act29side

Witch... King...

The Voice of Mundane... It's boiling in my head. It... It'll be free soon...

That's not the Voice of Mundane reacting.

It's... not?

I don't know who first got it wrong. Or maybe Gerhard has given up on summoning him through you entirely.

But Herkunftshorn's power isn't originating from your mind. You aren't the key melody here!

Arturia.

You're a little later than expected.

Is it because you were helping the Gendarmerie? You've grown soft. What happened to the executor who would stop at nothing to fulfill his mission?

The fourth sculpture.

You aren't playing.

You must be shocked, aren't you?

Like I've told you, you don't need to rush to find me. Until my real audience arrives, I'm just a listener myself.

You aren't the source of the illusions the men below are experiencing.

I'm a little hurt. We've been competing against each other for how long now? But you still confuse the 'truth' my music draws out with the 'illusions' a conman would use.

Besides, haven't you noticed? The people trapped in this spire have always hated each other. They've never stopped fighting.

Isn't laying the blame for this chaos entirely on mind-affecting Arts also a form of running away?

Leithanien's affairs are not within the purview of the Notarial Hall. My primary targets are limited to you and your accomplices.

Who is manipulating the sculptures to protect you?

An avid listener of mine.

You arrived a bit too late. Just a little earlier and you could also have had a front row seat to <i>Der Tod des Hexenkönigs</i>.

The fifth.

Arturia, I'm well acquainted with every crime you have committed. Your Arts have affected a variety of regions and social classes, but you have never actively participated in political conflict.

Do you remember my mother's funeral?

How I freed the emotions everyone had kept hidden in their hearts. It was the first time I realized how easily others fell into my melodies.

But that brought me no joy. Quite the opposite. I was disappointed.

Powerful emotions should give rise to more than just chaos. Emotions are meant to bolster our souls, to allow us to overcome any obstacle... even our predestined extinction.

Which is why I came here in my search.

The sixth.

If you're looking to perform for the Witch King, then you will never succeed. He perished long ago. Your melody has no effect on the dead.

It would seem you're a little mistaken about this performance.

The shadow over the throne was dispersed, and the twin heroes walked out of the spire to the adoration of the masses... While those who stayed put are still waist deep in the emotions they felt when they witnessed the mountain crumble before them.

<i>Der Tod des Hexenkönigs</i> isn't about the Witch King. He was never the main character of this piece.

What happened... Why are we here? Ugh, my hand hurts! Why am I bleeding?

The stairs are shaking! Is the spire coming down? What's with the black fire burning from the ground... Help! Help!

These are Herkunftshorn's enchantments. You've all come to your senses... We need to get out of the spire, now!

Ngh... guh...

You're awake too?

Candlelight... Candle... Can...

Candlelight?

Here, this way.

But the flames... The whole Sonata Spire is enveloped by these black flames!

I'll open up a path.

With your candle's flame?

Pay attention to the shadow it casts on the wall.

The shadow's... tearing the black flames apart?

Ja... This is the true form of my Arts.

You must be disappointed. They're not nearly as beautiful as you thought, right?

No, meine Dame... This is stunning.

You don't often see Arts that can rival Herkunftshorn's undying black flames.

I can't defeat them.

But as long as something truly exists, it casts a shadow. The most I can manage is make use of this principle to ever-so-briefly create a chance to survive.

Is something the matter?

I was just thinking that... I was your enemy until a moment ago, yet you aren't blaming me.

Why should I?

You said you're not an Empresses' Voice. And I have yet to formally enter the Kaiserin's Spire myself.

Here, you can just be you, and I can just be Viviana. We aren't carrying out the Kaiserin's orders. We're simply helping out the poor souls struggling in this music.

So please take the students and make your way out as fast as you can, while they've recovered their mobility. I can still hold on a little longer.

I can see golden light outside. The Gesatzswächter's curtain has already enveloped this place. He could destroy the spire at any moment.

I trust that Herr Reiner will make the appropriate decision.

What about you, then?

My candleflame will extinguish sooner or later. Hopefully, it chooses the most meaningful moment to.

Frau Hochberg... Viviana!

Go, Michael.

Please take care of yourself and these young students. Each of you has a future that... someone like me could never dream of.

This is the place.

Surround the spire.

Casters from the Kaiserinnen's Spires?

That's right, Brandt.

Haven't I already said that—

These are the Kaiserin's orders.

We are to assist you in resolving the problem here.

Good. Use your Arts. Join me as an accompaniment.

I will tighten the curtain.

No, Herr Reiner!

Step aside, envoy of Grimmacht.

Will you continue to stand in our way? Your earlier behavior alone is reason enough to suspect you of colluding with the Witch King's remnants.

There are still innocents inside.

I see the students have all been evacuated, and Herr Fremont wouldn't die so easily.

But the Sankta, and Viviana...

Viviana is still inside?

She's trapped by the black flames, and stayed behind to save me and the students.

Brandt!

This is our best chance to eliminate the threat.

Once the ensemble is complete, your strength will completely annihilate the spire! Viviana will perish too!

It was her decision to enter the battlefield.

Werner gave his life for Leithanien. We can't let his one and only daughter follow in his footsteps!

You promised Werner that you'd save her. We both did. Have you forgotten your oath?

Have you forgotten your oath, Reiner?

The blade and Arts of a Gesatzswächter belong only to the Güldenesgesatz and to Leithanien.

It doesn't matter how Herkunftshorn treats his subjects. He is Leithanien's rightful ruler, as recognized by the Güldenesgesatz.

If you choose to fight alongside House Hochberg, you will be abandoning your duties as a Gesatzswächter.

One more step, and you will be making an enemy out of all of us.

Brandt... Why didn't you come save us?

We grew up together. We were like brothers.

I know you loathe the Witch King too. You despise his tyranny over Sturmland's citizens, and you hate how he turned our homeland into a battlefield and a testing ground!

The Battle of the Four Emperors was years ago, and the skies above Sturmland are still filled with Catastrophe clouds formed by Originium shards. Many of our children are doomed to be born with those accursed stones.

Why can't we resist? Why can't we make him pay the price?

Is it because the Güldenesgesatz dictates that he's the ruler, and that we are his attendants?

Nein! It isn't right for us to be born that way.