The moment Twilight spotted the light arrow, she erected defenses.
Countless sky-piercing giant trees roared upwards like ocean waves, layering themselves into a protective barrier before her. Each branch within possessed hardness comparable to the Ambrosial Arbor itself. Even attacking this defense with the IPC's Star Destroyer cannons would likely fail to burn through half a layer.
This was power far exceeding an Emanator's. After truly becoming a Candidate for Divinity, Twilight had completely transcended the mortal realm—yet the impenetrable defense she created offered not even a sliver of resistance before the light arrow arriving across the sea of stars.
All parts enveloped by that light vanished in an instant, leaving not even ash behind.
Even though Twilight could arguably be called the strongest being beneath the Aeons, facing a direct blow from a true Aeon, she was still utterly powerless. Just as Graham's number is unimaginably vast to humans, yet utterly insignificant before true infinity...
Perhaps the power difference between them wasn't that terrifying, but it was enough for complete domination. Unless Yaoshi instantly dropped dead right now, allowing Twilight to become the true Aeon of Abundance, she had not even the slightest chance of resisting.
No matter how close to godhood, still not a god.
Well damn, really gonna die this time...? Could those fragments she saw back in Penacony have been fake? Did she guess wrong?
Seeing the arrow arrive in an instant, a trace of bewilderment flashed through Twilight's eyes. Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time since Unit One that she encountered an opponent she absolutely couldn't handle and was about to be directly killed by them.
Unit One, though unable to defeat the Herrscher of Corruption, at least took the enemy down with her via the Might of An-Utu, barely counting as suicide.
Unit Two simply gave herself away; if she used the system, she wasn't without ways to survive. Unit Three was purely suicide... But this situation right now, she truly couldn't win. Even using the system, the pitiful few million energy points in her pocket couldn't let her defeat an Aeon.
Her strength was clearly the greatest among all her incarnations, so why was her death the most frustrating...? Was this reasonable?
Unfortunately, complaining was useless. She had already lost and was about to die under this light arrow from the Aeon of The Hunt.
Twilight reached this conclusion and prepared to abandon resistance. Seeing Caelus shielding her, Twilight felt a subtle emotion.
Bro, I appreciate you having the heart to protect me, but if even I can't block this attack, what good does趴ing on me do? Without you blocking, not even ash remains. With you blocking, still not even ash remains...
Besides, you're the protagonist! If you die like this, how can the game continue later? If you get shot dead by Lan's arrow, wouldn't all the players' hatred be stolen by the Aeon of The Hunt? Who's going to compensate me for the wool I'm missing out on?!
Judging by the range of Lan's arrow, Twilight estimated it already covered the entire Xianzhou Luofu. After this attack, whether Twilight's corpse remained or not, the Luofu was definitely gone. To kill her, Lan could take an entire ship of people down with her—but then again, He seemed to have always been like that, friendly fire always on.
However, while Aeons could be ruthless, Twilight couldn't be unjust. As a kind-hearted bad woman, despite her slightly shattered mentality, seeing Caelus still trying to help her in the end, Twilight decided to try and save him. As for the other Express crew members further away, she couldn't help them; after all, she wasn't even sure if she could protect Caelus on her own body.
At the last moment, Twilight clenched Caelus's hand without hesitation. The next instant, energy so dense it became tangible instantly condensed around his body, enveloping him tightly like a cocoon.
Twilight abandoned her own defenses, unhesitatingly pouring 200% of her power into protecting Caelus. Because without doing so, he wouldn't have even a billionth of a chance of survival... though even with it, the chances weren't high.
Anyway, Twilight herself never feared death. Although she felt the energy sheared from the players would be greatly discounted, gaining such immense power was barely considered a loss.
As the light arrow arrived, everything around instantly vaporized. The massive Xianzhou Luofu, everyone and everything on it... All visible things vanished, leaving only light, and Twilight and Caelus floating within it.
But even Twilight's body began to dissipate like burning paper in the blink of an eye. She lacked the power to resist, able only to gaze at the panicked Caelus protected within the cocoon, softly leaving her final instructions.
"Caelus, don't die..."
After all, this damned Lan dared to ruin her long-planned wool-shearing scheme! How could the petty Twilight possibly just swallow this anger?! She truly couldn't defeat Lan, and was about to die—but wasn't Caelus still here? He was the protagonist!
Dammit! Remember well the pain of your wife and all your friends being shot dead by one arrow! Then live on, grow stronger until the finale, and help her vent this anger!
But if he really couldn't do it either, then forget all the messy stuff. Just live peacefully, find a place, and start a quiet life...
Sigh, March 7th, Welt, Himeko, and so many lives on the Xianzhou... Twilight had to admit she seemed to have messed up this time. Unfortunately, the system store didn't sell time machines.
According to her estimations, she originally thought she could turn into a time machine...
But before her inner sighs finished, her body had already vanished like sand into the cosmos, leaving no trace.
The incarnation with the shortest lifespan thus ended her journey.
...
Then, the next moment, Twilight opened her eyes in a bustling alleyway.
She looked up at the sky and the constantly passing starskiffs, then turned to look at the Xianzhou residents coming and going around her, then took a deep breath.
Hold it in...
Can't laugh too wildly on this crowded street!
She knew it! How could she possibly mess up?! All her speculations were correct! The only thing she got wrong was the activation time of her trait!
Seed of Terminus... This most nonsensical skill finally revealed its power!
This trait came from Terminus, the Aeon of Finality. Its effect was to walk backwards along the river of time, just like Terminus. But this trait required the seed to sprout before use... Previously, Twilight thought it would likely sprout soon after her revival via Transmutation Arcanum. After all, she was about to become Little Abundance; making a seed sprout should be child's play!
But it didn't. This power only manifested the moment Twilight was truly killed. The reason was simple: for the Seed of Terminus to travel backwards in time, it first needed a starting point—the end of life.
First, one must die. And after dying, one could use that moment of death as the beginning, extending infinitely into the past.
Twilight, originally with only a year of lifespan, now possessed arguably the longest lifespan in the galaxy—only its end lay in the infinitely distant past.
And at this moment, she finally understood everything.