Chapter 10 Episode 21: Unforgettable Future 3

Narration starts by talking about Xolotl’s secret mission. As a reminder, it’s to pass on to you the information that the Tycoons hired the Agents to collect. This information has been written directly onto Tadatomo’s scroll artifact, and he had said that this was the best method to avoid the Invaders’ memory tampering in the current situation.

 

Of course that’s not the only reason he’s passed it off. He says he’ll be fine because he still has his Hakkenshi orb. This information that the Agents put themselves at great risk for holds much of value. For example, it has information on the other Hakkenshi and information about El Dorado after Xolotl had been summoned away from there.

 

Narration then focuses on the topic of El Dorado, the world of rich land surrounded by gold and Xolotl’s home world. It is a place where the sun is believed to continue to shine because it was given live sacrifices. Tezcatlipoca wished for El Dorado to continue on as it did, avoiding the end of the world. But there was someone who spoke up and suggested that the sacrifices stop.

 

This person was Tezcatlipoca’s friend and brother, Quetzalcoatl. Maybe he suggested this because their other brother Xolotl, who was selected to be the sacrifice, ran off and cried. Or maybe it was due to the influence of his lover Mayahuel when he descended upon the land as a human avatar.

 

In the end what happened after Xolotl had run away, a war more violent than anything that had happened to that point broke out between Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. The winner of that battle was the one who held sacrifice as just, Tezcatlipoca. Quetzalcoatl in turn was exiled from El Dorado.

 

Just before Quetzalcoatl was cast away though, he did something that surprised everyone. He took up his artifact and used it to erase every trace of himself from El Dorado. His power was the incarnation of the flame that would raze the earth, or else it was the incarnation of the drought that would parch the land.

 

The land his golden palace stood on turned to a wasteland, and all signs that he ever lived there was lost. His achievements, the gold offered to him, and everything, all gone. While Quetzalcoatl was removed from a world that would never change, Tezcatlipoca, the friend who once had the same face he did, still remembers him.

 

Back to the present, Tiger Man is yelling about how he and his group as the elite guards won’t regret giving their lives for each other and for glory. His underlings cheer, and Tiger Man says that even if they’re done in, Tezcatlipoca never will. He riles them up about how they’ll leave their fame and marks of their lives on history before leading them on to more cheers.

 

Narration talks about how Tezcatlipoca’s elite guards are known as the Black Spiders in the prison school. The idea behind that is that they move as fast and silent as spider legs and draw invaders into the spider’s web. The mobs launch a coordinated attack on Suzuka and Tetsuya, and after a few exchanges between each side Suzuka complains about how they might be trouble.

 

Suzuka and Tetsuya may have had things go for them while they were running around liberating their friends, but battling against the elite guards is pushing them back into a corner. Tetsuya suggests they make a break for it down another hallway, which she reluctantly agrees to.

 

Scene then shifts back to your end as Moritaka activates his NP, with narration describing how his artifact has the power to wash away impurities with water vapors. As he calls his attack, he fires off a blast of water. Yasuyori however counters by stomping with one of his feet as his own sword glows. You are surprised by the quake that starts up and wonder if this is his power before you somehow figure out that it isn’t.

 

Moritaka is shocked that the water his sword has gathered got dispersed, which narration says happened when Yasuyori’s sword glowed. Yasuyori takes advantage of Moritaka’s surprise and presses his attack. Every sumo stomp he does causes the place to shake and rattle harder, eventually breaking Moritaka’s guard so he can attack him directly. Moritaka gets blown away like some leaf.

 

You call out to Moritaka and body catch him. He thanks you, and Yasuyori declares that he’ll fulfill his given duty. Narration says that Yasuyori wasn’t ordered to win; he was ordered to be the most exemplary soldier of the prison school. The thing most respected at the school is self-sacrifice, and Yasuyori understands how to express that. It is the strength of someone who places no value on their own life, and this strength is infectious.

 

Elsewhere in the prison, mobs are commenting that the NCOs are fighting, which means they shouldn’t be hanging around there. They remind themselves that they swore to give themselves for the sake of their war buddies, so they rush off to join the fight.

 

Back down on the underground training room floor, mobs are yelling about not caring for their lives and saving their friends and charging. Shennong vents his annoyance in how everyone is so careless with their bodies as he fends off attacks, then fires sleep shots at the mobs. The wave goes down, but Shennong is winded and says there’s no end to them as the next wave is coming. The party is slowly getting pushed back by the relentless assault.

 

Yasuyori’s fierce attacks intensify as reinforcements come for his side. You yell out that things are looking bad for you and that you guys might get done in like this. Luckily Xolotl arrives to assist as he casts his NP, causing two trees to grow in between your side and Yasuyori’s. Both trees link together as if to prevent from being separated again, blocking the passage.

 

Xolotl runs up asking if you’re okay, initially referring to you as Quetzalcoatl before correcting to your name. You express surprise at him being there, so he yelps about how Hakumen ordered him to find you and that he’s finally done so.

 

When you ask Xolotl to explain, he starts talking about how Hakumen thought Xolotl’s memories and knowledge of Tezcatlipoca would help you, though he got caught up in other messes on his way over and mistaken for other things. He did his best though, and he asks if you think Hakumen will praise him. You say you’re happy he came, pat his head, and/or say they both did great.

 

Xolotl asks if you really think so and comments that he feels nostalgic. Anyways, Xolotl says the Agents also collected info on the Hakkenshi of Brotherhood and starts looking for Tadatomo’s scroll. While he’s doing so, narration glosses over him explaining to you how Yasuyori’s sword works. It has the power to release hidden energy and scatter it.

 

Moritaka reacts in understanding as he figures that’s how Yasuyori dispelled his power. Xolotl guesses that the earthquakes is probably Yasuyori’s artifact interfering with energy stored in the earth and releasing that. You ask if that means you can counter his ability if you cut off his control over the earth.

 

The mobs around attempt to break their way past the tree, though the wind protecting the trees stops them from having any effect. Yasuyori observes that the trees aren’t normal and that some sort of power protects them. Xolotl confirms this and tells them that what they’re doing won’t work, no matter how they hit or kick it.

 

Yasuyori says they don’t need to actually break through it, then goes back to stomping on the ground for his alternate strategy. This does shake leaves off the trees, but it also causes the walls and ceilings to start cracking. Xolotl yells and asks for him to stop since it’ll cause a collapse, and he ends up dropping the scroll from his hands. Someone else however picks it up.

 

Breke is curious as to what the scroll is while you are more concerned with trying to talk Yasuyori out of burying everyone alive. He says he doesn’t care and keeps going. Xolotl is shocked, and you try to ask what Yasuyori is thinking, if he’s trying to take everyone with him. Yasuyori confirms that, saying that the soldiers of the prison school won’t hesitate to give their lives. He says he’ll fight with no regards to his life and show his war friends how a respectable soldier lives.

 

The mobs around him however are less than thrilled with the idea of being buried alive and wonder if they’ll survive such a thing. Narration says they know that things don’t revert in an enclosed area so long as it stays closed off, so if no one comes looking they might be stuck buried underground. For once in a long time, they start fearing for their lives again after having resigned to being resurrected after a battle finishes.

 

Yasuyori calls to the mobs and says if they intend to run it has to be at that moment. Some take him up on that idea. Others keep watching with their breaths held. More cracks appear in the ceiling, and it seems like it’ll break in one more attack. You decide to ask Xolotl to deactivate his artifact. He protests, but you assure him it’ll be fine as you step forward.

 

Xolotl relents, and you and Moritaka step forward when the trees disappear. You ask Yasuyori to tell you why he’s going so far. He seems surprised by the question and has a thought of Ashigara, then claims it’s for his war friends in the prison school. You question this. Yasuyori says that if the repeating war won’t end, then all he wants is to die respectably as a warrior and soldier. He wants to give his life to the superior he chose to work for and swore to obey.

 

Moritaka speaks up and says that Yasuyori’s way of living as a warrior is splendid. You either express surprise and try to ask Moritaka about what he’s saying or just watch him in silence. Moritaka keeps talking about how the way of the warrior is familiar with death, and how Yasuyori is the picture of a true warrior. Or at least, this is what he would be saying if Moritaka was on his deathbed that time.

 

Yasuyori is confused by this mention of that time, and narration goes into Moritaka’s thoughts about the day Shino fell in battle and died. He rejoiced when he reached Tokyo, told them how wonderful the peace here was, then left. He saw a dream that the endless war would one day end. And he left so that the rest of them could continue on.

 

Moritaka made his decision then to move forward. Even if it was only one step away from the field that man fell at, he would move ahead. Even if a repeat came to Tokyo again and Shino showed himself before Moritaka again, he’d do so because it wouldn’t be the Shino who died in front of him. He himself was the one who was entrusted with that Shino’s dying wish.

 

Moritaka declares that you aren’t the only one who dreams of ending the endless war. Yasuyori scoffs at him, saying it’s big talk from someone who can’t do anything alone. Moritaka responds that they’ll end the prisoner’s endless nightmares now. He activates his power and charges, and you yell out your agreements with him and shout yourself as you run after him.

 

Xolotl calls out to you but is surprised by something he sees, which he elaborates the shine of Quetzalcoatl’s sword. Moritaka asks for his family and everyone to lend him strength, and the episode battle starts. Story continues afterwards.

 

Narration picks up with Yasuyori wondering what it is Tezcatlipoca really wants. He’s talked about how a sacrifice has to be something that can’t be taken back, so Yasuyori tries to make the ultimate sacrifice, something that can’t be redone. He’ll take his obedience to its end and show all his war friends what his end is like.

 

Everyone in the school (or at least the no name mobs and Tezcatlipoca) are all watching the battle. Yasuyori is about to make that final stomp to cave the ceiling in, and as you are still half-crippled Moritaka makes his attack faster than you can. Yasuyori recites his CS line as he casts his NP. The light of his sword forces Moritaka’s power to deactivate, but Moritaka responds by throwing his sword away and biting Yasuyori like an actual dog.

 

Yasuyori is prevented from carrying out his NP as the pain from the bite shocks him a bit, and he tries to shake and pull Moritaka off. Moritaka stubbornly stays latched on, so Yasuyori decides to just retry going for his NP again. You are unfortunately a step too far away from reaching him.

 

Just as Yasuyori is about to connect his stomp, Breke transforms into Tadatomo to cast his NP, and Yasuyori is shocked by the blast of fire being thrown at him since he heard from Tanetomo that Tadatomo isn’t supposed to be at the prison. Xolotl finally notices that he’s lost Tadatomo’s scroll and panics about that.

 

Yasuyori’s guard drops, and you take advantage of the moment to invoke your NP and swing your sword one-handed. While you swing at Yasuyori himself, what you cut is Yasuyori’s influence on the earth itself. Yasuyori’s delayed stomp finally completes, but nothing comes of it.

 

Some of the giants watching from elsewhere in the prison are relieved that Yasuyori couldn’t go through with collapsing the place. It takes a moment for one of them to realize what they’re saying, and they realize they can’t stop shaking and crying as they remember the fear of dying.

 

Yasuyori concedes, sensing with his own body that the mood of the people in the school has changed. He wonders if he’s shown the end of his obedience to Tezcatlipoca to everyone. In any case he did all he could. Since he’s lost, he asks you for help in committing seppuku. Moritaka calls out to you, and you can either shake your head at him, at Yasuyori, or go hug Yasuyori.

 

In C there’s an extra bit where Yasuyori reacts with shock before hearing your heartbeats. He comments on how warm you are and how hot your blood is. His hand shakes as he hugs you back, and he becomes conscious of his own heartbeats. He seems to cry as he calls your name.

 

In any case, narration describes how Yasuyori’s whole body cries about wanting to live. He thinks about how he’s different from from the people outside, that he doesn’t mind the taking and giving of lives. He thinks about how he had started to think that was all there was too him at some point. Yet there’s still more to him than that.

 

There is a part of Yasuyori that treasures his life. There is a part of him that was happy that his friends from the prison school escaped, glad that he could help them. Just as he has many friends who are themselves at Yoyogi, there’s so many sides of himself within himself. He no longer believes that he can only be at the prison school. Yasuyori addresses Moritaka with an honorific for the first time as he faces all of you, admitting he’s lost completely.

 

Back to Tezcatlipoca, he thanks Balor for the updates of the situation on his end. The other Warmongers are moving to expel the two of them. Tezcatlipoca says he’ll do as he sees fit and ends the call by wishing Balor luck with fulfilling his goals. Once that’s done he sits on some leather chair, commenting on how fast the other Warmongers are reacting to how things are going while calling them posers. That said, he says that he’s just finished completing his goal.

 

Tezcatlipoca smiles at a camera showing him you. He says the light you’ve unleashed is the light of Quetzalcoatl, the sword that cuts the earth. Now that you have that, he says it’s time to pick up from where things left off that day. He holds up his mirror, which begins to show some old memories once again.

 

Back at your end of things, Suzuka, Tetsuya, and Shirou all make it to the room you guys are in, and Shirou is relieved you are alright. Xolotl freaks out about the light your sword gave off and says it’s Quetzalcoatl’s power of cutting the earth. You try to ask Xolotl for further explanation when you are interrupted by something happening.

 

R-19 announces that he detects an explosive increase of memory transmissions through System El Dorado. Jacob asks if that means Tezcatlipoca is trying to drag everyone into a past warscape of Tokyo again, but Shennong realizes it isn’t. He says it’s of another world, and I’m guessing an overworld shift overtakes everything as you ask what’s going on in alarm.

 

Breke has reverted back to himself and asks what’s happening. Shirou recognizes it as the same as what’s happened in the old schoolhouse where memories are painting over reality to show you things. Next thing you know, you’re standing in the middle of nature, which narration says is a memory of what was El Dorado in the past.

 

Ashigara turns up trying to get his bearings before he notices Yasuyori. Yasuyori is shocked Ashigara is there, and Tezcatlipoca walks up to you all and compliments Yasuyori on his offering. He refers to Ashigara (I presume) as “that (thing?)” and says he can have him back as promised, then turns his attention to you. Tezcatlipoca happily says it’s finally time to continue from where things left off that day, that you both have finally returned to that battlefield. And on that note the episode ends.