An indescribable sense of loneliness crashed over like a wave.
The screen switched at this moment to an automatically playing animated short—the sequel that Leon fans knew all too well.
When the nameless tombstones dissolved one after another into fine sand, vanishing in the wind before Leon's eyes.
When he slowly reached out his hand, as if trying to hold on to those disappearing things, yet grasped nothing.
That vow poem afterward, and his murmured "why bother, why must it be," once again pierced straight through Ah Xian.
Humans are visual creatures.
Text can convey emotion, but it tends toward stream-of-consciousness.
Images can also convey emotion, and they feel much more real because they provide a reference independent of imagination.
Real images paired with heart-wrenching, emotion-stirring background music make it completely different.
Leon spread his wings and soared into the sky; the scene began to shatter and dissolve.
Returning to the memory tunnel, this segment of memory was declared over.
Those who previously didn't think Leon's character story was particularly painful suddenly changed their minds at this moment.
Stelle: "So this is the reason Leon boarded the Express…"
"Then next I have to go… alright."
She didn't even need to choose.
Another memory grid erupted with suction, pulling her figure inside.
When she opened her eyes, Stelle discovered she had turned into a bird, circling high in the sky.
This segment of past memory from the player's perspective was entirely an animated cutscene.
Still on the Ether Star.
Still in the same place.
Only now, this place was a sea of flowers, and no tombstones had been erected.
Several figures flew in from all directions, landing one after another in the clearing of the flower sea and folding their wings.
"One, two, three, four, five… Leon is here too—it's the Seven Salvation Emissaries of the Sky Haven Clan…!"
Ah Xian exclaimed in shock.
The next second, the camera panned across the seven faces in turn, and the entire stream chat exploded.
Two men and five women, each with distinct builds and attire, extremely recognizable.
The common point was—
Their looks were absolutely stunning.
Besides Leon, the only golden-haired youth had a build similar to Dan Heng's, with soft facial lines that radiated a gentle aura capable of making countless girls' hearts race.
All negative emotions and pain seemed to automatically melt away upon seeing that refreshing, heart-soothing warm smile of his.
A petite girl with lazy, cat-like ash-colored ear-length short hair.
A cute girl with gradient neon pink dyed twin tails and a pink-and-white dress.
A mischievous-looking girl in pale cyan plain robe with curved hem, embroidered with fresh flowers along the edges, her eyes emerald green.
A tall woman in a water-green crossed-collar ruqun, her indigo long hair tied into a high bun, her graceful figure giving off the aura of a celestial maiden.
Finally, an elegant beauty wearing a silver-white gradient tube-top gauze dress, with jade tassels hanging from her waist and cascading jet-black hair reaching her hips.
[Holy… Mihoyo!!! I want this!]
[White-dress black-long-straight onee-san kill me, this is way too good!!]
[The Sky Haven Clan's fashion sense is insane, and even though they're all modified ancient outfits, they don't feel out of place at all—instead super innovative.]
[Every one of them is wrapped up tightly; only the black-long-straight onee-san and the ruqun onee-san show a tempting collarbone, but it doesn't hinder their beauty and aura at all!]
[Twin-tails pink loli, so spicy, so spicy, I've fallen.]
[That's clearly Fu Xuan's build, not a loli okay.]
[Who cares, the Sky Haven Clan are long-life species—definitely legal!]
[That golden-haired handsome guy isn't as attractive as Leon but still doesn't lose to any current male character; pretty durable to look at.]
[Good good good, now I gotta save up tickets.]
[Releasing six new satellites at once, and none of them feel like cheap NPCs—are they all going into the pool??]
[After the knife memory, finally a beautiful memory.]
"All going into the pool… beautiful memory…?"
Ah Xian narrowed her eyes, her expression eerie as she looked at the camera.
"…I think you guys really don't understand at all. Forget Honkai Impact 2 and 3—you probably haven't even taken Genshin's pencil knife…"
"Don't you think about the friends who died for the Geo and Electro gods, especially the Raiden Shogun character PV—doesn't this scene look exactly like it?"
"Don't you know… Mihoyo has a certain path dependency?"
"The Sky Haven Salvation Emissaries are good-looking, right?"
"You like them to death, right? Eh—"
"They're all gonna die! Including the current Leon, none of them count as living people."
[???]
[Such vicious words!]
[We're done for, Ah Xian has taken too many knives and turned dark.]
[But gotta admit it's true; those few tombstones from the previous memory segment couldn't have appeared out of thin air.]
"With my understanding of Mihoyo, the warm and beautiful atmosphere next is probably going to flash-frame into a sudden drastic change."
[Shut up already!]
The short film had no dialogue, only the cheerful laughter and chatter of the seven Sky Haven Salvation Emissaries.
Time was peaceful, everything harmonious.
Leon raised a camera, taking photos of his brothers and sisters, capturing their joyful smiles.
Finally, someone spoke.
However, the subtitles did not display the name.
"Big Brother, why are you secretly taking pictures of us?"
"Hm? Big Brother must have caught Fifth Sister's embarrassing moment just now, quick let me see~~"
"You sneaky Third Sister, so you were plotting against me earlier! Big Brother, Second Sister, aren't you going to do something about her~!"
"Fifth Sister, Third Sister wasn't plotting against you; you were just too full of yourself…"
"Hey hey hey, Seventh Brother, could you be a little less honest? Don't I have any face? You should learn from Fourth Sister in this regard."
"Second Sister, Second Sister, come help us hold Big Brother down—we need to take a few pictures of him too!"
"Hehe… If you want to take pictures of Leon, just say it directly; he wouldn't refuse anyway."
The elegant beauty smiled gently, a breeze lifting her cascading long hair, critically hitting countless players.
At the same time, it knifed through countless players.
Because in the forward PV… the Sky Haven Salvation Emissary who spoke with Leon had exactly the same voice as this Second Sister.
And from the story in Leon's five-star signature weapon—
She was the last one to leave Leon.
The mischievous girl quietly snatched the camera from Leon's hands, her smile radiant.
"Big Brother, look here—"
Click.
The photo of Leon smiling at the lens was born, his gentle gaze making one feel the warmth of spring.
"Big Brother, when the clan members set out on the journey to fulfill the Lord's will, it always feels like something ceremonial is missing. I have an idea."
"Speak."
"Because everyone… may not all be able to return and enter eternal sleep themselves, I think we should have parting words—both as blessings and to strengthen our conviction. What do you think?"
"A very good idea. Have you thought of something suitable?"
"No, of course Big Brother has to come up with it~ You're the face of our Sky Haven Clan after all, right everyone~"
"I agree."
"Hehe… I agree with Fifth Sister. Officially, the Sky Haven Clan has no clan leader position, but everyone knows Leon is the true leader."
"You guys…"
Leon smiled helplessly, his gaze sweeping over his family, then to this sea of flowers.
His eyes flickered slightly.
"May the body perish while mountains and rivers remain; May Return While Scenery Unchanged."
"Even if we step into the long night of eternal sleep, we shall fulfill the Lord's will, protect the magnificent lands, and grant salvation to those deep in calamity."
"May when you return, this sea of flowers still blooms as before."
"May when you return, all beauty has not faded with the wind."