Over here! There's another one!
At the fork connecting the lower second and third levels, the female Construct quickly bends down, picking up another metal pebble inscribed with rune symbols.
That's so like Grace... naive to the point of foolishness.
Whether she's blindly worshipping the Red Tide or just blundering through with the most ridiculously clumsy methods...
Heh...
Commandant! I hear fighting up ahead. Bianca and her team must be—
The joy in her tone vanishes in a flash as the viscous Red Tide gathers into a thin stream, pooling in the corridor ahead.
The Red Tide again...
The Red Tide clearly can't evolve a brain. The only explanation is someone's constantly keeping tabs on everyone from Babylonia.
Should we split up?
Splitting up would divert some of their attention, sure, but it would also leave you vulnerable to being picked off one by one.
Easier said than done. With the Red Tide this murky, if we tried to push through, we'd likely bump into those things lurking inside before we even got a third of the way across.
I really don't want to be packed in like sardines with a bunch of people... ugh.
Following the signs along the way, it turns out Chrome's theory is spot on—this is indeed a service corridor the aquarium staff uses to get to the performance site on the lower third level.
Just as you are wracking your brain trying to figure out how to get around the Red Tide, it suddenly churns into violent waves as if responding to some unseen command.
Commandant! Look up! Metal supports!
High above the ceiling, the Golden Age metal supports that once held up the dome stand uncorroded.
After testing the weight capacity with the climbing ropes, Lucia takes the lead to leap onto the supports.
Everyone scrambles across the metal framework, using both hands and feet, with the sounds of battle just inches away.
...It's a password-protected door.
The wiring on this side is damaged. We probably can't open it with a password.
Damn it... Dammit!
With the Hetero-Creatures' howls practically in her ears, Grace's fingers tremble as she frantically tries to input the password.
She knows every password—the water curtains, the electronic doors. She burned those random number sequences into her memory during her long hours in the monitoring room. This is her last ace in the hole, but...
(Static noise—)
A quiet static hisses from the system—no doubt about it, this metal door is completely busted.
Ugh...
Up ahead, Sylph lets out a muffled groan. Clenching a dagger between her teeth, she rips off a piece of her clothing and ties it tightly around her injured joint, just barely stemming the flow of vital fluid.
There just has to be... there just has to be a way...
With clumsy fingers, she wrenches the wire ends from the metal door, trying to rig different colored wires together like she's seen Lulu do when repairing vehicles, hoping the system might kick to life—
————
Electrical sparks fly from the circuits, and even the white noise vanishes.
How... could this be... no... impossible... no...
Grace's mind isn't just on the verge of breaking; it's already plummeted straight into despair.
Behind her lies the unconscious Bianca and a door won't budge, while ahead, Sylph is fighting a swarm of Hetero-Creatures all by herself.
Below, the Red Tide keeps spreading upward, already touching Sylph's feet.
Lady... Grace...
...! W-who's there?!
She shivers, staring in disbelief at the Red Tide.
M-Marvin...?
Lady... Revelationist...
This is... rebirth... the Red Tide...
No... no... this can't be happening...
Lady Revelationist... you've tricked me again...
No, that's not true... how... could this...
She shakes her head, despair gnawing at her, her hands trembling on the crowbar. She has no idea where—or if—she should even strike.
Within the Red Tide, there's rebirth...
Within the Red Tide, there's rebirth...
Lady Revelationist, come, join us... embrace... enjoy...
The Red Tide projections are a grotesque mess, their faces constantly morphing, their voices shifting and swirling.
The Red Tide of Salvation... welcomes you...
The false deity pulls the strings of a hollow chorus, coaxing desperate followers down the road to damnation.
This is a world of happiness, Grace, Lady Revelationist, don't you remember...
Do you remember... what you once... described...
The future...
Grace's pupils blow wide as her mind floods with echoes—the voices of her followers, and the "rebirth" she once promised them.
Of course, the "rebirth" within the Red Tide is beautiful.
Anyone who passes the trials earns the right to "rebirth"... and then, we'll all step into a beautiful new world, together.
Rebirth...
If... she really could cast aside all of this suffering and enter the Red Tide...
Grace's lips tremble as her fingers slowly glide down the metal door.
If... within the Red Tide truly lies that world of happiness...
A "reborn" world with no endless running, no Corrupted or monsters, and certainly no death.
If we believe in the God of the Red Tide, He will guide us to happiness beyond...
If only...
The Red Tide projections twist and beckon to her. She sees so many familiar faces—Marvin, Miller, Smoker—and beyond them, a world without the Corrupted, without Constructs...
Argh!
Sylph hurls her dagger, pinning the Hetero-Creature that's started climbing her leg to the ground.
—!
Jolted by Sylph's cry of pain, Grace instinctively clenches her fist, desperate to break free from the phantom's pull. A sharp pain shoots through her palm—
It's the last Rune pebble tucked away in her pocket.
The metal Rune is now stained with blood from her palm, making the engraved letter M stand out with stark clarity.
M—Mannaz—humanity—<b>you</b>'re really important.
It's like a bucket of ice-cold water just got dumped over her head; Grace has never felt such clarity before.
She has put her faith in the Red Tide, trusting that past lives reside within it, but she believes in life even more...
She believes in a future where life itself exists.
Lady... Revelationist... come to us...
The Red Tide is... Scarlet Revelation's paradise...
—Get away! Get away from me!
Grace grips the crowbar for dear life, swinging it wildly to fend off the projections appearing in the Red Tide.
False god... you're unworthy...
The metal door groans loudly—someone's trying to pry it open from the other side.
Seeing this, Grace—who'd just chased off the projections in front of her—frantically lifts her crowbar and whips it toward the door behind her.
Unworthy to proclaim the future of the Scarlet Revelation—!
The door bursts open with a crash.
Whoa, whoa, whoa—! ****! Grace!
Grace can't stop her swing—the sharp end of her crowbar plunges straight down toward Lulu, who's standing right in its path.
YIKES—so violent!
Good thing I was on guard! Surviving Hetero-Creatures only to get bashed by you would be a pretty embarrassing way to go.
Lulu coughs up some vital fluid that's leaked from an overload, then kicks the metal door with her foot.
A relic from the Golden Age... Is it really that well-built? Took so many Constructs just to smash through...
Lulu? Did the Red Tide also get you...
Ugh, no way! Don't say such gross stuff! It's really me!
It's—REALLY—ME—!
Ow... ow, ow, ow... Stop, stop pinching my face...
In a daze, she stares at the busted door, the Babylonia Constructs who just burst in, and the human commandant.
It's like she's been pulled from treacherous waters and is finally back on the warm, dry shores of reality.
The moment you burst in, you see Bianca with her eyes tightly shut.
Severe Punishing Virus corruption, already at a critical threshold... Her M.I.N.D. has gone seriously off-kilter.
The equipment is quickly calibrated. With no time to find a safer spot, you immediately start the Deep M.I.N.D. connection.
Your Mind Beacon cuts through her M.I.N.D., which is now riddled with holes from the Punishing Virus corruption, as chaotic, twisted memories flash before your eyes.
Nightmarish shadows tail your every step, incoherent whispers spilling from their lips. Tropical fish twist into grotesque forms, screaming and wailing.
As you dodge the sharp mental spikes, countless voices blend together.
Witch—
Blood-stained devil—
Self-righteous phonies—
Com... Commandant?
A weak voice echoes from the depths of her M.I.N.D.
I—
Just as you reach out to grasp her, the Deep M.I.N.D. connection abruptly cuts off.
...The corruption's too severe. She forcefully ended the connection...
Cough...
Commandant...
We've found traces of Ascendants. Besides the one named "Lithos", there could be others...
They're in charge of the monitoring room and are constantly pumping Red Tide through the drainage system, blocking our way.
Chiko's likely been taken by them... cough...
Vital fluid wells up from the corner of her mouth.
There's no time... We need to find them, fast.
The Red Tide mutated by these Ascendants can melt Constructs. I'm worried... the more Constructs it absorbs, the stronger the "monster" it spawns becomes,
And there's Scarlet Revelation... cough...
She struggles to spit out the vital fluid filling her mouth.
We've got most of the Scarlet Revelation followers now. Sylph will show you the way to them...
...
Her M.I.N.D. deviation is getting worse. This isn't looking good.
Asimov said a support team is on their way with Bianca's new frame. If she can hold out until the frame replacement, it might ease the Punishing Virus corruption in her Stigmata frame—at least take the edge off.
Go back the way we came?
Ah... They're from Babylonia!
...Gray Raven Commandant!
Hearing all the noise, survivors who scattered during the Red Tide assault start helping each other out, gradually making their way over here.
A quick headcount shows at least a dozen people—but only three and a half of them are still mobile.
The three are the fastest runners among the followers, and the "half" is Sylph, who stubbornly insists she can still move.
Let's split up, Commandant.
You and Lucia take Bianca and head out first. I'll stay behind with the Scarlet Revelation Construct to clear the obstacles and wait for backup.
He always takes the rear guard, a move that seems to be Chrome's go-to in his crisis management playbook. He's used to shouldering the danger himself.
I'll stay with them.
A moment of hesitation flickers as you look at Sylph's wounds.
Your terminal suddenly rings, shattering the silence.
Hey—! Hello, hello?!
It's Karenina...
What's the big deal? Not thrilled? Well, like it or not, I'm all you've got!
...Can you hurry it up already? You're in the way.
The faint sound of metal hull impacts drifts through the terminal.
—I'm not on Babylonia.
Teddy just hacked your terminal to set up this short-range comms channel. It only works so far.
You're welcome.
Thanks to you—Captain KA-RE-NI-NA, I'm telling you again, don't just stop moving.
Isn't this the spot YOU marked?! We! Need! To! Turn! NOW!
Ugh... So noisy.
Between their squabbling, you can just make out the sound of running water and metallic clanging.
Obviously—no.
The lower first level is an absolute wreck—like two mechanical monsters duked it out and then self-destructed together. It's completely caved in, with the Red Tide and rebar all over the place.
Clever.
The lower first level has totally collapsed—like two mechanical monsters duked it out and then self-destructed together. There's rebar and the Red Tide everywhere.
But the good news is, thanks to this disaster, there are hardly any Hetero-Creatures left on the lower first level, and the Ascendants couldn't possibly stick around there either—unless they've already become one with the Red Tide.
The Engineering Force hauled in construction machinery from the nearby conservation area, zeroed in on the target, and dug straight through the lower first level's ceiling.
The lower second level is completely swamped with seawater and choked with the Red Tide, so getting in there is a real nightmare.
So, right now, we're in the ventilation ducts, hauling Bianca's new frame.
And we must be practically on top of you by now; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to hack into your terminal and set up this call.
No chance of that.
The ventilation ducts are way too narrow—you can't even move shoulder-to-shoulder in them. If your "survivors" were all up and moving, it might be a fallback plan, but with a significant number of injured people...
Parliament's given the green light to deploy the Omega Weapons. We're just the initial support; the second team will be here any minute.
...Hey! Don't go blasting holes with gravitational waves out of nowhere!
Anyway, just hang tight—and make sure Bianca hangs on too.
Teddy will sync the nearest coordinate point and a simple route to you. We'll meet up there.
Probably needing to buckle down on her "work," Karenina cuts off the communication.
Soon, the meetup coordinates beam into your terminal.
The second batch of support is on its way. As long as the survivors can tough it out in the large space on the lower third level, they'll definitely make it until rescue comes.
Given Bianca's M.I.N.D. state, she likely won't hang on until the obstacles are cleared and the second batch arrives. You have no choice but to push forward now.
Yes, Commandant.
Be careful out there.
After briefly swapping tactical information, the team splits up. Chrome stays put, watching intently as the Gray Raven Commandant walks off. Then he turns, organizing the few who can still move to begin clearing the obstacles.
This isn't their first tough fight—
And it won't be their last.
