384: Towards a fateful end

Pexito—no, perhaps she should now be called the embodiment of Harmony—her will was like a refined Star Core, firm and brilliant.

After receiving the support of the pure belief gathered by Robert and his people, she not only gained a replenishment of power but also completed a crucial leap in her understanding of her own path.

The meaning of her existence had never been so clear.

She did not exist for domination or destruction, but to give all struggling life in this cold universe a hope: to connect, to support each other, and to face the ultimate winter together.

Harmony is the resonance of life, the alliance of the weak, a galaxy formed by the convergence of faint glows that refuse to extinguish in despair.

And it was precisely at this moment, when her belief was fully realized and her form complete, that she clearly perceived a nearly fated limitation, and even a hint of 'Harmony,' within the cold, rigid power of Order emanating from the Order Star God Tai Yi opposite her.

This was not an illusion.

Philosophical deliberation now transformed into intuitive cognition between Star Gods.

Order pursues uniformity, where all things are in their proper place, eliminating all variables and chaos.

Its methods are restraint, frameworks, and iron laws.

A group of people, under the constraints of Order, can exhibit regular patterns of behavior. This appears stable but is actually fragile.

Because its internal driving force is external compulsion, not internal identification. Once the constraints disappear, Order crumbles like a sandcastle.

Harmony, on the other hand, pursues dynamic balance, resonance within differences, and the harmonious symphony of countless minds.

It does not reject differences; instead, it uses differences as a foundation to seek a higher level of unity.

A group of people, whether internally orderly or seemingly chaotic and free, as long as they can reach consensus, form resonance, and cooperate for common goals or emotions on some level, then they are in a state of 'Harmony.'

Order can be a means to achieve Harmony, but it is by no means the only one, nor is it the end. It can even be said that the ultimate goal pursued by Order—a universe completely free of chaos, completely predictable, completely 'stable'—is itself conceptually infinitely close to an absolute, rigid 'Harmony.'

The end of Order might just be an extreme form of Harmony, but the path of Order, due to its inherent exclusivity and coerciveness, often struggles to truly reach that end.

Harmony encompasses Order, but Order struggles to accommodate the true essence of Harmony.

The former is the ocean; the latter might only be a carefully constructed dam.

At this moment, Pexito, on the level of ideology, had already surpassed Tai Yi. Her path was broader, more fundamental, and more resilient.

"Om—!"

The colorful rainbow light no longer merely resisted but emitted a magnificent resonance. The light, warm and firm, like an invisible tide, began to reversely erode and encompass that cold golden Order domain.

Where the rainbow light passed, the golden grid lines did not break but became soft and elastic, as if infused with life, no longer attempting to forcibly bind, but beginning to subtly undulate with the magnificent resonant rhythm, showing a tendency to be 'assimilated.'

The suppressive force was not overwhelming; if quantified, it was probably a 60-40 split. But it was this extra ten percent advantage, like the final push on a lever, that began to tip the scales of victory towards Harmony.

Tai Yi's vast divine will, for the first time, felt the clear chill of 'defeat' and the even stronger premonition of 'death' that followed.

This premonition was billions of times more profound than the stinging pain brought by the attacks of those 'ants' in the physical universe. His absolute Order was being disintegrated and absorbed by another force, seemingly gentle but actually more fundamental!

"No—!"

The obstinacy and madness originating from Erwin, deeply rooted in the core of Tai Yi's consciousness, were completely ignited under this extreme threat.

If he was destined not to exist in a state of perfect Order, then let everything return to nothingness!

Destroy this nascent Star God who hindered him, those hateful ant fleets, and this incomplete planet that bred rebellion, all together!

A self-destructive intent erupted from Tai Yi's divine body. He forcibly withdrew a part of his core power from the divine battle dimension, where he was deadlocked with Pexito.

Physical universe, Trisolaris System battlefield.

"Don't stop attacking! The cracks on Tai Yi are increasing!" Yukun's voice echoed through the fleet channel, filled with barely suppressed excitement.

Although each attack landing on his body had little immediate effect, the continuous, saturated assault finally led to a qualitative change.

Cracks had appeared on the surface of Tai Yi's colossal golden divine body, or rather, on that human face.

Though the cracks were small, only a few or a dozen meters according to calculations, they were almost negligible compared to his massive body. But these tiny fissures were slowly spreading and deepening.

Like ice being continuously struck, white lines were 'growing' outwards.

The dawn of victory seemed to be at hand.

However, the 'human face' on the surface of Tai Yi's divine body, which had maintained an expression of indifference or pain, suddenly twisted!

An indescribable mix of extreme anger, despair, and madness replaced all previous emotions. Immediately after, two lines of tears, viscous like liquid gold, streamed from his tightly closed eye corners.

Countless purplish-gold energy rays, as fine as hair, erupted like wildly growing vines from various parts of Tai Yi's divine body, ignoring spatial distance and, at an utterly incomprehensible speed, precisely shooting towards the distant, remaining half of the shattered Three-Body Star.

"What is that?!" Someone on the ship already cried out in terror.

Yukun's pupils suddenly constricted, and a cold chill instantly shot up her spine.

No complex analysis was needed; a worst-case premonition had already seized her heart. Tai Yi's target was that half-planet!

Although she couldn't yet know what Tai Yi wanted to do, it was clear that the fate of that half-planet was already sealed.

If the planet shattered like its first half, the Honeycomb Experimental City, even if it miraculously wasn't directly destroyed, would have no chance of holding out until rescue arrived.

The nearly ten thousand Company colleagues inside, who had just survived the previous wave of 'natural disaster,' would also face only one outcome.

Everyone would die!

"Stop him! Quickly!" Yukun almost screamed, but a sense of powerlessness also washed over her.

Stop him with what? The fleet's main firepower was attacking Tai Yi's divine body, and those purplish-gold fine lines were too fast to intercept!

The only hope was to attack the enemy where he was most vulnerable.

Her gaze fell on the icon on the flagship's main control console before her—it was the shape of a launch silo in a ready-to-fire state.

In the lower position within the hull of the Azure Dragon, a planetary-level weapon codenamed 'heavenly pillar' lay quietly.