Preparing to Speedrun the Underworld
Seele led everyone away from the passage entrance at a brisk pace, heading for Natasha's clinic.
Sampo followed at the back of the group. Several times, he tried to speak, only to swallow his words, and instead instinctively pressed a hand to his fake beard, which was about to fall off.
While Seele looked back to check the street, he hurried a few steps to Bai Luoming's side and lowered his voice.
"Family, look, I've done half the guide work, so about my pay..."
Bai Luoming nodded seriously. "You have done half."
He paused and counted on his fingers. "So I can only give you half of half the pay."
Sampo's expression froze. "That's not how you work it out, is it?"
"Why not?" Stelle came over and took Bai Luoming's side. "You brought us here, but we almost got robbed as soon as we arrived. You didn't provide us with any protection as a guide, which is a major flaw in your service. We're only giving you half of half because you've had a good attitude."
Hearing the argument behind her, Seele stopped, turned to Sampo, and warned him.
"Sampo, I'm warning you, cut down on those swindling schemes in the Underworld."
She didn't pursue the matter of Sampo leading them there. Instead, she said in a tone that brooked no argument, "For the time being, don't use outsiders as an excuse to jack up prices again, and don't sell information about the passage to any shady characters."
"I'd never do that!" Sampo immediately thumped his chest, looking utterly righteous. "I, old Sampo, am a businessman with professional ethics!"
Sampo still wanted to argue his case for his pay, but Seele raised a hand and summoned her weapon, giving him a hostile look.
The smile quickly vanished from Sampo's face.
He coughed twice and changed tack. "Helping friends who've come from afar has always been my creed in life. Talking about money would only sour our friendship."
With that, he forced a smile at the group that looked worse than a grimace, then turned and slipped into the crowd, disappearing in a flash.
The group soon arrived at Natasha's clinic.
A long line stretched outside the clinic, made up entirely of Underworld residents waiting for medicine or emergency treatment.
Most of them looked haggard and wore thin clothing. A faint mixture of disinfectant and bitter herbs hung in the air.
The clinic's volunteers constantly moved through the crowd, rushed off their feet.
Rather than lead the group straight to the front, Seele first quietly explained why they were there to the people at the head of the line. Though reluctant, they made way out of respect for her.
The small gesture surprised March 7th. She had assumed Seele was someone who only knew how to solve problems with force.
Inside the clinic, Natasha was bending over a child with frostbite on their face, gently applying ointment. She looked up and saw Seele. Her first words were, "Are you hurt?"
"No. I mainly brought them here to see you this time," Seele said, shaking her head.
Seele briefly explained why they had come: Bronya had made up her mind and hoped to join forces with Wildfire to deal with the Stellaron.
Natasha showed no sign of delight after hearing her out. She calmly finished bandaging the child's wound before looking at Seele, her voice full of lingering exhaustion. "Let me guess. They're sending you to take the lead in this alliance again, aren't they?"
Seele fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. "Not me this time. It was Bronya... She was the one who asked these visitors from beyond the sky for help."
"Is that so?" A bitter smile touched Natasha's lips. "You've tried to persuade me about this many times already, Seele."
"It's not that I don't believe the Stellaron is dangerous." She looked at the Astral Express Crew, her gaze calm and distant. "I just don't trust the Overworld. I don't believe they'll truly have the resolve to pay the price when the crucial moment comes."
"In the past, the Supreme Guardian couldn't make up her mind. We wanted to act, but there was nothing we could do. Even if everyone in Wildfire gave their lives, we couldn't destroy the Stellaron on our own."
March 7th grew anxious and couldn't help saying, "But there's no time left to wait and see!"
Natasha turned to her and asked, "Some things can't be accomplished through words alone. If sacrificing some of you, or even most of you, was the only way to gain an uncertain chance at success, would you be willing to do it?"
The question stumped March 7th. She opened her mouth and looked at her companions, unable to find an answer for a moment.
Bai Luoming also put aside his usual relaxed expression. He looked at Natasha and said solemnly, "We don't know what risks the Underworld would have to bear, but the Stellaron still needs to be dealt with."
Natasha looked at him, her gaze softening a little.
She nodded. "Since the Supreme Guardian has made her decision, Wildfire won't refuse. But you'll have to persuade the Mechanical Settlement, where Svarog is, yourselves."
"That's no problem. We just need to make a trip to the Mechanical Settlement."
"All right, then. Wildfire will provide you with the help you need."
Natasha looked at Seele and spoke softly. "Seele, sorry for the trouble, but could you accompany our guests to the Mechanical Settlement?"
Meanwhile, at Kliperburg.
Bronya stood alone before the office window. The Stellaron's whispers clung to her like maggots on bone, repeating visions of failure, destruction, and betrayal in her mind.
Bronya closed her eyes, her nails digging deep into her flesh.
She didn't look again at the mountains of reports piled on her desk, instead responding quietly to the voice in her head.
Her voice was low, but exceptionally clear.
"It won't be long now. Your end is coming soon."
For the first time, the clamor faltered. Then it gradually grew quieter, as though reluctantly abandoning its argument with her for the time being.
The Stellaron's power withdrew from Bronya's mind and turned elsewhere.
In the former Supreme Guardian's residence, Cocolia noticed the familiar voice.
It whispered in her ear, trying to awaken her past pain and resentment. It told her that if she accepted its power again, she could take back everything she had lost and prove that her choice back then hadn't been wrong.
Hearing the voice again after so long, Cocolia fell silent for a moment.
She recalled the days since her abdication, the sleepless nights Bronya had spent studying and shouldering her responsibilities after taking over, and the absurd things she herself had done because she had believed in the Stellaron.
She finally admitted that the Stellaron had been the source of Jarilo's calamity from the very beginning.
If she continued to believe in it, not only would all of Bronya's efforts come to nothing, but Belobog might also face true destruction.
"Give up. I won't trust you again this time. It's time for Belobog to begin a new chapter." She spoke to the empty room.
The Stellaron stirred up a brief storm in her mind, but received no further response.
The two key figures of the Overworld had both rejected its temptations.
The Stellaron finally confirmed that its plan to bring down Belobog from within had failed completely.
It sensed that the Nameless were speeding up their investigation and that Wildfire would soon come into contact with them. Continuing to spread its power between temptation and corruption would only give its enemies more time.
So the Stellaron began to draw its power back.
Even the Fragmentum and the Eternal Freeze spread across Jarilo-VI began to gradually dissipate.
As the Astral Express Crew followed Seele toward the area where Svarog was, the heavy clouds over Belobog slowly began to part.
A long-absent ray of light pierced the clouds and fell upon the ground in Belobog.