"Under the pressure, Nellie chose a self-destructive plan, which was a natural reaction to the overwhelming pressure Danacus had put on her. Given Nellie’s stubborn nature, such a choice was inevitable. Even if it were to happen a thousand tis, or even ten thousand tis, there would be no change," Pannis stressed emphatically. "Now, let’s consider Danacus. Setting aside whether he anticipated this outco, just look at his reaction afterward. He didn’t try to deceive, he didn’t go around in circles, he didn’t try any other thod, but t force with force, choosing to confront the issue head-on. If it were two Nellies fighting each other, I wouldn’t be surprised at such an outco. When two fools et, nothing they do would surprise . But this is Danacus, not a fool like Nellie. He’s a master at manipulating souls and hearts. He can easily find and break through the weaknesses of my soul, even when I’m on full alert. If soone tells that such a deity would not even attempt any tactic and just bet his life on taking over Nellie’s body faster than , and then actually lose that bet, Lord Yarra above, I could never believe such a thing."
"This kind of thing is really not easy to notice if you don’t think about it carefully," Denia nodded thoughtfully. "But after your reminder and looking back to analyze it, it indeed feels out of place and not sothing a smart person like Danacus would choose to do. In this way, maybe your guess really does make so sense. If he acted this way, even if we can’t be certain he was forcing you to kill him, it’s possible he had so other motive."
"Yes, but I’m more certain than you. I’m almost sure that he was trying to force to kill him," Pannis said with a serious face and certainty. "Because I trust what my eyes saw, and I think if you had been there and seen his performance, you would likely have co to the sa conclusion."
"Is that so?" Denia asked with a furrowed brow. "What happened after you entered Danacus’s world?"
"Actually, nothing particularly strange happened on the surface; everything seed normal," Pannis said with a smile and confidence. "But sotis anomalies hide under the guise of normality to mislead the observer. Danacus made a mistake, perhaps thinking that under the disturbances of his will, I would find it difficult to regain truly calm thinking, and would therefore fall into his trap and help him accomplish his plan. Maybe he didn’t anticipate that I would regain clarity from his interference with Artemis’s help, so he overplayed his hand, exposing his true motive. Of course, this is just speculation on my part, but regardless of whether that’s the reason or not, he really shouldn’t have maintained pressure on Nellie after I entered the Door of Mist."
"Oh?" Denia said noncommittally. "Why not?"
"First, we have to establish a premise. A hundred years ago, in order to obtain a body, he studied us carefully, at least he studied and Nellie carefully," Pannis emphasized. "With this premise clarified, I have reason to believe that he understood my character well enough to anticipate how I would react to a certain action."
"Indeed, it isn’t hard to foresee your responses," Denia agreed with a nod. "Many tis, we can predict them."
"Thank you for the attention," Pannis nodded towards the empty space around him, proceeding to say: "If you all can foresee, obviously Danacus can too. Then, what should he do if his goal is rely to seek revival, and I enter the Door of Mist with a Hunting Arrow powerful enough to threaten him? If it were , I would cease all activities imdiately and hide."
"Hiding at that mont seems aningless, doesn’t it?" Denia asked in puzzlent. "You were already in front of him. If he hides then... wait, no, that’s wrong, it actually does make sense, hiding is the best choice."
"Yes, hiding is indeed the best choice," Pannis said with a cold smile, in a chilling voice. "Once I entered his world, his continued pressure on Nellie could only an one thing, that he was in a desperate struggle, attempting to take over Nellie’s body at the last mont to avoid death. But in reality, that truly was aningless, because Nellie was still resisting, and his desperate struggle, even if successful, would at least take a few seconds to truly consu Nellie’s will. In that ti, I could have shot several Hunting Arrows, so struggling would not bring him any hope of survival; instead, it would hasten his demise. Whereas if he hid his presence, he might potentially have so effect, no, I can be sure of it, it definitely would have an effect."
No one asked him why hiding would have an effect, as they all knew the reason, just as he said. Nellie wouldn’t choose mutual destruction unless absolutely necessary, and with Pannis’s love for Nellie, unless there was no other choice, he would never be willing to kill Nellie. Only if all hope was gone, and he was utterly convinced that there was no chance left to save Nellie, might he launch the Hunting Arrow, burying the soul of his beloved. So, if Danacus chose to hide, it would give Pannis an unreal and illusory hope, possibly thinking that there might still be a chance for Nellie, that there might be ti, that perhaps the Hunting Arrow could temporarily suppress Danacus, causing him to weaken his resolve to kill Nellie. Of course, this was just a possibility. Whether it would truly work would depend on practice, but at least for Danacus, compared to struggling, there would be more hope of survival.
"He should have known. Giving you hope is the best way to stop you from shooting the Hunting Arrow," Denia said after gazing into the void for a while, nodding. "Weston agrees with your reasoning. I and Weston are among the deities most familiar with Danacus, and we must admit that with his intellect, Danacus shouldn’t have made such mistakes, let alone a series of them. So there must be a problem here."
"That’s exactly why I initially thought he was practically jumping up and down in front of , shouting, ’co and kill .’ Holding back the desire to truly kill him wasn’t easy," Pannis said with a sneer.
"However, Kyle," Denia spoke with concern, "I’ve noticed that you’ve been avoiding one issue all along. Perhaps it can’t be considered avoiding, but from start to finish, you haven’t brought it up."
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