The three of them returned to the designated point.
Aside from Trianne, both Stelle and Castorice wore grave expressions.
"...As I expected, something's not right here." Castorice spoke softly. "How about we go in right now? Lady Trianne, please."
"Leave it to me!" Trianne nodded energetically.
The next second, a Janus's mechanism was created.
Using this route, the three easily traversed the previous obstacles and arrived ahead of schedule.
Mem murmured. "Even though we're not scholars, someone should've come forward to receive us by now..."
Stelle looked around, a bad feeling welling up in her heart. "Maybe... something happened?"
"Highly unlikely ..."
Castorice shook her head and explained, "That's not very likely... As far as I can recall, the voices of people engaged in debate echoed throughout the Grove at all hours of the day."
The audience also found it especially strange. Judging by how the plot had progressed so far, there shouldn't have been any person or force capable of turning a major city-state into this state.
Just then, a long, drawn-out shout rang out from Trianne.
"Helloooo? Is anyone thereeee?"
Trianne didn't bother with any of that. Hands on her hips, she simply started shouting loudly. As Trianne called out three times, the camera also pulled back in three perfectly timed beats.
It finally froze on Trianne's cute, hands-on-hips smile. At a moment like this, such a seemingly meaningless camera movement actually helped the audience relax quite a bit.
And Trianne, smiling, fell silent for a moment before responding to herself, as if asking and answering her own question.
"Hmm. No one's here!" Trianne laughed.
Her adorable antics even made Castorice momentarily unsure whether to laugh or cry.
But then she suddenly remembered something. Before leaving, Aglaea had stuffed a golden spindle into Trianne's hands.
The golden spindle was wound with Aglaea's golden threads. If they used this, it should be able to help them in the Grove of Epiphany.
Under the power of the Mnestia, the Romance Titan, no secret or lie could remain hidden.
After taking the golden spindle from Trianne, Castorice began to guide the golden threads using the method Aglaea had taught her.
On screen, strands of golden thread spread out around Castorice, drifting in all directions before sinking into the leylines of the Grove of Epiphany.
And through the information transmitted by those threads, something abnormal appeared!
One blue shadow after another emerged from every corner of the Grove of Epiphany.
It was impossible to tell what they were, only that they barely had a shape.
"White Dryads?" Castorice stared blankly at the emerging shadows.
Then she cried out in surprise, "No, that's not right, these are the shadows of the dead White Dryads!"
"What are those?" Stelle scratched her head, while Mem beside her wore an equally confused expression, speaking, "White Dryad... What a cute name."
Castorice watched the shadows and explained, "SStrictly speaking... these white dryads are still plants. They only gained sentience as a result of Cerces' blessing of equality, but their sentience is minimal when compared to that of humans. These flowers have already died... What you see here are just faint afterimages of their souls."
"However, this also means that the golden thread has definitely connected with the Titan's presence. Without the golden thread's outlines, we would not have been able to see them at all."
"Dead White Dryad..." Listening to Castorice's explanation, Mem beside Stelle felt both scared and sad.
"Then what did they experience?" Stelle looked at the lingering shadows, then turned her gaze to Castorice.
Before the other could say anything, Stelle already knew what needed to be done.
They had to find a way to search through these shadows' memories. And Mem just happened to be good at that.
"Mem, can you read their memories?" Stelle gently rubbed Mem's fluffy little head.
Mem squinted her eyes and enjoyed it for a moment before stomping her foot and replying, "Let me try. Mem... memem..."
Immediately after, she flew over to the shadows, closed her eyes, and began murmuring softly.
The screen suddenly began to flicker. Those were the shadows' memories, already shattered beyond repair.
What rushed in was only darkness, along with a violently flapping cloak and a sharp, gleaming sword.
Seeing the images Mem revealed, Castorice inwardly cried out that this was bad.
"...I have a bad feeling about this."
"The deathly fog of Thanatos... is fast approaching."
As her words fell, the three of them no longer hesitated.
They sprinted straight toward the core region of the Grove of Epiphany.
As they went deeper and deeper, they finally saw "people", or rather, "monsters"!
These monsters had bizarre appearances, all grotesquely twisted. Their muscles didn't look like muscles at all, but more like some strange, viscous fluid kneaded together by an unknown force.
Even more outrageous, their hands, or other parts of their bodies, had all transformed into weapons.
There was something about them that felt like creations of divine punishment.
And now, these uniquely grotesque monsters lay sprawled everywhere, collapsed and destroyed.
Around them, there were also block-shaped masses of red-and-black unknown substance, thick with a viscous aura, scattered all over the area.
Just getting close made the group feel a deep, instinctive dread.
"Creations of the black tide." Castorice stared blankly at the monsters on the ground and the unknown substance, her heart sinking to the depths.
These monsters were all hollow shells formed by life twisted and eroded. And the pollution of the Black Tide was something that all major city-states feared and loathed the most.
But why would it appear in the Grove of Epiphany at a time like this?
This was one of the great city-states, spoken of in the same breath as Okhema and Castrum Kremnos.
As Castorice finished her explanation, and as the camera lingered on those twisted, sticky, foul monsters and the deep red contamination, the comments instantly exploded.
Everyone was stunned.
....
: Holy crap, I was wondering why the visuals felt off.
: Damn it, it really is the Black Tide? It went straight for the Grove of Epiphany?
: These monsters are disgusting as hell. Those yellow chunks look like pus and they're still wriggling, yuck!!
: If even Nikador couldn't deal with this, doesn't that mean the Grove of Epiphany is done for?
: Didn't the last episode say the Black Tide was still being held back? How did it suddenly break straight through?
: Might be because of the death of the Strife Titan. Even though Nikador went mad, he was still holding back the Black Tide by force. Now that Strife is dead, the defense line probably collapsed instantly.
: No wonder Aglaea was so desperate to have someone inherit the Coreflame of Strife. Turns out there was no one left to resist the Black Tide.
: This world is actually kind of hopeless. One Titan dies, whether mad or sane, and a whole chunk of the sky comes crashing down.
: The Black Tide's art style, especially that red pollution, really feels different.
: Cloak, sword, From the dryads' memories, was that the Black Tide's vanguard? Or the "something" controlling it?
: Damn it, I just relaxed for a second, and then something huge drops.
: So damn exciting!
...
The audience, who had just caught their breath after following the trio's journey,were instantly plunged back into a tense atmosphere with the appearance of the Black Tide.
The three continued to advance deeper inside, gradually encountering some remnants of Black Tide monsters.
These creatures were not only strange in appearance, their attacks also carried unusual debuffs.
As a priestess of death, Castorice could sense it very clearly.
Once struck by these things, a portion of their own life force would be siphoned away.
Unless the monster that attacked them was dealt with, that stolen life force would be lost permanently.
Naturally, these scattered creations of the Black Tide were no match for the trio and were easily destroyed.
Yet no one could bring themselves to smile. Because the deeper they went, the stronger the oppressive feeling became.
Judging from the traces of slaughter here alone, the scholars had at least withstood the first wave of the Black Tide's assault.
It was just that no one knew what price had been paid. Nor did anyone know whether anyone was still alive.
The only piece of good news, perhaps, was that so far, not a single scholar's corpse had been found.
As the three continued their exploration. Far away, on the horizon, in Okhema.
Aglaea and Tribbie Hyacine were discussing a serious matter.
Not long ago, someone had discovered an injured person who had escaped from the Grove of Epiphany, already suffering from severe Black Tide corruption.
Hyacine was doing everything she could to treat them. Beyond that, a grim piece of news had also arrived.
"Trianne just sent word. The black tide has invaded the Grove..."
"We haven't detected any survivors, even with the help of the golden thread... Wh-What should we do, Agy?"
Tribbie bit her finger, looking at Aglaea with barely concealed anxiety.
"...The black tide is posing an even greater risk to us now. I did not expect the Grove to be the first to be impacted, though."
Aglaea's expression showed no fluctuation. After a brief moment of thought, she asked, "Can they tell where the Coreflame is right now?"
Tribbie nodded. "We see it... The Coreflame is still there, but..."
"But... they can't say for sure whether the Titan has also been corrupted by the black tide."
Hearing that the spark was still there, Aglaea quietly let out a breath of relief, then gave her instructions.
"Please let them know that for now, the most pressing task is to identify the Coreflame and transfer it to a safe place as quickly as possible. We must also search for survivors and find out exactly what happened to the Grove."
"Oh, and... find Anaxa. Unless something went terribly wrong, he should still be alive."
Tribbie nodded, then closed her eyes and passed the message along to Trianne.
At a time like this, the strategic value of Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon became fully apparent.
In Amphoreus, their nature of being three-in-one, sharing information, was nothing short of a dimensional strike.
However, after finishing the transmission, Tribbie opened her eyes, looked at Aglaea hesitantly, and asked, "Agy... how do you know that Anaxa is still alive?"
Aglaea's face remained calm as she replied flatly, "I know that man all too well. If that blasphemous "performer" knew that he was not long for this world, he would most certainly try to seize the Coreflame and drag the Titan down with him."
Hearing the chilling implication in Aglaea's words, Tribbie laughed awkwardly."Is this... a joke as well?"
Targeting the spark, dragging others down with him… Not just Tribbie. Even the audience outside the screen were left stunned.
"No, I'm being serious this time." Aglaea replied evenly.
But compared to Anaxa, what concerned her more was the Black Tide, and other matters.
"Even if the divine authority of Strife is as yet unclaimed, the black tide is advancing more rapidly than expected... I fear this tragedy is more than a mere natural disaster."
"Alas, it's too late. The Council will likely take this opportunity to do something... I will try to keep this under wraps for now, but you must also take care and be prepared for anything that may happen."
At this point, Aglaea took a deep breath and looked toward the distant, thunderous silhouette of Kephale, as if speaking to Tribbie, and also to herself.
"That being said, based on the condition of this patient, Tribbie, we should prepare for the worst."
"...It's likely he is the only one who managed to escape from the Grove, against all odds."
As Aglaea's words fell, the audience felt a suffocating pressure wash over them.
Not long ago, everyone had just secured the Coreflame of Strife.
...
: Why does Amphoreus feel so overwhelmingly bleak… first the mad Titans, then the Black Tide, is anything not wrong?
: Aglaea looks like she's about to be worked to death. There's just no end to the problems.
: Damn it, this gives me that feeling where everything seems to be getting better, but you're still completely powerless against the situation.
: Such a massive city-state, and it's just gone like that.
: What Aglaea said earlier was really thought-provoking too. It sounded like there might be something else behind all this?
: And that Anaxa she mentioned, that guy sounds terrifying.
: Drag a Titan down with him? Holy shit, that's some serious power.
: From earlier hints, wasn't this Anaxa some kind of teacher to some Chrysos Heirs?
: With someone like that, and the Grove of Epiphany still getting crushed by the Black Tide…
: Could it be completely wiped out?
: That's way too tragic. So what's the Grove of Epiphany's situation now, exactly? I've got a bad feeling something big is coming!
...
The comments flooded past. And the camera once again shifted back to the Grove of Epiphany.
Stelle, Castorice, Trianne, and Mem were all moving swiftly through the city with heavy expressions.
Within this vast city-state, there was not the slightest trace of life.
What made it even harder for the audience to bear was precisely this situation.
No living people to be found. No idea what had happened. Everything hung in uncertainty, with no definitive conclusion.
Only a deathly silence remained.