Act III: The Nutcracker, Once More (2/3)

...Looks like this place corresponds to the location of the front gate on the other side. What was this facility used for, Meltryllis?

Another gate, of course. But one that was reserved for special employees.

Yes. Remember how I said the entrance on the front side was for regular employees?

Well, this one was to keep those well-intentioned regular employees out of secret areas.

Good instincts, Fujimaru. I was thinking the same thing.

My guess is this gate was solely for employees who reported directly to Chaldea.

No, wait... Everyone at Seraphix worked directly for Chaldea. In which case...

The only people who could enter this facility would have to be people directly under its owners...the Animusphere family.

？！

Hmm... This Cat smells secrets! Honestly, what difference does having a pedigree certificate make anyway... What could it possibly tell you about your cat...

At any rate: Master, my sensitive cat ears have been picking up an alert sound for a while now.

"Present your pass now. Failure to do so within five seconds will result in immediate termination."

Haha, talk about a tough place to work! Imagine losing your job just because you forgot a pass!

It's worse than that. They meant "terminate" in a very literal sense! Get ready, Fujimaru!

I can't believe I didn't realize this pre-SE.RA.PH equipment was still functioning.

That's exactly it. "Pre-SE.RA.PH."

Anyway, it's not functioning anymore. So, we can start with our exploration of

No need for that, members of Chaldea. You want to go to the front side, right? Then let's get started.

Huh? Who're you, and when did you get the fancy-schmancy animation update?

Yeah, yeah. Save the meta-banter, would you? I'm not even here to fight.

I've got a message from BB. Uh...something, something, "can't possibly beat Lip"...

...or, uh... "If you keep to your plan, you'll get pancaked," maybe?

Okay, yeah this is kind of annoying, so broad strokes: "Passionlip is waiting for you on the front side."

"You can't possibly beat her the way you would any normal enemy, so just give up and submit to me, BB."

You can figure the rest out for yourselves, yeah?

So Lip is back at the Command Room? And what does BB mean by "submit"?

Eh...it's BB. I guess she developed some secret weapon that can break the "shackles on her heart" or something.

She also said you could use that to remove Lip's restraints. Man, she can be a real pain.

Hmph, thanks for the warning. She's probably planning on taking us for all our Sakurament again.

So then what? What do we get for beating Passionlip?

If she's waiting for us there, we can just try somewhere else. There's really no point in fighting a monster like her.

You really think you can pull off something that outrageous? We Alter Egos are no pushovers, you know.

？！

Regardless, you guys don't have much choice in the matter. She's a Sentinel, after all.

As long as she and her kind are around, you won't be able to move freely around SE.RA.PH.

Sooner or later, you'll have to deal with her. Of course, you could always just give in now and punish her for

Actually, no, there's no need for that. I'm not actually acting out of malice or messing around this time, see...

Anyway, you know that tickling hand thing? BB told me to hold on to it.

Once you're ready to fight Passionlip, let me know and I'll take you to the front side.