Those lives forgotten, those laments unheard, those stories of rise and fall unsung... this is a forgetfulness more terrifying than death.
Even the cockroaches wandering the wasteland shall be obliterated. All living creatures, all traces of history, are nihility in the face of inevitable destruction.
When stars turn into black holes, when the light of the stars completely vanishes, even if a planet is not crushed by a possible supernova explosion, everything upon it becomes meaningless.
"There can be a Spark..."
The white-haired youth spoke with a tremble in his voice: "The hope for the revival of civilization? That’s not the goal, it’s merely a hope... it’s just a tombstone, a tombstone to resist nihility..."
"A certain defeat. Facing an enemy impossible to win against, facing a doomed ending, the last struggle to emerge from inevitable despair... a tombstone named Spark."
[Yes, you finally understand]
Echo sighed: [This is the decision we made in an incredibly short time after our birth]
[Terra is utterly hopeless, no matter how prosperous the new civilization of the Post-Apocalyptic Era becomes, in the end, it must face extinction. I can only record the information of this era, form a Spark, then depart]
Too void. Too insignificant.
Terra’s civilization is sandwiched between a cosmic civilization and a cosmic catastrophe battleground, unable to decide its own fate... not to mention the benevolent cosmic civilization has already disappeared.
In this moment, through the communication channel linking his soul with Echo, Ian saw so much.
He saw the majestic Serpent Emperor Dragon descend upon Terra, fighting and defeated by various shelters.
He saw the sky-covering giant algae descending with meteors, ultimately suppressed within the earth’s crust.
He saw colossal Titans of the Earth roaring and hurling mountains, yet slain by human heroes on the shores of the Northern Sea.
Ian witnessed many Sparks, and the super lives nurtured within them.
Some events Echo knew, some were memories it merged with, some were unknown messages given by someone in later generations... but they all failed, as Terra’s civilization still exists.
And finally, Ian saw a pitch blackness.
In the ancient stone age, pitch-black tides boiled and swept the continent, absorbing all biomass completely into itself... until swords of light descended from the sky, suppressing it in place.
That is the Thousand-Star Beast. The initial Spark.
[They failed. Our civilization is the same, we must survive, by whatever means necessary]
Echo said thus, striding forward, just in this instant, as Ian wavered from this incredible truth, the dark golden dragon overpowered the three-headed Ultimate Dragon, enormous Battle Titans controlled the rampaging Colossal Divine Soldiers.
And although other soldiers continued to resist desperately, without Hero Units, in the face of Echo’s millions of Echo bodies, it was essentially meaningless.
The Last Echo reached out a hand, pressing it against Ian’s forehead, speaking solemnly: [So, hand over your Rites of the Star Gods—no matter if you plan to stay on Terra, or to go out exploring, it’s all meaningless. It’s better to give them to me, let me lead the Sparks in the final wandering!]
Golden light suppressed the silver-blue light, at this moment, it was undoubtedly the final deciding moment, and the Last Echo held the absolute advantage.
If this battle were single-handed.
"...What an unbelievable truth."
Even with Echo’s hand on his forehead, the summoned soldiers and Path of the Dao units suppressed, Ian’s tone seemed still immersed in the shock of the previous truth: "This truth, surely no one else on Terra knows it... at most just a part."
"Yet even a part is terrifying enough. Who would willingly be dust? The prison caging us turns out to be a protective cradle? Terra is bound to perish, the only escape is to flee, but in fleeing, nowhere to flee, only going to the Great Void Zone for meaningless waiting..."
Closing his eyes, Ian’s expression was calm, Echo thought the youth had already given up, thus tried to attack, yet was blocked by an indestructible spirit: [What do you mean by this?]
Opening his eyes, Ian looked at the angry and puzzled Echo, spoke calmly: "Precisely because of this, I must leave the cradle."
"Moreover, I will not flee. I will face the Star God or the Demon of the Abyss directly, until my death."
In this moment, Echo was astonished and realized, Ian’s resolve not only didn’t become fragile as it imagined, but instead stronger after the wavering: [You know it’s utterly meaningless, going there is just to die, perhaps not even knowing when yourself has already vanished!]
"You really don’t understand." In this moment, the white-haired youth’s eyes glowed a more intense blue: "What nihility, what meaninglessness, as if humans could inherently live forever... human civilization might self-destruct in a few thousand years anyway. It’s just such a thing, ultimately mere dust, then why fear death?"