The End of History

Oh?

What is this? It's glowing?

The gems you've collected seem to be completing each other's information.

If you wait a little longer, you may find out more.

I see... From what I've seen so far, I can't tell why I was in that place, or why they put their prayers in me. I still don't know how I can save everyone in Cochlea from the repeated destruction they're facing.

Oh...

If we have more clues though, maybe we'll be able to work something out.

And then we'll be able to save them!

I'm sure we'll be able to progress. Let's wait a little.

It stopped glowing. Looks like it finished supplementing the information.

Are you ready, Nona?

I am. The place I once called home is stuck repeating the moment of its destruction, even now. The only one who can help them is me, outside their recurrent spacetime. I can't stop now.

Right. And I'd like to find out the mystery of when you were born.

Same. What we know so far, is that I was sent to Cochlea from an era we've never seen before. The people from that era were trying to change history and bring someone into being.

That must have something to do with me being born in that era and sent to Cochlea, surely?

Yeah, I assume so.

They said that the destined destruction could be overturned. So I was thinking. What if my role is to stop the destruction of Cochlea?

They did say that they didn't want history to end. So the key to changing the future lies in the Cochlea era, and they sent you there to turn it?

Maybe. If Cochlea's fall itself was a mistake in history, and if those people were trying to change that... Then there must be something I can do to save Cochlea.

Yes, if Cochlea's fall created the recurrent spacetime, then that must mean it's not its intended history.

If I knew more about that time, I might be able to work out what they wanted to do.

I know that we won't find all of the answers in this.

But I want to move forward, even if just a little. Will you come with me, Aldo?

Of course!

Okay then. Let's watch.

......

Did it work? How long have we been...

Oh no... I must inform the other researchers.

The cold sleep gauge has been damaged? How could this be?

Then we have no way of knowing what year it is? What was it like on the outside, Chief?

I have been unable to confirm yet. However... Our cold sleep should only be canceled when the Interplate War is over.

We were only able to wake up because it detected an end to the relentless blasts and plate collapses. Whatever year we've found ourselves in, we'll be in a world without war.

This is the moment we at the Perma- Civilization Institute have been dreaming of! To come to a future without war, and prevent mankind from making the same mistakes again.

It is for this that we chose to abandon the era of our birth and travel through time.

Unless things changed while we were asleep, our shelter ship should still be on the contaminated surface.

First, let's check the external contamination levels and use the radar to survey nearby sky cities. Once that is done, identify a city to contact and send out a signal.

Yes, Chief! Though I'd say not to take off our suits until we know the full situation.

Once safety checks are complete, should we wake the civilian shelters from their cold sleep?

I'd love to give the good news right away to all those civilians who put their fates in our hands... However, our first priority is to confirm the situation in this era. Investigate carefully.

...... How could this be...

The contamination analysis is complete. Our conclusion is as follows... Surface level contamination is dozens of times more concentrated than previously. It is so severe that it would cause instant death without protective clothing.

......

The good news is, this thick haze blocking out all heat and light has caused the toxic substance to freeze. If this substance had melted, it would have eaten into the surface, causing the very planet to collapse.

Thank you for your report.

Might I hear your report on the radar search again?

Yes, Chief.

There was no aerial radar response within the thousand-unit search radius. No floating plates could be detected.

......

...... Then this planet...

Indeed. With all this devastation and pollution, no life can survive. It has become a dead planet.

No...

Release from our cold sleep was dependent on an end to the blasts and vibrations caused by the war.

When we put ourselves to sleep... It was the end of civilization. We despaired for humanity and its fight over dwindling resources. Yet, I never imagined that the conflict would only end with the destruction of all life here.

There is still hope. The search range of the radar wasn't wide enough to cover this whole planet. There could be plates out there that have gone undetected. Or maybe there are people out there somewhere, who have survived on the surface.

Then we...

We will set out, and look for any survivors.

Luckily, our shelter ship has plenty of fuel left. We will detach from the civilian shelter and search for all possible locations of a human base.

For the sake of every civilian still frozen, we shouldn't give up hope yet.

Then let's make arrangements for immediate departure. Everyone, start your inspections!

About that crash plate we discovered earlier... There were no signs of life detected.

I've had just as little luck. Were you able to find any traces of civilization?

The damage was so severe that it was difficult to even determine an age. The terrain had been distorted by a powerful force. Like the whole area had been wiped out. It couldn't have been done by a weapon from our time.

For weapons to have evolved so, the war must have intensified significantly. If only we could find a relic that could explain what happened.

Reporting in, Chief! Our topographic survey shows that there is a huge hole ahead measuring a few thousand units in diameter. We have also detected a large amount of sediment at the bottom of this hole.

We might find something there.

Let's head there immediately and inspect this sediment.

Such a huge crater...

It couldn't have been made by any natural force. I wonder what it's doing here.

We were able to measure the contamination concentration in the sediment! It is made up of heavy pollutants far more concentrated than on the surface.

Is that so? Then perhaps this was used as a dump site. To bury the substances too harmful for mankind to even leave on the surface.

It does look that way. Some of the deposits include waste fuel and weapons parts. The escalating war probably hastened the development of weapons and led to even more contamination.

Not only did we squander the planet's resources, we even drilled into it to contaminate it further. The sins of mankind are truly immeasurable.

We should leave this place. Our suits won't protect us from this level of contamination outside the shelter.

No. We must investigate this location.

But!

We only have a finite amount of energy to maintain our shelter ship and suits.

Whatever the risks, we must try to find something to help the future of humanity in what time we have left. We owe it to the history of humanity, to all those civilians who believed in a better tomorrow.

......

Understood. We will prepare to investigate at once.

There should be traces left that will show what happened while we were frozen. Let us bring our sins to the light of day.

...... I never thought we'd find something like this.

Civilization on this planet advanced immeasurably while we were asleep.

This relic may provide an answer to our investigations. Gather the other researchers.

Let's share the results of our investigation thus far.

Using fragments of discarded records, logs of airplanes that crashed from magnetic disturbance... And this relic here... We have compiled together some information. And what we have ascertained is...

All life on this planet was destroyed by three wars waged by humans.

......

The first was a war by proxy, using machines. Depletion of fuel led to the second, one of chemical warfare.

And most unbelievably of all, the third was a spacetime war, in which history was repeatedly changed.

A spacetime war?

It's all recorded in this relic. It seems to be a spacetime reversal device used in the spacetime war.

...!

Technology to travel back in time, brought to a civilization deadlocked by countless wars. By sending people to the past, they were able to destroy military bases and assassinate key figures. Thus changing the course of the war.

Surely that would create a paradox?

Yes, it did. When the spacetime war intensified, history became inconsistent and warped. The strange terrain distortions and disappearances we've seen may be caused by such changes in history.

If it was indeed possible to go back in time... Was there really no use for this technology, other than as a weapon of war?

Perhaps things would have been different if those interested in the prosperity of humanity had used it.

However, the greater the time gap, the greater the energy required to travel back in time. Their only choice was to make repeated short trips to recent times in order to save themselves.

But that's...

As a result, history repeatedly diverged and disappeared... And the only thing that remains of it now is this future of death we find ourselves in.

Humanity has made an irreparable mistake.

Indeed. However, we may have the chance to correct that mistake.

What do you mean?

Fortunately, this spacetime reversal device appears to be undamaged. Perhaps its user vanished due to a change in history. Or perhaps it was thrown out unused for some reason...

Either way, we can use it to alter things. We can change this path of despair that humanity followed!

But! If we're able to change history, then this worst case scenario we find ourselves in could disappear. You still want to try anyway?

I do. If our energy reserves run out, we'll be stuck here waiting for our own demise anyway.

If there is a happier future for humanity, we should make way for the versions of us that live there.

You're right. Perhaps that was why we were left to this era.

Let's analyze this spacetime reversal device and secure power for it atonce.

Thank you. In the spacetime war, humanity only ever used this technology to destroy each other.

If we can use the power of time to stop the war instead...

Wormhole expansion confirmed. The upstream squad is returning.

The power drain is immense... It has to work this time. If not, we don't have much more to give.

We've done everything we can. Hurry with the timepoint analysis, please. It's all we've got.

Right away!

This is... None of the sampled timepoints have changed. It appears there's a corrective force in play here.

Let me see...

...Some kind of outside will is involved here. That's the only way I can explain this. No matter how we attempt to modify time, probability, even physical laws... It always corrects back to this future.

But didn't the records say that humanity once interacted extensively with their own history?

Conditions may be different for us. Or, something may be interfering with our attempts to change history... There's something in play here. A form of...temporal homeostasis. Every change resolves back to neutral.

Does that mean we can't actually enact any lasting changes?

...After all the trials we've done, with nothing to show for it, we may have to finally accept it.

But...!

Just when we thought we'd found a way to correct the mistakes of mankind's history...

This planet, it's sick. It's infected with mankind's hubris, the hideous byproducts of our civilization. But does that mean we don't deserve even a glimpse of hope?! Is it already too late even for a glimmer...?!

......

I never imagined I would see humans here, at the very end of history itself.

Waaagh! Wh-Who are you?

I have watched over the history of this planet.

Then what are you? A god? A transcendental being?

Interpret it however you wish. For humans, "god" is not a fixed concept. It varies according to individual perspective and desires.

Oh... Well, it doesn't matter who you are. Tell us, is this really the end of human history? Is there nothing we can do?

Do you know of the law that governs this time layer?

Time layer?

Think of it as one of the many possibilities that exists on this planet. You are within it now. The time layer usually maintains its existence by diverging and converging when new possibilities emerge. However, this time layer has suffered too many changes in history. It had to shut off these possibilities.

So that's why our attempts to alter history failed?

Yes.

There's really no way for us to correct humanity's mistakes?

That all depends on you.

It does?

Long ago, when this planet was almost destroyed by its two wars, humans asked for our help. They didn't want such a future. They wanted to make up for the failures in their history.

You don't mean...

We gave them the wisdom they sought. But the time travel technology was beyond human control.

It was you who brought that technology to mankind!

It was. And you have seen the consequences of that. This time layer rejects all changes. Even we, with our power, cannot do anything about this law. However, I can provide you with an opportunity.

An opportunity?

Just once, I will open the gate to your desired era, free of all restrictions.

...!

Remember, don't seek to change what has already been attempted. This will only be corrected again. Find a way to unravel the laws of homeostasis and rewrite history.

If you can accomplish this, then perhaps you will be able to change this ending.

......

What should we do, Chief?

If this is humanity's last chance, bestowed upon us by a god... Then we must take it. We must find a way to change this closed future.

That... That was the future of the White Night Time Layer. Way, way into the future, far beyond what we could even comprehend.

It's hard to believe the world was so desolate... And Phantom, he appeared before the people of the future?

You must be involved in this plan to change the closed future somehow. If that's the case...

I feel a real sense of foreboding about this. Let's keep watching.

Okay!

This is what we've established so far regarding revisions in history in this time layer.

Records left by prehistoric humans support what we were told by the white god who appeared before us. They confirm a phenomenon in which history that had been altered at a certain point, was restored.

...... The white god told us that we could go back in time only once. What can we do to change history with just one move?

...... I learned one more thing about the laws of revising history.

I wondered, what was considered to be a revision in history? What would be corrected in this time layer? And in looking through records of past experiments, I think I found the pattern.

Really?

For an altered history to be corrected, there is a condition that must be met... It occurs when the flow of life energy in each era is dramatically altered.

Life energy?

It was demonstrated in an experiment undertaken after the time layer homeostasis had already begun.

They went back to the past and scratched a pillar... They found that the scratch was never corrected when they returned to the future.

They kept scratching at the pillar until it collapsed, killing many. All scratches on the pillar were then erased in the future.

Goodness! So the time layer is monitoring life on this planet? It will act to correct any changes to this?

In other words, no matter how we may try to correct the past... We cannot erase a huge loss of life, such as the third great war, from its history.

No. At least in this fixed history, it would be impossible to move the flow of life energy in each era.

To change the fate of humanity... ......

What is it, Chief?

There's something I would like to check. Even if the ending can't be changed...

Have you decided on an era?

No. Our research has shown that no matter which time we go back to, we cannot change history ourselves.

......

However, we have thought of another way for human history to continue on forever.

Oh?

I have a few questions for you. First, is the time layer's power to correct history infinite? Or is it finite?

It is not infinite. The time layer is ailing, weakened by repeated alterations. To make history unchanging is a last resort.

If there is a limit to the corrective power of the time layer... What will happen to this time layer if that power limit is exceeded, thus generating a contradiction?

Perhaps the time layer would collapse and everything would fall to chaos. Perhaps it would disappear without a trace. I have no way of knowing. If there was such a risk, the instinct of the time layer would be to resist, aggressively if it must.

That's what I was hoping to hear.

You have an idea?

Yes. I will need your help though.

Let me ask you one more thing. You're different from lifeforms like us. Does that mean you're outside the flow of life energy observed by the time layer?

I would imagine so.

Strictly speaking, I do not exist in this world. I am more like a thought than I am a lifeform. Thus, I am restricted in how I can intervene. I can give power to the living, but I cannot exercise it.

I see. Then... If we were to create a vessel and use your power to give it life... Would the time layer regard it as a foreign object?

A vessel brought to life by my power? Can you create such a thing?

If we combined the technology of our time with the technology left behind from chemical warfare... It should be possible to at least create a living puppet identical in structure and nature to a human. If we can unravel the nature of your power, we can create a compatible body.

How interesting. Let us put the culmination of human civilization to the test. Let's say you do manage to create a lifeform that can trick the time layer. What then?

We will leave that to them.

We will give them the power to break through the closed future, and send them to the appropriate era.

Oh...

We must start the experiment at once.

My chosen method may well deviate from the Institute's philosophy. The others may not accept it... Still, I must do this for the last of humanity, sleeping under the ice, believing in a tomorrow...

In order to preserve human history, I have no choice but to follow this course.

How could this be happening?

Chief!

What's going on here?! What happened? Where is the project... Where's our precious child?

...We failed to pick up on a runaway internal energy cascade. By the time the alert sounded, it was already... ...Automatic deployment of the freezing system was necessary. Cell integrity failed, resulting in exothermic reaction.

An explosion... And the child was lost.

......

I'm glad your equipment protected you. I also see no issues with the overall life reaction process. Transport her to the medical pod. Once her eyes open, her first task will be to clean up this mess.

Chief...

We haven't lost anything yet. We've just returned to square one.

Don't lose heart. Keep thinking, keep testing, keep praying. Until the day that our savior, our miracle child, is born...

......

A vessel made by the last of humanity, a miracle child of Phantom's power... Could it be...

......

The failed project has been successfully disposed of?

Yes. The remains were sent into this bottomless abyss. ......

Do you feel bad about her? Technically speaking, she was lost before she was ever alive. That must be some comfort, at least.

No, it's the plan itself that concerns me. The Perma-Civilization Institute sought to maintain peace for the eternal prosperity of humanity.

For our final choice for humanity to be so cruel, it's...

As you will know from your research, there is a limited number of lives allowed to exist in any one time. This is the only way for the last of humanity, both us and the civilians, to return to the loop of history.

Or would you rather watch as humanity perishes in anguish on this contaminated planet of death?

I know that this is the best way to ensure the survival of humanity. But then...

What is the point in human history, if it is built on the sacrifice of innocents?

Sacrifice is inevitable. However... An imitation prisma explosion turns all life to nothing in an instant. It is too quick to be painful.

That's not what I mean!

Creating a part-god-part-human life to trick the time layer, sending it to the dawn of ancient civilization. Using prisma weapons to carry out genocide... Then generating a temporary change in the flow of life energy to exceed the time layer's corrective powers... And using this to send us to antiquity. Basically...

We aim to survive by killing one ancient person for every one of us, so that we can take their place. Such behavior violates our moral duty to protect humanity! It is unforgivable!

......

I don't care if it's unforgivable. To keep our history from ending, to ensure our people never lose hope, we must commit this sin.

But!

By returning to antiquity, human history will become an eternal cycle, never to be destroyed.

No matter how many times we go wrong, no matter how much we destroy this planet... As long as we have the final choice, humanity can never destroy its civilization.

But this won't change humanity's history of mistakes! With history repeating itself, humanity will wage war after war and eventually destroy the planet!

We don't know that.

Next time, we can act as guides, watching over humanity in their barbaric age. We can't change the great flow of life, but we can improve humanity. Make them wiser, more benevolent...

And someday, perhaps we will find a way to alter the destruction of the planet itself.

It's pure arrogance to think like that! Our ancient ancestors had their own lives. If we would delve so low as to steal that from them for our own survival... How can we expect to guide humanity through a better history?

...... We're never going to see eye to eye, are we?

Wha?! What did you...

I activated the freeze function in your suit. An emergency measure, for combating criminal behavior. I'm afraid you left me no choice.

......

Thank you. Carry them to the cold sleep chamber.

If the only ones to carry out this plan are those prepared to sin, well so be it.

Even if that means I'm the only one left to enact it...

Chief. We have successfully created an imitation prisma prototype.

At long last! Good.

The pseudo-prisma pollutant weapon used in the second chemical war... It took some time to analyze the composition, but there's no material better suited to the project.

Our goal is to impose a strain on the time layer that will exceed its corrective abilities... Forcing it to accept our desired alterations. Our research shows that the further back in time we go... And the more complex the cause, the more likely delays and errors will be. Will the contamination from the imitation prisma proceed within the planned time frame?

Yes. Over a period of 15 years, it will absorb all nearby elementals... While releasing induced explosive energy resembling elementals. Once the elementals are fully replaced... The induced explosion factors will gradually increase. It will take about three years to criticality.

More than enough time to deceive the time layer. A prisma explosion-induced mass death event will surely lead the time layer to seek the change point.

However, with such a gradual change, it will struggle to identify the start point of the destruction. The fact that the carrier is a non- lifeform akin to that white god will further deceive the time layer.

Indeed. We only have a short window, however. Before the time layer completes its corrections... We will need to transport all of us here through the gate that the white god will open.

It will be a challenge. Have you selected an era and country for the transfer?

Yes. My first choice is a kingdom in antiquity known as Cochlea. An island nation enshrouded in fog with little contact with the outside. Its population is close to ours.

Plus, elementals perfect for our imitation prisma are concentrated in the center of the country.

The conditions sound perfect. Thank you. Let us continue our investigation.

The number of people sleeping here has increased considerably. You are the better people.

Even so, I firmly believe that this path is what's best for humanity. I can't give up, not ever. I must connect human civilization in an infinite cycle.

Reporting in, Chief! Code Nona's embryogenesis has been successful!

...!

So far, the imitation prisma has not been rejected. Morphogenesis is underway in the breeding pod.

Thank you. I must see this!

So this is our miracle child...

Yes. We adjusted the genome after the recent failures of Code Setima and Code Ottava... She can adapt to any environment and carry out human-like activities with only the power of the white god.

We expect the transplanted imitation prisma to work without a hitch.

We have waited a long time for your birth, little one.

Chief! Without your helmet, the contamination⁠...

It does not matter. I have already fulfilled my purpose. Right now, I want to gaze at this little one's face.

Hyum-hyum...

Nona, you are our miracle child, born of our hopes, born of our egos. I'm sorry we placed this cruel fate on you. I'm sorry for making you carry the burden of this selfish wish all alone.

We may not have the right to say this... But at the very least, I pray for your happiness.

No issues with the wormhole. Opening gate...now.

Beginning recorder check...

All systems operational, Chief.

Excellent. Suit up, everyone. Beginning the transmission.

...This is our final attempt. There will not be another. Go well, Nona, and live on. O child, loved by all humanity. You are our very last hope.

You are the culmination of countless miracles, an infinitesimal possibility. If there is the slightest chance... Please, Nona. Save our species. Save humanity's past... And all of our futures.

This can't be... The prayer they entrusted to me was to destroy Cochlea?

I'm not a person, I'm a puppet fueled by Phantom's powers?

Nona...

I can't... I can't believe it...

......

I loved everyone in Cochlea, never knowing what I truly was. And 18 years later...slowly but surely, I killed them all.

I exposed them to a destruction so terrible that not even my mother's time reversals could stop it. I put them through all that pain, all that sadness, all that suffering, over and over again!

You didn't, Nona! It wasn't you!

No, I did! I was born to kill those I loved!

If this is how it was always meant to be... I wish I would have never been born!

Please, don't say that.

But...

No one gets to choose where or why they're born.

But that's why you're alive. Your feelings and the time you spent here could never be wrong.

......

You weren't born to kill. You care about others, you would do anything to help those in need. That's the kind of person you are!

That's the way you chose to live. Don't let those people decide your fate.

Aldo...

And the choice is still yours to make now...

I...

Is there anything I can do?

...!

I don't think I can ever make amends. Still, I can't leave them like this...

Me neither. I'm not going to give up until we find out what we can do. We've finally found out why Cochlea was destroyed and what's causing the recurrent spacetimes. That's a start.

Yeah...

You're right. We have to keep going forward. I don't have time to stop...

I...

You can stop. After what you've been through, I think it's all right to stop for a little.

Yeah...

Waaah! Waaargh!

You did it!

Are you okay, Sesta?!

I meant to hold back, but... It seems we really did a number on her.

You're awake? Sesta? Why did you...

Whoa!{lang-nuance}prev:You're awake?Sesta? Why did you...{/lang-nuance}

W-wait...what?

She's losing herself again... What's this about a mirror?

Huh? Is that...a person? I don't understand...

Oops! Did we accidentally beat up a person?

Uh-oh! Let's go check on them, quick!

Phew! Looks like they're still breathing.

I only saw a giant beast before. When did they take human form?

They certainly look different from all the other monsters we've seen here.

When they wake up, we'll have to ask them when they came from, and why they attacked the village.

Ugh...

You're awake? Who are⁠...

Whoa!{lang-nuance}prev:You're awake?Who are⁠, {/lang-nuance}

Give it back!

Huh?

Give back that mirror!

Mirror? What mirror?

If we've taken something from you, we'll give it back. But first, tell us who you are.

Sesta!

She must be exhausted.

Let's take her over there to rest. And did she...

Yeah. She definitely just said Cochlea. What's going on? Does she want to go to Cochlea, just like us?

Hey!

She's having difficulty breathing. I think she's met her limit.

Let's take her over there to rest. And did she...

Yeah. She definitely just said Cochlea. What's going on? Does she want to go to Cochlea, just like us?

She said something about a god. Could she mean Phantom?

In any case, we have a lot of questions for her when she wakes up.

I see. So it's important enough to her that losing it made her go berserk.

Hm. You attacked her thinking she was a monster, only for her to turn human?

I think I may know what our little wolf friend is looking for.

You do?

The other day, one of our villagers came back from the labyrinth with a curious relic.

I just remembered about it, so I asked Klein to bring it over. And here he is now.

Here you go, as requested.

It looks like a regular mirror to me.

Maybe so, but it appears to have a different use. Look.

Whoa! What is that?

It looks like it's pointing somewhere.

It's pointing deep into the vortex. Almost as if to say that there's something there.

You don't think...

This wolf girl, she mentioned the name Cochlea?

Sounds to me like you're both heading for the same place.

If we follow this light...we might reach Cochlea?

In any case, you and the wolf girl will have a lot to talk about when she wakes up. I'll make preparations in the meantime.

Preparations? What preparations?

You don't honestly think it's as simple as following the light all the way to the center of the vortex?

It's a straight line. If you're dumb enough to follow it directly, you'll reach a dead end if you're lucky. You'll be mauled by monsters if you're not.

There's a knack to how you cross this vortex. We Arat folk will find you a better route.

Seriously?

Let us help you. There's something in it for us as well.

Right. Don't think you can do this alone. Leave it to the experts, and prepare for your journey.

We will. Thank you!

I can finally go. I can save the people of Cochlea who suffer even now. I can save my mother.

This will be the end of my journey. Hold on, everyone. I'm coming.

Are you feeling better now?

Much better!

Enough about me. We need to plan what we do next.

Right.

We now know what caused the explosion in Cochlea, and that Cochlea is the center of this vortex.

If we reach the Cochlea recurrent spacetime and do something about this imitation prisma... Maybe we can stop the explosion.

Though, how do we get to the center of the vortex?

You two! Come with me, quick!

Wh-What's wrong?

We need your help! There's another monster, and this one's way worse than all the others! It's strong and it's simply too fast to catch. We need you!

Of course. Lead the way!

Hey, that's...!

You know something?

Yeah. Her name is Sesta. She's a friend of mine. But why is she...

Sesta! What are you doing?! Why are you attacking Arat?!

It's no good...she's totally lost in her rage. We'll have to get her to calm down...by force, maybe.

Whoa!

It seems to be aiming for Arat, but our attacks aren't getting through at all.

This won't be an easy fight. Should we take time to prepare?