Star Spirit, one of the Twenty-Five Spirits of Divine Bequest, ruler of fate and prophecy.
After realizing who was in front of her, Noah lowered her head in fear. She placed her hand over her chest and bowed deeply to the Star Spirit.
“Praise be to the Star Spirit! To receive your blessing is my honor!”
The Star Spirit smiled slightly.
“No need for formalities, child. Stand up and speak.”
Noah didn’t dare to move. She hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
“I… I don’t dare… They say, ‘Do not look directly at a god,’ right…?”
“Hm? Where did that rule come from?”
The Star Spirit paused, then laughed.
“It’s fine, child, get up. I’m not some evil god, you won’t lose your sanity by looking at me.”
With the Star Spirit’s encouragement, Noah finally dared to straighten up and talk face to face. They walked to the railing of the rooftop and sat on opposite sides of a round table. The Star Spirit tapped the table with a hand and said with a light laugh,
“Would you like something to drink?”
Noah was surprised.
“Do gods need to drink too?”
“Of course. Gods have their own lives too.”
The Star Spirit snapped its fingers, and two cups of black tea appeared on the round table. It pushed one cup toward Noah.
“My tea leaves aren’t as good as Kulu Wuen’s, so don’t mind it.”
“I wouldn’t dare…”
Noah didn’t drink. She timidly looked up at the Star Spirit’s eyes and was surprised to find that this god had heterochromia—gold and purple intertwined, dazzling and enchanting.
Noticing Noah’s stealthy gaze, the Star Spirit smiled faintly.
“What’s wrong, child?”
Noah hesitated, then asked tentatively,
“Um… last time, when I was trapped by the illusions from the divination, was it you who saved me?”
Noah was referring to the time at the back door when countless bizarre illusions had bound her. It was those eyes that helped her escape. Those pupils were so unique that once seen, they could never be forgotten.
“Hm? Which time?”
The Star Spirit genuinely couldn’t remember, but it waved a hand casually.
“Ha, whatever. It was me every time anyway.”
Through the Star Spirit’s account, Noah learned how much the god had secretly helped her. When she first woke up, it was the Star Spirit who told her the secret code. During Death Return, it was the Star Spirit who answered her questions. When she fell into the Sea of Consciousness, it was the Star Spirit who brought her back to reality. Noah didn’t understand what she had done to deserve such attention, so she asked in confusion.
“Great Star Spirit, why do you care about me so much?”
The Star Spirit glanced at her.
“Do you want the truth or a lie?”
“Uh… the truth…”
“Because you are the savior.”
The Star Spirit said it lightly, as if the word meant nothing special.
But Noah’s expression of astonishment was beyond words. She opened her mouth slightly and looked at the Star Spirit with disbelief.
“Heh…”
The Star Spirit turned its head away.
“Just kidding. Don’t mind me.”
“Ah… haha… really? You almost scared me to death…”
Noah was startled by the Star Spirit’s words. She patted her chest to calm her wildly beating heart.
The Star Spirit leaned back in its chair and chuckled.
“Hehe, you can’t be scared to death, because you’re already dead.”
Noah felt as if her heart had stopped. She stared in shock at the Star Spirit, who raised an eyebrow and asked,
“Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you tell your friends to kill you?”
Noah suddenly remembered. After being completely corroded by the Power of Chaos, she had begged Xin and Ska to kill her quickly. Ska shot her in the head with a sniper rifle, which was how she ended up here.
Noah looked around at the stars in surprise and asked instinctively,
“Right… I’m already dead… So why am I still here…”
The Star Spirit across from her suddenly darkened its expression, narrowing its eyes at Noah.
“Then I’ll tell you the truth. Actually, I am the Death God. This isn’t the Temple of Stars; it’s the City of the Dead…”
At the shock on Noah’s face, the Star Spirit burst out laughing. It held its stomach and lightly pounded the round table.
“Hahahaha… I can’t take it anymore! That expression was too funny! Hahahaha…”
Noah felt a vein bulge on her forehead. She never expected the great Star Spirit to be so unserious.
After laughing for a long time, the Star Spirit finally calmed down. It flicked away a tear from the corner of its eye and leaned back in its chair again.
“Alright, I’m done teasing you. There’s one thing I didn’t lie about: you really are dead. That child named Ska shattered your skull. You’re as dead as dead can be.”
“I understand…”
Noah looked at her own hands and asked tentatively,
“Then… am I supposed to undergo Death Return again?”
The Star Spirit seemed puzzled by Noah’s question.
“Death Return? What Death Return?”
“It’s…”
Noah gestured with her hands.
“Aren’t you supposed to say, ‘Time’s up, you need to go back,’ and then I’d return to the very beginning and relive everything that’s already happened?”
After hearing Noah’s explanation, the Star Spirit nodded in sudden understanding.
“Oh… you call it Death Return, huh? That’s quite fitting…”
“Then now I…”
“You can’t go back yet.”
The Star Spirit said seriously.
“Because I haven’t erased the fate of your death yet.”
Under Noah’s astonished gaze, the Star Spirit explained the truth behind Death Return.
“Every time you die, a fact of death is born. I need to delete that fact from your fate, then find a moment in the river of fate you’ve already walked through when you hadn’t yet died. I reset your fate and send you back into a past fate. Everything starts over. Only memories remain. You will walk this path again and try other methods to move forward. You remember what happened before, but the whole world has already returned to the past. What you think of as Death Return is really just me sending you back into a past fate.”
After understanding the truth of Death Return, Noah was filled with shock and confusion. The power of a god was beyond her imagination. But she didn’t understand why the Star Spirit insisted on keeping her alive.
“You… why go to such lengths? Is there some reason I absolutely cannot die?”
Noah voiced her confusion.
Noah knew she wasn’t even a normal human—just a clone from a laboratory. She couldn’t understand why the Star Spirit favored her. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out.
The Star Spirit didn’t answer. It simply glanced at Noah and asked in return,
“Child, do you believe in fate?”
Noah paused. After thinking it over carefully, she nodded.
“I do.”
The Star Spirit continued.
“Then do you believe that fate can be changed?”