Chapter 10 Episode 12: Sacrifice Dialogue 3

Things tune in at Kita Ward, the Ouji neighborhood. Specifically, at the walls built to be the boundary between the east and west and is now the front line of war. While you are off doing your thing in the prison school, battles are already happening between two guilds. Warmongers soldiers yell about not caring about their lives and pushing forward, though Koropokkur summons a blizzard with his NP.

Narration mentions that Koropokkur controls the Oujimachi Academy Portal in this Ward, and as he uses his power he prevents the incoming mobs from walking any further than he can see. Said mobs are frozen where they stand before falling over, but Tanetomo commands the next wave to attack after them.

 

The second wave of soldiers attack with increasing fervor, which causes Michael to suggest to Koropokkur and Horus that they should retreat since they can’t keep it up. He still has the time to hiss about how annoying the Warmongers are.

 

Narration says that that the present state of the board still hasn’t reached the end game. As such, this is still just a regular App battle. Even if the soldiers die they’ll just resurrect. Despite that, their morale is noted to be abnormal. The pain of death remains the same, though the soldiers show no fear of it. Among the true big three guilds, the Warmongers boast the highest morale.

 

The System that supports the Warmongers’ morale is a network compared to stretched out spider threads. This is System El Dorado: The World System that Puts Faith in Sacrifice, the same System Tezcatlipoca rules over.

 

Tezcatlipoca takes over narration to talk about this System, saying it’s the System where you offer yourself as a sacrifice in war. He remembers of a day where yet another sacrifice offered their heart to El Dorado, the day Tiger Man made the sacrifice. He fell over with a smile in front of an audience, and the dark sun this offering was made to burned bright as its light flared up in the sky.

 

As a reward, the sun gave Tiger Man a replacement heart. Smoke filled his corpse, then pumped life back into him again. He stood up, then posed for the crowd. The crowds cheered for him saying he was the greatest, saying that the hero’s self-sacrifice saved the world again. After that, they all went on to compete against each other as the sun watched over them.

 

Tezcatlipoca says that anyone would want to be understood by everyone, to be accepted. In El Dorado, self-sacrifice is the ultimate way of gaining self-recognition. Work and effort would be laughed off as things anyone could do. Money would be ridiculed as an attempt to buy honor.

 

In other words, something you can take back isn’t enough, so you must offer something that can’t be reversed. You would have to give your own body, an act no one can complain about and the greatest way to force people to recognize you. Tezcatlipoca’s mirror would shine and reflect upon that, showing it to all in the limited world. People would then celebrate these heroes, and this is what it means to have the most comfortable way of gaining fame.

 

Back to the present, Tezcatlipoca loudly declares his name and position as El Dorado’s World Representative. You either seem mildly unimpressed, weirded out that he’s the school’s master, or comment about the depth of tension going on. Tiger Man and flunkies are all cheering Tezcatlipoca like loony sports fans.

 

Shennong has recovered by this point, and he looks at Tezcatlipoca’s profile with some sort of desperately suppressed emotion. R-19 narrates out loud about how he’s starting up recording about Tezcatlipoca. Jacob makes the observation that everyone seems to idolize Tezcatlipoca, then asks about the dreadful enthusiasm he picks up on.

 

Anyways Tezcatlipoca laughs about keeping you waiting and says you guys have finally met. He then refers to you as his brother and most beloved friend, Quetzalcoatl the hero of El Dorado. You either ask about this name, say Xolotl mentioned it before, or be annoyed someone’s calling to by some weird name again.

 

Flashback pops up from that scene back in Chapter 9 where Xoltol recognizes Quetzalcoatl in you, and Tezcatlipoca addresses you directly as he says he sees Quetzalcoatl’s phantom through your behavior and impulsive expressions. You think on the memories of the 23 exiles, say you don’t care, or say he’s someone different and ask Tezcatlipoca to accept that.

 

Tezcatlipoca says he’s been waiting for you and you specifically. You find this weird and ask about him not trying to oust you. Tezcatlipoca seems legit surprised as he tells you that’s a misunderstanding, and that he personally at least has been looking forward for a chance to talk with you. He admits the soldiers and the rest of the Warmongers World Reps might have a different opinion, but he doesn’t plan on wasting this chance you gave him by coming here.

 

Tezcatlipoca then explains that he can’t set foot outside of the prison school, which he set up himself. Every loop up until now, he’s been different from the other Reps in that he’s never had much of a chance to directly see you. He also mentions that due to That Ruling, he’s been forbidden from directly making contact with you until the end of the game.

 

Jacob is confused about Tezcatlipoca not being able to leave the school. Tezcatlipoca decides to confirm this again and says that’s why he sent his protege soldiers to attack the Crafters. You ask for an explanation about this, and Tezcatlipoca is amused you don’t understand why. He starts commenting on how sad it is to lose your memories of war, then suggests he’ll make you remember them soon, smiling in irrepressible joy.

 

Tezcatlipoca reminisces happily about how sharp your words were and about your declaration of war. He then tells you that, including him, all seven World Representatives in the Warmongers want to go to war with you and answered summons to Tokyo for that. You are shocked by this, and Tezcatlipoca confirms this as he tells you to laugh and get mad about it. He gave up everything for that and is here before you now for that goal.

 

You either tell him to stop joking, say you’ll end things here now, or tell him do it alone if he wants to do it so much. Tezcatlipoca is happy as he asks if you’re being filled with the will to fight, though he stops to say that it’s sad that you still don’t seem to want the war even if he goes insane over it. The episode battle starts here, with more story coming afterwards.

 

After the battle, narration starts up to talk about El Dorado. In that world where belief is put into sacrifices, there were two suns. Besides Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, they also had one more brother Xolotl, who now works as Hakumen’s servant.

 

When the time came for him to make a sacrifice, Xolotl ran out in fear. He cried and cried until in the end, he literally cried his eyes out. Still he never blamed his siblings for being forced into sacrifice, and if anything developed an inferiority complex towards them. He knows what it is Tezcatlipoca has sacrificed to get so far, after all.

 

In the present, Former Tycoon mobs are wandering around Roppongi attempting to flush out the Tycoons as if possessed. They act as if under illusions as their memories are eroded, hunting down their fellows. As that’s going on, Xolotl is running and makes a break for it as he sees his chance, zooming past them all to escape.

 

Xolotl eventually stops in some alleyway to catch his breath and says he thought his heart was going to burst. Hakumen has given him some secret mission, and now he’s running through town slipping past the Invaders’ surveillance network. His ability to evade his old comrades is due to having a secret weapon they don’t know about, meaning his new eyes. It’s an artificial artifact that lets him see better than before.

 

Xolotl comments on how amazing his new eyes are, and they’ve already adapted as if they were originally part of his body. They are described as a supreme masterpiece invented by the Crafters due to the research pulled from Tokyo and the 23 other worlds.

 

Anyways Xolotl remembers something Amatsumara said before about how artifacts and the Dark Matter that makes them up have qualities similar to the bodies of Transients. That’s how he accepts that his new eyes are so well integrated with his body.

 

Xolotl thinks about how Tezcatlipoca’s artifact works the same way for other people, but this apparently doesn’t work the same way for himself or whatever when he realizes something. He realizes why Tezcatlipoca attacked the Crafters and why Tezcatlipoca never showed up himself even when he wanted to fight Quetzalcoatl so much.

 

Xolotl starts freaking out and says this is terrible. If you try to fight Tezcatlipoca without knowing about this power, you’ll never be able to win, never mind factoring in the World Representative > Exile hierarchy.

 

Speaking of you, things tune back to your end of things as you stab Tezcatlipoca far more easily than expected, and you express this surprise aloud. Tezcatlipoca laughs it off as useless, then says he told you that what he wants isn’t battle. What he wants is a war with you that drags many into it and can’t be taken back.

 

His body unravels like dark spider threads, and narration says you just managed to stab through a gap between them. You are shocked by what’s happening, and Tezcatlipoca’s cackling echoes through the school. Narration says it’s the same strings that manipulated Tiger Man back in Kamata, as well as the strings that controlled the wrestlers outside.

 

Jacob reacts in surprise to what’s happening, and the strings bind you. You call out to Tezcatlipoca as you start to understand what happened to his body, and Tiger Man and crew cheer on in the background. This is the reason for the El Doradans’ fanatical praise for Tezcatlipoca, as based on their faith system he has done the most honorable thing of all.

 

Shennong holds himself as if to hold down the pain he’s remembering as he calls out the threads. Tezcatlipoca reforms as he says he is the model of El Dorado’s faith, so this is only natural. Offering your guts? Not enough. Offering your eyes, arms, and legs? Still not enough. He then proclaims that he sacrificed his entire body, and therefore your sword has nothing it can cut against on him. The episode ends as you express your shock about this revelation.