Chapter 307: The Eternal Cradle

“...To go against the tide of an era is impossible to win...”

“...Perhaps humanity will abandon war due to the instability threatening their survival, but that is only temporary; once peace is restored, war will ignite again...”

“...Humanity ought to be destroyed!”

“...No matter how beautiful the flower blooms, people will destroy it...”

“...Humanity cannot understand one another; they will forever repeat the same mistakes...”

At this moment, every person seemed to “hear” strange sounds—not through their dull ears or any physical sense, but through their consciousness, receiving bizarre, sorrow-laden information...

In a daze, some wept, some wailed, some laughed and cried together, and countless incomprehensible messages transformed into endless light, drawing in the confused consciousnesses.

Boom Boom Boom!!!

*Clear, rhythmic drumbeats*

A powerful, thunderous crash pulled all scattered thoughts back from the chaotic spacetime—Jia Ji slammed his drumsticks together before him, unleashing a violent shockwave that awakened every listener.

Then, the Four Brothers of Beidou exchanged glances.

Snap.

They simultaneously snapped their fingers, and Tifuri City, hovering above the Pacific, activated its power—an invisible ripple spread from this point across the entire world, halting every wave and storm in its path for a single breath.

In the next instant...

On this blue planet, above Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas—even the permanently ice-bound South Pole, and across all other oceans—every place where human footsteps had ever tread now revealed a projection screen in the void.

On the screens appeared a castle floating in the sky.

Then the camera drew closer, revealing four mighty men, radiant like night stars, their brilliance impossible to look away from.

“————!”

Those engaged in combat and attack simultaneously froze, briefly regaining reason, staring upward in awe at the men appearing in the sky, their attention irresistibly drawn.

This impossible event caused the world’s chaos to pause briefly—and before they resumed harming each other, the figures on the screen began to speak.

Rao: “I am the Heavenly Overlord who guides humanity! Justice is defined by me!”

Tuoqi: “Is this world truly satisfactory to you?”

Ken Shi Lang: “Lend me your strength—forge a future!”

Jia Ji: “So that people may sleep in peace!”

Everyone realized—these were the men who had saved the world.

Thus, the concert officially began.

As the words ended, the entire venue plunged into darkness; lights dimmed, colored strobes flickered, and audiences instinctively glowed with colored aura flames, while lights from the dome shone down upon the dazzling stage, where a girl slowly emerged as Tifuri City activated its systems—she was the band’s final vocalist.

——“The Merciful Star of the Southern Dipper: Yulia”

The girl, clad in a magnificent red gown, opened her white arms toward all watching across the world, as if embracing heaven and earth within her embrace.

Her gentle face resembled a tranquil dawn.

Tears glistened in her eyes.

Her determined expression radiated unyielding strength.

Rao / Tuoqi / Jia Ji / Ken Shi Lang / Yulia — “May the song in our hearts never cease; may the future we long for be right beside us!”

There was no room for hesitation—in that decisive moment, they had already learned how to use their “weapons” to play, to defeat all sorrow in the world.

All that remained was to believe—he believed, they all believed...

——This final cry would echo to the heavens!

——This final aria would part the clouds and reveal the sun!!!

An “angel” with wings sprouting from her back slowly rose from the ground amid countless fluttering white feathers—holding a microphone—as the intense prelude surged through the entire venue.

“————Aoi sora wa tooku hirogatte (The azure sky stretches vast and far)————”

“————Ikutsu no hi ga kieru no darou? (How many fires have burned and faded?)————”

“————Kimi ga negau yume no (The dream you wished for)————”

“————Sono kakera o subete atsumete yuku (Gather every fragment into this blue sky)————”

“————Akogare wa karamatta sharin (Longing is a locked wheel)————”

“What is this...?”

Someone murmured; each person felt a trembling deep within their heart and soul.

They did not understand.

Completely incomprehensible,

What language, what song was this!?

But they understood.

The meaning contained within it.

The song radiating outward from Tifuri City, invisible Leylines reaching across the globe, connected to every mind and heart—in that instant, everyone uncontrollably shed their rare, scalding tears.

But,

Due to timing—or some other reason—the nuclear warheads not yet fully activated during the apocalyptic battle simultaneously launched again toward the newly opened “World Stage.”

——Dai Iwan 9,999 consecutive strikes!

A certain will made its final struggle and counterattack.

While the four brothers were fully immersed in their performance, only one person could step forward in time with sufficient power to stop it.

“I knew there’d be some left!”

The curious youkai sage instantly opened five thousand pitch-black rifts before him, swallowing the entire tidal wave of nuclear missiles surging from the horizon.

“Leave it to me.”

“————Koe rarenai yoru ni wa (Facing an uncrossable night)————”

“————Kanashimi no sono subete ni to (Even all that sorrow)————”

“————Kibou o tomosou (Let us light the glow of possibility)————”

“————Eien ga kitto atte (‘Eternity’ surely exists somewhere)————”

“————Dare mo ga te o nobashite (Someone reaches out their hand)————”

“————Itsuka kimi no sono te o nigeru yo (One day, I will grasp your hand)————”

The performance and the girl’s song ceased; the performers on stage nervously gazed at the silent audience.

Silence. No one spoke.

Time seemed to freeze.

Had it... failed?

Snap.

A tall woman in an unknown military uniform seated in the front row, radiating an aura of untouchable distance, was the first to clap.

Clap Clap Clap!

After her, the elderly Xialuo Men (Dragon Fist), his junior Huang Long, the former Southern Dipper elders Lu Feng, Yan Ling, Feng Yan, the ethereal soul-forms of Phoenix Fist Oga, Xia Quan Zhi Lang of the 62nd generation of Xia, Xia Tie Xin of the 61st, Liu Jia Fist’s Qiu Kai and Liu Zongwu, Tian Dou’s Ximan, the Northern Dipper Gods, the Dou Shen, the Ming Wang—all simultaneously clapped.

Those of the past had not perished; people from this world and the other, from the present and the alternate realms, all reappeared, all offering their applause to this grandest performance, to honor this final act!

“Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

The next instant, a thunderous roar of celebration erupted from every corner of Earth and surged into the cosmos.

——“The rain in our hearts has ceased”

——“The fire in our chests has been extinguished”

——“Heaven’s wrath has finally subsided...”

——As the first ray of dawn’s glow leapt from the celestial gate, it warmly bathed the faces of countless people across the Pacific, filled with disbelief and sighs.

From this moment onward, the world would never again be trapped in the cycle of the century’s end—nuclear fire becoming a devouring dragon—only ever flowing forward.

Only then did humanity finally believe.

That long, entangled, agonizing, furious, sorrowful, fallen, destructive night—from this moment on—

Has ended completely.

(End of Chapter)