Tokyo Bay's night sky was like crushed stars, and among the Glyph Tree's branches, seven-color petals grew visibly. Each new leaf glowed with warm gold light from the string lights Chaoyan's mother had hung that morning, called "bedtime story lights for Xiaokui".
"Captain, look at this." Xiaotao approached with a tablet, showing new research data. "Global Glyph Core resonance frequencies suddenly synchronized—identical to the fluctuations when Su Jiuli awakened Dragon-Locking Abyss three days ago."
Lanye took the tablet, fingertips tracing the screen's curve—a gentle wave, just like a heartbeat's rhythm, matching his Reverse Scale Core's pulse exactly.
"Maybe it's..."
"We're 'tying the knot'."
A clear voice came from behind. The squad turned to see Su Jiuli standing by the French windows, moonlight silvering her outline. The birthmark on her neck had fully faded, replaced by seven-color patterns like Lanye's Core, now glowing with the glyph resonance.
"Tying the knot?" Sakura tilted her head. "What knot?"
"The Knot of Love." Su Jiuli stood beside Lanye, fingertip brushing his Reverse Scale Core. "The Dragon-Locking Abyss bronze fragment says when seven-color light forms a galaxy, all love-awakened Glyph Cores connect into a 'Love Net'. It's not a restraint, but..." She smiled, "a quilt the world weaves together with love."
In the late-night lab, Su Qinghuan sat in her wheelchair, dried flowers on her lap. Her Core glowed gentle pink, resonating with Chaoyan's star meteorite bracelet.
"Xiaokui," the old woman spoke more clearly, "you used to say Glyph Cores are 'star fragments' when you were little."
Chaoyan's eyes reddened instantly. She remembered age five, crouching under the Glyph Tree: "Mom, are these star tears?" Her mother smiled: "Yes, each holds someone's love."
"I keep dreaming of a place," the old woman traced cherry blossom carvings on the wheelchair. "Cherry trees, seven-color petals, and..." She paused. "A man in bronze armor holding a bleeding maiden."
Lanye's breath caught. He recalled Dragon-Locking Abyss murals—General Suolong carrying his sister to the altar, matching perfectly.
"That's..."
"Me."
A hoarse voice came from the lab door. A maiden in dark green armor stood there, a diamond-shaped jade glyph on her forehead, similar to Su Jiuli's but more heroic.
"You are..." Su Li's Time Glyph expanded, star tracks twisting wildly. "Three hundred years ago..."
"Su Jiuli." The maiden's name blurted out. Her fingertip touched the old woman. "This is my grandmother, Su Qinghuan."
Silence fell. Chaoyan trembled, touching her grandmother's cheek—warmth matched the woman who cooked pumpkin congee.
"Grandma?"
"Xiaokui." Tears fell on Chaoyan's hand. "Grandma didn't forget. But..." She looked at Su Jiuli. "Some things must be told by me."
The Glyph Tree rustled. A silver leaf fell into Su Jiuli's palm, forming a three-century memory projection:
—At stormy Dragon-Locking Abyss, Young General (Lanye's face overlapped) carried the bleeding maiden (Su Jiuli's outline) toward the collapsing altar. A light blue birthmark on her neck matched Su Jiuli's.
"Li," the youth's voice pierced mist, "Reverse Glyphs will take you away, but remember—"
"I won't leave!" Tears fell on his hand. "I want to live with you!"
The general smiled, touching her neck: "Silly girl, your birthmark is a 'Symbiosis Seal'. As long as Reverse Glyphs exist, I'll find you in the next life even if I die."
"Will it hurt?"
"Pain is good." He pressed her hand to his chest. "Pain proves we're alive."
The projection distorted. The maiden's birthmark oozed black mist, the general's Reverse Glyphs covered his body. Their Cores glowed brightly, colliding—
"Bang!"
The lab's glyph barrier ruptured. Black mist flooded in, swallowing Su Jiuli.
"Li!" Chaoyan screamed, thrown back by mist.
"Don't fear." Lanye's Core burst with seven colors, shielding them. "Side effect of memory projection."
Cries came from the mist: "Why... make me remember this?"
"Because you should." The berserk guardian's phantom appeared, his Core warm. "Three hundred years ago, you jumped into the time rift to save the general. Your Core holds half the key to Dragon-Locking Abyss—"
"And the other half," Su Qinghuan interjected, "is here."
She took a sandalwood box from under the wheelchair, revealing a bronze fragment—matching Lanye's attic find.
"When the general sealed the Erosion Beast with Reverse Glyphs, he gave half to my grandmother," the old woman sobbed. "He said a girl named Su Jiuli would come with the other half to solve all mysteries."
Su Jiuli trembled, removing the birthmark from her neck. Beneath it lay half the bronze pattern. When the fragments touched, the lab blinded in white light.
When it faded, they stood at Dragon-Locking Abyss.
A seven-color petal carpet led to the altar, its sarcophagus inscribed with the same blood words: "The seventh knot will be untied by the Reverse Scaler at the bottom of Dragon-Locking Abyss on the night of the lunar eclipse."
"So that's it..." Lanye looked at the inscription. "The seventh knot wasn't a restraint, but..."
"A key." Su Jiuli's Core resonated with the Reverse Scale, seven-color light like a galaxy. "A key connecting past and future."
The sarcophagus rumbled. Black chains surged from mist but shattered on touching seven-color light. Lanye saw the "knot" was a net of "love threads", each tied to an ordinary warmth:
Chaoyan feeding a stray, Coalball nuzzling her palm;
Sakura guiding a lost child, his milky "Jiejie";
A Jiu's crows shielding her, feathers on her face;
Su Qinghuan cooking congee, jasmine scent;
Lanye understanding "Love isn't weakness" as Yue Kui blocked a blow.
"So..." Su Jiuli choked. "We've been tying this knot all along."
The sarcophagus snapped shut. Black mist vanished, revealing new words:
"Love is not an accessory to Glyphs; it is why Glyphs exist.
When you light your flame for another,
the entire world will make way."
On the way back, Su Jiuli traced her neck mark, now glowing with seven colors like Lanye's Core.
"I wasn't alone." She whispered.
"You never were." Lanye held her hand. "We're all stars strung by love."
Tokyo Bay's Glyph Tree sprouted new buds, each leaf stardusted with "remembering" moments wrapped in love.
Beyond sight, in a dark vortex, the last defiant roar faded, replaced by countless tiny lights—new hopes kindled by love.