Carnival

The **Carnival** (謝肉祭) is a death game hosted by Almata in the labyrinthine ruins underneath the city of Oración during the fifth chapter of *Trails through Daybreak*.

## Background

With the knowledge that several groups were targeting them, Almata's Carnival is an attempt at getting the various factions to fight against each other instead, by means of threatening the population of Oración with a reactor weapon and leaving its arbitration in the hands of the Oct-Genesis. Several groups were forced to take part in the game, with only one being given the chance to face Gerard Dantes at the end. The game was part of a larger ambition of Gerard's to gain immortality and start Pandemonium, spreading his idela of fear around the world.

## Rules

The rules of the Carnival are enforced with the Sixth Oct-Genesis, a powerful Artifact which is capable of monitoring the game and detecting compliance with the rules. If a violation is detected, the Oct-Genesis will trigger the detonation of a Reactor Weapon that will destroy the entirety of the city - the same kind of Reactor Weapon that destroyed Creil.

The three strata of the city ruins serve as levels, each one being controlled by an Almata-affiliated guardian. The objective of the game is for one of the participating teams to make it through all three strata to reach the Vashtar Palace Ruins where Gerard Dantes waits. If no team reaches the palace in three days, the reactor weapon will detonate.

None of the participating teams are allowed to leave the city during the game, and they may not bring outside assistance beyond their initial members to interfere. They are strictly forbidden from revealing information about the game to any non-participants, or contact law enforcement, or enter the Vashtar Palace Ruins from the surface of the city (it can only be entered through the ruins by playing the game). Any violation of these rules would immediately trigger the weapon's detonation.

Lesser violations such as two teams merging will not trigger the reactor weapon, but will be punished by having Arioch attack the transgressor as a penalty. He suggests that he is under an obligation to do this, suggesting the Genesis is enforcing them to act as well and there is little hope of Almata ending the game. Arioch will lurk in the ruins to attack the teams randomly to add danger to their experience. In the event of uninformed external factions infiltrating the city, such as the Hercules Beta unit sent by an unaware CID officer, the genesis determined this to not be an infraction, but declared their elimination by Arioch necessary..

There are also small-scale bombs created by Melchior, which are used to nuke a single district each. They are set off in case no one manages to make it to the end of one level and defeat its guardian within the allotted time.

In order to reach a level's guardian, a team needs a certain number of access cards. Each team receives a card at the start, and must force other teams to surrender their cards to them by defeating them in combat or otherwise attaining their card from them. Surrendering means being no longer a participant of the game and as such no longer being able to interfere with it (unless joining another team or forming a new one). Obtaining cards without defeating a team in combat is permissible, as shown when Van Arkride and Feri Al-Fayed swiped Kasim Al-Fayed's card from him during their battle without defeating him first.

## *Trails through Daybreak*

The first mention of the Carnival in the plot is during the Intermission in the mountains of Longlai, when Van Arkride's party first meets Arioch after squaring off against Ikaruga. Arioch declines to fight here, and states they will fight during the Carnival.

Early on in Chapter 5, Ellroy Harwood, accompanied by Lucrezia Isselee and Walter Kron, pay the Arkride Solutions Office and give them a request to enter the Carnival. Van accepts.

Once in Oracion's inn, all the factions which compete, including Van's party, are contacted by Gerard, who explains the rules and the penalties for disobeying them. Then Van is informed on his starting point and is given a card, Soon, he decides for his team to merge with another, depending on the player's choice. The Bracer Guild are the default option and affiliated with law. Heiyue are affiliated with gray and Ouroboros are afiliated with Chaos. Should a requisite amount of law and chaos points be available, the Ikaruga will be available as a fourth choice.

Between the first and the second day of the game, a group of Hercules attempt to infiltrate the ruins, only to get obliterated by Arioch in a single blow. The reactor weapon didn't detonate because the CID officer who sent them was unaware of the Carnival.

During the second day of the Carnival, Van sees Iscariot and the Gralsritter fighting each other: the Gralsritter attempt to use their Stigma to wipe out Iscariot's team while Iscariot attempts a synchronized attack, until Bergard stops the fight.

As part of an arrangement made with Melchior during the game, Elaine split off from the Bracers and acted as the sole member of a new 20th team, in exchange for Melchior giving her data about her father's crimes. She later stole from Arioch all the cards that Van's team hasn't gathered, before surrendering them to the team after being bested by Van in a duel.

The Carnival is ultimately won by the Arkride Solutions Office. The 3 guardian members may or may not die depending on player choice (unless the player sides with the Bracers in which case they are always saved). After their victory in the Carnival, the Solutions Office is able to fight Arioch and Gerard, who are both killed after the fight. Melchior escapes after detonating the palace ruins with bombs.

## Facilitators

The lead members of Almata act as the staff for the game.

* Gerard Dantes (host, final opponent)
* Melchior (commentator, does not fight)
* Arioch (penalty enforcer)
* Viola (level 1 guardian)
* Alexandre (level 2 guardian)
* Olympia (level 3 guardian)

## Contestants

20 factions participated in the Carnival. The success of each faction depends on the choices that are made as the Carnival unfolds. They are listed below in no particular order:

## Trivia

* Khurga team A or Eisen Schild team A are fought depending on player choice: siding with Khurga nets you Chaos points, while siding with Eisen Schild nets you Law points.