Part 34: Chapter 33: The Child of Light

Chapter 33: The Child of Light

Loading Excerpt- The Melody of Metafalica, C. Pastalia, L. Trulyworth
Mom wasn't waiting for us when we got back. She'd left a note...



...Mom?
Look! A letter!
"Were things okay in Rakshek? I hope nothing happened..."
"I'm going to the Moon Culvert to wake Luca up."
"Laude says he knows how to do it..."
Laude!?
"Please don't worry... I doubt he'll kill me."
"Please let Luca sleep upstairs."
"And please take care of her when she wakes up."
"Thank you."
It's a trap... Ms. Reisha's in danger!
Croix!
Luca, you wait here. I'll go save her!
I wanna go, too!
Luca! You're not in the best shape right now.

How could I not go? How could I leave my mother at the mercy of that monster?



Arhh... geez. What was she thinking? Seriously!
How many... painful worries do you have to put me through?
Luca...
When we find her, I'm so going to scold her...
Luca! Don't push yourself. We'll be sure to bring her back.
...No. Please, Croix, let me go with you.
If we leave her alone, she's going to die. We have to help her, quick!
Alright, let's go together.
...Thanks.
We can get to the Moon Culvert from the Bell Strike Hall. The elevator will take us right there.

We ran as fast as we could. As we entered the Moon Culvert, we heard an unmistakable sound...





I can hear it from down there!
Down...

Feinne's Shouts From the Fourth Wall:
The rest of this update is all voiced, and voiced very well. You are robbing yourself not to watch it in video form.

And down at the deepest part of the Moon Culvert, we found them.

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Laude... Release Ms. Reisha.
Mom! What are you doing here!?
Luca! ...You're alright!?
You woke up! I'm so glad...
Arrgh! What are you "so glad" about!? You don't even know how I feel...
You can't even defend yourself. How can you be so reckless!?
Think about the person who has to worry about you each and every time!
Luca...

The Heart of Gaea grabbed me in a sphere of energy. It had all been a ruse to draw us down here the whole time.



Luca!?
Luca!
Here it comes!
The Heart of Gaea... is accepting...
This is... just like before. Is the Heart of Gaea accepting us in?
My...
...Luca?
I found... my body...
Luca!
...It's finally mine! The Heart of Gaea!
Now I can leave this wretched land behind me. It's been so long...
I shall return to glorious Archia as a hero!

Laude's luck was about to run out, though, because divine punishment had come and none of us were safe...



With an almost casual flick Raki blasted Laude into the Sea of Death. The Heart of Gaea clattered to the ground.



...!? Wh-what!?
That's too bad. And you were almost a hero, too.
However, that was never a possibility to begin with.
Our "Goddess" will take the Heart of Gaea.
Raki! You've been acting strange! What's wrong with you?
Your "Goddess" is here right now. Who is this Goddess you're talking about!?
She is in the heavens, but I am Her loyal servant down here.
...Your words sounds so forced and controlled.
Luca!? What's wrong?
I won't give... This is my body... No one can... take...
Your role is over. Once the lock is open, there's no more use for the key.
And it will never be locked again.

Raki began to charge a huge blast of energy...



And when the dust settled...





I'm glad... you're safe...
Mom! No!
Damn! Raki has control of the Heart of Gaea!
And now, this world will Hibernate and move on to the next era.
Hibernate!?
This Heart will play an important role in subjugating the world.
We have to stop Raki!

While I held Mom, the others charged at Raki, the strongest Guardian in the world.

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Boss Battle: Raki
Raki is by far the nastiest boss we've fought so far. Raki will always open with that X-Side Slicer attack she one-shots the party with the first time you fight her. If you fail the block on it you're liable to see people dropped on her first phase. After that she'll start using mostly her Combination and Minute's Knock attacks for a while. These attacks are easier to block than the Slicer for the most part, though if you don't do so well they can be extremely damaging. This fight is one of the few that really requires you to use Replakia, you simply cannot afford to be fighting Raki for very long. If you want to see Shun's awesome EX attack "Optic Vision" and Jacqli's "Demon's Dance" Song please do watch the video of this. I also actually do really well here, for once I get a decent rank on a boss.

The best we could do was force Raki to pull back, and she took the Heart with her.

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Mom! Mom!
Luca... are you okay? I hope you didn't get hurt.
How can you say that!? You're in worse shape right now!
Luca...

Leyka tried to sing for you, Mom...



Her vital energy... There's not enough...

And I tried to sing for Mom...



Mom... Get better... Please...
*huff * *huff *
Mom... Do you feel any better...?
Yes... Much better...
You don't look like it!
......
Luca, it's alright... That's more than enough.
You are really kind... That magic was warm...
Mom... Don't die...
Ms. Reisha...
...Leyka.
...Yes.
Though it was only a short time... I'm really happy I found out you're my daughter...
M-mom...
Mom... Please don't die!
I-I want to talk to you about so many things!
I want to tell you about everything that has happened!
You said you'd listen to my stories, right!?



I finally met you, and now...
...I'm so happy. You called me mother.
...Leyka. My cute little Leyka.
I couldn't do anything for you as a mother, but...
Ever since I found out you were my child... I've been so happy.
I don't know how you feel about me, but...
But... I'm proud to be your mother.
Thank you... I'm happy... You grew up strong...
......
Luca... Luca?
I-I'm right here!
I'm sorry I was such a neglectful mother until the very end.
I'm surprised you came to save me... But I'm really happy...
Why... did you do it? You hated me so much...
I never thought you would come...

Why didn't I tell her sooner?



I... never hated you.
I know I said a lot of things, but I never said I hated you...
...Luca.
Sure, I was lied to...
And sure, I was in pain for a really long time. But...
......
But I'm your child...
......





I'm so proud to be the mother of both of you...
......
......
Mommm...

We buried Mom in the Mikry Forest. She always loved it there.



......
Lady Cloche...
......
I wish you got to talk to her more...
...I know.
I'm sorry...
......
I'm... so stupid.
I've been with her that whole time... and I never told her how I felt.
......
I guess I just assumed...
That she'd be there for me, forever...
That she'd always be by my side. That I could wait to tell her...
But forever never lasts...
......



But how could I ever hate her? We're family...
...Yeah.
Why couldn't I even tell her this one simple truth?
Why couldn't I have a happy relationship with her... until it was too late?
......
Luca...
I know you know this already, but...
We don't have time for regrets right now.
Our lives... that our mother protected with her own body...
We can't waste a moment of them.
...You're right.
Luca...
Lady Cloche.
We have to...
We have to...



We all got together to discuss what was going on.



At this rate, the world is doomed.
Is there any way we can follow Raki up into the heavens?
Sadly, it's not that easy.
There's a sea of Plasma called the Blastline on the way to the heavens.
A normal human would vaporize as soon as they hit it.
Eeeh...
But, over 400 years ago, there was a tower that rose all the way to the heavens.
A tower!?
That's right. It bridged the gap between Sol Marta and our world.
But after the war 400 years ago, the Goddess removed it.
Hehe.
By "removed," you mean it was sealed away from our sight.
Very good.
Immersing myself in wave technology does have its benefits.
You're right, it's sealed. But it's impossible to break it.
...Why's that?
As I said before, Frelia no longer has enough power to reveal the tower.



...That sucks.
......

We talked that night about the future.



Yes. Actually, I wanted to talk to you, too.
...Luca, what are you going to do after all this is done?
What do you mean?
Your mom has passed away. And Croix seems lovey dovey with Jacqli.
...Yeah...I'm all alone now.
...I still can't believe it, but we are sisters after all.
Oh, I know that, but...
So Luca, after everything's done, let's...
...Huh?
...You know what I mean, right?
Besides, don't you remember your mom saying you have to be nice to your sister?
So...
...Yeah. Thank you. I'll agree with that actually.
...I was afraid you'd say no. I was pretty nervous.
I wouldn't say no.
So, let's get this done soon.
And... then, let's do the things that most families do.
...Sure. I'm excited.

No matter what happens, we'll always have each other...

Next Time on Ar Tonelico 2: METHOD_METAFALICA