"Beneath this starry sky, the absolute pinnacle is an Aeon. Every traveler who sets foot upon a Path must ultimately face Them at the very end of their journey."
"He who holds the mightiest army commands the heavens. Aeons are simply the bunch with the biggest fists. Whether you view them as superpowers or the bosses of local syndicates, the bottom line is that in this universe, if you don't bow to a faction, you're a nobody. If someone wipes you out, nobody even cares. But once you pledge allegiance, at least you have some room to struggle. If your backing is formidable enough—say, you have a powerhouse like an Emanator—even maniacs like the Antimatter Legion have to think twice before daring to slap you across the face."
"Herta, the eighty-third seat of the Genius Society, saved her home planet nineteen times. During the earliest Stellaron crisis, she personally captured and sealed a Stellaron and had two audiences with Aeons. The Lord of Annihilation Iron Tomb only ever dared to send a few little gifts to the territory under her protection just to disgust her. If your homeworld were to bring glory to its ancestors by producing an Emanator, you could knead a Stellaron like dough, toss it away, and the Antimatter Legion would immediately announce its unconditional surrender to you."
If Aeons were the syndicate bosses, then the leading Emanators were undoubtedly the red poles. Figures like Marshal Hua, the Supreme Dragon God, Blazing Wind, Shuhu, and Luocha belonged to this tier. Second-string Emanators were the paper fans—slightly lesser Emanators on the level of the other Xianzhou generals, Phantom, and Lords of Silence.
As for Belobog, forget about these Emanators; even the absolute ceiling of the front line beneath them—figures like Jingliu, Imbibitor Lunae, or Hulay—if even one of them were to appear and bear malice toward this planet, the locals would have zero possibility of resisting.
Aeons, Emanators, City Builders, the Xianzhou, the Antimatter Legion, Stellarons...
Shirou Emiya recounted a multitude of terms with effortless fluidity. Bronya finally realized what it meant to view the sky from the bottom of a well. Placed at the very summit within Belobog, though she had received a relatively high education, casting her gaze across the entire cosmic sea truly made her past existence look as laughable as a frog at the bottom of a well.
The path of Jarilo-VI's renaissance did not lie within Belobog, nor with the Supreme Guardian, and certainly not in something like one or two Creation Engines.
Right at this very moment, a powerful impulse began to sprout within the heart of this successor miss, who had been brought to the Upper City since early childhood to be cultivated as the next Supreme Guardian.
Leave Jarilo-VI!
Leave Belobog!
Instead of merely remaining holed up in this snowfield in search of possibilities, she needed to take the initiative, journey into more vast and boundless realms to absorb greater knowledge, acquire more power, forge wider connections, and only then would she have the ability to foster Jarilo-VI's renaissance.
She closed her eyes. Her mind filled with her adoptive mother's earnest teachings and fatigue in leisure moments; the superficial elegance of the nobles masking wild and arrogant ambition underneath; the numbness and peace of ordinary citizens struggling to scrape a living for their families while being exploited by aristocratic merchants.
In the past, Belobog lacked the qualifications to contact visitors from beyond.
Now that the opportunity had arrived, there was categorically no reason to abandon this possibility.
...Once the Stellaron problem is resolved, I shall be the first to do it!
Chapter 38: Explain Yourself, What Do You Call a Surprise? (2/4)
"You're saying an unidentified individual disguised herself as your acquaintance, approached you, and told you that you had to come to this Everwinter Peak?"
Inside the snowy cave, Bronya recounted her current predicament to Shirou Emiya. Compared to that unknown identity, the Nameless one who had just explained so much to her seemed far more trustworthy.
"Mhm, she said she prepared some kind of surprise for me within this snowfield."
As for the button that looked suspiciously like a detonator, she didn't mention it outright; some things didn't need to be laid out in absolute clarity.
"I'm afraid I can guess who it is."
Shirou Emiya touched his chin and suddenly smiled.
"A moment ago, a sudden whim struck me, and I sensed some filthy thing sneaking its way in. Turns out a bratty little imp sneaked in to stir up trouble for me."
"You know her?"
"I'm thirty or forty percent sure. After all, with a street rat like that running amok all over the universe seeking out thrills, it's hardly strange for her to appear here."
"Then her... purpose."
"Didn't I just say it?"
Noticing Bronya's somewhat puzzled expression, Shirou Emiya smiled and spoke.
"It's purely to seek a thrill. Masked Fools are generally like that—they don't base their actions on any special reasons when seeking amusement; it's simply a matter of whim."
With that, the smile on his face receded slightly as he continued to elaborate.
"Whether it's good or evil, there are no clear boundary lines for them. A small minority possess slightly higher moral baselines and don't act quite as insanely, but others will push for wars just to create amusement. When they see hundreds of people fall in pools of blood, they will laugh out loud as they appear before the ultimate victors to grant them a farcical, laughable ending."
"Toying with human hearts, willfully inciting emotions... Joy, the Path closest to mortal nature, is also the easiest one to breed those groups that highlight the evil of human nature."
"The one who appeared before you is even a heavyweight among them. However... regarding her actual situation, I honestly don't know all that much, and as for her 'true name', it's not a good idea to mention it directly."
That was because the bratty little imp walked very deep along the Path of Joy. Mentioning her name casually might easily draw her attention, seeing as the opponent was currently situated on this very planet.
"Since she prepared a surprise for you, go and claim it."
The people of the Masked Tavern were no pushovers. Old Sampo had fallen into his hands purely because of an intelligence gap, but Sparkle was different. Even within the Masked Tavern, she was one of the hardest nuts to crack, to the point where she almost seemed like an Emanator.
For a creature like that to barge into a tiny planet like Jarilo-VI, Shirou Emiya didn't even need to think to know she was definitely gunning for him.
He guessed there was a high probability she had obtained some intel from Aha and intended to come find him for a bit of fun.
Most people in the tavern were pranksters who could bluntly declare, "I, fucking dammit, have no morals," while Sparkle was someone who could explicitly treat legal and moral standards as a joke, view rules and order established by others as the ultimate amusement, and take pleasure in mocking those very things.
On the other hand, there was no need to imagine the bratty little imp as overly malicious. Her method of attaining joy was not strictly limited to harming others; she didn't take pleasure in persecuting people. As for the core of her pursuit of joy, Shirou Emiya couldn't tell what it was, but at the very least, he could be certain that woman wasn't the type to stir up a bloody, tempestuous, and tedious plot.
"It's nothing more than adding another chess player to the board."
When all was said and done, she was merely a trouble-maker driven by whim who wanted to insert herself into this chess game. Now that everyone was standing out in the open, it remained to be seen who would claim final victory.
Concluding the conversation, he followed Bronya deeper into Everwinter Peak. Shirou Emiya naturally wanted to see this grand surprise Sparkle spoke of within the peak.
If it were merely a single Stellaron, it hardly seemed worthy of being called a grand surprise.
The scale of the snow ridge wasn't actually large. After trial and error across several mountain trails, they finally reached an open-air spiral staircase. Ascending continuously along the steps, they began to encounter a steadily growing cluster of Antimatter Legion ice sculptures. When they reached the summit of the stairs, arriving at an ancient open-air platform, the scene that greeted Bronya's eyes caused her pupils to abruptly contract in horror.
It was a massive ice sculpture.
Or rather, a giant ice ball.
And inside the ice ball, two familiar figures were encased.
"Lady Serval! And... Lynx?!"
Moreover, the crucial point was that inside the ice ball, Lynx's action was clearly aimed at bringing the mountaineering pick she usually used for breaking ice crashing down right onto Serval's forehead...
"Why are they here?"
"Why would Lynx attack her sister?"
Chaos began to take root in her mind. Bronya couldn't comprehend how this scene before her eyes had come to be. The relationship among the three Landau siblings had always been close and harmonious, especially toward this youngest sister, Lynx. Both her older brother Gepard and her older sister Serval bestowed boundless affection upon her.
Lynx's own personality was quite tranquil, and she had always treated others with kindness. Forget wielding a mountaineering pick to assault her own flesh-and-blood sister; even imagining this child raising a fist to hit someone was difficult.
"Don't be deceived by appearances."
Standing by Bronya's side, Shirou Emiya offered a soft hint.
"That little girl's movements are very stiff, leaning somewhat toward the sense of being influenced by something to make those actions."
"The other woman's expression carries pain, but there are no injuries whatsoever on her body, nor does she have much of a defensive posture to resist."
"These days, there are plenty of abilities that can bewitch the mind and manipulate human bodies. Their situation could practically be called a posed photo shoot. Your top priority right now should still be..."
Before his voice trailed off, abrupt, hurried footsteps sounded from the lower level of the spiral staircase. Shirou Emiya frowned, sensing that the situation didn't look right, and pulled Bronya directly behind a large ice sculpture to conceal themselves.
When those hurried footsteps halted, a mature blonde woman dressed in attire eight or nine parts similar to Bronya's quickly arrived at the open-air platform. Her gaze swept rapidly across the entire platform as if searching for someone, but the next moment, her gaze also froze, locking onto the interior of the giant ice ball. Her expression instantly turned extremely astonished.
"Serval?! Why! Why are you here?!"
"And Lynx... why would you attack Serval?!"
Compared to the shock Bronya had received, the shock suffered by this mature blonde woman seemed even more intense, because one of the figures inside that ice ball held extraordinary significance to her.
"Wait, Bronya... and Bronya! Could Bronya also..."
In her panic, the blonde woman suddenly thought of her adoptive daughter, and her expression instantly grew even more flustered. She began scanning the surroundings, her heart hoping against hope not to catch sight of her adoptive daughter's figure in this place.
If Bronya wasn't here, then whatever had happened here and the secrets of this place had nothing to do with that child. More importantly, since the child hadn't come here, she wouldn't suffer harm.
However...
The very next moment, filled with such hope as she began searching for her adoptive daughter's form,
a voice
abruptly rang out,
completely shattering her illusion:
"...Mother."
Chapter 39: You Gotta Use a Word More Offensive Than Depraved (3/4)
The lead-gray sky was drifting down fragments of scattered snow.
The howling north wind wove back and forth across this cold platform.
Passing through the gaps in the ice sculptures, the entire platform transmitted a strange wailing sound—part weeping, part the sound of something shattering.
Identical uniforms fluttered and whipped noisily in the chaotic, snowy wind.
Bronya gazed at her adoptive mother, Cocolia.
The current Supreme Guardian of Belobog.
And likewise, Cocolia was gazing at her adoptive daughter.
The one upon whom she had placed high hopes and one of the few close individuals she could entrust with her emotions.
Yet, unfortunately,
both Bronya and Cocolia understood very well that everything this pair of mother and daughter had once experienced fractured right at this instant of meeting.
They could no longer trust each other wholeheartedly.
Why? Cocolia had followed closely behind her after she sneaked into Everwinter Peak.
Why? Bronya had quietly headed to Everwinter Peak without notifying her.
And above all,
standing at the scene where Serval was being attacked by Lynx, the two of them had each felt a split-second "doubt" toward the other. Was the incident unfolding before their eyes... related to the other person?
"That bratty little imp really pulled off a grand performance."
Bronya stepped out from her hiding spot, but Shirou Emiya remained concealed behind the ice sculpture. Gazing at the pair of mother and daughter on the platform, a phased understanding of Sparkle's overall plan instantly formed in his mind.
The series of events she arranged were inherently meant to drive the complete destruction of the trust between Bronya and Cocolia. Having arrived at Everwinter Peak—the place hiding Cocolia's greatest secret—Bronya no longer had any room for retreat.
Cocolia didn't know whether Bronya had come into contact with the Stellaron, but as long as that possibility existed, Bronya could no longer return to Belobog, because this child... would become her obstacle.
The same held true for Bronya. Cocolia rushing to this place in such a panic, unwilling to let her know what lay here, would only deepen the anger festering in Bronya's heart.
"That imp probably won't give up on a fine chess piece like Bronya."
...And most importantly, the Stellaron here is gone.
Shirou Emiya slowly narrowed his eyes. Was this what they meant by one of the trickiest people in the Masked Tavern? With a combo of punches like this, Cocolia was bound to lose the trust of everyone around her moving forward.
Without the Stellaron, without the future promised by the Stellaron, then... all the wicked deeds she had previously committed to welcome the new world would be reduced to a complete waste of effort.
The tens of thousands of Belobogians she had indirectly slaughtered would all lose the reason for their deaths.
"Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron—this move is quite pretty, and quite a bastard's trick."
By making the targets of explanation for Cocolia's past atrocities simply vanish, the original sin landed squarely on her forehead. While her past crimes might not have filled a volume, they certainly couldn't be resolved by a mere imperial edict of self-blame.
Of course, if this person possessed no sense of guilt whatsoever, that would be a different story.
"Hehehe... Were you entertained by Lady Sparkle's performance?"
Joy emotion from Sparkle +35
A faint sound of giggling drifted from an unknown source. Shirou Emiya slightly raised an eyebrow, smiling as he spoke in a low voice.
"Causing this much trouble on old Sampo's turf—isn't that a bit inappropriate, Director Sparkle?"
"Hmph hmph... Lady Sparkle got Sampo's permission, you know!"
"When the hell did the two of you hook up?"
"Guess?"
Shirou Emiya shook his head. For those two to hook up was far too simple; he just hadn't expected Sparkle to suddenly turn up on the Belobog set.
"Sisters killing each other, mother and daughter turning against one another—your script is a bit too depraved, Flower Guide."
"Pfft, as long as Lady Sparkle has no morals, isn't that fine!"
"Besides, I'm just helping them recognize their own hearts a little early. A daughter who actually felt for a long time that her mother was hiding something and was always probing around; a mother who knew her daughter harbored suspicions toward her yet still held onto wishful thinking—such an awkward mother-daughter relationship. Just watching them act all coy and repressed is enough for Lady Sparkle to wolf down several bowls of rice."
Saying this, the voice paused slightly before speaking again.
"What a pity, though. Lady Sparkle doesn't have that much time, and eating too many staple foods is hard to digest. Naturally, the main course still needs to be served on the table before one can eat to full satisfaction."
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