Lei Ting knew that by medical standards, he might be considered to have paranoid tendencies.
...Or perhaps it wasn't just a "might" or "tendencies."
Regardless, he knew what he had to do, and he was determined to see it through. He knew exactly what kind of end awaited if he failed.
The stars would go cold and silent, all things would be extinguished, and only the strongest would remain anchored in time and space. But by then, nothing would be left.
"Everything."
If he could not hold the line, he would lose everything.
In the original timeline, due to a minor deviation, Sandro had lived until the era of the Great Galactic War. But the war had come without warning. During a campaign against the Abrissacks, Sandro, despite being a civilian staff member, was forced onto the battlefield. He piloted a light aerospace fighter from a frontier planet, coordinating with defense systems to intercept long-range strikes. When he realized he couldn't destroy a tactical nuclear missile, he chose to ram it, detonating it in the planet's stratosphere.
A massive sphere of light had flared in the starry sky—just one tiny fraction of the countless deaths occurring.
Susanna, working in a rear management post, did not witness his death, but she fell into a madness even deeper than the one she suffered "this time." Because in the "last time," she knew exactly who the enemy was and where they were, yet she never got to see Sandro one last time.
But something even more terrible happened. Even though Sandro had died with a sense of peaceful joy, after his "Spirit-Thought" was intercepted by a certain hand in the "Spirit Bottom," a corresponding Xenodemon was created.
That monster, born from the soul of Lei Ting’s once-best friend, knew everything Sandro knew—including everything about Lei Ting and Susanna.
Using that knowledge, it hunted them down one by one, which utterly enraged Lei Ting.
By the time he and a half-cyborg Susanna caught the creature's trail, Susanna could no longer suppress her manic rage. Without waiting to regroup with Lei Ting, she dropped alone onto the target planet.
She fought for days amidst the enemy’s Xenodemon army, while Lei Ting was held back in space... delayed by radicals within the Resistance.
They were merely being used as pawns, he understood that, but the battlefield allowed no room for mercy. By the time he reached the destination, it was already too late.
***
*“Ah... is he... looking at me?”*
*“...Yes,” Lei Ting said, gazing quietly at Sandro nearby. The brilliant young man had never stopped looking at Susanna; even though his eyes were now filled with hollow darkness and his breath had long since ceased. “He’s been looking at you the whole time.”*
*“Is that so? Then that’s... truly wonderful...”*
*Susanna smiled as the flow of blood finally began to slow.*
*Lei Ting closed his eyes. He could feel his friend fading before him... a fading that neither his healing abilities nor emergency injections could arrest.*
*She departed happily, leaving this material world, leaving the mortal realm she had struggled through.*
*Because, in truth, her blood had run dry long ago.*
***
That was the time he had flipped the chessboard.
He had turned that war from a tangled mess into a field of ruins.
Who could blame a young man who had lost almost every friend and relative in the blink of an eye? Especially when the enemies blocking him during that critical window included the lover he held most dear.
In those days, Lei Ting—who had only been "normally" diligent during his student years—did not truly possess the power to turn back the heavens.
He fought with everything he had, rushing from one front to another, yet he could only manage to pull a few scattered, unfamiliar comrades from the ashes of the dead. Hearing encouraging words like "The battle is going well, the intensity isn't that high!" he knew the follow-up would likely be something like, "At least we can recover the whole bodies of the fallen, that’s pretty good!"
Belatedly, he began to push himself to the limit, and his progress was faster than anyone could have expected. He realized that the survival of certain key figures was more useful than their sacrifice, so he began to learn coldness and how to arrange the sacrifices of others, using "Stillness" to suppress and correct his excessive emotional fluctuations.
To die in a moment of impulse, or to choose sacrifice for a goal one deems worthy while still cherishing life—that was the difference between recklessness and courage.
Too many of those who fought beside him "last time" had proven this sentence with their lives.
Therefore, he firmly believed it to be the truth.
In the darkness, the fountain pen streaked like a missile, the giant sphere burst, and crimson light flowed like threads. The colossus, draped in radiant flames, raised a greatsword that was merely a one-handed blade to it and swung it down heavily!
None of the enemies could withstand a single blow. But while some retreated and others protected the "Green of Life" as it was cleaved and reshaped, a patch of dull, greenish corrosion suddenly spread across the outer armor of the mecha’s arm joint. The stardust polarization of the matte black plating dimmed.
A type of enhanced slime mold, capable of devouring the metal veins of an entire conventional planet in an instant, was precisely deployed, creating a deliberate weakness in his mega-structure mecha.
Though this weakness was incinerated by radiant flames in the next second, and the missing metal was so negligible it didn't even need replacing, this momentary change excited the enemy and the observers behind them.
"We can make fatal mistakes countless times, but he can only afford to make one," Hissa chuckled softly. "No matter what, he is human. He will tire, he will feel pain, he will be hurt. Naturally, he will make mistakes or grow old, and eventually meet his end in death."
She seemed to be implying something specific as she spoke.
This caused the Xenodemon Ebon’s busy hands to jerk to a halt. For a fleeting moment, a terrifying killing intent erupted in its eyes, but it was forced to close them and remain silent.
Because at that moment, the "Commander" had suddenly turned to look at it.
After a moment of silence, Ebon turned its gaze toward another set of mist-column status monitors nearby.
A strange pale cube, a shifting black sphere, a monstrous bird with four wings...
That was another group of six Xenodemons transitioning from "A-rank" to "S-rank." They were currently approaching the Human Federation’s front lines alongside the main army.
They were another force in this "probing" action.
By the Commander’s order, they were also not the highest level of combat power that could theoretically be deployed.
Regarding this, the Commander had said he feared the "Sun Star" would flip the table if pushed too hard.
Ebon didn't quite believe that. After all, even if it was the "Sun Star"—the demon shuddered involuntarily at the thought of that man—it was impossible for him to exert the kind of combat power the Commander feared while his mind was under such high-intensity "infection," right?
However, the Commander’s long-standing authority and his natural suppression of Ebon meant the demon didn't dare raise an objection.
"Even if it's six S-ranks, the Federation's army might not be able to stop them," Ebon reminded. "Their First Legion stationed nearby only has eight A-ranks internally."
And Xenodemons were naturally polluting to ordered life; those eight A-ranks would likely be gone in a single encounter.
"Less talk, more work, Ebon," the Commander said flatly, with no intention of explaining further.
A surge of wicked fire rose in Ebon’s heart, but after enduring it for a moment, it fell back into silence.
To this day, being able to remain by the other's side was enough to satisfy it.
...Even if neither of them were their original selves anymore.
"You are still so easily agitated and prone to ignoring the details of the plan, even though you are of the 'Fortified City' lineage," the Commander said, shaking his head slightly, his voice deep and cold. "As expected, a failure is a failure. The 'me' of the past held expectations for failures like you; it was truly the height of stupidity."
Ebon trembled violently, but it still endured—even though its "Degeneration" had influenced its emotions so deeply that when it first met Lei Ting, its mental defenses had been shattered by just a few words.
Nevertheless, it gritted its teeth and retorted, "Pinning the decision for progress on the masses was 'his' greatest mistake!"
"Indeed." The Commander nodded slightly. He did not deny the statement, and his easy admission of the error only highlighted the terrifyingly thick "humanity" still preserved within him.
Then, he explained in a flat tone, "These tools targeting the fleet and the local planets are essentially intended to divert the support around the 'Sun Star.' His reinforcements will arrive soon, which will cause the transcendent entities originally belonging to the Federation to turn back to assist the Federation."
"You want to draw Them away... but you can't kill the 'Sun Star' right now, nor will you risk completely enraging him by destroying the Federation's front line..."
Ebon murmured, looking suspiciously at the monitoring mist columns. Within them, the snow-white angel statue covered its face again and dissipated, and the golden star likewise vanished. A scroll carrying an ancient fountain pen suddenly changed direction, flying toward the "Spirit Bottom" corresponding to the Federation's position along with the colossus cradling the iron Earth.
Ebon realized what was happening. "You’ve arranged actions elsewhere to draw the attention of those two Natural Entities, and then... you have another target!"
***
In the starry sky, within the life-support tank of the "Principal’s Office" at the Federation’s First Military Academy, a figure—both extremely distorted and extremely beautiful—suddenly looked up through the transparent reddish liquid, eyes snapping open.
Amidst a heart-pounding rhythm, the figure's red and blue eyes were vacant and dilated. They stared blankly into the darkness for a moment before slowly closing again, a smile of relief appearing on the face.
In the endless darkness, an illusory figure residing upon a scroll emerged, reaching out to stop "The Gazer" who was traveling alongside it.
The Gazer stopped. After a moment of silence, it asked in its grand, majestic voice, "Have you decided?"
"This isn't something anyone decides," The Recorder answered softly. "This is my destiny."
As the words were spoken, the fountain pen and the scroll gradually vanished, while the figure became increasingly solid, returning to the appearance it had when it first met Lei Ting long ago.
"Destiny is not fixed," The Gazer said, its voice rising slightly.
"But the destiny of the 'Primordials' is fixed. My existence can only bring greater destruction upon these young children..."
The "Principal" sighed.
Aboard the *Sun*, she set down the pen she had just used to sign several physical documents. She raised her left hand and picked up a haphazardly tossed scroll from the desk.
"Two hundred and ten years ago, my last compatriot passed away..."
The white-haired youth, who usually disliked speaking, whispered with closed eyes.
"I have lived on borrowed time for too many years, my friend."
The one in the life-support tank spoke, eyes closed in a peaceful, deep sleep.
"...Now," They said in unison, "it is time for me to reunite with them.
"Before that, I shall fulfill my proper role.
"...Just like the oath 'we' swore all those years ago."
***
