"Woof woof woof?!" Susie felt that couldn't be right, but didn't know how to explain, she was, after all, only a dog.
----------------------------------------------
Fors and Xio's little house.
Xio, who was fast asleep, was awakened by the commotion from next door coming from Fors.
"Fors' voice sounds so painful… tonight isn't even the full moon yet, is it?"
Xio hurriedly climbed out of bed, rushed to Fors' room, but didn't find her there. She quickly followed the sound to the washroom.
Sure enough, she saw Fors lying on the ground. At this moment, it was as if she were enduring some terrifying torture.
Her whole body was sprawled on the floor, her right hand grabbing her own hair, her left hand fiercely pinching the flesh of her thigh, as if trying to fight something off.
From her mouth came occasional suppressed and pained wails. Her features were twisted by agony, completely unlike her usual delicate appearance.
It was easy to imagine that pain and suffering were sweeping through her whole body at this very moment.
"Fors! How are you? Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Xio hurried to her side, crouched down, held her shoulders, her face full of distress, tears welling in her eyes.
Her past experience told her that Fors' condition was very bad, and it could very likely involve life-threatening danger!
"Xio, I…"
Xio's call snapped Fors back into a sliver of clarity. She struggled to say something, but could never finish a complete sentence.
The mad ravings were stronger than ever before, pain and madness occupying every corner of her body.
Especially her head, which was swelling and aching, as though it would explode at any moment.
She felt unprecedentedly fragile, as though her life was already standing at the edge of a cliff. Just one push, and she would never open her eyes again.
"Fors! Fors! Don't scare me…"
Xio was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but she had no way to deal with this situation.
In the past, it was always Fors who survived by sheer willpower.
And the price paid was just a small clump of hair.
But this time was obviously different.
In the end, she pulled Fors' head into her arms, softly whispering encouraging words over and over.
She hoped her words could disperse the pain.
…
Tingen.
Klein, who was sleeping soundly, was also jolted awake by the frantic warnings from his spirituality.
He awoke from sleep, wiped the sweat off his forehead. His spirituality was still trembling nonstop, as if something terrible was happening.
He rested briefly, then to avoid disturbing Melissa and Benson, tiptoed out of bed, first drank a cup of cold boiled water, then opened the window to let the wind calm him down.
The breeze blew in, cooler than ever, and with it came a starry sky that looked like a canvas painted with rainbow dyes.
His intuition told him that tonight's warning from his spirituality stemmed from this abnormality in the starry sky!
After watching for a while, he frowned, unable to understand what the clashing and dissolving colored light masses meant.
But that star, brighter and larger than the crimson moon, gave him a thought.
This should be an astronomical phenomenon caused by the explosion of a star, right?
"So beautiful… to be able to witness such an astronomical event in one's short life, how many lifetimes of luck must it take?"
Klein quietly admired.
At that moment, he wished he had a telescope at his side.
After all, stars' lifespans are calculated in billions of years, while human lives last only about a century. The odds of crossing paths are even lower than winning the lottery ten times in a row.
After admiring a while, Klein frowned again.
No, this wasn't right!
If it were just a natural astronomical phenomenon from a star exploding, why would his spirituality still be so restless?
Could it involve Beyonder factors?
To influence the explosion of a star… only the Seven Gods could, right?
Klein thought about it for a moment, then hurriedly dismissed the thought. He dared not casually think about matters of deities in the real world.
But then, this doesn't concern me, does it?
If a calamity really falls from the starry sky, like a meteorite crashing down-
Even if he wanted to dodge it, such things would not change according to his will.
Whether one survives or not depends entirely on luck.
Klein pondered carefully. True, it had nothing to do with him, but it did concern Mr. Fool.
With such a great disturbance, at the next Tarot meeting, Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man would surely be desperate to know what happened tonight.
In their eyes, Mr. Fool would definitely know the causes and consequences of tonight's anomaly.
"I'd better prepare a few answers in advance, so I won't be exposed."
"With my knowledge of astronomy, I should be able to fool Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man."
"Hmm, I should phrase it on a grand scale anyway. With their level of power, it will be a long time before they can truly understand the starry sky."
While admiring the beautiful scene, Klein thought about how to brush off Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man's questions.
He even considered going to the gray fog to attempt a divination about tonight's events.
But ultimately dismissed that suicidal idea.
Peeking into gods, and possibly more than one deity, was something even the gray fog might not fully protect him from.
Blackthorn Security Company.
Leonard, who was on watch duty at Chanis Gate tonight, also felt the unease. His spirituality was warning him that something major was happening tonight.
"The starry sky."
A mysterious voice rang within him.
Leonard's expression remained calm. After greeting another night watcher and saying he wanted to take a short rest, he walked outside.
When he lifted his head to the sky, his gaze was completely captured by the sight before him.
The crimson moon, the countless stars, and that dazzling unknown star.
On the other side, three different colors of light were tearing apart a patch of darkness, or perhaps it was that they were surrounded by darkness.
He didn't understand, but felt inexplicably shaken.
With the help of the voice inside him, he naturally understood that tonight's great event was connected to the starry sky.
He first glanced around. Seeing no one nearby, he lowered his voice and asked: "Old man, you must know what exactly is happening tonight, right?"
"I have some guesses."
"Can you tell me?"
"You are too weak. The truth would be poison to you."
"…Can't you even mention it?"
"Heh, when it concerns gods, are you sure you want to know?"
Leonard was stunned. Though he really wanted to know what was happening in the sky, he didn't dare risk his life for it.
"A new era has begun. If you don't want to be abandoned by it, hurry and get stronger."
"Oh, I will."
Leonard gave a perfunctory reply.
After a moment of silence, the mysterious voice spoke again: "One day, you'll realize how childish your suspicion of me was today."
"Old man, if you were me, you wouldn't fully trust an unknown mysterious existence either, right?"
"Heh, suit yourself. But let me remind you again: if you want to survive, hurry and get stronger, otherwise one day you will regret it."
Leonard was silent for a while, then chuckled: "Old man, you seem a lot more talkative tonight than usual."
"The reason you can stay calm is only because you don't understand what's really happening in the starry sky right now."
"Is what's happening tonight really that important?"
Leonard dropped his guard and grew serious.
"The destruction of the entire world, what do you think?"
With a final chuckle, the voice inside Leonard went completely silent.
No matter how he called, it didn't answer again.
"Is what's happening tonight really that terrifying?"
Leonard looked up at the now-foreign starry sky, a chill creeping into his heart.
"That old man even said the whole world would be destroyed, he must be trying to trick me with that."
"Getting stronger is indeed important, but keeping myself intact is just as important."
"Old man, I still can't fully trust you."
Leonard sighed, looked at the starry sky for a bit longer, then returned to his post at Chanis Gate.
…
The strange phenomena of the starry sky gradually came to an end.
Just as the two battlefields reached a stalemate, night about to disperse, the blazing sun about to take over the world of day,
An incomparably dazzling platinum sun suddenly appeared near the White Tower, the Tyrant, and the Sun God.
Its blinding, vast radiance first suppressed the brilliance of the Sun God.
Then it dispersed the swath of darkness stretched across the starry sky, finally shining upon the world ahead of the Eternal Blazing Sun.
The light of the crimson moon was covered, the stars could no longer shine.
At that moment, night turned into day. In the entire sky, there was only that platinum sun!
The whole world lit up in that instant!
From the starry sky seemed to come a roar. An orange-glowing sun hurriedly rose.
At this moment, in the sky, a rare phenomenon appeared, two suns shining together!
But soon, the platinum sun vanished, leaving only the orange sun blazing high in the sky.
The time of twin suns was brief, seen only by those who had been staring at the sky all along.