In the Palace of the Moon

*In the Palace of the Moon* is the thirteenth campaign mission of Spriggan: Lunar Verse. Leticia has fled to "the deepest part of the temple of the moon" after being confronted by Tatsuki and being pushed to the Moon Gate by the Mysterious Girl. Tatsuki must continue pursuing her and prevent the power of the moon from falling into the wrong hands.

## Briefing

Graham recalls Dr. Dale's hypothesis: the moon is a device that can control the environment of the Earth at will. Essentially, it is the Earth's life support system. He dreads about such a dangerous weapon being handed over to a weapons development group called Trident. He urges Tatsuki to do whatever it takes to stop her.

## Mission Overview

Tatsuki is slowly approaching the Moon Gate to pursue against Leticia, but is stopped by the sudden words from Yu Ominae, who throws at him a "God's Plate" that is inscribed with a message from the ancients. According from Yu, the message reads as, "Protect the ancient heritage from those who seek to use it for evil purposes". Yu is confident that the plate will come in handy for something. He also announces to Tatsuki that the latter will become a "Spriggan" if he manages to succeed in his mission. He tells him to hold on that plate properly and begins to exit from the room. Very shortly, however, Yu turns around and was starting to ask Tatsuki about something, but quickly refrains from revealing the full question. However, Yu implies the fact that the ARCAM's insider that him and Jean were investigating before is closer than what Tatsuki thinks. He then officially departs from the room. Tatsuki then proceeds towards the Moon Gate to transport to the palace.

Leticia is seen activating the warp zone and entering it. Shortly afterwards, Tatsuki just comes out from the portal and finds himself in an aerial palace. In order to continue on pursuing against Leticia, he will have to destroy the four crystals rings that spins vertically to activate the warp zone again. Security spiderbots are placed throughout the palace to prevent intruders from wandering around it freely. In addition, Tatsuki must take precautions in potentially falling off from the platforms to the bottomless pit of the palace. After destroying the four crystal rings, the warp zone has been activated again, and the aerial platforms leading to it is now placed. Tatsuki takes advantage of it and heads to the warp zone to follow Leticia.

Tatsuki arrives at the room that is depicted as a tomb, and is about to interact with the ancient grave when he is stopped by the Guardian of the Grave. The guardian commands him to leave the tomb since he would disturb the sleep of its lord. However, Tatsuki refuses to comply and engages a duel against the guardian. As expected, he wins the battle and the guardian break down into pieces before fading away. With the unexpected interruption out of the way, Tatsuki again begins to investigate the ancient grave. There was a voice coming from the spirits of the ancients. First, they mentioned on how long has it been since they have made a mistake. They have held on to the sins of the past since then. Then, they begin to confess about their sins: they misjudged the moon as they thought they had it in their hands. It turns out the moon is God's work and cannot be handled by humans. Since they have tampered with the power of God, they were perished as the result. They urge Tatsuki to follow their guidance and receive God's blessing as he must not makes the same mistake as they did. Before finishing their speech, they pray that "may humanity have a future".

## Debriefing

Graham determines Dr. Dale's goal of using the moon for the purpose of improving Earth's current environment, which has been deteriorating overtime. Originally, this was something that her partner was determined to accomplish at so when she was part of the research group in the U.S. army, but the accident resulted in him being killed, and she was driven to carry on his legacy. He believes it's a feat for Leticia to bemoan the pollution of the Earth's modern environment, and using the power from the ancient heritage to clean it up.