"Is it a return."

Ian and the True Demon faced each other; he could sense the profound will that was different from all the demons he had encountered before. The aura of the Silent True Demon wasn’t chaotic; there was hatred and loathing, but they weren’t the main parts.

Its essence was an extremely deep regret and guilt, an unspoken mourning, a silent sorrow.

Ian heard it.

He heard the sound of billions upon billions dying.

Sharp whistling shattered the atmosphere; fierce flames spread as they descended.

A city burned, fractured, remnants of the city already destroyed fell from Terra’s space orbit. Dozens of such cities fell successively, turning into golden-red meteors reaching the earth and sky, while millions of resentful souls evaporated, burned out, and turned to ashes upon them.

The Terra civilization from the previous epoch had created space cities, those orbiting space cities were bases for humans to venture into the stars, at least to other resource points within the planetary system.

New space alloys, core spacecraft creations, and various special biological research were conducted in these space cities, which were more of large space research bases and factories than cities, researching and manufacturing.

They were the elites among the Terra People, the technicians and workers of high-end industries.

But now, they all died, turned to charcoal ashes, becoming part of these meteors descending from the sky.

"So hot—so cold—ahhh, my leg, my body——"

This was the final scream of a Terra person who was initially sucked into space when the space city’s breakup began. His body expanded and shattered, but the final screams couldn’t be uttered because there was no air in space, and he could only die in silence.

"Hold on! I must hold on!"

One person clung tightly to a beam in his room, not being swept away by the torrent-like gases pouring into space. If he were a victim of a flood disaster, perhaps he could wait for rescue and hold on, but this was space, and even if he could partially withstand the space environment, the final outcome was certain death, once the gases inside the entire space station leaked completely.

He also died in silence.

There were too many others...and unlike the survivors on the Terra Continent, who had shelters and the Thousand-Star Beast absorbed the impact, so quite a few survived, even preserving part of the technological capabilities of the previous epoch civilization.

But the Terra People in space all perished.

Ian saw it, saw the scene of tens of thousands of people turning to ashes in silence, drifting into space in their final moments.

He already knew that the grudges and hatred surrounding the Silent True Demon were the aftermath of the Terra People’s deaths.

At last...

There was a sigh.

It was the sound of the fallen Star God, looking around the whole world, the entire cradle, at countless people and souls turning into ashes before dying.

Then there was silence.

"The Great Aether Circulation is sealed."

The sigh was filled with confusion and sorrow: "If I die, it’s not a big deal, but what about these Sparks, these Terra People?"

——Comrades.

At this moment, the form of the Silent True Demon, the dark, weeping sun, issued a call to Ian.

——Can you undo my mistakes?

"Don’t worry."

Ian slowly approached the Silent True Demon, did not deny his identity as ’Star God,’ and earnestly said: "I’ve already begun gathering Sparks."

He raised his hand, showing a curtain of light, depicting scenes where various magical beasts led by the Royal Court were prospering on the New Continent.

Under the subspace influence of the ’Awakening of the Mortal World,’ every magical beast cub born in the past two years had intelligence, awakening the knowledge and instinct contained in their bloodline Sparks, thus becoming a kind of ’wise life,’ a sort of extraterrestrial descendant residing on Terra.

"I’ve already started collecting Sparks, ensuring the survival of civilization."

This time, the curtain of light showed a profile of the ’Heart of Terra.’ Endless data streamed, as Ian continuously gathered and enriched the Heart of Terra with data on the Sparks of various groups. Now, the Heart of Terra already contained data on over a hundred different Sparks, including technology encapsulating everything, making it almost equivalent to ’the survival of civilization.’

"I’m constructing a civilization, allowing the destroyed Terra civilization to gradually match its past, until it returns to its original harmony."

Ian once more showed the curtain of light, this time revealing scenes from the Silverpeak Domain, where cities developed rapidly, skyscrapers rose and fell, people lived happily, an abundance of materials were cheap or even freely distributed, everyone had a home, and everyone could receive education, ascending to higher realms.

At this moment, Ian had already reached the bottom of the Silent True Demon, its dark eyes and sun gazed at Ian and everything in his curtain of light.

"I’ve done much, and will do more in the future."

"That’s good..."

The Silent True Demon, surrounded by countless white Mech Deities, slowly spoke: "Then, continue, keep going."

The dark sun gradually became dimmer, eventually turning into a pure black sphere, with only the outer edge having a slight flow of dark golden light, resembling an eclipsed sun: "Everything of mine will be left to you, my comrade. Complete the tasks I didn’t finish and correct the mistakes I made."

[Everything left in my corpse... will be yours to use]

The Silent True Demon closed its eyes.

Ian gazed at the other’s silence.

Regarding the ’Legacy’ mentioned by the other, although he had long anticipated it, he did not feel much excitement at the moment. As the True Demon said, it was a loser, and what Ian had to do was truly surpass these failures, transforming everyone’s ’beautiful future’ into reality.

"The demon born from the last sigh of the Star God... the Silent True Demon."

He mumbled to himself: "A self-reproach for not completing its mission, guilt towards the Terra people it harmed, betrayal of the Spark, and fear and sadness over the demise of civilization... Is there really a demon born from such ’kindhearted’ self-blame?"

"Silent, meaning voiceless, quiet. All those dead Space Terra People perished in silence. If I were not a juvenile Star God, causing the Silent True Demon to react differently, then under the influence of the Silent True Demon, the Light Realm would prohibit any sound propagated by air and mechanical waves, and even mind communication, electromagnetic interaction, and optical interaction would be disallowed—only gestures would be used to act."

"And those Machine Gods..."

Ian looked at the numerous Voidrealm Machine Gods covering the body of the Silent True Demon and surveyed the Light Realm; he understood clearly: "Apparently, the Light Realm, as a part of the Star God’s residual body, has also become a nest for the Voidrealm Machine Gods. These Machine Gods monitor the Silent True Demon, and if the Silent True Demon were to go berserk, indiscriminately destroying everything around it, they would simultaneously self-explode, recreating the modeled True Demon."

"However, the Silent True Demon never did that. Even earlier, all it did was communicate with me... Of course, it’s possible I did so well that the Silent True Demon, which previously planned to react, simply lay flat."

This time, Ian wanted to venture into the Light Realm mainly out of curiosity, drawn by the power struggle over the Light Realm among the four forces surrounding the Tranquil Sea. He wondered what kind of place the Light Realm was, and what kind of treasure the ’Pearl of the Light Realm’ was—whether it was something like the Source of Dragon Blood, capable of extending life but with the side effect of a curse.

It now seems that the Pearl of the Light Realm is evidently formed from the exceedingly abundant vitality of the Star God, and the so-called curse... is likely bearing the Silent True Demon’s resentment and completing its unfinished tasks.

[The True Demon... has become active?!]

And just at this moment, the Pupationer also entered the Light Realm.

He happened to see the Silent True Demon finally ’close its eyes,’ transforming into the scene of a black sun, and was utterly shocked: [It’s not yet the active period, why did it awaken, become active?!]

[Ian, what exactly...]

He looked at Ian, his face full of disbelief: [You actually got so close without provoking its attack?]

[Wait?!]

At this moment, he was shocked once more: [I can speak?!]

"I have never been to the ’normal’ Light Realm in your eyes, so I’m not very clear about what the original Light Realm is like."

Ian shrugged; it was clear that the source of the inability to communicate normally in the Light Realm was the power of the Silent True Demon, and now, the other acknowledged the identity of its ’kindred’ and withdrew its power, so naturally, conversation could continue: "Does it only become active during each active period in the Light Realm?"

[Not really]

Suppressing his surprise, the Pupationer spoke solemnly: [The Silent True Demon remains in a dormant state most of the time, regardless of the condition of the Light Realm]

[And when it becomes active, no matter who it is, once close, will fall into a state of silence, unable to connect with any matter outside, followed by death—either dying of starvation or insanity]

[Only the Fourth Level Aether True Body can resist this influence, but activating the Aether True Body in itself consumes lifespan, so if there are no special circumstances, no one wishes to battle the Silent True Demon, nor do they want to risk their life fighting this harmless demon]

[The Machine Gods live well in the Light Realm; they surround the True Demon, and once there is any abnormality, they report back...but just now]

Looking up at the black sun in the sky, the Pupationer frowned: [It has clearly become active, why haven’t the Machine Gods reacted?]

Though he asked this, judging by the way the Pupationer looked at Ian, it was clear that he knew this was all due to Ian’s ’special’ nature.

That’s also why he agreed to help Ian into the Light Realm, wanting to understand that ’special’ aspect.

And Ian was more interested in the Silent True Demon.

Evidently, the Silent True Demon had not responded to the Terra People all these years, and the Terra People also didn’t know that the Light Realm in the Tranquil Sea was somehow related to the Star God and the Skyfall Spaceship—perhaps they knew a little but didn’t realize how closely connected the Silent True Demon and the Skyfall Spaceship were.

"Can you tell me, how many times has the Silent True Demon become active throughout history?" he inquired.

[Five times] the Pupationer deeply looked at Ian, then recalled: [Once in year 78, once in year 192, once in year 345, once in year 556, and once in year 690... no pattern; during the Lost Epoch, there was no way to document, but overall, five times in nearly eight hundred years, not particularly frequent]

[However, according to the records of my ancestors in the Fiery Flame Land, in the two to three hundred years before the Terra Origin Year, several disturbances occurred consecutively in the Tranquil Sea—perhaps also due to the Silent True Demon’s continuous activation, but I can’t be sure]

[Wait, Ian, why are you so surprised?] 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The Pupationer looked at Ian with some astonishment, because Ian, who always appeared incredibly calm and composed, showed a rare expression of shock.

"Year 78, year 192, year 345..." he murmured: "And three times before the Lost Epoch?"

"This..."

—Isn’t this the adjustment periods of the Dragon Island Core Seal Black Hole as documented in the Dragon Island data?!

Could it be that the Silent True Demon isn’t merely the residual resentment of the Star God... but is actually connected to the ’Fragment of Demise’ within the Dragon Island Black Hole?!

Or, as a victim of the Fragment of Demise’s escape, the demon nurtured by the Star God aboard the Skyfall Spaceship, it holds some mysterious connection with the Fragment of Demise?