Golden light suddenly converges.
Vonnegut stands in the heart of the ruins, his body riddled with wounds.
After all... this ending was...
Inevitable.
He saw this end coming a long, long time ago.
The library framework, battered from the fight, lets out a sickly, groaning creak.
Yes, I've lost, but I still have to warn you.
The agent's face twists into a horrifying sneer.
The only way to deal with Punishing... is to cooperate with me.
The Hetero Tower is bound to descend. When Agent Zero arrives with it, and humanity is caught completely off guard...
It will be the end of this world.
His tone is absolute, as if he's seen that possibility play out countless times.
The Hetero Tower never came down, and the so-called Agent Zero never descended from the heavens like a witch on her tower, bringing disaster and suffering in their wake.
Plants keep growing, stars still twinkle in the sky, and gentle breezes continue to carry distant scents.
That future is destined to happen.
The uncontrolled Punishing converges into trickles, coiling around the agent's body. He grows increasingly weak, barely able to stay on his feet.
Perhaps you can change the result once, even twice.
The steel framework of the ruins creaks and groans.
But I'll be waiting...
With his last ounce of strength, he swings his arm, suddenly directing his residual power at the already tottering dome of the ruins.
I will wait for the day when this world once again falls into its eternal predicament, heading toward that same destruction.
BOOM—
Commandant!
The three Gray Raven members dash forward, shattering the large chunks of stone and metal fragments hurtling toward them.
As the dust settles, the agent is nowhere to be seen.
I'll stop him!
Lucia hounds Punishing's trail, following it deep into the library's underground.
The Red Tide still churns in areas the basic virus filters haven't reached. She cuts down several Hetero-Creatures spawned from the contagion, then wades through the blood-red corruption. There, she spots the Agent's dark form.
He's sprawled motionless at Zero-point Reactor 1, utterly still.
He's dead.
The Red Tide surges, and points of golden light flicker within it. Lucia's blade is out in an instant,
but the next moment, she freezes solid.
Countless memories, like scattered stardust, flood her mind.
Her nightmare comes true in the cruelest way imaginable. In that moment, she sees endless "pasts."
Let's go, Commandant.
...Commandant...
Is this... all that's left for us?
Com... man... dant...
The "key"...
Countless deaths of [player name].
And even more... <phonetic=Lucia>her</phonetic> deaths.
I can't watch you die again.
I'll do this even if it means going against your orders, and you won't be able to stop me—not when you're hurt.
She hears herself saying it.
She sees herself trapped in a long prison, stuck before a rift.
She watches them finally leave that tower of calamity, at last moving across the surface until the dawn arrives.
Please look, Lucia.
See how you bid farewell to Commandant in the wilderness.
Please look, Lucia.
See how Commandant walks alone through the wind and snow thirty years later.
Do you see it now, Lucia?
Commandant never gave up hope, never stopped lighting the torch, always walking toward the radiant light.
Do you see it now, Lucia?
Even drowning in the Red Tide and buried beneath the sea, Commandant would still bring back the first light of dawn to your side.
It's time...
The pallid maiden murmurs in a distant tongue.
Memories... I'm giving them back to you.
She sinks silently into the Red Tide.
Commandant...
Lucia's mind is still caught in a hazy dream, but her body's already running on autopilot.
She's moving with powerful strides, hurtling toward the world outside.
She knows someone's waiting for her return.
At the end of the long day, she stands before Commandant.
The suffering they have endured, the scars etched on their bodies—all will be washed away by the warm sunlight of the days to come.
The beautiful glow of dawn paints the clouds along the horizon.
Lucia!
And it's here, at the break of dawn as morning light emerges, that they reunite.
With this rare opportunity to access Zero-point Reactor 1, Asimov has tasked them with collecting fresh samples to bring back.
You didn't need the "invitation" and "key"?
From the other end of the comms, Asimov's voice carries an unusual hint of relaxation.
Looks like we haven't reached the worst-case scenario I anticipated.
The Hetero Tower.
Vonnegut's planning to fire up the Zero-point Reactor, which will bring the Hetero Tower crashing down.
We're still in the dark about how the Hetero Tower actually forms inside, but the moment it gets here, Punishing is going to mutate in ways we won't be able to handle.
I got all this from the Heteromer Shards data.
Our original worst-case scenario was him pulling it off and the Hetero Tower descending again. At that point, you and Lucia would have had no choice but to head into the Hetero Tower with the Invitation and the Key, and try to take control.
Is he dead?
Lee's confirmed that Vonnegut's body is dead. But, considering past instances of consciousness transfer, nobody can say for sure if he uploaded his mind somewhere else again.
After a quick rundown of the samples he needs, Asimov hangs up.
The Commandant closes the terminal log, their gaze fixed on the setting sun.
All the pieces of the past have fallen into place, like a puzzle with just one crucial piece missing. But... that's not what matters right now.
Commandant, the transport's almost here.
Nearby, the three members of Gray Raven have just wrapped up their sampling mission. Their transport is about to touch down, and they'll soon be heading back to Babylonia.
Are there any entries we missed? I can help—
Sample collection complete, Commandant. We're good to go.
They are going to step into the morning light, returning to the place they call home.
