The audience, who had just been delighted by the defeat of the Flame Reaver, immediately came back to their senses.
Many people stared blankly at the screen completely unable to process this news.
....
: Trianne in the end still...
: Wuwuwuwu, my little Trianne.
: They just defeated the Flame Reaver, they just reclaimed Oronyx's Coreflame! It was supposed to be double happiness.
: I knew it might happen, but ... ahhhhh! I still can't accept it!
: Why is the first one to get hurt such a cute Trianne!
: MiHoYo, damn you!!
: Phainon, Mydei, Trianne , among the three who might have been taken out, they actually chose Trianne. What kind of cruel twist is this?! Damn!
: Amphoreus's first strike.
: I'm reporting this! I'm reporting MiHoYo for child abuse!
: Sigh ... maybe it's for the best. No more suffering, no more opening gates. Sleep now, baby.
....
The comments scrolled by like crazy.
But in reality, Trianne's older fan group had not yet reacted.
After hearing the news, their first reaction was to freeze. Most people's fingers hovered above their keyboards, not knowing what to type.
Unlike the younger fans, to them, Trianne was not just a simple character.
She was more like a child they had been raising from afar through the screen.
They watched her go from lively and cute to growing more and more tired, watched her work hard to create portals to protect everyone, and now watched her leave.
The pain in their hearts was a dull ache. Like a flower you water and visit every day suddenly withering.
Although these fans rarely send comments, it's easy to imagine that soon their social feeds will be filled with reflections, letters, and pictures of Trianne.
And of course, countless messages sent to MiHoYo's official website.
On the screen, Tribbie was still gloomily explaining what happened to the two of them.
Not only was Trianne found, but another person as well.
"Besides Trianne, another person was found at the scene."
"He was no better than a corpse when Trinnon and Hyacine arrived. He had suffered more cuts than could be counted and leaped off a cliff from a great height, all to free Trianne's body from the clutches of the black-robed swordmaster."
After finishing Phainon, despite his grief couldn't help but ask.
"What a brave soul. Do we know who he is?"
Tribbie fell silent for a moment, then said: "It's Krateros."
Krateros? The one who kidnapped Trinnon?!
The audience was shocked.
Even the comments briefly slowed.
Why? Why would Krateros help Trianne?
At that moment, the scene shifted.
In the Temple of the three fates, right after Trianne teleported everyone away, she collapsed.
And Krateros rushed out from the shadows, arriving before her.
The audience suddenly remembered. There had been a detail they hadn't noticed.
Trinnon said she sensed four sets of footsteps, at the time they thought it was Phainon's group plus a Flame Reaver.
But now it seemed, the extra person was Krateros.
He had been hiding in the dark, secretly infiltrating the Temple of the three fates.
With confusion and doubt, the audience kept watching.
On screen, the aged Krateros, though white-haired, stood straight.
He faced the Flame Reaver without the slightest hesitation.
"If you want this girl dead, you'll have to kill me first."
Krateros raised his great shield and stared firmly.
The Flame Reaver spoke, unusually: "How ludicrous... Your body, made of flesh and blood as it is, will not survive more than a single strike from me."
Krateros sneered, full of disdain: ""Valorous Death Before Glorious Return." As a Kremnoan, I know not the fear of death."
The Flame Reaver did not attack immediately, but spoke: "She's lost her divinity. I have no interest in an empty shell."
"But answer me this, child of Strife. Why do you raise your shield for her?"
Krateros originally disdained answering.
But after glancing at Trianne behind him, recalling his own actions and a certain feeling in his heart, he finally snorted and spoke:
"As the leader of the Godshield Brigade's elite, I protected the king against the black tide with this very shield. And I've done this over and over, hundreds and thousands of times..."
"A pathetic killer like you could never understand the weight it bears."
He wanted to passionately speak the words surging in his heart, but because of restraint, because of age, he could not fully voice them.
The Flame Reaver's patience ran out. No one knew why he asked, nor whether he received an answer.
The great sword rose. A phantom appeared.
"Pity. Then crumble like rusted iron."
Krateros felt no fear, instead, his spirit surged.
Facing the charge of something inhuman, at the moment of clash, Krateros finally let out a thunderous battle roar:
"Come, let us fight! For Kremnos! For my king!"
"...For Amphoreus!"
The screen went black.
The battle in between no longer needed to be shown.
The outcome was Krateros, covered in blood, leaping off the cliff with Trianne's body, later found by Hyacine and the others.
Compared to Mydei, to Phainon, to any of the Chrysos Heirs, his battle seemed almost laughable.
But at this moment, no one laughed. If Mydei's highlight was the battle at Castrum Kremnos, then this ordinary man Krateros' shining moment was here.
What he brought the audience was the feeling of humanity. As someone thoroughly belonging to the old era, his whole life revolved around Castrum Kremnos and the King of Castrum Kremnos.
Krateros' way of thinking was stubborn, direct, even short-sighted.
To preserve Castrum Kremnos, he could even kidnap Trinnon, never considering the serious consequences.
This was typical foolish thinking. Full of pragmatic and realistic considerations.
Yet precisely because of these traits, his burning resolve at this moment felt all the more shocking to the audience.
Because within his narrow emotions, there was also a simple feeling, one he himself had never even fully recognized.
When Krateros infiltrated the temple, and witnessed the Chrysos Heirs fighting the Flame Reaver, the Black Tide, prophecy, these grand words that once only sounded abstract in his mind now had concrete images.
At that moment, when he looked at Trianne again, he no longer saw a lofty Chrysos Heir, but a child who had exhausted herself and fallen for Amphoreus.
The one who bears the shield must stand before the weak.
He was also willing to fight for all of Amphoreus, acknowledging himself as part of the world's destiny.
So when the Flame Reaver asked him why he fought, he wanted to shout it out.
But the slogan sounded too grand. For an old guy who had spent his life fighting for the previous king and the city-state, it felt impractical and heavy.
It seemed like only when spoken by the Chrysos Heirs would it sound appropriate.
So the first time, he did not shout it.
He was even ashamed to say it. But between life and death, all restraint, reserve, and narrowness were shattered.
He raised his shield to meet the attack. As the cry "For Amphoreus" rang out, what he protected was no longer a narrow individual. It was the sum of all that needed protection, Castrum Kremnos, the king, the Chrysos Heir before him.
And also this scarred land itself. Amphoreus itself.
....
: Goosebumps!!!
: Krateros is really something...
: At this moment, it's pure art!
: So shocking , how is MiHoYo so good at writing!
: Krateros and Mydei together basically wrote out the ideology of Castrum Kremnos...
: Such incredible writing.
: Who understands that real feeling when Krateros couldn't even bring himself to say "For Amphoreus" the first time!
: The small details are perfectly handled!
: Oh my god.
: For Amphoreus!!
: Krateros has always been a man with principles, now he's begun to see Amphoreus as a whole.
: Caenis!! Look at this guy!!!
: Damn, if Amphoreus were full of people like Krateros, I think Aglaea might still have her humanity!
: This old man! Not inferior to Mydei! So cool!!
....
The comments flooded wildly.
On screen, everyone spent quite some time steadying their emotions.
Only then did they walk together into the Marmoreal Palace.
Aglaea, Hyacine, Trinnon, and Dan Heng were already waiting there.
Their expressions were heavy with grief. But even more, there was a firm resolve.
At the end of everyone's gaze, on the table lay Trianne's body.
A doll in Trianne's likeness. Holding a small wooden sword in its arms.
At this sight, the Chrysos Heirs were not surprised. Nor did they use any special symbolism to hint at anything.
This was simply because of her original nature.
"But Lady Aglaea, I don't understand... It wasn't life itself that Lady Trianne lost..."
Hyacine lowered her eyes, looking at Trianne's doll. "Why does she look like she really turned into a doll? I... I don't understand..."
Trinnon said softly, "Don't be sad, Hyacine. Trianne has used up her borrowed time from Janus, that's all."
"Her spirit is now riding the west wind, flying ahead to a world free of sorrow."
"If a world like that truly exists... Does that mean everyone from the Grove is there too?." Hyacine bowed her head, asking the question.
Aglaea comforted her from the side: "It exists, Hyacine. Do you not remember? The prophecy that guides the Chrysos Heirs is the voice of Kephale before it fell silent."
As she spoke, Aglaea looked toward the giant statue in view and sighed, "It loves all of its creations dearly, and would never bear to lead us astray with lies."
Hearing this, Hyacine's mood eased slightly.
Aglaea then casually asked about the old Castrum Kremnos veteran.
"The Twilight Courtyard has done all we can. Even so, we've only managed to keep him from breathing his last."
"I had to use the Sky Priests' techniques to help him walk again, but if light ever disappears from Okhema for good... No, let's hope that never happens." Hyacine replied.
Dan Heng spoke up. "This is already nothing short of miraculous. When we found Krateros, he was no better than a corpse."
While they were talking, Phainon and the others returned.
They also brought back Oronyx's Coreflame. Originally, the Chrysos Heirs had plans regarding the Coreflames.
For Titans that would not actively harm the world, like Oronyx and Cerces, their Coreflames were supposed to be reclaimed last.
But the appearance of the Flame Reaver changed everything.
The priority now was to return the two Coreflames to the Vortex of Genesis.
If they were not returned, and the Titans' divine positions remained vacant, no one knew what calamity might occur.
"But the most pressing issue at hand... is that we haven't found the Chrysos Heir capable of bearing Oronyx's divinity."
Before Trianne's body, everyone fell into a dilemma.
Even Aglaea looked troubled.
"Phainon, Castorice, Mydei, and Hyacine... Tribbie and I devoted a millennium scouring the world, only to find these few people."
"Only a chosen few possess the capacity to assume divinity, the elite among the Chrysos Heirs. We would never hastily extend our invitation without first verifying their potential to bear such power."
Aglaea spoke to Stelle and Dan Heng about the current dilemma in detail.
Every demigod had undergone extensive examination. Letting just anyone take the role would only lead to deeper disaster.
But in such haste, how could they find a suitable Chrysos Heir for Oronyx?
Not to mention a Chrysos Heir, even Oronyx's priests had gradually disappeared in this apocalyptic age.
"That's bad." Stelle smacked her lips, understanding the difficulty.
Just as she was about to use her wits and think of a solution with everyone, she felt several pairs of eyes turn toward her.
Aglaea, Tribbie, Trinnon, Phainon, Hyacine, and… Mem. All of them were looking at Stelle.