Ch15 summary:

Against the Creator

After the events of ch14, Theresis goes to Assimilated Universe. Using the path Theresa created for him, he challenges the Creator of Originium, trying to sieze the authority over it. After climbing the tower built by Theresa, he faces the image of Ascalon, recorded inside Originium. She tells Theresis to leave this place at once. Theresis notices that this is not a real Ascalon and fights her. Image of Ascalon loses the battle. Theresis goes further, following the path of Theresa and Myriad Souls.

After swimming in the ocean of information for a while, he finds a sleeping figure that awakens once he approaches her.

Theresis immediately draws his sword and uses information flows created by Theresa, trying to attack that figure. Meanwhile, the figure tried to take control over his mind, but Amnannam that was cut off from Creator's authority saved him. The Twins' plan worked and Creator no longer had control over Sarkaz. Creator commended the Twins for their ingenuity and said she's pleasantly surprised by results of Oracle's plans and evolution of Terrans. Then she shows her concerns over loosing Amnannam — one of pieces of primal Originium and introduces herself as Priestess.

Theresis tries to fight her, saying that she and Originium will no longer control their destiny to which Priestess replies that Originium does not oppose Terrans as their civilization has roots in it. When discussing the nature of Originium, Priestess tells Theresis that Originium is in fact a language created so that life could come up with an answer to an ultimate question Priestess calls "He". She then says that there might be multiple answers formulated using this language. One of those answers was created by Doctor: he used Originium to guide the evolution of Terran species so that they could face or even surpass "Him". She then says that Teekaz were not originialy part of their plan, however they became the biggest pollution in Originium, so she commends the Twins for getting rid of it. That triggered Theresis and he started attacking Priestess. He notices that Priestess is still weak after her awakening so he delivers a final strike, trying to cut her connection to Originium. Priestess finds this fight worthless as it would consume too much energy and tries to back off. However Theresis doesn't care about it, he continues to pursue Priestess and strikes her again. His final strike achieved its goal and dispersed Priestess from Assimilated Universe. The ripples of that were heard by Sankta's Law, Witch King, and Friston the Preserver. Recently awakened Priestess began to fall back into her hibernation. In her last moments she saw Doctor and Ama-10 entering the underground throne room. She also saw a Cautus girl dying on the streets of Londinium, reaching her hand to the skies. Priestess unconsciously held her hand.

Inside the Throneroom

After achieving his goal, Theresis returns from Assimilated Universe. Rhodes Island were already fighting Manfred and remainings of KMC. Theresis has manifested the Amnannam, showing that his plan has succeeded. However the fight with Priestess had a big toll on his body and he had no powers to continue fighting. He tries to activate Amnannam but Ascalon strikes his heart and kills him. Theresis says that his and Theresa's mission is over and hands Amnannam over to Manfred and Ascalon. He tells them to protect the destiny of Sarkaz and tells Doctor that he had fought a God inside Assimilated Universe. Kal'tsit notices that and says that they have around 3 years to prepare for Priestess' reawakening. Ascalon says that Amnannam belongs to Kazdel and they should bring it there. Amiya and Doctor agree. Rhodes Island and Manfred leave the underground throneroom, leaving dying Theresis behind. In his final moments he hears Theresa's voice saying goodbye to him.

Land of Gods

At the same time, Cautus girl Priestess saved awakens in unknown place. Girl's name is Hilda and she's a Lateran missionary that came to Londinium as a part of humanitarian mission.

The place she awakened at was so unlike anything she'd seen before that she thought this is what afterlife looks like. She sees many bizzare creatures of many shapes and sizes and thinks that these are the Gods. One of these Gods approaches her and greets her in unknown language.

After noticing that Hilda doesn't understand him, "God" hugged Hilda's head, saying that he's analyzing her knowledge and uploading it to something called Tower of Ansai. After the procedure is complete, "God" continued communicating with Hilda in her language. Hilda asked him if he was a God to which he responded that there are no Gods and his name is Refractor. Hilda continued asking many questions to which Refractor had no answers. He then opened the windows and showed Hilda where they were.

He told that it was in fact not afterlife, but a graveyard. They were on board of a salvaging spaceship that followed the steps of dead civilizations trying to record their knowledge on a system called Tower of Ansai. (note: Ansai(安塞) is a disctrict in China). Refractor says that there are not God here, and the only law is the cycle of death and birth. He welcomes her to the Universe.
That left Hilda even more confused and she continues asking questions. Refracted said that her language can't describe the Universe and his language can't explain it. To communicate they need something called Deep Dive. Hilda follows Refractor to a room where a strange device is located.

This device boggled Hilda's mind, distorting her vision and consciousness. Refractor says that she must accept the resonance. After she calmed down, she heard many different voices saying the word "Destructions" in Ursine, Victorian, Leithanien and all the other languages of Terra. Surprisingly, she understood that even though she didn't know most of those languages. Moreover, she became able to speak and understand languages that were alien to Terrans, even the strange sign language of Refractor's race. Refractor explained to her that the Tower of Ansai is the greatest invention of sentient beings that allows to breach the gap between civilizations. Here people don't even need to use spoken language as Tower of Ansai allows them to exchange thoughts directly. Refractor then said that they should continue communicating in spoken language even though it's less effective.
Then Hilda finally asks Refractor where they are, Refractor explains to her that they are on board of a ship called "Rhodes Island" whose mission is to salvage the knowledge of civilizations destroyed by "Him" so that they could find the answer to ultimate question — "Destruction" before it reaches them.
That scared Hilda as she couldn't comprehence what could bring ruin to even the Gods themselves.
Then Refractor asked Hilda why she thinks of death so much. She told him that she was never afraid of dying so she doesn't really understand that herself. Refractor called her a pessimist. Hilda explained that she used to work at a mine in Rim Billiton. One day the mine collapsed and she had to survive there eating originium slugs. She said that seeing originium slugs thriving in such hostile conditions inspired her and gave her a will to live further. Refractor called Hilda an egoist for only caring about the lives of her own species, neglecting the concept of life itself. Hilda tries to argue that it's not the case. She then asked Refractor, how can the inhabitants of the spaceship coexist with each other and share the same values despite being so different. Then another alien noticed Hilda and approached her. Refractor said that he doesn't get along with this being and went away.

This alien intoduced herself as Yurei(幽灵, Japanese ghost) and said that she knows how to communicate with people simillar to Hilda because she learned it while travelling via consciousness a long time ago. Yurei was the last member of a race that used to feed by consuming the stars. Being the last member of her race, Yurei had to change her ways and find another way of consuming energy necessary for survival. Looking at the dead planet the spaceship was orbiting, Hilda asked Yurei if it made her reminiscent of her people. To which Yurei replied that everyone on this ship is optimist and that they've long accepted that "Destruction" is inevitable. Yurei and Hilda then discussed the nature of "Destruction". Yurei said that "Destruction" is not the end as life always finds the way and remainings of a dead civilization would nurture new ones. Hilda asked Yurei what exactly is that "Destruction" that can even bring ruin to Godlike creatures simillar to Yurei and Refractor. Yurei said they are in no mean Godlike and in the eyes of "Him" and the universe they are insignificant. Hilda asks Yurei where she can get more knowledge about "Destruction" and the Universe, to which Yurei replies that Hilda should meet the owner of this ship, a renown linguist called Priestess.

Back to Rhodes Island

Meanwhile 3 years since Londinium crisis has passed on Terra. Ursus student council, joined by Absinthe and Durnar were preparing for their mission to establish the first Rhodes Island branch office in Ursus. Meanwhile, A1 Reserve team was tasked with their new mission in Yan. Folinic informed Kal'tsit that she was going to Victoria to assist Heidi in creating intellegence network in Tara.

In the medical department, Warfarin noticed that many patients that came to Rhodes recently were showing strange symptoms: the more their oripathy progressed, the healthier they became and the less pain they felt from it. This new variant of oripathy was replacing some of the patients' organs with more efficient originum organs that made their condition more stable.
One of the patients told Warfarin about her dream: myriad of people were running away from a ray of white light. Once that light engulfed them, she found herself on a field made from white stone. In the center if that field stood a white stella made of stone.

Kal'tsit knew the true nature of this new oripathy and was preparing the contingency plans. She gave Closure the admin rights over PRTS and asked her to start disconnecting the ship from PRTS and switch to a new system. Closure called this new system ZOOT.

Amiya and Doctor proposed to use Amnannam as a new data-center and energy source for the landship, however Closure declined that offer. However, they decided to use Amnannam located in Kazdel for ultra-long-distance communication. For the past year, Kal'tsit ordered to station most of Rhodes personnel and patients to various branch offices. Closure asked Kal'tsit about that, to which Kal'tsit replied that operators can return to the landship once they finish switching PRTS.

During the meeting, Kal'tsit said that they should dismantle most of Rhodes Island and relocate its modules of the ship to different countries. Medical department alongside catastrophe warning system would be relocated to Aegir, as these contain many technologies that are not ready to be disclosed to countries of land. Logistics and Engineering departments would be relocated to Kazdel, Rhodes' weaponized mining module to Rim Billiton, supply hub to Siracusa and the Headquaters to Victoria.
The only ship area/module that would remain is the Abyss — the forbidden area of the ship where Kal'tsit awakened the Doctor and core of PRTS is located. To make sure PRTS doesn't fall in enemy's hands, they must turn off the PRTS core. The only people that would take part in that operation are the elite operators, Ascalon, Kal'tsit. Meanwhile, Doctor, Amiya and Closure would have to go elsewhere to activate a backup plan.

After the meeting, Kal'tsit and Doctor discuss the plan to infiltrate the Abyss. Doctor asks Kal'tsit if that is the place where Priestess lies dormant. Kal'tsit admits it. She then explains to Doctor that 3 years ago Theresis has awakened Priestess, but managed to cut her control of originium, buying them 3 years of time. That's why they must go into Abyss and destroy its energy source so that Priestess won't awaken again.

After some time Kal'tsit tries to access Civilight Eterna's database, searching the information about something called "The Bridge of Peace". However, Civilight Eterna refuses to show any info, saying that Kal'tsit is crossing the line. Kal'tsit says that they absolutely need that information as originium is evolving, to which Civilight Eterna proposes an alternative — the Deep Dive via Civilight Eterna. Unfortunately even Theresa couldn't dive that far inside CE. Their only option is to wait until Amiya becomes powerful enough to do that.

Escort Missions

During the mission to escort Medical department and catastrophe warning system of Rhodes Island to Aegir, Mechanist, Logos and Raidian encountered unknown enemy whose technology level exceeded any expectations. After investigating, elite operators came to a conclusion that enemies used Aegirian technologies.

During escort mission to transport mining modules to Rim Billiton, Mantra, Pith and A6 reserve operators were ambushed by the bandits. It turned out that someone had leaked the transport route to the 3rd parties. The same thing happens to elite operators in Kazdel.

Back on landship, the info about assaults reaches Doctor, Kal'tsit and Amiya. Amiya asks Kal'tsit if Aegir have betrayaed them, but Kal'tsit said that it's most likely not the case and something is taking the advantage of internal conflict of Aegir. Kal'tsit comes to a conclusion that traitor must be someone from Rhodes Island.

Amiya then talks to Kal'tsit about the cases of new Oripathy and says that she learned to dive deeper inside Civilight Eterna, just like Theresa did. She asked for permission to do so. Doctor proposed to go there together with Amiya. Kal'tsit called that a risky move but said that in the end it is their decision. Amiya and Doctor left Kal'tsit and descended inside Civilight Eterna.

Left alone, Kal'tsit remembers her past and says that even though she and Mon3tr are alien to this planet, they have finally found their home on Rhodes Island. She asks Mon3tr to protect Doctor and Amiya.

Deep Dive

Inside Civilight Eterna Amiya asks CEresa if she could bring Doctor along with her, to which CEresa agrees. CEresa says that as Doctor doesn't belong to Terran civilization, they might be able to access knowledge that Amiya couldn't access by herself.

They arrive to "Civilization Singularity" — a large looping corridor representing the cyclical nature of evolution of civilizations. Amiya asks CresaE if they've reached the border of knowledge, to which CEresa replied that it is a border of knowledge that is accessible to Terrans. They cannot go any further as it would be to dangerous to Terran life.

CEresa explains that Civilight Eterna's goal is to guide civilizations instead of just presenting them with knowledge.

CEresa then says that the knowledge is irreversable and the Crown can't skip the necessary steps and present civilizations with knowledge they are not ready for yet, as it would bring them destruction.

Amiya asks CEresa if this loop is the true form of Civilight Eterna. CEresa answers that it takes the shape most comprehensible to a species accessing it. The same way CE takes the form of a crown in the real world, the border of CE takes the shape of a loop.
CE started showing old memories of Doctor, including the egg-shape spaceship travelling between the stars. Amiya notices it and, excited, says that the story Doctor told her when she was young was real. Doctor says that he doesn't remember it so Amiya tells it again. Doctor realises that this was a story about him.
After that CEresa finally proposes a Deep Dive — the Civilization Singularity will open a breach containing all information inside Civilight Eterna. Then these information flows would flow to Amiya and her job will be to find and decode the information she needs. However, as Amiya is Terran she wouldn't be able to withstand all of it. That's why Doctor would need to protect her. If he fails, Amiya would die.

Doctor then sees Priestess telling him to go forth with Amiya and restore his memories.

Amiya begins building a bridge to the center of Civilization Singularity. CEresa uses her power to anchor Amiya and not let her fall. Amiya notices that Kal'tsit has left some data during her last visit, so she uses that data to complete the bridge and enter inside the singularity. Doctor asks Amiya to allow him to go together with her, but Amiya refuses. After touching the singularity, different images started showing inside her head. She saw the demonic form of Farchaser — the first King of Sarkaz, returning from Precursor ruins with black crown on his head. Suddenly, more and more information started flowing to Amiya. She saw a destroyed planet with a spaceship orbiting it.

Not being able to withstand the data flows, she asks Doctor for help. Some of the information started flowing through the Doctor, helping Amiya to parse and understand it.

In the end, using the data Kal'tsit left to them, Doctor and Amiya managed to find a file called "The Bridge of Peace". After decoding it, Amiya learned that this file belongs to someone named Priestess.

This file contained a video where two figures were standing on a bridge of Rhodes Island discussing something in unknown language. Doctor translated it to Amiya. Priestess and Oracle were discussing the design of PRTS and their past debates. During one of their debates, Oracle said that "You cannot describe the God with existing languages, as its very nature is to be incomprehensible". Priestess thought that it was a very interesting premise, so she said that if existing language can't describe the God, they should create their own language instead. She said that they were on a wrong track and they shouldn't have tried to describe "Him" based on laws of physics that already exist. She drew a rhombus and said that this shape can be a beginning of their new language. Priestess says that she won't be able to create a language that would be able to describe "Him" on her own, to which Oracle proposes to help her.

Doctor said that there's no more data in this file and so they continued diving even deeper inside singularity.

Using the data left by Kal'tsit and found inside "The Bridge of Peace", Doctor manages to locate another file marked by Kal'tsit. They find themselves on board of Rhodes Island that looks much different to their home.

There Doctor sees his past self talking to originium construct called Ama-10. He says Ama-10 to protect herself as survival is an instinct all life is born with. On the wall near Oracle and Ama-10 there are a lot of different formulas related to Originium. Oracle says that Originium research doesn't go as smoothly and the progress became slower, but that's fine because recently there was a breakthrough on Caerula Arbor project and Lau is going back to the spaceship. Ama-10 rejoiced. After Amiya looked at formulas written on the wall, Civilight Eterna started blocking her access to its database as this knowledge aren't available for Terrans yet. Doctor and Amiya tried to memorize as much formulas as possible before Civilight Eterna kicked them out. After leaving the Civilization Singularity, Doctor sees CEresa that thanks him for protecting Amiya. Civilight Eterna managed to protect the most important file inside its database: the image of a beam of light travelling through the universe, leaving only destruction behind. By the time this image was first recieved, the civilization that recieved it had already been destroyed by the beam.

After Doctor and Amiya returned to Rhodes Island, Kal'tsit took Doctor to examine his mind. She asked him some questions regarding Priestess. After examination, she came to a conclusion that Doctor is still on their side. Doctor asks Kal'tsit about Rhodes island, to which she answers that this ship is even more ancient than she is. This ship used to be a forward hub base for all operations and projects on Terra. Doctor asks Kal'tsit why does she trust him so much, to which she replies that it doesn't matter.

After Kal'tsit conducted the same examination on Amiya, they called a meeting. There Amiya and Doctor explained to Kal'tsit what they saw during their Deep Dive. Amiya wrote a formula and asked Kal'tsit about it. Kal'tsit explained that this formula described a model related to a project named "The Bridge of Peace". The purpose of that project was to merge all matter and life of material world into a single meta-reality. The formula Amiya had presented was describing a model for matter digitalization. Doctor said that it looks like Originium to which Kal'tsit replied that Originium is indeed used in this model as a medium to collect and edit information. She says that discovery of that model can help them make a breakthrough in oripathy research. Doctor says that they must decode this model as soon as possible and use it for Originium Arc — a secret project proposed by Logos and Mechanist after Londinium crisis. Originium Arc was a device that would pacify the active originium, slowing its assimilation rate. Doctor asked Kal'tsit how fast would they be able to complete this project with newfound model and Kal'tsit answered that it should take about 36 hours.

Abyss assault

While Rhodes Island was trying to complete Originium Arc, the PRTS system had been restarted and its administrator awakened. Suddenly, Friston-3 saw a dream about his past life. In that dream he saw his daughter wearing wedding dress and Kristen Wright in Hall of Stasis. After waking up, Friston-3 asked Closure about that dream and said to her that they can no longer use Originium as energy source for robots as it is changing them.
PRTS Administrator awakening also affected Popukar who started seeing the visions of "other" Rhodes Island and even saw Hilda talking to Yurei.

Suddenly mobile platforms and robots started attacking operators that were preparing for their mission in Abyss. Besides that, originium crystalls appeared from nowhere and covered most of the ship. Some operators reported that they encountered unkillable ghosts made of originium. Sharp and Stormeye noticed that landship started moving and was on collision course with Targan Primal Originium vein. Kal'tsit said that Priestess is already making her move and noticed that she should still be relatively weak, as she wouldn't use such inefficient measures as hacking the robots and destroying the ship. Kal'tsit ordered to start operation Abyss.

Elite operators fought the rogue machines and originium ghost, trying to regroup. Their communication had been completely cut off. With help of Closure, Raidian managed to deliver Kal'tsit's message and told everyone to gather in Abyss. Warfarin also recieved that message. She and the last patient still stationed on Rhodes Island were attacked by Originium ghosts. Warfarin noticed that ghosts don't attack this patient and think of her as of their own. Warfarin realises that this might be the key to understanding the new oripathy variant and asks patient for help.

Kal'tsit reached the Abyss and went to Doctor's sarcophagus. She ordered Mon3tr to protect the sarcophagus and entered inside it.
There she met Oracle, or to be exact, an AI based on Oracle's mind patterns. She asks Oracle why did he do this, to which Oracle replied that he knows her well enough to predict that she will come here once all hope is lost. Oracle asks Kal'tsit if she came here to find a refuge from "His" coming. Kal'tsit says that she needs his help to return control over PRTS. Oracle says that it would be extremely difficult as Ama-10 is prohibited from accessing PRTS database. However, he proposes a solution: to get the access Kal'tsit should stop being Ama-10. That would mean losing her eternal life and becoming new PRTS interface. Kal'tsit agrees to these conditions and Oracle grants her his final gift, freeing her from her mission.

Kal'tsit felt intence pain. She gained access to all of Precursor projects. She saw the Law of Laterano, Caerula Arbor, Shadow Moon and Aethergates. Then her connection with Mon3tr was completely severed and she stopped being Ama-10.

This allowed Kal'tsit to take control over PRTS and enter Priestess' sarcophagus to modify its structure.

Robots stopped attacking and the ship slowed down. Warfarin managed to upload the data regarding new oripathy variant and originium ghosts weaknesses but it was too late. Her patient has died from oripathy.

Amiya noticed that none of things PRTS doing is aimed at destroying Rhodes Island and killing its operators. She says Doctor that she doesn't think the person responsible for this wants to be their enemy and just tries to delay them. After Doctor and Amiya meet all the Elite Operators, they continued going deeper into the Abyss.

Rosmontis and Friston-3 face THRM-EX and other mobile platforms. Friston-3 is not affected by PRTS because he asked Closure to change his source of energy. Rosmontis says that she doesn't want to hurt the robots. Friston-3 connects to them and shows them the past of Trevor Friston. Inside the dream, Friston-3 explains to robots that PRTS has hacked them and offered to transfere their intellegence program to him. Robots ask Friston what happened, to which he replied that his old friend is about to wake up. All robots attend Friston's daughter's wedding. After rewriting everyone's code, Friston allows them to go back to their casings.

After fighting some more, elite operators, Doctor and Amiya have reached Doctor's sarcophagus. Kal'tsit and Mon3tr were waiting for them. Rhodes Island is ready to destroy the energy core.

The Graveyard of Civilizations

Back on spaceship, Hilda asked Refractor how to find Priestess. Refractor noticed that Hilda is sad and said her to ignore Yurei's words as her race's predator nature is to lure its prey and confuse it. He then says that Priestess is too busy with her research so she's probably travelling via consciousness to different research sites across the system. Hilda won't be able to find Priestess unless Priestess desires that. Refractor asks Hilda why does she want to see Priestess. Hilda replied that she has lots of questions and only ship's owner can answer them. Hilda met a lot of people on this ship and their kindness and optimism helped her to calm down. However she realised that there was a huge gap in knowledge and she could never call this ship her home. She missed Terra.

After some time Hilda fell asleep. When she woke up, she heard a familliar voice greeting her as a "new guest". Hilda had a feeling of deja vu. Everything that's happened to her onboard of this ship was repeating again. Every trace of her living here was gone. Every memory she had with ship's inhabitants was erased. Hilda wondered if she's dreaming, to which unknown voice replied that this is neither dream nor a reality. Hilda saw a woman with gentle smile reaching to her and holding her hand. She thought she saw a God.

Priestess has told Hilda the story of her people. They used to study the past and the future of their own civilization to try and communicate with the "God". But "He" didn't respond to them. Then they started observing other civilizations and their history. During their observation they learned that all life will inevitably meet its destruction. And so, their people concluded — this was the revelation given to them by God. They thought this revelation was the truth of the universe. They then started spreading this true using "optimism" — a philosophy saying that "He" awaits all. The motto of "optimism" was: "All life is doomed to perish. All we can do is carve out the truth before "He" claims us." Priestess asked Hilda if she agrees with this motto. Hilda thinks that Priestess does not agree with Yurei and others. Priestess responds that she respects ship's inhabitants but thinks most of them are narrow minded.

Hilda then asked where were they. Just a moment ago they were on board of a spaceship and now they're standing in front of a stella made of white stone. Priestess answered that this is the place where ripples made by all civilizations in the universe are recorded. Despite civilizations dying, their graveyards nourish young civilizations, bringing an eternal cycle of sentient life.

Hilda notices that the stella looks broken, like a broken tree stump. Priestess then tells her a story about Lumberjack cutting the branches sprouting from this broken tree stump, knowing nothing about Him.

Hilda says that Priestess is God, as she saved her and brought her to afterlife.

Priestess replied that she's a simple linguist and didn't really save Hilda.

It turns out Hilda did die, but physical death doesn't mean death in its truest sense as all information is recorded in originium.
Priestess then says that all things she saw on a spaceship were just recordings, ever-repeating flows of data Priestess saved to remind her of their past. However unlike Hilda these recordings are static and have no future.

Hilda asked Priestess why did she bring her to this place. Priestess replied that it was a coincidence. She was awakened and distracted by someone and happened to touch Hilda at the moment of her death. That upset Hilda and she asked Priestess if she's not special.
Priestess replied that she and Terrans are very special and she is fascinated by them. She commended how Terran civilization emerged from Originium and said that it's a wonderful thing. Hilda said that even though Originium has been a boon to their civilization, it has also brought them a lot of pain.

Priestess replied that it was a miscalculation and existence of Terrans was not planned. Hilda became terrified. She asked Priestess if she thinks all Terrans should die.
Priestess replies that Hilda misunderstood her and existence of Terran civilization is objective truth no one can deny. However she says that "everything is born by chance and everything is doomed by chance" is the most fundamental truth in this universe.

That made Hilda feel miserable. Laterano's teachings turned out to be false. Terra was not blessed by Gods.

After walking to the stella, Priestess decided to show Hilda the truth about "Him". She showed her a crowd admiring a ray of light travelling in the skies. Then, the light scattered through the planet’s dusty atmosphere, forming a rainbow front. Priestess showed Hilda many different civilizations facing this beam. Pious civilizations were praying to it, thinking their God has descended. Rational civilizations tried to study this beam. Millitarists tried attacking it with the most advanced weapons.

However, this gentle light embraced and accepted everyone. It marched onward along its path, indifferent to the woes of the creatures below.

Priestess then lead Hilda closer to that light. Its rainbow hue was within Hilda's reach.

Priestess told Hilda how those civilizations were trying to oppose it and predict its coming, but all of it was futile. "He" was indifferent to them. After light passed the planet, everything became quiet. When the star’s light fell upon the shattered world once more, only endless wreckage remained. Fragments of the broken planet were drifting into the void.

Hilda couldn't understand. What was this light? Where did it come from? Why did it come? Where did it leave?

Priestess said that all these are recorded fragments of the past civilizations. She then says that no one can be ready for His coming, even the wisest civilizations in the universe.

Hilda asked if Priestess' people had the same experience. She answered that her civilization experienced much more than can be stored and snown inside a simple fragment.

Hilda then saw many spaceships coming to the graveyard of civilization destroyed by "Him". Hilda asked who are they. Priestess answered that those are explorers, travelers, colonists and scavengers — people that make sure the concept of civilization survives.

Hilda asked if Terra was the same, to which Priestess replied that knowledge is irreversable and after learning the truth she'll never be able to fit in with other Terrans.

Hilda asked Priestess to allow her to stay here to gain knowledge and study civilizations of the past. Priestess showed her the key to her answers so she was hungry for knowledge. Priestess said that Hilda can do whatever she wants, she can even return to Terra once she thinks she found her answer.

Priestess then leaves Hilda, saying that they will meet again, but for now she has more urgent matters.

Reunion

After stepping into the core area of the Abyss, Doctor, Amiya and Kal'tsit found themselves on the top deck of Rhodes Island, surrounded by Originium dust.

Suddenly, catastrophe clouds appeared everywhere and entire deck got covered by originium. In the middle of the deck crystals grew faster than elsewhere.

Then catastrophe clouds got blown away and a white figure emerged on the deck.

Kal'tsit became completely Terrified.

Priestess has awakened.

Doctor remembered their past debates, her smiling at him and her staying by his side when he went to the sarcophagus.

Priestess rejoiced from meeting her again and said that although their reunion was different to what she expected, she doesn't mind that.

Originially they were meant to awaken after Originium had consumed the whole of Terra and they had full power over it. She then says that the day of their reunion should be sunny and made catastrophe clouds dissapear.

Doctor asked Priestess if she had a full control over Originium, but that question surprised her. She said that originium and its seeds of hope belong to both of them and as such they both have control over it. Doctor says that he doesn't remember anything. Priestess answers that it is unfortunate, however she believs that him losing his memories wouldn't change his nature. She then offers him to continue their work. Doctor instinctively wants to accept that proposal, but Kal'tsit holds his arm and stops him.

Priestess notices Kal'tsit and greets her. She said that even though Ama-10 changed her appearence, she still recognizes the creation she poured her very soul in. She then says that Kal'tsit seemed to forget her original purpose and asked what made her do that.

Kal'tsit replied that she's always followed her purpose.

That dissapointed Priestess and she asked Doctor how can she forgive this betrayal.

This confused Doctor so he asked what betrayal Priestess was talking about.

Priestess noticed that Kal'tsit has lifted all authority bans, so she asked Kal'tsit to tell Doctor everything she was hiding from him.

Kal'tsit said Priestess to go fuck herself.

Betrayal

Doctor asked Kal'tsit to explain what happened. Kal'tsit said that she didn't want to tell him about his past because she wanted him to make a judgemment after experiencing Terra for himself again. She explained that Originium was one answers ancient civilization created as a way to deal with "Him". After a long research, Oracle and Priestess have finally created it. Originium had two main purposes: Oracle wanted it to be a gift for future civilizations that could use their potential to oppose "Him". Meanwhile Priestess wanted Originium to assimilate the entirety of Terra and be a safe haven to life.

In the past, before going to their hibernation, Oracle and Priestess had their last debate. They both had the lynchpins implanted into their brains: devices used by their race to conduct debates and reinforce their minds and beliefs. That allowed Oracle and Priestess to feel each others' minds and understand each other perfectly. Despite that, they couldn't come to an agreement on how to use Originium. Priestess said that it doesn't matter and she doesn't want to impose her will at him. She proposed to wait until one of their answers appears naturally and said that she will wait until the day of their awakening.

Oracle awakened 10 thousand days after scientists entered their hibernation, long before their promised date. He decided to betray Priestess and use Originium to help Terran civilization evolve without waiting for the natural outcome. However after waking up, Oracle noticed that as a safety measure, Priestess altered the program of their lynchpins. The internal program of lynchpin would modify their debate if one of them awakened before their promised date, reforming their beliefs to fit those of person that was still asleep. As such, Oracle's mind started to change and accept Priestess' solution. Before going into hibernation again, Oracle gave Ama-10 new name: Kal'tsit and asked her to search for signs of sentient life, nurture it and protect Terran civilization. He said Kal'tsit to find herself and come up with her own answer.

Despite modified lynchpin, Theresa managed to bring Doctor's beliefs back by mindwiping him. Kal'tsit said she's glad she believed in Doctor's true nature. Doctor replied that he won't break his promise.

After hearing Kal'tsit out, Priestess said that she's surprised hearing what really happened but understands Doctor even though she can't agree with that. She asked Kal'tsit what's she planning to do now.

Kal'tsit summoned Mon3tr and ordered to kill Priestess.

Priestess said that she accepts this choice, to which Kal'tsit replied that she doesn't care and Priestess is worthless to her.

Fight against Priestess

While fighting, Priestess noticed that Kal'tsit has severed her connection to Ama-10 and asked if that was to kill her. Kal'tsit answered that it's impossible to kill Priestess as she can use originium to assimilate her consciousness. However, Theresa and Theresis' fit 3 years ago showed that Priestess' connection to originium can be severed. Using Theresa's research and knowledge from Civilight Eterna, Kal'tsit modified Priestess' sarcophagus, trapping her consciousness inside her physical body. So right now Priestess is just a human with very strong originium arts. Kal'tsit said that Priestess is not God and Terrans are not obliged to follow her will. She ordered Mon3tr to attack Priestess again. Doctor saw a moment of hesitation in Priestess but then she began to gather Originium to attack.

However she was too slow and Mon3tr managed to pin her down. Doctor saw the look of dread on her face. Priestess finally realised that right now she's mortal. Mon3tr's laser engulfed Priestess' figure. After the dust settled, only her white coat remained on ship's deck. Doctor asked if fight is over. Amiya confirmed that he can't feel her life or emotions anymore.

Then, suddenly, her white figure appeared again. Priestess commended Kal'tsit and said that her plan worked. They indeed can kill her there.

Priestess said that she had no intentions of debating with Kal'tsit as things she's talking about are illogical and insignificant. She accepts this outcome, however she must destroy Kal'tsit so that errors created by her don't cause even more obstacles for in the future. Then Priestess says it's a pity she must do that and destroys Kal'tsit.

That was so fast, Doctor and Amiya couldn't understand what happened. Doctor realised this cruel fact: the enemy they were fighting had a full control over Originium. She used Originium particles inside Kal'tsit body and assimilated her in a moment.

Kal'tsit has fulfilled her promise.

Immediately after Mon3tr lost its host, it turned in a cocoon made of black crystals. Priestess said Ama-10 was a creation she held the most proud in, so she didn't expect this outcome. Doctor says that her name is Kal'tsit to which Priestess replies that she doesn't see the point of renaming the same being several times. She approached Mon3tr's cocoon. Amiya started attacking her, trying to save Mon3tr. Priestess says that she means no harm to it and that Ama-10 is very important to her. Priestess noticed that Doctor is afraid of her and that confused her.

Priestess approached Doctor and Amiya, turning everything around them into Originium. Suddenly Doctor remembers the formula he and Amiya saw on board of Rhodes Island. He said to Amiya that they can use that model to block the data flows inside Originium. Amiya caster her spell using this model and Theresa's arts. Her spell shattered the Originium around them.

Not only that, but her spell was able to block Priestess' attacks and counterattack her.

Priestess says that the speed at which Originium assimilated Terra was much slower than she expected. Moreover, the actions of Kal'tsit and Theresa hindered her plans. However, even using technology developed by Priestess is Oracle it's impossible to change the course of their plan. Amiya used her spell again to try and weaken Priestess' control over Originium to buy them more time.

Doctor contacted Elite operators using Mantra arts and said that everyone must immediately evacuate.

Priestess notes that Doctor trusts Amiya completely and says that she regards her as hope. She said that eventually they all will walk the same path as they have the same goal. She tells Amiya that there's no reason for their conflict and that she can fulfill all of Amiya's wishes.

She then said Doctor that she still remembers their promise and that they're running out of time. Doctor said that Priestess has never lied to him, so he believes her. She then says that his kindness will only bring Terrans despair once "He" comes. She then offers Doctor and Amiya to answer their questions.
Meanwhile Amiya continues to cast her spell and weaken Priestess' powers. P
riestess asks Amiya if she wants to kill her. She then addresses the same question to Doctor.
Regardless of their answers, it was too late as Priestess managed to nullify Amiya's spell and went to Assimilated Universe.
Despite that, Amiya still managed to rescue Mon3tr's cocoon.

Fight against PRTS core

While Kal'tsit, Doctor and Amiya were fighting Priestess, Elite operators continued their mission in the Abyss. Soon after entering Priestess' sarcophagus they've noticed that Doctor, Kal'tsit and Amiya are not with them. Touched judged that it's more important to continue their mission that trying to find Doctor and the others.

Soon after, the PRTS self-defence system was activated.

PRTS said that all personnel with no admin rights should leave this place as soon as possible. Elite operators got ready for the fight. PRTS clearence protocol was activated.

Elite operators were fighting through hordes of originium ghost summoned by PRTS self-defence system. They had the appearence of the enemies Rhodes Island faced in the past as PRTS was collecting its data from battle records.

With the help of Raidian and Closure, Elite operators managed to locate PRTS core. After reaching it they saw a giant automata with an "eye" in shape of a rhombus.

Rosmontis and others were trying to fight it but their attacks weren't enough to destroy it. In fact, PRTS core was a special sarcophagus that also served as PRTS server and energy source. The only way for destroy it was to completely wipe all of its data. Mechanist said that they should copy all existing data before destroying it. And asked other Elite operators to buy him some time. In the end they managed to destroy PRTS core and regroup with Doctor and Amiya.

Aftermath

During this incident, 31 operators got serious injuries and 173 got slight injuries. Death toll is unknown, however at least 1 patient died.

Rhodes Island operators evacuated to a safe zone designated by Kal'tsit in advance. The landship itself was completely covered by Originium. They had lost Rhodes Island.

Doctor thinks about what happened. He finally realised the scale of threat they're facing. He says that he doesn't fully understand what Priestess was trying to tell them but he won't forgive her.

Doctor orders to reorganize Rhodes Island.

After some time Vina contacts him and says that they still have a nomadic platform bought by Kal'tsit.

Some time has passed, life returned to normal but everyone still can't get used to the fact that Kal'tsit is dead. The landship was restored much sooner than expected. Kal'tsit thourough planning as well as everyone's enthusiasm allowed them to achieve that miracle.

In Kal'tsit's abscence Closure became the representative of Rhodes Island. She contacted Aegir and told them about person named Priestess. They verified that some of records left by the ancient civilization mention the person named "Priestess". Aegir propose further cooperation between them and land countries and even propose the escort mission to bring medical department and catastrophe warning system back to the new landship.

Rhodes Island began notifying their partners on Terra of new originium threat.

Closure meets Warfarin and they discuss the future of Rhodes Island. Warfarin notes that new ship is much bigger than the previous one and that now it indeed feels like an "island". Warfarin warns Closure to not overwork and asks about Mon3tr's condition inside her forest.

New Ama-10

Doctor and Amiya left Mon3tr's cocoon in a forest nearby Kazdel. It was about time for Mon3tr to emerge. So they came to check up on its condition. However instead of a cocoon they found a glittering crystal tree with a halo above its branches. Doctor notices that it looks like a some kind of data storage device. After they approached the tree they saw a girl standing in the field.

It was reborn Mon3tr. She said that name "Kal'tsit" doesn't belong to her and that she will cherish the name given to her by Kal'tsit.

Mon3tr approaches Doctor and Amiya and they hand the dress prepared by Kal'tsit over to her. She thanks them. Doctor is confused, he can't believe that giant construct is now a little girl.

Amiya asked Mon3tr what was the last thing she remembered. Mon3tr answered that she remembers their fight against Priestess and Kal'tsit's death.

Mon3tr asks Amiya what happened after that. Amiya explained that the ship got destroyed but they rebuilt it. As for Priestess — no one knows what happened to her.

Mon3tr asks Amiya to make her a Rhodes Island operator, as she applied many times before, but Kal'tsit always came up with some kind of excuses. Doctor and Amiya welcome Mon3tr as a new Rhodes Island operator.

After returning to Rhodes Island, Warfarin examines Mon3tr and says that everything is fine. She then leaved Doctor, Amiya and Mon3tr alone.

Mon3tr says that Kal'tsit left them a message. After Kal'tsit became PRTS interface she managed to decipher its source code so that Rhodes Island could create a new PRTS system. She then shows Doctor and Amiya the message left by Kal'tsit.

In this message Kal'tsit says to Mon3tr the same words Oracle once said to her. She then says that she expected the destruction of Rhodes Island and asks Doctor to continue the mission of Rhodes Island. They must gather the operators located in offices throughout the Terra and get ready for the war.

Then Mon3tr said that Kal'tsit left some data that she doesn't completely understand but she thinks that with it they can bring Kal'tsit back.

Some time has passed. Warfarin is ready to present her new paper on new variant of Oripathy. She lists her patient that died during PRTS incident as one of co-authors. After the presentation, Doctor Amiya and Mon3tr talk to Warfarin. They say that they've found the soluton to bring Kal'tsit back. Despite Kal'tsit severing the connection from Ama-10, all of her neuron data is still stored inside Mon3tr. By using the joint mind network of Ama-10, the have the possibility to revive Kal'tsit. However, to do that they need a large life-support device with a lot of energy. In other words, they need a sarcophagus. The only Sarcophagus available to them at the moment is the one located in Chernobog. Rhodos' next destination is Ursus.

Bnuuy Messiah

Meanwhile, on board of Rhodes Island Hilda was living through the endless timeloop, asking spaceship inhabitants various questions and learning more about the universe. Despite all of her "friends" being just data fragments, she came to terms with that and tried to not get attached to them. Suddenly she found herself standing before stella once again. Priestess appeared before her.

She asked Hilda whether she found the answer to her question but Hilda shook her head. Hilda then asked Priestess where she was going, to which Priestess replied that her distination is Terra. She gave Hilda a choice: continue to acquire knowledge onboard of Rhodes Island or to go back to Terra. Priestess said that after returning to Terra she will become mortal once again and that after learning the truth of the universe she can no longer be considered Terran.

However, Hilda still chooses to go back.
She says that during her time on Rhodes Island she met a lot of wise aliens and learned a lot of things.
She wants to share this knowledge with other Terrans and tell them that death is not the end. Her wish is to convey to Terrans that even though death is certain, they do not have to live in fear of it or Oripathy. She then says that maybe she can find a way to eliminate their fear of oripathy.
Priestess asked if this is her wish.
Hilda shook her head.
Priestess smiled at that and took her back to Terra.

Suddenly Hilda found herself in Rim Billiton. There was a lot of miners suffering from acute oripathy nearby. One of the miners approached Hilda and asked if she has any inhibitors or a way to contact a mobile hospital.
Hilda asks miner to bring her to the infected and says that maybe she can help.
After coming to the mining sight she saw a big rift surrounded by giant originium crystals with a landship inside. Miner explained that they found this new vein and wanted to mine it as well as loot the abandoned landship. She said that this place was extremely weird and miners were catching acute oripathy from minor from slightest scratches.
Hilda says that she will attend to infected, but everyone else must leave the place.
After holding the infected miner's hand, he suddenly became healthy. Despite much of his body being covered in originium, he said that he doesn't feel any pain and called Hilda his saviour.

However, originium still was slowly growing on his body.
Hilda thought that maybe this is the way Priestess fulfilled her wish.
In the distance Ascalon was looking at her.

Law no more

Meanwhile, in the wastelands of Siracusa Oren has been tracking down Sarkaz mercenaries. After killing one of mercenaries he noticed that there was no difference in appearence between him and sarkaz he slain.

Epilogue

Back in sarcophagus of Rhodes Island Priestess was monitoring the Originium assimilation rate. She casted her sight on Kolossal Prime Vein and chooses it as her next target. Because of Ama-10 and sarkaz Twins meddling with Originium, its assimilation rate was much slower than expected. Moreover, the evolution of Terran civilization isn't fast enough for it to become an answer. She decides to speed up the project and confirms that she needs to use more radical means.

She says that despite their disagreements, their debate continues. She believes that she and Doctor will eventually walk on the same path.
However, they are running out of time.