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'Chaos' surrounds the Witch King's palace, like sunlight and air surrounding a... bubble that could burst with a touch.

The Witch King's Spire stands in the center of the palace, with Originium crystals growing from its base like moss between the bricks.

But such moss covers the entire palace, connecting seemingly irregular spires and other buildings, comprising some vague formation.

Chaos invades the outermost cluster of spires, like a rising layer of mist. Once the mist dissipates, Der Wiener Uhrturm and Die Tür des Wissens no longer exist.

Clearly, the palace is gradually emptying. But its boundaries remain, as if adhering to predetermined rules.

My casters, my musicians, do not resist the storm of lightning and dust. In years past, they destroyed the Gaulish fleets, and now they will push back this chaos!

Celestial phenomena and calamities join the symphony, as Originium shapes new connections for you. Your bodies and consciousnesses will become a part of the instruments, strings, and troop formations!

Fill the gaps, reform the lines!

Kargereich is beyond comprehension? Demons cannot be captured? Incompetence is nothing but cowardice. Return all intelligence to the Spire for analysis!

Confront it, comprehend it, conquer it! In the name of Leithanien!

Vibrate the strings of our lives until they break!

The King of Casters stands proudly on his throne, with all the spires at his command. This founding of a nation occurs simultaneously with the push-and-pull of war, as it did in Leithanian history.

Amid the unending chaos, the Witch King is the only comprehensible order.

Your enemy is terrifying, so... incomprehensible.

Is 'Leithanien' your unwavering cause? Even death cannot end it.

Just as Herr Fremont predicted, your palace is suffering an irreversible collapse.

Do you regret it? If you hadn't become a tyrant, if the mutinous army hadn't seized your spire, if death hadn't ended your study of Kargereich...?

Would you have had the time to make this palace more stable, unshaken by chaos?

Do you ever wonder, if you weren't the Witch King, if you didn't stand on the shoulders of all Leithanien...?

Could you master Arts and knowledge beyond the reach of mere mortals? Could you surpass reality itself? Could you build your own spire within Kargereich?

Your questions are meaningless, Sankta.

I have no regrets, and I do not wonder.

I do not fear monsters, nor do I fear becoming one.

Then, Your Majesty, I come in search of confirmation.

Confirmation? It has been a long time since someone spoke to me of such things.

I seek from you the greatest answer a human heart can seek—A future.

An ideal future.

Why are you standing there like a fool? Was the blow too hard? Do you have brain damage?

...What's <i>your</i> excuse?

Oh what a comeback. A rude little goat you are.

You saw him too. Did you win?

Win...?

In this ruined place, I could fight that man innumerable times, debate him for innumerable years.

But how could I win a debate with an echo? How could I kill a dead man?

...Then we might as well leave.

Leave? Aha, you really want to turn and walk away? After everything you've suffered on your journey, even as you stand right before the throne?

I'm here. I've seen it.

The throne is empty.

...But the Spire is still here.

This strange, distorted, dangerous space... It still hangs over the heads of countless people.

You're the most powerful Lich. Tell me, what should I do?

How can we... once again topple the Genesis Spire?

There is only one way... the same way it was done twenty-three years ago.

What a beautiful sunset.

Lieselotte, why are you hiding here again?

I'd rather not stay with the envoys of the Kurfürsten.

They speak so crudely of postwar matters right in front of us, as if we're already dead.

Herr Fremont says the odds of us surviving the battle are less than one-in-ten.

Since the day we were born, every test we've taken has surpassed the expectations of those old men.

But the battle with Herkunftshorn isn't another test, it's the only chance we have.

Then we will seize that chance.

We have Herkunftshorn's witchcraft, Gaulish technology, and the Lich's blessing within us.

We are more perfect, more powerful than anyone else alive.

But we can still die. They haven't turned us into immortal war machines.

They gave us human bodies and feelings, making us like unto them, pushing us toward that end since the beginning.

Let's think about something happy, Hildegard... If we really can kill Herkunftshorn, what would you want to do?

You don't need to say it, I already know. You want 'freedom.' Every time you pick up the sword, it's for the same reason.

You can't stand those arrogant nobles, the ones who don't even treat us like people. You never could.

What about you?

You can guess, I'm sure. Who knows me better than you?

...The sun is about to set.

Soon, all the clouds... will fade away with the last thread of golden light.

We need to destroy the Genesis Horn, quickly.

Are you giving up?

You conspired with the Lich to use it to obtain Herkunftshorn's ultimate power, right?

That power... Getting it under control would mean granting Leithanien her sharpest sword.

But Fremont and I have tried so many different methods to force our way into that space.

It's really something, the one who finally managed to open the way... was an outsider.

Whatever her motives, she has given us a chance.

I will not allow an unknown threat to continue looming over Leithanien. Of course, I would rather it descend more safely and discreetly, but at least we can end it now.

If you've made up your mind, the Liches will show you to the throne of the Witch King.

Young Lich, you've been here all along?

Don't misunderstand me, Leithanien's Eternal Grace. I am but a lowly Messenger. Kill me, you will gain nothing but a thread scattered on the wind.

I have received a message from the master. He is presently within the Genesis Horn.

Only by joining forces with the Austere Authority to once again strike down the power of Herkunftshorn will you disperse the dark clouds hanging over Zwillingstürme.

Very well then.

But the master also warns that the Genesis Horn is as unstable as you and he both anticipated.

Once Herkunftshorn's power dissipates, the spire of the Witch King within the void will collapse. Losing the barrier between reality and Kargereich may cause a more serious problem.

When the final moment comes, your choice will decide the fate of Leithanien... as it ever has.

...But a single thread.

Liches always come and go with the wind, free enough to be oh-so-irritating.

Michael.

I'm here.

Find the Lich from before, and the young man raised by Fremont.

Do what you can to protect the people in the amphitheater, in the off chance that...

There is no off chance! You and Ewigegnade will surely return victorious!

Once more: what is our mission?

To... eliminate any threat to Leithanien at its source!

Good. The Gesatzswächter stand ready. Remember, your signal is my command. When the time comes, if there are no new orders, they will act.

Grimmacht...

Go.

...Ja!

Lieselotte, we should move out too.

Both the Liches and the Kurfürsten, always talking about the fate of Leithanien. What about our fate?

We've been here... atop the two tallest spires in Leithanien for over two decades.

Does Leithanien really belong to us? Or are we still just her chosen vessels, carrying the fate of the country on sword and shield?

Let's deal with the problem at hand first.

That's a sentence I've heard too many times now.

Our duet remains tacit, but this is the way we were born, no? So long as we play, we cooperate. That is the mission we have been given.

No matter the time, we will always have our understanding.