"A distress signal?"
Listening to her subordinate's report, Topaz thought for a moment, then gave the order to head toward the signal's source.
Her mission this time didn't have a marked completion deadline, so she wasn't in much of a rush.
Because of that, when someone sent out a distress call, she decided to go take a look.
The Interastral Peace Corporation has the word "peace" in its name, naturally, they can't just watch someone die without helping.
At the very least, they needed to go to the distress location and see what was going on.
If it turned out to be a scam, they could directly sue the other party for randomly sending signals and wasting company staff time.
Upon receiving the order, the employees immediately adjusted the ship's course and flew toward the distress location.
———
[On the Other Side]
Kiana was almost going crazy with anxiety.
[Kiana: @Levi, say something!]
[Kiana: Say something to me!]
Nothing made things clearer than silence, Levi was in serious danger right now.
The chat group could be used directly with one's thoughts.
Logically speaking, no matter how dangerous the situation was, you should still be able to speak in the chat group.
For example, when Stelle was surrounded by the Silvermane Guards, she could still cry and ask for help in the chat group.
But when it came to Levi, no matter how they kept actively @-ing him, it was as if he couldn't see it at all, there was no response.
There was only one possible explanation for this situation.
That was that Levi was probably no longer able to think.
And when someone encounters danger and can no longer think, there's only one possibility.
'Dead…'
In the chat group, aside from Kiana frantically trying to contact Levi, everyone else fell silent.
They wordlessly watched the messages in the chat keep refreshing.
"Kiana…"
Looking at Kiana, who seemed possessed, Stelle reached out wanting to comfort her, but didn't know how to begin.
Asta beside her stayed silent.
She had only just joined the chat group and wasn't fully familiar with the others yet. Even if she wanted to say something to comfort Kiana, she didn't know what reason to use.
At most, she could only say something like a bystander: "My condolences."
And on top of that, her ID in the chat group right now was Levi.
That would inevitably make things worse.
"What's going on?"
At that moment, March 7th noticed something was wrong and turned around to look at the three gathered together.
Kiana had her head lowered, her face unreadable. March 7th glanced at Stelle and Asta.
"Did you guys gang up to bully her?"
"How could that be!" Stelle instinctively shot back.
Her bullying me would be more likely, me bullying her would probably only happen in a dream.
After all, Kiana can call for backup…
'Call for backup…'
Seeing Stelle suddenly fall silent, March 7th scratched her head.
Why did the atmosphere between these three feel so heavy all of a sudden?
She looked utterly confused, completely unable to understand what could've happened to make the three, who were happy just moments ago, turn into this.
'Kiana…'
A phantom voice sounded by her ear. Kiana knew this was Sirin trying to tempt her again.
Normally she wouldn't pay much attention to it, and would even sneer and call the other party a blowfish.
But this time, what Sirin said made her feel unbearable pain and deep confusion.
'Your mother died when you were young. Your father eventually left you in silence. The person you loved became a Herrscher, an enemy of humanity…'
'And now, the friend you just met has also permanently left this beautiful world, because of you.'
'He was still so young. His illness had just been cured. He still had so much time to quietly enjoy life.'
'And now it's all because of you. Because you made him carry supplies across the sea of stars to help people who had nothing to do with you. For your own selfishness, he met with disaster.'
Sirin let out a soft laugh, as if mocking Kiana's weakness, mocking her powerlessness.
'See? I told you long ago, Kiana…'
'You're a walking disaster!'
'You don't deserve to live in this world at all!'
Kiana kept her head down, silent, mechanically repeating @Levi in the chat group.
On the surface, it looked like she hadn't been affected by these words at all. But Sirin, who shared the same body with her, knew very well, her mental defenses were already at their limit.
Just add a little more weight, and they would completely collapse.
And Sirin, of course, wouldn't miss such a perfect opportunity.
"Hehehe… Kiana, let's watch together as your friends leave you one by one…"
In the end, she hugged the empty chat group and dreamed sweet dreams called happiness.
This time, Sirin's voice was no longer something only Kiana could hear.
Watching Kiana's lips move, producing a voice that didn't belong to her, Stelle didn't know what was happening, but a bad feeling surged up in her heart.
She cautiously called out the other's name.
"Kiana?"
In the chat group, Kiana stopped spamming.
"Kiana…"
'Kiana' repeated the name Stelle had just spoken, then slowly lifted her head, revealing a pair of golden eyes completely unlike Kiana's.
In an instant, purple-and-white monsters appeared out of nowhere, roaring as they destroyed everything.
"Honkai… descends!"
———
What does death feel like?
People who've never died aren't qualified to answer that question.
This time, Levi gained that qualification.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to answer it.
In his mind, scenes from his past surfaced, both from his previous world and from this one.
"So this is the life-flashing-before-your-eyes thing…"
Scenes from birth to the end swept past his eyes at high speed.
That meant he was basically beyond saving.
Especially in this kind of uninhabited starry void, the chance of rescue was almost zero.
Levi's expression was calm.
Now that things had reached this point, no matter how anxious he was, there was nothing he could do. He might as well use this little remaining time to properly look through his memories.
"Is it over…"
Suddenly, flames surged up and ignited the curtain of memories. Levi murmured softly, then let out a sigh.
"I really don't want to die…"
"Damn Phantylia!"
If it weren't for her, he should've already arrived safely in Belobog by now.
How could he have ended up as an unidentified male corpse?
He only hoped that when Stelle went to the Luofu, she'd interrogate that damned Phantylia properly.
The flames that ignited the curtain began to spread toward Levi himself.
He felt that this scene was strangely familiar.
Feeling the pain coming from his body, the corners of his mouth kept twitching.
Now it really looked even more similar.
"You can still feel pain even after dying…?"
Levi spread his arms, letting the flames freely burn his soul.
The image of holding the Blazing Sword and burning himself alive was probably the deepest memory he had.
Otherwise, his subconscious wouldn't have chosen this way to end himself.
The first time he grasped extraordinary power.
The excitement he felt back then, he could still remember it clearly.
"Really…"
His outstretched arms slowly dropped, and his eyes gradually lost their light.
'I don't want to die.'
'If I could choose again…'
'I probably would…'
'Forget it. There's no such thing as "if" in this world.'
'Better not leave even a last breath, so I don't fake my death and come back to haunt people.'
———
[Outside]
Following the distress signal, Topaz arrived at the outer edge of the asteroid belt where the signal had been sent.
"This is the place."
Topaz glanced at the instrument panel. "Continue forward. Make sure to find exactly where the signal is coming from!"
"And be careful of the surrounding asteroids. Avoid getting ambushed."
BOOM!