Mobius coldly revealed the cruel truth that Elysia had never known in her previous life.
A long silence fell over the cabin.
As time passed, Mobius began to consider that if Elysia's feelings toward Lumine were no deeper than this, then there was nothing she needed to be concerned about.
Just as that thought settled, Elysia finally spoke.
"I… didn't know the truth was like this," she said quietly. "I believe everything you've said, Mobius. But I also believe that Lumine would never commit meaningless killing. From the very beginning, the Council of Fire Moth approved this course of action, didn't they?"
That was more in line with reality.
Mobius thought so, and decided there was no longer any reason to withhold the remaining facts.
"That's right," Mobius replied. "Lumine asked the council how the resistance should be handled. Their answer was simple: handle it yourselves. Those old relics were afraid of being remembered as executioners, so they pushed the responsibility onto him. Fire Moth never had a plan to absorb the resistance to begin with. They left everything to Lumine."
Elysia lowered her gaze, then asked softly, "Mei… she knew as well, didn't she?"
"Of course she did," Mobius answered without hesitation. "She voted in favor of letting Lumine deal with the resistance independently. It's ironic, really—she tacitly approved the purge, yet later refused to accept civilian sacrifices during the tragedy of restraint." Mobius scoffed lightly. "Since she never told you, Lumine likely spoke to her himself."
Elysia remained silent for a moment, then looked up again.
"Then where did you learn all of this, Mobius?"
"Iliya told me," Mobius replied. "Lumine took all responsibility upon himself. Iliya feared that doing so would eventually break him. At the time, I observed him closely, but I couldn't detect any instability. Now, however…" Mobius paused briefly. "It seems the damage was already there."
"Yes… that's Lumine," Elysia said quietly. "He never explains himself. He buries everything inside and carries sins that were never his alone."
Both of them understood the reality of that period. During the Tenth Herrscher incident, humanity's resource reserves were already on the verge of collapse. The resistance still possessed supplies, but judging from what Lumine later brought back to Fire Moth, even those reserves were nearly exhausted. Taking in large numbers of resistance members at that time would have pushed civilization into famine.
From a rational standpoint, Lumine's decision had been correct. Humanity survived without descending into chaos.
From an emotional standpoint, however, he became the executioner who carried everything alone.
"I suspect it was this incident—combined with the Ninth Herrscher—that finally pushed him past the last boundary," Mobius said calmly. She was referring to the later tragedy of restraint, when Lumine agreed to, and even attempted to bypass, high-command orders to forcibly enact Vil-V's second plan. Once someone had crossed that line, doing so again required no further hesitation.
Leave light and hope to others.
Bear darkness and sin alone.
After a long silence, Elysia stood up.
Mobius frowned slightly. "Elysia. Where are you going?"
"Thank you for telling me the truth, Mobius," Elysia said, her back turned, her expression unseen. "You've helped me make a decision I can no longer avoid."
Mobius raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"I will be honest with him," Elysia continued. "I will accept everything about Lumine. We will move forward together, fight together, and face the future together."
She paused briefly. "Not because he is a hero who bears all sin alone—but because he is Lumine."
A faint, self-aware smile crossed her lips.
"It seems… I've become stubborn as well."
After Elysia left, Mobius remained seated in silence for a long time. She did not move, as if frozen in place, replaying the conversation in her mind—not out of sentiment, but calculation. Eventually, she exhaled slowly, the sound barely audible in the empty cabin.
As Elysia walked toward the cabin where Lumine was staying, her thoughts grew clearer rather than more confused.
She had once believed that learning the truth, she would distance herself from him or feel sympathy and regret for him. But after Möbius told her everything, she realized that she still loved him, not out of sympathy, but out of love.
She wanted to share his burdens—not by replacing them, nor by denying their weight cause she know it's useless, but by walking alongside him long enough that those burdens no longer rested on him alone.
In her previous life, she had always kept a careful distance. She believed that giving him space was a form of respect, that allowing him to make decisions alone was the same as trusting him. Only after everything ended did she understand the difference. Distance, even when well-intentioned and gentle, still left him isolated at the moment when understanding mattered most.
This time, she would not repeat that mistake.
She did not intend to interfere with his choices, nor to restrain his resolve. What she wanted was simpler: to remain present. To experience the same events, witness the same outcomes, and bear the same consequences. Victories, failures, compromises—none of them needed to be faced in isolation.
If the future had already been written in broad strokes, then changing the ending itself might be impossible. Humanity would still be forced to make cruel decisions, and sacrifices would still be demanded. But the path leading toward that future was not fixed in detail. It did not have to be paved with silence, secrecy, and a single person shouldering every sin.
That alone was enough reason for her to act.
The hatch slid open with a muted mechanical sound.
Lumine looked up from where he was seated. His eyes sharpened instinctively, as if bracing for another report or a complication that needed immediate resolution. When he recognized her, his expression paused for a fraction of a second—surprise flickering before discipline settled back into place.
Elysia stepped inside and closed the hatch behind her. The familiar scent of metal and sterilized air filled the cabin, unchanged. For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.
She met his gaze calmly, without urgency, without hesitation.
Just as she always had.
"Hi~" she said, her tone light, but steady. "Hello. I'm Elysia, [Ego] the second of the Fourteen Flame-Chasers. Let's formally get to know each other again, Lumine."
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