"Why are there so many puzzles in this place? One after another, if you didn't know any better, you'd think we were playing some kind of game."
The Eye of Twilight had gone through a great deal of trouble to complete a whole bunch of puzzle tasks before finally arriving in front of the Celestial Globe. Even though she hadn't personally lifted a finger the entire time, Lumina still couldn't help but complain.
It was just one path, just a single road. It was something that could clearly be solved in less than a minute, yet they insisted on putting a whole bunch of puzzles along the way, forcibly dragging that one minute out to ten minutes. Isn't this just pure disgust, pure psychopathy?
Lumina knew that this was a tactic used in games to inflate players' online time and quest time, giving them a certain sense of "immersion," but why was reality also like this?
It's fine to do this in a game, after all, you're playing a game, and it's acceptable to require a little patience.
But tell me, why is reality also like this?
Where did all these puzzles even come from?
In a city from thousands of years ago, why did it just so happen that the important devices were the ones that malfunctioned?
Walking this whole way had already made Lumina a bit annoyed.
Puzzles, can you just get the hell out of Amphoreus!
Lumina grumbled inwardly.
Lumina had already made up her mind: if there were any more puzzles ahead, she wouldn't bother letting Hyacine have a complete experience anymore. She would just unleash "Lumina's Divine Power" to wipe them all out one by one.
Hyacine and the others didn't notice the look on Lumina's face, but Herta did.
She leaned closer to Lumina's ear and spoke softly, saying, "Exploring ancient ruins is always like this. You have to carefully dodge all sorts of traps."
"Due to the wear and tear of time, some mechanisms will inevitably be damaged and require you to repair them personally. It's quite normal."
"As long as the path ahead isn't a dead end, it's a stroke of great luck."
Herta was quite experienced in these matters. As a scholar, exploring ancient ruins was considered a very normal part of her work.
In Herta's eyes, the devices and equipment inside the Eye of Twilight couldn't even be considered ancient ruins.
After all, the devices and equipment here were extremely intact. They wouldn't present the kind of problems where "if you can't get through, you just have to use your fist to force it open."
In the eyes of a scholar like Herta, this wasn't even something that could be considered a challenge.
Originally, she had no intention of saying anything about this place, but seeing the look of pure annoyance on Lumina's face, she leaned in to softly soothe her so she wouldn't burst from her pent-up frustration.
"So, you're saying you're quite the expert?" Hearing this, Lumina turned to Herta and looked her up and down, appearing slightly surprised.
It was a bit unexpected to Lumina that Herta had studied this kind of thing.
As for Lumina, she was genuinely annoyed by this matter. She had never encountered anything like it before.
The Galaxy held no places that required puzzles. All that was needed was the strength to cross the Galaxy, which Lumina naturally possessed. For her, it posed no problem at all.
And on the planets, Lumina saved them one by one. Even if there were puzzles, she never encountered them.
Therefore, she naturally never dealt with such matters. Having faced them for the first time, she felt extremely annoyed by these tedious puzzles.
In their group, only Lumina was extremely annoyed by these puzzles. Hyacine was focused on solving them, while Stelle, Dan Heng, and Phainon had no objections at all, finding it normal to encounter puzzles along the way.
Even if there were many puzzles, in their eyes, it was still a perfectly normal occurrence.
And even a joyful one.
So many puzzles along the way meant they were heading in the right direction!
Wasn't that something to be happy about?
Hearing this, Herta, who was never one to be humble, immediately nodded, a natural expression on her face: "In this domain, I am, of course, an expert."
"Alright... I just hope we can get to the main point soon." With a slight nod, Lumina said no more, silently hoping there wouldn't be too many more puzzles on the rest of their journey.
"Um, Lumie..." The very next second after Lumina stopped dwelling on the matter, Hyacine's voice rang out.
Her thoughts returning to reality, Lumina saw Hyacine standing before the Celestial Globe, turning to her for help.
Because Lumina had directly used her divine power to activate the Celestial Globe earlier, Hyacine didn't know how to operate the device, naturally leaving this step to Lumina.
Otherwise, they would have to let Mem use the power of [Time] to make the past events of this place resurface.
Although... Hyacine had originally planned to review the memories of this place.
"Leave it to me." Lumina nodded, walked to Hyacine's side, and raised her palm toward the Celestial Globe.
An aura surged from her body, and the next second, the Celestial Globe descended, aligning with the Blazing Sun in the sky displayed on the barrier.
A loud boom echoed, and the brilliant daylight was covered by a mass of dark clouds, turning into a gloomy day.
The Sky Titan seemed to have no objections to this.
This was expected, so no one said anything. After all, the Celestial Globe's location was a necessary part of their journey, and trying it out was merely a matter of convenience.
The most important thing was that Hyacine wanted to understand the original form of the legend.
She wanted to learn about what her ancestors had experienced, and she wanted to know the truth of this matter.
And this truth required the use of the power of [Time].
"Mibao, Grayie, I'm counting on you." Within Hyacine's small frame, an unprecedented seriousness and solemnity were revealed.
Her desire to uncover the truth of the legend had become extremely strong.
She also felt in her heart that before facing the Sky Titan, she absolutely had to learn this truth, otherwise... otherwise she would definitely regret it.
Stelle and Mem said nothing about Hyacine's choice; they simply nodded and immediately agreed: "Leave it to us, this is your right."
"Hyacine, such a good child! Rest assured, with this one here, there certainly won't be any problems. Hyacine can just go and do whatever you want to do!" Mem stood with her hands on her hips, declaring that with her here, anything related to [Time] would not be a problem!
After saying this, Mem did not dawdle, instantly closing her eyes and beginning to use the power of [Time] to sense the memories of this place.
"The memories surging here are even more intense than at the entrance. But don't worry, I'll crystallize them right now..."
Under Mem's diligent operations, a Memory Shard appeared before everyone.
"Thank you, Mibao." Hyacine wore an expression of gratitude, then turned her gaze toward the Memory Shard, taking a deep breath and walking with heavy steps to stand before it.
"Please, witness history with me!"
Hyacine's voice showed she was now fully prepared.
After a while, the memories Mem had crystallized were finished, and Hyacine finally understood a part of the truth in the legends.
"The hero Seliose, utterly disappointed by the actions of the People of Radiance, ultimately decided to cut off the source of it all, which was... the god they worshipped."
Having been prepared for this, Hyacine's cute little face showed no change upon learning this truth.
She remained in her serious, solemn posture.
"At that time, she was still compassionate. Even when certain words provoked the anger in her heart, she remained full of mercy toward the people." Solabis knew more of the truth, and his voice carried a hint of sentiment as he spoke these words.
"At that time?" Hyacine was no fool and immediately caught the key point.
"You will learn all the truth eventually, so there is no need to rush it now. Let's go, it is time to leave. Lunabis is still waiting for you." Solabis did not say much more, mainly because he was not prepared to waste too much time here.
Hyacine would learn all the truth later on, so there was no need to reveal it all now.
"Let's go, chase Aquila and find its location..."
-
Guided by Lunabis, the group relentlessly pursued Aquila.
Soon, Aquila had no way left to retreat, leaving only one place.
The dome of the Celestial Mural was also the highest point of the entire Eye of Twilight, the place closest to the sky.
Riding the giant disc upward, the group quickly arrived at the dome of the Celestial Mural.
"We might as well just rename this place the City of Puzzles. There really are so many of them." Seeing that they had finally reached the best battlefield, Lumina couldn't help but complain again.
Without a doubt, the journey here had been filled with a huge pile of puzzles.
Fortunately, Herta had been by Lumina's side the whole time, and the fact that she was traveling with beautiful girls helped Lumina keep her explosive emotions under control.
If Lumina had been on this journey alone, the entire Eye of Twilight would probably have ceased to exist by now.
Lumina wouldn't care about anyone or anything. As long as they weren't beautiful girls, if someone upset her, she would just flip the chessboard and refuse to play with them.
"Hmm... there really are quite a few." In Herta's opinion, the puzzles here weren't too many, but after seeing Lumina's current state and thinking for a moment, she still agreed with her.
Standing by someone's side when they are at their angriest and most frustrated is also the fastest way to earn their favor.
Herta was determined to completely win Lumina over and make her her younger sister. A few insincere words were, of course, of no consequence.
As long as she could completely win Lumina over and make her her younger sister, Herta would not only say nonsense and lie through her teeth, but she would even do things that were more morally objectionable!
Of course, this still depended on whether the reward obtained was worth doing something morally objectionable.
If the reward obtained was not worth doing something morally objectionable, that would be out of the question. Herta would absolutely never do it!
As if sensing Herta's thoughts, Lumina glanced at her from the side and said nothing.
Then she looked up at the eye in the sky.
Lumina could feel the "strong" aura behind the eye.
Um... a strong aura within Amphoreus.
"So this is the dome of the Celestial Mural? It truly is a marvel," Phainon couldn't help but sigh in admiration as he took in the grand atmosphere.
The scene felt like the epic prelude to a final battle.
Dan Heng briefly scanned their surroundings and then spoke: "The dome still displays the image of the scorching sun, which is also the direction where Aquila is located."
"So, if we can just make the dark clouds cover this mural, won't Aquila have nowhere left to go?"
"Exactly." As soon as Dan Heng spoke, Lunabis gave an affirmative reply. "Use the methods you are already familiar with to leave it nowhere to hide."
"And then... complete the Flame-Chase epic!"
"Hyacinthia, we will obey your will and lend our power to everyone here, forcing Aquila's True Body to reveal itself." Solabis was already prepared for battle.
"...I understand." Hyacine took a deep breath and nodded solemnly to the two heroes before her.
"Hmm... So the scorching sun needs to be turned into dark clouds? Just leave it to me." With the battle against Aquila approaching, Lumina's laziness and sleepiness gradually faded away.
Looking at the Celestial Globe not far away, she took a step forward.
"Lumie, watch out!"
Just as Lumina took a few steps, several Black Tide-corrupted soldiers suddenly appeared before her. Behind her, Hyacine hurriedly shouted a warning.
Even though she knew Lumina was incredibly powerful, seeing the Black Tide soldiers raise their great swords and swing them down at Lumina still made Hyacine's heart leap into her throat. She feared the sight of blood splattering over Lumina.
Fortunately, Hyacine was completely overthinking it. Just as the great swords were about to touch Lumina, they suddenly dissolved into specks of starlight and vanished before her eyes.
And along with them, the Black Tide soldiers blocking Lumina's path also vanished.
"What... What kind of technique was that?" Witnessing this scene, Lunabis and Solabis's eyes beneath their phantom forms suddenly narrowed, shocked by the power Lumina had displayed.
Lumina hadn't even made a single move, yet the Black Tide soldiers were killed in an instant... This completely exceeded their comprehension.
However, they soon put the thought aside. Although this was a matter for the Flame-Chasers, the Descendants of the Sky, as Hyacine's friends, they were more than happy to help if she wanted to.
Neither Solabis nor Lunabis were the type to dwell on things.
The current era was already a long, long time removed from their own.
It didn't matter to them who Aquila fell to. As long as Hyacine had no objections and the Flame-Chasing Journey they had always dreamed of could be completed, there were no problems.
Therefore, the two quickly returned to their usual composure.
They waited quietly for Lumina to reach the Celestial Globe and change the mural, which still depicted the scorching sun, into a scene of dark clouds, forcing the Sky Titan, Aquila, to reveal itself.
With a familiar boom, the scorching sun vanished, covered by a layer of dark clouds.
At the same time, several phantom memories from the past suddenly appeared on the battlefield...