Now it seemed that Oronyx had been unwilling to cooperate with the Chrysos Heirs because they had long sensed that something was wrong with the prophecy.
A chill ran down the audience's spines.
After all, from the very first episode, the prophecy had been a unbreakable truth.
The Chrysos Heir' actions and logic had all followed the prophecy.
If the prophecy itself had a problem, then wouldn't everything they had done from the very beginning have been wrong?!
Yet what followed was an even deeper doubt. Oronyx claimed the prophecy was flawed, but its contents were now being verified.
The most direct example was the prediction concerning the Black Tide.
It was impossible to tell… The audience truly couldn't tell.
But the more perceptive among them had already realized that, surrounding the prophecy, at least one account had to be false, one of the narratives must be hiding a malice they could not see.
Malice from an unknown source was the most terrifying of all. It was like having a murderer hiding somewhere nearby.
Now no one could figure out which pieces of information within Amphoreus were true and which were false.
Everyone continued watching.
On the screen, Phainon fell into deep thought. It wasn't that he had begun doubting the prophecy.
The Chrysos Heirs and the audience did not share the same perspective; they had no god's-eye view.
Meanwhile, the audience themselves were naturally inclined to resist something like a prophecy.
So at this moment, Phainon merely regarded Oronyx's words as part of his personality.
What he was thinking about was something else. In those earlier words, there had been mention of "family."
"The "family" she just mentioned..."
Phainon instinctively looked at Trinnon.
Trinnon did not hide it. In a low voice, she said, "It's our mother. She fell from this spot into the valley a long time ago..."
After saying that, she looked toward the road built above the abyss and continued, "It was during a grand ceremony held to seek Janus' guidance..."
"But things took an unexpected turn... It was Kephale who responded instead."
Phainon and Stelle suddenly understood. So that was how Kephale's prophecy had come about.
But how could the prophecy of the Worldbearing Titan have been delivered through the ritual of the Passage Titan?
"...Did something go wrong with the ceremony?" Phainon asked.
Trinnon nodded and continued softly, "Yes, but those two occurrences were in fact unrelated. Kephale's response was simply a coincidence."
"On that frosty night with treachery abound, as the Holy Maiden of Janusopolis met her demise... the Worldbearing Titan also fell in another corner of the world."
Through Trinnon's account, a past shrouded in mist emerged before the audience's eyes.
Though much information was missing, no one believed it was merely coincidence.
The Saintess and the Worldbearing Titan, in different locations of Amphoreus, died at the same time.
One was a priestess of Janus, the other a Titan who bore the world.
How could there possibly be such a coincidence?! There had to be something wrong here!
····
: Thinking about it carefully is terrifying!
: There must be some shocking secret we don't know hidden here!
: So the prophecy had problems from the very beginning… That's horrifying. I've watched from episode one until now and never once doubted it!
: The Chrysos Heirs seem to have absolute faith in the prophecy too…
: I suddenly have a bold idea.
: Think about it, no matter which world the Astral Express Crew goes to, they always end up facing a Stellaron crisis.
: If we reason backward from that information, could this prophecy have something to do with it?
: Could the seed sown by the Aeon of Destruction have used some kind of bewitching influence to affect Amphoreus' prophecy?
: That's a very possible guess!
: Before Penacony was established, the Stellaron hidden there kept influencing people's minds.
...
By sheer coincidence, quite a few viewers had a sudden flash of inspiration and began speculating that the Stellaron might be connected to the prophecy.
In a certain sense, this was perhaps the boldest speculation the audience could currently make.
But they could never have imagined that the Stellaron, in the story of Amphoreus, was actually one of the most insignificant pieces.
It couldn't be helped. The figures who took action in Amphoreus were each more ruthless than the last.
Compared to the true masterminds behind the scenes, the Stellaron' status was far too low.
Just as the comments were busy speculating, on screen, Trinnon led the two of them to continue wandering through the temple.
With Mem's power, some fragments here could be restored once more, helping them fill in the missing blanks.
Among them, a letter caught everyone's attention.
It looked like an ordinary piece of correspondence.
As Trinnon read it aloud, Phainon, Stelle, and the audience all heard its contents.
"To Mr. Wenkulum,
"For years, the Holy City has relied on the myrtle to receive heaven's bestowed grace.
"We have spent five or six years trimming its branches and roots, lest this red bedrock grow unstable…"
"..."
As Trinnon recited the words, even the dullest listener could realize that the "myrtle" mentioned in the letter referred to Tribbie's mother, the Saintess.
And judging from the contents of the letter, the Saintess' death… was likely the result of internal power struggles.
Afterward, the writer suggested that someone codenamed "Saffron Bud" be used to replace the Saintess in her duties.
Stelle and Phainon both felt a heavy weight settle in their hearts.
In Okhema, Phainon had dealt with the Council and with Caines.
Now his thoughts were exceptionally heavy. He could not understand why, even at this point, people were still fighting among themselves.
They had even dared, with reckless audacity, to extend their hands toward the Saintess herself.
"Let's go. I've remembered more." At that moment, Trinnon put down the envelope and led everyone to another place.
Along the way, they passed through winding and intricate roads and arrived at a heavily guarded site.
"This is the Archive of Prophecies."
"Back then, we lived here and an important ceremonial site back then."
Everyone walked inside. The enormous library was now in ruins, empty and desolate.
Only its grand architecture and vast space still hinted at its former glory.
After unlocking several mechanisms, the floor of the Archive of Prophecies slowly split open, revealing a massive opening.
A spiral staircase emerged from the gap.
"There's a hidden door too?" Phainon was stunned.
Stelle stroked her chin and glanced around. The Saintess had lived in a place this secretive?
Then, following Trinnon, they descended together.
After the ripples of time had eroded it, the interior had long been compressed and distorted beyond recognition.
But under Stelle and Mem's power, everything returned to how it once was.
And in the hidden chamber beneath the stairs, they finally saw the place where Tribios had once lived.
The space was not large. It was divided into several rooms.
The largest room was filled with bookshelves and countless books.
Several red carpets lay scattered messily across the floor, clearly never carefully arranged.
It was far too chaotic.
"You grew up... in a place like this?" Phainon couldn't understand.
This was the Saintess. Given their lofty status, even in the Council, aside from a few stubborn figures like Kaenis, most councilors would treat them with the utmost respect.
"By the time we were born, the role of the Holy Maiden had already diminished to a mere title. Those in tune with the Titan's guidance are bound to become messengers for others."
"To maintain appearances, those in authority added some embellishments. And with Mother around, our childhood wasn't entirely without joy."
Trinnon remained calm instead. She took small steps and entered the room first.
Stelle and Phainon followed closely behind.
The point in time Mem had rewound to was just before Tribios left this place.
Therefore, fragments of memory were scattered here. Some fragments showed Tribios as a child, identical to how Trinnon looked now, listening to the Saintess tell stories in her mother's arms.
Or studying under the Saintess' supervision.
But no matter the scene, there were always other figures present in various corners of the room.
It was unclear whether these people were there to monitor the Saintess or others.
One fragment after another unfolded before everyone's eyes.
Finally, it stopped at a special memory. It was a ruby manifested from memory.
The moment Trinnon saw the ruby, she froze. Forgotten memories surged back into her mind.
"We were still very young the first time we saw it. Mother came back with a beautiful glass piece, but her face was streaked with tears. She simply placed it on the table."
"'It looked so sparkly that we couldn't resist playing with it, but we ended up breaking it by accident. Mother didn't get angry. She simply held us quietly for a long time."
At this point, Trinnon' voice grew heavier.
"It wasn't until we were older that we learned in Janusopolis, if someone gloriously died for destiny, the Holy Maiden must pick a piece of glass from the volcano's quarry and polish it, then give it to the deceased's family."
"On the day Mother returned with the glass, her friend lost his life on the battlefield. Since he had no family left, Mother had to keep it herself..."
"Later, on the eve of the ritual... Mother also gave us a beautiful piece of glass."
By the final sentence, Trinnon' voice had grown so faint that no one could hear it clearly.
The audience felt as if their hearts were being gripped tightly.
...
: Ahhhh…
: I seriously can't handle stories like this.
: Maybe even they can't imagine that Tribios who guided so many Chrysos Heirs was once just an innocent child.
: So that's what the ruby symbolizes…
: I don't even dare to think about what state the Saintess was in when she gave her daughter that piece of glass.
: She probably already knew she was about to leave…
: This is too tragic…
: Wait, wait, wait!!! I just remembered, back at the Marmoreal Palace, didn't Trianne cling to a merchant and insist on buying a similar ruby?
: !! Yeah!
: At that time, Trianne didn't remember anything, but she still insisted on buying that ruby.
: Holy shit, everything lines up.
: Thinking back to Trianne's state back then, she was probably unconsciously repeating the Saintess' action from years ago.
: Damn it! This cursed foreshadowing, and it pays off at a moment like this…
: MiHoYo, you monster!!!
: Now I get it, the Chrysos Heirs of Omphalos, every single one of them has a complicated past.
: Everyone's got their own tragic backstory, huh?! Mihoyo!!
...
A tiny piece of foreshadowing being resolved instantly filled the screen with wails in the comments.
But this wasn't the kind of payoff they had been hoping for.
On screen, Stelle and Phainon simply listened quietly to Trinnon's story.
They knew that at this moment, listening was all they could do.
Afterward, under Trinnon' lead, they entered a small room within the hidden chamber.
It was their bedroom. The moment they stepped inside, the audience, who had been wailing just moments ago, suddenly froze.
Only then did they realize the scene felt familiar. Wasn't this the very scene Tribbie had recalled in her nightmare before?
A wave of realization washed over them.
In that familiar room, Mem unleashed her power over time.
The parting moment that Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon could no longer clearly remember was now displayed before everyone through the flow of time.
"This is… the eve of the ritual…"
Trinnon stared blankly at the Saintess, holding Tribios in her arms.
The eve of the ritual… which meant this was the final segment of image before her departure.