Erichthonios is resolutely avoiding his father’s eye.
At his son’s prompting, a surprisingly cooperative Lahabrea explains that Hephaistos was an experiment born of his own negative emotions, meant to remain sealed away forevermore. While he does not know how his so-called “other half” came to roam the facility unfettered, he concludes that the best means to keep him from wreaking further havoc is to destroy Pandæmonium before the barriers surrounding it are undone. Following Erichthonios’s stringent objection to this course, Themis invokes his position as Emissary to advocate for continued investigation of the facility, that the warders might yet be saved. Lahabrea begrudgingly accepts this decision, but states that he will not hesitate to move forward with Pandæmonium’s erasure if you are unequal to the task. Angered by his father’s callousness, Erichthonios stalks off.
You approach Erichthonios at a remove from the entrance to Abyssos. He appears to have calmed down somewhat, and even admits that Lahabrea’s knowledge will prove useful as you venture into Abyssos. He asks that you speak to Lahabrea in his stead, as it seems the chief keyward has a special interest in you.
Although Lahabrea can no longer directly control Abyssos, he can yet sense the aether within. He informs you that while no creations have been set loose, the keyward Hegemone awaits your arrival. Traces of her original self remain, but corruption indicates the likelihood that she has already been transformed into a hemitheos. You brace yourself for the battle ahead, and hope that the keyward is not yet too far gone to be saved.
※Abyssos: The Sixth Circle can be accessed via the Duty Finder.
You find the keyward Hegemone either unable or unwilling to listen to reason─though that appears to be the least of her problems. After a skin-crawling struggle with her and the parasite stitched into her flesh, your phantom party attains victory, sealing the keyward away in the hopes that the harm done to her can be reversed in the future.
With your goal attained, Erichthonios is convinced that Lahabrea can no longer deny your strength and resolve. Yet the stygian depths of Pandæmonium await, halls echoing with the cries of Hephaistos’s damned…