Vast Power surged out, transforming into a Death Scythe that reflected the brilliance of the Star Sea.
Luo Shuangyue reached out and gripped the Death Scythe, closing her eyes.
Immediately, sword-like shadows appeared around her body. These shadows flew away from her at high speed, racing toward either side.
A harsh, screeching sound echoed as space was scraped away. Along the path of these shadows, deep gashes were torn into the fabric of reality. The surfaces of these cuts were incredibly smooth, completely different from the spatial rifts usually torn open by ordinary experts.
If it were not for this, how could Luo Shuangyue separate the two worlds?
As these shadows traveled deep into space to cut the two worlds apart, Luo Shuangyue felt her Magic Power depleting rapidly. The energy being transmitted through the two Mana Umbilical Cords could only barely support this magic; she could not rely on them for anything else.
Once the intersection where the two worlds fused was completely cut away, the true trial Luo Xiangyue had to face would finally arrive.
At that moment, she would lose all other assistance. She would have to use her own strength to push apart the two worlds that were currently drawing closer together.
No one could help her. She could only rely on herself.
The cutting at the intersection of worlds proceeded smoothly. As long as she mastered the techniques given to her by the worlds, this task was not difficult.
However, this was only the simplest step.
Luo Shuangyue felt her connection with the two worlds growing weaker and weaker. The transmission from the Mana Umbilical Cords was also heavily affected, becoming intermittent.
This meant the plan was moving along the right path.
It also meant the pressure on Luo Shuangyue was growing heavier.
Finally, at a certain moment, Luo Shuangyue could no longer receive Magic Power from the two worlds. The intersection of worlds beneath her feet completely separated from the two worlds.
Terrifying pressure struck from both sides of her body, nearly crushing Luo Shuangyue into fragments. This was the true force she had to face: the tendency of the two worlds to draw toward each other.
Now, what she had to do was reverse this trend and let them return to the paths where they belonged.
Brilliant prismatic light erupted from her body, constructing a Prismatic Barrier between the two worlds that were separated by only a hair’s breadth. It prevented them from colliding again the moment they were separated.
The world was split in two by the prismatic light. Holy Sovereign and White Night, whose mission at the relay station had ended, could no longer see each other, nor could they feel each other’s presence.
The prismatic canopy separated the two into two different worlds. For them, this was a bittersweet event.
But at this moment, they had only one thought in their hearts, and that was the hope that their child would succeed.
The shattered prismatic brilliance slowly slowed the trend of the worlds moving toward each other. Reaching this point alone had already exhausted all of Luo Xiangyue’s strength.
She had already imagined the difficulties to be great, but she had not expected that once she actually started, things would be far more difficult than she had imagined.
Compared to the two worlds and this Star Sea, she was, in the end, far too small.
She was indeed the Strongest of Two Worlds, but wanting to stop the mutual approach of those worlds was a difficult task enough to exhaust all her power.
Even putting forth all her strength, she could only ensure that the distance between the two worlds did not get any closer. To reverse the trend of their approach, her power was simply not enough!
This was not a matter of whether her will was firm or not; the objective facts simply left her without the ability to push these two worlds apart.
‘My power is draining so fast…’ Luo Xiangyue, who had already pushed her power to the limit, could feel her arrangements being destroyed bit by bit. She had done everything she could, but in the end, reality was cruel.
Miracles did not exist. A 10% success rate was simply too slim.
Luo Xiangyue no longer knew what other methods she had to turn the situation around.
Perhaps, turning herself into a barrier to delay the time before the two worlds collided again for as long as possible was the only thing she could do.
How long could the barrier she constructed with her life support them?
A few days, or perhaps a few months?
She did not know.
But this was the only thing she could do now.
She told the two worlds of her thoughts.
The worlds remained silent. They were also trying their best to control themselves and keep from approaching each other, but like Luo Shuangyue, they could not reverse this closing trend.
At this time, unless a miracle truly descended, their future was completely and utterly sealed.
Would a miracle truly descend?
A ripple came from the depths of the Star Sea.
Luo Xiangyue did not know what it represented, but the worlds saw a glimmer of Hope.
It was a Star Sea Wave.
Once, they had been affected by just such a small wave, and their originally peaceful orbits were disrupted, eventually making a collision unavoidable.
But now, the arrival of this Star Sea Wave brought them the Hope of a Newborn life.
‘If we can hold out until the Star Sea Wave arrives, there might be a turn for the better!’ the worlds said to Luo Xiangyue.
But how long would they have to hold out?
No one knew.
Nothing in the Star Sea followed a predictable pattern. That ripple was only a notice that a Star Sea Wave was coming, but it would not tell them exactly when the wave would arrive.
It might arrive immediately, or it might not arrive until Luo Xiangyue was exhausted and the two worlds collided again.
But it was, in the end, a hope.
A tangible hope that could change this future of Despair.
“I understand.” Luo Shuangyue took a deep breath and poured all her Magic Power into the World Fragment beneath her.
Her Magic Power changed the appearance of the World Fragment. This fused fragment, discarded by the two worlds, transformed under her power into a massive pillar. One end pressed against each world, preventing them from drawing closer.
Luo Shuangyue had already bound herself to this World Fragment. When the two worlds completely crushed this fragment, it would be the time her life ended.
There was a layer of Prismatic Barrier at both ends of the fragment to prevent the fragment and the two worlds from colliding and fusing back together.
Creak… creak…
The World Fragment began to let out a series of groans. Its strength was not enough to support the heavy pressure of the two worlds approaching.
If Luo Shuangyue had not used her Magic Power to strengthen it, it might have been completely shattered by now.
But it managed to hold on after all, even though the cracks on its body were increasing bit by bit, and even though it looked as though it could shatter at any moment.
It existed, and so did Hope.
The worlds stopped their mutual approach; everything had turned into the cracks spreading like spiderwebs across the World Fragment.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment, making one unable to help but wish that time could truly stay right here.
But this was, in the end, only a wish.
The cracks continued to spread. The power supporting it was so weak, as small as a candle flame in the Darkness of the night that could be blown out by a breeze at any time.
Her body felt as though it had already split into piece after piece. Luo Shuangyue had lost almost all sensation; the pain of being crushed occupied the entirety of her Soul.
She saw her Soul cracking inch by inch, feeling that meticulous pain that could not be blocked or weakened by any means.
When her Soul completely shattered, the outside world would also collapse with it.
If anyone else were standing here, they would have already been unable to withstand this heavy pressure, completely crushed by the pain of the Soul.
But Luo Xiangyue was different. The things she had experienced were simply beyond the imagination of ordinary people, and her resistance to Soul pain far exceeded that of an average person.
She had once personally torn her own Soul apart, then merged back together with the other half of her Soul. Recently, she had even fought a Soul battle against another powerful enemy. Any one of those events was something others had never experienced.
This made her Soul far more resilient than an average person’s, and only she could still maintain the stability of her Soul at a time like this.
Although the Soul was breaking bit by bit, it was stable.
So stable that no one knew where its limit truly was.
‘I suppose this counts as holding up a world in each hand, doesn’t it?’ Despite the pain, Luo Xiangyue still had the heart to make a small joke to herself.
Her sense of time was already distorted; she did not know how much longer she had to persist.
She only knew that she had to keep going to bring the Hope of life to the people who believed in her.
For this, she was willing to let everything she had burn as fuel.
It felt as though countless years had passed. Cracks already covered every corner of her Soul; it should have been unable to hold on and completely collapsed long ago.
But a misty prismatic light seeped out from the cracks, mending the broken Soul, barely supporting it like a single strand of hair holding up a thousand-pound weight.
Luo Shuangyue’s consciousness had nearly dissipated completely. She had grown used to the pain, but this void and lingering length of time was indeed a sharp tool for wearing down consciousness.
Not to mention that the Star Sea was full of Great Crisis. From time to time, Star Sea Undercurrents would strike—forces that were insignificant to a world but difficult for her to resist.
These undercurrents, mixed with the brilliance of the Star Sea, washed over her, soaking into her through the cracks in her Soul, using the vastness of the Star Sea to change and Assimilate her bit by bit.
She saw the Star Sea Undercurrents and the countless stars in the Star Sea that quickly lit up and then extinguished like sparks.
A world was nothing special within the Star Sea. Every point of light in the Star Sea came from a world, and the majority of those worlds could not survive a single Star Sea Wave.
Her world was a lucky one, having only been slightly affected during the last Star Sea Wave.
Even if she saved these two worlds now, they would still be destroyed when the next Star Sea Wave arrived.
‘Is it worth you giving your life for this?’ a voice seemed to ask her.
‘Having seen the vastness of the Star Sea, are you still willing to risk everything for these two worlds that are as small as dust?’
“Of course I am,” Luo Shuangyue replied without any hesitation.
Her home was here. Everything she cherished was here. The Star Sea was indeed very large, but it did not belong to her.
What belonged to her was only this land beneath her feet that she was protecting.
The voice vanished. It seemed to have been only Luo Xiangyue’s own inner monologue, allowing her to endure through this endless Darkness and pain.
But in the very next moment, her Soul felt a sense of coolness.
The force that had been crushing her vanished completely, replaced by a pushing force coming from the side.
Starlight, countless times more powerful than before, poured into her body. Almost instantly, her Soul was refilled. Luo Xiangyue used all her strength to resist the washing of these starlight rays, preventing herself from being Assimilated by the incoming glow.
She opened her eyes and saw that she was within a River of Starlight. The two worlds she had wanted to separate were now completely apart.
One world was swept away along with her by the River of Starlight, while the other was left behind, all alone.
In the Star Sea, the concept of distance was very vague. One second, Luo Xiangyue could still see the other world, and the next, she had completely lost sight of it.
Without any accidents, she and the world beside her should have been separated as well.
However, a faint band of light extended from the world beside her, actively pulling the World Fragment where Luo Xiangyue resided, keeping Luo Xiangyue by its side.
This River of Starlight did not last long. In what seemed like an instant, it dissipated into the Star Sea.
Luo Shuangyue and the world beside her had arrived in an empty Star Domain. There were not many worlds here, so for the time being, there was likely no need to worry about collisions or getting too close to others.
Successful? Only now did Luo Xiangyue feel as if she were waking from a dream.
She had held on?
The world beside her sent out emotional fluctuations of gratitude. This was the Human World.
“It feels like a dream. Why did that River of Starlight feel like it appeared so coincidentally?…”
‘Perhaps someone helped us from a place we cannot see.’
There were countless travelers in the Star Sea, and perhaps one of them had lent a hand this time.
‘What are your plans next?’
“I don’t know. Everything is finished. I’m a bit unsure of what to do now.”
Luo Xiangyue’s figure condensed within the World Fragment. Her shadow was nearly transparent; to recover her original form would likely take a great deal of time.
But now, she was not lacking in time.
‘Then, how about trying to restore life to this fragment?’
“…That sounds interesting.”
Luo Xiangyue exhaled softly. Had the world simply gifted this fragment to her?
Could this be considered the payment for her help this time?
“What are you looking at?”
“A child.”
The long sword formed of starlight dissipated in his hand, and the White-haired Traveler withdrew his gaze.
“It reminded me of a long time ago.”
“So you stepped in to help?”
“It was a small matter.”