White fog.
Endless white fog fills Lucia's vision.
Commandant...?
They've entered the Dead Zone, and Lucia is out front. Her Pyroath frame is a lifesaver here, able to metabolize the Punishing Virus, while Lee and Liv hang back, covering the commandant.
Lucia can't pinpoint when it began, but this thick white fog now clings to her like a bad dream.
Lucia... (bzzt)... your position... off course...
At first, she could still pick up their comms, even tried to adjust her coordinates to get back on track.
But at some point...
(Bzzzz)—(Bzzzzzz)...
A persistent, buzzing hum is all that remains on the channel, no matter how hard she tries to connect.
Liv? Lee?
...Commandant?
No one answers.
Lucia's hand goes to her blade, drawing it in a vigilant manner.
The metallic ring echoes, the only sound in this fog-bound world as she cautiously explores the edges of this space.
As she moves forward, strange structures emerge at the very limit of her sight, like bizarre, fallen giants sprawled across the ground.
...
This can't be Zero-point Reactor 1—she saw what that city looked like in the mission briefing.
So this city... what is this place?
She tries the communication channel again, but there's still no response. Lucia puts away her terminal and decides to steer clear of the city until she has more information.
But the next moment—
She suddenly finds herself stepping onto the city streets.
!
She immediately spins around, only to find the path she came from now completely engulfed in thick white fog.
Is the city moving, or... is this place not even real?
Lucia tentatively swings her blade at the white fog.
Zing—!
The cold flash of her blade parts the fog significantly, but in the blink of an eye, it gathers once more. Without a doubt, she can no longer return the way she came.
Might as well try moving forward...
With her blade held vigilantly before her, she slowly ventures into the unnaturally dazzling city.
The first street has no one in sight.
Only the Red Tide covers the ground, snaking its way through the fog-shrouded street.
The second street also has no one in sight.
A few crimson butterflies flutter gracefully through the air.
The third street—
Two almost transparent figures are intensely discussing something.
Once we enter the <b><ud><color=#34aff8ff><link=12>Inver-Hetero Tower</link></color></ud></b>, we head deeper to look into everything.
Over time, we realize the Tower can send messages to my past self. But this only works for me as a Construct, and only if that "past self" is infected does the message actually get through.
The Pyroath frame stands out because it can read the Punishing virus.
Based on the intel we dig up in the Tower, you theorize that the Punishing Virus itself has <color=#ff4e4eff>fourth-dimensional</color> traits. The Inver-Hetero Tower's ability to observe and interfere with time hinges precisely on this characteristic.
We're trying to leverage this power to change the past—like preventing the conservation area from missing its relocation that night, or stopping the disaster at Pulia Forest Park... and everything that followed with Liv.
The ghostly figures suddenly freeze for a split second. In that moment of Lucia's heightened awareness, their previously jumbled words snap back into focus.
Or even further back—like something that went down during the Kowloong Metropolis battle.
But most of those ideas just don't pan out. Some barely make a dent, and others make things even worse: the people we try to save get ambushed on their way, and the backup we call in always shows up too late.
Suddenly, you said with confidence that the Tower was acting strange. Then you used the <b><ud><color=#34aff8ff><link=31>"Key"</link></color></ud></b> to intercept every message sent to the past, erasing all the changes we had made.
!
Through a hazy mist, she clearly sees herself and the commandant deep in conversation.
The Commandant's responses are barely audible, but her own urgent voice cuts through with perfect clarity.
Is this... some kind of hallucination created by the city?
She tries to approach the two phantoms, but they don't attack. Instead, they silently fade into the street.
What's... happening?
She breaks into a run.
The fourth street.
A strangely familiar pale girl and another known as Cradle are locked in fierce combat.
...Cradle?!
The Cradle before her is clearly not the seemingly harmless Hetero-Creature girl she knows. Her attacks are relentless as she masterfully manipulates the Red Tide in her battle against the pale girl.
Got you, finally.
Just as she catches the pale girl, her opponent tears open Cradle's chest.
A strange "fruit" is placed in her wound.
You put it inside me so you can share the Agent Zero's authority, right?
Vonnegut, it looks like you've finally made some progress—congrats. But you made it way too obvious. At least let me stay in the dark a bit longer before catching on.
Smiling, Cradle presses her fingernail into her wound and digs out the "fruit" that hasn't yet fused with her body.
There's still a bit of residue left that I can't totally clean off, but this ought to be enough to handle you.
The fifth street.
The pale girl holds up a small transparent box, offering it to the commandant. Inside, an apple-shaped fruit gleams.
Lucia hears the commandant address the pale girl as "Chaos".
...It's... part of a Hetero-Creature's memory.
Cradle's been itching to get your memories. If you go ahead and eat it, she might just end up swallowing both it and you together.
If all goes according to plan, this fruit will fuse with Cradle, making separation almost impossible. That way, I can keep her in check and stop her from freely controlling the Red Tide.
It's connected to the Inver-Hetero Tower, so it won't change even if time is reversed. Whatever happens—good or bad—sticks around, much like recovering old data, unless she manually wipes it out.
But if you swallow this fruit... you're guaranteed to die. No human can survive taking in a Hetero-Creature's memory like that.
Commandant!
She rushes forward, but it's no use; she can't stop you from accepting the box.
What's happening? Why isn't she by the commandant's side?!
The vision instantly dissipates, and Lucia takes off like a shot.
She has to see how this "story" plays out.
The sixth street.
I... I'm...sorry... so sorry...!!
A needle, made of some unknown material, pierces the commandant's heart.
Cradle... that should be enough, right?!
COMMANDANT!
She almost forgets this is just a vision, her hand instinctively going for her blade as she charges forward—
All she sees is the commandant swallow the fruit, and then—
They leap down into the Red Tide surging before them.
Commandant...
She collapses to her knees, her M.I.N.D. a complete blank.
The source of her sorrow and pain during frame transfers becomes crystal clear.
Right here, countless times, over and over again...
She lost her Commandant.
After her mournful cry fades, Lucia slowly gets to her feet, leaning on her blade for support.
These... are all just illusions.
She mutters to herself, crimson bleeding into her eyes.
The seventh street.
As her feet touch the ground, she rounds the corner of seventh street, and suddenly the surroundings shift once more.
Crimson butterfly gracefully settles into the elevator's blind corner.
Move back!
In the dim, unfamiliar floor, the Red Tide roars forward, shattering the corridor in an instant.
The Construct beside her slams the elevator's close button, and the doors shut just before the Red Tide surges in.
The next second, the elevator trembles violently as the tide crashes against it, threatening to give way.
We're almost at the surface. Let's get out of here first. At least we have the <b><ud><color=#34aff8ff><link=32>password</link></color></ud></b>; we can discuss everything else once we're safe.
Inside the elevator, "Lucia" is talking with the commandant beside her.
CLANG———
A massive impact strikes the bottom of the elevator, and the doors let out a piercing shriek of tearing metal.
It's the Hetero-Creatures—they're attacking from below the elevator.
Commandant, get out through the top—!
No, don't—
She can already see the malice of the Red Tide surging toward them.
Commandant, go up with them first. I'll hold these guys back.
Don't go up there—
But Hetero-Creatures emerge as the Red Tide in the elevator is already up to their legs. The human immersed in it can only meet with decay and death.
Commandant...
She runs forward desperately, but is powerless to stop the human from climbing upward.
Well, hello there, Gray Raven Commandant.
I was in the Red Tide all along. How could Lucia possibly find someone made of the Red Tide within the Red Tide itself?
...
In moments of extreme anger, the voice module fails to produce sound.
She watches helplessly as the human body is torn apart by the Red Tide—
Just as victory appears within reach.
Cradle—!
The "Lucia" still fighting desperately in the elevator seems to hear her rage, slowly stilling and looking up at the crimson spreading downward.
"She" knows exactly what those are.
It's like a hall of mirrors inside the elevator, reflecting a crimson inferno. How many times have she and the commandant repeated this cycle of death?
How many times have they gone through such painful separations?
No—don't give up—!
Lucia leaps forward, plunging into the elevator covered in Red Tide and blood.
No matter what—
She seems to have merged with the figure of Lucia standing in the corridor.
I will not—
Give up!
Her Pyro Katana carves a fierce arc of light, nearly sparking against the air itself.
Her blade slashes upward, the Red Tide cascading down its spine as the white mist recedes in waves. Everything around her melts away under her relentless assault—
The eighth street.
The white mist thins a bit, and Lucia flips her blade, then sprints forward.
Her blade's gleam rips through space, shredding the pale mist.
She doesn't hesitate anymore, cutting down every phantom in her path.
She cleaves through Vonnegut as he steps into the Hetero Tower and slashes apart Cradle, reborn in the Red Tide.
As her blade pierces a Hetero-Creature's chest, she hears Cradle's schemes. When her edge slices into Vonnegut's neck, she witnesses the conversation between the agent and Nemo.
The mist swirls and clears, yet Lucia pushes on through this strange space.
Days might have passed... perhaps months... or even years.
The power from her Omega Core still sustains Lucia, but her M.I.N.D. has grown so weary that only emptiness remains.
Commandant...
Faintly, through gaps in the white mist she had scattered, a familiar silhouette appears at the edge of her vision.
...Commandant?
It's the Gray Raven Commandant's silhouette.
Specks of golden light scatter through the mist, as if paving a path toward hope...
Gripping her Pyro Katana tightly, Lucia rushes forward in pursuit.
The ninth street.
A sliver of a moon hangs in the sky, casting a cold, indifferent gaze upon the world below.
Lucia steps forward tentatively, bracing herself for the familiar disorienting lurch that signals another shift in reality.
The silhouette she knows so well appears, but it's thinner now, standing before...
A gravestone.
—Commandant!
She tightens her grip on her Pyro Katana and lunges forward without hesitation.
Suddenly, the white mist dissipates, vanishing into thin air.
They're surrounded by desolate ruins, the landscape littered with the Corrupted—fallen enemies of the Gray Raven—piled high on the other side of the road.
The figure she'd been chasing through countless illusions is now safely by her side, their gaze filled with concern.
Commandant...
Lucia instinctively pulls you closer, her hands meticulously checking every seam of your protective suit.
No issues—absolutely nothing wrong.
You are the commandant, her commandant, the Gray Raven Commandant. Not injured, not consumed by a Hetero-Creature "fruit," not killed by Cradle, not assimilated into the Red Tide.
As Lucia reconfirms your safety, her agitated M.I.N.D. finally begins to settle.
I...
She suddenly realizes only a moment has passed since she first stepped into the hallucination.
No forking paths, no white mist, no illusions—just a single step, yet it felt like she'd lived countless ages.
Lucia opens her mouth, then closes it, not sure where to even start.
In the "hallucination" downloaded from the Punishing virus, she saw countless fragments she'd previously "dreamed" of during standby mode.
Pyroath frames locked in battle, a crimson spiral tower, a space thick with white mist.
The scattered nightmare fragments are now pieced together into more complete visions. But if she speaks them aloud, will they somehow become real?
I'm sorry, Commandant. It's just that... it's been ages since we fought together.
I've missed this feeling, so I'm a little on edge.
She lied.
She doesn't want you to share the burden of this endless cycle of death and suffering.
If these nightmares truly manifest, she wants to bear all the calamity herself.
She wishes for you to be safe—to return safely to Babylonia, to complete missions safely, to safely walk toward the future.
Even if that future no longer has her.
Lucia is lying.
The Commandant's sharp eyes immediately pick up on Lucia's tension. She insists she's fine, over and over, then abruptly changes the subject. She mumbles an excuse about helping Lee install a simple virus filter and walks away.
What did Lucia just "read"?
Flashes of deja vu moments ripple through your mind, but none quite fit what's happening now.
Even after entering the city where the Zero-point Reactor 1 is located, nothing out of the ordinary has "appeared."
What could Lucia have seen...
Lost in thought, you suddenly notices Liv waving.
Commandant, we've located the No. 1 Zero-point Reactor, just like the blueprints Babylonia left us.
It's over there... beneath that abandoned "library."
