Paimon's story came to an end there. Having learned the truth, Aether and Lumine both wore expressions of shock and disbelief.
Lumine murmured, "So this is the truth? The mastermind behind it all was actually the Death Ruler!"
Although Paimon's account was shocking, it also made sense. Not only did it offer reasonable explanations for many mysteries, it also matched Lumine's understanding of the Seven Archons, making it highly credible.
Throughout her journey, Lumine had been in close contact with all seven Archons, including several who had personally experienced the Khaenri'ah Cataclysm. She, too, felt that, given their dispositions, the Seven Archons would not have gathered in Khaenri'ah without reason, nor were they tyrants who would turn Khaenri'ah's people into monsters and sweep what had once been humanity's mightiest ancient nation from the garden of the gods.
By contrast, Aether, who had also undertaken a journey five hundred years earlier, seemed to find it rather hard to accept. These were things he had experienced himself and witnessed with his own eyes, yet the truth was nothing like what he had imagined.
Although their ultimate target was still the Heavenly Principles, and that much was not mistaken, their reasons for revenge had been completely off the mark. If things really were as Paimon said, hadn't he been mistaken all along? That would make his five hundred years of perseverance seem so ridiculous.
Thus, Aether instinctively believed that the Space Ruler was whitewashing her own actions and trying to drive a wedge between him and his sister. He tried to find something unreasonable in her account, but however much he thought it over, he could find no flaw.
Whether it was the reason the Archon War had broken out, the truth behind Khaenri'ah's disaster, or the Heavenly Principles' abnormal behavior, everything seemed