383: Evidence of Harmony

Darkness.

It wasn't the ordinary darkness one feels after closing one's eyes, but an absolute void that devoured all perception, without up, down, left, or right, where even one's own existence became blurred.

Robert's consciousness, like a lone boat cast into an endless deep sea, drifted in this void.

There was no sound, no light, no touch; only thought itself still proved the existence of 'I'.

Was this the price of intervening in a divine war? Or would his consciousness dissipate in this void before even reaching the battlefield?

A trace of instinctive fear was about to rise but was forcibly suppressed by Robert.

He remembered what he said before putting on the helmet. He believed in Pexito, believed in the figure who gave him solace under the starry sky. If this was the end, at least he tried for his belief; it was better than rotting in silence.

Just as this thought flashed, a point of light appeared ahead.

The light was extremely faint, initially like distant stardust, but it rapidly expanded and brightened, as if he was rushing towards a luminous exit at an unimaginable speed.

The next second, a sudden sensation of weightlessness struck!

The darkness instantly receded, replaced by dazzling light and the whistling of wind. Although he knew there might be no air here at all.

He was falling!

From an infinite cloud, or rather, from an incomprehensible height, he was free-falling towards a bizarre and incomprehensible 'battlefield' below.

Colors lost their meaning here; everything was twisted, shattered, and reassembled.

He saw countless cold golden lines and grids, trying to bind and solidify everything, and also saw warm, flowing rainbow light, like a living melody, weaving and resisting among the golden shackles.

Each collision of the two forces made his consciousness hum as if struck by a heavy hammer, feeling as though it could dissipate at any moment.

Is this a war of gods?

Just as he felt his consciousness body was about to be shattered by the aftershocks of this clash, his 'gaze' was involuntarily drawn to a figure in the battlefield.

That was Pexito!

But it wasn't the wise, pure, sacred, yet slightly naive girl he remembered.

She floated at the center of the rainbow light, her posture erect, her white hair like flowing moonlight.

Her skin was fair, yet it emitted a subtle, soft glow.

Her eyes were closed, her face serene and solemn, enveloped in an ineffable sense of sanctity and Harmony. It was as if she herself was the embodiment of the concept of 'hearts united,' a symphony of billions of resonating voices.

The moment he saw her, Robert felt as if time had stopped. A deeply buried memory, like a surging tide, broke through his mental defenses and clearly emerged before his eyes.

It was months ago, a night that left him feeling lost and heavy.

Within the limited activity area of the Honeycomb Experimental City, he unexpectedly met Pexito, who had come to talk to him.

Whether it was due to long-held suppression or the peculiar, reassuring aura about her, he inexplicably started talking to the young girl.

Then, like a bursting dam, he poured out all the dirty secrets of the Wilson family, the cruel exploitation of the Oceania City-States by the Skyreach City elites, the faces struggling in poverty and oppression, and his immense guilt and despair as an accomplice unable to change anything.

He expected to see disgust or pity, but Pexito just listened quietly, then looked at him with eyes so clear they could reflect the stars, and softly said: "It's not your fault. To be able to see light in the darkness and suffer for it is, in itself, a kind of courage."

That simple comfort, on that night, illuminated his gloomy state of mind like starlight.

The memory faded like smoke, but the feeling of being understood and accepted revived with incredible clarity at this moment. Even stronger was the intangible 'will' emanating from Pexito.

It was a broad sentiment calling for unity, seeking resonance, supporting the weak with the strong, and life helping life.

This will, like the most precise key, instantly unlocked the heaviest shackles in Robert's heart.

His disgust for the evils of Skyreach City, his shame for his family's complicity, his pain at being powerless to save more people... All these pent-up emotions seemed to finally find an outlet and the ultimate answer.

Yes, individual strength is minuscule, the chain of evil is heavy, but what if... what if power could be gathered, what if hearts could connect, what if the strong could protect the weak, what if lives could support each other... Isn't this the picture he most deeply yearned for but couldn't achieve?

"I agree!" Robert's consciousness let out a silent roar in the space of the divine war, "I agree with your path!"

An unprecedentedly fervent and pure power, stemming from the deepest resonance and recognition of his soul, surged from within his consciousness body like a volcanic eruption.

This power did not make him individually strong, but instantly made him feel an incredibly close connection with that warm rainbow light, with that sacred figure.

He was no longer a lone boat, but a part of the vast ocean.

In this moment, he felt omnipotent.

Almost instinctively, he transformed this newly established connection, this excitement and determination of finding belonging, into an invisible message, sending it to his family members who were mysteriously connected by blood and shared destiny!

Come! My kin! Stop wallowing in grievance and resentment! Gather our will here! For a better possibility! For Harmony!

At the same time, inside the Honeycomb Experimental City.

Robert, lying in the connection pod, began to glow with a faint, dreamlike iridescent light on his body. This anomaly immediately drew gasps from the surrounding researchers.

Even more astonishingly, the 'volunteers' of Robert's family, scattered throughout the Honeycomb, whether assisting with repairs or waiting quietly, all simultaneously trembled slightly and opened their eyes in surprise.

They instinctively looked around, seeing the same shock and a mysterious pull in each other's eyes.

They 'heard' it, not a sound, but a call from the depths of their bloodline, mixed with Robert's cry, an excitement of finding salvation, and a warm and grand idea.

Failure is death, silence is also death. But if successful, this might be the only chance for the family to wash away its shame and break free from their shackles!

Even if this merit wasn't enough for the Company to directly overturn their case, at least they wouldn't have to return to that dark prison and could truly live like people!

Determined eyes lit up in more and more family members.

Someone extended a hand first, followed by a second, a third... They drew closer, gripping each other's hands tightly, forming a huge human chain.

Then, they closed their eyes in unison, dedicating all their focus to the call from the depths of their bloodline, to the sacred figure radiating rainbow light that they all 'saw'.

Buzz—

An iridescent glow, hundreds, thousands of times stronger than Robert's individual one, suddenly erupted from the center of this tightly connected group of volunteers, like a thick pillar of light, penetrating the physical barriers of the Honeycomb Experimental City and accurately shooting towards Pexito's body, suspended in the air above the surface.

Within the divine war space.

Pexito immediately felt this sudden, vast, and pure supporting power.

She 'saw' the tiny human consciousness, Robert, who had intruded here, yet shone with resolute light.

She recognized him, the soul who had once confided his pain to her.

What surprised her even more and caused an ineffable stirring was that behind Robert, in the rainbow light formed by the gathered wills of his more than three hundred family members, she seemed to see some vague figures that felt incredibly familiar and nostalgic to her.

Were they the friends from her most primitive, most indistinct memory fragments? Or rather, all the beauty contained within the 'soil' that nurtured her?

Yes, Harmony was not born out of thin air. It originated from every will that yearned for connection and sought coexistence. The past was unknown. Now, it was these souls from across the starry sky, burdened with sins yet longing for new life.

Their pain, their desires, their choices... All of this, like the final puzzle pieces, completely solidified Pexito's belief.

Her path was not wrong!

For these lives that still sought resonance in suffering and yearned for light in darkness, she had to win!

At the moment her thoughts cleared and her belief became completely perfect, Pexito's form underwent a tremendous change.

Her figure became more slender and perfect, like a mature monument.

On either side of the back of her head, two illusory heads, identical to her main body, appeared, eyes closed and smiling, symbolizing 'Myriad Hearts in Harmony'.

A brilliant rainbow halo, composed of countless flowing colors, condensed behind her head, slowly deforming and rotating like waves.

Patterns like a puzzle of life appeared on the surface of her skin. The hem of her dress transformed into a deep night sky dotted with countless stars.

Her ankle-length beautiful hair, transitioning from pure white at the roots to deep purple at the tips, danced without wind, as if containing the rhythm of the cosmos.

Thus, the path of Harmony, due to the complete perfection of its Star God's belief, was fully manifested. One life walked at the very forefront.

The complete Star God of Harmony, Pexito, opened her eyes. In them, the resonance and hope of myriad lives in this universe were reflected.

She raised her hand, pointing towards the golden Order that still sought to bind everything.