Part 78: Chapter 11-3: The Black Horizon
Part 11-3: The Black Horizon
Descent into Hell
No, I’m fine. What about you?
I’m fine, too. We’re doing this to save Mom, after all! Right. Come on.
Music: Pursuit of the Truth -Lydie-
Lydie, Suelle… Please, be careful. It’s here… I can sense it, somehow. The Remplir core is here. Me too. How strong do you think it is? I don’t know. But we don’t have to worry. Hahaha, you’re right. Because we’ve got some serious backup!
What is this place? The air is so heavy in here!
I know. Despair… Fear… Resentment… Anger… There are all sorts of negative emotions in here.
I know. We can’t let them turn the Heavenly Flower Garden into this nightmare. For Lydie and Sue’s sake, too, we have to defeat the Remplir core! You’re right! They’re quite a handful, but they also help us with so much. I don’t want to see them looking sad. Smiles suit them so much better. Only you could come up with something so corny, Mathias! Corny! Hey! You’d mock me even at a time like this? I thought maybe I’d relieve the tension a little. We can’t defeat the Remplir core without you. …This is going to be a tough battle. Not just you, Mathias, but everyone. We’ll need all your power!
That’s alright, Alt! I’m ready for anything. We can’t possibly lose! We’ll defeat the Remplir core with ease! That’s right. If we combine our strengths, there’s no foe we can’t defeat. …Not that I have any basis for this! But everything has worked out until now, hasn’t it? You’re all so optimistic… Still, I do feel like this time, maybe we really can change the future! I’ll give it my all, too, in order to let the flowers of the future bloom. … Who’s getting corny now, Alt? Haha, I’ll take that as a compliment. Right. Come on, everyone! We’re counting on all of you! Thanks so much for coming with us!
Because now begins the task of actually scouting out this hellscape!
Music: Pursuit of the Truth -Suelle-
“Painted over” doesn’t do this world justice… everything we’re looking at looks abandoned, decrepit, and annihilated… Mmm… Just being here is draining… and the resident monsters fit the theme, to boot… hey!
Music: Albireo
We really ARE weaker in here! And this small fry isn’t worth our time when we have to look for the Remplir core… so run for it!
This sounds lovely… Fits the atmosphere, though… onward!
Hm, there’s a fork in the road… which way should we go? Hmm… Let’s try the left fork! The crumbling amphitheater and the arches in the background… they really add to the feel of a lost grandeur, never to return…
If there’s anywhere that this post-apocalyptic urban landscape was going to lead us… You said it, Sue… Imagining something like this befalling any city is a bit much for me to countenance…
Even aside from the ruined buildings… just look at all the shops! No vendors, no customers, nobody to tend to the abandoned wares… Nobody’s stolen the goods, but… it feels like this market has been robbed of something much more important. Of life, of light, of happiness…
Dunkelheit, huh… Even in a place like this, we can find such a potent, wondrous elixir… It’s something, I guess. Now we’re in a park… but who’s even around to enjoy this thing? Could you imagine the Garden of Merk being empty or abandoned like this? I couldn’t…
At this point, we must be getting close. So we’d better be ready for anything…
Uwah! What was that noise? It sounded like a roar of something! Could it be the Remplir core?
Which means this is it. Are you ready? Yes, of course! Let’s carry on!
Would you look at that! Spectators, for the climactic showdown… Heh…
Well then… there’s no doubt what awaits us at the top of this staircase!
The Heart of Darkness
There! Is that the Remplir core? Looks like it. If we defeat that thing, we can stop the damage to the painting. That sounds good. For Mom’s sake, we need to defeat this thing! We don’t want Dad’s painting to suffer any more damage, either!
Music: Filling the shade - Anna Okazaki
First things first…
Now, let’s get this started!
So that this thing can never touch us…
…Lydie! On it!
Hehe, this should do the trick…
Now, to repaint this battlefield into something easier on the eyes…
There we-
Gah!! Uwah… looks like the Star Sprinkler is quite the double-edged sword. Best be careful about how and when to use it… Right you are! That having been said…
Light it up, Firis!!
You got it, Sue!
Now, to freeze hell over!
Burn in hell!!
This’ll blow you a-
Graaaaaaa… aaa… That’s… all it took?
Yes! We won! We won, Sue! That’s right! Our total victory! Now we can be with Mom forever!
I bet there was a beautiful world in here once… I know. But we can’t do anything about that, can we? Come on, back to Mom. I bet Dad is worried too. Yeah! Race you back to the atelier in the painting! …Hey, no fair! You can’t say that after you start running, Lydie!
Haha. It was all worth it, wasn’t it? To see them so happy. I guess it was. I got uncharacteristically carried away there. I’m pretty worn out! That puts an end to the core, anyway. Let’s get back and take a rest ourselves. …
Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. Come on, let’s catch up to them!
Uwah, they’ve already run all that way ahead already! Hey, wait up, girls! Hmm… I can’t shake this feeling that this isn’t over. That despite destroying the Remplir core… despite saving the Heavenly Flower Garden… that this won’t be happily ever after for Lydie, Sue or Honnete, just yet…Obtained Jet Black Tile Fragments!
They’ll come back… they’ll come back to me, in one piece…
The Cruel Truth and a New Promise
Mom! Lydie! Suelle!
Hey, Mom! Let me breathe…! You sure do worry too much, Mom. We told you it would be alright! I was still worried, see? I’m so glad you’re back! Haha, it all worked out. Yes! Welcome back, Lydie, Suelle. Heheh, thanks, Mom. How are you feeling? We defeated the Remplir core for you! I feel a lot better. Thank you, both of you. Great. Now we can be together forever, Mom!
…
Are you sure? Yes. If I don’t tell them now, I’m sure I’ll regret it. …Girls, I’m sorry… I don’t think we can be together forever, even after all this. What? Why not? If you’re feeling better then there’s nothing… I think, before too long, I’m going to vanish. Vanish? Why?! But we defeated the core! Before those monsters even appeared… Sometimes, I felt my consciousness getting distant… Recently, that’s been happening more often. I don’t know if I have a year, a month or a day… But I’m sure I will vanish, eventually. I know my own body, what’s left of it, after all. No way… Why? …I think it’s my fault. I didn’t complete a complete world… This painting was only finally completed when you made those paints and restored it. The painting was unfinished until that point… Barely functioning as a world. That’s why the Remplir spread so quickly. This painting was left unfinished for too long.
Dad, come on. This isn’t your fault. If you hadn’t painted this, we would have never seen Mom again. The girls are right. I’m grateful to you, Roger. I want the three of you to be happy… Sue… I guess this means it’s time. Right. She has to know about our plans… Mom… we’ve got a new dream now. A new dream…? Yes, for after we’ve become the greatest atelier in the kingdom. Oh, lovely! Tell me. To become alchemists who can help everyone! Alchemists for everyone’s sake…? Yes. We’ve learned so much through alchemy, and been helped by so many people. Our teacher, Lucy, Mireille and Mathias… Firis, Alt and Sophie… And even more people than that! Everyone in the city, even! So we want to pay them back, if we can. We’re happiest when people say “Thank you” to us. That’s why our new dream is to become alchemists who can help everyone. Once we’re the greatest atelier in the kingdom, that’s the next thing we want to become… No! “Want” isn’t strong enough. That’s what we’ll definitely become. We promise you, Mom! We’re going to make this dream come true. So please, Mom, please… Will you watch over us…? …Uwaaaah! Mooooooom! It’s a promise… right…? Uwaaaah!
Even when I do vanish… Even when I’ll never be able to see you again…I’ll be watching over you, wherever I am. Supporting you in completing your dream!
…Lydie… Suelle…
