Chapter 1295: Mimirna’s Judgment

At the heart of the Rebellious Courtyard, shrouded in chaotic darkness, stood a colossal golden oak tree, towering like a small fortress. A faint, radiant glow surrounded the tree, dispelling the gloom around it. Its majestic canopy stretched wide, resembling a softly glowing sky, creating a patch of light and life deep within this shadowy realm—a veritable sanctuary. Within this haven, vibrant saplings had taken root around the oak, flourishing amid the fractured earth, their growth extending all the way to the gates of the Rebellious Fortress.

Even the treacherous network of ravines and fissures crisscrossing the ground had been tamed—now covered by thick vines and sturdy wooden bridges, transformed into safe, easy pathways.

Gawain stood before the golden oak, a bit taken aback as he looked up at this tree that clearly wasn’t a product of nature alone. After a moment, he turned to the sacred giant stag beside him—Amorn had shrunk his true form considerably since gaining freedom, but to mortals, he was still an immense presence. “…So this is the ‘courtyard beautification’ project you mentioned in your report? You planted another cycle giant tree here?”

“No, it’s just a tree—a tree where I can rest,” Amorn replied gently, a hint of pride in his voice. “Since gaining my freedom, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do—things that belong to me, truly. I realized I still enjoy tending to plants and flowers. It’s not tied to the ‘divine office’ that once bound me, but a genuine passion.”

Gawain looked at the serene gaze of the sacred stag and couldn’t help but ask, “No more card games?”

Amorn’s eyes suddenly brightened. “Play? Now?”

Gawain was speechless.

After a brief awkward pause, Gawain cleared his throat and shifted the topic. “Ah, I was just making small talk… I actually came here on business.”

He looked up at the giant stag standing beneath the golden oak. Nearby, Mimirna leaned against the thick trunk, sitting on the ground. Around her, countless shifting runes, numbers, and flickering geometric shapes hovered in the air. Though her eyes were closed as if resting, she slightly lifted her eyelids when she sensed Gawain’s gaze, nodded softly in acknowledgment, and then looked at him with curiosity.

“We just completed an exploration in the deep sea,” Gawain said, steadying his expression and speaking in a low voice. “We boarded a ship left behind by the Voyagers and ventured into the heart of the gods’ realm.”

“Both Mimirna and I heard about this,” Amorn said, bowing his head slightly, his tone growing serious. “What did you find?”

“We uncovered the secret of the Sentinels,” Gawain said bluntly, then glanced between the two retired deities before him. “And your former divine realm.”

The glow surrounding Amorn visibly contracted, while Mimirna, who had been listening with her head tilted, suddenly straightened up. Her eyes, veiled in magical mist, widened slightly, and a short, questioning exclamation escaped her lips: “Huh?!”

“What we discovered goes far beyond what you might imagine,” Gawain continued, “but before that, there’s something more urgent to discuss.” He gestured to the royal mages who had accompanied him forward. Only then did Amorn’s attention shift to these human sorcerers, who were carefully cradling a large crystalline ice cube with hands shaped from plastic energy. Inside the translucent cube, something was frozen.

“This is…” Amorn’s senses stirred with a faintly familiar aura from within the ice, but he couldn’t immediately place the frozen vines and flowers encased inside.

“These are the true Filna and Relna sisters,” Gawain explained as the mages began to dispel the magical seals holding the ice intact. “We found the Sentinels’ core at the deepest part of the sea—a Voyager facility, an enormous ‘mother port.’ Your divine realm’s main body, the cycle giant tree, withered and died at one of the ports of that mother port.” He indicated the ice cube. “As we feared, the ‘Elven Twins’ roaming the wasteland now are fakes—their true form is the artificial intelligence of the Voyager mother port, the Sentinel. The real Elven Twins have been trapped inside that mother port for the past thousand years, surviving for centuries under the residual power of the cycle giant tree…”

Gawain recounted his experiences inside the Sentinel mother port as succinctly as possible. Amorn listened quietly to the incredible tale, his eyes widening slightly despite himself. Meanwhile, the mages finally broke the magical barrier sealing the ice cube. The once impenetrable ice surface became shrouded in a white mist, then melted rapidly within seconds. The vines frozen inside were gently lifted by invisible magic and slowly settled onto the grass around the golden oak.

“…This is what the Filna sisters ultimately became,” Gawain said, pointing to the intertwined vines and twin blossoms on the ground. “I heard a voice from the ruins of the cycle giant tree—though no one else did, I believe it was the tree itself communicating with me. It told me to take the Filna sisters away, so I brought them here.”

Amber looked up at Amorn, who seemed lost in thought. “Do you know what to do with them now? In this form…”

“I do.” Before Amber could finish, Amorn spoke softly. He lowered his head, and the crystal-like antlers gently touched the vines on the ground.

In the next moment, a fresh green light spread out. The vines floated lightly, slowly winding themselves around Amorn’s antlers. After a while, the leaves and tendrils seemed to draw nourishment, stretching and unfurling freely. The two pale pink flowers at the tips perked up, swaying gently atop the antlers as Amorn lifted his head.

Amorn squinted slightly, tilting his head as if listening to a distant voice. After a long moment, he nodded gently, a faint smile seeming to play at the corners of his mouth.

Honestly, Gawain couldn’t quite tell how he saw a “smile” on a stag’s face.

“I understand now, I understand,” Amorn murmured. He slowly sat beneath the golden oak, nodding as he whispered softly. “It’s been a long, difficult time, hasn’t it? Don’t worry, this place will let you rest… Me? Ah, it’s nothing. I’ve always known about this plan. Inside the Rebellious Fortress—yes, I’m here. In a way, I was one of the earliest participants in this plan, though it was through research… It wasn’t anyone’s fault. You were just doing what was right and the only thing you could do, just like I did back then…”

Amorn’s voice trailed off after a long pause. His gaze returned to Gawain, who finally found the chance to speak, his surprise plainly visible. “Who were you talking to just now? Could it be that Filna and Relna…”

“It’s them. You can’t hear their voices, but they’re still here,” Amorn said slowly. “Thank you for bringing them back.”

Gawain was taken aback by the unexpected news, but a trace of relief crept into his eyes. He couldn’t help but smile. “I never expected that—no matter what, that’s good news. Can they hear me?”

“I can help convey your words,” Amorn said, bowing his head. “But their souls are very weak now. They can’t sustain long conversations.”

“Don’t worry, I just want you to pass on my thanks,” Gawain said solemnly. “Please thank them for me. The world isn’t truly safe yet, but we’ve survived many crises. The message they left behind will be key to overcoming the next disaster. But now, they can rest. The successors will handle what comes next.”

Amorn nodded, softly speaking to the vines wrapped around his antlers. After a while, the faint glow dimmed. The “God of Nature” exhaled and looked at Gawain. “They send their thanks to you as well. Now they are resting.”

“Now we can discuss the crisis in the wasteland,” Gawain said, exhaling and nodding. He looked toward the “Goddess of Magic” sitting nearby. “Lady Mimirna, there’s something I want you to see.”

As he spoke, he signaled Amber to activate the magical terminal she carried. The projection crystal lit up, and a clear holographic image appeared before Amorn and Mimirna. At its center rotated a complex, multi-layered cubic rune device. Surrounding it were several “rune plates” displayed in dissected form, with intricate energy flow markers that made the diagrams dizzyingly complex—yet they revealed all the secrets scholars from Cecil, Typhon, and the Silver Empire had uncovered from this mysterious cube.

Compared to the paper reports Gawain had seen from Hetty, this holographic projection was a more complete and professional technical dossier. To Amber, it was like an arcane tome, but to Mimirna—who once “mastered all laws,” understood every rune and magical flow in the world, and had recently made great breakthroughs in the nature of magic—the information contained was extraordinary.

“This is…” Mimirna immediately leaned in. Due to her massive size, she nearly cast a shadow over Amber as she approached. Her eyes, brimming with energy, flickered with pure arcane sparks. “Where did this come from?”

“The sea witches captured several of these devices in the Deep Blue Network,” Gawain explained. “They move rapidly through the energy streams, and there seem to be many of them. We suspect these are connected to the cultists in the Gondor Wasteland—in fact, I’m almost certain these cubes were created and deployed into the Deep Blue Network by the ‘Sentinel’ commanding those cultists, disguised as the Elven Twins. No one knows what these cubes actually do, but if anyone can help us understand, it’s you…”

“…Captured from the Deep Blue Network, you say… If that’s the case, some of the structures within these rune arrays start to make sense,” Myrmyna mused thoughtfully, her voice low and measured. “To be honest, there are parts here I don’t fully understand. This isn’t technology created by mortal civilizations of this era, so it lies beyond my knowledge. But I can sense that… pure magical energy undergoes specific transformations guided by these rune arrays. This thing might be…”

She paused, as if weighing her thoughts carefully, then after a long moment spoke hesitantly, “Perhaps it’s some kind of control device. If enough of them are deployed and precisely placed at certain nodes within the Deep Blue Network, they might even influence the internal energy cycles of the entire planet… That’s just my guess.”

Myrmyna chose her words cautiously. Clearly, the “Voyager components” embedded in this cube far exceeded the understanding of this age—even the so-called “Goddess of Magic” who commands all laws of magic dared not draw firm conclusions, relying instead on intuition to speculate about the cube’s purpose. Yet her assessment was crucial, enough to prompt further reflection from Gawain.

Amber, standing nearby, couldn’t help but ask, “If the Sentinels and those cultists take control of the Deep Blue Network… what would happen?”

“Anything could happen—and none of it good,” Myrmyna said gravely. “The Deep Blue Network is the planet’s entire ‘power system,’ far more potent, extreme, and dangerous than ocean currents or atmospheric flows. If they truly control its operation, they could, with a mere gesture, unleash catastrophic disasters anywhere on this world—ripping apart the boundary between the elemental and material planes, opening gateways to the Shadow Realm, and if these control devices are even more effective, they could do far worse.”

“Worse than that?!” Amber’s eyes widened in alarm. “Then what’s truly terrifying? Blowing up the whole planet? So, does that mean we’re completely hopeless?!”

“No, it’s not that bad—yet,” Myrmyna shook her head gently. “I’m speaking hypothetically, assuming these cubes really have the functions I suspect, and that the ‘Sentinel’ has completed all their placements. One thing is certain: the Sentinel’s plan is far from finished. From what I’ve analyzed, these cubes need to be anchored at specific nodes to properly interact with the energy currents in the Deep Blue Network. They must work together, forming a complete network to affect a planetary-scale ‘power system’ like this. According to the intelligence Gawain just shared… these cubes are still moving within the energy flows, and the sea witches have already destroyed several of them. So, I believe we haven’t yet reached the worst-case scenario.”

“But things could get worse at any moment,” Gawain said in a low voice, locking eyes with Myrmyna. “Is there any way we can destroy this control system?”

“…I’ll try,” Myrmyna replied uncertainly. “But rather than just destroying the control system, the only truly lasting solution is to eliminate those cultists in the wasteland—and the ‘Sentinel’ behind them.”

(End of chapter)