The Inheritor

* Title screen
* Original title card

**The Inheritor** is a story in Counter:Side.

## Synopsis

> *The war has been over for a long time, and the hero who saved the world has grown old. The number 1 TASKFORCE, Delta Seven, is about to undergo a transformation.*
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## Appearances

* Maria Antonov
* Dominic King Reginald
* Sylvia Lena Cooper
* Kyle Wong
* Jake Walker
* Mark Finley
* Jacob Finley
* Maria Antonov (Nameless One's World)
* Dominic Reginald (Nameless One's World)
* Jake Walker (Nameless One's World)
* Hirose Aki (Nameless One's World)
* Lee Minseo (Nameless One's World)

## Plot

### Act 1

Following the Grand Purification War, Major General Maria Antonov announces she will retire after Delta Seven's next mission. Her subordinate, Brigadier General Dominic King Reginald, tries to persuade her that she must continue her duties as a war hero, but Maria replies she's getting too old to fight now. She adds on by arguing that the world doesn't need heroes anymore but rather a new organization that can train future generations to fend off new threats.

Onboard the USSA New Ohio, Maria briefs Delta Seven on their upcoming mission, which is to dive into the Counterside and provide support for the Intelligence Agency's detached force there. When Sylvia Lena Cooper points out Dominic, the deputy commander, is not present, Maria explains that Dominic will join them later, much to the rest of the squadron's dismay.

Upon diving, the New Ohio gets caught in the middle of a dimensional storm and receives a mayday call from Mark Finely. Mark reports that the storm had brought in a horde of C.O.s and put the Intelligence Agency's detached force in grave danger. Delta Seven arrives and kills the C.O.s, and Maria asks Mark where Dominic is and why Delta Seven has been called in for this mission. According to Mark, Dominic went against his advice and entered the storm with his advance party to retrieve a "top secret collection target." As a safeguard, the Agency set up the Lighthouse, a high-powered coordinate signaler, so they could communicate with Dominic and enable him to navigate through the storm safely.

Maria establishes comms with Dominic and criticizes him for entering a dimensional storm without backup, but Dominic reassures her that he came in prepared. Dominic requests Delta Seven to protect the Lighthouse while he retrieves his target, a Lost Ship that is believed to have been from before the Grand Purification War. Before he can provide them with more details, Dominic and his crew are suddenly ambushed by an unseen party, and communications between him and the New Ohio are cut. Multiple high-category C.O.s close in on the Lighthouse's position, prompting Maria to have Jake take command of defending the Lighthouse while she steers the New Ohio into the storm to rescue Dominic.

### Act 2

Delta Seven and the Intelligence Agency take down all the approaching C.O.s, but Mark notices that the dimensional storm is becoming stronger due to Corrupted Wedges and destabilizing the Lighthouse. To weaken the storm, albeit temporarily, he sends Jake and Jacob Finely into the storm to take the Wedges out. As the the two Counters hunt the Wedges down, a Category 4 Corruption Core emerges and makes it way to the Lighthouse, causing Jacob to run away in fear.

Kyle, Sylvia, and the agents attempt to stall the C.O., but the creature gets through them all and heavily wounds Kyle in the process. While the other agents flee, Mark stays behind and tries to distract the C.O. but is almost killed as well. Fortunately, Jake is able to escape the storm in time and single-handedly defeats the C.O. before the Lighthouse's is destroyed. While Mark is impressed by Jake's feat, Jake is equally moved by Mark's efforts in keeping the Lighthouse's core component safe on his own; as gratitude, he gives him an operation code entitled "Freedom Strike" that will provide immediate fleet support in case of an emergency in the Counterside. Jacob soon makes it back to the Lighthouse but is chastised by Mark for his cowardice. Mark also wonders why a Category 4 C.O. would appear in the area.

### Act 3

Maria navigates the New Ohio through the storm, fighting C.O.s along the way, and finds the Intelligence Agency's ship that Dominic is on. She enters and finds the entire advance party dead or dying and Dominic severely injured, having been attacked by Na Yubin and the Six Wings. Yubin offers to spare Maria's and Dominic's lives if the latter gives his target, an Artifact from the Old Administration called the Immortal Core System. Dominic refuses but is beaten down by Lee Jisoo, and the Six Wings leave with the Immortal Core System. Soon afterwards, C.O.s begin converging on the ship, and Dominic predicts a Category 4 is among the horde. In response, Maria summons an armored battalion via a large-scale phasal shift to kill them all. Once the threat appears to have been neutralized, Dominic asks Maria to find any survivors on the Agency's ship while he prepares the New Ohio with navigational instructions to escape the storm. But once onboard, Dominic maximizes the New Ohio's Eternium drive output and prepares for a rush Dive instead. Maria demands to know what he is doing, and Dominic hastily informs her that multiple Category 4 C.O.s, having been attracted to the Immortal Core System, are closing in on them; not wanting to risk any more lives, he plans to use the New Ohio to lure and trap the C.O.s into imaginary space, though he will also trap himself by doing so. Maria orders him to abort, but Dominic reluctantly proceeds with his plan.

   In an apparent flashback on Christmas Day of 2049, Dominic tends to a wounded Maria, who asks him for an update on the Qliphoth Game. Dominic tells her that Kyle and Sylvia are dead and the rest of Delta Seven is holding the Demon Lords back. However, Jake warns that the Demon Lords are already here— he says he'll try to stall them and takes Hirose Aki and Lee Minseo along. Dominic suggests Maria to take shelter in the underground bunker, but Maria refuses and opts to sacrifice herself as part of Project Terraside. Dominic hesitates as the Project is incomplete and won't guarantee the survival of the remaining population but agrees to use Maria as a test subject.

The episode cuts to Yubin showing a video recording of that above scene to Dominic, who is in fact cooperating with the Six Wings; the brigadier general had staged this own demise, stealing the New Ohio with him. Dominic declares he will not make the same mistakes as his past/alternate self and begins his plans to establish the Replacer Syndicate.

Back at the Delta Seven office, Maria receives written orders from the US Department of Defense informing her that her retirement request has been denied and she and Jake Walker will be promoted to lieutenant general and lieutenant colonel respectively. They also state that Delta Seven's performance report on the mission will be classified as top secret and sealed against inspection for fifteen years. Maria sighs and mumbles that Dominic got his wish for her to stay in the military.