The text on the screen faded, replaced by a new image:
Ron was standing at the entrance of the Quarantine Zone, draped in a golden-green splendor. A brilliant, sun-like radiance flickered around him, like the halo of a god.
His entire demeanor had undergone a complete transformation. If the previous Ron was the empire's most dependable emperor, always lost in deep thought, whose mere presence could infect you with his reliable aura and bring a sense of peace...
Then the current Ron was a god.
No other word could describe him now. Only "god" could explain the sacred, inviolable aura he exuded, the majestic authority that made him seem like an incarnation of heavenly might...
He had completely transcended, shedding his mortality. Every thread of this world seemed to be his to command; all things were firmly in his grasp.
The entire planet of Jarilo-VI had become a plaything in the palm of his hand. No one could escape his reach.
Yet, Ron held not a shred of malice towards this world. His face was obscured by the dazzling light, but the expression upon it was deeply imprinted in Natasha's pupils—
She saw his features contorted in agony. What kind of torment was he enduring? Was his brain being pierced by a thousand needles, or were his flesh and bones disintegrating inch by inch? It was an expression Natasha had never seen before...
Just looking at him, Natasha felt as if shattered blades were coursing through her own heart, each beat sending a sharp, cutting pain through her veins.
"Ron..."
She whispered his name subconsciously, mustering all her strength to push herself up, wanting to run to him. But her grievous injuries had only just healed, and the wound from her severed arm, a gift from Sampo, remained. Though her life was no longer in danger, she was still incredibly weak.
She had just managed to prop herself up and hadn't taken two steps before she staggered, about to collapse to the ground and be covered in mud.
But soft vines shot out from beneath her, as if commanded to her aid. Vines laced with golden patterns instantly wove a soft net, catching her body.
Only then did Seele, who was beside her, react. She hurriedly helped Natasha up from the vine net, supporting her as she sat up and looked towards Ron not far away.
Ron was walking towards them, step by step. With each footfall, the chaotic, fractured earth—torn apart by the battle between the infected and the Pioneer Group—healed as if time were reversing.
But it wasn't a true reversal of time. Rather, from within the inorganic soil and stone, a dense carpet of soft, fine grass sprouted, gathering the earth together. It then obediently and loyally clustered at Ron's feet, ensuring that every step he took landed on a soft lawn.
He strolled gently, and a green carpet unfurled in his wake, like a loyal guard clearing the path for its emperor, lest Ron touch any of Jarilo-VI's filth again.
Everyone saw the brilliant splendor on Ron's body, felt his transcendent aura and majesty, and their mouths fell silent.
No one dared to whisper as they had before. They could only hold their breath, watching Ron approach peacefully, seeing him walk upon the earth like a god descending, an angel gracing the mortal world.
At this moment, all sounds in the world seemed to vanish. Apart from the soft thud of Ron's footsteps on the grass, which beat upon everyone's hearts, even the howling cold wind and the drifting snow fell silent. It was as if nature itself feared Ron, cowering at his presence, not daring to disturb his movements in any way.
Ron walked up to Natasha. As he looked at her, his face, which seemed twisted by pain, was now tinged with guilt and a sliver of pity.
Natasha looked at Ron's slightly blurred face, and a memory in her mind suddenly became crystal clear...
She remembered the merciful Aeon who drifted through the sea of stars, whose thousands of strands of hair spread out as if floating in an ocean, the one with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. She remembered Its gentle glance filled with pity, Its compassionate gaze...
Ron's expression now was remarkably similar to The Apothecary's then. He had become just like The Apothecary.
Watching Ron walk towards her, Natasha's heart skipped a beat, and her face turned deathly pale.
A terrible premonition surfaced in her heart... Her bond with Ron was simply too deep, so deep that their mutual support alone had become the strength that allowed them to press forward. The vow they made together filled them with purpose, and naturally, their hearts would occasionally be in sync.
She had a vague feeling of what Ron was about to do.
Looking at his pitying expression, she felt as though he was already drifting far away from her.
Ron was going to leave her... right now. Ron could no longer support her, could no longer be her strongest shield, could no longer be her spiritual anchor, her partner in walking towards the future in this cold, apocalyptic world...
"No... No, wait, Ron, what are you doing? You wouldn't..."
Natasha murmured, watching Ron slowly approach. A woman who had always been incomparably strong now wore an expression that should never have appeared on her face.
One had to remember, this was the Natasha who had given up everything in the Overworld to go aid the Underworld as a doctor. She had not only saved countless people but had also opened an orphanage, becoming a "mother" to an unknown number of miserable orphans...
For the future of civilization, so that humanity could walk safely under the blue sky and travel freely to every corner of the world, Natasha had made a grand vow: to achieve "blizzard immunity" and save this world.
If not for the mess that was Belobog, Natasha on her own might have achieved great things, becoming a savior whose legacy would be passed down for millennia.
Her strength had long been proven by her past.
But now, due to the deepening sense of foreboding in her heart, she looked at Ron's expression, and large tears began to slide uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes. They hung on her cheeks, about to drip from her chin, just as her heart was on the verge of shattering.
Ron came to stand before her and spoke with a hint of apology.
"I'm sorry... Nata."
He gently raised his hand. A point of light, like a firefly, floated from his palm. But it was no real firefly; with a single glance, Natasha felt as if she had seen a brilliant, colossal sun spewing streams of fire in the dark cosmos...
A speck of starlight, a blessing bestowed by The Apothecary of The Abundance, was separated by Ron. It drifted before Natasha and landed on the stump of her severed arm.
In an instant, like a plant growing, fine vines sketched themselves into form under the starlight's guidance. A slender, fair arm, as if carved from white lotus root, sprouted in a flash, completely restoring what she had lost.
Natasha felt an incredibly gentle warmth flow into her body from her new arm... She vaguely sensed something was wrong. She felt that the growth of her arm should not have been this gentle.
Perhaps pain and torment, the kind of suffering that aligns with millions of years of biological evolution, was what she should have felt...
But she only felt a gentle, comforting warmth... just like Ron, steady and reliable.
At that moment, the light around Ron seemed to shine even brighter. Standing so close, Natasha forced her eyes open. Braving the searing radiance, she finally saw what Ron looked like beneath the light...
Bizarre tentacles, solid scales—a mixture of all living things was growing on his body. Natasha could see his expression become even more pained, as if giving her that speck of starlight had affected him significantly...
But Ron's voice did not change despite the intensifying agony. He simply looked at Natasha, and with some difficulty, pulled the corners of his mouth into a grotesque grin, mustering one last, gentle smile—
"From now on, you'll have to walk this path alone."
Hearing these words, the tear hanging from Natasha's chin finally fell. It dripped onto the vine net beneath her. The faintly glowing vines dimmed the moment the tear touched them, and the tear itself shattered into a spray of droplets, breaking apart into scattered points of light.
Natasha's heart, like the vines and the tear, dimmed and shattered in that instant, breaking into fine, floating dust.
"No... Ron, without you, I can't..."
Natasha collapsed onto the vine net again, kneeling and grabbing the hem of Ron's clothes, her rose-red eyes filled with tears, pleading...
But Ron just shook his head gently and turned to leave.
With each step, he ascended an invisible stair, as if walking on air, climbing higher and higher into the sky until he became a tiny black dot, impossible to see clearly.
The piece of Ron's clothing that Natasha had been desperately clutching tore away. But the fragment instantly turned into a verdant leaf, then into ethereal motes of light that dissipated, just like Ron himself, vanishing completely from this world as if he had never existed...
Natasha watched him go, watched him disappear into the firmament. Utterly lost, she knelt on the ground, her head hung in a daze. Everything seemed to freeze, save for the large teardrops that continuously fell to the earth and the sound of quiet sobs...
At that moment, Natasha's heart became an empty void.
She knew she had lost Ron completely... forever.
---o---
[You separated a portion of your blessing and gave it to Natasha, healing her severed arm.]
[Because of your actions, the blessing within you has become agitated. The Apothecary's blessing has begun to transform you at a much faster rate than before.]
[You have endured a more intense pain than before. Your sanity has decreased slightly.]
[Feeling the constant turmoil in your body, a sense of urgency rises within you... You know that if you don't prepare now, your act of saving Natasha will have been meaningless, and everything will head down a path of no return.]
[Will you destroy this planet, or will you give them a chance for Natasha's sake?]
[At the very, very end, you must make a choice—]
[1. Destruction.]
[2. Rebirth.]
Looking at the two extremely concise options on the screen, a bitter smile appeared on Ron's face.
"I didn't think giving Natasha a small part of the blessing would have such a huge impact... Is it because I tried to erase the potential pain from that blessing, causing the Abundance's gift to become completely unstable?"
Ron sighed helplessly and selected the second option.
He had wanted to buy a little more time, to say a few more words to the citizens of the empire...
He knew that the Jarilo-VI Second Empire was now a complete mess. For Natasha to clean it up would be difficult, though not impossible now that Sampo and the infected were dealt with. Still, Ron felt it would be a hard road.
He had wanted to use his last moments of sanity to help her... but now, she would have to rely on her own efforts.
As Ron thought this, new text appeared on the screen:
[Faced with Natasha's pleas, you know that if you completely release your suppression of the blessing, your fully evolved and desire-consumed self will absolutely cause this world to collapse.]
[Unwilling to destroy a world, you restrain your evolution, walking on air step by step, ascending into the heavens.]
[You have left the atmosphere of Jarilo-VI and entered the cosmos.]
The text on the screen faded, and a new image appeared:
In the frame, Ron, shimmering with a golden-green splendor, was slowly walking out of Jarilo-VI's atmosphere. As casually as if strolling up the stairs in an apartment building, he stepped into the universe, a stark contrast to the cold, dead silence of the void.
And not far away, a long train—its head and tail seeming to connect countless worlds as it traveled through hyperspace—had just broken through a spatial lock. A railway made of golden light extended to a point not far from Ron.
The Astral Express had ended its years-long journey, docking in the orbit of Jarilo-VI.
In the train's observation car, a gray-haired girl was looking out with curiosity. And then she saw him: Ron, walking on nothingness outside Jarilo-VI, draped in golden-green splendor, looking like a god.
For a moment, her eyes widened. Then she did a tactical lean back, squinting to get a better look at him...
Stelle: ?
So weird. Let me take another look.