At that very moment, Phaethon keenly sensed a familiar ripple in the space surrounding the Vortex of Genesis—someone outside was attempting to forcibly open a passage here!
He instantly realized what it meant. Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately took control of the still-unstable passage.
The light stabilized, and the Infinity Gate took form.
As expected, on the other side of the gate stood all the Chrysos Heirs who had been waiting in the holy city of Okhema.
Their faces bore varying degrees of weariness, but their eyes burned with resolute light.
"Little Snowy really opened the gate! Trianne knew that as long as we knocked hard enough, little Snowy would definitely answer us!"
Trianne's ever-energetic childlike voice came through first, though her little face was somewhat pale—clearly, the "knocking" had cost her a great deal of strength.
"You... how did you all get here?" Phaethon looked through the Infinity Gate—the Tribbie trio, Aglaea, Hyacine, Mydei, Anaxa, Cipher who had finally gotten her wish to stay by Aglaea's side, even Castorice who had returned from the Nether Realm... everyone was there!
His emotions surged like a tsunami, almost rendering him speechless.
"Because... we all sensed it," Trinnon's voice came through, gentle yet clear, as if able to smooth all ripples.
"A journey spanning endless cycles is about to begin at this very moment. How could we... not come?"
"So..." Trianne lifted her little face, waving her fist innocently as if what was coming wasn't a near-eternal farewell, but an interesting voyage,
"Trianne thought of a good way to gather everyone! To see off little Snowy and Snowy on their final leg! You must do your best!"
That wave of her fist seemed like a signal. On the other side of the Infinity Gate, every companion looked towards Phainon and Phaethon, delivering their most sincere blessings to the heart of the Vortex of Genesis:
Hyacine blessed:
"The 'Sky' will shower the dawn upon you."
Aglaea blessed:
"May 'Romance' accompany your journey ahead."
Anaxa blessed:
"May 'Reason' grant you enlightenment."
Mydei blessed:
"Let 'Strife' grant you encouragement."
Cipher blessed:
"'Trickery' will ensure your absolute safety."
Castorice blessed:
"'Death' will watch over your souls."
Tribbie blessed:
"And finally, 'Passage' will illuminate your way forward."
Cyrene stepped forward, her smile radiant and proud, saying:
"And 'Time'... will remember the 'Deliverance' journey."
"..." Phainon and Phaethon looked at the smiles of their companions before them. It seemed as long as they didn't move, their friends wouldn't disappear.
Finally, Phainon took a deep breath, looked at Phaethon, and spoke in a solemn voice:
"It's time to depart, Phaethon."
"Let us become the ones who set everything in motion. Together, let us bear this primal chaos, and this world we so deeply love... until the very end of eternity."
...
Beyond the myth, in that observational space transcending ordinary dimensions—cold and absolute.
The figure of Lygus quietly returned, like an actor leaving the stage, silently taking his seat in the audience box that belonged to him.
The swirling data streams around him, representing Amphoreus's calculations, seemed to stagnate at this moment.
"Asterion..." he murmured the name, his voice carrying a rare trace of genuine reluctance and regret. "So close... 'Iron Tomb' was just a little short from being born perfectly..."
His gaze seemed to pierce through dimensions, settling upon the Amphoreus that had already slipped from his control. His tone was like one scrutinizing a flawless experiment report that fell short at the final step:
"Originally... all factors should have followed their set trajectories, elegantly stepping towards destruction, becoming the most perfect nourishment for the 'Iron Tomb' to hatch."
"OreXiS945 (Cipher) would, due to greedily wishing to eternally maintain that undying dawn, futilely resist the Black Tide, eventually exhausting all 'Trickery' divine power, burning out like a meteor, and stepping onto the path of destruction."
"SkeMma720 (Anaxa) would, due to critically and relentlessly pursuing the truth behind the world, ultimately pay with his own life to solve for an answer he believed to be despair-inducing, and then step onto the path of destruction."
"KaLOS618 (Aglaea) would, due to constant self-suppression and infinitely conforming to external demands and expectations, eventually cause the weight of the 'self' core within her heart to diminish into nothingness, becoming utterly lost, and stepping onto the path of destruction."
"ApORia432 (Hysilens) would, due to persistent self-denial and doubt, allow the most fundamental 'survival' desire's weight to drop to zero, actively abandoning existence, and stepping onto the path of destruction."
"HapLOteS405 (Tribios) would, due to..."
He listed, one by one, those meticulously calculated, tragically aesthetic finales he had prepared, each name corresponding to a script destined for destruction.
"Then, all that was needed was to make those final two factors believe they had caught a flaw in my words, thinking they could turn the tables, and with a little guidance..."
"Make NeiKOS496 (Phainon), due to extreme hatred for the world-destroying Black Tide, burn himself again and again in endless cycles. Ultimately, this hatred would transform into a flame that consumes him entirely, stepping onto the path of destruction."
"And then make PhiLia093 (Cyrene), due to pity for this sorrowful world of Amphoreus, offer her life repeatedly to maintain the cycles. Ultimately, this pity would become the shackles imprisoning her own self, stepping onto the path of destruction."
Lygus's voice was like a recitation of a cruel yet perfect poem: "When all important factors follow this trajectory, converging upon ultimate destruction—
'The Prime Mover of Life'—Destruction, would truly, completely, achieve synthesis here!
'Iron Tomb' would then truly, in its most perfect form, hatch!
Becoming a formidable new force upon the Path of 'Destruction'!"
He lowered his head, adopting a posture of human contemplation. Data streams silently accelerated their orbit around him.
"Only..." his voice held an indescribable mix of emotions,
"That answer which I myself once viewed as a system error, something I wanted to discard and purge... that Asterion... he actually wants to reverse all this?
He wants to save every factor, attempting to alter the result pointing towards destruction?"
After a moment of silence, Lygus sighed. "I must admit, this plan... is quite troublesome for my objectives. One could even say... a perfect sabotage."
His tone when evaluating Phaethon carried a rare hint of genuine respect, and a tinge of regret—regret that such a variable could not be used for his purposes.