[You are being mentally influenced by the Stellaron's whispers.]
[Your mental resistance has failed. You have been influenced by the Stellaron's whispers.]
[Your belief in the ideology of Preservation has faded. Your belief in the ideology of Destruction has increased.]
[You are once again being mentally influenced by the Stellaron's whispers...]
Bronya stared at the text that repeatedly popped up on the screen, feeling completely at a loss.
It wasn't just because she had learned the whole truth and was reeling from the immense shock of the Stellaron.
It was also because the simulator had become completely unresponsive, leaving her to do nothing but sit there in helpless frustration...
Ever since she had chosen to follow Cocolia deep into the Fragmentum, not a single choice option had appeared for her.
The simulation was hurtling down a predetermined track, and not far down that track was a bottomless abyss.
The Stellaron's whispers relentlessly assaulted her mind. Her simulated self was on the verge of being brainwashed into a devout follower of [Destruction], yet there was no way to stop it...
This was it. It was completely over.
I should have waited just one more day, waited to confront Mother with Ron...
I was too impulsive.
Bronya covered her face in shame, unwilling to look at the long string of text on the screen.
But the Life Simulation Game wouldn't stop just because she tried to avoid it.
The text on the screen vanished.
A new scene began to play on its own, and Bronya was forced to look up—
"Heed the call, Bronya. Heed the call..."
Her mother's gentle voice echoed in her ear, laced with the sweet whispers of the Stellaron.
The pain, like her brain was being torn apart, gradually subsided. Bronya slowly lowered the hands covering her ears. The light in her grey eyes began to die, gradually becoming clouded with a haze.
A heavy gloom shrouded the sky. Flakes of snow drifted down with despair, landing on Bronya's face.
The chill of the snowflakes seeped into her cheeks, but Bronya felt no cold... for the coldness in her heart was far more frigid than any physical sensation.
Bronya's unique sense of responsibility and stubbornness swelled in her chest, her fervent heart trying to support her sanity, but it was gradually being extinguished by the Stellaron's whispers.
The duty to preserve Belobog? The ideal of building a better Belobog? Hopes and dreams for the future?
Meaningless.
They had all been frozen solid under the Stellaron's influence.
Her reason was blurring. Bronya finally understood why her beloved mother had become the person she was today—
The cold of the Stellaron was enough to extinguish any ideal. The [Preservation] that the Architects believed in... was utterly meaningless.
In the face of the Stellaron's infinite power, Belobog's struggles were nothing more than an insect waving its antennae.
The Amber Lord had never truly cast his gaze upon Belobog. This frozen planet, lost in the lonely cosmos, was nothing but forgotten refuse that no one cared for.
The distant old world had festivals for the coming of spring, but Belobog today could not welcome the dawn of a warm spring.
The illusory path of [Preservation] could only leave Belobog teetering in the wind and snow, while the [Destruction] that was right before their eyes...
[Destruction] would bring a brilliant and glorious new world.
A torrent of chaotic thoughts rushed into Bronya's mind. Cocolia looked at her gently, with the same tenderness she'd had ten years ago when she held a clueless young Bronya in her arms.
"Accept it all, my daughter."
She said, "This is the fate of the Rand family."
"I..."
Bronya was in a daze, slowly reaching a hand toward her mother—
"Bronya! Have you forgotten your great vow to preserve Belobog?!"
But a sharp question shattered the silence of the night.
Dark golden crystals had formed on the long-hafted halberd, Imaginary energy flowing within it as it cleaved through the wind and snow with infinite force—
Cocolia subconsciously raised the Lance of Preservation to block, but she was still sent flying by the blow.
Using the Stellaron's power, she managed to stop herself in mid-air, frowning at the newcomer.
Ron tore through the night, stepping into this sinful land that should have long been buried by ice and snow.
He slammed his halberd into the thick snow, and a dark golden wall of light spread out from his body, enveloping Bronya.
He pulled the still-dazed Bronya, who had begun to struggle against the influence after his shout, to his side. Then, he flicked her sharply on the forehead, using a direct physical method to snap her out of her stupor.
"That hurts!"
Bronya clutched her head, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at the stern-faced Ron.
Under Ron's protection, the Stellaron's whispers no longer echoed in her ears. The sharp pain simultaneously called her back to her senses...
Bronya had successfully regained her sanity.
"You must learn to fight your destiny, Bronya..."
"Find your direction. Don't lose your way. Only then can you welcome the dawn."
Ron said seriously, "You can't act like a child anymore. You have all of Belobog behind you!"
"I'm not a ch—"
Bronya subconsciously wanted to retort, but the words died on her lips.
Out of shame.
After all, she had always been able to distinguish right from wrong, and this was undeniably her mistake.
When facing Cocolia, she truly was a child... utterly naive.
Ron was not wrong at all.
She lowered her head in dejection, then suddenly remembered her mother was still there—
Bronya turned, only to see Cocolia floating in the air, her expression indifferent.
She held the Stellaron in her hand, which glowed with a soft, seemingly docile light. She looked at Ron, her voice icy.
"The Stellaron... has promised me a future. You will not obstruct the coming of the new world."
She spoke as if bestowing a great gift, her tone lofty and superior.
"In recognition of your sincerity, I will leave a seat for you in the new world."
But Ron just scoffed—
"My future needs no one else's promise. I have always held it firmly in my own hands."
"Cocolia, I've actually been looking forward to this day. The day that will end it all."
As Ron spoke, thick, dark golden crystal armor rapidly grew, encasing his body.
"Belobog has waited in the darkness for too long..."
A muffled voice pierced through the crystal helm, like a general in full armor sounding the charge.
"I will bring the dawn to this world."