Starry Country, Woodland Arena.
As the third shooting star soared from the earth toward the canopy of heaven, Sonia flicked the blood from her blade and sheathed her longsword. The battle was not yet over; she merely needed to nourish the blade with her scabbard miracle in preparation for the even higher intensity of the war to come.
Yes, war.
All spectators inside the arena had already fled. Outside, armed branches of Starry sorcerers were assembling, their numbers nearing ten thousand. From the lowest Star Swordsmen to the highest Star-Flicking Warriors, the brilliant azure glow of their armor mirrored one another, like stars propping up the firmament.
Only a small fraction were from the nearby Gryphon Company or the Bastion Legion. Most were nobles summoned on short notice, assigned different armed unit classes according to their titles of nobility and organized into an army almost instantly without any need for drills. Although they could not manage high-level tactical coordination, this newly assembled army fought without the slightest disarray, as if a divine will linked their very minds.
Only at this moment did Sonia and Diya realize that the Six-Nation Legions on the Time Continent might well have been a rehearsal by the divine lords for some social miracle beyond imagination.
"Final notice," Alexis announced, hovering in midair, her Star-Flicking Armament making her gleam like a star. "Will the Four Pillar Cult surrender or not?"
"I never thought a day would come when I'd face the Starry army head-on." Sonia tightened her grip on the hilt, the corners of her mouth curling slightly. "Still, I can't say I dislike a life this loud and thrilling."
Alexis made no further attempts to urge surrender, turning back to her ranks to prepare the assault.
Sonia glanced back at the stage, where the members of the Four Pillar Cult had gathered to avoid being ambushed backstage by the Starry sorcerers. Yaxiu, Igola, and Harvey sat in wheelchairs in the very center, guarded by the others, their eyes closed in peaceful, deep sleep.
"Still not back yet?"
"Something happened on the Stars' side," Diya said as she wove traps around the arena using dead lines. "Gospel says the divine lords moved against Ruby Mountain. We don't know the exact details, but knowing Yaxiu's personality, it's hard to imagine he didn't get involved."
Sonia was quiet for a moment. "Always unable to get what he wants... Did he used to feel like this all the time?"
"A fifth of the sky canopy is already shattered," Daedalose said, gazing at the gaping hole exposed in the night sky. "No matter how the divine lords try to patch it up, the Country of All Stars is built upon the canopy. As long as we shatter the starry sky, the Observer will surely fulfill the expectations the Four Pillar Gods hold for him."
Sonia and Diya exchanged a subtle glance. Though neither spoke, murderous intent had already taken root in their hearts toward the Number One Beauty Beneath the Stars. Once Yaxiu was rescued, a Four Pillar God feeler like Daedalose could not be allowed to live. So long as Yaxiu did not object—or his reasons weren't convincing enough—they would turn their blades upon the Four Pillar Cult when the time came.
As the Yisu Empress, Diya never hesitated when ruthless decisiveness was called for; and though Sonia had not yet taken a human life, the moment she chose to rebel against the Starry Country, there were no longer any chains left in this world that could bind her.
Boom!
The arena's outer walls began to crumble. The Starry Legion had no intention of allowing the Four Pillar Cult to defend using the terrain; they meant to use sheer numbers to crush them head-on.
"Hold this position and keep constructing the miracle art," Sonia instructed calmly. "Witch, Daedalose..."
She nudged the guard up with her thumb, drawing her ruby longsword. "Kill on sight."
Just then, Felix came running over, spreading her three wings. Grabbing Sword Princess, she said pleadingly, "I want to go too! Even if I can't hold a front alone, I can still help!"
"No need."
"Facing us is an army of ten thousand blessed by the stars!" Felix insisted. "How can just the three of you be enough?! We can help!"
Sonia turned to glance at her. "As long as you protect the safety of the Observer and the others and construct the meteor art as quickly as possible to strike the canopy, that is the greatest help you can give us.
"Besides..."
She raised her hand, displaying the command crest on the back of it. "I am his 'Queen,' and I am his army.
"When the King sleeps, it falls to the Queen to lead the campaign." Sonia ruffled Felix's hair. "Let the 'Prime Minister' guard the rear properly, so the 'Queen' has no worries behind her."
With that, Sonia spread four wings, tracing an arrogant crimson trajectory across the sky like a meteor plunging straight into the radiant blue torrent of the Starry Legion!
Felix gazed with longing at that red light sweeping all before it on the battlefield. Sulkily returning to Yaxiu's side, she kicked him absentmindedly before joining in the construction of the meteor miracle art.
"Huh?"
The second young miss of the Vosloda family suddenly felt the back of her hand burn with heat. Looking down, she saw her command crest shifting. The four gems symbolizing the "Prime Minister" were brighter than ever before—it looked like the radiance of stars ascending to a higher realm, yet also like...
The most brilliant flash of a meteor just before it falls.
* * *
...
When he was hurled from the Canaan, Yaxiu lost consciousness for several seconds. He only felt himself tumbling across the ground, nearly plowing it flat until he snapped an old tree and finally came to a stop.
When awareness returned to his body and the pooled blood in his lungs made him retch violently, coughing it all out, Yaxiu finally recalled what had just happened—he had been thrown without any protection whatsoever from a train moving at breakneck speed!
He wasn't dead yet?!
This body of his had no miracle enhancements; at that speed, he should have been reduced to a puddle of mincemeat smeared evenly across the dirt. How could he possibly have survived?
What was more, he barely seemed any worse off. Yaxiu's current injuries were mostly accumulated from his fight against Amilo, with perhaps a few scrapes added. He could even barely manage to stand.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he looked back. Even though the cult leader had mentally prepared himself, the sight before his eyes made his pupils shrink in shock.
The severed train had plowed through the guardrails and tumbled down the steep embankment, snapping over a dozen trees in the roadside woods. The train carriage was mangled and twisted like a wrung-out towel.
Whether from lung damage or a spinal injury, Yaxiu suddenly felt suffocated. With a voice as hoarse as a broken bellows, he yelled, "Igola!"
"Harvey!"
"Niya!"
"Wei... xi... cough, cough!"
"Stop shouting."
Yaxiu froze, looking toward the trees nearby. A dark-skinned, curly-haired fellow was helping the blond deceiver walk out. If one ignored the corpselike pallor of Harvey's skin, he was probably the least injured of anyone in the train wreck.
"We're fine," Igola said, his breath faint as a thread. "Don't worry, everyone is probably fine."
Yaxiu drew a deep breath and only let it out once he reached them, leaning almost his entire weight against them as though his very bones had grown lighter. "What happened? In that situation, there's no way we could have—"
"Yinzhi saved us," Igola said. "Knowing her, her attack against us was to avenge Amilo dying by your hand; diverting part of the miracle's power to keep us alive was to repay the help we gave her in the past.
"She doesn't care whether we accept it or not, but in her eyes, we are completely even now."
Yaxiu froze, then immediately realized a more pressing issue. "What about the demons? And Feili? And Rose?!"
"Only the rear of the train broke off. The locomotive and Car 1 are still speeding along the high-speed rail tracks." Weixi walked over, leaning on her spear. "The demons didn't seem to want the train to stop either, lest we take advantage of it. And by the way, Yaxiu, the way you called my name just now sounded quite tragic."
Chapter 981