Into the Cosmos (Star Rail SI, Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 30: Scorched Earth

Caelus and Co. vs. Cocolia

“You must break the old to build the new. The Supreme Guardian commands you…” Cocolia stated as she started floating in the air. A huge lance covered in ice appeared in her hand.

“Rise, Engine of Creation!” she commanded, lifting her lance and pointing it at the sky.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the giant robot that had lain dormant for who knows how many years suddenly raised its hand. It came alive, glowing a brilliant gold.

“Watch out, everyone! Cocolia somehow reanimated one of the Architects’ ancient machines!” Serval shouted in warning as we all scrambled to dodge the huge hand that tried to grab and crush us.

The robot was so massive that its upper body was peeking over the plateau we were fighting on, yet it still towered over us like a true giant.

“Th-This robot’s a thousand times bigger than Svarog!” March exclaimed nervously as we all watched it warily.

“Less talking, more dodging the giant laser beams!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as everyone scrambled to get out of the way when the robot started firing laser beams at us.

Because of course it can shoot laser beams. What self-respecting giant robot couldn’t?

The lasers weren’t the only problem either. Cocolia was somehow summoning Fragmentum monsters at the same time, forcing us to take them down while dodging the beams.

“We need to find an opening!” Dan Heng declared after cutting down a monster, then diving to the side as a beam of light barely missed him.

‘It’s times like these that I really wish I could transform into a giant robot myself… or at least something of comparable size,’ I thought with a small groan, already imagining all the other titanic enemies we still had waiting for us down the line.

Thankfully, as if hearing our silent plea, the robot suddenly stumbled. Another laser, this time from space, came down and cleanly disabled its left arm.

“…Himeko! It’s Himeko!” March immediately exclaimed happily as we all looked up.

‘That woman is seriously a badass. Not only extremely beautiful, but really strong as well,’ I thought in silent admiration.

Sure enough, a second later our savior made herself known.

“Hello? Can you hear me? This signal is terrible…” Himeko’s voice came through the communication chip implanted in my fellow Trailblazers’ ears, the same one that let us stay in contact with the Astral Express when we were planetside.

Right now the signal was weak and full of static, probably because of how close we were to the Stellaron.

“Himeko! You finally spared a thought for us!” March replied with a happy but teasing voice.

“What are you talking about? Welt and I have been up on the star rail missing you this whole time! Seems you’ve got quite the Trailblazing expedition on your hands,” Himeko said with clear amusement.

“So how does this big guy work…? Or more importantly, how do you stop him from working? Over to you guys, I guess!” she added calmly before cutting the line.

Knowing we finally had some much-needed backup, I turned to the others and nodded. They nodded back.

“Cover me! I’m going to bring Cocolia down to our level!” I declared. Without waiting for an answer, I jumped onto the now-nonfunctioning hand and started climbing up the robot.

As I climbed, True Hero surged through my veins, further empowering me. I ran faster, batting away and instantly destroying any monsters that got in my immediate path while Bronya and March used their long-range weapons to handle the rest.

Seeing the robot’s other hand reach toward me in an attempt to crush me, I cursed under my breath before focusing my gaze on it. My eyes glowed as I activated Gravity Jail, increasing the gravity of the incoming hand and causing it to just barely miss me.

With a bit of help from Dan Heng, who had thrown his spear that I used as a springboard to propel myself the rest of the way, I finally reached the robot’s shoulders where Cocolia was waiting for me.

“Time to smack a bitch,” I declared, causing her to scoff. A moment later she was enveloped in a small blizzard, and when she reappeared, all traces of her human form had disappeared.

In her place stood what I could only describe as a being of ice and snow, a crown of ice covering her head and four spears floating behind her.

“Listen to the power surge… sing… The Stellaron’s promise is the only hope for this world…” Cocolia started raving crazily again.

Not wanting to sit through another speech about how I was a weak human and only she had the answers or some other nonsense, I interrupted her mid-rant once more.

“Shut up already, lady! I’m tired of your dumb rants!” I exclaimed with a scowl as I swung my bat in a cross formation, sending Destruction Path energy toward her and forcing her to block.

“Insolent cur!” Cocolia shouted in anger, clearly not happy about being interrupted. She waved her hand, sending dozens of ice spears flying toward me.

In retaliation, the same number of Soul Arrows appeared behind me and clashed with her attack, neutralizing it.

Not done yet, I looked up and smiled as I saw a decently sized meteor quickly descending from space, one I had called down the moment I got up here.

Noticing my gaze, Cocolia, or the monster she had become, looked behind her and let out a surprised sound at the rapidly approaching meteor.

She tried to move out of the way, but I slammed her into the body of the robot we were standing on with Gravity Jail, immobilizing her.

“Let’s see you rant after getting slammed by a meteor to the face!” I yelled with a giant grin, internally struggling to keep her immobilized with my Sacred Gear.

A second later, the meteor crashed into her back. She yelled as she was dragged off our position and sent crashing to the ground below. I immediately deactivated Gravity Jail, feeling the strain disappear as I grabbed my knees for a moment in slight exhaustion.

‘Seems I managed to dodge the part where I become a donut. Though if I want to get the Preservation’s attention, I’ll somehow have to get that lance out of her hands,’ I thought as I pulled myself up before jumping down to the ground to join the others.

“Caelus! Are you alright?” March asked frantically as she immediately ran to me and started inspecting me for any injuries.

The others were quick to follow, letting out sighs of relief when I gave them a thumbs up as I caught my breath.

“F-Fine,” I said, smiling a bit at March, who still didn’t drop her concerned gaze. Neither did Dan Heng. By now they were both aware that every time I pushed myself, I always paid the consequences.

Turning my gaze toward where the meteor had landed with Cocolia, I saw a crater glowing bright red from the heat of the impact.

“W-Were you the one who called down that meteor?” Seele asked me in an impressed tone, looking at me with wide eyes.

Bronya and Serval stood beside her. The former stared at the crater with a worried look, while the latter seemed a bit relieved.

“Yes, but keep your guard up. I don’t think this is the end yet,” I warned with a serious expression. I still hadn’t received any notifications from my Gacha about achievements, and beating a Stellaron-powered Cocolia would definitely have counted.

Taking my words to heart, everyone raised their guard as we slowly approached the crater with wary steps. Nothing happened when we reached the edge. We all looked down, only to frown when we saw no sign of Cocolia at all.

Then the ground shook behind us.

My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. I immediately spun around—and just as I suspected, Cocolia’s body, looking only slightly hurt, shot out of the ground with her lance ready to throw and pointed straight at us.

More specifically, at a still-unaware March who was standing in front of me.

“Behind us!” I yelled in a panic as I tried to move and pull March out of the way. I took a step forward only to stumble slightly in place as a wave of weakness hit me, disorienting me for just a second.

A second that was enough for Cocolia to launch her ice-covered lance at full speed toward March.

I watched in slow motion, my Sharingan making every detail crystal clear, as the lance neared the still-unaware March. My eyes burned as the image seared itself into my vision.

Then a head of light-gray hair crossed my sight.

Bronya, who had been standing closest to March, pushed her out of the way to safety… and was now the one about to be run through.

…

No.

It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Wasn’t I the one meant to be pierced by that lance, somehow meeting the Architects before being gazed upon by Qlipoth of the Preservation?

For the first time, I truly realized the consequences of my mere presence in this universe. It was screaming at me that this was no longer the game or story I remembered, and it had no reason to follow the same path.

And now Cocolia was about to murder her own daughter right in front of our eyes, most likely sending her into a wave of despair and madness.

‘No! Not yet!’

With my thoughts racing at extreme speed thanks to the Sharingan, I switched out Meteor Strike and replaced it with Schrödinger, then concentrated.

While everyone was still caught off guard or focused on the oncoming lance about to pierce Bronya, no one noticed as I suddenly appeared behind her. With no time left to push her out of the way, I did the only thing I could.

I stepped forward, shielding Bronya with my own body and angling myself so the lance pierced my stomach instead of my heart.

I grunted in pain as I was launched backward into Bronya, colliding with her. My hands gripped the spear tightly, preventing it from fully running me through and keeping Bronya from being injured despite my efforts.

“Caelus!”

“Bronya!”

I was only barely aware of the worried shouts behind me as I struggled to stop the lance’s momentum, and just barely succeeding. We landed hard on the ground. My vision quickly darkened while my body grew numb but in spite of that I felt a feeling of relief that eclipsed them both.

‘There we go, this is much better.’

I didn’t even feel when I was pulled into someone’s lap. I only saw the blurry image of pink and gray fill my vision for a moment before everything turned dark.

=====

Firefly’s POV

Following Caelus’s group had been a bit more challenging than Firefly expected, but she managed anyway, trailing them from a distance as they made their way out of the city.

The thought of leaving the planet or staying somewhere safe never even crossed her mind, especially not after the magical night she and Caelus had shared.

Firefly kept having to pinch herself to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated everything from the previous evening: not only reuniting with Caelus, but confessing to each other and surrendering their bodies to one another.

Just thinking about all the things they had done made a healthy blush rise to her cheeks, and a silly smile would light up her face that refused to leave for several minutes no matter what she did.

To Firefly, the past twelve hours had been a dream come true, something she would forever treasure in her heart for the rest of her life.

There was also the added bonus that Caelus’s new abilities, which reminded her a lot of Silver Wolf’s, had done something she had thought impossible until now.

Every time they joined as one, or each time Caelus deposited his seed inside her, Firefly had felt a visible if small improvement in her body as his ability pushed back against her Entropy Loss Syndrome.

With her personal experience of the condition, Firefly was acutely aware of her own body. Although the change wasn’t dramatic, the fact remained that she did indeed feel better.

Another blush rose to her cheeks. She couldn’t help covering her face as she recalled how she had let her emotions get the better of her in her happiness, and how she and Caelus had ended up joined at the hips all night and even part of the morning.

She just couldn’t help it.

The idea that the act of making love with Caelus, the boy she loved and adored, not only made her feel better on a personal level but also on a physical one was simply too much for her. She had given in completely to her feelings.

‘Silver Wolf and Kafka must never find out about this,’ Firefly thought in embarrassment, already picturing what would happen if either of them knew what had taken place on this trip.

They would never let her live it down and would no doubt tease her relentlessly.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Firefly noticed that Caelus and his friends had finally made their way out of the maze. She hurried to catch up.

Using her armor, she flew behind them before landing at a good vantage point and dismissing it just as Caelus and his friends came face to face with the Supreme Guardian.

She giggled as Caelus, being his usual chaotic and lovable self, interrupted the woman mid-speech and forced her to let out an undignified sound.

From there her mood grew more serious as the real fight began. She only took a moment to appreciate the giant robot before watching Caelus clash with the villain one-on-one and bring a giant meteor down on her head.

After that, things took a turn for the worse as she watched the scene unfold.

The only thing keeping her from equipping her armor again and turning the woman into ashes was the script Elio had told them beforehand about the events of Jarilo-VI, and how everything was supposed to turn out alright.

She watched as the woman-turned-monster appeared behind the group and launched an attack at Caelus’s pink-haired companion, only for the gray-haired girl to push her away.

The moment that happened, Firefly’s eyes immediately went to Caelus. Knowing his personality, she knew he was about to do something incredibly stupid yet extremely heroic.

Fate was indeed cruel. Just as she predicted, in the next moment her hidden fears of something going wrong came to pass as Caelus suddenly appeared behind the gray-haired girl out of nowhere and took the blow meant for her.

Firefly’s mind went blank. Her heart froze. She forgot to even breathe as she watched the lance connect and pierce Caelus’s stomach, embedding itself quite deep while he did his best to stop its momentum.

“T-This is wrong,” Firefly found herself muttering in a blank tone, not even feeling the tears running down her cheeks as her gaze remained fixed on Caelus lying in a pool of his own blood before his eyes eventually closed and his friends panicked around him.

“He’s alive. He’s supposed to come out of this unharmed and proceed to the Xianzhou where he meets Kafka and Blade,” she muttered in a disbelieving tone, shaking her head in denial.

But seeing the love of her life, her main reason to live, lying there unresponsive in a pool of his own blood, Firefly felt an extremely hot feeling in her stomach. It took her several moments to realize it was anger.

Her fear and despair slowly transformed into an all-consuming rage, all of it focused on the woman shrouded in snow and ice as she gloated about killing her lover.

Pulling out a silver and gold device with green wings, Firefly stood up, her gaze never leaving the form of the monster that had taken away her reason for existing. Tears continued trailing down her cheeks.

“I dreamed of a scorched earth…” she muttered the words in a mechanical tone as a swirl of fire started appearing beneath her.

“A new shoot sprouted from the earth…” she continued as the flames intensified.

“It bloomed in the morning sun, and whispered to me…”

Just as she was about to say the last line of the incantation and transform into her SAM suit, reducing everything to ash, Firefly stopped. A similar swirl of flames had sprouted from Caelus’s body.

Immediately focusing all her attention on it, Firefly watched in slow motion as one moment there was a hole through Caelus’s unconscious body, the blood to prove it… and the next, he was suddenly standing. The lance that had pierced him was now in his right hand, completely different from before.

Instead of a lance covered in ice, it was now wreathed in flames, most of it made of some type of amber. Caelus stood confidently, his previous wound gone without a trace, staring at the woman who had almost killed him with a giant grin on his handsome face.

Seeing that, Firefly felt all strength leave her body. She fell to her knees as her tears renewed, only this time they were tears of happiness. A massive wave of relief washed over her, leaving her emotionally drained.

“…T-Thank goodness. H-He’s alive. He’s actually alive,” Firefly muttered through happy tears.

Unknown to anyone else, that day Jarilo-VI didn’t know how close it came to going from a frozen wasteland to an inferno of fire and ashes.