The Smoke (before battle)
<Is everyone okay?>
I'm achin' all over... and I feel like the world's spinnin', but...
... We're unhurt.
When we left the Suicide Vending Machine, the sight of the New League of Nine Littérateurs, all in various E.G.O gear, greeted us.
Every now and then, we catch sight of passersby, or people who look like N Corp. employees poking around nearby... but they walk right past us as if we're not even there.
Is this some effect of a new E.G.O developed by N Corp.? Or...
*sigh* Finally.
We can put this irritating bodyguard mission behind us.
... The environment outside has... changed significantly.
Much has occurred in the last 3 months.
Huh, I see... wait, 3 months?
We've been in there for how long?!
Yes, much credit goes to our employees, who worked valiantly to keep you from losing your miserable lives in that box.
<.......>
... There seems to be some sort of commotion afoot... I hear screaming. And what's that smoke in the distance?
We've just received a transmission from Director Hermann. That man, the Chaplain... has... pressed the button.
The button - ?
I won't stop you if you'd rather stick around looking confused, but I would hurry if I were you - your colleague doesn't have much time left.
Oh, I suppose death comes lightly to you since you can simply rewind the dead back to life.
<First things first, we've got to go save Meursault. We can get our bearings about what's been happening outside after that.>
Some time later...
This is... what Grand Magasin Sisyphe looks like from the outside...
All are aslumber within the vats... prisons.
A silhouette of a man, carrying someone in his arms, emerged from the factory through the rising wall of smoke. It was Meursault.
<Meursault!>
Manager. I have secured the Golden Bough.
A Golden Bough was emitting a faint glow in Meursault's grip.
Is that... Jeanne?
Yes. A Giant who has suffered significant psychological damage, caused by events such as the death of their avatar, becomes immobilized for an extended period of time. Therefore, I have decided to carry her outside.
You can just... barge into a Giant's office and haul them out like a sack of potatoes?
Yes. It was not a difficult task, as the password for the office hasn't been changed.
<That's good, I guess... So, what's up with all the fire? And this smoke...?>
<Wait, this sensation - >
Sunlight radiates through the thick plume of smoke,
and a sudden, splitting headache overwhelms me as an unbearable wall of pressure threatens to crush my chest.
If my senses - smell, touch, sight, taste, hearing - could scream out in pain, they would have.
Familiar yet alien beings begin crawling out of the factory...
The customers of the Grand Magasin... prisoners from years upon years of serving the Sisyphe Penalty...
I feel it - no, it closes in from all around me, the inconceivably overpowering presence of...
of...
... Distortions. Distortions that were contained within the Grand Magasin... all 300 million of them...
The Mannequins are... pouring out of the factory.
<Could it be... that the Distortions within the Grand Magasin are being unleashed upon the City...?>
My mind flashes back to the sights within the Grand Magasin. Dead customers, customers turned into clothing, Mannequins, and everything that comprised that department store...
... What is the meaning of this...? Have we been cast out of our Cradle, into this alien world beyond our veils of memory...?
We have seen some of them before. Then that means -
That means the party's just getting started, boys and girls.
We will seize our glory once again, as 300 million Distortions wreak havoc through N Corp.
Jacob, ETA for our team?
They will be deployed soon. Though tests will be conducted once all Distortions have been subdued... I have authorized summary decisions for those foul prosthetic wearers.
Pay special attention to the ones that aren't immediately obvious. They're what the trials are really for.
Wait a minute.
That smoke, it's... it's not just smoke from malfunctioning machines... It's...
.......
We must evacuate, Manager.
Someone has pressed the button and activated the site termination protocol.
At that moment, someone stumbles into view...
Meursault! Convict Meursault!
<... The Chaplain!>
It was me. I triggered the Sisyphe Tower's incinerator!
You all saw those monsters inside the Grand Magasin too, didn't you? Those things aren't human. If they are unleashed... they will surely destroy our Wing.
I did what I had to! I had to burn all of them to ashes!
You there, help me stop the ones who've managed to escape!
In fact, I'll - Yes, I'll hire you! You're Distortion specialists, aren't you? I'll hire you to - aagh!
How could you?! How could you, you bastard?!!!
The capsule vats are being consumed by the dancing flames.
The air is soon filled with a cacophony of voices. Some scream. Some sing. Some speak in an incoherent, alien language.
Ahhhh...!
No... No... This can't be real...!
All those lives, precious lives... Humans, humans of flesh, humans who bleed... Oh, the tears... they won't stop. All we had to do was cull the ones that looked like prosthetic users...!
Damn you, you charlatan of a priest! Damn you!!
.......
Kromer screams in utter despair, tears of fury and hatred streaming down her cheeks.
We have to go, Manager. Now.
From a distance, the Sisyphe Tower, this mega prison, appeared like a lighthouse. But now... it looked more like a chimney.
Too many people, too many Distortions burned all at once, their number so inconceivably large that I could hardly imagine it. Black smoke rose - no, gushed out of the skyward chimney, smothering the sky above N Corp.
But the smoke showed no sign of slowing down. It endlessly spewed from the opening, as though it were trying to devour the City whole.
And soon, it began to rain. Rain that carried ashes, tainted crimson and black by the smoke.
... The scent... of humans...
Gregor began to tremble. The cigarette he'd been smoking slipped out of his fingers.
Executive Manager.
Please steel yourself. I suspect the events of today have set things in motion that cannot be stopped.
Some Sinners mutter helplessly as the foreboding smoke rises and spreads endlessly in the sky.
Meursault, too, stands with the other Sinners and looks up toward the rising smoke with an inscrutable expression.
<... How do you feel about this, Meursault?>
... I believe I feel horror, devastation... and grief.
I had no way of knowing exactly what was captured in Meursault's gaze, or whether our understanding of the "horrified" sentiment was the same feeling he expressed, but...
... I could feel through his words that whatever bound him had loosened tangibly.
The chains... cannot be broken, and they will always constrict around me.
The sun sinks into the devouring maw of the smoke.
Together, we despair.
Together, we are afraid. Together, we watch as the boulder once again teeters at the edge, a portent of its falling.
But Meursault does not look away; he wants his gaze to linger, even as the day comes to an end.
Sinner #5. The one who was never meant to return.
Welcome back.
Here we go again. Vroom once, vroom twice.
For now...
Even as we wait for the terrible night to claim us all...
I think we can watch the sunset together and endure it.
He walks forward, wading resolutely into the infinite dark.
The continuation of the Canned Experience business, the backbone of N Corp.'s economy, has become... unsustainable.
Sure, but that's just a supply issue. There's plenty of demand for experiences only the Cans can provide.
Not a single N Corp. citizen can go 2 days without gorging on some Canned Experience.
... Then what are we to -
Oh, come on! What's wrong with everyone? The Sisyphe System is hardly the only way to procure Experience Soup. You know, the way things were done in the good ol' days!
Yes, that's what I'm talking about - draining the Experience Soup straight from the brain matter.
Experiences of unrivaled freshness! Sensational! Human!
Well, yes, but... That method is...
Is what? What's your problem?
Ohh, are you scared of that stuck-up Chaplain?
.......
Wow, when'd you go and get him?
Anyway, that takes care of that, right? The Inquisition has gripped the nail and smote your "problem" away!
.......
Wait, wait. A moment of silence for our valued teammate. 1... 2... 3...
Now that that's done and over with, let's get siphoning, shall we? The most human experience of them all, from the brain of a Giant...
Have you procured it?
Yes, and without much difficulty. All I had to do was gently pick up this slow, crawling thing from the ground.
.......
A pair of eyes, connected to a brain, hugged by an external membrane. This is it.
The dough from Wuthering Heights, Xianhuang Worm from Hongyuan, and now, this human from the Grand Magasin...
We've certainly gathered many clues, haven't we? For the appearance of the Protoplast... I'd say the fall of N Corp. is a fair trade.
Wait, this one isn't -
Eliminate, purge...!
How could they... burn the Rouges...
What are these monsters...?
... Distortions.
It's raining.
Hah... I can hardly tell them apart. Which are human, and which are Distortions?
Brief me on the situation, Nelly.
Distortions that weren't incinerated by the Sisyphe Tower's disposal system have been unleashed, wreaking havoc on the District, Backstreets and Nest alike.
Kromer has... summoned the board of directors again, but the current crisis is unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future.
I see. So far, no deviations from the predicted development.
Hm.
The outward appearances of Distortions vary - some assume a mechanical form, while others are biological, bearing much resemblance to those of beasts.
It will become harder to... distinguish prosthesis users from Distortions.
They will be subjected to constant mistrust, living under the endless suspicion of being Distortions.
Still, it is unlikely that people will indiscriminately persecute all prosthetic users. Too many vested interests are involved to turn on prosthetic users merely because they might be Distortions. It's a huge tangled knot of monetary and political interests...
Even if they were to risk going against the countless Fixers and Syndicates, several Wings tap their water into the root of the prosthesis industry. They'd be mad to make enemies of them all...
The Malleus Maleficarum has also finished its preparations and is now ready for combat deployment. They need only give the word to have them march into battle.
With three Ones Who Nail who have been holding the Ones Who Grip at the Sisyphe Tower gone... there isn't anyone left in N Corp. to stop them.
... I presume this is developing precisely as the Ones Who Grip have envisioned.
The unleashed Distortions cause violence, instilling fear in people.
And it just happens that fear is a very good justification for the enactment of policies that require one to "prove" one's humanity.
Kromer and Jacob's influence in N Corp. will burgeon.
Yes, it will. And the Malleus Maleficarum has been waiting with bated breath for those plumes of smoke in the sky to turn into a downpour.
I have little faith that the incinerator at the Grand Magasin Sisyphe was sufficient. They had quite a number of prisoners, didn't they?
Well... we can all predict the kind of rain that will fall from that smoke-cloud of crimson black.
Some have already coined the term "Sisyphean Rain." I wonder if the name will stick.
That cloud is a smoke of Distortions. When it rains, its essence will seep into the soil... and the Distortions of the Grand Magasin Sisyphe will be reborn from the earth.
Kromer found the incineration genuinely tragic, but to Jacob... that was just another part of the plan.
It will be as you predicted, Director. The threat of Distortions will come to the forefront in the City, as a highly observable phenomenon - which will make for the perfect justification to wield power with abandon.
Yes, it will. This smoke... will start a war.
Let's seize our opportunity while all hell breaks loose.
Ah. Must've been just a brief shower. It's stopped raining.
... Huh?
Hm? What is it?
I think I saw a... small child. We only made eye contact for a second, but their eyes just reminded me of another I used to look after. Had the same look to them, and... was about the same height, too.
They were limping into the Backstreets, wearing some kind of ragged covering soaked through with rain. I couldn't make it out clearly because it was so worn, but... the color of that cloak reminded me of a Golden Bough's.
Did you now? Well, I hope that child gets home safely.
Hmm... With the chaos unfolding within the District... I wonder if that child will even live to see tomorrow.
There's probably no one to look after them with everything that's happening.
Thank you for looking after those children.
I think the Fount was integral in keeping their minds from breaking.
For... the homeward journey... to the star...
I'm sorry about what happened before. I know an apology is hardly enough to make amends...
... There's something I'd been meaning to ask. How are you able to stay within the limits of the City?
You're not... humans.
.......
... What about you?