Welt was sitting in the parlor car of the Astral Express. He stared at the cup of dark liquid before him, swirling on it's own as it radiated the presence of a Herrscher. He deeply contemplated whether or not he should take the risk of drinking the cup of coffee, a bead of sweat rolling down his face due to the intense gaze that was being shot at him.
The air shifted slightly. His eyes — covered by the pair of glasses he wore — suddenly seemed to gaze beyond what was before him.
'An opportunity!'
"Fragmentum activity is intensifying... Something's happening on Jarilo-VI. Shouldn't I go down there, Himeko?"
The red-haired woman casually took a sip of the poisonous concoction she created.
"Have faith in them. Besides, this is Sunny's first Trailblazing expedition. How will he be able to look back fondly without a few twists and turns?"
…As he thought of the familiar — but also unfamiliar — boy, Welt suspected that 'twists and turns' were the exact thing that he didn't want. He released a deep sigh.
Himeko continued:
"Are you bored, Welt? I understand... But we have lots of opportunities ahead of us. Let's leave the memories of this expedition for them~"
He gazed out the window, looking towards the frigid landscape of Jarilo-VI.
"So you think they'll be safe, right?"
He tightened the grip on his cane. In all honesty, it was quite difficult for him to sit still. The planet was probably in a very precarious situation, and with his skill set, he could certainly solve any problems that required excessive force.
However, he had learned from previous experiences that it was sometimes more beneficial to allow others to grow.
Himeko paused for a moment, before shaking her head.
"Considering the Stellaron on this planet, that would be impossible. This is a young person's adventure, we shouldn't interfere. At most, you could offer a little 'off-site assistance'."
Her golden eyes turned towards the cup of coffee before him.
"You haven't touched it this whole time. Is there something wrong?"
Welt blanched when he found that he couldn't escape his fate. Filled with dread, he picked up the cup.
"No… everything's just fine."
He held it to his mouth—
***
Having escaped the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone, Sunny, March, Dan Heng, and Seele trudged through the Fragmentum. The area consisted of winding alleys, which were connected to form a corridor. Although they could certainly leap from roof to roof, their physical condition had been deteriorated due to Pela's Aspect. As such, they could only move forward as if they were pedestrians.
"Compared to this, the corrosion we saw in the other restricted zone where we escaped to the Underworld pales in comparison."
At Dan Heng's words, Sunny sighed.
Ever since they entered, there was a constant prickly feeling assaulting him. He guessed that if a normal human were to step into the area, they might die immediately.
"How can we pinpoint the Stellaron?"
Dan Heng replied:
"Serval said that the Stellaron was very likely hidden in the Snow Plains north of Belobog. If we want to get there, I'm afraid we'll have to find the exit to this Fragmentum maze first."
March suddenly stopped walking, frowning as she started to look around.
"Guys... does this place feel weird to you? It feels like... like there are loads of eyes staring at us."
Sunny blinked. He hadn't felt anything through his shadow sense, nor had he seen anything through his shadows. Maybe she was simply imagining things.
Seele crossed her arms, an irritated look on her face.
"...This place makes my flesh crawl... like there are insects under my skin."
Dan Heng didn't make any complaints, but it was obvious that he also seemed bothered.
"We have no guide and no way of detecting the Stellaron. We'll just have to advance gradually... and cautiously. Don't be disheartened. The stronger the Fragmentum contamination, the closer we are to the source."
Sunny found it strange that everyone except him was getting an eerie feeling. The only thing he felt was the pressure that the dense corrosion was exuding, but that was it.
He shrugged, brushing it off as him being used to strange situations… even if there weren't many similar experiences to speak of.
His eyes were suddenly drawn to something on the ground. It was a snowglobe that displayed an owl chasing after a white rabbit. Sunny picked it up, finding it rather strange that it was left behind in the middle of an alleyway.
Seele's eyes widened.
"This is... Bronya's!"
She snatched it out of his grip; very disrespectfully if he may add.
If this belonged to Bronya, then…
"…Is she here too?"
Seele nodded.
"Right, she must be! This can't be a coincidence."
It seemed like she wasn't locked up in Qlipoth Fort, nor was she dead. Instead, Cocolia must have decided to drag her along to see the Stellaron.
'But why?'
As if on cue, a hazy, translucent mist formed in the middle of the alleyway. They all tensed up, aware that they were heavily impaired due to the effects of Pamela's Aspect. Sunny immediately augmented himself with the two shadows that were present, while March lowered the temperature of their surroundings.
A feeling of alarm welled up within Sunny as he began to recognize the mist:
It was the same as what the Architect of Lost Preservation expelled at the orphanage.
At that moment, Sunny was prepared to retreat. However, the form of the haze caused him to pause.
There were two unclear figures. However, they were able to recognize them due to certain obvious features; such as the spiraling patterns their hair had. March suddenly exclaimed what they had been thinking.
"That's Bronya! H—Huh? Is that Cocolia too!?"
Dan Heng stared at the mist for a while, before shaking his head.
"No, it isn't them. It must be... a kind of remnant? Some type of residual energy replicated by the Fragmentum..."
March nodded in understanding.
"Which means they were definitely here, right? And it looks like they went that way."
'…That's convenient.'
Now that they had a clear path to follow, they walked in the direction of the false replica of Cocolia and Bronya. Dan Heng walked right through it, while March and Seele walked around. Ever the cautious one, Sunny also moved around them.
As he did so, he felt a splitting pain in his skull. Two voices instantaneously released a torrent of ravings, almost incomprehensible if his brain didn't organize them in order.
The voices were broken, unclear, but were able to be heard once they had been reorganized into the order that they had been spoken in.
"...You still haven't told me what this place is, mother."
Bronya's voice was first, cautious, yet curious.
"Seven hundred years ago, this was Belobog's northern border and the site of an ancient battle. Here is where Alisa Rand led the first Silvermane Guards in resistance against the Legion. Now... it is nothing more than an abandoned corridor, filled with the sounds of Old World echoes. Don't let its fragmented appearance fool you, Bronya. On the day the promise is fulfilled... these ruins will become the breeding ground of a new world."
Cocolia's voice came second. Sunny found that her metaphors left much to be desired.
'Seriously? Breeding ground?'
Bronya spoke, her voice skeptical.
"...Mother, do you truly believe the Stellaron's promise? It summoned the blizzard beyond our walls and opened the door of the Fragmentum. It destroyed our civilization, it..."
Cocolia spoke next, seemingly cutting her off with a gesture. He couldn't see, only hear.
"...And yet, the crime of our ancestors was their inability to embrace that destruction sooner... From the moment those intruders descended from beyond the sky, this world was handed a death sentence. But the Stellaron... has reserved for us a thread of hope. There is a price to pay for new life. Wiping away every decaying vestige of the Old World, renouncing the meaningless and lingering struggle... This is the price the Stellaron demands. When the promise is fulfilled, Bronya... no longer will we have to squander our lives guarding this wasteland. You and I will witness the new world rise from the ruins."
Sunny moved forward, not revealing that anything has happened. His gaze was slightly unfocused as he thought of Cocolia's words.
'Genocide.'
It all came together. The Underworld was restricted from disclosing the existence of Awakened to halt any possibility of a resistance. By focusing all her political might on the Overworld, Cocolia was able to ensure that no doubts about her rule sprang up, while maintaining the civilization until her 'prophecy' came.
Once the promised time came, the Underworld would be purged. At least, that was what Sunny deduced from her poetic explanations.
'That's… insane.'
…However, there was a discrepancy.
Even if the spread of information about Awakened was to be crushed in the Underworld, it wouldn't have been able to work for so long. After all, the restriction that Cocolia placed had to have been after she became the Supreme Guardian. However, it was clear that even the older citizens of the Underworld weren't aware of what an Awakened was.
Oleg didn't seem to have any idea. He was definitely older than Cocolia by a couple decades, as he referred to her as 'a young woman'.
It was a conspiracy. One that lasted for decades, if not centuries! Cocolia wasn't the one that enforced the rule, instead, a previous Supreme Guardian did so. She was simply carrying on the will of her predecessors.
Pursing his lips, Sunny turned to Seele.
"Hey… how common are heart attacks in the Underworld?"
Seele curiously tilted her head at the suddenness of his question.
"Well… according to Natasha, it was always one of the most common causes of death down below. Even if we exclude everything from after Cocolia became Supreme Guardian."
She blinked.
"Wait… that's kinda…"
As Seele was starting to grasp the problem with the incorrect timelines, Sunny returned back to his thoughts.
'Cocolia's a lunatic. Her… and every single one of those goddamn Supreme Guardians!'
Did they think of themselves as messiahs? Is that how the Stellaron convinced each of them to serve it's will? By appealing to their egos?
How deeply had it infected their consciousness, to the point where slaughtering an entire population was a worthy sacrifice?
All for a promise that was certainly a hoax.
'I… I have to stop this.'
At this rate, every single soul in the Underworld was going to die — and that was assuming the Stellaron told the truth, which it probably didn't. Chances are, the entirety of Jarilo-VI was going to succumb to Destruction. Why did normal people have to be involved in the games of powers beyond them? Couldn't they simply live in peace?
Using Cocolia as a pawn, the Stellaron would annihilate the planet from existence.
Sunny couldn't control his facial expressions any longer, as his eyes slightly widened.
'Bronya…'
…In her current state, the Supreme Guardian was unpredictable. It didn't matter if she was normally unable to harm her daughter. Under the Stellaron's influence, Cocolia would always be a danger that can't be controlled.
He didn't particularly care for Bronya… not at all. But… why would he let her die?
'Right… I don't care at all.'
Despite his words, there was a pit in his stomach.
"…We need to move faster! Cocolia's going to try something with the Stellaron!"
They widened their eyes. Seele clicked her tongue.
"Damn!"
He didn't say anything about her plans, but simply said that she seemed to have business with the Stellaron. With a sense of urgency in his tone, he was able to easily convince the others to begin to run.
The range of his Shadow Control didn't extend to wherever Cocolia and Bronya was. However, they didn't know that. They were convinced that he had simply seen them through his shadows.
As they sprinted through the winding corridors, Sunny's expression contorted, darkening grimly. A torrent of thoughts raced through his head…