The spectral mist howls as it suddenly fills the space around you, swallowing your vision whole.
The cold wind drones in your ears while an overwhelming flood of information crashes against your thoughts like towering waves, repeatedly battering your disoriented mind.
HELP▄▁▅▃▄▁▆┛┛ME▁▄▁...
Crimson threads twist and surge, ensnaring all colors like a spider's web. From the bottomless darkness comes an incessant droning, echoing with strange, unsettling whispers.
Inexplicably, an itching sensation suddenly arises, brushing against your heart and spreading to your lungs, forcing you to let out a few dry coughs.
Help... Help me!!
A blood-stained hand grabs you through the swirling smoke.
My child is still inside... Officer, please! Save her!
The woman begs frantically, her voice barely audible through the mist yet somehow intensifying the itching in your chest.
Coughing, you try to clear the mist from your vision, but the mutilated hand remains firmly clenched around your arm.
The core temperature is too high... There are Corrupted blocking the water pumps. Someone needs to help us get through.
Another hand seizes you, its grip rough and forceful, triggering a violent fit of coughing.
A crimson haze envelopes everything around you. As if trudging through a festering esophagus, you are met with countless invisible hands tearing at your body for each step you take. Progress is agonizingly difficult.
We're over here! Someone help us!
There are Corrupted everywhere... Help!
In the darkness, agonized wails rise and fall, urging you to press onward.
As if shackled by invisible chains, you stagger through the mire. Suddenly, a searing pain shoots through your throat. You stumble forward as something hot and wet erupts from your lungs.
Blood.
Your body is rotting away under the corrosion of the Punishing Virus.
Sob... Mommy...
Suddenly, a beam of light breaks through, illuminating a small figure standing in the center of this bloody world.
The muck beneath your feet feels like fleshy tendrils that are clinging to bones. Each step you take feels like a dull blade scraping against raw flesh, sending excruciating pain through every inch of your body.
The girl gives no response, staying still with her back turned.
Crack—
Her head is severed, hanging only by a thin layer of skin at the neck that barely supports the weight of her skull.
The grotesque head twists around in midair, her lips stretching into a horrifying, unnatural smile.
—RAAARGH!!!
In that moment, countless hands lunge forward. They are not refugees or firefighters, but Corrupted molded by the Red Mist, hiding in the shadows like vicious beasts.
AAARGH!!
The girl clutches her stomach, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief as she stares at you.
...Why...?
Barely breathing, she asks you with a broken voice as the crimson stain beneath her hand spreads steadily, soaking her entire white garment.
The thick, disorienting mist has blurred the line between reality and illusion, driving you to commit an unforgivable sin.
With no time to question what is real, your body moves on its own, reaching out to catch the collapsing girl before she hits the ground.
Why...?
In that moment, regret and agony seize your heart as one. Blood spills from your mouth, spattering across the girl's pale cheeks.
▅▃▄▁▆!
As exhaustion overtakes you, savage metal claws tear through your skin, aiming straight for your face—
CLANG—
[player name]!
A massive scythe intercepts the attack, severing the Corrupted's arm.
All of you... STAY AWAY FROM COMMANDANT!!!
She cries with fury, her massive blade swinging like a tempest and crackling with violet lightning. It cleaves through the swarming enemies, leaving shattered gashes in the walls behind.
—Raaargh!
From the darkness in the distance, howls resound once more. Enemies swarm in from the ceiling, walls, and floor, converging into a crimson tide that surges forward, devouring what little space remains.
Why?! Why did you kill her?!
The thick fog before you hasn't dissipated, and bloodied arms continue to tear at your body.
Against the devastation of the Red Mist, any resistance is futile. Despite your will, your body succumbs.
Give me back my child... Give her back!!!
Little raven.
Suddenly, a warm hand pats your cheek.
Look at me.
Your blurred vision comes back into focus, centering once more on the dire reality before you.
The first injection might hurt a bit. Bear with it.
Something is plunged into your chest.
In the next instant, your airways clear completely. Fresh air rushes into your lungs in great gulps, and your fading consciousness begins to piece itself back together.
Yes, my last one.
She says softly.
Meanwhile, the tremors in the distance grow closer. Within the sea of steel, you catch a fleeting glimpse of silver-white—
...
Margaret's phantom.
She weakly raises her arm. Countless metal beasts roar as one, merging together and charging toward Nirvatia and you.
Looks like... this is as far as I can go with you.
She tears off a strip of bandage, removes the Red Mist Blocker from her waist, and attaches it to you.
The medicine surges through your bloodstream, a tingling numbness spreading throughout your body. You remain frozen, unable to move.
Even you have to admit that humans are no match for her, right?
I'll hold her off here while you press on. Find a way to destroy the Golden Oak and end this nightmare.
She steps forward, gently pressing her palm against you.
It's a shame we won't get to go for that drive together... but in this brief time, I've seen enough wonders to last a lifetime.
Then, with a sudden force, she pushes you backward—
Into the cold elevator.
I'll catch up to you if there's a chance.
She looks at you, tilting her head slightly with that same gentle smile from when you first met.
And if I'm not careful enough and miss that chance...
Then please, get these records out of here. Tell the people, tell the world...
That we, the Carthakians, have really lived.
Then, she presses the emergency descent button.
...Goodbye, little raven.
The elevator doors close, the cables roaring as you plummet downward, leaving all the chaos far behind.
Your worlds now stand apart. The M.I.N.D. connection is the only bridge between you, carrying both hope and worry across the expanse of your divided hearts.
You both know the other is fighting desperately to complete what only each other can do. You are both giving everything to end this catastrophe that has spanned decades.
In this moment, despite all your reluctance and regret, you both must forge ahead.
Stay back... I won't let you steal everyone's hope...
...
Nirvatia suddenly remembers how someone once stood protectively in front of her just like this.
And now, she has carried that flame to somewhere further and brighter.
I'll stay in the past, little raven...
While your story must continue onward.
She steps forward, swinging her scythe with absolute resolve, and she charges into the dark, endless abyss.
