ghost

Yes... Off you go.

You'll wake once again, Specter... I'll be there then.

Don't beat yourself up so much. Skadi, quit frowning, I've never blamed you, not even once.

I know... I really do know.

Smile! I've accepted how I'm powerless to wake up. It's about time you accept your own past and present.

If I really do awaken again, when you see me, let's chat about the more interesting things in life.

Yo, you guys are back early.

Why'd you only call me? I thought the info Captain Gladiia or Skadi brought back would be more important.

That's 'stuff for after' important. To Rhodes Island, getting you checked out and treated is more important at the moment. We deliberated on it, and that's the call.

Of course, Kal'tsit's warned us about it a million times too.

Don't you care about her...?

Kal'tsit? That was her own decision. Besides, how do you know if she told me things would turn out this way?

All these little schemes you landwalkers have really lose themselves in the details. Bo-ring.

Majorly glad to see you with the gift of gab, Specter. Misery told me how you three Abyssal Hunters helped a Rhodes Island field team out of a pinch.

Me and Skadi are registered, after all, and the other one'll be right on her way in to report.

So... how do you feel?

We need to run an evaluation on your combat strength.

If you can hold onto your clear mind and run some combat in order against a team, we'll be real happy to draw you up some mission arrangements again.

Hah. Your 'tests' really are far too simple, then. What makes that bunch of goons worth three Abyssal Hunters taking them on at once?

When we got there, Misery already saved the show, more or less.

Dull like nothing else. I'd even take that damned mutant bishop. Oh, shame it's already dead.

It was I who personally returned it to the darkness... such darkness, a darkness still behind me, pursuing me...

Hah... hahah... who could ever escape... the thirst to be one again with we many...

Specter? You still holding up there?

Ugh... not too well. But probably.

Your nervous system's getting attacked hard, and quicker than I expected. Let's get your examination on the road now...

No... I'll just be back on that bed in the end, either way. I want to make use of this time. I still have my own things I want to do.

Knew it... Kal'tsit told me, don't force you to stop... she was able to figure your current state and choices.

But still, Rhodes Island's got a few questions for you.

Hah, then you'll need to be quick.

How much longer will you be awake?

Couldn't say... my head's all hazy dazy. I might have about fifty percent consciousness?

Alright. I hope we can get everything out of you with these statements, and Rhodes Island will do all we can to respect your wishes.

Specter, when you first came to Rhodes Island, you did not make it in time to convey the message you wanted. Do you intend on conveying it now?

There's no need... Closure, is that what they call you? What I needed to convey, my colleagues have already come to learn.

As for the leftovers, though... I won't allow those strains that the church pawns planted in my will to flower, to spread those obscenities to places farther, wider still.

Alright. Next up, Rhodes Island took you in for treatment, and then with great caution sent you into field combat. Do you consider...

I know all that. It was my own choice to fight. Dame Kal'tsit figured out that much, and I still need to give her a little thanks for that.

The battlefield... is a peaceful place. At times, the silent ruins are much quieter than all that medical equipment, constantly whirring away.

If, and I mean if, Specter, regarding recovery of your awareness... if we find a way to maintain your waking state to a certain degree, do you have any plans made for your future?

Plans? I've long since had those ready.

I was thinking about them on the trip back, even.

Why not invite the Captain and Skadi to form a team of three with me, go outside just for a spot of slaughter, and bully your useless land-dwelling punk idiots a little.

Skadi says after so long walking on land, she can tell apart the 'good' and the 'bad' in your hearts. With the Captain leading, we three are a complete army.

For sure, if we consider what we know of the Abyssal Hunters' strength...

However, I haven't told them any of that.

Yes?

Dame Kal'tsit's warned me, and I've had inklings myself. This sanity is something that can't last for long.

A three-person team fails at the planning stage. My combat style is already totally unlike how it used to be. Rhodes Island, the tactics you currently choose for me seem to be the most optimal.

Before we can find a way to treat you...

Forget it. All this dry-land technology of yours could only ever give me occasional peace.

The faults in my body... only I myself can sort them out. Anyone else? Hopeless.

Hey, now, don't look like that, Closure. All I can do is remain at Rhodes Island. I count as one of you. When I want to hack someone apart, let me out to war, and it'll be a win for you too.

So, are you able to accept continued combat as a Rhodes Island Operator?

I told you, the battlefield is where I can find some peace and quiet inside my head. I can't work like I did as an Abyssal Hunter anymore, but aboard Rhodes Island, there are those who let me revel in the fighting front.

So you mean to say, our commander gives you effective instruction?

In fact, once I'm done with you, that is where I plan to go.

We've never talked while I was awake. I've got a few things I need to explain, quickly.

Rhodes Island's commander—the Doctor, is nothing like any of you.

You can tell.

When language can't reach, all the other senses become stronger as a result. If I want to continue fighting...

I must... bring the Doctor... to that place...

Specter...

...*hiss*. I can't stop now, or else the darkness will catch me up.

I need to go.

Specter runs... no, it more resembles a wandering onto dry land.

That mad chatter echoes, eating away at her nerves.

There's not a moment when the high-concentration liquid Originium poured into her spinal cord isn't repelling, invading her body, restored by Specter's own cells afterwards.

The flesh can still persist, but the spirit is not the same.

The Church used crueler, more wicked means than all to utterly perturb her thought.

Outside the true Laurentina, wraps 'Specter.'

Laurentina... and Specter at the same time. It has taken time endless, but in the end, she chooses to accept it whole.

The fact she no longer tears at her nun's clothing tells it all.

Ah... ah... I've found you...

Good day... Doctor...

Specter... you're back safe.;Specter.;Are you alright?

Heheh. This is my first time talking to you awake...

Yes... awake. I am still awake right now, but I am also... somewhat fatigued.

Relax, Doctor. You are already used to this sort of conversation with me. Now, you may understand me even better.

There's so much I want to ask you.;What are you willing to tell me?

Doctor... you have seen me before as I washed about, spoken with me.

If there were words then that you could not comprehend, do not... do not heed them.

Those madnesses should not be passed on, but it is beyond me to control it. Fortunately, I still have the right to silence.

I'll hear you out, Specter.;You need to say it. You want to speak.;I can take it.

Heheh, Doctor, there are so few who should be willing to try.

My one regret is, in that form, I am unable to sing. And I... the I of now, no longer have the voice for song...

Doctor... I will sing you a song.

Why?;Alright.

I must sing it. And then... you have... some kind of power. I believe, after you hear this, you may be able to understand.

Doctor, I have met my colleagues. My captain... as Abyssal Hunters, we endured selection of the prime, elimination of the unfit, uncountable times.

Gladiia once commanded us to jointly resist that terrifying enemy... the darkness from within the ocean. She remains the same even now.

But I. I am the name 'Shark,' yet have become 'Specter.' Akin with Skadi, we carry the odor of dry land. We carry the scent Rhodes Island carries.

Doctor, in the times I cannot maintain wakefulness, I cannot swim together with my captain... my body has been implanted with makings of dry land, and I am forced only to crawl across this world.

I thirst, thirst to stand upon the battlefield, thirst to enter the sea, thirst to sing.

You are the tactical commander... on the battlefield, you know, the way in which I fight. Do not let me leave the battlefield for too long. That is my... evidence, that I live after others die.

What should I do?

Put even more danger upon my share.

......;No.

Then let me a little closer to the enemy. Do not worry, Doctor, I'll be more obedient on the battlefield than ever before.

Do not fear my strength... simply keep far from me, what you do not want my saw to cut.