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Saria, you're at your limit.

Silence, Jara modified your drone. I've seen... the prototype blueprints.

When did you...?

Its current load-bearing capacity is at least two adults for a short distance glide.

Get out through the hole Ifrit opened, and the drone will be able to take you to the roof of the opposite building.

You'll have to act fast.

I'll wait for you to go over, and then I'll exit through this door and divert the pursuers. Their numbers are many, and I won't be able to fend them off for long.

...Saria.

Hm?

You still haven't given me an answer.

Your inability to make a genuine stand against Rhine, is it because deep in your bones, you've always been the same as them...? The same as Control?

Sorry, Silence.

I thought it through, and I'm unable to give you a definite answer.

If Kristen's experiment violates any laws that shouldn't have been broken, I will stop her. Just like all the wrongs Rhine has committed over the years—the wrong should be made right.

For I've always believed that the stronger one is, the less rash they should be acting.

But if I were to return to the past, back to when Kristen and I first met, when everything had yet to happen...

I would not have stopped the Kristen then. I would not have stopped the birth of Rhine Lab.

Yes, even if I knew that Rhine would create so much suffering in the future, even if I could foresee the ambitions of Kristen, Parvis and Ferdinand growing out of control...

I would still stand with them.

Saria... your answer might be even more definitive than you think.

Silence, Saria! Did you guys see that? I opened it!

Go, Silence.

If there's anything else you would like to know, we can wait until this is all over. And I'll tell you.

Alright.

Silence? Silence?

Hm?

Why are you spacing out? We gotta get moving.

'Poor Liberi. None of this has anything to do with you.'

'What exactly is it that you want? Truth, justice, or peace?'

'I will tell you what you want to know.'

'And yet, even if you know it all, what can you do?'

This is not the answer I want.

No.

A drone's... belt?

Silence, what are you doing?!

The whirring of a drone starting up comes from behind.

The unreinforced door at the end of the corridor is about to melt under the impact of the energy weapon.

Saria is suspended in midair, holding Ifrit in one arm, stretching the other out towards Silence, trying to grab her.

But Silence doesn't return her grip, and retraces the path she's taken in reverse.

I should have talked with you sooner, Saria.

I only just came to understand why I can't help but get mad at you.

I thought it was from the falling out we had during the 'Diαbolic Crisis.'

Or that I'm dissatisfied with the way you insist on shouldering everything yourself.

But actually... the one I'm most annoyed with is myself.

The blame I push onto you for not doing enough, it's only because... I built a habit of depending on you.

I had hoped you could change Control, just like I once hoped the Professor could save Ifrit, and that Control could change Rhine Lab... I had hoped every deadlock would be solved by someone stronger.

I'm so weak, aren't I?

On the one hand, I loathe the powerful figures that manipulate everything and treat innocent lives like expendable resources and numbers.

On the other hand, I still pin my hopes for the future on people stronger in not just power, but also morality and empathy.

Only now do I understand that no one can truly carry everything on their own, that it's beyond the capacity of a single individual.

Everyone who has been willing to help me on the way here, Rhodes Island, Director Muelsyse, Director Jara, and you...

All of you want me to stay out of it.

If you hadn't collapsed in front of me, if Ifrit hadn't been in danger, I might have just obediently thrown in the towel.

But now—I won't back down.

I refuse to allow myself to stay under your wings. I refuse to accept that I can only stand in vain as the gunfire rings right above us and open my arms to the injured.

This time, I will step into the flames before any of you.

The drone sends the two to a lower floor of the neighboring building. Saria smashes a window and they land smoothly.

There must be more of Ferdinand's people on the lookout downstairs, but as long as there's room for action, she believes she can find a way to break through the encirclement.

However...

Silence... what are you doing?

Silence, hurry up and fly over here with your drone!

Ifrit anxiously yells at the room across, but Silence takes a long look at them before turning her back.

Just as Silence begins to turn, Saria gets a look at her eyes.

They are brimming with regret.

But more than that, is determination.

Ferdinand, we've got someone in the corridor.

She says she has business with you.

...Silence?

Why are you...?

I'm sorry, Director Jara. I've already made up my mind. I have unfinished business, so I can't leave just yet.

I remember you, Parvis's stellar student. You and Elena gave me such a headache back at Site 359.

Yes, my name is Silence.

I would like to make a deal with you.

A deal? Do you really think I would let Saria go?

This isn't up to you.

No, this is the only thing that's up to me.

That's... Transmitter, from Site 359.

What are you doing?! Even if you put the Transmitter into your body, it's not going to work, Dorothy's 'hub' was destroyed!

The new 'hub' is in Kristen's hands.

That's impossible. That was my experiment, mine and Dorothy's...

A short while ago, I met Dr. Parvis. His laboratory was storing a large amount of Transmitter.

Director Clooney, you must have realized it long ago. You just don't want to admit it... You would rather believe your failure was owed to a bad move, than to believe that Control was playing you the whole time.

Did you really never consider the possibility?

She's the one that's working more closely with the military, she had countless ways to kill your experiment with Dorothy in its infancy—

—But then why did she only show up after your experiment succeeded?

We still have a chance.

Whatever Kristen is trying to do with Transmitter, she hasn't succeeded yet.

Director Clooney, bring me to her.

The Transmitter is inside me. I'll become your beacon to locate Kristen.