PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 29: Black Heaven

• After 10 Boogies was captured during a spy mission, an Alliance member was sent to rescue her in the Verne Mine. Following the mission, 10 Boogies revealed that a mysterious project called Black Heaven was ready. In order to learn what Black Heaven was, the Alliance member was sent into Orchid’s mind by Grendel, where they discovered that Black Heaven was a massive airship.

• To stop Black Heaven, hundreds of Alliance soldiers boarded the Lumiere, which had been outfitted with powerful weaponry. As the Lumiere headed for Edelstein, the Black Wings infiltrated the airship and began to cause chaos. The Alliance drove back the Black Wings and defeated a large airship, which they believed to be Black Heaven.

• Just then, however, the real Black Heaven - which was hundreds of times larger than the ship which they had destroyed - appeared in the air, sending waves of aerial forces to attack the Lumiere. As the Alliance retreated, Francis the Puppeteer snuck aboard the Lumiere in order to rescue Orchid, revealing that he had defected from the Black Wings after Gelimer had taken over.

• Though Francis attempted to trade the blueprints for Black Heaven in exchange for Orchid, the Alliance took the blueprints and captured Francis, claiming that he could be reunited with Orchid after the war. From the schematics, Neinheart learned that Black Heaven was being powered by a single source.

• Believing that the ship’s massive size had to create some sort of blind spot, he approved a plan to infiltrate Black Heaven and destroy the power source. Just as the mission was approved, the Black Wings launched another attack on the Lumiere. The Alliance member, Belle, Brighton, and Checky flew towards Black Heaven as part of the infiltration mission, though Gelimer, having anticipated them, ordered his cannons to fire, leading to the Resistance leaders’ apparent deaths.

• Though devastated by the loss of her friends, Claudine nevertheless agreed to do whatever it took to defeat the Black Wings, hoping that her friends may have survived. The Alliance then interrogated Francis about Black Heaven in order to learn about its weaknesses.

• Francis revealed that Black Heaven was being powered by Lotus, who had been turned into a Xenoroid by Gelimer. With Lotus’ AI controlling the entire ship, Francis explained that Black Heaven had no weak spots, with all of the ship’s soldiers being teleported from the Scrapyard in Edelstein.

• Realizing that there was a small chance of infiltrating the ship, the Alliance member traveled to the Scrapyard, believing that they could teleport themselves aboard.

• In the Scrapyard, the Alliance member met three androids: One-Eye, Three-Hands, and Bitterbot, who had escaped and formed a family together after being deemed defective for having emotions. With their help, the Alliance member was able to sneak aboard Black Heaven. After the Alliance member left, Bitterbot took off her helmet, revealing herself to be Beryl.

• After boarding Black Heaven, the Alliance member broke a hole in the shields and launched a flare in order to signal the Alliance. Claudine arrived to reinforce the Alliance member, as well as Checky, Belle, and Brighton, who had survived Gelimer’s attack.

• As the Alliance prepared to infiltrate Black Heaven, Francis escaped his prison and snuck into the Secret Plaza in order to rescue Orchid, who had been woken from her coma after sensing Lotus’ pain from being controlled by Gelimer. With Francis following her, Orchid prepared to storm Black Heaven and get her revenge on Gelimer.

• Aboard Black Heaven, the Alliance ran into Orchid and Lotus while searching for Gelimer and Lotus. After Gelimer detected their presence, the Alliance member and Orchid were separated from the rest of the group during Gelimer’s attempt to destroy them. Orchid and the Alliance member reluctantly worked together in order to find the others, though Orchid hesitantly left the Alliance member to die after finding Francis.

• The Alliance member was rescued by the Alliance, which made its way deeper into Black Heaven. Deep inside, they encountered several Xenoroids modeled after Xenon and Beryl, as well as hundreds of Retoxin bombs.

• Inside Gelimer’s laboratory, they learned that Gelimer had been researching the Seal Stones being gathered by the Black Wings. Though Gelimer had attempted to harness their power, he had been unable to use them, as the Seal Stones would only grant the wish of a population. Gelimer had also learned that the Seal Stones were subconsciously channeling Maple World’s desire to stop the Black Mage, thereby suppressing the Black Mage’s powers.

• The Alliance also read that Gelimer had planned to evolve humanity by bombing Maple World with Retoxin, erasing human emotion and creating a hive mind controlled by Lotus, whom Gelimer had modeled to be the perfect being.

• Racing to stop Gelimer, the Alliance member reached the core of Black Heaven, where they fought against a fully-powered Lotus. During the battle, Orchid reached Lotus and reunited with him at last. Furious to see that Lotus had resisted his programming, Gelimer used his kill switch on Lotus, terminating his life.

• The Alliance member then attempted to stop Gelimer, who unleashed Retoxin gas on them. The weakened Alliance member watched helplessly as Gelimer rained down his bombs upon Edelstein. However, Orchid - who had been given the full power of the Wing Master by Lotus in his final moments - used her gravity abilities to freeze and destroy the bombs in mid-air.

• Gelimer attempted to flee Black Heaven and ordered his Xenoroids to self-destruct to destroy the Alliance. Unexpectedly, however, the Xenoroids developed survival instincts and clung to Gelimer’s jettisoned escape pod, which exploded with the Xenoroids, putting an end to Gelimer once and for all.

• As a final act of mercy, Orchid saved the poisoned Alliance member and brought them to the Alliance, though she warned that they would soon into a mindless puppet, if they survived at all.

• In order to save the Alliance member’s life, Cygnus and the Alliance used the Seal Stone of Ereve by making a wish to restore them to full health. Unbeknown to them all, however, the Seal Stone recognized the Alliance member as one who represented the will of the people, causing it to choose them as its Vessel, awakening them as an Adversary.

• As a result of using the final Seal Stone in existence, the limit on the Black Mage’s power was removed, allowing him to use his powers at full capacity once again. Sensing the creation of a new Adversary, just as he had planned, the Black Mage ordered Damien to move on to the next phase of his plan by using the demon army to attack Maple World.

• Soon after the battle of Black Heaven, Gerand Darmoor became aware of the birth of a new Adversary. Darmoor arranged a business meeting with the Angler family and informed them about the Adversary’s creation. Hoping to use the Adversary to complete Karote and reach Odium, The Angler Company founder became business partners with Darmoor and his Apostles.