Story Reader / Main Story / 25 Everglowing Justice / Story
Project Cthylla has been proven fallacious and unviable.
Some of the plan's objectives are indeed achievable, but research findings of M.I.N.D. are the most important experiment results that can be obtained from the project.
I shall continue probing into the vast territory of M.I.N.D. from which we still have a great deal to learn—and the world shall one day see what my endeavor has to show for.
The data from the past is all but meaningless. They are no better than worker bees and queens, which made them a loose bunch.
It's impossible for one to make contact with the Ascension-Network through Cthylla and her child alone... to become an Ascendant... and an even greater being.
The initial experiment has already proved my theory correct. I'll come up with a perfect experiment venue—and all lives shall continue in the new forge...
This is where Kugawa Kurono's plan began.
Inject a sufficient number of consciousnesses into one single M.I.N.D., having a strong enough vessel to hold them all, to ultimately make contact with the Ascension-Network.
He received a grant that allowed him to turn his plan into action.
Which led to the establishment of Utopia, as he realized that when Constructs lived by morally consistent standards aligned with human requirements, the rejection rate during M.I.N.D. fusion would decrease.
I have my hands on the other reports, too. Except for the ones to be made public, I'll be dealing with them the same old way.
By the way, how's the Kurono test subject doing? She piques my interest... and that bioweapon armor.
And you think Kurono is going to be cool with Babylonia keeping her?
The Task Force squads that arrived have all but completely wiped out Aurora Squadron, missing only a handful of those who ran for dear life.
Led by Issarius, the Purifying Force was around the area and had a mission suspension notification sent to their terminals right when things were about to get rough between them and Gray Raven.
Echo is now out in the open where Babylonia can see her clearly. Trying to lay another finger on her wouldn't do Kurono any good.
Those used to the dark will never want to expose themselves to the light.
Sure.
Asimov nods at you and ends the conversation.
After ending his conversation with [player name], Asimov returns his gaze to the dark blue behemoth that's Gestalt.
There has to be something he's not privy to.
Theoretically, Gestalt should have a complete record of all the materials that the Science Council has had since the Golden Age.
As far as he knows, the Science Council in the Golden Age is where the technology that has brought about M.I.N.D. found its roots.
And if he can manage to get his hands on the original documents and personnel logs from back then, he just might be able to envision a clearer picture.
But apparently...
A line of words shows up on the screen that reads:
This record was lost during the Acadia Evacuation and cannot be found.
Asimov lets out a sigh as he downs in one go the cold coffee on the table.
The Acadia Evacuation...
It wiped out over 90% of the meeting records and personnel logs that belonged to the Science Council from the Golden Age.
Of the sea of irrelevant reports, records, case files and dossiers, there was only one pertaining to a re-designation.
Effective today, Dr. ███ has been recalled from Kowloong to supervise the Science Council Section 3.
Having nothing but this one line, this document appears to be a normal re-designation notice of an employee.
And having gone through the sea of files and whatnot, Asimov has come across nothing other than this one document.
Currently, however, Gestalt holds no records of the "Science Council Section 3" mentioned in the document.
Didn't turn anything else up, huh... This coincidence seems a bit too convenient.
It's almost claiming itself to be a trap out loud.
And that's probably what it is—a trap hidden within a time of prosperity Asimov never had the privilege to experience himself.
The blinking red light in the bottom right corner of his screen cuts his train of thoughts short.
Another attempt at illegal connection... We sure are getting more of these lately.
...A self-replicating sequence. Seems like they know what they're doing.
Asimov has seen his fair share of these "petty" cyberattacks, and these attacks are far from breaching Gestalt's firewall.
But a thought pervades his mind when he casts another look over the one-line re-designation notice on the screen.
"Recalled from Kowloong"... and the last time Gestalt was under an attack was...
Asimov remembers what happened on that day every bit as clearly as though it took place yesterday.
Huaxu?
Quietly, Gestalt is giving off the same dark blue light.
Facing the behemoth, Asimov's slender figure seems almost insignificant.
There... There has to be something he's not privy to.
And given more time, Asimov is sure he can dig the one and only viable solution out of this sea of data.
The bad news, however, is that time is against him.
Time flies by quietly as all of you clean up after Aurora Squadron.
In the afternoon, a notification pops up on your terminal toward the end of the cleanup.
Echo?
The land, having been engulfed by an inferno just a week prior, is once again furnished with green grass.
There are traces here and there suggesting that there has been a fight, but not so much so that they overshadow the lively greenery spreading as far out as one can possibly see.
And these... are the wonders of the land. Scarred and marred as it might be, all that it takes for life to return is no more than a bit of sunlight and morning dews.
Commandant?
Echo seems to have decorated her frame, her white hemline wavy with the breeze.
I found some bodies of those who lost their lives during the cleanup, and this is where I buried them.
Cecily and I made a tombstone for them and wrote a little something on it, and I was wondering if you...
Echo says no more.
With flowers in her hand, Echo keeps her gaze quietly at the small tombstone.
As though suddenly recalling something, she produces a nameplate out of her pocket ceremoniously.
This... is Lena's name tag.
I hate to admit this, but...
...She's now part of Cecily's M.I.N.D.
When I was in Utopia's central flying fortress, I found her...
She bites her lips and stops speaking.
She has taught me so many things and saved me so many times, which is why I had such a difficult time accepting that she was gone.
Commandant, could you give this name tag to Sica for me?
...I forgot what happened when I fell deep asleep because my M.I.N.D. had come under attack, and I thought it happened because my frame wasn't working properly.
After I made it out of Utopia, I realized it might be Lena who helped me get through the final stretch out of Utopia.
She helped me get out of Utopia... twice.
Alisa... Alisa? Can you hear me?
Someone broke through Utopia's external defense, and it's a real mess around the lab now...
Listen to me, Alisa. You don't have much time. You need to get the armor with you and get out of here following the path we discussed before.
Me? Tsk, forget about me.
Over the commotion, the researchers who have been evacuated out of the lab are making their way back into the lab, where the lights on the experiment equipment are blinking coldly...
Don't look back! Keep running! I'll find my way out!
You have to get away from here. You... have to get away!
Lena cuts the line right away, wiping off the chat history, when a sound comes from outside the lab...
Phew... thank God it wasn't anything serious.
...Tch.
What are you looking at? Put her into the vessel already!
The Aurora Squadron soldiers rope Lena up and put her into the vessel.
This is as far as she goes, Lena figures, but... there is also nothing to be scared of anymore.
Because the spark of hope she let out of here is more than enough to start a fire that she knows will eventually cleanse this swamp of sins.
...M.I.N.D. Fusion Experiment No. 246, starting now.
Uhm... is the vessel going to be able to accept an ingredient when it's never spent a day with them?
Screw it. Dr. Pickman is never wrong.
He presses the button.
You... have to get away...
Her head drooping, the "ingredient" in the vessel falls completely quiet.
I think Sica was actually trying to find Lena, but Lena... isn't coming back.
And I just don't know... how to break it to her that the person she's been looking for...
I can only imagine how sad Sica and the rest of them must be, but I don't know what else to do... other than asking them to keep this name tag...
I can't really recall what happened back then, but I believe that there will eventually come a day when Sica becomes a commandant so great that Lena would smile at her in approval, so...
The grass is shining green in the sun, while the skies are thick with layers of clouds.
None of this... feels real to me.
Sometimes I can't help but wonder if this is all just a dream, that I would still be in Utopia and be the same helpless girl watching Cecily and Lena throwing themselves into the abyss when I wake up...
Darkness never makes a sound when stretching on, and people never clearly remember how they survive their nightmares.
The sunlight of daybreak even makes them wonder if the nightmare is truly behind them already—or if they're about to live through yet another round.
But every single second spent living through it makes one that much wiser and puts them one step closer to hope and possibility.
Just keep... pressing on.
Says Echo, her head drooping. Then, she suddenly turns around and breaks into a bright smile at you.
Right, I'll just keep pressing on.
There is nothing I need to fear as long as I let nothing change me—because justice is bound to echo through the land.
I'll become the "echo" of justice. I'll be the song... that they sing in this world for generations to come.
Gone is the illusory utopia, but the "echo" of justice is here to stay.
The lies have given birth to a judge of truth—who, having walked down the thorny path, has tried the perfidious deity with her own blood for all the lies he had spun.
Having come so far under the weight of all the souls and shackles she bears and an eternally tormenting M.I.N.D., she has found her goal, and will dedicate the rest of her life to achieving it.
Noticing the words that have just come out of her mouth, Echo blushes in embarrassment.
That all sounds a little... ridiculous, doesn't it?
This is Echo at her purest—intrepid yet somewhat timid—without her facade of a warrior.
I said I would go back to Babylonia with you, and I'm not going back on my word.
Break? Isn't Babylonia going to... run some sort of experiment on me and Cecily?
Babylonia was indeed going to put Echo and Cecily through experiments, but after negotiation with you, they've left it up to Echo to make her own decision.
I see...
Well... I think I'll keep tracking Aurora Squadron.
Utopia's influence went far and beyond. When I was cleaning up the warzone, I came across evidence suggesting that there were several flying fortresses out there that hadn't been destroyed.
I want to stay on Earth to get rid of them all to prevent another "Utopia" from emerging.
Is that... okay?
Echo probably won't receive full autonomy, but seeing as Babylonia doesn't have the manpower to send off to track these minions of Kurono's...
You can't imagine Babylonia saying no to the deal.
Thank you... so much.
Echo does her rather complicated salute at you in an earnest manner.
Of course. T-this is standard etiquette according to the World Government. Don't they do this at Babylonia anymore?
No... No way!
Echo lowers her head in embarrassment.
When are you headed back to Babylonia?
With your team?
I'll head for Babylonia once I'm done with my missions here.
Echo smiles and nods.
Long, long afterward, the Gray Raven Commandant would still recall this fateful day every now and then...
Upon entering the transport craft past midnight, you immediately notice the weariness etched on the faces of those around you.
After you sit down by a window, Lucia smiles at you on your terminal as she says:
It's April Fools' Day. What should we get you this year, Commandant?
And the answer you offer is...
Be it going back on your own or all the long faces that fill the transport craft...
Nothing seems out of the ordinary.
And it is when the plane's engine is gunned and the aircraft thrusts through the clouds that what Asimov once said hits you.
But that doesn't mean they won't get desperate and do something crazy, so you'd better not let your guard down.
At that moment, you remember receiving a mail not long ago from one certain happy-go-lucky girl with her prediction of your future.
There's just one thing that you have to keep in mind! Stay on your toes when you're on your own this year!
And that's when you become aware of a gas quickly filling the aircraft—one effective only to humans.
Babylonia.
...That's about it. And we've got bad news, too.
Bad news?
The people on the surface managed to acquire the data we presented at the previous meeting. What's more, they even have access to information that we ourselves aren't aware of yet.
We've so far seen protests and armed conflicts across a handful of conservation areas and bases, and our informants even reported seeing Forsaken in those protests and conflicts.
...That doesn't sound like something Watanabe would do.
He's been quiet for three days now, so I have good reason to believe that they've got something going on externally themselves.
Do these two things have anything to do with each other? I mean, to me... it seems like someone took advantage of the flow.
What are you going to do about this?
Containment. We need to keep things from spinning out of control.
When Hassen looks out of the window, he can see all the red shards and fragments blinking back at him beyond the atmosphere of the blue planet.
It's a belt of waste comprising broken pieces of battleships and dormant missiles—as much as it is humanity's crushed pride.
We can't afford another round of chaos on a global scale—not after the failure of the Acadia Evacuation.
The terminal on the table lets out rings of emergency.
Hassen is about to ignore it but decides to take the call, albeit reluctantly, after seeing the name of the person calling.
...What?
[player name]'s flight back home crashed?
Yes. The remaining Gray Ravens are still on Earth for cleanup. [player name] was coming back to Babylonia early taking a homebound transport craft, and...
Good news is that they didn't find [player name] 's body in the crashed plane. Bad news, though, is that the craft crashed into a river contaminated by the Red Tide.
...There's still hope. Is help on the way?
We already put all the Task Force members around the area on it. We looked into the aircraft, too, and found nothing out of the ordinary. It'd been taken in for maintenance right before it was flown out for the mission.
...
Beyond the window, the hazy skies are heavy with ash gray clouds.
Put the guards from the conservation areas nearby on it, too, and make sure you check through the backgrounds of the aircrew.
We... have to find [player name].
Along the banks of a Red Tide, Earth.
Take this person here. Your people are more knowledgeable about dealing with the initial process.
Alright...
The old man nods reluctantly as he takes the unconscious person to his transport vehicle.
How long is it going to take you to get ready? It's only a matter of time before Babylonia starts coming after me...
Don't sweat it. I'll have "Noan" keep them busy to buy you some time.
The old man's hand trembles at the mention of the name.
Are you feeling okay? Never thought I'd ever pay you a visit? "Father"...
...
But don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you—since you're the last "Father" alive.
I just had no one to turn to but you because they agreed to do this out of the blue and I didn't have anyone to help me with this.
...Think I'd appreciate it if you could stop calling me that.
Uhm... I take it that you don't like being called that now?
T-that's already a thing of the past.
A thing of the past, huh?
The purple-haired Ascendant laughs in self-derision.
Very well... Guess I'll let you handle things from here for now, then, Mr. Bethe.
