Before the final battle arrives, Vera can't help but recall the last time, and also the first time, she equipped this frame.
...You've already gone through 579 precautions. Are you still not finished?
Just one more thing... That device on your chest, let's call it a "safety lock." You'd better not remove it.
What if I remove it anyway? What's gonna happen?
You can think of it as this frame's final limiter. All that power you already struggle to control will—*whoosh*—be completely released in an instant!
You're unable to control that power. The best-case scenario is death by frame overheating or M.I.N.D. boilover.
Could it get any worse than that?
"Hound," worse than death is going "Haywire." You'd become something more dangerous than the Corrupted, destroying everything around you without distinguishing friend from foe.
Before you die from overheating, Kurono would salvage you in your miserable state. And when you open your eyes again, you'd be shocked to discover that everything you once held dear was destroyed by your own hands.
How dramatic.
Vera brushed it off and walked away.
I have no teammates, no family, no friends. Just assign me somewhere with fewer refugees and be done with it.
Wait, Vera!
The Kurono staff member rushed after her.
About that Special Operations Group 13 mission... we all know. The higher-ups said they needed to eliminate the traitors... while also testing you.
...So you all knew about "Hey" and Little Mute all along.
I couldn't stop it. I... this is off the record, but I even hoped you would have deserted during that mission. But you still came back alone...
You've survived this test again... In a way, you've become an irreplaceable benchmark for many of us. If you left too, we might not even know what to do with ourselves anymore...
So please, don't pull the "safety lock" so easily, okay? Get through this frame's testing period smoothly, and then you can switch back to your Rozen frame.
...
No. I understand it now. There's no point in standing with you people.
I only have enemies.
That day, as the only Construct to pass the test, she left the Kurono fortress and accepted an extremely simple mission. All she needed to do was retrieve some special test materials and transport them to a nearby base.
The weather wasn't great that day, gloomy with a yellowish cast to the sky, looking like snow was about to fall.
Ah, I should give this frame a name. Can't just keep calling it by its model number.
What would be a good name... After "Rozen," what comes next? How about "Garnet"?
She'd already retrieved the test materials and was sitting atop a building in the conservation area. With her Construct visual module, she could see a group of young trainees engaged in a combat simulation nearby.
Isn't this just like when I was training? But after we graduated, we were sent all over the world to get tangled in various human-against-human wars. After they graduate, they'll focus solely on fighting the Corrupted.
Hah, fighting for all of humanity. How much more noble their purpose has become.
Having seen enough of the competition between the red and blue squads, she decided to gather her things and return to completing her mission.
But that's when the crisis began—the conservation area's alarms blared with urgency, catching even the F.O.S. students off guard.
She spotted a slightly dazed student running out from behind the training barricade, taking down one or two Corrupted before rushing toward the conservation area, where they began to evacuate civilians as a matter of course.
...Does that student have a death wish?
Unable to watch their foolishness any longer, she dropped down from her position, ready to lend a quick hand, perhaps by taking out a few Corrupted, buying them some time, or maybe...
<i>"Watch out!!"</i>
Grrrrr!
...
To be honest, she never imagined a human would throw themselves in front of her to block a Corrupted attack.
The Corrupted tore a horrific gash across their fragile human body, a wound so severe that anyone who saw it would declare the victim dead on the spot.
...You're insane! You idiot!!
She picked up the badly wounded person.
In her daze, surrounded by cold winds and the screeching of Corrupted, she felt as though she was carrying her younger self.
Back then, she was the same, preferring to clash with her fellow officer cadets rather than joining them as obedient "livestock" for the system.
When she suspected Haynes was up to something, she boldly made contact to gather intelligence.
Despite knowing the extreme dangers of Construct modification, she still voluntarily signed her name on the documents.
Her thinking back then was straightforward. Where there was injustice, she would cry out. Where there was oppression, she would rebel. Where there was danger, she would rush to the front—as if heroic courage alone would always pay off.
...But in reality, what did it actually get her?
She looked at the person in her arms, staring at the still-bleeding wound—all she could see was the next in a cycle of endless "heroic tragedy."
...
She made a decision.
Because of that decision, she once again experienced having more than just enemies in her life for a brief moment.
At first, she maintained some emotional distance, saying that people never learn their lessons and always disappoint her—while simultaneously peeling an apple for the bandage-covered patient.
The "future great Commandant," with precious test material still packed into their side wound, seemed to have little understanding of the surface's brutality. Even so, they would stubbornly follow her regardless.
The two experienced a desperate escape across the surface—their prequel-like story ending with her cutting the rope that connected them.
Afterward, her story turned to a new chapter, one titled "Cerberus."
This Construct squad gave her a comforting sense of familiarity—though not exactly reliable, both No. 21 and Noctis still firmly followed her lead.
In this new chapter, the boundaries of her "self" expanded immeasurably. Her mission changing from simply "surviving" to "ensuring everyone survives together."
And after that...
The pages of her new chapter turned rapidly, bringing us to Atlantis.
By then, considerable time had passed since their "one-sided reunion." The person who had become the Gray Raven Commandant remembered nothing of their past, and she chose to mention nothing.
But she discovered with sorrow that the "cycle" seemed to have already begun—that you were becoming yet another puppet ensnared by heroism. Her blessing from years ago seemed... unfulfilled.
Or rather, you seem to have "wasted" her blessing.
She can't help but warn you.
If you understand the Parliament and Kurono enough, you will understand why they are making you dance to their tune.
Kurono wants to lock you up for conspiring with the enemy. The Parliament wants you to sacrifice everything for the fate of humanity.
They're both trying to rob you and bleed you dry.
One of them is blatant with their intentions, the other one decorates it with righteous causes.
...This is what I can't understand about you. If you've already seen their "true face," why are you still willing to risk your life for them?
Why do you choose them?
You answered:
<i>"I didn't choose them—I chose humanity."</i>
She burst into laughter, tempted to say "You're still as naive as you were back then."
But you continued:
<i>"I also don't believe you're the type to extinguish the flame."</i>
...
—Look at that. You always did this, seeing right through her contradictions and unspoken reluctance.
You clearly knew that you and her were <b>exactly the same kind of person</b>.
Looking down at herself, after examining the chapters of her life, she's reached the same conclusion.
She and you have always walked the same path, a "rope" tethered between their cores, bound together by a twinned fate.
Both of you possess natural courage, both willing to cut away their own flesh to make the "flame" burn brighter, illuminating darkness further ahead—though she harbors resentment toward these acts, while you accept it.
...Hmm, I've actually been burning myself for others all along, I just resent being devoured by fools.
If I must be used until I burn to ashes, then I'd rather burn in the hands of the "right person."
She "looks" at the last page.
And have I found that "right person"?
Under her gaze, you stride forward with purpose, never trapped by any obstacle.
...So that's it... You're no naive fool at all. You saw everything clearly from the beginning, didn't you?
Haha...
A knowing smile crosses her face, as if she's finally shattered the barrier blocking the way to her true self, a hall of enlightenment.
What am I still hesitating for? I'm hardly recognizable as my former self.
The massive Valkyrie extends her hand, delivering the living flame from her fingertips to you.
The fire is right here—you understood all along, didn't you? Take it.
Sure enough, you receive the flame with care as you advance ever forward.
Great job.
She feels deeply gratified. By now, she's even grown accustomed to giving praise.
Even if only one of us reaches that destination, it's still a brilliant victory.
Seeing you press forward with that unwavering silhouette is the reward for my own long journey of courage.
Before leaving it all behind, she voices her final request.
Just like before... Use me completely, burn me thoroughly, and be sure to turn these small sparks into a raging wildfire.
Different from before, she has cast aside the last trace of "resentment" in her heart.
Come on, take the last piece of flesh from my body<//fire>!
In the "Hollow" of the gene repository, the Valkyrie-like red-haired Construct grips her weapon.
The enemy awakens in the "incubation pod" above, delivering words of somber dissuasion:
Wrong choice.
You need to be sharp, revolutionary, to cut even the tiniest openings in this gentle, suffocating blanket of an old world.
And your choice will let everyone drown in the comfort of this peaceful night.
Stop acting as a blade for the old world humans. I can sense you hovering on the edge of going haywire. If you continue to be used like this, it will eventually turn against you.
No, I'm nothing like you.
Besides... what matters most is whose hands the blade is in.
I trust the one who wields me. That person chose the old world, so I only need to trim it into something better.
...
Then bring it on.
The Ascendant accepts the challenge, and she severs her mental link with the Commandant.
Just like years ago, among those ruins, when she cut her bindings and brandished her weapon, performing a deadly dance for the old world she despised.
Today, she will fight with everything she has, just as before.
[player name]...
Twice I have drawn my blade for you.
The first time, I was lifted up before you by the hands of others.
She swings her weapon, the blade slicing through the air with a whistling sound—
This time, I willingly become your blade!
