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"No! Don't take her away!"
Bronya's cry was raw, a jagged sound that tore through the howling wind of Everwinter Hill. She lunged forward, her fingers straining to reach her mother, but she was rebuffed by a shimmering, translucent barrier.
"Bronya, stay back! It's too dangerous!" Seele shouted, her own boots skidding on the ice as she threw her weight into holding Bronya back.
Inside the sphere, Cocolia was a silhouette of terminal radiance. The Stellaron, sensing its defeat, was turning its host into a supernova of concentrated Fragmentum energy. Realizing the end was seconds away, Cocolia felt the static in her mind finally clear. The fanatical whispers were replaced by a crushing, lucid silence.
She saw Bronya—not the Commander, but the little girl who used to hide in the folds of her cloak. And she saw Kenta.
"Kenta, your collar is crooked.""Huh? It's fine, isn't it? Just the two of us...""No. I'm older, so you have to listen to me. Come here."
Perhaps, Cocolia thought, a tired smile touching her lips as the golden light began to dissolve her form, I really did have a chance to stand by his side forever.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the explosion. Suddenly, a hand—warm, solid, and undeniably human—clamped onto her wrist.
"Xuan... Kenta?" Cocolia's eyes snapped open. Her heart plummeted into a new kind of terror. "You! Get out! The Stellaron... it's going to—"
"Kenta! How did he get inside the shield?!" March 7th screamed from the outside. She didn't wait for an answer, summoning her bow to rain arrows against the barrier, while Stelle smashed her blazing lance against the glass-like surface.
Even Dan Heng stepped forward, his expression darkening as he reached for a hidden well of power. But before anyone could act, the air inside the sphere turned pitch black.
Raging Black Flames erupted from Kenta's body, so hot they warped the very space within the barrier. He looked at Cocolia's panicked face and gave her a sharp, cocky grin.
"Did I give you permission to leave?"
In a flash, the Black Flames surged. They didn't just counter the Stellaron's energy; they consumed it. The golden light was incinerated in less than a second, leaving nothing—not even ash—behind.
"What kind of Stellaron is this?" Kenta muttered, his voice echoing with an unnatural resonance. "Go tell its troubles to my Black Flame."
He reached his right hand toward Cocolia's chest. As a fresh burst of black fire ignited, the Stellaron itself—a jagged, pulsing crystal—was wrenched out of the ethereal plane and into his palm.
The shield shattered. Kenta casually tossed the world-ending artifact toward Dan Heng like he was throwing a bag of trash. Then, he reached out and caught Cocolia as her legs finally gave way.
"You foolish woman," he whispered, his tone shifting into a familiar, teasing cadence. "Keeping everything to yourself. You should have told me you were tangled up with something this dirty. I would have burned it out of you years ago."
"Mother! Kenta!" Bronya threw herself at the pair, her eyes streaming with tears of relief.
Cocolia leaned into Kenta, her strength spent. "I... I feel like I've been in a very long dream, Bronya. I've made so many mistakes..."
She didn't try to justify herself. She simply gripped Kenta's cloak, holding on as if he were the only thing keeping her anchored to the world. Kenta winced, complaining internally: Seriously, like mother, like daughter. Do you both have to use enough force to break my ribs? I'm not going anywhere!
"Phew," March 7th exhaled, leaning on her bow. "That was... a lot. But what about the Stellaron?"
"I've already contacted Himeko and Mr. Welt," Dan Heng said, stowing the crystal into a containment unit. "The Express will handle the sealing."
As the adrenaline faded, the group stood in the freezing silence of the summit. Cocolia stood up, pulling away from Kenta to face her peers.
"We don't have the right to forgive you, Cocolia," Kenta said, his voice regaining its professional edge. "Not on behalf of the Guards who fell, or the people of the Underworld who suffered."
He looked at Bronya. "This is for the new Supreme Guardian to decide. I believe she has the standing to handle this."
With those words, he officially stripped Cocolia of her title while handing the future of the city to Bronya. After a brief discussion, it was decided: the truth would be kept from the public to avoid a total societal collapse. Cocolia's history would be recorded as a mix of service and tragedy; her "sentence" would be to work in the Underworld, under the watchful eye of Wildfire, helping to rebuild what she had helped break.
"It's over," Stelle said, planting her bat in the snow.
But as the group turned to descend, the air suddenly grew heavy.
"Ugh!"
Kenta collapsed to his knees. His breath came in ragged, wet gasps. Cold sweat poured down his face, and his hands shook so violently they blurred.
"Kenta! What's wrong?" Stelle rushed toward him, but the moment she got close, a violent blast of Black Flame exploded from his body.
"!!!"
Stelle instinctively raised her lance to shield the others as the shockwave threw them back.
"What's happening to him?!" March 7th yelled, shielding her eyes from the sudden, unnatural heat.
Cocolia's face went pale. "The price..." she whispered. "He didn't tell you. The Black Flame... it consumes more than just energy." She watched Kenta with growing dread. "But this is wrong. He's fended off hordes for hours before losing control like this. This usage... it was too short for this level of corruption."
Before they could reach him, Kenta stood up.
He didn't move like a human. He moved like a puppet with its strings cut. He blurred, reappearing instantly in front of Stelle.
Bong!
With a brutal, mechanical efficiency, Kenta used his sword sheath to knock the Flame Lance out of Stelle's hands.
His eyes were no longer the deep red they knew. They were hollow. Pure, abyssal black.
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