At that moment, an old priest, his mind broken by the extinguishing of the Dawn Device, violently shoved aside those around him. Pointing frantically at a specific line in the ancient tome, he began ranting hysterically:
"No wonder! No wonder at all! How could the Dawn Device of Lord Kephale possibly stop on its own?!"
"It must be! It must be that wicked thief from Dolos! That vile-natured little sneak tampered with it!"
"The High Priest's disciples all said it back then! The light of the Dawn Device would never go out! It must be her! It must be her who stole the..."
*BANG—!!!*
A sharp, deafening gunshot abruptly tore through the oppressive silence hanging over the square!
A searing alchemical bullet screeched past, grazing the old priest's cheek with pinpoint accuracy, its blistering heat-wave even singeing his beard.
This single shot brutally cut off all his subsequent baseless accusations, along with the citizenry's anger—which was on the verge of igniting against that "wicked thief"—before it could fully erupt!
It was Anaxa!
He had appeared at the front of the crowd at some point, a smoking alchemical pistol raised in his hand. His single eye burned with undisguised disgust and fury as he stared coldly at the old priest, who now trembled like a leaf and collapsed to the ground in fright.
"Fools! Blinded by antiquated prophecies!" Anaxa's voice was like a cold blade scraping against everyone's eardrums. "Have you lost even the capacity for simple, straightforward logical deduction? Where is your reason?!"
He strode forward, snatched the ancient tome from the trembling hands of a young priest, and held a page up for all to see, jabbing his finger heavily onto it:
"It is written here, plain as day—according to Kephale's original prophecy and design, the light of the Dawn Device would grace the Holy City for exactly three hundred years! That was its limit!"
He sharply lifted his head, his single eye sweeping over every uncertain, frightened face. "And now?! How long has the Dawn Device been operating? One thousand years! A full millennium!"
"Tell me, where did the energy sustaining the Dawn Device's light for these extra seven hundred years come from?!"
He paused, then continued, his voice low yet thunderous:
"And the divine authority of 'Trickery'—warping reality, weaving lies, turning the impossible into the possible! Can you not deduce the truth behind this?!"
"How could a so-called 'never-extinguishing' Dawn Device truly exist?" Anaxa's voice now carried the resolve of one revealing the truth, yet it was also unbearably heavy. "For these seven hundred years, what fueled the Dawn Device... was never bestowed by Kephale!"
"It was the divine power of the 'Trickery' Demigod! It was that 'little cat' from Dolos! The 'wicked thief' you all scorned!"
"She used her own power to deceive the world, allowing the Dawn Device to grace the Holy City for over seven hundred years!"
"All so that you could continue to bask in a false, yet warm, dawn!"
A deathly silence fell upon the square, so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Everyone was struck speechless by this truth.
"But... but..." someone in the crowd finally managed to stammer, clutching at a last shred of hope, "Why... why has the Dawn Device... gone out now?"
Anaxa expressionlessly lowered the hand holding the tome. He closed his single eye, sighed, and gave no answer.
He did not want to speak that answer aloud.
A moment later, from somewhere within the silent crowd, a stifled sob broke through.
It was like a signal. Immediately, more and more people began to understand.
Why did the Dawn Device that had run for seven hundred years suddenly go out?
Wave after wave of uncontrollable sobs—of shock, of guilt, of profound grief—erupted from every corner of the square like a breached dam, quickly merging into a sea of sorrow.
The reason, of course, was... that Cipher, whom they had misunderstood, scorned, and called a "wicked thief"...
...was already dead.
She had burned herself out, stealing seven centuries of dawn for them. And they, only after the light had faded, now awoke to the truth in front of them.
...
Anaxa holstered his alchemical pistol and walked with a blank expression through the softly sobbing crowd towards Phaethon and the others.
His gaze lingered on Phaethon's face for a good while, complex, as if confirming something.
Finally, he turned his eyes to Aglaea, who stood pale beside them.
"Don't misunderstand," his voice still carried that characteristic stiffness. "What I said just now was entirely based on the principle of 'Reason Above All, I Despised Stupidity.'
"Witnessing such obvious facts being twisted is an insult to logic.
"It was absolutely not... absolutely not because I wanted to speak up or defend that little cat who scratches hard and is always stealing my things."
"Sigh..." Aglaea merely half-closed her eyes, breathing slowly.
She neither thanked Anaxa for his awkward "explanation," nor did she immediately retort with her usual sharp tongue.
Just then, a new commotion arose from the edge of the square, accompanied by heavy, uniform footsteps and the clatter of armor.
Everyone looked to see Mydei leading a force of allied warriors—bearing the wounds and exhaustion of successive bitter battles—as they marched swiftly through the crowd.
Mydei's weariness was hard to conceal. His armor was stained with grime and dried blood, but his eyes remained like quenched steel, firm and sharp.
He walked straight up to Phaethon and the others, his voice hoarse yet clear:
"The moment I saw Okhema's Dawn Device go out, I immediately ordered the entire army to fall back to defend the Holy City at all costs. I've heard much about the situation on the way back."
His gaze swept over Aglaea's pale face, his tone grave and solemn. "My condolences, Lady Aglaea. No one will forget Lady Cipher's sacrifice."
"But I must still remind everyone, reality does not permit us to wallow in grief—the Black Tide is surging towards Okhema at an unprecedented speed! They will give us no time to catch our breath."
Almost simultaneously, Tribbie's small figure nimbly darted over, her face etched with urgency: "Agy! We just discovered!"
"There are suddenly so, so many Black Tide monsters around Okhema! They're packed tight, countless! Their nearest vanguard is only a few dozen kilometers from here!"
The bad news came one after another, like heavy blows striking everyone's hearts.
Aglaea opened her eyes. Within those emerald-green orbs, grief was forcibly suppressed.
In its place arose the resolve and calm of the Holy City's Guardian. She took a deep breath.