"You... you know everything?" Yuno took a few steps back, her face pale, and then slowly nodded. "Although I don't know how you know, but..."
"So what if you do?!" Yuno retorted stubbornly, her eyes growing slightly red. "I can accept necessary sacrifices! As long as I can protect the Seven Hills, protect everyone, protect Augusta! My existence..."
"Your existence is not a bargaining chip to be casually thrown away!" Rover interrupted her, his voice growing stern. "That is not a sacrifice, it's a waste!"
"Furthermore, how can you be certain that your sacrifice will guarantee victory? What if there's unpredictable interference halfway through the manifestation ritual? What if the thing that manifests is something you simply cannot defeat?"
"Even if I can't defeat it, there's still you..."
"I'm fine, but when you disappear, what will Augusta do? What will the Seven Hills do?!"
"I..."
Yuno was choked by his continuous questioning. She couldn't understand why Rover was so certain that the manifestation ritual would go wrong. She only felt that he was negating her resolve and value, and an immense sense of grievance and feeling untrusted welled up in her heart.
"You don't understand at all! You know nothing!"
She stamped her foot hard, tears swirling in her eyes. Spinning around, she ran toward the depths of the Quadrangle Hall without looking back. "I don't need your help anymore! I can do it myself!"
"Yuno!" Augusta called out, but the blue-haired, twin-tailed Oracle had already run far away.
She sighed, rubbed the space between her brows, and looked at Rover, her crimson eyes filled with complex emotions: "Rover... you seem to know something? About the hidden risks... of that plan?"
Rover fell silent for a moment, then nodded: "I cannot explain in detail, but I can be certain that the success rate of that plan is extremely low, and the price Yuno will pay... will be complete disappearance, remembered by no one, and likely irreversible. I have seen... a similar tragedy."
Augusta gasped, her face instantly turning several shades paler.
As a close friend, she naturally didn't want Yuno to sacrifice herself, but with the critical situation earlier, it seemed to be the only choice.
However, now that Rover had so firmly vetoed it, her originally resolved heart began to waver.
"Then... what should we do now?"
This female Governor, known for her strength and courage, felt deeply powerless at this moment.
Just then, Bu Ling strolled over from behind, shining her small mirror around the Quadrangle Hall: "Boss, the Oracle miss ran away. But you're right, that manifestation ritual is way too risky."
She pushed up non-existent glasses, putting on a show of professional technical analysis: "According to the data I just scanned, if you force the manifestation ritual you mentioned, the success rate is indeed below thirty percent."
"Furthermore, it's extremely susceptible to unknown interference sources—I just detected a very concealed non-Black Tide fluctuation."
She looked at Rover and Augusta: "The Black Shores technical team the boss brought has several alternative plans we can try."
"For example, using large-scale Resonance suppressors to temporarily weaken the Black Tide's activity, creating an opportunity for a forceful assault; or, utilizing Black Shores technological devices to try and locate the true core of that 'Divine King' for a precision strike, rather than relying on bait to fish it out..."
Although the several concepts Bu Ling proposed sounded quite risky themselves, they at least provided another possibility besides Yuno's sacrifice.
Augusta looked at Rover, then at the direction Yuno had run off, falling into an extremely difficult dilemma.
On one side was a plan with unknown results but potentially safer; on the other was a seemingly direct shortcut that might cost her friend's life...
Rover looked at Augusta: "Trust me, Augusta, and trust Yuno. She deserves a better ending, not becoming a pitiful sacrifice."
"Give me a little time. I'll go talk to her."
Augusta took a deep breath and finally gave a heavy nod. She patted Rover hard on the shoulder: "...Alright! I'll go stabilize the defense line! That girl Yuno... I leave her to you. You must bring her back to me completely intact!"
The fighting spirit reignited in her eyes. Since there was a new hope, she would fight for it with everything she had!
Rover nodded. Turning toward the direction Yuno had disappeared, he stepped into the dim corridors of the Quadrangle Hall.
For her sake, and for his own, he had to persuade that Oracle who seemed stubborn on the surface, but was truly terrified of disappearing on the inside.
Meanwhile, inside the Quadrangle Hall.
It looked as though it had suffered the attacks of countless waves of Tacet Discords; the interior of the Quadrangle Hall appeared even more dilapidated than the exterior. Ancient stone pillars supported a dome painted with faded murals. The air was filled with dust and a certain fresh scent belonging to the blue-haired Oracle.
Rover found her in a corner of a side hall.
She hadn't run far. She was just sitting beneath a stained-glass window, hugging her knees and curled into a ball.
The moonlight filtered through the broken glass, casting mottled shadows of light upon her, making her look exceptionally fragile.
Hearing footsteps, her shoulders trembled slightly. She let out a very soft hmph, but didn't look up.
Seeing this, Rover smiled helplessly and shook his head, not speaking immediately.
He simply walked to her side and sat down against the cold wall as well, keeping a bit of distance, yet close enough for her to feel his presence.
Silence spread between the two, with only the faint sounds of slaughter and the hum of Resonance energy in the distance acting as background noise.
After a long while, Rover finally spoke, his voice calm and rational: "Yuno, I know you are not afraid of sacrifice. If you were afraid, you never would have proposed that plan in the first place."
Yuno's body trembled slightly.
"What you are afraid of, is a meaningless sacrifice."
He continued, his gaze looking toward the dome. "You are afraid that your disappearance will ultimately not exchange for victory, but for deeper despair. You are afraid Augusta won't be able to win... afraid that the Seven Hills will never truly escape the finality of destruction."
"You are afraid... that even if you do your absolute best, an unpredictable accident will cause all your efforts to go down the drain. And you wouldn't even have the chance to see the result, or even be remembered."
Every word of his was like a precise scalpel, peeling away the thick shell of stubbornness she had wrapped herself in, reaching straight to that deepest core of fear she herself was unwilling to admit.
"It's not that you don't trust Augusta's strength. You don't trust that fate would so easily grant us a seemingly perfect solution."
"Sacrificing yourself seems like the most direct, most logical choice, because it fits the narrative of a hero. But it is often also the laziest and most irresponsible choice—especially when you clearly still have companions, and other possibilities."
Yuno's strong facade gradually collapsed, tears rapidly pooling in her eyes.
At the moment her emotions were about to burst the dam, Rover looked at her. Although his voice remained calm, it was injected with a reassuring power: "Earlier, you asked me what I was scared of. I told you, what I am scared of is that the ultimate price of this plan is you."
He paused slightly, letting the weight of his words fully settle in. "Right now, I am still scared. But what I am scared of is you bearing this fear alone, yet being unwilling to give me a chance to try other methods."
"Yuno, share half of your fear with me, and entrust your faith to me once more. I said I would find that path. Those words, no matter when or where, will always hold true."
Yuno snapped her head up. The tears finally couldn't be held back anymore, spilling out and sliding down her cheeks. "But... but what if there is no other way?! What if this is the only choice?!"
She turned to look at Rover, her tears falling drop by drop like pearls from a broken string. Her voice was choked with sobs, full of helplessness and panic, "I saw... I saw so many endings, and they were all destruction and darkness... I can't wait any longer! I've already given up my ability to foresee, I..."
"Then let's find another way together!" Rover's voice was firm and resolute. "Bu Ling has proposed a plan, the Black Shores has brought technology, and I am here too."
"We haven't reached the end of the rope yet. Why must we choose the path that will destinedly make you disappear?"
"Yuno, admit that you are afraid of disappearing, that you want to live, that you want to see the dawn of victory together with everyone. There is no shame in that!"
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