After the four members of the Astral Express Crew left Qlipoth Fort, they encountered the waiting Gepard.
Gepard introduced them to Pela. Under Pela's guidance and explanation, they became acquainted with most parts of Belobog.
Afterward, they met Serval, who introduced herself as a former close friend of Cocolia.
Following her to the Neverwinter Workshop, they learned some things about the past between Cocolia and Serval.
As night fell, the group checked into the Goethe Hotel not far from the entrance of Belobog... Kiana, now in her room, lay on the bed, staring boredly at the ceiling, lost in thought.
"Why don't I just shroud Belobog within the Boundary?"
Lying there, Kiana suddenly spoke. Then, with her characteristic decisiveness, she sat up and began to circulate her spiritual energy.
Kiana donned her Divine Spirit Dress: Type Zero, her half-closed beautiful eyes shimmering with a divine and soulful radiance.
The phantom of a giant tree quietly stood tall above Jarilo-VI.
Simultaneously, a thin membrane of pale purple spiritual energy covered the entire frozen planet.
Aboard the Astral Express, which was stationary in the planet's orbit, Himeko and Welt both looked at the anomaly outside at the same time.
"It's Kiana..." they said simultaneously.
The two spoke in unison.
Upon seeing the tree, the spirit crystals within their bodies reacted slightly, leading them to conclude that Kiana had done something.
However, they weren't worried at all; with Kiana's abilities, nothing could possibly go wrong.
At this moment, at the end of the Corridor of Fading Echoes in the far north of Belobog, at the center of the Eternal Freeze and the Rift, a Stellaron was spinning at high speed, emitting an intense light.
"Why has such an existence, which shouldn't be here, appeared?"
It immediately told Cocolia what was happening on the planet, adding its own biased embellishments.
It deluded Cocolia into believing that the outsiders were attempting to seize all resources on Jarilo-VI by force.
"Do you still want to delude me into continuing my mistakes...?"
Inside her room, Cocolia held her head. Under the dim light by her bed, her face was shrouded in shadow, and her voice was low.
Because of Kiana's words and the divine posture she had displayed, Cocolia was currently caught in a state of confusion and inner conflict.
Was there really no turning back from the mistakes she had made over the years?
Sealing off the Upper and Lower Districts, withdrawing the Silvermane Guards which led to intensified Rift corrosion in the Lower District, causing the collapse of Order and the destitution of the people there over the years.
Because of her own selfish desires, she had dismissed Serval and banned her from researching the Rift and the Stellaron.
Deluded by the Stellaron's promise of a new world, she had blindly gathered forces for a general offensive against the Rift, resulting in massive casualties among the Guards.
For someone who had done all this, was the road back a bottomless abyss, or the resentful gazes of those who had been sacrificed in the past?
That outsider... could she really be the hope Belobog had been waiting for so long?
If she truly was hope, then Cocolia would choose to pay with her own life to give Bronya one final push... Though still green, Bronya should be able to shoulder the responsibility of Belobog's Supreme Guardian.
"Still hesitating? By the time you make a decision, it will be too late. Belobog will change hands, and the entire planet will be reduced to a slave world for others to drive. This is the true face of those outsiders..."
"..."
While Cocolia's heart was in turmoil, the Stellaron chose to continue adding fuel to the fire, blackening the reputation of Kiana and her group.
If it didn't try harder, it expected it would be refined in an instant; it didn't want to just sit and wait for its end.
It was a Stellaron with high intelligence!
Of course, that fellow among the outsiders was an anomaly.
"Think about that white-haired one at the end. Think of the power she showed you before she left, and the power that now envelops Jarilo-VI... She is showing her might to make you give up resistance. She is the true invader, while I will always be your partner..."
"Shut up!!! Leave me alone!!!"
Covering her ears with both hands, Cocolia growled with a distorted expression.
Her head was a mess; Kiana's words and the Stellaron's delusions were fighting in her mind, making it impossible for her to think normally.
Bang—
The room door was suddenly pushed open. Bronya, wearing pajamas, looked at her mother with a face full of worry.
"Mother, are you all right...?"
Seeing her mother leaning on the bed with messy hair and bloodshot eyes made Bronya feel a deep pang of heartache.
Just what had happened to her mother to make her look like this?
"..."
Hearing Bronya's voice allowed Cocolia to calm down slightly. She shook her head and gave a weary smile.
"Bronya, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."
"Is... that so?"
Bronya's tone was clearly skeptical, but since her mother had said so, knowing her, she wouldn't tell her the truth anyway.
"Yes, it's late. Go back to your room and rest."
"Okay, Mother..."
Giving Cocolia one last worried glance, Bronya hesitated for a moment before closing the door and leaving.
After Bronya left, Cocolia leaned weakly against the headboard.
"For your daughter, for the future of Belobog, you should choose to believe me..."
The Stellaron continued to use the power of its twisted will to delude Cocolia, making her gradually begin to believe the beautiful vision it had promised her once again.
Suddenly—
"As long as your will of Preservation is firm enough, the Stellaron will be unable to continue deluding you..."
Kiana's words suddenly surfaced in her mind, causing Cocolia to snap back to her senses instantly.
She had almost been led by the nose by the Stellaron again... "..."
The Stellaron went silent. It hadn't expected that after talking for so long, this woman still wouldn't budge.
She was much harder to trick than when she was younger, and the main reason was that white-haired girl!
She had to show up now of all times, just when the Stellaron was about to fully achieve its goal!
"You..."
"Shut up. Get out of my head."
Cocolia's tone was exceptionally calm.
At this moment, a faint amber light shimmered on her body, blocking the Stellaron's influence.
"&$&#%@!!!"
The Stellaron seemed exasperated. After cursing for a while, it vanished from Cocolia's mind.
"I hope the choice I've made is correct. May the Preservation of the 'Amber Lord' always protect Belobog..."
A flicker of hope shone in Cocolia's weary eyes.
She was tired. It was time to pave the way for Bronya, and she herself should step down from the stage of history... Kiana had her Angel cover the entire planet, enveloping it within the Boundary.
Within this space, Kiana could achieve anything she desired; she was the God here.
And of all she had done, besides the Stellaron and Cocolia, who was closely linked to it... no one inside the planet knew what was truly happening to their world.
No, there was one more. In a mansion within the Robot Settlement of the Lower District, Svarog raised his head, his circular lens-like eye flickering with light.
"An unknown energy fluctuation has enveloped the skies of Jarilo-VI. This fluctuation is a variable."
"Mr. Svarog... is something wrong?"
Hearing the soft and sweet voice, Svarog looked down to see Clara looking at him.
"It is nothing. It is time for rest, Clara."
There was an undeniable sternness in Svarog's mechanical voice; at this moment, he was like a stern father.
"But... okay..."
Clara started to say something but stopped, then walked back to her room with her bare feet.
In an area of the Upper District invaded by the Rift.
Sampo was lying on the roof of a house, looking at the phantom of the giant tree.
"This is beyond old Sampo's current capabilities. Everyone, I'm afraid the space comedy is going to fall through~"