Chapter 1595

Ge Rui raised his head, and all around him was a vast expanse of void so immense it was suffocating, countless meteorites drifting around him like a flock of lost islands adrift on a windless sea.

In the distance, larger fragments floated.

He recognized a broken metal structure—the remnants of the Concavo-Convex Competition arena—now slowly disintegrating in space, like some dead animal rotting in the void; once a place where countless competitors fought and struggled to survive, it now drifted silently, much like a forgotten childhood toy.

Yet they could still see the Sky Curtain, that luminous band spanning the universe, now flickering with a red progress bar as countless civilizations were swiftly erased from it.

"The Astral Express... failed?"

Ge Rui scanned his surroundings, and having lost the bright galaxies and nebulae of the universe, space had become a silent, boundless abyss; the star rivers once visible only from starships had been utterly erased, and "darkness" seemed to have become a heavy, tangible entity pressing in from all sides, while the Sky Curtain paradoxically became the sole source of light.

"Is this what the universe looks like after total annihilation? So... quiet."

—

The Funeral of Frieren.

"Frieren-sama!"

In the vast void, Filien unexpectedly spotted a drifting white figure among the meteorites—Frieren, hugging her knees, her whole form like a white firefly adrift among the rocks.

Frieren seemed to sense something; she opened her eyes, confirmed Filien's direction, and began drifting toward her.

"Frieren-sama, what exactly just happened? After that light descended, we just..."

Frieren nodded: "Hmm, we died." She surveyed the meteorite field: "Everyone is dead."

"This..." Filien lowered her gaze to her semi-transparent body, still struggling to believe it: "How could... could it be that Saili-sama's barrier failed? No, besides her barrier, there were also twelve layers of fortifications jointly constructed by first- and second-rank mages!"

"No, all those barriers took effect and endured for this long." Frieren slowly extended a finger.

"One minute?"

Frieren shook her head: "One breath."

"It is precisely because that barrier bought you one breath of time that you could perceive your own death. Many others don't even realize they're dead... as if they were dreaming."

"Then what is our current state... ghosts?" Filien tried to grasp a tiny meteorite with her hand, but the stone passed straight through hers and flew away.

"Probably not." Frieren turned her gaze toward the distant Sky Curtain, seemingly embedded in the universe: "This is 'Memory'."

—

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Unbreakable Diamond.

"Mr. Jotaro, quickly use your invincible Star Platinum to think of a solution!"

Zhu Zhang discovered with horror that he was drifting in space, his body devoid of sensation, unable even to decide which way to float.

"Zhu Zhang, haven't you realized yet?"

Compared to the panicked Zhu Zhang, Jotaro Kujo was visibly calmer. He constantly observed his surroundings, ensuring he was truly in space and not trapped in some illusion or dream by an unknown Stand user.

How could space become so silent? Television portrayed space as vast and endless, filled with stars everywhere, yet Jotaro's view, aside from one still-glowing Sky Curtain, was eerily silent.

The key point is... Stands.

Jotaro tried to summon Star Platinum, but no matter how he exerted his spiritual power, his Stand failed to appear as it once did.

"Could we really already be dead?" Jotaro noticed his hand had lost substance, able to pass through any object... which indeed matched the sensation of being a ghost.

"Our physical bodies are dead, but our 'souls' still exist... unthinkable."

"Mr. Jotaro, can you not summon your Stand either?"

"Hmm." Jotaro nodded: "The blow from Tumu just now truly killed us, and not just us—everyone on Earth."

"Tumu, it... it..." Zhu Zhang gaped, momentarily unable to speak from shock: "If even we were affected this badly, then that would mean..."

"Exactly." Jotaro nodded with regret: "The entire universe has been wiped clean by Tumu's single strike. The likely victor now is Zandal."

—

"«██████████»"

"«Star███ Project succeeded████»"

"«I am██Black Tower████Already aligned with Erudition Venerate███Must rewrite████Fourth Moment Anchor Point████»"

"«But now███Unthinkable████»"

"Black Tower: «Erudition Venerate gazes toward *you*. »"

"«Who? Me? »"

"Black Tower: «█I will do my utmost to translate██His calculations███»"

"«Star██At this very moment███Your choice██Concerns galactic survival█████»"

"Erudition Venerate (Black Tower): «███████████████»"

"«███████Nameless one, soulless one███████»"

"«████You have come: you must have arrived█████»"

"«████You and I have surely met countless times, at the universe's beginning and end. As with the first (Yin Bian Mao Dun), second (First Emperor War), third (Second Emperor War), fourth (Lie Zhan) moments having already arrived████»"

"«████I ask: if so, why do you expand█████»"

"«I only wish to help every person in need. » The Star replied."

"«████I must: origin still unknown████»"

"«████Then end arises, end must already exist████»"

"«████Possibilities are four, three known: destruction, void, harmony. Regardless of the four, expansion must already advance toward the end, or become the end itself███████»"

"«████I ask: if so, why do you expand█████»"

"«I care not, only wish to save Wengfaluo Si. » The Star so replied."

"«████I must: end still unknown████»"

"«████As I see it: expansion is the boundless chaos of the infinite. On its path, star gods must have fallen, destinies must have shattered. Nothing remains, existence itself does not remain█████»"

"«████Nameless one, soulless one████»"

"«I ask: if so, why do you expand? »»