"Bro, so you actually broke it? I thought you really didn't go near women!"
"Heh, if it happened to you back then, would you have let people know?"
"I'm just curious—wanted to hear exactly how it broke."
"Don't bring it up. It was one of my old Guard buddies who snipped it! Just thinking about it pisses me off. We've been brothers for so many years—I just wanted to take our relationship to the next level. Was that wrong? Did he really have to react that strongly?!"
Hearing this, everyone around instinctively took several steps back.
"What are you guys doing?"
…
That white light curtain still hovered there.
From within it, a familiar hand suddenly reached out, groping around for something.
After feeling around, it finally grasped the handle of Abyss Flower and pulled it back inside.
From the other side of the light curtain came deafening explosions and the nonstop crashing of metal against metal.
Cocolia grew curious and stepped through.
…
This was a snowfield.
The massive glacier ahead had been carved into an ice sculpture.
In the cold wind, Cocolia narrowed her eyes and examined the sculpture's shape.
The face belonged to March 7th, but the body was that of a macho man flexing his bulging biceps.
Cocolia: "…"
"BOOM—!!"
A huge chunk of ice came hurtling toward her.
Cocolia quickly dropped flat. The ice chunk grazed over her back and smashed into the distance.
She climbed up in a daze, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
She looked ahead again.
That didn't seem to be an ice sculpture.
It was made from the piled corpses of ice-crystal Fragmentum creatures—the extreme cold here had simply frozen a layer of ice over the outside.
The bodies of the Fragmentum creatures inside had been perfectly preserved because of it.
…
Cocolia turned to look the other way.
There was another statue.
This one was built from countless Antimatter Legion wreckage. The face was Dan Heng's, and below that he appeared to be sitting on something, with half his butt exposed.
After squinting and thinking for a long time, Cocolia finally realized what the statue depicted.
It was Dan Heng in the middle of using the toilet, holding a roll of toilet paper in his hand!
On the side of the Dan Heng and March 7th giant statues stood yet another one.
This one was made from a mishmash of wreckage—both Antimatter Legion and Fragmentum creatures.
The face looked like a ferocious Zeig.
At first glance, it seemed like he was sticking out his tongue in a savage manner, licking something.
It appeared to be an ice cream cone, but the "ice cream" was made from withered, enormous vines twisted together—yellowish and very strange-looking.
From the distance came the thunderous footsteps of the Creation Engine running.
It seemed to be chasing something.
On the Creation Engine's shoulder, Bronya's face was flushed red as she anxiously called out:
"Seele, Seele, stop messing with that!"
"Huh? Don't you think these monsters are hateful? You were almost ambushed back there!"
"B-But they're already dead! Can we just stop now?!"
"What are you afraid of? That Zeig guy and the others are already doing it—how can us born-and-raised Belobog folks fall behind? Hurry hurry hurry!"
Hearing the voices, Cocolia couldn't help narrowing her eyes.
In the distance, Seele and the Silvermane Guards were lying on an iceberg, furiously chiseling at something.
Countless ice chips rained down like a storm.
The Creation Engine arrived beside them and came to a sudden stop, kicking up a gale.
Bronya pleaded:
"That's… that's enough already. If Mother sees this, she'll be angry."
Cocolia: "?"
"Haha, Captain Bronya, just relax a hundred percent! It's only statues—we're doing this to bring glory to Belobog!" one Silvermane Guard wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied tirelessly with a laugh.
"Exactly! Putting up a statue of the Supreme Guardian here is proof that we've conquered this frozen wasteland!"
Hearing the distant voices, Cocolia was momentarily stunned: "My statue?"
She narrowed her eyes again and looked toward that statue.
Because so many people were working on it and the ice sculpture wasn't finished yet, its shape still wasn't clear.
Bronya looked around in panic, searching for another figure:
"Gepard—where's Gepard? Why isn't he here helping to persuade them…"
"Oh, Captain Gepard? He's writing a letter on the toilet!"
"Toilet?"
Bronya froze for a second before reacting. She quickly turned to look at Dan Heng's statue.
At the rear half of the Dan Heng statue, right on the toilet seat, Gepard sat cross-legged, scribbling furiously.
His brows were tightly furrowed. Apparently still dissatisfied, he crumpled the paper into a ball, tossed it aside casually, and grabbed a fresh sheet to start over.
The paper ball drifted with the cold wind and finally smacked Cocolia on the head before rolling to the ground.
"…"
Cocolia pursed her lips and picked up the crumpled paper.
Just as she was about to open it, Serval leaped through the light curtain from behind and walked over.
Seeing the paper ball in Cocolia's hand, she teased: "What are you looking at? Someone sending you a love letter?"
Cocolia's mouth twitched. She threw the paper ball at her: "Maybe it's a love letter your little brother wrote to someone else? He didn't like it, crumpled it up, and started over—might really be a love letter. Looks like you're about to get a sister-in-law."
"Really?" Serval half-believed, half-doubted as she unfolded the crumpled paper.
The moment she saw the contents, her smile slowly vanished.
From the distance came the sound of another colossal figure stomping.
Bang bang bang bang—!!
Heavenly Father was now sprinting while carrying the corpse of a Doomsday Beast!
Dan Heng chased desperately from behind, reaching out and shouting:
"Stop! Stop right now! You've already built a statue for me—why are you making another one?!"
Inside Heavenly Father's cockpit sat a pair of scoundrels.
The man licked his lips, gripped the controls, and grinned ferociously: "Isn't it because we have surplus materials? Seeing you slacking off so happily, the two of us decided to give you another reward!"
The woman beside him curved her pink-blue eyes and giggled: "Exactly! Didn't you say you had hidden power? What's with only beating up small fry!"
Dan Heng, panting as he chased behind, yelled: "March, then what about you saying you had hidden power? Aren't you just piloting a mecha too?"
"Heh, so you're admitting you're full of hot air just like me?" March 7th gave a light laugh. "I can brag, but for an honest guy like you to brag too—that's just not right. Face reality!"
The pair of scoundrels piloted Heavenly Father and suddenly hurled the Doomsday Beast corpse into the air. At the same time, its giant hand opened, and a black-purple beam shot out, instantly carving the corpse in midair.
Dan Heng: "…"
"Zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt—!!"
Thus, a second statue of Dan Heng landed on the ground, proudly born.
This one showed Dan Heng with a rose in his mouth, expression incomparably suave, leaning against the glacier as if his elbow were resting on a wall.
Utterly enchanting.
Heavenly Father turned around, looked everywhere, picked up some fragments of flame-crystal Fragmentum creatures, and stuck them onto the rose in Dan Heng's mouth—turning it bright red.
At first glance, it really looked like a genuine rose, making the whole thing even more flamboyant.
"Hahahaha… I'm dying, damn it! Too bad there's nothing in front of this statue—would've been even more spirited." A certain someone pounded the control console, laughing so hard he couldn't close his mouth.
"Tch, what do you mean nothing? Isn't there an ice statue right over there!"
March 7th piloted Heavenly Father, hoisted Dan Heng's statue, and ran off with it—placing it right beside Cocolia's giant statue.
At this moment, Cocolia's statue had been shaped by the Silvermane Guards into something majestic beyond measure—holding an ice lance, standing proudly.
But right in front of her stood a Dan Heng with a rose in his mouth, suavely hitting on her.
"Pffthahahaha…!!" ×2
"Hahahaha…!!" ×565
"Hahahahahaha…!!" ×566
Cocolia narrowed her eyes.
"…"
…