---System---
---Function Summon---
>>> Arriving('Aether':personel):
>>> Arriving('Rover':personel):
>>> Arriving('Freiren':personel):
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 1
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 2
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 3
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 4
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 5
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 6
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 7
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 8
....
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 45
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
....
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 76
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
....
....
....
Summoning interrupted, reattempting
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 257
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 258
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
.....!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 764
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
........!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 921
>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
...........!!!!!!!!!!!
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Summoning interrupted, reattempting 2130
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>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 98549
...........!!!!!!!!!!!
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>>> Arriving('Phainon':personel)
!!!Error!!!
Summoning interrupted, reattempting 999999999999999#$@$^%$%!@
---Reconsidering---
---Summoning Terminated---
---Readjusting to Target---
---Hole---
---System Out---
Realizing that my chat m8's are showing up I quickly mentally push away the screen.
Looking around my less than pleasant cell I see 3 summoning circles; one mid air, second on the ceiling and third on the floor, from left to right from my point of view.
The first to show is Aether, The Traveler—he ends up just landing silently on his feet. Second comes through Rover... Female Rover. To think. Oh well. Her entrance is simply glorious, with one black wing on her back she's practically showing off her flying super hero style landing.
Then comes Frieren. She just shows up lying down on the floor staring up at the ceiling, probably wondering what the hell just happened, and whether she could analyze the 'magic' that brought her here.
Then a hole appears—not in the ceiling, not in the ground, a wall or anywhere with common sense—but a hole that exists in the middle of the group. From it Phainon falls out and face plants into the ground. There seems to be something trying to drag him back through the hole but it closes before that happens.
Aether, smirking, "Nice landing Phainon."
Rover, face palming, "Why are you still on the floor? Does it taste good or something?"
With that sentence Phainon had gotten up quite quickly.
"Aha ha— No it didn't taste good," said Phainon while rubbing the back of his head and being slightly off balance.
Aether now looks at me. "So do we need to free yo—"
I decide to take that moment to break my bindings by creating ice in the cuffs, chain links and ankle bindings, ripping them apart with complete ease.
"Sorry, I never needed help with getting out, but saving time to save the world? Ya probably do, also a great reason to break out of here already." Giving a deadpan, I replied monotonously.
Part 1: The Escape (REVISED ~700 words)
"Sorry, I never needed help with getting out, but saving time to save the world? Ya probably do, also a great reason to break out of here already!" Giving a deadpan, I replied monotonously.
Aether nodded, his expression turning serious. "Alright, what's the situation?"
My mind was already running through the variables—clearer than it had been in weeks. The intelligence boost from the gacha was finally making itself useful. "Long story short—sorry—the Supreme Guardian has been corrupted by a Stellaron for years. She's been preparing to activate an ancient superweapon called the Engine of Creation. My team escaped when I got captured after I... impulsively attacked her during a meeting."
I grimaced at the memory. Even with better intelligence, I still had that judgment debuff making me act like an idiot at the worst times.
"She's been moving resources to the site for months, maybe longer. Based on her behavior patterns and the escalation of restrictions, I'd estimate she's close to activation—sorry—within hours, not days."
Rover's eyes sharpened with understanding. "So we're on a clock. What do you need?"
"Guard house first. They confiscated my phone—sorry—I need to contact my team and coordinate. After that, we move fast. No stealth, no subtlety. We don't have time for it."
Phainon straightened up completely, brushing dust off his clothes. "Direct approach then. I can work with that."
"Before we go—sorry—I should mention I have a curse. I say 'sorry' constantly. Every time I speak. It's not politeness, it's compulsive, so just... ignore it."
Aether blinked. "That's... oddly specific."
"Tell me about it—sorry."
I moved toward the cell door, summoning ice around the lock mechanism without hesitation. The metal groaned as frost expanded through the internal workings, then shattered with a sharp crack. The door swung open with a echoing bang that would definitely alert guards.
"No time for quiet—sorry. Follow me."
We moved quickly through the corridors, not bothering to hide our footsteps. The emergency lighting cast everything in harsh yellow, and I could already hear shouts of alarm echoing from deeper in the facility.
"Prisoner escape! Alert all stations!"
"There!" A guard rounded the corner ahead, eyes widening as he saw our group. He reached for his weapon—
Aether closed the distance in a heartbeat, disarming him with practiced efficiency. The guard hit the ground unconscious before he could raise an alarm.
"Nice—sorry," I said, already moving past. More guards were coming, the sound of boots on stone growing louder.
Rover summoned her sword, spectro energy crackling along the blade. "How many are we expecting?"
"Full garrison shift—sorry—maybe thirty active guards in this section. Don't kill anyone if you can avoid it, they're just following orders."
We burst into a wider corridor and immediately encountered a squad of six Silvermane Guards. They raised their weapons in unison, but Phainon was faster. A controlled burst of force sent them sprawling—alive but very unconscious.
"Equipment room, two corridors down—sorry—east wing!" I called out, ice forming around my hands as another group appeared from a side passage.
The fight was brief and one-sided. Between Aether's aptitude with a sword, Rover's spectro abilities, and Phainon's raw power, the guards didn't stand a chance. I focused on non-lethal takedowns—freezing weapons, creating ice walls to block paths, tripping advancing guards with strategic ice patches.
My mind was tracking everything with unusual clarity: guard positions, response times, likely reinforcement routes. The intelligence boost was making tactical decisions almost instinctive.
We reached the equipment room in under two minutes. The door was locked, but that meant nothing when Phainon simply kicked it off its hinges.
Inside, my belongings were stored in a locked chest. I shattered the lock with a spike of ice and grabbed my phone first—the most critical item.
"Sorry, need a moment to contact my team." I typed quickly:
Sane: Escaped. Heading to Everwinter Monument. Cocolia's timeline accelerated—she's been preparing for years. Something feels wrong. Meet at mountain base?
The response came within seconds.
March: YOU'RE OKAY?! We're on our way!
Stelle: Finally. Don't do anything else stupid.
Dan Heng: Understood. ETA 20 minutes.
I grabbed the glove and sleeve March had bought me, pulling them on to conceal my ice arm, then wrapped the scarf around my neck.
"Alright—sorry—my team is meeting us at Everwinter Ridge base. That's where the Engine is. We need to move now."
We burst out of the administrative building into Belobog's eternal winter. The cold air hit the others immediately—Aether's breath misting, Rover pulling her coat tighter, Phainon barely reacting but clearly feeling it. I felt nothing, as always.
Alarms blared throughout the district. Guards were mobilizing, but we had a head start.
"This way—sorry!" I took off at a run toward the upper districts.
"How far?" Rover asked, summoning her sword, spectro energy crackling along the blade.
"Twenty minutes—sorry. Everwinter Monument, then the Engine site."
A massive explosion erupted from the prison building behind us. Stone and ice shattered outward as Frieren blasted straight through the wall, floating on currents of mana with her staff raised. She descended smoothly to glide alongside us, expression completely blank.
"..." She said nothing, just matched our pace like she'd been there the whole time.
"Sorry—glad you caught up," I said, vaulting over a barrier.
We rounded a corner and nearly collided with a patrol. The guards shouted, raising weapons—
Aether moved forward but hesitated for a split second, his inexperience showing. He still took down two guards but his movements were slightly uncoordinated, lacking the refined efficiency he'd develop later.
Rover's spectro blade flashed, covering his mistake and disarming the remaining guards before they could capitalize.
I created an ice wall behind us as we ran, blocking pursuit.
My phone buzzed.
Dan Heng: We see the alarms. What happened?
Sane: Broke out. Bringing help. See you soon.
March: HELP?? Who??
Sane: Long story. Too long a story, put simply I don't want to discuss it, sorry.
"Shortcut—sorry!" I led them through memorized alleys, weeks of investigation making the route instinctive. Every turn calculated, every patrol pattern accounted for.
We emerged near the elevator passages. A dozen guards blocked the checkpoint.
"Stop! By order of the Supreme Guardian—"
Phainon moved. Raw power erupted outward, the air shimmering with heat and force. Guards scattered like leaves.
My skin prickled from residual heat—that 240% fire weakness making itself known. I pushed through it.
"Maintenance shaft—sorry." I kicked open a service entrance, revealing steep stairs descending into darkness.
"Of course it's stairs," Rover muttered.
Frieren simply floated down the shaft, completely bypassing the stairs while the rest of us descended rapidly.
Emergency lighting flickered as we dropped deeper into Belobog's infrastructure. The alarms faded behind us.
My phone buzzed.
Stelle: At monument now. No sign of Cocolia yet.
Sane: Five minutes out. Stay alert.
Dan Heng: Understood. March is getting impatient.
March: I AM NOT
March: Okay maybe a little
March: HURRY UP
"Sorry, almost there."
We burst out of the maintenance shaft into the Underworld proper. The temperature difference was negligible to me, but the others noticed—slightly warmer down here, the massive furnaces of the Underworld still functioning despite everything.
"Follow—sorry!" I led them through the winding passages of the lower city. A few Wildfire members spotted us and started to react, but we were moving too fast for them to organize any response.
Three more minutes of running through increasingly abandoned sections of the Underworld brought us to the outskirts, where the city gave way to the frozen wastes surrounding Everwinter Ridge.
The monument loomed ahead—a massive structure of ice and stone jutting from the mountainside. And at its base, three familiar figures waited.
March spotted us first, her bow materializing instantly before recognition hit. "Lancer!"
Stelle had her bat ready, Dan Heng's spear was already in hand. They relaxed slightly as we approached, though their eyes immediately tracked to my companions with obvious suspicion.
"Sorry—explanations later. Where's Cocolia?"
Dan Heng's expression was grim. "Fresh tracks leading up the mountain. Multiple Silvermane Guards, heavy equipment. They passed through here less than ten minutes ago."
I felt my enhanced intelligence process the implications instantly. "She's already at the Engine site—sorry. We need to move now."
March looked between me and the four strangers I'd brought. "Sane, who are—"
"Friends from the group chat—sorry. They came to help." I turned to follow the tracks Dan Heng indicated, already analyzing the path. "Introductions while we move. We're out of time."
We started up the mountain path immediately, following the obvious trail left by Cocolia's forces. Heavy boot prints, equipment drag marks, disturbed snow—they weren't even trying to hide their passage.
"Sorry—quick introductions while we move," I said, keeping my eyes on the trail. "March, Stelle, Dan Heng, meet Aether, Rover, Phainon, and Frieren."
March's eyes widened. "Wait, where did they even come from? How did you—"
"They helped break me out—sorry. That's what matters right now." I ducked under a low-hanging ice formation, deliberately focusing on the tracks ahead. "Cocolia's the priority."
Stelle gave them an appraising look, bat still resting on her shoulder. "And they just... showed up at the prison?"
"Long story—sorry. Tell you after we stop the apocalypse." I pointed at the trail ahead. "She's got at least twenty guards. What's our approach?"
Dan Heng studied each newcomer carefully before accepting the deflection. "The timing is fortunate, regardless. Cocolia's forces passed through less than ten minutes ago."
"Engine of Creation—sorry," I confirmed, keeping us moving. "Ancient superweapon beneath Rivet Town. She thinks it'll 'remake' Belobog. It'll likely just destroy everything."
Phainon moved easily despite the steep incline, barely winded. "So we stop her before she can activate it."
"Nothing's simple with Stellaron corruption—sorry," Dan Heng said quietly. "It doesn't just twist intentions. It rewrites reality itself if given enough power."
The path grew steeper, winding up the mountainside toward what looked like an old mining entrance. The tracks led directly there—a massive doorway carved into the rock, ancient and imposing.
Frieren floated slightly ahead, examining the structure with detached interest. "..." She raised her staff, and I felt a pulse of mana scan the entrance. She looked back at us and gave a single nod—clear.
"She's already inside—sorry." I could see disturbed snow leading into the darkness beyond the entrance. "March, light?"
March created a small ice crystal that glowed with soft blue light, though she was still eyeing the newcomers with obvious curiosity. "Got it. But Sane, what's the plan? We can't just charge in if she's already started the activation sequence."
My mind raced through possibilities, the intelligence boost making connections faster than before. "She needs time for activation—sorry—these ancient systems aren't instant. Based on the resource movements I tracked, she's been preparing for months. Final activation should take at least several minutes."
"So we interrupt before she finishes," Stelle said, gripping her bat tighter. "I can work with that."
Rover's spectro energy crackled along her blade. "The Supreme Guardian herself—how dangerous?"
"Military training, command experience, Stellaron corruption—sorry," I said grimly. "Unknown variables. The corruption might have enhanced her abilities directly."
Aether checked his sword—still clearly getting used to fighting without his elemental powers, but determined. "And the guards?"
"Silvermane Guards are well-trained and loyal—sorry—non-lethal when possible. They're following orders."
Dan Heng moved to the entrance, peering into the darkness beyond. "The structure goes deep. Pre-Eternal Freeze construction. The Engine was designed for terraforming—reshaping continental landmasses."
"And now it's being controlled by someone who thinks destroying the Underworld is 'necessary sacrifice'—sorry." I felt ice forming around my fingers unconsciously, had to consciously suppress it. "We stop her. Whatever it takes."
March touched my arm gently. "Sane... about earlier. What happened with—"
"Attacked her during negotiations—sorry—impulsive decision, got imprisoned, you three escaped. We'll deal with consequences after we stop the apocalypse."
"Fair enough," Stelle said. "Let's go hit things until the world stops ending."
We entered the tunnel, March's ice-light illuminating ancient stonework covered in frost. The passage descended sharply, and I could hear echoes from deep below—mechanical sounds, humming energy, voices shouting orders.
"She's already started—sorry," I said, picking up the pace. "Move fast but stay alert. Rearguard possible."
The cavern was filled with the sounds of combat—steel clashing, ice cracking, shouts and grunts of effort. No music, just raw chaos.
Bronya raised her weapon fully, energy crackling around her. Behind her, Cocolia continued channeling power into the Engine, seemingly unconcerned with our arrival.
"Bronya—sorry—you know this is wrong," I said, trying one last time. "Look at what it's doing to your mother. The Stellaron is—"
"Enough!" Bronya's voice cracked. "You attacked her! You're working with those Underworld rebels to destroy everything she's built! Everything she's sacrificed for!"
"Sacrificed?" March stepped forward, anger flashing in her eyes. "She's been systematically starving the Underworld for years! People are dying down there while she—"
Bronya fired. A blast of wind and energy forced March to dodge, ice crystallizing in the air where she'd been standing.
"No more words," Bronya said coldly. "If you won't leave, I'll make you."
Dan Heng's spear materialized. "Sane, get to Cocolia. We'll handle—"
Silvermane Guards poured from side passages, at least fifteen of them forming a defensive line. They moved with military precision, weapons raised, completely loyal to their Supreme Guardian's orders.
I pointed toward Cocolia, then at Phainon and Rover—the message clear. They nodded.
Stelle grinned, bat already swinging toward the nearest guard. "Finally! I was getting tired of running!"
The cavern exploded into motion.
March's arrows flew, each one precisely aimed to disarm rather than kill. Guards' weapons froze and shattered, leaving them scrambling. Stelle charged through the opening, her bat connecting with shields and armor with devastating force—non-lethal but completely overwhelming.
Dan Heng engaged three guards simultaneously, his spear work elegant and efficient. Each strike targeted joints, pressure points, weak spots in armor. They went down without permanent injury, but they stayed down.
Aether moved with determination despite his inexperience, his sword clashing against a guard's blade. He was learning fast, adapting mid-combat, but still making mistakes—overextending slightly, his footwork not quite perfect. Another guard tried to flank him, but Frieren's magic intercepted—a precise binding spell that wrapped the attacker in ethereal chains.
"..." Frieren floated above the battlefield, her staff glowing as she methodically disabled guards with clinical efficiency. No wasted movement, no unnecessary force. Just cold, calculated spell work.
Bronya saw me trying to move past and intercepted immediately, wind howling around her as she blocked my path. "You're not getting past me!"
I pointed at myself, then at Cocolia—sorry, but I have to.
I summoned ice barriers, forcing Bronya to adjust positioning.
Rover moved in from the side, spectro blade flashing. Bronya barely managed to block, surprised by the sudden assault. "Who—"
Rover pressed the advantage, her movements fluid and experienced. Each strike calculated to drive Bronya back, away from blocking the path.
I ran.
Phainon was already ahead, closing the distance to the control platform where Cocolia stood wreathed in Stellaron energy. She turned, and for the first time, I saw her expression clearly—
Not surprise. Not anger.
Pity.
"Oh, children," Cocolia said softly, her voice carrying that eerie doubled quality of Stellaron corruption. "You think you can stop this? You think your determination matters against destiny itself?"
I saw Aether's grip tighten on his sword at those words. Phainon's expression darkened. Rover's resonance flickered with something almost like anger.
"Destiny," Rover said coldly, barely dodging Bronya's next strike. "Always destiny. Always fate. As if people's choices mean nothing."
Cocolia raised her hand, and suddenly the temperature in the cavern plummeted—even I felt the shift in air pressure. Ice erupted from the ground in massive crystalline spikes, forcing us to scatter.
And then the music began.
"Wildfire" - Honkai: Star Rail OST
Dramatic, intense orchestral music swelled through the chamber—BB's contribution to the chaos, providing a soundtrack for what was about to become a true boss fight.
Cocolia's form shifted, Stellaron energy wrapping around her like armor. Her eyes glowed with that sick purple light, and ice formed weapons in both her hands—elegant, deadly, corruption given form.
"The Engine will harness the Eternal Freeze itself," she declared, her voice resonating with power. "Channel it, control it, reshape it. No more slow death—complete dominion over the cold that has plagued us for seven hundred years. Belobog will endure, frozen in eternal perfection!"
Phainon threw up a barrier as another wave of corrupted ice crashed toward us. The impact shattered his defense, sending cracks spiderwebbing through the energy construct.
I summoned Rhongomyniad. Golden light blazed in the chamber, momentarily overwhelming the purple corruption. The lance felt solid and real, its healing properties already working to counter the oppressive Stellaron energy saturating the air.
Cocolia's eyes widened slightly. "That light... what are you?"
"Someone trying to save your city—sorry."
I charged. She met me with a blade of crystalline ice infused with Stellaron corruption. Our weapons clashed, and the impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, cracking the ancient stone beneath our feet.
"You don't understand!" Cocolia's voice rose. "Seven hundred years! Watching my people freeze, starve, struggle! The Fragmentum never stops! Every Supreme Guardian has fought this same losing battle, and every one has failed!"
I pushed back, ice forming around my feet for leverage. "Sorry—but this isn't the answer!"
She disengaged, moving with speed that shouldn't be possible for someone her age. Ice pillars erupted around me, trying to cage me in. I shattered them with Rhongomyniad's light, but she was already repositioning, launching frozen projectiles that moved with unnatural precision.
Phainon charged from the side, raw power erupting around him. Cocolia gestured and a wall of ice materialized—but his attack shattered it completely, forcing her to actually dodge.
"The power to reshape our greatest enemy into our salvation!" she shouted, parrying my lance with her corrupted blade. "The Stellaron showed me the way! Through the Engine, through controlled application of its power, I can—"
"You're being USED!" Aether yelled, moving to flank despite his inexperience. "Can't you see? The corruption has twisted everything you think you know!"
Cocolia's expression flickered—doubt, confusion, anger—before the Stellaron energy surged again, drowning out her humanity. "I am in CONTROL! I have always been in control! Every sacrifice, every hard decision, every cut to the Underworld's supplies—all calculated steps toward THIS moment!"
Behind her, the Engine's humming grew louder. Its mechanisms were fully active now, drawing power from the Stellaron, channeling it through ancient systems never meant to handle such corruption.
And Frieren, still hovering above the battlefield, raised her staff toward the machine itself.
"..." She spoke flatly, clinically. "The activation sequence has structural flaws. Catastrophic energy feedback in approximately three minutes. The ancient systems are rejecting the corrupted energy input. Total detonation inevitable."
I saw Bronya freeze mid-strike against Rover, her weapon wavering. "Mother... the elf is right, isn't she? This isn't control. This is—"
"LIES!" Cocolia's scream was almost inhuman, Stellaron energy exploding outward in a devastating wave. We were all thrown back, slamming into walls and pillars. "The Stellaron PROMISED! Perfect control! Eternal preservation! A new world!"
The Engine's humming became a high-pitched whine. Purple-black light bled through cracks forming in its ancient structure.
We were running out of time.
The Engine's whine became a scream. Yellow-black energy erupted from every crack in its ancient structure, pouring into Cocolia like she was a vessel meant to contain it.
Her body lifted off the ground, suspended in writhing tendrils of Stellaron corruption. Ice formed around her in impossible patterns—geometric, fractal, wrong. The temperature dropped so sharply that even the others started showing signs of frostbite.
"BEHOLD!" Cocolia's voice was no longer her own—doubled, tripled, echoing with the weight of the Stellaron itself. "THE NEW ETERNAL ENGINE! THE PERFECT GUARDIAN! PRESERVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION! SALVATION THROUGH SACRIFICE!"
Her form twisted, expanding. Ice and corruption merged, creating armor that looked organic and mechanical simultaneously. She was no longer just Cocolia—she was becoming something else entirely. A fusion of human will and Stellaron power, twisted into a mockery of salvation.
The music intensified, reaching a fever pitch.
"Wildfire (Phase 2)" - Honkai: Star Rail OST
"Everyone back!" Dan Heng shouted, pulling March away as a wave of corrupted ice swept across the platform. Guards who'd been fighting moments ago were now fleeing, their loyalty finally breaking in the face of this monstrosity.
Bronya stood frozen, staring at what her mother had become. "No... Mother, please..."
Cocolia—or the thing wearing her face—turned those glowing purple eyes toward her daughter. "Bronya. My dear child. Don't you see? This is what strength looks like. This is what it takes to save our world."
"That's not salvation!" Bronya's voice cracked. "That's not even you anymore!"
I struggled to my feet, Rhongomyniad still gripped tight despite the impact. My ice arm was resonating violently, almost painfully, with the Stellaron energy saturating the chamber.
"Sorry—we need to stop the Engine, not just her!" I called out. "Frieren, can you—"
"The systems are locked." Frieren's flat voice cut through the chaos. "Only the Supreme Guardian's authorization can deactivate now. Or complete structural destruction."
Phainon pulled himself up, power crackling around him. "Then we destroy it!"
Cocolia laughed—a sound that echoed wrong, like multiple voices speaking at once. "You cannot destroy what has already become eternal! The Engine and I are one! Belobog's salvation incarnate!"
She raised both hands and the entire cavern shook. Massive pillars of corrupted ice erupted from every surface, each one pulsing with Stellaron energy. One nearly impaled Aether before he rolled aside at the last second.
Stelle swung her bat at the nearest pillar, but it barely cracked. "This is ridiculous! How are we supposed to—"
"We separate them!" I shouted, my enhanced intelligence finally making connections. "Sorry—the Engine is feeding her power, but she's also stabilizing the Engine! Break that connection and both collapse!"
Cocolia quite obviously not deaf, over hears our idea and decides that's not happening. She start sending volies of ice spikes infused with the Stelleron's imaginary energy, before create a giant ice crystal that could act like bomb, due to the stored energy.
March and Stelle who are near by run to sides avoiding the spikes of ice, while Dan Heng jumps back his feet sliding on the snow to catch his momentum. Rover starts using her havoc wing to fly off to the side while Aether and Phainon Charge forward slashing and parrying the ice shards as they come flying.
With Aether and Phainon charging at Cocolia her fire focuses on them, this does not slow down her charging. If it was only Cocolia attacking the two then maybe they would have succeeded in disrupting the charged attack, unfortunately Bronya had stepped in again preventing the disruption.
Unfortunately Frieren was busy defending from the Fragmentum that were showing up in droves from the back.
"Shit we gotta stop the fucking nuke! It'll destroy us and Belobog!"
The words came out raw, desperate—and wrong. Something was missing. The compulsion that always forced that word into my throat... it wasn't there.
No time to process why.
"Too late" a cold voice from above rings out
"Shit we gotta stop the fucking nuke! It'll destroy us and Belobog!" I yell.
The words left my mouth before I realized—no "sorry." The curse didn't trigger. My mind was too fractured by stress and the ice resonance to even notice.
"Too late," a cold voice from above rings out.
Frieren floated there between casting defensive spells at the Fragmentum swarm, staff raised, her expression still blank but her tone carrying finality. "The energy has reached critical mass. Detonation in three seconds."
My mind raced—enhanced intelligence processing variables at impossible speed. The blast radius would level this entire section of the mountain. Kill us. Collapse the cavern onto Belobog below. Thousands dead.
Myself forced to weave as the imaginary energy interferes with my control over ice.*"Senpai! That's imaginary energy saturation—if it detonates—"*
Three seconds.
I couldn't reach Cocolia in time. Couldn't stop the detonation. Couldn't—
My ice arm burned. Not with cold, but with something else. The resonance with the Stellaron energy was overwhelming, but underneath it, I felt... potential. Like my ice was trying to tell me something, show me something I'd never seen before.
Two seconds.
I reached desperately for my ice powers. But what came wasn't normal ice.
The air around me shimmered. Frost crystallized in geometric patterns that shouldn't exist—too perfect, too angular, like reality itself was freezing into fractals. And in those fractals... reflections. Dozens of them. Hundreds.
Mirrors.
Ice mirrors materialized around the massive charged crystal—not blocking it, but surrounding it. Ten, twenty, thirty mirrors forming a sphere around the attack. Each one perfectly reflective, flawless in a way that made my normal ice look crude by comparison.
*"Senpai, what are you— That's not possible! That ability is LOCKED!"* (panicked, not playful)
One second.
"What are you—" Dan Heng started.
The crystal detonated.
Imaginary energy exploded outward with enough force to shatter mountains—and entered the nearest mirror.
For a split second, nothing happened. The explosion vanished into that reflective surface like it had been swallowed by a portal.
Then every other mirror screamed with golden-purple light.
The explosion didn't just redirect—it multiplied. The same devastating blast erupted from every mirror simultaneously, but now they were all pointed inward. Toward Cocolia. Toward the Engine. Toward the connections we'd been trying to sever.
Her own attack hit her from thirty directions at once.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Cocolia's fusion form shrieked as her own power tore into her. The energy conduits connecting her to the Engine cracked, fractured, shattered under the omnidirectional assault.
I barely understood what I'd done. My hands moved on instinct, summoning more mirrors—some as large as shields, others as small as throwing knives. They floated around the battlefield like shards of broken reality, each one a perfect portal to the others.
I charged forward with Rhongomyniad, golden light blazing. But instead of striking directly, I thrust the lance through a mirror hovering beside me.
The blade emerged from every mirror simultaneously.
Thirty lances of golden light pierced toward Cocolia from every conceivable angle—above, below, sides, diagonal. All the same strike. All happening at once.
She tried to block, ice armor forming desperately, but you can't defend against attacks from everywhere. The healing light of Rhongomyniad burned through the corruption, severing conduit after conduit as my multiplied strikes found their marks.
"What IS this?!" Cocolia screamed, her voice cracking between human and Stellaron. "This isn't ice! This is—"
Rover's havoc form struck through another mirror—chaotic purple-black energy exploding from every portal at once. Phainon broke free from Bronya's interference and his power crashed through a third mirror, force multiplied across every reflection. Even Bronya, finally understanding what was happening, hesitated—then sent her wind through the portal-mirrors to strike her mother from an impossible angle, tears streaming down her face.
The Engine's connections to Cocolia shattered completely.
She fell.
The ice armor cracked and dissolved. The twisted wings of corruption vanished. The glowing eyes faded to exhausted purple. Cocolia falling to the platform fast, unconscious but breathing—human again.
Bronya caught her mother's limp body, her silver eyes wide with horror. "Mother... Mother, please wake up..."
Cocolia's breathing was steady but she didn't stir. The corruption was gone, but so was... everything. She looked small. Fragile. Human.
"I'm sorry," Bronya whispered, tears streaming freely now. "I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner."
I tried to dismiss the mirrors but my hands were shaking too badly. My vision fractured—literally fractured, like I was seeing through broken glass. Multiple perspectives overlapping. Past and present and— no, that wasn't supposed to happen yet—
"Senpai!" BB's voice cut through my disorientation, genuinely alarmed. No playful tilde. No teasing. "Stop! You're forcing an ability that's still LOCKED! If you push any further—"
The mirrors shattered. Not gradually—all at once, exploding into normal ice shards that rained down across the chamber like a blizzard of glass.
My knees buckled. I started to fall as my muscles failed.
Dan Heng caught me before I hit the ground, his voice sharp and commanding despite the chaos: "March, structural supports on the north wall! Stelle, whatever you're about to do—make it fast!"
His spear was already moving, striking at weakened conduits while coordinating our scattered team.
My vision swam. Everything was doubled, tripled—fragments of broken glass overlapping. Dan Heng's voice somewhere distant: "Sane, the Engine—"
"Critical—" I managed through gritted teeth. Blood tasted copper-sharp on my tongue. "Stelle... she's..."
A moment later march notices my half dead state.
"Sane!" March's voice cracked with panic. "You're bleeding—Dan Heng, he's—"
"The Engine!" I forced out.
"I don't care about the stupid Engine! You're—" She cut herself off, ice already forming desperately in her hands. "Okay. Okay. We contain it first, THEN I'm yelling at you for almost dying!"
Words wouldn't form right. Just pain and fractured images.
Because separating Cocolia from the Engine hadn't stabilized it. We'd just removed the only thing keeping the ancient systems from catastrophic failure.
The Engine began to implode.
Purple-black energy concentrated at its core, building toward detonation. Even through the splitting migraine, my enhanced intelligence wouldn't shut off—blast radius, structural collapse, casualties. Every calculation ended the same way: we all die.
Behind us, the Fragmentum creatures swarming Frieren suddenly dissolved—their connection to the Stellaron severed. She floated down, staff still raised, her emotionless gaze fixed on the Engine.
Frieren descended, her emotionless gaze fixed on the Engine.
"..." She raised her staff, mana pulsing as she calculated. "Forty-five seconds."
That's all she said. It was enough.
"We need to contain it!" March shouted, ice already forming in her hands desperately. "But how—"
Stelle stared at the imploding Engine. At the Stellaron energy concentrated at its core—the same corruption that had just turned Cocolia into a monster.
"This is stupid," she muttered. "This is so stupid."
She dropped her bat and walked forward anyway.
"Stelle, what are you doing?!" I called out.
She didn't answer. Couldn't answer. Because she didn't know—just felt something pulling her forward, something that whispered this was what she was *meant* to do.
There was something different in her expression—a clarity, a purpose I hadn't seen before. She walked toward the collapsing Engine with steady, determined steps, dropping her bat.
"Stelle, what are you doing?!" I called out, still supported by Dan Heng, barely able to focus through the pain.
She didn't answer. She just placed both hands on the Engine's core, where the Stellaron energy was most concentrated.
Golden light erupted—but not from Rhongomyniad this time. From Stelle herself.
Golden light erupted—but not from Rhongomyniad this time. From Stelle herself.
The air shimmered with the unmistakable presence of an Aeon's will. Not destruction, not corruption—
Preservation.
*She... she just channeled an Aeon directly. Senpai, do you understand what that means?* (genuinely surprised)
The chaotic energy stopped its violent collapse. The cracks in the Engine's structure began to stabilize, not through Stellaron corruption but through something older, more fundamental. The will to protect, to endure, to preserve what must not be lost.
Stelle's voice echoed with power that wasn't entirely her own: "This city... these people... they've endured for seven hundred years. That suffering ends today—not through destruction, but through actual preservation."
The Engine responded.
The ancient machinery—built for terraforming, for protection—recognized the Path of Preservation. The yellow-black Stellaron corruption—swirling with colors like a dying galaxy, stars collapsing into void—was forced out. Contained. Separated from the core systems.
I watched through fractured vision as the corruption condensed, pulled away from the machinery by Stelle's golden light. The yellow-black energy writhed like a living nebula, spiral galaxies collapsing inward as it fought against containment.
But Preservation held firm.
The Stellaron itself became visible—a sphere of compressed imaginary energy, yellow and black depths where entire star systems collapsed endlessly into themselves. Beautiful. Terrifying.
And Stelle held it like it weighed nothing. The golden light of Preservation wrapped around the artifact, not destroying it but containing it, neutralizing its corrupting influence.
Aether stared at the contained Stellaron in Stelle's hands. This... this was what they'd been fighting. A tiny sphere holding enough power to destroy a world.
His hand tightened on his sword. Without his full elemental powers, without his sister, he'd still fought. Still helped stop this.
It wasn't much. But it was something.
"Impossible..." Cocolia's weak voice came from where Bronya held her. Her eyes were clearing—actually clearing, the purple glow fading to natural color. "The Stellaron... I can't feel it anymore... it's... quiet..."
The Engine powered down.
Not explosively. Not catastrophically. Just... stopped.
Its purpose fulfilled, its corruption purged, it simply became inert ancient machinery once more. The ominous humming faded to silence. The purple-black-yellow energy that had saturated the chamber dissipated like morning fog.
Stelle stumbled back, and Dan Heng—still supporting me—had to make a choice. He lowered me carefully to lean against a pillar before moving to catch Stelle as she collapsed.
The golden light faded from her eyes, but they held something new now—a weight, a certainty that hadn't been there before.
The Stellaron rested in her hands, wrapped in a stable golden cocoon. Contained. Harmless. For now.
"Is it... over?" March asked quietly, her voice echoing in the sudden stillness. The battle sounds had ceased. Even the Fragmentum creatures were gone, dissolved when their source was cut off.
I looked around the chamber through blurred, aching vision. The corruption was gone. Cocolia was human again, unconscious but breathing steadily in Bronya's arms. The Engine was neutralized. The Stellaron was contained.
My ice mirrors were shattered—just normal ice shards scattered across the floor now, glinting in March's light.
"Yeah," I said, my voice hoarse. Then remembered: "Sorry. Yeah. It's over."
The cavern groaned ominously.
"Except for the structural collapse part," Frieren noted flatly, finally descending from where she'd been holding off the Fragmentum swarm. She looked completely unbothered despite having fought dozens of creatures alone. "We should leave. Now."
Right. Ancient machinery plus massive energy discharge plus mirror-portal combat equals very unstable cave system.
Dust and small rocks were already falling from the ceiling. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, glowing faintly with residual Stellaron energy.
"Everyone out!" Dan Heng commanded, helping Stelle to her feet while she clutched the contained Stellaron. "Move!"
Rover's havoc form had already dissipated, leaving her exhausted but mobile. She started toward the exit on her own, movements shaky but determined.
Phainon helped her toward the exit tunnel. Aether was checking on the few remaining conscious guards, helping them up despite his own fatigue.
March created ice supports against the worst of the cracks, buying us time.
Bronya lifted her unconscious mother with surprising strength, powered by desperation and adrenaline. I tried to stand on my own, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. The strain of forcing that ability, whatever it was, had taken more out of me than I'd realized.
"Sorry—need help," I admitted.
Phainon got Rover moving, then doubled back and hauled me up, slinging my arm over his shoulders.
We ran.
========================================================
A/N: This took longer than I hope, I don't even want to talk about the amount of hours. It is nightmare fuel.
I have a few 'complaints'. There are just not enough comments! If there are issues i can't spot them without them being pointed out! Was the pacing good? was the story change good? is power scaling going of the rails? Like Damn it!
Also any suggestions for fun things I might include. Hell why don't we see who you want in the group chat? Want someone from marvel/dc or animated stuff like HTTYD, maybe from anime like tensura, or have a character from movies like HP(I don't know many movies so apologies if i refuse on that one). Hell what if I add someone like Rick Sanchez.
LIKE GIVE ME IDEAS!!!!
Anyway, Powerstones are as always appreciated. Oh and Have a nice day/night!
Peace!