The battle had no warm-up; it was white-hot from the start.
Gradually, Cocolia noticed something unusual, her voice tinged with surprise.
"So, you're also a vessel of the Stellaron's power… No, that's not right. The Stellaron in you is sealed!"
Cocolia's body surged with Imaginary energy, the chill biting.
Her gaze toward Stelle was filled with contempt.
In her perception, the faint, homologous fluctuations were like a beast bound by ten layers of shackles.
"How pathetic!"
"Every generation of Guardians avoided this gift like a plague. You're no different from them."
Stelle's bat clashed with ice spikes, sending shards flying. She leaped back to create distance, retorting sharply.
"You're proud of turning yourself into a monster? I'd say, as a puppet forged by the Stellaron, you're the pathetic one."
"You betray your ancestors' decisions, dismissing their lifelong sacrifices as worthless. Don't make me laugh with your hypocrisy."
"Outsider, you understand nothing!"
An ice storm erupted without warning, Cocolia's long hair dancing wildly in the gale as she launched a frenzied assault.
Stelle was under immense defensive pressure but didn't yield an inch in spirit.
"So you warm yourself with the blood of your people? Those Silvermane Guards you sent into the Rift died believing the Supreme Guardian was protecting Belobog!"
"Hah, save it. If Bronya chose to stand with you, that would be the real tragedy."
At those words, the ice lance's speed surged, grazing past Stelle's ear.
Cocolia's palm glowed with an eerie light, dozens of ice spikes shooting out relentlessly toward Stelle.
Stelle had never faced such a dense barrage, barely holding her ground.
"Humans… always so foolish, always overreaching."
Cocolia seized Stelle's opening, manipulating ice to freeze her feet in place.
"Weak and oblivious, the Stellaron in someone like you is an utter waste."
"—I'll grant you despair!"
From the player's perspective—
The battle interface faded, transitioning to a cutscene.
Cocolia loomed over the immobilized Stelle.
Her ice lance pointed at her from afar, then shot forward like lightning—
In an instant, it was inches away.
The scene slowed, the background fading to a blinding white.
The camera zoomed in on Stelle's face as she instinctively closed her eyes.
As she did, the screen went black, accompanied by the muffled sound of something being pierced.
Pfft—
The sound rang out, and the game screen lit up again.
Players expecting Stelle to be impaled by the lance were stunned to see… Leon.
He appeared to be in a starry void.
His wings vanished abruptly behind him as he let out a stifled groan, blood trickling from his lips, his face pale.
His gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, landing on Jarilo-VI, on some point on that planet.
Slower players might have been confused.
But those quick to react realized a possibility.
The scene with Leon lasted only three seconds before following his gaze back to the battlefield, back to Stelle.
Seeing the in-game situation, countless players were dumbfounded.
Even those who had played the beta and knew the rough plot were no exception.
A pair of magnificent wings had appeared behind Stelle.
Familiar, yet unfamiliar.
Familiar because they were unmistakably Leon's wings.
Unfamiliar because no one understood why they were on Stelle.
At that moment, the wings shielded Stelle, blocking the fatal ice lance.
But they were also pierced through.
A dozen feathers drifted down as Stelle stared blankly ahead, her mind in chaos, her body slumping.
The group on the ground looked on anxiously.
Players were on edge, eyes glued to the screen, awaiting what came next.
Instead, they got a loading screen, entering the Path's Chasm, where the protagonist slowly opened her eyes.
"This is… the universe?"
The plot finally paused. Ah Xian's eyes were already misty, her hands clasped tightly over her mouth to stifle any sound.
So that's what he meant—
He really had been with them all along!
[Holy crap!!!]
[No way it's a family tradition of getting stabbed, right?]
[Those are Leon's wings, no doubt!]
[So back in the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone, when Leon touched the Trailblazer's back, that was foreshadowing…]
[It looks like he took the stab for the Trailblazer, and the damage is transferred to him through the wings.]
[Sobbing, our old dad quietly gave us his wings.]
[Hey, writers, you think I'm pretty? Stabbing Leon right at launch?]
[This isn't even a full-on stab yet. I'm scared the real gut-punch is still coming. Leon doesn't seem to be on Jarilo-VI. What's he doing?]
Yeah.
No one could figure it out.
[Did Leon desert?]
[Desert, my foot! If he were a deserter, would he give the Trailblazer wings that anyone with eyes can see are insanely important?]
[Exactly, there's got to be a side quest!]
[Ahxian, stop covering your mouth. We know you're a crybaby, but hurry up and progress the story!]
Ah Xian sniffled, wiped her eyes with a tissue, and gripped the mouse to click back into the game.
"I was fighting Cocolia. Why am I here…?"
"Those wings that appeared behind me…"
Stelle's pupils trembled as she glanced over her shoulder.
There, she felt something unusual.
Catching that sensation, she focused—
Massive wings unfurled abruptly.
Stelle gazed at the wings, reaching out to touch them, her tone complex.
"Leon…"
Her actions stirred emotions in countless players watching.
Leon, he really…
Stelle looked into the distance.
"The last time I was here, Nanook glanced at me. Could it be—"
Muttering to herself, she tried flapping the wings.
Her body wobbled as she took off but soon stabilized, soaring forward.
In midair, past images flickered into existence.
Gepard and the Silvermane Guards were reporting to Cocolia with bowed heads.
"The commercial district has fallen. Residents have been evacuated and temporarily settled in the outer city. The defense team lost 26 members, but I…"
"Go on, Gepard."
"I… I'm not sure if the fallen Guards are truly dead. I saw their broken forms wandering in the Rift…"
"What's happening there defies reason, verging on madness. Supreme Guardian, if this continues—"
Cocolia cut Gepard off.
"I understand the consequences, Gepard. Stand down."
The Stellaron's voice echoed: "We understand the consequences…"
The image faded.
Stelle clenched her right fist, a surge of anger welling within her as she headed toward the next vision.
Her reaction mirrored that of countless players.
Cocolia, you deserve to die!
"Why are you still hesitating, Cocolia?"
This time, it was Serval speaking with Cocolia.
"Isn't this what you've always wanted? To leave this cage, to see this city with your own eyes? What do we have left to lose?"