Who would have thought that Phainon would run into trouble so soon after parting ways with Xing and March 7th:
" The Spiritwater... has dried up?"
He gritted his teeth, "Damn it! Why are there obstacles everywhere..."
"Calm down... there might be other entrances. The closest one is the sacrificial water basin of another gold merchant..."
Just as Phainon was pondering a solution, Trinnon appeared behind him.
"... Little Bai."
"... Teacher Trinnon! I thought you would be waiting for me at the Vortex of Genesis. Are you alright?"
"When night falls in Okhema, all the Spiritwater dries up. We guessed you'd be anxious, so we came here early to wait for you."
Phainon chuckled softly, "Heh... you've always been the ones who understand me best."
" The Core Flame of the Kephale... do you know where it is?"
"Hmm. Little Fei'er, she protected the Core Flame very well... No one can guess where it was hidden."
" Bartunik —come out?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a purple figure emerged from the envelope that Trinnon had taken out.
" Bartunik?! What on earth is this...?"
"... Hehehe! At least I don't have to be wrapped in an envelope anymore, I was so suffocated!"
"Hey, you'd better watch your manners, kid! Because the whole world is eyeing that Core Flame..."
Bartunik grinned wickedly, "... and now you're lying in my bottomless stomach!"
"This is indeed... unexpected," Phainon said.
"Huh? Your reaction is far too calm; this is completely different from what I expected!"
" Bartunik... Little Bai doesn't know the truth about the eternal daylight in Okhema yet."
"Ah... right. Well then, you'd better stand still and listen carefully, kid!"
"That girl, Cifera, fooled the entire Amphoreus with a magnificent lie—"
"She fooled you all, making you believe that the giant ball on Kephale's back would forever illuminate Okhema..."
"Besides... hehehe~ she also fooled that foolish advancement trial, allowing this great one, the great Zagreus... to survive!"
Phainon remained silent for a long time, leaving Zagreus, the "Ember of Trickery," at a loss.
"... Hey? Kid? Why aren't you responding? Damn it! This isn't fun at all, I'm so disappointed!"
"Therefore, for a thousand years... what has sustained the eternal daylight of Okhema is not the Miracle of Kephale, but the lie woven by Cipher's divine authority through ' Trickery '..."
"But now, the lie has been exposed. That means..."
"You guessed right... Cifera is gone. All her lies have now vanished."
Phainon:?
"But you just said that you— Zagreus —also survive on Cipher's lies. If she's already..."
Phainon did not delve into the matter of the " Dawn Machine " being restored again, but instead thought of something else.
"Hehehe... Looks like your cleverness isn't all that great, kid. Don't forget, I'm one of the twelve Titan of Amphoreus..."
"And isn't this Core Flame in my stomach... the very core that sustains the life and divinity of the Titan?"
"Ah... so, you... you're just going to hand over the Core Flame to us like this?"
"Hehehe~ That's exactly right! So, why don't you hurry up and thank this great master?"
Phainon didn't understand. "Why? In mythology... Zagreus was the most cowardly Titan survived."
"Hey, stop trying to discredit me with those fabricated stories! My ambitions far outweigh any mere thought of saving my life..."
"Let me tell you! My Titan desire... is to weave the greatest Trickery in the world with Cipher!"
"Suppose there are one hundred million possibilities for the future of this world. No matter how you look at it, ninety-nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of them all point to an ending of ' Destruction '..."
"But! With this ingenious Trickery, we fooled all the idiots, villains, and disasters in the world, and made that one in a billion chance come true..."
"This... this is the ' Miracle ' I've strived for my entire life, even at the cost of becoming like this!"
"Take the Core Flame, brat! Go and fulfill your mission!"
Zagreus patted his chest. "Remember this—it wasn't the Kephale of that fool Cephale that saved Amphoreus, nor the babbling of that doll Oronyx..."
"... but rather, it's my divine power that's despised by the world... and a lie that a cat-eared thief has maintained for a thousand years!"
Zagreus pulled out the Core Flame belonging to " Worldbearing " Kephale, which were hidden in his stomach pouch.
Its divine body, reduced to the form of Spirithief, gradually turned to dust and vanished, its unrestrained laughter fading away with the wind...
Phainon sighed deeply, gazing at the gleaming " Worldbearing " Core Flame.
" Strife, death, Trickery..."
"So those symbols that were once seen as Calamity... can also leave their mark on stories of World-Saving."
Meanwhile, on the other side
Xing and March 7th were rushing towards the bathhouse. Their priority now was to assist Dan Heng in thoroughly defeating the Flame Reaver!
"Oh, right... Weren't you with Miss Cipher before? Where is she?"
Xing shook her head. "After arriving at the Chrysos Heirs' Baths, we split up. She went to search for the ' Worldbearing ' Core Flame... but given the current situation, I doubt she's even found it now..."
"Ugh, one bad thing after another, and the enemy we have to deal with is so strong, how am I supposed to play like this!"
March 7th pursed his lips. Wasn't there supposed to be an excellent matchmaking system? How come this Flame Reaver's abilities are so overpowered? Flying, escaping, indestructible, and even throwing bricks with incredible strength.
"Wait... where did the priestess go at such a critical moment?"
Xing shook her head again. "I don't know. So far, we've only met one member of the ' Church of Eternity,' Fulisina."
"Sigh~ What on earth is the ' Church of Eternity ' doing?! And Teacher Ye Yan, are we really in the same Amphoreus as them?!"
"It's hard to say."