Chapter 9 Episode 19: Borderline 1

Things start off with Xolotl staring in shock while Arc thanks Amatsumara for coming to help. She then asks about Xolotl’s new eyes, so Amatsumara says  it’s something they made with the best of the Crafters’ abilities. Also it seems to cost a lot. Arc says that must be what the Tycoons’ request was about, and Amatsumara adds that Xolotl might be able to see things his normal eyes couldn’t have.

Xolotl starts stammering a question, and you say you’re glad he’s okay before asking him what’s wrong. He then asks that question he asked last time about why you/‘you’ are here, then calls you Quetzalcoatl. He was worried about his sibling so much. You either tell him to calm down, be surprised about the reference to sibling, or wonder if this is a memory thing again.

Xolotl tries asking for an explanation before stopping partway through to sniff you a bit more, then realizes it’s you underneath it. He backs off in shock about you being Quetzalcoatl, then wonders how he’s supposed to treat you from now on. Arc tells you guys to save it for later because the others seem to want something.

Tiger Man welcomes you guys to the four cornered ring and decides to reintroduce himself now that you’re here. Then he calls him and his flunkies the vanguard from the Warmongers, the guild of war makers and political strife types. He gives his own name next, then says the fan club is always open for enrollment as he smiles and winks.

Amatsumara is taken aback and starts talking to Arc when he snaps out of it, commenting on being lost for words by the apparent lack of hostility. Then he asks Tiger Man if he’s the leader of the people attacking the workshop. Arc says it’s more likely the one inside him as she remembers the smoke from before. You then react to Tiger Man’s greeting by either being polite, asking what is up with this mood given the attack, or call him cool and say you want in on the fan club.

Going B, Tiger Man’s heart starts audibly thumping as he holds his chest, looking to be in a mix of pain and pleasure. He groans about how his heart is going crazy, then calls to his sun saying they want a battle that reaches the limits. And as the sacrifice offered that day, he asks Tezcatlipoca to do whatever he wants with his body.

The wrestlers cheer the name while Xolotl is surprised to hear it and stares at Tiger Man. You are confused about the name and ask Xolotl if he’s an acquaintance. Xolotl initially is shocked you’d ask that before remembering you as yourself wouldn’t know. He then comments on how this must be how Lucifuge and the others must feel and how uncertain or gloomy it is. Xolotl compares it to having someone he knows being mixed in with someone he used to know.

Arc asks him to leave that for another time too, then asks him to tell you guys anything he knows. Xolotl agrees and says Tezcatlipoca is his and Quetzalcoatl’s sibling, the dark sun that shines at the summit in El Dorado, and Quetzalcoatl’s eternal rival.

Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl have always fought, and at that point Tiger Man interrupts the explanation to pull a shining object out of his clothes and holds it up. He calls it a sun stone, a fragment of their sun with the calendar carved onto it. You recognize it as Dark Matter, saying Hephaestus gave you one and repeating what he said about it holding light and memories.

Anyways Tiger Man starts heaving his chest as smoke pours from his mouth. Xolotl recognizes the smoke and says it’s proof that one is a nagual of Tezcatlipoca. Amatsumara asks what that is, so Xolotl says Tezcatlipoca’s artifact is an obsidian mirror that gives off smoke. A nagual is a sacrifice to Tezcatlipoca who has some of that smoke put into them to make them an incarnation of himself.

Xolotl brings up Tiger Man must have given his heart to Tezcatlipoca, and Arc’s take away is that he’s been hijacked. She says this must be where the battle really starts. Tiger Man’s heartbeats become audible to you all, and after a loud beat, he slows down. You either are in anticipation for whatever will happen and ask how he’ll change, or you just watch in curiosity.

When Tezcatlipoca starts talking, he turns out to have the same speech patterns Tiger Man did, and the mobs cheer his appearance. You are either mildly confused or annoyed that he doesn’t seem any different. Arc points out that there’s a lot more pressure than before, which you then notice yourself. You also compare it to Surtr’s and how it made you feel like you can’t win.

Arc asks if your memories from the previous world are telling you that’s how the ranking is. She talks about him controlling Tiger Man’s body and how he’s a World Representative like Surtr and Azathoth were. Xolotl tells you guys to be careful as Tezcatlipoca is a mirror. If what’s in Tiger Man is a fragment of him, Tezcatlipoca has copied his personality and fighting style and pushed them to the limits.

Tezcatliman fires off strips of rubber off of Tiger Man’s uniform to web up the workshop to pull you guys into the ring, which he also calls the inescapable war destiny. The attack is compared to a hurricane, faster than anyone can react to at first. Arc however manages to pull together and catch everyone with her chains and using a beam in the shop to recover. She asks if you’re all okay. You say you’re fine but comment on the speed of that attack.

Arc also comments on her astonishment on that speed, thinking he had charged at you guys. Amatsumara corrects her, saying you guys were pulled in. Xolotl says he’s fine and says while it’s showy, it doesn’t hurt much but reacts to something. Arc asks if you’re hurt before she’s interrupted by something too. Amatsumara asks what’s going on before he gets affected next, saying something feels like it’s going right into his head. You are the last to be affected.

Tezcatliman prompts you guys to remember the burning hot memories of war, saying you guys now live in the middle of eternal battle. Smoke is coming out of the rubber strands, which then crowds your thoughts. Memories then start playing out through your head the way Azathoth did previously. You say Hephaestus must have gone through this too.

As with Azathoth, the memories are vivid and feel like they had to have happened, and it looks like it did when Tokyo became SMT Tokyo. People hated each other, clashed with each other, struck each other down, and a mountain of corpses stacked up. Even the guys from the Summoners and your other friends were involved, staining their hands red and staining others red. And in the end they died at the hands of the Warmongers.

Tezcatliman talks about how he and his flunkies are your enemies. He then prompts you guys to come to the battlefield ring so that you guys can smash each other. Amatsumara sees visions of them killing Kurogane, Hephaestus, Takemaru and the others. Xolotl screams over Hakumen and his inability to do anything again. And Arc sees the other Genociders.

You call out and say that’s wrong, snapping them out of their trances. You say it was the path someone else walked. Even if it happened, it isn’t decided that that’s the path you’ll walk. That’s what you were taught by people who were important to you.

You declare you’ll never believe again that you *have* to fight because you’ve been hurt or have hurt others. Flashback cuts to what Marchosias told you back in the highway tunnel about how everyone inherits the memories of those who came before and pass on those along with their own to someone else. Whether you see it as a curse or not is something you decide for you own.

You may be given a role, but whether you are trapped by it is something your heart decides. As the flashback ends, you say you’ve decided then that you’ll endeavor so that this will never happen again. A different flashback cuts to Moritaka telling the Genociders how everyone lives and carries their sins, then asks that they join together to figure out how best to continue on.

You then either say you’ll never believe that you can’t go forward, start saying how being shown this changes nothing, or say you don’t believe fighting is the only option available. Arc remembers what happened in the six wards as she grips her chains again. You then call out to Tezcatlipoca. He stares at you as if remembering something, and you ask him that if he’s going to show you the past, that he show you why it happened so that you can prevent a repeat. He doesn’t say anything.

Scene then shifts to Roppongi as the Tycoons have a meeting. Licht calls things a bad provocation. The opposing group are using past loop memories to incite discord or whatever amongst them. The other members nod in agreement, and narration mentions that Touji and Tadatomo are sitting next to Licht.

Licht asks the two what their opinion is. Touji agrees and says Shirou thinks the possibility is high as well. The World Representatives likely do not see anyone else as an enemy. Licht nods and turns back to the Tycoons. He talks about how they’ve split into three new guilds and how they’ve preserved observational data from the loops as memories. And by using their Pillars, they can show those memories to others.

He doesn’t have a guess as to how exactly they’ll take advantage of that, but it is a fight in the information war. The Reps already have something set aside from the app, and almost all the existing groups in Tokyo have surrendered. The three branches of government, the police, the military, terrorist groups...the World Representatives pretty much have strong influences on any group that has legal and practical power.

Touji remembers something at the mention of the police and looks down. Licht continues by saying that the big three have differences in how they use their info. The ones in the West use the info convenient to themselves to expand their power and destroy existing guilds. The Berserkers seem to be their main target at present.

The ones in the East are keeping their information to themselves and have not made any moves since the Otemachi incident. The Missionaries have suffered heavy losses, but the Tycoons have been mostly unaffected.

The ones in the South are taking guilds from behind in the information war, and Licht bothers to call them the Invaders. Some of the older members in the guild have experiences with them, and a random governor bangs his fist at the name, grinding his teeth. Just days ago they’ve taken over things in succession.

Licht says that based on information, if they fight in hacking and economics they’ll be bypassed as their security, stock prices, and future prices will all be known. On that note, Licht proposes they discuss their countermeasures.

People in the room start talking amongst themselves at this, and Touji asks how they’ll counterattack. Licht says if they know everything that’s happened before, they should just do what hasn’t been done before. That’s what you’ve shown Licht after all. Licht then asks Lucifuge to take action. He agrees and snaps his fingers, calling Kotarou into the room.

Tadatomo is surprised to see him there, and Kotarou greets him genially. Tadatomo asks why he’s there when the Agents have disbanded, so Kotarou says he’s still under contract. He also says Tadatomo doesn’t have room to be talking about things. Kotarou still has a duty to Roppongi anyways and plays it off as there being different types of ninjas.

Licht calls the two of them elite ninjas and makes them the center of a new intel gathering group. He wants them to start on a certain intel operation from here on in. A governor (or few) ask about this wondering if they’re already involved with the tactics. Hakumen seems to see where things are going and asks if That Person is going to show up, which Licht confirms.

This seems to be the owner of six buildings owned by the Roppongi guild. Licht also calls them the joker of Roppongi Academy and their last resort that he intends to ask to come help. The crowd stirs at what this means. Licht internally thinks to himself about how there still one other joker up their sleeves.

After the meeting is over, Licht asks to talk to Touji. Touji asks what business he has with him, so Licht mentions there’s one important thing in the strategies he left out earlier. That would be Touji’s cooperation.

Touji asks why this wasn’t brought up during the meeting, so Licht says he couldn’t say it earlier. There’s someone in the Invaders capable of faking or altering memories, which shocks Touji. As such, they have to treat anyone who has ever come into contact with them as a potential spy. Touji asks if that means there’s someone there who may have already been affected.

Licht says there is, which is why they need Touji now. He can separate memories from one’s self and another’s, so they’ll be depending on his barriers. Things are going to be chaotic as it’ll be hard to tell who is friend or enemy. Licht is sure that if it’s you though...the scene cuts him off as the episode ends.