Harbinger Aria

**Harbinger Aria** is the boss of the Orbital Cradle in Chapter 8. Aria has been heavily influenced by Gaia and plans to carry out Geist's Paradise Project, intending to drop the Proto-Seaslight on ReGaia to destroy it. When the Protagonist and the rest of the party are unable to talk her out of it, they resort to fighting her in an attempt to stop her. The Protagonist is ultimately the one to free her from Gaia's control and turn her back to normal.

## Background

Aria has an existential crisis after Geist tells her she must choose between saving one species of humanity: the Cains or the Abels, and avoids discussing this decision with the Protagonist and the rest of the party. The turning point for becoming the Harbinger is after Aria learns that her parents were the leaders of the Paradise Project and that they sacrificed their lives for its ideals, so she chooses to save her species, the Cains, on her own, believing it to be her duty.

After receiving a written note from Aria describing her decision, the Protagonist follows her to the Orbital Cradle and attempts to stop her. When found, they discover that she has become a corrupted being (in reality, she is actually under Gaia's influence, who seeks to use Aria and the project for her own intentions). The Protagonist is unable to talk her out of it as she has marked herself as an enemy, and challenges the Protagonist to stop them from interfering.

Although 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, but this instead paves a way for the Protagonist to enter Aria's consciousness via through their own consciousness, where they learn more about her past from a younger version of her. The Protagonist also discovers that Aria's heart is bound in chains by her doubts and insecurities. With the help of Aria's diary, the Protagonist is able to get Aria to respond despite Young Aria stating that it may be impossible as no one’s words can reach her. After managing to convince Aria to reconsider her decision and that despite the fact that they are both different species, it doesn't necessarily make them enemies (Aria tries to convince them otherwise, but it does not work, eventually forcing her to give up), she finally lets go of her insecurities and confesses that she never really wants to kill either species; her choice was done out of her fear of weakness and self-doubt. After this, the Protagonist then releases Aria's heart, freeing her from her self-doubts and turning her back to normal. Now no longer under Gaia's control, she then abandons her plot, now seeing that what she's doing is wrong and instead decides to find a solution that will result in the survival of both versions of humanity. Geist, having known that this would happen (and also revealed to have planned for this), decides that the decision of choosing to save the Cains or Abels should be passed to the Protagonist since they were able to convince Aria to stop her plan, and that his project cannot wait due to Quietus approaching. They refuse to sacrifice any innocent people, instead desiring to save both by ending Quietus, which Geist at first doesn't believe is possible, but eventually gives up and respects their wishes after seeing that it is impossible to convince them to carry out his project since they will not commit murder.

However, the Proto, revealed to be alive, takes control and reactivates Aria's plan, but instead tries to crash into the Castle of Illusion, which will wipe out both the Cains and the Abels (i.e., should the Proto crash into the castle, it will not only kill all the Abels, but will also make the planet unbearable for the Cains to live on); it is actually ordered to do this by a mysterious intruder, presumed to be Gaia. It also disables outside control to ensure that it cannot be stopped. Aria, realizing that her plan has gone horribly wrong, atones for her previous wrongdoings by redirecting it to land into the ocean where it can do less damage, all while intending to sacrifice herself before the Protagonist and their friends rescue her. The Paradise Project was abandoned after this as Geist and Aria decide to now work with the Protagonist to stop Quietus and save both species instead of sacrificing one of them.

## Personality

Unlike her unafflicted personality, Aria as the Harbinger appears to be very ruthless, malevolent, and is determined to do whatever it takes to ensure that her plan is completed. She is even willing to eliminate those who would get in her way, including her own friends. Even after being defeated, she still persistently attempts to complete her goal and tries one final attempt to destroy the Protagonist (which ends in vain when it instead transports the Protagonist into Aria’s consciousness from within their own consciousness rather than killing them). However, most of these characteristic are the work of Aria's insecurities and self-doubts along with Gaia's influence on her. Only by freeing her heart is what allows her to overcome her insecurities and return to normal, breaking Gaia's control over her.

## Strategy

The fight against Harbinger Aria is not that hard, but be sure to know when to dodge her attacks. She is weak against Slash attacks. Having Istina, Asyl, Brakka, or Shrika for this fight is not a bad idea. Choose the right time to heal and attack her while she charges her attacks.

## Attribute Weakness(es)

* Slash
* Crush
* Fire
* Lightning

## Trivia

* Gaia uses the same red energy as Harbinger Aria.
	+ The confrontation against Gaia also has lots of similarities with Harbinger Aria.
	+ Geist's corruptive persona also uses the same type of red energy.
	+ This red energy came from the Monolites, which Gaia can influence, indicating that Harbinger Aria was merely a pawn to Gaia's own motive.
* It is implied that Harbinger Aria didn't know that her plan would backfire at the last second; hence why the Proto-Seaslight (which apparently never planned on helping her) made a change in her plan, presumed to have secretly done it beforehand.
	+ Because Geist also didn't know that the Proto-Seaslight is self-aware, he too may have not known the true outcome of Harbinger Aria's plot.
	+ It can be presumed that Gaia is the one responsible for hijacking Aria's plot due to the Proto-Seaslight also being made from Monolite.

* When Aria turns back to normal, her mech mysteriously disappears.
* This wasn't the only time Aria became the leader of the Omens. She was their leader again in the good ending, but as her normal self.