PC14B

News of the war's getting grimmer by the day.

The Sea Terrors are coming, swarming.

This is the day when the oceanborn calamity broke and sunk Ægir's seemingly infinite, starward growth.

Aren't you going to the surface, Mayors? More and more people have been getting too anxious to stay in Ægir.

I'm not. If Ægir falls, it only means that the surface is soon to follow.

Why? Think you'll head to the surface, too?

I'm thinking about it.

While there weren't that many, people around me began to leave for the surface.

I considered some of them to be close acquaintances; they all tried to convince me to leave with them,

but fleeing my home in favor of the land didn't feel right.

The foretold calamity descended.

It dealt a heavy blow to Ægir, but the surface suffered much worse.

I had to help them. How could I not, after hearing that such a terrible thing has happened?

I think I'll head to the surface.

Seriously, the surface? Think hard about it before you go. If you leave now, coming back might no longer be an option!

Every day must be a struggle for them. At least I don't have to fear for the immediate tomorrow…

So it's my responsibility to provide help, as someone who is better off than them, even by a little.

I know. But if I don't go there to help… things'll only get much more dangerous for the land-dwellers.

… Maybe that danger is the very thing that'll hurt you.

I still think I have to help them.

I procured myself an Ægirian research vessel at a cheap price to bring me to the land.

Unable to even submerge itself while moving, this wasn't exactly the best ship out there, and I normally wouldn't have even given it a second look…

… But I thought it would at least help me navigate the coastal sea.

I… didn't expect this.

The very first thing I witnessed on the surface…

... was the bottomless hostility against the Ægir.

They denied my - an Ægir's - offer for help, for the sole reason that I came from the sea.

They denied my compassion. My research.

Get lost!

We don't need your stupid research… You're from the same place as that calamity, aren't you? Do you really think we're so stupid that we'd trust you?

They confiscated my catalysts and tore my research apart.

My wish to stand with them against the calamity was devoured by the hatred born of the same calamity.

Any kindness, any compassion I gave them was repaid twofold in hatred and suspicion.

Did the terrible conditions of this land transform them into monsters, or was this always their nature?

It wasn't long before the research vessel I brought from Ægir was confiscated out of suspicion…

… A few weeks later, when I finally came across that vessel by the beach, there was an uncanny name inscribed on its side… Rebelión de las Masas.

But none of that was enough to stop me… from continuing my research for the sake of the land-dwellers.

I went through so, so many trials and errors to somehow impede the Sea Terrors' rapid evolution, to revive the Iberian soil contaminated by the nethersea brand.

But my work bore barely any fruit...

... and I let the days float by as I watched the 'Inquisition' arrest the Ægir one by one…

... when my Sea Terror samples and research notes came into view.

They all looked completely different from one another-some of them with fundamentally different physiologies. Even still, nothing stopped them from being "us" instead of "I."

And for the first time, I became doubtful of my efforts to interrupt their evolution.

Her tales were... not entirely fabrications.

Mayors is a Bishop of the Church of the Deep, so that automatically makes her a sinner in the eyes of the Inquisition - regardless of her reasons.

The more I studied them, the more I found them to be such compassionate, altruistic creatures.

All they cared about was their survival, without even a hint of selfishness.

They're not some evil monsters from the sea.

…….

Mayors, I concede that Seaborns may not be "evil."

But it doesn't matter "what" they are, whether they are kindly lifeforms, or whether they are simply a different form of civilization… it doesn't matter.

… Because Iberia and her Inquisition does not define Seaborns as evil.

Seaborns are our enemy.

Threats to human existence.

I have but one thing to say as an Inquisitor.

You, all of you, are my enemy.

…….

But... it would be a good thing for the Inquisition if I were to leave for the City, wouldn't it?

Why would you say that it's a "good thing" for us to toss our problem into another world?

That'll be like... abandoning our pride.

Unless they... the people of the City give you permission, as an Inquisitor, I can't let you do that.

Yeah, and don't get your hopes up about that, either.

You can wrap it in a box that says "compassion" for all you want, but... Mayors, your course isn't exactly the direction I'd like to sail in.

As the rest of the Sinners prepare for battle in silent agreement with Ishmael's stand, Mayors mutters with genuine disappointment.

... I didn't want to have to do this.

Waves.

I had no better word to describe the horde of Sea Terrors crashing into us.

But this is the only way it could've ended.

Your words are... composed entirely of your own color, and no one else's.

Manager Dante... right?

Do speak.

We will hold the line and defend this place against the Sea Terrors rushing in from the rear.

So, in the meantime... can you take down Mayors and deal with the remaining Sea Terrors?

<Absolutely.>

The manager has responded affirmatively.

All Operators, we'll be drawing the Sea Terrors to us.

We don't need to take them all down - we just need to act as a wall between the wave and the people of Limbus Company.

Irene, I would like to ask for your help as well. As for Amiya...

... please assist Limbus Company, just in case.

... Okay! Then... let the mission begin.