Story Reader / Main Story / 23 Wintry Shackles / Story
Your bullets puncture the frail joints of the Corrupted accurately. You are not trying to take them down but slow their advance.
Copy.
You have intentionally led the Corrupted into one place, taking advantage of their predatory instincts. Their slowed movement means there is enough time for you to get to safety.
An ion beam arrives from afar, hitting the Corrupted group in the center and decimating them in a wave of blue flame.
You load a new magazine into your pistol, chambering a round and cocking the gun.
The pistol slide springs back with a sharp click, ready to fire the next bullet.
This is your last magazine against an endless wave of Corrupted that is still charging toward you. Your wound is bleeding again, weighing down the bandages.
You open fire while trying to come up with a plan.
Skills and tactics are negligible at this point, considering the difference in numbers and armament.
Although you are fighting side by side with Constructs, commandants often require their protection in battles.
With a sharp ping from the gun's hammer, you fire your last bullet.
You realize how powerless you really are at this moment. As Constructs become more and more powerful, a human's frailty becomes the weak link of the team.
You can hear Lee and Liv responding to your call for help in your comms. You must hold on for a little longer.
%#... $*&Evo... &...
The rotting vocal modules of the Corrupted make an unintelligible sound like a beast's growl before its hunt.
Ascend... Evolve...
Who's there?
After landing on a snow mountain near Fort Winter, Alpha has been haunted by an unshakable feeling of being watched.
Is it the noise again...? No. This is a little different.
Unable to gauge what it is, Alpha continues onward, trudging through snow and parting the trees until her vision clears up.
You can see the tower even from here?
Standing in an empty field, Alpha can see the blue spiral tower behind layers of mountains.
A breeze lifts the hair that covers her left eye, and the image of the spiral tower is branded into her greyed iris.
Aargh!
Her damaged vision module is suddenly filled with a horrifying red. The intense sensation makes Alpha drop to her knees.
Ugh...
Suppress<//ELIMINATE>... Accept<//DOMINATE>... Transform<//FILTER>...
The noise in her audio module is slowly replaced by the overlapping chant. The vital fluid dripping from her left eye is leaving black scorch marks on the ground.
Ascend... Evolve...
Corrupted?
Alpha has no idea when the Corrupted surrounded her. She does not even bother to check if they are real or not.
Devour... Dominate...
They are like vultures hovering above, hoping to share the dying lion.
The Punishing Virus gathers around Alpha, burning her painfully.
The Punishing Virus converted by the Inver-Hetero Tower never truly disappeared. Instead, they use this opportunity to locate the Ascendants, providing them with the nutrients to evolve, or...
Devouring them whole.
The vital fluid leaking from her eye slowly becomes a blackish tar. Flickering, murky blocks of colors cover her whole body like a malfunctioning monitor.
The corrosion is burning her whole body. An anger that does not belong to her fills her M.I.N.D.
Her clothes, her blade, and even her frame are being deconstructed and reconstructed.
Like the River Styx that Achilles bathed in, the highly concentrated Punishing Virus envelopes Alpha completely, transforming her frame while corrupting her spirit.
This time, there is no Thetis to pull her back.
...
Seeing its motionless prey, one of the carrion-eating vultures can no longer suppress its hunger and leap toward its target.
Rawrgh...
But a mud-coated hand snatches its head instead, crushing it into a ball in an instant.
The figure covered in dirt stands up, tossing away the corpse in her hand.
Hah...
Facing a tidal wave of Corrupted, the person who has fallen into the abyss sneers.
Two figures are sitting opposite each other inside an old underground casino.
The smiling woman gently places her finger on a stack of spread cards.
Do you want me to hit it, Vonnegut?
The man opposite her nods.
This was a private underground casino during the Golden Age. The spacious venue and the million-dollar poker chips speak to its glorious past.
Nowadays, it is a ruin with debris piling on the floor. Poker chips that were once valuable scatter everywhere, while decorated machines are smashed into pieces. It took Lilith quite a while to find two intact chairs.
The man in a mask stares at the cards on the table without flipping them over, seemingly not caring if his hand is good or bad.
Lilith pushes a card to her opponent before taking one herself.
Are you sure you don't want to take a look at your hand, Vonnegut?
The unknown is part of the joy of a gamble.
Are you planning to leave everything to luck, or...
Luck is just a part of it.
Is that what you've been meaning to ask?
...I can never hide anything from you.
I don't get it. Babylonia's Purifying Force is getting close to the truth, and we let the Forsaken discover the list of names "just in time."
They're going to find out the exact location of Fort Winter.
Are you sure it's a good idea to let them take the research institute? Isn't Kurono still working with us?
Information is only useful if it is delivered to where it should be.
The information in Fort Winter is meaningless to me now. This is the best time to play this card.
Why does it have to be now?
Morality only concerns humans after basic survival is guaranteed.
A new world needs to bury these people in the graves of the past.
Humans get their justice, and I get what I want. This is a win-win situation that benefits everyone.
Stopping them from their victory will only incite a fiercer resistance. This isn't a zero-sum game. We just need to win more every time.
That's why I won't hold you responsible for leading Alpha to the Kurono forces that were after Lucia.
Lilith's grip tightens reflexively, slightly bending the cards.
I didn't know. I just wanted her to owe me one.
Silence brews in the dark room. Lilith sits straight without realizing it, while the man on the other side still looks relaxed and calm.
Right then, a small figure appears at the door.
Lilith, it is ready.
Thank you so much, Cinderelik. Do you want me to bring anything back?
For example... news on Kugawa Kurono?
...That's not necessary. Mother is all I need.
Go. Confirm her status.
Whether she is devoured and becomes the Ascension-Network's sharpest blade or gives in and accepts the Ascension-Network's gift, it is our duty to know.
Vonnegut pushes his unrevealed cards back to the stack.
This is your final trial.
