Upon hearing his words Stelle silently nodded and looked over Yuuto's shoulder. She remembered meeting Cocolia for a brief moment when they first arrived.
Due to her first time being on a mission like this, she might have not vividly remembered what she looked like.
"Damn, she has a large rack… " But seeing her up close made her inner thoughts pour out without warning. "Do they feel soft—Ugh!?"
Before she could finish, Stelle's head moved backward and she fell on the ground rubbing her nose.
"Mhm. It feels a bit quieter for some reason?"
Yuuto blew the tip of his finger and the thin mist covering it vanished. Feeling the peanut gallery disappearing, he narrowed his eyes at the energy fluctuating in front of him.
Cocolia's body radiated a thick layer of corrosion that began to spread throughout her body at a rapid pace. Wide yellow lines crawled up from her chest and were slowly destroying her from the inside.
Yuuto heaved a deep breath and after collecting his mind, his eyes sharpened.
A searing pain suddenly entered his body as golden streams slowly crept up his arms. Causing the skin on his body to turn bright red.
The sensation was vastly different compared to absorbing the corrosion from the fragmentum crystals down in the Underworld.
If absorbing the crystals felt like a light candle shining on him. Then the heat right now felt like he was directly placing his arms in a blazing oven.
Solidifying the path he wanted the corrosion to take, Yuuto slowly willed it into the Stellaron that was beating in excitement.
The concentration held within Cocolia was nothing like anything it ever absorbed before and the Stellaron greedily took in all it could take in.
'Is this thing a glutton?' He couldn't help but think that his absorption rate was a bit lacking compared to the speed his Stellaron was moving.
But Yuuto was thankful that Cocolia decided to turn into a semi-transformed state where she used a large chuck of fragmentum energy flowing inside her.
Yes the concentration of energy within her was dense. But the quantity was not comparable to the amount Stelle had for example.
What she had within her was the overwhelming energy given to her by the Stellaron and not the Stellaron itself. If it was the latter then it would have been highly unlikely or even close to impossible for her to maintain her form for even a couple of seconds.
Unless she possessed a vessel that was able to contain a Stellaron like Stelle. Or like him who can control the amount of power that he can take.
Well, the amount that he could take since he is currently absorbing energy to fill his near-empty Stellaron when he first got it.
'Even so, the process is not something I want to do again.'
Just imagining what would have happened if he tried absorbing the energy of a full Stellaron brought shivers down his spine.
Feeling the searing pain attacking his arms, Yuuto released his mist and covered his entire body. The feeling of something cold touching his skin was heavenly and made him relax for a second.
But he managed to regain his composure, feeling the pathway to his Stellaron shake and causing some pain to appear in other parts of his body.
He was surprised to see how fast the uncontrolled energy would spread throughout the body and turned extra careful after seeing the consequences of having his mind waver for just a second.
His mist glowed as it absorbed the heat radiating off Yuuto's skin and acted as another mechanism similar to sweating where it helped cool the rising temperature within his body.
Seconds gradually turned into minutes. The people surrounding Yuuto were eerily silent and patiently waited for Yuuto to finish.
This was exceptionally true for Bronya as she anticipated the worst-case scenario to happen. And was still in a state of shock after seeing everything happen so fast.
She gazed at her mother who was breathing heavily and closed her eyes. Holding onto the hope that Cocolia would be alright.
'It seems like it's working…' Dan Heng noticed the thick yellow lines growing on Cocolia gradually shrinking.
The lines slowly receded and Cocolia's figure stopped shaking. Her breathing began to calm down and after a few seconds, Yuuto fell onto his back.
"Are you okay?"
Stelle caught Yuuto as he was about to lean back and felt the thin layer of mist covering his body slowly disappear. She felt his body drenched in sweat and noticed the hints of steam coming out of his mouth.
"Yeah… I'm just a bit tired.."
Feeling some strength return to his body, he leaned forward and wiped the sweat coming off his face.
From using [Archive], using his body as a conduit to transfer moonlight to the Engine of Creation, to absorbing the energy destroying Cocolia from the inside.
It all took a large toll on Yuuto's body.
This was probably the first time he had used his body to this extent since he first woke up on the Astral Express all those weeks ago.
He looked at Cocolia and felt a strange feeling arise from him seeing her lying in front of him. Knowing her ending when he played the game, this was certainly a new experience for him.
Yuuto was about to relax feeling like they had finally finished their mission but he felt his brow twitch when he noticed something odd with Cocolia.
"Is something wrong?" Stelle immediately asked after noticing his strange reaction.
She didn't get a response as Yuuto got closer to Cocolia once more and held her arm up. Bronya tensed up when she noticed the look Yuuto had despite seeing that her mother was not in pain anymore.
"Dan Heng, check her radial pulse on the other side."
Yuuto lowered the arm he held and immediately placed his fingers near Cocolia's nose. Dan Heng followed along, perceiving that something was wrong, and held Cocolia's wrist.
"Pulse is weak… no, is it diminishing?"
"Breathing is also getting shallow."
Yuuto clicked his tongue as he knew something felt off. Even at the moment, [Clarity] was still being used.
With his senses being enhanced, he noticed the irregularity with her breathing and after feeling her pulse, it seemed like his guess came true.
"Is her body unable to keep up after taking the corrosion away?"
His head began to churn looking for answers and he immediately used [Mother's Embrace].
Even if he didn't know what was causing this to happen, providing her with stamina and healing her damaged body was a precaution he could do for the time being.
"What is it? Her body may be injured but it's not too life threatening…" Yuuto placed his palm on Cocolia's stomach and gradually healed her injuries.
"If it's not the physical body is it something else? The Stellaron's influence should be gone after I..---!!!"
Yuuto's eyes turned wide and he immediately looked inside Cocolia's [Nexus[.
"Shit, so this was also happening."
The Stellaron not only provided Cocolia with power but she was also subjected to its mental influence over the years she had been Supreme Guardian.
This included her thoughts, ideals, and even memories. All of this was corrupted.
Yuuto used [Clarity] to find out that Cocolia's entire [Nexus] was filled with a disgusting black and yellow influence that encompassed her entire being.
Signifying that a connection was still present. A connection that lasted years.
He scanned all the fragments to find any prominent corruption and noticed all of them had a deep black branch arching deep into each one.
"So the influence runs this deep." Realizing all the fragments were corrupted, Yuuto immediately stimulated the [Memory of the World] and released a pure white light from his palm.
As he had used this energy before to calm Bronya's chaotic thoughts when she first came to the Underworld.
And in the most extreme case Jingliu when she was being inflicted with Mara. He was certain that this energy had more uses than just calming a person's mind.
Yuuto poured the energy and watched how the light enveloped the dark branch and caused it to shatter. "Nice, it works. But I should be careful since I might damage some memories."
Clenching his fist at this, he continued to shatter these dark 'branches'.
Also as an extra precaution, he copied the fragments that he enveloped in case the memory somehow shatters or breaks during this whole operation.
As he broke the influence, he began to note that no energy was being transmitted from these 'branches'.
He figured that it was just a visual representation of the lingering effects the Stellaron had on her mind. But he was sure that there was still some sort of active influence still present.
As the sticky gaze he felt before was present at this very moment.
"The pulse disappeared from her peripherals!"
Hearing Dan Heng's urgent voice come from beside him, Yuuto stimulated the Stellaron inside him and poured 85% of the energy he could take into [Mother's Embrace].
A surge of gold and blue covered Yuuto and slowly reached into Cocolia whose lips began to turn blue.
Yuuto placed his entire focus on eliminating the lingering influence the Stellaron had on her and tried to figure out the cause of why Cocolia's body was failing.
As Yuuto was focusing, the light surrounding his body began to flicker and as if responding to his wishes, grew in a deeper shade of blue.
It swayed, formed, and flickered. Releasing a comforting atmosphere as it wanted to heal the person Yuuto was looking at.
Stelle watched this display of lights and felt an odd sense of comfort when she got closer to Yuuto. This was the same for everyone as they were mesmerized by the light it gave off.
'Wait, is that a woman..?'
Bronya looked surprised when she noticed the faint outline of a blonde woman suddenly forming within the light. Her body danced and her arms gently wrapped around Yuuto's neck.
Hugging his worn-out body.
If Yuuto saw this woman, he would have been shocked to realize that it was Solar who materialized behind him.
Solar's eyes locked onto Bronya for a few seconds before she showed her a gentle smile. Her lips moved slowly, trying to convey something.
'It will.. be.. alright..?'
Bronya managed to catch what she whispered before Solar flashed before Cocolia's body. She looked at her face with a tinge of sadness but her eyes remained as gentle.
Her silhouette disappeared and a stream of blue light entered Cocolia's body.
As if fighting alongside Yuuto, the influence affecting Cocolia got weaker and weaker.
'Just a few more fragments…'
Compared to the disgusting yellow and black color her [Nexus] had before, the light within her mind turned a pure white that looked impossible to stain.
Yuuto navigated his way through her mind until he finally saw a fragment that had an ominous black branch. It was pulsing and a dense thread came from its body.
Connecting to the memory of her [Autonomic Nervous System].
"So I finally found you." Yuuto's palm turned bright pristine white and it engulfed the black branch.
{*&^$$%^!!?!?}
"Persistant bastard."
Yuuto frowned when he felt the branch fighting back and noticed the thread connected to the fragment glowing a bright yellow color.
"URGH!"
Cocolia's body arched as she felt like her body shutting down and the air moving within her lungs stopping.
Feeling her reaction, Yuuto increased the intensity. At the same time, he began to think of ways he should cut this connection.
Since at this rate, the influence would win despite the rate at which he destroyed its form.
'I need to cut it.' This very thought appeared in his mind and he began to focus on the thick thread.
In the past, he has experience connecting the threads of memory as this was how he created some of his abilities.
But the act of forcefully cutting one was entirely new to him.
'Visualizing is not enough for me.'
Based on the limited time he had to act, Yuuto didn't have the leisure to analyze how he should effectively cut this thread. So he thought of the next thing.
Using an action that carried the same concept that he wanted to create.
Cutting.
A pale silver light erupted from Yuuto's open hand and the moonlight gathering formed into a sword. Within the silver light, a prismatic white hue mixed into the sword's edge.
The people surrounding Yuuto looked shocked when she noticed that he suddenly created a sword. But what shocked them even further was when he cleaved downwards.
–WOOOOSH
The scene of blood didn't arrive after seeing Yuuto swing his sword down but instead cut right through.
-Cough–!
"What's wrong!?"
Yuuto began to cough up a bit of blood which startled the people around him and they immediately rushed to him.
He didn't pay it any mind and gazed into Cocolia's [Nexus].
"Hah! That persistent roach got what's coming to it."
He began to laugh and felt a sense of fulfillment when he found that the thick thread was severed.
After scanning her mind once more, Yuuto found that her mind was gone from any external influence and he fell backward one last time.
"Is.. it over..?"
March cautiously asked seeing Yuuto falling back and noticed that Cocolia was sleeping quietly.
"Almost." Dan Heng felt Cocolia's pulse and sensed that it returned to normal. "We just need to inform the people on the Express to seal the Stellaron."
"Ah! That slipped my mind."
March turned her head when she saw the hard stare Dan Heng gave her and faked a whistle.
The tense atmosphere relaxed after hearing the two talk and the dead of night finally turned calm. The stars shining above them turned bright and Yuuto looked at this scene.
The fight with Cocolia was vastly different from the game.
And his preparations seemed to work well. All this should have brought a sense of achievement but something was nagging him.
Something like there was a being silently lurking deciding that it should be time to finally act.
—RUMBLE
The calm mountain began to shake. Snow began to fall and the air began to quiver.
{....}
{Don't close your eyes! The commander will come soon!}
{Mommy.. Save me…}
{STOP! Get away from him!}
Voices began to appear in Yuuto's head and he clenched his face. Stelle beside him also did the same and her eyes shook, feeling the emotions these voices had.
{Save us.. Save us from this disaster..}
{I wish they would leave us alone… please..}
{My home…}
Yuuto quickly shut these voices away as his mind turned calm and he noticed that Stelle was in the same state as him. He placed his hand over her head and helped her calm down.
It took a few seconds but he noticed the pain on her face subsided and frowned when he heard the voices.
It contained the emotion of grievances and despair that was very vivid but before he could look any further.
It all stopped.
{How amusing.}
A voice that was hard to decipher was the final thing they heard.
—CREAK
"Monsters are coming out of a tear!"
Seele shouted when she saw portions of the air around them break apart and a rip in space gradually formed.
Similarly to how Cocolia ripped the space, monsters began to jump out of the 5 tears.
"What is happening?" Dan Heng frowned and summoned his spear. Yuuto looked at this scene and also formed a similar look.
Something abnormal was occurring and based on his condition, he needed to heal himself quickly.
He tuned into the Stellaron inside him and turned the engine. Feeling the energy envelop his body he poured the majority of that into healing his body.
Yuuto summoned his mist and formed his sword. As he was about to join Dan Heng, he felt an object wrap around his leg and pull him back.
"Yuuto!"
Stelle who was near him noticed that he stabbed the ground and saw a black and yellow tentacle wrapped around his ankle.
The tentacle came from a medium-sized tear that appeared on the ground a few meters away from them.
She quickly slammed her bat onto the tentacle. Shattering it before it could pull Yuuto.
Freeing himself from its grasp, he was about to thank Stelle but raised his sword when a bundle of these tentacles grabbed the two of them.
As his body was still exhausted from saving Cocolia, he was unable to fully fight back. If he was at his peak condition these things would have been a breeze.
But they caught him at a moment of weakness. Making him deeply annoyed.
The two struggled. Figuring out the predicament they were in they called for the others who noticed the problem.
Seele acted quickly and rushed to them but a sudden barrier stopped her from moving any closer.
The others began to attack the barrier in hopes of tearing it down but that small distraction was enough to pull Stelle and Yuuto closer to the tear.
Yuuto looked back at the tear and his eyes shimmered in a white hue. Looking at what this space held, his face looked surprised, and quickly turned his head to the others.
"Focus on destroying the monsters! There's going to be a large hoard comin—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Yuuto was dragged into the tear. Stelle struggled the hardest as she tried to grab anything.
She ripped the item holding her down but it was useless as it regenerated the material she broke apart.
Grasping onto the last few straws she had, she quickly noticed an object at the corner of her eyes.
It was a large light blue lance.
The same lance Cocolia placed when she was attacked by Dan Heng and Seele. Figuring that it would bring her speed down when faced with two fast attackers.
Stelle clenched her teeth and reached for the lance. She was able to grasp its hand and prevent it from moving backward.
This created a faint shimmer of hope but it quickly disappeared as the lance broke off from the ground and was pulled into the tear with her.
***
"What is all this bullshit happening?"
Yuuto opened his eyes and rubbed his back. He scanned his surroundings and noticed that he was in an orange-colored space holding nothing in plain sight.
"AHH!!"
"Urgh."
Before he could react, a heavy body suddenly dropped onto him and he felt someone pressing onto him.
"Heavy."
"Excuse me? I'm light as a damn feather."
"Yeah, a ton of feathers to be exact– Hmm?"
Yuuto clicked his tongue after hearing Stelle but stopped when he noticed something falling onto him.
–BONG
A hard metal surface crashed onto his face and he pushed the object off him.
"That hurts…"
He rubbed his nose and wondered if he had broken it. He pushed Stelle off him and looked at the object that slammed into his face.
Its light blue color was unfamiliar but the shape made him look at Stelle with a strange gaze.
"What?"
"Why do you suddenly have that?" Yuuto pointed at the lance.
Stelle looked at the weapon and tilted her head. "I grabbed it to see if I could prevent myself from coming here but it got loose in the end."
She spoke lightly of the weapon but Yuuto stared at her for a while.
'I guess fate is doing its thing.'
Yuuto glanced at the lance one last time before he pulled himself up. Being in an unfamiliar location they needed to be careful.
And this meant watching for any dangers that may appear.
"What should we do..?" Stelle also got up and turned to Yuuto.
A response didn't come but she waited patiently after seeing the expression Yuuto had on his face.
"Just get ready to fight."
He summoned his sword and pointed towards a location a couple of meters away from them. Stelle narrowed her eyes and saw the wave of monsters slowly making their way to them.
***
Hehe sorry broke my promise. Wuthering Waves got my attention for a bit.