Chapter 123: Goodbye, My Mother, and My Weakness
The roaring, blazing flames had long been extinguished. Ice crystals, emitting a bone-chilling cold, now covered nearly half of the majestic castle. A bitter wind howled from the broken main doors of the Supreme Guardian's palace, whipping through the frost-covered hall.
Crimson-tipped black feathers fell like snowflakes. A shadowy figure, like a ghost, weaved and spiraled through the air, leaving a trail of blurred afterimages. Each turn was a prelude to a deadly attack, like a stalking predator. With every pass, her claws sketched arcs of scarlet light, piercing the vitals of the shadow soldiers.
"Damn it! What the hell are these things!?"
Swish—!
A hand-sword formed from shadow sliced through the air from behind. Her hearing caught the sound, and Raven immediately flung one of her wing-blades backward. The precise throw intercepted the projectile and pierced the forehead of a shadow ninja, causing it to dissolve into inky blackness on the floor.
"There's just no end to them!" the little bird, who had been roped into this fight, cursed through gritted teeth, unable to stop herself from complaining.
These shadow creatures weren't particularly strong. The attacks of the more powerful specialized types were, at most, on the level of elite Honkai beasts, and their defenses were far weaker. They were easy to eliminate, but the key problem was their endless numbers!
[She has the Stellaron providing her with energy.]
Midnight Absinthe, having discerned the reason, offered a reminder.
"So, is there a way to deal with them?" Raven asked as she leaped nimbly to dodge an incoming shadow soldier, her clawed blades slicing through its abdomen.
[There is no way to deal with them directly.]
With the Stellaron providing an infinite supply of energy, the immortal Shadowkhan were truly a difficult foe. Although they could be easily destroyed, one had to constantly be wary of their attacks. Getting hit by a specialized Shadowkhan would still cause injury. If one were to use standard gaming classifications, Raven would undoubtedly be an assassin: high attack, high agility, low defense.
[Just take down Cocolia.]
"Tch~"
Flipping upside down in mid-air, her figure suddenly vanished. Wreathed in black feathers, the phantom launched a high-speed assault on the figure seated upon the ice throne. "That's easier said than done!"
"You... who are you?" a phantom of the Tarakudo mask clinging to her face, Cocolia raised her ice-covered hands, and two lances forged from solid ice materialized in her grasp.
This person wasn't an offworlder targeting the Stellaron. Gray hair, red eyes, a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, a somewhat familiar face... had she seen her before? No matter. The blade of the lance thrust upward from a difficult angle, tracing a deadly trajectory like a cold, venomous snake, aimed straight for Raven's throat.
"You could say I'm a colleague of your 'partner'."
The battle-hardened Raven reacted instantly, pressing down with the feather-shaped dagger in her hand, which bloomed with a dark red light. A continuous flurry of scarlet arcs appeared, and the clash of feathers and ice lances erupted in a piercing shriek. Cold glints of light, accompanied by sparks, shot out in all directions. If the entire hall hadn't been encased in ice, the force of their collision would have shattered most of the objects within it.
"But that's all in the past now." After the Cocolia from Honkai Impact 3rd was imprisoned, she lost all value to the World Serpent.
In a brief burst of impossibly high-speed exchanges, Raven and Cocolia both retreated backward.
Lowering her gaze to the bloody gash on her arm, Raven clicked her tongue and muttered under her breath, "I know this is a parallel world, but I still have to say it..."
"This is supposed to be Cocolia!?" The power levels of the two Cocolias were just too different!
Cocolia glanced at her cheek, where the dagger had grazed her. The blood couldn't flow due to her extremely low body temperature. A colleague of her partner? A colleague of the Stellaron? What a joke.
"If you don't want to talk, then don't. Just die!"
The ice lance, riding the cold wind, struck again. From the shadows behind her, a hidden ninja soldier burst forth.
[Look out behind you.] Midnight Absinthe's voice warned. This was the advantage of having two minds in one body.
"This level of attack isn't enough to make me leave the stage."
Tilting her head to dodge the shadow's hand-sword, Raven spun around, using her wing-blades to parry the lance while simultaneously slashing the ninja's neck, killing it instantly. Twisting to land, the remaining force of the spin made her slide back several meters, even with her claws digging into the ground for purchase.
Though she seemed to be on the losing end of that exchange, a faint smile played on Raven's lips.
Behind Cocolia, as her silver-gray hair swayed, a sharp, dark-green scythe drew a black crescent moon through the air. Although the sense of danger prompted Cocolia to dodge in time, the scythe still managed to wound her arm, causing a frozen drop of blood to fall.
"Bronya! You actually dare to strike me!" Cocolia's face turned impossibly dark. "And this power... when did you...?" She sensed a unique kind of Imaginary energy.
The Silverwing looked at the cold, emotionless Cocolia before her, her voice soft and nostalgic. "Mother, what has happened to you? In my memory, you were so bright, gentle, and noble. Not cold-blooded, ruthless, cruel, and wicked like you are now!"
Seele had used a Memory Fruit to see Bronya's past. The Cocolia of this world had once been a far more competent mother than her Honkai Impact 3rd counterpart.
But, of course, at this moment, the Silverwing was acting!
Seeing the almost pleading expression on the silver-haired girl's face, Cocolia hesitated for a moment.
Raven seized the opportunity. With a sudden burst of speed, she lunged forward, her feather-blade, glinting with a cold light, thrusting out.
Stab!
No blood splattered, but a new wound appeared on Cocolia's shoulder. The Silverwing capitalized on Cocolia's opening, swinging her scythe horizontally as Honkai energy formed a blade of wind that swept towards her.
Using the lingering mother-daughter affection in one's heart is usually a despicable tactic villains use against heroes. But the Silverwing's essence was that of Caelus—she was a Masked Fool! You want to talk about despicable tactics with a Masked Fool? How amusing.
"Bronya!" Realizing she'd been tricked, Cocolia roared.
Under the authority of the ice, sharp spikes of frost rapidly formed and shot out, covering a 270-degree area around her and forcing the Silverwing and Raven to retreat. Specialized shadow ninjas continuously rose from the darkness and charged at the two of them. While not a major threat, they served as a distraction during an attack. Even with the help of the endless ninja soldiers, the wounded Cocolia was struggling to fend off the fierce assault of her two opponents.
"You have truly disappointed me!" Overusing the Tarakudo mask's power caused the darkness in Cocolia's heart to grow stronger. Her grimacing face slowly twisted into a wicked smile. "But you are still my daughter..."
"Accept my will. Return to how you used to be, obedient only to me... Be a good girl and become my puppet!"
The moment her words fell, a golden light emanated from Cocolia's body, and a distant, hollow voice echoed in Bronya's ears.
It's the Stellaron!
Bronya immediately recognized the owner of the voice. Accompanied by the brilliant light, the Stellaron's voice entered Bronya's mind, attempting to sway her consciousness and corrupt her personality. It succeeded with ease.
"Yes, Mother. You are right. The Stellaron will illuminate the long night and bring us a new future."
As if her mind had been tainted by the Stellaron, Bronya spoke words that brought Cocolia comfort and made Raven's face change drastically. In the next second, Raven froze, a strange look in her eyes.
The silver-haired girl had spoken those words, but the scythe swinging towards Cocolia had not stopped for a moment. Its every slash aimed for a vital point, and because of a moment's relaxed vigilance, a new wound appeared on Cocolia's chest.
"What is happening? Stellaron!?" Cocolia clutched the wound on her chest, furious.
[Why was it so easy?] The Stellaron was equally confused. It had corroded generations of Supreme Guardians, and it had never succeeded in tainting a consciousness so easily. The problem was, it didn't seem to be working.
As the Stellaron continued to probe deeper into Bronya's consciousness, it finally discovered the reason for the anomaly. This person had more than one personality! As soon as it assimilated one personality, it would discover another one right behind it.
A faint smile touched the Silverwing's lips. She could use her mask to create false personalities as shields at any time. Go ahead and corrupt them. This was why she had no fear of mental-type abilities.
"Goodbye, my mother, and my weakness!"
The resolute words, a classic reprisal, were Bronya's answer to her. The high-frequency vibrating scythe aimed for Cocolia's neck. No Signal Machine: Elegy of a Species, but I guess I'll make do with the Abyss's cutting power.
CLANG!
Just as the scythe was about to sever Cocolia's head, a tide of golden energy surged from her body.
The Silverwing's expression shifted slightly. The Stellaron had blocked the blow for Cocolia, but the real reason for her change in expression was that this tide of energy occurred at the exact same moment as the ripple of energy the Stellaron released when Caelus's group stepped onto the platform.
"What? You damn offworlders!" Cocolia gripped her ice lance, enraged.
A bad feeling arose. The Silverwing raised her scythe again and charged at Cocolia. The high-frequency vibrating blade cut down all the ninja soldiers in her path.
As ripples spread through the shadows, Cocolia seemed to sink into a pool, pulled into the darkness by the shadow ninjas.
"She can use that move with just a phantom of the mask?" The Silverwing cursed internally.
"What happened? Did she run away?" Raven asked, looking at the silver-haired girl.
"No. She's gone to the other battlefield." The Silverwing took two light leaps and jumped onto the balcony, looking down at the battle outside.
The good news was that with Cocolia's departure, some of the shadow soldiers in the city sank back into the shadows. The remaining forces were easy for the Silvermane Guards to handle. The crisis in the city was temporarily resolved.
The Silverwing could hear the cheers of the guards in the city.
"All hail Lady Bronya!"
"The Supreme Guardian!"
"We've won!"
The Silverwing let out a light laugh.
Raven glanced at the smiling silver-haired girl on the balcony and asked her "parallel-world self" in her mind, [Should I go and stab her?]
[No need for now. My companion is on the other battlefield.]
Midnight Absinthe ended the auto-battle and walked into the shadows of the building to look down on Belobog. "Besides, my intuition tells me that things here are not over yet."
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