My Instant Death Doomed Firefly to a Lifetime of Regret

The warframe's integrity had dropped below 20%. Its continued operation defied logic.

Weapons shattered, only Firefly's azure blades remained.

Life force dwindling, yet movement persisted.

Anming breathed through the paradox—his vitality inexplicably regenerating. Was it his innate resilience, or the command "Don't die" etched into his bones? Whatever the reason, he still stood.

"Don't die, Anming."

He gripped Firefly's twin swords, exhaustion and power warring in his veins.

One last step.

To forge her future.

Purple fissures crawled across his neck—Propagation's final curse, a lethal tax for burning its blood.

900% Symbiosis couldn't slay a Monarch. He needed the true Emberblade Knight—perfection incarnate.

Through streets lined with terrified survivors, past mountains of broken warframes, Anming faced the god-insect again.

Its enormity blotted hope from the sky. Yet where courage faltered, love endured.

Cracks webbed the molten armor. A dying spark flickered at its core.

Each step left flaming footprints. Cyan blades burned gold in his grasp—Firefly's presence fused with his own.

Eyes closed. Opened.

Golden.

"BURN!"

He charged. The Monarch laughed, cosmic bone-fragments coalescing—a strike that once split planets, now aimed to erase Glamoth.

Shatter stars, earn the title Starbreaker.

Fire engulfed Anming. Only those golden eyes blazed clear—human defiance crystallized.

Fireflies charge into flames.

"From death, life!"

Azure blades met celestial bone. World-crushing weight pressed down. Armor screeched, fissures spreading.

Not enough.

What's the key to transcendence?

Memories flashed—Firefly's laughter crystallized.

If life and soul aren't enough…

Burn this love too.

The dying core flared gold.

[SYMBIOSIS: 1000%]

Golden inferno consumed the warframe. Blades dissolved into pure radiance. Limits? Humanity's heart knew none.

Anming was the Emberblade Knight.

Cracks of light fractured his face. A sun ignited in the void.

He'd become her dawn.

Golden blades advanced. Cosmic bone powdered under endless slashes.

The Monarch trembled. Four spatial-rending wings struck—

Clang!

Gold flashed. Severed wings rained ichor.

Anming's body faded to ash. "Sorry… breaking my promise."

He'd never lied to her.

Just this once.

Golden flames cleansed Glamoth's sky. Cracks consumed his vision. He gripped phantom blades, remembering—

Her pouting face.

Summer nights baring her soul.

Smiles brighter than supernovae.

The way she watched him sleep.

All fire channeled into one strike.

"DIE."

Golden meteor pierced infinity.

The Monarch froze. Dissolved into stardust.

Anming hovered, watching jubilant crowds below.

Falling.

All stars burn out.

"Anming?"

"ANMING—!"

Firefly clawed from the crater, ignoring torn ligaments, sprinting through celebrating throngs.

No.

"We survived!"

"Praise the heavens!"

"Long live Glamoth!"

No.

NO—!

Tears shattered on pavement. She stumbled past laughing politicians, through snowing ashes, until—

Bellflowers.

There he stood, tall amidst the blooms, backlit by Glamoth's rising sun.

[SYMBIOSIS TERMINATED]

Gold faded. The warframe crumbled.

Firefly collapsed, clutching empty armor. Distantly, cheers echoed.

Somewhere, a firefly's glow winked out.