Guinaifen: "It seems Miss March 7th's background is quite extraordinary."
Guinaifen: "To receive the same treatment as Miss Acheron… could it be that you're also a hidden Emanator?"
March 7th: "Huh??"
March 7th: "What kind of joke is that?"
March 7th: "If I were an Emanator, would I be running around like a headless chicken with Stelle?"
Stelle: "Who's running around like a headless chicken?"
Stelle: "I SAID THAT WAS A TACTICAL RETREAT!!"
Stelle: "Hmm, March's background probably is a big deal."
Stelle: "But unfortunately, we can't find any clues right now."
Furina de Fontaine: "Truly worthy of the Astral Express, everyone's background seems so extraordinary."
Furina de Fontaine: "It's simply crouching tiger, hidden dragon!"
Silver Wolf: "The Astral Express doesn't keep idlers, that's no joke."
Paimon: "Umm… I… I shouldn't count as an idler… right?"
Lumine: "Doesn't count, you're emergency food."
Paimon: "Ahhhh! You jerk!"
Paimon: "Lumine, you actually called me emergency food in the livestream!"
Paimon: "I'm so mad!"
Stelle: "Emergency food?"
Stelle: "What kind of strange nickname is that?"
Lumine: "Haha, it's a long story."
Hotaru: "Silver Wolf, did you see that?"
Hotaru: "The final script guidance… it was actually written by Elio?"
Silver Wolf: "Saw it, not that surprising."
Silver Wolf: "After all, besides Elio, who else would write this kind of script…"
....
『 The scrolling subtitles begin to fade, and Black Swan's gentle voice comes through again.
[ Countless shooting stars streak across the night sky… ]
[ If you choose the right one, it will carry your wish to thousands of worlds. ]
[ You feel very relaxed now, don't you? ]
[ Then… ]
[ Now, it's time to tell you a little bedtime story. ]
[ Well, let's start with the conclusion — The Crew was defeated in the battle against Sunday. Everyone in Penacony failed, and no one survived. ]』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "WTFFFF!!!"
Stelle: "For real?!"
Stelle: "We were all wiped out?!"
March 7th: "How is that possible?!"
March 7th: "Wasn't Sunday slashed to nothing by General Jing Yuan and Dan Heng?!"
March 7th: "We all saw it with our own eyes, didn't we?"
Furina de Fontaine: "Yeah, yeah, we definitely saw it with our own eyes."
Furina de Fontaine: "That dazzling, brilliant slash, it felt like it could even split the stars in the sky."
Hu Tao: "Black Swan dropped such a bombshell right from the start."
Hu Tao: "No buildup at all…"
Hu Tao: "Is she joking, trying to scare Miss Stelle?"
Acheron: "That is not the case."
Acheron: "Her attitude right now is very serious."
Welt Yang: "As expected… the worst-case scenario has happened."
Qingque: "But, our General is so powerful, how could he lose?"
Fu Xuan: "Qingque, you fool!"
Fu Xuan: "Still haven't figured it out?"
Fu Xuan: "The General didn't even go."
Qingque: "Huh???"
Qingque: "Master Diviner means…"
Qingque: "Everything we saw was fake?!"
Black Swan: "Correct, it was indeed fake…"
Black Swan: "More accurately… these images are still within a dream."
Paimon: "Huh? How can that be?"
Paimon: "Such a realistic scene, and it's still a dream…"
Paimon: "This… THIS IS EVEN SCARIER THAN THE SABZERUZ FESTIVAL!!"
Lumine: "Besides being grander and more realistic than the Sabzeruz Festival's dream, what's happening right now is essentially the same as the Sabzeruz Festival."
Lumine: "But it's so realistic, I've got full-body chills."
Lumine: "We don't even know when Stelle and the others fell into this other layer of the dream."
Stelle: "Don't say you don't know, I, the person involved in this video, don't know either."
....
『 [ But don't be nervous, although the facts are horrifying, it hasn't reached the point of no return. ]
[ Everyone still has a glimmer of hope, and I am here for that very reason. ]
[ Next, I will use this Empty Light Cone that recorded all your memories to retell everything that happened before. ]
[ And when the end of the story comes, I believe a smart person like you will surely discover… ]
[ In this story you experienced personally, there exists a fatal flaw—and that glimmer of hope is hidden behind this flaw. ]
[ So, are you ready? ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Paimon: "Yay, there… THERE'S STILL A CHANCE!!"
Paimon: "Everyone still has a chance!"
Paimon: "BLACK SWAN IS TRULY A GREAT SAVIOR!!"
Black Swan: "Great savior?"
Black Swan: "Heh, I don't count as any great savior."
Black Swan: "If I'm not mistaken, the real savior is someone else."
Stelle: "Tch, I thought Sunday was the clown, the plan just started, and it's already over."
Stelle: "But now it seems, we were the clowns all along."
Stelle: "He actually managed to control all of Penacony without us noticing."
Stelle: "I have to admit now, Sunday is way more OP than Phantylia!"
Stelle: "At least Phantylia never made us feel this powerless."
Stelle: "But with Sunday, we didn't even know how we lost."
Welt Yang: "I should have expected it; as the incarnation of Harmony, even if usurped, he should still possess immense power."
Welt Yang: "How could he be so easily defeated?"
Welt Yang: "Besides, with the power of the Stellaron, the will of everyone in Penacony is now being used by Sunday."
Welt Yang: "That is quite a powerful force."
Himeko: "Spiritual Adam…"
Himeko: "Welt… don't you think Sunday's actions right now are very similar to that 'Spiritual Adam' you mentioned before?"
Welt Yang: "Methods are similar, but the goals are different."
Welt Yang: "However, perhaps with our efforts, we can achieve a similar result?"
Boothill: "Muddle-Fudging, this kind of opponent is really troublesome!"
Boothill: "He stabs you in the back without you even knowing."
Boothill: "You don't even have room to act."
Hu Tao: "No wonder Sunday isn't coming out to speak; turns out he's the winner now, so he's not in a hurry."
Aventurine: "This method is indeed powerful, but in this current dream, heroes are gathered."
Aventurine: "I don't think he can have the last laugh."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Trailblaze, Hunt, Remembrance, and even Nihility…"
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "With so many factions here, it's destined that this so-called 'dreamland' cannot contain them."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Although the process is twisted and strange, the ending is already doomed."
....
『 [ Do you remember everything? When the clock turned back, the Express started a warp jump, sending you to a strange dream. ]
[ Although confused, the Galaxy Ranger Acheron pointed out the way for you. ]
[ You arrived at the Reverie Hotel, met the bellboy Misha, and clashed with the IPC envoy Aventurine. ]
[ Fortunately, Miss Acheron passed by again, allowing you to escape in time. ]
[ Subsequently, you saved Miss Hotaru in the dream and toured Penacony with her. ]
[ You encountered Hanabi, who was disguised as Sampo, and accidentally fell into the Dream of the Child… ]
[ I saved the two of you from Death, but Miss Hotaru couldn't return to reality. ]
[ She sensed the truth and wanted to invite you into the game, but it triggered an accidental death. ]
[ And even more terrifyingly, you soon stumbled upon another murder case. ]
[ Two deaths prompted you to decide to investigate the truth behind the dream. ]
[ You wanted to start with their information, but got nowhere, instead learning about the Watchmaker from Gallagher. ]
[ Meanwhile, Aventurine was secretly preparing his own plan, and you were chosen as the driving force for his plan. ]
[ In the midst of a fierce battle, Miss Acheron revealed her true identity as an Emanator of the Nihility and unsheathed her sword. ]
[ That strike foiled Aventurine's plan and opened a passage between the sweet dream and the original Memory Zone. ]
[ You arrived at Penacony's Dreamflux Reef, learned that death was actually slumber, and also learned the truth about the dream, the Stellaron, and the bellboy Misha. ]
[ You, Sunday, and Robin decided to split up to find a way to seal the Stellaron. ]
[ Who would have thought that Sunday and the Dreammaster had long had a scheme, and you ultimately had to fight to the death on the stage of the Charmony Festival. ]
[ Finally, the story reached its conclusion. ]
[ You defeated him, Trailblaze overwhelmed Order, and Penacony was able to welcome a future of light and peace… ]
[ Thus, the dreamlike, turbulent journey through Penacony ends here. ]
[ I'm sure you've already noticed something unusual, haven't you? ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "After listening to Black Swan's recap, I suddenly realized, we experienced so many things in Penacony?"
March 7th: "This series of events, just hearing it makes one feel dizzy."
March 7th: "I don't know how you, the person who experienced it all, must feel."
Li Sushang: "Speaking of which, what exactly happened in that scene Stelle encountered at the beginning?"
Furina de Fontaine: "Do you mean the scene where Stelle inexplicably entered the dream space during the jump, and then met Miss Acheron?"
Furina de Fontaine: "I remember, at that time, Miss Acheron seemed to ask Stelle, ' Have we met somewhere before?'"
Hu Tao: "Not just asked that…"
Hu Tao: "At that time, Miss Acheron also asked several other questions."
Hu Tao: "And one of the questions was: If there is a huge dream, it is realistic enough, realistic to the point of being indistinguishable from reality."
Hu Tao: "There are no partings or deaths there; everyone can reap the satisfaction and happiness they deserve, and live happily forever."
Hu Tao: "May I ask, would you be willing to dwell within it?"
Guinaifen: "OH MY GOD!!"
Guinaifen: "Stop talking, it's giving me chills!"
Guinaifen: "Don't tell me, Stelle has actually been trapped in a dream from the very beginning?!"
Stelle: "Absurd, too absurd."
Stelle: "My brain is starting to spin now."
Stelle: "Reality or dream… CAN'T TELL, I REALLY CAN'T TELL!!"
Lumine: "Since Miss Acheron asked that from the beginning, does it mean she had already experienced these things at that time?"
Lumine: "But if that's the case… the timeline doesn't match up."
Paimon: "So twisted, so bizarre, as expected of Paimon's brain, still unable to understand such complex things."
....
『 [ That fatal flaw that contradicts the known information appears in this part of the story— ]
Black Swan added a reminder, starting to let Stelle analyze where the flaw was.
[ Attacked by Hanabi, who was disguised as Sampo… ]
Stelle's brain was a bit confused, starting to say one possible thought after another.
[ Hanabi, ah Hanabi, the most elusive, mysterious character in the whole story. ]
[ Too bad, she was the first to realize the answer was real, and it was also true that she deliberately attacked you to muddy the waters. ]
[ Right. Before she left, she asked me to bring you a message: Be sure to distinguish the boundary between reality and imagination… ]
[ You ask if this is a hint? I don't know, I can only say that the fatal flaw has nothing to do with this Fool. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "Be sure to distinguish the boundary between reality and imagination?"
Stelle: "Meaning… everything I'm experiencing right now is just my imagination?!"
Stelle: "The dreamland… everyone can get the life they want."
Stelle: "Damn!"
Stelle: "So that's it, I finally understand!"
Stelle: "Thanks for the hint, Director Hanabi!"
Stelle: "Sunday, oh Sunday, I didn't expect you to really create such a dreamland."
March 7th: "No wonder the ending was unimaginably perfect, turns out it's a dream you fantasized yourself?"
March 7th: "So what we're seeing now is actually just your dream world?"
Lumine: "Making people unknowingly fall into their own fantasized dreams and live there."
Lumine: "Then, unable to wake up…"
Lumine: "Suddenly feel it's so creepy."
Furina de Fontaine: "Miss Hanabi actually knew all this so early?"
Furina de Fontaine: "Even knowing Sunday's goal, you are too absurd, right?"
Furina de Fontaine: "Could it be that Miss Hanabi has the ability to predict the future?"
Hanabi: "Hehe, Hanabi-sama has boundless skills!"
Hanabi: "There is nothing I don't know~"
Himeko: "Such a dream, I feel it's not impossible to wake up."
Himeko: "As long as you can know that all of this is fake, supplemented by a strong will."
Stelle: "The logic is sound, but doing it is not simple."
Stelle: "Honestly, if it wasn't for that last part of the plot being too ridiculous, so ridiculous that it's hard to believe."
Stelle: "I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong at all."
March 7th: "The IPC becomes a generous good guy, the Genius Society starts being down-to-earth and researching mortal things…"
March 7th: "Indeed, this is really too ridiculous to be true."
March 7th: "The boundary between imagination and reality… You could already distinguish it from here."
....
『 [ Is it… Acheron drawing her blade to reveal the power of Nihility… ? ]
Stelle said tentatively.
[ Are you suggesting that the sleeping and shapeless never bestows its gaze upon anyone, and thus no one can truly possess the power of the Nihility? ]
[ This point of view is very sharp, but unfortunately. ]
[ Although ironic, Miss Acheron is indeed going further and further on the Path of Nihility. ]
[ Just because her belief in saving the world from the shackles of the Path is beyond the reach of ordinary people. ]
[ I'll discard that incorrect answer for you. Take your time and think it through — What is the fatal flaw? ] 』
『 ....』
(Im trying something new, I added some images, should I keep doing that or just remove them entirely because it breaks the immersion... let me know in the comment section. Note: looks like Webnovel and Wattpad dont support image upload... the picture only available in AO3 and Patreon.)