Chapter 1660 1660: The Hidden Star

Above them was a sky they didn't recognize.

It wasn't blue.

It wasn't black.

It was a swirling gradient of silver and lavender, dotted with shimmering motes of starlight drifting so slowly they felt frozen.

They were inside a star.

But the star wasn't burning.

It wasn't hot.

It was like they were in a hollowed sanctuary within the heart of something celestial.

E.E blinked multiple times with a dizzy expression.

Aildris groaned.

Falco collapsed fully, unconscious.

Angy struggled to rise as her voice trembled:

"Wh–where are we…?"

Before anyone could answer—

A streak of purple slammed into E.E, knocking him back.

"E.E!"

He looked up and his expression melted into relief so overwhelming that he burst into tears.

"Elevora?"

She landed directly on him, embracing him so tightly that he winced from the pain of cracked ribs. Then, without hesitation, she pressed her lips to his. Their kiss was messy, desperate, trembling with fear and disbelief.

"Y-You're alive…?" she whispered.

E.E could barely breathe through his tears.

"I thought I lost you—"

"You idiots!"

Another voice cried out.

Aildris looked up to see Endric rushing over, dragging Angy gently into his arms while scanning Falco with frantic hands.

Behind him stood familiar faces:

Sersi, eyes red and exhausted.

Ria, who looked thinner than he had ever been.

Elevora, still clinging to E.E.

Xanatus with his neat hair disheveled and his uniform torn. He looked as though he had aged rapidly due to the current predicament.

"Hey kids..."

"You're here too?" They were all shocked to see a face that had guided them through their younger days.

They were all beaten, injured, grieving but alive.

Angy's breath hitched as she stared around. "Y-you're all here…?"

"It's… it's a miracle," Ria stuttered. "We thought we were the last ones."

"We lost so many," Xanatus added quietly. "Too many."

For several minutes, they all embraced one another, crying, collapsing, confirming through touch that they weren't hallucinations.

Aildris hugged Ria.

Sersi hugged Angy.

Xanatus helped lift Falco.

It was messy and emotional,.

After everything they had gone through, this moment was the first warmth they had felt in weeks.

Finally, Angy pulled away from Sersi and looked around as her frown deepened.

"Wait… where is Gustav?"

Everything stilled.

A shadow passed over Endric's face.

Angy's voice cracked. "Where's Gustav? Why isn't he here?"

E.E stiffened, suddenly realizing something horribly wrong.

"And the ritual…" he muttered. "I—I thought it would be complete by now… Shouldn't he have regained his full Outworldly power? He should've stopped all this! He should've—"

Everyone turned to Endric.

His silence was heavier than gravity.

Even the hidden star seemed to dim... the swirling sky slowing to a crawl.

Finally… he spoke with a coarse tone.

"Gustav is dead."

Angy's breathing stilled instantly...

E.E's jaw dropped.

Aildris staggered back.

Falco who was half-conscious, twitched as if struck.

Elevora gasped.

But Angy…

It was like the universe ripped her heart out.

She let out painful bursts of breaths. "N—No. No, no, no… Endric, stop. Don't—don't joke like that—"

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to her knees.

"What happened?" she screamed as tears began streaming uncontrollably from her face. "What— what happened to him?!"

Endric lowered his head further.

Sersi and Ria were already crying... since they had seen it with their own eyes and had never recovered.

"He fought them," Endric whispered with a trembling voice. "He fought the deities… alone."

E.E clenched his fists, shaking.

"Then the ritual—?!"

"It didn't complete," Endric said. "He didn't regain his Outworldly form. He didn't get his full power back… he had to fight them in the process... and he lost."

His voice cracked.

"…he died protecting the rest of us."

Angy sobbed so hard the air itself seemed to bend around her grief.

She clutched at Endric's shirt, hitting his chest weakly.

"You're lying—! You're lying! He can't be gone—! He promised me— He PROMISED—!"

E.E fell back, covering his face with both hands as his shoulders trembled violently.

Falco turned away with tears streaming silently down his face as he gritted his teeth.

Aildris leaned on Ria, barely able to stand, whispering, "H-He was always ahead of us… How could this…?"

The weight of it crushed everyone.

The one who had held their world together…

The one who had stood at the front of every battle…

The one who always found them

saved them

protected them

no matter the cost…

…was gone.

After long, suffocating moments, Endric forced himself to speak again.

"This place…" he gestured to the star around them with a hollow voice, "…was his final act. He created this hidden star at the very last moment. It exists outside normal space and time. Outside the perception of the deities."

E.E wiped his face weakly. "Why…? Why would he—?"

"To protect us," Endric said. "Even in his final moments… he was thinking of us."

No one could speak for a long time.

They were safe.

Saved.

Alive.

But victory felt fake.

Salvation felt cruel.

And safety felt hollow.

Because the one person who should have been standing with them…

…wasn't.

Despite their survival…

Despite the sanctuary…

No one was happy.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

Time inside the hidden star flowed normally, but emotionally, it felt like eons had dragged across their hearts.

The swirling lavender–silver skies of the pocket dimension became a reminder that they were cooped up here because the real universe outside was dying.

Every day was heavy.

Every breath held grief.

Every hour reminded them that Gustav... their friend, their brother, their leader... was gone.

This pocket star had been his last act. A sanctuary carved from his collapsing power. A miracle born in his final moments. And despite how incredible it was... despite the fact that it shielded them from deities... their refuge felt more like a gilded cage.

Because no matter how safe they were, they were helpless.

---

Reports came back from the few who dared peek outside through concealed dimensional slits that Endric maintained.

Entire galaxies were on fire.

Solar systems bent unnaturally, torn apart under divine whims.

Planets screamed their final death throes before being crushed.

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