Chapter 119: Into the Edax Abyss

Urk...

Are you okay, Aldo?

Where...are we?

My guess is we're at the bottom of the Edaxian Domain...

Chronos sank the Tree of Time, and us along with it...

Damn't Chronos... If we're here, then what happened to the Tree of Time?

It was either completely destroyed or somehow returned to the hollow. Which, I do not know...

It'd take a lot more than some missiles to destroy that tree... In it lives the prayers of all the meks, and Yuki, too. It's got a lot to protect.

Anyone seen Nilya? She was trying to protect us and...

If you're looking for Nilya, she's right here! And nary a scratch on her!

Well, that's good news at least...

You can't go putting your life at risk like that, Nilya!

No promises! I have free will and no one will stand in the way of it!

Zen we should use our free will to find a way out of here, non?

Nullon readings have exceeded all safety levels. There is no guarantee to our safety if we remain here. I do not know what effect this amount of nullon exposure will have...

What if we all jumped into Guilty Hades? Would that buy us some time? It's probably the only way we can get out of here, either way...

Great idea, Kam! Might be a little cramped, but let's use Guilty Hades to find a way out of here!

Looks like a dead end... How in the world are we supposed get out of here?

There you are, Grand Hades...

It's not Grand Hades anymore. Now that it's been overrun with edaxians, it's more like a "Xeno" Hades.

Quite the persistent one...

Are you ready to meet your demise, Xeno Hades?

It seems it's ready to meet its fate, Kamlanage. Do what you must.

Okay Guilty Hades, let's put this monster in his place!

What the... There seems to be some kind of barrier protecting it...

That would be Grand Hades barrier system. It's way stronger than what when we first fought it, though...

Guess this is another side effect of being taken over by edaxians. Aldo, be extra careful.

Man! We keep hitting it and it's doing nothing at all!

Well, we were able to make it out, but...

Even in Guilty Hades we weren't even able to put a dent in the thing...

Yes, we're in quite the pickle, indeed.

Eep!

A monster?! How did it get so big?

I bet it's from absorbing so much of the energy here.

Let's go Guilty Hades!

We did it!

That should have been enough to take one of Xeno Hades shields offline...

Xeno Hades has five shields in total. Which means there should be 4 other edax monsters like this one. Let's go find them.

My guess is that we're going to need to do more than remove its shields. We're going to need to upgrade Guilty Hades if we ever want to stand a chance.

What's that?

I believe it is a crystalized form of bio-energy generated from defeating that edaxian monster.

If that is the case, we should be able to use it to power up Guilty Hades.

Really? That'd be great!

We're going to need a lot more than this to do it, though.

Okay, let's go see how many Edax crystals we can scrounge up.

You ready to rumble, Xeno Hades? This is going to be your last dance!

And this time we're ready. Right, Kam?

Come on, Xeno Hades. We're powered up and ready to take you down!

Okay Guilty Hades, let's put this monster in his place!

And that takes care of that!

Wait, something's wrong!

Aah!

This is no good, no good at all!

Guilty Hades is sinking!

Set thrusters to max, Kam!

I already am! It's not enough!

I'm getting abnormal graviton readings! It's only a matter of time before we are past the point of no return!

It's no use, we can't stop! We're going to sink into the abyss!

Is zere nothing we can do?!

An imperial Riftbreaker?!

You kidding me? Who would be stupid enough to...

Seems like I made it just in time.

Professor Sebastia!

Finally lost your marbles, eh Proff?

...But why are you here?

I owe you one. And I wasn't about to let you die before I made good on my debt.

Hold on tight, because even an imperial battleship can't last long down here. Hurry!

I'm holding on! Punch it!

Reverse thrusters, engage!

We did it! We made it out!

Thank you, Sebastia... How did you know where to find us?

Ah, that'd be because I told her! Feel free to lavish me with praise whenever you feel like it.

Synth Hydra!

I picked up a signal coming from this direction, and it lined up with yours and neither of them were moving so... I figured you were likely in some pretty deep trouble, so I did what any friend would do.

You're the best, Synth Hydra! Thank you so much! And you were right, we were in trouble, and it was pretty deep, too!

What'd I say? I'm the most honorable of battleships. I'll be there to save you no matter how bad things get.

Right, then I believe that is it for me. This makes us even, yes?

Wait, where is Chronos?!

...... He ordered all battleships to the Xeno Domain.

What?! He's not going to...

That's as much as I'm willing to say. Just know that the Synth Hydra is no where near enough to take on the might of the imperial fleet.

This is a fight you cannot win. Give up before it's too late.

......

Now, goodbye.

...The Xeno Domain? What is he trying to turn the empire into?!

That one's easy. Same thing he's been trying to turn it into this whole damn time. A dictatorship where he gets to do whatever he wants, and if ya don't like it then off with your head. Only reason ya haven't noticed is cause everyone's already too scared to speak up.

But that's wrong!

Doesn't matter if it's wrong or right. "Justice" is a myth. Whoever wins writes the rules. The winner takes it all.

But...

It's not true, Feinne.

So then are you gonna just sit there and let Chronos do whatever he wants?

No. It's not true because we're gonna do something about it.

What about what Sebastia said? There is no way we can take on the imperial fleet all on our own.

Well, we have to try.

Amy's right. Let's start by going to the Xeno Domain and see for ourselves what the situation is.

Probably are able to access it now that the hollow clock has been stopped...

But that also means the Synth Hydra can travel to places we couldn't go before, too.

What are you gonna do, Minalca? There's a good chance we're about to go toe to toe with the empire. You gonna be okay with that?

It doesn't feel great fighting against my own country, but I'm ready to do it. I've come this far, and there's no going back now.

And I'm not gonna let anyone say I ran at the first sight of conflict with the imperial fleet.

Come on, Minalca. We all know you wouldn't run.

Then I guess we're doin' this! It's do or die time, mates!

They will pay for trying to destroy Yuki's grave.

How 'bout you, rok lord? You talked a big game before, you still ready to do this?

Of course. It was my intention from the very beginning. For my brothers... As the only remaining guard, I shall see this to the end, so that my heart may someday become a ferry blossom.

Then it's settled. We can win as long as we all do this together.

My own father tried to kill me along with the Tree of Time... I need to know why.

Come on, Guilty Hades! Give me strength!

Set course for the Xeno Domain. We're coming for you, Chronos.

Should have expected this, but it looks like it's in a different place relative to Elzion...

And since the space elevator isn't working, we're going to have to use Synth Hydra to find a way in.

Aye.

I find this oh so exciting, you know. A future where nearly anything is possible! I can't wait to see what happens!