When Nimrod opened his eyes again, the scene before him had become the ruins of Cordu Village.
He took two steps forward, walked straight over to Lumian, who sat gazing up at the starry sky, and asked:
"What are you looking at?"
"I was just thinking about what my sister saw before..." There was a pain in Lumian's voice that he could barely suppress:
"I never thought these days would change."
"I once heard a Blue-Skinned Two-Headed Bird say that change is a constant in life," Nimrod told Lumian, using "Deceit" to substitute for part of the effect of "Placate":
"If you truly love your sister, stand up and keep living instead of wondering whether to kill yourself. If all you want is to die, then the one you love isn't Aurore. It's yourself."
"But how am I supposed to fight those great beings?" Lumian exhaled deeply and picked up the half-bottle of liquor he had found in the ruins:
"According to you, they're the saints and Angels of legend, actual Gods-and I'm just an ordinary person who's only just entered the Beyonder world."
"Simple. Just become a God yourself, right?" Nimrod scoffed:
"Ever heard of 'a God in five years, XX in three'? As long as you have a good enough grasp of the Acting Method, you can advance one Sequence every six months and become a God in five years."
"And that's not all. Those great beings who want to mold you into a particular kind of person will push you forward, too. As long as you can keep going, one day you'll be able to overturn the gaming table in front of those arrogant Gods."
"Besides, even if it's only for the sake of my own plans, I'll help you."
The corners of Lumian's mouth twitched:
"So