“It is said that the Cardinal Champions chose to end their lives willingly on the Altar of Gods,” said Isabelle. “After the great First Extermination, the Human God was on the verge of dissipating. The Demon God had inherited some parts of Pabar, the Eternal Presence, but that was not the case for Anren.”

“The Human God, who took it upon himself to segregate the Wildlands from the Five Lands, was beginning to falter in maintaining the seal,” continued Isabelle. “This seal is the Altar of Gods, so named because even the gods had to sacrifice their own powers and presence to ensure humanity’s and beastfolk’s continued existence. In a bid to lessen their load, the Champions eventually decided to destroy themselves and let their entire existence power the Altar in place of the Human God.”

“That…” Gaius shook his head involuntarily. “If that legend is true, then the Champions…they’ve been protecting us all for a very long time. What happened to them after they died? Did the Human God send them back? Or recruit them all as his familiar spirits?”

He thought back to the Demigod who had appeared at the Battle for Centoria, who’d died under his knife, and smiled slightly.

“No one knows. But the second part of the Altar’s legend was that…” Her voice lowered, and Isabelle looked around warily, an action that bordered on reflexes.

“That?”

“Their sacrifice wasn’t perfect. A great deal of power still remains, unabsorbed by the seal,” said Isabelle. “As proof, the Human God couldn’t maintain his physical form, even despite the supposed fact that he was no longer maintaining the Great Divide. Of course, this is all theory…”

“Still, how can a sacrifice be imperfect?” Gaius asked. “Unless you mean to tell me that one of the Champions only killed themselves…partially?”

“We’re not sure about that either,” replied Isabelle, “but supposedly, one of my ancestors decided to take a look at the internal workings of the Great Divide, and it was very flawed.”

“Flawed?” Gaius rubbed his nose, albeit slower than usual. “How can a god’s creation be flawed to such an extent that even us mortals can see it?”

She shrugged. “But yeah, that’s about it. Alright, tell me what’s going on now.”

“I suppose I should do that, eh? Nexus, you can take over. My throat’s, err, parched.” Gaius pulled out a small water canteen from a bag nearby, and started to sip at it.

“Master Gaius…”

“Look, I’m the human with a set of vocal cords.” The boy sipped from the canteen again. “Go, do your exposition fairy thing.”

The artificial intelligence sighed, and began to explain the events they’d seen in the past few days. As Gaius listened in, a sense of incongruency crept up on him, as though as there was something so blatantly obvious in front of them, but none of them had spotted it.

He furrowed his brows. It’s like one of those memories that you can’t quite remember. And the more I stir it up, the worse it gets.

“…the Republican forces dug down, and lured the Assembly’s forces…”

“…told Master Gaius that it was an ideological war…”

“…in front of the Republic of Francois’s troops to negotiate a ceasefire, and…”

Nexus’ words were beginning to pull up some of the questions he had for the first two months he was in Orb, and the boy finally noticed why he was feeling so off. He had been looking at things, and assuming things by using the lens of someone who had been summoned from Earth.

“Isabelle,” Gaius interrupted suddenly. “Do you know what the word ‘Republic’ means?”

“Of course not. It’s a word that the new leaders made up,” the Knight replied promptly. “Why?”

“Nexus…” The boy gestured, and energy swirled around the sculpture to pick it up. “I had been thinking about why I felt so odd. And then I realised that the concept of a republican government does not exist on Orb.”

“We’ve been looking at it with our own preconceived notions,” said the artificial intelligence. “Words must have meanings. But…”

“What are you guys talking about?” Isabelle asked. “The way you’re speaking, Gaius, it’s like you’re someone not from Orb.”

“Is it really that hard to believe?” Gaius asked back. “I’m eleven. I’m a Knight stronger than you. Try adding on more perceived impossibility to me, and maybe that’ll help.”

“You’re telling that you’re someone like the Constellations?” The Knight narrowed her eyes suspicious. “Nope, I don’t believe you. You aren’t as shiny as the ones I’ve seen.”

“Shiny?”

“Yeah, all the Constellations were glowing. They’d draw anyone’s eyes, no matter what, and they’ll always be the centre of attention,” said Isabelle. “You don’t have that.”

“That feels more like a Constellation-specific buff, though,” Gaius muttered, before turning back to Nexus. “So, yeah, as I was saying, it’s very possible that there’s a Summoned leading the Republic. I’d love to say ‘confirmed’, but I hate it when impossibilities happen.”

“Well, we can deal with that after we finish our business with the Last Star,” said Nexus. “And it seems that he knows about the Altar too.”

“He does?”

Gaius smiled weakly. “Why else would he hold an ascension ritual there? And to think from an opposite view, why didn’t the Demigods that preceded the Last Star hold such a ritual before?”

He turned to the girl. “What safeguards were there in the past, to prevent someone from using the Altar?”

She pondered for a few minutes, and then her eyes lit up. “The best safeguard was that no one knew how to use it. Sure, we realised that a huge amount of odd energies was littered around the place, but no one knew how to gather them. They were unresponsive to everything my ancestors tried, apparently.”

“Did that change?” Gaius asked. “Like, your father or mother found a way to move these energies around?”

“If they did,” replied Isabelle, “I didn’t know.”

“Which probably means that they didn’t, I get it.” Gaius nodded his head sagely — it wasn’t that painful now. “So, the Demigod Nox has found a way to use these energies. Or something along these lines.”

Nexus coughed lightly. “Well, from what I know, absorbing any form of energy that hasn’t been refined, which is most likely the case for the Champions’ remnant powers, is very dangerous. You can try striking at that moment.”

Gaius thought back to the Terminus, the weapon Nexus had created for him. “Yeah, I’ll do just that.”