11 Nona Ouroboros
| ← 10 Eternal Engine | 12 Kowloong Metropolis → |
11 Nona Ouroboros
Main Story
The Commandant wakes up in a storage compartment on the Nighter, a legendary merchant ship that belongs to the Kowloong Chamber of Commerce. Although they are not physically restrained, they are equipped with a strange collar that invokes a reaction on their Mind Beacon. Realizing that they can connect to a virtual M.I.N.D. simulation using the collar, the Commandant controls a robot to sneak past the ship’s guards.
On Asslam, the Gray Ravens grow increasingly nervous after finding out about the Commandant’s disappearance. Changyu, who was “sold” to Asslam by the KCC, deduces from the evidence left behind that the KCC must have been responsible for their disappearance. The Commandant, however, has intentionally allowed themselves to be kidnapped; a flashback shows Hassen assigning them on a “solo mission” and promising that they would not be separated for long from the Gray Ravens.
The Gray Ravens board the ship. Their identities are nearly exposed when a merchant recognizes Liv as a Construct and attempts to grab her, but the Commandant appears at that moment and stops the merchant.
During their investigation of the ship, the Gray Ravens encounter Pulao, one of the Kowloong Crew responsible for guarding the place. Pulao explains that the ship’s inhabitants are currently enslaved by an AI named “Huaxu,” with the strange collars being one of the main means of controlling them. She implores the Gray Ravens to free the ship from its control. Pulao suggests that they rescue Lady Qu, the leader of the ship, from Huaxu during the upcoming “trade fair” so that she can help them destroy the main control terminal and the AI. Huaxu’s goal is to find a Construct that can serve as its new vessel, and the trade fair is where the potential candidates are presented.
Lucia participates in the trade fair as one of the “merchandise.” To the Gray Ravens’ surprise, Lucia encounters Kamui dressed in women’s clothes—the Strike Hawk team has also boarded the Nighter for a mission of their own, and Kamui and Chrome distract the guards while the Gray Ravens and Pulao approach Qu. Qu initially promises to lead them to the main control room, but then reveals a series of shocking truths. This “Qu” is not the real leader of KCC, but rather her brother Villier using one of Qu’s spare frames. “Qu” has never been under Huaxu’s control; Villier has fallen in love with Huaxu, whom he regards as a perfect being, and organized everything–stealing Huaxu from the real Kowloong, enslaving the Nighter, and making a “deal” with a mysterious figure from Babylonia–to give it an equally immaculate body so that it can attain true freedom. Lucia is snatched to be used as a vessel for Huaxu, while the rest of the Gray Ravens and Strike Hawk are trapped in Huaxu’s virtual M.I.N.D.
Huaxu, however, rebels against Villier, as it does not wish anyone to be harmed on its account. The party is freed from its virtual M.I.N.D., and the M.I.N.D. transfer process is interrupted. Realizing that his actions have ironically been depriving Huaxu of its freedom, Villier kills himself to truly free Huaxu, who perishes alongside him as the result of a failed M.I.N.D. transfer.
Although the events on the Nighter have concluded, many mysteries regarding KCC remain. Chrome presents the Gray Ravens with a concerning piece of information: the signal from an Ascendant. The information uncovered by the Gray Ravens upon Huaxu and Villier’s demise leads them to their next destination: the Kowloong metropolis.
Hidden Story
On Nikola’s orders, Chrome and Kamui infiltrate the Nighter to investigate the ship. Their mission is to see if there is a Kowloong presence on the ship and, more importantly, to search for subsidiary AI systems of Gestalt. If any Gestalt-related AIs are present, they are to seize it by force.
During the mission, the two are guided by Murray, Lee’s younger brother, who contacts them through Nikola’s private channel. Murray explains that he is acting as Nikola’s agent as he is away on another duty and that this mission is extremely important because the source of Gestalt-related AIs can be used to penetrate Gestalt’s defense system, exposing Babylonia to outside attacks. Although Murray seems friendly, he hides many secrets of his own: He is the mysterious figure from Babylonia with whom Villier has made a deal.
Chrome and Kamui are informed of the upcoming “trade fair” by Chaofeng, one of the Kowloong crew seeking to free the ship from Huaxu’s control. Since only female constructs are allowed to participate in the “trade fair,” Murray suggests that one of them dress up as one. Kamui excitedly volunteers.
The ship descends into chaos when the Gray Ravens approach Qu while Chrome and Kamui fight the guards. Aided by Chaofeng, the two begin to follow the Gray Ravens to the main control room but are soon trapped inside Huaxu’s M.I.N.D. space.
Chrome experiences a vision where he becomes the commandant of the Strike Hawk as a human. He, however, is able to free himself from the false reality; he is determined to walk a path separate from “Langston,” his human self, and to return to his comrades and complete his mission, no matter how difficult it may be. Chrome and Kamui then face Huaxu, who takes on the appearance of Qu. Huaxu does not wish to fight them, but it also cannot ignore its master’s wishes.
Ultimately, Huaxu is defeated, and this allows the Gray Ravens to foil Villier’s plans as Huaxu outside the M.I.N.D. space is weakened. Before fading away, Huaxu thanks the two and reveals that the true form of Huaxu, which shares its structure with Gestalt, is in the hands of the real Kowloong. The two then exit Huaxu’s M.I.N.D. to join the Gray Ravens.
The Stray Ones
This section of the story was originally part of a teaser to the next chapter and can only be accessed from Story Replay in Codex. The name is fan-translated from the Chinese server.
Hassen and Nikola finish tackling the Nighter mission report when Asimov arrives and explains that the ship is headed for the city of Kowloong, currently run by the Kowloong Corp. Hassen muses if a diplomatic approach is possible but the other two counter, stating that most organizations on Earth are hostile to Babylonia and would be best to send an advance team first. Asimov reports on the development progress of a new Construct model that uses Lucia as the sample and incorporates Alpha’s data.
Later on, Nikola asks Asimov about another experiment. The latter is working on the link chamber – a machine that allows for a commandant to connect to Constructs remotely – in order to explore the areas with the highest concentration of Punishing Virus, known as “Dead Zones.” A handful of squads have been tested but Asimov expects only the Cerberus squad will be able to adapt to it in the end. At this time, normal Constructs can only explore the outermost part of a Dead Zone so Asimov plans to develop new models that are able to explore the inner parts, and hands Nikola two files for approval.
Meanwhile, the Ascendants are also monitoring the situation in Kowloong carefully. Gabriel has given Roland some combat enhancements when Luna arrives. Lamia is called to give updates and states that the leaders of Kowloong Corp have refused both the Ascendant’s and Babylonia’s plans, preferring that they decide the future of Earth on their own. Refusing to let Babylonia get ahead of them, Luna mobilizes the Ascendants to Kowloong.
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