Part 30: Thank You for the Memories
Obviously, after the "fake ending" last time, we now come to the "real" one.
But before that, there is the matter of eight optional bosses.
So, predictably, I did some grinding to be able to deal with them and here is what the characters looked like going in:
While grinding, I took care to obtain the new equipment that was lying around the dungeons... of course this will be used only for a little while until the eight optional bosses yield even more better weapons and clothes. As you will see in a moment, the names of some of the items in these two sets of four are a little esoteric and thus have resulted in a bit of a mess with regards to their translation into English.
First off, a new Chaos Katana pair for Ayuta (here we are still in familiar territory!).
And then a--what?--for Shea? Ameno Ohabari (天之尾羽張 or in modern spelling 天の尾羽張) literally means "Heavenly tail-feathers", but actually this is the name of the sword used by the Shinto storm god (Susanoo). I have no idea why they again named a bow after a sword, but regardless, this probably could have been translated as "Heavenly feather-bow" or something like that. I think this would have been a good translation, because...
...well, look what the matching kimono for Shea is named! Although in this case it is spelled out plainly without allusions to any mythical swords or such. Such lazy translation effort really annoys me (but it will get far worse very shortly, unfortunately).
But before it gets worse, it needs to get better so here we have the absolutely awesomely named "Mark of Rakshasa" jacket for Ayuta! This, incredibly, is a 100% correct translation of the Japanese name of this item! So what on earth is a "Rakshasa"? Rakshasa (राक्षसः) are some sort of spirit beings in Hindu and Buddhist mythology who may have been especially bad people in their previous human incarnations. This is interesting, as you'll soon see.
Well, anyway, at this point the eight bosses were defeated, same as before, and from them, we received the following pieces of equipment.
First of all two weapons, with standard names:
And then, more interestingly...
New clothes for Ayuta, "Solar Heaven". Please excuse me while I say "what?" again. Checking out the Japanese version, we find that the original name of this item is: 神明日輪. What does this mean, you may ask? Well, again we need to dive into Shinto territory, as this is a reference to Shinto goddess of the Sun (and the universe, indeed) named Amaterasu. So potentially, this could have been translated something like "Robe of the Sun God" or along those lines. Again, next item will show why this would have been a good thing. Oddly enough, the actual name Amaterasu (天照) in fact when translated means "shining in heaven", so that strange name "Solar Heaven" is not out of nowhere; but if you already did research enough to know what the name actually refers to, then why not give it a better translation?
And here they finally completely give up on trying to deal with these names and just directly transcribe this one without even trying for a translation. This is a shame, because the original name is 月弓尊衣 and believe it or not, it actually means "Robe of the Moon God"! Because, inevitably, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto (月弓尊) is in fact the Shinto Moon god! So, opportunity massively wasted here, but we already know that while technically without significant errors, the English translation is fairly lazy and uninspired.
In any case, I'm going to take a guess that this is a lot more that most of you wanted to know about all of this (although I do feel that since the Japanese writers of this game made effort to choose somewhat cool names for stuff, the least we can do is give them a second of two, even if the English translators did do their best to mutilate the names), so it's finally time to move on to the final part of this chapter of the game.
As always, our destination is Bereshith Road.
Don't apologise for that. In fact, I am grateful to you.
Well then. Going through the door brings us to the usual lift (first of three).
Let's go!
Of course, there is the Executioner to interrupt us.
What's going on with you Ayuta?
And we go into the fight for real now. Despite what the previous scene might seem to imply, no Ayuta is not in any way incapacitated and participates in the fight normally with his full abilities.
It's just a matter of a few hits like this until the big spider with spine growing out of its neck is defeated.
You've been pushing yourself too hard. I am so grateful that you've been trying to protect me, but you don't have to take everything on yourself. Please. Let me help carry your burdens.
After that, we enter one of those famous corridors with terminals. The first one that you see wasn't there in previous chapters, so it will be interesting to see what it has to say!
So let's look at it!
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THE ARK PROJECT
> A plan to create a stronger human race.
The original first couple:
> Adam: Ayuta Utyl (Genetic Rank: 1)
> Eve: Theia Lieberg (Genetic Rank: 3)
Original Eve candidate:
> Cyllis Mackenzie (Genetic Rank: 2)
> We will begin by travelling to the primitive
Earth of 10,000 years ago, upon which
the first Ark Arena will be held.
> From there, the Ark will continue to repeat
a 10,000 year time loop until
sufficiently strong warriors are born.
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Cyllis Mackenzie... I wonder if we'll find out more about her at some point and also why Theia apparently took her place as the "First Woman"?
What! Wait a minute! What do you mean by that, Theia? Theia! Theia!! Damn it! She's not responding! We have to find another terminal!Since you are not able to hear the voices, I will mention here that the golden-eyed version of Ayuta most of the time tends to speak in a low monotone voice, unlike the "normal" version.
Next couple of terminals are already familiar:
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THE AGENT
> An organically-grown lifeform programmed to
ensure that the Ark Arena proceeds smoothly.
Loaded with advanced A.I. to assist in
guiding participants.
> Follows commands given by the Almighty.
Objectives:
> Guide participants to proper destination.
> Execute insubordinate participants.
> Judge participants' eligibility to open
the Final Door.
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THE EXECUTIONER
> An organically-grown lifeform programmed to
ensure that the Ark Arena proceeds smoothly.
> Follows commands given by the Almighty.
Objectives:
> Execute insubordinate participants.
> Judge participants' eligibility to open
the Final Door.
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THE FIRST COUPLE
> The two participants that win the Ark Arena
will be sent back 10,000 years to become
the First Couple.
Their superior DNA will be used to reconstruct
humanity and create powerful warriors.
Currently discovered special abilities:
Toughness: Loop #768
Pyrokinesis: Loop #782
Magic: Loop #1737
Psychokinesis: Loop #1979
Teleportation: Loop #2001
Warning:
> The act of sending living matter back in time
has a high probability of being noticed by
the Qualia. Should that happen, the Qualia's
interference is predicted to speed up the end
of timespace.
> Therefore, only two people at a time will be
sent back in order to keep this risk as low as
possible.
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After all, there is no way humanity could propogate from the descendants of only two people. It's crucial that there be highly evolved bloodlines mixed in with those of people of that age. That's why I'm here. If the new humanity ever became weaker than the previous one, it was my role to win the Arena and keep the overall level from dropping... That's how far we had to go... there were no other options left...Well, at least that addresses a few questions that we all had for a while now. Moving on to the next terminal.
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IMMORTALITY
> A means of ensuring that the First Couple can continue
to produce a predetermined amount of descendants.
> Their bodies will be boosted to superhuman levels
using the principles of transhumanism. This will
allow their cells to increase their divisiions at
a vastly increased rate, even upon taking damage,
resulting in automatic regeneration.
> Simultaneously, telomere reduction will be employed
to prevent their cells from aging.
Warning:
> These effects will likely be neutralized in the
presence of the Qualia's energy (Quintessence).
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The Ark is set up so that the moment any previous winners are summoned here, they will lose their immortality. Besides, it wouldn't do any good against the Qualia anyway... My time... stopped moving long ago... And it will never start again until this is all over...
Eventually we reach the actual fighting arena...
In the original Ark Arena rules, the loser are just supposed to have their memories of the tournament wiped, then be sent back to earth... They were never supposed to be killed... Theia... When did you change the rules...?
You mean, it is all Theia's fault that we had to kill each other? No. That can't be what happened. Theia would never have wanted that.
Of course not! How dare you judge her when you don't even know her! No. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell at you like that... ... Uh, yeah... Good idea...
No matter, for here we are at the next lift.
This one, of course, leads into the fight with the "true version" of the Agent.
He was holding back from using his full power... Weren't you? That's where the Almighty is waiting. That's right. That's what Theia and I decided. ...! Shea?
This is as easy as always, but we still need to see the cutscene before we can give the final blow!
No, you did nothing wrong. If I hadn't gotten so worked up...
But that's exactly why I want us to be together and support each other.
I think that if I'm with you, we can break this cursed loop! No, I'm sure we can!! Thank you, Shea. Now, let's end this!And so we do. After his defeat, the Agent gives us his final speech.
We've made it this far. I know we can defeat her.
So time for more terminals and more info-dumping.
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THE ARK
> Can travel up to 10,000 years in the past
using the principles of timespace navigation.
> While the first couple uses that time to
propogate, the Ark will hide inside the time
axis, to avoid altering history.
Contents:
> Contains records of multiple Earths.
1. Re-creation and preservation of Earth's past
and historical artifacts.
2. Lifeform preservation (both sexes).
> Synthesized monsters created from existing
animal DNA will be placed around the Ark
to serve as level counters for participants.
Curent number of voyages: 2003
Newest Companions:
Vieg Valma (Olgar)
Vahti Pauwell
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THEIA LIEBERG
> One of the First Woman candidates for the Ark Project
> Genetic Rank: 3
> The original First Woman
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ALEXANDER PIULITZER
> The founder of the Ark Project
> Widely acclaimed for his work on timespace.
> Famously succeeded at preventing plant and animal
extinction by controlling their time axes. The
first to discover the existence of the Qualia
through his research on how lifeforms become extinct.
> Known during his college days by the nickname
"Piu-Piu".
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Well, this is interesting actually.
It's been a while since I've mentioned it last, but here is the thing. Actually "Prototype Agent" (shown above) is the final boss of the "Purgatory" level. On the other hand, more interestingly...
..."Libido" is his superboss equivalent (also at the end of "Purgatory") and is pretty much the hardest enemy in the game to defeat (don't worry about fact that the picture above shows Escher and Musiea, I have just reused the one I had from before).
So, now you know.
But, we need to keep going.
And that brings us to the "Control room" area with more terminals to examine. This is also last chance to try to talk to the "other" Theia.
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PARALLEL TIMESPACES
> Separate timespaces that exist in parallel.
Theoretically, these individual timespaces
should never cross paths with each other.
> Beginning with the Original Couple, the Ark
has helped spawn countless new timespaces.
Of these, 99.99% have been confirmed to have
been destroyed by the Qualia.
Warning:
> It is predicted that the Qualia will even cause
separate parallel timespaces to converge.
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THE ALMIGHTY
> A system used to ensure the Ark continues to
run smoothly.
> Connected test subject Theia Lieberg's cranial
nerve directly to the Ark central nervous system
in lieu of A.I.
Objectives:
> Produce a human race capable of matching
the Qualia.
> Judge participant's ability to open the Final Door.
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That was the last time we touched each other as humans...-------------------------------------------------
THE QUALIA
> A conceptual being of pure energy. Its only
determinable purpose is to distort space,
consume everything and bring about
nothingness.
> Once it appears in a timespace, it consumes
everything until that timespace is destroyed.
Confirmed Data:
> Millions of attempts to destroy the Qualia
have been undertaken over thousands of
timespaces, but a powerful corrective force
always brings the timespace back to destruction.
> Confirmed timespaces destroyed: 64,762.
The Singularity:
> After a long and exhaustive observation,
a single point in timespace, though to be
the Singularity, has been confirmed to be
capable of enabling a sufficiently powerful
force, in theory, to destroy small amounts
of energy.
> The primitive human race that exists in the
Singularity has been confirmed to be incapable
of producing even the smallest amounts of
this energy. The Ark will be used to help this
race develop their ability to produce this
energy.
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It may not be much... But Theia and I bet everything on it! We may have had to climb a mountain of dead bodies to make it this far... ...but we finally did. The sins Theia and I have committed are numerous, and unforgivable. But I have no regrets. For I cannot turn back now! This is the only way I can redeem myself! I will defeat Qualia even if it costs me my life!!
Luckily the swirling mess fades out and we're back to normal(?).
All I ask in exchange is that you protect me too. ...That's right, I promised that I would take you back to the mansion, didn't I. Once this is all over... Let's go home... together.
And to confirm that the Ark is becoming increasingly unstable, even the lights give out at this moment and we are plunged into semi-darkness.
Last lift still works, though.
I am the Almighty. I am the one who summoned each of the five couples for the Ark Arena. Ayuta and Shea. I have watched your battles closely through the eyes of the Agent. Theia! Come on! Don't you remember Ayuta? You must defeat me in order to proceed to the Final Door. The fate of humanity rests on it. The end of the world is at hand. I have no interest in your feelings. All I wish to know is, if you are strong, or if you are weak. Theia. We are going to defeat you now. It's what we decided to do.
So, again, we have to fight her.
Of course, fight is soon interrupted:
What are you saying? We have to attack her all at once! Just wait a moment! I think... she wants to tell us something. ...ta...A...yu...ta...Ayuta I was right! She got her emotions back while we were fighting her! Theia! Ayuta is here now! Isn't there anything you want to tell him? Ayuta...Please...show me...your strength... Theia! That's not what I mean! That is...your...That is...your... Bond... isn't it? Okay, Theia. We won't hold anything back. I will end this with my own hands. Will you help me, Shea?
So the fight goes on for a moment longer until she is defeated.
Shea...I...too...am jealous...of you... I...wasn't enough... Shea...be confident...and...take good care...of Ayuta. Theia, I promise; we will defeat the Qualia. I swear it. Beyond the door...lies the Convergence Point...the place...where the Qualia...will appear... Now...I leave...the future...in your hands... I truly hope...that you two...will succeed...and that...you are both...happy together... Goodbye, Theia.
Fade to white.
But, you know, it's strange. It doesn't make me want to run away either. Me neither. It won't just be us facing it. Theia will be there with us. Thank you, Shea. Okay then, let's get going. It's time to settle this, once and for all.
Whew. That was quite a lot to take in. Now we can relax...
..with one more repeat of end credits.
* * *
Of course, at this point, before continuing the story, we should go back and reload the game one more time.
As yo can see, the lights really have gone out!
There is that one unfilled star on Bereshith Road.
Of course that leads back to the arena...
...where our dark mirror images await.
Nothing special happens in this battle...
...but we get the usual two diamonds.
And that pretty much concludes the Ayuta/Mana chapter.
What's next? Well, obviously, there's Olgar's story to finish and then we'll see after that...