Echo Corridor, the ruins of Belobog's ancient battlefield from centuries ago.
Stelle smashed a blocking monster into a pulp with one swing of her bat.
"I can't hear the sounds of fighting or booming artillery from behind anymore. I wonder how Leon and the others are doing."
March 7th: "They're probably fine. Leon can use poison to assist against enemies."
Stelle: "True, but do Fragmentum monsters count as living? What about their poison resistance?"
Uh, well…
March 7th was stumped, thinking back carefully.
It seemed… Leon hadn't used poison on Fragmentum monsters, had he?
"Maybe, possibly, perhaps… Leon's poison doesn't work on inorganic life… right?"
Dan Heng glanced at the two.
Against inorganic life, Leon wouldn't use poison.
Cyber viruses work better than poison on inorganic beings, but Fragmentum monsters aren't inorganic in the traditional sense.
"Look over there—another echo of Cocolia and Bronya."
Stelle perked up, quickening her pace.
Echoes served two purposes.
First, to learn more about the Stellaron and Belobog's past.
Second, as waypoints.
Places Cocolia passed through had fewer Fragmentum monsters, making things easier.
"Like March said, I wonder how Leon's holding up."
Ah Xian was worried too.
She wasn't alone in her concern.
The earlier cutscene was so gripping, its impact overwhelming.
It easily brought to mind a line of poetry:
Dark clouds press upon the city, threatening to crush it.
The frontline restricted zone, without its commander, the heavy losses of the Guards, the exhausted defense officer, the intelligence officer…
The scale of Fragmentum monsters stretched beyond sight, far scarier than dark clouds.
"Hoyoverse wouldn't pull a cheap tragic plot, right?"
"Like, we find Cocolia and take her down, only to return and find all of Belobog in ruins."
"My darling Leon, barely clinging to life in a pile of corpses, holding on just to see his companions one last time."
"Then saying something like, 'My Trailblazing journey ends here; the rest is up to you'…"
"Damn it, it's all Hoyoverse's fault for turning me into this!"
Ah Xian slapped her cheeks in front of the camera.
"What the hell am I thinking? No way that plot happens!"
"It's the launch, the launch!"
"No way they'd knife a character in the main story without buildup right at launch. Yeah, no need to worry!"
The longer a character's buildup, the deeper their development, the stronger players' attachment.
At that point, a knife would hit hard and fast, with devastating effect.
Right, pink fairy lady?
Right, big sister Himeko?
But then again, in FPS games, a small opening doesn't count as an opening.
So in gacha games, how could a small knife count as a knife?
Ah Xian hadn't realized her subconscious already assumed Leon carried a knife and would surely get stabbed in the future.
For now—
Her mind was focused on reaching the echo and pressing F.
Bronya: "If it's really as you say, why did every Guardian over the past centuries resist the Stellaron's call?"
"And why did every researcher study how to destroy the Stellaron?"
Cocolia: "My daughter, you still can't see the truth."
"Past, present, or future—there's no right or wrong."
"There's only human arrogance, shortsightedness, ignorance, foolishness…"
"Our ancestors, including Alisa Rand, burned their lives, everything, to preserve civilization."
"They faded into silence, leaving only handfuls of dust, their memories scattered by the blizzard."
"They spent their lives composing hymns praising human courage, ignoring the world's cries and revelations."
"They never gazed at the stars. To the grander beings in the cosmos, a millennium is but a speck."
"Resisting the fate of destruction, protecting humanity, preserving civilization—their achievements are doomed to be insignificant, unworthy of notice."
"I won't repeat our ancestors' mistakes, wallowing in self-pity on a doomed path."
"Bronya, understand—futile persistence is meaningless. Your task is to choose a path of new beginnings."
[I think… Stelle was totally right earlier.]
[Cocolia's not just obsessed—she's deranged.]
[What made her like this? It can't be Hoyoverse, right?]
[You're not wrong… After all, Cocolia's character is shaped by Hoyoverse's writers and planners.]
Bronya's tone was fervent.
"Mother, I don't agree with you. Forgive my boldness—"
"Civilization's progress depends on our ancestors' blood and sweat."
"We can't walk the path they paved and then turn around to deny the beliefs they held."
"Great or small, without our ancestors, how could civilization endure?"
"Their persistence wasn't doomed to be futile—everything has meaning!"
"You speak of grand beings in the stars. Qlipoth, the Preservation—aren't They one of those grand beings?"
"Isn't it Their power that's been protecting Belobog?"
Her resounding rebuttal convinced many.
[Climbing the path paved by Trailblazers, then complaining it's rough—where's the logic in that?]
[Cocolia's not following the Trailblazers' path. She's veered off, heading for a cliff.]
[Add-on: She might not turn back, becoming the Stellaron's Star Wrath.]
Cocolia gave a cold laugh.
"Preservation, you say Preservation?"
"That's just the Architects' delusional fantasy before they died, a laughable daydream."
"Remember, Bronya, Preservation never spared humanity a glance."
"Soon, you'll hear the true grand voice."
"Then, you'll understand every choice I've made."
Stelle swung her bat, shattering the echo, her face sneering.
"City of Preservation, Belobog? How ironic."
"The current Supreme Guardian of Preservation's Belobog denies all the efforts of past Guardians."
"Denying is one thing, but abandoning faith, turning around to blame the faith itself? Utterly ridiculous."
"If Cocolia genuinely believes this, not influenced by the Stellaron, then—"
"She's not worth saving."
The protagonist's words struck a chord with many.
March 7th: "Your ideals are kinda like Leon's."
Stelle: "In what way?"
March 7th: "Leon's a doctor, right? But his ideals aren't like most doctors'."
"Other doctors might see saving lives as their duty or just do their job for pay."
"Leon's different. For those he thinks should be saved, he charges nothing. For those he deems unworthy, he won't spare a second glance even if they die in front of him."
"Some guys… he might even give an extra stab."
"But those are usually the worst of the worst."