No one hopes for bad news; however, as Crete once told Duncan—in the twilight of time, there is no good news.
This small Shelter, forged among the ashes, was accelerating towards its ultimate collapse. It was no one's fault, nor was it a local malfunction or a deliberate act of sabotage—it was the end of all things, the time for doomsday had come.
Rune and Helena listened quietly as Duncan relayed everything to them, including what the joint exploration team had seen and heard in the border waters, the clues found on Holy Land Island, his contact with the Saint, and even the plan to "take over the world."
Duncan did not hide the latter. He did not mind the two Pontiffs knowing this world's "other option"—conversely, he did not conceal what the ultimate end of the "fire's future" would be, nor the vision of the apocalypse shown to him by the last Doomsday Preacher.