“We are trapped in a labyrinth with no way out.”
With Naibak’s access-control device restored at last, they entered the underground research facility. It was unnervingly quiet.
Then the silence shattered as the facility’s highest-level security protocol came into force. Every light went out. From the darkness came a barrage of railgun fire—and the Vitors.
Yet in that inescapable darkness, someone opens the way…
Kamiel: I’m not one to give up, but I don’t think we can do this!
Damian: I hate to agree, but that seems to be where things are heading. I’ll freeze time here for a moment. While I do…
Leona: Lynn! The elevator—hurry!
Lynn: At once, Master.
— A conversation in the underground research facility, Ailis —
An early model from the Human Machina Project, Tityus retains far more of its human appearance than the three models that followed. Its eyes are completely concealed, leaving only the lower half of its face exposed, while a slender ring floats behind its head. The covered eyes remind some of a goddess bearing scales. Yet Tityus carries neither scales nor sword.
Tantalus represents the final stage of the Human Machina Project: a successful, complete conversion of a human into a Machina. The human outline remains, but metal has replaced every trace of flesh and muscle. Wing-like structures extend from its back, though they serve no role in flight. The master of the stars is said to have denied humanity the gift of wings. These are less wings than an imitation of something never permitted.
Built in the same workshop under the same project as Tantalus, Sisyphus forgoes flight in favor of walking. Layer upon layer of metal armor forms a wall taller than a person along one side of its body; on the other, a single double-edged weapon remains. Its face is the only human feature left in its upper body. That asymmetrical silhouette is no design flaw: one side was made to push, the other to cut.
Where Tantalus takes the skies and Sisyphus the ground, Ixion specializes in long-range combat. Layers of fused arms project from either side of its torso. They hold no weapons; each serves only to aim its own firing mechanism. Its lower body has abandoned the human form entirely, replaced by multiple legs that channel the recoil of sustained fire into the ground. Only its upper body retains traces of humanity—and even there, the skeleton lies exposed.
Meticulously crafted armor made from Enex Cores and an advanced material developed by Truman. A carefully applied gel coating provides exceptional resistance to impact.
Modules fitted to Enex Ethereal equipment. Each successive attunement raises their tier. Attunement and allocation are available through Rebecca.
Detecting unauthorized intruders, the research facility activates its highest-level security protocol. The lights go out, and Melissa, the facility’s administrator, begins bombarding friend and foe alike. Unless the protocol’s power supply is cut, no one will leave this floor alive.
Fleeing an attack, Prodi and Tione take refuge in the underground research facility. Failed experiments seeking revenge on the traitors converge on the same place as Katai and the Blood Navy, both intent on capturing the pair. To keep them out of anyone’s hands, every threat must be stopped.
“I’m human. Well, at least… that’s what I believe.”
After Montoro’s death, Truman could no longer create machines capable of wielding mana. Building on what he had learned by converting Kevin and Misa into machines, he set out to harness human mana directly. He abducted children from the island whose mana was pure and began a new series of experiments. The result was Prodi, whose magic enhances his body, and Tione, whose magic is released outward.
Unable to control their amplified powers, the two children attacked their creator the moment they awoke. Their rebellion failed. Truman subdued them and cast them together into the depths below.
Prodi survived by chance in the vast pit where discarded subjects were burned alive. Before long, he found Tione, who had fallen into the same abyss, and took her under his care…
“Make the impossible possible!
My father always said that—and I live by it!”
After bandits killed her parents, Kamiel was being taken away to be sold into slavery when a storm cast her ashore in Katai. She survived on menial work in the slums, a harsh life that hardened her once gentle nature. When a serious incident left her facing the loss of a hand, the Barkan family took her in as their adopted daughter.
Their love helped her open her heart and discover a gift for politics. Then, at fifteen, she lost her adoptive father to mysterious assassins. Learning they were the same bandits who had murdered her parents, she persuaded her family to deploy its private army, stormed their hideout, and wiped them out. By beheading the captives herself, she made her name known throughout Katai.
Chosen as the Barkan family’s sole heir, she became its head and rose to serve as Consul of Katai while still young. Though statecraft and mercenary contracts abroad brought her immense wealth, she continued building up her mercenary forces, determined that Katai’s people would never suffer as she had.
As the tide of history turned and war began to loom between Illier and Katai, she quietly set her preparations in motion…
One of the Machina hailed as Truman’s “masterpieces,” Servitor takes the form of an enormous fortress. Normally dormant, it awakens when the security protocol is activated. It remains stationary, serving as the command tower for the Vitors.
Rebecca: Activate the highest-level security protocol, Melissa.
Melissa: Understood. But you may also be placed in danger, Rebecca.
Rebecca: We don’t have time to worry about that!
Melissa: Understood. Activating the security protocol.
— Rebecca summons Servitor in the underground research facility, Ailis —
