames on Siegfried's body in horror. She reached out her hand with difficulty, wanting to help him block the greedy tongues of fire.
But she couldn't... Parvati had gained the upper hand in the struggle for control of her body. She could already feel her body starting to escape.
The All Things Dormant on her body blocked the high temperature. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! As long as they escaped the core area of these two suns, she and Bianka could both survive!
Siegfried's hand finally let go. The charred figure, having lost half of its body, fell towards the flames, getting farther and farther away from Bianka...
Farther and farther...
Out of reach.
Only a final murmur remained.
"The world is still beautiful..."
The world is still beautiful?
No... Bianka did not agree.
How could a lonely world be beautiful? How could a world of constant loss be beautiful?! How could a world where she was constantly hurt, deceived, and separated from others, and yet could not keep anything, be beautiful!!!
She didn't want such a world!
She didn't want to be so helpless!!
Who decided all of this?! The world? Or Honkai? The God that Aizahár spoke of?!
No!
The one who decides the outcome of this matter—can only be me!!
The little person who was losing ground in her mind suddenly gave up blocking and defending. She desperately rushed towards the struggling, tyrannical little person, even more crazed than the little person who had been fighting for her life just now.
She tore open the little person's defenses and attacked it with all her might.
The little person was terrified. It flinched as usual.
A white cold mist suddenly appeared between the two suns that were getting closer and closer. It was like a pair of big hands that grabbed the two suns and pushed them to the sides.
The expanding cold air quickly clung to the surface of the two suns. The bone-chilling cold suppressed the plasma energy of the flames, freezing them, sealing them, and then dissipating with the heat.
In the end, a vast frozen land appeared in the wasteland of the City of Sighs, and then it was shattered by a huge ice ball with a diameter of several thousand meters.
When Cecilia led her people across the huge broken ice, they only saw Bianka, who had turned into half a monster, carefully holding Siegfried, whose half-body had been frozen.
Neither of them was in mortal danger.