Tatap, tatap!
"The Abyssal Chamber...?"
"Yes. Goddess Hestia should be there."
Having decided to join forces, Bell and Ilia rushed out from the altar and ran toward the Great Temple.
"The room where you first saw the 'Pure Heavenly Flame'... that place connects to the deepest part of the Candlestick."
"It is a passage for the Heavenly Flame connecting the surface and the underground... Goddess Hestia, wreathed in those flames, should be within that 'membrane.'"
At Ilia's words, Bell recalled the pillar of fire rising into the sky.
"...A membrane?"
"Yes. According to Prometheus's oracle... she is likely gathering her divinity, forming the flames into an egg."
Tatap! Tatap!
"To fully manifest her authority, to harmonize with the Heavenly Flame, and to become another version of herself..."
Despite Ilia's cryptic explanations, Bell simply pushed his legs harder, driven by the singular goal of reaching Hestia.
Whoosh!
"To think there was a hidden door in a place like this..."
Before long, they succeeded in reaching the hidden entrance within the Candlestick.
The moment they opened the door to head toward the Great Temple—
"The other priestesses know about this passage in the Candlestick too. We have to hurry! If we dally..."
K-Boom!
"!!"
The flames of the priestesses blocked their path.
"That's far enough, Ilia."
"To defy the Oracle... not only are you a clumsy fool, but you are a failure as a priestess."
Minukia and Emilia.
The priestesses who had traveled to Orario alongside Ilia—her friends and colleagues—now stood in her way.
"...We will execute the Goddess's kin and capture the sinner! Attack!"
Just as their assault was about to reach those they had shared smiles with only yesterday—
BOOM!
"""""!?"""""
A massive roar erupted from the main gate of the Great Temple.
"Everyone, get back!!"
"We can't stop him!!!!"
"The priestesses' flames aren't working at all...!!"
The panicked shouts of soldiers and priestesses filled the air simultaneously.
"Phew... You here, Bell?"
Standing before them was a white-haired young man.
He was the entity who had just overwhelmed them, withstanding and parrying every attack they threw with effortless subjugation.
"...!! Brother! You're safe!"
"Of course. It would be a problem if I wasn't, wouldn't it?"
Reunited with Bell, Akumo successfully entered the Great Temple with the rest of the party.
"So this is Prometheus's..."
"Sightseeing later, Hedin. For now, I think we need to head where Bell is going."
"I am aware. It seems this is no ordinary affair."
Shring!
Akumo and Hedin drew their blades and stood beside Bell.
Step.
"We are guests and uninvited ones at that, but I'll ask out of courtesy."
Step.
"Do you intend to treat us as enemies?"
Clang!
""Answer.""
Akumo and Hedin leveled their swords with grim expressions. It was a gesture of respect offered to warriors who were also trying to protect something.
"""".....""""
Grip!
"All units, attack!!!"
The answer was clear; it was a proposal they could not accept.
"You were heading to where Goddess Hestia is!?"
"Yes. It's likely just ahead..."
Akumo listened as Ilia explained they were heading to the Abyssal Chamber where Hestia was located.
"Sacrificing herself on a whim... Honestly, Goddess Hestia..."
"I don't think you're one to talk, Akumo?"
"...What did I do?"
"Sigh... Let's just get to the Goddess first."
Akumo looked troubled by Hestia's independent streak, but Ryu gave him a look of sheer exasperation for some reason.
"Let's go. To the Abyssal Chamber."
Finally, Ilia opened the doors to the chamber.
Rumble!
Inside, a world entirely different from the room Bell and the others had visited before unfolded.
Sizzle!
"T-This is...!? It's nothing like the room from last time..."
"What is that pillar of fire...?"
Whoosh!
"Ugh!? It's too hot to even get close...!"
They stood at the heart of the fire pillar that illuminated Olympia. An egg of flame, the core of the pillar, floated before them, radiating intense heat.
"Goddess Hestia is definitely inside that 'membrane'..."
Thump!
"....!"
'A heartbeat...'
"Goddess...!!!"
Thump!
From within the egg of fire, a presence all too familiar to Bell was leaking out.
"Bell, stay calm! First, we have to break that egg."
Shring!
'Ordinary strikes won't work... I'll have to force a chant even if it's a strain!'
It was unmistakably Hestia's energy. Akumo drew his sword, intending to suppress the heat and shatter the egg—until a familiar male voice reached his ears.
"My word... To think you'd arrive after defeating all the priestesses and soldiers."
"!!"
'This voice...'
".....Eton."
"It has been a while, adventurers of Orario."
As if he no longer intended to hide his motives, he stood before them with a smile.
"The other flame aside, I was wondering why the Goddess's kin wouldn't fall..."
Glance.
"So you were the traitor, Ilia."
Eton spoke calmly while looking at Akumo, before turning his gaze toward Ilia.
"It would have been so much easier if you had simply followed the Oracle..."
"...Don't tell me, the one who inscribed the fake Oracle was..."
The High Priest, the man who cherished Olympia more than anyone and was trusted above all.
"Heh... It seems in this situation, even the farsighted God Prometheus could not stop me."
"It was worth suppressing my desires all this time and leaving the oracles untouched until now."
He was the culprit who had inscribed the false oracle to threaten the party.
"...Why did you do this, Eton?"
"What a foolish question. It's only natural to eliminate variables in a Great Ritual, isn't it?"
Point!
"Look outside!!!"
In response to Akumo's question, Eton simply pointed forcefully toward the exterior of the Great Temple.
—Uwoooooo!!!
Roar!
"Look at this hellish sight where countless Flame Phantoms wander! The end of this world!!"
Grip!
"Ah, the terrifying Great Sin!!! Even with the Goddess suppressing it... this despair must end here!"
With a voice full of conviction, he shouted at them, gesturing to the dark red landscape of despair filling the horizon.
"Your purpose for coming here is to take back your Goddess, isn't it?"
"Irresponsibly, without knowing what ruin that will bring!!!"
He was right. To stop the disaster, the Goddess had sacrificed herself. And they were trying to prevent that sacrifice for their own sake.
"Then my judgment is correct! Justice is on my side! No matter who you ask, they would support me, would they not!!!?"
What Bell and the others were doing might just be a selfish tantrum.
"...Don't make me laugh."
"L-Lili...?"
However, the girl could read him. Because she had lived a life of throwing tantrums, she was well-versed in reading the selfishness of others.
"Everything you're saying is a lie! Even now, you're desperately holding back a laugh!!"
She could see it—the 'villainous smile' the man before them was trying so hard to hide.
"...Heh."
Grin!
"Hehehehe...!! Hihihihahahaha!!!!!!!!!!"
Finally, Eton no longer felt the need to hide it.
"Well spoken, brat! Calling a holy priest a 'villain'? Well, you're not wrong!!"
His face was now overtaken by a pure, greedy smile that reflected his true nature.
"This dead city where troublesome Flame Phantoms roam! Let it rot and ruin already! It's like a chronic disease that has shackled me for a lifetime...!!!!"
A man who had lived his whole life as a hero, carrying the responsibility for everything.
"Stagnant people who cling to Gods and heroes! How foolish and incompetent!! I can no longer look after you lot!!!"
The festering greed of a hero—no, of a single human being—had finally burst.
"...Is that so?"
'I don't feel... particularly great about this.'
To Akumo, that expression was all too familiar.
"Ah~ come to think of it, the most incompetent case and the most foolish case were here together."
Glance.
"The priestess who blindly trusts her God, and the murderer who kicked away his opportunity."
"!!"
Eton sneered at Akumo and Ilia, labeling them 'most incompetent' and 'most foolish.'
"Should I have hidden this nature from you? Well, it doesn't matter now..."
"Because it has already been decided that everyone dies."
Eton's murderous intent filled the room.
"Ho? Why don't you try it then?"
"I won't let you!"
Naturally, Akumo and Bell were not about to let Eton have his way.
"Who are you calling incompetent and foolish...!! You're the one defying the God's will!"
"Olympia is a nation that has protected and worshipped the flame! So why...!!"
Rumble!
"...Was this place not an eternal sanctuary established by the Flame and the Hero!?"
Welf bared his hostility toward Eton for threatening his hero and the girls, while Haruhime cried out in confusion.
"Sanctuary....? Heh... Hahahaha!!!! Don't make me laugh, you idiot!"
Eton continued to sneer at Haruhime's outcry as if it were the height of absurdity.
"This is a cursed land where calamity has swirled for three thousand years! The name 'Olympia' is an illusion!!!"
Eton shouted with such sincerity it was as if he had personally experienced every bit of that terrible truth.
"The true name of this land is..."
Grin!
"Pandora!"
The true name of the land, filled with chaos and disaster, was finally revealed.
Rumble!
"Hahahaha...!!! The box is opening! Despair is coming to bloom!!"
Whoosh!
"This time for sure, the hellfire of calamity sealed in this land...! Shall destroy you all!!!!!!"
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