Star Rail： Chant of the Terminal Paradise

The Shattered Star Abyss

The depths of the Shattered Star Abyss remained oppressively silent. The Radiance ghosted through the void, guided solely by the azure pulse of the Tracker Alpha.

Ester stood before the viewport, his ice-blue eyes reflecting the fractured starlight. Ahead lay Sam– the echo of Glamoth, the Star Hunters' lethal blade, the harbinger of Finality.

He pursued not just an enemy, but the truth behind the Knights of Beauty's shattering and Caelus's descent into the abyss.

"'Tracker Alpha' confirms high-yield Void implosion residue. Coordinates locked. Signature match: 99.8%. Target: Sam. Warning: Severe gravitational turbulence and stellar debris interference." The main AI's voice was cold.

"Reduce speed. Maintain stealth. Prepare the Starlight assault shuttle." Ester's command was iron.

"Warning: Extreme danger! Recommend evasive action or reinforcements!"

"Execute." He needed answers face-to-face, not obliterating fire.

Confrontation

The Starlight slid like a silver needle through a canyon of planetary wreckage. Ester focused intently, his power of Beauty coiled like frost on a blade's edge.

Finally, on a vast, open floating platform, he saw his target.

Sam stood with his back turned, deep grey armor like a cold tombstone under the crimson glow of a dying star. The silver-white data mask scrolled relentlessly, the constant blue optical sensors burning. No energy flared, only the inhuman, suffocating pressure radiating into the vacuum.

Ester closed in, a shadow merging with the dark. The instant his foot touched the platform edge, Sam's icy, metallic consciousness vibrated directly within his mind:

"Ester of Beauty. Your footsteps arrive 0.73 standard hours ahead of the 'Script's' projection. Did Herta's toy accelerate your journey into despair?" Sam turned slowly, his blue optics locking precisely onto Ester's hiding spot as if the shadows were glass.

A chill ran through Ester. Concealment was pointless. He stepped fully onto the platform, facing Sam. Though **Oathkeeper** remained sheathed, pure white light flickered at its edge like contained lightning.

"Sam!" Ester's voice cracked like ice. "Caelus's fall, the Knights' fracture… your shadow looms over it all! What is the Star Hunters' aim?!"

Sam's head tilted at a precise angle, data accelerating across his mask.

"Shadow? No, Knight. I merely… reveal inevitability." The metallic tone held no inflection. "Look upon your cherished Knights: Where is their former glory? Where are the comrades sworn to protect? Caelus embraced the surge of power, turning his blade on brothers. The others? Fallen. Lost. Or like you, scouring the ruins of shattered faith for a phantom long vanished – the Aeon of Beauty, Idrila."

Sam took a step forward. The heavy metal footfall made no sound in the vacuum, yet it resonated in Ester's core.

"Data does not lie, Ester." The cold thought continued. "You know the Knights' plight best since Idrila's fall… The creed you uphold, the 'Beauty' you guard… before cold reality, it's as fragile as paper. The 'god' you served abandoned her garden, left it to wither, rot, and turn upon itself!"

Ester's breath caught. The Knights' decline, the tragedy of brother against brother, Idrila's enduring silence… these were the roots of his sleepless nights.

But he clenched his jaw, eyes sharp as ever. "You faithless criminals have no right to question us! The Knights' glory *will* be reforged in conviction!"

"Conviction?" Sam emitted a short, emotionless burst of static – a mockery. "Conviction didn't stop your brothers piercing comrades' hearts. Conviction doesn't halt the Omen Knight's power corrupting world after world. Your 'Beauty'… before the coming new order… is but an echo of the past, destined for the dust of Finality."

"Lies!" Rage ignited within Ester. Sam not only denied his faith but defiled all he protected. He refused to believe in any "New God" or "New Order."

"Your poison ends here."

"Poison?" Sam's blue optics burned steadily. "Then let your blade be the arbiter, Knight of Beauty. See if your conviction is stronger, or the 'Finality' path revealed by the 'Script' is unstoppable." He slowly raised an armored arm, palm facing Ester. "Let this battle be… the final elegy for your faith."

As the thought resonated, Sam's consciousness delivered a cold proclamation, a doomsday horn blaring in Ester's mind:

"Witness… I Shall Burn Away the Seas!"

Apocalyptic fire erupted without warning from every seam in Sam's armor. Blistering heat instantly warped space, transforming the cold stone platform into a furnace.

Sam became a deep-grey cyclone of destruction, shrieking across the hundred-meter gap in an instant. His fist, wreathed in annihilating energy, plummeted like a meteor towards Ester's face.

Combat erupted with primal fury at Sam's declaration.

The Dance of Blades

Ester's pupils constricted. Oathkeeper flashed from its sheath. Pure white light, like the first dawn, surged with absolute resolve to cleave the darkness, meeting the torrent of destruction.

CLANG—!!!

A deafening detonation of energy spread silently in the vacuum.

White radiance clashed violently with inferno. The shockwave instantly pulverized nearby floating boulders.

From the first clash, Ester fought unlike ever before. Gone was the defensive knight seeking openings. He became a blood-seeking blade unsheathed. Oathkeeper transformed into a storm of pure white light.

His strikes were needle-sharp, faster than lightning, aimed at the blue core of Sam's optics. Sam's head shifted a hair's breadth; the blade scraped the mask, trailing sparks. Simultaneously, a small energy shield snapped from Sam's left forearm, blocking Ester's near-simultaneous sweep at his legs.

Ester spun, his blade weaving a net of intersecting white lines, sealing escape routes.

Sam's thrusters flared – not retreating, but shifting, rolling at impossible micro-angles, as if foreseeing each strike's fall, slipping through lethal gaps. His right fist, sheathed in blue fire, drove an uppercut towards Ester's ribs.

Ester recalled his blade. Pure white light coalesced instantly into a shield before him.

BOOM!

Sam's fist hammered the shield. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Ester used the force to retreat—Sam anticipated every attack, every defense. His movements were precise, efficient, devoid of waste—rehearsed a thousand times!

Ester intensified his assault, a tempest of steel. His blade became a white comet, tearing through space, aimed at Sam's heart.

Intricate energy circuits flared across Sam's chest armor. As the tip touched, a layer of deep blue force field materialized. The blade plunged in, slowed as if through viscous mud.

Sam's left hand shot out like a serpent, armored fingers glowing with heat, grasping for Ester's sword wrist.

Ester flicked his wrist. Oathkeeper erupted with blinding light. Razor-sharp beams of white energy, like spreading wings, spun towards Sam's grip.

HISS!

The beams scored deep, glowing furrows into Sam's armor, forcing release. But Sam's assault didn't pause. Leg thrusters ignited. A devastating side-kick, trailing crimson fire, slammed towards Ester's flank.

Ester blocked, dodged, countered. White light and fire clashed, annihilated, and rebirthed amidst the shattered stars.

Each exchange teetered on the brink. Each time, Sam seemed a step ahead, anticipating Ester's intent, countering with minimal effort.

Ester's attacks were a raging tsunami. Sam was the unyielding reef, precisely absorbing and dispersing every surge.

Ester's heart sank. The inhuman combat efficiency, the preternatural anticipation… this surpassed any foe he'd known. It wasn't just experience.

"Your struggle is meaningless, Ester." Sam's icy thought pierced the fray.

Ester leaped back, gripping Oathkeeper with both hands, raising it high. The dormant power of Beauty within him surged like a volcano held for millennia.

"In the name of Beauty—Luminescent Sanctum: Return to Truth!"

Light, purer and more intense than any sun, erupted from Ester in a supernova burst.

A domain of pure white, far vaster and more stable than before, instantly engulfed the entire platform and surrounding debris field.

Within its bounds, chaotic Void energy was forcibly calmed. Shattered stasis seemed paused. Even the flames licking Sam's armor froze, suppressed.

This was Ester's all-out strike, his ultimate defiance against Sam's cold "Script."

As the domain formed, Ester braced for Sam's violent counter. Yet, Sam offered none.

He stood motionless at the domain's center, letting the torrent of white light wash over his armor, extinguishing his flames. Those calm blue data-optics remained fixed on Ester.

The domain's power didn't just constrain space; it granted Ester unparalleled perception.

He didn't unleash destruction. He focused the domain's power into *sensing* – perceiving Sam's very existence.

The white light became a precision scanner, piercing Sam's deep-grey armor. Ester's consciousness, caught in a torrent, slammed into Sam's core datastream!

The Script Revealed

Ester's mind felt blasted apart by fragmented information. He saw:

* Countless data points about *himself* – combat footage, energy spectral analysis, behavioral prediction models, psychological profiles… detail surpassing any intelligence agency. These streams wove chains, forming a vast net labeled "Ester."

Flashes of the so-called "Script": cold, fragmented text: "…Ester arrives Shattered Star Abyss… Dialogue Node: Faith Interrogation… Combat Node: …Domain… Perception Access…"

"…Critical Variable Implantation: Stellaron… 'Reshape Essence'… Beauty… Aeon…"

* A perspective beyond time, coldly surveying the board. Within Sam's perception, Ester's every sword stroke, every energy surge, even this very act of domain perception, ran like clockwork, perfectly simulated by a preset model.

Ester's breathing grew ragged. He saw it. Everything Sam claimed. The Knights' fracture, Caelus's fall… the cold images and data, however brutal, held undeniable truth. More terrifying was the "Script" itself.

Sam's ease wasn't born of invincible personal power. It was because *he*, Ester, his actions, his reactions, even this domain perception… were predicted, *guided* by that icy Script.

He was a puppet, dancing on invisible strings of fate.

Yet, in this moment of shattered worldview, Ester's ingrained vigilance and knightly resilience clawed back a shred of clarity. The massive information dump brought not conviction, but deeper dread.

"*Star Hunters… cannot be trusted!*" The thought anchored itself in his storm-tossed mind.

Sam revealed the "Script," unveiled truths… but to what end? To push him towards that "fusion" choice? Was this part of the Script?

He could trust nothing from the Star Hunters, even wrapped in "truth."

At that moment, Sam moved. As if merely unpaused, the "Script" progressed. The white light coating his armor was violently forced apart, shredded by blue fire!

"How does truth taste, Knight?" Sam's cold thought pierced the chaos.

"The next scene of the 'Script' beckons. Your 'Finality'… or your chosen path of 'Salvation'… we… shall see."

Blue fire surged. Sam transformed into a deep-grey bolt of lightning, shattering the domain's edge barrier. He vanished into the endless dark debris field, leaving only raging energy turbulence and the dissipating motes of shattered starlight.

Aftermath

Ester knelt on the cold platform, Oathkeeper driven into the stone, supporting his trembling form. The relentless high-intensity combat, even for him, had taken its toll. The weakness after the domain's collapse warred with the agony of the information assault in his mind.

He was deathly pale, sweat soaking his under-armor. Images of the Knights' tragedy Sam had shown flashed like nightmares. The incomprehensible existence of the "Script" filled him with unprecedented insignificance and… the dread of being a puppet.

He almost believed Sam's cold, cruel "inevitability."

But the alarm bell – "*Star Hunters cannot be trusted!*" – clanged madly in his soul. What was their endgame in pushing this, revealing this?

Saelum… The name Caelus had spoken flickered through his chaos.

"Radiance… set course… Lucerius Star." He gave the command, his voice thick with unprecedented turmoil.

The Radiance's massive frame erupted with blinding light, tearing through the Shattered Star Abyss's silence. Like a comet trailing chaotic fire, it surged towards the world awaiting him – a crucible of unknowns and fateful choices.

The broken platform drifted slowly apart in the ship's engine wash, mirroring the fractured, storm-wracked landscape within Ester's own mind.

Sam's "Script" had turned to its most critical page. And Ester stood at the precipice of the abyss, staring into the forbidden fire of the Stellaron – a flame that promised either salvation or utter destruction.