Chapter 141: The First Cycle, Full of Hope
["I still remember what you said to me back then... 'Let us meet again in that distant future.'"
"So please, take me to the true future where I can reunite with you..."
"I'm counting on you, Ass...assin...
Mister..."
The Stargazer's eyes slowly closed as she lay motionless in the Captain's arms, no matter how desperately he screamed in anguish. Between heaven and earth, there was no response. The her before his eyes, the her in his memories—her every movement, her every word—collided and merged together, drowning the Captain in countless recollections.]
[March 7th]: "Damn it, Stargazer! F*ck!"
[Silver Wolf]: "Seriously?! There's even a kill replay?!"
Kafka gently handed tissues to Silver Wolf, who was crying and throwing a tantrum. Even though she had been the one insisting there would be tragedy, she was also the one crying the hardest among the Stellaron Hunters.
[Raiden Mei]: "This time, the Captain witnessed two of his closest friends turn against each other, and saw Stargazer die in his arms after all their adventures together."
In St. Freya's dormitory, everyone's eyes were blurred with tears—even Himeko, who had seen death countless times on the battlefield. No one understood their pain more deeply. The fallen were practically their own, and they too faced the erosion of Honkai. They too could end up with a bad ending. But when that time came, there would be no Captain capable of reversing time to save them.
[After Stargazer's death, the Captain bid his final farewell to her and followed her will to find Little Tesla. The Captain tried to awaken "Iron Fist Mister," but the lack of energy made it impossible.
With insufficient power, the Captain couldn't communicate with Little Tesla at all. No matter how frantic he was, without energy, there was nothing he could do. The Captain babbled incoherently at Little Tesla until, just as he was about to lose all hope, she detected a keyword and activated an amplification function—sending the Captain three months into the past.]
[Kiana]: "Wait, so it was Little Tesla who sent the Captain back?!"
[Silver Wolf]: "Hmm, wasn't Little Tesla like… some numbered entry in Tesla's 'Index of Forbidden Science' or something?"
[Stelle]: "This round, Dr. Tesla is the MVP!"
[Tesla]: "As expected of me!"
[Herta]: "That puppet literally just served as a locator!"
["I'm counting on you, Ass...assin... Mister..."
The Captain relived Stargazer's death once more. Her heart had already stopped beating, yet tears still fell from her eyes.
The droplets on the back of his hand were cold. With Little Tesla's guidance, the Captain's consciousness was projected into the past for the first time. The Captain opened his eyes—inside Stargazer's room, he saw her again. Alive.]
[Murata Himeko]: "You and I are both Captains of the Hyperion! So not a single soul on your ship can be lost!!"
[Elysia]: "Yay! The Captain went back in time! Now Stargazer is still the same old Stargazer we know! There better be some sweet moments—Elysia loves this kind of thing♪"
[Mobius]: "Tch. Elysia, don't forget—if the Captain can go back once, then Stargazer and the others can die a few more times too, right?"
[March 7th]: "How can words so cold come from a mouth that's 37 degrees?!"
[Einstein]: "That is indeed a possibility."
[Stargazer's first reaction upon seeing the Captain was whether her array diagrams had malfunctioned again. Of course, the Captain couldn't tell her about what had happened in the future—but at an appropriate moment, he revealed that reinforcements from both nations were unlikely to arrive.
Stargazer quickly grasped the situation and wasted no time bringing the Captain to the undersea altar. It had already been breached by the beasts, and even the Wish-Granting Golem lay shattered. There was no time to mourn Golem's demise—what mattered now was setting up the Seven Stars Array to reseal it. Judging by the traces left behind, things were already dire: Houdo's power had fully recovered, and it was advancing toward the capital, Huangyue City. Without delay, Stargazer and the Captain rushed to intercept it. Along the way, they discovered that Rita had already lured Houdo to an ancient battlefield. Amidst swirling dust stood a lone figure—Rita, Prime Minister of the Huang Empire, a woman who never showed weakness… now battered and bruised. Yet even so, not a hint of fear escaped her. "...Hiding won't save you. This next strike will be my last!"
"Even if it costs me my life, I won't let you take a single step into Huangyue City!"]
[Kiana]: "Whoa! Rita is so cool here!"
[Durandal]: "This version of Rita is far stronger than she was a thousand years ago."
Durandal nodded approvingly—clearly believing her own Rita could reach such heights too. More training it is.
[Stelle]: "I won't retreat even one step—because behind me are thousands of homes in the Huang Empire!"
[Qingque]: "No wonder Golem only needed Stargazer and Rita to live forever to maintain the empire—Rita can handle both civil and military affairs!"
[Herrscher of Sentience]: "She has no choice but to fight—the entire Huang Empire rests on her shoulders alone."
["Rita! What do you think you're doing alone?!"
Rita turned her head slightly, glancing at Stargazer before noticing the Captain—understanding now how Stargazer had found her here.
Seeing Rita's severe injuries, Stargazer immediately rushed to her side, tearing off precious fabric from her own robes to bandage Rita's wounds. At this moment, Stargazer puffed up her cheeks like an angry pufferfish—gathering all her breath before— "Alright! Now I can say it—Rita, you're a big liar! A huge liar!"
Stargazer now fully realized that all of Rita's previous reports had been lies. If not for arriving with the Captain in time, Rita would have died! Rita merely smiled at Stargazer's outburst: "Didn't Your Excellency also cling to such 'foolish' resolve when you went to seal Houdo all those years ago?"
Stargazer fell silent.]
[Kiana]: "Pouting Stargazer kinda reminds me of Aunt Theresa now."
[Elysia]: "A thousand years ago, it was the Captain and Rita saving Stargazer—now it's Stargazer and the Captain saving Rita. This kind of fateful storytelling is impossible to resist♪"
[March 7th]: "Now that Rita's safe and Stargazer's fine too—without any hatred between nations—Fu Hua and Himeko can survive as well! Everything's looking great now!"
[Amidst this battlefield, the Captain felt like an outsider—quietly listening as they reminisced about their thousand years together protecting the Huang Empire against beasts like this one.
Only after they finished talking did Houdo resume its attack—blazing flames surging toward all three of them.]
[March 7th]: "This beast is oddly polite—it actually waited for them to finish talking before attacking."
[Silver Wolf]: "As we all know, time stops during emotional flashback conversations."