"Lastation City's governing body has reached a consensus. We are willing to join the Panason Coalition—"

Ryll's eyes were practically sparkling when she heard these words. It almost...hurt, seeing how happy and full of life she was right now. And knowing it wouldn't last.

"—Under one condition," Elizabeth continued, "The Coalition would capture Filina, Fragment of the First Goddess, and bring her to justice, in exchange for Lastation City's signature on the treaty."

There was a wave of hushed whispers and exchange of glances amongst the suited men and women. Blanc had been zoning out, ever since they started that long exchange of pleasantry; even though she could vaguely remember these Oracles introducing themselves, their names had completely skipped her mind.

"There's a condition?" Ryll, however, didn't bother to hide her shock.

"Indeed. I'm sure there are many citizens who will join the Coalition out of the goodness of their hearts," Elizabeth said. "But the city's governing body wants concrete proof that the Coalition can ensure the safety and protect the interest of its members. To make sure that atrocities like the Lifedrain can never happen again."

A woman with a shiny pentagram brooch on her suit raised her hand.

"Miss Goldstar. What do you think?"

"Our CPU hasn't gained her Heart title yet. I think it is unwise to endanger her safety with such a mission."

"Filina can't absorb faith, and knows she can't win against a full-grown CPU, HDD unlocked or not," Elizabeth replied. "Why do you think she had escaped to a continent without CPUs for so long? Or need Lowee's backing for her killing spree?"

"Objection," Another man chimed in, "Your wanted culprit is currently under the protection of Tari. If we couldn't do it by stealth, it would certainly escalate into a military campaign."

"Stealth?" An old man huffed. His limbs were as stiff and gangly as tree branches, and his green uniform made him look like a weird species of pine. "Since when do we have to act like petty thieves while bringing a murderer to justice?"

"I'm afraid you don't understand the situation, General Matsushita. It would involve more than our own forces—"

"Of course!" The old man turned to Elizabeth. "If your city's providing all the arsenals—and I mean all of them, no holds barred, then we sure as hell are gonna put them to good use! Serve these Tari bastards right for not keeping a tab on their own mercenaries, after their last Goddess kicked the bucket."

"The Tenga Corps hadn't been that active in the east—"

"Easy for you to say, Toshiba. Your folks aren't the ones that got robbed blind by these fleeing scoundrels."

"I agree with General Matsushita, but for a different reason." A man in glasses spoke up. "After being deceived once, it is only fair that Lastation City would want us to prove that we are better than Lowee. If we did catch that villain, the resources and support from Lastation City could also enable us to be one step closer towards realizing Mr. Hawkens' vision—"

"And tell me, Sanyo, how much would we actually gain, compared to the losses that a potential war could burden us with?"

"Lastation City are not blind to the reality of war," Elizabeth turned towards the man, "Your real question is, how much resources do you think we are willing to give to the Coalition, in order to avenge our citizens and ensure that Filina would die a horrible, agonizing death?"

"The answer is, as much as we can, if this is any indication." She removed a scroll from her own suit pocket, and unfurled it up in front of the entire Council.

Blanc, who was still a little too far away from her, walked closer and squinted at the paper. At a glance, it almost seemed like the entire paper was just dyed red, but upon a closer look, she saw that it was covered in fingerprints, cluttered together tightly and overlapping with each other.

...Yeah. That's not creepy at all.

"Every single mark on this paper belongs to a victim's family or friends. They want me to present this to you, as the proof of their will for vengeance, since they can't come here in person," Elizabeth paused, "Which is a good thing. If they heard the words spoken by some of the people in this room, they would not be entrusting their city's future to a bunch of selfish cowards who'd put their own petty interest before their murdered loved ones."

"Your insult is uncalled for!" Toshiba jabbed a finger at her, "As sympathetic as we are to your circumstances, we have to exercise caution—"

"Which is the exact same thing Lastation City did at first. We thought Lowee's new CPU would be open to diplomacy, that we could keep our autonomy and stay out of the war without getting our hands dirty. Needless to say, we paid dearly for that," Elizabeth said, which earned a nod from both General Matsushita and Ryll herself.

"And, now that the Coalition has gained its first Goddess, Planeptune and Lowee would only be more determined to snuff out this common threat on their contested front. How many settlements in the Coalition have the industrial capacity of Lastation City? Do you think the city you represent can withstand a direct frontal assault from two hostile nations, Mr. Toshiba?"

"Of course not! And neither can yours! That's why I'm—"

"Believe me, if Lowee could seize control of our city by force, they would have done so long ago, just like how they razed the island kingdom of Eden, and crushed the main base of the Tenga Corp." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Yet they had to resort to underhanded tactics when it came to us. Doesn't that say something about our potential as a threat? A threat that would be invaluable as an ally on the right side?"

"If you want us to believe that Planeptune and Lowee would be ganging up on us, how would getting involved in a war with a third, unrelated nation help us defend ourselves?" Miss Goldstar, who had been listening in silence for a while, suddenly spoke up. "Wouldn't it just drain our resources faster?"

"In return, you will gain far more resources than you would have lost, and it isn't limited to what you can get out of the occupied territories. You will have the most powerful trade hub and industrial center of the east on your side, and tell me—" Elizabeth paused, "What do you want on the Coalition's western border? A piece of land directly under our control, or a third nation that will likely side with Planeptune, their established westmost neighbor, instead of a new, fledgling state in the east?"

"Mr. Hawkens would not approve of us conquering our neighbors for the sake of resources alone," Sanyo adjusted his glasses, "And if we are fighting this war, we have to do it for a greater ideal. Not in the tyrants' ways."

"Mr. Hawkens is a realist." Elizabeth stared him in the eyes, "Without the pragmatic strategies, his visions would only stay a fantasy, and all great ideals require sacrifices, do they not?"

Ryll yelped, as the single chain in her hands took an unexpected turn, and hit her directly in the forehead. Gritting her teeth, she shifted back into a stance, and began to spin the chain around again. This time, it struck the dummy in front of her, sending it flying into an opposite wall.

That was nowhere near a good hit. Even without reinforcing these chains with faith, if Ryll was putting the same level of force she used in their fight into the strike, the whole thing would have snapped in half. The girl was sweating up a storm, and Blanc suspected it wasn't because of physical exhaustion.

When the door of the training room opened, and Elizabeth walked in, her nervous fidgeting only confirmed Blanc's suspicion. Blanc soon took her gaze off Ryll, however, and started squinting at Elizabeth.

"...What's with that scarf?"

Dammit, this dimension's people had some weird fashion. It was nowhere near as annoying as Venus and her glittering clothes, but Elizabeth's new rainbow scarf just stood out like a sore thumb.

"Oh, hello!" With a swift wave of her hand, the chain dissolved into thin air, "Do you need anything?"

"No. But I think you may need something, now that the Council's voting result is out."

"I need what?" Ryll tilted her head.

"No, I got it all wrong. You need someone. Someone who's not gonna go, 'nudge nudge, wink wink, when are you unlocking your HDD Form' every time they see you."

There was a big teasing grin on Elizabeth's face, as she moved closer and swung an arm over Ryll's shoulder. She was ruffling up Ryll's hair in the same way Blanc did to her sisters, when they weren't being annoying brats on purpose, and were content to just snuggle up to her. Ryll didn't object to it, either, despite blushing a little.

"Yeah. You, um, don't you want the same thing?" Finally, Ryll pulled away, with an awkward grin on her face, "I mean, it's your fellow citizens that want her punished."

"Ah, I see. You are wondering if it is really right, to threaten Tari into handing that foul villain over to us, and be willing to go through with our threat."

"No! I'm not childish enough to think that Filina and anyone who'd protect her from punishment...deserve mercy." Ryll shook her head frantically, "I'm just a little on edge, that's all. About what I'd be facing."

Blanc wasn't convinced. For once, if she herself was talking about some despicable killers like their "Filina" here, and someone asked if she was having doubts, she'd be yelling "HELL NO" at the top of her lungs.

"Which reminds me of a thing. If you don't mind me asking," Ryll spoke up again, "What do you know about Tari? Apart from the whole...sinking into the earth thing? Do you think their CPUs, uh, can be reasoned with?"

Elizabeth fell silent. For the next minute, she just stood there, running her fingers through her rainbow scarf, like she hadn't heard the question at all. Ryll opened her mouth a few times, but, infuriatingly, didn't say anything. Like she thought there was some kind of mysterious meaning behind this silence.

"Did I ask something I shouldn't ask?" Finally, Ryll raised a hand, "If you don't wanna answer, that's fine."

Elizabeth still wasn't looking at her. Her face was an emotionless mask, as she uttered her reply. "I, personally, don't know much about Tari—"

"Then why did you keep your mouth shut for so long like a complete ass?!" Blanc groaned.

"—But someone else did," Elizabeth continued. "Someone who had witnessed Tari's rise and fall with her very own eyes."

Ryll shot her a curious look. "And you know where she is?"

"In a grave, under five feet of earth. I buried her myself." There was a brief flash of amusement in her eyes, as Ryll put a hand to her mouth. "After I was demoted by Venus, I ran into a withered husk that barely resembled a human, on my way to that distant outpost. Do you know what happens to a victim of Lifedrain?"

"Their inner organs," Ryll bit into her lips, "Start growing old and failing at a really quick speed, and they die in a day or so."

"Indeed," Elizabeth said. "But this dying woman isn't human. Filina didn't need to take away her life force to subject her to a horrible, painful death. She just needed to suck away the energy that had been keeping her body in stasis for centuries, and the aging would catch up to her in a few days' time."

"Not human? Is she—?"

"She doesn't have monster blood in her, either." Elizabeth shook her head. "Venus sure likes to paint herself as the first rebel. But that's just her hubris speaking. That honor goes to Rei Ryghts' Oracle, First of the Golden One, who fought against Tari's tyranny, and protected her fellow rebels with the power granted to her by a golden crystal."

"Never could she foresee her own sad, humiliating end, at the hand of a life-sucking pest she once defeated with ease." There was a distant look in Elizabeth's eyes. "And when her own mortality caught up to her, she was just as scared and desperate for companionship as any other human being. So I offered her mine, and in turn, she told me a lot of stories. About Tari's first Goddess, Rei Ryghts, who was also the first tyrant—"

"Yeah, no shit," Blanc muttered. Rei didn't change much across dimensions, from the looks of it.

"—And she is proud and bloodthirsty and paranoid, because her people wanted someone like that."

"What?" Blanc blurted out. Okay, sometimes, being a tad aggressive in HDD Form...wasn't a bad thing, but...why? Why would anyone bring that level of batshit insanity on themselves?

"Tari was threatened from all sides at the time of her birth, raided endlessly by their nomadic neighbors, who were all lusting after the wealth and power of the largest kingdom, in an era before CPUs with human thoughts and emotions became the norm."

"They needed a deadly weapon, a one-person army who'd crush their enemies mercilessly, seize their land and people in the name of Tari, and protect Tari's prosperity with a terrific fierceness." Elizabeth smiled. "And she did. She conquered and slew and won battles after battles, until her people thought, hey, that's enough. We don't need more wars."

"But her very existence was forged for war. When it reached a stalemate, all of her sharp edges turned inwards, and, like all tyrants, she thought it was for the good of her own foolish, whiny subjects, who couldn't see the threats lurking amongst them, even if their lives depended on it. Which only provoked more resentment, created more enemies for herself, and inadvertently made her worst fears come true."

"Rei couldn't accept the truth. So she convinced herself that her suspicions had to be right in the first place. Everyone was out to destroy Tari, threatening to reduce it to the sorry state it was at the time of her birth," Elizabeth sighed, "And only someone as perfect as her could keep the nation prosperous for an eternity. She is the people, after all, and her feelings are their feelings. How could they even think differently?"

"She tried to levitate Tari into the air, where no one would be able to abandon the nation, and no foes on the land below would be able to touch them." Elizabeth shook her head. "She ended up making her nation into the biggest mass grave in history, not out of malice, but hope. Blind, arrogant, misguided hope."

"Hope?" Blanc scowled. This was not a word she would associate with Rei, especially Ultradimension's Rei, if Neptune's story was anything to go by.

But honestly, it wasn't surprising. So many CPUs in Lynka and Ryll's world seemed to believe that they were the good guys, that they were doing it for the people, when they were...not.

"I had the feeling that her nemesis was not so different from her, when it came to being blinded by hope. This certainly isn't the future she was fighting for, when she first rebelled against her own Goddess." Elizabeth pinched the fabric of her scarf once again, letting the silk slid between her fingers, "But she was coughing up blood and struggling to get out her last few words, so I kept my thoughts to myself."

"She wanted me to avenge her, to make Filina suffer. And I made a promise. She didn't exactly die with a smile on her face, but I think she was finally at peace after hearing that." A pause. "Huh. Now that I got the entire story out, I was expecting to feel a little better."

"You aren't?"

"No. Everything she said about Rei Ryghts...hit a little too close to home for me." Elizabeth's voice lost its warmth again, "And, just like how they are glorifying a living tyrant in Planeptune, Tari's docile Candidate and ignorant little CPU are putting a dead one on a pedestal. Sheltering a vile relic, a backstabbing serial murderer in her name."

"Yeah. It sounds like they are," Ryll bit into her lips, "Ignoring all the horrible things she did on purpose. No wonder they'd do the same thing for Filina."

"And they never stopped trying to restore the glory of Tari." Elizabeth let out a small laugh, "Restore the old tyranny and terror, that's more like it. That is all they ever understood, and have been looking up to for centuries. Do you really think that demands on a paper, no matter how aggressively worded, would be enough to change their mind?"

Ryll shook her head. "No. I, I was being a real idiot when I wanted us to rewrite that letter, wasn't I?"

Blanc doubted that someone like Lynka was capable of starting a reign of terror. She didn't know about the rest of Tari's CPUs in this world, though. If they were all as tyrannical as Rei, then maybe Elizabeth would have a point.

"No. You just didn't have the full context, that's all." There was a gleeful spite in Elizabeth's eyes, as she continued, "Tari should have stayed dead after the Great Shock, yet still shambled on like an undead corpse, barely kept together by their backwards traditions and poisonous hope."

Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder again. "It is time for them to understand that age and tradition will not protect them from the forces of progress and change. A lesson that Planeptune and Lowee would also learn, sooner or later."

"I understand." Ryll clenched her fists together. "I won't be scared anymore."

"That's not how you do it." There was a strange sadness in her knowing smile. "You don't suddenly decide to not be scared. You have to be certain, no matter how scared you are, that you are doing the right thing. You have to be angry, but keep a cool head at the same time."

"How the heck is that last part possible?" Blanc grumbled. Ryll seemed equally confused by this contradictory statement, despite nodding in response.

"No matter how angry you are, you don't show it. You don't let it affect your judgement, drive you into making mistakes," Elizabeth added, as she made a turn, and headed towards the door. "The same could be said for all feelings. Tyrants like Venus and Rei Ryghts are passionate about their causes and what is supposed to be good for their people, are they not?"

"...No. Hell no."

Without her passion and anger, she wouldn't be here today. And just because some bastards did horrible things in the name of their nation (and, now that Blanc did have more context, this world's Rubis would be amongst the top five on a List of Shitty CPUs) didn't make it wrong to love people and want the best for them.

Right?

Gunshots.

Immediately after hearing that, Blanc's vision exploded in a burst of dust, flames and flying debris. She covered her face out of reflex, even though nothing was hitting her. Occasionally, streaks of blue and red light would be visible through the thick screen of smoke, accompanied by angry, child-like yells.

When the rainbow explosion hit, she thought the memories were coming to an end again. Except there were dissonant noises that accompanied the colors.

The yells became shrill shrieks. Someone was crying out a word, maybe a name, over and over again, but the gunfire in the background was just too damn loud for her to hear it clearly.

The dust had settled, however, and she could make out the silhouette of beetle-like wings in the wreckage, advancing towards the origin point of the cries with a deliberate slowness.

Blanc broke into a sprint too, in close pursuit of Ryll's memory. She still didn't catch up to her fast enough, and only caught a glance of Ryll in her HDD Form, dragging up a petite silhouette by the neck. Blanc's stomach tightened when she realized just how small and helpless that struggling figure actually was. Fuck, that kid couldn't be much older than Neptune—

Ryll's arms moved. There was a clean, crisp snap. She didn't know why she could hear it so clearly when nothing but gunshot noises had been assaulting her eardrums, but it made her sick to the core. Like she was watching a kid she knew getting her neck snapped, and dissolving into a bunch of pixels—

Wait. That wasn't a regular kid.

And Ryll could only be fighting one nation, one CPU right now.

Blanc's breath turned icy in her throat. Seconds later, the giant metallic wings were gone in a flash of light, and Ryll was back. She took a step forward, but her knees gave out under her, and she was gasping so hard for breath that for a moment, it sounded like she was on the verge of choking.

"Stop crying," she mumbled in a monotone voice, which quickly raised to a panicking yell, as she clutched her forehead, and started punching herself in the chest, with a force that was enough to make Blanc wince. "Stop crying! STOP CRYING! STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!"

"I, I," She squeezed that single syllable out for a few times, between the sobbing and more futile yelling at herself. "I won, I did it, I didn't mess up anything, if I'm doing the right thing, I shouldn't be crying..."

"...You aren't." The two words escaped Blanc's lips in a bare whisper, before she even realized she was speaking.

"You are doing the right thing. Never doubt that." Another voice came through the veil of dust and smoke, and the gentleness of those words only made it more wrong. "But the first time is always the hardest, Goddesses or not. You just need experience, that's all."

Slowly, Elizabeth emerged from behind the remnant of a wall. Her baseball cap was gone, replaced by a helmet, and her uniform jacket was tattered and covered in soot, which clashed even more horribly with that goddamn rainbow scarf she was still wearing around her neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Ryll was still apologizing, as she was carried up from the ground. It sounded like she wasn't entirely saying it to herself or Elizabeth. "I, I can't do it again today, I know, I should be putting the greater good before my feelings, be a selfless reinforcer...of the people's will, I just can't—"

"There's no need to beat yourself up over it," Elizabeth assured her, "You've done great, and deserve some good rest. We can shatter their Sharecite and track down Filina on our own, and Tari's Candidate has already been taken care of."

She reached into her jacket's pocket with one hand. Blanc's eyes widened, as that little bundle of gold and scarlet was held up like a trophy.

It was Lynka's bowtie. She had gone through the suspect photos too many times to mistake it for anything else.

Ryll's HDD Form was actually showing some emotions on her face, as she peeked through the barred gate. One of pure disgust and hatred.

At first glance, Blanc almost mistook the body shackled in the corner for a pile of grey rags. Only the weak twitching and mumbling suggested that it was not quite dead yet.

"Please, let me out..." It cooed, in a shivering voice that was more pitiful than suave, "I could help you, they wouldn't let me help them, these silly children. Nothing like those who came before them. I could kill your enemies for you with a single touch, I'm still of use...don't let me become nothing again..."

"Quit whining," Elizabeth's voice came from behind Ryll, "You won't be dead until we get back to Lastation City. By that time, you'd be begging for a quick death, if you could still talk."

She put her hand on the handle of the gate, but soon let go of it and turned back to Ryll. When she started speaking again, her tone was completely dry and devoid of emotion—even more so than the coldness that bled into her words from time to time. Was she not standing right there, Blanc could have mistaken her for a different person.

"I think you should be taking your leave now," A pause, "Because you would not like what happens next."

Ryll reverted to her human form after hearing that. She opened her mouth, but didn't manage to get a single word out, before she was cut off.

"I made a promise, and intend to keep it. Remember?"

Ryll nodded meekly, turned away, and started heading down the corridor. Behind her, darkness swallowed up the creaking gate, and Elizabeth's silhouette, just as she made her way into the open entrance.

Crack. Then, a blood-curdling scream erupted from behind Ryll, rippling through the narrow indoor space, followed by another. And another.

Ryll shuddered violently and started running, without sparing a single backwards glance. Yet, even after she faded into the swirl of rainbow colors, the echoes of Filina's screams still lingered for a few seconds.