Not only Hyacine, the audience also held their breath, wanting to see the truth hidden within this piece of history.
What kind of person was the Daythunder Knight?
How exactly were the Skyfolk come down to the land? And what about the unresolved, terrifying mystery of the Sky bloodline?
On screen, the two winged beasts stepped forward.
The Rainbow Bridge in this section had long since been completely destroyed; only legendary beings like them could summon it once more.
"I've called forth the Rainbow Bridge. Proceed along its path to the dome where the entwined fates of humanity and the Titan must be resolved."
After Solabis spoke, he adjusted his posture. Everyone followed behind them.
At the end of the Rainbow Bridge was a small floating stone platform. High above it, deep within the sky, a modest tower-like structure could still be seen floating in the air.
That was the place where one could seek an audience with Aquila.
A miracle jointly built by the people of the skyfolk and the Titan. And this stone platform was the only path leading there.
Once everyone stepped onto it, the platform silently began to float upward, rising rapidly like an elevator. Before long, it carried everyone into the interior of the tower.
As the platform continued its ascent, Solabis and had already caught the scent of dread drifting through the sky.
It was Aquila's presence. As for the emotions belonging to Seliose, they could not sense them.
The two-winged beasts relayed this information to the Chrysos Heirs.
Phainon shook his head, leaning on his greatsword as he said seriously,
"We won't make them wait for too long. A Titan shall get Dawnmaker to have its first taste of blood."
Phainon's eyes were filled with unwavering determination. Sensing Phainon's fighting spirit, Solabis found his attention drawn instead to the greatsword in his hands.
"That sword you wield... it seems familiar."
The casual remark caught Phainon off guard.
"Are you sure about that? This was only recently forged."
Solabis frowned slightly, shaking his head in confusion without dwelling on it.
"...Perhaps."
The audience, however, immediately grew wary.
What did that mean? After all, they knew about the theory of the cyclical history.
Had the Flame Reaver appeared a thousand years ago? Had he once tried to kill Aquila?
Or had something gone wrong with Amphoreus's timeline? After all, the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first had always been endlessly debated.
The chat exploded into arguments. The clearer the history became, the more questions the audience wanted answered.
Not long afterward, the ascending platform finally came to a stop. Everyone stepped off and arrived before the final staircase.
The moment they arrived, Mem narrowed her eyes uncomfortably.
"...Something's off."
"I can feel the memories here churning. It's as if countless emotions have lingered through the ages, refusing to fade away."
"The wandering memories here seem to be pleading for something... heavy with pain and grief..."
"Like ghosts lingering by the River of Souls..."
Everyone had been waiting to uncover the history preserved here. But judging from Mem's words, what remained might not be the scene they hoped to see.
Still, Phainon turned toward Hyacine and asked once more, "Are you ready, Hyacine?"
Hyacine nodded firmly, tightening her grip on her staff.
"Yes. The Flame-Chase Journey is reaching its final chapter. No matter how cruel the truth may be, nothing will sway my determination to finish this mission."
Phainon understood her feelings more than anyone. He withdrew his gaze and looked toward the empty platform.
"The true history buried in time must come to light. The fates of mortals shouldn't be lost beneath polished myths."
"We're on the same page, Lord Phainon."
Hyacine replied firmly.
"Go to the celestial globe, Hyacinthia." Solabis' voice softened slightly. Once again, he offered a reminder to the kind-hearted girl.
"The forgotten past will reveal itself to you, one fragment at a time. Hold fast to your resolve, you'll need it to face what lies ahead."
There was no need to say more.
Whether it was anxiety, fear, or anticipation, the moment of confronting the truth had arrived.
Hyacine, child of the Skyfolk and Chrysos Heir of the Flame-Chasing Journey...
Step by step, she walked toward the celestial globe and used the activation command.
She awakened this place. And with it, the memories sleeping here.
At the same moment, Mem activated the divine power of time, allowing everyone to witness the past.
Countless memory-phantoms appeared.
And just as Mem had sensed earlier, what emerged before everyone's eyes was far from a beautiful scene.
A group of arrogant people surrounded a trembling individual.
The clothes worn by the arrogant crowd had been modified from older designs. Hyacine recognized the style at first glance.
They were nearly identical to the garments worn by the Skyfolk when they had fallen to the earth.
As for the people being surrounded, their clothing was much more traditional, bearing obvious characteristics of the Skyfolk.
The realization left Hyacine momentarily stunned.
Since when had the Skyfolk become the oppressed side? And who exactly were these people dressed like the skyfolk?
While her mind raced with questions, the crowd had already begun to stir.
"Ha... look who we've caught — an old-fashioned disciple of the ancient god!"
"The frail Titan was conquered long ago by the mighty warrior goddess. Now they're nothing more than rusted scrap, left in the forge to decay over countless years."
"Surrender to us, relic of a bygone era! We'll reshape your clouded mind and grant you a place alongside your kin in Seliose's glory..."
The crowd in newer clothing mocked those before them with condescending arrogance.
Their tone was not much different from that of the Skyfolk during the Civil War.
Meanwhile, the old believers trembled helplessly as they replied with fear and indignation:
"Your so-called "reshaping" is nothing more than torment, both in body and mind."
"No... I'd rather die than give in to hypocrites like you, hiding behind empty faith and wielding power as you please!"
This so-called conversion was merely another form of torture.
These new believers would use "purification" as an excuse to humiliate and torment any old believers who joined them.
They would continue until the victim either completely broke down or died.
According to the new believers, such an outcome only proved that the victim's devotion to Seliose was insufficient, that they were stubborn relics of a bygone age.
That was nothing more than one-sided violence carried out under the guise of conversion.
Among the new believers, a vicious man burst into cruel laughter and pointed at a woman wearing the clothing of the Sunfolk.
"Hahaha! Take a good look at this pathetic fool! Do you see it? What a laughable hypocrite!"
"You're one of the Sunfolk, aren't you?"
"When you oppressed your own under the guise of faith, leaving countless souls to suffer endlessly under the scorching sun — did you ever consider that even the fiercest sun could one day fall?"
The helpless woman was left speechless. Filled with regret and fear, she muttered softly,
"I... I once thought..."
But before she could finish, the man rudely cut her off.
"Spare us your empty excuses, relic of the old world. "I'd rather die than give in to hypocrites like you, hiding behind empty faith and wielding power as you please!"
"You've already sentenced yourself. All we're doing is following through."
"Do it. Make it clean. A single, sharp cut across the neck."
The figures around them began to move.
They pinned down the woman's limbs, grabbed her hair, and exposed her neck.
"No... no!!"
The woman screamed in terror and struggled desperately. But the scream only lasted halfway before there came a sound like a watermelon being split open, followed by the noise of something gushing out.
Everything fell silent.
The Chrysos Heirs and the audience witnessing this screen, all sank into a long silence.
It wasn't that they didn't know what to say. It was that there was simply too much to say.
This had gone beyond mere ugliness. The scene laid bare nearly every vile aspect of human nature.
...
: Too dark... and absurdly ironic...
: After Seliose killed Aquila, she wanted to free the Skyfolk from their chains, yet these people ended up worshipping her as a new god?!
: And they're even using this conflict between old and new faiths to repeat the same atrocities from the old civil war, slaughtering former believers and their own people?!
: In the blink of an eye, the Sunfolk became the persecuted side instead.
: Doesn't that mean Aquila died for nothing?
: Thinking back to the earlier scene makes it even more ironic. When Seliose slew the Titan, the people turned into mindless beasts, then immediately began worshipping Seliose as a god...
: How can people be this pathetic...
: Faith is poison flowing through their veins!
: Do they absolutely need something to kneel before? I can't take it anymore.
: This reminds me of the second Once Upon a Time. The people worshipped the God of Strength, but after the God of Wisdom defeated them, they turned around and worshipped him instead, which only made him angrier.
: Very much the same idea.
: Was this really a creation sculpted by Kephale himself? It inherited everything else, so why didn't it inherit their love and tolerance?
: So the people in Okhema are descendants of these new believers?
: We're done for. History is being rewritten all over again.
...
The audience could hardly imagine what Hyacine was feeling as she watched this scene.
History, records, and the glory of her people, all of it was being shattered by the truth.
If the Skyfolk in Okhema truly were descendants of these people, then their past might not have been glorious at all.
It could even be said that the entire history of the skyfolk was built upon lies and deception.
Yet Hyacine, who grew up in such a place, was a girl who cared for ordinary people, possessed a kind heart, and carried genuine compassion.
The clash between those values could not be explained in just a few words.
"Are you alright, Hyacine?"
Stelle and Phainon almost immediately turned toward their companion.
"I'm fine..."
The color had begun to fade from Hyacine's eyes, but they still retained a trace of her own light.
"Grayie... Lord Phainon... I expected this. It's just... thinking about the vision Seliose held before declaring war on the Titan... this sight is deeply heartbreaking."
Yes. The Daythunder Knight Seliose truly deserved to be called a hero. Even by modern standards, the title fit her perfectly.
Declaring war on the Titans for the liberation of the people, such an ideal was worthy of admiration no matter the era.
But what made it painful was this, the people she wanted to free did not want to be freed.
Seliose defeated the Titan and destroyed the chains of physical oppression. But the Titan within people's hearts had never disappeared.
...
: Someone like Seliose was destined to be misunderstood in that era.
: Or rather, she was destined to fail in the end, because she had her own limitations. She overlooked the liberation of the human heart.
: The ideological branding etched into the Skyfolk never loosened in the slightest.
: This suddenly makes me emotional...
: Some great people are great because their vision transcends their era.
: To truly liberate the Skyfolk, you would first need to begin with the people themselves. Reconcile the contradictions born between the skyfolk and the rainfolk, then distinguish between the primary enemy and the secondary enemy.
: In that environment, once the layers of conflict were peeled away one by one, everything would inevitably point toward the Sky Titan Aquila.
: Exactly. Hold grievance meetings, rebuild rule by the people, establish a moral consensus, identify friend from foe, and use every available method.
: Only when people recognized the existence of divine oppression, or class oppression, would Seliose's victory over Aquila cease to be a futile act.
: 666, isn't that the old-school revolutionary playbook?
: The value of that playbook is still unmatched.
: And honestly, this isn't some impossible fantasy. The reason divine authority couldn't be challenged before was because it truly existed. But if people like Seliose can defeat the Titans that embody divine authority, then that approach becomes entirely feasible.
: It's still the limitation of the era.
: What a tragedy.
...
When viewers reached this part, they naturally thought of the wisdom of the older generation.
At the same time, they found themselves unable to blame Seliose.
Or rather, even if one combined countless fictional stories with reality itself, how many people could truly accomplish something like this?
Precisely because the audience understood how difficult such a task was, they could not criticize Seliose for not doing enough.
Seliose possessed the power to slay gods. Yet she could not sever the branding buried deep within people's hearts.