"A space to pay respects to an Aeon?!"
"No, it seems a bit different from our situation."
"The surrounding environment is more like when the Trailblazer first met the Destruction Aeon."
La Signora raised her head and looked in the direction where the Trailblazer was. Although there was a moment of surprise, she quickly recovered. Not only because she had met Aeons multiple times before, but also because she believed Takagi would never be wrong.
"Is this what the space Asta arrived in looks like?"
Herta observed the surroundings and asked curiously.
Ruan Mei also observed the surroundings with great curiosity, trying hard to remember everything around her for future deconstruction and analysis.
"How did we end up here?"
Morax looked around and said with some confusion.
"I figured you might want to see an Aeon."
"So I specifically brought you all to this space as well."
"You're welcome."
Takagi said with a smile to Morax, Amber, Noelle, and the others.
Immediately after, Cloud Retainer quickly stepped forward and briefly and concisely explained the relevant matters to Morax, Amber, Bronya, and the others.
Upon hearing that they might meet the Preservation Aeon Qlipoth, both the Teyvat people like Morax and the Belobog people like Bronya and Seele were surprised.
"Really, can we meet that Amber Lord?!"
Bronya murmured to herself, looking at the Trailblazer, who seemed to be drawn by something nearby and was silently walking forward along the void road.
"Let's go, follow the Trailblazer."
"If nothing unexpected happens, the Amber Lord's gaze will fall upon us soon."
Takagi said, looking at Topaz, who still had her hands on his waist.
"Miss Topaz, snap out of it."
"Also, you can let go of me now."
"Even without direct physical contact or indirect contact with me right now,"
"You won't be kicked out of this space temporarily."
Takagi said.
"Oh, oh, okay."
Topaz came back to her senses and quickly let go of Takagi. However, seeing Takagi walk in the direction of movement, she quickly stepped forward to follow.
"Takagi, you know what this place is, right?"
"Can you tell me why we are here?"
"And that lady next to you said that the Trailblazer has met the Destruction Aeon. Is that true?"
"You were hesitant about what I said earlier about the Trailblazer possibly meeting the Preservation Aeon, weren't you?"
Topaz quickly organized her thoughts and asked Takagi with a curious expression.
"This is a pseudo-spiritual world. Only our spiritual consciousness has come here."
"As for the Trailblazer, if I told you she had met the Destruction Aeon, would you believe me?"
Takagi smiled at Topaz and quickened his pace to follow the Trailblazer.
In front of the Trailblazer, a shadow of Cocolia's past memories had already appeared. Topaz looked at Takagi's back and quickly followed. As they got closer, Takagi and the others could also see the image of the phantom and hear the voice of that phantom of Cocolia's past memories.
"That's Gepard and Cocolia!"
Serval looked at the phantom in front and then looked at Gepard beside her in surprise.
"I remember this scene."
Gepard frowned tightly and said with some sadness.
[Gepard: ...26 guards sacrificed, but I...]
[Cocolia: Go on, Gepard...]
[Gepard: I'm not sure they're truly dead. I saw their broken bodies wandering in the Fragmentum!]
[Gepard: What happened there defies logic... If the situation continues...]
[Cocolia: I'm well aware of the consequences, Gepard. Stand down!]
[Mysterious Voice: ...We are all well aware of the consequences.]
"The dead dragging their broken bodies and wandering in the Fragmentum..."
"The Fragmentum has turned the dead into Fragmentum monsters."
Lisa murmured to herself, the Stellaron and the power of the Fragmentum that Takagi had mentioned echoing in her mind.
"Indeed, it's exactly the same as my past memories!"
Gepard shook his head and sighed.
"Gepard, did you know this a long time ago?"
Serval asked.
Seele, Pela, Bronya, and the others also looked at Gepard with some sadness.
"Everything is my duty."
Gepard said.
Serval pursed her lips and looked at her brother with some sadness. It turned out that after she stopped paying attention to the Stellaron and the Fragmentum, her brother had endured so much.
"Compared to Gepard, Cocolia's attitude was very cold."
"At that time, she was already planning to turn all the Belobog people into Fragmentum monsters, wasn't she?"
"That mysterious voice should be the voice of the Stellaron, right?"
Cloud Retainer crossed her arms and said with disdain, looking at the phantom of Cocolia's past.
She truly looked down on Cocolia. Which of them, the Liyue Adepti, hadn't preserved Liyue for thousands of years? The Geo Archon Morax had preserved Liyue for an extremely long time. And Cocolia, as the Supreme Guardian, abandoned her responsibility in just over ten years, even pushing her people into the fire pit. In Cloud Retainer's eyes, Cocolia was a completely unforgivable sinner.
Of course, considering Bronya beside her, and Takagi who had decided to help Bronya, Cloud Retainer ultimately didn't say these words in her heart. Although that was the case, upon hearing Cloud Retainer's words, Bronya still lowered her head with some bitterness.
"If I had discovered my mother's abnormality earlier..."
Bronya pursed her lips and said with regret.
"This is not your responsibility. At that time, you didn't know anything."
Takagi patted Bronya's shoulder and comforted her.
"Does the mysterious voice come from the Stellaron?"
"Does that mean the Stellaron might develop self-awareness?"
"Interesting, it seems there are still many aspects of the Stellaron worth studying."
"Takagi, do you know the principle behind it?"
Herta looked at Takagi curiously and asked.
"Who knows? Compared to that, we should continue moving forward."
Takagi shrugged and continued forward, supporting the somewhat haggard Bronya.
Not long after, another phantom of past memory appeared before the Trailblazer and Takagi's group.
"That's... me?!"
Serval looked at the images of herself and Cocolia in the memory phantom and said with some surprise.
[Serval: ...The unfinished research of our predecessors is finally about to bear fruit in this era. Cocolia, give me a guard team, let me find the Stellaron, find a way to save our homeland...]
[Cocolia: Calm down, Serval!]
[Serval: Calm down?]
[Cocolia: Silvermane Guards, Ms. Landau is tired, take her down.]
[Cocolia: Seal her laboratory, detain all research members. They are conducting illegal research!]
[Serval: Why, Cocolia...]
[Cocolia: Serval, you were once my best friend...]
[Mysterious Voice: But there is no place for her in the promised new world...]
"Sister!"
"So that's why you left the research lab..."
Gepard looked at Serval with complex emotions and said.
Bronya, Pela, and others felt the same way.
"Ahaha, we each have our own unpleasant pasts, Gepard."
Serval rubbed the back of her head and gave a forced smile. Seeing what Cocolia had done to her again, Serval still couldn't hide the sadness in her heart.
"That being said, she at least gave you freedom and didn't directly detain you."
"At this time, Cocolia still had at least some concern for you."
Takagi said to Serval.
"Thank you, Takagi, hearing you say that."
"I feel much better."
Serval said.
"A promised new world? It seems this person named Cocolia was completely misled by the Stellaron."
"The Stellaron, does it also have the power to bewitch people? Hmm, worth noting down."
Herta stroked her chin and muttered.
"Stop writing, catch up, Herta."
"We are getting closer and closer to the end."
Takagi said, looking at the Trailblazer, who was gradually walking away again, and took another step.
"The end? Is an Aeon about to appear?!"
Hearing this, Herta quickly followed Takagi's footsteps with the others.
After traveling for a distance, the phantom of past memory reappeared.
"This is... the complete Stellaron sealing device!"
Topaz looked at the device in the welcome scene, which was before Cocolia, and said in surprise. Although Belobog's Stellaron sealing device was very old, after all, it used the IPC's technology. Therefore, Topaz was still able to recognize it.
"I have a bad feeling about this scene."
Natasha frowned tightly, looking at the phantom of Cocolia reaching out to the Stellaron sealing device and the phantom of the Silvermane Guards who seemed to be protecting Cocolia.
[Silvermane Guards: Supreme Guardian Cocolia, monsters are surging towards us! It's too dangerous here!]
[Cocolia: Foolish, humble!]
[Silvermane Guards: What, what are you saying!]
[Cocolia: They have ears and eyes, but they cannot hear, cannot see!]
[Silvermane Guards: Ahhh!!!]
[Cocolia: Let ignorance be their food, pardon their foolishness and fear!]
[Kamisato Ayaka: Cocolia deliberately brought the Silvermane Guards here and fed them to the Stellaron as food!]
[Kamisato Ayato: It's truly complicated. Even though we already knew the situation of Belobog's Stellaron through Lord Takagi.]
[Gorou: Devouring humans to create Fragmentum monsters, misleading Cocolia to make wrong decisions, the Stellaron is too dangerous.]
[Yae Miko: Looking at it now, Cocolia was indeed kind to Serval, at least she didn't feed Serval directly to the Stellaron. Although if her plan went to the end, Serval would also be devoured by the Stellaron.]
[Neuvillette: This thing called the Stellaron must never appear on the Teyvat Continent.]
"Indeed, that's how it is."
"Cocolia, she really was pushing the soldiers into the Abyss."
Natasha murmured.
"Similar scenes, I imagine, won't happen just once."
"Such a Supreme Guardian, alas..."
Cloud Retainer shook her head, looking at Bronya with regret. She ultimately did not say the words "not worth saving".
"Mother..."
Bronya covered her mouth, feeling increasingly distressed. Although Cloud Retainer didn't say those words, how could someone as intelligent as Bronya not think of them? Just as Cloud Retainer said, similar scenes would definitely not be isolated incidents. Thinking of the Silvermane Guards pushed into the Abyss by Cocolia, thinking of the people in the Underworld abandoned by Cocolia, Bronya really couldn't find a reason for Gepard, Natasha, and others to forgive Cocolia.
Even if Takagi truly restored Cocolia in the end, Bronya felt that there would likely be no place for Cocolia in Belobog.
Just as Bronya was feeling incredibly conflicted, she seemed to sense something and looked up towards the Trailblazer not far ahead. A new memory phantom had already appeared there. And the protagonists of the memory phantom, besides Cocolia, included her, Bronya.
[Bronya: Mother, I still don't understand. The Fragmentum erosion has spread to the Underworld. If the Silvermane Guards are withdrawn, how will the people left below protect themselves?]
[Cocolia: The automatic sentry line will protect their safety, the most important thing is the defense line in the Overworld! Once the Overworld's defense line collapses, the Underworld will be instantly annihilated! Therefore, we must stabilize the Overworld's defense line at all costs.]
[Cocolia: This is a trade-off, Bronya! As a leader, you must have the courage to make decisions!]
[Cocolia: You, I, we still have a more important mission to fulfill. One day, you will also have to make a choice.]
[Bronya: A more important mission?]
[Cocolia: It's too early, Bronya! One day, you will understand...]
"Damn it, that wretched woman!"
"She actually just abandoned everyone in the Underworld like that!"
Seele gritted her teeth and roared angrily. Even though she already knew about the Stellaron incident in Belobog, clearly seeing how Bronya's mother abandoned the Underworld, Seele was still quite angry. Beside her, Natasha's face was also very unpleasant.
"I'm sorry, Seele, I'm sorry, Natasha, I'm sorry, everyone! Wuwuwu..."
Bronya turned around, crying and repeatedly bowing to Seele, Natasha, Serval, and others to apologize.
"Bronya, I wasn't talking about you."
"Get up quickly, you don't need to apologize to me."
Seele quickly held Bronya's shoulders and said.
Serval: "That's right, Seele, none of this is your fault."
Gepard: "Supreme Guardian Bronya, you and Supreme Guardian Cocolia are different!"
Bronya shook her head, sobbing, and said:
"But, if I had been more resolute in stopping her at that time,"
"Perhaps she wouldn't have abandoned the Underworld."
"And yet, I had already received a hint at that time."
"If I could have been a little more resolute and continued to press..."
Before Bronya could finish speaking, Takagi raised his hand and placed it on her shoulder.
"There's no need to feel guilty, Bronya."
"At that time, Cocolia had already fallen deeply under the Stellaron's spell."
"Even if you had pressed her, she wouldn't have answered you."
"I believe you've already felt the extent of the Stellaron's influence over Cocolia."
"Just look at how much she valued you; didn't she still want to kill you after you rejected the Stellaron?"
Takagi said.
Hearing this, Bronya instantly froze in place, unable to say anything for a moment.
Takagi raised his head and looked ahead. The child representing the Supreme Guardian's will had appeared there, and the Trailblazer had also sensed her presence.
The Preservation Aeon, will appear, right?
Takagi thought to himself.