"The ground is shaking, what's happening?" Everyone steadied themselves, but still couldn't avoid panic and commotion.
"The fate of this city, Belobog, is already sealed. Its future will unfold in our hands. You will become the cornerstone of this new world." Cocolia stood with her eyes closed, surrounded by chilling ice, with air currents swirling around her as she floated in mid-air. Her palm opened. "Without breaking the old, there is no way to establish the new."
A spear of ice formed in her hand. She raised the ice spear high and shouted loudly, "By my authority as the Great Guardian, I command you to rise! Creation Engine!"
Boom! A tremendous roar! A gigantic mechanical hand rose from behind Cocolia. Each finger was several times the size of a human body. The colossal mechanical hand slammed down towards March 7th and the others.
"Forged through ice and snow, this will endure forever!" A clear and resolute shout. An ice shield, like a Wall of Sighs, stood before everyone, solidly withstanding the Creation Engine's hand.
"Brother!" Serval's voice was filled with surprise. It was Gepard. "How did you get here?" With such a commotion happening here, Gepard must have seen it. Upon arriving, he immediately understood the situation. The Great Guardian had truly abandoned the will of the path of preservation.
"Sister, now is not the time for talking." Gepard held his shield warily.
Boom! A giant palm slammed into the ground, causing a shockwave! Then, the palm pressed against the ground, and an even taller figure rose from it.
March 7th screamed in shock, "A robot ten thousand times bigger than Svarog!"
Everyone in the Chat Group's live stream also saw the super-giant robot rising from the ground.
Tushan Rongrong: "Wow! What a... what a huge monster!"
Exusiai: "It should be said, what a huge robot, tens of thousands of times bigger than a medical robot."
Momonga: "Hiss! How did this planet end up in such a state with such a massive weapon?"
Ren: "I remember this thing wasn't originally a weapon; it was a geological modification machine, right?"
Ren: "The Anti-matter Legion is very strong. The Doomsday Beast I defeated last time was a war machine of the Anti-matter Legion."
Ren: "It can only be said that Jarilo-VI was first targeted by the Anti-matter Legion and then entangled by the Stellaron. It truly has suffered many misfortunes."
Momonga: "Ah, this... a geological modification machine. If our world had one, that would be great. It's always smoky and polluted; who knows when we'll die, sigh."
Nami: "Ren, is it okay if you don't make a move? Can they handle that big machine?" In the screen, the Creation Engine was pounding the ground, and everyone was scrambling to dodge.
Ren: "Don't worry, isn't Silver Wolf there? Silver Wolf, you should have it handled, right?"
Silver Wolf: "Hmph, you're right, I've got it handled." Silver Wolf pressed a few keys on a virtual keyboard. "Stop right there!"
Boom! As her words fell, the glowing points on the Creation Engine suddenly went out, and its arms slammed to the ground.
"Hooray! It's stopped! Silver Wolf, well done!" March 7th jumped up happily.
"Silver Wolf? A Stellaron Hunter? How is she on Jarilo-VI?" The three Nameless heard a static-filled female voice.
"It's Himeko!" March 7th exclaimed.
"It's me. Welt and I noticed the giant machine standing up on Jarilo-VI. We were about to use the orbital cannon to help, but then it stopped. Was it the Stellaron Hunters' doing?"
"Yes." Dan Heng confirmed it concisely.
"The Stellaron Hunters appearing on Jarilo-VI, that's strange."
"Um... she's also a friend of mine. She came with Ren and the others."
"Oh? The traveler from the Otherworld? That makes sense then."
"March-chan, Stelle, Dan Heng, continue your wonderful trailblazing journey. Everything isn't over yet."
"Okay!"
"Creation Engine!" Cocolia didn't understand why the Creation Engine had lost its ability to move.
"To deal with machines, you just hack into their system. It's a pity I can't control it for long." Silver Wolf sighed regretfully; she really wanted to try controlling this big guy.
"..." After a moment of confusion, a blue light flashed in Cocolia's eyes, and the surrounding cold intensified again.
"His power... it's surging... it's singing..."
"The promise He gave me is the only hope for this world."
"Seven hundred years ago, the Anti-matter Legion was driven away by His power. Today, your existence will also be erased!"
"Humans are always weak. Let me bestow despair upon you!" As she spoke, Cocolia's entire body began to transform. Her skin was covered in a deep, abyssal blue substance. In front of everyone, she transformed into a gigantic monster, with several ice-spear-like objects floating behind her.
"Tsk, you're like this and you can still give her power?" Ren patted the Stellaron beneath him, which was already half-eaten. "Quite dedicated, aren't you?"
The Stellaron flickered wildly. It only hoped that Cocolia would accept its power to quickly deal with the others and drive this man away. Otherwise, it would really be eaten!
*****
"Mother!" Bronya's body trembled and froze in place. She couldn't believe her mother would turn into this.
"That's not your mother anymore. She's now a monster from the Fragmentum wearing human skin," Silver Wolf warned.
"Who cares about her! Watch me shatter her ugly shell!" Seele's voice was full of anger. Anger towards this witch. If not for this hateful witch, how would the Underworld be so dark and chaotic? She just wanted to defeat this bastard!
"Disperse with the butterflies, old phantom!" Seele's figure, like a phantom blue-violet butterfly, swiftly approached Cocolia with a destructive posture.
"Ant! Be crushed by His power!"
"You!" Seele's alarm bells instantly rang! All the hairs on her body suddenly stood on end! A huge crisis was about to appear!
Cocolia waved her arm. Dense, massive ice pillars and cones rained down like a meteor shower.
"What..." Seele's eyes trembled. Such an attack... there was nowhere to hide! Bronya and Seele were enveloped by the attack.
"Bronya! Get out of the way!" Serval anxiously called out to Bronya, who was frozen in place. She couldn't have imagined that the Cocolia she knew would truly be so ruthless as to try and kill her own daughter!
"Seele!" Natasha also shouted, her voice hoarse as she fired her gun! Svarog also fired shells at the same time.
"Boom!" The explosions struck the rain of giant ice pillars and cones, but couldn't budge them in the slightest.
"Watch out!" Clara shouted.
Cocolia, transformed into the Mother of Falsehood, attacked Seele and Bronya with endless ice cones. Stelle, who was closest to Bronya, instinctively rushed over, trying to block the ice cones.
Crack! Just as Stelle was about to be pierced, the ice cones in the sky suddenly shattered without warning and were blown away by a hurricane.
"You're getting anxious, Stellaron." Ren's voice was finally heard by everyone.
"It's you! He wants me to eliminate you!" Cocolia saw Ren on top of the Stellaron and roared, exhausted!
*****
"Saved? I thought I was going to die..." Seele, who had escaped death, gazed at Ren with sparkling eyes. It was that person who saved her.
"Stellaron-chan..." Ren was about to mock the Stellaron, but he felt everything before him change. Cocolia was gone... Clara in his arms was also gone.
"Huh?" Stelle opened her eyes and looked at herself. She was very confused; she didn't seem to be hurt. It was just... the surrounding environment had once again become a starry expanse, the same starry expanse as when she saw the Aeon of Destruction.
"A very strange space." A sudden voice rang out. Stelle turned her head and saw Ren.
"How are you here too?" Ren shook his head: "I don't know."
Stelle suddenly remembered the shattered ice cones from earlier, "Did you save me?"
"It was just a convenient thing to do. Let's go look ahead." Ren said casually, taking Stelle's hand and walking towards the light source ahead.
"Mm..." Stelle, whose hand was being held from behind, had a flushed face.
And all the way towards the golden light source, phantoms were born in the void. It seemed to be the experiences of Jarilo-VI, images of Cocolia and the Stellaron. They saw the Anti-matter Legion invasion 700 years ago. They saw the then Great Guardian make a wish to the Stellaron. They saw the cold wave bury the Anti-matter Legion, and also bury the future of the planet. They saw the desperate situation Cocolia faced. They saw Cocolia ultimately swayed by the Stellaron. They saw Cocolia make a wish to the Stellaron.
...Everything was laid bare before them. Even though he already knew, Ren still felt a pang of emotion.
Everyone understood that what Cocolia did was wrong. But at least he felt that very few people, if they were in Cocolia's position, seeing a desperate future without light, and facing the Stellaron's constant whispers in their mind, could remain unaffected. Perhaps Jing Yuan of the Loufu's Celestial Ark could do it.
It was a great pity. Most of the people on Jarilo-VI were ordinary individuals with weak powers. There were Pathstriders, but no powerful Pathstriders. Even Cocolia, as the Great Guardian, was just an ordinary person with a bit of strength.
"..." The two arrived at the very end. A person stood before the light.
"Who are you?" Stelle looked at the person in front of her with confusion.
"He is the collective will of the previous Great Guardians," Ren said casually.
This person's gaze swept over Ren. "A powerful outsider… are you here to save Jarilo-VI?"
Ren shrugged, neither admitting nor denying it. His gaze conveyed profound sadness. "This city is crying out… the power of the path of preservation is fading."
"In the end… we still couldn't resist the will of the Stellaron."
Stelle saw everything, and she concluded, "It was Cocolia who abandoned the path of preservation."
"Indeed… but we have no right to blame her."
"For the past seven hundred years, the Interastral Rift has been continuously expanding, every minute, every second. What we left for our successors… was not faith or wealth, but boundless despair."
"Witnessing the gradual demise of the homeland we swore to preserve is a torment. Coupled with those persistent, manipulative whispers…"
"Even the firmest will is bound to waver; this day was destined to come. His protection… was destined to leave us." There was no resentment or blame for Cocolia's choice. Because it was they who left such a desperate situation. Their sadness was that the path of preservation would eventually depart, and the world would eventually be destroyed.
*****
Ren wanted to see what Stelle would choose now. Stelle was hesitating. She understood the despair of this world, and she desperately wanted to save this world. Although she didn't understand much yet, she didn't have Ren's power.
"Do whatever you want to do; I'll stand behind you, no need to worry." Ren's steady words became the hammer that shattered her hesitation.
Stelle's left hand, which was being held, felt the encouragement and strength flowing into her. Her confused and hesitant gaze gradually firmed, and she spoke her true feelings. "Then let someone else preserve it!"
His gaze became complex; he was puzzled. "You…"
"Just a passerby, yet you insist on shouldering the fate of an entire world…"
...
"Very well. What else is there to lose… what else can't be tried?"
"Go touch the Amber King's light, Trailblazer. See if the will of preservation within your heart is strong enough… strong enough to attract His gaze." Between the blue spirals, shimmering with red-gold light, was an Amber Spear.
Stelle looked at Ren.
"Go." Ren released her left hand, crossed his arms, and offered an encouraging smile. He had no interest in acquiring Stelle's power.
"Mm!" Stelle stepped forward, approaching the Amber Spear. She reached out, attempting to grasp the spear's hilt.
"!" Flames erupted from the spear, and Stelle retracted her hand for the first time. After only a brief pause, she stubbornly reached out again, grasping the flaming spear enveloped in fire.
The flaming spear seemed to be fixed in the void. Stelle concentrated her strength, gritting her teeth. She used all her might, trying to pull the Amber Flaming Spear from the void. The aura of flames spread through the void. As Stelle's strength grew, as her will became more resolute.
Crack! Cracks appeared in the space around the spear tip.
"She really… succeeded…" Following the Great Guardian's collective will's murmur.
"Ha!" The void shattered! The flaming spear was pulled out by Stelle. She raised the flaming spear high! Flames shot into the sky.
"Is that the Aeon of the path of preservation, Qlipoth?" The architect of the Celestial Comet Wall, the Aetherium Crystal Wall, and the Gravitational Anomaly Foundation, His worshippers call Him the Amber King.
In Ren's gaze, a colossal amber body stood in the boundless void. His majestic gaze fixed upon the tiny Stelle. He raised His giant hammer, and it descended upon the endless cosmos.
"Clang!" The Amber King's hammer strike, its sound echoed throughout the entire universe.
The old Amber Age had passed. A new era was beginning to arrive.