Perhaps because of Victor Wang's appearance, Lumine's progress had accelerated somewhat. When they arrived at Musk Reef by boat, Scaramouche was already pressing a hand against the crystalline meteorite core, in a state of slumber.
"Protect the Harbinger!"
Naturally, it was the Fatui guarding Scaramouche. The moment they spotted Victor Wang, Lumine, and Mona, they immediately took up battle stances.
"Harbinger! That hat-wearing brat really is a Fatui Harbinger!" Paimon suddenly tilted her head, lowered her voice, and whispered, "We should go for justice—strike while he's vulnerable, before he wakes up, and beat him until he can't resist!"
"Hey! You little runt, we heard that!"
"Hmph, and so what if you did? Your strongest fighter is still unconscious. Who here can stop us?"
"Such arrogance!"
One enraged Debt Collector raised his ceremonial blade to charge, but was held back by his companion. "Remember the Harbinger's orders—don't… don't act rashly."
The air grew thick with tension. Lumine exchanged glances with Victor Wang and Mona. She agreed with Paimon's idea—after all, having already faced The Fair Lady and Tartaglia, there was no reason to show mercy toward another Harbinger.
But before they could act, the tall hat before the meteorite core shifted. "Mm… so noisy…"
"Ah! He's waking up!"
Following Paimon's trembling finger, they saw Scaramouche calmly turn around.
"It's you? You're too late. My research is already complete."
"So, it really was your Fatui tricks behind all this?"
Tartaglia was the Eleventh Seat, the last in the Harbingers. The rankings were unclear, but if they reflected strength, then this one surely surpassed Tartaglia!
With a graceful motion, Lumine summoned the Harbinger of Dawn she had received from Kaeya. Mona also felt the looming danger, her whole body taut.
"Heh, relax. I've no time to play with you now," Scaramouche said, striding past the bowing Fatui with mocking amusement curling his lips. "I've uncovered… something terrifying, something vital!"
"Hm?"
"The night sky itself… is one massive lie."
Mona's brows furrowed. She sensed this was no idle jest. "The sky… a lie? What do you mean?"
Paimon, more straightforward, still stood against him. "Are you trying to deny Mona's astrology? No need to claim the entire sky is false! You can look up and see the stars at night—such basic common sense—"
"Hahaha… ahahahaha! Still spouting such childish nonsense!"
Scaramouche laughed uproariously, until Paimon scratched her head in confusion. At last he calmed down and continued, "But it's not your fault. After all, until just now, I thought the same."
"Until just now? You mean…" Mona narrowed her eyes, thinking.
"Hmph, I've no time to debate this with you."
After his cryptic words, Scaramouche turned away, muttering, "That Pierro… to assign me such a task without warning me of such a discovery. Was he trying to scare me? Hahaha! I must confirm this truth. Farewell, rookies!"
"Rookies? Who's he calling a rookie—us?"
"Of course he means you, rookies!"
The hot-tempered Debt Collector sneered, ready to provoke further, but again was restrained by his partner, who called out to the retreating Harbinger, "My lord, what of these children?"
"The mission is finished. Do with them as you please."
The Fatui bared cruel grins. "Now we can finally unleash our strength on these rookies!"
"Rookie, rookie, rookie—you're the real rookies! I'm the future's greatest astrologer! The only one who can call me a rookie is my master! I'll make you taste this genius's fury!"
With a huff, Mona released shimmering waves like mirrored starlight. The Fatui were ensnared in bubbles from every direction, only to be met with a torrential assault.
…
"That's what you get for angering me!"
Lumine smiled, eyes narrowed. "Mona, you're amazing."
"Of course. Paimon, Victor, you think I'm amazing too, don't you? Don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah. Without you, this fight would've been much tougher."
"Hehe~"
Mona arched a brow. If this were Sumeru, the Steam Bird would surely run an article titled Shocking! Famous Astrologer Mona Still Just a Rookie! Such slander would damage her reputation among fans—an unforgivable scandal!
"But judging from that Harbinger's reaction, he wasn't lying. When Master taught me astrology, she mentioned the 'false sky'… could it mean something else entirely?"
Paimon feigned exasperation. "If you want to know, we can just touch it too. Victor's going to anyway, right?"
"True enough!"
Feeling Lumine and Mona's eyes on him, Victor Wang shrugged. "It took me ages to climb Pilos Peak. That Harbinger woke so quickly—it must mean he saw something unique. What I'll experience may not match his at all."
"Do your best, then. Let's see if he was really rambling."
For safety, the three moved the meteorite core onto their boat. They agreed that if Victor Wang hadn't awakened within a day, they would destroy the core and force all affected to wake.
At last… with nervous anticipation, Victor Wang extended his right hand.
At first, the dreamscape was the same as before—fragmented, floating, void. But soon it changed.
"Climb! Human will cannot be bound!" Leonard's voice resounded in his mind, clearer than ever.
Then came the transformation of Pilos Peak. Above, shattered mountain masses rained down, stacking together. Cracks, thousands upon thousands, knit shut in an instant. From the endless heights, thunderous sounds echoed as countless fragments fell, merging to restore the missing body of Pilos Peak.
"Climb! Toward the end!"
Urged on by Leonard's tireless encouragement, Victor Wang drew his familiar ice picks and ascended the path to the heavens, step by step.
This climb lasted six hours.
No sudden awakening, no missing mountain walls—he and Leonard truly reached the summit of Pilos Peak, a broken ring mirroring Musk Reef.
In that thrilling moment, Victor Wang recalled how, earlier, he had forgotten to unlock the Spiral Abyss waypoint at Musk Reef's center. But such a small regret was swept away by the grandeur of the summit.
Below lay endless darkness, above a blazing sky. The moon loomed as vast as a palace, seemingly within reach, its light as bright as day. The stars twinkled, casting not warmth but a benevolent glow.
"If I'd reached this point then, I'd have tried to conquer the stars themselves."
Leonard raised his hand to the heavens. Moonlight, starlight, and his own radiance gathered in his palm.
"Hahaha, and indeed I did! After all, such deeds are worthy of being etched upon one's constellation!"
Victor Wang suddenly lost control of his body, forced to listen as Leonard spoke. Just as he realized this, Leonard said, "I'm speaking with you."
"So, our roles are reversed—you're the voice in my head now?"
"That doesn't matter," Leonard shook his head. "The end you seek lies higher still. This body cannot take you there."
"Higher? True… I feel a pull beyond this place… but higher than this lies only the stars… don't tell me—?!"
"Indeed. Go see for yourself…"
Leonard's body dissolved into starlight, separating from Victor Wang's spirit. The light bore him upward, past the moon, into the stars. And there, Leonard's voice finally fell silent.
But Victor Wang understood—this was Leonard's constellation, wrapped in dense violet-black energy: abyssal power, radiating its familiar presence toward him.
It was absurd.
That constellations truly existed in the sky was not shocking.
But to think they were formed of abyssal power?
And… looking around, the entire sky was crowded with such stars?
From Leonard's case, it was undeniable—constellations were linked to human spirit, preserving memory and desire. Perhaps… they were the true seat of human consciousness. Otherwise, how could Leonard's soul fragment linger in meteor shards?
'Stars' were not cold, lifeless, inorganic bodies. 'Stars' were matter fused from abyssal force and human spirit. 'Stars' were people with will!
And thus, the night sky was false.
Victor Wang drifted among the stars, reaching for the one closest to Leonard's constellation. But the farther he strayed, the fainter his body became. Sensing he would soon fall out of the dream, he returned—though his eyes lingered long on the stars, searching for a true one among them.
What did this mean?
One day, when parents passed away and told their children, "I'll become a star watching over you," it wouldn't be mere comfort. They were stars. Tianquan, Yuheng—not metaphors, but truths. Everyone was a star. Stars lived.
Two millennia after his death, Leonard's constellation still carried his will. Did that mean constellations endured longer than life?
Had humans birthed constellations, or had constellations birthed humanity? Where was the real sky—the real universe?
The universe!
If Teyvat had Descenders, then the universe had to exist. Real stars had to exist.
Grasping at this lifeline, Victor Wang struggled upward. Leonard's dream of conquering stars could not have meant these stars. The cosmos that Kaeya and Khaenri'ah longed for was not this false firmament.
As distance grew, his body grew translucent. Yet he pressed on, desperate to pierce beyond this sky.
Just before he slipped from the dream, he saw it: a colossal meteor, from beyond the false night sky, hurtling toward Teyvat. Wrapped in a force darker and more violent than the abyss, it was a true meteor.
At its arrival, the sky above split open, revealing endless energy waves like its own. That darkness—this was Teyvat's boundary, its shell!
Phanes had sealed "the universe" apart from "the world's shadow" with an eggshell. The false sky's end was that shell. Beyond it lay the real cosmos.
And this meteor had come from outside the shell, bearing ominous power as it plummeted toward Teyvat. By its path, it would have passed Leonard's constellation harmlessly—yet Leonard's star moved, shielding its course.
"Leonard…"
Their collision was violent, abyss and unknown force igniting in flame. Meteor and constellation both shattered, until the meteor's fragments and the unknown energy were consumed, and the remnants of Leonard's constellation fell to earth.
And so began the events of these days.
As Leonard's star faded, Victor Wang had only a moment to gaze again at the false sky and the true darkness beyond, before he was pulled abruptly back into reality.