Lucimia’s soul-deep questioning froze Auril’s tongue, a lake of silence icing over.

“Do you know Yuna?” Her voice cut like a thin blade through mist.

“……”

Auril stayed silent, the quiet hanging like winter frost.

“Why don’t you speak?” Her impatience flickered like a candle in wind.

“I don’t know if you know Yuna. But I think you know Rexi.” Her words tapped like rain on stone. “You know her Memory Power. You know how she got it. Did you challenge Rexi to a Duel? She lost—so what did you make her do?”

“I believe you owe a king basic courtesy.” Auril’s tone pressed like storm-weight. “Are nobles of the Kingdom of Sipan taught only this?”

Lucimia didn’t move. Her gaze stayed steady, like a mountain at dawn. “Our status is equal. You’re a Dark Deity, and so am I.”

“What if I refuse to answer?”

Lucimia answered with action first. She set the Fuzzy Orb back onto her long sword, letting it cling like moss to iron.

“You only know how to threaten?” Auril’s voice showed a burr of irritation, like grit in a gear.

“Not only. I have other means.” Her calm spread like cool water.

“I suggest you rein in your temper.” His words slid heavy, like wet slate. “Even if your Authority Power can suppress me, corner me, and I’ll drag you down. You don’t want mutual ruin. You still have your aims, right?”

“You know me that well?”

“Yes.” The word fell like a pebble in deep water, sending quiet rings far out.

Lucimia went still, a reed in wind suddenly motionless.

That simple “yes” carried a mountain’s weight.

She drew a breath. The exhale was long, like fog spilling from a valley. “Rexi and her father’s motive was to gain Authority Power, to carve a place in a world full of Dark Deities.” Her thoughts marched like lanterns through night. “They took Memory Power from your Duel grounds. You Dueling Rexi means you bound her to do something for you. You and Rexi are connected.”

“I’m seeking Yuna’s birth parents.” Her voice was steady, like a compass needle. “Maybe you don’t know Yuna. But the records I checked say either Yuna lied, or her memory was altered.” Her logic clicked like beads on an abacus. “You’re tied to Rexi. Rexi holds Memory Power. Rexi altered Yuna’s memory.”

“Then here’s the question.” Lucimia crossed one leg over the other, leaning back like a cat in a sunbeam. “Guess who’s connected to Yuna?”

“……”

Auril gave her more snow-silent seconds.

“It’s obvious.” Her gaze sharpened like frost on glass. “Yuna is connected to Olivya, because Olivya sent Yuna to me. My Reversion isn’t mine; it’s Yuna’s.” Her words stacked like stones. “Don’t claim you don’t know Olivya. My next steps say you absolutely do.”

“If I remember right, the Lowegar Kingdom stood in the First Epoch.” Her tone brushed dust off old bronze. “You’ve always remained its first king. So—did Olivya have you use Rexi to alter Yuna’s memory?” Her questions pecked like crows at grain. “Make Yuna forget her full name, her origin, her parents, even plant false recollections?”

“Am I wrong? Doesn’t that thread everything together like a red string?”

“Sure, some details might be off.” Her hand cut a circle in the air, like a wheel turning. “But the core won’t change. You’re linked. You cooperate.”

“First,” she continued, the word striking like a bell, “maybe you didn’t force Rexi with a Duel. Maybe the Duel’s result was a trade.” Her reasoning flowed like a river finding banks. “You promised her Authority Power. She owed you one task. Because you also needed Memory Power.”

“Second, why did Rexi’s own memories vanish?” Her eyes narrowed, night-clouds pulling tight. “Maybe doing your task caused a break. But it’s odd. Altering one person’s memories shouldn’t cause a meltdown after one attempt. So maybe you did more.”

“Third, you don’t want me to know Yuna’s birth parents. Why?” The question perched like a hawk. “Does it disrupt your plan?”

“If I recall, Olivya’s plan is to sacrifice every Lancelot descendant, Devour all Authority Power, and become a Concept Deity.” Her voice cooled like moonlight on steel. “Then shut out foreign Dark Deities completely. She laid that web for more than an epoch.”

“Why would me finding the birth parents threaten that web?”

“You and Olivya are a pair. And I’ve always moved against what Olivya seeks.” Her stare held like iron. “You’re trying to stop me.”

Her analysis and questions pressed the air flat. Auril held silence for five, six minutes, time sifting like dry sand. Ten minutes, and still no words, the quiet piled like ash.

“You still won’t speak?” Lucimia let the Fuzzy Orb gnaw deeper at the long sword, small teeth working like termites in wood. “Tell me—am I right?”

Auril finally spoke, voice slow, like a gate creaking open. “I said if you keep using threats, I’ll grow impatient. If you insist, then I will—”

“Duel.” Lucimia cut him off, the word ringing like a saber’s chime. “Am I right?”

“……” Silence again, thick as smoke.

She waited a few more heartbeats. He stayed a stone. Lucimia stood, hair swaying like a waterfall, and spoke to the long sword with a clang that felt like thunder.

“Auril, I want a Duel!”

Her words struck the floor-sword. Power burst up like a geyser. A white flash slit the room like lightning. A tall figure appeared before her, shadow carving out hard edges.

The man looked about twenty, a young cliff-face—burly, stern. He wore armor, not jeweled robes; he stood like a tower under storm.

Lucimia’s eyes caught his hair first. Gray-white overall, with pink streaks like dawn threads. It screamed Time Halt, the mark of Anliena, the Time Stasis Bearer.

Anliena’s hair had looked just the same.

Auril’s voice dropped, low and steady, like drums in a cavern. “Why think I made Rexi alter Yuna’s memory? Because you found no trail, you decided her words to you were edited?”

Lucimia met it with a quiet that held heat, like embers under ash. “Because I forgot. Yuna’s existence was Devoured.”

“You had no motive to do that to me.” Her hand tightened, a knot in cord. “So I think Rexi left me a signal. Her Memory Power was forced to do something else. She warned me in her own way.”

“Of course, I don’t know if the current Rexi did it, or a former persona.” Her brow folded like mountain ridges. “Maybe the task you set puzzled her. She didn’t trust Dark Deities. She feared your harm. So she planted a failsafe.”

“But it’s odd.” Her gaze flicked, quick as a swallow. “A former persona shouldn’t know me. How did she alter the current me’s memory?”

“Hmm… so that girl set a failsafe?” Auril nodded, thoughts moving like slow clouds. “I didn’t expect that.”

Those words were a crack in stone, a confession bleeding like sap.

“So you do have ties.” Lucimia’s verdict dropped like an axe. “You know Rexi, Yuna, Olivya. You and Olivya belong to the First Epoch. You act together to expel Dark Deities.”