act25side

Funny face you've got there.

(Urngh. Her tail's really coiling up.);......;(I think it's Mon3tr time! <i>Kal'tsit!</i>)

...Let the Doctor go.

You can go seek the thing you want, if that really will resolve your misgivings.

...Mm-hmm...

...What? Just like that?

We pledge we will not respond in any way to your actions.

With the way Saria and the Tin Man act around you, I thought you were going to be the dangerous one. What's wrong?

Is that real feebleness? Because you don't carry yourself like someone without the power to resist.

I leave it to your imagination.

But you can understand that, for the Doctor's safety, I'm not going to take risks.

So it seems.

Well, I've burned my bridges with the Maylander Foundation, so the less enemies, the better, really... Kristen's plans are in motion already. I'd say we're short on free time too.

We'll leave it there, then, before the District starts responding adversely—

What?

...*sigh* Quite right. It won't do for the District to be in true, naked danger. We need to accelerate our gain of the situation.

And given you betrayed the Maylander Foundation, we really shouldn't let an outsider settle this for us. That means you, Dame Kal'tsit.

You're not that stupid. You indulged Ho'olheyak intentionally, looking to seize your moment to act.

Oh, so you guessed I'd pursue our traitor? How nostalgic, to be exploited by the Dame once again.

Intentional indulgence is giving us too much credit. The agents we assigned to be by Kristen's side defected one after another. I couldn't help but start doubting myself... and introspection is a thing that takes good time.

As for the lives of the two of you, Madame, haven't you been too careless? If you unleashed your jet-black vassal, surely restraining her wouldn't have been difficult.

'This' is not a place in which I can use any weapon.

We are already 'on top of it.'

That statement of yours is enough to draw considerable attention from the Maylander Foundation, Dame Kal'tsit. Unless you're mystifying us on purpose.

Honestly... what a surprise, Tin Man. How many bodies do you have?

Didn't I toss your poor metal skull in the trash at Loken's?

Are you letting me go this time? Or is this the deal—I kill you again, and <i>then</i> the Maylander Foundation lets me walk free?

(Ancient Sarkaz language) We'll talk again in a bit, traitor.

Gh...!

(Has my vision gone dark? He did something to my eyes—no, it's something mental—I can't move my limbs—)

It seems Arts still work here.

Originium Arts are not within the scope of the 'weaponry' sensors.

Furthermore, even the full powers of a revenant would be unable to damage their critical components in the slightest.

Then what about the Originium bomb and Arts Unit in my pockets?

Too primitive.

But these are state-of-the-art Columbian technology. They could get us buried in the deep of this land with ease.

So, anything else you haven't told the Maylander Foundation?

Are we not able to come together on this, not even with my being a Columbian, or a Sarkaz?

All throughout, I have only wanted the Doctor alone to reach this place.

The Control of Rhine Lab was a mishap in that respect.

...Me?

Regretfully, you don't make the rules here. Beyond my duty to the Maylander Foundation, I have a heavy interest in this ancient ancestral home of a land.

There may be leads on Kazdel in there. I'm afraid I won't so easily—

—Speaking. Yes, Ho'olheyak has been apprehended via Arts, she's ready to... what?

The President himself?

Hah... hah... looks like your Arts aren't all that secure, my dear employer.

Oh. It seems I've underestimated Ho'olheyak. Roger that, I will of course obey.

See you later.

Isn't it strange, hm? How you can break free of such witchcraft by brute force? Your average campaign knight a century ago would've been frozen to the spot.

That voice just now, it was a Sarkaz... Witchcraft? You... what race even are you?

I <i>ran</i> my checks...

Always race on the mind, Ho'olheyak. You really are pitiful.

What puzzles me more, honestly... I mean, look at me, at the way I am. How could you take me for some ordinary person, killed by tossing his head away?

Yes, you have a point. So, could you put yourself back together if I crushed you?

I'll deal with Ho'olheyak. You two go on ahead.

The President has given me personal orders to unconditionally assist this Rhodes Island party to these coordinates. How very strange... I wonder when he got such a clear grasp of things...

So what of you as a Sarkaz?

The young Sarkaz detest you, and lovingly respect you too, for a great many reasons. But as I see it, your fight for the Sarkaz will go on longer still.

And of course, it will 'merely' be so.

Now, hurry up. When later comes, I hope you'll tell me everything you're willing to.

I promise that to you.

Let's go, Doctor.

I'm impressed how easily you give up on your greed. Doesn't the truth matter to you?

Don't you want to follow them down there and take in that 'ancient ancestral home' of yours?

Growing attached to your mission target on a mission, and then betraying your country with intent to misappropriate vital technology, without scruple? Not educating my subordinates properly is my disgrace.

Your damages to my body cannot rouse anger in me, not in the midst of my excessively long time undisturbed.

But as your boss and an authority of the Maylander Foundation, I suggest you hand yourself in, and try to plead a lenient sentence.

Grr, you old monster... How much have you lost over the course of your life? Does the idea of duty really still do something for you?

I once used quite the amount of Arts as a means to avert the trauma too long a time would inflict on my soul, but it wasn't entirely effective.

If you look purely at results, I'm a very conscientious one. Death will attest to that in my place.

No. I'll defeat you. I'll get everything I want.

I'll prove I'm my own self, and if that means I have to kill you, kill everyone in the Maylander Foundation, and even... be killed <i>by</i> you, then I'll give each and every bit of it my shot.

Heh. So this is how fighting for yourself makes your blood pound... Why did I ever put restoring my old blood first?

How many generations' worth of memories have you inherited, Ho'olheyak?

Three centuries? Or no, maybe five?

It's long enough. Long enough for a city to be rebuilt anew and destroyed again, or for a dynasty to go from rise to decline.

But to me... it is no more than the time needed to rouse myself from a nightmare.

Big words for you...

No. The reality is—

Your stretch of distress and your heartrending family history wouldn't stand up to the tale of a single scratch on my alloy fingers, young beast cub.

Ho'olheyak feels her heart stall for an instant.

Her sight blacks out again. With experience, she quickly abandons her vision, and attempts to wrap her body in Arts, to extend her limbs' sense of touch.

Even among Maylander's seasoned agents, she was eminently gifted. The K'uk'ulkan's memories are not solely a burden; they make her a natural-born, highly veteran warrior.

Every part of her body is a lethal weapon, the clarity of her mind has no equal, and her Arts would redefine guile itself.

But this time...

This time, Ho'olheyak begins to feel a hint of fear creeping up.

A prickling, sinking feeling that starts from her eardrums, and bores into her brain. She covers her ears in pain, despite the pure silence about her.

The cavern scenery begins to change, a deeper darkness diffusing out from beneath the Tin Man's feet.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) Given you want to delve into history, I'll have to share a little more of it with you.

Ho'olheyak can feel it. Her cheeks, abraded by coarse sandstorms.

Her shoulders give a faint shudder, as if bearing some colossal mass.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) You made too much light of the weight of history, K'uk'ulkan.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) You've yet to understand what it means for a memory to be <i>graven.</i>

7:59 P.M., H.A.M.H.R.R. altitude 5000 meters, ascent interrupted

You said you knew how to pilot this thing!

Hold on tight.

I—ungh—!

I'm trying the <i>hardest I can,</i> Ferdinand. If I wasn't, we would be dead.

Saria! Check the window!

The engine is on fire!