A Noble Despair

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**A Noble Despair** is the eighth chapter of the main story.

## Summary

### Part 1

After leaving the Castle of Illusion, Ein goes to Lethe's northern square in search of Aria. Her pod is not there. The Mayor approaches Ein. Sensing something is amiss, he doesn't ask for Ein to explain but counsels them to remember everything (s)he has been through with Aria, explaining that you can't solve tomorrow's problems by thinking only about tomorrow.

The following day, Ein travels to the deepest part of Higan Canyon at Dianthus's request. There, Dianthus speaks to them with admiration about the human capacity to dream of new possibilities and achieve the impossible, and advises Ein to act from the heart and ignore what is "right" according to logic.

Meanwhile, Aria has taken her pod to Lost Gaia to access the Omens' files and learn more about her parents' Paradise Project. While reviewing a list of names, she gasps at what she sees.

### Part 2

Ein awakens and finds a note left by Aria, who has decided to enact the Heaven's Shell to save the Cains. Because powering the Shell will disable the Seaslight and make ReGaia uninhabitable outside of the shell, this is a death sentence for the Abels, and Aria now believes that she is their enemy. Ein races outside just in time to see her leaving for the Orbital Cradle with Geist, who warns them against following or trying to stop.

Meeting their other friends in the Castle of Illusion, they learn that Aria has become her villainous persona: the Harbinger, who is now the Admin leader of the Omen and has ordered Ein and her friends be "eliminated." Fortunately, Dianthus is unaffected as she had already cut herself off from their network. Now learning that Aria plans to activate Geist's Paradise Project, they set off to the Orbital Cradle to stop her devious plot.

The party first must face Callistephus again. In his defeat, he surprisingly expresses support for the party's goals. Believing this to mean his circuits have become corrupted, he urges them to press on while he waits for the cleaners who will come to collect malfunctioning "traitors" like himself.

Just as the party reaches Harbinger Aria (who now has a malevolent appearance) and Geist, she orders Geist to activate the decent to drop the Proto-Seaslight onto ReGaia, which will wipe out the Abels and make room for her kind. Ein and friends attempt to reason with her, but she summons a giant mech to eliminate them so to stop them from interfering. After the Protagonist defeats her, she refuses to accept defeat and engulfs them in blast of red energy to try and destroy them and their friends. Despite warnings from Dianthus that Harbinger Aria is not the same Aria that they know, the Protagonist still attempts to help her, but is knocked out.

Finding themselves inside their own mind, the Protagonist is told by a mysterious voice that Aria is now their enemy, but they disagree with this and still wish to help her, upon which they are transported into Aria's unconscious mind. A young version of Aria appears and, seeing that the Protagonist will not give up that easily, tells them more about Aria's past. She also warns them that Aria's insecurities prevent anyone's words from reaching her and suggests that they should give up if they can't get through to her, but nevertheless lets them go ahead if they believe there's a way to save her.

Dismissing Young Aria's discouraging advice and believing that Aria is not entirely beyond help, the Protagonist discovers Aria's heart bounded in chains by her doubts. The voice from earlier reveals that even though nobody's words can reach her as Young Aria said, they have something that can: her diary (which Young Aria didn't know that the Protagonist had). After holding up the diary, it causes Young Aria to appear and turn into the adult Aria.

Now able to speak to her, Aria states her determination to save her kind and her firm belief that this means she has no choice but to be the Protagonist's enemy. When this fails to convince the Protagonist, she gives up trying to persuade them otherwise after admitting that they are quite strange due to their strong determination.

After convincing her to let go of her insecurities and not to hide from who she is, she finally confesses that she never really wants to kill either species and that her choice was done from being blinded by her insecurities and self-doubts, and she begs the Protagonist to free her before disappearing. The Protagonist then releases Aria's heart, freeing her from the insecurities that led her to believe she had no choice but to destroy the Abels, as they both return to the real world.

After Aria turns back to normal, she apologizes for her misdeeds and thanks them for freeing her from her evil persona. Now understanding that what she's doing isn't right, she orders Geist to stop the Proto's descent, deciding to instead find a way to save both the Cains and Abels. To everyone's surprise, Geist has been expecting this to happen and announces he has transferred the Admin rights to the Protagonist "as planned." He declares that because Ein has proven to be stronger than Aria, by the principle of "survival of the fittest," the choice of which people to save is now Ein's to make.

The Protagonist and Dianthus both protest, but Geist is still determined to force a decision. He reveals that the Cains cannot remain in hibernation much longer, so the decision cannot be delayed any more, and asks Ein to follow him into the Genesis Core.

Before following Geist, Ein speaks with each member of the party.

## Party Member Quotes

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> Ein. It is as I said before. Resist what is "correct." Make the decision for yourself. That is the only way to make a breakthrough in this situation.
> —Dianthus
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> Ein... I'm so sorry it had to come to this... I mean...no. It's no use apologizing. All I can do now is leave it up to you. Not many people get to represent humanity, you know. You go in there with pride.
> —Aria
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> What do you think you'll do, Ein? I can't figure out what the right thing to do would be... I just can't imagine sacrificing so many lives in order to survive...
> —Asyl
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> Geist was a bit too forceful, but I understand what he was saying. You can't deny that the world relies upon survival of the fittest. It happens every day on ReGaia. Even in such a seemingly peaceful world, there are always some getting sifted out. But we come to terms with it because it's a law of nature. It's not something that we're supposed to enforce for ourselves.
> —Istina
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> Ein. First of all, thank you for your efforts. We couldn't have gotten Aria back without you. It would've been nice had that been the grand finale, but I suppose real life is not that straightforward. Whatever happens, I intend to support you in your decision...because I know painfully well how hard it is to answer a question that has no right answers.
> —Heine
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> Ein... You look distressed. Please don't push yourself too hard...
> —Emo
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> So this is what it's come to... Ein... The world's fate is in your hands. I won't blame you, whichever decision you make. You're only trying to do the right thing and take responsibility after all.
> —Shrika
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> This is the conclusion of all your actions until now. Do whatever you want. If anyone has a problem with your decision, I'll sock it to 'em.
> —Brakka
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