Chapter 689: Kill Cyrene. A heartbreaking moment for the audience worldwide.

Another option?

Hearing Cyrene’s words, the audience didn’t hold out much hope.

Because right now, was there really any other choice? The world had abandoned the Chrysos Heirs and chosen Destruction.

What flowed through their veins was also the golden blood of Destruction. As characters within the story, they couldn’t even break free from the confines of data.

Everything had long since begun hurtling toward the most despairing outcome imaginable.

That was what the audience thought. And Phainon likewise couldn’t see any hope.

At this moment, everyone waited for Cyrene to speak.

“Like you said, Amphoreus is just an experiment, and we’re the participants. We can only walk along the predetermined path toward the ending under the watchful eyes of the stars…”

Cyrene looked at Lygus and said, word by word: “But that also means that there isn’t just one Aeon who can cast THEIR glance at Amphoreus, right?”

!!!

Those words were like a sudden revelation. The audience, who had been drowning in despair and fury, suddenly saw another possibility!

There wasn’t just one Aeon. And Nanook wasn’t the only one paying attention to Amphoreus!

From the very beginning, Black Swan had explicitly told them that this was a place where three Paths were intertwined!

Besides Destruction, there were also Remembrance and Erudition!

They weren’t completely without hope, forced to do nothing but embrace Destruction!

Thank goodness! Destruction wasn’t the only choice left!

But in Lygus’ words, he had intentionally or unintentionally shaped Destruction into what seemed like Amphoreus’ only inevitable ending!

The audience remembered the realization they had just experienced regarding Destruction, as well as that fleeting impulse toward self-destruction, and instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

They had almost been led astray by Lygus again! Thank goodness Cyrene was there!

If it had been anyone else who couldn’t think quickly enough, they might have already fallen for it.

Meanwhile, on screen, Lygus’ prolonged silence indirectly confirmed Cyrene’s words.

“Heh, is this question really that hard to answer? Or did I guess it right? And in reality…”

Cyrene stared at Lygus, and his reaction only made her even more certain of her judgment.

After learning the truth of Amphoreus and sinking into prolonged despair, Cyrene had finally glimpsed a sliver of dawn.

A trace of her previous playfulness inevitably returned to her words.

“This world has already been under the watch of other Aeons?”

“Right?”

“But you deliberately didn’t mention that because you wanted us to believe that the ‘Destruction’ you spoke of was our only choice.”

Lygus remained silent.

But Cyrene refused to let the matter go.

“It’s strange when you think about it. If you just stayed back, watching us complete the ritual and get consumed by the black tide, your goal would naturally be achieved.”

“Why go through the trouble of explaining all this to us?”

That was the crux of the issue.

Cyrene’s intelligence allowed her to keenly notice this point. It was something that even the audience watching from a third-person perspective had failed to notice.

Everything Lygus said was reasonable. Nor had he told any lies.

But he was selectively telling the truth, concealing part of the information in order to deceive Cyrene and Phainon using nothing but truthful statements.

Re-Creation was a necessary condition for the birth of the Lord Ravager.

At the current stage, all the Chrysos Heirs had to do was complete the final Re-Creation, and the Lord Ravager would awaken.

And before learning the truth, Re-Creation was also something Phainon and Cyrene had been willing to sacrifice everything to accomplish.

If Destruction truly was their only choice, then all Lygus had to do was wait for them to complete Re-Creation.

There was no reason for him to appear before them, reveal the truth, and deliberately let everyone learn ahead of time the truth and ending that the Chrysos Heirs could never escape.

Such behavior was meaningless. Unless Lygus simply wanted to see the Chrysos Heirs despair after learning the truth.

But he wasn’t that kind of person, nor was he a fool. There had to be deeper reasoning behind his actions.

Working backward from that premise, Cyrene could reach only one conclusion: Lygus believed that if he didn’t do this, something unexpected was very likely to happen.

Phainon immediately realized it as well.

“You’re pretending, revealing the so-called truth just to deceive us, covering up another possibility…”

“Destruction is not the only outcome for the fate of Amphoreus.”

: Cyrene is seriously so smart!

: Exactly! The three intertwined Paths! Lygus definitely knows about the other Paths too, but he never mentioned them!

: All he ever talked about was Destruction!

: He almost fooled us again!

: Compared to an idiot like Caenis, Lygus is the real venomous snake!

: The craziest part is that every time I listen to Lygus talk, I feel like everything he says makes perfect sense and is incredibly convincing.

: Maybe it’s because this guy has never actually lied? He just selectively tells the truth!

: He’s definitely hiding something again!

: But… thank goodness! At least it hasn’t fallen into the most despairing, nihilistic ending possible!

: I seriously almost thought there was no hope whatsoever just now!

: There’s still a way! There has to be! Don’t forget, this is the Flame Reaver’s pov! If they really had no way out, none of the later events would’ve happened!

: But I still have a bad feeling about this!

The audience was both delighted and worried.

With the story having reached this point, they no longer expected a perfectly happy ending.

They only hoped that the tragedies awaiting them would be a little fewer.

On screen, Lygus remained silent for a long time.

He had been trying to guide the two of them into choosing Destruction of their own volition. But that attempt had failed.

Since his trick had already been seen through, Lygus no longer bothered pretending. He snorted coldly and spoke without the slightest attempt to hide his contempt.

“Do you two really think, as petty little “demigods,” you can change the outcome written by the stars?”

“What makes you think you’re capable of doing that?”

His words might have been unpleasant to hear. But that was indeed what Lygus genuinely believed from the bottom of his heart.

He didn’t believe the two standing before him could possibly understand his grand vision, much less comprehend what he had seen.

For the plan to have reached this stage… It was absolutely not something that could be overturned by the strength of one or two people.

Forget humans, even Emanators couldn’t do it. Let alone these two data beings who had always been trapped within Amphoreus.

Cyrene replied earnestly, “Hmm… A little courage and determination? Just kidding, the answer is pretty simple-“

“But, we’re not gonna tell ya ?”

The moment those words fell, Phainon, had already silently appeared beside Lygus. With a sweep of the weapon in his hand, he severed the Theoros’ head.

Looking at Lygus’s head as it rolled to her feet, the playful expression on Cyrene’s face gradually disappeared.

“We’re going to weave a long dream for Amphoreus, making it believe the experiment hasn’t ended, that everything is still ongoing…”

Phainon, who had returned to Cyrene’s side, said in a low voice, “With just Oronyx’s power, though, it should be impossible to achieve this, right?”

Now that Phainon knew the truth, although he still lacked an understanding of Aeons and matters beyond the heavens, he could already comprehend just how insignificant he and Cyrene were.

He wanted to resist. Yet he had no choice but to face that enormous, insurmountable gulf in power.

The Titans, once so lofty and unreachable, were no different from them before such a disparity, merely actors behind the curtain.

Cyrene took a deep breath.

“Yeah. So, I can only place my hopes on that childhood dream…”

“And the god behind Oronyx that appeared in that dream.”

Time! Memory!

That strange dream! Everything connected here.

Countless memories exploded through the audience’s minds. Amid their shock, realization suddenly dawned upon them.

No wonder the opening of Episode Four had begun with that scene of Cyrene sitting on a swing, dreaming.

As for Oronyx’s divine power… Its most intuitive function was the ability to turn back time.

When they had first seen this scene, the mechanics of this divine power had sparked intense discussion among the audience.

Many people had thought that this divine power was far too absurd, unlike something that should ever appear in a small place like Amphoreus.

And yet… After learning the truth… If they combined Oronyx’s power with the fact that Amphoreus was essentially a computational sandbox of the Emperor’s Scepter…

And then added Memory into the equation… Those incomprehensible paradoxes that had appeared since the very first episode suddenly made perfect sense.

And then, they also realized what could be done with this power.

The audience straightened in their seats, staring fixedly at Cyrene on the screen.

“Now, I can say with certainty: “Time” is the page on which that Aeon records Amphoreus. If it fades from existence and all that it records is lost among the stars, that Aeon will surely direct THEIR gaze here…”

“And it will be a glance that spans time and space, transforming each incarnation of me into the power you shall wield to reset time.”

Cyrene’s words were somewhat profound, so she continued explaining them to Phainon.

“I’ll pour my soul into this ceremonial blade, and creating an endless Flame-Chase Journey.”

“…”

Phainon closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

When he finally opened them again, those blue eyes had already accepted this reality.

“I understand. Then let me step into the cycles and continue Amphoreus’s grand design: to deceive the gods, deceive the world itself.”

“But to make “Time” vanish from this world, that would mean you…”

Cyrene interrupted Phainon with a giggle.

“Alright, alright, let’s not make things so gloomy.”

“What we’re about to embark on is the true Hero’s Journey. So…”

“C’mon, cheer up a bit, okay?”

Even amid such a tragic and solemn atmosphere, Cyrene didn’t want Phainon to carry too great a psychological burden, so she tried to lighten the mood this way.

But Phainon couldn’t smile. Neither could the audience.

They remained silent in their shock, reflected in their silence, and suffered in their reflection.

Memories were bittersweet. For the audience at this moment, those words were no longer merely a description.

They had already become something they could truly feel. The longer they accompanied Amphoreus on its journey, the more memories they accumulated.

And those memories were fermenting into bitter fruit within their hearts.

Cyrene’s plan was actually quite simple. The Aeon of Remembrance was watching Amphoreus.

Oronyx, or rather, the divine authority of Time, could be understood as a kind of anchor left here by Fuli. It represented the fact that the Aeon would continue watching and recording everything that happened here.

But once that anchor disappeared, regardless of whether the Aeon of Remembrance wanted to recover the memories already recorded or understand the cause and effect behind what had happened, They would have to look here once again.

All they needed was that single glance. Then, through the power of Remembrance, they could anchor this moment once more.

If Amphoreus were compared to a computer, then Fuli would be the administrator responsible for that computer’s storage system.

If the computer’s hard drive burned out, Fuli would have to come over and take a look, right?

In other words, the instant Cyrene died, Fuli would turn Their gaze toward this place.

The mighty power of Remembrance would give Amphoreus another node.

A save point.

And after Phainon and Cyrene confirmed this step…

What they had to do next, was erase Time.

In other words… Kill Cyrene.

Two children born in Aedes Elysiae. The closest of companions.

Whether it was Phainon or Cyrene, each of them was the other’s final pillar of support in this world.

And now, one of them would have to kill the other with his own hands. And the one being killed would willingly accept it.

While the one doing the killing would have to shoulder everything, never forget, and continue walking forward.

Because they wanted to save the world. Because their hearts were both overflowing with love.

Yet as the audience felt that overflowing “love,” an immense sorrow sprouted from the depths of their hearts, pressing down on them until they could barely breathe.

Many people’s noses were already stinging, their eyes blurred with tears.

But this was only the beginning. The plan Cyrene and Phainon intended to carry out would last far longer than the audience had imagined.

“In that “memory,” you will definitely meet me again. The little Cyrene who knew nothing, lying on a soft patch of grass, feeling the light breeze, dreaming of the distant world.”

“Tell her about the Flame-Chase Journey, and then… let her become a romantic part of this story.”

“I believe every Cyrene will make the same choice – erasing “Time” again and again, resetting time over and over. After all, they’re all me, and I will always have my charm.”

“Then, I’ll fall into a sweet dream, disappearing in some small corner of the world…”

“Quietly, waiting for the day when that next page is turned.”

Cyrene’s words faded away.

Every thread of cause and effect had finally connected. And yet no one felt excited or delighted at finally learning the truth and having all those secrets explained.

The audience watching-

No matter where in the world they were… No matter whether it was day or night where they lived…

At that very same moment, all of their hearts shattered together.

Hello Everyone!

LordIsland here!

A new chapter! Cheers!