Deathly silence shrouded the high platform.
Hyacine kept her head deeply bowed, her hands clutching the hem of her clothes so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"So... I'm just... a descendant of that nameless Golden Descendant? The blood flowing in my veins... doesn't come from the hero Seliose?
"But belongs to... that nameless Golden Descendant who could only beg for mercy and barter for her life with a lie?"
"Hyacine..." Phainon watched her trembling shoulders, his heart wrenching. He instinctively wanted to say something to comfort her, but found any words pale and powerless before the truth revealed at this moment.
Yet, contrary to all expectations.
Amid the suffocating silence and brokenness, Hyacine, with her head still lowered, let out an extremely soft laugh.
The laugh was light, but like a ray of sunlight breaking through heavy dark clouds, it instantly drew all gazes.
She slowly raised her head, her face now wearing a relieved smile. Though traces of tears still lingered in her eyes, they had regained their clarity and brightness.
She first looked toward Phaethon, who had been silently watching her by her side.
"I'm glad!" Her voice no longer trembled, instead filled with resolve. "Truly, Phaethon, I feel immensely glad at this moment! Glad that I am not of the hero Seliose's bloodline, but a descendant of that... obscure, even somewhat unsavory mortal."
This twist left everyone stunned.
Hyacine's gaze rested gently on Phaethon as she continued, "Actually, before ascending to the sky, Castorice sought me out specifically.
"She told me that although you, Phaethon, with her help, ultimately chose to embark on this journey amidst confusion and hesitation, she could still keenly sense that in the deepest part of your heart, you still yearn for a... nearly perfect conclusion.
"You carry the expectations of everyone. You embarked, your steps firm, yet you haven't truly let go of your obsession with 'perfection,' still anxious that you might not achieve that 'perfection.'
"She hoped that I, as the best physician of the Twilight Courtyard, would have the chance to... heal your spirit, to help you truly find release."
Hyacine offered a faint, wry smile. "But to be honest, before this, facing someone as strong as you, facing the heavy responsibility on your shoulders, I had no idea how to approach giving you counsel."
Her tone grew firmer and brighter: "So... I'm really, truly glad now! Glad that my lineage isn't descended from a flawless hero!
Glad that our thousand-year Flame Chase Journey itself did not begin with epic, glorious grandeur, but started with a lie, with one person's humble struggle for survival!"
Her passionate gaze locked onto Phaethon. "Phaethon, do you see? This journey, seemingly prophesied by gods and begun by heroes.
Its very essence is a miracle created by mortals themselves!
It started with a whitewashed lie, yet through twists of fate, paved this legendary path spanning millennia!"
"As long as you are resolved, as long as we are resolved—!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with undeniable fervor,
"True greatness never springs from noble blood or a flawless starting point! It comes from the present—from every resolute choice and every responsible decision we make now!"
She placed a hand over her heart, as if declaring to the whole world:
"Now, this world I love so deeply is sick. Battered and full of holes, imperfect.
As a physician, I know I cannot heal the wounds of the entire world by myself."
"But what I can do is heal and tend to the flame of hope in the heart of every person beside me!
And then... let them, carrying this ignited hope, go and save this world! That is what I can do!"
Phaethon listened in astonishment to Hyacine's words, so unexpected. The heavy anxiety in his heart, born from that uncertain, mad plan, truly seemed to scatter for the most part, as if blown away by a clear breeze.
He looked at this girl before him, who had just experienced the collapse of her faith yet swiftly drew greater strength from it. A sense of genuine admiration and relief washed over him.
He smiled, a relieved smile—no longer one of forced composure, but truly relaxed and soft.
"Mhm, I understand, Hyacine. Thank you. And... without a doubt, you are a very, very qualified psychotherapist."
A brilliant smile bloomed on Hyacine's face. She nodded firmly, then shifted her gaze from Phaethon's face back up toward Aquila, suspended high in the firmament.
She took a deep breath and, toward that sky, toward the possibly existing divinity, issued her declaration—
"Seliose—!" Her voice was clear, bright, and firm. "I, Hyacinthia, as a descendant of that nameless one, have kept the promise—born from a lie—that my ancestor made to you, and have returned here!"
"Not only that, I have brought you the answer you have awaited for millennia—
"Mortals can save themselves by their own strength! We may be fragile, we may make mistakes, we may be imperfect! But we—are worthy of a new dawn!"
Her arm shot up, pointing directly at Phaethon by her side, her voice filled with immense pride and certainty:
"And this one beside me, and those thousands upon thousands of ordinary mortal kin still fighting on the earth below, paving the way for this god-slaying trial—
"He, they, are not the fated Golden Descendant of the prophecy! The blood flowing in his, their veins is still the most ordinary mortal blood of this land!
"But he now stands before the gods, lifted by the multitude, and challenges you!
He, Phaethon! And every ordinary mortal who does not abandon hope, is the—finest proof I offer!! We mortals need no divine selection to become heroes!!!"
Hyacine's words, like the most impassioned war drums, landed with powerful force, echoing long under the shattered dome!
The two ancient wondrous beasts—Solabis and Lunabis.
Their soul auras fluctuated violently at this moment, as if struck by an unprecedented impact!
"Miss Hyacine, you... you mean..." Lunabis's voice was full of disbelief and shock, "This Phaethon who has displayed god-slaying might and led you here... is not the Golden Descendant foretold in the prophecy?
But is one... among the multitudes of ordinary mortal kin... walking the vast earth?"
"Mhm... yes." Hyacine turned to face them. Her posture was erect, having not only regained her usual gentleness and resilience but also gained an undeniable certainty in her eyes.