Chapter 871: [Radiance] and [Stars]

"Griseo, this time I want you to do me a favor."

"I promised you that I would tell you what I plan to do."

After making an agreement with Hua, Kosma immediately found Griseo and began to "trick" Griseo.

"There is a bad person in the Elysian Realm now."

"Only by using Griseo's power can we defeat her."

Griseo looked at Kosma cutely: "Bad person? Does Knight need help?"

Kosma shook his head: "No need to trouble it, Griseo, you just need to paint like you did before."

"But, it will be a little different."

"Can you… not use my 【color】, but paint according to the content I tell you~?"

In the game, Griseo had already picked up the paintbrush, ready to start-.

And the BGM also turned into a somewhat-sad piano tune.

"Let's start with a portrait of a boy."

"He… should be very thin and small, but like all boys, he wants to become a hero."

"At the age of eight, he had already started to uphold justice, wanting to move toward his goal in this way."

……

As Kosma narrated slowly, Griseo's paintbrush finally fell.

Seeing this, a hint of 【pity】 finally appeared on Hua's face.

She stared intently at the paintbrush in Griseo's hand, as if its rise and fall would bring about a terrible disaster.

And the players were also biting their lips, listening quietly to Kosma's narration.

They all knew that what Kosma was talking about was himself.

In his words, he is cowardly and selfish.

Only the players know that Kosma had long since become a hero without knowing it.

"When life was coming to an end, he once again faced a choice that was completely unacceptable."

"He was assigned a task: when the whole world was facing a catastrophic disaster, he was to board a huge spaceship, leave Earth, and go find new hope for the people."

"In other words… one could survive the disaster, but would also become a deserter."

"Or… stay behind and die with the world, as a hero."

Griseo: "Sounds… familiar."

Kosma: "Maybe I told you this story before."

"Although I don't like this story, I did finish watching it after all."

Griseo wrinkled her nose: "But, Kosma, you can't say that about others."

"People who go looking for hope are also heroes."

Kosma: "……But, that was a… abandoned plan…"

"Looking for hope… that was never real to begin with, the home of the stars… is too far for humans."

"Although that manned spaceship was created by a genius, because of 【the limitations of the era】, it ultimately could not complete this great cause."

Seeing this, the players all knew that Kosma was talking about the 【Ark Project】 of the previous civilization.

The so-called 【limitations of the era】 refers to the fact that the geniuses at that time were all focusing their energy on fighting the Honkai.

Therefore, technology like 【interstellar travel】 naturally didn't have very good development.

"That boy… in the final analysis, he was too childish, too weak, and no longer had the strength to deal with this choice of 【choosing the lesser of two evils】 again."

"In the end, it was someone else who made the choice for him."

After a moment of silence, Kosma squeezed out a smile that was almost invisible.

"The reason I tell you this is because I hope the boy in your painting can change."

"Can you…"

"Paint him as a more mature image who can calmly accept reality?"

……

Seeing this, the players suddenly remembered the image of 【Kosma】 facing the Herrscher of Corruption.

He was thin and weak, but great.

When the Herrscher of Corruption talked about 【Lin】, that Kosma answered like this—

【From the very beginning, the decision made by Lin was not choosing the lesser of two evils… but achieving the best of both worlds.】

【It was he who found the only way for me, and now I am standing here, standing before you, doing what I must do.】

And the players realized at this moment, no wonder Kosma's dialogue box had a parenthesis at that time.

So that was it, he had already turned into a painting…

"Selfish people… are very annoying, right? So Griseo, don't paint him like that, okay?"

Griseo: "……Mm."

"Selfish people are the most annoying, not like Kosma."

Although Griseo is small, she is not stupid.

She seemed to know what Kosma wanted to do.

The paintbrush touched the canvas again.

The pitch-black 【color】 turned into 【pigment】 bit by bit, falling onto the canvas.

And the owner of that color… Kosma's form, remained untraceable.

Hua did not follow Kosma's suggestion.

She did not use the Eighth Divine Key.

In her view, it was better for Griseo to decide this kind of thing herself.

"Griseo… is much stronger than he imagined."

Or perhaps… she didn't know what this act was representing…

Hua looked at Griseo with a complex expression, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

"Thank you, Sister Hua."

By the time Hua came back to her senses, the painting was finished.

"Griseo… I hope you don't blame him, the reason for hiding it… indeed had his own hidden difficulties."

Griseo shook her head: "It's okay…"

"Mother Aponia also said that some lies are not malicious."

"But, Sister Hua, what does the strength you mentioned mean?"

"Isn't this a good thing?"

Hua: "……"

Sure enough… Griseo didn't know what this meant.

After all… personally "killing" Kosma… Griseo didn't know this, which was for the best.

Hua let out a deep sigh of relief.

At the same time, she was also thinking about the wording for what came next—how to use a child's language to minimize the cruelty of this matter?

However, before Hua could explain, Griseo spoke first.

"……He just, changed a way to stay here."

Hua: "……"

She really wanted to say that Kosma had already…

But, she couldn't bear to say those words no matter what.

No…

Hua suddenly discovered that Griseo's body… ===== CHAPTER 873 =====