first half of SRW OG II finale

Ancient Taboo Memories
(Final stage, 41+ SR points)

3 hours ago

[Map: Fabula Fores bottom level, near Crossgate]
(MP Huckebein Mk. IIs positioned around Crossgate)
Eric: Any word from the Steel Dragons yet?
Clifford: Not yet, sir. They should be reaching the Garden of Baral by now, fingers crossed.
Eric: Then we've got a job of our own to do. Can we get a 3D scan going?
Clifford: No, that's not possible, for reasons still unclear. Of course, if the area WAS scannable, back when we were surveying this place our job would've been a lot—
(MP Huckebein Mk. IIs all explode)
Clifford: !!
(The Air Christmas and Galilnagant show up on the southern end of the Crossgate)

Altur: Yeah, that's a Crossgate, all right.
Kali: May I ask what a Crossgate is, sir?
Altur: Just get the rest of the crew off the ship. We're going to occupy these ruins.
Kali: Yes, sir. What about you, Commander?
Altur: I'm staying with Nibhal. Put the ship on autocruise mode. You're leaving, too.
Kali: (Wait, what?)
Nibhal: Allow me to take it from here, Captain Kali.
Kali: I have a duty to protect my ship, sir. I cannot obey any order to leave it.
Altur: ...So be it. Prepare for spatial jump, then. I'll specify the jump coordinates later.
Kali: ...
Altur: Still curious about the spatial transporter? It's what enabled us to escape Grand Christmas.
Kali: I'm more curious about the ES wave pattern that comes up during jumps, actually.
Altur: I'm willing to explain that to you... on one condition.
Kali: I'm listening.
Altur: I don't want any questions until the matter is finished. Just follow my orders.
Kali: ...Understood.
Altur: Armala, how are things on your end?
Armala: It's just as you predicted, Master Altur. The dispersed Z crystals have begun regenerating AI1.
Kali: (Z crystals? Regenerating AI1?!)
Armala: Between Razmnonium synergy and energy from the Crossgate, restoration shouldn't take long at all.
Altur: Heh, I'll chalk that up to Erde Mitte's fine work.
Altur: (All that's left now is for the Steel Dragons to destroy Gan Eden. Then my plan will be...)

[Field: Garden of Baral vicinity]

Aqua: But that's impossible! We destroyed AI1!
Hugo: Yeah, we completely obliterated it! How could it come back from that?!
Tetsuya: And I know the Air Christmas was sunk during the showdown at Grand Christmas!
Tetsuya: Unless... Did it get away with a spatial jump?!
Eita: There shouldn't be any Earth-based warships presently capable of that!
Mekibos: Shadow Mirror had a teleporter. Could it be related to that?
Gilliam: No. System XN no longer exists, period.
Axel: The Trilobite-class ships we used weren't capable of independent jumps, either. We used the Zwei to teleport them.
Gilliam: The Swordian's Daggers are still being studied, and they have no prospects of practical applications.
Mekibos: What does that leave, then? Did they somehow get ahold of one of OUR teleporters?
Viletta: No!
Aya: Commander?!
Viletta: No, I know the ES wave pattern that registered when it made the jump!
(Gan Eden gives off mini-explosions)
Ibis: Illui! She needs help!
(The Hyperion gives off mini-explosions)
Ibis: Aagh!
(The G Compatible Kaiser gives off mini-explosions)
Kota: It's them!
(The Galilnagant appears between the Air Christmas and AI1)
Ing: The Galilnagant!
Altur: Fine work, Captain.
Kali: Thank you, sir.
Nibhal: We'll be taking our leave, then. Leave the reporting to me.
Altur: That won't be necessary.
Nibhal: I'm sorry, what?
Altur: I won't be requiring any more reports.
Nibhal: But, my whole job...
Altur: Who are you going to sell what you've learned to? Mitsuko Isurugi? The Zuvork? Or someone else?
(The Galilnagant attacks the Air Christmas, which gives off smoke)
Kali: What the?!
Nibhal: M-Master Altur?!
Altur: Consider this tying up loose ends, just in case. I'm going to silence you both for good.
Nibhal: W-Wait a moment, sir! I wouldn't dream of—
(The Air Christmas gives off mini-explosions)
Tetsuya: They're shooting each other?!
Altur: You're the only one left, Armala. I'm counting on you.
Armala: I'm with you for as long as I draw breath, Master Altur.
Altur: Let us commence the final ritual, then.
(Gan Eden and the tower give off mini-explosions)
Ibis: Agh! I can't get close to Gan Eden!
(AI1 moves adjacent to Gan Eden. The Galilnagant follows.)
Hugo: What are they up to?!
Altur: Steel Dragons, allow me to thank you.
Tetsuya: A... Altur Steinbeck?!
Ing: You're alive?!
Altur: Long years I've spent working my machinations and plans. There were some bumps along the way, but you all helped me to reach my ultimate destination.
Altur: Every single factor is in place right here, in this very spot.
(AI1 gives off a black smoke like substance that envelops Gan Eden)

Tsugumi: Oh no, is it assimilating Gan Eden?!
Ibis: ILLUI!!
Gilliam: It's not possible for a non-telekinetic to control Gan Eden!
Altur: You need a mashiach, right? Oh, I know!
Gilliam: What?!
Bullet: But Illui, she's...
Altur: Who needs her, anyway?! I've won big with my bet!
Altur: That's right, Ing! I knew I made the right call sending you to the Steel Dragons!
Ing: !!
Altur: Now, unleash the psyche that you've heightened through your many battles! Heed my mantra!
Altur: Tetractys Grammaton!!
(psychic reaction)
Ing: Gah!!
(The Exexbein starts glowing)
Ing: My... My body... AAAGH!!
Arriere: Ing?!
Ing: AAAAGH!!
Altur: You are the key with which I shall lay claim to the artificial god! Then I shall open the gate of truth! Then my imaginary memories shall become REAL memories!
Altur: All the questions I've had for so many years will finally be answered!
(Flash)

Final Episode: Ancient Taboo Memories

(Field: Boundary Space)
(The Hagane and Hiryu are already placed on the map. Cue sortie.)

Kota: What the hell's this place supposed to be?!
Shoko: It kinda reminds me of that boundary space we wound up in after we destroyed Dark Brain.
Roar: ...Altur has opened the gate.
Shoko: Huh?
Roar: Look beneath you.
(Camera pans down below, revealing the Crossgate)
Shoko: I thought that thing was in Antarctica!
Kota: I don't even remember us going in one!
Ibis: What about Gan Eden?! What's happened to Illui?!
Kusuha: I can't see any sign of either of them...
Rio: I don't see Ing's Exexbein, either!
Aqua: Please don't tell me they got assimilated into AI1!

(The Galilnagant shows up above the Crossgate)

Armala: That's exactly what happened. Now my master Altur's grand design has finally come to fruition.
Ryusei: Armala!
Armala: Hmph, I was hardly expecting all of you to be swept up in Master Altur's realm.
Ryusei: Answer me! What did he do?!
Armala: Heh... I suppose the more celebrants we have, the merrier.
Rai: We're celebrants now?
Armala: That's right! Rejoice, for a new god is born!

(Floating crystals start glowing, and the Adamatron appears in their center)

???: The loop of lost memories... The imaginary memory fragments are coming together... My nephesh is reaching its true form...
???: Now I understand where I came from... Who I was...
???: Zelphard... Zehirut... Zest... Judecca... And through it all...
???: The new Adam, Metatron... The Adamatron, has become my true body.
Yang Long: It has the ominous look of a devil.
Raul: Gan Eden's body, plus AI1, plus... that thing floating over its head!
Fiona: Is that seriously a Crossgate?!
Kota: If it is, what's the thing under us?!
Roar: A separate gate outlet. There's no telling what lies on the other side.
Kota: What the hell's goin' on here?!
Arriere: Why does Altur have these Crossgates?!
???: Altur, I am not.
Arriere: ?!
Uzes: My name is Uzes... Uzes Gozzo.
Viletta: !!
Mai: That mask... I've seen that mask before...
Aya: Mai?!
Ryusei: Gozzo?! I've heard that name before! Instructor Ingram mentioned it, I think!
Rai: Yeah, I remember that, too.
Viletta: Is he me and Ingram's...
Armala: Heh, the truth finally dawns on you, Viletta... or should I say Bet Balshem?
Armala: Or perhaps you'd prefer if I called you "sister dear"?
Viletta: You, too?!
Armala: Yes. To serve as Gozzo instruments in furthering the glory of the empire is our purpose as Balshem. Our reason for being.
Mekibos: Empire, huh. Now I get it. I see what the deal with you guys is.
Mekibos: You're Balmar. From the Ze Balmary Imperial Inspection Force.
Armala: That's exactly right, man of Zuvork.
Michiru: What if I don't know the name Balmar from a hole in the ground?!
Mekibos: Maybe the name Aerogators would ring a bell.
Michiru: !!
Josh: So Altur isn't an Earthling?
Hugo: He was an alien all along?!
Aqua: And in a key central position in the Federation government?!
Armala: Exactly, Earthlings. Your government has been undermined from within by our empire, and not even Graien Grassman saw it.
Armala: And the Gaia Saviors, Earth's finest, served as our empire's vanguard. A fact that everyone belonging to the unit was blind to.
Arriere: But, but that's...
Armala: All to further Master Altur's plan and bring it to fruition! For the glory of the Ze Balmary Empire!
Uzes: The empire is no longer any concern of mine.
Armala: ?!
Uzes: The fool-emperor, the Gozzo... I will incinerate everyone affiliated with the empire. As for you, Armala...

[Forced combat: The Adamatron uses Yidoni Zaam Qara]

Armala: M-Master Altur!!
Uzes: In light of serving as my vanguard and fulfilling your mission, I shall reward you. Rather than serving the empire, you shall serve me, the creator.
Armala: But I would gladly serve you in life!
Uzes: You will merge with me. Accept your fate.
Armala: Is that your way of forsaking me?!

(The Galilnagant explodes)

Uzes: Armala... You and Ing shall both be my flesh and blood.
Ryusei: He did that to his own soldier?!
Viletta: ...
Arriere: ...
Rio: Ing... Is Ing really in there?!
Uzes: That's right. Ing is an artificial Gan Eden mashiach I crafted for this express purpose.
Rio: So he's a substitute Illui?!
Ibis: What happened to her, then?!
Uzes: The mashiach has closed off her own psyche and gone to sleep, never to wake again. She has effectively vanished.
Ibis: No! You're lying!
Uzes: If she had the power to reject Ing and I, you know she would have used it.
Ibis: !
Uzes: You've all ultimately aided me in accomplishing my goal.
Ibis: I refuse to accept that... I won't!
Uzes: Gan Eden needs no chosen mashiach. I crafted a hybrid of the Balshem series and the Machinery Children.
Uzes: Out of my many failures, he was the only one that I succeeded in affixing a sthenopsyche to. I built Ing, and you all raised him to serve me well.
Ryoto: Raised him?! So when he came into contact with us...
Uzes: A sthenopsyche grows in power by overcoming many ordeals.
Uzes: What better place to send Ing than the Steel Dragons, the group fated to fight foe after powerful foe?
Uzes: Since he used the Machinery Children for a base, I hand-crafted his body and memories.
Uzes: The best way to make you trust him, and the best way to motivate Ing and trigger his fighting spirit...
Uzes: Was to contrive a set of circumstances that would drive him to escape the Gaia Saviors.
Arriere: ...
Despoinis: But we only stumbled upon him.
Fiona: Yeah, he was critically injured! If we hadn't found him when we did, he could've died!
Uzes: Ing's escape suffered an undesirable diversion as a result of Devant Org's interference. I was afraid that realigning his path would be a considerable challenge, but heaven was on my side.
Uzes: Coincidence led to serendipity, and ultimately, it all worked out in my favor.
Ryoto: But Ing could have been killed at any point by the Gaia Saviors—or even our other enemies!
Uzes: Aleph Balshem, my marionette that you called Ingram Plissken, took the same approach when nurturing his handpicked specimens.
Uzes: To the point that he even became an enemy himself, and drove his target group to the brink of death.
Aya: !!
Uzes: While you may be unbound by the Gozzo shackles, Bet Balshem, even you should know that much.
Viletta: ...Yeah.
Ryusei: Was it you sent Meteor 3 to Earth?! Did you send Instructor Ingram?! Were you the one controlling the Aerogators behind the scenes?!
Uzes: That's right.
Rai: So, the one that introduced EOT like tronium to us...
Mai: The one that orchestrated me being implanted with Levi's personality...
Aya: The one who ordered Major Ingram to... to mold us into weapons and cage us in the White Star...
Uzes: All me.
Ryusei: You masterminded the whole L5 Campaign?! It was you the whole time?!
Uzes: Yours was the one planet that thrived like a kodoku while possessing intelligence enough to converse with us.
Uzes: Your planet warred tirelessly, its people killing each other while expanding their combat instincts and fertility.
Uzes: And when I bestowed the seeds of technology upon them, they analyzed it as meant for war and demonstrated considerable adaptivity in developing war technologies to enable them to make use of it.
Uzes: Not to mention all the sthenopsyches. Planets inhabited by such intelligent lifeforms are a rarity in this galaxy.
Mekibos: (...I hear that.)
Uzes: I predicted that such a singularly unique planet would be home to both a true Crossgate and Gan Eden, and what do you know?
Josh: So you knew there was a Crossgate on Earth... In Fabula Fores?!
Uzes: ReTech's reports were promising, but I couldn't be sure. There were other possible locations besides that one.
Uzes: Ergo, I handed Ferio Radcliff a Sympathia upgrade plan, one that would serve as the key to unraveling the mysteries of Fabula Fores, and had him proceed with analyzing the ruins.
Josh: Let me guess. Was that upgrade plan the T-Link System?
Uzes: Yes and no. Specifically, it was the Calcarea Pulse Tirgem, a superior version of the T-Link System. Levi Torah once used it.
Mai: !!
Uzes: I provided a portion of its data to your father.
Josh: So you used him.
Uzes: And as it happened, Sympathia turned out to be the key to destroying the Ruina. It also revealed the existence of the Crossgate.
Uzes: I got to have my cake and eat it, too. If anything, I'm incredibly grateful to you all for sealing away the Lord of Ruin.
Irm: Okay, we get it, you've had your hand in a lot of cookie jars. But there's a lot here that still doesn't add up.
Irm: You must have had some other reason for dispatching Ing to the Steel Dragons.
Irm: I mean, the Gaia Saviors were right there, and you made them for the whole purpose of fighting powerful enemies.
Mekibos: Good point. You would've had a much easier time cultivating him if you'd kept him close by. Or was it that you wanted your little darling to see the world?
Uzes: The Steel Dragons have a considerable number of telekinetics and telepaths in their employ. Contact with those helps to stimulate Ing's growth.
Uzes: That, and I figured your group would be chosen by Gan Eden.
Irm: How did you figure that?
Uzes: The battles you fought over the course of the DC War, the L5 Campaign, the Inspector Incident, and the Shura Crisis demonstrated your exceptional prowess.
Uzes: You continually swung your swords not for personal gain, but for the continued survival of the Earth Sphere. You met Gan Eden's qualifications.
Irm: Ah, makes sense. I'd have a hard time imagining Illui choosing the Gaia Saviors, that's for sure.
Uzes: Ergo, I gave you trials.
Sanger: Trials? You mean...
Ratsel: When we were framed for assassinating the president...
Uzes: Yes, that was me.
Shu: Ah, of course. Fighting the Guests and the Ruina would be bad enough, but being pitted against the Gaia Saviors and the entire Earth Federation Military would be quite the ordeal.
Uzes: Precisely. I orchestrated it so that you would exhibit even greater depths of power when backed into a corner, and reach your ultimate extremes.
Ratsel: No wonder you left us with a way out at the time.
Lamia: That would make our final showdown at Grand Christmas the final trial... or rather, the final farce.
Latune: Chienne and the others were all just being manipulated by Uzes...
Hugo: And Commander Albero... and us...
Arriere: All of Project Idealants... Devant and I...
Ryoto: And Ing...
Ryusei: Uzes... I guess manipulating Instructor Ingram was a classic MO for you, huh?!
Ryusei: Pulling the strings from behind the scenes while you're off sitting pretty!
Uzes: It was but one of my many plans.
Tasuku: Whatever, dude. Sounds to me like when we kicked the Aerogators' asses, you got spooked and rushed to Earth.
Uzes: Not so. I was banking on that happening, so I was lying low and proceeding with my plans. Nibhal was my pawn in that.
Mekibos: Hmph... If that was his angle, that means Wendolo and Zezenan also got stuck playing roles in your little farce, huh.
Ratsel: Many of the Gaia Saviors' actions make much more sense when considering that the endgame goal wasn't rulership of Earth.
Shu: I'd like to ask the most critical question of all if you don't mind, Uzes Gozzo.
Shu: How did you know so much about the Crossgate and Gan Eden?
Uzes: Some of it came from the Ze Balmary Empire's folklore and literature about them...
Uzes: ...And some came from my imaginary memory fragments.
Tytti: Imaginary what?
Uzes: Memories inherited over maha-kalpas through kalpacarnation. Memories of past lives, in other words.
Uzes: I'm sure some among you have imaginary memories of your own. Haven't any of you found the names and visages of the Crossgate and Gan Eden strangely familiar, even though you couldn't possibly have seen or heard of them before?
Shu: ...
Gilliam: ...
Uzes: You try to dig deep into your memory, but it's just not coming to you any clearer. That faint, hazy knowledge... Without the right trigger, you can go your whole life without it ever being awakened.
Ryusei: Are you saying I saw the Crossgate in a past life?!
Excellen: Ohhh. So THAT'S what that was about.
Uzes: Ryusei Date, I know you... No, I remember you.
Ryusei: What?!
Uzes: Masaki Andoh and Cybaster... I remember you as well.
Masaki: Well, I sure as hell don't remember you!
Uzes: You and I interacted in a past life... In fact, several of you did.
Uzes: For many of you, this life will be your first pratyaya, but there are several among you that have varying levels of hetupratyaya with me.
Lune: Kinda hard to swallow a story we can't possibly remember.
Yang Long: What's the difference between those with imaginary memories and those without them?
Uzes: There are individual differences based on the presence of imaginary memories or lack thereof, and what those memories are. The primary factor in this is pratyaya... The hetupratyaya from previous maha-kalpas.
Uzes: While some are reborn in different forms, some are kalpacarnated over maha-kalpas. Most possessors of imaginary memories fall into the latter category.
Masaki: What's a maha-kalpa, and what the hell's kalpacarnation?
Rishu: In Buddhism, the world has a cycle of birth and demise divided into four asankhya-kalpas: Formation, existence, destruction, and nothingness.
Rishu: The timeframe over which all of these take place is called a maha-kalpa.
Uzes: And kalpacarnation is when you retain the same form, nature, and prowess across multiple maha-kalpas.
Uzes: Take Masaki Andoh and Shu Shirakawa, for example. You two have both achieved kalpacarnation, and you are bound to each other through hetupratyaya.
Uzes: Yes, that's right. You're bound by a firm pratyaya across not just parallel worlds, but maha-kalpas as well.
Masaki: You can have your crazy fate-bond or whatever, I don't need it!
Shu: ...I'm inclined to agree.
Masaki: For one thing, it sure doesn't FEEL like I've ever kalpacarnated or whatever! I was born as a regular human baby, dammit!
Uzes: I should think not, when you've only just learned the meaning of the word. The four asankhya-kalpas are the truth of the universe. World destruction and rebirth will continue in a cycle whether others know the truth or not.
Uzes: People are born into this world and die in it, even without achieving kalpacarnation, or having imaginary memories, or knowing about any of this.
Uzes: That said... If you DID sense your own kalpacarnation, you certainly would not exist in the form you're in now.
Masaki: Say what?!
Gilliam: ...
Ratsel: What are the requisites that make kalpacarnation possible, Uzes Gozzo?
Uzes: ...Let's just say it's fate, or destiny.
Ratsel: And who is the one to ordain that?
Uzes: Let's just recognize that being as God.
Excellen: Oh, brother. Right when we get to the good part, he starts copping out on the answers.
Ratsel: One more question. Is kalpacarnation possible to enact of one's own volition?
Uzes: There are some rare examples who possess the knowledge and attempt to transcend the four asankhya-kalpas... or rather, they cannot help but do so.
Rai: Is that where you come in, Uzes?
Uzes: That's right. Me, as well as Ingram Plissken, a man who shares a deep hetupratyaya with me and shows up before me quite often.
Viletta: ...!
Ryusei: Instructor Ingram?!
Uzes: But he met his demise at your hands before he could discover his own imaginary memories. Now he will stand in my way no longer.
Uzes: In hindsight, the loss of a Nevi'im was a small price to pay for that outcome. You all did me a favor by severing one of my hetupratyaya chains.
Ryusei: You son of a...
Uzes: Even if Ingram did reincarnate in another form, it's too late for him now. I've assembled all of the factors before he could, and now I've manifested the Adamatron.
Kota: Okay, I've had enough of your big fancy words. What are you gonna do with this Megatron or Adam's Apple or whatever?
Uzes: Long has the question burned in me. Why did I have imaginary memories of the Crossgate and Gan Eden?
Uzes: Who was I? Where did I come from?
Uzes: I conducted research and investigations into the Crossgate and Gan Eden. I formulated and implemented plans to connect the fragments of my imaginary memories.
Uzes: I wanted to know... What caused me to have imaginary memories? What were the blanks in my memories?
Uzes: What was Gan Eden? What was a Crossgate? Who built them, and to what end? How did it relate back to me?
Uzes: And so I assembled the factors and laid claim to them both.
Katina: Does that mean the halo-thing over your head is the Antarctic Crossgate?!
Carla: How does that even work?! It's not the kind of thing you can just carry around!
Uzes: A true Crossgate can alter its form and sometimes move of its own accord.
Uzes: I harnessed the power given off by the gate, used Razmnonium and Zehirut crystals to revive AI1, and then I fused them.
Aqua: You had AI1 eat the Crossgate?! How is that possible?!
Uzes: It was a major gambit on my part, but I could sense the guidance of destiny and my imaginary memories. Everything went as it should have.
Uzes: All of my questions were made clear. Who I was, what I was after. I had all the answers I'd sought for so long.
Uzes: And so my goal changed.
Bullet: Changed how?!
Uzes: Before, I sought to learn my origin. The causes and triggers for the karmic chains that bound me.
Uzes: But it no longer mattered. After all, I'd obtained the Akasha Fluctuation Factor from the Crossgate.
Uzes: The very factor that was missing from my previous creation, the Crossgate Paradigm System.
Gilliam: The Crossgate Paradigm System?!
Josh: What's that?!
Uzes: It's a system that enables me to manipulate causality as I please. That is omnipotence. That is the power of a true god.

(Volkruss Top and Volkruss Bottom show up in front of the Adamatron)

Presia: !!
Lune: Volkruss?!
Tytti: Did Uzes summon it here?!
Saphine: Oh, that's not the real one. It's not a shadow either, though.
Lune: So it's a fake?!
Saphine: Something tells me it doesn't fall into that category, either...
Masaki: Who cares if it's real or not?! How is Uzes able to summon that thing?!
Shu: I doubt it's him personally. It's more likely the Crossgate.
Shu: This seems different from the Volkruss we know. It's highly likely this one was summoned from some parallel world.
Masaki: Of all the things to summon, though!
Shu: Perhaps the cause is the hetupratyaya Uzes spoke of, that which we've shared over karmacarnations.

(Kyukioh, Totetsuoh, etc. appear)

Kusuha: The Custodes and the Four Evils!
Masaki: Did the Crossgate pull them out of a hat, too?!
Uzes: I am the alpha and the omega. I am the end and the beginning. I am the universe itself.
Uzes: I no longer care about my origins. I won't be bound by past karma, hetupratyaya, imaginary memories, or taboo memories.
Uzes: No fool-emperor, inspector, auditor, or even god has the power to stop me now.
Uzes: I will destroy everyone and everything related to me, and then I will create a new plurality of worlds that will be the new norm.
Uzes: Karma, hetupratyaya, and samsara will all be constructed anew by me.
Uzes: Then I shall transcend the four asankhya-kalpas and become the new progenitor of a new human race.
Rim: The new progenitor?!
Shine: Then we would be...
Zash: You're talking about creating a new world... Are you going to become God?!
Russel: An artificial god, becoming a real god?!
Excellen: Yeesh, talk about delusions of grandeur.
Axel: Hmph. All I'm getting out of this long-ass hackneyed speech is that you're going to destroy our universe.
Kyosuke: It's pretty straightforward when you cut through all the fluff, huh.
Uzes: Your deaths will be tribute to the birth of a new progenitor. The old blood won't be needed in the eternal paradise that I will create.
Shu: If you can truly manipulate causality as you claim, wouldn't it be a simple matter to will us out of existence?
Uzes: I would prefer to erase the old cursed samsara personally, so that I might construct a new samsara.
Uzes: I will turn your anguish and despair in death into the finest hymns for the new progenitor's genesis.
Ryusei: So basically, you won't be satisfied without settling this personally. Great, I feel the same way.
Aya: You may have toyed with our fates, but now we're going to make them our own.
Viletta: Uzes, I'm going to destroy you on Ingram's behalf. I don't care if you are a creator.
Ibis: I refuse to believe Illui is gone. Considering that you've taken over Gan Eden and you still exist in your own form...
Ibis: There's no way she's gone, either! I'll save her and Ing both!
Uzes: None of you are capable of reentering the cycle of transmigration or kalpacarnation any longer. I will erase you from all universes and all worlds.
Ryusei: How about we erase you instead?! You, your memories from past lives, AND your hetupratyaya with us!

(Cue objectives screen)

(Volkruss gets destroyed)

Masaki: Okay, that's one Volkruss fragment down!
Shu: (While similar, it wasn't nearly as strong as the real thing.)
Lune: Keep it up and take out the other fragment!

(Volkruss gets destroyed)

(The destroyed Volkruss gets enveloped in black smoke)

Seolla: What's going on?!
Arado: It better not be reviving itself!

(Combined Volkruss appears)

Michiru: It friggin' combined?!
Shu: And that would be Volkruss's true form.
Aqua: So it's even stronger than before?!
Masaki: Well, there ain't no backin' down now! We'll just have to deal with it!
Yang Long: Yeah. We can't just ignore it, any more than we can Uzes himself.
Shu: (I'm curious how powerful it is. That will speak volumes of its relation to Uzes and the Crossgate.)

(The Adamatron gets knocked under half health)

Uzes: Do they still exist because of the depths of my hetupratyaya and karma?
Shu: I don't know how your past transpired, but perhaps it is simply your fate?
Uzes: Fate is no longer something people make or have bestowed upon them. It is my norm, for me to craft and administer.
Rishu: My understanding is that no one can escape the fate of the four kalpas. Perhaps that extends to gods as well?
Uzes: I am the only one who needs to know that law. You shall all plunge through the gate that intersects time and space, and vanish into the nether of the causality horizon.

(The Adamatron glows)

Eita: Sir! The Adamatron's damaged portions are mending!
Tetsuya: Guess that's not surprising, since he's assimilated AI1...
Rio: But, what about Ing?!
Ibis: What about Illui?!

(Flash)

(Inner space)

Ing: ...
Ing: (This is the answer I sought...)
Ing: (Who am I? I have my answer...)
Ing: (I was just a factor... in the destruction of everything...)
???: (Ing.)
Ing: !
Illui: ...
Ing: (Illui?!)
Illui: (I give... the last of my power...)
Illui: (To help you...)
Ing: (No, you can't! If you have power left use it for your... for yourself...)
Ing: (Or just... erase me...)
Illui: ...
Ing: (I'm the one that deserves to die. I was just Altur's pawn...)
Ing: (I'm the factor of destruction...)
Illui: (No. You have power. The power to stop Uzes.)
Ing: (But Illui, you'll be—)
Illui: (Listen to me, Ing. As long as you and I both remain here, Uzes will be unstoppable.)
Illui: (That would mean... The people of the Steel Dragons...)
Ing: (Exactly! So erase me! I practically triggered all of this myself!)
Ing: (If I disappear, Altur won't be able to withstand Gan Eden's psyche anymore! So please, just kill me!)
Illui: (No. I can't do that... Everyone else would die if I did.)
Ing: (What?!)
Illui: (I have to stay... and negate Gan Eden's psyche... So, Ing... You must...)
Ing: (Illui, no!)
Illui: (Once it's over... If you get a chance...)
Ing: (Illui, wait!!)
Illui: (Ing... Tell them... Tell everyone... I said thank you... and goodbye...)
Ing: (ILLUIII!!)

(Flash)

[Field: Boundary Space]

Uzes: As long as the power of the Crossgate and Gan Eden rest with me, you all are as good as—

(The Adamatron rocks and resonates)

Uzes: !
Lamia: The Adamatron!
Uzes: Impertinent little brat...
Ibis: ?!
Uzes: You are powerless to stop me, one and all!

(Smoke rises up around the Adamatron)

Eun: The Adamatron is launching an omnidirectional attack!
Lefina: !!

(Hagane makes alert noises)

Eita: Object approaching at high speed! Just one!
Tetsuya: What?!

(The Air Christmas teleports in from the southern end of the map)

Tetsuya: The Air Christmas?!
Kali: Altur! Altur Steinbeck!!

[Forced Combat: The Air Christmas uses Fir Tree Blade on Uze for 100,000 damage]

Uzes: Still alive, Kali? Or should I call you Lee Linjun now? Your efforts are all in vain, regardless.
Kali: I wasn't expecting that to do any damage from the start.
Uzes: Hoh.
Tetsuya: Lee! What are you up to?!
Kali: Laugh it up, Tetsuya Onodera. I know what a disgrace I am.
Tetsuya: ?!
Kali: This is what I get for seeking great power... to ensure the survival of the Earth Sphere...
Tetsuya: L-Lee...
Uzes: You've cheated death for the last time. Begone.
Kali: With that attack... I got the coordinates I needed... That's right. The jump coordinates... for my last ace in the hole...
Tetsuya: No, you wouldn't!
Kali: I'm about to die... one way or another...
Kali: Observe, Tetsuya Onodera. This is how...
Lee: This is how Lee Linjun squares his debts!!

(The Air Christmas jumps into a spot overlapping the Adamatron and explodes)

Tetsuya: LEE!!
Mekibos: He teleported INSIDE the Adamatron?!
Axel: A fusion explosion from within... That was your last ace in the hole, Lee Linjun?
Tetsuya: Lee... You just...

(The Adamatron gives off black smoke)

Arado: The Adamatron!
Axel: After something THAT big blew up right inside it, there's no way it got out unscathed.
Ibis: !!
Tsugumi: What is it, Ibis?
Ibis: My pendant... The pendant Illui gave me just cracked...
Tsugumi: What?!
Ibis: Oh no... Illui?!

(The Adamatron sparks, and the Exexbein emerges from the AI1 stomach portion)

Rio: The Exexbein?!
Ryoto: Ing!
Ing: ...
Ing: It should've been me... I should've been the one to disappear...
Rio: Ing, are you okay?!
Ing: Yes... She just... Illui saved me...
Kusuha: What about Illui?!
Ing: She... She chose to negate Gan Eden's psyche...
Ibis: You mean she's...
Ing: ...
Ibis: No... No!!
Tsugumi: ...
Sleygh: Illui...
Ibis: I came so far... I came all this way... and yet I couldn't... *sob*
Arado: Urgh...!
Kusuha: Illui...
Sanger: Do not let your spirits be broken!!
Ibis: !!
Sanger: This isn't over! Uzes is still right here in front of us!
Sanger: Do you want to squander Illui's sentiments?! Do what must be done! Sever the dark progenitor and end your hetupratyaya with him once and for all!
Bullet: You... You're right... If we lose now, it'll all be for nothing!
Kusuha: Yeah... I don't want to lose our memories of our time with Illui...
Seolla: We won't let it end like this!
Arado: Yeah! We'll be the ones to end it ourselves!
Tsugumi: Ibis...
Ibis: I know. Gan Eden... Adamatron... I'll destroy everything tying Illui down.
Ibis: I won't say goodbye. I'll put an end to this for Illui... For what Illui wanted!!

(The Exexbein glows blue)

Ing: Altur Steinbeck—No, Uzes Gozzo. I will destroy you. That's the job Illui gave me to do.
Uzes: Have you forgotten that you're as shackled as the Balshem series?
Uzes: Heed my mantra and destroy the Steel Dragons. Tetractys Grammaton.

(Nothing happens)

Ing: You won't have it your way any longer... In fact, you can't.
Uzes: ...
Ing: You know full well that the Crossgate Paradigm System is incomplete, Uzes.
Ing: That's why you can't erase the Steel Dragons. It's not possible to control me, either. Do you know why?
Uzes: ...
Ing: Because Illui is inside you. The Steel Dragons' feelings are reaching her... And hers are reaching them.
Ing: Their psyches—their minds—are in perfect synch even without the T-Link System's help. That will be the source of power enough to destroy you.
Uzes: ...
Ing: Uzes, you erred with your final move. Your assimilation of Illui will be your undoing.
Uzes: Distortions are corrected in the aggregate. The Akasha Fluctuation Factor will always ensure a favorable result lies in my future.
Ing: You just brought an assumption into the conversation. That means you don't actually know what's going to happen next.
Uzes: I should say the same about you.
Ing: You don't have the power to manipulate causality now! We're still at a crossroads for our fate!

(The Adamatron drops under 30% HP)

(The Adamatron gives off explosion fumes)

Uzes: This sequence can't be playing out this way...
Uzes: No, that's utterly impossible. I'm not the same as my past selves. I have a decisive difference...
Uzes: The Crossgate, Gan Eden, the Akasha Fluctuation Factor... They should be able to alter my future.
Shu: Heh, what's wrong? Did you only just now realize your own destiny?
Uzes: No, it's impossible. I can't meet the same outcome... That's simply not possible.
Kyosuke: The same outcome, you say? Does that mean that all of your past selves met their downfall at the hands of groups like ours?
Uzes: ...
Ryusei: I don't know what we were like the last time we fought you, but I'm pretty sure we're not gonna do things any differently.
Rai: And then you'll meet the same end you did before.
Aya: That's your fate.
Uzes: This time will be different! This time, I'll change my fate! I will break free of the cursed samsara and become the creator and progenitor of a new world!
Ratsel: Then we shall accompany you in your fate for a while longer, to slay you and ensure that you meet your foreordained end.
Uzes: I have no foreordained end... I am the one to ordain everything!
Ing: Uzes Gozzo. Did I exist in your past lives?
Uzes: ...
Ing: If I didn't, then I am a new fate fluctuation factor for you!
Ing: You won't be the one to decide your fate! We will!

(The Adamatron gets destroyed)

Uzes: It's all the same... Is this the same ending?!
Uzes: How... How?! The factors were decisively different! I had Gan Eden... I had the Crossgate...
Uzes: There should have been no one left who could oppose me!
Shu: Heh... You're looking at us right now.
Axel: The outcome should've been obvious, y'know?
Uzes: I can't go out here... Not like this! It's not possible!
Shu: I'd like to ask a question in your final moments, if you don't mind. Who built the Crossgate, and for what purpose?
Uzes: I can't go out like this... No... How could I, the new progenitor, possibly die?!
Uzes: Heh... Heheheh... Heheheh... I've broken free of samsara... Of course I can't die... *cough* Heheheheh...
Masaki: Uh, he's...
Uzes: That's right... I'll create... all worlds... Heheheh... All of them... All... Heheheh...
Shu: Allow me to repeat the question. Who built the Crossgate, and for what purpose?
Uzes: HAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Viletta: ?!
Uzes: IT WAS ME! I BUILT IT! That's right! I was supposed to build it!!
Ryusei: What's he talking about?!
Uzes: The Crossgate and Gan Eden both! And new worlds, and humanity! Hahahahaha!! Yes! I was supposed to build them all!!
Uzes: Where did I go wrong?! What was the cause of this?! Was it Illui?! Hahahaha! Of course! It has to be Illui!
Ing: ...Who was it that assimilated Illui?
Uzes: Me! It was me!!
Ing: And who was it that created me, a walking fate fluctuation factor?
Uzes: ALSO MEEEE!!

(The Adamatron explodes, fade to white)
[Field: Regular Space]
(The Steel Dragons robots are on the field around the Hiryu and Hagane)