"You may assess her mettle as humanity's last Master as much as you like. I have no objection," Anno said, shaking his head calmly. "For negotiations, this is also a necessary step, isn't it?"
"So you are not on her side?" Ozymandias gave Anno an interested look, seeming somewhat surprised. "From your previous attitude, it seemed you regarded that little girl as another granddaughter of your own. Yet now you take this stance."
"She truly is a lively and diligent child, much like Mash." Anno naturally walked to the other side of the dais, to a corner facing the throne from afar. "But even if she really were my granddaughter, I would still make the same decision."
"What she will have to face in the future is far more than you imagine. If she cannot even overcome something as trivial as the Sun King, how can she speak of the Incineration of Humanity—let alone what comes after the Incineration of Humanity?"
"...Then what role are you playing in this incident, White Knight Anno?" Ozymandias narrowed his eyes slightly and asked in a low voice.
Anno did not answer him again. He merely stood where he was with his arms folded, closed his eyes to rest, and spoke no further.
"Lord Ozymandias...?" Nitocris cautiously looked at Ramses II, whose entire body radiated a dangerous aura, and tentatively called out to him.
"Send out the Sphinx." Ozymandias waved a hand. "Release all of them. Since they have not honored the agreement, they cannot blame me for using the greatest force at my disposal."
Anno's eyelid twitched.
The greatest force? Those Sphinx?
What a joke.
Not long after Anno kicked open the stone doors of the Sun King's temple, the doors returned to their original state. Leonardo da Vinci inspected them and discovered