Chapter 390: The Death of Chu Wang Shu, the Awakened One

The girl’s pupils trembled as she watched the scene unfold; the poison called humanity felt especially potent at this moment, as if it sought to teach them timidity, fear, and prudence.

Chu Wang Shu was stunned. Through the vision of the Disaster group, she saw her father’s “rebirth.” She should have felt joy, yet a deeper sorrow gripped her, like a blade tearing at illusory nerves, slicing into flesh and blood, stirring the festering wounds.

As a Child of the Stars and a magical girl, she had already guessed the truth.

In a daze, Chu Yuanqing’s gentle whisper lingered by her ear:

“Little Shu, don’t be afraid.”

“You and everyone else will be fine; just leave it to me.”

Yes, from beginning to end, her father knew his fate. She herself had long known she would die, had long known she wouldn’t have time to kill the Disaster group, nor to save herself.

So, she made her final preparations.

That was: a reflection, an obsession, a… corpse.

The lone shadow of salvation stepped forward. The Levatin in her hand was worn and fragile, like a fragile piece glued back together after battle damage. Rekindling the embers, it dispelled the void, leaping passionately with the melody.

The [Pure White Ode] played a stirring rhythm. With the aid of the world consciousness, the sun and moon trembled together, and the entire universe was filled with dazzling starlight. Each stirring beat was accompanied by a planet’s explosion.

The light and heat born from this became a surging ocean, anchoring the law of cause and effect, arriving from different light-years in an instant, proclaiming the anger of the stars and the final tribute this world could offer her.

Dazzling, grand, magnificent, and tragically beautiful.

Even if no one knew, the stars always witnessed.

That melody, more passionate than the symphony of fate and sadder than the moonlight sonata, swept through the entire planet in an instant, weaving together the destiny of all humanity, carrying countless words—longing, love, gratitude, wishes, blessings—pouring all into Levatin, forging the star sword of salvation.

At this moment, no one could describe in words how shocking and radiant the scene was. The cold, silent deep space brimmed with brilliance, and the silent cosmic storm began to dance, with red sulfur, green hydrogen, and blue oxygen…

The stars seemed intent on giving her the best stage; even the Intracastral Sea willingly blossomed open, silently shedding splendor, bearing the world’s longing for her, briefly crossing the powers of time, cause and effect, and destiny, attempting to freeze the steps of the Disaster group.

There were no dialogues, no words spoken.

The lonely shadow of salvation unleashed the Martial God Technique.

How incredible it was—though the body died and the soul faded, obsession recreated a “corpse,” constructing the final Light of the Soul with this lingering will, continuing to wield the sword.

The Disaster group had never imagined that after being swallowed by the Void, a miracle would be born, capable of transcending life and death’s boundary and continuing the tale of salvation.

They did not hesitate and sought only to keep fleeing.

As long as they repeated their past tactics and dragged out the fading shadow’s demise, victory would still belong to the Disaster group.

However, the will of the stars locked space and time. As one of eleven parts of the Disaster group, Chu Wang Shu acted at this critical moment, without hesitation separating the fused protective powers and lingering for a very brief instant.

Thus, the brilliance born from all living beings flooded all directions, attempting to draw her back into the world and make her taste the cries, sorrow, anger, fear, despair, and regrets belonging to flesh and blood.

At that instant, the praise of the stars, humanity’s prayers, and the sole remaining obsession within the wreckage together forged the Light of the Soul upon the sword of salvation, illuminating the universe.

There was no Void, no mythology, blessing, or power.

Yet this sword of salvation, this sword of all beings, still severed a sequence of the Calamity God, shattering and devouring it, using the whole world as a furnace, radiating a rainbow light hotter than the sun, urging the lonely shadow to deliver another strike.

This time, the Disaster group finally gathered strength to react. Within their collective consciousness, the remaining nine minds jointly suppressed the troublesome Chu Wang Shu. Like precise machinery in perfect operation, they flawlessly circulated their last powers and withstood the blow.

Chu Yuanqing had weakened.

No—rather, this was her normal strength. The figure standing before them was but a fragment of obsession; the reason she was able to kill a Calamity God was one: Chu Wang Shu’s rebellion, and two… this world had gone mad!

How amusing it was—a group that once only dared to curl up in the Intracastral Sea, trembling like lambs to avoid being devoured by Them, had gone mad after the hero’s death. They willingly stepped out of the pen, risking cutting off their own escape routes, just to uphold a lingering obsession left behind by her.

“Foolish, do you think everyone is like her? Whoever dares to devour the Disaster group will be devoured and assimilated by the Disaster group. No matter how much you eat, you will only regurgitate the same amount.”

The Disaster group inherently possessed an unsolvable memetic nature. Except for the special case of Chu Wang Shu, even the savior of the first playthrough, who bore the power of the thirteen Calamity Gods, had to constantly pay a price to avoid being eroded.

Even the world consciousness, if it tried to devour the Disaster group in return, would only end up being invaded by the Disaster group’s extraordinary concept, ultimately completing an alternative form of consumption by reverse invasion.

Why did the Disaster group believe Chu Yuanqing was worthy of remembrance?

Because the Disaster group was innately immortal and undefeated. Before arriving in this world, they had never encountered an individual able to contain themselves as a vessel.

And now, the solitary shadow left by Chu Yuanqing no longer possessed the power to strip away the authority of the Calamity Gods; it was the stars themselves that were reproducing this power, using their own being to suppress and wear it down.

But even so,

The Disaster group still had to flee. They had already deciphered the stars’ plan: their opponent could not erode the Calamity Gods’ power, but could erode the will housed within it.

This will, naturally, was also indestructible; it could slowly recover.

But if the remaining Calamity God powers were stripped away and their consciousness worn down, that interim gap would be enough for… Chu Wang Shu to devour them all!

That was far too fast and far too early. They could tolerate being eaten by Chu Wang Shu only when fully assimilated—when being consumed would spawn a brand-new Disaster group stage—but never at this moment.

If devoured now, the one who would become Sovereign Lord would be the individual named Chu Wang Shu, and the Disaster group would be utterly dead.

Moreover, the Disaster group had eyewitnessed one miracle after another wrought by that savior; how could they assume there would be no surprises?

Even after weighing their odds of victory, they still chose flight.

The voice illuminating the universe still sang:

—Exterminate the Disaster group, save the daughter.

This singular, pure thought sustained the existence of the reflection; it would endure until the last note of the Pure White Ode faded away.

Thus, the hurried drumbeats and accelerating rhythms blazed. Beneath the most magnificent movement in human history, a grand, absurd, vast war unfolded—a cosmic opera that decided the fate of countless lives.

The stars on the horizon began to bloom with images of the past.

These were things already swallowed by the Void.

These were treasures cherished by someone, like a child clinging to the last remaining candy, never once able to reminisce or savor it again… memories.

These fragmented, complete, continuous scenes seemed as if narrating her entire life, projected across the universe, the Earth-Moon system, the whole planet, flowing seas, and street corners. Each scene was unique, precious, and fragile—like a fleeting night-blooming cereus or a bursting bubble.

Through the Disaster group’s vision, Chu Wang Shu saw all the bubbles and all the memories.

She saw her parents’ innocent dreams, akin to childish promises; she saw her youthful father walking a dark and desolate road; she saw the shrine maiden dancing among cherry blossoms before dying in a sea of fire; she saw the Awakened One’s fear, loneliness, sorrow, and acceptance of death.

Father was not lonely.

Within were Liuli, Sister Miyuki, Sister Xie, and many other kind unknown faces. She saw the warm campfire, the warm city, the warm world, and the boy who repeatedly fell and rose again, fighting for all of this.

How wondrous it was—this corrected world line, a story never born in this world. Yet before she was truly forgotten and utterly consumed by the Void, it filled every corner of the world, leaving trace after trace, waiting for the seeds of miracles to sprout.

Father, look, even the stars cannot bear to part from you.

Even if you were no longer the protagonist of youthful tales, and pain and resentment no longer granted you strength, the footprints, bonds, and traces left behind still willingly responded to you countlessly, endlessly, infinitely.

Chu Wang Shu watched and waited, like a spectator unfazed by pain, as the savior’s star sword repeatedly shattered its own body, stripping away one Calamity God sequence after another amid the Disaster group’s furious roars. She also witnessed the memory bubbles illuminating the universe break one after another.

Time passed, and the melody of the Pure White Ode reached its finale; the solitary shadow of salvation collapsed and shattered, taking the star sword with it.

Chu Yuanqing succeeded; she expanded her achievements once more.

Chu Yuanqing also failed; the Son of Mankind, Helldir, Nergal, and the vast amounts of unformed Disaster Beast Gene still built the flesh and bone framework of the Disaster group, supporting Him enough to suppress Chu Wang Shu and slowly regain the powers taken by the stars.

Yes, He won.

“This is the victory of the Disaster group…”

Sunflower’s words were not yet finished; her eyes turned cold and hard like iron, the blackness covering her iris.

Chu Wang Shu briefly retook her body; her eyes lost their warmth. Her face, altered and optimized by the Disaster group genes, shone like a divine being. Even gazing upon the colorful starry sky, she looked like an emperor about to expand his territory, majestic and imposing.

The girl stared at the place where her reflection shattered and showed a smile just like before, softly saying goodbye:

“Daddy, goodbye.”

“This time, it’s my turn.”

As the words fell, deep within the Disaster group, Chu Wang Shu’s soul crumbled. With a fierceness and resoluteness that no Calamity God had ever imagined, she began to burn brightly in a way unique to magical girls.

—[Scatterflowers]!

“Are you crazy? Stop right now!”

That was the highest cornerstone, the eternal secret. How could anyone choose to give it up? How could anyone be so stubborn?

Sunflower had not yet been completely corrupted by humanity’s poison and could not comprehend Chu Wang Shu’s choice. Together with the other Calamity Gods, they acted in unison, attempting to interrupt the process of [Scatterflowers].

Chu Wang Shu’s soul could not suffer even the slightest damage.

This was the foundation and core of the Disaster group’s path to the Sovereign Lord.

But unbelievably, the three Calamity Gods could not break Chu Wang Shu’s will, nor could they distort her behavior as they had done before.

Incomprehensible, unreasonable.

Even using [Scatterflowers], with no time to absorb magic and no chance for Chu Wang Shu to reach Full Power Mode, she still maintained a chasm of distance from them. What on earth had happened?

Only Chu Wang Shu knew. Standing on stage together with them, their hearts mutually empowering each other, that song—Pure White Ode—not only brought a solitary salvation but also… her father’s final blessing.

This love, equal in obsession to the salvation of the world, granted Chu Wang Shu a brief chance to counter the Disaster group and gave her the right to choose her own ending.

Even if the Disaster group knew the truth, they still could only sacrifice themselves first to serve as fuel for [Scatterflowers], desperately trying to rewind and repair Chu Wang Shu’s soul, preventing even the smallest flaw in the puzzle leading to the Sovereign Lord.

This was undoubtedly drinking poison to quench thirst, but for them, death did not bring fear; true terror was the inability to evolve.

So even if it meant risking their lives, they surged forward one after another, like moths drawn to flame.

Chu Wang Shu quietly watched this scene, listening to the Disaster group’s temptation, persuasion, anger, and accusations. After a long silence, she tiredly closed her eyes, recalling everything about that person in her mind.

The power of [Void] was truly terrifying. After the framework leading to the Sovereign Lord shattered, the remaining power could no longer prevent it from correcting itself.

Daddy’s name, Daddy’s face, Daddy’s voice, Daddy’s embrace…

These warm, precious, irreplaceable memories, gleaming like jewels, grew vague and dim. She felt like an elderly person with Alzheimer’s, unable to hold them from slipping through her fingers, leaving only emptiness and loneliness.

When the traces of Chu Yuanying/Chu Yuanqing completely faded away, a great bewilderment and nameless sorrow merged into the fireworks of [Scatterflowers], quietly welcoming annihilation.

Nothing remained.

Nothing existed.

Chu Wang Shu forgot what she had lost. She could not even birth a sorrowful emotion; she merely let her body go with the self-destruction of the Disaster group and the endless piles of [Scatterflowers], blossoming like a magnificent firework in the infinite depths of space.

How absurd, and yet how ordinary—the Disaster group that had ravaged millions of worlds, simply destroyed itself in desire.

Before dissipating with the Disaster group, Chu Wang Shu looked back at the past in loneliness. She lowered her gaze towards Charlotte and the others approaching from afar, feeling some regret, wondering if… not using Full Power Mode would have resulted in a better ending.

…

…

By the windowsill, the branches of several green plants gently swayed in the breeze. The fragrance of sweet osmanthus filled the air, while the sounds of a distant stage’s commotion, the hum of the air conditioning, and the ticking of the second hand mingled with ethereal singing.

“But they’re back again just like a long lost friend.”

“All the songs I loved so much…”

The world seemed both narrow and clear.

Chu Yuanqing seemed to awaken from a heavy and dreamy haze. She lifted her golden eyes, looking blankly ahead, but did not see Ji Qianju. Instead, she saw a beautiful girl with black hair and green eyes. The girl pinched her cheek and displayed a cute yet familiar smile, softly whispering:

“Our fates are forever intertwined.”

“So, the Awakened One meets you again.”

“Little Qing, the future is already in your eyes. Now… shall we save the world once more?”