"Oh, and each one has a theme, how neat!"

Vale had been diligently listening...

Thankfully, it was a little easier to understand than whatever the hell Sloth was, but it was still mightily confusing; given enough time, he’d begun to sort everything out in his head:

’The Lost Expanse is Despair’s prison. There are eight trials to unleash him back into the world. With the hope that the one who does will be able to defeat Despair once and for all.’

Vale shook his head.

"A... theme?"

Diligence looked awfully pleased with herself as she shouted:

"Yes, a theme! And no matter which entrance one goes into, they’ll be drawn to the same dungeon — it goes in order."

"In that case... what theme are Mias and Ophelia facing?"

"Oh? The first theme is paranoia."

’Paranoia...?’

Vale thought back to what happened to Mias during Level 10.

’That would somewhat explain how his soul was feared...’

Not that Vale understood what ’fear’ was — in the context Salome had explained it.

"What are the others?"

Diligence looked awfully jubilant as she said:

"It’s a good thing you asked! Seeing as you’re fated to challenge them..."

Vale nearly fell off his water throne.

’H-huh?! Why the hell would I do that?!’

Diligence continued:

"After paranoia it goes: fear, horror, despair, denial, remorse, trust, hope."

’Fear and horror... are those not the same thing?’

Wait...

"What do you mean I’m fated to challenge a trial?!"

Diligence laughed.

"Exactly what I said... but what do you mean ’a’ trial... I never said it would be only one."

"Well I say it’s going to be zero."

"We’ll see about that."

As much as Vale wanted to keep refuting her...

He’d already seen the vise grip fate had on his life. It would be a long time before he could even give a measure of resistance against that insidious force.

Ending up in a trial was inevitable.

Diligence added on:

"There’s one more thing about these trials... Once overcome, the one who shattered the Core will receive a Record Stone, a stone capable of replaying the past. Replaying the fight against Despair and revealing how to defeat him; however, the stone can only be activated by a Vice and Virtue holding it at the same time."

Vale’s eyebrow rose.

He’d understood what she’d said, but...

"A Vice and a Virtue?"

"Mhm." The reflection shifted, "One more thing... not even I can see what goes on in those trials. I only see the before and after. So, I truly am at a loss for the situation those two are going through... That’s all I will tell you about the trials and the Lost Expanse."

Vale nodded as his head dipped. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He’d finally gotten an answer on what happened to Mias.

He’d also learned more. Much more. More than any other Vice may have known — other than Sloth.

As for interpreting what he’d learned...

’Please don’t tell me...’

Was he going to have to fight that man in the future?! After breaking him out of his ashy prison?!

’The hell?!’

Vale felt he’d been saying that way too much recently...

Not that it hadn’t been appropriate each time.

There was also the secondary bit of knowledge he pieced together. If the Real Sloth’s goal was unification and keeping the strong together...

’Then she wants the Vices and Virtues to be allies.’

Hence the stone to see the past being only activatable in conjunction.

Furthermore...

’Perhaps she was also suggesting the only way to defeat Despair was to team up.’

Only time will reveal the answer to that.

But, if so...

’Why did Diligence make Kindness hate me?!’

Vale exhaled the useless thoughts.

All he had to know at the current moment was that that place was damn scary and he should steer clear for as long as possible!

Hell, he should steer clear forever!

Or at least until fate forced him...

Seeing as Diligence wasn’t going to say any more on the Lost Expanse, Vale decided to broach his next topic he’d wanted answers to...

"Dawn’s Eye... what is it? What’s with the descriptions? Also, who’s Dawn? Plus, you said Despair was imprisoned by Dawn’s silk... then by Dungeon Cores. Which is it?"

Diligence clapped and laughed.

"Oh? You want to learn about the Spider of Dawn? The web she left behind? Well, I guess you’ll have to challenge the trials, as well as collect the rest of her eyes — there’s 100, by the way!"

’Oh...’

Earlier, Diligence had said that Dawn’s silk helped trap Despair...

Was that not contradictory?

’I see.’

’I guess I don’t need an answer after all!’

Though Vale would definitely expand his eye collection if he could for no other reason than to piece the poem together. His curiosity after reading the one directed to him had dribbled past the point of no return. He had 34. Meaning 66 to go.

But, while they were on that topic of weird items...

"[Midnight’s Mountain Bike], [Absolution, Shard of Ancile], [Stay Safe]... what is the deal with those items?"

Diligence sighed.

"What an awkwardly loaded question..."

After a moment of silence, that oracle slowly said:

"I can’t say anything about the bike itself or its maker except that they are from Earth. And, yes, Mias’ time relativity theory was mostly correct; however, the point at which time moves is non-linear. That’s all I will say on that topic. As for that shield..."

"It is part of a twelve-part series. When all are combined, it will mold into a shield able to block the gods themselves. But, sadly, I only know a little about the other shields’ locations. And, no, I will not tell you the ones I know since their current wielders need them. As for [Stay Safe]..."

Diligence broke out into a soft chuckle.

"It’s less about the Item, but the Item’s owner and crafter."

"The owner? You mean the one who held a ’Relic’. And what even is a Relic?"

Not even Mias knew what those items were nor where they came from.

"Correct... though perhaps I should refer to the owner by his title. Or, more so, former title: the Twelfth Apostle of Celestia."

Vale’s eyes twitched.

"An Apostle... but he was so weak?"

’Why the hell were Akkuron scared of people like him?’

And...

’That man wielded the power of the gods?’

Really?

What a letdown.