"Here again... Will Stelle get glanced at by Nanook once more?"
In the mechanical maintenance area of the Brant Street Construction Site, Koleda shuddered as if recalling something terrifying.
Thinking back to that day when the Aeon of Destruction cast its gaze upon them, half the workers on-site trembled in fear on the spot. The entire site had to halt operations for a full half-hour before returning to normal. Even though it was a deity from another world, the impact was still overwhelming...
Meanwhile, Grace wore an expression of bitter regret.
"Eh—?! Where's my big cutie?! It was just here a moment ago!"
The "big cutie" she referred to was none other than the Creation Engine. Grace had fallen for it at first sight, especially after witnessing the high-energy beams emitted from its head. She even fantasized about "dissecting" its structure.
Thankfully, the two worlds were separated by a Celestial Screen. Otherwise, Koleda would have been terrified that her older sister might actually climb over and drill into the Creation Engine's head with a power tool.
"Big sis, you switch affections way too fast! How long has it even been...? Wasn't your 'big cutie' supposed to be that robot called Svarog?" Koleda tilted her head to look at her.
"Little one, Svarog is nice, but in my heart, it can only be a 'little cutie'." Recalling the Creation Engine's mountainous stature, Grace couldn't help but reveal the dreamy expression of a lovestruck maiden.
"That Creation Engine is just too perfect... I want to touch the core power unit inside its armor, press my ear against its head and listen to the powerful surge of electricity when its thermal beams converge... Ah, it must be so loud—I love it!"
"Especially when it activates its right arm—the seven-hundred-year-old electric pulse drive technology and the sound of the turbine spinning... So beautiful, so classical, so romantic!"
"Uh... Big sis, calm down a little." Koleda broke out in a cold sweat.
As the chief technical expert of Belobog Heavy Industries, her older sister was brilliant in every way... except for the fact that she was a mechanosexual.
——
[Stelle walks toward the spiraling galaxy in the distance. Along the way, beams of light continuously coalesce into phantoms that appear before her.]
[It is Gepard reporting to Cocolia.]
["The commercial district has fallen. The citizens have been evacuated and temporarily relocated to the outer city. The Silvermane Guards... 26 casualties, but I—"]
["Continue, Gepard."]
["I... I'm not sure if the fallen guards are truly dead. I saw their broken figures wandering in the Fragmentum..." Gepard's voice trembled slightly. "What's happening there defies reason, borders on madness. Supreme Guardian, if this continues—"]
["...I am well aware of the consequences, Gepard. You are dismissed."]
[The Stellaron's eerie voice rose behind Cocolia, mocking and taunting as it repeated with amusement: "...We are well aware of the consequences."]
"Those killed by Fragmentum monsters... become monsters trapped in the Fragmentum too?"
"Doesn't sound too bad. Just deal with them all at once, right?"
Inside a tavern in Natlan, several warriors from the Scions of the Canopy drank and chatted.
"Deal with them? Are you joking? If the Fragmentum is like the Abyss, then it's not just about being killed by it—your body gets taken over to attack your own people."
"Under the Abyss's influence, you don't truly die. Your soul can't return to the Land of the Night God, and the Sacred Flame can't save you. When your comrades face an Abyss monster that looks exactly like you... their will to fight would probably take a hit."
"Ah... That does sound pretty terrifying."
These warriors did not fear death. Natlan had fought the Abyss for a thousand years, with countless martyrs—but all their souls returned to the Land of the Night God, becoming nourishment for the next generation of Natlan's spirit. But if they couldn't return after death... They could hardly imagine such a scenario.
[Stelle continues forward, and soon, the phantoms of Serval and Cocolia appear.]
["—What are you still hesitating for, Cocolia? Isn't this what you've always wanted? To leave this cage and see this city with your own eyes! What more do we have to lose?"]
[Serval grows more agitated as she speaks: "The efforts of our predecessors, their unfinished research... It can finally bear fruit in our era! Give me a squad, let me find the Stellaron, let me find a way to save our home—"]
["...Calm yourself, Serval."]
["Calm? What are you—"]
["Guards! The Lady Landau is tired. Escort her out." Cocolia clenched her fists, raising her head with difficulty. "Shut down her lab and detain all researchers—their work is illegal."]
["...Why, Cocolia? Why have you become so cold..."]
[Serval's voice gradually fades into the cosmos, leaving only Cocolia's pained whisper echoing like a soliloquy.]
["Serval Landau... You were once my most cherished friend."]
[The Stellaron's voice whispers again: "...But there is no place for her in the promised world."]
[Stelle remains silent and walks on. This time, it is Cocolia leading the Silvermane Guards to the plaza where the Stellaron resides.]
["Lady Cocolia, the monsters are swarming toward us! It's too dangerous here!"]
["Foolish... Pathetic..."]
["...What? My lady, what are you saying?"]
["No one understands me... except myself. They have eyes and ears, yet they see nothing, hear nothing..."]
["Aaaaaah!" The soldier screams as the phantom dissipates.]
["Feeding on their ignorance, absolving them of their folly and fear..."]
"...Heh, I completely understand this Lady Cocolia's perspective. The path to a new world, walked alone, inevitably requires enduring gazes that ordinary people cannot comprehend."
In the palace of the Snezhnayan Fatui Harbingers, Dottore, behind his bird-like mask, smiled meaningfully, seemingly in full agreement with Cocolia's methods.
"If ordinary lives can serve as stepping stones to a new world, then nothing could be better... I'll ensure every drop of their blood flows with purpose."
"By 'ordinary lives'... you're not including the Hearth's children, are you?" Arlecchino's voice suddenly turned cold.
"Haha, of course not... Didn't you already reject my earlier proposal for human experimentation?"
"I was merely lamenting... pitying how this Lady Cocolia remained shackled by human weakness."
"If it were me, I wouldn't have sealed off the passage between the Overworld and Underground—after all, the people below are equally valuable. Seele and Sampo are both excellent test subjects. Whether for human experimentation or Fragmentum research, they're precious resources."
"As for the Stellaron... I'm quite curious whether my dissection techniques would work on the creations of an Aeon."