【Mydei also made an excuse to leave first. Watching his lonely back, Phainon couldn't help but sigh.】

【"Teacher Tribbie, you've been looking pensive since a moment ago. Did Trinnon send some news?"】

【"Yes... she found Trianne." Tribbie lowered her head sadly, "...down in the mountain ravine outside the temple. Unfortunately, it's bad news."】

【An indescribable sadness filled the air. For a moment, Phainon didn't know how to offer comfort: "...Please accept my condolences."】

【"It's alright. But besides Trianne, another person was found at the scene... By the time Trinnon and Hyacine arrived, that person was no different from a corpse. He endured a thousand cuts and leaped down a ten-thousand-foot cliff, just to forcibly take Trianne's body away from the Black-Clad Swordsman's clutches."】

【Phainon was instantly amazed: "There was such a brave warrior? Can his identity be identified?"】

【"It's... Krateros."】

—

Harry Potter.

"Krateros?"

Hermione's movement of flipping through her book paused slightly, and she looked up with a face full of disbelief. For a moment, she suspected she had misheard, until she saw the same shock written on the faces of the two beside her; only then did she close the Potions book in her hand.

"He also went to the Temple of the Three Fates? Was he trying to protect Trianne?"

"This... it's a bit hard to imagine that scene. Didn't he hate those demigods?" Ron toyed with the quill in his hand, keeping it balanced on his fingertip like a scale. He really wanted to put the words 'Krateros' and 'protect' on the same scale to see if they could balance. It was truly strange for someone from Suspended Blade City to take the initiative to protect a demigod he once loathed.

"It looks like he wanted to protect Trianne—could it be that after the Gate of a Hundred Worlds opened, Trianne didn't actually die? She was still alive! Krateros couldn't bear to see her die at the hands of the Flame Reaver, so he stepped forward to protect her," Ron continued to speculate.

"No, it was already too late by then. Trianne had exhausted all her power; even if the Flame Reaver hadn't acted, she couldn't have held on. In truth, what Krateros protected with his life was Trianne's corpse..." Harry lowered his head sadly. "I never expected that the man from Suspended Blade who once used Trinnon's life as a threat would willingly risk his own life to protect Trianne."

Ron also felt regret for him: "Sigh... I hope Mydei can give his teacher a proper burial. Although he did some foolish things before, how should I put it... in his final moments, he died like a hero. He lived up to his title as the Ever-Victorious Champion of Suspended Blade City."

—

【Previously at the Temple of the Three Fates.】

【"—Stop!"】

【Facing the lifeless girl lying on the ground, Krateros resolutely rushed in front of her, holding a round shield to protect her body behind him.】

【The Flame Reaver looked at him coldly and let out a disdainful snort.】

【"If you want to take this girl's life, you'll have to cross my corpse first!"】

【"Ridiculous... Can a body of flesh and blood withstand even a single strike?"】

【Even with only a single shield as a weapon, there was no fear on Krateros's aged face as he puffed out his chest: "'Better to die in battle than return in glory'—I was born a man of Suspended Blade; when have I ever feared Death?"】

【The Flame Reaver's gaze passed through him to look at Trianne on the ground: "I have no interest in an empty shell devoid of divine power... But answer me, Son of Strife, why raise a shield for her?"】

【"Hmph..." Krateros snorted coldly. "As the head of the champion warriors of the Aegis Brigade, I once held this round shield to escort the King through the Black Tide thousands upon thousands of times... You wretched butcher, how could you ever understand its weight?"】

【No expression could be seen on the Flame Reaver's face, hidden behind its monstrous mask, in response to Krateros's speech. However, a hint of faint regret seemed to leak through that raspy voice: "A pity."】

【"Then, like rusted iron, perish."】

【"I ask for nothing more! Let me enjoy the libations and incense of my descendants, and enjoy the supreme glory!" Krateros shouted loudly, "—Come! For Suspended Blade, for my King... for Amphoreus!"】

—

delicious in dungeon.

"In the end, it was as if Krateros endured a thousand cuts, then jumped off a cliff holding Trianne's body... truly remarkable."

Marcille clutched the staff in her hands, a drop of cold sweat sliding down her temple. "From a mortal's perspective, being able to face the Flame Reaver head-on without being instantly killed already says a lot about his combat strength. As expected of a man of Suspended Blade..."

"But I think the Flame Reaver must have held back," Chilchuck said. "Keep in mind the Flame Reaver could suppress Xing, Phainon, and the others all by himself. If it weren't for Mydei's sudden appearance, this 'trap' against the Flame Reaver wouldn't have worked at all. Do you really think Krateros could have lasted three rounds if he had actually gone all out?"

"But that's the bizarre part..." Marcille looked up at the back of the Flame Reaver in the Celestial Screen. "...If the Flame Reaver held back, why did it do that? Surely an evil spirit who commands the Black Tide, swallows ten thousand nations, and brought ruin to the people of Amphoreus wouldn't suddenly start playing the 'mercy' card when facing an old veteran of Suspended Blade? Or was he moved by Krateros's words and decided to show leniency?"

This was a very startling answer.

Laios also began to catch on, finally realizing that if the Flame Reaver was someone capable of 'mercy,' then he might not be an absolutely irredeemable villain in every sense. Killing the Nautiluss and stealing the Flame might very well have been forced upon him. Whether he was deceived or coerced, however... that remained unknown.

"It feels like with the Flame Reaver's Death, he left behind even more riddles for Amphoreus," Marcille sighed softly. "...But it's just as well. Although he died with many secrets, at least from now on, no more Chrysos Heirs will die because of him."

—

【Returning to the present.】

【Inside the Cloud Palace, everyone's eyelids were lowered, their expressions solemn.】

【"We foresaw the cruelty of parting a thousand years ago; today we have simply tasted its bitterness once more." Aglaea looked up, gazing at the red cloth doll placed on the table. Since Trianne's departure, her body had taken on this form.】

【"But, Lady Aglaea... I don't understand. The thing that wore down Lady Trianne wasn't life..." Hyacine looked strangely at the table. "She seems to have... really turned into a doll?"】