Chapter Summaries

Bronya learned that she had forgotten her childhood brother, Chu Mu, and resolved to face him before discovering he was in the holding cell confronting Cocolia. Cocolia taunted Chu Mu, blaming him for giving Bronya up and insisting her thirteen years of raising Bronya mattered more than their brief childhood bond.

• Oleg told Bronya that Chu Mu was her brother, and Bronya revealed that she had no memories from before she was five.
• March 7th encouraged Bronya to meet Chu Mu and build their relationship again, so Bronya asked Oleg to take her to him.
• At the room where Chu Mu was supposed to be waiting, a young woman told them he had gone to the holding cell to confront the person responsible.
• The young woman and Oleg suspected Cocolia had erased Bronya's memories, prompting Bronya to ask Oleg to take her to her mother.
• In the holding cell, Cocolia accused Chu Mu of abandoning Bronya and argued that her thirteen years of raising her outweighed their childhood bond.

Chu Mu confirmed that Cocolia had erased Bronya’s childhood memories and, despite his grief, refused to blame either her or Bronya. Bronya still could not remember him, but she chose to speak with Cocolia alone in hopes of learning what happened and recovering her memories.

• Cocolia revealed that she had erased Bronya’s childhood memories, and Chu Mu left after telling her that he did not seek to take Bronya away or compete for her place in her life.
• In the corridor, Chu Mu reunited with Bronya, who cried but said she could not remember him or understand why seeing him made her so sad.
• Chu Mu reassured Bronya that he did not blame her, and Natasha embraced them both.
• Bronya said she wanted to learn about the past and asked Oleg to let her speak with Cocolia alone.
• Bronya entered the cell, still unable to connect her powerful feelings for Chu Mu with any memories of calling him “Brother.”

Bronya confronted Cocolia about her lies and the harm she had caused, and Cocolia explained that she had followed the Stellaron’s promise to destroy Belobog and create a New World. Bronya rejected Cocolia’s claim that the plan was for her own good and condemned the deaths and lost memories it had caused.

• Bronya questioned Cocolia about erased memories, the sealed Underworld, the Silvermane Guards’ deaths, and the attempt to kill the outsiders.
• Cocolia revealed that the Stellaron had spoken to her since she became Supreme Guardian and that she had chosen to follow it rather than preserve Belobog.
• Cocolia said the Stellaron promised that Belobog’s destruction would lead to a New World where the dead would return, and she intended Bronya to rule it.
• Bronya told Cocolia that her plan had made Bronya forget someone important to her and had sent countless Silvermane Guards to their deaths.

Cocolia tried to make Bronya join the Stellaron’s New World, but Chu Mu intervened and offered himself as its vessel instead. The Stellaron took Chu Mu and Cocolia through a spatial rift, leaving Bronya alone as the others arrived.

• Cocolia explained that she trusted the Stellaron to transform humanity and urged Bronya to join its shared will.
• The Stellaron’s voice tormented Bronya and Cocolia advanced as Bronya struggled to resist.
• Chu Mu appeared between them, declared that the Stellaron had implanted his memories, and offered himself in Bronya’s place.
• Bronya’s pain stopped as a spatial rift pulled Chu Mu away and then vanished; Cocolia was also gone.
• March 7th, Oleg, Natasha, Seele, and Dan Heng entered the cell, while Dan Heng recalled that the Jarilo-VI Stellaron could manipulate memories.

Cocolia embraced the Stellaron’s power and remained convinced it would create a New World, though she was enraged that it had abandoned Bronya. In a dark dream, Chu Mu learned that the Stellaron had rescued him and knew some of his sealed memories, then proposed an alliance based on their shared history of destroying civilizations.

• Cocolia wondered why the Stellaron had broken its promise to give Bronya power, while the Stellaron remained silent as Chu Mu suffered on the platform.
• Chu Mu questioned the Stellaron in a dream, and it claimed it had delivered him to the Silvermane Guards after finding him in the Fragmentum sixteen years earlier.
• The Stellaron said it had uncovered part of Chu Mu’s sealed memories and had restored them gradually because his body could not withstand them all.
• The Stellaron accused Chu Mu of having destroyed civilizations by offering hope and then despair, and Chu Mu recognized that he had done so in his previous life.
• The Stellaron asked Chu Mu to cooperate and help stop the outsiders in exchange for restoring his memories, then claimed he would resume destroying civilizations once he recovered.

Chu Mu let the Stellaron believe it had taken control of his body, then revealed he had trapped its consciousness inside the puppet while hiding his own in the Red Sun. The Stellaron briefly regained control by overwhelming Chu Mu with memories, just as someone arrived at Everwinter Ridge.

• Chu Mu rejected the Stellaron’s offer to cooperate until it promised to channel the Fragmentum’s Imaginary Energy into him.
• Chu Mu pretended to relax and let the Stellaron take over his body, prompting Cocolia to recognize the new consciousness as the Stellaron.
• Chu Mu revealed that he had resisted the Stellaron’s beguilement and trapped its consciousness inside his body while his own consciousness resided in the Red Sun.
• The Stellaron struggled to escape the puppet and threatened Chu Mu with a flood of memories, temporarily making Chu Mu’s consciousness disappear and reclaiming control of the body.
• Footsteps sounded nearby as someone arrived at Everwinter Ridge.

Cocolia severed her alliance with the Stellaron’s consciousness and seized the Stellaron’s power, but Himeko’s orbital laser cut her off and left her transformed into a Fragmentum monster. Bronya and the others confronted her on the platform, and Cocolia refused to abandon her belief that the Stellaron would create a New World.

• Cocolia accused the Stellaron’s consciousness of breaking its promise, then reached for the Stellaron’s true body and absorbed its power.
• Himeko fired a laser from orbit that severed Cocolia’s connection to the Stellaron, and Cocolia transformed into a larger Fragmentum monster.
• March 7th, Stelle, Bronya, Serval, Gepard, Natasha, Oleg, Svarog, and Chu Mu arrived at the platform and faced Cocolia.
• Cocolia urged Bronya to join her and declared that the Stellaron’s power alone could save Belobog, while Serval and Gepard condemned her transformation and betrayal.
• Bronya refused to abandon her companions, and Serval challenged Cocolia for believing only what she wanted to believe.

Cocolia summoned the Engine of Creation, but Himeko and Welt destroyed it with an aerial strike, allowing the group to attack her. Cocolia absorbed the Stellaron’s power and became the Mother of Deception, while Dan Heng explained that the Fragmentum consumed individual wills into a collective one.

• Cocolia summoned the Engine of Creation and ordered it to erase the group.
• Himeko and Welt struck the Engine of Creation’s joints, destroying it before it could attack.
• Seele rescued Chu Mu and charged Cocolia, while Stelle, Svarog, Natasha, Gepard, Serval, and Bronya joined the fight.
• The group drove Cocolia back, and Bronya accepted that the monster before her was no longer the mother she remembered.
• Cocolia tore the Stellaron from its restraining device and absorbed its power, gathering the Fragmentum energy across Jarilo-VI.
• Dan Heng explained that Fragmentum victims became parts of a collective will, and Bronya realized her mother was gone.

Cocolia confronted the copied consciousnesses of Belobog’s past Supreme Guardians inside the Stellaron and chose to pursue its power rather than Preservation. Back on Everwinter Ridge, the Stellaron vanished into her hand and Cocolia appeared to return to normal, but the others remained wary.

• Cocolia met the collective will of the past Supreme Guardians, who explained that they had resisted the Stellaron for seven hundred years.
• Cocolia defended her bargain with the Stellaron, saying she wanted to end her generation’s suffering and spare Bronya from despair.
• The collective will showed Cocolia paths to the Stellaron and to the Flame Lance, but Cocolia chose the Stellaron’s path.
• The storm subsided as the Stellaron shrank into Cocolia’s palm and disappeared, while her armor shattered and revealed her normal appearance.
• Cocolia told Bronya she felt as though she had dreamed for a long time, but Serval held Bronya back and Gepard ordered Cocolia to stay put until they confirmed her condition.

Cocolia attacked the group after the Stellaron twisted her, and Stelle was swallowed by it before accepting the role of Belobog’s Savior and taking up the Flame Lance. Bronya confronted her mother, but Cocolia’s answer revealed that the Stellaron had given her the power of Destruction.

• Cocolia broke through Gepard’s shield and stabbed him, but Natasha and Svarog interrupted her while Oleg pulled Gepard to safety.
• Cocolia summoned the Stellaron and swallowed Stelle after it targeted her with a bombardment.
• Stelle met a little girl inside the Stellaron, agreed to become Belobog’s Savior after Chu Mu promised her access to every treasure chest, and grasped the Flame Lance.
• Stelle reappeared with the Flame Lance, challenged Cocolia, and was immediately encased in ice.
• Bronya threatened to kill herself to stop Cocolia, who insisted that she had not changed before shouting that the Stellaron had given her Destruction.

Welt suppressed Cocolia’s Stellaron-fueled power long enough for her to confess her crimes, reconcile with Bronya and Serval, and warn Belobog about the Stellaron before she vanished. The Stellaron’s original will then admitted it had taken over Chu Mu’s body, leaving the crew to decide how to deal with it.

• Welt arrived and explained that Cocolia had three minutes to say goodbye before he sealed the Stellaron with her.
• Cocolia admitted that the Stellaron’s promise of a New World had been a lie and asked Belobog to remember her as a sinner while she resisted its will.
• Cocolia apologized to Bronya for controlling her and urged her to rebuild her relationship with Chu Mu.
• Cocolia revealed that the Stellaron’s original will occupied Chu Mu’s body, then vanished as Welt claimed the Stellaron Core.
• The Stellaron’s will opened Chu Mu’s eyes and admitted its identity to Welt and the Astral Express crew.

The Stellaron Will offered to return Chu Mu’s body in exchange for its freedom, but Belobog’s people and the Astral Express Crew refused to treat Chu Mu as a research subject. Stelle then revealed that Chu Mu had a plan: he wanted her to kill him.

• The Stellaron Will explained that Chu Mu had trapped it inside his body, and Welt contacted Himeko to ask Ms. Herta for help studying it.
• After Ms. Herta called the Stellaron Will a research subject, Natasha, Oleg, Seele, Svarog, Serval, and Gepard stood against taking Chu Mu away, and Stelle joined them.
• Welt rejected Ms. Herta’s request and assured Belobog’s people that the Astral Express Crew would not treat Chu Mu as a research subject.
• Welt questioned where the Stellaron Will would go after leaving Chu Mu, but it refused to answer and the dispute reached a stalemate.
• Stelle told everyone she could hear Chu Mu’s voice and revealed that he wanted her to kill him.

Stelle relayed Chu Mu’s farewell as he chose to destroy the Stellaron’s will rather than risk letting it overwhelm him. He comforted the Astral Express Crew and the people of the Underworld, then urged Bronya to face the future.

• Stelle told Welt that Chu Mu would destroy the Stellaron, and Welt said the Astral Express had already gained its reward by being able to continue its journey.
• Chu Mu thanked the Astral Express Crew, and Stelle relayed his farewell to Oleg and Seele, encouraging Seele to lead Wildfire and fight for the Underworld.
• Chu Mu asked Natasha to tell the Old Director he had returned and encouraged her to travel with the Astral Express Crew; Natasha mourned their broken promise to travel together.
• Svarog refused to have his memories sealed again, and Chu Mu asked him to care for Clara.
• Bronya grieved over Cocolia’s departure and Chu Mu’s impending loss, and Chu Mu urged her not to give up on herself or her future.

Stelle relayed Chu Mu’s guidance to Bronya, helping her accept her role as Belobog’s new Supreme Guardian and plan reforms. Bronya vowed to seek out Chu Mu’s old haunts until she remembered him, while Chu Mu prepared to say goodbye to March 7th.

• Stelle conveyed Chu Mu’s advice that Bronya define herself as the Nineteenth Supreme Guardian and lead Belobog forward.
• Chu Mu proposed dissolving the noble-dominated High Council and replacing it with representatives from every profession and district, while Svarog and Gepard offered their support.
• Bronya regained certainty about her path but grieved that Chu Mu could not stay and asked whether she was still his little sister without her memories.
• Chu Mu assured Bronya she was his little sister, and Bronya promised to visit the Underworld places he had known until she remembered him.
• Stelle urged Chu Mu to say goodbye to March 7th, then approached her as March 7th asked whether Chu Mu would bid her farewell.

Chu Mu helped March 7th and Bronya face their feelings about forgotten pasts before Stelle used the Flame Lance to destroy the Stellaron’s Puppet. As the Stellaron died, it found Chu Mu’s hidden consciousness and struck him with a chaotic flood of information, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Stelle admitted she had embellished Dan Heng’s two-word thanks to March 7th, and Chu Mu offered March 7th and Bronya comfort about their lost memories and future reunions.
• Chu Mu told Stelle to finish the Puppet as the Stellaron Will battered the seal and exhausted his consciousness.
• Stelle unleashed a sun with the Flame Lance, engulfing the Puppet and burning away the Stellaron Will.
• The dying Stellaron found Chu Mu’s hidden consciousness and threatened to take him down with it.
• A chaotic flood of information struck Chu Mu, and the Red Sun expanded, vaporized the Puppet’s remains, and vanished.

After the Stellaron Will was destroyed, Bronya and Seele grieved Chu Mu’s disappearance and remembered their past with him. Chu Mu regained consciousness in a void, spoke with Yaoshi, and pleaded for six months to return to Deep Blue Star, see his family, and receive a new body.

• The freed phantoms faded away, and Bronya regretted that she had not called Chu Mu her brother before he left.
• Seele remembered how Chu Mu had encouraged her as a child and wept in Natasha’s arms.
• Serval helped Bronya stand while Svarog began keeping track of time and waiting for Chu Mu to return.
• Chu Mu woke in a void with his memories of his past life blocked, realizing that the Stellaron Will’s attack had nearly overwhelmed him.
• Chu Mu asked Yaoshi why they kept saving him and pleaded for six months to return to Deep Blue Star, see his family, and receive a new body.
• Yaoshi pressed their face against Chu Mu’s palm, and Chu Mu asked whether they were crying.

Belobog rebuilt its government after the Stellaron was sealed, with Bronya dismantling the nobles’ power and establishing a citizen-led deliberative body. The city began recovering as the Fragmentum vanished and the people prepared to reclaim lost areas, though the Eternal Freeze would thaw only gradually.

• Cocolia was remembered as “The misguided one,” and her infamy helped make Belobog’s citizens fear the Stellaron and keep it sealed.
• Nobles tried to exploit public distrust of Bronya to depose her, but she dissolved the High Council and formed a deliberative body for all citizens.
• With support from the Silvermane Guards and the Underworld, Bronya arrested nobles who had committed crimes and stripped the rest of their inherited privileges.
• Belobog’s trades and professions elected representatives to discuss the city’s future as the Upper and Underworld began to reunite.
• The Eternal Freeze began stabilizing and would thaw gradually, while the Fragmentum vanished and opened the way for Belobog to reclaim lost areas.

Bronya continued rebuilding Belobog while retracing Chu Mu’s routes through the Underworld and searching for her lost childhood memories. Seele encouraged her to become Supreme Guardian—or choose happiness instead—and led her toward the Orphanage, where they spotted a walking trash can.

• Bronya learned that the Underworld Assault Team’s operation had earned the Underworld’s people greater respect in the Upper District, though Chu Mu had not returned to see the future he helped create.
• Bronya walked through the Underworld each evening, retracing Chu Mu’s routes as she searched for memories of her past.
• Seele guarded Bronya and reassured her that she could become Supreme Guardian, reminding her that Chu Mu wanted her to be happy.
• Seele suggested visiting the Orphanage in Rivet Town to help Bronya remember her childhood, and Bronya agreed.
• As they continued down the street, Seele spotted a walking trash can.

Stelle told Seele and Bronya about Natasha’s investigation into Wah’s experimental medicine and the letters revealing his later repentance and work on a blizzard immunity formula. Bronya decided the drug should be tested before wider use, and the group arrived at the Rivet Town Orphanage, where the steps stirred memories for her.

• Seele and Bronya pulled Stelle out of a trash can, then questioned her as a suspect in Boulder Town’s trash can vandalism case.
• Stelle explained that Natasha had asked her to investigate who was selling Wah’s old medicine in the Underworld.
• Stelle recounted how Natasha’s search led to her adoptive family and to letters Wah had written but never sent because of the Sealing Order.
• Stelle said Wah had repented, tested his blizzard immunity formula on himself in the Outskirts of Belobog, and was likely dead after rescuing Silvermane Guards.
• Seele condemned Wah for harming Underworld patients, while Bronya decided the medicine should undergo further testing before it was made widely available.
• The group reached the Rivet Town Orphanage, and Seele reminded Bronya that she had once waited on its steps for someone to return.

Bronya visited the old Orphanage with Seele, where Natasha and Oleg had recreated the classroom from her childhood. A drawing and keepsake from her brother brought her memories rushing back, though what she remembered remained unrevealed.

• Seele comforted Bronya as she recalled waiting for her brother beneath the streetlamp, and the two continued toward the Orphanage with Stelle.
• Stelle messaged Natasha, who directed them inside the restored Orphanage.
• Natasha began a pretend lesson with Hook, Clara, and the other children in the repaired classroom.
• Natasha welcomed Bronya to the empty seat beside the desk carvings, and Bronya recognized the scene of two siblings beneath a sun.
• Bronya found a cloth-wrapped keepsake in the desk drawer, held it to her chest, and began to cry as the past returned.