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I haven't forgotten what Kal'tsit told me!

If the outcome I fear most does come to pass, if the one I least want to see stands in front of us once more—

Protect the Doctor. Protect Amiya.

I will engrave this directive into your basic behavioral strategy matrix.

Eternal life is destined to be eternally lonely. I have tasted it.

...You can walk alone—

Mon3tr.

Listen to me, Mon3tr.

You look at her, and slowly, you begin to speak.

You haven't been in your reconstructed body for very long.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself.;Kal'tsit wouldn't want her hopes to turn into chains.

Err... I think you're misunderstanding something, Doctor.

I'll always remember how, when I awoke, you just turned around and walked away after giving me a 'welcome back'...

Oh...;Sorry, Mon3tr.

It's fine, it's fine. I needed time to get used to not being in a symbiotic relationship after thousands of years, and you needed time to accept the loss of someone you've fought beside for such a long time. And now...

We're both standing here, right in front of one another.

But we've already known each other for quite a while, haven't we, Doctor?

Under the cannon fire of Londinium, deep inside the secret caverns of the Sarkaz, below the tail of that giant ring flying into the sky in Trimounts, in Milliarium's Sophontheatrum...

Kal'tsit was there for all of those, which means I was too.

It's not like I only started to follow her orders to understand you and Rhodes Island when she left us.

Becoming a Rhodes Island Operator, putting up a fight against our creator, protecting Amiya, protecting you. These were my decisions as well...

And what I've been doing all along.

Silence.

You look at Mon3tr. Silence links the two of you.

Then count me in, Mon3tr.

We'll bring Kal'tsit back.;We'll walk to the end of this uncharted road.

Eternal life is destined to be eternally lonely, but thankfully, we do not walk alone on the journeys we take. Even if all life is sapped of color, even if all things fade away into nothingness...

We can, must, walk onwards together.

This is what she hoped for.

Oh...

What's wrong?;Got another question to ponder?

What's with the look?

The counseling session is over, commander! No problems here, I had just come up with a way to get out of this blasted place, and I'll need your help!

According to Priestess, this should be a space created by that machine after it connected to Originium, some kind of model based on the future.

So there's a relation to Originium's properties here.

We can try cracking those abnormal nodes.

Abnormal nodes? Ah, you mean the parts with damage mapped onto them.

The restriction on the connection between you and the machine should be gone, right?

Yep, I can sense its signal, though its getting weaker by the second.

I'll try reestablishing the connection...

But what then?

Keep requesting refactoring of the abnormal nodes.;Use up the last of its computing power.

Shouldn't be too difficult for me when Priestess isn't meddling with things.

Routing through city communication post backdoor access port...

Special privileges: AMa-10.

Temporary access credentials: ELCARO-001... ORACLE. Decoding complete. Authentication passed.

Connected to PCS system.

Syncing computational radiation link...

Warning: Core frequency too low.

Diagnostic complete. Re—Re—Refactoring abnormal nodes—

Color seeps out from the ruins of this colorless ghost town.

It starts from the street to the right of the Tower of Revelations, and then through the Notarial Hall and firearms workshops in Pagus Michaelion, to the Sunset Chapel in Pagus Saint Marcel, and then all the way to the chapel square...

Noise returns to the Holy City.

It is the sound of Laterans offering a prayer to life.

The color's back?!

Let's go, Mon3tr.

Not going to go say hi to Exusiai?

No need to hold her up before her reunion with family and friends.;We need to update the ship on what happened here in Laterano.

Priestess's disappearance will only be temporary.;Priestess will make her next move soon.;Our mission isn't over yet.

Transfiguration suspended.

Set of directives assigned by personnel with relevant privileges have been completed.

Beginning system shutdown timer.

(Unknown language) I've checked your low-level code. Aside from the adjustments I made during maintenance, you've performed a lot of self-upgrades and iterations within a short period of time.

(Unknown language) Was this still not enough for your self-repair functions to fix your logic vulnerability?

Negative.

Vulnerability has been patched. Paradox has been corrected.

(Unknown language) I had great interest in the results of your self-iteration.

(Unknown language) It seems you mistakenly identified yourself as that vulnerability, that paradox.

(Unknown language) Was it a side effect of the overclocking? Or did your lack of maintenance, and long-term data transfer with the Sanktas, pollute your database?

(Unknown language) If I had more data, I might be able to find the answer.

(Unknown language) It's a shame the resources I can allocate will not be enough to give you a complete restart.

(Unknown language) Otherwise, a command system's self-negation due to its target's wishes would reignite any researcher's interest in the PCS system.

(Unknown language) ... If only we were still in the era when geniuses used reason and opinion to clash over their views.

The ring-shaped machine does not respond. Priestess feels a hint of regret.

(Unknown language) It seems I will have to choose other methods to advance the project—

Many mechanical cubes come together to form an annular computational matrix, the core of the machine. They sit there in stony silence.

But all of a sudden, one of the cubes begins to vibrate, a metallic gleam roaming its surface once more.

Soon, a faint, flickering halo begins to form.

From the ruins of the PCS system, a new 'angel' is born.

(Unknown language) ...It restarted?

(Unknown language) It can't be. It didn't respond to me at all, nor does this follow the PCS system's operational logic.

The 'angel' ignores Priestess, quickly ascending into the gaping hole above it, disappearing without a trace soon after.

(Unknown language) A 'prototype' 'angel'?

(Unknown language) But this system was only built to mimic the properties of 'angels'. There was never any 'angel prototype' sample provided when it was constructed.

(Unknown language) A newborn 'angel'?! How could this be...?

What is that in your hand, Lemuel?

Hehe. A spray can.

I've given the report on the latest data from the barrier hole to Director Saria, but there was something I noticed that got me real curious...

Look. Doesn't that look like some kind of strange flying object to you?

Components Control Section is analyzing it right now. We should be hearing from them soon.

A flying object that can maintain altitude close to the barrier hole would be a major discovery—

The 'angel' hovers in front of the hole in the barrier. It attempts to reestablish a connection with the individuals scattered amongst the stars, but to no avail.

All it manages to capture are the ripples left behind by energy entities as they die in the depths of space.

And so, it continues to orbit across the land, like a shooting star destined to never fall...

(Unknown language) The scent of life.

(Unknown language) This land is still young. Is it new life flourishing in the wake of ruination, or has death not come for this place yet?

(Unknown language) Wasn't I... swallowed up by that light...?

(Unknown language) Originium has recorded your information.

(Unknown language) ... 'Originium'?

(Unknown language) Before the light comes, the conclusion is still uncertain. Originium will become our hope.