Commander: This place is downright unsettling…
(I couldn’t tell which part of Beelneith’s neursoul I was in.)
(But I can clearly feel an invisible pressure weighing down on me with every step I take, as heavy as a boulder, trying to crush my will.)
Commander: This… This must be what a Doll’s neursoul instability feels like. I never expected to experience it so viscerally.
Commander: If it’s just this, it shouldn't affect me much, but…
???: …Thank you…
Commander: Machli… no. You’re just my memory.
???: …Thank you… Robin…
(A familiar voice rang through the LVLII. It’s a sealed memory from my past, warm and yet painfully raw.)
Commander: I see… No wonder Miss Persica doubted this plan would succeed.
Commander: The closer I get to your core, the more you can dig out my weaknesses.
Commander: And you use these memories as your weapon.
(I close my eyes, trying to shut out the voices swirling around me.)
(But as soon as I shake off the first voice, a second one immediately follows.)
??: One day, we’ll reach peace with the Sanctifiers without sacrificing a single agent.
(It wasn’t a voice I remembered from some clear scene, but my instincts tell me this is also a past I failed to save, filling me with a faint sense of guilt.)
Commander: …
(I didn’t stop; I simply kept moving forward.)
(And the deeper I go, the more ambiguous the voices from my memories become.)
(Familiar. Unfamiliar. The Commander’s. The Professor’s. It all blends together, surging like a torrent, trying to consume my sanity.)
???: …God save the King, send him victorious, happy and glorious…
??: So this time, it’s my turn… &#*… to protect… &#¥ the Professor and the others…
Commander: …Shut up…
(The memories warped, breaking apart like tangled wires in my head. I could no longer stitch them back together.)
(Under the intense pressure, I finally stop, and an ominous purple surges towards me like a tide, pressing down on my chest.)
??: A hedgehog, or a fox. Which will you be?
??: I won’t defend what’s past. But your choice… must cross the boundary of fact.
??: Commander, do you know what happened to the Griffin Base the day after you said goodbye to us?
???: Honestly, I preferred sorting ammo and writing up reports... but there’s no place for me to do that anymore!
??: Earlier today, an unregistered and unauthorized Doll known as Dandelion abducted the Commander, who had made outstanding contributions in the Battle of Frankfurt.
Commander: You really know how to pick the things I’d rather not remember.
(I saw Colphne, roaring inside the Paradeus Base.)
(I heard Groza, speaking her last words in the satellite city as she sacrificed herself.)
(I remember the Elmo, torn to pieces under the Varjagers’s assault.)
(Everything I’ve experienced plays out before my eyes again like a revolving lantern, a relentless film, playing on a loop.)
???: Hurts, isn’t it? Are you sad?
Commander: Of course.
???: Separated from your Dolls, forced to pursue your dream alone… only to be crushed by reality, left to wander in exile in the Yellow Zone.
???: Even if your old comrades gather at your side once again, nothing will ever return to the way it was.
???: Those bonds… those sacrifices… trampled upon by others.
Commander: …You’re right.
???: In that case, wouldn't it be better to take Beelneith’s offer?
???: Here in Magrasea, nothing can stand in your way. Here is your sanctuary.
???: Here, you’ll never have to part with the Dolls you cherish. Upload your consciousness, and together you’ll live on in this paradise.
???: Power schemes, conspiracies, injustices… none of it can touch you here. It’s a perfect utopia that belongs only to you.
Commander: You want me to run away?
???: Isn’t that a better ending? Better than drowning in reality clutching your ideals?
???: Reality is too cruel. Magrasea is where you belong. [Expand Post] Commander: A sanctuary just for me, huh… It certainly sounds tempting.
Commander: But I will not choose the path you've laid out for me… Beelneith.
???: …Why? WHY?! You’ve realized it, haven’t you?! You’ve lost your memories as the Professor!
???: Reality hasn't just taken everything from you once! But twice!
???: Beaten down, trampled again and again… What are you even fighting for?
Commander: I don't have a clear answer right now… Perhaps I want to give some closure to everything that was lost in the past.
Commander: Or maybe I want to answer to the comrades still standing beside me. Or to those waiting for me in the future.
Commander: I will not become a hedgehog, nor will I become a fox, and I certainly will not run away. I’ll continue to move forward in reality, on my own will.
(I raise my weapon and aim it at the illusion before me.)
Commander: This is my choice, Beelneith. No matter how you try to tempt me, this will always be my choice!
(I pull the trigger. A scorching bullet shoots from the barrel, shattering the illusion before me.)
(And behind the illusion are Beelneith and her kin.)
Commander: Your tricks end here!