Why Won't My Stellaron Listen to Me Anymore?

The instant time began to flow again.

Crack.

A sharp shattering sound rang through the hall.

Before the echo of the finger snap could fade into the cold wind, the murky yellow Stellaron energy around Cocolia shattered like cheap window glass struck by a hammer.

There was no violent explosion.

No deafening roar.

The Imaginary Energy broke apart in midair, scattering into countless flecks of dying light.

The flecks drifted down, only to go dark before they touched the floor.

Cocolia was still leaning forward, throwing everything she had into her attack.

The momentum of time resuming carried her another half inch forward.

A faint sound of flesh tearing.

The saber pressed against the left side of her chest slid a fraction deeper.

Its cold tip pierced the surface of her skin.

The blood that had been frozen in place began to flow again.

A string of crimson drops ran down the snow-white blade and dripped onto Su Chen's white leather glove.

The blood spread across the pristine leather, glaringly bright.

Only then did the sting reach Cocolia's mind.

Her mouth hung open, and a hoarse, broken rasp escaped her throat.

The storm was gone.

The power she had believed could tear all of Belobog apart—the power she had taken for truth—had vanished into thin air.

Cocolia froze before the blade.

She stared at the woman in the white military uniform.

Beads of cold sweat sprang across her forehead.

Sweat slid into her eyes and stung them, but she did not dare blink.

Frantically, she called out in her mind.

She called to the voice that had accompanied her for over a decade and granted her supreme power.

Answer me! Give me your power!

She screamed the words inside her head.

There was no answer.

The Stellaron's whispers, usually ceaseless at her ear, had fallen utterly silent.

Panic seized Cocolia.

She lowered her head with difficulty and looked at her chest.

The Stellaron, which should have been burning like the sun, was sealed beneath a thick layer of white frost.

This was no ordinary ice.

It was dense ice capable of sealing even energy from the Imaginary dimension.

Her mental link had been severed.

It was as though someone had taken a rusty, blunt saw and hacked through the nerve in her mind that connected her to her "god."

She could no longer sense the Stellaron at all.

Fear slithered up her spine like a venomous snake.

Cocolia's teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

Clack, clack, clack.

The sound rang through the empty hall.

The faith she had taken such pride in.

The supreme being that had promised to bring about a new world and destroy the old order.

Before this woman in white, it had been so frightened that it had cut off contact.

It was playing dead.

The last of Cocolia's strength drained from her body.

Her knees buckled.

Thud.

The impact was heavy and dull.

Both knees slammed into the fractured marble floor.

The blade slipped free of her flesh.

A few drops of blood spattered onto the ground.

She collapsed like a boneless heap.

The metal crown that symbolized the Supreme Guardian's absolute authority slipped from her head.

Clang.

The crown struck the stone and rolled twice.

It stopped against a piece of rubble, coated in pale stone dust.

Cocolia's meticulously arranged blond hair came loose.

It fell in disarray across her shoulders and face.

A few strands stuck to her pale cheek, damp with blood dripping from her chin.

She gasped for breath.

A wheezing hiss came from her lungs.

The eyes that had once burned with zeal and pride were empty now.

They stared without focus.

Straight at the dust-covered crown on the floor.

Everything she believed had crumbled.

Centuries of Preservation, decades of struggle—and the god she had finally put her faith in could not withstand a single breath of frost from someone else.

She felt like a complete fool.

"Mother!"

Bronya's voice came from the far end of the hall.

Rifle in hand, she stumbled forward.

When time resumed, her finger was still on the trigger. It jerked, nearly firing the gun.

Her boots crunched over the rubble, each step uneven.

She caught her foot on raised floor tiles several times and nearly fell.

Five steps from Cocolia, Bronya stopped.

She forced herself to a halt.

She looked at the disheveled woman on the floor, her eyes vacant.

Was this really the Supreme Guardian who had always stood straight-backed, dignified and untouchable?

Bronya's finger slowly came off the trigger.

The rifle's muzzle dropped and struck a floor tile with a clack.

Her eyes burned.

Bronya bit her lower lip hard enough to split the dry skin.

It felt as though her throat were stuffed with wet cotton, too thick to swallow and impossible to spit out.

She hated her mother's betrayal. Hated that her mother had tried to destroy this city.

But seeing her so wretched and hopeless made Bronya's heart ache despite herself.

Behind a thick stone pillar.

Xingbao still clung to its cold surface.

When time unfroze, she had not even caught her breath.

The fierce wind vanished, and the force tugging at her clothes was gone.

Xingbao's legs gave way, and she slid straight down the pillar.

"Ow."

She landed on her backside and grimaced in pain.

The hem of her gray coat dragged through a broad patch of dust.

Rubbing her scraped palm, she looked up in bewilderment.

She glanced at Gojo Loli, suspended in midair, swinging her legs as she ate candy.

Then at the woman in the white military uniform standing in the center of the hall.

Finally, her gaze settled on Cocolia, kneeling on the floor.

Xingbao was completely lost.

She shook her head hard, scattering the dust in her hair.

How did the monster that was about to destroy everything end up on the floor in the blink of an eye?

She swallowed and stayed seated on the floor, too afraid to make a sound.

Su Chen paid no attention to what anyone else thought.

He felt the lingering cruelty of Esdeath within him.

Reaching to his waist with his left hand, he drew out a white handkerchief.

His movements were unhurried.

His white leather glove held the cloth against the cold blade.

He gently wiped away the string of crimson blood.

The motion was as elegant as though he were tending to an expensive work of art.

Leather brushed against metal with a faint rustle.

Cocolia knelt on the floor tiles.

She braced both hands against the ground, digging her nails into the cracks until they bled.

Rough stone scraped the pads of her fingers raw, but she seemed unable to feel it.

With difficulty, she raised her head.

The bones in her neck gave stiff little clicks.

From beneath her tangled hair, her hollow eyes fixed on Su Chen.

Cold wind poured through the broken dome, carrying a few snowflakes.

It made Cocolia tremble all over.

"You..."

Cocolia spoke.

Her voice rasped like two pieces of rusty metal grinding together.

Every word shook with despair.

She coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth, her chest heaving.

"What exactly are you?"

She stared at the woman in white, her voice quavering on the edge of collapse.

"How can you even ignore the power of an Aeon?"

Su Chen wiped away the last trace of blood.

He casually dropped the stained white handkerchief on the floor.

The cloth covered half a broken brick.

Shing.

The slender saber slid neatly into the sheath at his waist.

Esdeath lowered her head slightly.

The brim of her cap blocked the light from above.

There was not a trace of pity in her icy blue eyes.

Su Chen looked down at Cocolia coldly, as though she were an insect.