Complete Comms Main Story Hope in Retrospection

[Ashifili*]

Well, well, that certainly was more informative than the first poem. Accelerator nodded along as Cepheid spoke, snapping his tome open as she did so. Eggs with humanoids inside pertained ultimately to many, many things, while it would appear that the Magia of the Dragonship are being denied something, until, perhaps those humanoid keys completed their gestation.

And as for the matter of saving those who fell, well, that too was a simple enough matter.

By the time they are processed, they would already be dead. If they are dead as a player, then they would simply respawn elsewhere.

That was of little concern to Accelerator. It was simple enough, after all, to just not die in Terrasphere. If one took proper precautions and worked with those they trusted, most beasts could be hunted with minimal risk. And...

As for the UI-locked, th-

Will be rescued from the front and revived. Only in the case of a catastrophic loss will the Lion's Pride allow for one of our own to fall to the Dragonship's designs.

Accelerator smiled. Such valorous words, for someone in charge of defense only.

It is as Commander Levi says. You can trust the Lion's Pride to assist in the recovery and resuscitation of the fallen. And if a catastrophic loss is inbound, then you can trust them as well to form the rear guard of our retreat.

That redheaded devil would do so without a thought, as would the many who flock to his self-sacrificing heroism. With enough moths, even the fiercest flames could be snuffed.

Though, of course, for us Starcalled, a catastrophic loss has never come pass, no matter how terrible our foes. So long as strategies are followed and effort is maintained, I can assure you that the reclamation of Vintergard will be a resounding success.

 

[MAI]

Given the somewhat unpleasant assimilation process, it seemed that MAI was late to the party. Late to miss most things, but just in time to catch the exchange that happened between @Jester and the blue-haired man that stood at the head of things. MAI herself was robed to consceal most of her body, though primarily to hide away missing skin and exposed machinery covered in oily blood-like substance.

She herself had but one thing to add. Or perhaps... an observation based on something she had heard before. So she raised her hand and spoke.

"Pardon - This unit was not present..."

She paused briefly, as if surprised at her own way of speaking.

"...but this unit has heard of Red Fever and something demonic allegedly appearing for a moment when the fight was over."

Another pause to allow others to recall those horrific events.

"Query - Could a similar or the same influence be behind both the events of the past and the commanding magia?"

@Ashifili*

 

[Jin]

It didn't take much for him to put together the situation from what he knew.

The majority of Ego had not gone deep behind enemy lines, and they had not seen what Zelrius and Jin had. Strange Magia unlike the ones they knew and were aware of collecting samples of both scrap metal and organic material across the ruined capital boded ill enough on their own. With the information he gleaned from the others about the DEAD.naught and its precarious ability to assimilate a Player with no obvious facilities on hand combined with the actual facility that he had witnessed spewing out handfuls of new machinations at a time- in short order- the voice that spoke in riddles was not difficult to divine the nature of.

For whatever reason, the Magia gave a false name and identity, and Jin had no reason to question or make accusations. The group here was already standoffish enough without any new input, and he was starting to wonder if the Astorean government had a hand in obfuscating the truth. Oh, they had a reason to do that, to be sure.

The topic at hand seemed to shift toward speculation about demonic powers at work, but Jin had not witnessed anything that might corroborate that intel. Rather, it seemed to be wholly inaccurate. Something may have skewed the functionality of the Magia's systems or corrupted it, but there was no power that felt demonic.

And Jin, of all people, knew demonic.

"No," he spoke up, "similar, perhaps, but not the same. It is a leap of logic to assume that the corruption is of the same nature as what we experienced in Isulus. It would be safer to assume that there are multiple dangers and enemies on separate fronts, for the time being."

If they assumed only one enemy, they would underprepare for the unknown.

"The Demonic corruption to the North seemed more mindless. Hungry. Erratic," he continued. "This was deliberate. There was intent. Insanity though it may have seemed, there was a method in that madness."

@Ashifili* @Raid Boss

 

[Ashifili*]

Accelerator looked at Jin.

Maintained that gaze.

A gaze as if peeling away skin, pulling aside flesh, drilling through bone, all to peer into the gray mass floating within, the artificial mass that borrowed a transplanted mind.

Then he shrugged, and turned that gaze onto MAI.

It's as the gentleman says. There is a possibility that the corruption of the Dragonship's Magia is of demonic nature, but it's unlikely that it's related to the Red Fever and the Demon Corpse, owing simply to proximity.

Accelerator laughed, thoroughly bemused by the idea.

After all, if the influence of a corpse could spread that far, we'd have been in far more trouble! But, of course, I would not discount the threat either. Mindless and hungry as it was, Jin, you may have simply picked up on such feelings because the carrier of such previous corruption were bugs, rather than beings such as Magia.

They had dwelled too long on what they could not confirm though, and it was about time to move onto the main topic. Casting a backwards glance towards Astor, who responded with a nod, Accelerator clapped his tome shut once more, as if resetting the conversation.

Regardless, whatever happens can be dealt with utilizing the same flexibility that had seen so many other unprepared horrors be vanquished. Now, however, allow me to layout the three objectives that must be cleared before we are able to reclaim the entirety of Vintergard, and perhaps even those eggs of great import...