Ascalon

[Code Name] Ascalon

[Gender] Female

[Combat Experience] Unknown

[Place of Birth] Kazdel

[Date of Birth] Unknown

[Race] Sarkaz

[Height] 175cm

[Infection Status]

Originium crystals distributed across surface of body, confirmed Infected by medical examination.

[Physical Strength] Excellent

[Mobility] Outstanding

[Physical Resilience] Standard

[Tactical Acumen] Standard

[Combat Skill] Outstanding

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Outstanding

Ascalon, a former Babel intelligence officer. She is now in charge of S.W.E.E.P. and responsible for counter-infiltration aboard Rhodes Island.

Imaging tests show the indistinct outlines of internal organs, obscured by abnormal shadows. Originium granules detected in the circulatory system. The subject is confirmed to be infected with Oripathy.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 18%

Only Dr. Kal'tsit has the clearance to read Operator Ascalon's detailed medical records.

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.45u/L

Only Dr. Kal'tsit has the clearance to read Operator Ascalon's detailed medical records.

I noticed that ever since the last time you used your Arts, the Originium crystals in your body have moved abnormally. Report to Medical for further examination as soon as you have time.

—A message from Kal'tsit to Ascalon.

If you were to ask the average Rhodes Island operator whether they know an 'Ascalon,' most would wonder if anyone going by that name really exists.

Of course, if you were willing to spend the better part of a day poring over our extensive records, you might stumble across her file. You would then be rather disappointed to learn that you spent all that effort just to find the file of a completely unremarkable operator. Disposition: normal. Abilities: average. Performance: so-so. Even the attached photo is painfully ordinary. It was clearly taken at a roadside self-service camera booth at the affordable price of ten LMD for eight copies.

But if you were to follow a series of nigh-imperceptible yet oddly specific instructions, and bypass a series of convoluted corridors designed to make your head spin, you would find yourself at the S.W.E.E.P. office. You would then realize that she is not ordinary in the slightest.

Everything 'normal' about Ascalon is a deliberate construction. She conceals all trace of herself in order to fall beneath anybody's notice. On occasion, her habit of removing herself from existence will also affect her private life. If you ever have the opportunity to go shopping with her, do not be alarmed when the clerk walks past her to hand you your purchase. Simply take your things and go. The clerk was merely unable to perceive her.

This is a skill of hers. If she is ever unexpectedly seen, she is able to erase herself from their perception. As our colleague Projekt Red once said during a rather frank evaluation of her, even standing by her side, she couldn't detect a hint of scent. Note that Projekt Red's nose is extremely sensitive, and she can normally get all the information she needs about a person from their scent.

Ascalon makes a habit of having no habits. During conversation, she will use a different voice each time she talks to someone. Her movements are efficient and without superfluous motions. Everything she does is determined by how the majority of the crowd around her is behaving. Whatever they do, she does too, all to ensure she will be forgotten. After all, nobody would pay attention to someone who never stands out.

You might be curious as to how we acquired the above information, considering her secretive nature.

S.W.E.E.P. has a special form of training: to hone their reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance skills, their members must both track Ascalon and avoid being detected by her for a week, all while gathering as much information on her as they can. Regretfully, none have managed to last the entire week as of yet. The above is all the intel they have thus far managed to discern.

The previous record holder was Ines. She tailed Ascalon for an entire morning, and managed to uncover her proclivity for high thread-count cotton clothing before her cover was blown. However, Hoederer was the one to write the report for Ines, and his fondness for rhetorical devices diminishes its usefulness.

The current record holder is Projekt Red. While she did not discover any valuable intel, she did manage to successfully stuff some tail lint into Ascalon's pocket without being noticed. It is rather difficult to imagine how she managed this feat. I suspect she has learned a lot from Ascalon herself.

—An excerpt from a note pertaining to S.W.E.E.P.'s 'manager,' strictly prohibited from being removed from their office

It won't happen again. It took me half an hour to get all that fur out.

—Ascalon's response, penned at the end of the note

[Voice Log]

I saw your message, Doctor. I must say, you've been rather curious about her ever since your experiences in Londinium, yet you've never come to ask me directly.

In the earliest days of Rhodes Island's establishment, nearly every day saw a new assassination attempt on Kal'tsit and Amiya. As the one in charge of S.W.E.E.P., Ascalon has protected Rhodes Island from the shadows from the beginning.

She is a master of close-quarters combat, personally trained by the Regent himself. Her two sleeve blades? Those are her last resorts. She will happily wield whatever is at hand first. Did you know she can kill a man with a bowl of soup barely three centimeters deep? Simply ridiculous.

In short, whatever you can imagine, she can do, along with everything you can't. I suggest not knowing too many of the details. You are a commander, after all, and it would be a pity to have your precious sleep taken over by nightmares. Oh, right, as for her Arts, I've only ever glimpsed them once. Most who have are too dead to discuss them. Perhaps you should ask Kal'tsit. She would know more.

Forgive me, Doctor, but there is nothing I can divulge on this topic.

As the head of Medical, all I can inform you of is that the harm her Originium Arts place on her far exceeds that of your average Infected operator. Since returning from Londinium, it is our unanimous belief that she should stay completely off the frontlines. Whatever your plans for her Arts may be, I suggest you reconsider them.

—Kal'tsit

I've heard from Kal'tsit that you've been asking about my Arts. It seems you're as inquisitive as ever.

You could have just asked me directly. I have nothing to hide from you: I am the mist, and it is my blade. Simple to conceal, yet able to strike decisively at critical moments.

That is all, nothing more.

—Ascalon

Alright, now you're asking too many questions. One at a time, please.

First, Kal'tsit is right. My Arts harm me whenever I use them. On some missions, a little blurring of my outline is enough. For others, I must disappear completely into the mist.

No, it is not a smokescreen. The mist is my eyes. It misses nothing. The mist takes away life. Both mine and my enemies'. To this day, very few have lived to tell the tale.

Nobody taught me to do this. My Arts manifested while I was out hunting.

Wild animals have far sharper intuition than humans. I hid to avoid being sensed, and there is no better hiding spot than the air itself. It's also thanks to these Arts that I can survive Catastrophes.

After I first came to Kazdel, Master... Theresis taught me a lot. I put them to use, both on and off the battlefield, as well as in places far darker.

In Babel, I had even more opportunities to refine my mastery. At the time, manpower was in short supply, and on some missions, they turned out to have other, more personal uses.

Oh, you've already written another question.

Yes. It hurts. It hurts every time I use them.

—Ascalon

[Classified Log]

Target: Ascalon. Of the participants in the operation against her, only one survived.

Intelligence confirms that Babel has left the Kazdel region and is heading south towards Rim Billiton. The target is not within Babel's zone of control, and leads a small group of stranded survivors. She is isolated and helpless, and this is our best opportunity to kill her. Note that if the target goes out of control, it will be difficult to predict her actions. We request that the Regent and the General re-evaluate her threat level.

—Intel intercepted from a Military Commission contact point, Jan 15th 1095

In the wake of Theresa's death, Ascalon underwent a self-imposed exile. Before Kal'tsit recalled her, she undertook an unbroken series of assassinations and infiltrations. The intel sent back was rather sparse, and only directly related to the mission at hand. Not a single word was spared for herself.

All that we obtained were the names of the targets she had erased, trickling in one by one. At times, we had to rely on scraps of intercepted Military Commission and Victorian intel to speculate on her current circumstances. She has placed herself in great danger. As for her psychological condition... we cannot say.

She has almost completely relied solely on her own strength to purge the traitors to Babel who participated in Theresa's assassination. It is as though she believes that if she purges them, she will make up for the mistakes she made then. But our understanding is that, as far as she is concerned, every kill she makes only gives her cause to think over past events once more, which only pushes her deeper into her inner turmoil.

After some internal disagreement within Babel, Ascalon was determined to be the sole candidate to establish the path forward for Rhodes Island to follow. However, this is no reason to ignore her fall into turmoil. With Rhodes Island safe for the time being, and all threats to Amiya eliminated, there were many new things lying ahead on our path. There was no reason for us to leave Ascalon behind in the past, even if... that was her request.

[Voice Log]

I plan to recall Ascalon. We cannot leave her trapped in the past. Rhodes Island has only just been established, and we have plenty of work requiring her attention. I hope that this work can help her find a goal, faith in something, or perhaps even... a measure of regularity in her life.

Though Theresa and I never wished for her to become a weapon, in war she has become what we least wished to see.

But even a weapon should have worth beyond its wielding.

—A message from Kal'tsit to ■■■, ■■■ 22nd 109■

I admit, Doctor, I had my suspicions about you.

I suspected it was you behind the plot to assassinate Theresa, and that it was you who led those assassins onboard.

I had no proof, but the less progress I made in my investigations, the more my doubts about you grew.

Because you are the only one capable of hiding all traces of yourself. This report contains all the information I've gathered on that incident so far. I'm still undecided as to whether I should be filling in the blanks with your name.

If you want to take a look, feel free. As things are now, the answer is no longer relevant. But if my report can give you an answer of its own, then that's fine.

I'll just say it straight. At first, I wanted to keep you under observation to verify my suspicions, all for the sake of avenging Theresa. But that's not why S.W.E.E.P. was established. If you take the time to listen to meeting recordings from back then, you'll find that S.W.E.E.P. exists merely to help Rhodes Island follow the course Theresa envisioned.

Your behavior since our return from Londinium has made it clear that you are prepared to lead Rhodes Island forward again.

I'll remind you, Doctor: You don't need to torture yourself over your past. All you'll get are the same questions thrown back at you, over and over. We don't need someone else stuck in the past. Once you've forged far enough ahead, that is when we shall part. I'll stay behind and conclude this era, this section of the history books.

All of our past, all our grudges and grievances, will end with me.

Don't worry, I won't be leaving anytime soon.

In the sunlight, the shadows stay close, and in the darkness, the shadows surround.

I will always be there if you need me.

—A message from Ascalon

'These are the last of them. The traitors, the ones who know the identity of the King and tried to take Amiya to Kazdel. Rhodes Island will not be fettered by the chains of Babel's past. This is to be a new beginning.

'You still haven't wavered.'

'Aren't these your orders, Kal'tsit?'

'You have burned away all of your old belongings, and most of those who know you have died by your hand.

'You have erased the memories of yourself in other people's minds, one by one...'

'Because there's no need for them, Kal'tsit. I don't need to live on in anyone else's memories.

'...They just need to live on in mine.'