Why do birds fly?
"Phainon" never thought of trivial things. Idealism can only take him so far. Once was fine. Twice was fine.
Tens…
Hundreds…
Thousands…
Millions…
Ten million…
Time eroded his will.
Every cycle met their demise. The Black Tide swallows it all.
By the four-millionth mark, he changed his method of regression. He no longer regressed using the exact same body—the same mind. He passed on his memories to every "Phainon" instead. He trusted that every version of himself would make the same decision.
They did.
Millions of cycles passed. It was now the 15,015,021st cycle.
The moment Phainon entered it, he 'saw' the foreign power invited by his childhood friend act differently. It did not just reverse time. It did something else. As to what that something was, he never discovered it… until he saw Merlin.
His will, eroded by millions of cycles, made a swift decision. He struck fiercely to eliminate the uncontrollable variable.
Unfortunately, Phainon failed to kill him. He tried three times, all of which ended in failure.
On their third battle, Merlin forced him to listen to a story.
Phainon brushed it off at first, thinking it was a distraction at best; a worthless story at worst.
It subverted his expectations.
The story of the man named Kevin touched the depths of his soul—the flames of fury hidden within his chest. He could feel the powerlessness of the man. Everything that led to his end mirrored his path.
To become a stepping stone for Amphoreus' Final Deliverer.
Since then, the Flame Reaver… Phainon never bothered with Merlin again. He wanted to see what he was up to. One could imagine his shock when he saw the entire "act' transpire.
A being from another world, one who wasn't born in Amphoreus, is willing to sacrifice his life for Amphoreus' hope.
Phainon went through millions of cycles. He knew what the Core Protocol was. It is a one-time administrator privilege that can alter the core of Amphoreus—the Scepter—itself.
He tried to obtain it once and succeeded. The ending was still a failure for Amphoreus. The Core Protocol does not mean anything if there are no external help. Unfortunately for him, he found none.
'It is not simple.'
Phainon acknowledged Merlin's capabilities. He saw through his plan. It wouldn't just be for the Core Protocol. It is merely a part of it. A means to an end.
Seeing Cerydra and Hysilens frozen, he made a move. The two are still hesitating. The execution fell into the shoulders of him, the Executioner.
A light sigh escaped his lips. Phainon did not relish the brief comeback of his humanity.
For this man who told him a valuable story…
Psshk-!
…he did not hesitate to lend a sword.
The irregularly-shaped blade stuck out of Shi Tian's chest. Golden blood seeped out from his wound, which also trickled down from his mouth. The pure white robe he wore got stained by golden blood.
Phainon was ruthless. He did not hesitate to twist his longsword, turning his "heart" into a useless piece of mush.
"Executioner..."
Not a hint of fear could be heard from Shi Tian's voice. It was as if he expected his presence.
"...thanks."
Phainon's body froze momentarily before he pulled his blade back.
The Memetic Entity's body did not reach the exaggerated recovery of immortal cultivators. It could barely match Hysilens' physical constitution. The loss of a heart is certain death.
In actuality, the backstab took two seconds. Hysilens' widened eyes spat nothing but bone-chilling fury. She rushed straight towards the Flame Reaver Phainon.
A whale's bellows resounded as one materialized out of the Vortex's waters. It threatened to swallow the Flame Reaver whole.
Thud-!
Shi Tian's fall snapped Hysilens out of it. The whale did not continue its attack; nor did she. She caught the kneeling Shi Tian before he fell completely.
Phainon did not stay any longer. His figure turned transparent, disappearing completely moments later.
This left Hysilens at a complete loss. She blankly placed her fair hand above his wound.
Up.
Down.
His breathing gradually became weaker. The heaving of his chest decreased.
Her eyes stared at his pale face. She saw a hint of apology inside his golden pupils.
"A-ah."
No words came out of her throat. Hysilens… Helektra found herself to have reverted back to the past—to her lost self.
She felt the flame slowly dissipating on her grasp. His jaw was placed above her right shoulder. His head lay weakly.
"...Sorry."
Tap.
Tap.
Cerydra's footsteps halted a meter away from them. Her hands gripped into a tight fist. Golden blood seeped out of her palm.
"How is this possible..?"
She managed to repress her emotions… even in the face of Shi Tian's bright golden pupils dimming.
Cerydra followed his words. She initiated the Law Titan's authority—the highest form of equivalent exchange. She placed Shi Tian's life on the scale and received a direct confirmation.
A golden King piece lay on her palm.
Despite not being a Demigod himself, his life bore the weight of one…
No, not just one.
The original Core Protocol allowed Herta and Screwllum to gain 60% administrator rights over Amphoreus' select systems. That was done with one Demigod's life.
As for Shi Tian's…
It enables all of Amphoreus' administrator permissions for a brief moment. It might as well be renamed as the Key to Victory. Nobody was considered as "heavy" as him; an anomaly that should have not existed in this world.
That was the weight of Shi Tian's ... of Merlin's "life".
Cerydra took one final glance at him. He died with his eyes open. His golden blood continued trickling down Hysilens' shoulder. The divine silver lance remained tightly held in his left hand.
She could not bring herself to speak to Hysilens. The crushing guilt of keeping everything from her prevented it all.
It was a necessary sacrifice. Talanton was still "alive" at that time. Cerydra and Shi Tian conversed about the entire plan in an "encrypted" manner. The two of them hid their true intent in casual words, deceiving the Law Titan who is watching through the Coreflame inside Cerydra.
Shi Tian confirmed it several times. The gaze's presence began from the moment she took in the Coreflame. Talanton has no way of knowing their previous stories, much less the references made on it.
"Tell me everything."
Hysilens' voice became irrefutable in Cerydra's ears.
*****
A/N: He cannot exert the power of his Divine Mind, such as reality manipulation and Dao manifestation, but his thought speed can be used freely. That's the processing power he's using to analyze the Remembrance Path as well as to debug the system.