Right in front of Julian, Stelle stood tall, gripping the heavy Guardian Lance as she anchored herself in the center of that divine gaze.
At this exact frame, the unyielding Guardian Will locked inside the weapon resonated perfectly with everything the girl had seen, heard, and felt across the Upper and Lower Districts of Belobog. Witnessing the stubborn, silent resilience of the citizens had ignited her own fierce desire to protect the freezing world. That pure intent was instantly recognized by the giant stone god, Qlipoth.
Stelle was so completely submerged in the blinding light that she had zero awareness of Julian standing right behind her—a quiet "sixth man" catching a ride on the exact same cosmic radar.
Unlike Nanook's aura, which had burned with a tyrannical, jagged desire to destroy all things, Qlipoth's presence felt incredibly righteous and warm. It wrapped around Julian's senses, delivering a profound, unshakeable wave of pure physical security.
That warm, dense current violently surged into his chest, rushing straight toward the two latent paths he had prepared. But within a fraction of a second, the tracking signal linked to one companion suddenly receded, causing the entire wave of power to pivot and flood entirely into the secondary matrix.
The vessel chosen by the path was Regigigas.
True to the deeper mathematics of the blueprints, Zygarde's mechanical lines likely shared a closer harmony with the Path of Order or perhaps the mysterious laws of Equilibrium.
Boom!
The newly ignited Preservation energy violently erupted from Julian's frame, pouring out into the freezing air until it materialized into the colossal form of Regigigas. The ancient titan towered over the ridge like a massive mountain of stone and moss, its sheer physical height completely overshadowing the Creation Engine standing nearby.
The sudden, earth-shaking arrival of a new giant instantly triggered a wave of pure panic across the battlefield.
"What on earth is that massive thing?!" March 7th shrieked, her voice cracking over the wind.
Dan Heng moved on pure instinct, instantly stepping forward to shield the group behind his back as he leveled his spear.
"Could it be another ancient weapon unearthed by the Architects?" Seele stammered, a cold sweat breaking out across her forehead as she braced herself beside Bronya. Dealing with the rogue Creation Engine had already pushed their squad to the absolute limit; now, a completely unfamiliar, seemingly more terrifying titan had materialized right before their eyes. Were they genuinely fated to be buried under the snow today?
It was entirely logical for the local fighters to draw that conclusion. Regigigas's massive, segmented stone body bore zero resemblance to a natural biological life-form. To anyone native to the frozen city, the titan looked exactly like a monumental, ancient machine waking up from a long-lost vault.
Even Stelle, who was bracing her boots for the final clash against Cocolia, and the Supreme Guardian herself couldn't help but pause, their eyes swinging toward the mountain of stone. The crushing physical pressure radiating from the titan was simply too heavy to ignore. The air around its limbs vibrated with a strange, heavy groaning sound—like a series of monumental gears turning for the first time in a thousand years, slowly adapting to the friction of reality.
However, Dan Heng's trained senses quickly isolated a completely different energy signature amidst the dust. He lowered his gaze, his eyes narrowing as he spotted a familiar silhouette standing calmly right at the giant's foot.
The archivist squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head violently to clear his vision, and looked again. Only then did he confirm his radar hadn't locked onto an illusion.
Though a hundred intense questions instantly flooded his mind, a wave of profound relief washed over him. With this specific developer standing on the ridge, an unmanageable disaster was highly unlikely to compile. As for the stone giant itself... it was clearly another uncataloged companion from the studio's hidden database.
"Boss Julian? Why is he standing down there?" March 7th blinked, her jaw dropping.
"March? You recognize that traveler?" Bronya and Seele asked in unison, their hands tightening around their weapons.
March 7th quickly whispered a brief summary of Julian's identity to the local fighters. As for how the developer had managed to drop onto their coordinates, her phone buzzed with a fresh text string from Himeko, clearing up the tracking logistics.
The trace of Gepard's protective will woven into the amber had been a single, isolated spark. Once the projection sequence finalized and the energy cleared the loop, that rootless wisp of human consciousness naturally dissipated into the atmosphere. Regigigas's massive form dissolved back into particles of light, its vast current returning smoothly into Julian's internal reservoir.
The transaction proved that while different paths altered the characteristics of the energy, the underlying current remained pure Imaginary force, allowing the elements to settle harmoniously within his soul. Had the path energies locked horns in a violent internal conflict, the raw friction alone would have torn his meridians apart.
"Please excuse the interruption, everyone," Julian called out, brushing a few flakes of snow off his coat as he met their wide, bewildered stares. "I was simply running a minor technical experiment in the field. Please continue with your encounter; don't mind me at all."
Hearing his casual, completely relaxed voice, a collective dark line practically manifested across the foreheads of the four fighters. Only Stelle remained too far out on the ridge to catch the absolute absurdity of the dialogue.
The Price of History
Confirming that the pioneers were unharmed, Stelle gripped her glowing lance and plunged straight back into the fray against Cocolia.
With the ancient Guardian Will authorizing her command, the massive arm of the Creation Engine tore away from the boss's control, aligning its movements perfectly with Stelle's gestures. Backed by the monumental physical support of the iron giant, the Supreme Guardian was systematically beaten into absolute submission.
Driven into a corner, the desperate power of the Stellaron violently flared beneath Cocolia's command, turning the surrounding valley into a raging vortex as countless Fragmentum monsters began pouring out of the snowdrifts. Dan Heng, March 7th, Seele, and Bronya immediately lunged into the fray, forming a tight defensive perimeter to handle the swarming horde while Stelle focused entirely on breaking the boss.
The actual battlefield parameters were proving significantly different from a structured game layout. Instead of a balanced team fight where every character focused their damage on a single boss health bar, the squad was forced to split their attention. The pressure bearing down on both fronts was immensely heavy.
Stelle's duel was a brutal, raw clash of wills—both entities were channeling the concentrated path energy of a cosmic core, meaning neither held a clear statistical advantage over the other. Meanwhile, the endless tide of monsters rushing the defensive line was becoming incredibly dangerous. Even though a single, well-placed strike from Dan Heng's spear or Seele's scythe could easily disperse a regular monster into dust, the sheer volume of the horde was near-limitless. Facing a relentless, exhausting siege like that, even a body forged of solid iron would eventually crack under the fatigue.
"Julian! Are you seriously just going to stand there and watch us pull our muscles without offering a single hand?!" March 7th grumbled, her arms trembling slightly as she drew her bowstring for the twentieth time, her aim drifting from the exhaustion.
"Ah, you misunderstand the framework, March," Julian answered smoothly, leaning comfortably against a nearby boulder. "This specific encounter is a vital trial engineered to sharpen the forms of our young pioneers. Unless your health bars drop into a terminal zone, my office will not interfere with the natural progression. Strive with all your might to become the legendary heroes who rescue this world! This exhaustion is simply the necessary suffering a protagonist must endure."
March 7th felt a sudden wave of pure speechlessness choke her throat, completely stunned by his theatrical, dramatic declaration. The concept of a Trailblazer already carried a massive, legendary weight across the star-lanes; how was she supposed to logically argue against that philosophy? She could only grumble a few choice curses under her breath, her fingers continuing to pluck the bowstring as she launched another volley of ice arrows. Backed by the path energy blessing her spirit, her stamina wouldn't hit absolute zero anytime soon.
Thankfully, Stelle's efficiency was remarkable. With a final, brilliant strike of her lance, she shattered the boss's defenses, clearing the path for Bronya to step forward as the tragic farewell between mother and daughter began to unfold on the snow.
March 7th watched the heavy, heartbreaking scene, her emotional nature making it difficult to witness the absolute finality of the parting. She walked over to Julian's side, her voice small and tight. "Julian... is there a way to save her life?"
Julian knew exactly who she was referring to. A parting of this nature was always steeped in a heavy, inescapable sorrow—especially for a girl as deeply empathetic as March. Even if Cocolia had let her mind turn down a dark, destructive road, watching her dissolve into the frost felt far too cruel.
"It is mathematically impossible," Julian answered softly, shaking his head as he watched the light fading from the guardian's eyes. "The Stellaron's toxic energy has already thoroughly compromised her internal biological systems. The currents inside her core are in complete chaos; those rampaging waves will tear her physical form apart within minutes."
"Even if my companions initialized a maximum-power psychic block right now, the sheer force of the suppressed energy reacting within her flesh would instantly crush her bones."
Julian let out a quiet sigh. Cocolia wasn't inherently evil; she was simply a ruler trapped beneath the heavy wheel of cosmic history. With her limited perspective and her city facing an absolute, frozen death, turning toward the whispers of the core had become the only viable equation left on her board. Had another Supreme Guardian been sitting in that exact chair, the crushing weight of that endless winter would have broken their spirit just the same, guiding their boots down the exact same path.
With a final, silent glance toward her daughter, Cocolia's physical form dissolved into the howling wind, and the surrounding Fragmentum monsters vanished entirely as their central anchor collapsed.
Julian wasted no time. He stepped past the quiet group, approaching the pulsating, exposed core of the Stellaron while drawing deep upon Mewtwo's immense telepathic power to initialize a psychic seal.
His mental barrier didn't involve the intricate, glowing runic arrays one might find in a fantasy novel; it was a clean, practical application of force. A massive wave of concentrated psychic energy surged out of his mind, wrapping around the volatile core until a smooth, invisible shell of raw mental density completely encased the object. The Stellaron, which had spent a millennium bleeding toxic radiation into the atmosphere, instantly went dead silent, its violent pulses dropping to absolute zero.
The containment was flawless.
Julian picked up the inert cube, turning to face the future ruler of the city. "Securing this core was the primary commercial objective of my cruise. However, since this artifact technically belongs to your planet's assets, it wouldn't be right for my studio to simply walk away with the prize without clearing the ledger. I harbor a deep distaste for owing personal karma. If your city preserves any specific requests or structural needs, state them plainly, and my office will ensure they are resolved."
Although Bronya remained entirely blind to Julian's official titles, observing the immense respect and casual familiarity the Express pioneers displayed toward him made it perfectly clear that this traveler possessed terrifying authority.
Hearing his proposal, she straightened her posture and answered immediately: "Sir, your actions have manually removed the ancient source of our planet's disaster. Our entire civilization owes you a debt of profound gratitude. How could my office possibly dare to demand additional rewards from our savior?"
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