Rebar curls like dying vines, while cracks spiderweb across the walls and ceiling. The once-magnificent aquarium is now nothing but ruins, its insides completely gutted by the collapse.
As you navigate the ruins, coordinates that were once a cinch to spot now demand constant calibration and cross-referencing.
The Red Tide's reached here too...
Yeah... the coordinates Teddy provided should be right around here.
Looking around, this area feels like a performance hall, with small streams of Red Tide weaving through it. The water curtain for shows is still intact, and a massive whale sculpture hangs right in the middle.
Is this enormous whale... a specimen?
It floats silently in the center of the hall, gazing down at the tiny Construct and human with what looks like sorrow.
All the water curtain mechanisms have stopped dead, leaving the entire hall vast and eerily silent.
Only trickles of Red Tide flow silently through the tanks that should be filled with seawater.
It's so quiet here... Commandant.
You can almost hear the echoes...
She furrows her brows, her voice dropping to a whisper.
Could the Ascendants have set something up here...
But Teddy's analysis shows this area is prime for safely delivering Bianca's frame.
Suddenly, you catch a flicker of something odd out of the corner of your eye. You spin around, and there's that pale girl, standing silently at the edge of your vision.
She glances up at the enormous whale, but her gaze drifts into nothingness.
...
The girl looks over. The moment your eyes meet, the scenery around you shatters like glass. Then, Bianca, her shadowy figure in a dark frame, dimly appears beyond the water curtain.
A tall, twisted monster extends its withered fingers, gently touching Bianca's cheek.
Bianca's lips part, but no words come—only a broken rasp, a voiceless "ah—ah—" choking in her throat.
...Please... just laugh... at me...
Then, those inhumanly sharp claws rake across Bianca's cheek. Her vital fluid wells up before spilling down her skin in thick, glistening rivulets.
...Please...
Abruptly, your view is pulled to a more distant scene.
Winds howl and rain lashes down as crimson, tens-of-meters-high tidal waves surge from the sea, filling the air with a putrid, fishy stench.
Violent tremors shake the coastline as the Punishing Virus coalesces into sharp crystals, piercing directly toward the Babylonia soldiers on the shore.
A purple-haired Ascendant is curled up in a cold iron chair, staring out at the sea.
There, a massive, pale figure slowly rises from the horizon.
Dismembered Hetero-Sapien limbs are being grafted onto the pale, humanoid figure. That familiar hair color... it finally hits you who that is.
It's like a bucket of ice water just got dumped down your back. Without you even realizing it, your protective suit is drenched in cold sweat.
Lucia instantly picks up on your strange state beside her.
Commandant, are those... visions back again?
...Chiko?
...
But we still can't pinpoint Chiko's exact location...
Lucia's voice yanks your consciousness back to <b>reality</b>.
Does this information... really come from the "Time Prison"?
Then, if the "past" has already been altered, will the "present" still unfold according to the events of that "past"?
According to the "shadows" you once saw...
The purple-haired Ascendant is breeding the Red Tide in the sea...
Chiko is born in the sea, bred through the dense Red Tide in the seawater.
Bianca sinks deep into the Red Tide and may also transform into a "witch"...
But...
Under Chaos' "warning," Babylonia has made countermeasures against these "events" in advance.
If everything went off without a hitch, Cerberus would've already sealed off that one outlet where the Red Tide would spill into the sea. And Babylonia has already sent in the Task Force members for backup.
Of course, the biggest wild card...
On a still-standing bench in the hall, the badly wounded Bianca remains unconscious.
In all your "visions," Bianca either morphs into a "witch" rising from the deep sea or stays submerged in the aquarium's Red Tide. You have never seen her get a new frame, or you successfully reunite.
With such "changes" happening, will the story's "ending"... still be the same as what was seen in the "shadows"?
Can you... still save Chiko?
An unsettling feeling just won't shake. You keep frequently checking your terminal for Teddy's updates, hoping to calm your nerves.
The terminal suddenly chirps with a message from Teddy—they're almost here.
(Static noise...)
From a corner of the corridor, an intense burst of electrical interference erupts.
!
Lucia instinctively steps forward, shielding you.
Ahem...
Gray Raven Commandant, and the captain of Gray Raven... Lucia.
A man's deep voice cuts through the static. His greeting makes it obvious: he's been watching you.
The moment his voice hits your ears, his face pops into your mind, even though you have only met this agent a handful of times.
I see you remember me... Good.
...
Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Vonnegut, an... agent.
This is something you never saw coming... An agent, showing up at the aquarium, of all places.
Meet me at the storage tank, Gray Raven Commandant.
I need to clear some things up with you.
About the "Tower," about the Punishing Virus.
...Just dodging the question is only going to waste both our time.
The impatience in the broadcast voice grows heavier before abruptly vanishing. After a few muffled deep breaths, it shifts into a cold, detached announcement.
It's an even trade. I don't think you truly grasp the "Tower" yet. If you did, you probably wouldn't be here right now.
Meet me at the storage tank. We will trade questions, trade answers.
With those words, the broadcast cuts out cold. The speaker's conviction is rock-solid, as if he's absolutely positive you will show up.
In a flash, those puzzling words click with the inconsistencies you noticed earlier.
The shards of thought slowly connect, like a hazy web forming around you, both there and not there.
Commandant?
Lucia stays on guard, carefully watching your surroundings, but your mind is miles away.
Fragmented images and scenes swirl in your head, blurring the line between what's real and what's not.
Chiko... Lithos... Bianca... the aquarium...
Among the "shadows" you've seen so far... it seems...
Vonnegut's never there.
The "shadows" you glimpse through cracks in time writhe in your mind, and every attempt to dive further only brings a sharp, stabbing pain.
This world... What exactly... has happened to you?
...Commandant, the Red Tide is spreading!
There's no doubt about it: Vonnegut is the mastermind behind the Red Tide assaults on Babylonia—or at least, he's one of them.
Under his calculated command, the Red Tide surges upward, instantly filling every crevice between the pathways.
Lucia quickly helps up the unconscious Bianca and exits the hall through the side door with you.
...
Why the futile struggle?
As if a switch has been flipped, countless torrents of water erupt from the corridors on both sides in an instant.
Damn it, it's those bionic fish!
Commandant, over here!
The Red Tide, propelled by the surging waves, forces you two and Bianca to higher ground.
The seawater keeps rising.
The broadcast pipes into the entire hall's speaker system, letting both Karenina and Teddy hear Vonnegut's voice.
...An agent!
Teddy, can we head straight down from here?
No way. This whole area is surrounded by the aquarium's glass tunnels. There's absolutely no exit.
If we try to head down from here, we'll just end up in the water.
Hold on... I hear Lucia! She's close by!
No way! The Red Tide's already in the water—!
No time to lose. We've gotta bail and meet up with Gray Raven!
...Hey! Wait up—!
BOOM—!!
The gravitational waves effortlessly shatter the once-solid metal ceiling structure, sending a fierce rush of water gushing into the ventilation ducts.
Cough... Seriously...
After choking down a mouthful of water, Teddy rolls her eyes and just goes with the flow, hauling Bianca's new frame transport pod as she follows Karenina's lead and jumps down.
The Red Tide's in this water too—watch out!
Lucia—!
Through the raging currents, Karenina zeroes in on Lucia—the two figures over there are lugging an unconscious Bianca, making a beeline for this area.
Commandant, it's Karenina and Teddy!
Dammit, this glass—
She slams her fist against the glass, letting loose a torrent of gravitational waves.
Hold on! I brought directional explosives for thaaaat—!
The moment the glass shatters, water gushes out, creating small whirlpools in its wake.
...
A sigh from the agent comes through the broadcast, a clear sign of his frustration with this sudden, unwelcome turn of events. Amidst distorted white noise, more water blasts in from both sides.
Glug glug glug glug—
****—
Instantly, water floods the entire passageway.
[player name]—catch—
Karenina uses the raging current to her advantage, releasing the safety latch on the frame transport pod, sending it plunging downstream with the rushing water.
The current is way too wild, making it impossible to get anywhere near the transport pod.
The comatose Construct doesn't react at all; she just seems to be completely shut off from the outside world.
The instant you link up with the Deep M.I.N.D., a sharp, stabbing pain shoots from your Mind Beacon—
Her M.I.N.D., severely corrupted by the Punishing Virus, is riddled with festering wounds. Crimson waves surge forward, only to be firmly repelled by some unseen barrier.
I...
I am...
...I...
Before you can even finish that sentence, a sharp pain blasts through your brain.
Commandant—!
Copy that!
Lucia shoves the frame transport pod your way, then whips up a quick lasso with the climbing rope, cinching Bianca and the pod together.
...
The agent lets out a soft sigh and triggers yet another mechanism.
A muffled explosion rips through the air as the lower third level's outer walls blow apart. Seawater gushes in from every direction.
****, you've gotta be kidding me—!
Glug glug glug glug—
Commandant! Watch out!
