Story Reader / Arcade Anima / Land of Bliss / Story
Hey opens the door, gripping the "Key" as she looks down upon the horde of Corrupted below.
You think you can lure away this many Corrupted by yourself? You're delusional!
So you need to stay behind—it's the only way those refugees might have a chance to survive.
You were exactly right... They are a flock without a shepherd, and they need you right now.
When they detected the Corrupted below earlier, they temporarily sheltered the refugees in a "sheep pen" in a forked passage.
Hey mutters to herself once again.
I wanted to live... Haha.
Before she makes the ultimate choice, she finally tears off her mask and lets out a hoarse cry.
Hahaha... I wanted to live!
Just as you said—I wanted to run away! I wanted to escape from Kurono and the battlefield!
When you were telling Moth those ways to retreat from the frontline, I was paying even more attention than she was... Hahaha.
Truthfully, I'd probably be no different from the refugees behind us if I hadn't met you and Moth... Everyone's a self-serving coward at heart.
Sometimes your presence is just too... prominent. I find myself avoiding a deeper connection with you—like... I'd only call you by your codename. That's part of it, I think.
...You're out of your mind! Give me the tracking device!
Vera grabs Hey's hand with the "Key" tightly, the two locked in a fierce struggle.
Give it to you? After everything that's happened, you still want to let me go?
Never! Cut the nonsense—I won't allow someone with a deviated M.I.N.D. like you to—
Let me go, Vera. I can't take this anymore.
This is the first time her captain has called Hound by her real name, causing Vera to freeze for a moment.
Right... Vera, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time.
What must we pursue... in order to survive?
For me, I want freedom. I want to go to a paradise without viruses, war, and distrust... I'm always willing to hold on just a little longer for these dreams.
Vera... What about you?
Vera opens her mouth slightly, trying twice to speak, but her vocal module is hoarse with a rumble in her chest.
<size=60>"What do you live for?"</size>
Vera's mind races through countless thoughts—every moment from her birth until now, from the peaceful moments she once cherished to every battlefield she has traversed since growing up.
From the heartbeats she once felt in her human body to the engines in her frame that push her forward just a little bit more for one more strike.
She recalls the lives destroyed and the deaths spread by the Punishing Virus. She remembers when she stood among it all, the cold blood and vital fluid dripping down her blade.
She thinks about all of them, and in the end, there is only one thing that she will remember for centuries to come.
And so, Vera utters the word—
It's [pain].
...
...Oorah.
Receiving the answer, Hey laughs with tears.
I knew it... I've always wondered what makes you live with such determination.
If it's pain... I finally understand.
Thank you.
Hey suddenly twists Vera's injured arm and plunges a knife into it, pinning her firmly against the wall.
!!!
The intense pain makes Vera wince as all sensations in her body concentrate at this single point—this pain is unnaturally severe, nearly robbing her of the ability to move.
You called me "gentle" the other day... Haha... Who's the truly gentle one, I wonder...? Stop struggling, Vera. I won't harm you. You'll live.
I tampered with your arm when I was treating you that day... Who would have thought? I originally did it to prevent you from hunting down a deserter like me, but now it serves a different purpose.
Look at those faces behind you. Look into their eyes.
Hey kicks open the rusted metal door at the junction—
Following Hey's direction, Vera turns her face and meets the eyes of the refugees, all of them glimmering with the will to survive.
You're the only one who can lead them to safety now. You're their last lifeline they can cling to.
...
My reason to keep fighting... is no longer enough to lead these people to safety, but perhaps I can march on in a different way for a while longer, giving you all a chance to survive.
Realizing something, Vera begins to struggle desperately.
Ugh...! There's still... enough time! That beach Hush talked about... Didn't you... want to see it?!
That was probably a fantasy.
Moth was very young when she joined Kurono, and her memories were merely post-traumatic self-embellishments... The trauma was so severe that she couldn't even remember her own name.
So a place that beautiful simply doesn't exist.
I taught her many things, but the word "captain" is what she pronounces most clearly.
She even asked me to teach her how to pronounce your name when you first joined Group 013, but she couldn't roll her tongue properly and kept calling you "Ve-wa".
I did consider desertion once, but I abandoned that idea after what happened to Group 009... I didn't want any of you to bear the burden of my mistakes or my indecision.
In the end, I took on this mission. I thought to myself—I could probably slip away quietly on my own in a remote place like Seaside Town... far away from the Kurono headquarters, right?
In the end... As you can see, my indecision has prevented you all from breaking out of this place, leaving us trapped in mutual distrust.
Hey gently pats Vera's injured arm in a comforting gesture.
My M.I.N.D. almost deviated, having been trapped down here. If what you say is true and dozens of days have passed... Why hasn't Kurono contacted us even once?
Vera... Do you think Kurono also intended for us to turn against each other?
...
I had only one thought left when I realized that—I wanted Moth and you to survive.
But now Moth is dead too, and my ridiculous fantasy ends here.
To be honest, you... my [teammates] were truly the only part I didn't find revolting in Kurono.
Hey turns toward the door, casting one final glance back at Vera.
I agree with what Moth said.
...Perhaps there's no one else in this world but us.
...Live, Vera. I suppose that means we live on too.
...Let go of me!!!
Vera nearly tears her shoulder apart for the second time when she finally manages to grip the knife's handle and pull out the blade pinning her down.
Vera lunges toward the door, reaching out to grab—
But countless hands of refugees have reached out as well, grabbing hold of Vera.
...!
Vera remains frozen in place, struggling as she watches Hummingbird leap into the abyss just beyond her fingertips' reach.
CAPTAIN——!!!
Under everyone's gaze and "abandonment", Hummingbird plummets into the swarm of Corrupted below.
The sound of metal clashing sends a heartbreaking screech through the air as vital fluid blooms outward like a flower.
Hummingbird whirls her blade like a cyclone, cutting through the surging waves of Corrupted in a storm mixed with her vital fluid as she slowly recedes into the distance.
...Wanting to go somewhere far away to see the ocean.
The false "Key" she holds once gave her hope, and now she uses this mistake to lead the raging tide away from shores full of the living.
...
Until the tide recedes at the edge of the sea.
A long, drawn-out whistle echoes from somewhere beyond the crowd's vision.
<i>"Homebound."</i>
Homebound.
<i>"When the fishermen were done fishing, they would whistle this sound to relay messages to the shore."</i>
<i>"So people on shore knew when to prepare meals for their return."</i>
<i>"Vera, we'll be homebound soon too."</i>
W-we'll... be, homebound, soon, too.
As the whistle ends, Vera hears an explosion.
The plan to keep everyone alive has succeeded, but no one cheers.
...
...Is this how you do it? Are my hands in the right place?
Mmm-hmm!
Hey was following Hush's guidance and pressed her hands together, and Vera actually caught a glimpse of embarrassment on her face.
So... what about other words? I've already learned "homebound".
This whistle... it's not "homebound"...
It's the new word she learned...
Vera seems to want to say something, but she cannot utter a single word in front of the refugees.
She now stands at the head of the refugees, leading these survivors as she takes on the mission of "living on".
And the refugees—the "sheep"—suddenly jump free of that nonexistent boundary around them as if inspired by the black sheep, and they no longer follow the crowd one after another.
The first refugee steps forward, and, having retrieved Hey's weapon at some point, hands it to Vera.
A second refugee steps forward as well, raising a lantern high to illuminate the path ahead.
...
A third, a fourth...
People support each other as they leave the sunless fortress and emerge into the open. This place is still not far from the sea—one can hear the waves providing a backdrop to the whistle sound if one listens carefully.
Corrupted continue to attack them throughout their escape, but Vera, leaning on her blade for support, cuts them down one after another.
...Phew.
Vera's injuries continue to multiply along the way, forcing people to scavenge Moth's body to salvage usable parts for her.
Moth's arm is now Vera's arm. It is as if Moth continues to live on through her.
In occasional moments of daze, Vera returns to that conversation with Hush on the 44th day, finally speaking the words she could not say back then.
My hometown... was quite far away from the ocean.
The summer wasn't very hot, so it wasn't great for swimming... And it always snowed in the winter.
There was plenty to do in the snow too, though I don't know if they were as fun as those on the beach... It's funny, really... Despite being born at the end of the Golden Age, I've never seen the sea with my own eyes.
Most of my family were gone... Most of the time, I could only think of better ways to survive. There was no time to stop and take in the scenery.
So I've... never seen those landscapes you described... never seen a paradise like that.
I've also... never had teammates I could... rely on.
...
...I should raise my blade, I think.
It feels as though the hands of all the refugees are still clutching to her alongside Hush's, constantly pushing her to raise her blade once more.
Shouldn't the purpose of raising my blade be... to keep "me" alive?
When did it become so complicated...? Ha.
She raises her blade, then raises it once more.
After countless times she has raised her blade for others, she feels as though she, too, has arrived at the paradise Hush described.
...!
She seems to see a rainbow-colored beach, crystal-clear waters, fantastically diverse coral, and noisy seabirds squabbling over food—everything resembles the vibrant atmosphere of a chaotic, colorful festival.
...
She gazes at this scene and smiles gently.
In truth, she is the same—
She also believes in the existence of that paradise, and she is grateful to Hush for giving her hope.
And so... the elderly and children are surrounded in the center of the formation. They look up toward that splash of red at the very front—their Valkyrie, standing at the boundary of Hel itself.
And the people walk toward the side of "life".
Until—
Until...
...
...Someone's there!
Look! There are people ahead! We're saved!
Not far ahead lies a conservation area.
Heavy rain falls from the sky. Through the curtain of rainfall, people can see that the Corrupted's attack has also reached this conservation area.
Vera casts a heavy gaze across the distance. As expected, she spots a crowd of panicked refugees fleeing for their lives.
But beyond that... there is a conspicuous squad of Constructs within the crowd, standing in the pouring rain and shouting something.
Everyone, stay calm and maintain order! Our team has already contained the Corrupted! There's enough time to evacuate!
Babylonian Constructs...
There are clearly not enough transport vehicles, but they have still managed to arrange the evacuation in a relatively neat and orderly fashion.
Let those with children board first, and the rest of you can—
The speaking Construct slips, but another Construct quickly grabs and steady him.
Thanks... Ah, the ground is so slippery.
...
Are they... capable of relying on each other?
Vera stands in place, exhausted. When the Constructs from the conservation area notice them, she raises her hand and pushes the refugee closest to her.
Go... move on...
Food, water... vehicles... You people need those things to survive, and they have them all.
Her eyes fix on the two Constructs rushing toward them.
Babylonia... is probably a better place than Kurono.
With Vera's push, the refugees who have come with her all run toward the Constructs. They are finally safe.
But Vera does not follow them to safety. A "hound" of the Kurono Special Force should probably avoid Babylonia personnel.
She leans on her blade for support, walking toward the sound of waves.
...Until the tide recedes at the edge of the sea.
Huff...
Vera reaches the shore.
She finds a small boat, collapses onto it, and lets it carry her away adrift.
Another wave crashes onto the shore, washing away Vera's staggering footprints on the sand and erasing everything.
...
Huff...
Huff...
Raindrops fall on her face. Her eyelashes quiver slightly as she opens her eyes.
A human stands above her, intently gazing down at her face.
So... this is the place.
The small boat by the shore carries the survivor and brings her to today—many years later.
The person in the small boat is no longer a "hound" of Kurono, but Vera of Babylonia.
Before Vera can adjust her visual module, she sees a blurry shape sway before her, seemingly a human hand waving in front of her face.
Get up? You're disturbing my rest.
Never mind... Come sit with me for a while.
Long accustomed to the Cerberus captain's demeanor, you cannot be bothered by her sharp tongue. You accept her invitation and sit beside her—right in the seawater.
I didn't expect you to actually find this place.
With exaggerated solemnity, you pull up the mail from Vera on your terminal and read it aloud.
Oh? So you've come looking for me again because of a letter I sent as a joke?
I thought if I cried wolf enough times, you wouldn't fall for it anymore.
Despite her words, Vera's expression clearly says, "I knew you'd come all along".
Vera narrows her eyes with satisfaction.
Good.
Oh, so Nikola sent you. Did he tell you everything about the mission?
According to Commander Nikola, Vera is secretly searching for a "Key".
Kurono has the "Key", and its only copy was lost toward the end of the Golden Age. After the Punishing Virus outbreak, Kurono sent people to recover the copy from a black market, but they failed, and there was no follow-up.
But Babylonia suddenly becomes interested in the treasure behind this "Key" and begins searching for the copy. They send Vera, who has a previous connection to it, along with the Gray Raven Commandant, who Vera requested.
That's right. Back when I was still with Kurono's Special Force, my squad never managed to find the real "Key". We were deceived, and the entire squad was lost.
We spent a long time suspecting each other while holding the fake "Key" when the real one was being kept by Daedalus all along.
Surprisingly, my captain survived. I heard she took revenge on the culprits, infiltrated Daedalus, and made off with the real "Key"... Her current whereabouts is unknown, but that was quite a badass sequel.
Haha... Now Babylonia wants me to pick up where that mission left off, and the simplest approach is to find the whereabouts of this "badass captain".
So I got to work and found some information from those who might know something.
I suggest you put away any unnecessary compassion. Those "informants" deserved worse than they got.
They sold out plenty of people back when they were with Kurono. Our mission went wrong because of them as well. Just an eye for an eye, that's all.
However, I'm certain she'll eventually come to this island, even without finding the ones who sabotaged our mission back then.
Vera glances at you, seemingly contemplating whether this exchange of her past is appropriate.
In the end, she chooses to tell you her story.
It's quite a... long story.
As Vera speaks, the sea gently washes over the two of you on the beach like waves of distant memories breaking shore.
...
Her story connects three people. Vera begins from when they were all nobodies and tells of the formation of Kurono Special Force Group 013.
How they went from complete strangers to souls bound by inevitable threads of fate.
From distrust to two "defeats" she pretends to dismiss... Yet her eyes cast downward every time she remembers them.
From the fall of Moth and Hummingbird to the hands she could not grab in time to the refugee's hands that firmly grasped hers then.
From her boarding a small boat in the rain... all the way to now, this very moment.
Vera finishes her tale before pointing to the beautiful scenery before you—the very "paradise" she has described in her letters.
One last thing... Do you think this island is beautiful?
Does it live up to our fantasies?
—This is "Rainbow Beach", the beautiful homeland of Hush.
It's also the "paradise" that Hey always dreamed of escaping to... If she really survived, this is where she would come.
She lies down, stretching her limbs to feel the shallow waves washing over her and the colorful coral reef beneath.
You listen silently, turning your gaze once more to the scenery before you.
<i>"There's a beach in front of my home. We called it the 'Rainbow Beach'."</i>
<i>"The 'Rainbow Beach' has very shallow waters. Shoals of fish will appear at high tide, and the coral beneath reveals itself when the tide recedes."</i>
<i>"The corals are so colorful. They gleam in the sunlight."</i>
There are no colorful coral reefs or swimming fish here.
Only gray-white dead coral and mountains of bleached bones.
The so-called "paradise" was nothing but a fabricated memory from a girl and a desperate fantasy from a woman dreaming of escape.
This paradise was destroyed by the Punishing Virus long ago.
Vera laughs bitterly at this "scenic view", lying in the gray water as she gently touches her once-damaged left eye.
What a joke...
Everything from her time with Kurono ultimately turns into bleached bones.
You point at Vera—amidst the decay, a streak of red remains vibrantly alive.
Behind that streak of crimson stands a special squad that causes a commotion every single day.
Tch, don't go interpreting my thoughts as something so noble and righteous. I've only ever thought about how to keep myself alive.
...
Time passes, and the hound has become Cerberus.
...
After losing Group 013, is Vera not also trying to find closure for that chapter of her life?
She has repeatedly volunteered for missions related to Daedalus, and even after its fall, she has continued moving between its remaining branches.
She has witnessed more malice and bleached bones than what lies on this beach now.
Her endless search finally came to a halt in one of the laboratories, where she finally found a single living being.
Specifically, a Construct—a white shadow.
The white shadow reached out her hand against Vera's blade as if wanting to embrace her.
Don't... leave... me...
I...
She propped up the white shadow by her shoulders, adjusting her position like a doll, and stopped her "bleeding" with practiced motions.
You're...
...Are you... an angel?
Vera was momentarily stunned.
She likely said something dismissive out of habit afterward, but once the girl lost consciousness, Vera carried her over her shoulders.
And then there was that rainy night.
As collapses closed in and contact with Kurono failed in a familiar passage, Vera grasped her higher-up's intents—"survival of the fittest", like how Group 013 was left to struggle underground for over a month years ago.
Kurono was once again trying to eliminate the weaker one between them.
She ordered No. 21 to retreat, refusing to let another life wither away under her watch.
But that idiot would not listen.
No. 21 hunched over, shielding Vera from falling rocks while desperately dragging her toward the exit.
Even with vital fluid pooling beneath her, even if she finally collapsed on a rainy night, No. 21 was determined to bring her home safely.
And so, a white shadow is added to her shoulders.
Hey! Stay with me!
You want me to lug your corpse all the way back?
...I'm not.
...
She carried No. 21 firmly on her back, feeling the warmth against her shoulders.
For the first time in her life, she felt grateful.
...
Her bonds with her "teammates" have already transformed into an unyielding obsession, firmly rooted in her past—just like her own stubbornness.
And now, as the threads of fate continue to weave, the "hound" has been rewarded with more futures ahead. Even without Group 013, Vera now possesses possibilities she has never before imagined.
Countless threads weave into a tapestry of fate, and after all causes and effects have played out, it always chooses the perfect moment to bring people together.
Haha... Yeah, you're right.
The captain of Cerberus rises from the beach and walks toward the bleached bones.
Among the pile of bones, the remains of a Construct stand conspicuously out of place.
Hummingbird's appearance is no longer discernible, having been washed and eroded by the seawater.
Starting with her, Vera pries a small access card from the hand of the Construct's remains.
A plain, unassuming access card, looking almost like an insignificant trinket.
Because the paradise of her imagination didn't exist, she lost her last will to live... and chose to end her life.
I must admit I don't like your ending, Hummingbird. I prefer what the commandant just said.
Vera clutches the "Key" tightly as if gripping a newfound conviction.
Why don't you leave the real "Key" to me?
Vera secures the "Key" and lets out a distinctive whistle, the sound carrying across the waves into the distance.
Hey, Commandant, you've heard the story. Want to guess what that meant?
I'll give you a hint: "Hummingbird" whistled it when she was leading the Corrupted away.
Vera bursts into laughter.
You got it wrong!
She thrusts her banner spear into the beach, its flag instantly unfurling and fluttering in the air.
It means—"set sail"!
I will open up the next paradise!
