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What if we interfere with their neural activities externally?

No, that's too risky too. It's likely to cause brain damage.

Even without the silver constructs... I have no idea how to go about waking them up. Those who are connected to the system might never wake up again.

It's my fault... Ferdinand and I were the ones put them in this danger.

I need to save them. I must...

In thirty seconds, we'll face... the tenth wave of attacks!

No, the frequency is getting faster.

Hmm...

This can't continue.

No.

Only I... can stop it.

Tiny grains of sand cloud the air, like an entire house shrouded within a fortress formed of loose sand.

There are countless silver substances laying outside of it. They seem curious about this fortress, not understanding why they cannot dissolve this seemingly fragile barrier.

You didn't stop it...

You're just using your Originium Arts to offset its corrosion.

And your Arts Unit will fail soon.

Not yet... Not so fast.

What have you done to yourself...?

Just... a small experiment.

You... You implanted one in yourself...

Arts Unit...

Before I let anyone else into the lab... I need to ensure of the safety of the requisite steps.

They're switching up their attack patterns.

It's part of us. It's curious, and it's a good learner.

A barrage of impact noises can be heard from the outside, as though a storm of silver rain is raging.

The rain keeps opening up holes in the sand wall, which are in turn patched by more sand.

We need to find some other way to buy time.

Doctor, let me try.

I'll go outside and use my Arts to lure some—

Greyy, that's too risky!

Doctor, I told Mr. Sonny something when we were chatting earlier—these words have stayed with me for all these years.

If I don't take a step forward, how will I ever know if my path lies out there?

Phew...

Truth be told... I don't know if I'll be able to do it.

I might even mess up the moment I step outside... I... I can't help but doubt myself...

But what if it works?

All my mentors have taught me that whenever I start doubting myself, I should just remember... I've succeeded before!

He takes a deep breath, lifts his head up, and looks at the darkness in front of him.

The silver geometric body has what appears to be eyes, but he knows what it is that he's looking at.

It's not a new kind of intelligent being, nor is it some kind of mysterious monster.

That is the fruit of human technology. It can be used, analyzed—

And, no doubt, defeated.

You... aren't anything to be afraid of.

Fear always stems from the unknown.

And you... You were created with Arts. You're a byproduct born in the Pioneers' minds.

Humanity triumphed over the darkness of night... How could we lose to our own creations?

A ray of light emits from his hand and bolts toward the dark shadow floating above their heads.

As expected, a not insignificant amount of silver liquid exits out of the Pioneers' quarters and entangles itself with the dark night as it tears madly toward the light he released.

That moment, the light is shredded into pieces, leaving only a few strands progressing deeper into the darkness.

But more and more lights then rise one after another.

Greyy's a brave man.

He's just like Sonny... and the pioneers. He has the courage to face his challenges head on.

Its attacks have gotten stronger again...

All my light can do is distract it; it still sees us as its target.

*cough*... *cough* *cough*...

Your nose is bleeding...

Even if you have no infected organs, your body's blood vessels won't be able to withstand releasing this much energy... It won't take long for you to hemorrhage to death.

I... I must protect them, and I'm willing to...

You're willing to give your life.

That's not an excuse you're using to win over the Pioneers.

You're... really going to do it.

Dr. Silence, wouldn't you make the same choice to protect your family?

I made the wrong decision once.

And I won't... make the same mistake again.

You mean, your mother...?

All these years, I've wondered over and over...

How did they feel before they were swallowed whole by the sandstorm?

Did they wait, despairing in a cramped space until the moment of death arrived, like these Pioneers?

What if I didn't accept that invitation? Would I have stayed with my mother until the very end?

If she had the qualifications to enter the city with me, would that have spared her from the storm?

My research has solved many difficult problems that were unsolvable, but I still haven't found an answer to this one—

Why was I the only one spared?

Dr. Silence...

If... If that is really the assemblage of the test subjects' consciousnesses...

I love it, just as I loved my family.

But why... why can't I hear it speak to me?

A deep fissure appears in the sand wall.

Dorothy stumbles forward, but a pair of hands catches her.

Dorothy... No matter how much work you put in, you can't change your mother's fate.

That storm is in the past... it ended long ago.

Is... that so?

A drone fills the opening in the sand wall with its own body.

Seemingly injected with life once again, the grains of sand quickly rearrange in an orderly way.

Dorothy, you want to hear your family's voices, right?

You should ask those test subjects.

Once the storm is over, they will tell you their answer.

Agh...

His hand is getting warmer and warmer. He knows that the machinery has been pushed past its limits for so long it is doomed to break.

But he cannot give up.

If he falls here, the island behind him will forever be swallowed whole by the darkness.

He has to hold on, just like that one night all those years ago. He ran so far away, even though his hands had gone numb from the cold and his legs hurt from the long journey—

He needs to make it to that day when he passes the torch he holds to another pair of hands.

Suddenly, a warm power shrouds his hand and helps him stabilize his energy output.

It is someone else's Arts.

O-Operator Ptilopsis...?

You require assistance, Operator Greyy.

Hmm...

You needn't alert me to the danger here.

I had already calculated the probability of our mission's success before I submitted my leave request to Dr. Silence.

What's the number...?