After a moment of silence Traveler spoke, "Focelors..... tell me why did deceive us, why did you deceive the people of Fontaine......."

Focelors now turned her attention to traveler now, "Well that wasn't my goal Of course. Goodness no! But I had to deceive everyone else too if I was to stand any chance of deceiving....... The Heavenly Principles."

"Deceiving.... the Heavenly Principles...?", questioned Neuvilette.

Focalors sighed deeply, her gaze shifting to Furina. "It's all because of that pernicious prophecy. Everyone doomed to dissolve, Fontaine condemned to be flooded," she said, gently caressing Furina's hair.

"All this burden was thrust upon me by my dearest predecessor, Egeria, the former Hydro Archon. It hardly gets more disastrous than a preordained national catastrophe, now does it?" Focalors continued with a hint of sarcasm. "She knew clearly that the prophecy would surely come to pass. And as one of the Seven, she also knew full well that one defies the Heavenly Principles at one's peril. So yes, as you may have understood I was stuck in a rather impossible situation."

"So how did you plan on averting the prophecy then." questioned the traveler.

"I spent a long time mulling over it, alone on the ocean floor... I was almost growing barnacles by the time I realized there was only one solution to this confounding conundrum...... I had to outwit the Heavenly Principles. Let the prophecy happen, ostensibly at least, and save everyone at the same time.", answered Focalors who was now playing with Furina's hair as she stopped crying sitting in front of her.

Shocked at Focalors' answer Neuvilette and Traveler remained silent. 

"I am a genius, I know. Thats probably why Egeria chose me as her suc-", her sentence is cutoff by traveller, "'Genius'! have you gone mad Focalors! That happening is literally impossible. I don't know why Egeria chose you, but I do know that you are stupid"

Focalors snickered at traveler's reaction, as her gaze shifter to her, "You really love to underestimate a god's capability it seems dear traveler. I am amused by your naiveness."

As her snicker faded, she sighed, "Anyways, now let me continue. *cough* Looking back at the situation when I inherited Egeria's will. I would honestly say, she left me quite a huge mess to clean up. *sigh* But one can only play the card that one has dealt. I did not choose this, more than anything I chose to be one of her oceanid familiars."

"So, you too were one of the oceanids transformed by Egeria into a human." Neuvilette exclaimed.

"Yes, I was. I always dreamed of becoming human... I still do. According to me, being human is to be the part of the greatest opera ever known." as her gaze shifted to Furina who was looking at her with curious eyes.

"You still haven't answered my questions Focalers, are you perhaps averting them??"  questioned traveler.

"I apologize if it seemed that way, however the truth is far more painful than you think.... After I became a god, I separated my divinity from my body and spirt, leaving behind my human self that was as naive and bewildered as my past self on her first day as a human. That is Furina. She could feel every single human emotion. Her strenghts were of a kind that only a human could possess, as were her shortcomings. But in my eyes, Furina's humanity was what made her perfect, as perfect as i always wished to be."

Then a hint of guilt could be seen in her eyes as her averted her gaze from Furina. "So, then I cursed her... all part of the plan of corse. In order to make it look like the prophecy was fulfilled, I invited Furina to be an actress, to play the part of the Hydro Archon in the prophecy. Under the curse I placed upon her, as long as, the divinity continued to live, she could not die. But nor was she free to live her life in pursuit of happiness." she continued as her voice cracked "Instead, she was forced to take the stage in the opera house, to embrace the role of the leading lady, to play a part of a god from the prophecy. All that was to create a deceitful appearence of that prophecy coming to pass."

"But Furina is only human isnt she? Even though she has lived a long life, her mind is no stronger then that of any other human. It must have been a torture for her" Neuvilette said as his guilty eyes remaind fixed on Furina.

"Did you know of this Furina?" asked traveler however she was only met with silence as Focalors stood up from the throne and made Furina sit on it.

"No,she did not. It had to be done, to deceive the heavenly principles you need to deceive yourself first. She did very well" Focalors answered for Furina. She looked back at her as she continued. "If she let her resolve falter even once in those five hundrd years, Fontaine would have been doomed."

Traveler's voice trembled with a mix of anger and sorrow. "Focalors, you burdened her with this cruel fate, all for a deception... Did you ever think about the torment she would endure?"

Focalors's eyes filled with regret as she looked at Furina. "Not a day went by that I didn't think about it. Every moment of those 500 years, I felt the pain of what I had done. But I believed it was the only way to save everyone. I had to believe it."

"However, this is only half of the truth as you both may have guessed. Iudex Neuvilette answer me this, I'm sure you have long sensed that the Oretrice not a simple machine, right?" Focalors continued. 

Neuvilette sighed in sadness and frustration as he answered her question, "Yes.... I have long suspected that it had its own consciousness, after hearing all that you said, I believe that consciousness was you"

"Yes it was me, now tell me about its true purpose"

The traveler's face was confused as she looked back and forth between the two deities. Neuvilette answered his voice stern, "It was to deem the Hydro Archon guilty and sentence her with death."

"Your answer is correct, but not perfect." Focalors commented, "In fact it is the device to kill the God of Justice."

At this shocking revel everyone was shocked, even Furina. Who got out of her trance and stared at her mirror self.

"I beg your pardon?", Neuvilette broke the silence.

"Oh you have it- And to be precise, not only will the Oretrice take down the God of Justice, but it will also take down the divine throne upon which she has been placed." Focalors giggled as she continued, "Did you really think I was so cold hearted to enjoy the peaceful time while Furina suffered alone. My work over these five hundred years has been to gather enough Indemnitium within the Oretrice. A vast majority of the Indemnitium produced has bee- had to be accumulated to enact this death sentence." 

Traveler still confused asked, "Wouldn't that just anger the heavenly principles even more."

Neuvilette took a deep sigh and answered with sad look in his eyes, "That is where I come in right, Focalors. The destruction of the divine throne would restore my authority of the Hydro Dragon of Fontaine being the Hydro Dragon sovereign of this era who will forgive all the fontainians of the 'sins' that they have committed, right?"

"Indeed! Returning what's rightfully yours is justice correct it would be ironic if I the God of Justice would not do it." 

Furina then stood up from her throne tears threatening to come out of her eyes, " I cannot accept this! After all that you did for 500 years you are just going to sacrifice yourself and call it a day? What about me...without you who will I talk to, who will trust me after all that they have been through." She declared. 

Focalors then turned towards Furina and hugged her one final time, "What? Getting sad again are we. I understand what you feel about all this my dear. As for my sacrifice, I have never seen it that way. In fact, I am still quite amused at the fact my deception worked so well. And don't worry I am sure there are many people who will look after you after I am gone. I see some of those individuals right here" Focalors comforted Furina. 

Then a clear sniffle could be heard from Neuvilette as tears began forming in his eyes, even the resilient traveler couldn't keep her tear to herself.

"How am I going to comfort all three of you at once?" Focalor now broke away from Furina and sat her on the throne. She then looked at the ever so composed Iudex barely controlling his tears from coming out of his eyes. Focelors then turned towards him.

"Now, now. Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry. You are getting your ancient authority back today and that is the face you make." she then whispered in his ears "Please take care of Furina for me, treat her like your little sister and make sure not to be too harsh on her." she then turned to the traveler.

"Ahh... the ever so resilient traveler from the faraway lands. Seeing you in this disgraceful state makes me pity you. I am sorry I could not help you on your quest to find your brother, however I am sure that someone in this room will be willing."

She then turned to center of the stage looking back at the three. "I must say, had it been within my rights, I would have loved to judge the Heavenly Principles themselves. Were they not guilty of essentially the same crimes? Egeria stole the power of the primordial sea, and they stole the powers of you, the dragons, that is not Just at all. Speaking of Justice. I have always believed that justice lies in the process of pursuing human existence itself. So, if the stealing the powers of the primodial sea to make humans was Fontaine's 'original sin', then the descent of the fontainians as humans and their right to exist in this world is Fontaine's 'original justice'. In other words, I the god of justice deem myself to be guilty of the crimes of forcing Furina, a human, to act as a god stealing her rights to be free as a human. So just think of it as me giving a punishment to myself." 

As Focalors ended her speech music started playing out of nowhere, Focalors then took a deep sigh, "Ahh... the hour of my execution is almost here. For the sinner, the curtain call has come, and it's time for the actress to get off the stage. I know I may not sound like it but faced with death i find myself a little afraid. Perhaps that's one thing that both gods and human have in common." she then turns her glance to Furina weeping alone on her throne knowing now she cannot change what is to happen, "Farewell Furina, I hope you will now live the rest of your life peacefully  as a human just as we- no just as I wished to be." she said as a tear escaped her own eyes.

Then began her graceful dance, each step more graceful than the one before it filled with emotions that she had never felt before, guilt, regret, sorrow name it all. As the Sinner's Finale drew to a close Focalors bowed and the curtain fell destroying the divine throne of hydro archon and the Hydro Archon executed.