PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 1: Aftermath

(A/N: While this section is called Aftermath, there are actually three main things that get covered here: the actual Aftermath cutscenes, the rest of Kao’s memories, and the Genesis Weapon liberation storyline. While it’s never explicitly said that the Genesis Weapon gets liberated between Limina and Convergence, I’m placing it in this section because it just makes the most sense when the setting is established as “after the final battle”, which lines up with it being around when Aftermath happens.

Most of the Aftermath cutscenes are canonically set the day after the events of Tenebris, given that Aftermath is called “The Day After” in other regions, although you’ll see that some of them actually take place somewhere between a few days to a few weeks later. I want to add a disclaimer that each of them assumes that your class is the canon Adversary, since they’re written to be relative to the player’s experience, although there isn’t one canonical Adversary in the game.

Many of these cutscenes also received minor revamps during the KMS Spring 2024 update, which added some details and dialogue to better connect with the transition into the continental Grandis storyline. Most cutscenes just got additions, but Zero’s cutscene was heavily changed. If you want to see the original version, check out the pre-Destiny lore page.)

Explorer:
After the defeat of the Black Mage, Tess returned to meet Kyrin, who explained that Athena had told her about their family curse. Upon looking at her hand, Tess was relieved to see that the curse mark had vanished with the Black Mage’s death. As they tearfully reunited, Tess asked Kyrin to wait for him, as he had somewhere to be.

On Maple Island, Tess reunited with the Explorer, Rondo, and Olive. Just as they all wished that Sugar could reunite with them one last time, Sugar herself popped out of the Maple Tree. Sugar greeted the Explorer and told them that it had been a while since they had met in her current form. The others then decided to give Sugar and the Explorer some time to catch up.

Sugar told the Explorer that she had been watching them every step of their journey, and that she would always continue to do so. When the Explorer asked if they could meet again, Sugar told them that though the Black Mage had been defeated, the world was still in danger. She explained that it would be difficult for her to manifest her human form, to which the Explorer asked her what she meant. Sugar told them that all she could say was that a lot would change in the future, but that she would always be there. She then asked them to come visit her again one day under the Maple Tree.

Dual Blade:
(A/N: This is an exclusive scene for Dual Blades that plays after the regular Explorer cutscene.)

In the Secret Garden, Lady Syl commended the Dual Blade for his role in defeating the Black Mage and for bringing honor to the Dual Blades. The Dual Blade told her that he had merely fulfilled his duty, but Syl told him that he had done far more than that, having inspired her to move the Dual Blades out of the shadows. She admitted that she had even started visiting the Jazz Bar in Kerning City from time to time, having buried the hatchet with the Dark Lord. She then told the Dual Blade that she looked forward to hearing of his next victory.

Cannoneer and Explorer Pirates:
(A/N: This is an exclusive scene for Cannoneer and Explorer Pirates that plays after the regular Explorer cutscene.)

Aboard the Nautilus, the pirate met with Kyrin, who was surprised to find them standing quietly while waiting for her. She told them that their awed silence reminded her of her first sailing adventure, during which she and her crewmates had spent ages listening to their captain wax philosophical about the pirate life.

She added that being a pirate hadn’t always been as glamorous as it was in the present day, as technology had been much more rudimentary back then. However, she explained that she had been determined to be out on the open seas and recalled how she had felt true freedom the first time that she had stepped foot on the Nautilus. Because of that, she had vowed to do whatever it took to protect that freedom. With that, she decided to set sail for their next destination. (A/N: I love how you have no dialogue in this entire scene. For Cannoneers, Monkey cheers excitedly at the end, but that’s basically it.)

Pathfinder:
(A/N: This is an exclusive scene for Pathfinder. Before the Destiny update, it played after the original Explorer cutscene, as all Special Explorers, including Pathfinder, shared the same Explorer storyline from the RED patch in addition to their own special storyline. However, since Pathfinder doesn’t share the main Explorer storyline anymore, this is the only cutscene that plays for her.)

At the Bowman Instructional School, the Pathfinder reunited with Athena Pierce, who asked her pupil how she was doing, noting that she ought to take a break from finding new adventures after just coming back from a major war. After a pause, the Pathfinder asked Athena whether she remembered the day when they had parted ways, when Athena had warned her about rushing into danger merely to satisfy curiosity.

She explained that there had indeed been times when her curiosity had gotten her into trouble, though it was Athena’s other piece of advice that had allowed her to come so far – that her curiosity was also a beacon that could shine a light on new paths. Athena laughed and told the Pathfinder that she had never doubted her. She explained that initially, when the Pathfinder had first set out on her adventures, she had been worried that her curiosity could lead to trouble, though when she had seen the Pathfinder return and talk about the relic with bright and shining eyes, she had been reassured that the path of adventure that the Pathfinder walked would shine a new light.

The Pathfinder thanked Athena for her kind words, after which Athena asked her what had happened to her curse. The Pathfinder explained that her curse still remained, though she didn’t mind, as it only meant that her adventure was not yet over.

(A/N: This line confused me for a while because Pathfinder’s storyline was about lifting the curse on the relic. However, someone helped clarify that the curse itself still exists on the relic, it’s just that she’s lifted the effects of the curse on herself by becoming the weapon’s true owner. The curse itself is still in effect, with her skills branding her targets with the curse mark.)

She then vowed that she would continue finding her own path by going on an adventure that no one else had before. Athena smiled and told the Pathfinder that she didn’t need any more guidance, as she was Athena’s best student. She then wished her old pupil good luck on her journey.

A few days later, the Pathfinder returned to the ancient ruins of Partem, where Brie arrived to meet her, having learned about her arrival from Gorgonz. Brie greeted the Pathfinder and asked her about her latest adventures. She was awed to learn that the Pathfinder had defeated the Black Mage and saved the world, adding that she had always known that the Pathfinder would do amazing things.

She then told the Pathfinder that she would always remember the adventure that she had with the hero who defeated the Black Mage, adding that though she hadn’t done much during that adventure, it had been quite meaningful to her. She explained that she would think back on their time together and draw strength from the Pathfinder’s courage, taking the Pathfinder by surprise.

Realizing that she had started babbling again, Brie decided to leave the Pathfinder alone after telling her that she hoped to see her again. After being left alone, the Pathfinder was touched to know that her adventures had meant a lot to Brie, satisfied that her trip to Partem hadn’t been for nothing. With that, she decided to prepare for her next adventure in Grandis as she thought about all the undiscovered relics there. (A/N: It’s funny because finding relics of the Ancient Gods is exactly what we’re hoping to do in continental Grandis.)

Cygnus Knights:
In Ereve, Empress Cygnus addressed her Knights and thanked them all for their bravery. She then asked if they were willing to continue following her in the fight against evil, which garnered a rallying cry for Cygnus.

(A/N: Each branch of the Cygnus Knights gets exclusive dialogue here.

For Dawn Warriors, Mihile thanks them for protecting the pride of the Empress, to which the player tells them that it was Mihile’s guiding light that showed them the way. Mihile replies that he still remembers the day when they had met at the entrance exam, adding that a lot has changed since then. He then jokes that he could stay up all night talking about them, laughing that they should save some time for it.

For Blaze Wizards, Oz tells them that their passion was like a big, blazing fireball, to which the player notes that it’s all because they’re Oz’s student. Oz notes that they’re still quite humble, even after having come so far, and adds that she hopes that the flame’s protection will keep them safe.

For Wind Archers, Irena tells them that they had brought a breeze in the storm, to which the player tells her that it was all because her wind had cleared the way. Irena thanks the player and hopes that the wind of good fortune will surround them in the future.

For Night Walkers, Eckhart tells them that he’ll skip the greetings and tell them that they had exceeded his expectations, and that they had fought well. The player replies that Eckhart was giving them too much praise, as it was he who had opened the path of the Night Walker to them, to which Eckhart laughs and tells them that they’ve done good work.

For Thunder Breakers, Hawkeye tells them that he was impressed with their performance and laughs that it was all thanks to his training. The player agrees, noting that they’re still quite far behind when compared to him. Hawkeye laughs and tells them that to celebrate, he’ll come on an adventure with them.)

Neinheart personally thanked the Cygnus Knight for their dedication and asked if they would continue doing what was required for the sake of the Empress, to which the Knight told Neinheart that just as always, they would always trust and follow the Empress. Cygnus then thanked them for their service, addressing them as the sixth Chief Knight.

Soon after, the Knight traveled to Shinsoo’s refuge in Leafre, where Shinsoo greeted them and noted that their noble beliefs had grown even stronger, adding that their ancestors – the Noblesse – would be proud. She then asked them how they had felt while facing a god, to which the Knight replied that they had merely been keeping their oath to the Empress.

However, Shinsoo warned them that things were not yet over and reminded them of how she had once told them that sooner or later, they would have to make a difficult choice. The Knight was surprised, believing that the time of making that choice had already come to pass, though Shinsoo told them that she had a feeling otherwise.

She explained that the destiny of the world had begun to change long ago, and that there was no way for her to know what would happen next. She added that the only thing that was clear was that the balance of the world was still broken, for which she asked the Knight to continue working hard, as a new darkness would soon engulf both them and the Empress.

Mihile:
In Ereve, Empress Cygnus addressed her Knights and thanked them all for their bravery, noting that they had all played their parts admirably in their order of knights, which had been founded to face the Black Mage. She added that amongst them, Mihile had played the most important role in the most dangerous place, and that without him or the Cygnus Knights, Ereve would not bask in the warm sunlight that now fell upon them. She then asked if they were willing to continue following her and Mihile in the fight against evil, which garnered a rallying cry for them both.

Neinheart personally thanked Mihile for his dedication and asked if he would continue doing what was required for the sake of the Empress, to which Mihile told Neinheart that just as always, he would always trust and follow the Empress. Cygnus then thanked him for their service, addressing them as the eternal leader of the Cygnus Knights.

At the Conference Pavilion, Cygnus met with Mihile and noted that the centuries-long war had finally come to an end. Mihile told her that it was thanks to her leadership, but Cygnus replied that it was instead thanks to everyone's noble sacrifice. Mihile then told her that there was something that he had wanted to ask.

Mihile began reminiscing about how she had seen the light within him when they had first met many years ago. He asked Cygnus how she was so sure that he could become a Knight of Light when he himself had doubted it. Cygnus told him that she still remembered the day when they had first met, and how he hadn't hesitated to save her.

She explained that when he had taken her hand while saving her from the stray dogs, she had witnessed the brightest light that she had ever seen. She added that his bravery hadn’t just been with the stray dogs either, as he hadn't hesitated when a greater threat had loomed in the form of Atan. She reminded him of what she had said when he had defended her from Atan - that his warm heart which valued life was enough for him to become the guardian of Maple World.

Cygnus then asked him a question of her own, explaining that when they had first met each other, she hadn't been great either, as she had merely been a young and powerless girl in spite of having ascended the throne, and so she wondered why he had agreed to follow her. Mihile replied that his father, Chromile, had reminded him that serving the Empress was the reason why he had been able to awaken his light.

Mihile explained that the reason why he had been able to awaken and maintain his light was because he had the heart to protect her. He then swore that he would continue to do so until the day he died, and that he would follow only her into the future.

Resistance:
(A/N: This cutscene is common to all Resistance classes, including Xenon and the Demon.)

At the Secret Plaza, Claudine gave a speech to the entire Resistance, reminding them of everything that they had accomplished, from driving out the Black Wings to rebuilding the Edelstein Council. Declaring that true freedom had come at last, Claudine then presented the Resistance member, introducing them as one of the Resistance’s greatest heroes.

(A/N: Each Resistance class gets some exclusive dialogue here.

For Blasters, Elex proudly proclaims them as his pupil and jokes that it seems that they’re wrong when they say that a pupil resembles their master.

For Battle Mages, Brighton tells them that he had never thought that this day would come, but that he’s proud of them as their teacher.     

For Wild Hunters, Belle tells them that from the moment they had chosen the path of the Wild Hunter, she had known that they would do great things.

For Mechanics, a tearful Checky adamantly states that he isn’t crying, and that he’s just proud of them before asking why his mask is wet.

For Xenon, Claudine honors him as the last member of the M-Forcers, which is a reference to how he, Claudine, Belle, Elex, and Brighton would play as the M-Forcers when they were kids.

For the Demon, Claudine notes that the Demon had broken free from the Black Mage and joined the Resistance.)

After the assembly clapped for the Resistance member, Claudine told everyone that it was time to return to the city in order to celebrate, though the Resistance member and their job instructor stayed behind to talk for a moment.

(A/N: Each Resistance class gets some exclusive dialogue here.

For Blasters, Elex stops the player before laughing and asking where they’re going in such a hurry, noting that they should wait a moment in order to have a word with their teacher. Speaking as a member of the Resistance, Elex thanks the player and tells them that if it wasn’t for them, Edelstein would never have been freed. The player replies that it was all thanks to him, and that they wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t been their teacher. Elex laughs and tells them that he’s touched, to the point of being moved to tears. Despite not shedding any tears, Elex emphasizes that he had indeed shed some tears before telling them that they should head to the party.

For Battle Mages, Brighton stops them as they head out and tells them to hang back, as he’d get caught by Belle and wouldn’t get a chance to talk to them if they left now. He then tells the player that they’re quite talented and deserve his gratitude, as Edelstein would never have been freed if it wasn’t for them. The player replies that it was all thanks to him, and that they wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t been their teacher. Brighton laughs and jokingly asks them where the kid who had undertaken special training had gone, noting that they really had grown up before telling them that they should head to the party, as he could hear Belle calling his name.

For Wild Hunters, Belle stops the player and asks them why they looked so surprised, and whether they had planned to head off with everyone without even saying hello to her. Speaking as their old teacher, Belle thanks the player and tells them that if it wasn’t for them, Edelstein would never have been freed. The player replies that it was all thanks to her, and that they wouldn’t have been able to do it if she hadn’t been their teacher. Belle laughs and tells them that she’s touched that they still think of her as their teacher. She then tells them that no matter what anyone else says, they’re the best Wild Hunter in the Resistance, after which she tells them that they should head to the party.

For Mechanics, Checky stops the player and tells them to hang back for a bit, jokingly adding that the protagonist always arrives last. He then tells them that there’s no need to look so nervous, noting he’s not teaching a class before thanking them and adding that if it wasn’t for them, Edelstein would never have been freed. The player replies that it was all thanks to him, and that they wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t been their teacher. Checky begins tearing up and tells the player that he’d done well to become a mechanic instructor before insisting once again that he’s not crying, claiming that there’s simply dust underneath his mask. He then tells them that they should head to the party.

For the Demon, Mastema stops him and jokingly asks him whether he’s forgotten her after so long, to which the Demon smiles and tells her that he’s finally come back home. Mastema then tells the Demon that she had full faith that he’d be able to win before asking him how he feels about finally having taken his revenge on the Black Mage. The Demon admits that it still doesn’t feel real to him yet that he’d gone from being a Commander to a Resistance member to an Adversary. He notes that he’s been constantly changing into different people, and yet he still feels like there’s no where to return home to.

Upon hearing his words, Mastema asks him whether he’s forgotten about the people that he was with just moments ago, noting that the Resistance is where he would return home to, and that it was where she would be as well. The Demon laughs and agrees with her before thanking her for staying at his side, to which Mastema laughs that he’s finally recognizing her efforts, after which she suggests that they head to the party.

For Xenon, Claudine stops him and asks him whether he could stay and talk for a moment. Speaking not as the leader of the Resistance, but as an ordinary person, Claudine thanks Xenon and tells him that if it wasn’t for him, Edelstein would never have been freed. Xenon asks Claudine whether he really deserves her gratitude, as he still doesn’t remember her. Claudine replies that it’s fine, as she can remember enough for the both of them.

She reminds him that a long time ago, they had made a promise that she would give him back his dagger once Edelstein was freed, and that it was now time for her to keep that promise. Xenon thanks her and tells her that she and the people of Edelstein have become the most precious thing to him, and that he would make sure to remember it. Claudine then officially welcomes him back before suggesting that they head to the party.)

At the town square, all the people of Edelstein cheered as fireworks lit the sky over a free Edelstein. As they all celebrated, Brighton turned to Belle and noted that the invincible M-Forcers had finally achieved victory, alluding back to when they would play M-Forcers as children. He then added that he had never thought that he would have survived long enough to celebrate their victory with her.

Belle noted that when she looked back, they had all done some dangerous and often reckless things. Elsewhere, Elex and Checky wondered what Belle and Brighton were whispering about, with Checky laughing and asking whether they should whisper about something as well, causing Elex to glare at him.

Meanwhile, Claudine turned to the Resistance member and asked whether they could see the freedom that they had all created together, noting how they could finally leave their painful past behind and write their own history from now on. After a pause, Claudine admitted that she also wanted to liberate others from persecution if possible, explaining that there was another world where people’s freedom had been taken away just like Edelstein.

She then asked the Resistance member whether they would be willing to join her in the future, to which the Resistance member agreed. A pleased Claudine noted that she knew that they would before suggesting that they join the others in their crazy antics as they all celebrated their victory together.

Xenon:
(A/N: This is an exclusive scene for Xenon that takes place the morning after the Resistance cutscene.) 

The next morning, Xenon noticed a commotion happening in town and asked what was going on. From the townspeople, he learned that a robot had wandered over from the Scrapyard. He then ran into Bitterbot and recognized her from the fight against Black Heaven. Knowing that there were many lost robots at the Scrapyard, Xenon told her that he wanted to visit the Scrapyard one day in order to find Beryl.

Bitterbot told him that she could take him immediately, and though Xenon considered it, he told her that he was still needed in Edelstein. However, Xenon then thought back to the night before, when Claudine had given him back his dagger after Edelstein’s freedom, to which he then told Bitterbot that he would like to visit her once Edelstein had regained its stability. Bitterbot replied that she would continue waiting until everything had been taken care of, after which she headed back to the Scrapyard.

(A/N: I hope that Xenon does visit her one day and learns that she’s actually Beryl. It’s actually really sad that he’s the only class who won’t ever get his memories back, as Gelimer overwrote large portions of his memory with his soldier programming.)

Demon:
(A/N: This is an exclusive scene for the Demon that takes place a few days after the Resistance cutscene.) 

In southern Leafre, the Demon returned to his ruined family home with Mastema and felt many awful memories resurface. He went to Damien’s grave, where he recalled how a young Damien had once asked him if they could live a quiet life away from the war and all their troubles. At the time, he had believed that it was just a naive child’s wish, but he realized now that Damien had it right all along.

He spoke aloud to Damien that they should have lived away from it all, though he had realized it far too late. Though he had finally avenged Damien by helping defeat the Black Mage, he noted that there was nothing else to take revenge for and wondered what Damien would say if he could see him now, wondering aloud what he had to live for anymore.

Mastema then interrupted and told him that he did have a reason to keep fighting, telling the Demon that he should live for himself and for her. Reminding him that the world needed him, she urged him to fight for what he believed in on the side of good. The Demon wondered if he could really be happy fighting for what he believed in, to which Mastema told him that he could, and that she was looking forward to the rest of her days with him.

The Demon realized that Mastema was right, though he noted that there was still work to be done first. He told Mastema that though Damien was gone, the world that he had dreamed about was still possible to attain, and that he would do whatever it took to create the peaceful world without war that Damien had wanted. He then asked Mastema whether she would keep following him, to which she vowed that she would continue following him until the end. Silently, the Demon then addressed Damien and told his departed brother that he loved him.

Heroes of Maple:
After a large celebration party, Evan unexpectedly decided to visit Freud’s birthplace, where he found that the other Heroes were also there. Evan was surprised, as they had told him that they had ‘other stuff’ to do and had sent him off like a child. Aran laughed and explained that she had changed her mind, but that it had been worth the trip to see the baffled look on his face.

Mercedes told Aran not to make fun of Evan, reminding her that he had helped them save the world. Luminous noted that it appeared as though they all had the same ‘stuff’ to do. Just then, Phantom appeared in a flash and saw that they had beaten him, though he declared that the star of the show always appeared last.

Mercedes snapped that he was meant to be at another extravagant party, but Evan broke up the fight and told them that with Phantom, all the Heroes were there. As Phantom began smiling, Mercedes asked him what he was smiling about, to which he noted the irony of the grand Heroes who had defeated the Black Mage celebrating in an abandoned shack to mope about their long-lost companion.

Mercedes then suggested watching the moon and stars, which were visible from the broken roof. They wondered whether Freud had ever watched the sky as they had, but Phantom pointed out that there likely hadn’t been a hole in the roof while Freud had still lived there.

Aran mentioned that she recalled how Freud had many holes in his roof, and that he had been too lazy to fix them. (A/N: I love this little detail, as it pretty much confirms that Aran has finally gotten her memories back with the Black Mage’s death.) Shade countered that Freud wasn’t so much lazy as he was content with the feeling of a rundown cottage.

The Heroes then looked back fondly on Freud and his eccentric ways. Soon after, they all prepared to leave when Evan asked when they would see each other again. The Heroes reassured him that they were like family, and that they would see each other again at the next crisis, as they were Maple World’s greatest heroes. (A/N: Each of the Heroes has an individual cutscene that takes place some time after this.)

Aran:
In Rien, Aran arrived to visit Lilin, who was surprised to see her, since Aran was supposed to be at a party. Aran told Lilin that she’d already had her fill of fun and had figured that Lilin could use the company, as Lilin didn’t have a cat or any other pet. Lilin told Aran that she wasn’t a lonely, doddering old woman and told Aran that just because she had helped defeat the Black Mage, it didn’t mean that she could get lazy and fall out of shape, to which Aran laughed that she couldn’t let her gorgeously sculpted muscles go to waste.

Lilin asked if that meant that she had come to train, which Aran confirmed, adding that she wanted to thank Lilin as well, which took Lilin aback. Aran explained that even though everyone was giving her credit for defeating the Black Mage, her friends were the real reason why she had won, as their determination had given her the strength that she had needed.

She told Lilin that she had always been her biggest supporter and explained that she couldn’t have done any of it without her. Lilin was left speechless as she blinked back tears before telling Aran to get to training. Aran laughed and told Lilin not to pretend as though she wasn’t touched, as she could plainly see her tears. However, Lilin told Aran that she was mistaken, claiming that the wind had merely blown a snowflake on her face. Aran smiled before heading out to train alone. After Aran left, Lilin spoke aloud that she would always need Aran, who had appeared to save the day just when she had been about to give up hope. She then added that she was grateful for every day that she got to spend with Aran.

Soon after, Aran brought Maha to the snowy mountains, where they stopped at a grave marked by a polearm. Aran told Maha that the grave belonged to her grandfather, recalling how she had once told Maha about him. Maha noted that it wasn't like her to visit and wondered whether defeating the Black Mage had made her emotional.

Aran admitted that she had wanted to go with him and show him her grandfather's grave, noting how her grandfather had always told her to fight for what she believed in. She explained that because of his words, she had kept fighting to protect those she loved, and that she was grateful to Maha for being by her side all the while.

Maha replied that she had merely been fulfilling her promise to him by defeating the Black Mage and making him a famous weapon, and that he had merely been helping her keep that promise. Aran teased him for being so humble, to which Maha noted that it was only thanks to her being his master that they had been able to defeat a corrupted Transcendent.

He then asked Aran whether she now planned to become a wanderer again after defeating the Black Mage, to which Aran laughed that though it sounded great, she had a feeling that the fighting wasn't over, which meant that Maha would have a chance of becoming even more famous. At Maha's confusion, Aran explained that another fallen Transcendent had appeared, and that she wouldn't back down from him, which Maha agreed with.

Evan:
In Henesys, Evan returned back to the farm and greeted his family. His mother asked him where had been, explaining that she had steamed potatoes for him, though they had all gone cold by now. When Evan told them that he had participated in a major battle, his father jokingly asked if he fought a demon again, taking Evan aback until Mir pointed out that he had merely been teasing. Utah then appeared and asked Evan if he had gotten Angelic Buster’s signature, causing Evan to glare at him. (A/N: Utah asking him for Angelic Buster’s signature is one of the running jokes in his class-exclusive cutscenes. Fun fact, if you finish the Heliseum prequests, Edea will straight up give you Angelic Buster’s autograph. It’s worth like 100,000 mesos too.)

Back in Evan’s room, Mir noted that he could sense Evan’s feelings through their bond, noting how Evan, in the past, had been worried about living up to Freud’s reputation. Though he understood Evan’s feelings, he pointed out that Evan had defeated the Black Mage with his own power. He explained that even though Freud was a prodigious magician, Evan was good enough as well.

A surprised Evan asked Mir where his words were coming from, to which Mir replied that if Evan was suffering, then he was suffering too. Evan then admitted that he couldn’t have done it without Mir and all his other friends, causing Mir to laugh that Evan had matured. Evan also laughed and noted that while it had been a long journey for them, their adventure was not yet over, pointing out how there was a corrupted Transcendent in another world, and that the people of that world were suffering.

He noted that the two of them could become a beacon of hope for those people and inherit the will of Freud and Afrien, to which Mir agreed enthusiastically. Just then, Evan’s mother called him down for steamed potatoes. An unenthusiastic Mir told Evan that he was going for a walk, with an equally unenthusiastic Evan following suit and running after him.

Mercedes:
In Elluel, Mercedes was overjoyed to see that the Black Mage’s defeat meant that the curse on the elves had finally been broken. Mercedes welcomed her subjects back and began apologizing for her failure, though all the elves reassured her that she had done everything that she could to protect them. Athena Pierce then told Mercedes that with the defeat of the Black Mage, she would return the Mistelteinn back to its rightful owner. Mercedes decided to leave it on display in Elluel as a reminder to their people about all the challenges that they had faced and overcome together.

Athena then asked Mercedes whether their fight was really over, as she had an ominous feeling. Mercedes admitted that she shared Athena’s concerns, though she added that Elluel would no longer be silenced, and that even if another corrupted Transcendent appeared again, she would stop them as the ruler of elves. With that, Mercedes played Lucid’s old music box to start the celebrations, vowing that Elluel would forever be filled with the sounds of life and joy after centuries of silence.

Phantom:
Later the same evening that the Heroes had met at Freud’s house, Phantom decided to stop by Ereve. There, he watched as Neinheart found Cygnus wandering around the grounds alone. Neinheart asked Cygnus if she wasn’t enjoying the celebrations, but Cygnus told him that she was happier than she had been in a long time. However, the sacrifices and lives lost during the war were weighing heavily on her mind, and so she felt that it wasn’t right to celebrate.

At the same time, she knew that she couldn’t mourn their losses that night, and that she instead needed to put on a brave face for her people, who needed to celebrate. Neinheart smiled and acknowledged her wisdom, after which Cygnus told him that it was time to return to the party. As they left, Phantom noted that he was glad to see what a strong leader she had become, after which he returned to the Lumiere.

There, he met Gaston, who noted that Phantom was late. Phantom told him that he had an important stop to make and asked if the celebration preparations were ready. Gaston told Phantom that since he had been out for a while, everyone had gotten started without him. Phantom smiled and replied that he couldn’t fault them, as it had been a long time since they had reason to celebrate.

Gaston asked if the important stop he had made was in Ereve, as Phantom always had a ruffled expression after visiting. He then asked what Cygnus had told him, to which Phantom explained what he had witnessed, adding that he hadn’t spoken with her, claiming it hadn’t been the right time. Phantom then looked up at the moon and asked Aria if she was still up there watching over him. As petals fluttered around him, Phantom voiced aloud that he like to believe that she was, and if so, he thanked her. With that, he ordered Gaston to set sail for the new world with a corrupted Transcendent, noting that their work was not yet over.

Luminous:
At Lania’s house, Vieren told Luminous that despite having defeated the Black Mage and returning safely, he still seemed unhappy. He then asked what was the matter, to which Luminous reassured him that he was fine, and that he was certain that peace would last for a while. However, he explained that he was having mixed feelings about the Black Mage, noting that despite everything, the Black Mage had still been his other half.

Vieren asked Luminous how he had felt every time he had faced the Black Mage, to which Luminous replied that he had known that the Black Mage needed to be eliminated at all costs, and that it had reminded him of all that he had lost. When Vieren continued pressing, Luminous finally admitted that it had made him disgusted with himself for having come from the same darkness, adding that he couldn’t help but blame himself for everything that the Black Mage had done.

Vieren reminded him that the Black Mage was gone, and that it was time for him to fully accept himself at last. Luminous asked about the darkness still inside him, but Vieren told him that there was darkness in everyone, and that it was part of all of them. He then suggested that Luminous face another great darkness, rather than looking to his own. Luminous wondered whether he deserved to do so, to which Vieren assured him that he did, noting that he still had a lot to protect.

Just then, Lania arrived and told Luminous how glad she was to see him. Vieren pointed out how Luminous’ friends accepted him as he was and urged him to do the same. Luminous then thanked Lania for how she had always shown him such kindness and told her that knowing that she was awaiting him was what kept him going. He also wished Vieren all the best for the future, adding that Aurora’s will would begin anew from now on. He vowed that even if another corrupted Transcendent appeared again, he would stand against the darkness and illuminate the world.

Vieren agreed, though he told Luminous to simply enjoy the peace of coming back home safe and sound. Addressing him as the Starchild, he told Luminous that they would brighten the world once again together. In his mind, Luminous thought about his old friend, Lucia, noting to her that everything was finally over at last.

Shade:
After everyone left Freud’s house, Shade was left alone. He realized that the others likely had loved ones to see and considered finding some celebration to go to himself, though he decided against the idea, as Freud’s house was where he felt most at home. He recalled how he had believed that he would fade away after the Black Mage was defeated and how, for a long time, he hadn’t minded the idea, since no one would ever remember him. However, he found that he was glad that he hadn’t disappeared before speaking aloud to Freud and telling him that he’ll now go to the person who’s waiting for him.

Shade then went to Vulpes, where he found Moonbeam praying at the Fox Tree. Though he was wary of whether Moonbeam had forgotten him, he was pleased to see that she remembered him from his last visit, adding that it was the first time the Fox God had granted her wish, despite praying for a long time. When Shade asked her what she had wished for, Moonbeam explained that when she had been young, she had wished for her parents to be brought back to life, and that when she had grown up, she had wished for her best friend to come back. However, she added that from the moment they had met, she had wished for him to come see her.

Shade replied that the Fox God had now granted two of her wishes, to which Moonbeam asked him whether he could now be with the one that he missed the most, and whether he would tell her his name like he had promised before. Shade replied that though he couldn’t stay with that person, as he had more work to do, he would nevertheless tell her a different name. Moonbeam excitedly introduced herself first, with Shade introducing himself by a different name.

Though Moonbeam realized that Shade would soon leave, he nevertheless promised to come see her again and carved a mark of their promise upon the Fox Tree. As he began to leave, the Fox God appeared before him and asked why he was leaving, as he had told her that he would come live with the Anima once the Black Mage was defeated. However, Shade replied that he still had many more people to protect, as the ones who had shared their fate with him to protect Maple World were his family, just as the Anima were. The Fox God began asking him about Moonbeam, noting that she would still miss him, causing her voice to squeak as her fervor accidentally caused her to speak in her voice as Sino.

Quickly making her voice deeper in embarrassment, the Fox God noted that Moonbeam was also someone that he wanted to protect, to which Shade noted that the guardian spirit which the Fox God had bestowed upon her would keep her safe as he kept moving ahead. The Fox God asked him whether he meant to say that the fight was not yet over, which Shade confirmed, adding that now that Maple World was safe, it was time to protect Grandis. After a pause, the Fox God told him that she would honor his will. She explained that it was her destiny to protect the foxes, which meant that their paths would have to diverge, though she invited him to seek her out whenever he needed her help.

Kaiser and Angelic Buster:
(A/N: Kaiser and Angelic Buster’s Aftermath cutscenes were changed in a very minor way after Angelic Buster’s revamp. Instead of it taking place at Eurenth’s hut, the cutscene now takes place in Pantheon. Additionally, all of Eurenth’s lines were given to Eskalade instead.)

In Pantheon, Angelic Buster ran into Kaiser, who told her that he was just leaving, as he had been looking for Tear and believed that he had just missed her. Upon hearing this, Angelic Buster internally cursed herself for not having come sooner. Kaiser then asked her what she was doing there, to which Angelic Buster lied and explained that she was looking for Tear as well, since she hadn’t seen her in a while.

(A/N: During the events of Black Heaven, Kaiser mistakenly concluded that the similarities between Tear and Angelic Buster meant that they’re secretly friends, which is why Angelic Buster makes up a story about not having seen Tear in a while, as it’s part of her cover story. At this point, the only reason why Angelic Buster isn’t telling him about her identity is because she doesn’t want him to worry about her, but it feels like the writers are just dragging it out for no reason, especially since she told Velderoth in her revamped story as well.)

Kaiser told her that Tear was hard to track down, and that he worried about her. Angelic Buster told him not to, as Tear was doing great. When Kaiser pointed out that she had just said that she hadn’t met Tear in a while, Angelic Buster brushed it off by saying that even two days felt like an eternity for close friends.

Kaiser then decided to head out and asked her to say hello to Tear for him. As he began to leave, Angelic Buster felt bad and called after him, making up a story that Tear had asked her to tell him something in the hopes that it would get him to stay. Thinking of an excuse to keep talking, she told him that Tear had wanted to thank him for the sparkling rock at the Heliseum Hideout.

Kaiser asked if she had said anything else, to which Angelic Buster replied that Tear had been touched by the gesture. He asked if she had seemed happy, but he appeared even more sad after Angelic Buster told him that she was. Kaiser explained that it used to be the case that Tear would start crying after he would give her gifts and added that he loved the way that she smiled when she was teary-eyed with joy. He then told Angelic Buster that she was right about him not having to worry, as it sounded like Tear was doing fine on her own, and that she didn’t need him anymore.

(A/N: Kaiser and Angelic Buster cutscenes are usually funny, what is this flood of emotions that they threw at us?)

As he turned to leave, Angelic Buster called after him again and told him to keep waiting, as Tear might come by again. However, Kaiser told her that he didn’t need to, as it was enough for him to know that Tear was okay. (A/N: The remainder of this cutscene is exclusive to Angelic Buster.)

After he left, Angelic Buster spoke with Eskalade, who noted that she seemed to have a lot on her mind. Angelic Buster told Eskalade that talking with Kaiser had reminded her of how weak she used to be, and how she would always cry over everything. However, she added that Kaiser hadn’t seemed to mind it, and that he had once even given her good advice when she had been really upset, which was that no matter how dark and stormy it might get, the sun always came to chase the clouds away.

Eskalade then asked her what she was going to do next, since she had now become a real hero. She replied that she was going to make her own celebratory rainbow at the end of a centuries-long storm in order to boost the people’s spirits as Angelic Buster.

Kaiser:
(A/N: This is an exclusive cutscene for Kaiser that takes place several days after the events of the paragraph above.)

In the Great Temple of Pantheon, Kyle met with the Former Kaiser, who asked him why he was visiting, rather than celebrating. Kyle told him that he was afraid that he lacked the conviction needed to be a hero to his people and asked if the Former Kaiser believed that he had what it took to be a great Kaiser.

The Former Kaiser asked why he doubted himself, to which Kyle explained that though they had defeated the Black Mage, they had lost many lives in the process, and he felt that if he had been stronger, he could have saved them. He noted that it wasn’t just Maple World where he had failed, as even in Grandis, despite the Nova retaking Heliseum, Magnus had failed and disappeared with the Outrigger. He then added that if he had been stronger, he wouldn’t have failed, and that he wondered whether he was really cut out to be a guardian.

As the Former Kaiser remained silent in thought, Kyle explained that with Grandis being threatened just like Maple World, and that he would be responsible for its destruction if he wasn’t strong enough like him. The Former Kaiser then replied that Kyle had more respect for him than he deserved. He pointed out his own failure to save Heliseum when Darmoor's forces had attacked, as he had arrogantly believed that he could protect the Nova himself, and that the cost of his hubris had been abandoning his people through sacrificing himself.

However, he pointed out that Kyle’s actions in defeating the Black Mage had saved countless lives. Kyle told him that many others had sacrificed their lives to help him do so, but the Former Kaiser explained that that was the difference between them, as Kyle was able to rally the people to his cause and have them fight alongside him with dedication through their faith. Kyle argued that it was the precise reason why so many had lost their lives, but the Former Kaiser replied that Kyle had taught them to believe in themselves.

He told Kyle that his responsibilities were more than just protecting innocent lives, and that above all, he needed to protect their spirits and inspire them to fight any evil that threatened their world. He explained that the Nova had remained strong thanks to the leadership of past Kaisers, and Kyle slowly began to understand his point.

Kyle recalled how Tear used to be scared and helpless until she had grown stronger and had become capable of standing up for herself. Though he had initially been sad that Tear didn’t need him anymore, he realized that she ultimately needed to believe in herself in order to be happy. The Former Kaiser was pleased to see that Kyle had finally understood, after which he reassured Kyle that he didn’t need to worry about the Outrigger, as a traitor like Magnus wouldn’t be able to claim its power.

Kyle asked whether it was because Magnus went against the Ancient Gods, which the Former Kaiser confirmed, explaining that the Ancient Gods of the Nova had placed their will to protect the Nova within the Outrigger. He revealed that long ago, the Nova had been protected by the ancient dragon gods, though – in the pursuit of power – one of the gods and his Nova followers had fallen to evil, for which the remaining dragon gods had created the Outrigger to protect the other Nova. (A/N: The Ancient God that the former Kaiser is talking about is Satiras the Devil Dragon, who gave the power of Malice to his followers, the Black Nova.)

The Former Kaiser explained that no matter how much power Magnus had amassed, he was still just a mortal, and therefore unable to defy the will of an Ancient God. However, he noted that it wasn’t impossible, as Gerand Darmoor – a Transcendent – may know of a way to go against the will of the gods. He added that if Magnus was still alive, he would undoubtedly be at Darmoor’s side, for which he asked Kyle whether his path was clear. Kyle then vowed that he would lead others and teach them what they were capable of.

Cadena:
Cadena returned back to Gen’s hideout, where she reunited with Gen and Coney. Gen asked Cadena how her time in Maple World had been, as the look in her eyes made it seem as though she had finally reached the level of strength that she wanted. Cadena told him that though she wasn’t as strong as she wanted to be, she was now finally able to protect herself.

Gen told her not to be humble, as he had heard about her defeating the Black Mage. Though he wanted to praise her, he reminded Cadena that she had only taken care of the problem in Maple World, and that Darmoor's threat to Grandis would result in things being much worse than they had been in Maple World. Cadena told him that it was to be expected, as the people of Grandis weren’t as united as the people of Maple World.

To solve that problem, Gen suggested that Cadena reveal herself as the princess of the Nova in order to rally forces into fighting back against the High Flora, as well as to organize an alliance similar to the one on Maple World. However, Cadena told him that she had already torn off her wings, tail, horns, and even her old name, and that she had lost all her connections to the royal bloodline.

She also joked that leadership wasn’t her strong suit, and that she was content to leave it to Kaiser as the Nova Guardian while she took care of the business side like a true Shadowdealer. She then told Gen that she was planning to see the leader of the Shadowdealers. Gen warned her that it could be dangerous, but she replied that nothing excited her as much as playing with danger.

(A/N: GMS messed up on the translation for this part. Instead of having Cadena say that she plans to meet the Shadowdealer boss, she instead says that she’s planning to meet Hazard’s bosses, Darmoor and Magnus.)

Illium:
At Sanctuary, Illium finished recounting the battle against the Black Mage to the others. Carnelian was glad to know how Illium had played such a major role, as the Alliance would surely aid the Verdant Flora in return. Though Illium claimed that he hadn’t done it just to win their favor, he noted that he was glad to have made some allies, adding that he had grown fond of Maple World too.

The others agreed, having made many friends in Maple World themselves while searching for the Sanctuary of the Ancient God. However, Carnelian also pointed out that they couldn’t afford to grow complacent. Illium agreed, reminding them that Agate had entrusted him with the Elder Crystal, and with it, the future of the Verdant Flora. The others agreed that they needed to work together in order to make their dream come true.

Illium recalled how they had felt when their home had been attacked by Darius and told them that they couldn’t let anyone threaten Maple World or Grandis, even Darmoor himself. Morian asked if they could really take down Darmoor and return to their ancestral home. Illium reassured him that he was certain that they could and declared that their next destination was mainland Grandis, where everything had begun.

Ark:
As Ark slept, he had a dream of his cadet days with Albaire. (A/N: The caption for the setting says “in fondest memory”. I already know that this is gonna be so gay.) Albaire checked on Ark, who was still in bed, and reminded him that he was going to be late for training. He then noted that Ark looked pale and sweaty and asked if he was sick.

After checking Ark’s temperature, Albaire realized that Ark didn’t have a fever, but he decided to go get help anyways. Ark then called out for Albaire, begging him not to leave. Albaire laughed that he would only be gone for a minute, but Ark told him to promise that he wouldn’t leave, no matter what. Albaire then grinned and asked why he would ever leave Ark. (A/N: At no point was there ever a heterosexual explanation for this.)

Suddenly, Albaire’s eyes turned red and he began to speak in the Specter’s voice. He told Ark that they were in it together, and that he would always be with him. He then began to mock Ark for harboring hope, even at his lowest point. Ark then suddenly found himself in the Abyss, where the Specter scoffed that it hurt to know that he would rather spend time dreaming about his traitorous friend. (A/N: The Specter sounds like the toxic, jealous boyfriend who you want to leave, but can’t.)

Ark demanded to know why the Specter was interfering with his dreams, to which it explained that he had left it no choice, as he had blocked it out every other time. The Specter told Ark that the days he yearned for were long gone, and that the Specter was the only thing that Ark had left. It told Ark that he couldn’t survive without its power, and that his victory against the Black Mage was proof of that.

Ark refuted its claim and told the Specter that it wasn’t even close to the reason why the Alliance had won. He added that though he was stuck with the Specter, he didn’t have to like the situation, and he told it to stop trying to convince him otherwise, as he would have kept fighting even if he didn’t have its power. The Specter merely laughed and replied that Ark would come around eventually, jokingly calling him a friend.

Ark then awoke with a start at the scrapyard in Savage Terminal, where he had gone to visit his nomad friends from Verdel. Thinking back on his dream, Ark admitted that he had no choice but to remain stuck with the Specter, as his fight would continue, though he wasn’t sure what it would be for. Just then, the nomads arrived and greeted Ark, explaining that they had heard all about how he had saved another world.

Seeing all his friends together, Ark thought to himself that though he had lost everything once, he now had things to protect again, for which he vowed to never give up. He then asked the nomads how their quest to find paradise was going, to which they replied that it was still going, though they hoped to find it soon. They then continued talking away about each other’s stories for hours, with Ark resolving his commitment to never giving up on protecting the ones he cared about.

Adele:
Adele returned to Ristonia in order to see Jerome, but she was disappointed to find that he wasn’t at the hideout. However, Brook and Laddie welcomed Adele and told her that they had heard the news about her defeating the Black Mage. They then gave her a letter that they had been meaning to give her, though they hadn’t been able to deliver it without knowing where she was. Adele briefly wondered whether it was a trick from Veronica, but after opening it, she found that it was from Jerome.

Jerome had written that he had been following the news about her, and that people everywhere were talking about her. He asked if she remembered how she had saved him at the spire and told her that it was the first time that he had ever seen her smile. He had vowed that day that he would keep her smiling by his side, but he knew that she would be in danger if he was always so weak that she needed to protect him. Because of that, he had decided that he would become a strong king whom no one would challenge.

He reminded her about the key that they had found that could awaken an Ancient God and supposed that it hid an amazing secret, considering how highly sought after it was by the High Flora. Because of this, he revealed that he was searching for a new ally, and that he was following rumors of a new faction opposing the High Flora at the outskirts of Grandis. (A/N: It’s heavily implied that this group is the Primacy, which are first mentioned at the end of the Carcion storyline as a resistance group that Seren has come across.)

Jerome jokingly mentioned that he might even be able to make them his new subordinates if he was lucky, adding that though he still wasn’t sure what the key unlocked, he laughed that it might unlock a power that could save the whole world. Until then, he asked Adele to take care of herself, reminding her that she was his only knight.

Adele was glad to know that Jerome was safe, though she wished that she could have seen him. To her surprise, Boo manifested before her and Adele asked Brook and Laddie when they had received the letter. They told her that they had received it ten minutes ago at the fountain square, where someone had given it to one of their members.

She immediately rushed to the fountain, but found no one there. Suddenly, the fountain began glowing and Adele heard the voice of the knight statue telling her to unburden herself of the past and to ignite the flames of her oath for her new liege, as deeper darkness was approaching.

Just then, Jerome was led to the fountain by Boo. Startled to see Adele there, he told Boo that he didn’t want to present himself to her until he became stronger. He then hoped that Adele would wait for him until then. Though he tried to slip away unseen, Adele watched him leave and silently promised to wait for him as well.

Khali:
In Ereve, Cygnus found Khali ruminating atop a cliff, gazing at the sky. She told Khali that as the hero of the battle was nowhere to be found, she had to come and find her. At Khali’s silence, Cygnus noted that she seemed to have a lot on her mind. She then asked Khali whether she recalled the day when she had first joined the Alliance. Cygnus explained that she had made a promise that she would stand with Khali when the time came if Khali would fight for Maple World, adding that she would gladly help if now was the time.

Khali thanked Cygnus for her support, but declined her help, explaining that if the Alliance were to intervene, it would result in a war between Ereve and Erimos, which wouldn’t bode well when the Alliance had already been weakened after the final battle. Though Cygnus acknowledged her words, she pointed out that Khali had saved their world, and that she wasn’t afraid of fighting a war for the sake of a hero. Khali replied that she was grateful, but that she wanted to take Ypsilon’s life with her own hands.

Soon after, Khali returned back to Erimos and infiltrated the palace. After fighting through the guards, she entered the audience chamber, where Ypsilon greeted her and noted that it had been a while. He explained that people were calling her a godslayer and laughed at the fact that a commoner had been able to kill a Transcendent. He then asked Khali whether she would be able to take his life as well.

Khali immediately attacked a surprised Ypsilon, who managed to teleport and dodge her attack. Ypsilon then attempted to use his powers to drain Khali’s life force, but Khali – who had grown even stronger than she had been during their last fight – was easily able to drive him back.

Khali then asked Ypsilon, who was kneeled over in pain, whether he felt remorse for the countless lives that he had sacrificed. However, Ypsilon merely laughed and asked whether she felt remorse when she killed a fly. He then told Khali that he couldn’t allow himself to be killed by her yet and added that they would meet again when ‘he’ willed it before disappearing, leaving Khali to wonder whom Ypsilon had been talking about. (A/N: I don’t think that I need to say it, but ‘he’ is obviously Darmoor.)

Kain:
(A/N: I grouped all the Aftermath cutscene by job branch, and so Kain normally should’ve had his placed with the other Nova classes. However, the events of Kain’s cutscene and Khali’s cutscene take place back-to-back, which is why I’ve placed it here instead.)

With the final battle over, Kain wandered around Toolen City, wondering where he could go with no home to get back to. He then smelled dumplings and decided to bring them to Amos and the Chameleon Siblings, who were glad to see him. The siblings were awed to hear about Kain’s role in the final battle and Amos asked what his next plans were.

Kain explained that he still needed to find his sister, Luska. He also added that he was worried about his Malice continuing to grow stronger and feared what that would mean if he were to face Luska again. Amos told him that they should pray that neither he nor Luska need ever use their Malice again, with the Chameleon Siblings also deciding that they wanted to pray with Kain. Kain then recalled a childhood memory of Luska leading him through a prayer that no one would ever use Malice again and decided to make that prayer again with the others.

Elsewhere, at the abandoned Drakas headquarters, a wounded Dr. Y returned back from Erimos. Luska noticed Dr. Y’s injuries, to which he told her that he had merely been enjoying some entertainment. He then asked Luska how she was feeling, with Luska replying that there were no issues. Dr. Y noted that he was sure that she had heard the news about Kain, whom he called the Adversary. Luska replied that Kain was no threat to her, as her Malice was stronger, enough to even destroy what was most precious to her. Satisfied by her answer, Dr. Y told her that they need to hurry with the next phase of their plan, as he couldn’t keep ‘him’ waiting.

Hoyoung:
In Cheong-woon Valley, two children were talking about a mysterious sage claiming to be the disciple of Master Tai Yu who traveled across Maple World and Grandis and helped those in need. Though he had vanished after defeating the Black Mage, rumors continued to circulate that the sage still roamed from town to town.

On the roof of the tavern, Hoyoung listened to the children excitedly spreading his story and wished that they would go somewhere else, as they were making it difficult for all his potential customers to find him. Taotie then mocked Hoyoung for taking on petty cases and odd jobs, even after his reputation as a legendary sage had inflated.

Hoyoung laughed and reminded Taotie of the large serpent which had almost killed them in their last ‘petty’ job. Taotie seethed that if he had been able to use his full powers, the monster would have been a mere snack. He asked Hoyoung if he remembered Lord Choi’s offer, which would have given them a grand house with a host of servants and decadent food.

Hoyoung conceded that the spread was nice, but he told Taotie that he really only needed basic spicy soup. He also added that he didn’t see the need to get involved if evil spirits plagued those like Lord Choi, who milked the people of the province dry. Just then, two patrons in the tavern began talking about rumors that a new Transcendent was preparing for war in Grandis, as well as a warrior in Pantheon with dragon horns and a tail who was gathering forces to stand against them, though they wondered if even a Nova Guardian had the power to take on a Transcendent.

Overhearing their conversation, Hoyoung realized that there was someone else with animal ears and a tail making a name for themselves and supposed that they would easily become friends. Taotie clarified that the warrior sounded more like a Nova than an Anima. Hoyoung decided that he would help the Nova Guardian as a friend, against Taotie’s protests that they hadn’t even met yet for him to call them a friend.

Hoyoung then jumped off the roof and told the two children telling his story that he would be out traveling for a while. He then asked them to protect the town with the magic that he had taught them, to which the children protested that he hadn’t even taught them real magic and demanded that he teach them more than just tricks when he returned.

Taotie asked Hoyoung why he insisted on concealing his true identity, as he would have a whole throng of followers if he revealed that he was the legendary sage. Hoyoung replied that in his travels, he had learned that there was no need to chase after the world, but rather, he would be there to take action when the world needed him instead. He added that stories were best when they stayed as stories that could inspire and encourage. Before he left, the children asked for his name, to which he told them that he was but a simple wanderer, echoing his master’s words before him.

Lara:
Lara returned home to her village and greeted the elders, Salom and Dorry, who excitedly called over Lara’s grandmother, Sodam. Sodam was pleased to see Lara and noted that the land spirits had seemed quite excited in anticipation of Lara’s return. She then asked Lara how she had been, to which Lara began explaining about everything that had happened to her, such as the secret of the bell, her friendship with Gri, her time on Maple World, and her battle against the Black Mage.

After Lara finished recounting her adventure, Sodam asked her whether the journey had been difficult. Lara admitted that there had been times when things had been hard, such as when she had almost lost the will to go on when she had seen many people’s lives being sacrificed before her eyes. However, she explained that if she had given up, she would never have been able to protect the things most precious to her.

Sodom warmly noted that Lara had finally grown up, and that it was clear now why the bell had chosen her. She then asked Lara what she planned to do next, to which Lara told her that she wanted to go on a new adventure. She explained that though she had brought peace to another world, she had still not yet brought peace to Grandis. She told Sodom that she wanted to do whatever she could, as well as to learn even more about the bell.

After spending time at her village, Lara decided to return to Narin Village, as she was eager to see the people whom she had met at the first stop in her journey. There, she met with Tough-looking Hyuk, Cheeky Myung, and Licky-lips Yeol, who were pleasantly surprised to see Lara and asked how she was doing. Lara began explaining how she had discovered the secret of the bell during her travels in Maple World, and how she had helped the Alliance fight the Black Mage, bringing peace to their world at last.

The thugs were impressed by Lara’s bravery, claiming that they would have been too afraid to fight a powerful Transcendent. However, Lara told them that she had only been able to do it thanks to the actions of everyone else who had helped her, including the people of Narin Village, and thanked the trio for helping her start out in her journey. She then asked them whether Gri was nearby, to which the thugs explained that Gri came and went infrequently.

Just then, Gri appeared and greeted Lara, who told him how much she had missed him. Gri told her that he had heard the rumors of how she had fought the Black Mage, to which Lara replied that she had many stories to tell him. Gri noted that she was still as reckless as ever, though he grinned and added that it was part of her charm. (A/N: Please get married, I’m begging you.)

Zero:
At the Mirror World Temple, the priests congratulated Alpha and Beta for all that they had accomplished. They noted that the twins had changed a lot from when they had first begun their journey. Alpha admitted that he had been quite confused at the very beginning, as he couldn’t wrap his head around there being two of him. Beta told Alpha that she could tell by how he would always glare at her, though she added that she was nevertheless grateful to him, as she would still have been stuck in the Umbra Temple if it hadn’t been for him.

The twins happily noted that they had never thought that such a day would come, with Rhinne pointing out how the two of them had managed to change a future that not even she herself had been able to change. She then told the twins that as long as they stayed together, they would be able to overcome anything.

After a pause, Alpha hesitantly asked Rhinne what they should do next, explaining that even though they had awakened as the new Transcendents of Time, they still couldn’t see the future. He told Rhinne that he was unsure of what they should do, or even what they could do, to which Rhinne replied that she was unsure as well, as she was no longer a Transcendent.

However, she pointed out that for the two of them, they were free to do anything, as they were not bound to the future as she had been. Pietta agreed and noted that they could do whatever they wanted with the world at peace. Thinking on their words, Alpha realized that there was still a lot to do, as not all threats to Maple World had disappeared. He noted that there were rumors of another corrupted Transcendent, while Beta also pointed out that Cassius was still out there as well.

The twins decided to take things step by step, realizing that they would meet Cassius eventually on their new adventure. Pietta told them that she worried for their safety with the possibility of a threat even greater than the Black Mage on the horizon, though Alpha replied that they had to face it, for even though they had imperfect forms, they were still Transcendents. Beta agreed, reaffirming that they could do anything as long as they stayed together.

Kinesis:
At the Magician Association headquarters, Kinesis called Yuna and told her about the battle with the Black Mage. Though the Black Mage of Maple World was finally gone, Kinesis told her that the White Mage still existed in their world and asked her to keep an eye on things there. Yuna eagerly told him that she would continue practicing with her powers in order to prepare to face off against him one day.

Jay then asked Kinesis if he was still going to be gone for a while longer, which Kinesis confirmed, explaining that there were many loose ends to tie up. Jay noted how Kinesis had been gone for a while and asked if he ever got lonely. Just then, Three Moon and Nero arrived, ready to hear about the final battle, causing Kinesis to smile and tell Jay that it wasn’t so bad. As he prepared to hang up, he warned Jay to be careful and told him that as long as the White Mage was still around, nobody was safe.

(A/N: These classes aren’t canon, but I included them here for the sake of completionism. I also included these in the GMS-verse part of the site.)

Jett:
After the battle with the Black Mage, Jett returned to her crew, who were glad to have her back. They explained that Maple World was abuzz with stories of her role in defeating the Black Mage and joked that she must have gotten a huge bounty for it, to which Jett apologized for being away for so long. She then pulled out the Core and, staring intently at it, noted that she had been through a lot on Maple World, and that the planet was growing on her.

Clenching her fist around the Core, she noted that because of her experiences and the time she had spent with others, she had come to realize that having people that she could rely on was more powerful than any Core. However, she lamented that it had taken her too long to realize it, as so many good people had been lost in the war. Nevertheless, her crew eagerly told her that there would never be another hero like her, adding that she had done them all proud. They then asked what came next, to which Jett amusedly told them that there were still many criminals for her to hunt down and bring to justice.

Kanna:
Several days after the victory at Tenebris, Princess Sakuno addressed the Sengoku Warriors at Momijigaoka. She told the soldiers that when they had first joined forces with the Alliance, their goal had simply been to vanquish Oda Nobunaga, and that they never would have suspected that their battle would have taken them to Maple World, where they would meet new enemies and allies alike. Having fought with the Alliance, she proudly proclaimed that they had vanquished the Black Mage, whom she called the greatest evil of all. She then congratulated the troops for their dedication before presenting Kanna, whom she described as having led the battle with courage and honor.

As the soldiers cheered Kanna, Shingen noted that the time for celebration was upon them. Yukimura also proudly told Kanna that she had been impressive, and that he could learn much from her. Kenshin warmly told Kanna that she had become a blade of justice to cut down her foes, though Kanetsugu stubbornly reminded her that she still wasn’t as great as Kenshin. Haruaki then told Kanna that she had exceeded all expectations, even exceeding his wildest dreams.

Motonari proudly noted that the Sengoku Warriors were now feared and renowned worldwide, which was an excellent position for them. However, Sakuno then reminded the crowd that the path ahead was still difficult, as Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, and the villains of Grandis were still enemies that they were yet to face. However, she proclaimed that their unbreakable bonds of unity would see them prevail the battles ahead. With that, she declared that they would celebrate their victory in Kanna’s honor.

Later that night, Kanna was standing amidst the cherry blossom trees when Haku pointed out Hayato standing on the castle balcony with Princess Sakuno. He then proposed that they sneak up and eavesdrop on the conversation, though Kanna scolded him for suggesting it, reminding him that eavesdropping was wrong, and that it would be rude to Sakuno. Haku pouted over Kanna worrying about Sakuno, asking when the last time was when she had tended to his needs by feeding him Star Candy. Amused, Kanna fed several pieces of candy to Haku, who was placated.

Just then, Haruaki found Kanna and approvingly noted that she was enjoying the party. He then commended Kanna, explaining that she had saved the world and honored the ways of the Spirit Walker in the process. He then asked how she had found her way when she had entered the heart of chaos, where evil flowed freely. Kanna admitted that it had been difficult, as there had been times at the darkness had been so great that she could no longer see the cycles of the spirit.

However, as she had continued stumbling blindly, a single light had pierced through the darkness, which had embodied the hopes, dreams, and determination of everyone who had been counting on her. As an afterthought, she added that Haku had helped as well, to which Haku wagged his tail and proudly proclaimed that he had indeed. Haruaki warmly smiled and noted that he couldn’t have done a better job himself. However, he added that her journey as a Spirit Walker was far from over, as there were still many evils in the world. With that, he excused himself, explaining that he was needed elsewhere.

Hayato:
Several days after the victory at Tenebris, Princess Sakuno addressed the Sengoku Warriors at Momijigaoka. She told the soldiers that when they had first joined forces with the Alliance, their goal had simply been to vanquish Oda Nobunaga, and that they never would have suspected that their battle would have taken them to Maple World, where they would meet new enemies and allies alike.

Having fought with the Alliance, she proudly proclaimed that they had vanquished the Black Mage, whom she called the greatest evil of all. She then congratulated the troops for their dedication before presenting Hayato, whom she described as having led the battle with courage and honor. As the soldiers cheered Hayato, Shingen noted that the time for celebration was upon them. Yukimura also proudly told Hayato that he had been impressive, adding that he had also taught him much. (A/N: English is a dumb language so just to clarify, Yukimura is saying that Hayato had taught him much.)

Kenshin warmly told Hayato that he had become a blade of justice to cut down his foes, though Kanetsugu stubbornly reminded him that he still wasn’t as great as Kenshin. Haruaki then told Hayato that he had exceeded all expectations, even exceeding Haruaki’s wildest dreams. Motonari proudly noted that the Sengoku Warriors were now feared and renowned worldwide, which was an excellent position for them.

However, Sakuno then reminded the crowd that the path ahead was still difficult, as Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, and the villains of Grandis were still enemies that they were yet to face. However, she proclaimed that their unbreakable bonds of unity would see them prevail the battles ahead. With that, she declared that they would celebrate their victory in Hayato’s honor.

Later that night, Hayato found Sakuno in her chambers. Sakuno once again thanked Hayato for the crucial role he had played in their victory. Hayato dismissed her words, claiming that he had only done his duty, though he apologized for not being able to stay by her side during the battle. However, Sakuno waved away his apology, noting that he had far more important things to be worrying about at the time.

She then recalled how they had known each other for a long time, and how, even when they had been young, he would throw himself into danger without a second thought if he believed that it was right. She then proudly noted that in their adulthood, he had become the savior of Maple World and the hero of the Sengoku Warriors. She explained that by defeating the Black Mage, he hadn’t merely protected her, but the entire world.

She then told Hayato that he had always been her noble sword, and that she knew that he would continue to be so. Moved by her words, Hayato proclaimed that she was his light, and that the memory of her voice was what had saved him when he had been swallowed by the darkness. He then declared that his sword would always serve her. Sakuno graciously thanked Hayato and told him that if he was prepared, she had a new quest for him. She then asked Hayato to gaze up at the moon and tell each other stories of home. Though Hayato was flustered by her request, he nevertheless obeyed.

Beast Tamer:
After the battle with the Black Mage, Chase and the Critter Champs returned home to Arboren, where she visited the people of Stump Town and the people of her hometown, Canopy Town, who had traveled there to meet her.

(A/N: When she arrives, the people of Stump Town greet her with those speech bubbles that disappear after a few seconds. I was surprised that the speech bubbles have them call her the Adversary, rather than just her name. Even though every class is given credit for having personally defeated the Black Mage in their individual cutscenes, this is the first time that I’ve ever seen a class being explicitly referenced as the Adversary.)

After a large celebration and a sumptuous feast, Chase said her farewells and headed to the port. There, she told the Critter Champs how relieved she was that Arboren was as peaceful as ever. Arby joked that she wouldn’t call the extravagant party a sign of peace, though she added that it wasn’t every day that a true hero like her came through. Lai concurred and told Chase that only a true hero could have brought Maple World back from the brink of darkness.

Chase then confessed that after having met so many great people and facing down the greatest threat that Maple World had ever seen, she had realized that she could never be like the legendary Heroes of Maple because they had done everything by themselves, while she had learned that no one could save the world on their own, as it was a team effort.

She then told the Critter Champs that they were the real heroes and fondly called them her friends. Eka then corrected her, admitting that Chase was just as important to the team as them. Arby then asked Chase whether she remembered the day when they had first met. She explained that ever since Chase had freed her from her cage, she had always known that Chase would be a real hero.

Chase grinned and told the Critter Champs that they were right. She then swore as the hero of Maple World that she would always protect its people, adding that she could only do so with the Critter Champs’ help. The Critter Champs eagerly agreed as they all looked ahead for their next big adventure.

Paths Converge Here:
Soon after, the Adversary received a letter from Cygnus, detailing how the Cygnus Knights were busy helping with the rebuilding efforts. She asked if they would be willing to help out with a new mission, but as the information was sensitive, she called them back to the Outpost in order to discuss it. At the redesigned Outpost, they ran into Ollie, who told them that she was glad to see them again, explaining that the Alliance was busy defeating the last monsters in Esfera and capturing the Black Mage’s Commanders.

The Adversary decided to ask Neinheart about it, but Ollie warned that Neinheart had been in a bad mood for the past week. The Adversary met with Neinheart and immediately recognized that he wasn’t looking well. Neinheart told them that he had been completely overwhelmed, and that Ereve’s funds were low because of the war effort, meaning that there was hardly anything left for rebuilding Maple World.

Though he was at a loss for how to make up the deficit, he explained that Cygnus had an idea for how to do so. At the conference table, Cygnus greeted them and explained that rather than using armies, she planned to create a small, elite team composed of the Alliance’s most talented people and asked if they would be willing to be part of the Glory Guard, which the Adversary accepted without hesitation.

(A/N: With the end of the Aftermath storyline, here’s the Genesis Weapon liberation storyline. Kao’s memories are mixed somewhere in between, which will make sense once you see it. Before I get into it, there’s an important disclaimer that I’m obligated to mention here. I’ve gone back and forth with several people about the canonicity of the Genesis Weapon, and while I won’t say that the Genesis Weapon is non-canon, I also don’t believe that it’s strictly canon in an overarching sense.

What’s considered canon in this game is highly dependent on each person’s own individual playthrough of the story. For instance, while there’s a strong implication that an Explorer, and most likely a Hero, is the canonical Adversary, that’s all it is - an implication. At no point has Nexon ever come out and said that this is a hard fact. Because of this, the idea that there’s no absolute timeline in regard to which characters did what in the Adversary storyline is something that’s objective incontrovertible.

In the past several years, Nexon has consistently been making an effort to individualize the story experience. The Adversary storyline is set up in such a way that it’ll slightly modify its dialogue depending on whether or not you completed certain optional storylines. In the Hotel Arcus and Karote storylines, for example, the Adversary won’t recognize Senya or T-Boy if they didn’t do Detective Rave’s Case Notes or Reverse City. Similarly, in the Labyrinth of Suffering, we don’t recognize the Elixir of Life if we didn’t do the Azwan storyline.

What this means is that there’s no such thing as a “canonical” playthrough. If you didn’t do those storylines, the Adversary canonically didn’t do them, relative to your own playthrough, because the dialogue itself has been changed to validate your choice to skip those storylines. If you did do them, then those events are canon to that specific individual playthrough alone.

A few people I’ve spoken with disagree about this, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I still don’t get the argument for saying that completing everything is what canonically happened. Some video games have the creators come out and say things like “the good ending is canon” or “every story path happened in a different timeline”. Nexon hasn’t done anything of the sort, and on the contrary, they’ve bent over backwards to create unique dialogue in order to have the story make complete sense no matter which storylines you do or don’t do.

The idea that the Adversary canonically went to Reverse City or Yum Yum Island, to me, seems like a personal assumption that people are treating as a hard fact. That’s not to say that there isn’t perfectly good reason to believe this, since almost every video game in existence treats the player completing every storyline as canon, but that’s the key difference between those games and this one - Nexon hasn’t said what’s canon and what isn’t, and so claiming that there’s one specific playthrough that’s objectively canon is a factually incorrect statement.

In regard to the Genesis Weapon storyline, there are people who believe that whether or not we’ve liberated in the game, the Adversary canonically holds the Genesis Weapon in the Grandis storyline. Like I’ve mentioned before, Nexon has consistently been creating exclusive dialogue for every possible case in which we didn’t do an optional storyline in the Adversary’s journey. I find it extremely hard to believe that the Genesis Weapon questline just magically happens to be the one single optional storyline in the entire game that somehow absolutely had to have happened no matter what.

Not completing Reverse City is one thing, but if the Genesis Weapon is supposed to be this hugely significant plot point, why on earth would they make it one of the most inaccessible storylines in the entire game? If we didn’t meet T-Boy, you can easily course correct for that by having him quickly introduce himself to us, just like what happens in Karote if you skipped that storyline.

But if we don’t have the Genesis Weapon, then what? Are we just supposed to close our eyes and play make-believe that we actually do have one? Will Neinheart drop by in the middle of the Darmoor fight and conveniently hand us one that he liberated on our behalf? It’s a huge stretch of my imagination to believe that they can create any sort of conditional dialogue for that situation if the Genesis Weapon is meant to be so pivotal to the plot that it absolutely has to be introduced into the story one way or another.

Like I said before, the canonicity of events is wholly dependent on your own playthrough. If you do have a Genesis Weapon, then canonically, the Adversary has it in that particular version of the story. But I would be extremely surprised if the Genesis Weapon plays any meaningful role whatsoever in the overall story, to the point that I don’t even consider it to be worth speculating about how it’ll factor into the plot. At most, I see them making one or two throwaway lines about Darmoor sensing the Black Mage’s power within us, and that’ll probably be the end of it, especially when the story direction of Grandis is already taking us towards massive levels of powercreep anyways, even without the Genesis Weapon.

With all that being said, however, I could honestly be completely wrong, and the Genesis Weapon might actually somehow end up becoming a non-trivial plot point in the future. Nexon is physically incapable of consistency, and so it’s entirely possible that they’ll make this extremely niche storyline canon and expect everyone to magically know what happened in it, but for now, I’m rolling with the assumption that even they can’t be this devoid of common sense by randomly contradicting their model of creating conditional exclusive dialogue, just for the sake of shoehorning in something that didn’t even need to be a thing in the first place.

For the purposes of this section, however, I’m assuming that the Adversary does liberate the Genesis Weapon, since I’ve been making the assumption that we do complete every optional storyline in the game. There are quite a number of glaring plot holes in the Genesis Weapon storyline, which makes me even more hesitant about seeing it as canon, but since we’ve already survived a few hundred plot holes from the start of the story up ‘til now, what’s a dozen more?)

Soon after the final battle, Neinheart reached out to the Adversary and thanked them once again for defeating the Black Mage and bringing peace to Maple World. However, he explained that even though the Black Mage was now dead, there were several questions that still remained. He told the Adversary that they had discovered something several days ago, and that the entire Alliance had come together in order to investigate it.

However, as the Alliance was experiencing certain problems that they couldn’t overcome on their own, he asked the Adversary whether they would help in the investigation efforts. After the Adversary agreed, Neinheart asked them to travel to Limina in order to defeat an afterimage of the Black Mage, which had appeared in the area.

(A/N: The concept of afterimages isn’t new to the game, as the idea was introduced way back in the Magatia town storyline, in which a ghost named Parwen sends you to an afterimage of an alchemist named Dr. De Lang in the past. While you can interact with Dr. De Lang, you’re basically just talking to an echo of something that isn’t there anymore, which means that you’re not really changing the past, similar to how things work in the Morass.

The way that afterimages work in the game is extremely nebulous, since there’s no defined way of how they form nor the extent to which they can interact with the physical world. I’m also not sure that I like the lore implications of there being a tangible copy of the Black Mage who looks and talks and thinks just like the real thing, not to mention that he has exact same power levels.

It seems really contrived to me for an echo to be able to perfectly replicate the strength of two Transcendents when Transcendent powers are both highly unique and highly regulated, especially since the Black Mage’s echo in the Morass was said to be weaker than the real thing. If you can have a replica of yourself at your most powerful stationed somewhere, what’s stopping literally anyone from making afterimages of themselves for their own purposes? Darmoor wouldn’t even need Apostles if he could just make twelve copies of himself having the full powers of life and time.

But anyways, getting back to the main point, we travel to what I’m assuming is the afterimage of the Temple of Darkness in Limina, since the actual area doesn’t exist anymore after the giant began scattering into Erda. After you finish the Limina storyline, you can travel back to the Temple of Darkness, where you can find a Dimensional Crack that tells the rest of Kao’s story. For the purposes of this section, I’m assuming that we find the crack while fighting the Black Mage’s afterimage, since I can’t really think of any good reason why else we would go back there.)

At the entrance to the Temple of Darkness, the Adversary encountered a Dimensional Crack and realized that it must contain the memory of how Kao had lost to the Black Mage. Inside, they found themselves in the black and white void, in which the Black Mage told Kao that they would not live to claim the true power of the Adversary. As the Black Mage entered the Genesis Crux, Kao lamented how even this very moment had been preordained.

Refusing to give up, however, Kao attempted to draw out the power of the Adversary one last time, focusing all their determination on their willingness to die in order to stop the Black Mage. However, at the crucial moment, Kao was unable to activate the Seal Stone, resulting in the Genesis Ritual succeeding in creating a new world, which appeared as a black hole around which blue and purple stardust curved and formed an accretion disk.

On the rim of the solid stardust, Kao fell unconscious and collapsed as the White Mage manifested himself. Approaching the unconscious Kao, the White Mage noted that the world that Kao had tried to protect had been destroyed, while a new world had taken its place. As he spoke, the black hole behind him trembled as chunks of solid, glowing rock began gathering around the black hole core, slowly forming together into the shape of a planet.

The White Mage noted that while everything had gone according to plan, his own continued existence as the last remnant of the Overseers had resulted in his plan failing. He explained that he had labored and prepared to create a world unconfined by order and fate. Though it had been painstakingly difficult to satisfy every condition - the disappearance of the world, his own death, and the creation of the new world - he had been unable to break the shackles of causality and the order of the world.

While the destruction and recreation of the world had been attainable, he noted that Kao had been unable to kill him. He began wondering where everything had gone wrong, as Kao - exactly as he had hoped - had become the greatest beacon of light and the bearer of the world’s determination and will. Furious at the failure of his life’s work, the White Mage looked into Kao’s memories in order to find where the flaw in his plan had been.

Upon seeing Kao’s memories of the Vanishing Journey, the White Mage immediately understood what had happened. Though he had thought that his plan had been a failure, he realized that there had been no flaws in his design, as he had controlled every variable leading up to the intended outcome, though he discovered that there had been one exception. He noted that Tana - a Transcendent like himself - had been the greatest unpredictable variable in his equation, for which he had dealt with her meticulously by locking her in Kritias for centuries and having Arkarium lead her straight to him.

Despite all his careful planning, however, he had been unable to hold back her power entirely, which had manifested in unexpected ways, such as the Erdas in the Vanishing Journey. Realizing where he had gone wrong, he concluded that he wasn’t facing a setback, but rather, it was simply another step in his plan.

Though he admitted that he had known that it would be difficult, he also noted that he was content with the knowledge that he still had one last chance to fix things. Using his powers, the White Mage sent Kao back to the past, explaining that even though Kao hadn’t been able to change their destiny, if they truly wanted to change the future, he told them to struggle for it and escape their fate, addressing them as the Adversary, the possessor of the Seal Stone.

After exiting the memory, the Adversary noted that Kao had been unable to draw out the power of the Adversary, which they noted might not have been because of Arma alone, but also because they hadn’t had Tana’s support, either. They realized that Tana’s influence had inadvertently created Arma, and that the Black Mage had sent Kao back in time in order to correct that mistake.

Because of that, Kao had been able to protect the Adversary’s power from Arma, which had set everything up to finish flawlessly. They also realized that somewhere in the process, Kao’s memories must have gotten scrambled. Though most of their questions had been answered, they began wondering what had happened to Kao in the end.

(A/N: For a while, there was a theory that Friends World is the same world that the Black Mage created this alternate timeline. The idea behind it is that the Black Mage’s intention behind creating a new world was to reset life and allow it to evolve from scratch without the Overseers’ influence. Because of this, a lot of the characters from Maple World and Grandis who have doppelgängers on Friends World are essentially the parallel versions of those characters who were born in a timeline where magic and the gods never existed, allowing them to live ordinary lives in a world at peace.

Based on this theory, the Black Mage chose to take on the form of the White Mage and lived throughout the millennia as the last Transcendent left in the universe, which is why the White Mage of Friends World tells Kinesis that he remembers his past life and his purpose to break down barriers, as he’s referring to his time as the Black Mage of Maple World, which he considers to be another lifetime ago, back before that world and everyone in it was destroyed.

Earth existing as a place without magic or gods may have also lined up with the Black Mage wanting to create a perfect world, as the fact that Earth is marketed as “Friends World” suggests that life on Friends World is a lot more friendlier and peaceful than Maple World and Grandis. However, we’ve also seen that a lot of characters have negative emotions, which the White Mage exploits in order to create Motes and Troublemakers, suggesting that he’s probably unsatisfied that the potential for evil still exists.

The idea behind why Friends World is still being fused with Maple World, despite being the product of the Genesis Ritual, was that the White Mage realized that because history is preordained, and since the Adversary failed to change destiny by killing him, it means that he had always been fated to lose and create an imperfect world like Friends World, whose Erdas he would choose to funnel into the Arcane River for another failed Genesis Ritual, akin to something like a causal loop.

Because of this, he would use the residual power of time that he still has from Rhinne in order to create a distortion of spacetime that opens up to Maple World around the time when he began fusing their worlds together. Since Friends World was created after the Genesis Ritual, and since its people are the result of millions of years of evolution, he would have been attempting to fuse two worlds that existed eons apart in the same universe.

Since there are no Transcendents left in his world, he can’t create an Interdimensional Portal, and so he had no choice but to leverage the fact that Elwin would attempt to open a portal so that their simultaneous attempts at breaching dimensions would create a hole in spacetime to link their two worlds.

With magic from Maple World flowing into Friends World, people like Kinesis and Yuna would develop powers that he could use to catalyze the world merge, and he would have also hoped to use Kinesis as a potential Adversary to succeed where he originally failed. Despite how interesting this theory is to consider, the Heroes of Maple revamp completely obliterated it by revealing that Friends World is just a parallel world that exists in the same dimension as Maple World, with Tynerum being the third dimension created by the Overseers.

Moving on, though, the final Dimensional Crack is in the Temple of Time, but since I’m working with the assumption that we found the Dimensional Crack in Limina while fighting the Black Mage’s afterimage, I’m having it so that we first defeat the afterimage, then make a quick detour to the Temple of Time, and then return back to Neinheart.)

The Adversary then entered the Temple of Darkness, where they encountered the afterimage of the Black Mage. After defeating him, the Adversary traveled to the Temple of Time in order to learn the answer to Kao’s fate. There, they encountered the final Dimensional Crack, noting to themselves that it was all ending in the place where it had begun.

Inside the memory, the Adversary witnessed a Guardian of Time encountering an unconscious Kao in the Gate of the Past. Believing that the monsters had attacked them, the Guardian of Time revived Kao, who then explained that they couldn’t remember anything, not even their own name. Unsure of how to help them, the Guardian of Time began escorting them to the Three Doors, explaining that she had heard that those who forced their way through the Gate of the Past without permission would lose their memories, though she added that she’d never seen it happen before.

As they began walking, the Guardian of Time noted that Kao seemed quite uneasy and suggested that they stop somewhere else first. She took Kao to the Resting Spot of Memory, where she found that the Memory Keeper was away. As Kao still couldn’t remember their name, the Guardian of Time decided to give them a temporary one. After thinking for a moment, she thought of a perfect name before asking Kao what their opinion on time, as a concept, was.

She noted that time was difficult to define, as everyone had the same amount of it, yet some never seemed to have enough time, while others seemed to have too much. Even so, however, she pointed out that to a clock, or to a turning world, time was always the same, with each moment being perfectly equal. She added that on top of that, she wasn’t even factoring in other variables, such as how a year in Maple World could be a hundred years somewhere else.

(A/N: Originally when Grandis was released, it was explained that one year on Maple World was about ten years on Grandis, which is why the end of the Flora Civil War, Magnus serving as a Commander, the death of the former Kaiser, and Kyle’s awakening as the next Kaiser were said to have taken place over decades on Grandis, even though everything from Magnus serving as a Commander to Kyle awakening as Kaiser happened over the span of centuries on Maple World. I have a strong feeling that they’ve forgotten about this plot point, although this line makes me hopeful that they’ll pick the concept back up again.)

The Guardian of Time noted that time was, at once, a mathematical constant, yet so subjective that no two people ever experienced it in quite the same way. She explained that she herself associated time with chaos, adding that she had become a Guardian of Time in order to research its properties. Drawing on the idea of ‘chaos’, she decided to give them the name ‘Kao’.

(A/N: It’s a bit easier to see how Kao’s name stems from the word “chaos” if you spell Kao’s name as “Khao”. Given that Kao is also an Adversary, their name is pretty thematically appropriate, since the Seal Stone holds the power of chaos inside it.)

The Guardian of Time told Kao that she didn’t know whether they had been good or bad before losing their memories, and she hadn’t observed them enough to define them, adding that she might never be able to define them, even if she had a lifetime to do so, as there was nothing more chaotic than a blank slate in an ocean of time.

She told Kao that if they didn’t like the name, she could think of something else, though Kao told her that they believed that it would grow on them. Until then, they asked her to keep their new name between the two of them while they searched for their real one. After traveling to the Three Doors, they encountered another Guardian of Time, who noted that it was rare to find someone who had lost their memory.

(A/N: There’s a joke if I’ve ever heard one. Practically half the classes in this game have lost their memories, and we’re not even counting all dozens of NPCs who’ve lost their memories over the course of the story.)

The Guardian of Time explained to Kao that their mind may repair itself in time, with the tides of their future uncovering their past. She then welcomed Kao to stay in the Temple of Time until their memories returned, offering to let them even become a Guardian of Time, as she believed that it may help them find their memories faster. Soon after, Kao donned their Temple Keeper robes and the Guardian of Time granted them permission, as a proxy of Rhinne, to come and go through the Gate of the Past.

(A/N: I’m not sure if it’s a plot hole, but Kao ends up losing even the memories that they made after being sent back in time, even though they have permission to travel through the Gate of the Past as a Temple Keeper. It’s possible that Dodo might’ve eaten their memories during their time as a Temple Keeper, which would explain how the Tinglebrain Potion helped them recover those specific memories, but not their other memories as the Adversary, since the player was able to get back their own memories that Dodo had eaten by speaking with their 1st job instructor.)

The memory then ended with the Adversary’s meeting with Kao, as well as their attempts to help them recover their memories, resulting in them recalling their name as Kao, which they recalled had been given to them by the Guardian of Time. After exiting the final memory, the Adversary noted to themselves that though it was a shame that they couldn’t have spent more time together, it had been good to see Kao again, thanking them one last time.

(A/N: While I liked most of Kao’s memories, there’s one pretty big plot hole that got introduced in it. Ironically, it was created because of another storyline that was released in the very same update. Kao’s memories came out in the same update as the revamped Ellin Forest story, which defined concrete rules of time travel in the game.

Out of these, two major ones get broken because of Kao’s timeline. The first is that time-travelers have their appearances modified in order to prevent paradoxes, such as Kao’s face matching that of the Adversary. This principle was seen in Ellin Forest, in which characters like the Heroes appeared unrecognizable to the people of Altaire Camp.

The second, more important principle that was violated is that despite the fact that time travel operates on a causal loop, which is the principle that actions caused by going into the past shape the predetermined events of the future, the White Mage was able to send Kao back into the past and change the future. To explain this, let me give an example of an actual causal loop in the game - the Silent Crusader going back in time to save the Heroes.

At the start of the timeline, the Crusader, who’s gone back in time, saves Aran, Afrien, and Mercedes after they’re injured in the battle against the Black Mage. This allows for them to survive, after which the Crusader jumps back to the future at the same moment when they go back in time. The timeline then proceeds as normal, from the Heroes surviving, to the Crusader being born centuries later, to the Crusader joining the Silent Crusade, and then back to the Crusader going back in time to save the Heroes, with those exact same events happening once again in a perfect loop.

This is essentially the principle of how a causal loop works - it’s a fixed, closed loop in which there’s one absolute timeline, with the very act of someone going back in time and influencing the past being the same action that ensures that the future in which they come from ends up happening. Another example of this is the Ellin Forest causal loop: the player goes back in time to change the events of Ellin Forest, but their act of killing Ephenia was always predestined to happen from the very beginning.

Kao’s timeline is the exact opposite of how a causal loop works. According to its own principles, the future can’t be changed because the very act of going back in time is what guarantees that the events of the future will remain as they always were. Because of this, the White Mage sending Kao back in time shouldn’t have changed anything. In fact, there never should have been a situation in which Kao didn’t meet another Kao in the Vanishing Journey because the nature of it being a closed-loop means that Kao always should’ve been sent back from the future to meet their past self.

The way that Kao’s timeline works actually operates on multiverse principles. We have Timeline A, in which Kao loses to the Black Mage, who sends Kao back in time to change the past. The instant that Kao travels back to the past, a new timeline - Timeline B - is created, diverging from Timeline A at the very moment where Kao emerges in the past. From there, Timeline B has Kao help the Adversary retain their Arcane Power, which allows them to defeat the Black Mage, but there’s still a Timeline A in which the world was destroyed and recreated.

The White Mage, during his dialogue with us in Limina, vaguely explains that the act of sending Kao back in time like he did can only be done once, but he never really goes into why that is. There’s also the other implication that the Black Mage is aware of what happened in the other timeline, but that’s not really as much of an issue, since it’s established that Transcendents, as evidenced from their name, transcend the laws of space and time.

However, there are supposed to be limits to the powers of Transcendents that even they can’t break. While they themselves might not be bound to the same physical laws as mortals, they still don’t have the power to affect the universe itself by breaking the Overseers’ laws of time. Because of this, I don’t see a way to fix this plot hole without fundamentally altering their explanation of the Kao timeline.

Given the fact that Kao’s existence in the story has always been very messy, the only real way to fix it would just be to remove Kao from the game altogether, which I really wouldn’t mind at all. Kao was always just supposed to be a fun Easter egg of the player seeing themselves because of the wacky mechanics of the Temple of Time, similar to the deliberately ambiguous explanation in Zero’s storyline about Pink Bean being a Transcendent, which was meant to be an innocuous wink to the player. The writers randomly decided to blow an Easter egg way out of proportion and shoehorned it into the plot for no good reason, at the cost of making the story messy and disjointed.

I did think of one possible theory to reconcile all of this, which is the idea that instead of working on a causal loop or multiverse rules, there’s one single timeline that gets overwritten through going to the past. What I mean by this is that the timeline can be changed, but the Overseers actively intervene whenever they can in order to ensure that time doesn’t get thrown into chaos.

From what we’ve seen in the game, we know that the following three principles exist: time travelers can’t interact with objects if it’ll cause a paradox, time travelers will look physically different if it’ll cause a paradox, and the events of the past can’t be changed. Since that last point doesn’t work with Kao’s timeline, the way that I think of it is that while the past can be changed, the fact there’s just one timeline means that there’s no chaos from hopping between timeline branches, which preserves the intent behind the rule, since it means that the Overseers can preserve order in a singular timeline.

With this theory, there are four assumptions that I’m making about the Overseers, based on what we know from the story: the Overseers can’t override the free will of mortals, they can influence mortal behavior through warping their perception of reality in a trivial capacity (like changing physical appearances), they can manipulate any Transcendent who doesn’t have extraordinarily strong willpower, and they’ll always act in such a way that preserves the original flow of time, and in the most minimally invasive way, whenever possible.

The first example of this theory is the Silent Crusade time travel. At the moment that the Black Mage’s seal was created, the Heroes fell to Leafre. There were multiple possible futures dependent on the variables available at the time. The most probable outcome was that nothing significant would’ve changed, as it's likely that Freud would’ve intervened to save Aran, Afrien, and Mercedes, meaning that the overall timeline would’ve remained the same as what we currently have, with the Heroes’ lives being saved and them getting frozen.

In the present, Arkarium opened a Crack in Time that leads to the past, and the Silent Crusade went back in time in order to stop him from succeeding. The introduction of the Crusader as a new variable results in new futures being branched out. The Crusader, rather than Freud, helps the Heroes in this new timeline, but this doesn’t really change anything at all.

While Maha and Afrien do recognize Aran, Evan, and Mercedes if they happen to be the player, this doesn’t affect the overall outcome. Because of this, the Overseers don’t need to intervene, and as a result, the timeline in which Freud intervened gets erased, with a new future that has the Crusader as the one who saved the Heroes being created, which retroactively presents itself as a causal loop.

The second case is with the Seal Stone of Ellin Forest, which Hiver stole from the past. There was an unknown event that resulted in the Temporal Gate appearing in Ludibrium. Both Aran and Hiver went back in time through that gate in order to reach Ellin Forest. Because Aran’s appearance would cause a paradox in the timeline if people saw her when the Heroes are meant to be sealed, Overseer intervention is necessary.

Aran’s appearance gets changed, which makes her look different to everyone in Altaire Camp. While Athena Pierce does end up believing that she’s Aran, she keeps this information to herself, which doesn’t affect the overall timeline. Meanwhile, Hiver ends up stealing the Seal Stone of Ellin Forest. This is a pretty major problem because the Seal Stone is a powerful relic that holds the power of chaos.

The problem is that the Overseers can’t do anything to fix the situation, as all three Transcendents are sealed away at this time. Since doing something like changing Hiver’s face wouldn’t help at all, they just have to watch as Hiver takes the Seal Stone back to the Black Wings. Eventually, the Seal Stone gets destroyed by the Black Wings anyways, which ends up resolving the situation.

A related example is the Ellin Forest storyline. Just like how Freud likely helped the Heroes in Leafre, Ephenia was likely killed by a member of Altaire Camp after Perzen and the other leaders discovered her plot to kill all humans. The other major event that happened in Ellin Forest is that Destonen gets killed by Kirston’s curse. Destonen is an influential figure who would’ve changed the course of events in Victoria Island if he were to survive, and Ephenia would’ve destroyed all humans if she lived, meaning that these two deaths need to have happened in order to keep the order of the timeline.

Because of the Temporal Gate being opened, there’s a heavy possibility that the future might get changed by someone who goes through the gate. In order to ensure that things happen as they’re meant to, the Overseers use their power to change the appearance of the Chronicle of Ellin Forest, creating a minor illusion that there’s a paragraph which describes the player’s appearance. Because of this, Wiz ends up searching for the player and calls them to the library.

The player then goes back in time, with the Overseers changing the appearances of the Heroes and the Demon in order to prevent time paradoxes. The player existing as a new variable creates countless new futures that the timeline can be steered towards. However, the player’s actions result in them killing Ephenia, rather than whoever it was that killed her originally. Whereas the Overseers had used a trick to make it seem like the Chronicle of Ellin Forest had described the player killing Ephenia, their intervention has now made it so that it actually happens, causing the book to actually be rewritten.

The player’s actions then overwrite the timeline, resulting in a new timeline that’s functionally a causal loop, even though it only became one because the original timeline before it got erased. Meanwhile, the player attempts to change the future by warning Destonen about Kirston, which creates new possible futures. However, Destonen - by his own free will - decides not to listen, resulting in him getting cursed. While the timeline is preserved, there was still a chance that a radically different future could’ve overwritten the timeline, which the Overseers couldn’t have prevented, since the Transcendents are all sealed away and they have no power to interact with the world.

The last case is with Kao’s timeline. After Kao fails to defeat the Black Mage, the world is destroyed and recreated. With the White Mage existing as the last Transcendent, the Overseers still have control over the new world, and so this is their optimal future, as there’s really nothing more that can be done by the Black Mage to change destiny at this point, since the only life forms in the new world are the Limina mobs.

However, the White Mage discovers that there’s a small chance that the past can be changed, even if the future can’t. He sends Kao back in time, which he describes as an action that can only be done once. The White Mage’s plan will result in the end of all Transcendents, and so the Overseers need to intervene in order to stop it.

By the Overseers’ own laws of time, going through the Gate of the Past results in Kao’s memories being lost. However, the Black Mage had accounted for this to happen by erasing any companions, such as Maha, Mir, or Taotie, thereby ensuring that their influence won’t prompt Kao to leave the Temple of Time until the time is right. The Adversary then meets Kao, and while changing Kao’s face would’ve made sense, we also know that Kao is going to recover their memories no matter what, and so it doesn’t matter if the Overseers change their face or not.

Because of Kao saving the Adversary, the future in which the Black Mage succeeds is now possible. The Overseers need to critically act in order to do something, but since every Transcendent is either resistant or has been rendered inoperative by the Black Mage, there’s nothing that they can do. In this timeline, there are several futures created because of Kao being introduced as a variable, with one being the Adversary’s victory, and the other being yet another defeat.

However, if the Adversary fails this time, there’s nothing that the Black Mage will be able to do. In the new world, the only variable he has left is the player, but the problem is that he’s already sent them back in time once. If he sends the player back again, two Kaos will exist in the past simultaneously, and this would cause the same problem as if Kao were to go back in time with their companion, as there would be questions raised about their joint existences. Since he’s sent the first Kao back to correct the mishap with Tana, and he’s sent the second Kao back to correct whatever it was that caused the Adversary to fail a second time, having them both there together would ruin both operations at once.

What this means is that after the Black Mage sends Kao back in time once, the Adversary is the only person who can shape the destiny of the world, as the Overseers and the Black Mage both have their hands tied. Whatever choice the Adversary makes with their own free will is the sole influence in whether the timeline will get rewritten in favor of the Overseers or the Black Mage, who all basically have no choice but to sit back and wait to see how things play out. Personally, I think that this theory works almost seamlessly, and it’s how I’m headcanoning how the whole time travel stuff plays out.)

After defeating the Black Mage’s afterimage, the Adversary traveled to Ereve, where they found Neinheart and Grendel awaiting them. Noting that the Adversary had defeated the Black Mage’s afterimage, Neinheart explained that it served as further proof of their strength, which meant that they were ready to see what the Alliance had discovered. He showed the Adversary a chest dripping with dark energy, explaining that after the Black Mage’s death, Alliance members investigating the area had discovered some type of weapon inside the giant’s heart.

Believing that the Black Mage had left it behind, the Alliance members had taken it back to Ereve, where Grendel had locked it away. Grendel told the Adversary that he had inspected the weapon in every possible way that he could, and that his investigation had led him to conclude that it contained incredible potential. He explained that it was called the Genesis Weapon, which contained the powers of creation and destruction that the Black Mage had wielded.

Neinheart told the shocked Adversary that the Alliance believed that the weapon had the power to face an even greater enemy, and that they hoped to take advantage of it as the catalyst that the Alliance needed in order to become stronger and defend their world against the coming threat. Grendel explained that in order to control something that strong, the wielder would need to become that much more powerful, as otherwise, they could never hope to wield such a weapon.

As only someone with the ability to control that power could wield the Genesis Weapon, Grendel told the Adversary that they were the first person that the Alliance had thought of. He then opened the chest and invited the Adversary to inspect the weapon. The Adversary was surprised to find that the Genesis Weapon looked identical to their own. Neinheart explained that he believed that the Black Mage had intended to leave the weapon behind specifically for them. However, he added that they needed to be cautious, as it was still a weapon created by the Black Mage.

He explained that he had asked them to defeat the Black Mage’s afterimage as a test in order to ensure that they wouldn’t lose control of the weapon’s power. Grendel added that there was one final test, though it would be administered by the Genesis Weapon itself. As the weapon was sealed with a mysterious strength, he explained that the Adversary would need to remove the seal in order to unlock its full potential.

Neinheart told the Adversary that both he and Grendel suspected that the key to unlocking the seal had to lie with the Black Mage and his Commanders, though he warned that they could be certain that anything to do with the Black Mage and his Commanders wouldn’t be easy. He then allowed the Adversary to think on whether they were willing to embark on such a dangerous mission, as they had already saved the world and defeated a god, meaning that the decision was theirs alone whether to return to the difficult path.

(A/N: Liberating the Genesis Weapon isn’t just difficult from a story perspective, but it’s also very grueling in-game. In order to successfully liberate it, you need to defeat Hard Black Mage a total of eight times, and you also have to defeat eight of his Commanders under specific conditions that weaken your overall damage. Since you can only clear the Black Mage boss fight once a month, it takes eight months at minimum to completely liberate the Genesis Weapon, assuming that you do everything perfectly.)

After considering it, the Adversary agreed to unseal the Genesis Weapon and claim the power within. Neinheart explained that according to Grendel, they could imbue the Genesis Weapon with Traces of Darkness by defeating afterimages of the Commanders. He told the Adversary that the Black Mage had given his Commanders power from the Traces of Darkness, and that the traces would appear in the place of the Commanders’ afterimages as soon as they disappeared. The Adversary then traveled to the Lion King’s Castle, where they defeated Von Leon’s afterimage.

(A/N: I have no idea why we’re fighting an afterimage of Von Leon when the living, breathing Von Leon is standing literally five feet away from him. I also can’t tell you why the writers didn’t think that having two Von Leons in the same room wouldn’t be an obvious problem. For the purposes of liberation, there are a few criteria for this boss fight. You have to fight Hard Von Leon alone with just the Genesis Weapon, your secondary weapon, and your Arcane Symbols. There’s also a 90% final damage reduction, and only the base stats of your equipment will be counted.)

The Adversary then returned back to Ereve, where Grendel greeted them and noted that they had successfully managed to imbue the Genesis Weapon with the Trace of Darkness inside Von Leon’s afterimage. After examining the weapon, however, Grendel explained that there was still a missing element. He speculated that they would likely need part of the Black Mage’s power in order to unleash the weapon’s strength.

Neinheart realized that the Adversary would likely need to face the Black Mage’s afterimage once again, and so he asked them to defeat the afterimage and obtain a Black Mage Remnant from within. The Adversary returned back to Limina and successfully defeated the afterimage, after which they traveled to the Dimensional Schism and obtained another Trace of Darkness from within Arkarium’s afterimage.

(A/N: For the purposes of liberation, you have to defeat Normal Arkarium with the same requirements as the Von Leon battle, with the only difference being that your final damage reduction is 75% instead of 90%.)

After defeating Arkarium’s afterimage, the Trace of Darkness inside him was imbued into the weapon, which the Adversary brought back to Ereve. There, Grendel extracted the magical power from within the Black Mage Remnant and transferred it inside the Genesis Weapon. Immediately after the power transfer, everyone nearby experienced a vision of Arkarium from shortly after the World Tree incident, in which he restored his human form after Damien had nearly killed him, after which the Black Mage ordered him to escort Tana through the Arcane River.

(A/N: I’ve already covered the full details of all the Genesis Weapon flashbacks throughout this website in chronological order, and so I’ll just summarize them in this section, rather than copying and pasting what happened in full, just for the sake of avoiding redundancy. If you want to know the full details of what happens in this flashback, see the end of the Heroes of Maple section.)

Neinheart realized that according to the memory, Arkarium had needed his staff in order to fully restore his powers after having barely survived his battle with Damien. Grendel realized that the staff’s power had likely been similar to that of the Black Mage, adding that the combination of the Commander’s power and the Black Mage’s power must have been quite potent. He then realized that it served as confirmation that in order to fully unseal the Genesis Weapon, they would need part of the Black Mage’s power through his afterimages, as well as those of his Commanders.

The Adversary then returned back to Limina, where they defeated the Black Mage’s afterimage once again and obtained a Black Mage Remnant. They then traveled to Tyrant’s Castle in Heliseum, where they defeated Magnus’ afterimage and obtained a Trace of Darkness from inside him, which was absorbed into the Genesis Weapon. (A/N: For the purposes of liberation, you have to defeat Hard Magnus with the usual restrictions. This time, your damage reduction is 50%.)

After the Adversary returned back to Ereve, Grendel began infusing the Black Mage Remnant’s power into the weapon, resulting in one of Magnus’ memories flowing into their minds. They witnessed the memory of Hilla confronting Magnus during the Dimension Invasion crisis, in which Magnus had told Hilla that the Black Mage’s will was quite different from the one whom he served. (A/N: If you want the full details of this flashback, see the Dimension Invasion section.)

Next, the Adversary defeated the Black Mage’s aftermath again and obtained the Black Mage Remnant, after which they traveled to the Scrapyard and defeated Lotus’ afterimage, from whom they obtained a Trace of Darkness.

(A/N: The requirements start easing up a bit from here. Your final damage reduction is now 20% and the criteria for only base stats counting and equipping only the Genesis Weapon, your secondary weapon, and Arcane Symbols have been alleviated.)

After the Trace of Darkness was absorbed into the Genesis Weapon, the Adversary returned back to Ereve, where Grendel transferred the power of the Black Mage Remnant into the weapon. Grendel noted that it had accumulated considerable power, and that it seemed like the first stage of that power was ready to be awakened. After he unlocked the first restraint on the weapon, the Adversary found that the weapon held the ability to use a portion of the Black Mage’s Transcendent powers of destruction, allowing them to summon the Tanadian Ruin.

(A/N: The Tanadian Ruin skill gives you a permanent final damage increase by 10%. Originally, it used to give a buff that activated when you attacked something, which increased your final damage by 15% for 30 seconds, with a cooldown of 90 seconds.)

Neinheart then told the Adversary that the next afterimage that they would need to face would be Damien’s, from whom they would need to obtain the Trace of Darkness.

(A/N: The Demon gets exclusive dialogue here, in which he’s shocked to know that he’ll need to face Damien again in order to obtain the Trace of Darkness left behind by the Black Mage. He wonders to himself if there’s really no way to break the cycle, noting that he doesn’t think that he could ever wash away the sins that he’s committed against his brother.

He thinks to himself that he doesn’t have the confidence to face Damien in the afterlife, as he feels that Damien would resent him for what had happened to him. He then wonders whether Damien would still consider him his brother when they meet again. Just like in FriendStory, the dialogue will say ‘sister’ instead of ‘brother’ if the player is female.

Neinheart then asks if there’s a problem and notes that the Demon looks angry, adding that it seems like he’d rather not fight one of his own kind. However, he reminds the Demon that he needs to find the Trace of Darkness that the Black Mage has left behind, though he admits that it’s a difficult decision, and that anyone would have misgivings.

He attempts to help the Demon cope with what he has to do by asking him to view it as him helping the people whom Damien had exploited to break the cycle and find peace. His words help the Demon change his perspective, giving him the resolve needed to face his brother again. After seeing that the Demon’s mind has been made up, Neinheart asks him to obtain the Trace of Darkness.)

The Adversary then defeated the Black Mage’s afterimage once again and obtained the Black Mage Remnant, after which they traveled to the Dark World Tree and defeated Damien’s afterimage. (A/N: The only requirements for this fight are that you need to defeat Hard Damien alone, and that you only have 5 lives to beat him.) After the Genesis Weapon absorbed the Trace of Darkness, the Adversary returned back to Ereve, where Grendel infused the Black Mage Remnant’s powers into the weapon.

(A/N: The Demon gets exclusive dialogue here, in which he notes to himself that the power that the Black Mage had tied to him seems to be loosening. He wonders whether he’s starting to feel free from what’s been holding him back, after which he wonders whether Damien is at peace now. He then hopes to himself that when they meet again, they’ll both be able to smile.)

As the Black Mage Remnant’s power was transferred into the weapon, everyone was able to see one of Damien’s memories, in which they witnessed his first meeting with Von Leon. In the memory, Von Leon had learned that Damien saw him as a kindred spirit, as both of them had lost loved ones and had chosen the path of corruption. However, Von Leon had merely told Damien that some things were impossible, even for the Black Mage, and that even if Damien were to bring his mother back to life, his tainted soul wasn’t fit to be anywhere near her. (A/N: If you want the full details of this flashback, see the Root Abyss section.)

Next, the Adversary defeated the Black Mage’s afterimage and obtained the Black Mage Remnant, after which they traveled to Esfera and faced Will’s afterimage.

(A/N: Just like with the Temple of Darkness, I can only assume that there was somehow a whole afterimage of the White Sun alongside Will, since you could only get to where he was through a Mirror World portal to the White Sun, and then through another Mirror World portal to where the ritual was taking place.

The restrictions for this boss fight are that you have to fight Hard Will with a 10% increase in damage taken, including from HP attacks. Originally, you only had the option of facing him alone, but the requirements were eased up a little to allow up to two people to face him, with the caveat that both players get a 50% final damage reduction.)

After absorbing the Trace of Darkness inside Will’s afterimage into the Genesis Weapon, the Adversary returned back to Ereve, where Grendel infused the power of the Black Mage Remnant into the weapon. As the power transfer occurred, a memory from Will’s past flooded into the minds of everyone nearby, allowing them to learn how Will had become a Commander after the Black Mage’s unsealing, as well as the fact that while he had become the Black Mage’s sole confidante. After the events of Mirror World, the Black Mage had told Will that he had wanted something more than just the creation of a new world. (A/N: If you want the full details of this flashback, see the Root Abyss section.)

The Adversary then obtained another Black Mage Remnant from the Black Mage’s afterimage, after which they traveled to Lachelein and faced Lucid’s afterimage, from whom they obtained another Trace of Darkness that the Genesis Weapon absorbed into itself.

(A/N: For this boss fight, you have to face Hard Lucid, and the only potions that you can use are 50 Challenger’s Elixirs, which are basically identical to Power Elixirs. Just like with Will, you can now fight her with another player with the same 50% final damage reduction.)

After Grendel transferred the Black Mage Remnant’s power into the Genesis Weapon, everyone was able to see a memory of Lucid after the Adversary defeated her in Lachelein. They learned that within the darkness of her mind, Lucid had desperately attempted to reach the Black Mage’s subconsciousness in order to reach him one last time. In the brief instant that she had entered his mind, Lucid had stumbled across a memory filled with pain, sadness, relief, and unbridled hatred. (A/N: If you want the full details of this flashback, see the Lachelein section.)

With only one Commander left to face, the Adversary obtained another Black Mage Remnant from the Black Mage’s afterimage and then faced Verus Hilla’s afterimage, from whom they obtained the final Trace of Darkness, which was imbued into the Genesis Weapon.

(A/N: In yet another exercise that wears out our suspension of disbelief, the labyrinth was erased and replaced by the waterfalls of Limina after the final Labyrinth Core is destroyed by Orchid, which means that you can’t have them both exist at the same time. Yet we now have afterimages of both places superimposed on top of each other in a way that magically lets you visit whichever one you want, even as the actual giant in Limina is decomposing into nothingness as we speak. If there was ever a moment for Lucid to us that this is all a bad, horribly-written dream, now would the time.

In any case, there aren’t any restrictions on fighting Verus Hilla. It’s actually even easier because you get to skip phase 1 and go straight into phase 2, meaning that her total HP is reduced by 25%. You can also fight her with another player if you’re fine with a 50% damage reduction.)

After the Adversary returned back to Ereve, Grendel used the last Black Mage Remnant to imbue the Genesis Weapon with the entirety of its power. He then fully broke the seal on the weapon, unlocking its full potential and allowing the Adversary to use a portion of the Black Mage’s Transcendent powers of creation, with which they could summon the Aeonian Rise.

(A/N: After fully liberating the Genesis Weapon, you get it fully scrolled with Spell Trace 15% enhancements for your class and 22 stars, both of which can’t be changed. However, you can still change the unique potential and epic bonus potential that it gets. The Aeonian Rise skill allows you to become invincible for 10 seconds, and when the skill ends, it unleashes a powerful attack.)

Neinheart congratulated the Adversary for fully awakening the power of the Genesis Weapon, explaining that he now understood why the Black Mage might have left such a weapon behind. He told the Adversary that while they had been fighting the afterimages of the Black Mage and his Commanders, the Alliance had been doing follow-up investigations regarding the memories that they had seen of the Commanders, adding that he was certain that those memories were the very reason why the Black Mage had left the Genesis Weapon with them.

He explained that there were four things that he had concluded from the memories. First, the Black Mage had desired for something more than Genesis. Second, Lucid had sensed great animosity from within the Black Mage’s subconsciousness towards someone. Third, there were some things that were impossible, even for the Black Mage himself. Finally, the Black Mage’s will was quite different from the one whom Magnus served.

Neinheart told the Adversary that the Alliance believed that the Black Mage’s desire for something greater than Genesis had stemmed from the animosity that he held towards some unknown being, and that he had trusted the Adversary with fulfilling what he couldn’t. Grendel noted that while the Black Mage might be gone, his plans hadn’t completely failed yet.

Neinheart added that what had transpired made sense, as someone as big the Black Mage wouldn’t have simply disappeared without leaving something behind. He noted that on top of that, disappearing without having fulfilled his purpose would have been an even more undesirable ending for him.

The Adversary was surprised to know that the Black Mage’s designs had extended so far, to which Neinheart told them that the Alliance would keep investigating in the meantime, as all they had to go on was speculation. As none of them knew of the Black Mage’s true intentions, Neinheart told the Adversary that he would contact them once he had more information, adding that they should also let him know if they discover anything else.