After the north wind howls again, silence falls abruptly over the land.
The woman in silver stands alone in the wind and snow.
...
Pure white snowflakes freeze her despair and extinguish her faith... The snow falls on her shoulders and upon the lives she took with her own hands.
She stands there, dazed, frozen in place.
...?
Bianca slowly turns around, and crimson bursts into view. Her silver attire is stained with the blood of her sins. It's undeniable proof that she has slain those closest to her.
Commandant...?
The bloody Sacred Sword is dragging across the snow as the figure in red and white approaches you slowly.
The "witch," like the one in the eerie fairy tale that the children whisper about. Will you become another soul taken by that blade?
Your body is too wounded and overwhelmed by fatigue, making you no longer able to escape.
Your intuition is reminding you that Bianca is still the same Bianca.
The "Witch" leans close, her weary eyes struggling to make out the human face before her.
Ah... Thank goodness... Thank goodness...
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>Commandant, you see, my sword is dripping with the blood of countless of our own...</i></size></color>
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>I killed my beloved friends, killed the father who raised me, ruined this church that was once... filled with moments of joy and laughter with you...</i></size></color>
"Those who wield the Sacred Sword will one day be cut by its thorns." This is the price of her powers.
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>I loathe the virus, but I hate myself even more. I hate that all I could do was take lives with my own hands.</i></size></color>
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>By the time I came to my senses, my sins were already beyond redemption...</i></size></color>
I'm sorry... Commandant...
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>These hands no longer deserve to hold anyone close.</i></size></color>
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>But... Commandant... I am so grateful...</i></size></color>
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>...I get to see you one last time... before I leave...</i></size></color>
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>I will pray for you... pray for the calamity to end, for the living to find solace, for the dead to find peace... and pray that your life continues to unfold with peace and joy...</i></size></color>
Don't worry... reinforcements will come for you soon...
<color=#DDA117><size=40><i>Until then... I may have to commit one last sin.</i></size></color>
Please take care of yourself... Commandant...
She grips your hand tightly, very tightly... Then she gradually lets go, gently prying apart your fingers.
The Witch//Holy Maiden's figure slowly fades into the distance...
The footprints buried deep in the snow look like the path once taken, or the way home.
[player name], wake up!
[player name], wake up!
You are so cold.
You struggle to focus your vision as a girl with purple hair anxiously shakes your body.
Wake up... We need to go back!
As consciousness returns, bone-piercing cold seeps into your bones. Pain is chiseling at your joints like ice picks, and each shiver drives the sharp agony even deeper.
Hearing her name, the girl's tense expression finally eases.
Thank goodness. You still remember me.
As consciousness returns, bone-piercing cold seeps into your bones. Pain is chiseling at your joints like ice picks, and each shiver drives the sharp agony even deeper.
The surface under you is hard and cold. It's not a bed and certainly not an embrace... Bianca isn't here. Your mind quickly registers this fact.
I'm Rosie. Sister Bianca... she's gone.
How do you feel?
What happened after that?
Yeah... that was her nightmare, but now we're living in it.
Rosie silently steps to the side, revealing a blue-black dome adorned with religious murals. This church is familiar, but it's not the one where you first met Bianca.
Voices of abuse and mockery surge in from all directions.
She killed them! When we got there, she was covered in blood, running off alone with her sword!
O Lord... but she's the Holy Maiden chosen by You!
The Holy Maiden must have her reasons. She prayed for us, for everyone, even at the cost of her own life. The children and I saw this with our own eyes.
It's a curse... It must be the Sacred Sword's curse!
Anyone who tries to use the Sacred Sword's power will be consumed by it... She drew the Sacred Sword, so she turned into a killer!
It's you? Are you that commandant? The only one who survived?
Did you know that she killed Father Snow? The priest who raised her?
And Toby! That man was my brother-in-arms! We faced life and death together! He promised to bring me wine from the Snowfields, but I'll never get to drink with him again because he died under her sword!
I watched Toby grow up! He was a ball of sunshine and was always so cheerful and kind to everyone. He had a bright future ahead of him, but the Witch took it all...
Regardless, her hands are already stained with blood, and the church will never accept a witch like her!
Why can't we wait until she comes back?
Then why did she kill them? Is this how she treats people who once helped her? Will she do the same to us? Like how she killed Father Snow and Toby?!
I'm going to avenge Toby and Father Snow! Don't stop me!
Surprisingly, these angry people refuse to believe a word from you and Bonnie and only grow more furious.
As you try to explain some more, Rosie tugs at the corner of your shirt.
[player name]... It's no use... Let's go back...
[player name]... It's no use... Let's go back...
The bloodthirsty witch who has defiled this sacred ground will one day be banished from this world by divine will!
Kill the witch, kill the witch! The seething crowd shouts with their arms high, yelling the merciless judgment their respective "Gods" have brought down upon Bianca.
Rosie tugs at the corner of your clothes, pulling you out of the crowds.
Even a child could easily accomplish that—
For your semi-transparent bodies can pass directly through other people, like souls without physical form.
So you already know...
It's me, Rosa! Asimov's assistant!
We'll have people monitoring the data at all times, but it still comes down to you two in the end...
Asimov said... I'm just there to collect data... He told me to just play my role.
He also said we should try not to interfere with the dream world before Bianca wakes up.
But the conditions for her waking up have been met, so I came to bring you back with me.
Yes... Now that the conditions for Bianca to wake up have been met, we can leave together.
Her drawing the <color=#ff4e4eff><b>Sacred Sword</b></color>.
And the Sacred Sword is obviously one.
To be honest... I found that strange, too. Maybe it's because she's now able to directly face her most painful past. After using the Sacred Sword, Bianca's frame readings are all improving.
This means she can now safely use the power of her Crepuscule frame, and we've achieved our goal, so we can leave her dream world now.
That's true...
Then the monsters from the east would have attacked even earlier.
You couldn't kill them... Only the Sacred Sword can...
We could never have won because that was her own inner voice...
Before you performed the Deep M.I.N.D. connection, I had already collected several rounds of data. This world has its own laws, and certain things are bound to happen according to its logic.
Asimov told me that human dreams are all constructed from past experiences. We can change the "future," but we cannot change the "past"...
By helping her draw the Sacred Sword and face the painful past that is tormenting her, you've already done so much for her. That's why she can wake up now.
I don't know... She might, since memories can't be changed...
Wait, Commandant! Where are you going?
It is April, the season of recovery, yet swirling snow is hiding the lush spring scenery beneath its veil.
They're saying that after the Abyss monsters appeared, many people became followers of the Abyss.
Yes, followers of the Abyss are supposed to be immune to the Abyss and thus find happiness.
And Bianca became the "Witch." The sword she carried also became the Devil Sword... They believe she takes their happiness away.
You spend your time searching and asking around the town with Rosa, yet all you learn are nothing but rumors.
Clinging to a glimmer of hope, you ride back together to the Snowfields.
We're here, [player name].
We're here, [player name].
There are no signs of monsters here, just like I thought... but...
But... it is now nothing but ruins.
You dismount with Rosa and walk toward the once-magnificent church. It's now buried in a thick blanket of snow and is as silent as a tombstone.
Could Bianca be here?
This is where we used to listen to Bianca tell stories. You were here, too. All of us gathered around you...
You walk with Rosa among ruins, pull open the frozen windows, and step into what was once the courtyard...
We used to have snowball fights. Bianca tried to catch the misbehaving kids, but always ended up catching you instead.
The day Bianca chose to draw the Sacred Sword, the courtyard was stained with blood.
You know very well she had a painful past, but not even in dreams can she have the slightest peace.
...The snow in front of the steps is so thin, and there's even a small shelter in the middle of the courtyard. Huh... was someone here?
Beyond the steps is the courtyard that holds memories, and at its center are seeds that crystallize hope. The snow has been carefully cleared, while the seeds are sheltered beneath a roof.
When spring comes, you'll return to the church and watch the lilies bloom with me.
Spring has arrived...
But the buds beneath the snow have already withered in the bitter cold.
The seeds you planted together lie buried deep in the earth alongside your unfinished feelings, never to bloom.
It is the end of March. Having just buried the last body from the church in the white graveyard, Bianca puts her hands together to pray.
...Please welcome their souls and let them rest in eternal peace...
After confirming your safety from a hidden corner of the town, she set off once again to return to this church.
The extreme cold has driven away the reinforcements who came to investigate, so Bianca arrives at the church's courtyard and clears the snow from its steps alone.
But she still silently cleans the courtyard, tills the soil, waters and fertilizes it, and finally sets up a small shelter...
"When spring comes, you'll return to the church and watch the lilies bloom with me."
Spring has arrived.
She stands up with a soft sigh, white mist drifting into the snow.
She senses that she has unrealistic hopes for these seeds—she longs for them to bloom.
But does she want to see her commandant or not?
Does she wish for the petals to bring her commandant back to her, or does she wish for the children to stay by her commandant's side in her place?
She struggles to find her answers.
That day, the light from the sword that cut through the sin also split her memories into two parts—one bitter yet radiant, the other drowned in darkness.
Bianca stands on one end, [player name] the other.
...No matter what, I hope you stay in the light.
After securing the greenhouse, she gently closes the gate to the courtyard.
Horses gallop as you ride together with Rosa toward the snowy mountain where Bianca once prayed.
It's so cold...
Lost in thought, Rosa watches the icy crystals drift into the distance.
...She's crying...
Snowflakes fall with desolate beauty, clear and fragile like teardrops.
...Bianca is crying.
Rosa repeats her words. She watches the snowflakes fall with desolate beauty, clear and fragile like teardrops.
You slowly climb the frozen path, as frosty winds hurl fragments of crystal as sharp as ice blades against you.
Could she be here?
The only response is the chaotic sound of wind in your ears.
You two struggle upward with each step, only to be blown back by the wind... By the time you're halfway up, you can no longer move another inch.
Dense snowflakes form a spinning whirl before you, trapping the upper mountain within.
The world before your eyes plunges into darkness.
When your vision clears again, you find yourself back at the mountain's base with Rosa.
The two of you drift like a tiny ship in a vast, white ocean. You move forward, only to be dragged back to the beginning by waves of snow.
Whether she's still here or not, her heart has already sealed itself off.
