She gripped the hilt of her blade, shedding crimson tears, recalling her past.
In the scene, a girl in white appeared from behind, red horns on her head.
"Like a tide rushing in, leading you home."
Acheron drew her long blade, unleashing a single slash.
A scarlet blade's edge followed.
This slash pierced through the domain Aventurine created, its impact reverberating across the entire dream.
Aventurine had no power to resist this force!
The background music grew increasingly intense.
With just one slash, everything ended.
A massive explosion shook all of Penacony!
As Acheron sheathed her blade, a light rain began to fall from the sky.
[???]
[Holy crap! Is this an Emanator?]
[Is this Acheron?]
[No wonder that Underworld Duke got taken out in seconds.]
[This slash is just too cool!]
[I need to watch this a hundred times, a hundred times!]
[Mom, I wanna learn this!]
[Acheron's transformation sequence is absolutely unreal.]
[So freaking epic, a true visual feast!]
[I was wondering how they'd beat Aventurine, and then Acheron one-shots him. But it doesn't feel forced at all, since her strength was built up through others' descriptions. This slash exceeded all my expectations.]
[The effects and presentation are just too stunning.]
[And the background music, it really tugs at the heart.]
[I'm in love!]
[Aventurine could at least hold his own against the Astral Express crew, but Acheron takes him out with one slash? That's just unscientific!]
[So this is Acheron's 'modest strength,' huh? Nice, nice.]
[No wonder Acheron gets lost so easily.]
[Acheron: I'm this awesome because I traded it for my sense of direction.]
[So where can I get an Acheron like this?]
[In a dream.]
[Isn't Penacony already a dream?]
The barrage exploded with awe at the sheer impact of this slash and Acheron's strength.
However.
The audience didn't yet know what story awaited them next.
…
Aventurine suddenly opened his eyes.
"Where… is this?"
The camera shifted, revealing a view from behind Aventurine.
"A massive black hole, and a sea… Did I… succeed…?"
He rubbed his eyes. Not far away, Kakavasha's voice echoed.
Aventurine began to run.
But in his ears, the voices of his family called out.
"'…Welcome to this sorrowful world, Kakavasha.'"
"'Your good luck is our treasure, and that of all the Avgin…'"
"'—Two days, come out alive, prove your worth is real.'"
"'Wealth, status, power… the company will give you everything you want and don't want.'"
[No way, bro, this isn't a life-flashing-before-eyes moment, is it?]
[It shouldn't be, right? Aventurine said, 'Did I succeed?']
[This feels like a double entendre. Aventurine's been through so much, he just wants to die. So, if he lives and finds the truth, he succeeds. If he dies and reaches the underworld, he succeeds too.]
[Uh… you're saying this is the underworld? It does kinda look like it.]
[AHHHH! Aventurine, don't die!]
[miHoYo wouldn't be that cruel, right? Giving him this much screentime, even sidelining the protagonist, just to kill him off? That's messed up.]
[Yeah, if I hadn't watched the last season, if Firefly hadn't been stabbed into Firefly sauce, I might've believed it.]
"'And we will meet again under the aurora of the next Kakava.'"
Aventurine sighed and continued toward the massive black hole.
However.
At that moment.
Acheron's voice rang out. "I'm sorry, but this isn't the place you were expecting."
Aventurine stopped, slowly turning back. "'Nihility'… is it?"
Acheron, with her white hair adorned only with red and black accents, gave an odd sense of liminality under the camera's lens.
"Maybe to you, I'm an Emanator hiding my identity, but… the formless sleeper never glances at anyone. It has no face, no form, no will to speak of… 'Nihility' blankets everyone equally.
Some just walk further in Its shadow, tainted by more 'nothingness'… That's all."
"That's all?" Aventurine forced a smile. "Friend, you really leave me at a loss for words. So… this is my end, the place after death?"
"This is just a fleeting dream, one of IX's myriad manifestations… Under the witness of 'Nihility,' we pause here briefly, then head toward our respective paths."
"So my death is already fated."
"Even if you wish it so… I can't make that promise. Since your goal has been achieved, I think you can be more honest."
Acheron then revealed the details she had noticed.
Everything Aventurine did was a bluff; he never intended to harm anyone.
His sole purpose was to test, with his own life—
That 'true death' does not exist in Penacony's dream.
Acheron pieced it together mainly because of "that person."
The two then spoke at length like riddle-makers.
In essence, someone had already uncovered Penacony's truth,
But for certain reasons, they couldn't reveal it outright—this was the truth behind Sparkle's hint about the mute.
Acheron then stated that the mark of 'Harmony' on Aventurine had been severed with her slash.
Aventurine was an undeniable winner. If he lived, he could find the truth; if he died, the Ten Stonehearts' influence would give the company a reason to intervene.
"You won. You earned yourself a ticket to that deep sea. Whether you can return from the abyss after this… that's your next big gamble."
Acheron paused. "Have you ever hesitated?"
"Hesitated…" Aventurine pondered for a moment. "Of course. But I can only trust my luck. Because besides that, I have nothing."
[Damn, this part is awesome.]
[Aventurine's seriously impressive, his strategies are maxed out.]
[The writing deserves full marks.]
[There's so much info in this dialogue, and they're deliberately hiding stuff.]
[Who's 'that person'?]
[Can I take it to mean Firefly and Robin didn't actually die?]
[Revival arc incoming?]
[Now I'm hooked to keep going. Awesome!]
"Wake from this dream and go where you're meant to. Your gamble… isn't over yet."
With that, Acheron turned and slowly walked away.
Aventurine called out to stop her. "…Before we part, can you answer one more question? As someone walking that Path, can you tell me…
Why are we born into this world just to face death?"
"I've never thought that way. Neither have you."
"But 'Nihility' does blanket you and me… and everyone."
"And that's exactly why it's meaningless."
"But it's still there. If fate's dice are always loaded, if that's our destined end, why… do we fight against it?"
Acheron turned back, facing Aventurine directly.
"…My answer may not resolve your doubts, because they've walked with you all this way, already a part of your life.
But you said, 'Sleep is a rehearsal for death.' Why do we sleep? Because we're not yet ready to face death.
So you must also understand why we want to be ready.
Even if the ending is already set, that's fine—there's too much we can't change.
But before that, on the road to that ending, there's still so much we can do.
And the 'ending'… will take on entirely different meanings because of it.
Check your pocket. Your friend already gave you the answer.
…Good luck."
Acheron vanished completely from the scene.
Aventurine understood the meaning behind her words.
He opened Dr. Ratio's doctor's orders.
"The impossible in a dream isn't 'death,' but 'Dormancy.' Live on. Good luck."
At that moment, a knowing smile appeared on Aventurine's face.
"Then it's time for me to go too."
Just then.
Kakavasha's voice rang out.
"Mister… are you leaving?"