Story Reader / Main Story / 23 Wintry Shackles / Story
Fire and smoke cover the sky. Silence and death fill the air.
The shouting never stops. She clenches her weapon, as it is the only way to interact with this world.
She repeats the same action she has performed thousands of times, responding with the instinct she has forged with thousands of battles.
Unsheathes, swings, and cuts down the head of anyone in her way; unsheathes, swings, and breaks the enemy's weapon; unsheathes, swings; unsheathes, swings; unsheathes, swings...
The path behind her is paved with piles of dead bodies. The world has seemingly lost all its colors but one.
The filtering is a simple exercise of survival of the fittest. The end is near...
There is no end. This is an endless cycle.
Someone seems to have said that before.
She looks up again, and the finish line is at her fingertips. But how many times has she been here before?
How long will this filtering last? Until there is only one person left?
As she questions that, her perfect stance reveals an opening, and an unrecognizable, shadowy figure dashes toward Alpha.
No...
She cuts the shadow in half as she did many before. Still, it only makes her more anxious.
What does a filtering like this leave behind? The tireless marcher gradually slows down and thinks.
More and more monsters hidden in the shadows appear around her. They all look hideous as if having been abandoned by the world.
Alpha's blade moves slower and slower, but her mind and senses have never been sharper.
Like a kite wavering in the storm, she remains tied to the earth by a resilient line despite how far she has flown.
This must stop here.
Alpha does not know if continuing will take her to the actual finish line, but she is certain that this is not the path she wishes to take.
As that thought appears in her mind, she feels the kite line behind her pulling her back.
Alpha drives back the monsters that are trying to drag her back into the bloody path while trying to protect the fragile twine behind her.
The fate of that tower is sealed. I think the Ascension-Network will also change accordingly.
That change is what we want to take advantage of.
Why has the Ascension-Network changed? How can Luna and her make use of it?
More and more questions arise, but Alpha still cannot find the answer. A key part of the truth seems to have been intentionally removed.
The line behind her pulls her further and further away from the monsters. The scent of death slowly fades; behind her is the smell of pasture.
Alpha feels like she is pulled through a veil before landing on a field of soft grass.
You're finally awake, Lucia.
