Operation story: 14-17

Operation

Story

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Characters
Doctor Amiya W Kal'tsit Mon3tr Theresis Theresa Airship "Apparition" Babel Member Dying Assassin
Backgrounds
1 2 3 4

Before operation

Summary Amiya overcomes Babel's enemies from the past, and hurries over to the Doctor and W. Kal'tsit also successfully breaks free and reunites with the group. Amiya sees the revenant's entire life and prepares for a final showdown.
<Background 1>
[Amiya attacks the assassin apparition with her black Arts.]
Amiya	You've held on for so long—
Airship "Apparition"	(Panting heavily)
Amiya	But not any longer.
Airship "Apparition"	(Panting heavily)
Shadow swallows the figure up. Apparitions from the past pull him back into the fold. More of them emerge from the darkness.
Amiya	Still not giving up?
Airship "Apparition"	... We have nothing left to "give up".
Amiya	You could've attacked me together, but you didn't... I don't sense any anger, but you're all submerged in sorrow... You're different from that revenant.
Airship "Apparition"	... We are not here to kill you. We are here only to witness her success.
Amiya	...
[Amiya closes her eyes, steeling herself.]
Amiya	Sorry, but I can't stop here.
<Background flashes>
Black waves ripple from Amiya, suppressing the shadows. She advances slowly, ignoring the blades streaking past her.
Airship "Apparition"	... "King of Sarkaz"... You are her successor.
Amiya	...
The apparitions keep approaching Amiya, but are incessantly pushed away from her, falling back into the shadows. Amiya continues forward.
Amiya	Doctor... Dr. Kal'tsit... Theresa...
<Background fades out>
She touches the shadow. She sees a completely crystallized door at the corridor's end, and a blade rushing toward her. Shades of black coagulate in her palm, and she immediately catches the incoming blade... Catching inexhaustible sorrow. She sees the sorrow from the past—
<Flashback starts here>
<Background 2>
Babel Member	Her Highness... she's dead... How...? We lost...? Her Highness... died because we failed our duty...
Dying Assassin	*cough*... *cough*...
Babel Member	—! You... you're still... alive...
I can feel him gripping tightly on my collar.
Dying Assassin	Her Highness... is dead?
Babel Member	...
Dying Assassin	Our mission... is complete? It... is done... ... Finish me off. Don't you want to... exact revenge for Her Highness?
There's still that grenade in my chest pocket... that crazy girl threw it to me, telling me to protect Her Highness. I just... have to—
Babel Member	... ... ...
I don't know how long I spend hesitating. But it is only when his hand droops down, and breathes his last... That I realize that crazy girl was right.
Trash. Coward.
<Background fades out>
I've already forgotten how long I spent wandering in the wastes after leaving Babel. Drifters until we meet some Royal Court recruiters. They say Her Highness has returned, and stands together with Theresis... We knew then where we should go.
<Background 3>
Theresis	You come here in anger and ask me why I spread falsehoods among our people. Come up here, before me... And show me your wrath.
[The Sarkaz climb up the palace stairs.]
The steps to Theresis number many, and the sovereigns of the Royal Court stare at me in indifference. But I do not stop. I am a coward no more. I will unleash my anger before Theresis, and then die by his blade.
I stand before him, but he does not greet me with his sword. Theresis only nods.
Theresis	Very good. Keep your anger, but vent it somewhere else. Because what you've heard is no lie.
Theresa	You found me, children.
...
<Background fades out>
I understood many things then. Her Highness died, but there she was, holding my hand. The truth hurt me more than the lies did. The sorrow that spread from the depths of my heart destroyed my anger so easily. Your Highness... The Highness we once swore to protect...
<Flashback ends here>
<Background 1>
Amiya	I... saw her... Through your eyes... your life—
Airship "Apparition"	... Are they all dead? My only companions... No matter, they only left before I did. At least they stayed true to their task, they died to protect Her Highness. As will I, Amiya.
<Background The apparition attacks Amiya with his blades, but is repelled.>
Airship "Apparition"	*cough*...
Amiya	All of you... you have my respect—
Airship "Apparition"	... Our past is no more. We chose to collude with disgrace. We willingly abandoned everything—only by doing so can we stand before Her Highness with a clear conscience. And that is why... we erased our names, and put on the clothes we once utterly detested.
Amiya	... I have my own people to protect too. I can't stop here.
[Amiya casts her Arts.]
Airship "Apparition"	*cough*... Heh, you can try to stop Her Highness... only by defeating us. Even if I am the only one left.
[Amiya's Arts linger on her palm.]
Amiya	...
Airship "Apparition"	You heart is going soft. If you can't even face me and defeat me, what makes you think you can face Her Highness, "King of Sarkaz"?! You will eventually have to face your own fate.
Amiya	... My mind was already made up the moment I stepped onto this airship. Your sorrow, the Sarkaz's sorrow... Should end.
[Amiya unleashes her Arts.]
The apparition from the past finally falls back into the shadows.
Airship "Apparition"	*cough*... *cough*...
Amiya	Be at peace—
[Something rolls onto the floor.]
Amiya	Huh? That's a... grenade?!
[The grenade explodes.]
<Background fades to white>
You said the Sarkaz will have a new future. We rotten souls are meant to be incinerated, so why not burn for the ideal you described to us? We failed Babel once, and it will not happen twice. We shall protect you. Death will witness our promise. This coward will not break their promise, Your Highness Theresa...
<Background fades to black>
<Background 4>
W	—?! Who the hell's fooling around with my grenades?
<Dialogue branch starts here>
Doctor	Stay focused! The revenant's shadow is trying to pull you into the darkness!
[]
[W throws a bomb.]
W	Gah. That chatty bastard pisses me off even more than these clingy sons of bitches! Keep yapping, old coot, and I'll blow your nest into bits.
<Dialogue branch>
Doctor	Careful! It seems like we can't harm it in any tangible way.
[W throws two bombs.]
W	Those black shadows are persistently protecting its core. Regular bombs aren't going to do shit.
<Dialogue branch ends here>
W	{nickname}. It can't affect your mind. So you better not tell me you're out of ideas.
Doctor	...I don't know much about revenants. / We have an expert on our side to ask for help.
W	? Wait, where did Mon3tr go?
Doctor	Keep to our original plan, and continue bombing the core cabin. / I gave it something else to do.
W	—? I think I figured it out. If that's the case, then let's make some noise in here! Though I won't have time to protect you, hood. So you better start praying.
Doctor	...
W aims her launcher up high, and the place feels increasingly dangerous with each pull of the trigger. Every inch of the dome, every pillar, everywhere... Explosives instantly latch onto everything you see.
Futile!
The revenant roars in anger. These people are not worth his full wrath—it ought to be reserved for the origin of suffering. For it will remember his anger, and inherit his rage at the very moment he sets himself free in death.
Get out!
Waves of shadow surge from every nook and cranny of the cabin. An unending stream of shadows flow from the core and wrap around every explosive— Darkness sweeps through explosions toward you.
[The mines begin to explode.]
Bubbles froth in the shadowy tide as blasts go off one after another, like pustules on a monster rushing in your direction. The shadow creeps right before your eyes. You look at W. She eventually throws out her final flash grenade towards the darkness—
<Background fades to white>
Then, the shadows shroud you.
<Background fades to black>
Doctor	*sigh* I'll probably have to lie down for a few days after this. / I trust...
A feeble light leaks through a crack in the darkness.
Doctor	I'm here— / I'm leaving the rest to you—
Shattered Originium fragments splash out from behind you. A black thread immediately follows, weaving through the waves to find you. It wraps around your hand, your body... And pulls you free from the shadows completely.
???	Thank you for sending a signal.
Amiya	I finally found you, Doctor.
W	You're slower than I thought, bunny.
Amiya	Thank you for protecting the Doctor, W.
W	Hmph.
Amiya	Please leave the rest to me. We meet again, Revenant...
<Background fades out>
Get out of here! Get out of my body!
Amiya captures the revenant's emotions from within the dark tides.
She sees a projection brimming with fury. The revenant condenses his emotion into a phantom lance, towering above everything. But why... is there an emotion hidden even deeper underneath his rage? A feeling all too familiar, one that resonates with the vanished apparitions.
Outblood King! You, who dare to shed false tears— What makes you grieve for Sarkaz sorrows?!
The lance seems almost physical in the revenant's hand.
Our mission from millennia ago shall inevitably end in my very hands. No one will stand between us— And what we must witness— The end of fate!
Amiya	My tears fall for those gone souls of Babel... And for you as well, Revenant.
Black Arts coalesces before her.
Amiya	You asked me, why I wish to stop this war... I have your answer now. I've seen the path that lies ahead of us. This war shouldn't be part of the Sarkaz future—
Hypocrite!
The revenant gathers all his hate, rage, and pain into his palm... The lance has taken physical form. He throws his entire life towards Amiya.
[Amiya's Arts attempt to stop the lance.]
<Background fades out>
It penetrates through a black barrier and pierces through her body. In an instant, a sea of complex and unbounded emotions washes over Amiya...
[Sounds of fighting can be heard.]
She sees a blaze in the depths of a flaming forge. She sees a huge, headless, hollow suit of armor as it trudges against a Catastrophe, leaving an endless trail on the land as it hauls ancient sacrificial stones behind its back. She sees Elder Arts streaking across the horizon, smashing walls of stone into powder. She sees a Sarkaz. He stands with his back to a monolith. The foundation stone of his homeland, a fragment of Kazdel. The Sarkaz shouts toward his King:
Kazdel stands behind me. They will not take it. If that greedy Hegemon wants this piece of land, they can come and try. But O King, as you say, there is nothing they can take away but ruin. My tears have dried, and only rage remains, pulsing in my chest. I will stay. I will guard this land, till death. This is my mission.
Amiya sees the Sarkaz pointing toward the aloof Elders. She sees the Hegemon surrounded by Elders, charging towards the group from Kazdel. Shouts. Cries. Powerless gasps.
My tears have already dried, and it should be only rage that remains, pulsing in my chest... But why do I still feel pain over my people's demise? O King, I will not retreat even half a step from the frontline—
Amiya has seen it before, that cruel segment of history. She has seen the first King of Sarkaz ignite an unprecedented Catastrophe, and every Hegemon and their troops besieging the city disappeared that very day... Along with that King and his loyal subjects.
But why did the pitch-black Catastrophe that engulfed the sky disintegrate my body, while refusing to let me die? That flash of light branded my figure into Kazdel's soil and rock for eternity. Death betrayed me, and I became an eternal shadow of my homeland.
Amiya	Your mission has already ended... That city has become a phantom from the past.
...Ended? No, before death returns to me, before the Sarkaz's fate is rewritten—my duty remains.
Amiya's tears are wiped away by the storm. She sees a Sarkaz—a Sarkaz who has been lingering for nine thousand years, waiting to complete a mission.
Amiya	I see it now, Revenant— Your true form. It's true I'm not a Sarkaz, but I feel their suffering all the same first-hand. The crown I bear, and the future I'm unwilling to give up... I never excluded the Sarkaz for even a moment. I will end all suffering. This is my answer to you!
Within the infinite darkness, black threads twist around the lance running through Amiya and pulls it out of her. Amiya aims the lance, and hurls it back with all her strength in the core's direction.
[The lance directly hits the core.]
<Background 4>
It rips the darkness apart, and the black tides recede from Amiya.
Doctor	Amiya, you smashed the shackles! / You tore the shadow shrouding you apart.
W	I'm afraid what our bunny has done is more than that.
Amiya	...I can only seal the revenant with its own emotions for a brief moment. We need to figure out a way... to put an end to the revenant's mission for good.
W	Don't look at me. I already tried bombing this place. It's useless.
???	We're not entirely helpless.
[Kal'tsit enters.]
Doctor	Kal'tsit. / Seems like Mon3tr made it.
Mon3tr	(Excited cry)
Kal'tsit	Doctor, your timing was impeccable. The revenant relaxed his hold on me after you drew his complete attention. And Mon3tr managed to locate me.
Mon3tr	(Waving claws excitedly)
W	Grr.
Kal'tsit	Thank you too, W. For buying the Doctor some time.
W	... Hmph, I still have scores to settle—
<Background shakes>
W	What's going on now?!
Doctor	...Do you guys feel... the airship accelerating? / The airship's trying to free itself from the skeleton!
Amiya	It's the revenant... he's about to break free!
Kal'tsit	...Theresa's helping him. It seems like she's already on the last stage of her plan. The revenant is responding to her call.
W	... I didn't see her here.
Kal'tsit	Her being here or not should not influence our own plans whatsoever.
Doctor	We need to release the revenant's control over the airship.
Kal'tsit	Yes. The most effective way to do so is to demolish the airship's core. We can only stop it by ridding its control and engine.
<Background shakes>
Amiya	... Doctor, please get behind me.
W	Man, this old coot is such a pain in the ass. We're basically helping him move house, right? Sounds pretty simple to me.
<Background zooms in>
(Ancient Sarkaz language) Mission... (Ancient Sarkaz language) Fate... (Ancient Sarkaz language) End...
Kazdel's oldest guard awakens from his shackles. The King of Sarkaz had him capture a sliver of his own consciousness from nine thousand years ago. He has never been more clear than he is now, nor has he ever forgotten. He no longer masks his sorrow with anger.
I will end you all, and our fate too.