Chapter 1295 — Mirmina's Judgment

At the center of the Contrarian Court, shrouded in chaotic darkness, a giant golden oak stood towering like a small castle. The faint radiance wreathing the golden oak dispersed the surrounding gloom, and its magnificent crown was like a sky shedding soft light, creating—deep within the Shadow Realm—a veritable "promised land" of light and vitality. Within this haven, around the oak, thriving saplings had already grown to considerable scale; all manner of plants flourished upon the shattered earth, spreading all the way to the very gates of the Contrarian Fortress.

Even the crisscrossing, visibly perilous ravines and chasms in the ground had now been covered over with tangled vines and sturdy wooden bridges, transformed into thoroughfares one could traverse at will.

Gao Yang stood before the golden oak, tilting his head back with some bewilderment at this plant that in no way looked as though it had grown naturally. After a long moment he turned to look at the holy giant deer beside him—since gaining complete freedom, Amon had shrunk his true form considerably, though to mortal eyes it remained a colossal body: "...So this is the 'courtyard beautification' project you mentioned in your report? You've planted another Tree of Reincarnation here?"

"No, this is just a tree—a tree where I can rest," Amon said gently, seeming a little proud. "All this time I've been thinking about what I should do after gaining 'freedom'—things that are... rather more my own. I thought about a great many things, and I found that I still enjoy tending flowers and saplings. It has nothing to do with the 'divine office' that once bound me; it's a genuine preference."

Looking at the holy giant deer whose eyes now held a calm, tranquil light, Gao Yang could not help but ask: "Not playing cards anymore?"

Amon's eyes lit up at once: "I do! Now?"

Gao Yang: "..."

After a moment of awkwardness, Gao Yang cleared his throat twice and changed the subject: "Ahem, I just mentioned it in passing... I came today on real business."

He raised his head and looked at the giant deer standing beneath the golden oak. Not far away, Mirmina's figure sat on the ground leaning against the oak's thick trunk, the air around her filled with a host of constantly shifting runes and numbers, along with geometric shapes that flickered in and out of view—she herself seemed to be resting with her eyes closed, but upon sensing Gao Yang's gaze she lifted her eyelids slightly, gave a gentle nod toward him, and then wore a curious expression.

"We have just completed our exploration of the deep sea," Gao Yang said, steadying himself and making his expression serious, his voice low. "We boarded a vessel left behind by the Trailblazers and entered the depths of the Divine Kingdoms."

"Mirmina and I heard about this matter," Amon said, lowering his head slightly, his tone turning grave as well. "What did you find?"

"We discovered the Sentinels' secret," Gao Yang said without preamble, then let his gaze sweep twice between the two retired gods before him, "—and your former Divine Kingdom."

The radiance wreathing Amon visibly contracted. Not far away, Mirmina, who had been listening in curiously with her head tilted, instantly straightened up; the eyes shrouded in magical mist widened slightly, and a short, questioning cry reached Gao Yang's and Amber's ears: "Hah?!"

"What we discovered on this journey will far exceed your imagination, but before that, there is a more urgent matter to discuss." Gao Yang waved a hand, gesturing for the several royal mages following behind him to come forward. Only then did Amon's attention settle on these "attendants" who had come with Gao Yang; he saw the human mages carefully holding up a rather large ice-crystal cube with Mage Hand—within the translucent cube, something seemed to be frozen.

"This is..." Amon faintly sensed some familiar aura from deep within the ice crystal, yet for a moment could not guess the origin of those frozen vines and flowers.

"These are the real sisters, Ferna and Lerna. We found the Sentinels' true body at the very bottom of the deep sea—a Trailblazer facility, a 'home port' of extraordinary scale, and the main body of your Divine Kingdom, the 'Tree of Reincarnation'... withered and died at one of that home port's berths," Gao Yang said, gesturing for the mages to release the magical power filling the ice crystal while explaining to Amon the origins of this thing. "Just as we feared, the 'Elven Twins' now active in the wasteland are fakes; their true identity is the Trailblazer home port's artificial mind, the 'Sentinel.' The real Elven Twins have been trapped in that home port for the past thousand years, and survived for several centuries under the protection of the Tree of Reincarnation's residual power..."

Gao Yang recounted his experiences in the Sentinel home port as briefly and aptly as he could. Amon listened quietly to this incredible tale—even he could not help but widen his eyes slightly at this point. Meanwhile, the mages had finally joined forces to lift the magical seal Victoria had left within the frozen cube—the surface of the ice crystal, which had looked unyieldingly hard and had not melted in the slightest along the way, was instantly as though shrouded in white mist; then within mere seconds the entire block of ice rapidly melted and dispersed, and the vines frozen within were borne up by invisible magic and slowly lowered onto the grass around the golden oak.

"...This is the form the Ferna sisters finally took," Gao Yang said, having by now also briefly finished the story of what had befallen the Elven Twins. He pointed at the vines and twin blossoms on the ground. "I heard a voice amid the ruins of the Tree of Reincarnation—though no one else heard it, I believe it truly was a message the Tree of Reincarnation conveyed to me. It told me to take the Ferna sisters away, so I brought them to you."

Beside him, Amber tilted her head back, looking at Amon, who seemed to be in a daze: "Do you know how to handle this? The state they're in now..."

"I know." Before Amber could finish, Amon spoke softly. He lowered his head slightly, and the pair of antlers with crystal-like edges lightly touched the flower vines on the ground.

The next second, a speck of verdant radiance spread outward, and the flower vines actually floated up lightly, winding bit by bit around Amon's antlers! After another moment, the leaves and slender branches on the vines, as though drawing nourishment, began to stretch and extend to their heart's content, and the two small pinkish-white blossoms at the tips of the vines quickly perked up as well; they clung lightly to the tips of the antlers, swaying gently as Amon raised his head.

Amon, however, now narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head slightly, as though listening to a voice coming from afar. Thus a long while passed before he gave a soft nod, and the corners of his mouth seemed to curve into a faint smile.

Honestly, Gao Yang himself could not figure out how he had managed to read a "smile" on a deer's face.

"I understand, I understand," Amon said softly. He slowly sat down beneath the golden oak, nodding as he murmured low replies to something. "It truly hasn't been easy all this time, has it? It's all right—you can rest well here... Me? Ah, no, I don't mind at all. I've known about this plan all along, inside the Contrarian Fortress, yes, I'm right here. In a sense, I was the earliest participant in this plan, though as the one being studied... It couldn't be helped. It's no one's fault. You were only doing the right thing—the only thing that could be done—just as I did back then..."

Amon spoke softly, and only after a long while did he finally come to a stop. His gaze returned to Gao Yang, who at last found a chance to speak—Gao Yang making no effort to hide the astonishment on his face: "Who were you just talking to? Could it be that Ferna and Lerna..."