Even for Erika, who believed so strongly in the innate goodness of humanity, accepting the words of Justus Freund was no easy feat.
To begin with, she doubted the man expected her to believe him in the slightest. If he did, he surely wouldn't have used such suspicious phrasing.
To trust him or to reject him—there was no evidence to suggest that either choice would lead to a favorable outcome. However, there was one clear path toward the best possible result: restraining Justus right here and now.
If they captured the mastermind, the incident might be halted, and if Harold were still alive, it would ensure that no further danger befell him.
Under normal circumstances, Erika would have sought a way to reach a compromise through negotiation or find a way to deepen their mutual understanding. But the situation was far too dire. She could not fathom how much more damage would be caused if Justus were allowed to remain free any longer.
"…I am sorry, but I cannot bring myself to believe you."
"I see. That is a shame."
Erika’s response was likely exactly what he had anticipated. His tone didn't sound disappointed in the least, and the lingering smile on his face seemed to mock her.
She kept her eyes locked on him, watching for any opening to catch him off guard and apprehend him. Rainer and Vincent were undoubtedly waiting for the same thing.
Three against one. With all three of them being highly skilled combatants, Erika and her companions held an overwhelming advantage. Yet, Justus showed no sign of being on guard. A man like him would fully understand the current situation and the intentions of his opponents.
If he remained this composed despite that, it meant—
"Ah, I haven't hidden anyone else here. There’s no need for such measures."
Justus spoke as if it were a trivial matter, making it clear that Erika's intentions were entirely transparent to him. Furthermore, it was Justus himself who had opened the door and invited them inside. He clearly possessed some guarantee that doing so posed no risk to him.
"Are you saying you could win against us!?" Rainer challenged.
"No. In a fight, I would likely be defeated without putting up any resistance."
"Huh…?"
At his blunt admission, even Rainer, who had been bristling with aggression, lost his momentum.
He would lose a fight, yet he required neither guards nor traps. To Rainer, Justus’s words must have sounded like absolute nonsense. Erika felt the same confusion.
"However, whether 'I' am captured or killed here is of little consequence to me."
"…Is the reason you can disregard your own life related to this plan of yours?" Erika asked.
"From that reaction, I take it Harold told you something? I haven't given him the details, but it seems my suspicions were correct—he knows about my plan."
"Yes, it was quite an intriguing story. Although, I cannot begin to fathom your true intentions, Dr. Freund."
"You say interesting things. Most humans cannot even correctly perceive their own emotions or desires; understanding the true intentions of another is impossible."
"You possess a more philosophical outlook than I expected."
"Does it not suit your taste? Philosophy has breathed life into the foundations of science since the beginning. Well then…"
The smile abruptly vanished from Justus’s face.
"That was just the right amount of idle chatter to stall for time, wouldn't you say?"
Two square pillars, roughly a meter tall, stood on either side of the pillar of light. The moment Justus touched one of them, a massive magic circle manifested beneath Erika and the others.
"This is—!?"
The magic circle flared with light. Before her mind could even process the danger, Erika’s instincts took over. She tried to leap outside the circle’s range, but she was a second too late.
Her vision was whited out in an instant. Curiously, there was no blinding glare, but losing her sight while her eyes were wide open was a fatal disadvantage in combat.
Was this magic or a trap? Regardless of the cause, an effect of this scale could be lethal. She braced herself for an impact.
"…?"
Several seconds passed, but nothing happened. Gradually, the light subsided.
When her vision returned, Erika realized she was standing in a place entirely different from before. Unlike the stone-hewn ruins they had been in, there were no visible seams between the walls and the floor.
The stark white space was reminiscent of the hall where they had fought the Clust Orb, though the color here was softer, lacking that mechanical glare. Erika lacked specialized knowledge of architecture, but she could feel that this space was alien—a place unlike anything she knew.
"Wh-what? Where the hell are we!?"
"Displacement… or rather, teleportation?" Vincent muttered. "I’ve never heard of such magic before…"
Fortunately, Rainer and Vincent were also unharmed. All three stood bewildered by the phenomenon, but they couldn't afford to remain stunned.
"Are you two alright? Are there any injuries or abnormalities?" Erika asked.
"Eh? No, I'm fine, but…"
"I am fine as well," Vincent replied.
"If we’re uninjured, does that mean we were truly just teleported somewhere?"
"Given the circumstances, that seems the most likely possibility."
"In that case, where are we?"
Rainer looked around, but the space was inorganic and void of life. There wasn't even a trace that anyone had ever been there. In its sterile coldness, it shared a certain atmosphere with Justus himself.
The only notable feature was a single square pillar, identical to the one Justus had touched, standing alone in the room. Thinking it might take them back, Erika reached out and touched it just as the doctor had.
"Nothing is happening…"
"Well, if Dr. Freund set this up, he likely made sure we couldn't return so easily," Vincent said.
It was a grim sort of confidence to have in their enemy, yet his words were undeniably logical.
If that was the case, they had no way of determining their location from within this room. Erika was about to suggest they head out into the hallway to get their bearings when it happened.
The entire room began to vibrate. The tremors grew steadily more violent until it was nearly impossible to remain standing.
"Whoa, what is it!? An earthquake!?"
"No, this isn't the way the earth shakes…!"
Erika dropped to one knee, unable to maintain her balance.
The vibrations were violent and irregular, accompanied by a roaring sound like something collapsing. It was enough to make her wonder if some great cataclysm was occurring. They crouched low and endured the chaos for several minutes before it finally subsided.
"…It’s stopped. But what on earth was that?"
"Let's leave this room for now," Erika urged. "We might be able to see what happened once we’re outside."
The room lacked a door, and a hallway was visible beyond the entrance. They stepped out and found themselves in a corridor that stretched so far they couldn't see the end. It was clear they were inside a structure of massive proportions.
"Oh, there's a window over there! Maybe we can see the outside!"
Rainer pointed to a circular window about a meter in diameter. He rushed to it ahead of the others and let out a cry of disbelief.
"Y-you’ve got to be kidding me! What is this!?"
Erika and Vincent hurried to the window. Upon peering out, they immediately understood the cause of his shock.
"We’re… flying…?"
Beyond the glass lay an endless expanse of blue, just like the view from an airship. Thick clouds drifted far below them; they were at a staggering altitude.
If the structure they were in was a vessel, its size was incomparable to any airship. The sheer reality of something this large flying was almost impossible to process.
More importantly, this made escape nearly impossible. Erika peered down, hoping to grasp their current location, just as the clouds below parted to reveal the land.
The sight that met her eyes left her breathless with horror.
"No way…"
Erika saw mountains that had been reduced to rubble and earth that had been torn asunder, spewing clouds of dust into the air.
Etched into the surface below was a gargantuan crater that dwarfed the remains of the Burston collapse.
◇
Deep within the inorganic corridors, a swordfight was unfolding. From the beginning, Harold held the absolute advantage.
Though the movements of the brainwashed Knight Order members were refined, they were nowhere near a level that could corner Harold. Furthermore, their coordination was abysmal; they were simply launching disjointed attacks one after another.
The most significant factor was that Cody remained by Justus’s side. If Cody were able to demonstrate his true skill even in this state, Harold would have been in for a grueling struggle.
(Justus should know that too… What is he after?)
Considering the possibility that Justus might launch a surprise attack despite his claim of not wanting to kill him, Harold maintained his vigilance toward the doctor and Cody even as he dealt with the other knights.
He parried an incoming blade and slammed the hilt of his sword hard into the man’s abdomen. Harold was repeating the same process he had used to break the brainwashing of Vincent in the cave and Ventus on the roof of the Harrison Mansion.
The principle remained a mystery, but it seemed that by channeling mana into this sword of Justus’s making and activating its ability, contacting a target would somehow trigger a mechanism that dispelled the brainwashing.
Of course, using the sword’s ability was directly linked to shaving away the user's life. He had to keep its use to a minimum. Because he had to fight with more precision than usual against opponents he outmatched, the battle was dragging on.
Still, only three knights remained, excluding Cody. As their numbers dwindled, the fight became easier to manage.
(But my body feels heavy…)
If he had been unconscious for two or three days, he obviously hadn't eaten. Combined with the exhaustion from fighting hordes of monsters in Burston before his capture, even Harold couldn't hide his fatigue. He could handle the remaining knights, but dealing with Cody as well would be a tall order.
He might have to rely on the sword's power to push through this.
(Is his goal to make me use the power of this sword?)
Since Justus had specifically forced him to fight with it, that seemed a reasonable assumption. However, Justus had claimed he didn't want to kill Harold as long as he was useful.
If so, making him use the sword’s life-draining ability was a contradiction.
Unless, as Harold hypothesized, using the sword’s power didn't mean death in the literal sense.
What if the sword wasn't absorbing the user's mana, but their Astral Body?
If that were the case, using the sword wouldn't result in immediate death. However, losing one's Astral Body was equivalent to losing one's ego and self-awareness. One might still be biologically alive, but they would no longer be truly living.
If this hypothesis were correct, he couldn't afford to use the sword lightly. Yet, despite the Astral Body being absorbed, he felt no abnormality in his consciousness for now. He knew exactly who he was and what he was trying to do. The more he pondered whether his theory was off the mark, the more his thoughts became mired in a loop.
"Tsk! What!?"
The entire room began to vibrate violently, cutting off his train of thought. Recognizing the nature of the tremors, Harold immediately realized the cause.
(Don't tell me the Aerial Fortress has begun to ascend? At this timing…!)
In the Original Story, the Aerial Fortress didn't take flight until the very end of the game. According to the updates El had been sending him regarding the party’s progress, Rainer and the others should still be near Travis. In the timeline, that meant they were only just entering the final act.
He didn't think he’d been unconscious for over a week, which meant the event had been triggered prematurely. Critically, it was happening while the Protagonist's Party was absent.
A sharp click of the tongue escaped his lips. Original Story Divergence was the development he feared most, and this was one of the worst-case scenarios.
He wanted to stop and think, but he had to settle the matter at hand first.
The sudden, massive tremors had naturally thrown the brainwashed knights off balance. They were already struggling to coordinate, and this upheaval created the ultimate opening.
Ignoring the unstable footing, Harold closed the distance in a single stride. The knights lacked the skill to compensate for the shaking ground and match Harold’s speed.
Three blunt impacts echoed in rapid succession as Harold struck the knights with the hilt of his sword.
A moment later, all three collapsed. The brainwashing of every knight except Cody should now be broken. However, Cody himself had already vanished from the room along with Justus.
Harold had caught it in his peripheral vision—almost the instant the shaking began, Cody had tucked Justus under his arm and retreated. It was a somewhat comical sight, but considering the physical limitations of the young Sara’s body and Justus’s own lack of combat prowess, it was the most efficient way to move.
His impulse was to give chase, but he forced himself to stay calm. If this was indeed the Aerial Fortress and it had achieved lift-off, Harold’s priorities had to shift. In the worst-case scenario, the chances of this story reaching a bad end—unlike the Original Story—had just increased exponentially.
"Honestly, he never makes anything easy…"