I'm begging you man, at least holler the next time something like this happens, alright? Pull another stunt like that, and I won't be able to save you!
Thiago
Hmph.
Thiago
How's the situation? That woman's monsters... Have they all been burned away yet?
Elysium
I can't say for sure, but probably. I mean, I've only seen the full extent of Mon3tr's firepower in tactical records before.
Thiago
...Burn it. Burn it all.
Thiago
Gran Faro is already a thing of the past. Just burn it all down.
Elysium
Mr. Thiago, you—
Burnt Cultist
Ahh, traitor! And you, Iberian! I've caught your scents. This is where you're hiding!
Burnt Cultist
You came at just the right time. Yes, yes, just the right time—!
Elysium
—What are you?!
Thiago
Hmph. Already blind and beyond recognition. Serves him right for pleasuring himself with that monster!
Thiago
Serves you right! You hear me?!
Burnt Cultist
Serves me right? Hah, it sure does, Thiago. For choosing to trust a man blinded by hatred, for ever having delusions that people like you could be saved. Serves me right, indeed.
Burnt Cultist
But now, everything... is... different. (Bones grind and crunch together)
Elysium
–-Sea Terrors? But when?!
Elysium
Thiago, don't get too close! Something's wrong with this guy!
Burnt Cultist
Iberia must be destroyed! We will annihilate this country. This land will become the ocean's cradle. The waves shall swallow the clouds, and scores of mountains will dissolve without a sound—
Burnt Cultist
We shall— all— become— one!!
Elysium
Watch out! Thiago!
Thiago
Guh?! *cough*—!
Elysium
Thiago! Tch, he's already transforming into a monster! Just like in the reports from Sal Viento!
Burnt Cultist
I'll start with you, traitor.
Burnt Cultist
For the perpetuation of life eternal, Iberia... is... meaningless!
???
Meaningless, you say?
Saint Carmen
Are you calling for me by name, heretic?
Burnt Cultist
...High Inquisitor, you made it just in time.
Burnt Cultist
Go ahead and pray. We will prove to you that your god is meaningless too. You will watch as Iberia sinks into the abyss.
Saint Carmen
That will never happen.
Burnt Cultist
...What?
Saint Carmen
My name is... Carmen I Iberia. When the nine saints gave themselves this false title, they abandoned their own names—and with it, their beliefs.
Saint Carmen
We are immolated by lies. Nobody knows this better than us. God never offered salvation to Iberia. We must become our own gods.
Saint Carmen
On behalf of the Inquisition, I hereby read your sentence, heretic.
Burnt Cultist
—
What is this heaviness I feel?
My body has already been accepted by my kin. My life has already received sublimation.
So why? Why am I unable to take my eyes off his lantern?
Self-preservation? Yes, all Inquisitors are quite powerful, so I am on guard.
Burnt Cultist
You may kill me, but you cannot kill our kind. Kill our kind, and the sea will die. When the sea dies, the land will die with it.
Burnt Cultist
You will all eventually drown in the rising tide of evolution. You will not live to see this land's future! This era is bloated and discordant, and we are all but livestock trapped in cages!
Burnt Cultist
I will put you and your Inquisition—
Burnt Cultist
...What...?
He looks at his body in disbelief. A beautiful cross-section.
Since their invasion of Gran Faro began, the old Inquisitor who sat at the town's chapel has never lifted his hand even once.
He never wielded his sword, or drew his handcannon. He used only his lantern and his Arts, befitting someone as ancient as him.
Yes, ancient. He is very old. A span of time far too great for the ordinary life to endure.
Burnt Cultist
Land-crawling... livestock... How did you...?
Burnt Cultist
At least I was... able to... buy...
Saint Carmen
You've accomplished nothing.
Saint Carmen
A brand new lifeform, yet unable to take the life of even this old Iberian. What do you have to be proud of?
Saint Carmen
Look at me, heretic.
Burnt Cultist
You... *cough*, *cough*... Damn you!
Saint Carmen
You were once human too. But you narrow-mindedly misjudged the potential of your own race.
Saint Carmen
For tens of thousands of years, this is how we have won our wars. Nature selects, life adapts.
Saint Carmen
You, and your pathetic ideas, will be buried in Iberia. Before your last breath, be sure to pass on our thunderous roar to your kin.
Saint Carmen
'The sea faces an ancient enemy called civilization, one you stand no chance of overcoming.'
Burnt Cultist
You... Gurk... You... you understand nothing...
Saint Carmen
......
Saint Carmen
How's he doing?
Elysium
I've been trying everything I could this whole time! But the wound's too deep!
Elysium
If only Dr. Kal'tsit were here. He needs medical attention immediately, sir! Where is she?
Saint Carmen
Waiting in the chapel.
Saint Carmen
I should make this clear, member of Rhodes Island. His treason is indefensible, and he must answer for his crimes.
Saint Carmen
Knowingly sheltering the Church of the Deep's cultists has caused the Inquisition to lose a prime opportunity. It has also placed Dario and countless of our brothers in the Penal Battalion in grave peril.
Thiago
...Tch, old fool.
Thiago
How old are you anyway? A hundred? How do you... ugh... still pretend to have so much energy?
Saint Carmen
It is my duty.
Thiago
So you must... *cough*, *cough*... urgh... know all sorts of things...
Thiago
Tell me, Inquisitor. Tell me the truth, you wretched executioner...
Thiago
Why would you... urgh... destroy a band of people... hoping to rebuild... their home?
Thiago
All of you... All of you...
Elysium
Don't speak, Thiago! I can't stop the bleeding!
Thiago
Ha... Hah... No, I must ask.
Thiago
All of you, the Inquisition! Those Ægir you took from Gran Faro... were there really any cultists among them?
Saint Carmen
......
Thiago
Tell me... Did you really, out of... *cough*, paranoia... nothing more than a laughable paranoia... kill all those good people?
Saint Carmen
Ordinary citizens have no right to know the Inquisition's secrets.
Thiago
You bastard...!
Saint Carmen
Knowing the truth will not help you cling onto your fading life, Thiago.
Thiago
No, no no no... I'm begging you... I'm begging you... I'm going to die, and you still won't tell me the truth...
Thiago
At least... Marin... Tell me...
Saint Carmen
The files on Gran Faro's Ægir have been sealed. I am unable to disclose anything to a civilian.
Thiago
...No... *cough*, *cough*... Gah...
Thiago
I... Curse you. I swear, I'll never forgive you!
Thiago
Iberia... Ibe... will...
His malediction never leaves his mouth.
Old Thiago looks at the dim, damp ceiling, where a drop of water is about to fall from the wooden beams.
Drip.
Thiago
......
Elysium
......
Elysium
He’s gone.
Elysium
So, what's the truth?
Saint Carmen
I don't see how this has anything to do with you either, member of Rhodes Island.
Saint Carmen
Return to Kal'tsit. We've lost too much time, and the Eye of Iberia will likely fall.
Elysium
Please. Tell me.
Elysium
As a member of Rhodes Island, I also wish to cooperate with the Inquisition. But before that, I'm an Iberian.
Elysium
I didn't know Thiago for very long. But I just realized... he would never curse Iberia. Because he truly saw this place as his home.
Elysium
But after realizing that, that's all the more reason I can't just...
Elysium
Lord Carmen, after witnessing so many tragedies in my homeland, surely you can't just... tell me to turn a blind eye to it all.
Saint Carmen
......
Carmen glances over at the aged laborer resting in Elysium's arms. His eyes betray a slightly different emotion.
After a moment of silence, he speaks.
Saint Carmen
Roughly a hundred thirty Ægir were taken from Gran Faro, and of them, about half had ties with the Church of the Deep. Even some members of the Penal Battalion formerly stationed in the town were revealed to be traitors.
Saint Carmen
They stole a large amount of information on Iberia's Seafaring Era, obstructed the Inquisition, and were plotting from the very beginning to turn Gran Faro into a nexus for the sea's invasion of the land.
Saint Carmen
Leading them was a female bishop, an Ægir Islander. A woman the people called 'Marin.'
Strong. Work together, and you are strong enough to lead our kind.
Seaborn
But, you do not plan to do this. This puzzles me.
Seaborn
Our kind, how will you treat them?
Seaborn
Willpower, begets all. Any chasm, can be crossed.
Seaborn
Our environment, complete and pure. Impurities, are not needed.
Seaborn
About parents, I am trying to find an answer. Yet the question, is not clear. I cannot ask yet.
Seaborn
(Sound of bones grinding and rubbing)
Captain Alfonso
Do all of the sea's infants learn to talk as quickly as you?
Specter
What's wrong, Mister Captain? Has your loneliness finally compelled you to seek companionship with talking Seaborns?
Specter
You know, every wound on its body has been MY handiwork so far.
Captain Alfonso
*Spit*.
Captain Alfonso
It's still alive and kicking. We're just getting to the good part.
Seaborn
...Fighting, is meaningless.
Seaborn
Leaving, is the correct choice.
Captain Alfonso
Ugh, get back here!
Specter
It tore through the wall and fled. Why did the Iberians have to make this ship so complex anyway?
Captain Alfonso
I won't allow it to continue trashing my ship. Garcia!
Specter
That's cheating, you know~
Captain Alfonso
How do you think we managed to keep this ship from getting riddled with holes and sinking, while surrounded by monsters for all these years? Relying solely on Breogan's technology?
Captain Alfonso
We systematically kill the ones threatening enough to cause damage. Then, little by little, the survivors slowly sew up the scars they left behind.
Captain Alfonso
This one can be considered intelligent, as far they go, but it's by no means the strongest.
Captain Alfonso
I'm not in the mood to play games with you anymore, so this farce ends here. Kill it now, before it does something we can't undo.
The fleeing Seaborn easily tears through the ship's walls. It can smell its kin as well as the ocean just outside this strange box.
It is hurt. It needs healing. It needs nourishment. It needs time. The scaleless kin had bought it a chance to breathe, but far from enough time.
Many preparations are yet to be completed.
Inquisitor Irene
What?! A Seaborn!
Seaborn
......
The Seaborn does not speak.
Because it faces something that is not its kin. Not kin that speaks. Not kin without scales.
In which case, the small, fragile creature struggling before its eyes is just an ordinary lifeform. Just another part of the Cycle.
It should be consumed.
After coming to this conclusion, the Seaborn almost immediately lashes out at Irene with tooth and claw.
Inquisitor Irene
(So fast! Its body is different from before?!)
Seaborn
......
Inquisitor Irene
It's so tough?!
Inquisitor Irene
(Merda— I can't dodge it this time—)
Seaborn
......!
Chief Mate
(Roars)
Chief Mate
(Eldritch noises) Stand... up... and run...
Inquisitor Irene
You... You can talk?! In Iberian?
Chief Mate
(Eldritch noises) I... save you. Don't let... him know.
Chief Mate
(Eldritch noises) Don't let... Alfonso... know I'm... still human.
Seaborn
Language, you also know it.
Seaborn
Efficiency, relatively low. Not enough information, not enough time. If necessary, I will complete it.
Seaborn
Kindred, you have formed your own group. And your offspring, consume one another.
Seaborn
You, are incomplete.
Chief Mate
(Eldritch noises) Alfonso... cannot... get here fast.
Chief Mate
(Eldritch noises) You... run.
Seaborn
Kindred, no point in nurturing.
Seaborn
Flesh and blood, donate to us.
Chief Mate
(Howling) —!
Still attempting to spit out vestiges of human speech, the chief mate is punctured by the Seaborn's fangs.
It neither underestimates its enemy nor is distracted by Irene's presence. The Seaborn's motions have clearly evolved.
Chief Mate
You...
Chief Mate
Alfonso... Hurry... Hurry...
Inquisitor Irene
(I can't even pierce its carapace!)
Inquisitor Irene
(At this rate, I...)
Irene. You know where this is.
Yes! It's the Inquisition's—
Underground. Where every High Inquisitor has seen the truth.
The truth...
Consider this one thing, Irene. What is the Inquisition fighting for?
For Iberia's purity and virtue, for the sanctity of our Laws and Scriptures.
But what if the concept of truth as seen by the people is only superficial? What if the Law has no reach, the Scriptures fail to prophesize, and the morality that governs all things amounts to naught? How will you pass down judgment then?
I... will judge based on my own standards.
Even if it means casting aside the distinction between good and evil that you've always adhered to?
Of course!
That is easier said than done, Irene. There's no point trying to teach from my example, and I'm not as partial towards words as you are.
