'Alright… third time's the charm, right?'
Sparkle took a deep breath, a perpetual smile on her face. However, she was slightly nervous. Due to how busy she had been with… other things, she never had the opportunity to make another test.
Within her room, she took four steps counterclockwise. At the same time, she began chanting in an ancient language of the previous human civilizations from the Dream Realm's past: one that was unheard of to the Waking World.
One step.
"The Almighty One of Imagination and Desire."
Two steps.
"The Mysterious Lord of Fate and Destiny."
Three steps.
"The Eternal Nightmare of Dread and Oblivion."
Four steps.
"The Primordial Dream of Repose and Solace."
Once she was done, a gray fog started to surround her feet.
Then, it dissipated.
At that, Sparkle could only frown.
***
They sprinted through the winding corridors, pursuing the remnant echoes of the Supreme Guardian and her daughter to find their path. As they passed through another hazy image of Cocolia and Bronya, their voices were violently crammed into Sunny's brain. Bronya's voice from the past echoed:
"I don't understand... Even if the truth is as you say, every generation of guardian has resisted the call of the Stellaron... Can all of them have been wrong, mother?"
Cocolia's stern voice replied to her.
"Do you still not see, Bronya? There is no right or wrong here. Some of them acted out of human pride, others out of human shortsightedness… even so, the Stellaron's whispers took root in their minds whether they accepted it or not."
This aligned with what Sunny had guessed.
"Our ancestors... including Alisa Rand... spent their whole lives trying to prolong this civilization. Then, after all fell still, their memories were scattered by the blizzard. They spent lifetimes writing songs of praise that lauded the bravery of humanity, but couldn't spare the time to gaze up into the stars. To those entities of greater magnificence in the heavens above, a thousand years is but a passing moment, the attainments of insignificant beings nothing more than a footnote. I shall not follow the guardians' misguided steps down that blind alley of narcissism. If persistence is futile, then one must choose a new beginning."
Bronya didn't speak for a long moment.
"…But, Qlipoth the Preservation... Are THEY not one of the magnificent entities you speak of? Is it not THEIR strength... that has sheltered Belobog this entire time?"
Anger seeped into Cocolia's voice.
"The Preservation... Has the Preservation ever looked humanity in the eye? Nothing more than an arrogant delusion of the Architects. You will hear the real voice of magnificence, Bronya... Then, you will understand my choice."
All this information entered his mind in an instant, causing him to experience a painful migraine. However, he did not allow this to stop him.
As they moved, Sunny silently reviewed the knowledge he had gleamed despite Cocolia's poetic speech.
'The previous Supreme Guardian's were controlled by the Stellaron, even if they didn't side with it… The one who enforced the mystical law on the Underworld did so with a different reason in mind, and the Stellaron took advantage of them?'
Cocolia was the only one who completely trusted in the Stellaron. Somehow — even though communicating with an unknown entity should have her cautious — the Stellaron was able to convince her to serve it. It hadn't succeeded with any of the previous Supreme Guardians, simply setting up the stage for whenever a gullible woman took the position.
Despite being an object, the Stellaron displayed that it was alive in some form, as it was able to both communicate, as well as control others.
'Kind of like a mind attack…'
His thoughts trailed off as he felt his strength return to him, causing his movement speed to exponentially increase . He suspected that Serval and Saint had dealt with Pela and Gepard by now.
As expected, Saint returned to his Soul Sea. The Happy shadow was attempting to catch up to him.
Quickly checking the state of his Shadow, he scowled when he found the countless cracks that littered her stone carapace. Somehow, Gepard and that Pela lady were able to deal enough damage to put her in such a position.
'Damnation!'
In her current state, Saint wouldn't be able to last in a fight against Cocolia. Having lost his trump card, he began to lose confidence in their success.
Under normal circumstances, Sunny didn't believe that he would have too much trouble facing off against a Master. However, Cocolia was the Supreme Guardian of Belobog. To keep this civilization running for a decade was impressive, and must have been backed up by her own personal prowess in combat. There must have been Fragmentum monsters that were too powerful for an Awakened, which was when her own strength was needed.
Her Aspect was… annoying. Every attack she made would inflict a mind or soul attack if it landed — maybe both. Not only that, but she had a Stellaron backing her up. As someone who could wield the Destruction, Sunny knew how tremendous the power of a Path was.
Of course, they knew her Flaw. So it wasn't too bad… But it was still very bad.
After a while of repeatedly chasing the remnants formed by the Fragmentum, they approached a long set of stairs. At the top of the stares was an archway that formed a wall; a barrier that separated the snowfields outside Belobog from the city itself.
As they moved up the stairs, another echo of Cocolia and Bronya appeared. Moving past it, more of their conversations inserted into Sunny's mind.
Cocolia spoke first.
"This is where the first guardian led the Silvermane Guards into battle. She made huge sacrifices for the sake of temporary respite."
She sighed.
"But the otherworldly Legion did not tire. She soon realized that flesh and blood could not contend with so ruthless an enemy. When all was nearly lost, she chose to set her sights on the Stellaron... and made the first wish. As for what came later... you know as well as I."
For confirmation, Bronya asked:
"So... the Eternal Freeze was a disaster brought about by a human wish...?"
As she was present when Svarog released the classified files pertaining to the Stellaron, Sunny knew that she was already aware of the truth. It seemed like she was pretending to be unaware to fish out more information.
A dry laugh escaped Cocolia.
"Ironic, no? All the Stellaron did was answer humanity's call, and yet we kept its existence a closely guarded secret for centuries. Even going so far as to attempt to use 'it' to control the Stellaron... Woeful... laughable."
Just as curious as he was as to what Cocolia was referring to, Bronya asked with a single word:
"It?"
Cocolia sighed once more.
"Something created using otherworldly technology... An inhibitor that the IPC from the Old World and the Architects attempted to use to house the Stellaron."
She paused.
"...I know you have many questions, my daughter. Be patient... soon you will have all the answers."
As they approached the top of the stairway, Sunny stopped running. At the pinnacle was a curvaceous figure, one who shouldn't be here…
'Cocolia!'
The others stopped running as well, staring at the figure in confusion as well.
After a few seconds, Sunny realized that it was simply another remnant. However, a remnant of Bronya didn't accompany her like the ones they had passed to get here.
As they stared at it for a moment due to being caught off guard, March said:
"It feels like this echo is different from the others before."
Sunny happened to agree on that point. Even it's shadow felt different…
Sunny blinked.
'Wait… shadow?'
Suddenly, the remnant began to speak. However, it didn't cram a previous conversation into Sunny's mind. Instead, it directly spoke to the four of them.
"Intruders..."
They all froze, realizing that something was wrong with this particular echo. It continued to speak with a broken, echoing, bastardized form of Cocolia's voice.
"You cannot... approach... the Stellaron!"
The echoes weren't physical. As such, they didn't cast shadows… yet this one did.
A shard of ice quickly expanded within the palm of her hand, extending, thinning out, and elongating. One end sharpened as she formed a spear of crystalline ice.
Her arm swung back, the tip of her spear pointed towards them. With the strength of an Awakened, she threw it through the air in an attempt to impale one of them. As it pierced through the air, it was obvious that it's trajectory was bound for March 7th.
Before it could reach the stunned girl however, an amethyst scythe blurred through the air. It cut the spear in two, before it somehow lost all it's momentum. This part confused Sunny, but he ignored it for something else.
The echo wasn't that strong. Even if Seele — or rather, Veliona — didn't manage to intercept the spear, it wasn't moving fast enough for March to not be able to react; even if she was caught off guard.
So, he decided to run some tests.
As Cocolia was forming another spear, Sunny's lips parted. A voice echoed, but it did not exit his throat.
"Mother."
Cocolia stiffened.
Bronya's voice was spoken through the Ordinary Rock, which had the ability to record voices. Seeing her stiffen, Sunny smiled as he walked forward at a liesurely pace.
The hazy, yet solid echo of Cocolia asked:
"Bro…nya?"
As her words weren't much of a question, Sunny wasn't required to answer. Once he got closer to Cocolia; who was still frozen in confusion; he slid his palm against her spear, causing a wound to appear. No blood spilt — both because his blood froze over, and because he had [Blood Weave].
Sunny grunted as he felt a chill encroach on his soul. At the same time, his own thoughts slightly slowed down.
Seeing him suddenly injure himself, Veliona frowned.
"Sunny… what are you doing?"
There was a hint of something he couldn't decipher in her voice, probably because he couldn't think properly at the moment.
He reacted slowly, waving his uninjured hand.
"Just making contingencies."
At the same time, he messily stabbed the frozen spear onto his palm.
Cocolia didn't react. This was for two reasons:
First of all, she wasn't the real thing. She simply acted off instinct and surface level knowledge.
Second of all, he had taken advantage of Cocolia's Flaw.
Those who she cherished have an easier time deceiving her.
He found it sickening.
Due to the strange existence of the echo, he was able to make it believe that he was Bronya. Then, without even having to manipulate it, the echo of Cocolia lost it's ability to think straight. As her Flaw affected her mind's perception, the imperfect consciousness simply… glitched.
He had expected to need to say a few more lines, but the echo had already broken.
As Sunny brutally harmed himself, he felt everything around him begin to slow down. His soul was burning from the cold, but it didn't feel close to completely freezing over. After all, he was only taking a minor injury.
The severity of the injury seemed to affect the potency of her Aspect's effects. A hit to the head might instantly freeze one's soul.
The more time he spent in contact with the spear lodged in his hand, the colder everything became. The world kept slowing down, his thoughts breaking up.
…Something began to scratch the back of his mind. Somebody's voice… a girl?
"Sometimes… if it's… really bad, then… a breath… might feel like an hour."
Sunny's eyes suddenly widened as he hurriedly removed pulled the spear of his hand. His movements were much slower than usual, as expected. And so, without attempting to harm her himself, he choked out:
"Seele…"
Red butterflies — or maybe moths — appeared as an amethyst blade erupted from the remnant's chest. The echo of Cocolia faded away, along with the ice spear.
Just as he was about to thank her, Veliona's fist found itself lodged in his stomach.
'…Yeah. Maybe I deserve that.'