The 4th Walpurgisnacht
Episode 1 - Episode 2
Episode: 1
Location: L Corp. Headquarters?
Dante <Alright... I did as you asked, Faust.>
I looked up toward Faust, away from the PDA in my hands, as it rattled and fixed the Identity Cards into each slot.
... Today's the Fourth Walpurgis Night.
The location... it's that same Lobotomy Corp. Headquarters of the past we visited—its point in time and the branch of possibility uncertain.
Faust Thank you. Please proceed with the slotted Identities to suppress the imminent Ordeal.
Dante <Phew...>
I've slotted in the Lobotomy Corp. Identities I pulled up during the previous Walpurgis Nights.
... Faust probably wants to study the correlation between Walpurgis Night itself and the Identities that can be pulled up only during each Walpuris Night.
Heathcliff Well, it ain't much of my business what Identity we're 'sposed to wear, but...
Heathcliff ... can't you at least bother tellin' us where we are? I swear, it's always you two who—
Sinclair Yeah, I agree. We won't know what to do if you keep the important stuff just between the two of you, right...?
Heathcliff Uh... yeah, what he said. I was trying to find a way to avoid sounding irritated.
Heathcliff You've a way of mincin' words, don't you? Thanks, lad.
Sinclair Huh? Uh... I guess, ha ha.
Ryoshu F.U.
Sinclair Functionality Upgrade...? Come on, don't talk about me like I'm a machine or something...
Faust Ahm.
Faust cleared her throat in an attempt to clear the air and stem the conversation from going on a tangent.
Location: L Corp. HQ Information Team Hallway
Faust We are... at the "Information Team" department of the former L Corp. Headquarters.
Yi Sang "Information Team"...? Hm, well do I recall that the place we had visited was called the "Control Team" department.
Ishmael Maybe they add a new department with every Walpurgis Night?
Faust The Training Team and the Safety Team, both adjacent to this department, are currently accessible. Therefore, your assessment is untrue.
Faust However... it is possible that there is a reason the first place the door connected to was this location. Perhaps further analyses may yield more concrete information.
... She's trying to take a more active role in learning things for herself. It seems that the events at the WARP Train rattled her more than I'd thought.
She's probably concerned that similar loss of connection to that repository of Fausts' knowledge may occur again.
Hong Lu Hmm... this place is pretty barren, huh? The more I look around, the more I see just... purple.
Gregor Huh... you got that right. Can't chalk that up to just being a corporate office, if you ask me. Doesn't seem like a great workplace environment at all.
Outis A good commander decorates their subordinates' living spaces with their morale in mind, even if it means going against their own tastes. Whoever heads this department must be somewhat quite unfit to lead.
Ishmael I bet they're not the only one who's unfit to lead~
Ishmael, who was rummaging through a pile of miscellaneous items, muttered from a distance as Outis mused at the ceiling.
Ishmael I found some employee doodles and scribbles back here.
Ishmael Oh, I suppose the department leads were called 'Sephirah'. They're saying something about how their Sephirah is... whew, now that's some spicy profanity.
Meursault I will read them.
Dante <M-Meursault, you don't have to read the insults and profanities!>
Meursault ... Understood. In that case, I will instead peruse the document first and produce a comprehensive summary.
Some time later...
Meursault That is all.
Gregor Okay. So... first of all, thanks for skipping past all the profanities. But...
Rodion Wow... that made me feel bad. And I've got nothing to do with this place.
Outis It is not uncommon to see department leads shouting and butting heads, but...
Outis ... perhaps a physical altercation would have been preferable to letting such bitter animosity fester like this.
... It was clear to us that the Sephirot did not share a very healthy work relationship with one another.
Not to mention that not many employees really put their faith in their Sephirot.
Rodion Hey, this Sephirah they call 'Malkuth'... she must've been the Sephirah of the Control Team department where we fought the Ordeal last time...
Rodion I can tell from the way she talks that she treats her employees like parts of a machine. Driving them to their deaths, replacing them when they inevitably crumble... I guess a Wing is a Wing, after all.
Sinclair Yeah... Look, here's a conversation log with 'Hod', the Sephirah of the Training Team. Looks like she started off pretty rough, but managed to avoid making things hostile in the office...
Rodion Mhm, from the sounds of it, she really cares for her employees... Oh, well~ That's a whole another type of annoying though, y'know?
Yi Sang Then... her heart would never have rested easy as long as she was here; the grievances of the employees would have reached her ears nonetheless.
Yi Sang She may have given herself doses of painkillers she hid under the label of altruism, that she truly cared for them despite it all.
Outis And this 'Yesod' must have been... I see, the Sephirah of the Information Team department here. Clearly, a stickler for the rules.
Don Quixote "Viper" he was called. Perchance he had an unsavory habit of sinking his teeth into his employees?
Outis It's only a figure of speech. Hm... he does seem like the irritating type, but he would have served as a decent strategist.
Outis Ah, this appears to be a meticulous record of the work schedules. According to that digital calendar, the upcoming schedule is...
Faust ... fast approaching. There is no time to share the details regarding the Ordeal.
Outis I suppose we should've checked the documents first.
A heavy thump of the lights follows Outis' deep sigh. The lobby lights suddenly changed, and the floor began to tremble.
Dante <Well... can't say I'm surprised. We knew that an Ordeal was coming, after all.>
Ishmael Still, I wished we'd have some prior knowledge of our enemies this time...
Don Quixote Gyaaaah...! What in the name of Wings is that creature?! Vermin, is it...? 'Tis so far, yet appeareth so grand in size...!
Naturally, we whipped around to look at Don Quixote, who then directed our attention toward something writhing in the distance...
... a thing of bizarre shape, crawling and squirming.
Faust If they have appeared in the Safety Team's corridors as well, then...
Rodion There's more— there's more...!
Dante <Faust...! Anything you can tell us about them before they start rushing us?!>
I shouted, watching with horror as the curiously violet grub-like creature slowly spawned into the hallway from thin air.
Even though she probably didn't have much to tell me about them anyway.
Faust They will not... rush us. There were reports that these entities are rather slow.
Faust In fact, they're... an Ordeal of Violet. Time: Dawn...
Faust If they are indeed Violet, then it is unlikely that we will have much time to discuss this further.
Faust We must immediately engage them, starting from the Safety Team hallway. A similar situation is very likely imminent in the Information Team and the Training Team hallways.
Heathcliff Huh... huh? So what, we've got to crush 'em like there's a timer or something?
Faust That would be an apt attitude, yes; the entities will soon be manifesting in every department. If we fail to quickly clear this zone and seek and destroy them in other departments...
Heathcliff ... If we don't...?
Faust ... then we may come face-to-face with the kind of pandemonium we would rather not have the displeasure of experiencing.
Faust Every Qliphoth Counter in each department will immediately drop to zero...
Yi Sang ... and thus the Abnormalities contained within shall be released.
Heathcliff Oh bollocks, come on! We JUST got off that bloody WARP train! I'd think we've had enough of the Wing shenanigans to deal with by now?!
Ishmael Yeah, yeah. Zip it and grab your weapon. I'm going in!
Episode: 2
Some time later...
Location: L Corp. HQ Training Team Lobby
Ishmael Phew, that's a relief... At least it wasn't indestructible.
A rubble of broken stones lay about the exhausted Sinners' feet.
But that didn't last long.
Yi Sang I see... It fades away to naught.
Faust Yes. While the entity took the form of a stone stele, an object commonly composed of inorganic matter, it is likely that its existence itself is perceived as a religious artifact in certain indeterminate locales.
Hong Lu Mm~ True. That giant object did suddenly appear out of thin air before dropping right in front of us.
The stele, which had once threatened the Sinners with its tentacles, soon disappeared from our sight like it never existed.
If Faust hadn't pushed me into the hallway just in time, I'd have been...
Faust Dante!
WHAM!
Dante <We would've all died forever if that thing had crushed me, too...>
Faust We were not crushed by the stele, to be exact. The real issue was the shockwave that came after the crash.
Heathcliff I thought I slipped away in time, but... I had no idea the shockwave would be so deadly.
Dante <We're going to have to find a way to deal with that shockwave somehow, or it'll be too risky to continue with our Walpurgis Night expedition.>
I'm not saying that I'm scared of the pain I have to go through when reviving the Sinners. Which really, really hurts, of course, especially when it's twelvefold, but...
... I'm not sure if I want to ask them to repeatedly run a mission that's guaranteed to kill them in the end.
Moreover, we don't even know if whatever we'll find here will be worth all the trouble.
Faust According to the information given, it is said that Ordeals cannot occur in immediate succession...
Heathcliff ... They can't occur right after one another...? What, did the giant piece of rock have nothin' to do with an Ordeal, then?
Faust Yes, it was indeed an Ordeal of Violet. However, this was... the Noon of Violet.
Faust Ordeals of the Noon are a degree higher than Ordeals of the Dawn, which we already have experience with.
Faust's brows were frowning at a nigh-imperceptible angle; she was sighing even as she relayed that information to us, clearly perturbed by something.
... I suddenly recalled what Faust speculated back at the WARP train: that the Gesellschaft may have made a purposeful omission.
Dante <You think this is the Gesellschaft withholding information from you again?>
Faust There is no evidence to say for certain. They did not withhold the information regarding the Ordeal of Noon; thus, a more likely explanation is that this was merely a manifestation of a rare possibility.
Faust ... Yet your suggestion does concern me.
Dante <…….>
Faust If it was indeed a manifestation of a rare possibility, then we must seek for clues in this Walpurgis Night that may point us to an explanation.
Dante <So... should we explore further?>
But—
??? Hello, everyone! Can you hear me...?
A loud buzz, crackle, and an unfamiliar voice broke through the awkward silence we were meandering in.
Heathcliff Blimey! Who said that?!
Don Quixote Ooh! I hearken unto thee!!!
??? Oh... I guess I can't hear your answers anyway.
Hod Ahem, ahem. Ignore what I just said. Hello, this is Hod from the Training Team speaking!
Meursault Mm. It appears that the Sephirah 'Hod', whose name we first learned of in the earlier document, is the one speaking to us.
Ishmael Aha... so this is her voice, huh?
Rodion Gotta say, this is kinda what we all expected her to sound, right?
Hod We are all investigating how and why an Ordeal of Noon occurred immediately after the Dawn.
Hod I understand that an unfamiliar situation like this may cause a sense of alarm and anxiety. But there's nothing to worry about as long as you remember the instructions under the Exception #40-AA Measure, which I made sure to mention in every training session!
Gregor Exception #40-AA...? Just how many exceptions did she come up with...?
Outis She must be a leader with a very hands-on approach to team management. Commanders who are overprotective of their personnel often make such mistakes.
Sinclair G-guys, I don't think it's time to share our first impressions...! We don't know what measure she's talking about! At this rate, we'll get—
Sinclair Oh.
There was a dull 'thwick' just as Sinclair began to air his concerns.
Sinclair Uh, d-d-did-did I just get... shot...?!
Hod You there, at the lobby... You've been dozing off during our drills, haven't you?
Hod I'm pretty sure I explained that in outlier cases like these, we'll be firing Physical Intervention Shield bullets we share with the middle layer...
Hod So why are you acting all surprised like you've never been shot before...? Haah...
Sinclair Shield... bullets...?
Dante <Huh, that 'bullet' does look kinda familiar, actually...>
We carefully approached Sinclair to take a closer look at where the projectile hit him.
Ishmael Oh hey, I recognize this. This looks just like the decay ampule...
Ishmael ... that almost melted me into a puddle back at K Corp. Eugh, I'm getting unpleasant goosebumps just from thinking about it.
Rodion You were totally badass though, Ishy~ Jumping right in front of Dante, taking the bullets for them and everything!
Heathcliff Hah, then she went ahead and hurled a bloody harpoon into Clockhead's shoulder herself only a few months later.
Ryoshu Heh. Like a good circular narrative structure.
Ishmael Okay, you smartasses...
Faust It is not a K Corp. ampule. While it is true that K Corp.'s technology was used to regenerate its employees, a barrier field like this fundamentally differs from the type of technology used by K Corp.
Faust ... It is said that Lobotomy Corporation maintained collaborative relationships with other Wings, including K Corp. Through the said collaborations, they obtained bullets and ampules of diverse functionalities useful for the workings of this company.
Faust It appears that this Shield bullet is a result of one such partnership.
Sinclair Wait, then this bullet will...
Faust It is said that this bullet can partially negate physical damage... which is also known as 'RED damage' in Lobotomy Corporation terminology.
Faust It will likely shield us from the shockwave created by the stele as well.
Hod We'll have a counseling session later about your lack of focus during training... For now, please try to suppress this Ordeal of Noon as soon as possible.
Hod I'll give everyone a Physical Intervention Shield, so let's try to take care of this Ordeal with as few casualties as possible!
Faust Dante, let us...
Dante <... Oh, right. Let's get a move on and deal with the other steles as well.>
Faust Indeed. It would be preferable if we returned after confirming the destruction of steles in other areas as well.
Faust We will have to visit Lobotomy Corporation Headquarters of different possibilities as well; we will make use of the Sephirah and the Shield as soon as we are able then.
Dante <Mm... good idea.>
Thanks to the unexpected support from a Sephirah, we were able to explore further through the Walpurgis Night.
Hod ... All those trainings were for their own good. Is that so hard to understand...?
It was just that... I couldn't help but think back to Hod's last few utterances that managed to slip through the static.
It made me wonder what really went down here, at the Headquarters of Lobotomy Corporation.
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