The final choice didn't deviate from Twilight's expectations. Even after she explicitly told Caelus that if he didn't kill her, everyone on the Xianzhou would die because of it, it still couldn't change his mind.
As the protagonist, he firmly declared he chose neither.
One could only say protagonists are like that. When faced with dilemmas, they can always righteously declare they won't make a choice. And in most situations, they indeed manage to create miracles, stopping the trolley in the trolley problem with their own power, saving everyone.
Unfortunately, this principle wasn't absolute—especially when facing a bad woman drooling over the energy he'd burst forth.
Twilight had met quite a few protagonists: Otto encountered by Unit One, Denji encountered by Unit Two, Kevin and Elysia encountered by Unit Three... Each had their own strengths; they were undoubtedly the protagonists of their own eras. Yet, in the end, they always encountered problems they couldn't solve, situations they wanted to change but couldn't.
Times had changed. Being a protagonist didn't mean being able to save everything—and this point, Caelus clearly hadn't truly experienced yet.
But no matter. The kind Twilight would teach him this lesson, just like her predecessors did.
Looking at Caelus before her, shamelessly declaring his intent to create hope from impossibility, Twilight ultimately didn't continue persuading him, just shook her head helplessly.
"Caelus, such an ending doesn't exist, because I have already searched for it... Never mind. Since the track of fate is already set..."
Twilight felt qualified to say this. Even a certain Doctor with a Time Stone only saw 14 million possible outcomes, while she had already seen over a hundred million—though she was AFK 99.9% of the time—yet still found no possibility where everyone on the Express crew could survive.
No, rather, she did find one: the very action she was now about to undertake.
"This is likely the last time we meet, Caelus," Twilight said softly, seeing his bewildered expression. "See you next time."
But for Caelus, perhaps it was 'last time'.
The current Caelus couldn't yet understand the meaning behind Twilight's words. But by the time he did, it would likely be too late for him, irreversible.
Perhaps then, besides regret, there would also be unspeakable guilt—and that was exactly what Twilight wanted.
She wanted Caelus's guilt. Preferably to the point where he wouldn't even dare to see her again!
Twilight wasn't stupid. With people like Otto and Kevin rampaging all the way to Earth now, how could she not realize the world her incarnations resided in might very well merge with Blue Star [Earth]?
In previous worlds, she could recklessly torment the protagonists as she pleased, as long as it yielded gold coins, without considering any consequences—because after she died, they couldn't beat her up.
But the situation was different now. Since people from the Honkai world could come to Blue Star, why couldn't people from Star Rail? Especially since the Express crew possessed the wondrous Astral Express...
Remember, Otto told Unit One how he arrived on Blue Star. If a mere Thousand Realms Gateway on Earth could achieve it, it was perfectly normal for the Astral Express to do so too, right?
If she really went too far, and later the Astral Express brought a team of lunatics crashing into Blue Star, then started rampaging looking for her—Twilight felt a bit nauseous just imagining that scene.
So she had to find a way to prevent this situation.
Twilight needed to absorb not just the strengths of each predecessor, but also learn from their mistakes. Unit Three indeed brought back the most bountiful harvest, but she also caused the biggest trouble—the incident where the poor Kevin went completely insane due to excessive wool-shearing was the most tragic lesson in history.
And on how to prevent this from happening again, after careful consideration, Twilight had a bold idea—the reason Kevin could come to Blue Star and cause trouble was because Unit Three was too gentle towards Kevin!
Since she was already driving the other party insane, if she had been more thorough back then, enhancing their guilt and remorse to the point where they wouldn't even dare face her again, wouldn't she naturally avoid the problem of being sought out?
Think about it: the person you love most willingly dies to save you, yet you mistake them for a bandit and kill them easily without knowing anything... When you finally understand everything, who would still have the face to see that person again?
No one! Anyone with even a shred of guilt shouldn't disturb the other person like that!
So Twilight was confident. As long as she continuously deepened the potential guilt Caelus might feel, then even if he came to Blue Star, he wouldn't have the face to cause trouble everywhere. Even if she really appeared before him, he would likely just walk around her~
Unfortunately, although Caelus's favorability was already maxed out, only a year's worth of emotional accumulation existed. Could it really push him to the point of despair just hearing her name...? Traveling along the river of time, Twilight pondered methods to further deepen her bond with Caelus.
The node of her life was fixed. Although Twilight herself could experience countless years, ultimately becoming an extremely long companionship, for Caelus, he only lived through one year. Memories from other worldlines likely couldn't be retained in his mind.
After all, even Twilight herself felt slightly overwhelmed by such vast memories. If they were suddenly stuffed into his brain, Twilight worried Caelus might directly turn into an idiot.
To leave a sufficiently long memory to etch her image, yet be careful not to introduce real memories and cause influence, the best method... wasn't it dreams?
Twilight stopped her steps, her gaze suddenly shifting towards the distant end of the galaxy.
Aeons were ridiculously strong. Sometimes, just by calling Them, They would sense you no matter where you were. And Twilight, as half an Aeon, also possessed part of this ability. It was just that in this current timeline, no one would call her. Even mentioning the name 'Twilight' would only refer to her other self.
The only one who would actually use a name referring to her was... Caelus.
Although just a codename, [Dabai] was the only appellation in the current universe that could be used to lock onto her. It just seemed the person calling this name wasn't in a good state right now.
He had been defeated by Sunday, trapped within the Dream of Unity [Ena].
Oh, the almost entirely realistic Dream of Unity [Ena], where the passage of time differs from the real world—The method to leave memories, hadn't it just arrived?
Although the dream of giving Twilight a complete life couldn't be achieved within the Dream of Unity [Ena], she herself could now use it to let Caelus experience a complete life beforehand. No need to worry Caelus's feelings would fade because it was just a dream; after all, the person accompanying him would be the real deal!
Sunday, thank you very much~