Epic Seven Story

## **Story**

### Context

During the events of a celestial war, the Goddess Diche breaks away from the war after her brother Orbis dies. She builds a world on the body of Orbis, creating the world that Epic Seven takes place in. However, her other brother IIyros disagrees with her leaving the war and attempts to bring her back by sending the Archdemon to destroy the world that she created. To counter this, Diche creates heirs, people with more power than the average residents of Orbis. She also creates guardians to aid the heirs in defeating the Archdemon. She creates a heir to represent herself, Ras Eclare, who is named The Heir of the Covenant. Every time the heirs fail to defeat the Archdemon, she 'resets' the world by fixing the destruction and wiping everybody's minds of the defeat.

### Prologue

The Heir of the Covenant and the heirs with him, Ruele and Kise are preparing for the fight with the Archdemon. Their comrade Vildred, who has been travelling with them thus far decides to stay back to clear the monsters and urges the heirs to defeat the Archdemon. Unbeknownst to the heirs, Acolyte Kayron appears before Vildred before killing him whilst he was fighting. The heirs travel ahead and begin fighting the Archdemon. However, during the fight, Ruele is killed after her barrier is shattered by the Archdemon. The fight suddenly flips around after the Archdemon killed Ruele and all the heirs are killed in the fight. Diche resets the 6th world, and creates the current scenario, the 7th world.

## Episode 1: Heir Of The Covenant

### Chapter 1: A new begining

Two decades later, Ras wakes up in the World's End Pub, surrounded by the bar owners. He is told that he had slept for the past twenty years and was moved to the pub due to the lack of funding to keep him in the Tirel Castle. He is greeted by Vildred, who is suspiciously still alive and noted by Ras that he hasn't changed his appearance since the battle with the Archdemon. Vildred escorts Ras to Tirel Castle, meeting the young Prince Aither and one the heirs Iseria. Together, they find his guardian Arkasus, who has been living off snacks for the past two decades. Arriving at Tirel Castle, Ras is granted an audience with Queen Diene, the person who ended the Archdemon War. Diene explains that she merely separated the Archdemon into parts, with them all being held in sanctums in different areas of Ritania. She offers to take Ras to the Ezeran Sanctum the next day to destroy the Archdemon's Might held there. Before turning in for the night, Ras meets a wraith hanging around the gardens in Tirel Castle. She tells Ras that her name is Mercedes and is being kept at Tirel Castle under the hospitality of the Queen.

The next day, the party sets out for the Sanctum accompanied by Vildred and Mercedes. However, tragedy strikes when Vildred kills Diene after Ras tells Vildred his resolve to keep opposing the threat of the Archdemon. Vildred absorbs the Archdemon's Might and escapes as a traitor to Ezera.

### Chapter 2: The Fearless Girl

Despite the death of Queen Diene, Ras heads to Reingar with Mercedes and Arky. They save a merchant named Gusma and he leads them to the entrance of Reingar. However, upon arriving at Reingar, they find out that their identification documents have been taken and are branded as illegal aliens and end up in an interrogation chamber. There, down in the chambers, they meet Yuna Woo, another heir and the next President. They find out that she has been resisting efforts to become the President and is in the chambers due to her creations running berserk. She asks them to help her break out because she is worried that the Reingar Security Club might break her machine. They help her escape the interrogation chambers and tracks down her malfunctioning creation. They discover that the interference was from a Dark Stone, leading them to return back to Reingar to announce their discoveries, only to discover that the merchant Gusma and a member of the Security Club were planning to summon an Acolyte to become the President of Reingar. Ras is unable to prevent the summoning and Acolyte Tenebria is summoned. She proceeds to destroy half the city in exchange for handing over the position of President over to Plum, the member of the security club who summoned her. Yuna, who finally acknowledges her position as President, summons Kazran. Kazran reverses time to undo the damage and Tenebria, who is unable to keep her current form, leaves. Yuna becomes the President of Reingar and Ras destroys the Archdemon's Might.

### Chapter 3: The Encroaching Shadow

Ras, Arky and Mercedes head down to Savara to investigate the trading situation of the Dark Stones. Along the way, they run into Cartuja, a mercenary heading back to Ki Rubaran, the main town in Savara. They are picked up by the representatives of the Afih merchant guild after they are attacked by a mercenary and meets Purrgis, a Suin claiming to be a heir and that his guardian was missing. They investigate the sewers of the town and find Vildred, who has slain the guardian Hainen and run into a homunculus who resembles Kise but is named Sigret. They fight her but fail to catch up to Vildred. Purrgis proceeds to betray the group and attacks them to make time for Master Nehenqui, the mastermind behind the Dark Stone trade, to get away. When they finally catch up to him, they find that they have a hard time pinning any of the crimes done by Nehenqui. The Afih merchant guild requests Ras to investigate the origins of the Dark Stones.

### Chapter 4: A Quietly Permeating Darkness

Teaming up with Cartuja, the group heads into Solayu Swamp to investigate the origins of the Dark Stones. They discover that Suin have been kidnapped erratically. Mercedes at this point is struck unconscious from the large amounts of dark energy flowing out of the forest and is visited by visions of people mistrusting her and considers joining the Archdemon. However a vision of Ras appears telling her that he trusts her and she wakes up. Ras and Cartuja discover that the cause of the Dark Stones were from the Ilyros Church, where they've sacrificed Suin to create Dark Stones. They free the remaining Suin and imprison the Head Priest, but not before Acolyte Nilgal was summoned.

### Chapter 5: A White Flower Blooming In Winter

Dun Blyraia is under attack from Acolyte Nilgal and Ras heads there immediately after the events in Solayu Forest. They are backed up by Iseria who is reluctant to return to Dun Blyraia after abandoning her comrades during the previous Archdemon War. She voices her extreme dislike to Ras due to him being extremely indifferent despite the many losses that they had suffered during the previous Archdemon War. Ras tells her that he keeps himself indifferent despite the many losses he had suffered to maintain hope among the residents of Orbis. They arrive at the area which is under attack and meet Saria, an elf Elder who Iseria had abandoned during the war. Regardless of the events that happened after that, Saria forgives Iseria for her actions and Iseria regains her resolve to fight Nilgal. At this point, Zeaon, the guardian of Iseria appears after ignoring her requests to fight due to her cowardice. Nilgal attempts to detonate the dark stones spread out all over Dun Blyraia but is stopped by Saria. Nilgal then decides to detonate himself, hoping to take out the Heir of the Covenant in the process. He fails and returns to the underworld. Ras and Iseria gather up all of the injured elves and heal them up under the World Tree. However, Saria succumbs to her injuries and dies. Ras heads to the sanctum and instead of destroying the Archdemon's might, learns from the World Tree that the Archdemon's Might is similar to his energy, and converts it into the power of creation and absorbs it.

### Chapter 6: A Dream In The Mist

Arriving at the South Wetheric Moor, Ras, Arky and Mercedes head to the Order Of The Shield's fortress situated there. The Order of the Shield is already waiting for them. However, it seems that Crozet, the leader of the Order was encaptured by a girl who had passed the checkpoint that day. They had allowed her into the fortress after Crozet allows her to pass. It turned out that Tenebria had managed to acquire a more stable form in Orbis and had tricked the knights into allowing her into the fortress which the Sanctum was based around. She tricks all of the knights into attacking Ras, Arky and Mercedes using illusions as well as killing all of the villagers that were in the vicinity. As they are freed from the illusion, they are shocked from what they've done. Crozet is then tricked into fighting Ras, whom he defeats and goes after Tenebria. She casts an illusion on Ras, Arky and Mercedes, showing them what it would be like if they defeated the Archdemon without any sacrifices. None of the inhabitants within the illusion can see Mercedes and Ras breaks the illusion after stating that the real world cannot be like the illusion. Tenebria is killed by Ras shortly after they break free of the illusion and proceed on their way to the North Wetheric Moor.

### Chapter 7: The Sentinel And The Traitor

Arriving at the North Wetheric Moor, Ras discovers that one of his former allies during the previous Archdemon War had been captured by Vildred and taken to a Land of Death. The ally is a priest named Morfih and is the protector of the sanctum in the Moor and is a devout believer in the Goddess. They find Morfih apparently unharmed in the Land of Death, with no sign of Vildred and he leads them to the sanctum. He insists that Mercedes should stay out of the sanctum, due to her being as a homunculus and Ras leaves her to wait at the entrance of the sanctum. While waiting, Mercedes is attacked by Sigret. Sigret asking Mercedes to abandon her emotions and join the Archdemon. she refuses and Sigret escapes. On the way to the sanctum, Morfih betrays Ras, telling Ras that he now knows the truth behind Orbis and seeks to help Vildred break its cycle. Vildred appears and absorbs another fragment of the Archdemon's might and fights Ras and nearly defeats him until Mercedes appears, teleports Ras and Arky away and sacrificing herself in the process.

### Chapter 8: Requiem For The Dead

Ras wakes up in a forest surrounded by Iseria and Yuna, both of them sent by the Order of the Sword. Ras tells both of them the truth about Orbis but both heirs dismiss losing faith in the Goddess, unlike Vildred and Morfih. They now proceed to the Duselnorc sanctum which is being guarded by Ludwig, the last Nocturne alive. We see through past flashbacks that Ludwig fell disillusioned that his whole clan sacrificed themselves except him. We see that he tries to dispel the barrier on the Archdemon's might, only for guardian Kromcruz to substitute for it. Kayron appears and threatens Ludwig to dispel the barrier created from Kromcruz. Ludwig escapes and pleads to Ras to help him. They dispel the barrier and resurrect Kromcruz using the creation energy converted from the Archdemon's Might. Ludwig forgives Ras and joins Ras out of his clans wishes for him to be free from the duties of the Nocturnes.

### Chapter 9: Taranor Intrigue

The party joins up with the forces on Ezera and sits on the border in Western Taranor waiting for Krau to appear. Krau appears after Ras sees soldiers chasing after him. Telling Krau all the events that happened up until now, he takes you down to a secret laboratory, made specifically for the creation of homunculi. Ras learns the secrets of Taranor during the Archdemon War and finds out that the current king of Taranor had gone insane like his father before him and fell into researching homunculi himself. They discover the reserves of Homuculi created to conquer Orbis and escape the laboratory. The party plans to break into Taranor to try and delay the summoning of the Archdemon to make time for the Ezeran Army enough time to arrive. Ras blows the whistle that he gained from Cartuja and they retreat back to the Ezeran frontlines

### Chapter 10: For Hope

With the backup from the Ezeran Army and the mercenaries, the Taranoran forces are pushed back and with countless victories against the Taranoran Army, the party manages to make it to Taranor Castle where they encounter Kayron. Telling Ras to get ahead and find Mercedes, the remaining heirs stay back to fight Kayron. Ras encounters Vildred and after fighting him, tells him that he has changed his perspective on the world. Convinced, Vildred lets down his guard and is killed when Mercedes appears and takes the two fragments of the Archdemon's Might back from Vildred. Mercedes, having taken in all of the fragments of the Archdemon, turns into the Archdemon. Ras defeats the Archdemon and disappears during the commotion after the end of the war.

## Episode 1: Hidden Stories

### Chapter 1A: Aither's Great Escape I

Aither is seen arguing with Charles over the fact that Charles is being too overprotective of Aither. During this argument, Aither slips out from under Charles’ nose with Charles right on his heels. Aither monologues that he will show everyone that he is capable of taking care of himself. To prove himself, he fights monsters outside the castle with magic but soon finds himself overwhelmed by their numbers. After contemplating whether he will die, Aither is saved by Chloe. After introducing themselves, Chloe takes Aither somewhere safe. Along the way, Aither sulks over how weak he is, but Chloe cheers him up. The pair continue chatting over Aither’s daily life when they encounter Elson. Elson tries to convince Aither to return to the castle, but Aither refuses. Chloe, taking Aither’s side fights Elson and some soldiers. This causes a commotion that allows Charles to find Aither. After Charles admits to being worried about Aither’s safety more than punishing him for running away, Charles and Aither tearfully reunite. Charles then thanks Chloe and inquires about her background. Chloe reveals that she plans on assassinating the King to become Queen.

After Chloe is thrown in jail for her words, Aither helps Chloe escape. Chloe then offers Aither to come with her and be named her first subject. Aither is enticed by the call to adventure, but thinks back to how Charles would be sad if Aither left. Their conversation is cut short by soldiers who chased them. Chloe says she will come back and tell Aither to consider her offer carefully and make her decision by then.

### Chapter 1B: Aither's Great Escape II

After the death of Queen Diene, Aither locked himself up in his room and Iseria ponders over Aither's wellbeing. After noticing Aither's attempt to escape, Iseria follows him. Aither meets with Chloe, who Iseria immediately recognizes as the prisoner, and gives Chloe a flower. Aither and Chloe move to an area filled with monsters. Iseria, unable to be hidden for much longer, jumps out to defend Aither. Aither reveals that he wanted to offer flowers for Queen Diene and wanted Chloe to escort her instead of Charles because Charles would be sad. After hearing Aither's motive, Iseria requests to escort Aither and Chloe. Aither happily accepts. Iseria tries to be overprotective of Chloe and Aither but much to Iseria's surprise, sees that Aither has gotten stronger. Aither reminisces over how great of a ruler Queen Diene was and resolves himself to be just as amazing as her. With this resolve, Aither tells Chloe that he cannot leave with her on an adventure yet. Chloe understands and says that they will reunite when Aither becomes the amazing king he says he'll be.

### Chapter 2A: The Wandering Monster

Hazel and Azalea requests Arky, Ras, and Mercedes' help about a monster attacking Reingar. In their investigation, they discover that the monster is powerful enough to break through Reingar's magic barrier but is afraid of people. Hazel suddenly rushes their investigation. Upon catching up to the monster, the group discover that it is Adlay and that Hazel was the one behind it due to a accidental potion mishap. Hazel tells the group to look for a plant called "Disillusionment Plant" to make a potion that will reverse the effects on Adlay's transformation. The potion turns Adlay into a mouse, to which Hazel admits to testing out a new potion before turning Adlay into normal. Adlay, furious, threatens to report Hazel to the student council, but Hazel threatens Adlay back through his vulnerabilities. Due to the fact that the monster turned out to be Adlay, Hazel makes the arguement that they cannot be paid in full, but paid in half. To which Arky vehmenelty disagrees but after Hazel threatens to defame them, Arky agrees to the amount.

### Chapter 2B: Cracked Space

Hazel involuntarily signs Ras up to help Karin and Judith investigate the rupture. Ras and Arky discuss the implications of the rupture and come to the conclusion that the Goddess's power has grown weaker. Ras fixes the rupture and Karin remarks that she should report this rupture to the president.

## Episode 1 Epilogue: Unrecorded History

After the death of the Archdemon, Ras recovers the body of Mercedes and keeps a fragment of the Archdemon's might in hopes of resurrecting Mercedes. During the epilogue, he travels back across Ritania, searching for a way to recover Mercede's soul tangled in with the Archdemon's might. He discusses methods with the World Tree and finally resurrects Mercedes.

## Episode 2: Godkiller

### Chapter 1: Path Of Devastation

Ras is called upon by Zerato to investigate the source of the diminishing presence of Malicius, the Spirit Lord of Fire, who is located in Cidonia. He is joined along with the Lord of Light, Destina, who wishes to also investigate the reasons behind Malicius' diminishing presence. At the same time, a man named Straze arrives on Orbis, accompanied by Lilibet and Kawerik, all three of them with their own personal reasons to destroy Orbis.

In the Jerdan Borderlands, Violet Harrison is investigating the causes behind the appearance of Chaos Gates in a Land of Death when he stumbles across Luluca, a shaman sent from the dead world and god of Rekos. Luluca reveals the backstory of Straze, a hero blessed by Rekos himself before falling into corruption and eventually killing Rekos. They run into Ras's party and decide to travel with them before splitting off into Aahken.

On the way to Meldrec, they are ambushed by a corrupted Magnar, an underling of Malicius. They defeat him and find out that Malicius was attacked and the power that Malicius held over the fire spirits began to wane. Kawerik appears before Malicius' Refuge, intending to break in and kill off the weakening lord of fire.

### Chapter 2: Guide Of An Extinguished Flame

Continuing further along the path, Ras finds out that Meldrec is under civil unrest and the once united Muhr tribe within the city has split into multiple factions. Foreigners are forbidden enter or be interacted with under the suspicion of all foreigners being aid to the Great Chief of the Muhr regaining the districts of the other factions. They run into Khawanna, the sister of the great chief, on her way to convince the split tribes of the Muhr to aid in protecting Malicius. They reach the Great Chief's Hall in order to ask Khawazu's permission to enter the Refuge, who in turn reveals the reasons behind why Meldrec is in its current state. He reveals that he was approached by Straze after the occurrence of many unnatural disasters under his leadership, with Straze promising him that Meldrec would be safe from monsters and the fire in the volcano if he installed the Comet's Eye within the city. Else he would destroy Meldrec. The party manages to convince Khawazu to trust them and he reveals his personal troubles to the chiefs of Meldrec, who forgive him for his mistakes. They head to Malicius' Sanctum, running into Kawerik who is in the process of draining Malicius' lifeforce. They fight, with Kawerik running away due to his frequent paralytic episodes as a side-effect of his time as a mage in the Ezeran mage corps. Destina stays behind to heal the remanants of Malicius whilst Ras and Mercedes head to Aakhen to search for the Twilight Ember.

### Chapter 3: A City Of Blood And Iron

Violet and Luluca enter Aakhen to deliver a letter to the city's administrator, Cerise. She provides information to the two of them to search for a man named Varen for information related to the whereabouts of Straze. On arrival to the location of Varen's house, they notice the peculiar shadow of a pair of scissors behind the door and escape out of caution. They blend in with the crowd and follow them until they arrive at the site of a public execution. The person who is being executed is Arky, who was caught trespassing and eating food from the markets, who is sentenced to hard labour and for his fur to be shaved off. Violet and Luluca break out of the crowd to rescue Arky and are locked in a duel with citylord Furious. Ras and Mercedes, who are nearby, take advantage of the commotion to free Arky. They escape in the continuing chaos.

The group splits off once more, Ras' party to the forges of Aakhen and Violet and Luluca to the Administrative tower. Ras learns that the Twilight Ember was sold off to Witchaven due to its lack of utility against the evolved forging techniques of Aakhen. They are then attacked by Lilibet, who had been following them. Violet and Luluca rejoins Ras' party after finding out that Cerise was with them and leads Lilibet away from them, allowing Ras to escape.

### Chapter 4: The Time For Magic

Kawerik makes his way to his hometown Witchaven after twenty years of being stuck in Ritania. In Witchaven, Ras meets with the citylord Vivian and warns her of the encroaching Unknown and monsters, but she is distrustful of him.

They are interrupted by an explosion and influx of monsters summoned into Witchaven (a crack in the dimension created by a scientist in Witchaven at Kawerik’s direction). A rogue sage named Rango takes advantage of the crack to summon Ranok, a demon. Kawerik is again forced to flee due to his side effects of experimentation. Ras helps Vivian and Witchaven banish the demon to save the city, receiving the Twilight Ember in return.

Vivian admits Straze already came to Witchaven and gave them a Comet’s Eye. When he learns Straze was heading to Perland next, Ras decides to give chase while Mercedes volunteers to take the Twilight Ember back to Meldrec.

### Chapter 5: Restless City

Violet and Luluca arrive in Fortress City, the largest city in Perland and Violet’s hometown, but they note something definitely seems off.

Ras and Arky arrive separately, and are unable to find leads on Straze or meeting the citylord. They are robbed and captured by thugs, but are rescued by Perland citylord Lilias Perlutia and her soldiers. They learn Straze was never granted access to the city and continued on to Constella. Lilias asks for Ras’ help in keeping Cidonia safe, as the cities of the continent are too isolated and independent to work together.

Violet reports to citylord Lilias about a conspiracy targeting Perland Raiders. She informs him his best friend Pavel is wanted for desertion. He leaves not wanting to doubt Lilias, but resolving to find Pavel before he ends up in jail.

Ras goes to the Magic Research Agency in Perland hoping to find a guide to Constella, but instead encounters a revolt that has broken out inside. They meet and team up with Pavel, who is there hiding and investigating the conspiracy. They decide to team up and together disarm the Mana Amplifier from exploding. The group captures a hostage in the revolt who says he’ll lead them to the revolt leaders. Without another option, they follow their hostage, but are led into a trap set up by Lilias, who betrays them, capturing them all.

Lilias reveals her true plan: she actually sought out Straze to help her take full control of Perland and eventually Cidonia. She intends to blame the murder of the Raiders on Pavel and Ras. Pavel manages an escape, but is badly wounded and left for dead by Lilias. The nearby Violet and Luluca, who received help from gang-leader Ains in locating Lilias's camp, manage to drag the injured Pavel away unnoticed. Meanwhile Kawerik and Lilibet capture Ras and Arky and take them to the Aakhen Exile Colony under Straze’s orders.

### Chapter 6: The Depths Of Despair

In Constella, a coup supported by Perland results in high priestess Elena’s exile. She goes to the mining colony to seek help from Aakhen. Lilibet commands her troops through the colony toward Constella while telling Ras about her past, her deep love for and devotion to Straze, and her fear of failing him.

Elena encounters Pavel, Violet, and Luluca, who are tracking Lillibet’s army to save Ras. They run into Ray Damus, an Aahken military doctor providing free treatment to prisoners, and someone known to both Violet and Elena. They all decide to team up to fight against Straze’s forces, just as Cerise arrives with a small team of soldiers, having seen the flare.

While a force led by Furious and Cerise attack Lilibet’s army, Luluca breaks Ras out of his magical bindings. They meet back up with Pavel and Violet and the rest of the Aakhen forces. Ras leads the forces against the monsters and Lilibet’s army. He defeats Kawerik in a duel, and Kawerik gives Ras protection magic.

Straze eventually arrives and wreaks havoc. He captures Luluca in his cape dimension, and defeats everyone, including Ras, who only survives due to Kawerik’s magic. Before dealing a mortal blow to Ras, he is stopped by Fastus, who reminds him the Dark Star needs Ras alive.

### Chapter 7: Devoured Star

Mercedes takes the comatose Ras to Constella, where he has visions of the Gods, while Violet and Pavel regroup in Perland’s countryside. Ray agrees to help Elena get back into Constella to protect the temples. They come upon a Comet’s Eye, which Ray removes, causing it to vanish, and causing him to become entranced and hungry for power. In Perland, Violet sends a letter to Charles requesting help, then with Pavel takes control of Perland's harbor to await the Order of the Sword's arrival.

In Constella, Ras awakens after receiving help from Ilryos. He finds a hypnotized Ray taking over the city. Ras defeats him and snaps him out of it. They search the city for the Comet’s Eye, eventually finding it. Ras overcomes the dark voices in his head and destroys it, taking in the Comet’s Eye’s power.

Ras seeks out Kawerik, and they face off. When Ras bests Kawerik, he refuses to kill him, and instead convinces him to go back to Witchaven (his hometown) to help Vivian fight off Lilias’ advance. Kawerik vows to himself to return Ras’ favor of sparing his life.

Following an enormous crack that forms in the sky above The Comet Temple in the Shandra Ruins, the group decides to head to the temple to give chase after Straze.

### Chapter 8: Remnants Of Destiny

Elena attempts to lead the way through the ruins by interpreting the ancient writings on the walls. Lots of God/world lore is revealed as they catch up to and rescue Elena’s parents. Zoronox, a demon dragon similar to the one from Witchaven, has been summoned, but after being defeated by Ras, decries him “worthy” and shares his final prophecy: “The one who is closest to Human nature shall save the world.”

Kluri’s falcon Fluri arrives with a letter from Sir Charles informing them Lilias’ army has been defeated. They plan to head to Perland, then to the Comet Temple, where Straze is believed to be.

Meanwhile, Luluca meets Roana, who is also imprisoned inside Straze's cape. Roana helps her escape, leading Luluca back to the world via the Comet Temple. Lillibet witnesses this and ponders why Straze saved both Roana and Luluca's lives.

### Chapter 9: Advent

The forces of Aakhen, Witchaven, Meldrec, and the Order of the Sword meets at the Temple’s entrance to combat the Perland forces and Unknown. Ras is convinced to stay back and let the armies go in first. The battle commences. The sky gate over the temple enlarges as the battle goes on, and Ras realizes Straze's plan was always to make a huge battle occur at the temple in order to feed the Sky Gate with human blood, making it large enough to summon Fastus, the Dark Star, through it. Unable to hold back any longer, Ras and Mercedes head in.

Luluca follows a spirit through the temple while Lillibet hunts her. They eventually meet, and instead of fighting, Lillibet lets Luluca go, then steps into a chaos gate and leaves.

Violet and Pavel face off against Lilias inside the temple almost killing her. Mortally wounded, Lilias winds up falling from a great height. Violet and Pavel then reunite with Luluca inside the temple and escape back outside.

Ras and Mercedes save the Order of the Sword from destruction, then head on to meet Straze. Outside the temple, Sir Charles orders a retreat to keep the Sky Gate from enlarging. Pavel, Violet, and Luluca go back in to help Ras against Straze. They arrive just in time to thwart Straze from striking a killing blow on Ras. A fight ensues, and Luluca is able to drive Straze’s sword through his own heart. He thanks her for freeing him from his existence, telling her “Now you too are a Godkiller.”

The ritual to summon the Dark Star from the gate has not completed. But before Straze dies, Fastus speaks to them all through the gate, announcing the “time has come.” He sucks the heroes into a distorted dimension.

### Chapter 10: Slayer

The dimension is a time distortion created by Fastus so that he can kill the heroes and use their blood to finish his ritual and take form in their world through Straze’s body.

Speaking to Ras, Fastus reveals he does not want ruin, only the Sanctuary and what’s in it. He offers to keep Orbis safe if Ras gives up. Ras refuses, which leads Fastus to admit Ras has already fought him and lost several times, Ras just cannot remember. When Ras persists, Fastus says, “You will regret it. Small, dying god.”

Using his ability to control time, he plunges the heroes each into fragments of their own memories, where they face distortions of themselves and their “purpose.”

In the first, Loyalty, Pavel faces off against a distortion of himself created from the guilt he feels from failing to protect Fortress City from Lilias.

In the second, Honor, Violet reckons with his choice to defy his parents and abdicate his royal position.

In the third, Piety, Luluca contends with her desire to kill Straze and how she best can serve Rekos.

In the fourth, Partner, Arkasus fights his fear of being alone and without purpose. His trust in Ras allows him to prevail.

In the fifth, Mercedes must resist the Illusion of the Archdemon from convincing her Ras stopped her from her destiny by defeating her.

In the sixth and last, Ras is faced with the reality that he’s still trying to save Orbis even after he’s fulfilled his duties as Heir of the Covanent. He is unsure if it is his place to continue fighting for Orbis, instead of letting it learn to fight for itself. Ras remembers Elena reading the dragon’s prophecy: The one who is closest to Human nature shall save the world. He remembers Diche’s faith and sacrifice, and decides to let go and have faith in the people of Orbis, that all beings can be equal. He gives up his godliness and becomes human. With this he breaks his delusions and faces off against Fastus, just as the others also break out of their delusions and join him.

Fastus maintains humans can’t hurt him, only primordial gods. Humans cannot change their fate. But Ras has become a human with the power of a god and is able to strike a mortal blow on Fastus, who’s protection did not account for Ras giving up his holiness. Ras claims retribution for Diche and Ilryos and Orbis’ life. Fastus says he will return somehow, and the two get sucked up into a vortex.

\* The other heroes find themselves back at the temple. Luluca no longer can feel her powers, realizing Roana and Straze must have finally died. Ras appears from the vortex and descends to his friends, transformed.

### Epilogue

At Tirel Castle, Charles receives a medal from King Aither, noting Ras declined to attend for a much needed break.

In Perland, Violet admits he wants Luluca to stay, but understands she must go. She takes his hand to say goodbye, but instead warps them both to Rekos, claiming Pavel informed her of Violet’s feelings, so she’s making use of Violet’s promise “to go to the ends of the universe” for her.

In another dimension, Roana awakens with a small silver haired boy, the both of them reborn. She vows to take care of him.

## Episode 3: Hymn Of a Wailing Tundra

### Chapter 1: A noble cause

At the behest of Ritania, Ras heads to the continent of Eureka with the goal of establishing alliances with the various countries present. The defeat of the Archdemon caused the barriers between continents to be dissolved, allowing passage between previously barred lands.

Ras, Mercedes and Arky arrive in Lefundos and are nearly tricked into purchasing art, saved only by Choux who passes by. They reach the Royal Palace of Lefundos, they're greeted by the recently returned Tywin and are granted an audience with King Schniel, who until recently, was in Ritania. They tour the city with Schniel's fiance, Eliza, until he is ready to meet them. They get into a street scuffle with Ervalen, second in line to the throne, intervening before serious injuries occur. Yet unbeknownst to all parties involved, Ervalen had orchestrated the situation in order to present himself as the better monarch of Lefundos to the people.

Upon the proposal of an international alliance, Schniel remained hesitant in providing military aid due to the internal socio-economic issues that Lefundos is plagued with, as well as the pressure of the nobles scrutinising his every action. Schniel offers the idea that the city of Politia would be in a better condition to negotiate with and the party departs the next day.

Romann conducts an investigation into the previous attempted poisoning of Schniel before he left for Ritania and discovers that Eliza is the culprit. His confrontation with her is met with an ambush by Benevolent Romann and is locked up. With the absence of the Heir of the Covenant, Ervalen revolts against Schniel, bringing in the army to take the throne despite Schniel offering up the position of King multiple times to him. Ervalen reasons that he wants to see Schniel suffer and despair as everything he knows is taken from him. And in the very same moment, Eliza betrays Schniel, forcing both Schniel and Tywinn to surrender to Ervalen.

### Chapter 2: For the sake of the city

Ras catches a cold on the journey to Politia. Choux and Mercedes travel to Politia on their own to purchase ingredients for medicine. Upon arrival they are met with a near citywide lockdown, with the only resident that they run into a being named Chloe, an automatic doll. She offers to take them to District D, where ingredients are usually sold. They help Chloe escape Brinus and make their way via rail to District D. Choux and Mercedes finish buying ingredients. However they are caught up in the street shootout between rebel District D residents and the Politian police forces. Mercedes finds out through Landy, the head of the police force, that Choux is held hostage by the rebels. The shootout ends with the capture of Landy and Mercedes as a result of a district wide hack.

Ras recovers from his cold and heads into Politia to catch up with Choux and Mercedes. He attempts to force his way onto the train to District D only to be stopped by Flan, who identifies herself as the Foreign Minister of Politia. Flan explains that the conflict in District D contains a group of dissidents who wish to rebel against the Core Tower out of dissatisfaction of their own living conditions. She tells Ras that Mercedes would be safe and discussions of an alliance would begin once he deals with the rebel group who have since hacked into almost every cyborg to target the Core Tower.

Choux and Mercedes break out of the rebel base alongside Landy, running into Chloe along the way as they evade the rampaging cyborgs. Landy is revealed to have been hijacked by the rebels. Flan conducts a security check on Landy before identifying the presence of a hacker, leading to the hacker disconnecting. Shortly after this, the rebels demand that negotiations take place. The negotiations headed by Flan, fall flat with the main control AI Belian, deciding to take part in later negotiations out of interest. Belian partakes in the negotiations the next day and agrees to the demands of the rebels, promising a social reform to them and an agreement to an international alliance to Ras. However, unbeknownst to Ras, Belian promises this under the pretext that there must be a war to occur on the continent of Eureka. Ras and Mercedes leave for Wintenburg.