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The sky cracks with a dissonant roar.

Leithanien's greatest and most terrible sovereign, Herkunftshorn, issues his edict to his people.

...Herkunftshorn is really back.

We have a problem.

Bound by the Arts inherent to the Movement, the people continue to play. But the altered Güldenesgesatz now only feeds Herkunftshorn's power.

What did you just do?

Tried to shoot the cloud.

Now's not the time for this madness.

Madness? Not at all, Lessing. Do you know how long I've waited for this moment?

I was destined for this ever since his noise was forced into my head... No, since the day I was born.

You told me to fight, to face my responsibility and sins head-on. And you were completely right. Herkunftshorn is my sin, and it's my responsibility to face him.

I just need a way to drag him down from his palace in the clouds. Or... wherever he is.

Or I could send you up?

Wha—

An invisible thread catches him by the collar. It is light, gentle, and cool.

Suddenly, it constricts.

Argh—!

Who are you?!

Rude to yell at someone who just saved your life, don't you think?

The black flame... it landed right where I was standing?

Listen to Lessing and stop shaking your wand at the clouds. He can be a little stiff, but he's more reliable than most.

That was awfully sudden, Ermengarde.

Were you expecting a schedule? A timetable? I rushed all the way back from Kazdel. Look how much wear and tear there is on my cube-thing.

My hat got all dirty, too. Mind if I clean it with your horn?

Yes.

You're no fun.

Just... keep your hands off my horns. How bad is the situation?

Extremely.

I don't even need witchcraft to tell you that much. This place is filled with threads that don't belong to it. It's so messy not even a Lich could clean it up. A little rain wouldn't solve anything.

Are you a Lich too?

Do I not look the part?

I thought...

You thought Liches were all old men with long white beards, dressed in robes covering head to tail, with skeletal staves in their hands?

...I thought Liches would have more refined vocabularies.

What happened to the old man?

You know the first thing about him, don't you? Of course he went straight into that cloud.

He strode back from the border of Leithanien the moment Herkunftshorn opened his eyes on the throne.

And he pulled on all our threads, too. I'm sure even the Liches of Kazdel could hear his cursing.

How many of you are here?

Everyone who could come.

Do you realize how inconvenient this is? It's like you were planning to move, and had loaded all your scrolls and talismans on the truck, then the very next day you hear that your old home is getting blown up.

I mean, can't you Leithanians keep things together for even <i>a single day</i> without us?

The Liches are back.

...This is a serious situation.

The Genesis Horn is about to descend.

Grimmacht, your violin...

Good.

We haven't played together in a while, Lieselotte.

Ja. The ensemble performance should be coming to a close, as is the custom. Then it's our turn.

Herkunftshorn... the calamity that Leithanien has always been destined to face.

We already beat him once.

We can do it again.

It's the Kaiserinnen's melody.

Grimmacht and Ewigegnade have made their move.

Do what you need to, Viviana.

...We'll do our part as well.

Golden light floods out from the Gesatzswächter's sword and armor.

As the light engulfs him, the other Gesatzswächter respond to the empresses' melody.

Beams of Arts shoot towards the sky from every corner, drawing closer together and joining up.

The sky is covered in black, but an even brighter cloud rises from the ground.

Under the golden arch, the sound of an organ gently covers those beneath the Twin Spires, while the violin's passionate, soaring notes pierce the roiling clouds like a sword.

Dozens of hands weave thousands of threads, plucking at the melody in the sky and the wind, making them even clearer.

The Twin Empresses, the Gesatzswächter, and the Liches.

All the guardians of Leithanien stand together against its former king, now returning from the void.

The chaos grows.

Only the Kaiserinnen's melody can fight Herkunftshorn.

Melody?

Organ, violin... and cello.

I can't hear the cello.

It's a part of the noise. Not at all like ordinary music.

Your ears are accustomed to hearing music, but mine are equally receptive to all forms of sound.

The conclusion is clear.

Arturia has escaped from prison.

(Piercing noise)

...What <i>is</i> this? The falling black flame... it's standing up like a human?

Is it the work of Originium Arts, or...

The unfortunate truth is...

I probed them with witchcraft, and there are fragments of human emotion contained in the Arts energy within.

Are they still alive?

Of course not.

Even we, who deal with death on a daily basis, couldn't survive with neither a body or a soul.

What we're seeing are merely shadows of their former lives. Or as the fanatics would put it, 'echoes.'

...Good for them? I guess their dream came true.

It's not good news.

Normally, such echoes can only exist in... how do I put this... a space where flesh and blood cannot exist. Or anything else tangible.

Where there is no concept of life or death, no passage of time. The only thing that can survive there is information.

Under normal circumstances, 'echoes' are simply trails of information that exist only as a lingering illusion.

But the emotions I felt in that black flame were flowing.

Get to the point.

You're as impatient as a block of wood.

Fine, fine, you're not Liches. Long story short, reality is being encroached upon, and Herkunftshorn has really spruced up that little pocket dimension of his. His consciousness probably lives on within.

So... you said you could send us up.

Absolutely.

But are you sure about this? Like I said, no one's ever been inside, other than Herkunftshorn.

If he can 'exist' there, why couldn't I? Might as well try.

Ah, to be young and daring.

After dealing with boring, depressed old folks and the mercenaries of Kazdel for so long, I forgot you Leithanians could be interesting.

Unfortunately, not even Liches have a way to send the living into that space.

Entering the Genesis Horn requires a stable connection between the two dimensions. It's like me calling out to my teacher, and him answering in response.

Could the bleating of these masked loonies actually wake him?