EX02 Firn Night
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EX02 Firn Night
Main Story
The Gray Ravens prepare for the data collection on Plume’s frame in Babylonia when Rosetta arrives, asking for the Commandant to join her in an emergency mission to defend the ARU. However, their transport craft is shot down, leaving the Commandant briefly knocked out while Rosetta defends them against hostile bionic machines.
As the duo then proceeds to locate other surviving forces from the crash, Rosetta explains that the ARU only needs to defend against small groups of Corrupted and the occasional “tide” of bionics because the Punishing Virus cannot spread well in the Arctic environment. Hence, the unprecedented scale of the current invasion leads Rosetta to suspect that the bionics may be under someone’s command.
The two eventually join up with Simon, the Commandant’s former F.O.S. classmate, and Atiel, a Construct under Simon’s command. Simon and Atiel have already been in the ARU for a week, and they lead the Commandant and Rosetta to Staessen, the captain of the ARU. Staessen explains that the ARU is on the verge of collapse because they have lost their supply lines to the bionics. He blames the loss on the Forest Guards’ inability to hold the line. Roestta responds by pointing out that Staessen himself has played a role in worsening the situation by only informing Babylonia of the attack at the very last minute.
To recover key areas efficiently, Simon and the Commandant decide to split up: Simon and Atiel will retake the resource pipeline while the Commandant and Roestta handle the hub facilities. Rosetta helps the Commandant board a Polar Soldier unit to provide them with better protection on the battlefield. Diana meets up with the pair upon hearing of the arrival of Babylonian forces.
Upon successfully recapturing their respective key areas, the Commandant’s team rendezvous with Simon and Atiel in a nearby residential area. Among the town’s children playing with Atiel is Evan, who lights up when he sees Rosetta after not having seen her for a long time. The group then decides to mount a counteroffensive: Simon, Atiel, and the fishermen will take the rear while the Commandant leads the Forest Guards.
During the mission, the Commandant learns about the existence of a humanoid-Constuct hybrid named “Amberia.” Thanks to its geographical advantage, the ARU remained untouched during the early stages of the Punishing Virus outbreak, allowing them to perform various experiments on Construct technology. This eventually led to the creation of Amberia, who is capable of commanding bionic machines. Unfortunately, she went berserk upon activation, and the ARU had to contain her at great cost. Afterwards, all engineers involved in the experiment were either executed or imprisoned, while their family and friends were labeled as “sinners,” some of whom were turned into Forest Guards.
Rosetta speculates that Amberia might have been alive all this time and is the cause behind the rise of the bionics. Her hypothesis is confirmed after meeting with Staessen, who reluctantly admits that the ARU has hidden Amberia somewhere in the tundra. In her confinement, Amberia’s M.I.N.D. is being disrupted by nightmares, which causes the bionics linked to her to attack people. Simon recalls that the bionics earlier were carrying energy tanks away and suspects that they are attempting to completely awaken Amberia. The group departs for a secret research lab to locate a code that can control Amberia.
Simon finds the file containing the code in the database room of the laboratory. The code is revealed to be none other than narwhal Derek’s voice. Rosetta explains that Derek’s voice was designed to resonate with the frequency of humanoid-hybrid M.I.N.D.s. For example, Rosetta herself was able to recover from corruption during her last fight with Alpha thanks to Derek’s voice. However, Alpha’s attempts to “tame” Derek have caused its migratory cycle to malfunction since then, and he is nowhere near the ARU territory at the moment. Fortunately, the Commandant remembers that Evan was playing with a gadget containing Derek’s voice recording and rushes back to the residential area. Before the party can reach Evan, Atiel betrays the group and snatches the recorder. The Commandant places a tracker on her before she escapes.
The party tracks Atiel to a hidden underground cave. They fall into a trap set by Lamia, and the Commandant and Rosetta are separated from the rest of the group. Rosetta tells Diana to head back and alert others of the presence of the Ascendant Lamia and Amberia.
When the Commandant and Rosetta eventually reach Amberia, Lamia reveals that Amberia and Atiel are the same person. Atiel and Lamia have made a deal, with Atiel promising to offer Lamia a way to control Amberia without using the Punishing Virus, while Lamia ensures her safety so that Atiel may exact revenge on the ARU. Atiel reveals that she, too, is one of the “sinners”—a descendant of a researcher who worked on developing humanoid-hybrid constructs and the only one in her party who managed to escape the ARU. She was then forced to become a Construct due to the existence of the Punishing Virus outside, and she swore to exact revenge at the ARU. Atiel then enters the next phase of M.I.N.D. integration while Lamia uses the code to activate her frame before escaping. Meanwhile. Simon and Staessen join forces to hold back the bionics’ attack outside the cave.
Rosetta collapses when her M.I.N.D. is forcefully linked with Amberia’s. The Commandant performs a remote dive into Rosetta and Amberia’s linked M.I.N.D. The Commandant plays the recording of Narwhal’s voice, which Rosetta somehow managed to grab from Lamia amidst the chaos, inside the virtual M.I.N.D. space, and successfully weakens Amberia. This allows Rosetta’s M.I.N.D. to break free from Amberia’s hold.
Atiel, desperate to carry out her revenge no matter what, completely abandons any distinction between herself and the monstrous form of Amberia. She then asks Rosetta to join her in taking revenge. Rosetta disagrees, as it would bring even more tragedy, and destroys Amberia-Atiel’s core. Right before she attacks Atiel, Rosetta utters the words “I'm sorry..."—the words that Amberia wanted to hear.
The Commandant and Rosetta become trapped under the debris when the cave collapses in the aftermath of the battle. As Rosetta shields the Commandant, she reveals that she chose them because the Constructs under them always seemed happy despite the challenges they faced. Staessen hears their voices and manages to rescue them from the debris. As the sun rises over the Arctic landscape, they return to a world where humans, bionics, and Forest Guards work together toward a brighter future.
Hidden Story
In a snowy forest, Nanami attempts to communicate with a sentient bionic bear named Martin. To gain Martin’s cooperation, Nanami helps Martin out with the order he received from Amberia, which is to shoot down Babylonian aircrafts approaching the ARU—but in a way that only damages the aircrafts while keeping everyone inside safe.
After shooting down the planes, Martin is at a loss, saying that it doesn’t know what to do anymore after having lost contact with Amberia, the mother-frame. All Arctic bionics are equipped with a receiver device through which they receive the thoughts, feelings, and commands of Amberia. Martin’s device broke during a recent battle against the ARU, and it is now free from Amberia’s influence. Hearing this, Nanami decides she will help stop the conflict by breaking the receivers of every bionic.
Nanami and Martin survey a settlement where the bionics are transporting energy tanks. Suddenly, Nanami leaps out of cover, kicks a hidden Corrupted to rescue the bionic mechanoids, and breaks their receivers. Several bionics express their anger at having their connection with Amberia severed, but all of them agree that no good will come out of fighting. One of the bionics reveals the truth behind Amberia’s creation: the ARU turned terminally ill or dying people into humanoid-hybrid constructs, and as the first successful prototype, Amberia was weaponized against her will. Her anger coursed through her M.I.N.D., spreading through the receivers of the bionics. Although the bionics no longer hear Amberia’s voice, they still wish to free her from her nightmare. They then proceed to continue with their plan, leaving Nanami behind.
Nanami refuses to give up, despite their rejection. She plans to ask Amberia to stop attacking humans and to figure out the Corrupted’s plans. With the help of friendly bionics, Nanami and Martin locate Amberia in a nearby underground cave.
Nanami sees an ongoing clash between the joint forces of ARU and Babylonia versus the angry bionics she met earlier. Nanami joins the battle when she realizes that there are Corrupted hidden amongst the machines and that someone is controlling them behind the scenes. Simon recognizes Nanami and orders everyone to pull back. At the same time, Diana and the rest of the Forest Guards arrive to aid the frontline after leaving Amberia in the hands of Rosetta and the Commandant. Nanami then senses the culprit trying to escape, who is revealed to be Lamia. Before escaping, Lamia claims to have only done this for entertainment and that she does not know of the other Ascendants' plans.
A loud explosion is heard over a distance, followed by Rosetta’s final words to Amberia ringing throughout the battlefield. Everybody slowly realizes that the fight is over. Weeping, Staessen admits his involvement in the cover-up of Amberia’s existence in the underground base and commands everyone to lay down their arms. Meanwhile, Martin concludes that Amberia must have replied with the words “Thank you” in her last moments.
After the battle, some of the bionics decide to follow Nanami instead of remaining at the ARU. Just like the pied piper in the fairytale, Nanami raises her chainsaw as a flag and leads the parade of machines.
Snow Tracks
This section of the story was originally part of a teaser for the current chapter and can only be accessed from Story Replay in Codex.
Commandant Simon arrives in the snowy fields upon the ARU’s request for Babylonia to help them ward off hostile bionic machines. He leads the first group, forces that can be deployed immediately, while the second group is led by Rosetta, who will arrive in a few days. Atiel, coming from a fight, runs out of the forest and interrupts Simon. She wonders how they will match with the other group’s commandant since everyone from their group has been recently transferred. Atiel slaps Simon on the back as a means of comfort but unfortunately, causes Simon to throw up. Shortly after, he receives a message from none other than the Commandant themselves.
Back in Babylonia, Rosetta feels a sense of incompleteness in her new frame. Nikola assures her that the tech department has refitted her weapons and given her training sessions to help her familiarize herself with her frame. As a compromise, he assigns Rosetta to support the ARU ship route.
Gabriel asks Roland if he has seen Lamia due to her instability but is reassured since Lamia is used to being alone. He also asks if Roland plans to kill Selena, but Roland refuses, not wanting to lose a beautiful sample.
In Venus Splash Park, Nanami rants to a machine that she does not want to work. The latter reminds Nanami of her responsibilities but she chooses to run away in order for them not to follow her around.
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