Orange sparks scattered into the night sky, and the waves of heat rushing toward her lifted her hair. Her clear eyes reflected the crimson figure approaching closer and closer. Facing the burning wings and the rising new star, she raised her palm, and the light in her eyes instantly shifted and condensed into a special symbol.
Then, the crimson steel, which had been charging forward with near madness, was enveloped by spreading frost. Finally, the blazing fireball in its chest slowly extinguished, and the entire machine, now frozen like an icy block, lost its momentum.
Although Hestia Thilan did not know the past of this mech, the surging emotions and the will to self-destruct that it carried were not ignored. She truly felt them. Because of her Songstress talent, she understood how rare and precious such burning determination was.
“Stop. You shouldn't be trapped here.”
The purpose of battle was not to kill but to save those who had fallen into an abyss and could not extricate themselves. Sometimes, sober restraint was more challenging than a life-and-death fight, as the latter only required following instinct, while the former demanded thinking about the truly correct path.
At the headquarters of Black Hammer Heavy Industries, several elderly men stood on a high building, gazing at the distant crimson meteor gradually falling.
"They finally brought out that hope they once couldn't bear to part with. What a pity the result is still the same..."
They had lost count of how many times they had sighed and grieved. These old men had long run out of tears, leaving only a lingering sense of loss in their hearts.
They were not unaware that the outcome of fighting each other was merely a desperate struggle. But they were the abandoned ones. The new era had left no place for them. Where could they go if they left Northern 2nd District? Beg for mercy and shelter like stray dogs, forgetting everything about the past and living as ordinary people?
What would that choice mean? What would the efforts of their predecessors over hundreds of years amount to? What would their years of perseverance become? A joke?
The world might be open and unrestrained, but human hearts were not. If they could let go so easily, they would have left long ago, like the others. Just like the ruins of buildings left in Lebion, which were once inhabited by people who had now all left.
Enough. There was no point in persisting any longer. The failure of Burning Iron also foreshadowed their own fate.
"Call the young executives of the group over," the leading old man sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window instructed the guard beside him.
"Yes!"
The guard immediately turned and left, pulling out his device to make the call.
Seeing this, the other elders around him roughly understood his intentions.
"Finally willing to let go?"
"Yes. It's fine if we old bones die here, but the young ones shouldn't. They still have lives and futures. They shouldn't be trapped in these ruins and historical remnants with us."
Under the frozen full moon, the fires of war in the city gradually ceased, and silence returned.
Having temporarily resolved the issue of war, a new problem suddenly arose in Thilan's mind. She realized that she might have gone too far today—too out of line. After all, in this era, anything that happened under the sky could be seen by satellites. It was entirely possible that somewhere in the Four-Leaf Crystal Star Region, a group of people was watching her live.
What a hassle. She glanced up at the sky, then dispersed the massive full moon that had obscured the night, descending back to the ground.
The cool night wind rushed into her sleeves, followed by the glow of the fire illuminating her face and hair. Her toes lightly touched the ground in front of the fallen mech. Thilan extended her hand and gently sliced open the once-impenetrable machine. The heavy armor slid off, crashing into the ground and revealing the cockpit inside.
An elderly man with graying hair lay inside, half-asleep. His skin was sagging, and the lower half of his body was connected to some kind of life-support system. Only his upper body remained, with various fiber tubes inserted into his flesh. The instruments beside him occasionally emitted electronic beeps.
As the armor slid away, he struggled to open one eye, catching a glimpse of the black-haired girl, no older than 16 or 17, illuminated by the firelight. It all felt like a dream.
"I... no, it doesn't matter anymore."
He tried to make out the figure before him, sensing a special aura about her. It was as if all his regrets and thoughts were understood by her, her compassion and resonance smoothing out all the wrinkles in his heart.
"You are..."
He looked at the girl before him, his voice unconsciously carrying a tone of reverence.
"Your wishes and regrets, I have received them," the black-haired girl spoke to him amidst the firelight.
"Is that so? If you are the third great one..."
He murmured, a faint smile cracking on his lips, as if he had found release.
"Four hundred years... we have finally waited for the birth of another Color. What a beautiful world."
With that, his voice gradually weakened until it stopped altogether. The last trace of color faded from his face, leaving his body pale gray. The instruments beside him let out a final beep before falling silent.
Not long after, personnel from Burning Iron Energy arrived. They gathered around the deceased elder, slowly coming to a halt.
The mech was equipped with a communication device, and the old man's final words had not been lost to the wind. They had been heard by the core members of Burning Iron Energy.
On one hand, they mourned the passing of their former leader. On the other, they looked at the girl in the firelight with awe. If what the old man had said in his final moments was true, then this girl before them was someone who could change the entire Federation, a figure destined to influence its future.
Brod looked at the people around him, took a deep breath, and stepped forward, walking toward the black-haired figure standing in the firelight.
"Your Highness, what should we do now?"
"Your Highness? Why are you calling me that?"
Thilan snapped out of her reverie, slightly surprised.
"Well... that's how the Color-Grade Songstresses of past generations were addressed..."
He was nervous, afraid that his words might displease her.
"Uh... let's not use that title for now. It's not appropriate," the girl shook her head.
Although she was gradually becoming aware of her identity and talent, she was still too young.
"Then how should we address you? Calling you by your name directly doesn't seem right."
"Just call me Thilan."
"Understood, Miss Thilan." Broad breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"I'm not ready to step into the spotlight of the Federation's center stage yet. Please keep my identity confidential for now."
"Of course, of course."
He straightened up, his voice firm.
The lower-level personnel present, though unaware of the girl's exact identity, felt a sense of awe after what had just happened. Seeing their leader act this way, they understood that they wouldn't have to oppose her in the future, and the tension in their hearts eased slightly.
"First, send people to clean up the battlefield and take care of the remaining residents. Also, send someone to inform Black Hammer. I have a lot to discuss with them."
Jumping down from a nearby pile of rubble, the girl gave her orders.
"Yes!"
In the following hour, Lebion sprang back into action. The two warring sides suddenly set aside their hostility and began working together to rescue residents injured in the disaster caused by the fighting. At the same time, a long convoy of vehicles set out from Black Hammer Heavy Industries' headquarters, heading toward the center of the city.
Passing through streets guarded by crimson mechs, the convoy stopped in front of a dilapidated building. The grand structure, shaped like a giant Ω, had once housed Lebion's official institutions.
Entering the building and climbing the stairs, the group finally reached the rooftop, where they saw the figure who had appeared under the full moon not long ago.
"Who are you?"
Facing the black-haired girl, the people from Black Hammer Heavy Industries had their suspicions but weren't certain.
Seeing this, the girl thought for a moment, then nodded to Brod, who was standing beside her. He bowed slightly, then approached the men in black, whispering into their ears.
As they listened, their eyes widened in surprise, then disbelief, and finally, they stood before her with unease and trepidation.
"Let's end things here for today," her voice echoed directly in their minds, as if she were speaking to their souls.
This legendary ability instantly dispelled any doubts or disbelief among them.
"Yes, we will follow your will."
Seeing the changing expressions of the people below, Thilan shook her head slightly, marveling at the deep-rooted awe the Color-Grade Songstresses commanded in the Federation. It wasn't just because Isanisha had founded the Federation, but also because Amuraline, from the age of 20 to 26, had sparked a sweeping transformation across the Federation in just six years. Though her radical methods had led to the Federation's division, even in such adversity, she had forged her faction into a unified force, crushing the opposition and achieving her goals, completing the mid-Federation reforms.
As things gradually settled, the fires in the night slowly extinguished. People sat around the bonfire, counting their numbers, grateful to have survived, and began talking about things they had wanted to do but never had the courage to try.
A light figure leaped down from the tall building, then darted through the streets and alleys, checking on the situation in various places. Seeing that everything was developing as she had hoped, she finally returned to the starting point with relief.
Valk and Phyllis sat around a burning metal barrel, inside which some discarded items were burning.
The two were chatting.
"I didn't expect Thilan to have such an identity," Phyllis poked at the burning cardboard in the barrel with an iron rod.
"She probably doesn't want others to know. After all, such an identity is too shocking," Valk understood.
"Yeah, I'd probably do the same. If it got out, it would be hard to live a peaceful life. The Federation isn't in a good state right now, like a leaking ship with problems surfacing everywhere. Even I've heard a lot about it."
"What should we do when she comes back? Congratulate her? Show respect? Or what?" Phyllis continued, thinking about how to handle the situation.
"That would only make her uncomfortable. Let's just support her quietly and pretend we don't know," Valk suggested, drawing from his past experiences.
Not everything needed to be laid bare; doing so would only make people unhappy.
"Haha, true. Thinking about how shy and embarrassed Thilan usually is, it's really cute. No wonder Alen likes to tease her."
"Oh, so you knew he was teasing me all along?"
Just as Phyllis was reminiscing, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Uh, this..."
Phyllis's voice froze, and he slowly turned his head to see the black-haired girl approaching.
"President… Thilan."
"Hmph." The girl walked past him and sat down by the burning barrel, propping her chin on her hand, seemingly troubled by something.
"Can you help me think of a way to explain things to everyone when we get back?"
"Well, uh... let me think."
Phyllis immediately seized this opportunity to redeem himself, pondering deeply.
"Maybe we can say we didn't know anything, that we just wandered around the city, and the other side suddenly stopped fighting."
"But that huge moon earlier would be hard to hide, right?"
The girl rubbed her forehead.
"Then we can say a mysterious, unknown person attacked the scene and then left. After all, it was so far away; everyone probably didn't realize it was Thilan."
Phyllis continued brainstorming.
"Would that really work? If it gets exposed, wouldn't it be awkward?"
"Maybe we can say that although the two sides fought and used heavy weapons, the casualties on both sides were significant, so they gradually stopped."
"That's barely plausible, but there are still a lot of holes."
To be honest, Thilan didn't like lying. Every lie required more lies to cover it up, and when it was eventually exposed, it would hurt those close to her.
"Then let's say we beat up the leaders of both sides, and they finally accepted a truce. It's unbelievable, but it's the closest to the truth."
Valk, for once, came up with a somewhat reasonable explanation.
"Is that so? Wouldn't that still be a bit too much?"
The girl hesitated, seeking their opinions.
"Not at all, President. You have to believe in yourself. With your abilities, doing something like this is completely normal."
Phyllis cheered on the black-haired girl, who lacked confidence.
"Our President Thilan has the perfect mafia princess persona. It fits perfectly!"
"Alright, you can stop talking now."
The girl waved her hand dismissively, then leaned back, though she still couldn't think of a more reasonable explanation.
"I guess that's it. If it doesn't work, I'll just have to come clean."
She sighed, somewhat nostalgic for the peaceful days of the past six months.
It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough, but everything had happened too quickly. In less than a year, it felt like the world had completely changed.
Having made her decision, the three of them didn't linger any longer and headed back to where they had come from.
Entering the old mansion they had left just a few hours ago, though the time had been short, it felt like centuries had passed. The place was quiet, with only the bonfire still burning in the courtyard. When the three arrived, they didn't see any other members.
"Don't bother looking. Everyone's asleep."
N's voice came from the shadows in a corner of the courtyard, and only then did the three notice him.
The teacher slowly walked out, stoked the bonfire a bit, then pulled out a few warm cans from underneath and tossed them to the three.
"Have something to eat."
After saying this, he returned to the pillar, picked up the half-finished beer, gently shook it to chill it, and then took a sip.
"Quite impressive... even in my wildest days, I never went as far as you guys."
He shook his head, then looked at the black-haired girl by the bonfire.
"I'll help you keep your identity hidden from the others, but you can't act so recklessly in the future. Blocking the satellites in this area was a huge effort even for Edess Academy. Next time, it probably won't be possible to hide it."
"Understood. Thank you, teacher, and everyone."
In the darkness, the lone bonfire continued to burn, illuminating the pitch-black world.