Wasteland, Hark Back Glory of Old

Patch: 3.0 · Chapter: Heroic Saga of Flame-Chase · Mission 04 of 10Previous: Night Stars, Accompany My Slumber · Next: Night Veil, Shroud the Silent Past

Official summary

Alongside Phainon and Mydei, you head to the mobile fortress of Castrum Kremnos. During your expedition, you learn that Nikador had long schemed against Okhema. Fighting your way through countless foes, you planned to directly eliminate Nikador, only to discover that they had managed to gain an undying body long ago. Nikador invoked the Body of a Hundred Deaths to temper blades, aiming to swing the Blade of Fury to pierce the distant Okhema. In this moment of crisis, Mydei holds off Nikador alone, giving the rest of the party a chance to return to Okhema and strategize a way to counter this threat.

Synopsis

Arrival at the ruined fortress

The Trailblazer, Phainon, and Mydei arrive at Castrum Kremnos, the enormous mobile fortress that surrounds — and belongs to — the Strife Titan Nikador. Once a fierce city ringing with the clamor of armaments, it is now a haunting ruin. Trianne has ferried the party here via her Century Gate; Phainon urges her to hide somewhere safe until the mission is done, and she agrees ("Hide so the baddies can't find me!"). If the Trailblazer wonders aloud whether this childlike figure is really a demigod, Phainon quietly notes that Trianne has sacrificed a lot for Amphoreus.

The outer corridors are eerily unguarded. Mydei recognizes his homeland even in its corrupted state — "This is Castrum Kremnos." Phainon marvels that even a Titan's own lands are collapsing, with no Titankin in sight. Mydei warns that if even half of Castrum Kremnos's old might remained, sending them here would have been sending them to their deaths: this outer corridor once bristled with soldiers, and even he and Phainon together "wouldn't have made it past thirty steps." The two banter about the lost golden age — the Era Bellica, an era full of strong warriors — that Mydei never got to live in. Phainon frames the stakes plainly:

Phainon: Let's go. We'll take back the Coreflame of Strife or die in Kremnos. Those are the only two paths to glory we can choose from.

Optional exploration fleshes out the setting. Mydei reveals he did not live in this outer district but in the inner city, "as befitting of the crown prince of Kremnos." A mural prompts Phainon to explain that Castrum Kremnos is an ancient moving fortress built by Nikador's followers to encircle the Titan; before the Lance of Fury fell from grace, the city followed Nikador into battle after battle, enforcing strict discipline and revering military might.

Into the acropolis — repairing the convicts' bridge

Mydei points out the main gate leading to the acropolis, where the first depraved soldiers — "minions who've succumbed to depravity" — will appear. A broken bridge, built long ago by convict labor (the outer city was raised by condemned criminals), blocks the way. Phainon laments the loss of Tribbie's power to mend it. The Trailblazer offers to use Oronyx's Prayer to repair the span; Phainon is surprised Tribbie taught them the miracle, noting that without a priest's resonance an ordinary person would fall into a coma after chanting the first words. The Trailblazer succeeds anyway, though the bridge crumbles again once crossed — even a Titan's borrowed power can't stabilize convict craftsmanship.

Passing through the gate, the party first glimpses the Blade of Fury hanging high in the sky.

Mydei: The Blade of Fury — Even if the world lay shattered, it would still hang high above everyone's heads.

Standing before the giant sword, Mydei explains its significance. It is the blade Nikador used long ago to destroy Aquila's (the Sky Titan's) heavenly kingdom, then one city-state after another. More than a weapon, it is the faith of the Kremnoan people: souls who die heroically on the battlefield temper the blade further, becoming part of the god-king's power. Phainon gently punctures the mythology, recalling at least three defeats Castrum Kremnos suffered in the Chrysos War; Mydei retorts that there is no shame in losing to those who conspire in secret. Their creed is summed up as "Valorous Death Before Glorious Return."

The Kremnos Festival contest

Phainon proposes turning the expedition into a game — a recreation of the original Kremnos Festival, the grandest fighting competition of Castrum Kremnos: a contest to see who can kill the most crazed Titankin. The prize is the privilege of delivering the final blow to Nikador. Mydei accepts. Knowing Mydei prefers to fight alone, Phainon sends him down one path while he and the Trailblazer take another; each tallies their own kills by collecting Kremnos crests from the dead. Mydei grants the outsiders a ten-step head start.

On their route, Phainon confides the real reason for splitting up. Mydei is "wracked by homesickness and doesn't want to show it to anyone else"; nothing matters more to him than his people and his glory, and ruined as it is, Kremnos remains "the only place where he can be free." Sending him off alone lets him grieve in private. Phainon characterizes their bond bluntly: "He's both my friend and my foe. It's always been this way."

The two press deeper, crossing a lightning-struck iron chain that leads toward the giant sword. Mydei calls out from afar, already at six kills, taunting that Phainon doesn't know the lay of the land. A Prophecy Tablet lets the Trailblazer shut off the deadly lightning striking the chain; Mydei, contemptuous of mere lightning, simply runs straight through the bolts. Both cross successfully.

The safe-zone lounge and the mysterious slate

Beyond the chain lies a lounge — a former resting spot for competitors. Investigating, the party finds abandoned belongings left behind by Mydei's people (the Kremnoan Detachment) when they departed; Phainon notes these Kremnoans now live among the population of Okhema, indistinguishable by appearance, differing only in tradition. A recording device, a Divine Echo: Strife, preserves a verse: "Lance of Fury, Nikador. Blades and lances resound out loud, and their bloodlust will never die. The peace that they protect lays beneath the horrific mountains of corpses and rivers of blood."

Most important, they discover a Proverb Slate that looks conspicuously new amid the ancient dust, inscribed in an archaic Kremnoan language neither Phainon nor the Trailblazer can read (even with the Synesthesia Beacon). They resolve to bring it to Mydei. This prompts Phainon to voice a lingering puzzle: how can the Trailblazer, a visitor "from beyond the sky," understand Amphoreus's language and writing at all?

Phainon: Did Amphoreus have more dealings with worlds beyond the sky than we thought? But nothing like this was ever recorded in our historical materials... Maybe your arrival will overturn many things we thought we knew.

Oronyx's Shrine and the Kremnos Arena

Deeper in, a Titankin murders its own comrade to block the path with an iron ball — "They truly have no honor to speak of." Because Castrum Kremnos is Nikador's territory, the environment severs the Trailblazer's ability to resonate with Oronyx, the Time Titan, so the rewind miracle fails. Phainon locates an Oronyx's Shrine, a Time-Priest instrument that stabilizes the connection between priests and the Three Titans of Fate; activating it restores the Trailblazer's power enough to rewind the iron ball.

They arrive directly beneath the Blade of Fury, at the world-renowned Kremnos Arena. Amid a large enemy formation, Phainon slips into gladiator-announcer theatrics, billing himself "the Dark Swordmaster, Phainon!" and the Trailblazer as "the Galactic Baseballer!" — much to Mydei's irritation from the neighboring path. After the fight they regroup at the arena but find no Nikador. Mydei suspects the Titan is hiding in the Soul-Forging Zone and points the way, taking a separate parasite-infested path himself.

At this scenic vantage, the game offers an optional keepsake photo for March 7th (available only if the player earlier chose to carry the photostone). Taking it, a faint murmur rides the wind — "a whisper of ancient history, the elegy of God... and the rumble of Strife." Phainon asks about "March," recalling the Trailblazer mentioning her in the Vortex of Genesis, and remarks that documenting the journey for an absent friend deepens his trust:

Phainon: A person's true character often comes to light in their friendships. Most of what my teacher taught me has slipped away, but this sentence is still vivid in my memory.

Soul-Forging: how Titankin are made

Optional murals reveal the meaning of "Soul-Forging": Kremnoan artisans craft a body from rough stone, then infuse it with a god's golden blood to bring it to life — an assembly line that lets Castrum Kremnos manufacture endless soldiers, explaining its long chain of victories. The party passes through Stockpiling and Sculpting zones, using the Hand of Zagreus (a "Bewitching Hand" left scattered across the world by the fallen Trickery Titan Zagreus, now used to move — and steal — objects) to bridge broken paths. As they near the Titan, ambient Strife corruption begins scrambling Phainon's thoughts, filling his head with fatalistic whispers; Mydei warns him his mind is being corrupted by Strife.

Meeting Mydei again (his tally now at thirty), Phainon finally hands over the archaic slate. When the party regroups for the final push, they compare crest counts. The outcome branches — the Trailblazer and Phainon may win, lose, or tie — but in every case both warriors agree that deciding glory by a single contest would disrespect the gods. They declare no true victor and resolve to bring down Nikador together: "Nikador's soul should be claimed by true warriors."

Chryseus Leo's warning

Before the final approach, the party finds an enormous lion sculpture. Phainon mistakes it for the gossipy Verax Leo, but Mydei corrects him sharply: this is Chryseus Leo, once the top advisor of Castrum Kremnos, whose wise counsel won countless battles. Believed voiceless, the old lion astonishingly stirs and recognizes Mydei by voice — addressing him as "crown prince," and revealing he has stayed awake all these years waiting for this moment. His counsel is grim:

Chryseus Leo: Our god has completely lost their sanity. No longer a revered symbol of war, they have fallen and are now plotting an evil scheme... I urge you, Mydeimos, to put an end to their endless suffering. Allow them to die as a warrior! They must... go with honor...

With that, the lion falls silent, seemingly dying. Grieving, Mydei tries to dismiss it as "the delirious words of a dying lion," but Phainon connects the warning to the untranslated slate and asks Mydei to read it. It proves to be Nikador's own battle plan against Okhema:

...The black tide may be an indescribable enemy, but if exploited carefully, it can also become a sharp weapon pointed at our archenemy. Infiltrators can be instructed to transport a load of tainted Titankin covered in special earth, so that they may be smuggled among dromas caravan goods into Okhema... After a few days, the earth will weather and peel, suffocating the streets of Okhema with Titankin's tainted air... Gather the heroic souls within the city, let the divine blade of wrath point at Okhema, and run Strife's blade through the entire city...

This exposes the surprise attack on Okhema as Nikador's deliberate scheme: smuggle black-tide-tainted Titankin into the holy city to poison it, then run the Blade of Fury through Okhema while its defenders reel. Mydei, shaken ("No... Nikador would never..."), wants to turn back and rescue Okhema at once. Phainon argues they should press on and cut off the evil at its source, trusting Aglaea, Tribbie, Dan Heng, and their allies to hold the city. Mydei relents but grimly hopes they don't "end up in an abyss of regrets."

Interrogating the mad Titankin

In the Sculpting Zone the heat becomes unbearable and Phainon's thoughts scatter again under Strife's corruption; he steadies himself with the Trailblazer's help. The party encounters Strife Titankin that no longer attack, only mumble hymns:

• A Sculpting Zone Strong Man endlessly chants "All hail Nikador, my master and guide. Immortal soul of war, ever by my side" — the phrase "immortal soul of war" catches Mydei's attention.
• A Sculpting Zone Scholar speaks of sculpting "an indestructible body with steel that never rusts." This confirms a crucial fact: the Nikador that attacked Okhema was only a double. Mydei explains that by the war's end Nikador had gone mad and their divine power dwindled to less than a tenth of its former strength; rather than accept a glorious death, the Titan made doubles of itself to drag out its miserable existence. Phainon slyly reminds Mydei that he too is an expert on indestructible bodies — the Chrysos Heirs each possess a unique power, and the invincible crown prince of Kremnos has a talent for "defying death."
• A Sculpting Zone Supervisor recites a consecration hymn: martyrs are to become Nikador's blade, "the timber to nourish the Coreflame... to reduce the decayed world to ashes." Mydei observes that the maddened Titankin "remember how to kill, but they've forgotten why." Phainon counters that killing with blades is no nobler than killing with subterfuge — only mission and survival justify violence — and presses Mydei on whether he truly believes in glory and conquest as valid reasons. Mydei falls silent before the Supervisor lunges into combat.

After the fight, Phainon gives up on the minions' logic; Mydei is confident that defeating Nikador will end the madness. Phainon confesses that bearing the Coreflame of Strife has been his deep-seated desire.

The battle with Nikador, Lance of Fury

At the final door, Mydei reframes the fight: "Don't think of them as a god. It's just you, me, and them — warriors in a fight to the death." Phainon, still troubled and unable to treat this as an ordinary battle, watches Mydei convert his anger and regret into a honed weapon he calls simply "intent to kill." Mydei issues his oath before the Titan:

Mydei: I am a son of Kremnos and a Chrysos Heir of the prophecy, and I now offer you the fairest deal — I trade a thousand scars and a hundred lives of mine for your glorious death!

The party battles Savage God, Mad King, Incarnation of Strife — Nikador, Lance of Fury — through its armored "War Armor" phase, its hiding behind doubles, and a second phase in which it reveals its true self. When it drops near defeat, Phainon calls to "shatter the armor of Strife and strip away the Coreflame!"

But the "defeated" Nikador rises again, its immortal divine body restored. In a cutscene, the Titan redirects the Blade of Fury hovering above the arena, aiming it straight at the distant Worldbearing Titan Kephale and Okhema. Mydei laughs bitterly: "Immortal wretch... how amusing."

Mydei's last stand

The souls of war amass in the sky and surge toward the Blade of Fury. Phainon realizes Nikador has no intention of winning the duel — it is using death after death, the Body of a Hundred Deaths, to temper the blade, resolved to pierce Kephale's body itself. Mydei, seeing his god fallen this low, chooses to stay behind. He orders the Trailblazer and Phainon to return to Okhema and warn the two demigods while he holds Nikador off alone. Phainon refuses to leave; Mydei drives him away, insisting his reason is personal:

Mydei: I must stay here, not for Okhema's safety, but to settle the score with my god. Even if immortality is a curse, it shouldn't be used so despicably.

He frames the coming fight as the fairest contest imaginable — two warriors both "rejected by death," the king who never claimed his throne against the god fallen from grace. As the Trailblazer and Phainon retreat toward Okhema, Mydei's cry rings out:

Mydei: Come forth! The king who has never claimed his throne, against the god who has fallen from grace. How perfectly matched we are! Let's battle till the world's final breath!

Mydei and Nikador's battle cries echo from beyond the crumbling walls as the party flees — the mission ends with Mydei buying time at the cost of a hundred deaths, and the Trailblazer racing to uncover the secret of Nikador's immortal body before his sacrifice is wasted.

Key characters

• Mydei (Mydeimos) — Crown prince of Castrum Kremnos and a Chrysos Heir. Returns to his ruined homeland, grieving in private, and reconnects with his old teacher Chryseus Leo. His Chrysos gift of "defying death" is confirmed. Ends the mission staying behind alone to duel the immortal Nikador and settle a personal score with his fallen god.
• Phainon — The "Deliverer" and self-styled Dark Swordmaster, seeking the Coreflame of Strife. Instigates the Kremnos Festival contest, manages Mydei's grief with tact, and increasingly trusts the Trailblazer through their care for March 7th. Susceptible to Strife's mental corruption near the Titan.
• Nikador, Lance of Fury / Strife Titan — The maddened, fallen god of Castrum Kremnos. Revealed to have long schemed to poison and destroy Okhema using the black tide, and to survive via self-doubles and an immortal Body of a Hundred Deaths. Redirects the Blade of Fury at Kephale/Okhema.
• Chryseus Leo — Castrum Kremnos's former top advisor, a great lion sculpture presumed voiceless. Awakens one last time to warn Mydei of Nikador's scheme and beg him to grant the god an honorable death, then apparently dies.
• Trianne — Demigod who opens the Century Gate to bring the party in and out; instructed to hide during the expedition.
• Trailblazer — Wields Oronyx's borrowed miracles (bridge repair, ball rewind via Oronyx's Shrine), decodes little of Kremnos, and is sent to warn Okhema at the climax.

Lore notes

• Castrum Kremnos is a massive mobile fortress built by Nikador's followers to encircle the Strife Titan; it followed the Lance of Fury into battle before the Titan's fall and enforces strict military discipline. The outer city was raised by convict labor; the inner city housed nobility like the crown prince.
• Blade of Fury — Nikador's colossal sword, used to destroy Aquila (Sky Titan)'s heavenly kingdom and many city-states. It is tempered by the souls of warriors who die heroically, embodying the faith of the Kremnoan people. At mission's end it is aimed at Kephale (Worldbearing Titan) and Okhema.
• Soul-Forging — Kremnoan method of manufacturing Titankin: a body carved from stone is infused with a god's golden blood. This mass-production explains their military success.
• Nikador's immortality — The Titan is far past its prime (less than a tenth of former power) and mad. It survives by making doubles of itself (the Nikador that attacked Okhema was one) and by an undying Body of a Hundred Deaths, feeding successive deaths into the Blade of Fury. [?] The precise mechanism of its immortal body — and how the party will "strip away the Coreflame" from it — is the open thread carried into missions 05+.
• The black tide as a weapon — Nikador's plan weaponizes the black tide (Amphoreus's corruption): smuggling tainted Titankin under "special earth" into Okhema via dromas caravans during the Curtain-Fall Hour, letting the earth weather to release tainted air, then striking with the Blade of Fury. This retroactively explains the surprise attack on Okhema from prior missions.
• Chrysos Heirs' gifts — Each Chrysos Heir bears a unique power tied to a prophecy. Mydei's gift is "defying death," paralleling and contrasting Nikador's despicable immortality (both are "warriors rejected by death").
• Titans referenced — Nikador (Strife), Aquila (Sky), Oronyx (Time), Zagreus (Trickery), Kephale (Worldbearing). Oronyx is one of the Three Titans of Fate, whose priest-connection is stabilized by shrines/instruments; Nikador's territory suppresses Oronyx resonance. The Hand of Zagreus ("Bewitching Hands") are relics of the fallen Trickery Titan.
• Historical eras/events — The Era Bellica (age of strong warriors), the Chrysos War (in which Castrum Kremnos suffered defeats), and the Kremnos Festival (grandest fighting competition) and its Kremnos Arena. Kremnoan creed: "Valorous Death Before Glorious Return."
• Coreflame — Phainon's goal is the Coreflame of Strife; the Titankin hymn speaks of martyrs as "timber to nourish the Coreflame." Collecting Titan Coreflames drives the chapter arc.
• Trailblazer's origin puzzle — Phainon notes it is strange the Trailblazer can read/speak Amphoreus's language despite being "from beyond the sky," with no record of such outside contact in Kremnoan history. [?] Foreshadows deeper questions about Amphoreus's connection to the wider galaxy.
• Divine Echo: Strife and the Archaic Language Slate are obtainable lore items; the slate is the linchpin reveal of Nikador's Okhema plot.

Sources

• Wasteland, Hark Back Glory of Old — HSR Wiki

Hindsight (full arc)

• Foreshadowing: Mydei's confirmed gift of "defying death" pays off in 3.1 Light Slips the Gate, Shadow Greets the Throne — his father cast the infant Mydei into the Sea of Souls, and that death-defiance is what lets him assume Nikador's Strife divinity when Phainon's trial fails.
• Reread with the reveal: "Nikador, the first Titan to march against the black tide" reads differently once the black tide is revealed to be Irontomb's fury / the failing machine's corruption (3.4) rather than a natural blight.
• Reread with the reveal: The crash again attributed to Nikador here is, per 3.2, the blow that killed the Trailblazer on arrival.
• Foreshadowing: Phainon's susceptibility to Strife's mental corruption and his fixation on the Coreflame foreshadow both his failed absorption trial (3.1) and his true identity as the accumulated Flame Reaver / Khaslana (3.4).