Story Reader / Main Story / 33 Wither to Shine / Story
An illusion, drawing indefinitely close to death, grips your senses and nerves.
A mournful buzzing echoes through the dark depths of the sea.
April 1st, April Fool's Day. Fate has decided to crack a cruel joke. The Gray Raven Commandant has vanished.
The transport craft back to Babylonia got ambushed. All emergency items got wrecked, and even the parachutes turned out to have massive holes, only spotted once they were open.
Thus, with a mere splash, this "humanity's hero" lauded by all plummeted into a corrupted river.
What time is it now?
It's the afternoon of May 10th, one month after you fell from the transport craft into the Red Tide.
The shuttle of fate weaves, intertwining blurred fragments of time with a rusty iron needle, stitching them together one by one.
You finally wake up from a prolonged coma.
Blurry memories extend in sequence—
Right, to become a new breed of human, rising above death's grip.
It's a shame. If only you could become a Construct, things would be smoother sailing. But it's okay, we've got a Plan B.
This potion is one of our research results. Needs a jab every day. One last shot, and you'll score adaptability.
Once you've got this adaptability, you'll be more "in tune" with Cthylla, more wholly embraced by her.
What a surprise, finding the Gray Raven Commandant here in this shithole.
I think... maybe... we should... try to escape first.
Welcome back. You have 27 offline messages. Would you like to play them?
We're all looking for you, Commandant. No matter where you are now, please don't give up hope.
Our top priority now is to find where Lithos stores the M.I.N.D.s. Only by killing him can we escape.
Voodoo-001
The experiment was a success. She became Loki's new vessel, the host of all her uncontrollable emotions.
This method can definitely be used to awaken Cthylla, for her consciousness also suffers from similar flaws.
And...
Your weary mind struggles to recollect more memories.
To hell with philosophical questions, who cares if it's "the real me" or not.
I'm the one out of the two who's conscious now, the one who can make decisions. What does that tell you? It tells me that I'm the real one at this current moment, and nothing else matters.
Commandant! Get behind me!
Might as well take a step forward if I'm going to end up regretting it anyway!
After the final shot, you will only have 48 hours left. Even if you make it back to Babylonia, they might not have the tech to save you.
She'd probably end up becoming an even more powerful magical girl if she managed to hatch from the egg.
And after that...
T-minus 13 hours
T-minus 13 hours
Cold droplets fall on your face, jolting you awake from the depths of your dream.
As Ishmael promised, your consciousness has landed in the Cradle of Deep Blue.
Such an ingenious deception that even the higher dimensional beings among the stars of deep space cannot distinguish truth from falsehood.
Having endured countless torments, with skin already festering, this body is on the brink of total corruption by the Punishing Virus, soon to succumb to Cthylla's embrace, just as Lithos foretold.
Lamia, having recovered Shorthalt's name tag, crouches down beside you, her face etched with sorrow.
I've placed some protective barriers beneath you... This place is back to being the Hetero-Creature it was and is dangerous to humans.
...There were more things holding Cthylla in place than I thought... so it took me quite some time to break them...
...But it all worked! We're leaving the seabed now and will soon reach the sea surface!
Hang in there... We're almost there...
She looks at you with a woeful gaze, hesitating, unsure whether to hold your hands.
Agonizing pain rips through your mind as if something has exploded within, while the sound of rushing water engulfs the entire world—a deluge cascading down.
Is it because you are too tired...
Specks of light, mingled with fragmented memories, flicker before your eyes.
Blurred time pulses repeatedly across your retinas.
Something... something seems about to awaken within your brain...
It's been about... over ten hours.
...
Faced with this question, Lamia blinks her eyes in bewilderment.
My terminal still worked when we first fell in here...
I guess it's probably March 30th or 31st, taking into account how long we've been spending in here.
Eh? I mean... it could be either March 30th or 31st now...
Your consciousness sinks into a solitary island, as thunder crashes into the abyss deeper than five thousand meters.
It's April Fools' Day. What should we get you this year, Commandant?
April 1st... April Fools' Day...
What time is it now?
It's the afternoon of May 10th, one month after you fell from the transport craft into the Red Tide.
Torrential rain cascades over your mind, as if a floodgate within your consciousness has been opened, unleashing a deluge of peculiar memories to surge into your brain—
No, rather than memories surging into your mind, it's more like... you have remembered all of the past.
The dark star...
The Hetero Tower...
The Red Tide... Golden Age...
Cold sweat soaks through your nearly completely rotten skin, the salty moisture stinging the flesh already festering from the corruption of the Punishing Virus.
Then... let it be here.
Just a small trick is all it takes—
She guides the "Gray Raven Commandant's" gaze toward this "moment", sealing away your memories until... the right time.
Can you see beyond the ordinary world, like me?
Is all that's left here just a projection, like me?
The gaze from the dream looks down from a higher plane, as experiences—your own or perhaps not—pass before your eyes: some peaceful, some agonizing, some joyous, and some sorrowful...
It's always just "me". There has never been... any "other".
...What did you say?
The constraints of "rules" impose upon you, only allowing fragmented words to escape your lips.
But I<//GRAY RAVEN COMMANDANT> will eventually return to this sea.
But I<//GRAY RAVEN COMMANDANT> will use my body as a shield to thwart their schemes.
Lamia cannot hear your inner cry.
...But this makes no sense at all...
You're supposed to be indispensable to Babylonia...
She extends her hand sorrowfully toward you.
I can't believe they abandoned you just like that...
Blood trickles from the corner of your lips, mixing with your festering skin. Words of "truth" are uttered aloud, yet Lamia appears unable to perceive the voice.
From the corner blocked by the rules, your sight continues to extend, just like in all your past "dreams", reaching higher and farther places.
A massive whale bellows in sorrow, while the roots of a peculiar colossal tree delve deep into this eerily shaped coffin...
At least... struggle until the very end...
The "dream" suddenly plunges downward as Lamia's sorrowful voice reaches your ears.
But... but why does it have to end this way?
But I thought you were super lucky and invincible... like the heroes from those stories?
So why... why does it have to be here of all places...
Words painfully tear through your lips.
Lamia freezes momentarily.
She can sense something is different in you, but she cannot determine exactly what has happened.
Last but not least...
The red sludge churns and envelops the last human.
April 1st. Dawn has arrived.
—We will continue to search for our path even in death, marching in the parade as corpses.
