Youri stood at the edge of Gaisen's shattered domain while the violent winds of Tartarus swept across the jagged cliffs beneath his feet. The crimson sky stretched endlessly above them, cold and oppressive, casting its blood-red glow over the broken mountains and the floating pillars scattered across the horizon. Behind them Altopereh stood motionless like a forgotten god, dark energy slithering slowly over the damaged parts of its armor as the machine regenerated in silence. Not far off, Gaisen rested in its weakened state, curled into a massive sphere of scales and wings on the ruined rocks after the brutal battle against Tikadello and Albatros. The mighty ruler of the domain looked nothing like the unstoppable force Youri had first encountered. Even monsters capable of shaking worlds could fall. That thought lingered in him. Everything in Tartarus eventually broke — even gods.
He turned slowly toward Lea. The wind brushed against her dark cloak and set its tattered fabric dancing softly around her. Her wooden mask hid most of her expression, but the faint strands of silver hair escaping beneath her hood shimmered in the crimson light. For a long moment he said nothing. Then he spoke, lower than usual, and more serious. "Lea. I need to get to Atlantis."
She didn't move.
His fist clenched slightly. "And no matter what stands in my way, I'm going to try. I'm not asking you to risk your life for me, and I'm not asking you to come with me. But I need to get there."
Lea slowly lowered her head while the wind howled louder across the cliffs, and for several seconds she said nothing at all. Then she spoke. "I'm going to tell you something about myself." Youri's eyes narrowed slightly as she turned toward the crimson sky. "I once walked among the Sacros."
The words struck harder than any blow he had taken since arriving in Tartarus, and his eyes went wide. "You what?"
"I was one of them."
He stepped back by instinct as the visions Altopereh had shown him flooded his mind again — worlds consumed by fire, civilizations crushed beneath the God Units, countless screams swallowed by golden light while the Sacros called themselves saviors and destroyed in the name of order. And now Lea stood in front of him telling him she had once been part of it. His voice hardened at once. "You were Sacros?"
She didn't answer directly. She kept staring up at the endless crimson sky as though she were reliving memories she had wished would stay buried forever. "I joined them long ago," she said quietly, "back when I still believed they were something greater." Bitterness crept into her voice. "I was searching for someone. Someone I once made a promise to." The wind swept harder through the cliffs, and Youri stayed silent. "I thought the Sacros could help me find him. They traveled between worlds. They had knowledge beyond anything I had ever seen. I believed that if anyone could help me, it would be them." Her hands tightened beneath the sleeves of her cloak. "But I was wrong." Her tone darkened. "They call themselves guardians of existence — gods who preserve the balance between realms. But the truth is that they are monsters. Even worse than the creatures down here."
For the first time since he had met her, Youri heard real hatred in her voice — not fear, not sadness, but hatred.
She turned slowly toward him. "You've seen what they do now, haven't you?"
He didn't answer. He didn't need to. The visions in the watery abyss had already changed him for good. The Sacros didn't conquer worlds. They erased them.
Lea took a slow breath. "I know how you feel, Youri." He frowned slightly. "You woke up in a foreign realm surrounded by monsters, with no way home and no idea what waits ahead of you." Her voice softened. "You're trying to survive in a world that was never meant for you." He looked away for a moment. "It's been a long time," she went on quietly, "but I remember that feeling too."
The wind eased a little around them, and for a moment the endless chaos of Tartarus seemed strangely far away. Lea walked slowly toward him, one step at a time, and he stayed still as she came, until she stood directly in front of him — close enough that he could hear her breathing beneath the wooden mask.
"I kept telling myself I didn't care anymore," she whispered. "I convinced myself that surviving here was enough — that I could wander Tartarus forever and pretend the past no longer mattered." She lowered her gaze. "But every day…" her voice trembled faintly, "…I was lying to myself."
He looked at her in silence, and slowly she raised her hand. "I can't keep doing that anymore." Her fingers touched his face gently. "And because of that—"
The moment her hand brushed his skin, Youri felt something strange surge through his body — a familiar sensation, warm and deep. His eyes widened slightly.
She looked straight at him. "I'll take you to Atlantis."
The words echoed in his mind, and even Altopereh stayed silent. The winds of Tartarus roared around them again, and yet for that one moment everything felt distant. Atlantis — the ancient city buried at the heart of Tartarus, the place where the Sacros had first arrived, the place where the only ship that could leave this realm still rested, and the place Almesis guarded.
Youri stared at her. "Why?" he asked quietly.
Her fingers lingered against his face a second longer before she slowly drew her hand away, and then she answered him. "Because this was always your destiny."
He went still at that. Destiny. He hated that word. Every time someone said it, suffering followed soon after. But before he could question her, Lea stepped away and turned toward the horizon, where the endless desert stretched beneath the crimson sky. "You were brought to Tartarus for a reason," she said softly. "And whether you realize it or not, everything that has happened since you arrived has been leading you toward Atlantis."
Youri looked out toward the endless wasteland between them and whatever waited ahead. Then his gaze moved slowly to Altopereh, the towering black Orbiton standing silent against the crimson sky with dark energy repairing the wounds carved into its armor by countless battles. The machine almost looked alive. His eyes narrowed. No matter how dangerous Atlantis truly was, no matter what waited in Almesis's domain, and no matter how terrifying the Sacros were, he had already made his choice. He was going — even if Tartarus itself tried to stop him.
He looked back at Lea. "Then show me the way."
She was silent a moment, and then she gave a small nod beneath her hood.