On an endless snowy plain, seven people lay.
Two men and five women, lying quietly on the snowfield, gradually being covered by the ice and snow falling from the sky above.
"Mmm... ah..."
Just as the seven were about to be completely buried under the ice and snow, the two men let out a groan, then propped themselves up and slowly sat.
"Are we... okay?" The first thing Dan Heng did upon waking was to assess his own condition. Finding nothing unusual, he voiced his confusion.
"Mmm... we're fine..." Welt rubbed his head, remained silent for a moment, then nodded.
Under that kind of attack, even if they survived, they shouldn't have emerged completely unscathed...
So why were they now...
Welt's mind replayed the scene from before...
Himeko had used the train's power to neutralize the force of the first [Falling Star].
That second Heaven's Strike...
It seemed like Stelle had used the Stellaron inside her...
"That's right! Stelle." After roughly recalling, Welt remembered the moment Stelle had stepped in front of everyone, ready to detonate the Stellaron to counteract the power of the Heaven's Strike...
"Stelle!" Welt quickly stood up, looking around for any sign of Stelle.
Soon, Welt spotted Stelle lying quietly on the snowfield, her breathing even.
Welt hurried over, set his cane aside, and lifted Stelle's upper body, then focused on sensing the Stellaron within her...
"Huh?!" He hadn't expected this check to yield such a shock. Welt froze for a second.
The Stellaron inside Stelle was utterly calm and stable, not a ripple of disturbance, as if the fierce battle from moments ago had never happened...
Coming back to his senses, Welt adjusted his glasses and fell into silence.
If Stelle hadn't succeeded in detonating the Stellaron, then who had blocked the Heaven's Strike?
But if she had detonated the Stellaron to stop the Heaven's Strike, then why...
Welt couldn't understand it at all. He couldn't figure out how the Stellaron inside Stelle, and how all of them, had survived...
Forget it...
At least compared to death, this wasn't a bad thing.
With that thought, Welt didn't dwell on the matter further. He gently laid Stelle back on the snow, stood up, and scanned the area to check if everyone was accounted for.
"How is it?" Dan Heng, feeling nothing amiss with his own body, stood up and walked over to Welt, asking the question.
"It's strange. Everyone's condition is excellent, without a single trace of injury..."
"That's not normal..."
If he had a wound or two, or even serious injuries, Welt wouldn't be as puzzled as he was now.
Hearing this, Dan Heng also fell silent.
Welt was right. It was strange, not normal...
Dan Heng wasn't just referring to the complete lack of physical harm...
Just moments ago, to fight Clara, he had fully accepted that power from within his heart.
But now... that power had retreated deep into his heart again, waiting for him to accept it once more...
That wasn't normal... It was very abnormal...
The current scene was like time had been reset...
No... that's not it! It was as if everything they had just experienced was fake...
"Seems you're quite clever~"
Just as Welt and Dan Heng were pondering, a familiar, yet somewhat unfamiliar voice reached their ears.
Hearing it, the two quickly turned to look.
A black-haired girl with twin tails, somewhat short in stature, had appeared before them.
"Miss Sparkle, what do you mean?" Welt looked at the suddenly appearing Sparkle without showing any sign of alertness.
"Exactly what you're thinking in your hearts, of course~" The real Sparkle revealed a smile, looking with interest at everyone present.
People who could make Clara personally appear to toy with them must be quite interesting~
"Ugh..." When Sparkle appeared, everyone lying on the snowfield slowly opened their eyes. Sensing that their bodies were fine and unharmed, they gradually stood up.
"What... happened just now..." March 7th stood up and even stretched.
"That felt so good... I've never slept so soundly..."
"Wait!" March 7th recalled the events from before, and her hand, mid-yawn, froze in the air.
"This... is this heaven?" March 7th felt no discomfort in her body; in fact, she felt rather comfortable, leading her to mistakenly believe she had died and was now in heaven.
"Huh?" Soon, March 7th noticed the looks from those around her.
She froze for a moment, then broke into a happy, cheerful smile:
"Wow, everyone's dead too!"
"Perfect! We can continue our unfinished Trailblazing journey here in heaven!"
Everyone: ...
Hearing March 7th's words, everyone fell into a moment of silence.
...
"So you mean... everything we just experienced was a dream?" Welt lowered his head, thought for a moment, and came to a conclusion.
"Yes, indeed~" Sparkle nodded, not hiding anything.
"Oh~ So it was just a dream. We're not dead..." Listening to the conversation between Welt and Sparkle, March 7th had a sudden realization and seemed to understand everything.
"Wait!" March 7th quickly noticed something was off.
"Why did we fall into a dream?"
"Do you even need to ask? Who else could have done it besides her?" Hearing March 7th's silly question, Sparkle shrugged and answered.
"..." March 7th was instantly speechless, finding Sparkle's point quite valid.
Stelle: ...
Stelle, who had been silent beside them, listened to the conversation, her head lowered as if deep in thought.
Then, seeming to have reached a conclusion, she stepped forward to Sparkle and asked puzzledly:
"A dream..."
"If it was a dream, then this thing..." Stelle took a deep breath. The next second, flames coiled around her hand, and then a lance radiating the aura of Preservation appeared in her grasp.
"What is this?"
"!"
"The Lance of Alisa Rand..."
For a Supreme Guardian, the weapon in Stelle's hand was naturally familiar to Cocolia.
"That is the weapon of the first Supreme Guardian of Belobog..."
Seeing the confusion in Stelle's eyes, Cocolia explained.
After experiencing everything in the dream, Cocolia's desire to create a new world instantly vanished.
Though it was just a dream, the feelings it evoked in her were incredibly real.
The strength that came with having power, the anguish of fighting against loved ones, even the fear that death brought to the soul—all felt utterly real...
"So... why do I have this...? Wasn't everything we just experienced a dream?" Stelle put away the Flaming Lance and asked, confused.
"Do you even need to think about it?"
"You don't actually think you could escape from the dream of an Emanator all on your own, do you?" Sparkle chuckled lightly, posing a question in return.
Sparkle placed one hand on her hip and raised the other, holding up two fingers:
"There are only two possibilities for how you got out."
"The first is that Clara herself dispelled the dream."
"As for the second~"
"It's that your performance in the dream caught the attention of the Aeon of Preservation, and with the help of Preservation's power, you ultimately broke the dream~"
"Of course, I lean more toward the first one."
"With your half-baked Preservation power, it's completely insufficient to break Clara's utterly inescapable dream..."
Sparkle hummed a laugh, explaining patiently to everyone.
Remembering Clara's control over dreams, even Sparkle couldn't help but shiver.
It was like she had cheated. Sparkle couldn't imagine who, besides an Aeon, could break a dream set by Clara.
"Wait! You said... Clara?" Upon hearing the name, Welt immediately thought of something.
"Ah, yes, yes, exactly the person you're thinking of." Sparkle didn't hide anything and directly confirmed it.
"But then why are we..."
"Of course, it's because I erased your memories~"
Before Welt could finish his question, a sudden female voice provided the answer.
"!"
Hearing this voice, everyone except Sparkle was startled. They quickly drew their weapons, pointing them in the direction of the sound.
"Oh my, the way you're all acting, you're making me seem like the villain~"
Clara smiled slightly, introducing herself elegantly:
"Stellaron Hunter Clara, pleased to meet you~"
...
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