The Power of Pride

Jing Yan's words caused Cocolia to pause, even though she was currently suspended in the air, having already merged with the Stellaron.

The surging, torrential power of the Stellaron left her feeling an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

Yet, Jing Yan's rhetoric still made her hesitate for a moment.

The reason for this hesitation was that her heartstrings had involuntarily skipped a beat.

This was something she had never anticipated.

But immediately after, Cocolia chose to raise one hand, reaching out toward the sky.

Dazzling dark-gold energy began to converge at her fingertips.

"Perhaps, but whether one is arrogant or not is never a sentiment for the loser to express; such words are reserved only for the victor to speak!"

More and more of the power of Destruction gathered in Cocolia's hand.

At this moment, everyone below could sense an unprecedented danger emanating from her hand.

If this power were to pour down, they feared that none of them could withstand it!

Jing Yan looked up at Cocolia, his expression unchanged, yet a brilliant, multicolored radiance rose around his body.

These colors were like nebulae in the cosmos—dazzling, captivating, and mesmerizing.

The power of his hidden Path of Eros radiated from his body, spreading into the surroundings.

Even as he prepared to act, he was still not the true Jing Yan.

He remained a replica created by the combination of the Illusion Domain and the power of the Fragmentum.

Jing Yan enjoyed this feeling—the feeling of standing calmly on the sidelines, dominating everything.

This was not a form of Pride; on the contrary, it was a form of caution.

It was as if he were controlling a substitute so realistic that no one could identify it, using it to carry out his will.

Although this influence was illusory, the power was real, and under the effect of the illusion, his appearance was flawless, revealing no cracks.

At this moment, "Jing Yan" shouted aloud once more: "Cocolia, face the original sin within your heart!"

Following this stern rebuke from Jing Yan, Cocolia, who was gathering the power of Destruction in mid-air, suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Cracks appeared in the icy armor covering her body.

Cocolia then noticed the abnormality in her physical form.

"What is happening?"

"What have you done?!"

The next moment, a strange distortion suddenly emerged from within Bronya's body.

The first to appear was an entity manifested from the power of Pride.

As expected, life forms that possess powerful energy, consciousness, and desires are easy to manipulate.

Jing Yan mused with satisfaction in his heart.

He had successfully "materialized" Cocolia's original sin of Pride.

Because this, too, was a facet of the authority of Eros.

Cocolia had not yet realized that after she obtained the power of Destruction from the Stellaron and stood in the air, looking down upon the people below, the higher she stood and the more resolute her tone became, the deeper she sank into the original sin of Pride.

And this power had been successfully stripped away by Jing Yan, who controlled the power of Eros.

Cocolia felt as if she had lost something within her heart in an instant.

However, this sensation appeared only for a fleeting moment, flashing through her mind before her focus shifted entirely to how she should deal with the monster that had suddenly appeared before her.

Even if this monster seemed to have crawled out from within her own body?!

She knew this was a trick Jing Yan had played on her.

Even if she did not yet know what this red demon was.

"Is your power an illusion?" Cocolia asked coldly.

At this moment, Cocolia's words had lost their arrogance.

Yet, even so, her tone still betrayed her great strength.

For Pride is an accessory to great power, but power itself is not Pride.

Therefore, even though a portion of the Stellaron's power of Destruction had been siphoned away by this monster named "Pride" that had been split from her body, the power remaining within Cocolia was still immense.

Thus, she would not become humble or cowardly simply because her Pride had been stripped away; her tone and manner of speaking had merely returned to normal.

"This demon..."

Cocolia muttered as she gazed at the red demon before her.

In all her life, she had never seen such an existence.

And so, seeing it now, she felt a flicker of curiosity.

Deep down, however, another thought took root: she was now even more certain that Jing Yan's ability was to create illusions.

Because even after having such Pride stripped away from her, she still felt her power remained immense.

As for the portion of power taken by Pride, Cocolia barely even noticed it, for she had not yet fully mastered the power of the Stellaron; she was merely in the process of drawing it out and accumulating it.

She prepared to kill the person below with a single strike.

"For some reason, I suddenly feel my heart is calmer, a bit more clear," Cocolia said indifferently.

"If this is also something your power helped me achieve, then perhaps I should thank you. As a reward, I might give you a quick death shortly!"

She continued.

"Don't be in such a rush," Jing Yan replied easily.

"This is only the beginning. What's the hurry?"

"Pride, show her what she has lost!"

Jing Yan said to the monster of Pride in the sky.

The red, demon-like monster suddenly became even more vivid and dazzling.

It seemed to transform into a star hanging overhead.

Cocolia froze.

She felt a sense of threat emanating from this brilliant, scorching existence beside her.

The dark golden Stellaron energy in her hands continued to gather, but her target had already shifted first toward the "Pride" in the sky.

"Cocolia, what are you afraid of? Or is it that you are wary, jealous of an existence more radiant than yourself?"

Jing Yan's words reached Cocolia's ears, but she did not grow angry or impatient.

"I use the power of the Stellaron and have forged a contract with it for the sake of Belobog, to save the last of its people."

"In a new home and a new world, there will no longer be the Frost Wave or calamity, and people will live together in harmony," Cocolia said, somewhat dazed.

The next moment, the scorching Pride in the sky shone even brighter.

Jing Yan smiled and said, "Cocolia, thank you for the pride in your heart; that monster in the sky named 'Pride' has become even stronger!"

"Even if you might not realize it, you should still know that the Frost Wave was brought by the Stellaron, yet you still made a deal with it."

"Deep down, you believe that what you are doing is right, because..."

"There is no other way!"

"How is that not a form of pride?!"

At that moment, following Jing Yan's words, the monster of Pride in the sky charged toward Cocolia.

"Stellaron, destroy everything!"

Cocolia immediately condensed the power of the Stellaron into a massive, brilliant golden crystal and blasted it toward the dazzling monster in the sky.

The next moment, a tremendous roar echoed through the air!