Inside a luxurious room at the very top of the Palais Mermonia.
Furina sat on her bed.
She stared blankly into the silence.
Her mind was a muddled mess.
The sudden anomaly with the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale today left her with an ominous feeling.
But despite waiting for so long, Kael never came to question her.
"If something like this had happened a hundred years ago..."
"He would have been incredibly surprised. He would have interrogated me for hours."
"But now..."
Furina looked out the window. Lights flickered in another tower-like room across the way.
'He must be completely disappointed by now.'
She whispered the inexplicable words to herself.
Furina slowly lay down.
She closed her eyes.
'I'm sorry, Kael...'
'Even though you worked so hard to support me, I still can't do anything.'
....
Deep into the night.
Inside his own luxurious room, Kael fell into a deep sleep.
In his dream.
He saw two figures waving at him.
"Yo! He's here, our genius researcher."
"Haha, René, stop joking around."
"Tsk, didn't you go to see Lady Furina's performance today?"
"How could Kael not go? He never misses a single show."
"Hey, you don't actually have a crush on our Hydro Archon, do you? No way, right?"
"Are you really that bold?"
...
"Hey, what are you saying? You want to establish The Church?"
"Please, have you forgotten the disaster Fontaine is about to face?"
"The Prophecy can't be wrong. Jakob and I have both calculated that a disaster will descend upon Fontaine, and everyone will die then."
"We should unite our strength to solve all this, shouldn't we, Kael? We're friends."
"Trust the Hydro Archon?"
"Heh, why did The Church disband? Isn't it because she never cared about Fontaine?"
"What can you even do by going to The Church? Do you plan to create a one-man Church?"
"Utterly ridiculous."
...
"Kael."
"Come, let me show you the new progress René and I have made."
"Haha, don't be so petty. We're friends; last time was just a disagreement and a quarrel."
"In the end, we didn't stop your idea of going to The Church, did we?"
"How is it? Startled, aren't you?"
"This was indeed our fault. We hid it from you back then. Actually, on the way back to Fontaine from Sumeru, my body was already failing."
"René used the power of the Abyss to transform me, allowing me to live until now. Don't mind my strange appearance; I'm still Jakob."
"And as you see now, this equally strange-looking fellow..."
"Narzißenkreuz."
"But it's René."
Arataki Itto: "My god, that gave me another fright. Why did that guy named Jakob suddenly turn into an Abyss Herald?"
Enjou: "I can transform from an Abyss Herald into a human just the same. Jakob must have been transformed by René using the power of the Abyss before he even met Kael."
Aether: "As a Fontainian, René can actually use the power of the Abyss?"
Dainsleif: "It shouldn't be called using; it should be called utilizing."
Amber: "Heavens, they're Fontainians. Why did they turn themselves into such a state?"
Collei: "Amber, they said it was to save Fontaine from the Prophecy."
Klee: "Why did big brother René turn into a monster?"
Lisa: "Did he also use the power of the Abyss to transform himself?"
"Kael, I'm actually very sorry. René failed in the final experiment."
"He came up with a way to strip his consciousness from his body, attempting to survive as a consciousness. Unfortunately, he failed."
"But it doesn't matter. My experiment succeeded. Narzißenkreuz was born from the fusion of René's consciousness and many others."
"We only need to merge everyone's consciousness to resist the Prophecy. Everyone in Fontaine can retain their individual consciousness."
"What did you say?"
"You say surviving solely as a consciousness doesn't count as living?"
"You want us to stop this experiment."
"You... you aren't a Fontainian. You don't understand how we feel."
...
"This is bad, Master Jakob."
"Neuvillette is leading the Marechaussee Phantom to raid our Narzißenkreuz Ordo."
"Damn it, did Kael betray us? That guy."
"Don't panic. Lead Neuvillette and the others into Elinas's body."
"René and I will leave from another way."
Jakob led René, who had become Narzißenkreuz, to flee through another path.
Halfway there, they encountered Kael blocking their way.
"It's you, Kael..."
"You sold us out."
"Do you have any idea? The birth of Narzißenkreuz, this multi-consciousness entity, is the key to saving Fontaine."
"If we can save fifty percent of Fontainians, we will find a way to turn that fifty into sixty, seventy..."
"Why do you want to destroy our salvation plan? You aren't a friend. You aren't a friend at all!"
No wonder the previous life's Kael said Neuvillette's reminder made him recall the memory of slaying a friend.
Jakob, who had transformed into an Abyss Herald, and the monster Narzißenkreuz, born from the fusion of multiple consciousnesses—they were both personally destroyed by Kael.
However, only Neuvillette, who arrived later, knew of this scene.
People didn't understand why Jakob would show their research results to Kael, who had already become a member of The Church.
Perhaps, in the hearts of Jakob and René, Kael, who had conducted research with them in the beginning, was not just a friend, but also an outlander who wanted to save Fontaine.
They wanted to receive their friend's recognition for saving the world, and perhaps they even wanted Kael to rejoin their research to resist the Prophecy.
Unfortunately, the final outcome was that Kael did not stand on their side.
Kael did not approve of this method of stripping away the consciousness of others.
In other words, the previous life's Kael was already well aware of the Fontaine Prophecy before he became the Pope.
Fontaine in the old era, several hundred years ago.
During the process of destroying the Narzißenkreuz Ordo, Kael's contributions were immense, earning him praise from all sides.
Even his one-man Church welcomed the addition of new members.
And during that battle with the Narzißenkreuz Ordo, Elinas's body suffered wounds, giving birth to a new species called Melusines.
They deeply loved Neuvillette, and Neuvillette felt the same. He was very fond of the Melusines.
But as the Iudex of Fontaine, Neuvillette was marginalized by the old nobility.
They wanted to use the Melusines, an alien species, to make things difficult for Neuvillette.
Ultimately, the situation was resolved by The Church, which helped Neuvillette overthrow the old nobility.
"You're nothing but an outlander..."
"Damned outlander, do you want to destroy Fontaine?"
"Kael, you're a guy who betrayed his friends and craves power."
"Sinner! You are the true sinner of Fontaine!"
"..."
Countless accusations echoed in his dreams.
There were former friends and nobles from a bygone era.
In his slumber, Kael could no longer distinguish who each voice belonged to.
He woke up slowly.
No trace of emotion could be seen on Kael's face.
He walked to the table and poured himself a glass of warm water.
His gaze landed on Furina's room, where the lights had already been extinguished.
"What on earth are you thinking?"
"Focalors."
'Focalors?'
Neuvillette constantly replayed Kael's way of addressing Furina in his mind.
This was the second time he had called Furina by name, but each time, he used her Archon name.
From the beginning of the screening until now, Neuvillette noticed that no matter the time or the person he was facing, Kael always referred to Furina as Lady Hydro Archon.
From this, it could be inferred that in Kael's heart, he knew very well how to respect Furina.
'As for why he calls Furina "Focalors" every time...'
Neuvillette pondered over it, and suddenly, an unrefined idea flashed through his mind.
'I understand. I finally understand.'
Combining Furina's lie about giving her power to the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale with the rare expression of relaxation Kael showed when touching the Oratrice's core...
All signs pointed to the fact that the person Kael came to Fontaine to find was not the current Furina, but the true Hydro Archon, Focalors.
'Kael's purpose in coming to Fontaine was to find Focalors.'
'But he discovered that the current Hydro Archon, Focalors, was completely different from the Focalors he knew.'
'However, due to issues of status and position, he couldn't ask clearly to her face.'
'So, to uncover the truth, he continuously made contributions to Fontaine until he became the Pope with a high social standing.'
'During the process of seeking the truth, Furina wove a lie to deceive Kael, claiming she had provided all her power to the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale.'
'Kael took it as the truth, believing that as long as he returned the Oratrice's power to Furina, she would be able to turn back into the Focalors of the past.'
'The two of them had a fight over this matter, and in a fit of pique, they didn't speak for 89 years.'
Having figured everything out, Neuvillette shook his head with a bitter smile.
Although it was unclear what exactly happened between Focalors and Kael in their past lives, judging by Kael's contributions to Fontaine, Focalors owed him a debt of gratitude and emotion that could never be repaid.
Of course, the greatest sinner of the past life might actually be Furina.
Even when faced with Kael's questioning, Furina could have simply refused to answer.
Neuvillette couldn't understand why she used a lie to bind Kael.
"Sigh..."
"Once the story ends..."
"Furina, you'd better pray for yourself."