Story Reader / Main Story / 26 Cradle Parade / Story
The two of you navigate through countless collapsed passages toward the control room.
All along the way, Hetero-Creatures come pouring out of the collapsed walls like animals trying to flee a forest fire, every last one highly aggressive.
To them, one of you is a traitor who deserves nothing but death, while the other a sacrifice to be captured. One single mishap is all it takes for the two of you to become their prey.
And it doesn't help that you're severely wounded and slowing down the two of you.
After an 8-hour trek, you and "Noan" finally find the "entrance" to the control room—a door floating in mid-air.
Around the door lurks a bunch of Hetero-Creatures, to no one's surprise.
There's someone else in the distance.
True, but I'm certain someone's there, with an egg.
I can hear Cthylla crying. Someone is holding her egg down that way.
Let's take a detour to catch them.
Avoiding the crowd of monsters by the door, you head down the way "Noan" has pointed out for you and, sure enough, see Lamia.
She's holding an egg in one hand and wields a weapon in the other, cutting down the Hetero-Creatures like wheat.
But every time she swings her weapon, she pauses or goes mad for a moment, acting as though she is possessed or having her consciousness devoured.
It's Cinderelik.
Yes, her M.I.N.D. isn't stable enough for her to become a "complete egg." She only managed to become something that seems like one because Cthylla is her mother.
Can't tell for sure. She'd probably end up becoming an even more powerful magical girl if she managed to hatch from the egg.
Yes, but she's not going to hatch in her current state.
The young man shrugs.
Oh yeah, I'm off to the manga world tonight.
No one said the egg was only big enough to hold one single consciousness, so we'd better get out of here as soon as we can if we don't want to become one with her.
That's a cakewalk for Cthylla, and no one said the egg was only big enough to hold one single consciousness, so we'd better get out of here as soon as we can if we don't want to become one with her.
Because she heard about Kugawa Kurono's death one afternoon, and she crossed off "visit Kugawa Kurono" from her wish list in tears.
He failed again, Mister. He isn't coming back to see Mother again even at the cost of picking the wrong path.
"Let me be reborn by Mother," she pleaded to the agent.
I want to know if Mother remembers me... and I can become your key if it works. This is my final wish...
They let their guard down around me sometimes.
Yes, there are things she's never explicitly said, but she's now an enemy you need to crush all the same.
What do you know about Kugawa Kurono?
The young man waves his hand, dismissing further questions.
Anyhow, both Lithos and his agent see the "egg" as important. They think it's an amplifier of some sort, and you've seen its effects already.
When an unstable M.I.N.D. becomes an egg, it amplifies its power and transfers the amplified power to its user, which messes up the user's M.I.N.D.
Establishing a M.I.N.D. connection with an Ascendant is a serious burden, and there's no guarantee one can cut it off unilaterally.
Keeping this in mind, you shout out Lamia's name, which stops her hand in mid-air along with her weapon.
...
Hearing this, the mermaid clutches the egg in her arms even more tightly, fearing it might be snatched away the next second.
But even in those moments of her hesitation, the Hetero-Creatures still keep their distance from her, fearing the egg she's holding.
You... you two...
I know there's a control room here.
Are you sure you want to work with an Ascendant?
But I am an Ascendant.
...
The mermaid stands in hesitation, the Hetero-Creatures around her eyeing the egg in her hands, still too afraid to take their chances.
Before Lamia met these two again, she'd thought about how to break the ice.
She'd thought about how best to explain herself so they'd understand that she never intended to work with Lithos, nor did she wish to fight them.
But she was sure that nothing she had to say would lessen one bit of their hostility toward Ascendants.
And while she did think about putting on the disguise of an innocent bystander Construct, doing so would mean that she wouldn't be able to conceal the crimson giant egg she held.
Never did it hit her, though, that they would ask her to join forces without first asking her to justify herself.
(The legendary Gray Raven Commandant has no choice but to ask for help, huh...)
She nods, albeit in doubt.
Lamia takes another step back, clutching the egg tightly.
I... can't give you this.
Lamia doesn't dislike this particular human with whom she's been working this whole time, and she's happy to keep their relationship the way it is.
And she'd even be glad to stay in touch with the human—the same way Lillian and they do with them—as long as they're willing to stop being the "hero" they are for just a few moments.
This is mine... and I'm not giving it to anyone.
She knows very well how important the egg is.
Her frame won't hold for much longer if she doesn't bring the egg back to Luna, and she might even lose her status as an Ascendant—which would turn her into a mere Corrupted.
Moreover—the egg is all she has to make all her wishes come true.
I can work with you... but I'm not giving you this.
Seeing you trying to make peace as you take a few steps back, Lamia loosens up a little among the Hetero-Creatures.
But it's going to corrupt your Mind Beacon...
...
Her silence voices her doubts.
...This is our only chance.
Lamia gazes at the human before her, whose decaying appearance reminds her of an overripe apple.
Would a person fall like an apple if they have their plate too full?
...Sure.
Step by step, she approaches the human, with the egg, weapon, and a swarm of Hetero-Creatures.
