Phantasm Armament - V
The defective product created from the remnants worked in reverse. It forcibly lowered one's stage to significantly reduce abyssal corruption. In the original fate, Flamelle used this item along with Ansel and Annelisa to survive the last ten years.
Flamelle knew exactly what Ansel intended to do, so he adapted the item meant to preserve his sanity into a tool to deal with the Empress.
Even though Ansel inherited Flamelle's power, he only had the strength of two pact heads, far from being a complete Hydral.
In this situation, even with sixth-stage power, he wouldn't be a match for Ephesande.
Ansel's original plan was to use Flamelle's inherited power, plus this item, and Evora with her Etheric Armament to completely overpower Ephesande, preventing her from threatening him. In two or three years, when all his pact heads were in place, Ephesande would no longer be a threat.