The room fell silent. As Titania focused on her power of Life, she tried to track down the thread leading to Heto.

"Since Heto is alive, there is a chance to find him. The problem is, is my power capable of picking his signature in a sealed space?"

"Because..."

She made a pained expression even with her eyes closed.

"I lost Orion's life thread when he disappeared. I was certain his death was unavoidable."

But not long after, she relaxed her expression.

"If not for Dramia and Drania, I would perhaps not have found the peace of mind to help you."

Henrietta swallowed the words she wanted to speak and simply nodded.

The others also kept quiet, waiting patiently for the Remnant to continue.

The minutes passed with no reaction from Titania.

"As expected, Heto is nowhere in Triazils. The lead is cold at this point."

"..."

While sighing, Henrietta nodded.

"Then he is somewhere hidden. Is there a way to find him?"

"Yes."

Titania opened her eyes and looked at Henrietta.

"Where was Heto seen for the last time?"

Keleanos fell into deep thought before opening his mouth.

"Last time was... near where Turric was erected, if I am correct."

"This was where that ancient city was before being destroyed."

The city he came from. Destroyed along with many others at the time.

"Understood."

Titania closed her eyes once again. She sent her consciousness out of her body and made it go through the portal leading to Turric.

The world was discolored and pale, and nothing was distinguishable. The only thing she was able to see were the threads of life and death.

Green threads floated in place for healthy people, and red threads slowly disintegrated for sick and dying people.

But among those threads, a blue-colored variety sometimes appeared, with no real end point. When Titania focused intently, she could find those threads.

The threads of the existence of a Remnant.

But around Turric, no such threads seemed to form. As if Heto never existed.

'Strange.'

Nonetheless, she relentlessly pursued the search, scanning every nook and cranny of the city and its surroundings with her aura.

She ignored the green and red threads and focused to the point of having a slight headache.

'...'

Her thinking stopped, leaving her mind to process the information instead of diverting it toward her thoughts.

As the ground gave no clue, she turned to the sky.

The vast body of air that moved above everyone's head.

After a few minutes of searching, nothing came up. Titania was about to give up when she scanned one last area.

"!"

Suddenly, she opened her eyes, which trembled in response.

"I have found his signature!"

"Really?!"

Henrietta and the others looked at her with obvious excitement.

"It is thin, but I was able to find it. The thread is floating west of Turric, quite far, too."

"Far?"

"How far?"

Chelsea and Kelsea asked.

"Probably many kilometers away from the city. That thread is incredibly thin, which means it has been countless years since his previous appearance around here."

"And with the thread so high in the air, I believe it lines up perfectly with the time he moved away. There are two threads separating near Turric."

"One is most likely the one tracing the path when all survivors of the massacre met, which means us Remnants, while the other one is when Heto returned to his destroyed home and chose to vanish from our sight."

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They nodded to Titania's explanation.

"Then, could you trace back to where his whereabouts are?"

"Of course."

She nodded at Keleanos' question before focusing back on the search.

The three fell silent as Titania stopped responding, her eyes closed.

Patiently waiting for her to inform them of her findings, Henrietta looked out the window.

"It's morning."

Horizon's starry sky was slowly shifting toward a brighter color, indicating the start of a new day.

She frowned slightly.

'Let's hope we can find him before noon.'

...

"Aaah!"

A girl crumbled to the ground, her face tearing up.

"I-It hurts..."

She sat in the grass while looking at her bleeding knee. Holding back the tears with newly acquired strength, Stella frowned.

Pressing her hands on the wound, a white light enveloped her hands and healed her skin, bringing it back to a more pristine state.

"Why? Why can't I do it like him?"

With a frustrated expression, Stella stood up.

Her long hair reached the back of her knees, even tied into a high ponytail.

Stella was taller, and her limbs were firmer. The frail little girl was no more, replaced by a prim and proper lady.

Five years had passed inside this space, attempting every day to wake up the gigantic titan of crystal.

Not a single moment passed without her thinking of Orion, her father. Day after day, he became the force pushing her to new heights.

"I should take a break. I've been at it for a few hours already."

Turning heels, she walked toward a tree holding countless crystallized fruits on it.

Standing under the tree, she looked at the fruit she wanted.

"Alright."

She opened her hand and stayed still. Her right hand released a thick shadow that moved rapidly over the fruit.

It wrapped around the crystal-like apple and pulled it gently until it broke free from the branch before placing it in Stella's hand.

"Good. Today, too, I can control it perfectly."

With a smile, she bit into the crystal.

*Crack*

The crystal was a type of sugar coat, while the interior of the fruit was full of nutrients necessary for her survival.

A clear liquid flowed from the corner of her mouth as she bit into the fruit's flesh, which she instantly caught with her tongue before it could dribble down.

She sat down and pressed her back on the tree's trunk.

As she ate, a gentle breeze flew by, caressing her skin. Her eyes fell on the crystal titan sleeping in the distance.

"I wonder how the others are doing?"

She played with a strand of hair with her free hand while recalling Orion's companions, her eight mothers.

"And Henrietta... I hope she is doing fine."

The tragedy that happened was still ingrained in her mind. Seeing Tetra's lifeless body was etched in the depths of her memories, acting as a reminder of her weakness.

Her eyes shone a light purple as a spiral sigil appeared deep within her pupils. The previous thoughts in her head went somewhere else as she focused on another problem.

She looked at her outfit.

"It feels a little tight around the chest. I think it's time to improve it."

Biting into the crystal, she touched the soft fabric she was wearing. Imagining an outfit close to what Orion was wearing each time he went out, her outfit glowed.

Then, her entire outfit turned identical to his, adjusted to fit a woman.

A sleeveless dark gray shirt, black shorts stopping at the middle of her thighs, a leather belt, and black high boots. As an extra feature, she wore black stockings to hide her bare skin.

What she avoided wearing was the coat. She wanted to leave this part of the outfit to him and not steal his entire appearance.

Furthermore, she was persuaded that it wouldn't look as good on her as it did on him.

"Good."

To add a little more, she adopted Karteira's leather jacket on top of the shirt. It was more comfortable than she thought it was.

Her chest was developing nicely, almost catching up to Amelia. The ones on the smaller side would cry in despair at her growth.

Stella was perfectly healthy. Thanks to having many beautiful women in her life, she tried to keep her curves on the same level.

"I'm full. Thanks for the food."

She spoke to the tree while standing up. Wiping the dirt and grass off her butt, she walked back toward the cliff.

Now full of energy, she returned to her attempts at waking the crystallized titan.

"Alright!"

*PSSSH*

The wind rustled the grass as a blast of energy exploded from her body.

Stella spread her arms on both sides while opening her hands.

A wide sphere of light energy formed in her left hand, while a dark sphere of dark energy formed in the other.

"Control the output. This is nowhere near what Orion was able to bring out."

Now that she had aged, she was unable to bring herself to call Orion 'Papa' anymore. It felt more natural to call his name.

The two spheres grew while rotating wildly on themselves. They pulled air alongside their rotation, battering the area and Stella with wind.

Though, she didn't care, her focus was unwavering.

"More!"

With the two energies being three times her size, she was unable to infuse more power into them.

"That's nowhere near enough..."

She stared in front of her in frustration.

"Well, let's try anyway."

She dragged the two orbs in front of her. The two energies, which were opposite, began to push each other like magnets.

The pushing force was so strong that they began to revolve around each other faster.

"Go!"

Stella pushed the spheres with both hands, sending them toward the sleeping titan.

They dropped toward sea level before ripping through the water surface. Then, when they came closer to the crystallized elemental, they moved upward and crashed into its chest.

The two orbs were swallowed inside without damaging the being, something common in Stella's every day.

"..."

She waited anxiously until a flash of light inside the titan caught her attention.

"Not again..."

With a defeated expression, she dropped her shoulders. Then, she immediately took a defensive stance.

*Boom*

A loud, muffled explosion came from the titan, who rejected the two energies. They came back in full force toward Stella, ready to crash into her.

"Come at me!"

With a smile similar to Orion's, she emulated his personality to get through those tough moments.

The two energies came closer, and Stella gritted her teeth.

Covered in a dark aura, she leaped forward to the edge of the cliff. With both hands in front of her, a dark barrier appeared, thicker than her.

Both spheres touched the barrier, but only the white energy one entered a conflictual state with it. The dark sphere traveled through the barrier and threatened to hit her.

"Suck it!"

A dark shadow emerged from under her clothes and wrapped itself around the sphere. It rapidly devoured it, replenishing Stella's energy in the process.

"Now, the toughest part."

Stella had a better affinity for dark magic compared to light, which meant that recovering the remaining energy was a challenging part for her.

"One... two..."

The barrier disappeared, letting the white energy continue on its way, ready to hit Stella.

With the dark aura retracting inside her, a white aura took over.

"Gh!"

She grabbed the white sphere with both hands, feeling her entire body being pushed backward.

"Get... back... inside!"

Slowly, she absorbed the energy back into herself, releasing the pressure building on her.

Once she was safe from her magic, Stella breathed a sigh of relief.

"No injuries this time."

She dragged herself toward the cliff and sat down on the edge, careful enough not to fall.

"What will it take to wake you up, I wonder?"

Unknowing what was happening on Triazils, Stella continued through the trial of the elemental.

This process took place for five years, and she was still nowhere near reviving this primordial elemental.

Until her power as a Remnant awakened.

"Hmm?"

Her head slowly turned around, her eyes glowing out of her control.

"Who...?"

A figure, cloaked in a white light, stood silently behind her.