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Council Hall.
"Rios, we're here."
The girl from the People of the Springs pushed open the door, and behind her followed several others.
After entering the council hall, the girl blinked her red eyes, curiously surveying the surroundings.
"Mualani, what are you looking at?" Paimon, who had followed her in, asked puzzledly.
Mualani smiled embarrassedly, then said, "Ever since Rios became the Pyro Archon, I haven't been to the council hall."
"I was wondering if Rios had hidden something he didn't want me to see, that's why he wouldn't let me come in to play, but after looking around, it seems there isn't anything like that." Mualani said with a smile.
"The time I've spent in the council hall isn't as long as Mavuika's. Even if there are personal items, it's Mavuika who has more." Rios said.
To the uninformed like Mualani and the others, Rios was just saying that Mavuika had been treated like a workhorse lately.
But to the Traveler and the others, who had just learned the truth from Mavuika, it wasn't that meaning.
"Is the Pyro Archon testing whether we know about Mavuika's plan?" Lumine pondered inwardly.
In her view, the current Mavuika could only issue orders in place of the Pyro Archon under special circumstances, at most handling part of the Pyro Archon's work.
If not counting her experience as the Pyro Archon 500 years ago, Mavuika's time in the council hall could only be less than Rios's.
Rios saying this on purpose was to see if they knew about Mavuika's situation.
Thus, Lumine nodded slightly toward the Pyro Archon, indicating she already knew about Mavuika's plan.
Rios felt somewhat baffled.
He had been focused on talking with Mualani earlier and forgot to watch the Traveler's thinking process.
Seeing the other suddenly nodding, he really couldn't understand what she was thinking.
Fortunately, at that moment, Kinich spoke up to steer the conversation: "Lord Pyro Archon, you called us over—is there something you need?"
They had come to the council hall secretly while everyone was busy punishing Tepetapán and Tamuyin, based on Mualani's judgment.
Seeing the Pyro Archon's posture with Mualani, it confirmed that Mualani's judgment was correct—the Pyro Archon indeed had something for them.
Seeing Kinich help pull the topic back on track, Rios cast an appreciative glance, then continued along with it: "I believe you all heard what I said in the arena earlier, that is, about Kaiulani not being able to be revived through the Ode of Resurrection."
"Yeah." Paimon chimed in, clenching her small fists and furrowing her brows in anger. "And there were two detestable guys slandering Kaiulani—it's really too hateful."
"Fortunately, Lord Pyro Archon beat them up; my heart feels much better now."
With that, Paimon laughed in relief.
"After beating them up, I also felt a bit relieved." Rios said with a smile.
"However," changing the subject, Rios immediately withdrew the smile from his face, saying with a serious expression, "What I want to say is that Kaiulani actually still has hope for revival."
"What?!" Mualani widened her eyes, her face full of surprise. "Rios, didn't you say earlier that Kaiulani couldn't be revived?"
"What I said was that she can't be revived with the Ode of Resurrection; that doesn't mean she can't be revived with other methods." Rios corrected.
Next, he told Mualani and the others the entire plan from the original plot for saving Kachina.
"I never imagined there was such a way to revive sacrificed warriors."
After listening to Rios's words, Kinich touched his chin and said.
"If there's such a method, then won't Natlan be able to revive no matter how many people are killed by Abyss monsters in the future?" Paimon said something shocking.
She actually hadn't understood much throughout, only knowing that it seemed like running around, finding this person and then that one, then entering the Night Kingdom to fish the person out, and Kaiulani could be revived.
"With my current strength, I still can't achieve that." Rios said. "In fact, this is still thanks to the rules of the Night Warden Wars that we can revive Kaiulani."
"It's just that the Abyss has affected the Night Kingdom, so we can't directly bring Kaiulani back with the Sacred Flame; that's why we have to use a more complicated method."
"But essentially, we're still relying on the Night Warden Wars' mechanism to bring back the sacrificed warriors."
"Huh?" After hearing the explanation, Kachina said puzzledly, "But Lord Pyro Archon said in the arena that Kaiulani didn't participate in a Night Warden War, so that's why she can't be revived with the Ode of Resurrection."
"That was me deceiving them." Rios said with a smile.
"Deceiving?"
Not just Kachina, the girls in the council hall all opened their small mouths in surprise upon hearing Rios's words.
"In reality, the Night Kingdom has been severely eroded by the Abyss; even in a normal Night Warden War, it can't guarantee reviving the sacrificed." Rios explained.
"It's actually... this serious?" Mualani realized something and quickly asked, "Rios, could it be that you knew about this long ago, so that's why you had to suspend the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night and the Night Warden Wars?"
If the Ode of Resurrection couldn't revive the deceased, then Natlan people wouldn't be so enthusiastic about the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night and the Night Warden Wars anymore.
After all, if they were dead and couldn't be revived anyway, then directly sending people to fight the Abyss monsters—wasn't it all the same?
But in doing so, Natlan people would lose their faith in their hearts; the honors they previously cherished like treasures would become empty names.
Not only that, without the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night to select warriors to fight the Abyss monsters, each tribe would have to select people themselves to confront the Abyss monsters.
At the beginning, there wouldn't be problems, but over time, the major tribes would definitely develop conflicts over personnel casualties, eventually turning into estrangements.
If the six major tribes no longer united, for Natlan, which was constantly threatened by Abyss monsters, this could be called a catastrophic disaster.
"No matter how others asked you, you refused to explain to everyone, even not hesitating to use force directly to force everyone to accept your plan."
"It's also because you don't want the six major tribes to lose unity, so you want to bear all the responsibility and hatred on yourself?"
Mualani looked at her childhood playmate with worry and concern.
In recent times, she had heard more than once the dissatisfaction from people in the tribe and her companions toward Rios.
At the time, she also felt Rios's actions were a bit excessive; even if it was truly unavoidable to suspend the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night, he should have communicated and explained properly with everyone.
But after learning about the Night Kingdom's current state, she understood Rios's approach.
Rios didn't want the tribes to fall apart, didn't want Natlan people to lose their faith, so he resolutely suspended the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame on the Sacred Night, taking all the blame onto himself.