10 31 301 DialogEnable Luna It's your turn. No more cards in your hand?
11 32 301 Shome Ngh... Now that you have me, all my cards are useless anyway.
12 33 301 Gabriel You should have seen this day coming.
13 34 301 Shome Indeed, I have. But this is all worth it... to reach the truth that you hid.
14 35 301 Hearing Shome, Luna frowns slightly. Gabriel walks expressionlessly to Shome and lifts his head with one hand, then slams him heavily into the ground. The ground cracks from the great impact.
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16 37 301 RImgBg1Shake Shome —!
17 38 301 Shome's frame is clearly not built to withstand such a blow. The erratic sparks speak volumes of his coming end.
18 39 301 Luna You lack not only self-awareness, but also fear and awe of the unknown.
19 40 301 Luna raises her arm. Sanguine flashes skirt from her fingers to Shome's frame. He falls, convulsing violently on the ground. Though Shome's frame is crippled by Gabriel, he is forcibly held awake by Luna.
20 41 301 Shome Huff... huff... puff...
21 42 301 Shome I still remember...
22 43 301 Shome When I was young... my grandfather planted a cherry tree in the family courtyard for me...
23 44 301 Shome Everyone in my family... praised its beauty...
24 45 301 Gabriel What are you getting at?
25 46 301 Shome hangs his head, gasping and struggling to squeeze words out of his mouth. Ignoring Gabriel's question, he continues.
26 47 301 Shome But I've never found it beautiful... All that time, I only had one thing in my mind... I want to destroy it...
27 48 301 Shome I wanted to see the blossoms fall, pour over the courtyard... or even me, myself, scattering into pieces...
28 49 301 Shome Whatever the outcome, that, would be MY choice...
29 50 301 Shome Huff... What I did... is just the price to discover the truth.
30 51 301 Luna ...Oh? And what have you discovered?
31 52 301 Shome ...The essence of... the Ascension-Network.
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33 53 301 Shome It's essentially a communication protocol... Power is granted through a port, but the access requirements are strict... Those who connect to it and live through the constant filtering... become Ascendants...
34 54 301 Shome Ascendants can wield the power the Ascnet brings... But they are also endlessly tormented by it... Fail to endure the filtering, and they become reduced to a mindless Corrupted...
35 55 301 Luna We all know of this already. Is this the extent of your research?
36 56 301 Shome Then... do you know that not all Ascendants are filtered out by the Ascnet... or by you...?
37 57 301 Gabriel ?!
38 58 301 Luna ..."Lullaby".
39 59 301 Shome Indeed... That experiment birthed the first artificial Ascendant... One that lived through the initial filtering and... accessed the Ascension-Network...
40 60 301 Shome Though the continuous filtering of the Ascnet afterwards... dulled his strength, causing a gap between him... and the other, more, "natural" Ascendants...
41 61 301 Shome But he, is still... a true... Ascendant.
42 62 301 Shome ...The Ascendant—Shome.
43 63 301 Gabriel But that experiment, if I recall...
44 64 301 Gabriel whispers in Luna's ear. Luna nods, and Gabriel knows not to pry further. He removes his hat and holds it across his chest, then straightens to observe the Shome before him.
45 65 301 Shome I've worked long and hard... And now... I'm finally about to reproduce the experiment.
46 66 301 Shome Using this new configuration, combined with this park, more Ascendants can be created... And, they can all survive that accursed initial filtering with my help...
47 67 301 Shome You understand what an Ascendant horde entails, don't you, Luna?
48 68 301 Shome's face slowly twists into a smile as he speaks. Immersed in his speech, he does not realize the darkening of Luna's expression.
49 69 301 Shome The transformation of quantity into quality... Simple dialectical materialism... the mass-produced Ascendants will become the most powerful force on the earth. They will wipe out all that stands in their way!
50 70 301 Shome Which is why... we should work together, yes? We can work together! How about it?
51 71 301 Luna Enough.
52 72 301 Shome stretches out his hands in invitation, but Luna cuts him off midway.
53 73 301 Luna How foolish you are. The truth you've been after... never existed in the first place.
54 74 301 Shome Im... possible... I KNOW... I've received the gift of the network... unlike those Transcendants who have the power, but do not wield it.
55 75 301 Luna Pathetic.
56 76 301 Luna walks up to Shome and presses her hand against his forehead. Shome's expression changes from fear to excitement, then to confusion, fading into disbelief in the end. As if dumbfounded, he gawks at Luna.
57 77 301 Luna Do you see now? What that person did to you?
58 78 301 Shome That time... So that's what happened...? I see... then it all makes sense now...
59 79 301 Luna Everything has been a foolish dream of yours. Your experiments were castles in the sky. You've been pouring yourself into an abyss.
60 80 301 Luna Have you ever considered that you lived through the initial filtering, all because of this morbid obsession of yours?
61 81 301 Luna removes her hand from Shome's head and gives him a disdainful look.
62 82 301 Luna Artificial ascension. Ha. Nothing but the self-indulgence of a prancing clown.
63 83 301 1 AniZhuanchangBegin With that, Luna leaves the dying Shome in front of the giant shark statue. She turns and shifts her gaze at the people of Babylonia in the distance.
