Fate, as expected, inspires awe precisely because it is so elusive.

The Demon Hunters, whose mission is to hunt down aberrant creatures, once had a vampire "saint." Now regarded as monstrous threats by various supernatural races, they were once a conservative and cautious group. A god-slaying sword transformed the Demon Hunters' antagonistic instincts into an even more powerful hunting instinct, and also semi-permanently altered their way of thinking. Corpus brought them peace and prosperity, but it was also a prison that confined them for six thousand years…

And the one who knew all these secrets was originally a guardian giant, Mimir.

"The antagonistic instincts between the various races were not originally terrifying. They only led to a chaotic melee, a blind and confused force of hatred, without logic or purpose. It could cause prolonged attrition between the races, but just like the food chain in nature, it wouldn't truly and completely destroy the entire aberrant race." While everyone was lost in thought, Mimir was reflecting on his insights from the past ten thousand years. As a former guardian giant, even when crossing the Wall of Reality and losing his memories due to the taint of divine blood, he retained more reason and wisdom than other races. Therefore, he was able to see through many things during this long period. "The most terrible thing that happened to the Demon Hunters… was that the Dark Sword transformed their hunting instinct, turning a chaotic impulse that originally had no logic into a clearly defined mission, and making all Demon Hunters deeply believe in this 'noble mission.' Superficial mind control isn't scary. What's scary is this change in worldview and way of thinking. The Demon Hunters, with a clear goal and powerful strength, became unstoppable…"

"The first Calamity of Madness… it seems that although I eventually stopped it, the damage it caused has actually spread," Vivian said, her voice somewhat somber. "And it also 'killed' my name, completely erasing my existence from the Demon Hunter community…"

"But now you can talk about these things," Hao Ren looked at Mimir, suddenly realizing, "Which means… this 'restriction' has failed?!"

"You have finally completely ended the Calamity of Madness," Mimir blinked, affirming. "Its influence has subsided. I can feel that the dark power that has enveloped this space for thousands of years has been swept away. Unfortunately, the Twelve Saints are already dead, and the Demon Hunters who knew the old story are basically gone. This ancient story can only be told to you by me, an 'outsider.'"

Hao Ren frowned in thought. Mimir's story sounded very reasonable, but there were still many questions that were hard to understand. He stroked his chin, "Although the Twelve Saints couldn't say Vivian's name, they still knew about her, right… Then she fought with the Demon Hunters every now and then for thousands of years, why didn't the Saints stop her? At least give her some special treatment, right…"

"Now that I think about it, there seemed to be quite a lot of special treatment," Vivian chuckled a little awkwardly. "Demon Hunters have always rarely taken the initiative to trouble me. In fact, they have been avoiding me for the past few thousand years… Now that I think about it, I was there when Mount Olympus collapsed, I was there when Yggdrasil shattered, and I was even closer when Horus was blasted down with three fireballs, but in the end, no one came to bother me."

"That's right, the Saints couldn't tell your story, but they could remind the young Demon Hunters from the sidelines, telling them not to bother you," Mimir seemed to smile slightly. "Although this was of limited effect, you were attacked less often than other aberrant creatures."

"Okay, let's skip this part, let's talk about this 'Calamity of Madness' you mentioned," Vivian waved her hand. "Judging from your tone earlier, you already knew that the Godslayer… the Dark Sword would go out of control again? You even knew I would come?"

"These are the words you left behind back then," Mimir said, his voice somewhat helpless. "After you stopped the ritual and barely restored the Saints to their senses, before the sword's 'curse' took effect, you had a final discussion with the Saints. You knew that the power of the sword had already dissipated, and that it probably wouldn't dissipate for thousands of years in the future, and that you couldn't completely destroy that evil weapon, so you decided to seal the Dark Sword, waiting for its power to weaken, and then you would find a way to destroy it—or continue to seal it. But Bedivere foresaw a dark future: he discovered that the sword would inevitably go out of control again, and would eventually completely devour the minds of all the Saints. Bedivere's ability to prophesy had its limits. He could only see some fragmented pieces, but had no way to change it."

"In the end, the Saints, who had already put life and death aside, decided to accept this future, but you, in order to leave a glimmer of hope, and also out of confidence in your own power, left a memory crystal for Bedivere, and said that you would always come back one day to clean up the mess. That way, even if you lost your memory in the future, as long as you saw the blood crystal stone again, you would come to complete your unfinished work."

Vivian thought for a moment, "And this also bypassed the curse of the sword. Even if the Saints couldn't tell the truth, they could still have their subordinates hand the blood crystal stone to me—they just couldn't explain the reason for doing so to their comrades."

Mimir lowered his eyes, "That's all."

"Wait, wait, I have a question!" Lily suddenly jumped out, raising her hand. "Since the Twelve Saints knew that the Dark Sword was an evil thing, why did they have to hold this ritual! Isn't this courting death?"

"They underestimated the Dark Sword's corruption of the mind," Mimir sighed. "For thousands of years, the voice of the sword has been whispering in the minds of all Demon Hunters, influencing the minds of the guardians in a way that they themselves couldn't detect. Unbeknownst to them, all twelve Saints had been corrupted, and even I couldn't escape its influence. This is the truth that Bedivere failed to see in his visions: the Dark Sword would indeed go out of control, but it was they who released it."

Hao Ren finally understood completely.

All the Demon Hunters' irrational actions, the Twelve Saints' slow and passive response despite knowing the truth of the past, the reason why they turned a blind eye to the "hunting" behavior despite knowing it was a suspicious impulse—all of this suddenly had an explanation.

Even a guardian giant like Mimir couldn't resist the whispers of the Godslaying Sword—in fact, he couldn't even detect these whispers.

But fortunately, when the Dark Sword was truly sealed, at least Mimir woke up, and he was able to tell everyone these truths.

Mimir was brought to the Spirit Realm Clock Tower after Ragnarok—thousands of years after the first Calamity of Madness had passed, but through the mental power unique to guardian giants, he had excavated these truths from the brains of the Twelve Saints.

"It was difficult to do anything under the influence of those whispers, but we also did our best to resist," Mimir smiled faintly. "We couldn't violate the mental shackles, but we could make some arrangements within these rules. Bedivere sent out the blood crystal stone, others did their best to prevent the most corrupted Elder Council from leaving Corpus, and I, with the help of the memory inheritance ritual, cultivated Claude—as a messenger and spokesman in critical moments."

Mimir's story finally came to an end here. He left the remaining time to Vivian and Vivian's friends, allowing everyone to slowly sort out and digest these unbelievable truths.

"Do you think these stories are true?" After a long while, Hao Ren leaned close to Vivian and asked in a low voice.

"There's no way to prove they're false," Vivian shook her head with a wry smile. "All the events correspond, and there are reasonable reasons for the suspicious places. Of course, there are still many unexplained details in the whole story, but six thousand years of time and the Godslaying Sword's corruption of the minds of those in the know can explain everything. Overall… I tend to believe them."

"But I really can't imagine that you actually did such a big thing back then." Hao Ren couldn't help but look at Vivian with a strange gaze. Although he knew that the latter had lived for ten thousand years, he never thought that the peaceful Vivian would have such a world-shaking past.

"Do big things…" Vivian's voice was a little floaty, "I feel even more scared. Six thousand years of sinking, my power has declined too much, and losing my memory is an even bigger problem. If it wasn't for being with you this time, if I had rashly been attracted to Corpus by the blood crystal stone alone… the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Hao Ren glanced at her, "Then why did you take on such a big job back then?"

"I thought I had a big advantage back then," Vivian was a little embarrassed, "And according to the amnesia situation, I think I should have been preparing to usher in a new round of dormancy at that time, you know, I'm more easily excited before going to sleep…"

Hao Ren: "…"

After a moment of silence, Mimir saw that everyone had sorted things out, and he suddenly broke the silence, "The written records about the Fourteenth Saint, as well as the early historical data of the Corpus ruins excavation, are all preserved in the room behind me. Old friend, I think you must be very interested in them."