Duet Night Abyss story · Main story, Chapter 2: Children From the Snowfield (Ⅴ)
The Scarlet Land
2 scenes, 73 lines
1. Escape the Alchemy Academy
31 linesThe final test begins! Let's find out which one of you is the ultimate augmented subject!
What!? They're making us fight each other!?
We really don't have a choice, do we?
Guess not. Bring it on, then!
...!?
Remember, you've got a stage waiting for you.
What's the point of making promises you can't keep?
Because someday, they might just be fulfilled.
36!! What the hell are you doing!? Subject exhibiting extreme instability! Requesting backup!
What...!? You never said anything about making it out like this!
*coughs* I... never go back on my word...
...It's open!
P, Professor... I'm sorry! I didn't expect the subjects to resist the suppressant's effect...
This kind of mutation is unprecedented in any of our test subjects. Fascinating... Perhaps they're our greatest masterpiece yet!
Lock down all information! Deploy the latest γ-type suppressant, bring the subject in alive, no matter the cost!
*coughs* Did I make it...?
Yes! You made it!
Great...
Where do you think you can run off to? Monsters like you have no place in this world, your only purpose is to serve on the battlefield or in a lab!
...
We're not monsters... We're human!
This way!
Is this... wind? The air of freedom... *coughs*
I hear water. There must be an outlet leading outside.
Thank god... *coughs*
We made it out!
This is the academy's drainage tunnels... There must be an outlet leading outside.
Can't believe we actually made it... We're... finally free...
Ugh...
You're hurt... I'll take care of everything from here.
First, we need to find a place to hide...
2. Talk to Rhythm
42 lines
So you were the ones who built that strange stage in the sewers?
...I'm fine.
But fate only gave us a fleeting moment of mercy, escaping the academy wasn't the start of a new life... but the beginning of the end.
During our escape... the alchemists... their new suppressant ruined my voice... and messed up our minds...
We couldn't control ourselves... we'd go berserk from time to time... And my friend... 36... has already left this world before me.
Ugh, I always knew those alchemists were wicked scum, but this... this is cruelty on an entirely different level. And to think they had the gall to go in cahoots with the 6th Legion, luring Charons with strong magical aptitude just to turn them into test subjects...
Listen, Sister.
The 6th Legion... they use the title of "Laurelled Charon"... as a lure to deceive us.
LEAVE... the Legion.
Find a quiet, safe place... and take care of yourse...
What about you!?
I...
Five Days Ago, Sewer Exit
I thought... you were going to... stay unconscious... until the end of the world.
It's all my fault. If I'd got here sooner, you wouldn't have been...
We wouldn't. We wouldn't have stood a chance. My moments of clarity... are slipping away.
Or perhaps, like you said... my heart has already turned into... that of a monster.
If you're a monster... then what does that make me?
We chased so hard to catch the light, the dazzling light... only to find it's so... unreachable in the end.
If something is unreachable, why not pull it down to the ground?
Stay back, his body is toxic... Who are you?
I have many names, many faces. But in the end, they're all just labels. No matter how those labels shift or change, one truth remains, we have been forsaken by the gods.
Now, someone as sharp as you should already know who I am.
I'm here to extend an invitation. Join us. Drag the untouchable Solas down to the ground, and let them feel the wrath of Charons.
Don't rush to reject me. Reflect on what the Empire has done to you. They lured you in with sweet lies, broke you with merciless torture, and buried you under an ocean of despair.
And what lies at the end of this path? Becoming a Laurelled Charon? A better life? Greater dreams fulfilled?
Absolutely not! What awaits is a slow death, your bones picked clean by the Sola elites, hunted by traitors among our own kind, until you're discarded like trash in some forgotten corner.
With a single empty promise, they lure aspiring Charons like you and me straight into the abyss.
As long as the 6th Legion and the Alchemy Academy's web of lies remains intact, Charons of Icelake will continue walking this path to ruin, marching straight into the same tragedy as you... again and again.
...!
The Empire stripped us of what we once had and left us trapped in this miserable present. Are we really going to let them crush everything we hold dear without putting up a fight?
Look at us. The Empire coveted our strength, shackled us like animals, and twisted us into grotesque monsters, into real demons.
But now, we've broken free of those chains. Isn't it time to turn their own weapons against them? Time we made them pay?
Let them tremble at the mere thought of us. Let them feel the pain we've endured. Make them never dare to covet what we hold dear again! Let them repent with their blood and remember us for eternity. Let the entire Empire scream our names in terror!
The Forsakens...
You may call it vengeance, but I call it protection. We "demons" bear a duty to protect our kind. We'll rid the inner city of its "filth" and give your loved ones the cleaner, brighter future they deserve.
(The Forsakens...)
I still have... unfinished business.
Blues!
Do not follow.