Chapter 10 Episode 10: Sacrifice Dialogue 1

Tezcatlipoca starts narrating saying that ‘you’ are a hero, and that this world seeks you for that reason. He then talks about how El Dorado is a world where the sun is believed to burn and shine because of the lives offered in sacrifice to it. If the sun goes, then the world will be destroyed. With that in mind, sacrificing yourself was seen as an honor.

Due to the above belief, El Dorado is a world of constant war as it tries to amass sacrifices every day. Most of the people there willingly offer their whole selves as sacrifices for the war. Their blood, their flesh, their very hearts, all for the sake of everyone else, the world, and the continuing brilliance of the sun. Everyone praised the heroes who did so, saying they gave of themselves to save their world. Thus the sacrifices continue without end, and this faith is solidified.

Tezcatlipoca asks if you think such a world is foolish and presumes you do. He says you think of the people as pitiable, blinded by smoke. He suggests you are the only one who thinks differently. He approves of this, saying that your opinion being this way makes you worthy of the Warmongers soldiers. He says that the narrow mindedness of thinking you know everything about the world is what makes you(?) suitable for his soldiers’ honor.

 

Tezcatlipoca says that this world here is the same with the belief that ‘a closed community is one’s whole world.’ He suggests that you would sacrifice yourself in that setting if it would bring you appreciation. Tezcatlipoca says that people who sneer and hold themselves up as an exception to the crowd are wrapped in his smoke, lost in self-serving illusions.

Tezcatlipoca says you should believe in what you want to see, that you should believe that what you are shown is everything. He will be the one who will reflect back everyone’s actions as he rules this sealed world. He swears as the bearer of the night and dark death that fills the world, and upon his name as the Smoking Mirror.

 

Scene shifts to the Ikebukuro Underground as Shuuichi asks R-19 to open up the communication protocol. Narration talks about some technology or something that Duo left behind, the strongest hidden method available in Tokyo. Anyways R-19 projects his image over to where Shuuichi is, and Shuuichi suggests that none of the real big three guilds or their guildmasters could think of this.

 

R-19 says he’s transitioning the comms into D Mode, which is incognito mode. After a few seconds, he says he’s sent Shirou a report of what’s happening on his end and that he’s going to continue relaying information. Shirou confirms that he can receive it all, then thanks R-19.

 

Shirou turns to ask what Shuuichi and Claude think of the present situation. Shuuichi says he wants to have everyone on the same page as to the big three guilds’ strategies. Since they retain memories and therefore information, they are able to give themselves a massive head start. Put another way, by showing and controlling a certain part of their information, they can create a favorable position for themselves. Shuuichi says this is a strategy Duo used too. He suggests the other guildmasters in the big three are the same, and his face shows him thinking of someone for a second.

 

Claude nods and says that the Warmongers are showing their soldiers only the memories of them being aggressors. The biasing of this knowledge is apparently where the soldiers’ strength, prioritizing of organization, and loyalty comes from. Claude then frankly says that the soldiers are only shown the results and not the actual reasons as to why they attacked their friends.

 

Shirou suggests if this bias were to be eliminated and the complete memories were to be shown, the big three guilds should lose most of their advantageous positions. Claude thinks about how this could apply to the Warmongers rank and file, then says this could possibly result in the collapse of the prison school’s System. Shirou agrees as he looks on ahead into the underground labyrinth.

 

Shirou talks about how you guys have found a fragment of what happened in the past in Shinjuku’s old schoolhouse. Based on that, Shirou suggests that beneath the Warmongers base in Nerima and here underground under the Toshima Ward Gate, it’s highly likely there are memories involving battles against the Warmongers.

 

Shuuichi agrees and says the Pillar of Light for Toshima Ward’s Gate connects to the tunnels that link to the Ikebukuro Underground. However, the memories of the Gate can only be accessed by someone whose fate is connected to it. He compares this to how only Shirou can make contact with Yog-Sothoth. In this case, you guys will need the guy who summoned the Exception during the battle with the third ranked Ranker back then.

 

Shirou asks if Kengo can handle it. Kengo doesn’t really understand the details but he’s up for it. He asks Shirou to look after you while he’s taking care of this, and the two share a look. Shirou then turns to Shuuichi and Claude as he says he and Moritaka are heading out for now to help you however they can.

 

As Moritaka starts saying bye, Shuuichi stops him for a second. Moritaka is surprised by this, and Shuuichi is embarrassed for a moment before asking him to be careful. Moritaka is touched by this and thanks him. Then he and Shirou leave.

 

Claude is quiet, which prompts Snow to ask if he’s okay. Claude talks about Shirou and Shuuichi and wonders if they choose not to mention it, but he thinks that the memories in the Gates alone shouldn’t be enough to match all the memories and information the big three guilds have.

 

If his guess is correct, the Gates only contain memories that were wiped away by the loops. As such, it’ll be necessary to gain the memories of the World Representatives. Claude then says that you guys will need the cooperation of what’s called the World Pillars, artifacts that are conceptually pillars that store memories.

 

Scene shifts back to your side as narration describes the new light shining from your sword as waving like a flag. Its light spreads out, as if tearing apart the smoke and the night. It is neither the power of distance nor gravity, and you wonder aloud what is happening as you say you’ve never seen this power before and wonder what power it is.

 

Shennong is shocked by what he sees, and narration says he’s seen this light back in his home world. It is the aurora that waved in the sky like a flag, an omen of demise for the world. It was always there when battle broke out, a sign that peace had ended and the world would be fractured. In Hourai there was a battle to seal the gods, a war that signaled the end of an age. The hero that Shennong succeeded, the Great Mother, is said to be the one to kickstart that legend, which means this is the light of the one who rends the world.

 

Shennong says aloud what narration had been going over, that the light from your sword is from the artifact of the hero who disappeared from Hourai, the Great Mother Nuwa. R-19 and Jacob run up to you at this point, and R-19 asks if you’re okay. He also tells you he finished speaking with Shirou and the others and that he brought Jacob along.

You are surprised to see him and are glad they’re okay. You also ask how they knew where to find you. R-19 tells you that they were held up at the entrance. The Warmongers didn’t seem to show any sign of letting them go, so they planned to break out by force and did so. Jacob then picks up to say they followed the light of your sword.

 

You ask Jacob if he knows what the light is or ask about him being blind. Jacob says he doesn’t know what it is and tells you he’s blind again. He does say that he was able to feel the light of your will through his heart though.

 

Anyways the wrestlers come rushing at you guys, but Jacob is quick on the uptake and punches them out left and right as he calls out his NP. The power your sword is giving off reveals cracks in the darkness and rifts in the sealed prison world, which then allows Jacob’s fists to reach them.

 

Jacob then calls out to the lambs suffering from the memories of having attacked those they love, asking them to remember one more time as he says it may have only been one part of the truth. He then asks everyone with the courage to do so to look up to the sky.

 

Narration compares the trail Jacob is making with his fists to a Pillar of Light. You react in shock as memories start flashing into you of all the welfare units so far. You try to ask about what happened. Meanwhile Yasuyori has come out with a bunch of soldier flunkies to stop the attack, but he sees the light show going on as well, and the torrent of it runs into him.

 

Yasuyori flashes back to the time his friends laid on the ground by him, struck down by his hands as he cries over them. This was the extent of all he had ever seen before, but now more is shown to him. Ashigara tells Yasuyori to stop crying because it’s not his fault. Everything was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Ashigara begrudges no one about it. Ashigara then has a request.

 

If they ever get reborn into a new life, he wants to see everyone again, join the same sumo clubs again, and be friends once more. And then Ashigara dies. Yasuyori cries out to Ashigara and everyone as the memories of what came after flows into him. The flashback doesn’t last long as the light is covered by the darkness again, and Yasuyori begs to see what happens next.

At this time, Tanetomo rings in through his communicator and asks Yasuyori to pick up. Yasuyori is too distraught to notice until Tanetomo yells about an emergency and asks if Yasuyori can hear him. Tanetomo wonders what’s going on but decides he should report his end of things first. That is, the front line situation has changed in a major way. Tanetomo asks Yasuyori to send all available and ready soldiers as reinforcements.

 

Yasuyori tries to bring up that you are still a problem at the school, so Tanetomo suggests leaving you to Tezcatlipoca. He then says that there are things going on that need immediate attention, and that the other two of the big three guilds are making their moves. They have been confirmed to be sending their own forces to the front lines, which shocks Yasuyori.

 

Back to your side, you try to ask about the pillar of light, the memories, or Jacob. However, smoke starts covering up the light coming from his hands and seemingly Shennong starts laughing about what’s happening. Shennong is described as covered in smoke and controlled by spider threads, moving about unnaturally. You try to talk to Shennong before you pick up it’s someone else in him.

 

You are able to see someone else’s shadow behind Shennong, which differs from what you saw back in the Ota incident. That shadow speaks, showing itself as a distinct and separate form. It calls you cold for forgetting how you talked with him just days ago. You recognize that he’s the same shadow that controlled Tiger Man back in Ota.

 

The shadow asks if you remember, then proclaims himself the El Dorado World Representative, Tezcatlipoca. He then tells you to come to him, and that your reunion is worth a celebration. On that note, the episode ends.