“Bronya——"
Xia Ye pulled out a map:
“Where is this?”
“Everwinter Ridge!”
Bronya's pretty face was serious:
“That's where the final battle between Belobog and the Anti-Matter Legion took place. It was in that battle that the blizzard cleared the Anti-Matter Legion, giving Belobog a chance to breathe. Even today, those legion soldiers are still frozen on Everwinter Ridge!”
“Of course, we now know that Alyosha Rand had already used the power of the Star Nucleus!”
“Everwinter Ridge, huh~”
“Cocolia really picked a good spot~”
Is there anything in this world more fitting to the definition of destruction than the Anti-Matter Legion?
Those maniacs who worship destruction, like their Star God, believe that destruction is rebirth.
Cocolia, under the influence of the Star Nucleus, also chose the path of destruction, placing her hope in a new world born after annihilation!
“Why are we talking so much?!”
Himeko was impatient. She lifted her sickle:
“We should hurry up and find that crazy Grand Guardian and defeat her!”
“Or else, if that Star Nucleus erupts again, maybe the entire Lower Zone will collapse!”
“That's right, that's right!”
March 7th agreed:
“Let's cut this mess short. We'll deal with the main culprit first and then talk about other things. We can't give the villain too much time, otherwise things will get out of hand!”
“Mm-hmm!”
Himeko looked at March 7th with approval.
The two looked at each other, feeling like they had known each other for a long time!
“......”
Bronya's pretty face was complex.
However, March 7th and Himeko were right. Only by stopping her mother from detonating the Star Nucleus could Belobog be saved from disaster!
“I'll go gather the Silvermane Guards!”
“Hey, Bronya!”
A familiar voice came from a distance. Everyone looked over and saw Seele, who they had met in the Central Plaza, running over in a hurry, her eyes full of surprise:
“You're finally back!”
“Seele?”
Bronya was a little surprised:
“How come you're here? How is the situation in Belobog?”
“Belobog is fine!”
Seele motioned for everyone to follow her, saying as she walked:
“Last night, the Silvermane Guards reported your whereabouts to Cocolia. This morning, she disappeared!”
“Then, the Iron Guard Zone was attacked by a fierce onslaught of Abyssal creatures!”
“Gepard is now holding them off with the Silvermane Guards in the Echoing Corridor. However, those monsters are attacking fiercely and are endless—"
“It's the Star Nucleus!”
A-Star felt the Star Nucleus in her chest tremble.
“Cocolia has activated the Star Nucleus!”
“The Star Nucleus?”
Seele actually knew about the Star Nucleus and had even collected information about it. However, since Cocolia's personality changed drastically and the two went their separate ways, she was forbidden from researching it!
“What's going on?”
“It's like this—”
...
Iron Guard Zone.
Silvermane Guard Headquarters.
Located next to the suburban snowfield and the Echoing Corridor, this is the frontline against the Abyssal invasion!
“Bronya-sama!”
Gepard, in his blue and white armor, saw his sister and Bronya arrive together and breathed a sigh of relief:
“Gepard!”
Bronya got straight to the point:
“Mother has been seduced by the Star Nucleus. I have now succeeded her as the Grand Guardian and am going to stop her!”
“The Star Nucleus......”
Gepard was shocked. However, as an officer who led the Silvermane Guards on the frontline against the Abyss, he could distinguish between priorities:
“I understand, but Bronya-sama, there are too many Abyssal creatures outside!”
“Leave it to me!”
The grand finale was about to unfold. Xia Ye couldn't allow the main actors to miss their entrance!
“......”
“I understand. Open the gate!”
“Yes, Gepard-chōkan!”
With a rumbling sound of gears, the isolation gate leading to the Echoing Corridor was pulled open by the Guards. The raging snowstorm, mixed with the sickening smell of the Abyss, hit them in the face!
“So many?!”
Even March 7th, who had seen many things, was startled.
Outside, where there should have been snowstorm and white as far as the eye could see, it was now as if a bottle of ink had been spilled on rice paper.
Countless Abyssal creatures swarmed towards them!
Although they were temporarily held back by the defensive cannon fire, the sheer force of the attack would scare the pants off anyone with weak will!
“Mere chickens!”
Xia Ye stepped out of the gate first. The [Blazing Flame] appeared in his hand. The long sword unsheathed, and a raging fire swept back the snow and ice. Steam filled the air, then was swept away, and with it, those Abyssal creatures that were mixed in with the snow and ice, as if melting with the snow, disappeared under Xia Ye's single strike!
“So... so powerful!”
Himeko remembered that she had taunted Xia Ye before and felt a chill run down her neck…
“Let's go, Bronya, we should leave!”
“Oh... okay!”
Bronya snapped out of it. She knew that Xia Ye was powerful, but seeing all the Abyssal creatures that the entire Silvermane Guards were struggling to handle eliminated by Xia Ye with a single strike, she still felt complex—
For Belobog, the Star Nucleus detonation, equivalent to the end of the world, would be a small episode in their journey, right?
......
They made their way through the Echoing Corridor without any obstacles!
They quickly reached the entrance to Everwinter Ridge.
Xia Ye's strike had not only melted the snow and wiped out the Abyssal creatures, it had even flattened the uneven terrain!
However—
The ancient battlefield of Everwinter Ridge was still shrouded in a blizzard and the wind was relentless!
The power of the Star Nucleus had merged the Northern Snowfield with the Abyss. Everwinter Ridge was now a super-sized Abyss, with the internal laws completely maintained by the Star Nucleus!
“Look over there!”
Everyone looked in the direction March 7th was pointing. A beam of light soared into the sky from the top of Everwinter Ridge, a pure force of destruction that the train crew was familiar with!
“Is that the Star Nucleus?” Bronya murmured: “Is that what seduced Mother?”
“Xia Ye, let's go up!”
“Okay~”
On the platform at the top of Everwinter Ridge.
The Star Nucleus was bound within a giant restraint device.
However, now, the forces binding it were completely ineffective—
The surrounding energy transfer pipes had long ceased to function. The Guardian Will that had originally suppressed the Star Nucleus was about to dissipate, and the Star Nucleus was in a state of unstable eruption!
“Bronya, you’re here?”
Beneath the Star Nucleus, Cocolia, with a delicate, pretty face and a faint smile, looked at Bronya, who was walking towards her:
“Come, embrace the common will. They promised us a future, a world without poverty, coldness, and suffering, a world where people don't have to live like prisoners begging for survival, a world that we can eternally protect, Bronya, isn’t this the world we yearn for?”
“It is!”
Bronya looked at her mother, her eyes filled with complexity:
“Under your tutelage, I have longed for such a world since I was a child. However, I don't agree with you placing everything on the gift of the Star Nucleus!”
“Xia Ye said that the Star Nucleus is a galactic cancer, the source of all calamities, Mother, you have been seduced by the Star Nucleus!”
“Seduced, hahahaha!”
Cocolia looked at her daughter, who was standing opposite her:
“Bronya, haven’t you also been seduced by these outsiders?”
“Seven hundred years. We’ve tried time and again, but we’ve failed time and again. Our living space has been gradually squeezed!”
“The so-called protection, the so-called brilliance of humanity, hehe, it’s all a joke. Besides the Star Nucleus, who else can help us!”
“That, I can—”
The mother and daughter were engaged in a debate, and Xia Ye raised his hand:
“Cocolia-sama, actually, the disaster on your planet is not a difficult problem to solve on a cosmic scale. Your perspective is a little too narrow. If you go out and take a look, you'll find that the galaxy is vast, and even the Star Nucleus you rely on is just a drop in the ocean!”
“Is that so?”
Cocolia’s beautiful eyes were icy cold:
“Is it because of you, a shameless scoundrel who stared at my chest and legs the first time we met?”
“......”
Faced with March 7th's iron-clad gaze, Xia Ye awkwardly spread his hands:
“Never mind, you two continue!”
“Mother!”
Bronya pretended not to hear anything about breasts and legs, and wanted to persuade Cocolia again:
“Give up the Star Nucleus. We—"
“Enough!” Cocolia’s pretty face was filled with anger: “Bronya, if you want to stop me, then come!”
“In the end, we're going to fight anyway!”
March 7th summoned her bow and arrow, “Hmph, those protagonists in novels are always invincible with their words, but in reality, it doesn't work at all!”
“March, wordplay is used to brainwash villains after you defeat them—”
A-Star swung her oddity ball club:
“No one will listen to your wordplay unless you beat the enemy!”
“Mother, I have never disobeyed your orders!”
Bronya raised her spike lance rifle:
“But this time, I cannot stand with you. Whether it is survival or destruction, it must be decided by humans, not entrusted to a Star Nucleus that is not even considered alive!”
“If this is your choice—”
The first Guardian Alyosha Rand’s lance was raised high by Cocolia.
The lance’s blade, hilt, and even the grip were covered with ice. The Guardian aura had dwindled to almost nothing:
“Then I respect that!”
“But—”
“Belobog’s fate is already decided, its future will unfold in our hands. And you, will become the cornerstone of this new world!”
The earth rumbled and the snow and ice shattered.
It seemed that something gigantic had awakened from its slumber!