"It was the night of Christmas Eve." "that thing looks really nasty up close." "Luseat of the Seventh Garden..." "Luseat of the Seventh Garden Rank/ Raid he looks just like the one from Heilos." "Let's finish it up quick and eat some chicken." "It won't be quick." "it should work out." "Shiroe?" "Fifty-fifty." "We're within twenty meters." "Be careful!" "Come on!" "Dodge Up {\3cH1A1F17}Guild Silver Sword" "Heal!" "Putting up barrier!" "I'm within range!" "Anchor Howl!" "raiders!" "Begin the attack!" "1)}The Changing Battlefield" "The Changing Battlefield." "focus on healing." "Group 2 will stay close." "buff attackers and assist Group 1's tanks!" "no!" "Be alert!" "Watch what Luseat is doing!" "1)\fs20}Party 1 Party 2 Party 3 Party 4" "Two insta-kills." "Conditions for critical unknown." "Strengthen forward buffs!" "count!" "four..." "While we revive them and heal the wounded whittle him down from long range." "nine... but..." "It's far more powerful than it was in Heilos." "too." "Twenty-three!" "Twenty-four!" "It's coming." "Get back!" "Get back!" "the motion is different." "It's a different skill!" "Each of his hits is so strong." "and you'll be killed instantly." "ninety." "It's coming." "Defend!" "Sacred Wall!" "Sanctuary!" "we counter!" "You got it!" "No insta-kills!" "Cool down is ninety seconds!" "Get me healed already!" "go back at him!" "I'm doing it!" "he's wide open." "That's our chance to attack!" "no more insta-kills." "That's impressive." "They pick things up quickly." "Increase our damage output!" "Stop wasting time." "Pick up the pace!" "Cross Slash!" "Round Windmill!" "Turning Swallow!" "Resonance Beat!" "We're keeping a good pace." "Wait!" "Your DPS is too high!" "You're generating too much aggro." "What's this?" "a root?" "It's coming from his feet." "I..." "I can't move!" "We're taking damage." "Attribute is Evil Poison!" "Damage Bl." "{\3cH1C2119}Bad Status {\3cH933B7D}Evil Poison Root {\3cH1A1F17}Guild Silver Sword" "Our attack speed and damage are dropping!" "This attack pattern didn't exist in Heilos." "but..." "Anchor Howl!" "He's ignoring me?" "Anchor Howl isn't working?" "An area-of-effect root that does minimal damage?" "Watch out." "AoE barrier!" "AoE heal!" "Stick it out!" "Crap." "eleven." "maintain the front lines." "fall back to raise and heal." "drop damage output to seventy percent." "Focus on recovering." "This is great." "This is what I call a raid!" "Lightning Straight!" "Wyvern Kick!" "That bastard... switch." "draw his attention!" "I'm on it!" "big guy!" "He's taken enough damage that he's changing modes?" "you had to do something in the dungeon to trigger it but I guess this one can do it whenever he wants." "I guess you'd call it "True White Knight Mode." "It's just getting started." "Stay focused." "Just like the recon team said the fragments of his armor turned into monsters." "Shadow Vanguard Rank/ Raid" "Look at them all." "What a pain." "The little ones are nothing." "We can take 'em." "pull the raid mobs." "concentrate attacks on Luseat!" "Whoa!" "What?" "Naotsugu-san." "Seriously?" "His HP is recovering!" "Luseat of the Seventh Garden Rank/ Raid" "I get it." "Luseat's HP recovers each time we defeat one of the Shadow Vanguard?" "he's returning to Black Knight Mode." "This guy needs to chill out." "ninety." "Wait!" "Wait!" "This thing's in the way!" "It doesn't matter if his HP recovers a little." "Hit him hard enough that the healing can't keep up." "Whittle him down!" "Again?" "Why?" "!" "This is a problem." "Luseat of the Seventh Garden Rank/ Raid" "There's no end to them." "We should all just gang up on the big one!" "We can't ignore the Shadow Vanguard." "They're strong enough to threaten the rear fighters!" "we'll lose the whole team." "The problem is the number of people." "The same number of Shadow Vanguard appear as the number of people that attacked Luseat in Black Knight Mode." "I see." "Which means..." "If we reduce our numbers by having only the high damagers attack and have everyone else focus on buffs" "we can keep the Shadow Vanguard down to ten or so." "You heard him!" "but don't defeat them!" "I know!" "I can't beat him." "I haven't forgiven him..." "I'll crush him." "And in front of everyone." "I'll smash in his pale face and make him shed tears of regret." "HP down to fifty percent or so." "we can do this." "I'll get a phantasm-class item on this raid polish my skills... you ass of an enchanter" "I'll... seventy—" "What?" "!" "That's..." "Taltaulgar of the Fourth Garden Rank/ Raid" "Taltaulgar?" "!" "It's Ibrahabra!" "That's impossible!" "Ibrahabra of the Third Garden Rank/ Raid" "This is Luseat's zone!" "Wha—" "This can't be..." "Three raid bosses..." "At the same time?" "Why?" "That isn't fair!" "One raid boss at a time." "That's the rule." "Fight fair and square." "You're kidding." "Was this designed to be impossible?" "We can't beat this... 1)\fs20}Party 1 Party 2 Party 3 Party 4" "Shiroe!" "Shiro!" "Look at you..." "You look so stupid." "This is my hometown?" "The place where I was born and raised?" "Ramen" "The sign..." "What was this place called?" "I see." "This is what it means to lose memories." "That's right." "I died." "There was nothing special about this town." "It wasn't exactly inconvenient but if you wanted anything specific you had to go into the city." "like you could find anywhere." "Shirogane" "That's me." "Both my parents worked and go out walking around at night." "When I was alone at home even being in bed was painful." "I was scared to go downtown." "So..." "I spent many nights on this bench." "When something was bothering me that was all I could do to help me forget." "Oh..." "That's why I've come here." "Because I failed again." "I was often told that I seemed mature for a child." "I was intelligent and self-controlled." "But because of that" "I ended up distancing myself from the other kids my age." "I made a lot of mistakes." "I mocked the kindness of others." "I smacked them away." "I ran away." "or how they felt." "but you can have a shower if you'd prefer." "Get to bed early." "I'll be home by the time you wake up." "Sorry about everything." "They were all small failures but ones that I couldn't fix." "I came here and cried." "I swore I'd never do it again but I always did." "you learn a lot... that you're lame." "you learn that a hundred times." "721)}It gets too painful to continue." "I see." "So this is what it is to die." "It means feeling like you want to die." "I've felt that many times." "The night I threw away the notebook that was so dear to me the night I forced myself to smile and say goodbye the night I bid goodbye to the library..." "I've felt it again and again." "Why did Demikas knock me away?" "Why did William accept my request?" "Why did Naotsugu follow me?" "I'm hiding something from the people I care about the people who believe in me." "There's a possibility that there are Minami spies in Akihabara." "You don't know where information might leak." "Exactly." "Minami isn't what I'm really worried about." "In this world there is something besides adventurers and People of the Land." "The third party that brought us here." "I've used my Round Table connections to try to find out who it might be." "I asked Roderic to investigate the flavor text." "I asked Soujirou to see if the monsters were changing." "I asked Michitaka about southern plants." "I asked Karashin to gather and organize Eastal folk literature." "it was without telling them what I was really after." "Everything I managed to get together gave the impression that there was no third party." "However..." "Proof of it appeared at the perfect time." "It seemed set up to make me believe it." "That's an excuse again." "I thought I was doing it to avoid worrying them but I'm still causing trouble for them." "Just like how they waited for me back then." "I'm sure everyone else..." "I was only pushing them all away." "I should have been more open with them." "too." "I doubted him and didn't tell him enough." "I should have told him what I was really after." "Yes." "That's right." "don't I?" "and return to everyone." "The Earth?" "Then this is..." "The Moon?" "Latin?" "I think." "This really is the Moon." "But why?" "Might it be the test server?" "is divided among thirteen servers." "unofficial server." "but I can't believe it's really..." "I didn't think it would be so quiet here." "Yeah." "Something disappeared... my lord?" "Akatsuki... isn't it?" "is it?" "No." "Everyone's thoughts..." "The memory fragments they offered up so they could rise up once more." "Akatsuki?" "I see." "So was I." "I died." "my lord?" "Yeah." "my lord." "I failed." "I was naïve." "I couldn't trust them enough." "I don't understand." "It isn't that I'm upset because I couldn't win." "You didn't do the best you could." "You didn't do what you needed to do." "you may have fallen." "have you?" "It's okay." "I know." "I know you're working hard." "too." "It's strange." "I didn't think I'd see you here." "my lord." "It is strange." "I'm going to try again." "I guess." "Everyone taught me." "My lord..." "I revived." "Feelings exposed." "What else is there?" "What else can I do?" "Nothing." "No matter what anyone else says no matter what they think" "I'll keep moving forward." "That's my decision." "There's no way back." "Again and again..." "Until I plant that flag on this land." "Next time:" "Guild Master." "Guild Master" "Rise up once more."