Starry Sky Railway: Opening Performance - Taixu Sword God

"But once you leave this world... won't all of this vanish?"

"Separation and death are two sides of the same coin... How can mortals easily reconcile them?"

Polycia always believed that death was the end of life, and that once a person died, nothing was left.

Family, friendship, love, and everything you once had will all vanish into nothingness.

"..."

Gnaeus remained silent for a moment, then slowly looked at the girl.

"Let me tell you my own story, little girl."

"When I first returned from the battlefield, I felt incredibly empty."

"On the battlefield, calamity devoured everyone."

"Only when I returned to the city-state did people hold a rather unpleasant party for me."

"I also feel like I was left on the battlefield, and all that came back was an empty shell."

He clasped his hands together, his gaze wistful, as he reminisced about his past.

The party ended late at night.

"I felt dizzy and went back to the barracks alone."

"It was on my way back that I met someone."

"Alas, that was a mad scholar, muttering to himself by the night sky on the roadside."

"I tripped over by him, but I didn't get angry. Maybe it was because I felt so much like him, but I inexplicably asked him a question—"

Gnaeus raised his head, gazing at the eternal night dome, and said in a deep voice:

"Do you think it would be better for us to die by the roadside like two stray dogs?"

To my surprise, he simply shrugged and sighed...

"—For someone who is going through death, death is just as blissful as being alive."

"Now, please step aside and don't block out my starlight."

After hearing this story, Calypso asked with great interest, "You mean to say..."

"Is death and life the same, both journeys towards death?"

“That’s right.” Gnaeus nodded, stating his opinion.

"This is life, and death is the measure of the journey's value..."

Chapter 1365 Who survives to the end?

"The journey is great, and the epic is magnificent, because everything eventually comes to an end."

"So little girl, don't hate fate, embrace it with respect."

Hearing Gnaeus's explanation, Polycia couldn't help but laugh:

"Is it the embodiment of [strife], yet it tells me about the magnificence of the world?"

“Exactly.” Gnaeus nodded.

“I believe that when the appointed time comes, you will understand these words.”

"It's time to knock on the gates of the underworld."

He gazed at the alchemical incantation that had been going on for so long, and said in a deep voice:

"I will set up a long table at the end of that road and welcome you all..."

"Let's drink and have fun then."

The scene shifted again, returning to the heart of the cosmic vortex.

By this time, Gnaeus had already sacrificed himself and was no longer alive.

In the center of the cosmic vortex, three women reside.

Yan Huan knew all three of them: Polycia, Calypso, and Xia Die.

"..."

"?"

Yan Huan raised an eyebrow, glanced at Xia Die beside her, and then looked ahead.

Two butterflies appear in the same scene.

"No, what is it?"

Yan Huan curiously examined the butterfly from the previous cycle and found that it was no different from the butterfly in the present world.

"Are you both ready?" Calypso asked Polycia and Xyle.

“Hmm, Polycia…” The previous incarnation of Xia Die looked at Polycia with a loving smile.

Originally, Yan Huan thought that Aglaia was probably the oldest, but she didn't expect that the inconspicuous Xia Die might be even older.

To have survived from the last cycle to the present, aside from Titan, probably no one is older than Xia Die.

"Grandma, who are you?" Yan Huan asked Xia Die in the present world.

"I...I don't understand either..."

Xia Die gently shook her head, gazing at her 'previous self', and asked in confusion:

"I have absolutely no memory of it."

Then, the butterfly from her previous life smiled and looked at Polycia, saying softly:

"Now...it's our turn to keep our promise."

Seeing that Polycia's expression was complicated and she remained silent, the previous incarnation of Xia Die asked:

"...Are you scared?"

“Hmm…” Polycia nodded.

Xia Die asked, "Can you tell me... what are you afraid of?"

Polycia shook her head gently. "I...can't do it."

She was referring, of course, to completing the trial.

Between twins, one must sacrifice so that the other can take over the power of [death].

Xia Die comforted him:

"As the prophecy foretold, we have also promised that when everything is over, we will face our destined moment."

Polycia was still very sad.

"Even if it's a prophecy...do we have to just accept it as fact?"

"It's so unfair! Why must we be the only ones killing each other..."

"Let me do it, sister!" she suddenly mustered her courage and shouted.

"Let me be the sacrifice for [death], I was already dying... but you are different..."

"It's my fault...it's my fault for wasting your life..."

Seeing her younger sister so upset, Xia Die gently shook her head.

"No, Polycia."

She smiled slightly.

"I don't feel like I've wasted my life."

"On the contrary, when I finally reached the finish line and looked back, I found that the path I had taken was already covered with flowers..."

In her previous life, Xia Die's expression was equally gentle.

"It was you who planted this sea of ​​flowers for me, which is more beautiful than the promised land at the ends of the earth."

"Besides, my life is already complete. Even if the prophecy foretells my sacrifice, everything I have experienced will not disappear, but will remain forever in your memories, won't it?"

“No.” Polycia was somewhat agitated.

"How can the you in my memories be the real you...?"

"..." The previous life's Xiaodie fell silent.

The two fell silent.

After a long while, Xia Die finally spoke:

"I cannot say for sure."

"But...whatever the answer may be, no matter how we are shaped by others and by the world—"

"From the moment we are born, our existence is a fact that cannot be erased by anything."

"And that's why I will always, always be with you..."

“After all,” she smiled, “we’re twins by nature.”

"..." Polycia still looked worried, clearly unable to persuade her with Xia Die's words.

No matter how much you try to embellish it, death is still death.

“Alright, my dear Polycia…” Xia Die stepped forward, gently took Polycia’s hands which were resting on her lap, and said softly:

"Take out my heart, and ignite the flames of [death]—"

"Then, use it to sow the first bud in the new world promised in the prophecy."

The scene shifts again, this time to a dilapidated city-state.

The moon in the sky was eerily strange, and the entire city was shrouded in an aura of death...

"?"