Archia Think Tank

The Archia Think Tank is a mammoth conglomerate, whose subsidiaries include the Moebius Factory Corporation, located in Ciela Gate. This giant covers everything from military equipment to groceries, and is deeply connected to Reyvateils. They were the developers of many of the technologies that still see common usage in Sol Cluster, and as such, they had a central role ever since its foundation in the history of the region. Their headquarters are located in Archia City, which was built by themselves, in the B Sector of the Tower of Harvestasha.
==History==
===Backstory===
====Establishment====
The history of the Archia Think Tank is as old as the Third Tower project itself, and it started as an small research company called the Kurogane Laboratories in Sol Cluster, whose installations initially only consisted of the Tower of Origin. However, due to several events, the Kurogane Laboratories were destroyed by the Reyvateils and the Antibodies, and were about to disappear in the mists of time, until a certain man appeared.
This man was called Archia Charen, and in order for Kurogane's legacy to not be forgotten, he tasked himself to protect and rebuild the Tower of Origin while establishing a new organization, which at the time was called the Archia Society. At the time, Clustania was the dominant power in the region, so Archia and his associates finally went and requested Clustania the permission for establishing a new company, which at the time they dubbed the Archia Think Tank. Clustania rejected their proposal, which Archia had foreseen, but wished that he was able of solving this matter peacefully. This was because he and several researchers had made a system that allowed them to access the SH Server through Harvestasha XP, and used it to delete the Cosmospheres of several of the Clustanian Reyvateils, instantly killing them. Due to this, Clustania had to reconsider their decision, and allowed the establishment of the Archia Think Tank, appointing them as the administrators of the Tower of Origin and the SH Server in order to keep these problems from repeating.
Archia decided to take advantage of the situation, and modified the conditions they gave to the Clustanians for the creation of the Think Tank: starting from that day, and irrevocably, the Archia Think Tank would have complete control over an administrative area of 1000 Stons (around 3 Km) of diameter around the Tower of Origin. Likewise, Clustania would be unable to interfere with anything that happened within this 1000 Ston special administrative area. Clustania accepted these conditions, and while they continued calling it the Parie Governorate, the actual government of this area was surrendered to the Archia Association.
After their foundation in 3170 AD, the Think Tank devoted itself to the development and marketing of products for the people, and even made achievements such as the development of the Dive Machines, which made it grow into a large corporation.
====A Mysterious Disease====
Around 3190 AD, an strange disease began wreaking havoc in Clustania. According to reports, the Reyvateils would suddenly complain about feeling ill, and then would suffer from a extremely high fever, to finally end turning into water and dying. Also, what confirmed the strangeness of this disease was the fact that some of the affected Reyvateils had changes in random parts of their bodies. While the Emphasis Regime had guessed that this disease was caused by the Archia Think Tank, they couldn't perform a deeper investigation due to the lack of evidence. And besides, this disease didn't affect a large number of Reyvateils: it affected around 2 or 3 Reyvateils per year, so because of it being pretty much an isolated incident, no information about it was disclosed to the public. This was because most Reyvateils didn't even know that the SH Server was in possession of the Archia Think Tank, so this was a decision taken by the Clustanian executive staff to avoid giving unnecessary anxiety to their citizens.
The ones that reacted the most fiercely to this, and actively sought evidence to frame the Think Tank weren't the Reyvateils themselves, but the Necrofamilies. While their population had greatly dwindled due to the continuous wars, an small number of Necrofamilies still remained in this era. At the time, Clustania's population had a Reyvateil-Necrofamily ratio of approximately 8-2.
The Necrofamilies had concluded that the cause of the mysterious disease was the Archia Think Tank, and immediately proposed the Clustanian executive staff to revoke their business permissions and completely destroy their installations. However, the Emphasis Regime rejected these proposals because they wanted to avoid straining the relationships between Archia and Clustania due to the Think Tank being in possession of the SH Server. The proposal went unheard, and presuming that Clustania wasn't interested in acting against the humans, the Necrofamilies marched to the Archia Think Tank by themselves.
When the Necrofamilies arrived at the Think Tank, it all seemed very quiet on the surface. This ended making them decide that they didn't have any reason to say the disease was caused by the Think Tank's influence. As much as the Necrofamilies wished to annihilate the humans, that was because of what they expected for the future of this world, and wished that the humans wouldn't destroy it more than how it was.
Because of that, the Necrofamilies decided to solve this problem by discussing it with the Think Tank. They said that "the strange disease that had appeared among a few Reyvateils recently most likely happened because something had happened to the SH Server areas related to them. Since you are the administrators of the Server, we would like to request a diagnosis to be made on these areas".
However, they also added something more. "And in case you are unable to determine the cause, we will use our powers against our will, and discover that cause by ourselves". That was quite a firm speech, done by the same Necrofamilies that were the perpetrators of the Grathnode Inferia.
In order to avoid causing large uproars, the Archia Think Tank ended accepting this request in secret. However, a few years later they announced a much more shocking project.
====The Reyvateil Mass-Production====
On 3210, a man named Dian was appointed as the second Chairman of the Archia Think Tank, and right as he assumed his new position, he announced a shocking project: that the Archia Think Tank would make a new SH Server, and mass-produce Pureblooded β-types for it. This announcement of a new Server was just a bluff because everyone in the world knew that Harvestasha XP was silenced.
This of course had the goal of realizing one of the research themes the Think Tank had for the realization of the Human Evolution Project: the [Spreading of the Reyvateil Genes]. Furthermore, Dian established the Archia City for when humans and Reyvateils began marrying each other, allowed them to move there, and even supported them financially in raising their children. This new system provoked large waves in the world: the Clustanians strongly criticized this as the Archians not seeing the Reyvateils as living persons, while the people of the Great Fang reacted in varied ways, the women having the most intense reactions to this. When the system finally began to implemented, naturally, the crossbreed marriages were still in a unfavorable position in comparison to the marriages between fellow humans. However, due to the poverty in which the people of the Great Fang were forced to live, they waged everything on the plan of buying a cheap Reyvateil, having their children with her, and then moving together to Archia to settle as a family. This trend slowly escalated to the point in which the morale of the people turned into this: when a boy was born, he was considered as a precious treasure, while when a girl was born, she was considered as a machination from hell due to only increasing the number of mouths that would have to been feed. Due to how dried the hearts of the people of the Great Fang were, and the number of quarrels they commonly had, the women had to begin taking actions: they formed an all-female group that served as a tribunal of sorts for Reyvateils, and began witch-hunting them throughout all of Sol Cluster. It soon enough became severe enough for cases in which these witch-hunters caught girls that were thought to be Reyvateils and ripped off their clothes to search for their Install Ports to be common throughout all the region.
Upon hearing about these actions, Clustania immediately sent to Archia a formal request to completely halt the production of Pureblooded β-types, and to demonstrate how serious the request was, they threatened with the usage of military force to stop them. And besides, the Clustania Army had already began executing their first large-scale march in the Great Fang. They began suppressing the decay of the society Great Fang, to severely reform the morale for the way in which children should be procreated and raised. It was within these chaotic times that the Great Fang became essentially a vassal to Clustania. Until now, the area under surveillance of Clustania was only the Morocacca Governorate, but after this, they annexed the rest of the Great Fang and built a headquarter of the Clustanian government in it. In this way, the Morocacca Governate, which contained in its territory the megalopolis possessing the most advanced facilities in the Great Fang, greatly expanded to cover the rest of the peaks due to the actions of the Reyvateil soldiers and Clustanian executive officials.
====The Galvert War====
However, a few years later, the Archia Think Tank cancelled the family support program, which caused a short skirmish with Clustanian forces, but they surrendered shortly later, under the condition of not producing any more Reyvateils from now on.
However, soon after, the Reyvateils they had mass-produced began dying one after other. Upon investigating this matter, the Clustanians discovered that the Archia Think Tank had set their Telomere count to a mere 20 years to reduce their production costs. They just needed the children of the men who had married these Reyvateils for the Human Evolution Project, but considered their parents as disposable material, making said project seem as it was something designed by the devil himself.
Archia retorted to Clustania that they had the right to make the Reyvateils however they saw fit, and never backed down from this position. Furthermore, having said loudly to the Clustanians that this was purposely done just to reduce the production costs instantly strained all of the relations between both factions, to the point it exploded into yet other conflict. This war in particular was so bloody that the site that was used as the battlefield ended being called the same as it: the Galvert War. While in the previous conflict Archia surrendered after a short time, they fought with all they had this time. The passing of the years had considerably strengthened the forces of both factions: Archia had temporarily continued their mass-production of Pureblooded β-types, considering this wasn't the proper time to research, and using up all of their public finances to cover the rapidly increasing war costs. The worst fear that Archia Charen, the first Chairman of the Think Tank, had, was now turning into reality. On a hand, the war ended stagnating, which made both parties to only fight occasionally in its initial stages. However, since no advance had been made by any of their troops in five years, both parties began taking larger risks, and plotting stronger counter-measures.
And while all this happened, an insurrection occurred within the own ranks of the Archia Think Tank after Archia Charen died. It was perpetrated by one of its former researchers, Clart Serbia. He secretly began gathering followers, and drove out Dian from the Chairman position. Given that a great part of the staff was unsatisfied with Dian's management, this plan was executed pretty smoothly. And now that Clart had become the new Chairman, he immediately began the peace negotiations with Clustania.
During these negotiations, both parties mutually presented conditions to end the conflicts. The condition that Archia proposed was that Clustania withdrew its troops from the Parie Governorate. On the other hand, Clustania proposed that the Archia Think Tank would never attempt again to produce Pureblooded β-type Reyvateils. Both parts agreed with these conditions, and the war was brought to an end. Clustania withdrew its soldiers and administrative staff from the Archia City, while the Archia Think Tank completely shut off its Pureblooded β-type production line.
====Saving Ciela Gate from Cleansing====
After this, the Archia Think Tank didn't get involved into any other conflicts for a long time, and merely intervened in the wars between the Great Fang and Clustania if it involved something that ran contrary to their interests, such as when they took they newly-formed city of Ciela Gate under their protection to avoid its Cleansing.
Archia lent its military and technologies to Ciela Gate for free, and firmly protected the fortress from Clustania's attacks. In this way, Clustania was forced to retreat, and completely ceased its attacks against Ciela Gate.
The only reason Archia had to assist Ciela Gate was because they felt that its existence would be beneficial for them. Ciela Gate it's located in an strategic point of the Great Fang, and furthermore, it's a treasure trove of resources. Furthermore, the most abundant resource that can be found in there is Symphonic Power (Dynamic D-Waves), because of having large deposits of Songstones buried in its outskirts. This allowed it to have larger concentrations of Dynamic H-Waves in the atmosphere than any other region. Due to all these factors, Archia desired to carry out the experiment of building a large Symphonic Power disc in there. Then both the Archia Think Tank and Ciela Gate signed a pact, in which many years later a large Symphonic Power disc would be made, and its construction and operation would be consigned to the Moebius Factory, which at the time was no more than an small power company.
The reason why Archia embarked on this research was because they currently depended completely on the Reyvateils and the best effort-model of the Song Magic Server for their Symphonic Power supplies. Due to this, they began a research on Symphonic Power with the goal of gaining complete self-sufficiency from the Reyvateils. Also, the chosen place for the construction of the disc complied with the necessary conditions for it, so it was better for Archia to ship their products to Ciela Gate whenever they needed to send something to the Great Fang.
====The Antibody and Ayatane Wars====
Due to the increase in the absorption capacity of the Industrial Absorption Disc that the Moebius Factory had developed, the Antibodies appeared once again in Sol Cluster after centuries of calm, and began attacking the city of Ciela Gate. Immediately Clustania and Archia sent their troops to quell the menace, and managed to greatly reduce the casualties and damage these creatures would have caused. However, Clustania completely and temporarily blockaded Ciela Gate shortly later, and ordered the Moebius Factory to completely cease their operations. Then, they offered the inhabitants of Ciela Gate two options: either they left this land, or they would be forced to undergo Cleansing. However, the Archia Think Tank once again intervened Ciela Gate, and thanks to their negotiations, the Cleansing was prevented.
Still, due to the manipulations of the Necrofamilies, Clustania began performing indiscrimante Cleansings throughout the Great Fang, which concluded with the total destruction of the Fallen Heaven Peak, which was under Archia's protection, and was about to do the same to the communities located in the Blue Heaven Peak. Once this happened, Archia decided it was time to take action again, which sparked yet another war.
They began investigating Clustania, and soon found an opening they could use to defeat them:
Clustania imprudently concentrated all of its efforts in the Cleansing of the Fallen Heaven Peak and left its own security systems completely open. Archia maintained complete silence over the destruction of Fallen Heaven Peak, but they then used Harvestasha XP as an intermediary to extract information from Clustania's database. And as a result of this, they discovered a surprising truth: the race that actually controlled Clustania, the Necrofamilies, had managed to establish contact with the Antibodies, and there were suspicions that they even had formed some kind of relationship. Archia then continued its research on the Necrofamilies in secret.
In the most recent logs, they discovered some information that backed these suspicions, which made the Necrofamilies intro true traitors. Now having declared them as the largest danger to humanity, Archia decided that they should start acting to completely silence Clustania. However, since the Third Tower used a Best Effort-Model Song Magic Server as its main power source, the Reyvateils were the source of the precious energy that supported this world. And furthermore, since the Necrofamilies were the ones that ultimately contacted the Antibodies, the final plan was to only exterminate the Necrofamilies while leaving the Reyvateils themselves unharmed.
Thus, the day for the execution of this plan finally came. Since this was the day in which a large Cleansing would be conducted on the Great Fang, Clustania had dropped its defenses once again. Aiming for this time, the Archia Army immediately began marching to the Tower. The first thing that the Archia Army was to control Harvestasha VISTA through XP, and force her to open all of the doors in the Tower. Then they forced VISTA to go into shut down mode, and simultaneously, they attacked Clustania's territories. The Clustania Army was in the middle of performing the Cleansing, but once they learned of this state of emergency, they instantly stopped the Cleansing, and hurried back to their own homeland.
However, since VISTA was shut down, their movements were very clumsy, and because Archia had the complete authority to instantly kill them off, all of the units of the Clustania Army were given a message to not go back to their territories. Although there were a few units and warships that decided to not follow these orders, their captains and crew members were ultimately killed by the SH Server control that Archia had. At the time, there wasn't anything like the virus that J&C brought from Sol Ciel, so because there were no methods to temporarily disable a Reyvateil without harming her, the only method they could use to deal with the rebel ones was instantly killing them.
Thus, during the time that the Archia Army rendered the Clustania Army powerless, they began their attack against the Necrofamilies. Due to this attack, approximately a 60% of the Necrofamily population was annihilated. The Necrofamilies fundamentally never left Clustania, but if they never were with the Reyvateils when a Cleansing was performed, they feared that a catastrophe would happen. After this, the war continued for approximately three more years, which finally ended when the head of the Homuragi Necrofamily, Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou, who was the same person that had made the pact with the Antibodies, was captured by the Archia Army.
However, Archia overlooked something important. At the time, Ayatane Kureha Kirinami was the youngest of the Necrofamilies, and since his parents and Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou made a pact with the Antibody Brain to fuse him with the Antibodies, he was buried in the floor of his house to be hidden from the invaders. At the time of the Archia invasion, his parents detonated the house together with themselves, instantly dying as a result from the explosion, and that was why he never was discovered by the Archians. Kureha was later on discovered by Reyvateils that patrolled the surrounding areas, and barely saved from death by them. While he was actually buried alive, it was thanks to the life force of the Antibodies that he was kept alive all that time.
During the war, Clustania also tried to oppose to Archia in combat, but since Archia had the control of the SH Server and had shut down VISTA, even the last ray of hope disappeared: the Necrofamilies lost their powers, and couldn't do anything to oppose Archia. Archia also frequently guaranteed that it didn't seek to kill the Reyvateils, but in the other hand, advised them to return to the Archia Think Tank's control, like they had done at various times in the past. During these three years, all of the Necrofamilies were killed, and while Clustania tried many times to repel Archia, they were ultimately placed under Archia's rule.
====The Discovery of the Antibody Brain====
Archia won the war against Clustania, and successfully drove the Necrofamilies to extinction. Then, they discovered many things upon inspecting the research results that Clustania had kept for centuries. They were surprised to see that the Song that should have been Downloaded into Tyria, EXEC_REBIRTHIA=PROTOCOL/., was still in Clustania's possession, but more importantly was the fact that they had now gained new information about the Antibodies. Due to the interactions between Necrofamilies and Antibodies, Clustania had managed to gain a great understanding of the truth about them.
Among this, it was the fact that the Antibodies had a social structure, and it also included information about a command chain existing between them. The Antibodies were divided into two classes: the Brain Class, and the Soldier Class. However, only one Brain Class Antibody existed in the world. In other words, all of the Antibodies that had actually appeared in the world were Soldiers, and all of their actions were controlled and governed by that sole Brain Class Antibody.
From this information, while it was supposed that this was an Antibody that shouldn't have any particularly great abilities, it was known that somehow, it had the power to make the other Antibodies work in coordination. Also, this Brain Class Antibody didn't have a physical body and existed only as an spiritual being, which was confirmed to be one of the highest-order Wills of the Planet. In other words, the Brain Class Antibody itself was a Will that the Planet itself had for destroying the humans, while the assassins it created and sent to kill them were called the Execution Class. The Archia Think Tank called the Brain Class, which controlled the Execution Class, the [Antibody Brain], and identified it with the name [Ar Ru]. Then, they began a research on how to capture Ar Ru.
The Archia Think Tank planned to capture Ar Ru, but this didn't have only the goal of stopping the Antibodies from attacking the humans. They wanted to gather data on Ar Ru herself to use it for the Human Evolution Project.
====The Return of the Human Evolution Project====
Now that they had found an appropiate evolved form for the humans, the Archia Think Tank assigned its researchers to three different tasks, all related to the Human Evolution Project:
#Make detonators for evolving the humans.
#Create a program that accelerated the evolution.
#Set the direction of evolution and create a method for manifesting it in the real world.
The first step, the [making detonators for evolving the humans] was already completed due to the mass production of Reyvateils that was done during Dian's times. This consisted in planting Reyvateil Genes inside the humans, which exhibited characteristics of being capable of being forced to awaken once it received some kind of external influence.
This method was actually using the specifications of the Third Tower's SH Servers, which allowed to overwrite the memory fields that governed the physical forms of the Reyvateils. That physical form memory uses a fixed format that strictly speaking can't be modified in any way. However, given that the SH Servers of the Third Tower make use of EXEC_FLIP, it was modified to allow modifications to that physical format. Given that Kurogane, who served as the creator of the Human Evolution Project, was also the designer of the Third Tower's SH Servers, it's theorized that he configured them in this way just to accomplish the Human Evolution Project.
Whenever they needed to advance the research, especially in regards to experiments for overwriting the physical ROM of the people that had a mix of human and Reyvateil genes in their blood, they conducted experiments on living people on secret, using Third Generation Reyvateils. The excuse used for these experiments since back then was the carrying out of Blocking Operations. The Blocking Operation is an special process conducted to suppress and eliminate the Reyvateil Genes from the Third Generations. Since there were many girls who unwillingly became Third Generations, at the time many of them underwent these operations. Even the Archia Think Tank began conducting them free of charge as a part of their public welfare campaign, but this was actually done to plant seeds into a high rate of Sol Cluster's population. Among the ones that underwent the operation, many of the girls suddenly began having sudden anomalies, such as their bodies melting away, but almost everyone thought it was impossible that the methods used by the Archia Think Tank were the cause, and despite being a lot of victims to this, these incidents faded away into the darkness. Hikari Gojo's younger sister, Aisha, also lost her life due to these experiments.
Aside of the research that used the Third Generations, a research to forcibly awaken the inactive Reyvateil Genes was conducted as well. This was done through a method called Active Fusion, which had as its goal making the inactive genes have the same conditions as the Reyvateil Genes present in awakened Third Generations. However, since the people that awakened under this method ended being registered in areas beyond the SH Servers valid ranges, if their emotions were aroused high enough for the Tower to need access to them, they almost always would either become crazy, or become invalids which would be capable of only repeating a single action. In the end, this research was what ended causing and disseminating the disease that was eventually known as the Border Disease. The research for the second section of the project, the [creation of a program that accelerated the evolution], was given to a different team from the ones that researched the detonators. This section consisted in the development of an Hymmnos Extract, called Project Z, which was what finally created the Hymn Crystal for EXEC_Z/.
It wouldn't really matter if the Reyvateil that sung EXEC_Z/. was normal Pureblooded β-type, but still, she had to fulfill one condition: she had to be a Reyvateil whose Soulspace resided in the Third Tower's β-6D. If she came from other Tower, or if her Soulspace resided in Tyria's Binary Field, the Song wouldn't have any effects, so the Reyvateil who ended being the singer for EXEC_Z/. was a former general of Clustania, Richaryosha, who failed at invading Archia and was captured by them. After her capture, she was offered to have her Soulspace being preserved in the SH Server, but only if she cooperated with them.
EXEC_Z/. basically has as one of its effects the forcefully assigning existing Soulspace Addresses to inactive Reyvateil Genes. At the time, the plan was to create template Soulspaces for only the humans, and then unite them to the inactive Reyvateil Genes they possessed. However, this method was unsuccessful, and the research had to progress under hypothesis such as the H-Waves interacting with other kinds of waves, or the Soulspace Maps having rules that couldn't be explained yet. This at least managed to prove that the Reyvateil Genes were completely dependent on the Addresses, given that the Genes didn't awaken correctly even if they were copied from a Reyvateil having a different Address.
Due to this, the second section of the research was done despite being an enormous number of sacrifices. As for the final section, the [setting the direction of evolution and creating a method for manifesting it in the real world], due to this region having a very technological viewpoint, developing it was pretty easy. It was decided since long ago that the form would be [constituted in the same way as the Antibodies], but they still couldn't collect any concrete samples to see what constituted their bodies.
====The Creation of Ar Ru and the γ-Sublimate Plan====
If Archia were capable of performing an autopsy on the extremities of the Antibodies, they would have learned what was the composition of their bodies. However, the fact that they were composed in a very unnatural way, not to mention their incredible regeneration capacity, made this task pretty much impossible.
Since this wasn't anymore of competence to the branch of materials analysis, but actually on the jurisdiction of the physical body structure branch, it would have been meaningless to continue researching on this as materials analysis. Then, they noticed that if anything could emit the programming that governed the Antibodies' physical form, it would be the Antibody Brain Ar Ru. That served as a major barrier for three of the branches of the Archia Think Tank, so they decided to wager on developing a prime field that was capable of completely absorbing Ar Ru's Soulspace.
In the creation of that prime field, the Archia Think Tank used a procedure that allowed them to Preinstall a Soulspace before she was born, unlike the standard Pureblooded β-types. That Preinstalled Soulspace was made through a simulation method called [H-Wave Composition Modeling], and the Soulspace they used as the model for it was the one that belonged to Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou. After he was captured in the Ayatane War, the Archia researchers performed many kinds of analysis in him, because he had his body fused with the Antibodies. Because he hadn't become a complete Antibody, it was though that part of the Soulspace he had as a Necrofamily had partially fused with the Soulspace of the Antibody Brain. Because there wasn't any conclusive proof about him containing completely the Antibody Brain's Soulspace, the research had to advance grasping at straws.
Thus, the Archia Think Tank began conducting many trial and error experiments to try fusing a Reyvateil with the Antibodies. The first prime field they chose was making a Reyvateil in the same exact way as the Pureblooded β-types: creating a body out from a Triangular Nuclear Loop. However, when she was still in the nurturing tank, they extracted the Static H-Waves of the Antibodies from Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou's H-Wave composition model, and introduced into the default Soulspace of that Reyvateil as a piece of ROM data, which caused that the Reyvateil who became the prime field couldn't develop her own personality, and was treated until her death as a mere vessel for the Antibody Brain.
At first, the experiment seemed to be a success. The Reyvateil that had the Soulspace of the Antibody Brain inside her was finally completed, and like the Antibody Brain herself, she was given the name [Ar Ru]. However, immediately after Ar Ru was born, she went berserk. Because they had Preinstalled the Soulspace of the uncontrollable Antibodies into her, when Ar Ru was born, she couldn't consider herself as a Reyvateil, but as another Antibody.
The Archia Think Tank was completely unable to quell Ar Ru's rampage. The Think Tank was completely engulfed in this disaster, and received a large amount of damage. And furthermore, during the confusion caused by this, Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou found a chance to escape, and managed to return barely alive in Clustania.
In this way, the first fusion experiment ended in a gigantic failure. However, even during these events, the Archia Think Tank managed to attain what they wanted: this gave them the conviction that attaching a Will of the Planet to a Reyvateil was possible, making the Antibodies into points of contact with the Planet itself. These events created a large basis for the future development of the γ-Sublimate.
During this time, Archia received many words of praise from the Great Fang. To the people of the Great Fang, who suffered during many years from Clustania's oppression and Cleansing, Archia itself was like a Messiah that had come to save them.
However, Archia didn't actually invade Clustania to save the Great Fang, and was actually a byproduct of their actions. However, this gave them great support and popularity from the people of the Great Fang, and inclined the conditions of the world in Archia's favor.
Once Clustania began being governed by Archia, it became a city in which humans and Reyvateils constantly intermingled. Many Reyvateils were sent over to either Archia or the Great Fang, where they weren't treated as people and were horribly exploited. The relationships between humans and Reyvateil increased, and because of the birth of many Third Generations, the current Reyvateil ratio (PPPR/Person per Potential Reyvateil ratio) greatly increased.
While the Archia Think Tank itself didn't plan to move itself to Clustania, a great part of the executive staff indeed had moved there, especially researchers that were eager to investigate the upper sections of the Tower.
====Archia Loses Its Supremacy====
Under Archia's rule, the Reyvateils were pretty much oppressed. However, there was a group of Reyvateils that didn't endure this abuse, and went into hiding in the inner sectors of the Tower while carrying out actions for regaining Clustania's former glory. They called themselves the Reyvateilia Crusaders, announced their Reyvateil supremacy doctrine, and had as their final goal creating a paradise only for Reyvateils: Reyvateilia.
Even among them, there was a person who had an especially important role: that was Ayatane Kureha Kirinami. Due to the total Necrofamily annihilation the humans conducted, he had an unreasonable amount of hatred towards them, and believed that the teachings he was given since his younger days about the Reyvateils being the ones who would be able to save this world were true.
While the group was originally very small, thanks to Kureha's clever actions, it gradually grew in size. Their most important goal, as Kureha himself had stated, was rescuing Clustania from Archia's rule, and restoring the former order in which the Reyvateils ruled the world. Thus, for this to become a reality, they believed that it was essential for them to first reboot Harvestasha VISTA, who was shut down by Achia. First they recruited more members, and made them blend in with the rest of the Corporarchy, so they wouldn't stand out from the other Reyvateils. Given that at the time the Archia Think Tank used a large number of Reyvateils, the members of the Reyvateilia Crusaders were successful in their infiltration.
Then, they were guided by the instructions that Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou, who escaped after the experiments in β-types due to Ar Ru gave them. Once they reached their target, they began executing a project for which they were ready to die, and which would revive Clustania. Said project was the reboot of Harvestasha VISTA.
Although we might be saying "reboot VISTA", at this time, VISTA wasn't actually shut down by cutting her power through the usage of her boot key; she was actually HALTED. Therefore, it was possible to reboot her through software. However, since they weren't able of stealing and canceling the control program that Archia used to keep VISTA halted, the Reyvateil Crusaders had to take to attempt restoring her from her very core. Although they actually managed to cancel Archia's program, it was visible that other similar program immediately started and continued keeping VISTA halted, so attempting to just cancel the program was a waste of effort. Therefore, to restore VISTA from her core, it would be necessary to just reboot her security protocols, which would only be possible by diving into Harvestasha's Binary Field.
However, since doing this was similar to opening an stopcock to jump into a blast furnace, they had to resolute themselves that there would have to be large sacrifices for this plan to come to fruition. The Reyvateilia Crusaders then recruited members from the Reyvateils that worked at the Archia Think Tank, and divided into two groups: one that would operate the controls at Archia, and other that would head for Ku. Both of them were pretty much ready to die.
Then, the night for carrying out the plan came. The Reyvateil Crusaders marvelously did everything as it was planned, and with an small team of 50 people, they managed to successfully reboot VISTA. However, all of the ten members that Dove into the Binary Field at Ku died. Likewise, of the 40 members that were operating the controls at Archia, only two remained alive.
After this coup d'etat, the Pureblooded β-types that were in the Think Tank ran to Clustania as fast as they could, and Archia was cast into an enormous chaos. Due to these incidents, the Chairman at the time completely lost the support of the public, and after a few decades, he was replaced by Raphael.
Having attained this crushing victory, Clustania didn't recognize Archia as an equal anymore, and instead, deprived it of its status of independent government and turned it back into the Parie Governorate. The Clustanian Reyvateils then were filled with an spirit that drove them to fight until the last one of them fell, even if Archia used its control over the SH Server to kill them.
====The Division====
On the other hand, to Archia, the fact of being robbed of their supremacy in this world was almost of no consequence to them. In the first place, Archia had already managed to attack Clustania, and while this allowed them to attain the power from their HQ, it was actually regarded as an achievement because of this having allowed them to take a sample from one of the higher-ranked Wills of the Planet. While the experiments in β-types due to Ar Ru had already finished in failure, since the samples they collected were preserved in Harvestasha XP as data, they would be able to experiment countless times in them. Because they were so concentrated in the development of the Human Evolution Project, Archia lowered its guard against Clustania by reducing the importance on the public security, government and military systems, all to intensify their research.
Actually, the fact that Clustania had regained its supremacy was very convenient for the heads of the Archia Think Tank. Clustania's pressure ended causing unexpected rifts within Archia itself, because during the time that Clustania was under Archian rule, the researchers managed to go beyond the Executive District, and climb up to the facility called the Rinkernator. While this was called a holy land by the Reyvateils, Archia thought that the facility was useless because the Tower was left incomplete. However, according to their research, it was confirmed that the facility worked flawlessly. The Rinkernator's functions were now going to change the meaning of the Tower's existence. While the original Rinkernator, the one in the First Tower is merely a single-bit IO point for the Administrator, the one in the Third Tower has many more functions beyond this. Because Tyria herself is the Third Tower, the Rinkernator also works as an interface that enables conversations with her. Furthermore, if a new Reyvateil prime field is inserted into one of the pods, she can be linked to Tyria's mind and turned into the new Administrator. And even better, it's possible to even create from that prime field an humanoid body completely synchronized with Tyria in this way, called an [Holography]. The Holography would be better called a [doll], since unlike normal Reyvateils, it lacks an independent way of thinking, and can't be separated long distances from the Tower without disappearing. However, this would make possible to revive Tyria, suggesting that it would be possible to restart the Planet Regeneration Project that the Tower was originally planned to accomplish.
While the Archia Think Tank was already completely focused in working in the Human Evolution Project, the zeal of the researchers that supported the Planet Regeneration Project was so great, that the laboratories had to be divided into two parts. Thus, the Ancient Faction and the Neo Atlas Faction were formed, and each one continued with its research independently.
However, after Clustania regained its power, naturally, it expelled all of the humans from the Rinkernator. At the same time, due to being unable to continue their research, the upper management of the Archia Think Tank decided to shut down the Ancient Project. However, the researchers persisted, mainly supported by the ones that served as the Laboratory Chief at the time: Kiraha. He was a wildly enthusiastic supporter of the Planet Regeneration Project and the very core of the Ancient Project, whose great ability with words allowed him to attain a very high position in the management of the Think Tank.
The Laboratory Chief for the Neo Atlas Faction at that time was Laude, and both men got along as well as cats and dogs. Even at these times in which the Ancient Faction was about to cease existing, Loude still continued opposing to their ideas. Thus, the current Chairman had no choice but to yield to Kiraha's demands, and allowed the Ancient Faction to continue with their research, albeit with a greatly reduced budget.
====The Establishment of the γ-Sublimation Theory====
Around 20 years after these incidents, the peace ended. This was because the Neo Atlas Faction began progressing extremely fast in their research, especially because of having established a Reyvateil production theory called the [γ-Sublimation], which was progressing at an amazingly fast rate. Due to this theory, it would be possible to put a Will of the Planet and an obedient Reyvateil inside a single soul. While there was a long span of time between the time in which the γ-Sublimation theory was established and when the Reyvateils from it began to be produced, it still advanced steadily.
While the γ-Sublimation later on moved to the field test phase, the road to it was a pretty difficult voyage. When research was performed in why the ancestor to the γ-Sublimates, Ar Ru, went berserk, the conclusion was because it was next to impossible to tame the brutal nature of the Antibodies. Due to this, it was decided that the research would be then conducted in parallel to the development of the vaccine Hymmnos, Arphage, which would allow to eliminate that brutal nature. However, there were many ones that protested against this plan due to it using the Triangular Nuclear Loop that serves as the basis for creating the body of the Reyvateils, because the mirroring of her Cosmosphere in the SH Server would cause many problems in the process, and it was decided to attempt seeking a Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, which they attempted to create since long ago. If they actually managed to obtain one of them, then it would be possible to push the research directly to its final stage.
On the other hand, the research of the Ancient Faction didn't progress at all due to having no access to the Rinkernator. It might because they were unprepared for the circumstances brought by Clustania's return to power, but the request they filled for exploring the Tower of Origin was finally granted. The Tower of Origin had suffered large collapses due to the attacks from the Antibodies centuries ago, and seemed to be completely shut down. While Harvestasha XP still functioned perfectly within it, meaning that all of its essential facilities were still operating, it was terminally forbidden to set foot in it. The Tower of Origin exploration squad, led by Kiraha, then discovered something that would serve as a tremendous breakthrough for the Ancient Faction.
What they discovered were the Hymn Crystal for Cosmoflips and Harvestasha's boot keys. Cosmoflips was a Song that only Tyria could sing, but once she was revived and had it Downloaded into her, it would be possible to continue with the Planet Regeneration Project. As for the problem of the Symphonic Power remaining in the Tower, according to the research documents that were preserved in the Think Tank, just generating a large amount of power for a single instant would serve well. Because of this, the Ancient Faction immediately began establishing good relationships with the Moebius Factory, due to their Great Symphonic Power Disc, and helping them with the development of the DFP.
While the Neo Atlas Faction was considered as the superior one, with these discoveries, both factions were now in equal standings. However, they still needed to establish how to create a Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, so it would be still some time before both factions could execute their corresponding projects: the Neo Atlas Faction and its transcription of Ar Ru into a Soulspace, and the Ancient Faction and their resurrection of Tyria.
====Katene, Kiraha and Mute====
Katene and Mute had in common that both of their fathers were researchers in the Archia Think Tank. While Katene's father Kiraha, and Mute's father Laude were in the opposing research teams of the Ancient Faction and the Neo Atlas Faction, and served as their corresponding leaders, because they both had important functions, they constantly exchanged opinions and ideas, despite of any personal feelings they might have had about each other. Kiraha and Laude were both the leads of the projects that served as the two foundations of the Archia Think Tank, and as fellow researchers, they both applied themselves to their respective researches. Of course they had heated discussions, but they also boasted to each other about the results of their respective researches, which made both to mutually recognize and respect each other.
Also, both of them frequently brought their children to the Think Tank with them. The children were left in an special daycare inside the facilities of the Think Tank, and in there, they became mutual playmates. They were very young back then, so their memories about these times are very scarce. However, Katene always saw how Laude always treated Mute lovingly, and remembered how envious was of her due to the stark contrast between the ways in which they were raised. Kiraha was both clumsy and disastrous when it came to emotional matters, and never showed Katane any sort of affection. On the contrary, he immersed so much in his research that there were even times in which Katene was left in the daycare during many days.
====The Change in the Management of the Think Tank====
There was a man that thought of the fight between the Neo Atlas and Ancient Factions as a chance: that man was Raphael. He was a believer of the Neo Atlas Faction, and thought that even if the Planet was regenerated, if the humans didn't change, their environment wouldn't change either. More importantly, if they changed themselves, they would be able of creating an appropriate environment for themselves, even in a world as ruined as this.
Also, while Raphael had Laude as his direct superior, he didn't think of Laude as anything else but a hindrance. While he was a very skillful scientist, he didn't have any abilities in politics, and from Raphael's viewpoint, he wasted the many chances he had gotten to eliminate the Ancient Faction. He was the kind of person that imagined himself as the ruler of his own perfect world: that at the top, instead of a researcher, it should be someone that had the power to order everyone around himself. He was so conceited that he believed that he could achieve these delusions of grandeur, and began plotting how to get rid of Laude. At that time, the topic of the Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop was raised, because Laude had learned that the methods for creating them could be found at the Second Tower. This was the result of the research the he and Raphael had conducted in the past. From investigating ancient documents, they found at the AAA began conducting long ago experiments on the Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, and in fact confirmed that they succeeded into creating one. Given that all the attempts to create a Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop in the Third Tower ended in utter failure, they decided to bet on this last hope, and depart for the Second Tower.
Laude was at first extremely cautious and scrupulous about preparing to go anywhere, but as the Ancient Faction began their own projects to seek a Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, he began growing impatient. Due to his own violent personality, Laude was pretty much ready to assign Raphael to the mission of going to the Second Tower. However, Raphael skillfully took advantage of Laude's personality by telling him that no other person in the current times would be able of creating a Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, and successfully sent him off to Metafalss. Due to this, Raphael ended becoming the leader of the Neo Atlas Faction. After this, he didn't require much time to climb all the corporate chain and end up occupying the Chairman's seat.
====Raphael's Rise====
After he became the leader of the Neo Atlas Faction, Raphael thought that it wasn't necessary for the γ-Sublimate to have a particularly long life span. He thought that even if she was unable of walking, it would more than enough if she had a human-like shape. If she could exist just until she absorbed a Will of the Planet and they extracted its physical structure data, that would be enough. Also, the physical structure data was the point in which he and Laude constantly argued, since Laude was always obsessed with producing the Reyvateils with a beautiful and complete external appearance.
Because of that, after Laude left the Archia Think Tank for Metafalss and Raphael began leading the laboratory instead, his first action was ordering his subordinates to research how possible it would be to create the γ-Sublimate from a Triangular Nuclear Loop. It was then decided that if she couldn't exceed the capacity for the Wills of the Planet, it would be better to not limit how much she could use her [power]. However, if she used her [power], she would gradually decrease her life span, which could ultimately end in her death. This was the only point of difference that it had with the hypothetical perfect γ-Sublimate that was originally planned.
Since it became necessary to make her use that [power] at any cost to continue the project, many researchers hesitated against the prospect of creating the γ-Sublimate by using a Triangular Nuclear Loop. If she didn't use her [power], she would be exactly the same as a normal Pureblooded β-type. Still, she could die depending on the degree she used her [power], or in other words, if the Wills of the Planet couldn't control her powers at least a little, she would lose her body. However, Raphael decided that this was inconsequential to the project. Once everything was prepared, it wouldn't matter if she wasn't operative except for the time in which she would use her power. In other words, it was decided that the γ-Sublimate would be used by keeping her in cold sleep, inoperative, until the day for singing Arphage came.
Kiraha, the leader of the Ancient Faction, was the one that opposed the strongest against this project once he learned about it. The way in which the Neo Atlas Faction treated the γ-Sublimate as a non-living creature received an strong backlash from the Ancient Faction, which saw the Reyvateils as living beings. While Raphael announced that he would make a concession to calmly ponder about these opinions, he actually began steadily working in secret in a project to eradicate the Ancient Faction.
Then, he finally pushed all of the blame for the reboot of Harvestasha VISTA and all of the subsequent damages that event caused into the current Chairman, which made him lose all the support he had and made Raphael successful in his attempts to get rid of him. Due to his great popularity, Raphael managed to gain the favor of the top executives of the Archia Think Tank, finally being appointed as the Chairman. Once he got to the top, the first action he took was completely dissolving the Ancient Faction, which was extremely simple to him.
Due to staff changes, all of the members of the Ancient Faction were relocated to areas that were completely unrelated to each other, which was what actually pushed their projects into oblivion. Furthermore, Raphael deeply researched what skills were the ones each member of the Ancient Faction lacked the most, and relocated them to areas that fitted the skills they lacked, which induced many to leave the Think Tank. On the other hand, he announced that he would supply bonuses to all of the members of the Neo Atlas Faction that continued pushing forward the development of the Human Evolution Project. And so no one would criticize his orders or his way of doing things, he managed the Think Tank in the most calculating way possible. While Raphael didn't have much ability as a researcher, he had an excellent talent in politics.
Finally, his maneuvers for expelling the Ancient Faction bore fruits. Beginning with Aoto's parents, which were subordinates to Kiraha, the passionate researchers of the Ancient Faction began resigning from the Archia Think Tank one after other.
In a short time, almost all of the researchers of the Ancient Faction had left, leaving the Neo Atlas Faction as the only party in the Archia Think Tank. This turned the Think Tank into a gigantic research facility dedicated only to the Human Evolution Project. And while they did receive reports from Laude after he departed for Metafalss, they never bothered to send replies or reinforcements for him. Obviously, Raphael never had any intentions to receive Laude again in Archia.
====Kiraha's Plans====
Aoto's parents were a married couple that worked in the Archia Think Tank, and were part of the Ancient Faction, as direct subordinates to Kiraha. Aoto's mother was a Pureblooded β-type Reyvateil. Maybe Aoto has such strong Reyvateil genes because he inherited them from his mother.
Once Raphael began his plan to expel the Ancient Faction, both of Aoto's parents resigned from the Archia Think Tank. However, they decided together with Kiraha to continue working in secret. Since the supremacy of the Neo Atlas Faction had proliferated thanks to Raphael, the Ancient Faction was unable to continue working in there and completely halted their research. However, all of the researchers still wanted to continue with it, no matter if it was in other place. But soon it became suspicious that all of the members of the Ancient Faction had resigned so quickly.
The first thing that Aoto's parents did was to move over to the Moebius Factory, and after telling the Factory Chief about their current situation, he gave them their cooperation. At the time Raphael dissolved the Ancient Faction, he also cut all the ties Archia had to the Moebius Factory, after they had been their largest clients during centuries due to the creation of the Great Symphonic Power Disc that had become so essential to the inhabitants of Sol Cluster. Because of that, the relationships between the Moebius Factory and the Archia Think Tank got colder, which was the reason why they were so happy to provide help to the members of the Ancient Faction. After they left the Archia Think Tank, both of Aoto's parents secretly went and changed their control names to indicate their new statuses as residents of Ciela Gate. Then, they began working as staff members of the Moebius Factory.
At that time, Kiraha attached Harvestasha VISTA's boot key to a pendant and entrusted it to Aoto's parents, who always were on guard to avoid being found by Raphael. On the other hand, Kiraha kept Harvestasha XP's boot key on his person at all times.
At this time, Kiraha began avoiding acting together with Aoto's parent to avoid drawing Raphael's suspicions. Also, he planned to stop the production of the extremely pitiful being that would become the γ-Sublimate. However, when he infiltrated into the Archia Think Tank, he saw that the cultivation for the γ-Sublimate had already been initiated in secret. Now that she was alive, Kiraha couldn't bring himself to kill her and retreated, awaiting for the day in which she would be completed. Once that time came, he infiltrated again, and took away the now-grown γ-Sublimate: Saki. Then he used the boot key he held to shut down Harvestasha XP to interrupt the projects of the Neo Atlas Faction and escaped.
====Kiraha's Escape====
Kiraha then decided that he would take away the now-born γ-Sublimate, and run with her from the Think Tank. Fortunately, since she was completely created with a human shape, she had a healthy body and mind. While the cultivation period for the γ-Sublimate was of one year, Kiraha planned to wait until the very last day of that period before taking her away. Kiraha managed to gain the cooperation of γ-Sublimate Sakia's project coordinator, Elthia, and while later on he lost contact with her, at least he could successfully take Saki away from the Think Tank.
Once Raphael noticed this great hindrance to his plans, he thought that Kiraha most likely would have run to the Moebius Factory, and began conducting terrorist activities against the Factory in an attempt to restrain him. Aoto's parents unfortunately got caught in these terrorist attacks and died as victims of them.
Now that he had lost a place to which he could run away, Kiraha ended entrusting Saki to the family of one of Elthia's friends: Lona, who lived in the Parie Executive District, and then he kept himself hidden. Since the Parie Executive District was an special economic zone in which humans could conduct all kinds of business, Lona was employed as a the principal of a preschool and raised Saki together with her other students. Thus, Saki helped Lona with her job since she was very young, and did her best to become a teacher as well someday.
When Saki became a teacher, she became very popular among the children thanks to her natural gentleness and cheerfulness. To Saki, who loved to sing songs and create stories and picture stories, being a preschool teacher was her lifework. However, because her songs and picture stories were self-made, and exhibited her unique sense of making things, they might haven't been very popular at all... This blissful life lasted for three more years after Saki turned 12, but on a certain day after Saki turned 15, due to a certain incident she herself provoked, all of this came to an abrupt end.
At that time, Saki got extremely shocked due to her surrogate mother, Lona, dying, which also caused her to use her Miracles for the first time. When she used them, the H-Waves she produced propagated around a large area, which allowed an special squad from the Archia Think Tank that was assigned to search for her to pinpoint her exact location. This happened exactly seven years after she was taken away from the Think Tank.
Kiraha immediately came to take Saki away, and they returned to their life of running and hiding. The only thing that Saki regretted this day was that she wasn't able of saying goodbye to the children of the preschool.
===Events During Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel===
====First Arrival at Archia====
Shortly after they arrived at Archia City, Saki and Aoto were attacked by Mute, and Saki had to use her Miracle power to fend her off. However, this caused her to collapse, so Richa suggested him to take Saki to the Archia Think Tank.
Once there, Saki regained consciousness after a while, but she seemed dazed and incapable of remembering anything, even Aoto. After jogging her memory a little, she managed to remember him. During this, the leaders of the Archia Think Tank, Richa and Raphael, entered the room. Richa was glad to see that Saki had regained consciousness, while Raphael introduced himself and thanked Aoto for having protected Saki. Aoto thought it was odd that he knew about Saki, to which Raphael replied it would be necessary to have a confidential discussion with him, in his office. Aoto agreed to these terms and asked Richa to take care of Saki.
Upon reaching the office, Raphael revealed that Saki actually belonged to the Archia Think Tank, and told Aoto that upon confirming her Hymn Code, he was very surprised. He explained that ten years ago, Saki was involved in a certain incident and had been missing ever since. Aoto then explained that when he first met her, she was alongside a man called Kiraha, to which Raphael reacted with amazement. He asked then what happened to Kiraha, which Aoto explained that he had been killed by the Clustanian army. Raphael then explained he was one of his best friends and one of the best researchers on the Think Tank. Aoto then asked Raphael if he knew Kiraha's son, and showed him the pendant that Kiraha had entrusted to him right before his death. Raphael reacted with astonishment to this, and upon telling Aoto he knew his son pretty well, he asked him to give the pendant over. Aoto then asked if it was special, as he himself had a pendant with a very similar shape to it. Raphael then asked him if he could hand over that pendant too, as he wanted to examine them both more closely, but Aoto refused, as it was a keepsake of his defunct parents. Raphael was left bitter about this, but decided to not push the matter.
Raphael then told Aoto he must have noticed Saki's faults as a Reyvateil, and then explained that Saki was terminally ill and that she shouldn't even be outside. Due to the numerous battles in which she took part, she was extremely fatigued, and needed rest. Raphael then requested Aoto to leave Saki in the Think Tank, so she could have a long life. Aoto understood Raphael's reasoning, and decided to comply with it. He then went back to the Eulark Inn to meet back with the rest of the party.
====Breaking Saki Out====
The following day, Aoto returned to the Think Tank together with the rest of the party, as Hikari Gojo suspected that Raphael may have deceived him. They were stopped by a couple of guards at the entrance, and when asked what was their business, Aoto stated that they were acquaintances of a Reyvateil that worked in there, and asked permission to see her. One of the soldiers then went to confirm the story, but when he returned, he told the party that they didn't have any records of a Reyvateil called Saki. Aoto then asked to talk directly to Raphael, but the guards refused, telling him he couldn't do so without an appointment. Aoto told them he had met him the previous day, but the guards refused, and even threatened to send him to the jail. Finnel and Tatsumi had to calm him down, while Hikari Gojo suggested to back down for now.
Once they were out of the reach of the guards, the party remarked on how suspicious the Think Tank was acting, and Finnel asked how they were supposed to get Saki out from there. Aoto then ran back to the entrance, but before he had the chance to try anything stupid, like trying to take the entire Archian Army by himself, Tatsumi stopped him. Hikari Gojo advised them to go back to the town and gather information. Thanks to Luphan, they discovered that there was an entrance to the sewers below the Think Tank in the Ogai Memorial Preschool, and with Katene's help, they could open up the hatch to it and go on. At first, Finnel complained about the stench present in the sewers, but Aoto told her to be quiet, while Hikari Gojo told them to climb every ladder they found.
They finally climbed one of the ladders, and upon opening one of the room doors, they found Saki sitting in the bed. She was glad to see Aoto and the others, as she believed she would never see them again, as she was about to be put to sleep. Hikari Gojo told him this wasn't time to be talking, and that they should be going back right now. Saki asked where they were going, but Aoto just told her to believe in him and that they would explain everything later. Saki didn't want to go after the things Richa told her, but Tatsumi pressed them, as they would get in problems if the guards caught them. Before departing, Aoto promised Saki that he would never leave her alone again.
Later that day, Raphael found out that Saki had disappeared, and asked Richa if there were any signs of her. Richa apologized, as they couldn't find any clues to her whereabouts. He then turned the question to see if they had found Ar Ru's host, to which she replied that the preparations for finding her gateway address were proceeding smoothly. He then went back to Saki, saying they had to get her back and put her in cryonic sleep, as otherwise it wouldn't be a sure bet that she would still be alive when they had captured Ar Ru. He then pressed Richa to hurry up, as once Saki broke down, there would be nothing they could do about it.
====Clustania's Attack====
Later on, the Archians noticed that the Clustanians had violated the security of their top-secret network, as a soldier reported directly to Raphael. Their accesses to the Tower of Origin were cut off, and accessing the SH Server was now impossible. And not being enough with that, their radars detected that their warships would be reaching the city in around 10 minutes. Raphael ordered them that if the worst happened, they would have to abandon the Think Tank and protect the XP Shell no matter what. Raphael bitterly remarked that the Clustanians were qutie crafty, hacking into their network as a decoy. However, they had aleady gotten all the information they needed. At that moment, Jack and Krusche entered Raphael's office, and asked if he had any requests. Raphael dryly told them to handle this situation. Jack stared at him in disbelief, as if Archia's forces couldn't do anything against Clustania's attack, what hope they had of doing anything?
Raphael just told them to do something, as that's why he was paying them large sums of money. Krusche agreed, but warned him that they would charge him a premium for this. He then untrustingly asked them if the virus program they had brought would actually work, to which Krusche told him to not worry about it: after all, something similar had almost destroyed the entire region of Sol Ciel they came from, and the Tower that was located in it. As long as nothing unusual happened, such as the Rinkernator being put in Suspension mode, it should work perfectly. They then took their leave to prepare for uploading the virus. Raphael just laughed, and told himself it would be interesting to see how these people from a Tower of rednecks would handle this.
====Negotiations (Saki Route)====
After unlocking Saki's memories using the VR21 Machine and having seen her decision to accomplish her duty as the Vaccine, Aoto and Hikari Gojo came back to this place escorting Saki, in order to negotiate with Raphael. Upon stepping on the entrance of the Think Tank, Saki introduced herself to the guards and requested to see Raphael. The guards allowed her to enter and escorted her and her friends to Raphael's office.
Raphael admitted he was surprised to see Saki here, and told Aoto he understood his feelings, as this was something that should have never happened, and it was all the fault of the Antibodies, which would cause disasters if they were left unchecked. Saki was created to prevent the Antibodies from causing more harm, and to prevent further catastrophes from coming into this devastated world. Saki interrupted Raphael and told him she had come to talk with him: she explained everything about Ayatane's plan, about how Akane was just a ruse for which Archia fell, and that the true host of the Antibody Brain was Finnel. Upon hearing this, Raphael agreed to release Akane and allow her to seek Finnel, to then tell Saki that she must have guessed what would happen once they found Finnel. Saki complied, but with a condition: they would allow her to be a teacher in the Ogai Memoria Pre-school for one last day, as she at least wanted to see the children once more, tell them one of her stories, and say goodbye to them. Raphael complied, adding that they would bring the children they had rescued from the Slave District and search for any missing ones. Saki thanked him, and thus Aoto, Hikari Gojo and her left the place.
====Rescuing Akane (Finnel Route)====
Knowing that Akane had been captured here due to being suspected to be the Antibody Brain's host, Finnel suggested to break in. Upon reaching the entrance, Aoto remarked it would be impossible to get throught their security due to the sheer number of guards deployed throughout the place. Finnel replied they would just ask for her help and ran off, while Aoto ordered her to stop. At that moment, a flash blinded them, knocking out all of the guards and allowing them passage into the Think Tank, much to Aoto's surprise. Cocona remarked that Finnel most likely was talking about Ar Ru when she mentioned about getting someone's help. Aoto replied that Finnel was too reckless and that they had to go after her. Thus they entered the Think Tank.
Once inside, they were greeted with a large number of unconscious guards and the alarm blaring. Finnel told them to hurry up and entered a nearby door to search for Akane. Cocona remarked they could only trust in Finnel's abilities and follow her.
After a while searching, they finally found Akane unconscious in room. Upon noticing that she wouldn't wake up no matter how much Kukuro and Finnel called her, Finnel used a healing Song Magic to wake her. Akane reacted and seated on the bed, while asking where she was. She immediately noticed Kukuro, and upon hearing Finnel call her, she asked what she was doing here. Finnel just replied by saying how happy she was to see Akane awake, to which Akane replied she was unbelievable and that her way of acting was completely absurd. Aoto remarked he was glad to have found her safe, to which Cocona agreed. Akane apologized for having troubled them both, to which Aoto told her it wasn't something to get worried about, and they would do better in focusing on getting out of the place. Upon noticing how Finnel seemed a little out, Aoto told her this wasn't time to be daydreaming, to which she replied she was sorry, that it was time to say goodbye, and thanked everyone for everything they had done for her. Aoto didn't understand why she was doing this, but then she broke down in tears. Finnel then told Aoto she had to keep her promise to Ar Ru: she had lent her power temporarily to save Akane, but once everything was over, she would have to surrender her body to Ar Ru. Akane told her that was an stupid promise, to which Finnel replied she expected Archia to annihilate her.
However, before anyone could do anything, Raphael appeared accompanied by several guards and ordered them to stop. Cocona remarked they took too long doing this, while Raphael told Aoto he was unbelievable for trying to take Saki and the Antibody Brain from his hands. Finnel then screamed that Akane wasn't the Antibody Brain, but that she herself was, and asked them to capture her. However, at that moment the girl emerged before anyone had any time to do anything, while remarking that Finnel was an impudent insect offering a feeble resistance to submit to her will. Raphael looked at this in amazement and asked if she also was a Gamma Sublimate, but the girl just replied she had to hurry to Moocheriel. She then released a blinding flash to escape from the room. Aoto remarked they had to chase her, but Raphael wouldn't allow them to do so without fighting and ordered his soldiers to capture them. However, he didn't count on Akane stepping in to help and asking Kukuro to get rid of the guards. Raphael was left powerless, she, Aoto and Cocona took advantage of to escape. Raphael cursed them all and ordered the soldiers that came shortly later to get the entire army ready to depart for Moocheriel, as the Antibody Brain was heading there. He also ordered to bring Saki back to the Think Tank.
====Finnel Route (2 Hearts)====
Aoto and the others finally caught up to the girl, who told them to give up, as Finnel's body belonged to her and she would never allow Finnel to reappear again. Aoto screamed that wasn't true, so the girl told him he was persistent, and to understand that she wasn't Finnel. She then threw a blast of Song Magic and left him unconscious. Aoto finally awakened in the Archia inn, with Cocona and Akane relived to see he was okay. Aoto asked where Finnel was, but Cocona didn't know. However, Akane remembered the girl was talking about going to Moocheriel, and suggested heading there by using the Granvert Gauge.
====Finnel Route (3 Hearts)====
Aoto and the others finally caught up to the girl, who told them to give up, as Finnel's body belonged to her and she would never allow Finnel to reappear again. Aoto screamed that wasn't true, and called Finnel again. However, the girl nonchalantly replied that Finnel would never come back, as the deal they made stated. This caused Aoto to begin breaking down in sadness, as he and Finnel had done their best to continue living until the current day, overcoming all sorts of hardships and sadness, just for Finnel to meet her end in such a horrible way. However, all of that sadness and regret caused him to develop the Border Disease. Akane and the girl didn't recognize it, but Cocona noticed it as soon as it began triggering. Seeing Aoto in this predicament, Finnel managed to come out from sheer force of will, ran to Aoto's side and embraced him. Aoto was glad to see her, and told her she could come back if she really wanted to do so. Finnel began crying on his chest, but when he tried to cheer her up, Aoto could only release screams of pain. He then added that this was nothing to him, but he was glad that Finnel managed to return. Finnel told him to not continue talking, but found herself at a loss for what she should do. Aoto reminded her he had decided to protect her forever, and couldn't afford to die now. He then told Finnel that she should never allow the girl to take over her body, as that would cause him to break his promise and not have anyone he could protect. He also promised Finnel he would always be at her side, and never allow her to go through such suffering again. However, at that moment his mind began breaking down, so Finnel appealed to the girl to grant her a request for the final time, just to save Aoto. The girl didn't reply, but she complied with Finnel's wish: she redirected Aoto's faulty SH Server Address through Finnel's Cosmosphere, saving his life. However, when Aoto regained consciousness, he was in the Archia inn, with Cocona and Akane relived to see he was okay. Cocona then explained that after Finnel called out her last wish, the girl surfaced again and was enshrouded in light, to then vanish. Akane remarked that she most likely left for Moocheriel. Aoto replied he would go, but Akane told him he shouldn't move yet. Aoto insisted, as he was indebted to Finnel for having saved his life, and it was his turn to repay her. Cocona expected this, and told him she would go too. Akane finally agreed, and suggested using the Granvert Gauge instead of using an airship to save up on time. Aoto thanked them, and thus they departed to Moocheriel.
====Information Stealing and A Unexpected Discovery====
As the events in Moocheriel took place, Jack and Krusche took advantage of the fact that the Archia Think Tank was completely empty to begin hacking into Raphael's computers. Jack told her that they shouldn't be doing this, to which Krusche replied this was the chance they were waiting for. Jack reminded her that intruding into private computers like these was a crime, but Krusche retorted that they couldn't do anything else, as no one in Archia wanted to tell them anything of the information they wanted to find out, not even a simple list of employees. Of course, this was all to find clues about Krusche's former boyfriend, Luke. However, she absentmindedly tried to access a forbidden area, which triggered a short alarm to tell her the access was denied. This enraged her, as they wouldn't be able to crack open the Think Tank's master frame with all the security the Archians placed on it. Jack told her she should have expected this, given it was the place's master computer. However, at that moment, Krusche caught glimpse of something and called Jack at her side. Upon looking at the screen, they both were left astonished: it was a document explaining in detail the Human Evolution Project the Archia Think Tank had worked for since its foundation, leaving Jack to wonder what that was, and Krusche to guess they had found something they shouldn't have.
====Normal Route (Saki)====
After Ar Ru had been exterminated at Moocheriel due to Saki's Song, Raphael told the party that Akane and Richa, who had been gotten hacked by someone, were resting in other room together with Saki. He also informed them that Saki was unconscious due to a severe shock. Hikari Gojo asked about the hacking, to which Raphael replied that J&K were currently investigating it, and that they should rest until the results arrived. Aoto then asked Raphael why Finnel didn't reappear if the Song was supposed to neutralize only Ar Ru, as if the neutralization was successful, Finnel would reappear. Raphael replied that wasn't necessarily the case, as Arphage's effect was neutralizing the Antibody Brain by controlling Ar Ru's Dynamic H-Waves, therefore it should only affect her. However, the fusion between her and Finnel was at a such advanced state that this caused Finnel's complete being to vanish from existence: something that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Raphael then revealed that Finnel's Cosmosphere most likely got absorbed in the deepest areas of Saki's Cosmosphere alongside Ar Ru.
Aoto then asked if it wouldn't be possible to find Finnel by Diving into Saki's Cosmosphere, to which Raphael replied it could be possible, in theory. Gojo then told him to hurry up, as the personae who were absorbed in such a way wouldn't retain their sense of self for al long time, and would melt away into the main away at the slightest movement. Aoto understood this, and went to Dive into Saki immediately.
Once in Saki's Cosmosphere, Aoto managed to find Finnel. She was glad to see Aoto again, and heartbroken, Aoto tried to apologize to her. Finnel told him that he didn't need to say anything: she didn't regret this, as while her body had vanished away, she could continue existing in the same world as him. Finnel was afraid of dying, but Saki told her that she would save her, which made her very happy. And likewise, Finnel wished for Saki's happiness, and wished for her to continue living, which was what allowed her to overcome Arphage's transformation. Finnel then asked Aoto to tell Saki to not be sad for her, as she would always be at her side. Aoto promised to do so, and Finnel told it was time to say goodbye. Aoto didn't want, as they didn't even talk much, but Finnel told him she had to, as she would become a burden on Saki's life force, no matter if they were given more Telomere by Tyria, and also adding to that the fact of the multiple personae that Saki had inside her. That's why she wanted to disappear as soon as possible: so Saki had more time to live. Despite Aoto's protests, Finnel thanked him for having cared about her so much, and asked him to make Saki happy... she then ceased existing... As Aoto apologized to her, and thanked her for everything...
At that moment, both him and Saki woke up, crying and asking Aoto if Finnel would be okay. Aoto told her he had seen Finnel, and that she would always live inside Saki's mind, so she wouldn't continue crying. Aoto then told her they would have to keep on living to not disappoint Finnel. Saki agreed, telling Aoto she would live with Finnel in her heart, and that her life was precious because a friend had given her own life for her.
Back at Raphael's office, Cocona and Hikari Gojo were glad to see Saki and Aoto up again, as she apologized for causing them trouble. Raphael told them they arrived at a perfect moment, as J&K had just brought in the results of their research: the person who had hacked Richa and Akane was no other than Harvestasha, who had been imitating the virus that Archia had released on the SH Server a while ago. Jack remarked this couldn't be more problematic, as they were going against the Tower's Mainframe. Gojo then realized it was very simple for her to control the Reyvateils due to their connections to the SH Server, which made Cocona ask if there wasn't anything that could be done about it. Krusche bitterly replied that they were trying, but the virus evolved faster than the measures they were taking to immunize the systems. Raphael then told them that there was only a solution: getting rid of Harvestasha herself. Aoto wondered if would be possible, which Raphael told him it would be if they reached Ku: the console pod that could be used for controlling and performing maintenance on Harvestsha, located at the very top of the Tower. The plan was to Dive on her and simultaneously attack her from the outside to bring her down. Raphael told them that J&K would take care of the external attack, while Aoto's party would take care of the Dive. Everyone in the party was against supporting Archia after what they had done, but Raphael asked if they could really refuse to support them. He then sent them a thinly veiled threat on the lives of all the Reyvateils, Saki included, if they didn't cooperate.
With hands tied, Aoto had no choice but to support the operation, but he left very clear this wasn't for the sake of Archia: it was because he wanted to save everyone in the world. Hikari Gojo remarked that sounded like something typical of him, while Cocona voice his opinion that he should stop acting cool. Aoto mocked her by telling her that he was cool and that she would have to deal with it. Raphael then ordered them to begin the operation, to which Aoto refused if they didn't at least loan them an airship, considering how much they would have to climb. Raphael refused, and Gojo had to explain why: it was because none of the airships in Sol Cluster were equipped to go beyond the Blastline, and Ku was located even higher than that. Raphael told them he could take the party up to the Symphonic Power Plug, halfway through in Tower Block A, but from there on they would have to walk. The party then departed to the city to make their final preparations, with Cocona reminding them to go back to the Think Tank to take the airship when they were ready.
Once they were ready, they returned to the Think Tank, where they were greeted by Sasha and Gengai. To the surprise of Aoto and Cocona, they both had come to cheer on the saviors of the world. Aoto remarked that sounded too dramatic, while Sasha added that she also came because she could help with something. Cocona thanked her, while Gengai asked Saki if she was okay. With a sad gaze, Saki replied that she was, but Gengai told her that he was happy, as she had conquered all hardships that life had thrown at her. She thanked him, while Gengai told Aoto he had become a real man, and that he shouldn't screw up now. He also told Cocona and Hikari Gojo to be careful, which Cocona turned back on him. Gojo for his part told him he would return alive and victorious. Both Sasha and Gengai gave them their last cheers and farewells, and thus they departed to confront Harvestasha.
====Normal Ending (Saki)====
The party returned victorious from their battle against Harvestasha, and were received with praises and compliments from Raphael, who thanked them in behalf of all humankind. Saki asked what would happen to Clustania, to which Raphael replied it would be dismantled, and its Executive District put under Archia's control, making the Reyvateils slaves to the humans. Aoto retorted that this was precisely the reason why they never got along: the desire for one species to dominate over the other. Aoto told him that now that Harvestasha wouldn't bother them anymore, it was time to make things work out in a way in which both sides were in equal footing. Raphael just told him that his way of thinking was no more than an impossible dream, yet he still liked that naivete Aoto had. In gratitude for his actions and words, Raphael allowed him to have a reward, which Aoto chose to be Saki's freedom: he wouldn't need anything else as long as she could be with him.
They then went on with their lives in Archia City, with Saki being a teacher in the Ogai Memorial Pre-school and Aoto helping her. The previous night, Saki stood up all night to create the final version of her "The Hero and The Overlord" story, which Aoto promised to hear together with the children. Before setting out to the pre-school, Aoto remember all the moments he had spent with Saki, even the heartfelt embrace she gave him when she was about to disappear due to singing Arphage as they were in their way to Moocheriel. He also thought how sweet and kind Saki was, how she always thought of the happiness of others before her own. He then gave her his gratitude for having saved his life. That afternoon, when Aoto arrived at the pre-school, he was surprised at the number of children who had gathered to hear Saki's story, among which there were the same four children to who Saki had begun telling it right before her departure for Moocheriel. And obeying the wishes of her audience, Saki announced the story's title, also adding she had all sorts of thoughts, prayers and memories stored in it, as she had wrote it with the intention of the children living happily ever after in a peaceful world... She also told them to think of the most important person in their lives after they had listened to it, and remember the times they spent together with Saki... Thus, she began telling the story... After she finished, she noticed that Aoto had fallen asleep during it, and quietly asked him if she had managed to improve it, even if it was just a little, and if he could feel the feelings she had poured in it...
However, all of the party members were very far from imagining the consequences of their actions: now that Raphael had gotten Ar Ru's physical composition data and there wasn't anyone who could stop him, he would be able to carry out the horrendous Human Evolution Project, killing the Reyvateils and transforming the humans into hideous monsters called Reyvaroids. And still, this would be just the tip of the iceberg, as Ar Ciel would die the following year, taking with it all of the people who lived in Sol Ciel, Metafalica and Sol Cluster...
====Normal Route (Finnel)====
After Ar Ru had been exterminated at Moocheriel due to Saki's Song, Raphael told the party that Akane and Richa, who had been gotten hacked by someone, were resting in other room together with Finnel. He also informed them that Finnel was unconscious due to a severe shock. Hikari Gojo asked about the hacking, to which Raphael replied that J&K were currently investigating it, and that they should rest until the results arrived. Aoto then asked Raphael why Saki had disappeared after the Song was completed. Raphael replied that Arphage's effect was neutralizing the Antibody Brain by controlling Ar Ru's Dynamic H-Waves and that Saki's Cosmosphere was used as the agent for doing so, so her soul could have gotten neutralized too as a side effect. Raphael added this followed the same basic principles as Diving: the weaker being is absorbed and devoured by the strongest one. Therefore, as Ar Ru's soul was stronger thank Saki's, it followed his expectations, so Saki's soul had been neutralized and absorbed into the depths of Ar Ru's Soulspace.
Aoto then asked if it wouldn't be possible to find Saki by Diving into Finnel's Cosmosphere, as they both were the same being, to which Raphael replied it could be possible, in theory. Gojo then told him to hurry up, as the personae who were absorbed in such a way wouldn't retain their sense of self for al long time, and would melt away into the main away at the slightest movement. Aoto understood this, and went to Dive into Finnel immediately.
Once in Finnel's Cosmosphere, Aoto managed to find Saki. She was glad to see Aoto again, and heartbroken, Aoto tried to apologize to her. Saki told him that he didn't need to say anything: she didn't regret this, as while her body had vanished away, she could protect something much more important. Saki loved everyone, and asked Aoto to tell Finnel to not be sad for her, as she would always be happy for them both. Aoto promised to do so, and Saki told him it was time to say goodbye. Aoto didn't want to do it, as they didn't even talk much, but Saki told him she had to, as she would become a burden on Saki's life force, no matter if they were given more Telomere by Tyria or not, and also adding to that the fact of the multiple personae that Finnel had inside her. That's why she wanted to disappear as soon as possible: so Finnel had more time to live. Despite Aoto's protests, Saki thanked him for having cared about her so much, and asked him to make Finnel happy... she then ceased existing... As Aoto apologized to her, and thanked her for everything...
At that moment, both him and Finnel woke up, crying and asking Aoto if Saki would be okay. Aoto told her he had seen Saki, and that she would always live inside Finnel's mind, so she wouldn't continue crying. Aoto then told her they would have to keep on living to not disappoint Saki. Finnel agreed, telling Aoto she would live with Saki in her heart, and that her life was precious because a friend had given her own life for her.
Back at Raphael's office, Cocona and Hikari Gojo were glad to see Finnel and Aoto up again, as she apologized for causing them trouble. Raphael told them they arrived at a perfect moment, as J&K had just brought in the results of their research: the person who had hacked Richa and Akane was no other than Harvestasha, who had been imitating the virus that Archia had released on the SH Server a while ago. Jack remarked this couldn't be more problematic, as they were going against the Tower's Mainframe. Gojo then realized it was very simple for her to control the Reyvateils due to their connections to the SH Server, which made Cocona ask if there wasn't anything that could be done about it. Krusche bitterly replied that they were trying, but the virus evolved faster than the measures they were taking to immunize the systems. Raphael then told them that there was only a solution: getting rid of Harvestasha herself. Aoto wondered if would be possible, which Raphael told him it would be if they reached Ku: the console pod that could be used for controlling and performing maintenance on Harvestsha, located at the very top of the Tower. The plan was to Dive on her and simultaneously attack her from the outside to bring her down. Raphael told them that J&K would take care of the external attack, while Aoto's party would take care of the Dive. Everyone in the party was against supporting Archia after what they had done, but Raphael asked if they could really refuse to support them. He then sent them a thinly veiled threat on the lives of all the Reyvateils, Finnel included, if they didn't cooperate.
With hands tied, Aoto had no choice but to support the operation, but he left very clear this wasn't for the sake of Archia: it was because he wanted to save everyone in the world. Hikari Gojo remarked that sounded like something typical of him, while Cocona voice his opinion that he should stop acting cool. Aoto mocked her by telling her that he was cool and that she would have to deal with it. Raphael then ordered them to begin the operation, to which Aoto refused if they didn't at least loan them an airship, considering how much they would have to climb. Raphael refused, and Gojo had to explain why: it was because none of the airships in Sol Cluster were equipped to go beyond the Blastline, and Ku was located even higher than that. Raphael told them he could take the party up to the Symphonic Power Plug, halfway through in Tower Block A, but from there on they would have to walk. The party then departed to the city to make their final preparations, with Cocona reminding them to go back to the Think Tank to take the airship when they were ready.
Once they were ready, they returned to the Think Tank, where they were greeted by Sasha and Gengai. To the surprise of Aoto and Cocona, they both had come to cheer on the saviors of the world. Aoto remarked that sounded too dramatic, while Sasha added that she also came because she thought could help with something. Cocona thanked her, while Gengai asked Finnel if she was okay. With a sad gaze, Finnel replied that she was, but Gengai told her that he was happy, as she had conquered all hardships that life had thrown at her. She thanked him, while Gengai told Aoto he had become a real man, and that he shouldn't screw up now. He also told Cocona and Hikari Gojo to be careful, which Cocona turned back on him. Gojo for his part told him he would return alive and victorious. Both Sasha and Gengai gave them their last cheers and farewells, and thus they departed to confront Harvestasha.
====Normal Ending (Finnel)====
The party returned victorious from their battle against Harvestasha, and were received with praises and compliments from Raphael, who thanked them in behalf of all humankind. Finnel asked what would happen to Clustania, to which Raphael replied it would be dismantled, and its Executive District put under Archia's control, making the Reyvateils slaves to the humans. Aoto retorted that this was precisely the reason why they never got along: the desire for one species to dominate over the other. Aoto told him that now that Harvestasha wouldn't bother them anymore, it was time to make things work out in a way in which both sides were in equal footing. Raphael just told him that his way of thinking was no more than an impossible dream, yet he still liked that naivete Aoto had. In gratitude for his actions and words, Raphael allowed him to have a reward, which Aoto chose to be Finnel's freedom: he wouldn't need anything else as long as she could be with him.
====Invasion of the Tower of Origin====
Having learned that Ayatane had infiltrated the Tower of Origin and had sent Clustania's unmanned ships and Guardians to attack, as well as the Tower being attacked by Antibodies, Hikari Gojo suggested the party to infiltrate the Think Tank to reach the Tower and confront Ayatane.
Once inside, he gave them the instructions for reaching that place, although much to Finnel's dismay, they had to go through the sewers again.
At the entrance of the Tower of Origin, Hikari Gojo was astonished to see the door open, despite no one ever using it. Cocona suggested the Antibodies may have broken into it, to which Gojo replied it wasn't important, as this actually was convenient to the party. Finnel asked Gojo how he knew about this path, to which he replied he once snuck into the Tower to find about the mysterious secrets Archia was keeping, which seemed the keys for a conspiracy. That was what allowed him to learn about the Tower of Origin still working in the current times and about the terrible research that took place in it. According to what Katene told him afterwards, it was directly related to the Human Evolution Project, and then he announced it was time to uncover the conspiracy as they stepped into the Tower.
====Cosmoflips: the Weapon to Defeat Ar Ru====
After returning from the Tower of Origin, Raphael thanked Aoto and his friends for having solved the Antibody crisis, which Aoto replied wasn't done for him. Raphael told him to not be so hostile and recommended forming a truce, as they shared a common objective. Cocona angrily why they would need to do that, to which Raphael replied because their enemies were the formidable Antibodies, and both Finnel and Saki had descended using these creatures, but Archia didn't have anything that could match them now they had lost Saki's cooperation and her power as the Vaccine. Hikari Gojo called him out on his selfishness, asking why they would accept that offer. Raphael replied they were doing it for the sake of the world, which left Aoto without any options but to accept. However, he also told Raphael they wouldn't be his allies, and he would fight just because he wanted to put an end to the long-standing war between Clustania and the humans. Raphael agreed with his conditions, as they just needed their help. Aoto asked how they would fight the Antibodies, so Raphael commented they had gained a bit of hope, and greeted Tyria.
Tyria askeed who he thought he was to ask her that, and after introducing himself, Raphael noted on Tyria's status as an Origin on how beautiful she was. He then commented that the research of the Ancient Faction hadn't been in vain if they managed to pull off the impossible feat of creating her holography. Tyria asked him if he wanted something from her, or if he just wanted to say hi. Raphael revealed he had something to ask her, as Archia had in their hands an special Hymn Crystal that only she could use, created by Kurogane himself: the founder of the Kurogane Laboratories, the predecessor to the Archia Think Tank. Upon hearing this, Tyria realized very surprised it must have been the crystal for Cosmoflips, which had been lost for a very long time. Raphael confirmed it indeed was Cosmoflips, the song which allowed to fuse a Will of the Planet with the singer. A song that was essential for the Planet Regeneration Project, and left the project in standby for over 700 years due to being missing. Raphael noted it should have been Downloaded into Tyria, and while the project was ruined, it would be still possible to give some use to the song. Tyria got the gist of the plan: she would absorb Ar Ru into her Soulspace so her individual consciousness would eventually fade away. Hikari Gojo asked if this wouldn't cause any harm to Tyria, to which Raphael replied that Kurogane was said to be a genius and that he respected Tyria from the bottom of his heart, so it would be unthinkable that someone like him created something that could possibly bring harm to her. Tyria told him that she would perform the Download, as she trusted Kurogane more than anyone.
Gojo still had doubts about this, to which Raphael replied that the Archia Think Tank always tried to protect humanity, and to dispel his doubts, he also told Gojo that they weren't responsible for his sister's death, although this didn't convince Gojo at all. Raphael then instructed Tyria to go to other room to perform the Download, but then Gojo and Cocona volunteered to accompany her, as if Archia really didn't have anything to hide, they wouldn't have any problem performing the Download in their presence. Raphael allowed this, so Hikari Gojo advised Aoto to go back to the inn to get some rest, and allow Saki and Finnel to recover a little. Tyria also suggested this, as she would need the help of both girls later on. Finnel and Saki were left confused by this, so Tyria explained to them that as they were Wills of the Planet, they would be the only ones who could communicate with Ar Ru in equal standings. Both girls agreed to help Tyria with this, and then she left with Gojo and Cocona to Download Cosmoflips. Aoto and the other girls, for their part, returned to the city. However, after they left, Raphael commented that it was time to reap what they had sown, and told Richa that she should be the one to perform the final task, to which she agreed.
====The Reyvaroid and Raphael's Schemes====
Having chased Raphael from VR21's chamber at the Old Eternus Galleries, and having heard the explanation about why the XP Shell's antenna was so dangerous to humans, Aoto and his friends entered the Archia Think Tank again and caught up to Raphael on the hall leading to the Tower of Origin. Upon noticing them, Raphael called them idiots that were chasing him despite not being able to gain anything from doing it. Aoto ignored his insults and ordered him to halt the Human Evolution Project. Raphael just looked at him in disappointment and asked him why he was so adamant in refusing to support it, the large step forward for humankind. Hikari Gojo then retorted this was actually a massive involution, as the project itself was going to turn humanity into a race of monsters devoid of ego and all of the intrinsec qualities to humans, like it happened to Aisha. Raphael just told him they had learned from their terrible mistakes and that problem had been solved. He then offered to show the party the first model of Reyvaroid they had produced.
The door behind him opened, and an horrible creature appeared before the party, which gasped at it in shock: it was Gengai, partially fused with a Doll Model Antibody. Raphael just remarked he was thankful his charisma allowed him to lead and keep Archia organized while he was away, so he was the best fit to governate the new race the Project would create, and transformed him into the first unit. Cocona was horrified to see the man that had taught her so much turned into this, while Hikari Gojo wondered how it would be possible for him to mantain his ego under these conditions. However, Raphael told them that he had been stripped from his ego, and was now reduced to a puppet who could just obey orders, as Raphael demonstrated by making Gengai repeat every single word he said. Aoto was enraged to see this, leaving Raphael dumbfounded to see how they couldn't accept such an opportunity to ascend to Divinity, as he himself put it. He then ordered the Reyvaroid to go and kill the party. Although Cocona and Aoto were still distraught because of this, they had no choice but to fight against him.
Fortunately, they managed to defeat the Reyvaroid and his transformation was reversed, returning Gengai to his normal form, as the transformation process hadn't been completed yet. The party went immediately to check if he was okay, while Raphael was shocked by the fact that they had managed to split the Reyvaroid into its component beings. At that moment, Mute and Katene appeared, and Mute finally had the chance to tell Aoto about Raphael's weak point: it was the crystal he had buried in the back of his neck, which also allowed him to control the Reyvaroids and Reyvateils as if they were remote puppets.
Now this was known, Raphael ran away to the Tower of Origin. Aoto and Cocona still were worried about Gengai, but he reassured them he was okay and in full control of his own actions again. Aoto told him to stay here while they catched Raphael, which Gengai remarked was pretty ironic. Aoto didn't grasp what he meant, but Gengai just told him to worry about stopping that scumbag first, as he would explain what the meaning of that phrase when they returned. Mute then explained to Aoto about the crystals, which left Finnel shocked that they could do that, and Mute added that everyone in the Archia Think Tank had one of these, including her father Dr. Laude. She also told Aoto he should destroy it, as without that crystal, Raphael would lose all the special skills he had. Katene offered himself to take of Gengai, and suggested the party to go on. Gojo offered his old clinic as the perfect resting place for Gengai and rendezvous point, which Katene accepted. The party then continued pursuing Raphael.
Katene then asked if Mute would help him, but upon seeing how much she wanted to go and personally kick Raphael's butt, he allowed Mute to go after them, knowing how much she wanted to do so, and wished her the best of luck. He really didn't want her to be in dangerous situations, but seeing how important it was for Mute to get her revenge, he told her to finish Raphael off. Mute thanked him, and as she departed, Katene prayed for her safe return.
====An Unrequited Crush Blooms into Love====
After getting back from the XP Shell, Hikari Gojo took care of Richa until she regained consciousness, and immediately after she awakened, he asked her how she was feeling. Richa asked him if her mission had failed, and not knowing she had been freed of the Archia Think Tank's death sentence, she broke down in tears, sobbing as she said she had no place to which she belonged anymore. Gojo consoled her, and told Richa her place was right at his side, and asked her to marry him. Richa told him she didn't want his pity, to which Gojo replied it wasn't pity: it was love.
He had been rejecting her advances because she was an Archian officer, and he was afraid of hating her if he discovered that they were the culprits of Aisha's death. In other words, it was because of Gojo's own weakness. That was why kept deceiving himself and supressing the feelings he had for Richa. Despite this, Richa still continue loving and thinking about him. Gojo then apologized, and asked Richa if she still loved him. Richa screamed she did, and then both revealed how much they loved each other. At that moment, Aoto entered the room, asking if Richa had awakened. Richa replied by saying she was happy enough for her body to burn, and when Cocona asked if she was happy from passing out, she revealed that Gojo had proposed her marriage, leaving both very surprised.
Finnel congratulated her and asked if they were going to marry, to which Richa replied very excitedly they were. This made Saki exclaim it was wonderful, while Mute screamed it was very romantic and Tyria that it was quite a twist in her usual deadpan manner. Gojo couldn't really reply to this, so Aoto told him to not be so shy while everyone else gave them their congratulations.
After they left the room and returned to the lobby of the Think Tank, Saki remarked that Richa seemed very happy, which Mute explained was because her long crush had been finally reciprocated. Gojo, all embarrassed, commented she looked very energetic and that he wouldn't have to worry for her health anymore. Finnel remarked he was still being shy, so Gojo scolded her for making fun of a medical professional. Aoto then continued the teasing, by telling him to make sure she came for her regular check-ups. Cocona decided to cut off the chatter and told the others she was worried about Gengai. Aoto remembered they had taken him to Gojo's old clinic in Archia City, while Mute got worried over the possibility that Katene had been attacked. Gojo worried about them too, so he advised stopping by to check on them before heading to Clustania. The party agreed, and thus they went to the clinic.
====Final Visit Before Going to the Planetary Core====
After the Third Tower was completed, but before they boarded the XP Shell to go to the Planetary Core, the party came over here to talk with Richa, Mute and Katene. Richa told Hikari Gojo that she had been appointed as the head of the Archia Think Tank for the time being, to which Gojo replied it was a very difficult job, but that Richa would be perfectly capable of carrying it out.
Katene also told him he had been designated as the next Chairman of the Moebius Factory, which made Aoto congratulate him, while Richa announced that both facilities would be forming a partnership in the coming days. As for Mute, she asked Saki if she could work in the Ogai Memorial Pre-school with her because she liked the children, so Saki agreed to let her do it.
Katene remarked the future for the three of them was looking very bright, which clued them on the fact that Mute was now pregnant, making her very embarrassed when Aoto said it loud, although this also got him a punch from her. Richa then told Gojo she was expecting him to give her a child soon, leaving Gojo very embarrased. He could only say that it would happen very soon. Aoto began teasing him by saying they needed to save the world and get "Daddy" back home safe, but Richa agreed with that, and told Gojo they all should come back alive from their expedition. Gojo reassured her that he would never leave Richa alone, while Mute and Katene wished them the best of luck.
==Layout==
The Archia Think Tank is an even larger and longer dungeon than the Moebius Factory, as its layout includes not only the main laboratory rooms, but also the sewers located below it and the several walkways it has connecting to other areas, in particular the Tower of Origin. Despite this, there are several rooms that serve absolutely no purpose in the game, and there are some areas that can't be accessed until the player has advanced enough in the story.
Archia Think Tank Map 1.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 1
Archia Think Tank Map 2.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 2
Archia Think Tank Map 3.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 3
Archia Think Tank Map 4.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 4
Archia Think Tank Map 5.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 5
Archia Think Tank Map 6.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 6
Archia Think Tank Map 7.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 7
Archia Think Tank Map 8.jpg|Archia Think Tank Map 8
==Treasures==
*Gold Material
*?Humidifier?
*Soul Charger
*Inverse Chip
*Stress Doll
*?Drink in a Bucket?
*MSPU
*Headgear
*Burning Launcher
*Gold Material
*Heart Apron
*?Magic Frill?
*Spark Stick
*?Something Button?
*?Prism Accesory?
*Platinum Material
Number of Treasure Chests in this Area: 16
==Enemies==
*Dryad (until Phase 3)
*Furia Model I (from Phase 4 onwards)
*Furia Model I-B (from Phase 4 onwards)
*Furia Model II (from Phase 4 onwards)
*Archia Soldier (until Phase 3)
Number of Random Battles in this Area: 10
Encounter Probability: Middle
==Bosses==
*Reyvaroid, Furia Model II-Y and Furia Model III (during Phase 4)
==Talk Topics==
*First Experiences (after Tyria joins)
==Party Topics==
*Search (at the entrance, after Tyria joins)
*Can't Find a Dream (in the sewers, after Tyria joins)
Category:Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
Category:Geography
Category:General Information
Category:Dungeons:Ar tonelico Qoga
Category:Organizations