Judgment

Opera Epiclese

When Felina had finished speaking, she fell silent, merely watching Marcel with a calm gaze.

The grand opera house was now utterly quiet. Every pair of eyes was fixed on Marcel, waiting to see how this once-arrogant man would react.

Under the weight of countless stares, Vacher fell into a deep silence. Felina's words had struck him like a thunderclap, echoing through his mind. No scheming or plotting lingered in his thoughts now, no trace of smugness or resentment. Only her words reverberated within him.

Yes, just as Felina had said.

He had loved Vigneire dearly. That day, he had watched helplessly as his beloved dissolved before his eyes. He had reported the incident to Fontaine's patrol, but no one believed him. Only he knew the depth of his despair and helplessness in that moment.

This overwhelming love for his beloved, coupled with the lack of recourse, had driven him down a path of crime.

He began researching Primordial Seawater, only to discover that when diluted, it created an effect similar to that of an addictive drug. To grow his influence and obtain funding for his experiments, he began trafficking Sinthe.

He abducted twenty-four young girls, using them in inhumane experiments. He had taken on such risks and committed these monstrous deeds just to reunite with her.

But the further he delved, the more desperate he became.

He was, after all, just a mortal. The power of the Primordial Sea was beyond his comprehension or control.

After twenty years of taking unthinkable risks, his heart torn by guilt, only to fall into madness in his obsession—he had gained nothing but the same distance that had always separated him from his beloved.

Now his hair was gray; half his life was spent, and he had nothing to show for it but a dark history of crimes and sleepless nights filled with dread.

How could he not despair?

But now, before him stood a Archon—a god with command over the element of water, telling him that it was possible to see her again.

He knew Felina could very well be deceiving him, but he had no choice.

It was as if he were a freshwater fish cast into the ocean; even if he could see the hook before him, he had to bite down. It was the only way he could hope to escape the bitter depths.

As countless eyes observed him in silence, his breathing quickened, his body quaking. This was exhilaration, fear, and doubt colliding within him.

At last, he spoke, looking directly at Felina.

"Are... are you telling the truth?"

A roar erupted from the audience.

The very act of asking such a question was, in itself, an admission that he was Vacher.

But he no longer cared about that; the sole thought in his mind was to seize this one last chance at hope.

"Are you telling the truth?" he repeated, voice cracking. "Lady Furina, can you truly bring me back to Vigneire?"

With a near-mad gleam in his eyes, he clutched the railing, as if he were about to leap from the five-meter-high witness stand and rush to her.

Everyone present also turned their eyes toward Felina, awaiting her response.

Felina continued to sit there quietly, looking back at Vacher. She was as calm as a lake, her expression undisturbed by his outburst.

After a moment, she inclined her head slightly. "I can indeed make it happen."

But in the next second, she tilted her head, a hint of mockery in her tone. "But why, exactly, should I help you?"

These words seemed to break something in Vacher, who spiraled into a frenzy.

"No! You must help me!"

"You're my only hope! There's nothing I can do otherwise!"

"I just want to see Vigneire one last time, so please, I beg you! I'd pay any price!"

"My wealth, my life, everything I have—I'll give it all to you!"

Felina chuckled softly at Vacher's desperation.

"To answer the pleas of mortals is a god's duty," she replied. "I am a Archon, and as such, it is my duty to answer your prayer."

"However, for a god to grant a mortal's wish, that mortal must first offer their utmost devotion."

Vacher's face went blank. He was silent, deep in thought. After several seconds, his expression changed, as if he finally understood.

"I understand."

With those words, he descended from the witness stand, stepping down from his place at the Archon's level.

He came to the center of the stage, and there, before the crowd, he knelt.

This same criminal, who had once dared to accuse the Hydro Archon, who had tried to drag her down, now knelt in submission.

In her yellow dress, Felina remained seated, her gaze calm as she leaned back in her high seat, head propped on one hand as she looked down on the mortal kneeling below.

Under the Archon's gaze, Vacher lowered his head as far as it would go, bowing low before her.

Gone was the cruelty, the arrogance; all that remained was his desperation as he prostrated himself again and again, praying for her mercy.

"I confess—I am Vacher!"

"I began researching the Primordial Sea because I wanted to be with Vigneire again!"

"To raise the money, I started dealing Sinthe. I kidnapped twenty-four girls for my experiments—all for a way to reunite with her!"

"I murdered many to keep my secret safe! When I finally lost hope, I tried to kidnap Lady Furina!"

"I am a wicked man through and through, but I beg you, Lady Furina—have mercy! Help me see Vigneire one last time!"

"Please, this is my one and only wish!"

The shocking turn of events, the extremes of his emotions, had finally broken him.

Babbling incoherently, he tearfully confessed his crimes, all while kowtowing before Felina, begging for her mercy.

One would be hard-pressed to think this elderly man was a remorseless criminal if not for his horrifying crimes.

Felina said nothing, merely watching him quietly until his forehead was bruised and bleeding from prostrating. At last, she spoke.

"That's enough."

"I have seen your sincerity. Now, return to your research site with Captain Chevreuse. Gather all your evidence."

"When you're finished, come back here and confess every last one of your crimes. After that, I'll grant your wish."

"Yes, yes! Thank you, Lady Furina!"

Without hesitation, Vacher agreed and was led away under Captain Chevreuse's escort, accompanied by members of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol.

By the time Chevreuse and her team returned with Vacher, it was already dusk. The journey was long, and gathering the necessary evidence had taken a substantial amount of time.

Despite the late hour, not a single person had left the opera house; in fact, even more citizens had arrived, drawn by news of the trial. On the stage lay the clothing left behind by the dissolved girls, lists of names, ledgers, as well as unsold Sinthe freshly seized from Vacher's facility, and numerous photographs and videos captured by the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol—all damning evidence, now openly displayed.

Afterward, Neuvillette began a thorough interrogation of Vacher.

Vacher did not hold anything back, confessing in detail to every crime he had committed, including framing Navia's father, Callas, the previous head of the Spina di Rosula, who was sentenced to death after a duel with an Arbiter. Crime by crime, he revealed it all.

Upon seeing such harrowing evidence, the crowd finally began to grasp the full extent of Vacher's depravity.

The trial went on for a long time, with Vacher's confession alone taking over two hours.

"At this time," Neuvillette announced, "in accordance with the verdict from the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, Vacher is hereby found guilty. The sentencing of Vacher will be at Lady Furina's discretion."

As Neuvillette's declaration rang out, the trial finally neared its conclusion.

High above, Felina cast a brief glance at the Oratrice.

In principle, Furina was still Fontaine's supreme leader and thus technically held greater authority than the Oratrice. Felina had been prepared to overrule the Oratrice's verdict if it had sentenced Vacher merely to imprisonment in Meropide.

To her surprise, Focalors had gone along with her plan. In any case, this made matters simpler.

"Seeing me act like this, I bet Focalors is bewildered!" Felina thought, allowing herself a small smile before she suppressed it.

She descended to the stage. When Vacher saw her approach, he immediately fell to his knees, radiating an air of unyielding reverence.

"The trial is over," Felina said as she looked down at the kneeling Vacher, "and now, you must meet your fate."

"Vacher, you are not of Fontaine; you are a complete human. When exposed to Primordial Seawater, you will not dissolve."

Felina extended her hand, pressing it gently upon Vacher's head as she channeled the reversal powers bestowed upon her by the Pure Water Spirit Body.

In this world, all living things evolved from the Primordial Sea, humans included.

Fontainians differed from other peoples. While other humans were fully evolved and unaffected by the Primordial Sea's waters, Fontainians had been created by the previous Hydro Archon. This predecessor, despite stealing the power of the Primordial Sea, did not have the authority to create beings. As a result, her creation was incomplete, a half-human, half-water hybrid.

Fontainians were thus inherently unstable, dissolving upon contact with Primordial Seawater.

The evolution from Primordial Seawater to semi-human Fontainians, then to fully evolved humans, could be seen as a progression. With her power, Felina could manipulate this progression, shifting Fontainians into fully human forms—or conversely, transforming a fully evolved human like Vacher back into a state similar to that of Fontainians.

Felina now reversed the process, converting Vacher from a complete human to a Fontainian-like state.

As her hand pressed down, Vacher felt an unknown force surge into his body. A strange sensation washed over him, like a flood that scrambled his very DNA before reordering it, leaving him with an unsettling feeling that resonated deep within his genes.

"It's done," Felina said, withdrawing her hand. Vacher's constitution had now been altered.

"The Primordial Seawater you prepared to test me with is still there. Go to it—once you touch it, you'll dissolve on the spot."

Felina continued, "Technically, Fontainians don't die when they dissolve. They merely revert to pure water spirits, returning to their original state to live among the waters."

"So, if you dissolve, you will one day see Vigneire again."

"I have granted your wish. You have only one chance. Whether to accept it is your decision alone."

"Heh… of course I accept!"

"Thank you, Lady Furina, for your mercy!" Vacher bowed deeply before her, then rose and made his way to the basin of Primordial Seawater.

"Vigneire, I'm coming to find you!" he called.

Onstage, under the eyes of countless onlookers, Vacher approached the basin.

His expression was complex—a blend of relief, joy at fulfilling his desire, and the bittersweet anticipation of reuniting with his beloved after years of struggle.

Before the assembly, he dipped his hand into the basin. His body distorted, then dissolved instantly, forming a pool of water that fell to the floor.

And so, the shadowy presence that had plagued Fontaine for years vanished, the trial at last drawing to a close.

The Following Day

Though the trial had ended, its reverberations continued to shake Fontaine. The confessions of Vacher's crimes, the Sinthe trafficking, the closure of the serial disappearances, and Furina's divine intervention flooded the newspapers, captivating the citizens of Fontaine.

Early that morning, Charlotte, a reporter from The Steambird, arrived at Palais Mermonia to seek an audience with Furina.

Ordinarily, such a high-ranking figure would never meet an unsummoned journalist, but—

"Lady Furina, here's the agreed-upon share—9.8 million mora, all accounted for," Charlotte said, placing a large bag of money before Felina.

"Ah, excellent!" Felina, now in control of Furina's body, nodded in satisfaction at the bag of coins.

As for why Charlotte was paying her, this arrangement stemmed from their prior interview.

In Fontaine, The Steambird faced competition from other newspapers. In this landscape, sensational, in-depth stories gave a publication a distinct edge, and an exclusive scoop about the divine prophecies or the Original Sin of the Fontainians would bring any paper unprecedented fame.

So Felina had set her terms: she would share her knowledge, but in return, The Steambird would give her half of all profits from the paper's sales.

Without hesitation, The Steambird had agreed.

After all, even if Felina had demanded an up-front payment, they wouldn't have hesitated to secure that exclusive.