Awakening, A Dream's End

If we were able to give all of our mortar gunners the newest weapons, we probably could've taken the city down directly without the Catastrophe.

They don't care about covering their tracks anymore! They're trying to rush inside at all costs!

If that's the case, why didn't Talulah keep them close to her?

Because she's afraid! She's afraid we'd see through their identities and their plans!

Not even she would be able to cover everything up if there were too many people. Besides, those aren't the kind of weapons you can just pick up and take around.

They probably had all those weapons stashed across the core city long ago just for times like these when everything falls apart!

They were designed to deal with us from the start! They want to kill all of us. But they're wrong! We will be the ones doing the killing today, not them!

Hold the line! Forward!

What are you doing?! You want to... leave the battlefront?

Rhodes Island, take a better look!

We are the battlefront! Wherever we are, that's where the battlefront is! Forward!

That isn't going to work! Our teams can't keep up!

We'll hold the line and find an opportunity to take them out. Then you'll keep up!

Phantom Crossbowmen, can you do this?

......

We don't really have much of an advantage without the captain.

But you can do it!

Right.

Captain Faust was willing to throw his life away for the rest of us.

...If Rhodes Island's rabbit can really help us get revenge for him, we're more than willing to put our lives on the line!

No.

You don't need to.

You're... from Rhodes Island...

I just need to bomb their position directly, right?

Raidian, if you are reading this, help me jam their signals.

I just need their headphones to blow up for a moment. Yep, just the sound, not an actual explosion.

You can blow their ears up too if you want.

Okay, in five seconds?

Four seconds, Phantom Crossbowmen. Get ready.

What?!

Three. Guard, have your team break up.

...I'll trust you this once.

Shieldguards, take your shields down.

You'll be out in the open!

It's okay.

But, the guerrillas...

One.

If someone's willing to put their life on the line for us, then we'll put our lives on the line for her too!

Look, all the bastards pretending to be Reunion passed out all of a sudden!

Three.

Shieldguards! Shields up! Protect Rosmontis!

Got them! You've got pretty sharp eyes, kid.

Thanks, Guard.

Don't thank me. Just keep doing what you're doing.

All Shieldguards, squad members, and Infected...

And my friend... my family...

We will make it home. We will defeat them, and Amiya will defeat Talulah. Then, we'll all go home, together.

Take a step back, Doctor. Don't get any closer.

We got here too late.

...Poor fellow.

Even I have only seen a case like this just once.

The caster and the victims were fused together. Their bodies and Originium formed a mountain, and from it bloomed a kind of really fragile flower.

The dust spread in the wind, and whoever that traveled through that cursed place found themselves infected—

—Not only that, but anyone who was unfortunate enough became new hosts and ended up spreading the suffering and death.

Rhetorics would merely be insults to this tragedy. Everything that I say is the truth.

The source of the infection was as lively as poison. Its effect on life doesn't stop naturally.

At the time, I swore to myself that I would keep something like that from ever happening again.

Yet things rarely turn out the way you want them. I've come to notice that these things will just keep happening over and over right before my eyes.

(Low moans)

...It seems like it's fallen into a deep sleep. It's just venting unconsciously.

That Sarkaz herd was probably not under its control only because it wasn't trying to control them in the first place.

Freedom.

It's ironic. To think that a herd could be free.

(Humming)

!

I knew it. This is the culprit of the Originium dust superspreader event.

——

This isn't good. If this is how all the Sarkaz herd are going to turn out, the losses will be beyond measure.

Its dust isn't just some simple Originium Arts anymore. It might even infect normal people.

It wasn't pretty, the Originium clusters blooming across the cities. If I can help it, I don't want to see anything like that ever again.

Doctor. We need to subdue that thing first. Stop the herd from growing, and prevent the infection from spreading.

You know what that is?

......

Doctor, I don't know what's going on in your mind.

Doctor, I'm a doctor, not a judge.

This world is suffering from a disease. If no one treats it, what do you think will happen?

Of course, living things usually have immune systems, and suppose the world does as well, it might be able to recover from the disease on its own...

But we can't live in an even more barren world. That will only cause it to weaken, and we will die because of that.

As for the Infected before us...

(Hissing sounds)

Let me get this out of the way. Even if a disease is seen as untreatable, to us doctors, death is far from a foregone conclusion.

'Until an effective cure is found, the patient's life is under serious threat.' That's how we see it.

There is one thing that a doctor will never believe—even if it's what the whole world believes—

'The disease is untreatable.'

That's an excuse. And one that should never be used by us doctors.

It doesn't matter what kind of predicaments we find ourselves in. I will never use my medical knowledge in any manner that can be concerned inhumane. From the moment all life is born, they all possess dignity.

No matter how society at large sees them, treating patients with Oripathy will always be my calling.

That is why I will never give up on life, especially those that can be cured.

Yet we as doctors will never deny that there are precautions that must be undertaken to prevent diseases from reaching even more people.

The Infected cannot become the tools of others. No one may control other lives.

...If I don't do anything at all, that will become a goal, a weapon, an excuse. If we leave it be, then we won't be able to take our revenge against Ursus.

On the contrary, Ursus's wounds will become the wounds of others.

We cannot leave a struggle of pain simply be.

There are some diseases that normal medical personnel cannot cure.

All the things that the world imposed on them will only rain down on others several times over every now and then.

—That's about everything a doctor can do.

If we are to save even more lives...

(Whining sounds)

Then we need to make a decision.

Which is why, our goal is without a doubt undeniable.

Doctor, we need to halt the Core City's power supply, but before that, to prevent another Catastrophe from happening, we need to take care of the herd that's growing in numbers by the minute.

Mon3tr, arise!

...We don't have much time left. With how it turned out... we can't even say we are delivering anyone from harm. The Sarkaz herd's fate is sealed.

Your premonition turned out to be correct. That's not a normal Infected creature. It's... the source of this large-scale superspreader.

Creatures of artificial nature can usually be traced back to aesthetics.

Yet don't be fooled by its appearance. No matter how beautiful it may seem, you are looking at the culprit behind the surrounding devastation.

......

It's singing.