"Yes, yes, this is exactly the feeling."
Leon gently shook his head, seemingly very satisfied with Ning Xuan's current state.
"When one day you realize that everything you possess is nothing but emptiness and absurdity, what kind of collapse will such a realization bring?"
"I'm actually more curious about how a real human would react to such a chain of events."
"Unfortunately, I no longer have the patience for it. The ritual is about to begin."
He slowly spread open his hands.
"You are the final amusement, let me feel some fleeting pleasure."
Ning Xuan raised her head and saw the countless empty containers in the hall, along with the liquid they contained.
And in the last container, floating inside, was a girl's head that looked exactly like her.
It seemed she finally remembered the nightmare she had experienced countless times.
She was merely one of an infinite number of replicas. The emotions she possessed, the desire to protect her sister—all of it was just her own delusion.
Her very existence was manufactured, nothing more than bait to lure her sister into this final trap.
How would her sister see her now? Would she still regard her as a sister? Would she look at her with those cold, lifeless eyes?
She was the one who had ultimately betrayed her sister.
Bombarded with these questions, Ning Xuan couldn't help but collapse to her knees. White steam began to rise from her body.
Her body seemed to be disintegrating, collapsing along with her consciousness.
Blue tears streamed endlessly from her eyes, pooling on the ground and mixing with the liquid that had once held her severed head.
"Clang."
Her right leg completely detached from her body, falling to the ground with a sizzling sound, transistors scattering across the floor.
The mechanical wings on her back drooped lifelessly, as if all energy had been drained from them.
"Is this all there is?"
Leon, hovering in the air, looked down at the disintegrating Ning Xuan and made a cold, low comment.
"I thought that after dying multiple times, you might have undergone some change, that some deviation might have emerged from these endless cycles of memory."
"Perhaps something worth observing would have been born."
"Unfortunately, nothing interesting has come of it."
Leon raised his hand high, and the barrier trapping Ning Yu emitted an even brighter light. Intense pain immediately assaulted Ning Yu.
She tried to speak, but the barrier seemed to block all sound. Inside, Ning Yu watched Ning Xuan's utter despair, her heart wracked with torment.
Knowing the truth, Ning Yu understood just how cruel it was for Ning Xuan.
"The amusement is over. Now it's your turn."
Leon no longer paid attention to Ning Xuan on the ground, turning instead to look at Ning Yu trapped within the barrier.
"You asked if I knew what the restraining force is?"
"Let me tell you, within this barrier that isolates everything, even the restraining force is weakened."
"Its ability to detect the possibility of humanity's or the planet's destruction will enter an endless cycle of probing within this barrier, unable to reach a conclusion."
"I will use you to open the door to the origin myself."
Leon slowly floated toward Ning Yu, his voice eerily able to penetrate the barrier and reach her ears.
Soon, the entire hall began to rotate along with the yin-yang fish mural on the ceiling, and countless streams of energy converged toward the center.
They gathered one after another, like newly sprouted branches after rain, clustering toward the sky.
Ning Xuan's emotions were interrupted by the commotion. One of her eyes had already fallen out, leaving only the other.
Suddenly, she looked up and saw Ning Yu's slightly pained expression, as if some mechanism in her heart had been triggered.
"Let go of my... sister..."
She let out a hoarse, almost inaudible voice.
"Hmm?"
Leon suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked down at Ning Xuan, whom he had already dismissed.
"I said... let go!!! of my!!! sister!!!!!"
Ning Xuan's soul-shaking roar suddenly echoed throughout the underground space. The mechanical wings, which had fallen silent, lifted her tattered body back into the air.
Her silver hair floated gently, draped over the mechanical wings, making her look like a fallen angel with broken wings.
"I prepared a show for you sisters, thinking it would no longer be of use..."
Leon tilted his head, glancing sideways at the now airborne Ning Xuan.
"It seems it can still be used after all."
He shifted slightly to the side, watching Ning Xuan with interest.
"So this is your answer? Believing in the mirage you see until the very end."
"Let her go!!!"
Ning Xuan didn't even listen to Leon's words, the energy from her mechanical wings already at maximum.
"You look like a moth flying into the flame now."
Leon didn't move, calmly waiting for Ning Xuan's next action.
"Boom!!!"
All the remaining thrusters on Ning Xuan's prosthetic body were pushed to their limits, the blue flames so bright they illuminated the space like daylight, even scorching her body black.
"Whether I'm real or fake no longer matters to me."
"Protecting my sister is my only belief now, and that is absolutely true!"
Her body, flying at high speed, was about to collide with Leon. Her eyes flickered with blue light at an incredibly high frequency, and the white steam rising from her body grew denser.
As she flew, her last leg fell to the ground, but Ning Xuan paid no attention.
"Stop!! Xiao Xuan, stop!"
Ning Yu, trapped in the barrier, desperately tried to do something, but the Blood Kite's ability to break the barrier was still too slow.
Just as Ning Xuan's body was about to collide with Leon, a violent explosion echoed through the air, the light so bright that Ning Yu had to close her eyes.
When everything settled, Leon remained standing, completely unharmed.
In his hand, he held Ning Xuan's severed head, which he casually tossed aside.
"Fool."
"Your struggle was meaningless from the start."
"And do you know why? Because your origin is [worthlessness]."
Ning Xuan's head, mid-air, caught a glimpse of Ning Yu breaking free from the barrier thanks to the explosion's force, and she smiled with relief.
Finally, the head turned into faint smoke and disappeared completely.
"Clang!"
The sound of a blade rang out.
Freed from the barrier, Ning Yu finally broke free. Even though the Blood Kite's passive ability hadn't been triggered, her eyes were already bloodshot.
An overwhelming killing intent enveloped Leon.
"Don't rush."
Leon looked at Ning Yu, his expression eerily calm.
He pointed to the last remaining replica of Ning Xuan's head in the container and said,
"The truly interesting game is just beginning."