Stardust River, Astral Express.
Phainon stood silently by the window.
He was contemplating how to kill a Aeon.
A crazy plan was slowly forming in his mind.
It's just… his room was a bit too noisy.
"Meow! Trickster Demigod, off to battle!"
Cipher took off a cat-shaped gold coin from her neck, and her figure transformed into a streak of light, disappearing from the room.
In just a blink of an eye.
She reappeared out of thin air, proudly holding a cup of coffee.
"Spoils of war! Just 'borrowed' from the coffee machine!"
She held the coffee up to Phainon, her tail wagging high.
"Deliverer Kid, in return for giving me back my Coreflames, this cup is for you!"
Phainon didn't even turn his head, simply uttering a few words, "Drink it yourself. The taste… is guaranteed to be unforgettable."
"Meow?"
Cipher sniffed suspiciously; a bitter smell shot straight to her head.
But this was her first successful battle as a "Trickster Demigod," how could she back down!
She puffed out her chest, closed her eyes, and gulped it down.
Then… her body stiffened, and she fell straight backward, her limbs twitching slightly, foaming at the mouth, and muttering faintly.
"Seamstress… Tribbie Sis… help… it's poison…"
"Sigh…"
Mydei pressed a hand to his forehead, unable to watch any longer. "Deliverer, your room is getting messier and messier."
He walked over, picked up Cipher, and carried her to the bed, meticulously wiping the foam from her mouth with a handkerchief, his actions completely contrary to his cold, hard demeanor.
Phainon turned, his gaze falling on Anaxa by the desk.
"Teacher Anaxa, what exactly is the root cause of your inability to bear the Coreflames?"
The figure didn't lift his head, his voice calm.
"First, please address me as Anaxagoras."
"Second, silence is golden."
He elegantly turned a page of his book, seemingly unwilling to elaborate.
But a moment later, he added, "As for the reason… perhaps it's because, among the many paths entangled with you, only Erudition has not chosen to manifest as a form of power."
Phainon understood.
This aligned with his conjecture.
Joy, The Hunt, were already the paths he bore.
And Erudition, though not displayed on his panel, had transformed into the first Chrysos Heirs, Anaxa, granting him the [Rationality] to suppress the Coreflames.
This in itself was an invisible form of bearing.
His thoughts returned to reality, and Phainon's hand reached into his pocket, intending to retrieve the 'script' from Elio.
That was a help for him to save Amphoreus.
However.
Where his fingertips touched, it was empty.
His movement paused.
The script was gone.
Did he lose it during the fierce battle with Phantylia?
Impossible.
He would never lose something so important.
"Mydeimos." Phainon called out to Mydei.
Mydei felt the change in his tone, stopped what he was doing, and asked in a deep voice, "Deliverer, what has you so unsettled? Did you lose something?"
"At Scalegorge Waterscape, did you see a paper script?"
Mydei's brow furrowed tightly. He recalled for a moment, then finally shook his head. "A warrior's gaze only hunts enemies. I never saw it."
He looked at Phainon's cold profile, his tone resolute.
"If it's lost, I'll go back with you and turn that sea area upside down."
Just then.
An ethereal, gentle female voice, without warning, echoed in the room, as if piercing through time and space.
"Stepping through the first crossroads, sailing towards tomorrow."
Cipher on the bed jolted, fully revived.
The four people in the room all looked at the source of the sound.
A phantom light door was silently opening in the carriage.
Golden light flowed.
Behind the door, a red-haired woman gently held the script in both hands, stepping out one by one.
Her eyes were compassionate and gentle, "—Towards the prophecy revealed by fate."
Phainon looked at her face, calmly revealing her identity.
"The Saintess of Januszapolis, Tribios."
Tribios bowed slightly to Phainon, her gaze then sweeping over the other three in the room.
"Lord Phainon, Lord Anaxagoras, Lord Mydeimos, and Lord Cipher, it seems this is our first time meeting in this manner."
"Is it Tribbie Sis?"
Cipher cheered and directly threw herself into her arms.
Mydei and Anaxa had a feeling of both familiarity and strangeness, saying in unison, "Ms. Tribios."
Watching this scene, Phainon silently took the script that had been lost and found again.
He said nothing more, simply turned and left the room alone.
He needed an absolutely quiet place to face this so-called "fate."
Standing in the empty corridor, Kafka's words echoed in his mind again.
"Once you take it, the gears of fate cannot be stopped."
The next moment, he resolutely opened the script.
Five lines of text appeared like a brand.
"You shall walk in the void."
"You shall bring a moment of the unknown."
"You shall face destruction."
"You shall light the dawn."
"Finally, you shall…"
Phainon stared at the last line of text for a long time.
There was no expression on his face, no anger, no unwillingness.
Then, he smiled.
It was a smile cold to the extreme, silently pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"Heh heh…"
So that's how it is.
For the first time, he had an urge to personally crush this so-called "fate" and shove it down their throat.
This guy named Elio.
He truly deserves to die!