Seeing Himeko pause to think, her eyes suddenly lit up. She tapped her right fist lightly into her left palm.
"The Stellaron is in Everwinter Ridge! Cocolia must have gone there to find it."
With Himeko's comment, Tatsuki didn't even need to explain.
"Then let's cut out the hassle. I'll take you all there directly."
A fierce gust of wind swept through the group.
"W-we're flying?!"
Their bodies suddenly afloat, Clara panicked a little.
"Based on my analyses, an airflow is supporting our bodies. Danger rating: negligible."
Svarog tried using his calculations to reassure Clara. Unfortunately, she was just naturally afraid. Words alone couldn't fix that fear.
"Robots still have some ways to go in truly understanding human thoughts."
Tatsuki shook his head, feeling a bit amused by the scene. He reached out and held the petite Clara in his arms.
"!"
The red glow in Svarog's eyes intensified.
"No need to worry. This is my ability—we'll fly over in one shot. No point trudging through some winding path."
"Th-thank you, Mr. Tatsuki."
Clara gripped his clothing, her panic subsiding a little.
"… …"
The light in Svarog's eyes gradually dimmed.
"All right, let's go."
"Off we go!"
Cheered by March 7's excited voice, the entire group soared through the sky toward the heart of Everwinter Ridge.
…
Deep within Everwinter Ridge stood the remnants of a bizarre mechanical structure, like a door or a restraining device, on a broad, empty platform. At the center of these metal ruins glowed an energy source locked behind a prismatic metal cage.
The Stellaron.
It was the seed of disaster, bringing the endless freeze and the Fragmentum to Jarilo-VI.
Before it stood a black-stockinged woman with long legs—Cocolia, Bronya's mother and the Great Guardian of Belobog.
Cocolia…Stop them…Cocolia… Stop them…
"Remember our deal."
Of course…Of course…
"Mother!"
Descending from the sky, Bronya rushed anxiously over to Cocolia.
Cocolia turned around, her gaze lowered, tinged with faint sorrow. "So you've come, Bronya…"
"Mother, please—stop!"
Bronya had glimpsed the Stellaron, and also noticed the changes in Cocolia's right hand. She realized what the outsiders and the people in the chat group had said was all true: her mother had joined forces with the Stellaron!
The rest of the group rushed up, but no one interrupted. Even Himeko, itching to question Cocolia, held her tongue. Everyone sensed that this moment belonged to mother and daughter.
Tatsuki quietly surveyed the scene for a bit, though his attention soon drifted to the Stellaron's location. Amid the fierce snowfall, he strolled calmly toward it. Everyone else seemed not to notice him.
As Tatsuki approached, the Stellaron flared with blinding light.
A blast of icy energy took shape—only to vanish in an instant. Its power simply had no effect on him.
Cocolia…stop…him…STOP…him…Cocolia… stop… him… STOP… him…
The Stellaron flashed madly, transmitting its will to Cocolia's mind.
Cocolia just furrowed her brow, blurting some irrelevant remark. "I am stopping them."
"…"
The Stellaron's glow seemed to freeze for a moment, as though stumped.
"Quit howling. Nobody can see me but you."
Tatsuki leaped onto the Stellaron, sitting right on top of it.
"Your energy is quite interesting. I feel like eating you."
He easily comprehended the Stellaron's power and could manipulate it. Hence, there was no real danger in doing this. Gazing at the Stellaron, he felt his Gluttony trait start to growl.
"…"
The Stellaron's light abruptly dimmed.
"Hiding?"
Tatsuki raised a brow—so the Stellaron could play dead?
"All right, if you're gonna play dead, I won't show any courtesy."
Devour!
A crimson substance began attempting to consume the Stellaron. Progress was extremely slow—Tatsuki could tell his Devour level wasn't high enough to easily gobble up this massive energy. Yet slow didn't mean impossible.
Sensing its energy being eaten bit by bit, the Stellaron flashed frantically once again. Alas, nobody would respond to its call.
"Um… Mr. Tatsuki, who are you talking to?"
A timid voice rose from his arms.
"… …"
Only then did he recall Clara. She was so light and quiet that he nearly forgot she was there.
"It's nothing. I'm talking to the Stellaron. Let's just watch them for a while. Oh, and call me Brother Tatsuki."
"Oh—okay, Brother Tatsuki."
Clara nodded bashfully.
"Good," Tatsuki said, ruffling her hair. He noticed her bare little feet. Frowning, he asked, "Aren't you cold?"
"I-it is cold, but Clara can manage."
"That won't do. Don't want you freezing your toes."
He laid a hand over her small feet.
"Mmph! So warm!"
Clara felt shy at first, but soon her feet filled with comforting heat.
"Mm-hmm. As long as it's warm," Tatsuki murmured, smiling.
…
"Clara…?"
Svarog kept twisting his head left and right, searching for her. Clara—and that human—had both vanished!
Right now, the scene up ahead looked mere moments away from a fight. Tatsuki opened a livestream.
[System: Member Tatsuki has started a livestream!]
[Nami has joined the livestream!]
.
.
.
Exusiai: "Wow, where is this? It's all white—so much snow. Looks freezing!"
Tatsuki: "This is the heart of the eternal freeze."
Nami: "Meaning it's extremely cold?"
Tatsuki: "Yes, the planet has been almost entirely swallowed by an endless blizzard."
Ainz: "A frozen planet…frightening."
Reinhard: "So this is the apocalypse of ice. Many lives must have been lost."
Tatsuki: "Only Belobog remains, the last fortress. I guess everyone else is…gone."
Aqua: "Then a goddess like me should come bring them salvation!"
Tatsuki: "Your divine powers become half-baked in other worlds, remember?"
Aqua: "That's not my fault!"
Emilia: "Huh? Where's Tatsuki now?"
Tatsuki: "I'm perched on the Stellaron."
Silver Wolf: "Huh? Are you that over-the-top? That thing's a Stellaron!"
Tatsuki: "Relax. It's a coward—it even pretended to be dead. The final boss is mine. You guys handle the mini-boss."
Silver Wolf: "…I feel like none of you respects that big boss at all!"
Tatsuki: "Nah, devouring a Stellaron takes a lot of effort."
March 7: "Eating… eating a Stellaron? You can do that? Tatsuki might be even more outrageous than Stelle."
Silver Wolf: "Is eating Stellaron the issue here? Meanwhile you're chatting while we're in mid-boss fight—this is sacrilege!"
She treated this entire mission like a game quest, with the Stellaron as the ultimate boss. She loathed losing immersion.
Emilia: "S-sorry. They're speaking about mother-daughter stuff I don't understand… so we got a little distracted…"
…
"Bronya," Cocolia spoke with a maternal softness, arms spread in a gesture of embrace, "I want you at my side as your mother. Don't resist. Accept our shared will."
"Look at this world—look at their silent future."
"The Stellaron promised me a world free of suffering. A future where we needn't keep living like prisoners, forced to beg for survival—one we can guard forever."
Her expression was sorrowful beyond measure, describing an alluring dream and boundless despair.
"For centuries, we tried and fought, believing human nature's light would guide us to prosperity."
"And what was the result? Utter defeat."
Bronya tried to argue back, but Cocolia cut her off.
"Survival… heh." She gave a self-mocking laugh.
"When faced with unassailable might, the first thing humans do is plug their ears and resist. We never try to heed the demands of that power."
Cocolia no longer trusted in preservation.
"That reveals a primal cowardice, an unquenchable desire deep within humanity."
Her lofty gaze fell on Bronya.
"Abandon them, cut your shackles, and the Stellaron will guide humanity to evolve."
On the sidelines, a fiery Seele finally lost her patience.
"Enough brainwashing, witch!"
Turning to everyone else, Cocolia's loving facade vanished, replaced by icy disdain.
"I thought this blizzard might bury you all."
"In your dreams! None of us will fall until we've taken you down first."
March 7 readied her bow, and the others gripped their weapons.
Cocolia, still ignoring them, fixed her stare on Bronya alone.
"Bronya, I await your choice. Now that you know the whole truth about the Stellaron, about my vow…we share no more secrets."
Her voice was calm, exposing everything.
"Many years ago, the Stellaron first spoke to me. Like past Guardians, I covered my ears. At the time, I was just as you are now, upholding the city-builder's preservation. My faith was unshakable… until a sudden variable disrupted everything, giving me another option—one that would overturn the old order and herald a new world."
"Yet that ephemeral promise of preservation grew ever more distant, while this new reality felt tangible."
"I wrestled and wrestled over how to convey this to you. The promised tomorrow would arrive, but if you can't stand by my side… watch that new world with me…"
"If not, they'll be trapped in endless torment, never able to smile again."
She glanced at Stelle, March 7, Dan Heng, and then at Silver Wolf and Emilia.
"I should thank you outsiders. Your pressure forced me to confront my final weakness."
Once again, her gaze returned to Bronya, brimming with a gentle earnestness.
"From childhood on, I never forced you to follow my will. You always had a choice. The same now—my daughter, choose."
"…"
Bronya listened quietly to the lament of a mother's heart. She knew her mother's love but also knew what she must do. Pain flickered in her eyes, replaced by a clear resolve. She understood her path.
"Madam Cocolia."
This time, she did not call her Mother but Madam Cocolia, addressing her as the Great Guardian.
"Thank you for raising me, for granting me the right to choose."
Her voice hesitated for a moment, but Bronya took her stand.
"I'm sorry. For the final time, I can't be at your side."
"You say the human heart is foolish and timid. Perhaps so. In desperate times, darkness in people can loom large."
"But you overlook those who fight to live on through despair—those you've cast aside, who still shine!"
Bronya pressed her hands to her chest, recalling what she'd seen in the Underworld.
"I witnessed their light in the front lines against the Fragmentum, in the Underworld, in the corners you long neglected."
"Our ancestors built this city with their own two hands, carrying civilization's flame through the howling blizzard. Even if our world is fated to shatter, humanity should decide how we face that end, not hand our fate to this scourge!"
Bronya pointed firmly at the Stellaron.
"Brother Tatsuki… is Bronya talking about us?"
Clara trembled slightly in his arms.
Tatsuki couldn't help but laugh softly. "No, she means this creature under us."
!!!!!!
The Stellaron, a tenth of it already devoured, pulsed frenetically again.
"As a Guardian chosen by ordinary people, my duty is to protect the world they built. We are neither gods nor judges. Your attempt to trample over human nature, playing both arbitrator and divinity at once—"
"That, I will never allow!"
Tatsuki applauded her speech in his mind. It was true: Cocolia, swayed by the Stellaron, had seen a future of despair. But she had forgotten her position as Belobog's Great Guardian came from the people's trust. If she dismissed that, she was no longer the people's Guardian.
Bronya spoke softly, yet her words glowed with conviction. Everyone behind her caught a glimpse of renewed hope—except Cocolia, whose eyes sank. She began muttering, her tone low.
"So that's your choice, Bronya. I see…"
"A pity. You won't witness the beautiful new world. You were supposed to be its mother."
Rumble—
As Cocolia murmured, the ground suddenly quaked and shook.
....
1 extra chapter every 50 stones