This development left everyone in brief silence. But the scene continued.
The past, filled with intense emotions and memory fragments, kept unfolding before them.
After the scene of the new skyfolk persecuting the older ones disappeared, several figures that appeared again seemed strangely familiar to some of the Chrysos Heirs.
Not just them. Even the audience blinked in surprise.
They seemed to have seen Canis?!
"Please... help us, the forsaken Skyfolk..."
"...Lady Caenis, you are the strong one who follows the path of shadows."
One shadow was pleading to the woman before her.
This wasn't an illusion! They had really seen Canis!
However, the Canis shown on screen was still very young, so young that she barely resembled the Canis of Okhema.
But the viciousness and malice on her face were impossible to hide.
"The "Cleaners"...! Did the Skyfolk conspire with them?"
Phainon was utterly shocked.
How was this woman everywhere?
While everyone was thinking different thoughts, the battered old believer continued pleading with Canis:
"Word has it you hunt those with golden blood, all in your quest to cleanse the world of the filth of those cursed offspring."
"Deliver justice for us. The witch with golden blood struck down the proud Eye of Twilight, desecrating their divine grace. Yet, it is we, the devout denizens of the sky, who are forced to pay the price!"
Tears streamed down his face as if he had been the victim from beginning to end.
This "Canis" nodded lightly and said,
"I can smell your despair, Skyfolk... The Cleaners are on the side of mortals. Together, we'll erase that blasphemous bloodline from this world."
"The Daythunder Knight and her fantastic creatures are far too strong. No one can hope to defeat them in a direct fight. But we'll show you every trick, every strategy you can use to turn the tide..."
The memory ended there. No one knew what kind of scheme Canis had taught those old believers.
But judging from their experience dealing with her in Okhema, it was probably far more than merely despicable.
The audience had originally thought that Seliose fighting with everything she had, defeating Aquila, freeing the Skyfolk from their shackles, only to be rejected by the very people she liberated because of their ingrained beliefs, was tragic enough.
They never expected something even more tragic. These liberated people not only refused to live for themselves, they even wanted to bring down Seliose.
...
: This is seriously hard to watch.
: Seliose did so much, what was it all for?
: When I saw the old believers being persecuted earlier, I actually felt sympathy for them. Guess I was still too naive.
: Pitiful people often have hateful qualities.
: The current state of the Eye of Twilight is probably completely different from what Seliose envisioned. I wonder how the Daythunder Knight feels now.
: I doubt she's very happy.
: All that effort, for nothing.
: And this Canis too, damn it, she's everywhere. Whenever something goes wrong, she's the first to run away. Seriously the worst.
...
After the memory faded, the Chrysos Heirs exchanged glances.
Phainon was the first to speak, saying firmly,
"In their desperation, those ancient disciples were willing to do anything, even ally themselves with the Cleaners."
"But I'm guessing their plan failed, didn't it?"
Solabis spoke up, "Those assassins were vicious, but not foolish. They never actually dared to attack Seliose."
"They weren't driven by any genuine desire to help the oppressed. Their true targets were the innocent Chrysos Heirs hidden among the Skyfolk."
"These schemes only came to light long after the damage was done."
At this point, the towering winged beast seemed somewhat dejected.
Because all of this happened afterward. By then, the Chrysos Heirs in the skies had already suffered severe persecution.
Phainon shook his head and said, half sighing and half helpless,
"Before the Flame-Chase Journey began, the Chrysos Heirs waged war against each other over who was a "legitimate" heir of the prophecy. Even Tribbie's many selves were pulled into the chaos."
"At the time, golden blood was seen as a curse. Honestly? It's easy to see why."
The Chrysos Heirs of that time were clearly nothing like the those of today.
For reasons unknown, the Chrysos War had almost been started by the Chrysos Heirs themselves.
City-states were destroyed, and people were left homeless. Such hatred was indeed understandable.
"But Seliose... where was she in all of this? What thoughts weighed on her mind as she watched everything unfold?"
Hyacine's attention was entirely focused on Seliose.
Before anyone could answer, the memory itself provided the answer once more.
With Canis's help, the actions of the old believers successfully enraged the Daythunder Knight.
Her unconditional tolerance was repaid with ruthless betrayal. Before this, whether Seliose felt disdain, sympathy, or frustration toward her own people, her love for humanity had never diminished.
Otherwise, she would never have chosen to challenge Aquila.
But this time, humanity finally experienced the wrath of the Daythunder Knight.
The old believers' conspiracy had nowhere to hide beneath the blazing sun.
Under the herding of two-winged beasts, both the new and old believers were gathered onto a single platform.
The densely packed crowd made entirely of memories sent chills down the audience's spines.
Judgment had arrived. The uneasy crowd stared at the two-winged beasts in the sky.
The old believers trembled all over, terrified of the unknown judgment to come. The new believers were equally fearful, afraid that their own inadequacies had angered the powerful Daythunder Knight.
"Your Highness, what are you planning to do!?"
A indignant skyfolk shouted with all his might, defending himself:
"We are devout disciples of Lady Seliose... We would never betray her! It's those rats... they are the fools who backstabbed our hero!"
His words immediately received support from countless new believers.
They mistakenly believed the winged beasts had gathered them here because they had been mistaken for traitors like the old believers.
After all, they had always been suppressing the old believers. This had to be a misunderstanding!
So they argued desperately, trying to prove their loyalty.
Meanwhile, the old believers prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling as they begged for forgiveness.
"Please spare us! We were blinded by hatred and misled by those people clothed in black."
Their fear was completely genuine. When faced with the power of the Daythunder Knight, they were truly terrified.
Yet the future that Canis and the men in black had promised, the overthrow of the Daythunder Knight, was shattered beneath the Daythunder Knight's blazing might in mere moments.
The shadow of death descended equally upon every remanent. Other than praying for the Daythunder Knight's forgiveness, they did not know what else they could do.
The new believers at the side seized the opportunity and cried out:
"Punish them, Your Highness! Without these stubborn remnants of the past, the Skyfolk may finally stand united under the warrior goddess's banner!"
The scene gradually grew noisy. Everyone waited for the judgment of the two Winged Beasts.
Under the gaze of the crowd, the Solabis and Lunabis of memory each spoke.
Solabis said:
"The strong crush the weak, twisting faith into a tool for oppression."
Lunabis said:
"The weak rise to power, yet the cycle of hatred endures, unbroken through time."
The voices of the Winged Beasts merged into one.
"Seliose has made her judgment: the corruption within humanity is a sickness beyond cure."
The proclamation thundered across the skies. Each and every skyfolk of the platform stood frozen in place.
Silence filled the entire scene.
"No... that's impossible..."
A despairing old believer crawled to Solabis's feet and said in disbelief:
"Yet she once loved us with such fierce devotion. Has she... given up on us?"
The Solabis in memory merely looked coldly at the mortal beneath its feet and repeated, word for word, what it had heard from Seliose:
"Seliose touched the Coreflame and gained the vision of the Titan."
"She saw what the god fears, rooted in the darkness, spawning from the edge of the world, the black tide that devours all."
"Aquila, they flee from the clouds not out of favoritism toward the scorching sun, but merely out of fear of that boundless shadow."
"Yet humanity misinterpreted the god's intentions, forging them into weapons for fratricide..."
"...This history, brewed from sorrow and tragedy, shall end here."
This was the judgment passed upon the old believers.
The cause and outcome of those absurd internal conflicts had already been understood through Seliose' words. Yet the despairing old believers could not comprehend how Seliose had come to understand everything so completely.
Meanwhile, Lunabis turned toward the new believers and said:
"We are here to deliver the message Seliose left for mortals…"
"To my once beloved, yet now unsavable kin…"
"With golden divine blood coursing through me, even the Tyrant of the Sky bends to my unyielding light. My light burns far brighter than before, and the fog clouding my mind has finally lifted-"
"I gaze upon this fragile earth through the god's hundred eyes, and resolution fills me. A hero's instinct drives me forward, compelling me to deliver your final judgment-"
"Your future flows between the boiling streams of the golden pool at your feet-"
"Rejoice, for as everyone's flesh and blood merge with liquid gold-"
"You will finally understand what true unity means."
As Lunabis's proclamation ended, the scene did not focus on the people's expressions.
Instead, the viewpoint plunged downward.
Passing through layers of cloud, it descended to the deepest part of the structure.
There lay a golden pool, bubbling and erupting endlessly like the surface of the sun.
The audience, still somewhat bewildered, immediately understood the meaning of the judgment the moment they saw it.
Seliose intended to throw everyone into it!
She was going to kill every skyfolk!? Melt everyone into gold so they could understand true unity?
Only then did everyone recall Seliose's final words.
As they stared at the boiling golden pool, an uncontrollable chill rose within them.
In the end, there was no story of a dragon slayer becoming the dragon.
The truth was even worse than that. An idealist's ideals had been crushed by reality.
Before Seliose marched against Aquila, she could never have imagined that one day she would become utterly disappointed in the very people she loved and sought to liberate.
Perhaps the old believers' conspiracy had merely been the trigger.
The moment the new believers began oppressing the old believers after Aquila's defeat, that disappointment had already begun to spread.
...
: So this... is the truth of the Skyfolk...
: What love-filled little town? Holy shit.
: From the moment the Sky arc began, the entire story has been nothing but black comedy and absurdity.
: My god, a golden execution device...
: The Daythunder Knight used to be such a noble person.
: Those people must have completely broken her heart.
: Unity (literal version). The fate of these skyfolk is truly tragic!
: It's horrifying. Melting everyone down is practically the cruelest punishment imaginable.
...
The comments flooded past.
At this moment, among the crowd, an old lady suddenly came to her senses.
This person had appeared before. She was the elderly woman who had previously said that Seliose would inevitably face the truth of humanity.
"Ha... I've long seen this day coming."
"This isn't your fault, Seliose. Your only mistake… was placing far too much hope in humanity."
Once again, she struck the heart of the matter.
Seliose was a perfect hero. She was always confident, always shining.
She mistakenly believed that others should be like her as well, resisting injustice and questioning things that ought to be questioned.
Seliose believed this so firmly that she never considered the possibility that not everyone was as strong as she was, whether in power or in spirit.
After she merged with Aquila, how could she not feel disappointed? Not feel despair? Perhaps even become completely disillusioned with humanity after witnessing the actions of the Skyfolk?
Her extreme confidence and love for mankind created the Daythunder Knight.
But it was precisely that same extreme emotion that, after becoming a Titan, drove her to write such an absolutely "fair" future for all the Skyfolk.
"That day, countless Skyfolk fell from the dome of the Eye of Twilight, swallowed by golden lava."
"They spent their entire lives praying to the sky, yet their devotion never earned them wings to escape their fate."
Looking upon the events of the past, Solabis spoke softly.