Flames of Heart

Go to the arena and meet up with Lupa

Lupa: You've come, warrior!

Lupa: The mighty guardian, our Iudicis Arsinosa, is not the kind of Echo to warm to crowds.

Lupa: The Lioness favors the strong, the unyielding, and the battle-hardened. Only those she deems worthy will find her arms welcoming.

Lupa: But... she is still an Echo and can't talk.

Rover: (These sounds...)

Lupa: What is it? Did you feel something just now?

Rover: I only heard strange sounds. Tell me, what direction did the Lioness just look toward?

Lupa: The Vale of Glory.

Lupa: It's where all heroes, blessed by the glory forged in iron and fire, find their rest.

Lupa: But on the long path of hunting, many died with their bodies missing. Only their weapons returned.

Lupa: Arsinosa's frequency is woven from the cries of souls in battle. The battered weapons still carry the will of their former masters, whispering the deeds left undone.

Lupa: To touch such weapons is a rite of great importance for those who claim glory in the Great Agon and receive the Lioness's blessing.

Lupa: Hearing the voices of our ancestors by Arsinosa's side is a great source of strength for Septimontians.

Rover: (Before meeting Buling, when I touched the Echo in that village, I felt... a layered, indistinct frequency.)

Rover: (It was like what Abby described on our journey to Septimont, but the source eluded me at the time.)

Rover: (But now... I've found it.)

Rover: (The source of that power lies in the Vale of Glory. The closer the Lioness gets to it, the clearer it becomes.)

Lupa: She waits for us there. Shall we go together?

Lupa: Perfect! Let's head out.

Lupa: Ugh...

Rover: What is it?

Lupa: Nothing... just...

Lupa: ...Just a dizzy spell. Overexcitement after the win... or something.

Lupa: Anyway, it's no matter. Let's continue.

Go to the Vale of Glory

Lupa: These days have been a feast of victories!

Lupa: Becoming champion, the glory... All thanks to you.

Lupa: Strange... Why are so many appearing all at once?

Continue on

Lupa: I thought Tacet Discords didn't usually appear around the Border Mountains.

Rover: (These Tacet Discords didn't gather from the surroundings. It's more like... they spawned from thin air.)

Lupa: Look, it's just ahead. The Vale of Glory, where heroes are laid to rest.

Mya: You... are...

Mya: From my homeland...

Mya: Septimont...

Rover: (That girl just now... that was Mya.)

Rover: (The closer to the Vale of Glory, the more the normal world and the anomaly overlap. Whatever lies ahead must be the key to all of this.)

Rover: (I need to rethink everything. Septimont, Lupa, Cartethyia, Mya, the Lioness of Glory... all of it.)

Rover: (Cartethyia arrived in Septimont alone, not waiting for me or attempting contact. Something must have happened to prevent her.)

Rover: (If something cut her off, aside from the Fractsidus, it could've only been the Threnodian, which should be dead.)

Rover: (But Septimont holds no faith in the Sentinel, and the Threnodian was never able to establish influence here. Hmm... maybe it's not that simple.)

Rover: (The Threnodian controls the minds of Its followers through their faith. Mya is a Ragunnesi, and likely a follower of The Order of the Deep.)

Rover: (If the Vale of Glory is an important rite for champions, perhaps Mya went there... and it was there she vanished.)

Rover: (Her hysterics, hallucinations, and loss of control in the arena were signs of the Threnodian's corruption.)

Rover: (Phrolova once said, "The closer one stands to the protagonist, the greater their influence over the tale."

Rover: (In this Great Agon, Lupa is the protagonist. Years ago, it was Mya. Now, I'm seeing Mya's image flicker in and out throughout this journey.)

Rover: (If the Mya I see is under the Threnodian's control, does that mean securing the protagonist role is key to Its plan?)

Rover: (When I first met Lupa, I sensed what felt like Cartethyia's frequency on her. Later, I also felt the Threnodian's presence.)

Rover: (Did they cross paths? If Cartethyia is part of this story, the likelihood is high.)

Rover: (Could Lupa have forgotten? Did they meet without realizing it? Or is she lying and already under the Threnodian's influence?)

Rover: (Was Phrolova telling the truth by saying Lupa would bring forth the Dark Tide... or is she just another one of its victims?)

Lupa: Hmm? Hey, is something wrong?

Lupa: I'm sorry. I don't recall crossing paths with Cartethyia. But... you could be right. I may have, and just forgotten about it.

Lupa: These past days, there have been moments when... I feel lost, forgetting what I was doing a heartbeat ago.

Lupa: I don't know if it's the Threnodian's work, but... if something is wrong, and it's trying to twist my mind...

Lupa: You'd make the right call. Wouldn't you, my fellow warrior?

Lupa: You'd protect my honor and my dignity.

Rover: There's more at stake than that, Lupa.

Rover: I've heard the Septimont saying, "All for glory, fear no death." But sometimes, living takes more courage than dying.

Lupa: Heh, well then, that'll do just fine!

Lupa: I trust you, warrior, just as you trust me.

Rover: (It doesn't matter if the story's end is already written, or yet to unfold...)

Rover: (I'll trust my own judgment to guide it where it must go.)

Lupa: Those blades, spears, and halberd embedded in the stone... they're the weapons of the fallen heroes.

Lupa: We have a tradition in Septimont. Touch them and listen to the whispers of those who once wielded them.

Stretching out your hand, your fingertips brush against the rusted steel. A deep, solemn voice hums from the spear's shaft.

Through endless battles and the surging Dark Tide, kin and warmth were lost, and all softness and love faded away.

All that remained in his eyes was the sight of white flowers blooming across barren fields.

How fragile, how beautiful... He sighed as his skull was crushed under the Tacet Discord's weight.

Stretching out your hand, your fingertips brush against the rusted steel. A quiet, sorrowful voice hums from the halberd's axe.

No one knew why she sought the battlefield, only to escape another.

She shed her gold, tore away the honor binding her, and turned her back on the proud House that shackled her, rejecting the eyes that followed her.

"This silence... it is my victory!" She laughed, charging into the Dark Tide.

Listen to the whispering of the ancient sword

Lupa: This is Tercules's sword. You remember the waters of the upper city, right? You were looking for Cartethyia. Tercules was the one that the statue was based on.

Lupa: Ages ago, the Dark Tide bore down on Ragunnesi, and Septimont didn't escape.

Lupa: Tercules was the son of the Ephor back then, and he led our warriors to face the Tacet Discords. He died in that cursed Tide, his strength worn down to nothing.

Lupa: His sword was corrupted, but his followers still risked their lives to bring it back.

Lupa: In this land, intense emotions easily blend with other forces. The Lioness of Glory was born from the fiery passions of heroes, so she holds sway over their weapons.

Lupa: Back then, this sword was growing more sinister due to the corruption...

Lupa: But all these years later, it has become a memento of a hero.

Rover: (I feel something strong and pulsing in the direction the blade is pointing.)

Rover: (It's coming from underground. Is it inside the mountain itself?)

Cartethyia: ...The frequency... it's the Sentinel Imperator...

Cartethyia: Just like Ragunna, Septimont has its own Genesis Nexus... That's why It seeks...

Cartethyia: ...Power... needs more...

Defeat the abnormal TDs

Lupa: More Tacet Discords! Just like last time!

Rover: (For a split second, the world shifted. Just like it did when I saw Mya.)

Rover: (Every time there's an overlap like this, the Tidal Blight appears, as well as Tacet Discords...)

Lupa: The Tidal Blight... It's an outgrowth of the Dark Tide itself.

Lupa: Why is it appearing suddenly like this...?

Rover: We'll clear it out first, then check if that sword is the source.

Eliminate the Tidal Blight

Lupa: What's that sound... Come, we should check it out!

Go to the source of the strange sound

Rover: Lupa?

Lupa: This... doesn't feel like the first time I've been here.

Lupa: Let's go.

Go inside the mountain

Investigate further

Rover: There's no mistaking it now. It's Imperator's frequency.

??: Thou...

??: Thou carry the scent of Cartethyia.

Rover: Not just knowledge...

Rover: You've stolen the Sentinel's access too!

Rover: Lupa's role in this story...

Rover: Isn't yours!

Lupa: Is that... Contender Mya?

Rover: It's the Threnodian.

Rover: Lupa, this is something only you can do.

Lupa: Tell me what I need to do.

Rover: Read the script. Adapt as required.

Rover: I believe in you, warrior.

Lupa: Ha... huff... Ugh!

Lupa: A-a dream? No, it couldn't...

Lupa: It's no dream.

Lupa: I'm not alone. The Warrior put the hope of change in my hands.

Lupa: Heh... This feels good. Not standing there alone on the champion's stage.

Lupa: (Rover hasn't learned this yet, but I now remember traveling with Cartethyia. I can't be in the real world.)

Lupa: (This is a Sonoro created by the Fractsidus. It's a realm of stories.)

Lupa: (The story of the Great Agon lasts only three days. Before Cartethyia came here, I... had wandered this same bloody story more times than I can count.)

Lupa: (The Dark Tide consumes Septimont, and that monstrous half-human, half-sea creature grows ever larger... Is this the Fractsidus plan? To feed it with Septimont's ruins?)

Lupa: (A script... Yes, this Sonoro is like a book of plays.)

Lupa: (Each world in the Sonoro is a story that keeps repeating, like sheets of paper, all overlapping with one another.)

Lupa: (New pages keep appearing, layering over the old, and the changes in one story bleed through to the next.)

Lupa: (After Cartethyia's actions, Septimont, once destroyed by the Dark Tide, has begun to return to normal in the story where Rover arrived.)

Lupa: (Cartethyia saved me, changed my fate, and led me to the Warrior, who stopped the Threnodian in the last story. So in this time, I haven't lost my memory.)

Lupa: (Rover had delivered a powerful blow against the monster, and the energy supply from the Central Hub has been cut off.)

Lupa: (But that's not even its full form...)

Lupa: (I once searched for its true form with Cartethyia. I remember now, what we seek lies in the lower city's waters.)

Lupa: I won't let your trust be misplaced, Rover.

Ride the Wingray

Lupa: (The Old District of Septimont, submerged beneath the waters due to the Dark Tide...)

Lupa: (Ah. The Dark Tide looms over Septimont like a stubborn storm cloud.)

Lupa: (Is Rover... No, no time to worry. I have to find the cause of all this, and quickly.）

Ride the Wingray high up to the sky

Go to the Old District

Lupa: (In a past story, I came here with Cartethyia...)

Cartethyia: Look at you... you can't go on much longer.

Nameless Girl: I feared as much. Then this is where we... stop.

Nameless Girl: Strange. I remember everything about Septimont, but... I can't remember... I can't even remember my name.

Cartethyia: You didn't forget.

Cartethyia: Someone stole your role in the story. Even your name on the placards in the arena would be unreadable.

Cartethyia: Your existence has been erased. Only by unmaking this story can it be reclaimed.

Nameless Girl: Too bad I won't last long enough to see that happen.

Nameless Girl: I'm sorry, Cartethyia. You saved me, but I can't help you in return.

Cartethyia: When I was a child... long ago, I heard tales of Septimont.

Cartethyia: A city full of passion and life. People there drank deeply, laughed loudly, appreciated sculpture, and lived for the hunt.

Cartethyia: Men and women feared nothing. They burned like fire, giving all their light and heat before fading.

Cartethyia: But when I arrived in Septimont, it had already been undone by dark hands. With the Dark Tide sweeping the streets, the city was nothing but an empty shell.

Nameless Girl: That's right... my city is beautiful.

Nameless Girl: When the autumn wind blew through the golden flags and wind chimes, time seemed to slow...

Cartethyia: The Leviathan... I will not give It the chance to make the people of Rinascita weep and bleed.

Cartethyia: I will drag whoever orchestrated this tragedy out of the shadows.

Nameless Girl: Septimont... can I leave it to you?

Cartethyia: No.

Cartethyia: You said it yourself. This is your city. Some things, only you can do.

Cartethyia: The monster leaving its trace in the Dark Tide... I can feel it. Its frequency is similar to my own.

Cartethyia: The Threnodian created me to be a Resonator for Its power. But I wasn't the only one. Many "vessels" before me failed.

Nameless Girl: You mean...

Cartethyia: There is still much I don't know. I'll keep searching. But no matter what, you have a certain "specialness."

Cartethyia: Once... I sought to end it all. Someone stopped me.

Cartethyia: Even a life mocked by fate can break its curse. Whatever you seek to do, whether you're weak or strong, you must strive for it.

Cartethyia: I returned to the world thanks to a certain person's help.

Cartethyia: I believe he will come here and reshape this twisted story.

Nameless Girl: Must be quite the person, eh? I wish I could meet him... and see how he does it...

Cartethyia: Then you will see for yourself.

Cartethyia: Victory isn't won in an instant. It takes patience and perseverance. What we can't do now, someone will carry forward later.

Cartethyia: If you want to save your city, then hold on. No matter the pain, no matter the doubts, you must keep going.

Cartethyia: Just like how you wandered Septimont before I came, broken yet determined to leave to find help for the city.

Cartethyia: Jump to a new story, and bring my message to that person.

Nameless Girl: Alright, Cartethyia... I'll... I'll try my best...

Nameless Girl: First... tell me, what is that person's name?

Cartethyia: I'm close to that abnormal frequency...

Cartethyia: ...You're in the submerged aqueducts.

Lupa: The submerged aqueducts... I remember reading about them in the Silva records. There used to be an underground waterway leading to the plains.

Lupa: But now, with the Old District completely flooded, we can only access it if we drain the water first.

Lupa: (After my role was erased, Cartethyia must've found the half-human, half-sea creature... and the Fractsidus.)

Lupa: (Like Rover, she chose to remain on the closing of that page. To give new stories a fighting chance.)

Lupa: (That's why... I only regained my name after I met the Warrior.)

Lupa: (During our journey, the overlapping worlds the Warrior saw were the monster's doing. It tried to use Mya to steal my role again... to corrupt Septimont once more.)

Lupa: (Only I can erase it from this story. Only I can prove that I'm real, and it is fake.)

Lupa: ...What happened to the Mya who vanished in the Vale of Glory decades ago?

Lupa: After everything you went through, what did the city of Septimont mean to you...

Lupa: (I remember the entrance to the underground waterway is in the Old Districts Bell Tower.)

Lupa: (Ah... Of course! The upkeep of these waters always falls under the Silvas' jurisdiction.)

Lupa: (Maybe I can awaken this sleeping Giant of Glory.)

Lupa: (In Septimontian tradition, when it bears its blade and watches over the warriors leaving for the hunt, all gates and passages open.)

Lupa: (Many of the old routes are blocked, but I can try draining the water through the remaining ones. It's worth a try!)

Drain the submerged areas of the Old District

Go to the Bell Tower

Go to the elevator

Take the elevator to reach the underground waterway

Lupa: (Just this gate standing between me and the heart of the aqueducts.)

Lupa: (It won't open... I'll have to find another route.)

Continue on

Lupa: (The copper mirror is calling.)

Lupa: (The Warrior used it to "see" the past. I wonder if there's anything of that here...)

Use the Copper Mirror of Truth

Watch what the Copper Mirror reveals

Julia: I've already pulled that body from the sea.

Cristoforo: Excellent, Domina Julia. Keeping one's word is the foundation of any solid partnership.

Cristoforo: I know, I know. Septimont's current Ephor doesn't quite heed the Senate's wishes, but we'll see to that.

Cristoforo: A cup of poisoned wine, a passing fly, a dagger... fate strikes where least expected.

Cristoforo: With someone as clever and calculated as you at the helm, the House of Silva need not fear for its survival.

Julia: I do not work with you for our sake! I do this for Septimont!

Julia: ...Some of us have forgotten the terror of life adrift at sea. To survive the tide, one must make the right choices.

Julia: We'll speak of other matters later. But tell me, why would you want a dead woman who fell into the sea?

Cristoforo: Dead woman... Ah, you mean Mya?

Cristoforo: Indeed, she is the very heart of the unit I spoke of. The one we intend to build deep within these underground aqueducts.

Cristoforo: Alive or dead, her body holds the information we need. The Fractsidus's experiments here will continue for some time.

Cristoforo: In the meantime, covering up this little laboratory's existence will require your assistance, madam.

Julia: ...The heart? That weakling's Resonance abilities were meager at best. Her performance in the arena was nothing special.

Julia: Hmph, if it weren't for those incompetent fools in the Senate using her as a puppet to shift the attention and anger of the masses, she wouldn't even have made it to the finals!

Cristoforo: Do not be upset, my dear Domina. You are absolutely right. The girl is so feeble she can't resist her creator's will in the slightest.

Cristoforo: Winning the Grand Agon was precisely what brought the shadow of death upon her.

Cristoforo: Luck and misfortune, nobility and lowliness, weakness and strength... A person's nature is like two sides of a coin.

Cristoforo: And I've always found beauty in inevitable tragedies.

Lupa: ...So Mya has been dead all this time...

Lupa: She didn't leave Septimont when she vanished... The sea took her.

Continue on

Investigate further

Locate the ringing sound

Use the Copper Mirror of Truth

Watch what the Copper Mirror reveals

Cristoforo: I trust you've seen the experimental unit in the aqueducts. Well, what do you think?

Phrolova: If not for the sword embedded in her chest, I could mistake the corpse for being alive.

Cristoforo: Indeed. Decades have passed, yet Mya remains as she was when first pulled from the sea.

Cristoforo: Her data has been invaluable. As the Threnodian's failed Resonator, this... specimen is, in its own way, remarkable.

Cristoforo: You know, it wasn't so long ago that Rover intervened and Cartethyia broke free from that tower.

Cristoforo: I discovered that a small piece of the Threnodian's essence within Mya was reawakened with the tower's resurgence into our world.

Phrolova: Sounds as though you've found new inspiration.

Cristoforo: Yes, Septimont will host the Great Agon soon. I've come up with a rather intriguing idea.

Cristoforo: Before her death, Mya also attended the tournament. I'll use that as the fictitious anchor to craft a play to rewrite reality itself.

Cristoforo: I've already discussed terms with It and reached a modest agreement.

Phrolova: ...You spoke with the Threnodian? Has Leviathan already awakened?

Cristoforo: Only a fragment of It remains. A weakened, cunning shard, desperate to grow stronger.

Cristoforo: I'll fashion a story for this sea creature, enabling it to fulfill what It once sought: to have the Dark Tide swallow Septimont whole.

Cristoforo: The Threnodian once sought to use Mya to find Septimont's Central Hub in order to corrupt the Beacon system. Even if met with failure, It would control the champion's mind to infiltrate the city's upper echelons.

Cristoforo: Oh well! It all failed in the end.

Cristoforo: In the face of her futility to resist corruption, that girl chose death. She drove a sword into her heart and leapt into the sea before choking on her own blood.

Cristoforo: Fascinating, isn't it? Faced with the same predicament, strength and weakness still make a difference.

Cristoforo: The Blessed Maiden singlehandedly thwarted the Threnodian's designs in Ragunna, but this poor soul had no choice but to take her own life.

Cristoforo: A death so theatrical, so saturated with sorrow… How poetic, how beautifully tragic…

Phrolova: I don't care for your taste, Cristoforo.

Phrolova: I'm merely curious. What ending have you penned for Septimont this time?

Cristoforo: Ah, such an impatient reader, Phrolova.

Cristoforo: This play is nothing more than an "amplifier," designed to nurture the Threnodian's lingering power. Once it grows large enough, I'll overlay the Sonoro onto reality.

Cristoforo: All that's needed is for Domina Julia to select the right champion. Heh, swapping out the protagonist is hardly a challenge.

Cristoforo: Once the sea creature grows within the cradle I've forged from the Dark Tide, the hymn of "Journeying Paradise" will spread from Septimont across Rinascita.

Cristoforo: Really, compared to those Septimontians who've long forgotten Mya, the story I've written for her is far more thrilling! Don't you agree?

Phrolova: And what if it fails?

Cristoforo: Then so be it. You know, Phrolova, stories are but mankind's attempt to imagine and rehearse fate.

Cristoforo: If this play proves Rover worthy of becoming the protagonist of my story, if they pass their trial by fire, then isn't that a victory as well?

Continue on

Lupa: Disgusting.

Lupa: To treat Septimont like a plaything... unforgivable!

Lupa: What's so poetic or romantic about a story where someone is driven to death?

Eliminate the Tidal Blight

Locate the ringing sound

Use the Copper Mirror of Truth

Mya: ...

Lady of the Sea: Still lingering, Mya?

Lady of the Sea: A fading Reverberation that should have dissolved in the deep long ago.

Mya: ...Where... are you going...?

Lady of the Sea: To claim the title.

Lady of the Sea: Was that not your unfulfilled wish?

Mya: That... was never... mine... the arena...

Mya: I... don't... need... this... victory...!

Lady of the Sea: But I do. Without a champion and the Lion Beast, I cannot touch the Central Hub left by Imperator.

Lady of the Sea: You... Cartethyia, both my "daughters," my very creations! Why this fruitless resistance?

Lady of the Sea: Has Septimont ever granted you kindness?

Lady of the Sea: They neither love you nor need you. Long have you been forgotten.

Mya: We were... raised... by... them...

Mya: You... will never... understand...

Lady of the Sea: Proud in battle, and yet yearning for strength. I know the heart of the Septimontians far better than you.

Lady of the Sea: Mya, you are simply too afraid to face their true nature. You choose to deceive yourself.

Lady of the Sea: You cannot admit that they used you and then cast you aside. You cannot accept that, from the start, you were insignificant.

Mya: No... Viburnum... my... flowers...

Lady of the Sea: Hush. It matters not. Your thoughts are of little consequence.

Return to the aqueduct gate

Lupa: Viburnum... the Bloodleaf Viburnum of Septimont?

Lupa: ...Ah. I understand.

Lupa: It's a flower often given to Gladiators... a symbol of victory.

Continue on

Go to the elevator

Take the elevator to reach the depths of the waterway

Follow the path

Lupa: (I've always carried this shame.)

Lupa: (Shame for something I didn't choose, shame for something that's just there. Sometimes, it turns into doubt.）

Lupa: (I try to live free! And I do, most days. But still... I see it. I see the pain in their faces.)

Lupa: (In the ones who fall behind. The ones who leave the field beaten. The ones who pin all their hopes on me...)

Lupa: (I've always wondered, if I didn't have this gift, could I... could I've reached this point with clean hands?)

Lupa: (Should I have judged those who trample the rules to survive? Was I blind to my own arrogance?)

Lupa: Now... I don't think like that anymore.

Lupa: Rover is stronger than me, no doubt, but he treats everyone the same. He didn't choose to stand alone. Instead, he chose to trust me.

Lupa: Cartethyia spent years trapped by the weight of everyone's expectations. Never stepped foot in Septimont before, but still sailed across the seas to be here.

Lupa: And Mya... Her Resonance ability might be weak, but she never ran from a fight. She fought 'til her last breath.

Lupa: A heart isn't shaped by what it's born with or what it's been given.

Lupa: I've underestimated others... and I've underestimated myself, too.

Lupa: But you! Arrogance! Thinking you understand the darkness in people's hearts. But you don't have a single drop of life in you.

Lupa: Beautiful as ever, the Gryphon's Fortress. My city, Septimont.

Lupa: Built by the hands of the people. Not the Sentinel, and not the Threnodian.

Lupa: Where there's light, there's always shadow.

Lupa: But people need light. They'll chase it no matter what. And they'll learn to live with the shadow.

Lupa: Mya, Cartethyia… They were born and raised on these islands. They are daughters of Rinascita. They belong to no gods but their own!

Move forward

Lupa: I swear by the eternal sun, I will slay you.

Defeat Lady of the Sea

Lady of the Sea: From the fear and the longings of civilization, I was wrought, born of the hearts of countless men and women, of babes and of the aged.

Lady of the Sea: With sharp blades and silver tongue, you struggle for power and revel in the slaughter of the arena. From past to present, nothing has changed.

Lupa: Ha! What right do you have to judge the people of Rinascita?

Lupa: Mya chose her end with dignity. Your very existence is an insult to her.

Lupa: Look at you, cowering in this little incubator, desperate to evade your end. You will never understand what it takes to face the fear of death!

Lady of the Sea: A human life is nothing more than a scream between life and death!

Follow the Lady of the Sea and access "The Finale"

Lupa: It's real… Both of you are safe!

Rover: The Threnodian's frequency is gone. Well done, Lupa.

Cartethyia: You've found Rover and safeguarded Septimont... It's like something out of a knight's tale. Hmm, no, wait... Gladiator's tale?

Abby: Phew! Finally, I can stick my head out! Rover, are you okay?!

Rover: I'm fine, Abby. What happened to you earlier?

Abby: I… wait, we're already in Septimont?

Abby: I was just talking to you, and then boom! It felt like something just... covered me!

Abby: First, it messed with my frequency, then... I just passed out. Wait! Cartethyia? And a girl I don't know?!

Lupa: Heh, you're lively. Your Echo's more boisterous than a Ta-da!

Abby: W-what happened while I was out?!

Cartethyia: Hmm... I think it's time we compare notes. Let's fill in this story's blanks, shall we?

Cartethyia: When I sensed the Threnodian's power here in Septimont, I immediately set out to find its source.

Cartethyia: It was quite sudden. I slipped through the smallest of cracks to enter this Sonoro, which severed my contact with the outside world.

Cartethyia: I found Lupa in the city. She had lost her role.

Cartethyia: We traveled together for a time and discovered the architects of the destruction—the Fractsidus playwright Cristoforo and the Threnodian.

Cartethyia: Sadly, the playwright did eventually erase Lupa's existence. As for me, I descended into the submerged aqueducts where I found the Threnodian. It had inhabited Mya's remains and was hiding within an experimental unit.

Cartethyia: Unfortunately, I was unable to eliminate it entirely. It evaded me, slipping into hiding.

Cartethyia: I reasoned that you would sense the anomaly and come to Septimont, so I sought to offer you my aid.

Cartethyia: I battled the playwright, and in doing so, stripped him of his ability to control the script.

Cartethyia: Afterward, he, along with the other Fractsidus Overseers, fled from me. With that, the Sonoro began to collapse. It was then that we finally met.

Cartethyia: Lupa and I formed a few theories during our investigation, though they may not be entirely accurate.

Cartethyia: In this Sonoro, where stories manifest as reality, roles define the identities of those within it.

Cartethyia: To lose your role is to lose both your name and memory.

Cartethyia: In truth, Mya has long since passed and does not truly exist here. It was Lupa, not Mya, who won the three-day Agon.

Cartethyia: I suspect the stories created by the playwright cannot stray too far from their original frameworks. A limitation of his Resonance ability.

Cartethyia: The Threnodian's frequency has vanished from Septimont, but I fear this is far from over.

Cartethyia: There is something else. Perhaps due to the Dark Tide in the Sonoro, I can feel my balance shifting... The Threnodian's pull is growing stronger.

Rover: ...!

Cartethyia: Now that I think of it, this could very well be part of the Fractsidus's plan.

Rover: ...You need to head to the Black Shores, Cartethyia.

Rover: They've been dealing with the Threnodian for years. You should go there and run some tests. They'll know how to handle what's coming.

Cartethyia: The Black Shores... Is that where you're from?

Cartethyia: If it's a place you trust, then I will go.

Lupa: The event that brought forth the Dark Tide... it must have been my death.

Lupa: After that, the details of the story blur. It repeated so many times. It's hard to remember everything...

Lupa: All I remember is wandering the desolate city streets in a Septimont corrupted by the Dark Tide, unable to escape... until I met Cartethyia.

Lupa: She saved me. But in that story, we couldn't fully resolve the source of the disaster.

Lupa: Then in another story, I encountered you, my fellow warrior.

Lupa: After we parted, I awoke in yet another story, in the Vale of Glory where I finally saw the Threnodian's true form in the submerged aqueducts.

Lupa: It... had taken control of Mya's corpse and was using the Fractsidus's Sonoro to grow Its power.

Lupa: After defeating It, the Sonoro began to collapse. I passed through those crumbling pages to find you!

Lupa: My "death"... Well, I'll start from the very beginning: My journey to win the championship.

Lupa: I had failed to expose the family's match-fixing. After being deceived by Domina Julia and winning the title on my own, my memories became a blur... I was probably under some form of control.

Lupa: The last thing I clearly remembered was standing in the Central Hub in the Vale of Glory, pressing my spear into something that resembled a control panel. Then the Dark Tide began to surge.

Lupa: In the end, all of Septimont was swallowed by it.

Lupa: I'm not sure when all this started, or where the line between the reality I knew and the Sonoro world created by the Fractsidus began to blur.

Lupa: Oh, the script and the copper mirror you gave me! I'll return them to you now.

Lupa: It was a long story, but the ending turned out well.

Lupa: Though, thinking of Mya still upsets me.

Lupa: Her Reverberations, trapped in that monstrous body... I can't imagine her suffering over the last twenty years...

Rover: When you defeated the Threnodian, you also set her free.

Lupa: ...Yes. It was an honor to have that final battle with her!

Lupa: Thanks to you and Cartethyia, I was able to rewrite the tragic ending of this story.

Lupa: Thank you, my fellow warrior, for believing in me.

Cartethyia: There's one more thing. We should return to the Central Hub in Septimont. I found something tied to you there, Rover.

Lupa: The Central Hub... Good timing. There's something I need to handle in the Vale of Glory too.

Rover: Good, let's set off together.

Reenter the Central Hub

Investigate further

Cartethyia: When Lupa vanished, I destroyed the experimental unit, pursued the Threnodian, and defeated the Lioness of Glory It controlled. Then I came across this place.

Cartethyia: You remember how the Threnodian took on a part of the Sentinel's knowledge and permissions, yes?

Cartethyia: For the Sentinel, the information stolen was Their very memories.

Cartethyia: For this reason, even the Sentinel forgot that before merging with the Threnodian, They transferred some of their knowledge to the Central Hub in Septimont.

Rover: The knowledge They would later forget...

Cartethyia: It was a secret, one the Threnodian should never learn. The Sentinel moved it there for safekeeping.

Cartethyia: Within it, I found a special frequency. A part of it... felt like yours. I believe it's what the Sentinel left for you. So I took it.

Rover: ...!

You feel a faint frequency of sharp, cold wind. It fades quickly as it touches your hand, but not before it points towards a distant destination in Septimont.

Cartethyia: It seems like a clue... the true secret They left for you is not here but in that direction.

Cartethyia: You see, before I came to meet you, I passed by the city of Septimont.

Cartethyia: The arena I destroyed has been restored, but in the people's hearts, it's still Rover and Lupa who claimed victory.

Cartethyia: The Fractsidus's power to reshape reality is deeper than we realized. I'm afraid this is just the beginning.

Cartethyia: I once believed the Threnodian sought to use the Fractsidus to regain power, but Its true goal is the Central Hub. I believe it's due to this secret the Sentinel has hidden.

Lupa: That direction... It leads to the hunting grounds.

Lupa: The Blightcloud still lingers there. When the High Tide comes, Septimontians hunt and cull the spawning Tacet Discords.

Cartethyia: The Dark Tide... connects everything.

Cartethyia: I cannot pinpoint where the Sentinel's message lies. I'm afraid you must go there yourself, Rover.

Cartethyia: But the worst of the storm has passed. Let's take a moment to rest.

Cartethyia: Lupa, will you be our tour guide? Show us the sights and glories of Septimont?

Cartethyia: I'd love to hear more about what you mentioned earlier. The wind blowing through golden flags and the sound of wind chimes...

Lupa: Of course! It would be my honor.

Lupa: But before we go, there's something I need to do first.

Lupa: It's Mya's sword. I went through a lot to bring it back.

Lupa: The monster is gone now. Like so many Septimontian heroes whose bodies were never recovered, I... wanted to return her weapon.

Lupa: This is where she gave her life. I can't say if she loved or hated Septimont more.

Lupa: But... she once spoke of the Bloodleaf Viburnum. It's a tribute often given to Gladiators by their supporters.

Lupa: So, I think... she would have wanted to rest here.

Lupa: It's beautiful...

Lupa: Our city, the City of Glory. The people here love to drink, laugh, carve statues, and hunt.

Lupa: It burns like fire, drenched in both victory and defeat. It holds all our disappointments and all our hopes.