"He… he wore a mask and walked for over a hundred thousand years…"
"He clearly didn't want any of this to happen, yet he had no choice but to carry the known, doomed-to-be-futile goal on his back and march forward."
"Sacrificing his family, sacrificing the entire Sky Haven Clan, sacrificing the future."
"How many beings in the entire universe can live that long? How lonely must Leon have been?"
"And in that process, how many losses did he face, how many changes did he witness?"
"I simply cannot imagine how someone bearing such heavy duty and fate managed to hold on until today."
Because of Ah Xian's words, only when they finally understood what the plot was trying to convey did a great many players realize they had unknowingly teared up.
An inexplicable emotion clogged their hearts.
It hurt.
Putting themselves in the protagonist's shoes.
If it were some other new character with this experience, there might still be people who resonated and had their emotions pulled along.
But it absolutely could not compare to Leon, who used his life to protect them from an Emanator and lost his life in the process.
"Maybe… Leon had already wavered from the very beginning."
"But he still walked this path for over a hundred thousand years."
"Yet in the current Amber Era 2158, on the Luofu Xianzhou, in the battle against Phantylia—"
"He probably thought, let it end like this…"
"He was already so tired, so tired, so very tired…"
"He wanted to rest, to step into the long night and sleep eternally, to bid farewell to the past, to a future that never had hope, to bid farewell… to the current him."
"That's why Leon can no longer wake up."
"Because he has already given up on waking up…"
"…Hoo…"
Ah Xian leaned heavily backward, crashing into the chair back, her fingers wiping the corners of her eyes.
[Great, another huge knife. This damn game can't be even a little comedic!]
[If it's really like Ah Xian analyzed, I'm starting to panic!!]
[I'm panicking too, Father really won't come back, right?!]
[NO! Gifting his own five-star form to everyone as a final dance—don't do that kind of thing!]
[And it's a T0 human-rights unit that leads the support stat inflation!]
[Inflation? Where's the inflation? You're being disrespectful to Father. Everyone has it—how is that inflation?]
[Mihoyo: Knives? We're not done yet—don't blink next!]
[Ah Xian, continue quickly—more… more… I want more knives, hahahaha, I am the Aeon of Voracity, I want it raw and bloody!]
[Poor child, so young and already knifed silly…]
"Little glutton… big glutton cat, you like being stabbed that much, huh? Fine!"
Pause ended; the dark screen lit up again.
Leon returned to the flower sea, back beside the steles erected for his family.
The hands of time turned round and round.
One cycle.
Another cycle.
Yet another cycle.
One day.
One year.
Five years…
Who knows how many years passed—Leon never waited for Ayla's return.
Until—
A light snow began to fall.
"…Snow?"
Leon, statue-like, slowly raised his head and instinctively reached out to catch a few white flakes.
How strange.
"I can't feel the cold."
He caught another flake, felt it for a few seconds, then turned his palm downward.
"So that's how it is…"
So he had long since become colder than the snow itself.
"Ayla, everyone… it's snowing back home. The first time in so many Amber Eras—can you see it?"
The camera focused on Leon's face.
He slowly bloomed into a smile.
A very standard smile.
Only it lacked something.
Maybe one thing, maybe three, five, or even more.
"Damn it, Mihoyo! That's enough!"
Seeing the thick sense of brokenness filling Leon's face, Ah Xian wished she could pull him into a tight hug and give him her own warmth.
The Ether Star never snowed.
When snow arrives, the heart dies.
"With only him left in the Sky Haven Clan, is this still the same home?"
"No wonder he said his past has lost all meaning—because the meaning he carried was itself one without a future, right?"
[Uwwaaa, my Ayla wife, my Second Sister!]
[I'm heartbroken—tonight I'll kill a few dog planners to vent!]
[What did I even play this game for… oh right, I came for happiness—why did it turn out like this?]
[Listen to yourself—being knifed isn't happy? I'm so, so… so so so so so happy—hahahahaha!]
[Sigh… another one knifed silly.]
[So the cinematic experience with over twenty minutes of plot animation is for better knife delivery—nice one, Mihoyo!]
"Fine tradition—characters who don't enter the gacha pool take up few resources, so they make them as beautiful as they want."
"Eh, these beautiful characters are exactly for knife-sending and consumption—drives you crazy!"
"But why am I anxious too? Weird…"
Ah Xian threw the soaked tissue into the trash, thought for a moment, then suddenly realized.
"So all my beautiful aunties and sunny uncles are dead, haha, dead…"
[We're done for—Ah Xian has been knifed insane too.]
"Who said I'm insane? I'm not insane! I can still take it—give me a few more knives, treat it as endurance training!"
[That really trains endurance.]
At some unknown time, Leon had returned to the plaza.
"Star Lagoon Spellcaster, I've come to take over the duty and mission."
"This day has finally come. I've long been prepared, Salvation Emissary Leon—may the body perish while mountains and rivers remain!"
Leon's expression was calm as he spoke the parting blessing he had given countless clansmen.
"…May Return While Scenery Unchanged."
The Star Lagoon Spellcaster smiled freely; his body scattered into light and merged into the flame on the fire altar.
The fire grew brighter, its volume exploding in the falling snow.
Leon stepped forward half a pace, reached his hand inside, and drew out the item that carried everything—
A single pure white, flawless feather.
"!!!"
Only at this moment did Ah Xian and countless players understand.
The feather Leon gave to Himeko and Welt when he boarded the Express—how heavy its weight truly was.
It was the thing that had accompanied him for over a hundred thousand years, both promise and mission…
What kind of dead heart and exhaustion made him abandon everything?
"For over a hundred thousand years… he never once lived for himself."
"Discarding this feather means he wanted to truly become himself, to do what he wanted."
"That's why I think his fun-seeker form was born from this."
"No wonder Leon's voice line says he is not a Masked Fool."
"The Masked Fools of Elation are the purest fun-seekers at their core, but Leon only has the surface—his core is riddled with holes."
"If Leon didn't actually prank others, Mourning Actor would suit him better."
Flower sea—the number of steles rose from five to six.
"Ayla, Luna, Nova, Selena, Miyu, Atlas…"
Leon carved the old oath onto them, slowly pacing from left to right, caressing the surface of each stele.
He smiled faintly.
"May the body perish while mountains and rivers remain."
"Cold stele inscribes old oath, meet again at place of farewell."
In the past, no one said it; now, no one could say it either.
No one would be able to say to him before he set off—
May Return While Scenery Unchanged.
"Then, everyone… it's my turn to set off…"
…