Starry Sky Railway: Starting with a furious outburst at Aha

“That’s… the Creation Engine!?” Hilva exclaimed as she recognized the colossal object in the mountains.

“That’s right.” Zhou Yuan strained to see into the distance, but he couldn’t see any more information through the swirling snow.

What does that mean? Dr. Digger turned on the Gundam himself?

Zhou Yuan felt betrayed, filled with anger and frustration: "They didn't even wait for me??"

"Uh, seriously? We're going to fight this?" March 7th pointed at the creation engine that stood up and seemed to pierce the sky, his voice trembling slightly. "This is ten thousand times bigger than Schwarzkopf!"

"...That's it! I can message Himeko! I can ask Himeko to bombard it with the railgun!" March Seven suddenly remembered and opened her phone to contact the train crew.

"Damn it, there's no signal!"

"Himeko will intervene if she sees something amiss, don't worry," Danheng reassured her from the side.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan bit his lip.

To avoid being locked onto by Himeko's railgun halfway through piloting his "Gundam", he had informed Himeko long ago.

In other words, regardless of who controls the creation engine, Himeko cannot take action because of it...

"..." Zhou Yuan was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly looked up and said to the air, "Is it funny? If it is, give me some power."

Since Ahab is always watching me, such a coincidence should make Him laugh, right?

However, Aha ignored him.

The conversation stopped, and everyone looked at Zhou Yuan, with only the whistling wind remaining in the room.

"Zhou Yuan, do you... perhaps have some kind of elderly grandfather by your side?" Xing asked tentatively after a moment.

"...It's alright, let's go. We might not need to fight that guy."

Zhou Yuan really wanted to answer that the old man didn't have any, but he had a dog with him, but he didn't say it for his own safety.

They continued onward, passing countless frozen Legions of Destruction along the way, and breaking through the encirclement of numerous Rift Monsters, finally reaching the mountaintop and seeing the view from there.

Amidst the swirling snow, an old machine, three people tall, stood silently. At its core, a mesh cage continuously emitted visible energy fluctuations.

This machine is the very device that Beloberg used to restrain the star core! And at the core of the device is the star core that everyone has been longing for!

In front of the device stood two figures. One was Bronya, whom everyone was familiar with, and the other was wearing a figure-hugging dress, covered in black stockings, and wearing tall boots.

It was Bronya's adoptive mother, Beloberg's great protector, Cocolia!

Cocolia heard the commotion and turned to look at everyone with her pale blue eyes, her golden hair swaying as she did so.

"You still came. I thought you would freeze to death on the way."

Speaking of freezing to death, Zhou Yuan's gaze unconsciously drifted to the strange cutouts on Cocolia's hips.

That's outrageous, absolutely outrageous! Aren't you cold?

"This little bit of temperature can't dampen our resolve," March 7th scoffed.

"Stop talking nonsense, you old witch!" Seele vanished abruptly, reappearing beside Bronya. Then, she grabbed Bronya's hand and yanked back to the group.

Cocolia merely glanced at it and did not intervene.

"Bronya, are you alright?" Seele asked with concern when she saw Bronya frowning and shaking her head, as if trying to get rid of something.

"Old witch! What did you do to Bronya?"

“She’s been influenced by the Star Core,” Zhou Yuan knew that Bronya was currently being brainwashed by the Star Core. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yuan conjured a calming light cone and struck Bronya.

The light cone worked. A few seconds later, Bronya adjusted to the voice in her mind, opened her eyes, and nodded to everyone: "Thank you, everyone."

"So you're the powerful ally they were talking about." Having witnessed everything, Cocolia turned her gaze to Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan just smiled mysteriously and said, "It's alright."

"Bronya, you should have already seen the new world they promised. Now, do you still think my choice was wrong?"

Cocolia didn't say much to the others, but gazed tenderly at Bronya.

“From childhood to adulthood, you have always had the opportunity to choose, and now I’m giving you that opportunity too. Will you choose to join us and create a new world, or will you unite with them?” Cocolia’s gaze fell on the pioneering team, and her expression instantly turned icy.

"To nip the planet's last hope in the bud?"

“I’m sorry, Mother.” Bronya remained silent for a long time before speaking again, her voice trembling slightly. “I cannot accept the future you speak of. I think that if Beloberg truly has a future, it will be forged by the people of Beloberg themselves, not by this so-called Star Core.”

"Mother...please...trust us just this once, believe that people can create miracles, and that the darkness will eventually pass."

“It’s too late, Bronya,” Cocolia shook her head, her tone cold. “Darkness has seeped into the whole of Beloborg. Look at us in the past.”

“In the past, we believed in preservation and struggled to hold on, hoping that the light of preservation would descend upon Beloborg and remove the disaster. But what was the result? The result only led to one conclusion: the star god never glances at mankind.”

"Our perseverance, our hopes, our longings! They cannot hear us. Beloberg is a terminally ill, trapped beast; only the star core, only destruction, can bring about new life!"

"No, you're wrong, Mother."

Bronya shook her head firmly, "The people of Beloborg have never needed the Star God's glance, and we have survived to this day without the power of protection."

"We have persevered for hundreds of years on a planet overrun by rift monsters and ravaged by snowstorms, relying on our own will and strength. It is thanks to the dedication of successive Great Guardians and the selfless sacrifice of generations that we have survived until now. And now, we have finally found a way to overcome our predicament."

"Once the star core is dealt with, the disaster in Beloborg will disappear, and Arilo will be revitalized!"

"Mother! Please move aside!"

“In that case,” Cocolia sighed, her gaze returning to Zhou Yuan, “what do you want to do?”

Upon seeing that Cocolia had discovered him, Zhou Yuan abandoned all pretense of hiding and lunged forward, heading straight for the ice spear stuck in the ground.

However, with just a wave of her hand, Cocolia sent the ice spear flying up from the ground, knocking Zhou Yuan aside and returning to Cocolia's hand.

Damn it! Zhou Yuan roared inwardly.

The Ice Spear is the key item for Cocolia to control the Creation Engine, but the continuous use of the Light Cone has hollowed out Zhou Yuan's body. He is now just an ordinary person with strong defense and is no match for Cocolia.

“It’s a pity,” she said, looking at Bronya, “you should have been the mother of the new world.”

As she spoke, a fierce, cold wind suddenly swept around her, engulfing everything in its path, and her body slowly floated up.

"and many more..."

At this critical moment, Zhou Yuan's calm yet angry voice rang out.

Everyone looked over, and even Cocolia was drawn by the powerful emotion and unconsciously looked over.

Zhou Yuan looked down at his chest, where his suit had been torn from the impact of the ice spear.

He reached out and poked at it, confirming that the hole was not an illusion.

You ruined my clothes.

"What?" Cocolia was clearly taken aback.

"You can hit people, but you can't hit my clothes!" Zhou Yuan roared, gathering the courage he once had eight times a day, and with all his might, he condensed a cone of pain light and hurled it at Cocolia.

"Shoot now!!!"

The light cone ignored Cocolia's defenses and hit her successfully. Zhou Yuan only had time to leave those words before he collapsed from exhaustion.

The next moment, Zhou Yuan opened his eyes from the darkness.