Amphoreus, the "Bloody Battlefield" of Castrum Kremnos
In the final years of the Golden War, Castrum Kremnos was facing the double blow of internal division and the Titan' loss of focus.
This is an era where life is cheaper than bread. People have witnessed barbarity and death. Castrum Kremnos is summoning warriors for a festival.
" Kremnos Festival "... Xing is very familiar with it. It's the competition that Phainon and Mydei spontaneously organized to collect items dropped by Titan Familiars.
Upon arriving, Xing immediately spotted a silent fighter not far away and invited him to team up.
Upon seeing the milk tea in her hand, this silent fighter actually agreed immediately, which was unbelievable. Xing even confirmed it several times.
I must say, this guy is really aloof. Not only did he refuse to reveal his name, but even though he was clearly interested in milk tea, he chose to refuse the milk tea offered to him.
Galactic Baseballer wouldn't give up easily. After some persistent effort, Star finally learned the fighter's name— Gnaeus.
At this point, another thorny problem presented itself to them.
Participating in the Kremnos Festival requires a "three-person team," and with her and Gnaeus included, they are one short.
Their team also had some issues. Xing was dressed in strange clothes, Gnaeus could barely speak. They thought they were going to be ridiculed by the registration officer, who would say that this was disrespectful to the " Spear of Divine Retribution "!
Ha... In response, Xing simply carried Mimi out. The conservative people of Suspended Castrum Kremnos could never have seen little fairies from the outside world. How dare you say Mimi isn't human?
Moreover, even if that registration officer from the Kremnos were to make things difficult for them, given Gnaeus's reaction to the milk tea, what difference would it make if Xing simply displayed the milk tea formation?
The only pity is... Mimi overexerted herself and was forced to live inside the hourglass necklace, so she can't accompany her to explore the Castrum Kremnos.
And so, Xing and Gnaeus successfully stormed into the interior of Castrum Kremnos, but Xing also sensed that something was amiss.
The " Remembrance " that Mimi relived were far too real. Xing's intuition told her that this fighter named Gnaeus was definitely not simple.
"Ahem~ Lord Gnaeus, may I ask what you are fighting for?" Xing began the interview.
"Fighting needs no reason. I just want to crush stupidity."
"A concise and clear answer, full marks!"
Compared to before when he and Phainon were running around in the dark and gloomy Castrum Kremnos, the bright environment was much better now, and Xing's familiarity with the place had doubled.
"Lord Gnaeus, we have penetrated deep into the heart of Castrum Kremnos... It is time for you to know my purpose."
Xing intends to treat Gnaeus honestly; since even Milk Tea has such a peculiar reaction, there's naturally nothing to hide.
"I don't expect cooperation, I just hope to avoid conflict."
Star will not use force unless absolutely necessary... except for annihilating those Heavenly Punishment Legion.
"I came here to find a way to Destruction Nikador. I received... intelligence that the savage Titan of Strife are forging Permanence bodies for themselves."
"If it is not stopped, it will pose a great threat to Amphoreus in later generations."
"Hmph, a threat..." Gnaeus scoffed. "Our goals don't conflict, girl. Find the Titan, and we'll each get what we want."
Xingyue felt increasingly uneasy as she listened. Along the way, she discovered that Gnaeus had an extraordinary understanding of the Titan " Strife," almost as if he were Nikador himself.
"I've long noticed that you're out of place here... no, out of place in this era."
"Haha~ You can tell just by looking at their clothes."
Xing didn't argue; she only had this one set of clothes, and there was really no other way.
"Is it Oronyx? No... even it doesn't possess such divine power."
"You guessed right, Lord Gnaeus," Xing said, hands on her hips, readily admitting, "I indeed do not belong to this era."
"Someday in the distant future... Nikador, driven mad, will drive my companions and home to ruin. I've returned here... to find a way to stop the apocalypse."
Gnaeus was slightly surprised. "... Will its madness continue for thousands of years? The destruction caused by human folly is immeasurable. In the end, it turns out our goals are completely aligned."
We've seen the look in each other's eyes, we're all on the same side, let's be honest.
"The mediocre Olyphan attempted to strip Nikador of his divinity and store it permanently in an elaborately crafted vessel."
"In this way, Nikador's divine body can be made immortal... but before he begins modifying the Titan, he must first experiment on his familiars."
Gnaeus informed Xing of the known information, and the two rushed to the depths of Castrum Kremnos. Statues stood before them, and Nikador's fragmented soul was officially stored in these statues.
And positioned in front of the statue is the enormous " Edge of Divine Retribution ".
"Listen carefully, girl. You must reassemble Nikador's soul, making its divine core one again."
"In this way, it will regain its dignity as Titan, and you will have a chance to defeat it head-on."
Upon hearing this, Xing felt immense pressure. What was she supposed to do? Smash those statues with a baseball bat?
Gnaeus crossed his arms and revealed no further details:
"Show me what you've got," says the traveler of " Remembrance " and " Eternity."
Xing stopped in his tracks. "You know the concept of ' Pathstrider '?"
This trip to Amphoreus is getting more and more interesting.
Each time the mystery is solved, that's when the " Eternity's Prayer " makes its appearance...
Please remember, the Galactic Baseballer often doesn't follow the beaten path!
History has gone astray... and it needs to be corrected. Only by correcting this history can Amphoreus have a future, and their Trailblaze journey can continue!
Xing chose the most primitive method to solve the problem: he infused Imaginary Energy into the bat, then threw it with full force, hitting a statue squarely.
boom!
The statue did not collapse; instead, a golden stream of light shot out from it and was absorbed by the Star's hourglass necklace.
"Oh? In this broken age, there are still mortals rebelling against fate—that's remarkable."
"Did you misunderstand?" Xing couldn't resist teasing her, before focusing on manipulating the baseball bat again.
"But brute force alone cannot destroy an immortal body... that's why you came to this era to find the answer."
"Courage, perseverance, sacrifice, reason. There are only four Soul-Forging Statues here."
"Even if they did indeed divide Nikador's divinity into five parts, one part of his soul is still missing."
As Gnaeus spoke, Xing had already taken out the golden light from the other three statues and placed them all inside the hourglass necklace.
"Now, where can we find that lost divinity?"
"..."
Gnaeus remained silent for a long while. "I was wrong. That last fragment of divinity was not lost..."
"I know where to look now."
He arrived beneath the " Edge of Divine Retribution," and thought, "Now... only this final step remains."
"Sometimes ago, Black Tide arose from beyond the distant horizon—it slowly approached the borders of Amphoreus, and Nikador was the first Titan to come into contact with it."
"In its struggle against the Black Tide, its consciousness began to fade... At its peak, the Titan could obliterate the archipelago with a single sword strike, yet it could not eradicate the root of the corruption."
"It fought the Black Tide with its will, but ultimately failed. Before its divinity was completely corrupted, it peeled away a part of itself..."
"The part of divinity it stripped away—the part it most wanted to preserve intact—is 'reason'."
Titan believed that its "reason" would one day answer the call and return to the body of the god... to fulfill its due mission.
Xing looked at Gnaeus, who had his back to her. "So... you're part of Nikador?"
Gnaeus glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground. "They represent countless failed attempts. Now, I can finally put an end to it all."
"So... what do you plan to do?" Xing asked.
"Courage, glory, resilience, sacrifice—they are all my alter egos... From the whispers of fragments of my soul, I have reached the conclusion—"
Gnaeus raised his head and stated a fact:
" Nikador's soul is rotten and beyond redemption."
"There is only one way to stop it," Gnaeus said.
"The seal binding divinity has been broken. As long as the soul forging is completed here, Nikador can be restored to its wholeness."
"You will fight a near-mighty Titan; and the glory of slaying a god will unfold before you."
Seeing this, Xing was moved. "... And what about you, Gnaeus?"
"I will return to my origin, becoming a fragment of Nikador's divinity. Corruption will likely engulf me, but this step is unavoidable in order to end madness."
Are you willing to sacrifice for a future you cannot live to see?
"That is my origin, my mission. I am no ordinary man, nor do I fear death—even so, are you going to weep for me?"
" Eternity " separation is also a form of sorrow."
Although Gnaeus hadn't spent much time with her, Xing still had a good impression of him; he was upright and always did his job well.
"We haven't known each other long, but I've already learned a lot from you. So, let me teach you a lesson before I leave—"
Do not despise your talent, do not hate it. The journey is great, the epic is magnificent, because all things eventually pass away.
"Civilization can only grow when it is placed under Strife. Humans are born hating suffering, but only suffering can teach people to stand tall..."
"And ' Eternity '... it is not a laurel wreath bestowed by God, but an anvil hanging over all things."
"Imagine stars never falling, rivers never drying up, life never fading... that seemingly boundless benevolence is actually a solidified 'curse.'"
"The suffering of ' Eternity ' lies in its robbing of the 'end' from all the glory and weight that it bestows upon everything."
"Without disappearance, new life loses its joy; without separation, encounters lose their preciousness; without decay, existence itself becomes meaningless dust."
He placed everything in boundless stillness, letting all things fade into blurred marks against a pale background under the endless erosion of time.
"This is the most complete dissolution of meaning, the deepest loneliness in the universe—witnessing the birth of everything, yet never being able to witness it again..."
Boom!
Hearing the loud noise outside, Xing drew his mimicry baseball bat. "There's no time to waste. If I must fight you... then let's fight."
Gnaeus gave Xing a meaningful look. "You understand the meaning of battle better than I do; perhaps you can be an inspiration to many."
"If you die by my spear, there's no need to try to understand these words anymore; if you bury me... promise me, you will use the Core Flame as kindling, ignite a raging fire, and continue to fight against the Black Tide."
Gnaeus's figure began to blur, specks of light scattering like stardust, but his words grew clearer, reaching the very core of the star:
" Preservation " builds Bulwark, " Remembrance " freezes beautiful moments, " Abundance " sows the seeds of life, and " Propagation " pursues endless propagation... They are all touching the illusion of " Eternity."
"And your ' Eternity '... should know: all things perish, which reveals their weight; suffering is etched deep, which makes it profound."
"The ephemeral is the most profound and moving interpretation of ' Eternity.'"
Xing nodded. Suffering was unavoidable, and she always respected the wishes of the deceased, which was also a form of respect for "death."
Gnaeus's remaining form was almost transparent, and his power was rapidly flowing into the abyss of the mortal world.
His final words were like a distant, resonant chime:
"I am the Spear of Divine Retribution, Nikador —the messenger of chaos, the embodiment of Strife!"
"Remember—I am a necessary scar in this world!"