The Supreme Guardian's Delusion, the Stellaron Trembled Before Esdeath

Laughter still hung in the air.

Gojo Loli raised her small, fair hand and casually pointed upward.

A pale-blue orb of light burst from her fingertip.

The orb swelled as it flew, hurtling straight toward the thick steel barrier overhead.

Boom!

The deafening blast shattered the Underworld's deathly silence.

The rusted steel plate, more than ten meters thick, was punched through in an instant by the sheer destructive force of Azure, as if it were a brittle cracker.

A hole three meters across appeared in the barrier.

The twisted metal around its edges glowed a searing orange-red.

Molten iron dripped from the breach and struck the ground with a hiss.

The scorching smell of hot rust spread through the air.

Xingbao was still sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

Then a small hand seized the back of her collar.

It pulled tight around her neck.

Before she could even cry for help, her feet left the ground.

Gojo Loli carried Xingbao like a battered gray sack.

Her figure blurred.

She shot through the hole, still dripping molten iron, and headed for the Overworld.

Wind rushed into Xingbao's mouth, making her cheeks flap violently.

Esdeath did not teleport.

Her white military boots stepped onto the air.

Layers of crystal-clear ice stairs formed beneath her feet.

She climbed them at an unhurried pace.

Her white military coat billowed in the cold wind.

Within seconds, all three figures had vanished from the Underworld.

Belobog, the top floor of Fort Qlipoth.

It was even colder here than in the Underworld.

Wind blew through the shattered dome, snapping the red tapestries against the walls.

At the center of the hall,

Cocolia stood with both hands raised and her eyes closed.

A sickly devotion filled her face.

At her chest, a mass of dark-yellow Imaginary Energy churned wildly.

It was the Stellaron.

Whispers echoed throughout the hall, their voices carrying an enthralling power.

Bronya stood a dozen paces away.

She held her rifle, her finger pressed hard against the edge of the trigger.

The barrel trembled slightly.

She watched her mother sink deeper into her fervor, her nails scraping white marks into the metal stock.

Just then,

the marble ceiling overhead exploded.

Stone fragments and dust rained down.

Thud.

Gojo Loli casually dropped Xingbao onto the floor.

Her tailbone slammed against the hard stone slabs.

She sucked in a pained breath and rolled across the floor, clutching her backside.

White military boots crushed several fallen chunks of marble.

Esdeath stood at the center of the hall.

Her ice-blue eyes swept over the so-called guardian's fortress.

Gojo Loli sat cross-legged in midair and popped a freshly unwrapped candy into her mouth.

The prayer had been interrupted.

Cocolia's eyes snapped open.

Their whites were shot through with blood.

She glared at the three intruders, the muscles in her face twitching with fury.

Her grip on her ice spear was so tight that her knuckles had turned bloodless white.

Bronya froze.

She immediately swung her rifle toward the woman in the white military uniform.

Cold sweat made her palms slick.

Instinct told her this woman was a hundred times more dangerous than the worst monster in the Fragmentum.

Cocolia wasted no words.

She had no intention of hearing an explanation.

The Stellaron at her chest erupted with blinding yellow light.

"Tear them apart!" she roared, her voice hoarse.

Violent Imaginary Energy surged up from the ground.

A dark-yellow storm swept outward from Cocolia.

Blades of wind shredded the wall tapestries, and marble floor tiles tore free one after another.

Heavy stones were ground to powder in the storm.

Xingbao forgot her pain.

She scrambled toward a thick stone pillar nearby.

She wrapped both arms and legs around it and held on for dear life.

The gale yanked at her coat as if it meant to tear her in half.

The wind pressure drove Bronya back step after step.

"Mother! Stop!"

She shouted, but the storm swallowed her voice.

Esdeath stood directly in the storm's path.

Her white-gloved hand settled on the hilt at her waist.

Her thumb gave it a gentle push.

Shing—

The slender military saber slid from its sheath.

The clear ring of metal against metal cut straight through the storm's roar.

Cold burst along the blade.

Esdeath stepped forward, pointing its tip straight at the Stellaron within the storm.

This was no ordinary cold.

It was an absolute law that could freeze even Imaginary Energy to death.

The dark-yellow wind blades sliced through the air.

Then a layer of white frost caught them in an unbreakable grip.

The violently spinning currents lost their momentum and became murky yellow pillars of ice in midair.

The ice spread like mold.

It crept inch by inch along the storm's path.

The sound of the gale vanished.

All that remained was the faint crackle of forming ice.

The once-invisible storm had been frozen into a massive sculpture of thrashing claws and fangs.

The ice spread with terrifying speed.

In the blink of an eye, it reached Cocolia's chest.

The Stellaron's light was trapped deep within the thick ice.

It looked like a failing lightbulb.

Its glow shrank violently.

The Cancer of All Worlds, a calamity from a higher dimension, now emitted a high-pitched electrical whine.

It sounded like glass screeching across a blackboard.

It was afraid.

Faced with the absolute zero of Demon’s Extract, it felt the terror of being erased.

Cocolia stared at the deadly ice spreading before her.

She watched the Stellaron's power, the source of all her pride, freeze completely.

Her mouth hung open, and her breath stopped.

The faith she had struggled to sustain for decades shattered in that instant.

Her hair hung in disarray, and her face twisted beyond recognition.

The last thread of her reason snapped.

She bit through her lip.

Blood ran down her chin and dripped onto the frozen pillar.

"Then we'll all be destroyed together!"

Cocolia let out a desperate, animalistic howl.

She abandoned all control and forced the Stellaron's power to the brink of self-destruction.

Blinding light swelled beneath the ice, ready to take all of Belobog with it.

Esdeath lowered her eyelids halfway.

Her face showed nothing but disgust at a weakling's impotent rage.

She slowly raised her saber.

Her lips parted.

"Mahapadma."