Cocolia suddenly felt a chill down her back on the upper floor
The crisp click of high heels echoed over the marble stairs.
One step, then two.
Supreme Guardian Cocolia descended the spiral staircase, wrapped in a heavy white fox fur shawl.
The hall was so quiet that only the crackling of the geomarrows furnace remained.
Bronya immediately lowered her rifle and stepped half a pace aside.
The metal butt struck the floor tiles with a dull thud.
Cocolia lifted her chin slightly.
Her gaze swept past the brass railing and over the Astral Express Crew in the hall.
It was the arrogance cultivated by years of holding power over life and death.
As though she were looking at a few stray cats that had dirtied an exquisite carpet.
She was about to speak, to reprimand Gepard for allowing outsiders into the fortress.
Then her gaze inadvertently settled on the center of the hall.
On that little white-haired girl.
Su Chen slowly raised his head.
At the edge of his sunglasses, those azure eyes met Cocolia's gaze head-on.
Their gazes collided in midair.
In that instant, the air suddenly grew thick.
Cocolia's step froze in midair.
Her high-heeled foot hovered over the next stair, unable to come down.
A violent spasm suddenly erupted deep within her chest.
It was the Stellaron.
That Cancer of All Worlds, which normally painted grand visions in her mind with seductive whispers.
Every day, it spoke into her ear of the power of destruction and rebirth.
Now, it had gone mad.
No whispers, no illusions.
Only pure, instinctive trembling, like a rat confronted by its natural predator.
The Stellaron's energy careened through Cocolia's veins, desperately trying to retreat into the deepest recesses of her heart.
It was afraid.
The terror of this higher-dimensional suppression rebounded directly onto its host.
Cocolia felt as though someone had viciously squeezed her heart.
As though fingernails had sunk deep into the muscle.
The agony darkened her vision, and the marble stairs swayed violently before her eyes.
A fine sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out across her forehead.
The sweat gathered into fat beads.
They rolled down her pale cheeks, slid past her chin, and fell into the snowy fur of her white fox shawl.
She could no longer feel the warmth of the geomarrows furnace.
The blood throughout her body felt as though it had been frozen in an ice cellar, cold to the bone.
Her fitted silk lining was soaked in cold sweat, clinging wetly to her back.
A draft swept past, bringing a bone-deep chill.
"Mother?"
Beside her, Bronya noticed something was wrong and called softly.
She stared at the sweat that had suddenly appeared on her mother's forehead, her face full of bewilderment.
She was just about to reach out to support her.
Cocolia ignored her.
She gripped the staircase's brass railing for dear life.
All five fingers clenched so hard that her knuckles turned deathly white.
The polished brass tube gave a faint sound of buckling metal.
Crack.
One of the meticulously manicured nails on her index fingers snapped clean off.
The broken nail fell onto the carpet.
A piercing pain shot through her fingertip.
But that pain could do nothing to suppress the tremors crawling up her spine.
Instinct rang a frantic death knell inside her head.
I must not provoke her.
I absolutely must not expose the Stellaron's secret in front of this white-haired girl.
Even if the slightest trace of its presence leaks out.
She will erase me and all of Belobog as effortlessly as crushing a stinkbug.
Not even a scrap will remain.
Cocolia did not dare blink.
Sweat stung her eyes, leaving their rims red.
She stared fixedly at the little girl.
Terrified that the instant she looked away, an invisible force would twist her neck apart.
She had to get these people out immediately.
Lock them up far away, out of her sight.
The sooner, the better.
Cocolia drew a deep breath.
Cold air choked its way into her windpipe, stabbing at her lungs.
She forced down the Stellaron's rampage inside her chest and planted her suspended foot on the stair.
Her body swayed before she barely managed to steady herself.
"Gepard."
Cocolia spoke.
Her voice echoed through the cavernous hall.
But its tone had changed completely.
Her normally cold, authoritative voice carried a tremor she could not conceal.
Short of breath, she even sounded strained and wavering at the end.
Gepard raised his head.
Cold sweat covered his face as he looked at the Supreme Guardian on the stairs.
The wound in his right arm was still seeping blood.
"At your command."
Gepard's voice was equally dry.
Cocolia swallowed.
A dry rasp came from her throat.
"Belobog is under martial law, and the situation at the front is critical."
She raised her left hand and pointed at the Astral Express Crew.
Her finger stopped stiffly in midair, its tip still trembling faintly.
"These people are of unknown origin and suspicious conduct."
"Treat them as Fragmentum spies. Arrest them immediately and lock them in the Iron Guard detention cells!"
Bronya whipped her head around.
Her eyes went wide.
"Mother! They said they're from the Astral Express..."
"Silence!"
Cocolia roared.
After that shout, dizziness washed over her, and her knees buckled slightly.
She clutched the railing with both hands, barely holding herself up.
Her chest heaved.
"Carry out my orders! Gepard, take them away at once!"
Gepard shuddered.
He looked at Cocolia on the stairs, then turned to the little white-haired girl standing on the red carpet.
The searing pain in his right arm still reminded him of his earlier ordeal.
Arrest these people?
Isn't that sending me and all my men to our deaths?
But the Supreme Guardian's command was the highest authority in Belobog.
Gepard gritted his teeth.
The muscles on either side of his jaw bulged.
With his uninjured left hand, he drew the sword at his waist.
The blade scraped against its sheath with a dry, grating metallic screech.
"Iron Guards, form up."
Gepard forced the words through clenched teeth.
The sentries at both sides of the hall, along with the dozen or so Silvermane Guards who had followed them inside, reluctantly closed in.
Their spears angled toward the Astral Express Crew.
But their movements were sluggish, their steps unsteady, as though they were treading on cotton.
Their armored boots pressed into the carpet, not daring to make even the slightest sound.
Their weapon-bearing hands shook like leaves.
Dozens of men formed a wide circle, trembling with fear.
Not a single one dared come within three meters.
The mood on the Astral Express Crew's side instantly grew tense.
All the anger they had swallowed out in the snow came boiling up.
They had come to help in good faith, only to be arrested as spies.
Dan Heng reached behind him and drew his Cloud-Piercing Spear.
Its tip slashed a tear in the red carpet, severing the expensive pile.
Aqua mist swirled around the spearhead, ready for a breakout at any moment.
Xingbao had lost her baseball bat in the snow earlier.
She simply bent down and grabbed a heavy solid-brass candelabrum from the low table beside her.
The candles fell to the floor and shattered.
Xingbao gripped the candelabrum's stem with both hands and assumed a textbook batting stance.
A low, heavy breath escaped her throat.
March 7th drew her Six-Phased Ice Bow again.
The moisture in the air rapidly condensed.
A crystal-clear ice arrow rested on the bowstring.
Its tip radiated a bone-chilling cold, aimed straight at Cocolia on the second-floor stairs.
Welt did not take out the Star of Eden.
But his thumb pressed firmly against the mechanism on his cane.
The hem of his suit stirred without any wind.
A purple simulated gravitational field flickered over the hall's floor.
Both sides stood ready to strike.
The air was so thick with tension that a single spark could set it off.
Standing at the very front, Su Chen took it all in.
Little Satoru Gojo curled her lip indifferently.
Her little hands rested in her uniform pockets, her shoulders slouched.
This old woman is a terrible actress. Her calves are cramping with fear, and she's sweating like she just washed her face, yet she still insists on putting on this righteous act.
Arresting spies?
Does she really think these eyes can't see the Stellaron trembling in terror inside her body?
He was just about to raise his hand and give these Iron Guards a little physical shock.
Just then.
Ding!
A crisp notification rang out deep in his mind.
The translucent system interface that only he could see popped up without warning.
The formerly blue interface instantly erupted in dazzling golden light.
The golden glow flashed wildly through his mental space, blindingly bright.
At that moment, the progress bar shot all the way to full.
A line of bold red text, wreathed in burning effects, slammed straight onto Su Chen's retinas.
[Mass shock detected. New god-tier avatar fully unlocked!]