"Why do I feel like it's getting colder and colder?"
March 7th hugged herself, shivering involuntarily.
"We are approaching the center of the storm."
Dan Heng frowned slightly, a sense of gravity in his heart.
Ever since they stepped into this Iron Guard restricted area, everything had gone too smoothly, to the point of being eerie.
The Silvermane Guards, who should have regarded them as mortal enemies, started to avert their gaze when they saw them, especially when they saw Stelle, and actively made way for them.
This was far from normal.
"I think someone is arranging things in secret." Stelle rested the baseball bat on her shoulder, tapping it, producing a dull thud. "Besides him, I can't think of anyone else."
"Phainon?" March 7th's eyes widened. "But how did he do it? We haven't met since we got separated!"
"No matter what method he used, we cannot let his efforts be in vain." Dan Heng's voice was low. "Let's go and uncover the final mystery."
Passing through the last corridor, a biting cold wind rushed over them... Everwinter Hill.
The highest point of Belobog.
A massive Stellaron floated silently, emitting a chilling, inhuman light.
Cocolia spread her arms, her posture devout and manic, as if embracing a grand apocalyptic baptism.
Bronya stood beside her, her expression pained and conflicted.
And behind them, the figure in white, with snow-white hair, stood silently.
He was like a statue of a god born from this eternal ice and snow, integrated with this desperate landscape.
It was him—Phainon.
"The brainwashing ends here, witch!"
Seele's roar, like a sudden clap of thunder, pulled Bronya's wavering consciousness back from the edge of the abyss.
"Seele? And... everyone!"
Bronya recognized the newcomers, and a faint glimmer of light reignited in her eyes.
"They still came."
Cocolia slowly turned, a knowing smile on her face, as if everything was under her control.
"Bronya, choose, my daughter."
"Will you embrace the new world with me, or will you be completely buried by the old era along with these invaders?"
Bronya looked deeply at her mother, her eyes filled with reluctance and determination.
Finally, she resolutely walked towards Seele and her friends from the Astral Express.
"I'm sorry, Mother. This last time, I cannot stand by your side."
A hint of disappointment flashed in Cocolia's eyes, but her smile remained unchanged, as if she had long anticipated this outcome.
She didn't care at all.
Because the most crucial piece of the puzzle for realizing the "new world" was already in her hands.
"It's a pity you cannot comprehend this magnificent ideal."
She looked at Phainon and, in an almost chanting tone, issued a command.
"Khaslana, stop them."
"Current Emotion: Joy (Aha! Actors in place, lights in place, the show begins!)"
Phainon moved.
He didn't even use any weapons, just his bare hands, walking towards the crowd step by step.
His pace was not fast, but each step seemed to land on everyone's heartbeats, filled with a terrifying pressure.
Everyone instantly tensed up, their weapons all pointed at him.
The next moment, Phainon's figure vanished from where he stood.
Not fast speed, but disappearing into thin air.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of Stelle.
Stelle didn't even have time to react.
She only felt her hands lighten, and the baseball bat that had accompanied her through every battle had fallen into his hands.
"Hey!"
Stelle looked at her empty hands and instinctively shouted, "Why are you taking my weapon?!"
"Hahahahaha..."
Seeing this, Cocolia let out a hearty laugh.
"Well done! Khaslana! That's it, let them experience true despair!"
Amidst her laughter, she leaped high, and the entire Everwinter Hill trembled violently!
"Without breaking the old, there is no establishing the new! As The Supreme Guardian, I command you to rise—'Engine of Creation'!"
Boom—!!!
The earth cracked, and glaciers collapsed.
Behind Cocolia, an ancient mecha, as massive as a mountain, slowly raised their head.
their enormous mechanical eyes glowed with a crimson light.
The mere act of awakening stirred up a blizzard powerful enough to tear steel.
—Engine of Creation!
Everyone was awestruck by this apocalyptic scene, frozen in place.
An unconquerable ancient weapon.
A fathomless, white-haired enemy.
"W-we're doomed..." March 7th's voice trembled. "If... if that guy Phainon were here, we wouldn't be afraid of this big robot!"
Before she finished speaking.
"Hey! Give me back my bat!"
Stelle's insistent voice sounded out of place in this desperate atmosphere.
Phainon weighed the bat in his hand, seemingly evaluating their feel, and then, without any warning, simply tossed it back to Stelle.
Stelle instinctively caught it, completely bewildered.
What was this situation now? A pre-battle warm-up?
"Don't worry about it!" Dan Heng sharply commanded. "He's trying to disrupt our focus! We must break through him first!"
Phainon's heart was completely calm.
Then he extended his hand.
A sword appeared out of thin air in his palm.
It was a... wooden sword.
The sword body was crooked, roughly made, and didn't even have a sharpened edge; it still had splinters from the wood itself.
Phainon glanced at the wooden sword.
A carefully selected defective product, it shouldn't cause any harm; at most, it would only raise a bump if it hit someone.
The next moment, Phainon pointed the ridiculous sword at the group.
"A wooden sword?"
March 7th felt deeply insulted and instantly drew her bow and arrow.
"Who are you looking down on?! Even if you're putting on a show and going easy, you don't need to be so humiliating! It makes me so angry!"
"Don't be rash, Stelle!" Dan Heng frowned deeply, stopping her. "This isn't about looking down on us..."
The image of a white-haired woman appeared in his mind.
"Plants, trees, bamboo, stones, all can be swords. When swordsmanship reaches perfection, what is in one's hand no longer matters."
His voice paused, each word heavily impacting everyone's hearts.
"He's using a wooden sword not out of contempt, but as a display of absolute confidence in his own strength! Everyone must deal with him carefully!"
Upon hearing this, March 7th gasped, her rekindled fighting spirit instantly extinguished.
"Even... even Dan Heng says so!"
This one sentence plunged everyone's hearts into an abyss of despair.
"Collecting Joy: +50"
Phainon tilted his head: "???"