Chapter Fifty-Three: The End · The Moon Sets · The Three Severed Realms of Space

Mu You gripped Bai Zai tightly, their speed soaring as they pierced through the clouds. The air, scorched by intense heat, churned and spread rapidly, opening a white tunnel in the dazzling star-lit sky.

“Let this world tremble for me, you brat of the Bai clan. Begin your hysterical screams and herald my arrival with them!”

As he spoke, Mu You stretched out his hand. Crimson-gold veins surged madly from his arm toward Bai Zai’s battered, ruined body.

“Hiss…”

The searing agony made Bai Zai draw in a sharp breath. It was not just the pain of flames burning flesh, but the torture of fiery energy forcibly injected into every cell, with his body desperately resisting in utter despair.

“Ah!!!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Bai Zai screamed.

“Yes, just like that. Louder!”

Mu You’s chest blossomed with ever-thickening veins, the crimson-gold fire illuminating his cruel smile and Bai Zai’s twisted cries—a scene both grotesque and terrifying.

“Mu You! Big Brother!”

Infused through and through with golden blood, Bai Zai summoned all his strength amidst his screams and, against all odds, pulled the laughing Mu You into his embrace.

The laughter stopped abruptly; the fire faded, and silence reclaimed the summit of the heavens.

“Thank you, Brother Mu You…”

Mu You, held in Bai Zai’s arms, shuddered at those words.

Thank me? Thank me for trying to kill you?

“Your gift, Brother, I received it. I never imagined you’d push yourself to such extremes just to destroy my father… Brother, you are so good to me…”

Drip.

Beneath the cold moonlight, tears shimmered at the corner of Bai Zai’s eye, trailing down his blood-streaked face and falling onto Mu You’s stunned brow, sliding into his lifeless right eye.

“So, Brother, you must wake up! Don’t leave me! I don’t want to lick my wounds alone anymore, don’t want to live alone in this world! Since there’s hope for the future, neither of us can give up! Ugh—”

Bai Zai’s body could no longer withstand the ravages of the flames. Blood burst forth, spraying onto Mu You, but Bai Zai ignored it, holding Mu You tighter, pressing his forehead to Mu You’s just as Mu You had once done for him.

“I believe in you, Brother. You once said you’d soothe my soul descending into darkness with your blood. I am willing to awaken your lost self with my life, because you are my only brother in this world!”

His thunderous cry echoed through the clouds. Tears mixed with blood fell drop by drop onto Mu You’s right eye, and in that silence, they glistened, mingling and streaming down together.

Even Mu You’s left eye began to mist over.

“Impossible… This can’t be! How could a mere human’s mind awaken from my abyss of illusions? What did you do to him, boy? Let go of me! Let go!”

For the first time, fear flickered across Mu You’s face. He frantically beat Bai Zai’s back with his blood-crystal wings, trying to force him to release his grip.

Bai Zai, unable to withstand the blows, spat out more blood—this time, a relentless tide from deep within.

“Heh… hehehe…”

Despite mortal wounds, Bai Zai grinned, his blood-stained smile tragically bright in the night: “Death is not true despair for us. The bonds of those with nothing, the faith of the lonely, such things a bloodthirsty demon like you will never understand.”

“Is that so… Are you truly unafraid of death?” Mu You retorted, grabbing Bai Zai’s face and forcing him down. Bai Zai had no strength to resist, but his swollen, half-closed eyes shone with unwavering resolve, as solid as deep-sea iron.

“So what if you kill me? My brother will avenge me. Even if he’s not your match now, he’ll wait, relentless and undying, until he grinds you to dust!”

“You trust the dead, that pathetic saint, that weak ant?”

Mu You leaned in, scrutinizing Bai Zai’s every expression, especially his eyes, as if to pierce Bai Zai’s feigned calm.

Yet—

“Brother Mu You said, humans become strong and kind because they know their weakness. True hope exists only in despair where one is willing to die…” Bai Zai closed his eyes slowly, then opened them again, his gaze clear and radiant, as if ten suns blazed in his eyes, thunder reigning over the sky.

“I believe in him, though I die without regret!”

“Very well, I’ll grant your wish now!”

Mu You’s blood-red pupils flashed with murderous light, Bai Zai’s crimson-gold markings blazed suddenly, spreading rapidly. On the ground, the condemned only saw a streak of starlight slash across the night sky.

But the starlight vanished like a meteor, its brilliance fleeting, then hidden.

What happened? No explosion?

The condemned exchanged confused glances, wishing for wings to fly up and see.

“This, this…” Mu You stared in disbelief at the scene.

The red lotus phantom that had just formed around Bai Zai froze in midair, and as the golden markings faded, it quietly dissipated.

A completely opposite consciousness began to awaken, surging ever more fiercely.

“You dared to do this to my brother. Very well, very well. Soul-severing worm, I, Mu You, will never forgive you!”

Mu You’s voice, filled with world-consuming wrath, thundered across the heavens.

“Damn you! I’m in control of this body now—you won’t stop me!”

A cold, ruthless voice followed. Two utterly opposed yet equally enraged voices emerged from Mu You’s mouth.

“If you dare… touch him again… try it!!”

Mu You’s right eye blazed with fury. He gripped his own throat so tightly that bones cracked audibly.

“You think I won’t?”

Mu You replied, reaching again for Bai Zai.

“I’ll kill you!”

Blood-crystal wings exploded into countless shards; then a wing of blood-fire reformed at Mu You’s left chest.

The markings on Bai Zai’s body, no longer controlled, flickered in and out.

Mu You surged forward, embracing Bai Zai. Seeing Mu You’s mind restored, Bai Zai smiled, a tragic joy blooming: “Brother…”

“Don’t speak. I’ll use the mask to end the match and take you for healing now.”

Before Mu You could finish comforting him, the blood-light in his left eye flared again, and his wings began to crystallize.

Struggling with his subconscious, Mu You lost balance, tumbling from the sky, but even in falling, he turned himself downward, keeping Bai Zai safe in his arms.

“Brother…”

Lying against Mu You’s warm chest, Bai Zai smiled in contentment, like a child in swaddling—never had he been so happy in his life.

Is this what familial love feels like?

How wonderful…

He wished… time could freeze here forever…

Bai Zai, with deep longing, looked one last time at the still-struggling Mu You, then slipped from his embrace, falling away.

Blood poured unchecked from his mouth, scattering in the air as radiant crimson flowers, spinning into a ring that enveloped Mu You.

“I won’t let Brother die, never!! ‘Final Eclipse: Lunar Space Severance!’”

Moonlight burst forth, a torrent streaming from the heavens onto Mu You, freezing the entire space. Mu You’s plummeting body halted in mid-descent.

“My power is the ability to imprison space and time. Never have I been so grateful for it. At life’s end, to aid my brother—how wonderful. At last, I am not alone. Brother, I am clumsy, but I gave all I had to delay time for you. Let this be my last gift to you. Don’t despise it…”

A shooting star fell swiftly. The crimson-gold markings on Bai Zai’s body finally scattered, and the last glimmer vanished between heaven and earth.