"My daughter..."
The news of Bronya's disappearance was like a cold needle, piercing through Cocolia's heart, which was wrapped in layers of Stellaron whispers.
The Supreme Guardian sat on the cold throne, her fingertips digging deep into the armrests. She struggled to resist the seductive voice in her mind that kept clamoring to "abandon weakness" and "embrace rebirth," while simultaneously being tormented by the pure, maternal worry for her daughter.
Her brows were furrowed, and her eyes showed struggle; she failed to notice, even for a moment, the unnatural, subtle ripples of condensing ice crystals appearing in the air behind her.
A figure in icy blue, identical in appearance to her but with an entirely different look in its eyes, appeared silently like a ghost.
[Cocolia] even weighed the standard-issue warhammer she had just "borrowed" from the corridor guard's equipment rack, her expression slightly subtle, as if to say, "This thing is really not handy."
[Behind you!!]
The Stellaron's sharp warning sounded in Cocolia's mind!
"What?!"
Cocolia was shocked; years of combat instinct made her instantly want to turn around or condense Imaginary energy—
But it was too late.
"Thud!"
A dull thud that made one's own occiput ache just hearing it.
The head of the warhammer made "intimate contact" with the noble occiput of the Supreme Guardian of Belobog.
Cocolia's pupils constricted, her consciousness instantly plunged into darkness, and her body fell forward limply, only to be caught by [Cocolia], avoiding the tragedy of face-planting.
[Cocolia] tossed the warhammer to the ground with a "clatter," looked at the unconscious "herself" in her arms, and sighed with a complex expression: "Infiltration, kidnapping, knocking someone out... I am a dignified 'Supreme Guardian,' what on earth am I doing..."
This job is getting more and more like a third-rate agent of the Interstellar Peace Corporation.
Complaining aside, her movements were not slow at all.
Like a magician, she pulled out the rope "kindly provided" by Serval and, with lightning speed, neatly tied up Cocolia's hands and feet (the technique was unexpectedly professional), then picked up the blindfold and gag, hesitating for a tenth of a second.
"Sorry, 'me'."
She whispered, then efficiently put the blindfold and gag on the unconscious Cocolia, finally stuffing her into that drab sack, thoughtfully tying the opening tight, leaving only a small gap for air.
"Whew..."
[Cocolia] hoisted the "package" that kept refreshing her lower limit of behavior, took a deep breath, and her eyes grew sharp.
The icy blue energy was no longer used for attack or defense, but was all concentrated on her legs and body for one purpose—running away!
In the next second, she turned into a blue stream of light, almost impossible to track with the naked eye, and shot out from the open window of Qlipoth Fort (which she had just pried open) with a "whoosh," skimming across the snow-covered streets, moving so fast that she left a fleeting trail of frost in the air.
The patrolling Silvermane Guards only felt a gust of cold wind blow past; when they turned their heads, they saw nothing and assumed it was an illusion caused by standing for too long.
"Bang—crash!"
The door of the workshop was violently kicked open and then slammed shut even more violently. The whole house seemed to shake, and the snow accumulated on the roof fell down, covering Pela, who happened to be passing by the door, in snow.
"Got her."
[Cocolia] placed the sack on her shoulder onto the floor with a "thud" and collapsed into a chair next to it. She grabbed the water Serval had poured in advance, which had already gone half-cold, and gulped it down, her movements so heroic that she had absolutely no airs of a "Supreme Guardian."
"You... you're really fast."
Serval looked at the sack on the ground that was clearly occupied and still slightly wriggling, then looked at [Cocolia], who looked like she had just finished a marathon, her mouth twitching, not knowing whether to admire or complain.
"How could I not be?"
[Cocolia] glanced with lingering fear at the remaining "props" still on the workbench.
"I was afraid that if I were any slower, you'd have a burst of inspiration and come up with new ideas to test on me."
Serval's face flushed slightly again; she coughed dryly and hurried forward to untie the sack.
The next scene left [Cocolia] a bit dumbfounded.
Serval extremely skillfully got the unconscious Cocolia out of the sack, helped her onto a sturdy chair, and then used the remaining rope to securely fasten her to the back of the chair with a technique that could be called art; the knot-tying method was both stable and... had a peculiar visual effect.
The whole process was smooth and fluid, as if it had been practiced countless times.
Soon, Cocolia on the chair let out a muffled groan and slowly woke up.
The discomfort from the blindfold and gag made her struggle immediately, but the ropes did not budge.
Seeing this, Serval reached out and gently removed her blindfold and gag.
With her vision restored, Cocolia immediately saw the complex-looking Serval right in front of her, as well as this familiar workshop.
She was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage: "This... what is the meaning of this!? Serval! How dare you—!"
She tried to mobilize Imaginary energy to break the ropes; a faint light had just begun to shimmer on her body—
A hand with a chill gently pressed on her shoulder.
The power that had just gathered instantly dissipated as if frozen by ice, and a purer, more powerful coldness of the same origin surged through her whole body, making her shiver uncontrollably.
Cocolia turned her head in shock, meeting a face identical to her own, but with a playful smile.
"You! Who are you?!"
Cocolia's voice trembled with disbelief.
"Nothing much."
[Cocolia] leaned down, got close to her ear, and whispered, her tone as light as if she were discussing the weather.
"Just a 'replica' that is... a little bit stronger and a little bit clearer-headed than you. Don't get excited; I brought you here to give you a 'physical examination'."
"Physical examination?"
Both Cocolia and Serval beside her showed puzzled expressions.
The next moment, under the gaze of the two (especially Cocolia) with suddenly constricted pupils, [Cocolia] performed an action that made their brains almost stop working—
She brought the fingers of her right hand together, glowing with icy blue light, and then, without hesitation, plunged them directly into her own chest!
There was no blood, only the light effect of ice crystals shattering and reforming.
Her hand seemed to penetrate an illusory barrier, and when she pulled it out, her palm was holding a rotating icy blue core that radiated a terrifying and pure coldness—that "replica Stellaron"!
"Are you crazy?!"
Serval exclaimed.
Cocolia was even more terrified, like seeing a ghost—no, it was even more terrifying than seeing a ghost.
[Cocolia], however, remained calm. Taking advantage of the moment Cocolia was dumbfounded by extreme shock, she twisted her wrist and pressed that icy blue "Stellaron" directly into Cocolia's chest!
"Argh—!"
Cocolia let out a short cry of pain, and her body trembled violently.
Icy blue patterns spread rapidly from the spot on her chest where it had been pressed in, clashing violently with her original energy, and then quickly suppressing and wrapping around it.
A chill that was far more powerful than before, but also more... "orderly," filled her limbs and bones, and the crazy whispers in her mind seemed to have been suddenly stuffed with soundproofing cotton, becoming blurred and distant.
Her struggling strength quickly weakened, and her eyes turned from rage to shock, then to confusion, and finally she leaned weakly against the back of the chair, gasping for breath, as if she had undergone a reconstruction at the soul level.
[Cocolia] clapped her hands as if she had just finished a trivial matter; her face paled slightly for a moment, but quickly recovered.
She looked at the dumbfounded Serval and instructed quickly:
"The time she has been eroded by the Stellaron is not too long yet. This 'replica core' can temporarily suppress the Stellaron connection in her body, suppress the erosion, and make her clearer-headed, but don't expect her to become a good person immediately. I have to hurry back to Qlipoth Fort to cover for her; the disappearance of a Supreme Guardian is no small matter."
She tidied up her somewhat messy clothes and hair, trying to make herself look more like that "orthodox" Supreme Guardian.
Walking to the door, she looked back and winked at the two who had not yet recovered from the shocking operation of "hand-extracting and transplanting the Stellaron": "Keep an eye on her, and wait for my news. Oh right, Serval, the ropes... can be loosened a bit; she doesn't pose much of a threat now, probably."
After speaking, she opened the door, and her figure merged into the light and shadow of the street outside, leaving behind an eerie silence in the workshop, a bound Cocolia with a "new core" stuffed inside her and an expression as if her worldview was being reconstructed, and a Serval looking at her own trembling hands, doubting her life.
Serval muttered: "Did I just... witness some kind of... unconventional 'heart (Stellaron) transplant surgery'? And the kind where one acts as their own donor?"
Cocolia on the chair weakly spat out one word: "...Cold."