After going a full hour without finding a single piece of World Graveyard, Rita stopped wasting ti on it. Maybe she could find one or two more if she kept searching, but it wasn’t worth the effort. She had more important things to do.
She imdiately ordered the ship to return to BS and prepared to descend on Dawn.
As she jumped off the ship, she overheard Calico whispering to Maine, saying it was sotis impossible to tell whether BS Rita was driven by logic or emotion.
Riding Nivalis through the gateway connecting BS to Dawn, Rita appeared inside a BS-controlled dungeon within Dawn.
The mont she descended, BS’s invasion progress against Dawn surged by 8%.
"Invasion progress has reached full descent threshold."
"Initiate BS descent?"
Rita chose yes.
In an instant, the surroundings, once clearly styled after BS, faded away. She had descended into Dawn’s real world.
Dawn Cicada arrived almost imdiately.
"Everything’s ready here. Once you defeat , you can start attacking Dawn."
As soon as she finished speaking, she surrendered directly as Dawn’s leader.
Rita stepped on the ground of Dawn and imdiately saw its health bar, ten tis larger than BS’s. She asked,
"No need to call Maple Syrup to make cookies?"
Dawn Cicada replied,
"No need. Lania Kaia has more available capacity than I expected. We don’t need Maple Syrup for this anymore."
Rita didn’t waste another word. Golden rain curtain spread instantly. She glanced at the sun hanging overhead and said,
"Alright. Hopefully I can still make it back in ti for dinner."
Dawn Cicada’s expression twisted for a split second before smoothing out. Even Smoke Tune, who had just arrived, showed the sa reaction.
Rita didn’t understand what that ant at the ti. She thought they were just cringing at her awkward comnt.
But by nightfall, she understood.
She spent the entire afternoon hamring Dawn like she was plowing a field, and only managed to take down one third of its health. To make sure all honor points went to her, she couldn’t let Mistblade or the others help.
Dawn Cicada and Smoke Tune had already pulled out chairs and sat down. In the distance, BS and Dawn players could be heard chatting through translators.
Rita couldn’t help asking,
"Are worlds always this hard to destroy?"
Dawn Cicada, experienced in war, explained,
"Not if you follow a normal war process.
"World inhabitants are part of the world itself. Normally, as they die or collapse during war, the world’s condition deteriorates. If all leaders are defeated and enough inhabitants die, you can even execute the world directly.
"But it works differently the other way around.
"Look at BS right now. It definitely has a lot of positive buffs.
"Your Starsea reputation, combat ranking, and the mindset of BS players all matter. Whether they’re hopeful about the future or already resigned, whether the land is celebrating or mourning, all of it affects the world’s state."
She suddenly stopped, her expression turning cold.
Smoke Tune continued,
"Dawn’s inhabitants all know they’ll move to BS after Dawn breaks. Most of them are actually looking forward to it."
In other words, even though Dawn Cicada had surrendered, Dawn’s buffs hadn’t dropped much, because the entire world was filled with anticipation and optimism.
Ever since BS announced the invasion, Dawn players had been packing like they were moving to a new ho.
Rita paused her attacks and asked,
"Do Dawn’s inhabitants know about world skills? Or the rankings?"
Otherwise, how could they be so sure BS was the better destination?
Dawn Cicada remained silent, looking into the distance.
Smoke Tune smiled.
"Because this is Dawn Cicada’s plan. If she tells them to move to BS, they’ll believe it’s the best choice. And besides..."
She didn’t finish the sentence, but Rita understood.
Besides, there were no true native inhabitants left in Dawn anymore. No one had any attachnt to staying.
Rita said nothing and resud bombarding the world.
It wasn’t until the next morning that she finally depleted Dawn’s health bar completely.
"Battle Announcent: ’BS’ has destroyed ’Dawn.’ Dawn has shattered."
"Congratulations to BS for advancing to six-star."
Beams of light carried BS and Dawn players into BS. Massive cracks spread across the ground below.
Rita, Dawn Cicada, and the others rose into the air, silently watching Dawn collapse.
As the world that once held the Beacon of Destruction shattered, Dawn Cicada and Smoke Tune both wore complicated expressions. No single emotion could describe it.
In the silence, Dawn Cicada suddenly asked,
"If you found out right now that there were still tens of millions of Dawn inhabitants left, and BS couldn’t take them in, so they fell into Starsea... what would you feel?"
Rita answered without expression,
"That won’t happen. Dawn still has Vineborne. You wouldn’t allow sothing like that."
Dawn Cicada didn’t call out the slight tremor in Rita’s pupils. Instead, she smiled, clearly in a good mood.
"Right. So, are you going to let be a leader of BS?"
"Do whatever you want," Rita said casually. "They say leaders share honor and disgrace with their world, but if it’s not your own world, I don’t see any real downside."
"I used to think the sa."
"What?"
"I asked that question too. I asked a lot of leaders, especially Quex. Everyone said they hadn’t noticed any effect. But just now..."
Dawn Cicada waved her hand, and a massive clock projection appeared before her. On the twelve ti markers, the nural V had turned red.
"This is the notification I received when Dawn shattered. I enjoyed the honor of being Dawn’s leader, so I have to bear the disgrace of its destruction. This ti marker becos a danger point. Whenever any of my attribute indicators point to this ti, my fatal weaknesses double."
At that mont, everyone present thought of Quex.
If the cost of sharing a world’s fate was displayed on this clock after losing divine protection, then Quex must have known the price of betraying Tiger Ear before she did it.
...
Quex sat atop a palace built from reefs, staring blankly at the massive clock before her.
Of the twelve ti markers, nine had turned crimson. Only III, VI, and X still shone with brilliance.
Footsteps sounded behind her. She didn’t dismiss the clock projection.
"What is that?"
A Celestialkin from Dark Reef asked.
They hadn’t lost divine protection yet, didn’t have a clock arena, and couldn’t understand it.
Quex answered softly,
"Ti markers. Each red marker represents a world that shattered while I was its leader."
She had worked for countless worlds. The reason she kept moving from one world to another wasn’t bad luck. It was her consistent choice. She preferred weaker worlds. She didn’t like invading others.
And this ti, she had beco the invader while standing as the invaded.
The one behind her asked,
"The cost of betraying Tiger Ear is high, isn’t it?"
Quex didn’t answer. She was afraid her voice would break if she spoke.
She wanted to say, without hesitation, "Compared to what I gained, it’s not much."
But the truth was, the one who paid the greater price wasn’t her.
It was Tiger Ear.
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