Black Swan, along with Stelle and Acheron, merged into the shadows at the end of the corridor and vanished.
They were going to find a way out, and traces of Firefly's existence.
In the vast hotel lobby, only Phainon and his two companions remained.
It was silently still.
Phainon didn't speak, just paced aimlessly.
His footsteps echoed in the empty lobby.
His gaze swept over every inch of the luxurious decor.
Finally.
A scorching, violent aura tore through the false tranquility.
Boom!!!
Amidst the screeching of metal friction, a figure burning with pale flames descended from the sky, slamming heavily in front of the three!
The hard marble floor, centered on the impact point, cracked into countless dark fissures.
Molten Knight — Sam.
His emerald electronic eyes pierced through the distorted air, locking onto Phainon.
A terrifying pressure surged forward, as if even the air was about to ignite.
He extended a hand and said to the three, "Leave now, and no one will be harmed. Otherwise, you will all die."
A cold, mechanical voice sounded, devoid of any emotion.
Flames spewed from the seams of Sam's armor, and the temperature of the entire lobby rapidly escalated.
Cipher and Mydei stepped forward almost simultaneously, shielding Phainon behind them, adopting a battle-ready stance.
However, Phainon lightly pressed on their shoulders.
"Back so soon?"
Phainon's voice was utterly calm.
He walked out from between the two, step by step, towards the burning war machine.
The high temperature distorted the air, forming strange vortices around him, yet his black coattails remained as still as iron, unmoving.
"The Iron Cavalry of Glamoth."
Phainon's footsteps stopped in front of Sam, close enough to feel the temperature that could melt steel.
He raised his eyes, his pupils reflecting the raging flames, yet colder than the inferno itself.
"If we truly have to fight. I'm sorry, but the fire on you is too cold for me."
The moment his words fell, Sam fell silent.
The flames, powerful enough to distort reality, strangely diverged to both sides when they reached three feet in front of Phainon, unable to advance an inch.
After an unknown period.
"Click... crunch..."
A subtle mechanical sound broke the suffocating standoff.
The flames on Sam's armor suddenly extinguished.
Immediately after, the indestructible armor itself began to separate and recede, piece by piece.
Beneath the armor, what was revealed was Firefly's familiar and delicate face.
She was completely unharmed, gazing at Phainon with an extremely complex expression.
"I knew you would see through it. Elio said that you would eventually become one of us."
There was no hint of surprise on Phainon's face.
He merely asked in return, "Has the slave of destiny ever foreseen his own script... failing?"
...No," Firefly replied with a calm tone. "What he has predicted will definitely happen. So, there's no need for us to pretend anymore."
She looked up, and in her beautiful eyes, Phainon's cold face was clearly reflected.
"I suffer from 'Entropy Loss Syndrome,' and I understand exactly how you feel right now."
"Your body is also heading towards irreversible dissipation. But Elio said you would definitely find a way to break the deadlock, though I don't know what it is."
Phainon nodded slightly, accepting this confession.
Indeed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Firefly. Thanks to your appearance, I've finally understood something."
He already knew everything.
Cipher's impossibly calm eyes.
Mydei's overly composed demeanor when Firefly 'died'.
Phainon paused, then changed the subject,
"Now, can you show me a way out of here? I still have my own matters to attend to."
Phainon's thoughts were too erratic, and Firefly was momentarily flustered, instinctively pointing forward:
"Ah? Oh... over there, there's a passage back to Golden Hour."
Phainon said no more, turning and leading Mydei and Cipher towards the passage... The three walked silently through the fantastical corridor.
Phainon suddenly sighed softly, "Are you two... hiding something from me?"
Cipher's cat ears twitched sharply, and she shrieked as if her tail had been stepped on:
"Deliverer Kid, what nonsense are you babbling about? Were you scared silly by that pile of scrap metal just now!"
Mydei glanced at Phainon's head, frowning, "Was your brain damaged when you landed?"
Phainon suddenly stopped walking.
Cipher and Mydei stopped as well.
"At first, I thought it was Penacony's unique properties that caused you to appear in the form of the Memory Zone."
Phainon's voice was very soft, yet it was like a scalpel, dissecting all disguises,
"But you still possess the power of demigods, so... the authority of 'Nihility' must have played a role. As for why you appeared in physical form, it was the Memoria amplifying your existence."
He turned around, his gaze first falling on Cipher.
"There were too many inconsistencies along the way."
"Cipher, the demigod of trickery, upon first entering Golden Hour, faced a fantastical world, yet her eyes were as calm as still water. That wasn't forbearance, but... the numbness of having seen it all."
His gaze then shifted to Mydei.
"And you, Mydeimos. At the moment Firefly 'died', your reaction was too calm, so calm that it wasn't like you. You showed no anger, no vigilance, only a hint of weariness."
With each word Phainon spoke, the fake smile on Cipher's face faded a bit, and Mydei's brow furrowed an inch deeper.
"The speed at which my body is melting is far beyond my expectations. All these inconsistencies point to one possibility."
His voice became extremely low, stating a fact that had already been verified,
"You... were playing a part for me."
"In fact, I've always been in a dream cycle, haven't I!"
Cipher's playful smile completely froze. She irritably ran a hand through her hair and turned to complain to Mydei:
"Little Prince, I told you, your face can't hide anything! See! This is the fastest it's ever been seen through!"
Mydei ignored Cipher. He looked directly at Phainon, his eyes showing a rare heaviness:
"We didn't want to hide it. It's just... this was your instruction. We had to cooperate with the 'current' you, to complete this journey."
Phainon looked into Mydei's eyes, and he knew that Mydei was not lying.
So... that's how it was.
He had already cycled through endless dreams countless times.
No wonder... he had an enduring sense of familiarity with certain scenes.
The only difference was that with each reincarnation, his memory would reset.
And his companions, with all their memories, accompanied him again and again... towards the predetermined ending.
Phainon spoke in a low voice, "How many times... have you accompanied me?"
Mydei was silent, only saying, "Dwelling on the number of times is meaningless."
"It is meaningful."
Phainon interrupted Mydei, slowly forcing out a smile,
"Thank you."
"I always thought I was walking this path alone."
"I never imagined that this time, you were accompanying me, walking it over and over again."