Just as he was weighing his options, a faint glimmer of an Infinity Gate lit up on the altar.
Castorice's figure emerged from it, her hands carefully cradling a dark, tranquil crystal—the Death Coreflame.
Her appearance instantly drew everyone's gaze.
"Castorice?" Anaxa's eyebrows rose, a flicker of surprise and confusion in his eyes. "You're... deciding to take up the authority of Death right now?" He knew his student; she wasn't impulsive. This action must have a profound reason.
Castorice looked up, her gaze sweeping over the people at the altar before settling back on Anaxa. She nodded gently, her voice clear and firm. "Yes... Teacher Anaxa, I've decided to become the Death Demigod right now. To... make the only wish that can save my sister." Her eyes held complex emotions—fear of becoming the Death Demigod, but also hope for her sister's return.
"Child of humanity," Cerces, who had been quietly observing, suddenly drifted closer, addressing Anaxa. "A thought occurs to this one. Since you claim that when submitting a Coreflame, one can use Kephale's residual will to fulfill a wish..."
"Why not simply, when submitting the Reason Coreflame, wish for 'a method to safely pass through those seals and reach the Vortex of Genesis'? Would that not save the time spent waiting and researching, going straight to the core?"
Hearing this, Anaxa's brow furrowed slightly. His tone was full of skepticism and a sense of absurdity. "Titan, that idea of yours... sounds far too fanciful."
"Is such a thing even possible? Aren't we going to great lengths to enter the Vortex of Genesis precisely to gather evidence to prove that the 'salvation' prophecy Kephale delivered is a colossal lie or error?"
His voice carried a trace of mockery, yet also an indescribable hint of wavering. "And now, we're supposed to make a wish to this Kephale, who might be the source of the erroneous 'prophecy'?"
"Ask Him to grant us entry to that core place that might hide His secrets or even evidence of His crimes? Even if myths and legends depict Kephale as benevolent,tolerant, selfless..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the massive figure outside the altar that seemed to bear the weight of everything, before slowly finishing his sentence:
"...How could He possibly grant a wish aimed at 'overturning' Him?"
...
Yet, merely a few minutes later.
Anaxa stood silently at the edge of the Dawncloud Cliff, the mountain wind stirring his emerald hair and scholar's robes.
His gaze, somewhat complex, fell not far away—where Castorice, who had just become the Death Demigod, was locked in a tight embrace with her sister Polyxia, who had been freed from the Nether Realm's bonds and regained "life."
Her sister's pale cheeks were bathed in real sunlight for the first time, her face radiant with unbelievable joy and tears. The scene was so warm it felt almost unreal.
Just moments before.
A clear, complete, detailed method on how to safely pass through the Phagousa secret arts blockade and reach the so-called "Vortex of Genesis" had abruptly and precisely appeared deep within his mind as he made his wish, as if directly implanted.
The knowledge came so smoothly, so readily available that it instead made him feel a profound unease.
"Child of humanity," Cerces's form, composed of radiance of reason, reappeared beside Anaxa. Her voice sounded in his ear, still calm in tone, but the meaning within somehow carried an indescribable hint of strangeness.
"It seems Kephale is indeed more...tolerant... than you imagined. Could it be that you previously measured a noble heart with your own mean standard?"
Anaxa was first taken aback that Cerces still existed, then quickly gathered his wits, responding with his usual mocking tone. "Hmph... Titan, you're still 'alive'? After I submitted the Reason Coreflame, I thought this lingering consciousness of yours would vanish completely like smoke and dust. It seems even a Titan's remnant soul is quite attached to this mortal world."
"You so eagerly await my demise?" Cerces's light-form wavered slightly, retorting without backing down. "This one said this consciousness could last fifteen days, so fifteen days it is. Rational calculation holds no error." Her rebuttal still carried a Titan's pride.
However, this usual bickering didn't last long. Cerces's presence soon turned serious, her form solidifying slightly, clearly needing to confirm something more important.
"Child of humanity, perceive carefully." Her voice lowered, carrying the gravity of discovering a major anomaly. "After this one was submitted by you, not only does this consciousness remain, but the connection to the Reason Coreflame was not completely severed as expected..."
"This indicates a serious problem—this so-called method of submitting Coreflames to initiate 'Re-Creation' is likely flawed, or incomplete! It has utterly failed to initiate the Re-Creation process!"
She paused, letting Anaxa digest this information, then spoke with absolute certainty. "This one can clearly perceive that the Reason Coreflame has merely been temporarily restrained, fixed in that specific area above the altar by an external, powerful force."
"The Coreflame itself and the authority and rules it contains show no signs of flowing toward Kephale's divine form or being absorbed by Him. It is as if placed in a display case, frozen in place. This is absolutely not the normal state of affairs when a Coreflame is successfully submitted and its power utilized!"
Anaxa's gaze sharpened like a blade. He quickly reviewed the knowledge he had just acquired in his mind, combining it with what Cerces had just said. A cold conclusion surfaced.
"Yes..." he responded strongly, his voice carrying a chill. "It seems our earlier suspicions were not unfounded."
"To figure out what exactly is hidden behind this so-called 'salvation' blueprint...
To determine whether Kephale's prophecy is true or false...
To understand the truth of Coreflame submission..."
"We must, after all, personally go and see what's inside that heavily protected 'Vortex of Genesis.'"
...
Anaxa flipped through the method gifted to his mind.
"Using the 'spiritual-water' left by the Phagousa priestesses as a medium and key? It seems the method is quite clear now..."
But unknown to all, in an inconspicuous corner of Amphoreus, the originally ink-black, world-destroying Black Tide now displayed, for the first time, a bright, vivid shade of orange-red.