Even now, even having recovered his past memories, Chao Huangmu had not changed much—outwardly passionate, but for matters not involving Chu Zao, he showed little interest.
Thus, he awoke quickly from that momentary temptation and illusion; he and the black psionic dragon behind him both straining to smash through the ‘god’s’ outer shell, trying once more to reach Chu Zao, who had already forced his way in.
Of course, the Soul Clan’s psionic power likewise placed tremendous pressure on the ‘god’, and he was close to success.
In a sense, not bad at all.
The always proud and aloof Crown Clan’s psionic power now cast a critical gaze on Chao Huangmu.
As a Soul Clan youth still in development, his future strength was unquestionable.
But—but——
An intimately close boyfriend??
As a grandpa meeting Zao Zao properly for the first time, Clansis felt a bit stifled.
Maybe he ought to think it through again?
Soul Clan psionic powers were notoriously unstable—oh, but this boy seemed to have found a solution.
But, but——
Tsk.
Clansis busied himself steadying Chu Zao’s emotions, helping Chu Zao gather strength until the moment he could strike the ‘god’s’ core and end him, but right now, his own feelings weren’t very steady.
Oh, that Soul Clan had broken through the barrier, manifesting as a little dragon charging in—
Behind him, the giant black psionic dragon’s avatar also slammed into the ‘god’s’ barrier.
Chu Zao shot Chao Huangmu a quick look— they met eyes, both quickly looking away.
But in the eyes of a certain overreacting parent—how was this different from a quick kiss?!
Oh, there was still a difference.
Forget it, forget it——
Clansis redirected his focus. As the former Crown Clan King, he began to guide the Crown Clan who once followed him across the stars. As for Zao Zao’s love life—now that he’d lost his coronet, his body, and was awaiting his return to the revived homeworld, to long rest beside his beloved, Clansis decided to look the other way.
Better let Amos stress about it. Let him be the one to crack.
After that brief episode—
Countless chains and black mist locked in tighter.
A flash of psionic blade appeared from the periphery, landing heavily on the ‘god’s’ barrier—BOOM!
Then a rain of arrows, followed by thunderous lances, flying psionic blades, javelins hurled straight through the air—
Boom boom boom——
The sounds fused into an unbroken roar.
Never before had anything in these stars suffered such a concentrated strike from the legendary immortals.
The sealed, immobile red crystal inside angrily crashed against the chains and black mist, while ‘god’, too distracted defending himself, gave Chu Zao time to amass his power—his coronet glowing so brilliantly it lit up the whole realm.
Behind him, the six snow-white wings flared, countless angel echoes sharpening their weapons toward the ‘god’. At the tip of Chu Zao’s arrow, power spiraled into something truly terrifying.
The black psionic dragon struck hard at the ‘god’s’ barrier—
The already-cracking shield shuddered violently, and then——
A sword’s light grazed by Chu Zao, striking the barrier with full force—
The cracks widened.
—Amos had arrived.
Chu Zao’s eyes opened wide. Beside him, a longsword thrown by Amos landed—aside from the first time facing the great archangel in the Angel Realm, Amos had never fought like this.
The longsword pinned the shield, fracturing it from the point of impact. Finally, with an explosive boom—the whole barrier shattered—Chu Zao released his grip.
All their power rushed out. For an instant, Zao Zao went limp, and the howling wind knocked the black little dragon ahead, leaving them all with new scrapes.
Chu Zao reacted swiftly, grabbing the black dragon’s tiny wing and dragging Chao Huangmu into his arms.
Just then, the flaming arrow, wreathed in two elemental fires, tore through the ‘god’s’ howls, and their combined assault at last shattered the barrier—the arrow shot straight for the red crystal.
This entire space had been shaped by the enemy’s power, so suddenly, all was quiet, the faint sound of shattering echoing in their ears. In front of them, the thing that plagued the interstellar for millennia—finally—broke.
The coronet atop his head eroded to nothing, every last trace of his evolution dream broken off.
No…no, this can’t be—that isn’t how it’s supposed to end—
The ‘god’ finally realized he was powerless, that even the very core he lived on—consuming and plundering—had been destroyed.
In that moment, all the powers he’d suppressed and half-digested surged out, dispersing.
No—
Dead, just like that, in silence?
Impossible—
After a moment’s calm, a wild storm erupted, like one final burst of madness.
The entire space was filled with deadly winds and blades.
Meanwhile, the rest of the starfield boiled as well.
The pollution’s spread was at last arrested. Only the few original ground-zero locations remained infected, while all other outbreaks imploded, retreating to what was possible before the ‘god’s’ manipulation.
But as the pollution receded, it raged all the wilder, inciting the hidden aberrant beasts to rampage as well. Facing this, the monsters all froze, devolving to pools of rotting meat.
Everyone sensed—a fundamental change had taken place.
Anya clenched his chains.
He looked down at his bloodied hands, calm in the storm.
As lead sealer against that power, Anya knew well what had just happened.
He flicked his wrist, chains spiraling around limbs and fingertips, instantly spinning out into a thick net.
“Anya.”
Frey’s voice called on the comms.
“It’s destroyed.”
Anya raised his fist and clenched it.
All across the lines, Crown and Holy Cas, all heard these words.
For a moment, none knew what to say.
It was Frey who first spoke.
“Then—the final counterattack—begins.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Yes, for the glory of the holy coronet!!”
Cries responded across the stars.
Others watching Holy Cas scrambled to adjust their plans—
“Hey hey, is the end here? Holy Cas is going wild—”
“Doesn’t matter. Just take care of our own jobs.”
“That’s the truth. Only they could pull it off—a new world, no longer devoured, free of aberrant beasts—”
“Haha, great, maybe I can replant trees in my homeland now!”
The ‘god’s’ last wrath did no more harm.
Chu Zao hugged the little black dragon; Amos put an arm around Chu Zao’s shoulders, extending his psionics to guard against the raging power.
He barely heard Clansis mutter—Amos’s attention fixed on the dying ‘god’s’ last burst, not on Clansis’s muttering.
“Ah, ah, ah—all your fault, all your fault—”
So much stolen power, lacking a vessel, scattered into nothing. He clawed at the void, catching nothing.
Left to glare at Chu Zao in bitter hatred.
Chu Zao looked up at Amos—
His father had come for him.
Just as when he was weakest before, it was always Amos who found him.
But that voice of resentment pulled Chu Zao’s gaze away. Limp, leaning on Amos, still gripping the battered, bloody-horned little dragon, Chu Zao just smiled.
Yes, in this moment, he should smile.
“Didn’t I already tell you before?”
Chu Zao looked at the fading ‘god’.
“To think I ever blocked your path—it couldn’t be more wrong—”
You devoured civilizations, took everything, and drifted on.
But others sustained civilizations, giving their all for family, homes, distant lands.
“There are many reasons I can stand here—”
He had encouragement and love from family, steadfast friends, and the guidance of teachers. All these kept him from any extreme path—giving his all, but cherishing himself, persistence unmarred by failure, as so many behind him had seemed to fall to this enemy’s strength.
Proud and confident, even haughty, the Crown Clan never belittled themselves.
But—
“As you see, my being here—it’s really the most trivial matter in thousands of years.”
Pity such a thing could never comprehend the strength of those it called lesser beings.
“Impossible—you still haven’t won—you won’t win—”
Of course, even at the end, the ‘god’ only howled, using his last power to seal off the space, and destroy anything he could.
He gave one last cry of collapse—
“You can’t leave— I’ll bury you with me!!”
He was answered by Amos’s soft snort.
Chu Zao thought he caught Clansis’s laugh, their voices blending.
Amos raised his sword at the creature: “Remember in hell—not to touch other people’s—precious children.”
‘Get lost, who’d get buried with you.’
And so, as the torments ended, the many powers ejected from him now converged, smashing at the walls of space. Outside, the defense lines of Holy Cas became a new anchor, and countless powers joined the assault, both inside and out.
Amos’s daunting psionic power warped the space, tinged with blood, linking up for the final push—
Light broke through.
Chu Zao seemed to say something to Amos.
But the ‘god’ couldn’t hear it—
He who had devoured so much, who’d faced setbacks before, now met total annihilation for the first time.
Ah…
Ah—
He could only give a resentful wail and sink at last into darkness.
At this instant, the chaos from the pollution outside also began to subside.
Pollution receded toward a few points; the aberrant beasts began to panic. They could still be born from pollution, but any commander with awareness knew—their backdrop for rampaging in the stars was gone.
Now, they stood no chance against the Crown Clan.
They, too, started retreating along the polluted currents.
But elsewhere, the call for counterattack sounded.
All was still.
Xi, too, heard the calm settle in.
Half his limbs had almost been devoured by wild psionic force, bloody pain racking him, but it didn’t dent his good mood.
He laughed.
Even facing death, he had escaped the cage and become a free bird.
A perfect end—Xi could imagine nothing better.
Since luring Chu Zao here, he’d been sinking, resisting with his psionics, but what had once protected him now started devouring him again, until finally—
He heard other voices.
“Hey—Xi, that’s you, yeah?”
Xi’s eyes shot open, staring almost dumbstruck at the approaching golden light.
Why?
A hand seized his collar.
Amos looked at Xi, his expression cold, surveying him wordlessly.
In that gap, Amos’s scarlet gaze swept over the limp black dragon in Chu Zao’s arms, too.
Chao Huangmu didn’t dare move, frozen in Chu Zao’s hold, afraid to turn human and add trouble—just like a toy dragon, clamped one-handed by Chu Zao.
Amos finally looked away, then yanked Xi through the passage torn by the two colliding powers.
‘Well then—’
Clansis’s voice sounded.
‘It’s over.’
Clansis said, that ever-stern, cold emperor now calm and peaceful.
‘I’m to return to the homeworld’s embrace now—’
Chu Zao’s eyes widened.
Amos had yet to speak.
“Great-grandpa, and great-grandfather are both still here, Grandpa you—”
Chu Zao’s voice faltered.
He knew well, Clansis wasn’t like Ebinino or Desmond. For his generation, death meant real death—no returning, just as Chu Zao had learned from his grandmother’s passing.
He swallowed his words, then added, “Grandpa, Grandma’s waiting for you.”
Clansis finally smiled.
At last he came alive, as if he were a green youth just starting out: ‘Yes, Solan is still waiting for me.’
They had been apart so, so long.
Of course, staring at this little cub, a touch of regret was inevitable—but only a touch, since the future was secure, and small matters would be left to Amos to handle, for the sake of their soon-to-be-gleaming king.
Stars spun, and as the light arrived, this was truly Chu Zao’s coming-of-age.
A race of legends, once invincible and tortured almost to loss of self, now, after regaining love and weakness—
At last, after thousands of years, redemption had arrived.
‘Happy adulthood—’
Clansis was never one for farewells.
As when he left Amos unexpectedly before.
At this moment—he gave a quiet laugh, but it was to Amos: ‘Well done, brat.’
Amos didn’t even lift his eyelids: “As it ought to be.”
Clansis: ……
Unbearable brat, just the same as ever, but Clansis glanced at the little black dragon in Chu Zao’s grip—let Amos break down next.
As brilliance faded, Chu Zao seemed to hear the angels and others bless him on his coming of age.
Utter stillness—
They returned to the stars.
As they arrived, from a distance, countless other forces converged. Through his psionic sight, Chu Zao watched Clansis’s powers meet, tangle, and spin with those coming from afar.
Amos reeked of blood, looking skyward as if to track Clansis, then down, inspecting his wounded cub, his face grim.
After all, Chu Zao was badly hurt.
Chao Huangmu slipped out of Chu Zao’s arms, turned human at the side, exhaled, and looked at Chu Zao.
Amos dropped his head, and hugged his child tight.
He heard Chu Zao whisper in his ear: “Zao Zao knew Baba would come find me—so I wasn’t scared at all.”
He bit back tears—he remembered he still had a very important thing to do.
Amos gave a low chuckle: “Well done.”
The communicator Amos carried crackled to life, voices anxiously crowding in—
“Amos? Have you found Zao Zao?”
“Eh? Signal’s back? Second brother? Where are you now?”
“Forget it, I’ll just check the location—”
“This is—”
Xi was dropped to the ground, coughing as the alien, violent Soul Clan psionics tried to devour him, but Chao Huangmu held it in check. Xi looked around—in awe.
Endless strands of light—a defensive line—faded point by point.
Chao Huangmu also scanned the area; in the distance, he saw Holy Cas warships, rushing this way as they caught on.
“Mm, the Holy Cas barrier line,” Chao Huangmu said, deeply familiar.
They had used this spot as an anchor, coming here from there.
With Ebinino gone, the First Army’s remaining spiritual power had little left, dissipating in the stars, twinkling here and there. Listen closely, and you seemed to hear their thoughts.
—It’s over…we are free…
—Our home is finally safe…we can rest now.
—Wonderful…so happy…
Only, a tiny regret—they could not see home one last time.
But that was all right—they knew…they had succeeded.
“Baba.”
Chu Zao let go of Amos, though utterly spent, still spread his wings and gave two weak flaps.
Amos released his cub, watching with gentle, soft eyes.
“Go ahead.”
Cupid’s Bow appeared softly in Chu Zao’s hand, enveloped in golden radiance; Chu Zao nocked an arrow, drew back, and a pale gold glow grew on the arrow.
Amos’s psionics, too, wrapped around it.
—What were they doing?
Those fading spirits hardly had thought or will, only confusion. But it didn’t matter. The gentle, powerful Crown Clan would not hurt them.
For so many years, the wrecks of the First Army’s starships had slowly been gathered home. Only this barrier stood, solitary, against the storms.
But now—
“I told you,” Chu Zao released the arrow, its pace leisurely compared to any before; like a slow gold comet, it gently enveloped those spirits and steered them toward a clear destination. “Someday, I’d bring you home—”
And scattered throughout the stars, the Crown Clan souls not yet returned also moved, accelerating as they ringed the arrow, heading to Holy Cas. All Crown Clan along the route looked up, sensing.
Along the way, pollution dissipated, fallen worlds lit with new color, starships patrolled, cheers and pursuits rang out, familiar armies and insignias abounded, and finally—Holy Cas’s red flag flew ahead.
Each planet of the Holy Cas Empire had already received news of victory over the ‘god of pollution’; battered as they were, still on their own fronts, they now erupted in joy.
“Holy Cas is as eternal as the stars, the coronet’s glory forever—”
Wave after wave of voices surged, dissolving all distance or strangeness.
‘Ah…home…’
‘Home!’
‘What gentle power—so warm—’
‘Look, home’s changed so much—but I’m glad; Holy Cas is Holy Cas—’
‘Really…thank goodness…comrades…we…are home…’
As those voices passed across Holy Cas, star-lights seemed to dissolve and merge into her sky, forever back in the homeland they longed for. The arrow didn’t stop, carried by all Crown Clan powers, until at last falling into the now-living homeworld—like a signal bringing all things back to life.
New shoots broke ground—true angelic power.
Chu Zao hovered above, gripping Cupid’s Bow; in the hush, he turned to Amos, who had waited behind.
“Baba, they’re home.”
His voice was almost calm.
“Mhm.”
Amos nodded.
“I said it—I’d send them home, and home they went—they saw it—”
All the tension released, Chu Zao’s voice faltered; he raised his hand to wipe away the tears, at last sobbing, then flinging himself into Amos’s arms, crying as he had as a child.
“Baba, the Angel Source Stone is gone, Grandpa too—wuwu—and Grandma—Grandma waited for Grandpa—no more evil things—everyone can… be well now…”
They had done it, through all ordeals—everyone had done it.
His sobs grew louder; Amos patted his back.
“Mhm—”
At last, Chu Zao lifted his head, honey-colored eyes brimming with tears. He glanced at the distant stars, at Chao Huangmu behind, then at Amos.
He heard Amos say: “Future King of Holy Cas, my only and most beloved child—happy coming-of-age.”
They had won.
Chu Zao dried his eyes and looked up, now a resolute and powerful young Crown Clan prince, nodding hard.
Behind him, the galaxy stretched on forever, the stars shone brighter, as if all dust had been washed away.
When the pollution swept the stars, destroying all warmth—
For all its arrogance, it never understood—
In the end, it would lose—to a civilization that endures.