[From Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer, Episode 7]
[On the same day the Brass Council's trial concluded]
[Late night, in a villa in the upper city]
"Tendo, are you sure you want to do this?"
Chen Xing watched Tendo, who was lost in thought over a chessboard, and asked curiously.
Lost in the game, Tendo replied nonchalantly, "I've already done it. What's there to be sure or unsure about?"
His eyes, fixed on the board, suddenly lit up.
"Just like that!"
He picked up a black piece and, with a flourish, placed it firmly in the center of the board, forming a five-in-a-row.
"Xing, you lose!"
Tendo looked up at Chen Xing, his light-blue eyes brimming with triumph.
However, Chen Xing, who had assumed they were playing Go, froze at Tendo's shameless declaration of victory. She stared at the smirking Tendo, and her competitive spirit instantly made her act on her "instincts."
"I lose?"
Chen Xing repeated softly, her slender finger casually tracing the edge of the chessboard.
In the next moment, several small crimson flames suddenly engulfed Tendo's black pieces. In his stunned gaze, they turned to charred ashes on the board.
"Tendo, where are your pieces now?"
Tendo clutched his chest in mock pain and leaned back.
"Hey, hey, who plays five-in-a-row by burning the other person's pieces? You're cheating!"
In the face of Tendo's accusation, Chen Xing, mimicking his childhood roguishness, retorted righteously, "But I distinctly remember someone saying we were playing Go, not five-in-a-row."
Seeing that the adult Chen Xing had even mastered his shamelessness, Tendo pulled out his ultimate trump card.
"Okay, I'm not playing anymore. It's a draw!"
When you can't win, flip the table. This was a move Tendo knew all too well!
Chen Xing just rolled her eyes at Tendo, not bothering to argue with the "man-child." But seeing him like this made her, for a rare moment, feel like she was a child again. Six years had changed many things and many people, but Tendo seemed to have changed nothing but his appearance. He was still as arrogant and reckless as he was as a child, and she still couldn't take her eyes off him.
Thinking this, Chen Xing's gaze lingered on the unique mark in his light-blue eyes.
"Speaking of which, your Star Mark... is in your eyes, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Tendo leaned back on the sofa, looking carefree, completely unaware of the "danger."
Before he could react, Chen Xing suddenly grabbed his collar and yanked him toward her. Her unannounced move brought their noses dangerously close. The distance between them was so small that Tendo could see his reflection in her crimson pupils, and he could smell the faint sweetness of blood-fire mixed with her hair.
But this situation made Tendo a little uncomfortable. He subconsciously tried to pull back, but Chen Xing's grip tightened.
"Don't move."
Even though Chen Xing's eyelashes were fluttering, her tone was unyielding, as if to tell him she was just observing his Star Mark and had no other intentions. If he thought otherwise, it was all in his head.
This left Tendo at a loss. He didn't know whether to retreat or stay, feeling incredibly awkward.
Fortunately, Chen Xing seemed to understand that too much was too much. She let go of Tendo's collar and, as if nothing had happened, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, hiding her slightly flushed earlobe.
"Tendo, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone's Star Mark being in their eyes."
Tendo, grabbing onto this topic like a lifeline, quickly went along with it.
"While Star Cores aren't as unique as Star Origins, there are always exceptions, aren't there?"
"Mmm."
Chen Xing nodded, then asked, "If that's the case, then your Eclipse All-Seeing Eye must have some other abilities now, right?"
"After my Bloodfire awakened, it gave me the ability to convert fire and blood, which allows me to turn the karmic fire released with my Star Energy into bloodfire to quickly heal my wounds."
With that, Tendo decided to show Chen Xing the effect of his awakened Eclipse All-Seeing Eye: an ability called "Eclipse Space."
As Chen Xing watched curiously, Tendo drew a line in front of him with his finger. A subspace rift appeared before him. Then, Tendo reached into it and pulled out a bottle of Blue-Tone Mountain City soda. The bottle was still cold, a clear sign that it existed in a different time dimension from the real world.
"Visible subspace nodes—that's the effect of my awakened Eclipse All-Seeing Eye. When combined with my Vector Control, it allows me to briefly open up a stable subspace."
"The principle, you can think of it as me pulling a zipper and putting my hand in the pocket behind it."
Though Tendo's description of his "Eclipse Space" was simple, Chen Xing, with her outstanding combat talent, immediately saw how terrifying this ability was.
"So, the range of your Eclipse Space must be the maximum range of your Vector Control, right?"
"But the nature of subspace means that any real-world object will obscure these nodes, preventing you from 'touching' them directly. So you probably can't use this ability as a super-level attack for now."
"But—"
Chen Xing paused, then looked Tendo in the eyes and said seriously, "If you use it as a simple defensive or evasive move, the versatility of this ability is astonishing."
"As your power grows, you could eventually achieve a 'perfect phasing' effect by briefly entering and exiting subspace, ignoring all attacks on the physical plane."
Clap, clap!
Tendo clapped his hands, showing his admiration for Chen Xing's analysis. She had accurately described his future concept of "Phasing." Although Tendo would need to go through another Star Core awakening to fully realize this "Phasing" ability, it was still a super-level move with infinite potential, comparable to the "Omni-System."
Having learned what she wanted to know, Chen Xing got straight to the point.
"Alright, Tendo, let's get down to business. I've handled what you asked me to do, but the President's side..."
"You know, not letting Star Users interfere with the affairs of ordinary people is a rule the President set from the beginning."
"Don't worry, Xing. That old man, Enite, is more enlightened than you think."
Tendo leaned against the sofa, his face full of confidence, as if he had Enite completely figured out.
"He doesn't hate Star Users interfering with ordinary people; he hates Star Users using their power to recklessly disrupt the lives of ordinary people."
"On the other hand, if what a Star User does is good for the majority of ordinary people, Enite won't be angry. He'll even allow it to happen."
"In this regard, our most powerful Star User of this generation is far more flexible than you imagine."
After saying this, Tendo looked out the window at the night-shrouded upper city of the Steam Capital and said meaningfully, "To change and improve this corrupt and stagnant place, you first have to replace the rotten wood and burn out the蛀虫."
"And as a fee for helping to renovate this house, it's only reasonable for me to take a little something, right?"
"So even if Enite finds out, he can't find a single fault in what I've done. Don't worry, everything is under control."
Chen Xing sighed softly in response. "Fine, you've made up your mind. You've always been this way, never changing your decisions for anyone."
Hearing this, Tendo instinctively replied, "Xing, you know me so well? Have you been secretly watching me all this time?"
The moment he said it, Tendo instantly realized he had made a mistake. Seizing the opportunity, Chen Xing looked up, her tone incredibly serious. "Yes, I've been watching you all this time, since eight years ago, and I've never stopped."
With that, Chen Xing leaned forward expertly and whispered, "Do you... hate that?"
Facing Chen Xing's sudden move, Tendo, who could react to bullets, was utterly flustered. He could only hurriedly look away.
"It's not that I hate it. Whatever makes you happy."
Seeing Tendo's evasive reaction, the light in Chen Xing's eyes visibly dimmed.