Chapter 100: Write It Down, Write Down Cocolia's Words!
High atop the snow-swept platform, Cocolia looked down at the newly arrived Astral Express Crew. The howling winds whipped at her heavy coat as she finally laid bare the bloody truth of the Eternal Freeze.
She spoke of the first Supreme Guardian, driven to the brink of despair by the relentless Antimatter Legion, making a desperate, doomed wish to the Stellaron. The Eternal Freeze was no natural phenomenon; it was the apocalyptic fallout of that single plea. A cold, mocking smile touched Cocolia's lips as she ridiculed the sheer hypocrisy of humanity. They shunned the Stellaron as a cursed object, yet arrogantly attempted to harness its infinite power using fragile inhibitors cobbled together from old-era technology.
"Don't you see yet, Bronya?"
Cocolia's voice drifted over the howling wind. It resembled a frozen lake—deceptively calm on the surface, yet hiding a bone-chilling, lethal depth beneath.
"There is no right or wrong here... there is only human arrogance and shortsightedness."
"Our ancestors, including Alisa Rand... they burned their very lives to sustain this fragile civilization. And for what? Only to fade into absolute silence, their memories scattered and buried by the endless wind and snow."
She slowly raised her chin, looking up at the oppressive, bruised-grey sky. Her sharp gaze seemed to pierce straight through the heavy clouds, searching for the silent, indifferent stars beyond.
"They spent their entire lives composing grand hymns to human courage, yet they could never find the time to simply gaze up at the starry sky."
"To the grander existences dwelling among the stars, a thousand years is nothing but a singular grain of sand slipping through an hourglass. The fleeting achievements of our tiny, insignificant race are not worth a single glance."
Her icy eyes drifted back down, locking onto Bronya with a gaze filled with near-pitying determination.
"I will not repeat their foolish mistakes. I refuse to sit here feeling sorry for myself on a dead-end path."
She paused, letting the silence stretch over the snowfield.
"If persistence is destined to be futile... then choose... a brand new start."
Despite her flawless, villainous delivery, Cocolia's chest tightened with a heavy surge of emotion. If Leon had not intervened, if he had not pulled her back from the brink, she knew with terrifying certainty that she would have truly sunk into the darkness just like this. She would have spoken these exact words, meaning every single one of them.
But everything was different now. Belobog would be saved. She would willingly shoulder all the sins, all the shadows, and play the tyrant to perfection, just to pave a flawless, sunlit path for Bronya's future reign.
What the Supreme Guardian did not know, however, was that inside a highly exclusive, interdimensional Aeon group chat, a certain entity was currently losing their mind with joy.
[Aha: Write it down! Quickly write it down! Aha wants to mock that giant blockhead Qlipoth!]
[Fuli: Recording, recording... The Light Cone is already in production.]
Indeed, the supreme beings of the universe, alongside Leon, were silently eating popcorn and watching this dramatic family confrontation unfold in real-time.
"But Qlipoth of Preservation..." Bronya's voice trembled slightly, her breath misting in the freezing air. "Isn't He one of the grand existences you just mentioned? Isn't it His power that has been protecting Belobog all along?"
She clenched her hands tightly at her sides, her fingernails biting deep into the soft flesh of her palms. She had the script. She knew every single word of this was a carefully orchestrated performance designed by Leon. Yet, standing here on this desolate platform, hearing her mother speak with such a desperate, chillingly certain tone, she still felt a phantom knife twisting brutally in her chest.
Cocolia's acting was entirely too real.
It was so terrifyingly authentic that Bronya could hardly distinguish which line belonged to Leon's script and which was a dark, suffocating thought her mother had truly harbored during her years of isolation. This must have been the exact, desperate abyss her mother had once faced alone. This was the tragic fate she was absolutely destined to fall into, had it not been for their mysterious benefactor's timely intervention.
'But fortunately... he was there.' Bronya murmured in her heart, a flicker of deep gratitude warming her freezing blood.
"Preservation?" Cocolia chuckled. The sound was hollow, dripping with cold, biting mockery. "When has Preservation ever spared a single glance for humanity?"
"That is nothing but the self-righteous delusion... of the City builders."
She raised one gloved hand toward the swirling vortex above, tilting her head as if listening to phantom whispers echoing from the void.
"You will hear the true voice of grandeur soon enough, Bronya... and then, you will finally understand my choice."
[Aha: Hahaha! "When has Preservation ever spared a glance for humanity"... Aha is dying of laughter! Write it down, write it down! Send it to the Amber Lord immediately!]
[Fuli: Tentative Light Cone title: "Preservation? When has Preservation ever spared a glance for humanity?"]
[Nanook: A seedling worth watching.]
"No..." Bronya shook her head, her voice dropping low but ringing with sudden firmness. "It's not like that..."
"That's enough brainwashing, Witch."
A sharp, defiant voice sliced through the heavy atmosphere. Seele's lithe figure stepped forward, her boots crunching heavily against the ice as she forcibly interrupted the tense mother-daughter confrontation.
"Bronya, I don't know exactly what the hell happened between you two." Seele looked directly at her companion, her tone as sharp and unyielding as the blade of her weapon. "Even if you tried to explain it to me right now, I wouldn't understand all those convoluted, high-society politics."
She planted her feet firmly, shifting her weight. "But there are two things I know very well..."
She held up a single, defiant finger.
"First, these Express guys worked their asses off to get all the way up here just to seal that glowing disaster you call a 'Stellaron'."
Then, she snapped up a second finger.
"Second, remember what I told you down in the Underworld? If anything happens to you, I'll definitely come to save your ass."
Seele adjusted her grip on her massive scythe, the metallic shaft gleaming in the dim light. Her violet eyes locked onto Bronya, completely unwavering.
"So you understand, right? Even if you've been completely brainwashed by that crazy woman and forgotten the promise between us..." She flashed a fierce, feral grin. "I'm going to knock you out and drag you back myself."
Her voice was absolute steel, leaving absolutely zero room for doubt or negotiation. Whether Bronya was bewitched, manipulated, or simply stubborn, Seele was taking her away from this frozen hellscape.
Because the Underworld needed her. Because Belobog needed her.
A sudden, intense warmth flooded Bronya's chest, melting away the biting chill of the snowstorm. She knew all too well that Seele did not have a script. The fiery Underworlder was completely in the dark about Leon's grand play. Every single word she just spat out came directly from her raw, unfiltered heart.
Hearing the girl's aggressive declaration, Cocolia's expression visibly darkened, twisting into a mask of aristocratic disdain. Yet, deep within her icy eyes, a fleeting, hard-to-detect trace of deep relief flickered.
She was genuinely happy for her daughter. Just as she had once relied on Serval in her youth, Bronya had successfully found a fiercely loyal best friend—someone she could absolutely trust with her life.
Yes, exactly as Leon had arranged, Bronya had secretly returned to the Overworld first to coordinate with her mother. Cocolia naturally knew all about the Underworld girl. She knew her daughter had bonded with this straightforward, fiercely loyal sister-in-arms.
Though, observing the girl now, Cocolia had to admit the child didn't seem... particularly good at using her head. She was a blunt instrument, a brawler who would probably only serve effectively in a frontline military role in the future. Standing there acting like a megalomaniacal villain, the current Supreme Guardian was actually quietly planning out the optimal personnel layout and cabinet positions for her daughter's future administration.
However, despite her wildly wandering maternal thoughts, Cocolia's outward theatrical performance did not falter for a single microsecond.
Cocolia raised her chin, delivering the final, dramatic ultimatum. She offered Bronya the ultimate choice: abandon her foolish friends, stand by her mother's side, and welcome the glorious new world promised by the Stellaron... or choose the path of futile resistance.
Bronya refused without a second of hesitation. Script or no script, she could never agree to such madness.
Cocolia let out a long, slow breath, expertly feigning a deep, crushing disappointment as she accepted her daughter's defiance.
"...I see."
The words hung heavily in the freezing air.
"So that is your choice."
Cocolia closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I understand, Bronya." Her voice carried a heavy, theatrical sigh that seemed to echo across the empty platform. "A pity... it is a deep pity that you will not get to see that beautiful new world."
She opened her eyes, her gaze turning utterly frigid.
"You cannot break through the pathetic shackles of ordinary thought, do you understand? You were supposed to be... the mother of the new world."
Cocolia's expression twisted into something complex beyond words. Was it loss? Disappointment? Perhaps there was a genuine trace of both buried beneath the act. But far more prominent was the terrifying, unshakable determination for the role she had to play next.
"This city... the fate of Belobog is already sealed." She spread her arms wide, embracing the howling storm. "Its future will unfold in our hands."
She pointed a single, accusatory finger at the Express Crew.
"And you... all of you will become the bloody foundation of this new world."
The Supreme Guardian's expression gradually smoothed out, returning to a state of absolute, frozen calm. Dense, crackling deep-blue energy violently gathered and spiraled upward from her outstretched hands, warping the very air around her.
"To establish the new, the old must be destroyed."
Her voice boomed, amplified by the swirling vortex of ice and power.
"In my capacity as the Supreme Guardian, I command you to rise..."
She threw her hands upward, her voice tearing through the blizzard.
"Engine of Creation!"
With that stern, devastating command, a massive spear of pure, jagged ice crystal coalesced perfectly in her grasp. She raised the weapon high, pointing its deadly tip straight toward the heavens.
RUMBLE!
The entire snowfield violently quaked. A colossal, rusted mechanical arm suddenly burst upward through the thick snow behind her, violently cracking the frozen earth and sending massive chunks of ice flying into the abyss! The sheer scale of the ancient machine eclipsed the sky, casting a terrifying shadow over the entire platform.
Down below, amidst the flying debris and roaring winds, a certain seasoned Trailblazer simply tilted his head.
"This Engine of Creation..." Welt Yang calmly adjusted his glasses, looking up at the towering, apocalyptic ancient mecha. For the first time since landing on this frozen rock, his tone carried a rare, unmistakable spark of pure, unadulterated interest. "...is actually quite cool."
He stepped forward, his cane tapping lightly against the ice.
"Himeko. Leave this Engine of Creation... to me."
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