Cigarettes & The Nursefather (before battle)
... Looks like we're here. It's the lab.
The LCD and LCE haven't reached out again since that last transmission.
I can only hope that no misfortune befell them...
Hey, Manager Bud, you picking up on anything? I mean the Golden Bough... If those people got to it before us...
<Not yet, I don't think they did...>
<It's still in there.>
*sigh* Is that right? I guess I should be glad we still have a chance.
Gregor mumbled on in a gloomy tone.
Hohenheim will be relieved to hear this.
We stepped into the lab. The lights were off - it was completely dark inside.
If the assailants were indeed after the Golden Bough... what could they possibly want with it?
…….
I was deeply engrossed in my thoughts when I noticed that Ryōshū had stopped in her tracks.
<Ryōshū?>
There's a stench coming from up ahead... A sickeningly familiar one.
Even in the cloying darkness of the unlit lab, Ryōshū seemed to notice something out of place.
You smell something...? I don't smell anything other than your cig -
…….
... Oh, yeah. You've not been smoking for a... hot minute.
Only silence welcomed us in the lab.
We couldn't hear any breathing, but there it was without a doubt - the stink of cigarettes and a chilling, disembodied sense of dread we couldn't exactly put our finger on.
…….
When I left that place...
I remember feeling a strong contempt for someone.
It had to have been...
Ryōshū started muttering as though she was gripped by the chill.
I noticed she wasn't speaking to me, though. It seemed as though she was wading through a bog of mutilated memories to cling to her emotions at that moment.
Dihui Star(地慧星), you...
All along, you've wanted to make me suffer to the bitter end, haven't you?
What audacity. You think I'm the one making you suffer, Yoshihide?
You do realize that you've always been the one obstacle in my life, don't you?
This is the only way for us to get even.
Yoshihide, it...
It never stops.
The sound of the fetter around my feet, rusted and heavy... How it clinks and rattles...
In that vision of the past, Ryōshū raises her sword in an agonizingly slow motion, unsheathing the blade that we have never seen revealed before -
- A white blade of such unfeeling purity, devoid of even a trace of mercy beneath its pale edge.
In the split second I was blinded by the glint of the blade...
... Ryōshū clutched the hooded figure's jaw in her crushing grip.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, she drove the blindingly bright sword into the figure's mouth.
Gah... *hack*
*huff* Hrrk...
Ryōshū pulled the sword out in a single swift motion.
*splat*
The figure coughed out a thick glob of blood and a piece of her sliced tongue.
Hah...
Hah! Ha... haha... Haha!
But she spat out more than just the bloody chunk of flesh. A guffaw hacked its way out of her mouth...
The triumphant laughter of one who had just seized the victory of one's life.
With a deep, ragged breath, Ryōshū let the sword fall from her grip.
She stood rooted in her spot, staring at the flailing figure with a look of pure confusion.
... I.S.O.T.P.I.T.A.
Insidious Stench Of The Past... In The Air.
And right now, right before Ryōshū's eyes...
The vivid presence from the memories of the past came to life in the form of a white silhouette,
her hand slowly brushing the lips beyond which no tongue laid, as if to remember the absence of the organ that Ryōshū had so mercilessly cut off...
Like a lone watchman who had been keeping vigil, awaiting our arrival.
…….
... Ha.
The mouth that lost its tongue faced Ryōshū without opening even once.
But I think I heard a whisper of a hollow sigh escaping between her lips.
Because of my five "fathers"... I had to leave behind the single most important thing in this world.
And that is why...
I must take it back.
So happy to see you again, Ryōshū. I mean it.
... Such were the words my master bade me to relay.
... The Pinky Nursefather.
As my master... expects naught from my insignificant self...
I am but a blade rusting amid the quiet turn of nature, doomed to ever endure the dullness of todays and the emptiness of morrows.
And therein, owing to your pursuit of the spider's thread...
I am once again granted a chance to carry out my master's will.
... Another talker. Piss off.
As her apprentice approached us, Ryōshū's "Nursefather" slowly stepped away...
... toward where the container of Golden Boughs lay nestled, emanating a soft glow.
... The preparations are complete. I trust you have not forgotten the plan?
…….
Where the "Nursefather" had left, a figure clad in steel armor entered.
<What the...>
The armament looks a little too crude... to be a piece of gear imbued with advanced technology.
... It looks akin to the torture device we had previously seen in the basement of Sinclair's home.
No flesh, no blood, no bones to show... in a fight?
For an artwork meant for my eyes... its aesthetics are lacking in class.
…….
Keeping your mouth shut even in a moment like this... Did he not teach you there's no beauty to be found in it?
I want him here. Where is the Ring Nursefather?
The armored figure answered Ryōshū's question...
... with a swing of their huge sword.
<We need to take care of this quick... and track down the Golden Bough.>
<Let's fend them all off.>
You're starting to pick up the rudiments of aesthetics, Clock.
Watch as I demonstrate the meaning of A.O.S.