Index

| Enemy force has been nearly annihilated. |

Good.

... anything else?

| There are some traces of encrypted messages, maybe that would be of interest? I don't know, figure it out. |

Sassy as always. Alright then, let's get Arch to Melody. I should be able to carry him...

- " Yo! Arch! Are ya clear? "

" I'm doing fine, my health is nearing 50% though... could use a little pick me up. "

- " Can ya walk? "

" Well, more than someone without legs but less than a toddler if ya catch my drift. "

- " I see, I'll carry you. "

" No need to go that far, maybe just a shoulder would do... have some consideration for my Pride. "

- " I heard girls love a guy that shows their soft side! "

" Shut up dude, come on... Let's go. "

- " What about the corpses? "

" Leave them to rot, those Origin bastards deserve it at this point. "

I understand, so many years of fighting these people has diluted Arch's perception a little bit, if I remember correctly I met soldiers before digitalization...they always said the same thing about their enemies, no matter who they were.

I guess its just a war thing... dang, I guess for Arch and the others it was kinda brutal... many years of fighting with little rest, but I'm glad they'll break now. I may not like resting myself, but it pains me to hear their work over shadows their health.

Maybe that's why I work so hard myself, I don't want others to have to carry to much of a burden so I carry it myself, to be fair it is my responsibility...

I'm Dice's Mentor.

I'm Anise's Caretaker.

I'm Jotun's Father.

I'm Scarab and Syn's creator.

I'm Arch, Melody, Luriel, Cav, and Horizon's friend.

I guess I gotta pull through, for their sake.

Right now though... I got to pull through for Arch, he needs me to carry him to Melody... I'll do it.

I put Arch's weight onto my shoulders, his heavy and thick coat bears hard on my body... his arm wraps around my shoulder, and we set off. Fantasm slithered into the case on my back before residing to sleep, lazy bum...

Its no matter though, I'll bring him home myself.

" Hey... Cobalt, when we first met... "

- " Back at the Valley? "

" Yeah... when you came and help us out... why did you do it? "

... huh. I can't seem to remember...

- " I... don't recall? Haha... "

" That's fair... its been 28 years after all... "

- " 28 Years? Holy shit... I didn't know... "

" Ever since you... mentioned that time flowed weirdly in this... game... I have been keeping track. "

- " So... how long was I out? "

" 27. "

- " You didn't age a day. "

" And you did, you are like... what, 50 something years old now? "

- " Much more than that technically... "

" Right... still no estimate on how long StarDuster has been online... "

- " Yep... so... why did you ask earlier, about my motivations? "

" I... heard something about you. A rumor. "

- " Oh yeah? Hit me. "

" I fought against this lady a few years ago... she is how I unlocked ether energy but that's a different story... anyhow... she called me something weird... ' The man who tamed the Demon Lord Crimtane. ' "

- " That's... odd? I don't think I know a Crimtane... are you sure she didn't mean Crimson? And why the Demon Lord addition?"

" I... uh... looked into it a little more, demon lord Crimtane was an unknown entity that plagued the armies of heaven and hell, it was supposedly a being who contested nearly every aspect of the system... "

- " I assume something happened to him? "

" There was a rumor... that Crimson was Crimtane... but it died out after Crimtane's disappearance. It happened shortly after ' The Demon Lord ' rose to power, after that there was no word of speak of Crimtane "

- " Huh, I wonder what happened... "

" There's more... Remember that undead you created? They got some vital Intel... while it isn't much, we learned a little bit about their mind control abilities. "

- " Oh shit... I'm in for something big now, why didn't you tell me this earlier? "

" I'm afraid you won't like what you'll hear. "

- " Damnit... alright, tell me. "

" Demon Lord Crimtane had a few abilities involving players and the system... For one, he could alter players thought processing and personality. Second, he could give the System to any being. Third, he could lie to the system... and finally... he figured out how to Code in the system. "

- " Big guy, so your saying... he got captured by Origin? Or bribed? "

" That is likely the case, but... there is even more down this rabbit hole... archival data about the formation of Origin Soldiers. They call them Siphons, the first tier at least... the mindless drones we fought earlier. Second tier is the Cephs... they are used as servants or generals. Final tier are the Nulls... they had a name for the first Null created, Crimson. "

- " That's some good fucking data! Tell me more! Go on! "

" We know the process for creating a Siphon involves brainwashing NPCs or the likes, Cephs require sophisticated re-wiring of the brain and such, but the creation method for a Null hadn't been leaked yet... but that undead of yours was just inches away from getting such data, if we can figure out how to do it... we can figure out his to undo it. "

- " Well... That's great! I could get back my memories... my compulsions would be fixed... I'll be whole again!! "

" ... right... "

- " Hm? Something wrong? This is great news, is it not? "

" Thing is Cobalt... we have met other Nulls, in fact we have killed quite the amount and interrogated the rest...but... we never got information out of them. "

- " Hm? Why? "

" They... turned into code. "