PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 19: Chaser of Darkness

(A/N: I swear this storyline was confusing as hell when I first did it. I replayed it a couple more times, but it wasn’t until I saw the MSEA translation that it finally began to make sense. This is definitely one of the weaker GMS translations out there.)

On Savage Terminal, in Toolen City, a Drakas Regulator Sergeant warned a group of Biter thugs to vacate from the public facilities that they were illegally occupying. Kudan, the leader of the Biters, refused to comply and ordered his goons to throw a party. Suddenly, the lights went out and Drakas agents arrived to wipe out the Biters. Kudan was the only one who managed to escape, but suddenly, Kain arrived to intercept him. After a skirmish, Kain returned to the other agents’ location. Just then, he was contacted by Luska, the boss of the Drakas. She congratulated him on his work and invited him to dinner.

One year later, Kain had a psychiatric appointment with Dr. Y. Dr. Y asked him to rate his condition on a scale from 1 to 10, to which Kain replied with an 8. When asked how he felt about his work, Kain answered that though he didn’t enjoy it, he didn’t hate it enough to quit, admitting that there were moments that he sometimes did enjoy.

Dr. Y then asked if Kain had any flashbacks from before he had begun his time with the Drakas. Reluctantly, Kain answered that he did. Just then, a signal beeped to summon Kain. Dr. Y told Kain that he didn’t want to keep him from his work, adding that vestigial memories were a common occurrence amongst members.

(A/N: The Drakas take away the memories of their members and force them to work in order to get them back. Drakas agents also get a choker placed on them that tracks their location in order to stop them from deserting. Despite it feeling like every class loses their memories, it’s really only Aran, Xenon, Kain, Ark, and Adele, unless you count everyone in the universe when it comes to Shade.)

After leaving, Kain met with the Regulator Sergeant, who told him that several criminals had escaped from detention and ordered him to recapture them. Outside, Kain met with a Regulator, who explained that he had been instructed to give Kain a Malice Stone. Kain crushed the Malice Stone in his hand, flooding him with familiar power, which he thought was strange, since it was his first time using one. The Regulator explained that Malice had three main characteristics: enhancing one’s physical traits, bonding them with darkness, and loading their weapons. With that, Kain subdued the Biters in the area, thus granting him 10 points by the company.

Just then, two Drakas agents, Illin and Vias, arrived to rendezvous with Kain. The Regulator then tasked him with stopping several of the fugitives who were heading for the rooftop. Illin and Vias told Kain that they would finish up on the ground so that he could go on ahead. On the rooftop, Kain was surprised to see two chameleon Anima children, Romina and Royce. At the sight of the siblings, he had a flashback of his younger self hugging an older girl on the beach. Kain then realized that he couldn’t bring himself to complete his mission. (A/N: The scene ends here because Kain loses his memory of what happens next, but he basically just hides them in his locker.)

The next day, Kain sat at the company bar, where the Regulator Sergeant asked him how his dinner with the boss had gone. Just then, Illin and Vias arrived and asked what kind of food he had. Kain explained that it had been a rare dish from out of town, though he didn’t remember how it tasted, as he couldn’t even recall taking a bite due to the awkward tension. He then realized that Luska hadn’t had any particular business to discuss with him and wondered why she had called him in the first place.

Just then, a group of new Drakas agents arrived and a Regulator explained to them that because they had defaulted on their debts, the company had extracted their memories as collateral until their contracts were fulfilled by serving as agents. A mission then came in for Kain, ordering him to subdue the new members as part of their initiation process, with a reward of 20 points.

After Kain defeated the new members, another member named Tirag arrived to goad Kain about why he worked so hard when he could settle into the company like himself. Kain told Tirag that he planned on leaving the Drakas, but Tirag mocked Kain’s belief that he could leave and pointed out that if the company was ruthless enough to steal its members’ memories in order to turn them into living weapons, then there was no way that they would ever let those weapons go.

After Tirag left, Kain went to pick up his gear from his locker, where he was surprised to see the two Chameleon Siblings hiding inside. Kain wondered how the girl was wearing his uniform when he was sure that he had been wearing it the day before. Just then, the Regulator Sergeant arrived to give him his next assignment. As they headed outside, Kain wondered whether he ought to report the siblings, but once again, he found that he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Outside, he regrouped with the other agents and the Regulator Sergeant explained that their objective was to capture the two Anima children, adding that he had given them clearance to question the citizens. Kain was surprised by their mission, but Illin reminded him of the briefing earlier, which had explained how the children had vanished off the roof while Kain had been chasing them the night before.

Vias wondered why so many agents were being mobilized for the mission when the children were simple pickpockets, but the Regulator Sergeant explained that the siblings had allegedly stolen an important item from the base, and that the children had allowed themselves to be arrested in order to infiltrate the base in the first place.

Knowing that the siblings weren’t in the city, Kain pretended to interrogate the Biters by beating the information out of them. He then encountered a suspicious crow and decided to interrogate him. (A/N: The crow is the same species as Corbo and Detective Rave from Savage Terminal.) However, the crow revealed that he had a Malice Stone and crushed it, allowing him to escape. Kain then found a notebook that the crow had dropped, which contained detailed notes on Malice Stones. The notes indicated that Malice Stones were produced within the Drakas’ headquarters, and that Dr. Y had made a reference to the original.

Just then, an old woman named Amos arrived and told Kain that she would treat his injuries, calling it a gesture of thanks to the Drakas for protecting the town. Back at her shop, Amos told Kain that she knew that he was looking for the Chameleon Siblings. She explained that the siblings were thieves for hire, and that they occasionally worked with the Biters in exchange for food.

Amos asked Kain to go easy on them, as they were just hungry orphans. Just then, the Regulator Sergeant arrived and asked Kain why he had left his designated search zone. Thinking quickly, Kain showed him the notebook and explained that he was chasing a lead. The Sergeant then ordered Kain to return to headquarters.

When Kain returned, he found Tirag rummaging through his locker. Tirag chastised Kain for keeping perishable foods inside his locker, and when Kain looked inside and found a half-eaten dumpling, he realized that the Chameleon Siblings had likely been eating there before they had escaped. Tirag then told Kain that he wanted to go over something, explaining that mainland Grandis was in the middle of a war. He then insinuated that they may be able to seize control of the Drakas and use the Malice Stones to profit off the conflict. However, Kain cut him off and told him to stop running his mouth, making it clear that he was uninterested in Tirag’s plan to overthrow Luska.

Irritated, Tirag told Kain that the boss wanted to see him after he finished being treated. Kain then told Tirag that he had already turned in the notebook, in case that was what Tirag had been rummaging through his locker for. An angry Tirag told Kain that if he was planning to get on Luska’s good side in order to leave the company, it wouldn’t work, adding that there was a good chance that she could have taken their memories any number of times after their initial memory wipe, likening them to her personal puppet show.

After Tirag stormed off, Kain went to see Luska in her suite, where she interrogated him about the children, as he was the last one to have seen them on the rooftop the night before. Kain reported that he had handed them over to the other Drakas, which was likely when they had escaped. She asked if he knew what they had stolen, but Kain told her that he knew nothing about it. Regarding the notebook, Kain explained that he had chased a suspicious crow using Malice, but that he didn’t know what was in the notebook that the crow had dropped.

Just then, a Regulator arrived to report a new development. Luska dismissed Kain, but he stayed nevertheless in order to ask why she had invited him to dinner the other night. Luska told him that it hadn’t been for any particular reason, but after hesitating, she told him that she had happened to take an interest in his story. She then asked Kain if he still planned on going home after his contract ended, which Kain confirmed, explaining that he was looking for something. The boss simply told him that she hoped that he found the person in his memories.

Kain then went to his locker, where he found the Chameleon Siblings hiding once again. He asked them if he had been the one who had hidden them the night before, but suddenly, he had an epiphany about what Luska had said to him about finding the person in his memories. He realized that though he had told the Drakas about where his memories had taken place, he had never told anyone about the person in them. He began growing suspicious of Luska and wondered what else she knew about his memories. He also realized that the Drakas had likely taken his memories of the night before, which was why he couldn’t remember anything about it.

Kain then told the siblings that he knew that they had returned for a purpose and struck a deal with them. In exchange for them disabling security, he offered to help them with their mission. Romina asked why he needed their help, as Drakas agents already knew how to hide in the shadows. Kain showed them his choker and explained that it would trigger an alarm if he went into any restricted areas.

Just then, guard robots arrived in order to stop them. While the siblings worked on disabling the alarm system, Kain held off the guard robots. As they moved deeper into the facility, Kain asked what their target was. Romina explained that they were searching for the original Malice Stone, which the Drakas had copied in order to make all the others.

Kain then asked what they had stolen the night before, to which Romina explained that they had stolen a memory of someone eating food with a serious-looking woman. Kain realized that it was his own memory of his dinner with the boss. Romina explained that they had brought the memory to Kudan, who had rewarded them with food. They pressed on into Dr. Y’s room, where they found his research notes. Just then, Kain took the notes from them and ordered them to run from the arriving security force. He also told them to let Kudan know that he was willing to trade the research notes in exchange for his memory.

As Kain and the siblings escaped, Drakas agents stormed the laboratory. The Regulator Sergeant reported that all signs pointed to a Drakas agent being the culprit based on the number of robots taken out, but as the security system had been reformatted, it would be difficult to find the perpetrator. However, Tirag pointed out that if the culprit was amongst them, they would have been the last one to arrive, meaning that they merely needed to check the arrival time logs. He also added that the perpetrator was likely the same person who had leaked information on the Malice Stones, smirking knowingly at Kain. Just then, Luska arrived and explained that she had been the last to arrive, challenging anyone to accuse her of being the culprit.

One of the Regulators explained that a key card had disappeared from her room, and that they assumed that the culprit had used it to disable the security system. They then ordered everyone to remain still while they were searched, but the boss told him that there was no need and swung her sword at Guyu, one of Tirag’s accomplices. As Guyu fell, several Malice Stones fell from his pocket. Tirag was furious that Guyu had foolishly held onto the stones, as he had planned to implicate Kain as the information leaker as revenge for his refusing to join his rebellion. Kain immediately moved to ‘search’ Guyu and used the opportunity to plant the card key on him, which he then revealed to the others after he completed his ‘search’.

After the Regulators took Guyu away for interrogation, Tirag met with Illin and Vias, who had both agreed to join his uprising, and seethed how Kain had managed to get away once again. Vias told him that there was no time to worry about Kain, as they themselves were in danger of being eliminated. Vias added that the boss’s actions were likely a warning to deter them. Tirag then asked what had happened to the crow who had dropped the notebook, to which Vias assured him that they had taken care of him. (A/N: The implication here is that they had asked the crow to steal the notebook, but Kain’s interference had resulted in the notebook being dropped, which created a loose end for them.)

Illin protested that the boss was still likely to kill them, even without evidence, but Tirag then revealed that he had seen a choker around her neck when she had swung her sword at Guyu, meaning that she was a prisoner of the Drakas as much as they were. Back in her suite, Luska told the Regulator not to report the incident to upper management, even as the Regulator protested that there would no way to resolve the matter until Dr. Y returned a few days later to restore the security system. He told her that their priority should be to discard the experiment subject and move on to the next phase, but Luska merely ordered him to report that the project was proceeding smoothly.

Some time later, Kain arrived at Amos’ shop in order to ask her about the Chameleon Siblings’ whereabouts, as well as who Kudan was. Amos told him that the siblings worked for Kudan, who was building up a gang on the west side due to his grudge against the Drakas. Because the fog was so thick on the west side that it made breathing difficult, she told him that the only people who would live there were those who wanted to hide from the Drakas.

Kain then found the Chameleon Siblings outside Kudan’s hideout, as they weren’t being allowed to enter without the notes that Kain had taken from them. As they attempted to go inside, the guards refused to let a Drakas enter, and so Kain defeated the Biters in order to force his way inside. There, he found a large board with several notes and photos, including one of a large black dragon. Just then, Kudan arrived and recognized Kain as the one who had defeated him a year ago. Kain asked what the board was, to which Kudan explained that he had been researching Malice over the last year.

Kudan told Kain about the Ancient God, Satiras the Devil Dragon, whom a cult of Nova called the Black Nova had worshipped in exchange for the power of Malice. With their command over Malice, the Black Nova had once ruled all of Grandis through fear. However, after the fall of the Ancient Gods, the Black Nova had lost their protector, causing them to be hunted down by the other races of Grandis whom they had once enslaved. The cultists had then given up their horns, tails, and wings in order to prevent themselves as being identified as Black Nova.

Kudan explained that the power of Malice, once unique to the Black Nova, was now being distributed by the Drakas. Kain then asked what Kudan wanted, to which he explained that he wanted to become a dragon, metaphorically speaking, clarifying that he wanted to rule the city and command respect in the same way as the Black Nova and the Drakas. He then asked Kain for his payment, but he was irritated when Kain produced research notes, rather than the original Malice Stone. However, he asked if there was any information about how to extract memories, as he would need a means of controlling his men once he gained the power of Malice.

When Kain asked why he would want to use the same techniques as his enemies, Kudan mocked Kain by noting that he was proof that the methodology worked, claiming that it had taken away not only Kain’s memories, but even his anger. As Kain raised his weapon in clear anger, Kudan showed him the Memory Stone containing his memories and threatened to drop it if Kain didn’t behave.

Just as they prepared to swap the notes for the Memory Stone, a Drakas sting arrived to ambush them. Assuming that Kain had double-crossed him, Kudan kidnapped Royce and escaped. Romina begged Kain to save her brother, and so Kain reluctantly chased after Kudan by fighting past his guards.

However, he discovered that Kudan had already been defeated by the Drakas. The Regulator then confirmed that ‘the original’ was safe and reported that they would prepare the reset protocol upon return. Suddenly, Tirag arrived and shot the Regulator, causing him to drop the Memory Stone. As it shattered, the memory of Kain’s dinner with the boss flooded into everyone’s minds.

In the memory, Luska was explaining her trick to keeping order amongst the Drakas by making them believe that they would be able to fulfill their contract after a year or so before she would wipe their memories again. A Regulator pointed out that it was already the sixth cycle that she had put the agents through and asked how many times she intended on repeating it. The boss replied that she would continue until the research was done, but the Regulator told her that sooner or later, Kain or one of the others would learn what she had done to them.

Luska simply replied that she would wipe their memories again, claiming that they were better off with the Drakas than they would be anywhere else. Revealing that she had fabricated memories for all the Drakas agents, Luska explained that she had done them a favor by giving them a dream to look forward to, which was more than what most people got. At the dinner table, Dr. Y approached Kain to extract his memories into the Memory Stone, just as Luska wished him a happy birthday.

Back in the city, all the Drakas realized that the boss had not only lied about giving them back their memories, but she had also given them flashes of false memories in order to motivate them. Furious, Tirag rallied the rest of the Drakas agents into confronting the boss about her actions. Meanwhile, Romina told Kain that Royce had been severely injured in the Drakas sting and begged Kain to save his life. He took them to Amos, who managed to save Royce from dying.

After confirming that Royce would live, Kain set off to regain his memories, but he was stopped by Romina, who begged him to stay, believing that he would get hurt without any Malice Stones. Amos then revealed that after going through the research notes, she had realized that Kain didn’t need a Malice Stone because he himself was the original template that Kudan was searching for.

Kain then recalled how the Regulator had said that the original template was safe before being shot and realized that he had been referring to Kain. He also realized that it was likely the reason why the boss had protected him and fabricated his memories. Suddenly, he had a moment of clarity, with the memory that he had recalled of himself being hugged by an older girl on the beach transforming into her hugging him amidst a burning village surrounded by soldiers. Along with his memory, the original Malice within him awoke. As Kain rushed to go after the boss, he felt pure hatred within his chest, though unlike before, it felt measured and focused.

At the Drakas headquarters, the insurrectionists began taking control of the building. As the Regulator Sergeant called for reinforcements, Tirag told him to surrender and explained that they wanted to overthrow the boss and replace her. Suddenly, a screen flashed and showed that the insurrectionists had seized control of the operations room and placed bounties on both Kain and Luska. As Tirag began to lead Vias and Illin to the boss’s room, Illin refused and claimed that Tirag only cared about being on top. Tirag told her that she could leave, but that her choker would stay on her for the rest of her life.

After Illin left, Tirag told Vias to become the new leader, as he was satisfied with merely being the muscle. Soon after they left, Kain arrived at the lobby, where the Regulator Sergeant advised him to retreat before the Drakas learned that he was there. Just then, several Drakas arrived and attempted to capture him for his bounty. Kain defeated them all and asked where the boss was. The Sergeant told him that she was on the top floor, though he warned that both her forces and Tirag’s insurrectionists would be after him.

On his way up, he ran into Illin, who told him that she had quit because she had learned that Tirag was planning to continue holding onto their memories in order to hold them hostage. She told him that all she wanted was to recover her memories and remove her choker. She then showed him a Regulator’s key card and explained that she was too weak to make it to the Medical Office where her memories were, and so she proposed an alliance with Kain so that they could both get their memories back. After fighting their way through the hall, they discovered that the door to the office was already open. Illin recovered her memories, but Kain only found a note from the boss that said, “If you want your memories back, come to me.”

As Kain rushed to the top floor, the boss held off the insurrectionists and managed to defeat Vias as well. Tirag then approached Luska and asked why she was on the roof. After she told him that she was waiting for someone, Tirag realized that she was waiting for Kain and concluded that he was the original template. He told her that she had gone soft on Kain, as she had continued allowing him to break countless rules, even when she had killed many others for far less. Just then, reinforcements arrived to capture Luska, who easily defeated them and Tirag.

Kain then arrived on the rooftop and Luska led him into her suite. Though Kain fought as hard as he could, Luska easily managed to subdue him. However, she soon collapsed and Kain realized that not only had she been severely injured since the rooftop fight, but she had still managed to defeat both him and the insurrectionists in her weakened state.

As he took back his Memory Stone, Luska asked him what he would do once he got his memories, to which Kain told her that he would go after the girl in his memories. She warned him that his memories were horrifying, and that even he wouldn’t know how to deal with them. However, Kain replied that they were nevertheless still his to remember. As his memories flooded back, he recognized the girl as his sister and realized that the hairpin that she wore was the same one that the boss wore, meaning that Luska was actually his sister.

Horrified, he asked Luska why she had enslaved him and the other Drakas. She explained that it was the only way that they could have lived. Kain then recalled the memory of themselves in the burning village, surrounded by soldiers. In his memory, Luska had begged the soldiers that they would do anything in order to be spared, to which a man with long hair had given them two chokers.

(A/N: This man is actually Dr. Y, who’s strongly suggested to be an Apostle of Darmoor. Dr. Y led the High Flora army to attack their village and enslaved Luska and Kain into working for the Drakas, in order to gain the power of Malice inside the siblings. The reason why Kain doesn’t recognize Dr. Y is because he was unmasked when he raided their village and never takes his mask off in front of Kain.)

As Kain hugged his sister in the suite, she told him to live freely with her dying breath, having been fatally wounded in the battle against Tirag’s forces. As she slowly began passing away, both their chokers fell off. Kain then made his way back to Amos, where he told her that he planned on traveling the world in order to give context to his memories, which would hopefully help him regain the rest that were still foggy. He asked the Chameleon Siblings what they planned to do, to which they explained that they wanted to stay with Amos.

Amos added that with the money that Kain had given them, they wouldn’t need to steal again. He then began to ask one more request of Amos, but she anticipated his question and explained that she had already convinced the community council to lay Luska to rest. With that, Kain took a boat to leave Toolen City and headed towards the nearby refugee camp. (A/N: The main city of Savage Terminal is revealed to be a refugee camp created by people who left Toolen City.)

Meanwhile, back at the hideout, a Regulator and Dr. Y approached Luska, who was still barely alive. The Regulator asked Dr. Y whether he would be able to extract death, to which Dr. Y explained that while he could extract memories or Malice or anything else, extracting death itself would be too much for him. Instead, Dr. Y turned to Luska and extracted the damage which would have led to her death, allowing him to resurrect her.

(A/N: It gets later revealed in Khali’s storyline that the reason why Dr. Y can’t extract death itself is because he needs to absorb everything that he extracts into his own body before he can move it somewhere else, such as the memory and Malice Stones that he creates. If he were to extract death into himself, he would immediately die.)

Kain soon arrived at Savage Terminal and, following Amos’ instructions, he started searching for Coney. Soon after, he encountered a group of Market Hoodlums holding Coney hostage, as they had learned that Kain would be arriving after intercepting Amos’ letter to Coney. Kain managed to defeat all the Hoodlums, just as Cadena arrived to rescue Coney. Kain immediately felt a strange sense of kinship with Cadena when he saw her. (A/N: This is likely because they’re both Nova who have no Nova features.)

Cadena took him to the Shadowdealers’ hideout and introduced him to Gen, who recognized Kain as the master Drakas, clarifying that by ‘master’, he meant that Kain was the last of the Drakas, and though Gen wondered whether he ought to get involved in the matter, he explained that he had promised Amos that he would help Kain.

Kain told him that he was looking to travel, and so Gen recommended that he go to Pantheon and use the Interdimensional Portal in order to reach Maple World. He also recommended that Kain pick a new name in order to lay low. He also suggested that Kain try to change his speaking style in order to better hide his identity. (A/N: Gen suggests that we switch our name from Kain to our IGN, although future quests reveal that he’s really the only one who tries to get the name to stick, as virtually everyone else keeps calling us Kain.)

Kain then traveled to Pantheon, where the border guards halted him. Beldar and Cartalion greeted him and asked him for his purpose. Kain refrained from mentioning that he was a Black Nova, though he was intrigued to be in the homeland of his ancestors. He explained that he wanted to use the Interdimensional Portal, and so they escorted him to the Great Temple. Kain found himself to be socially awkward, as he was only used to dealing with assassins and criminals.

Just then, Fenelle approached him and, having felt the Malice inside him, recognized him as the descendant of the Black Nova and a disciple of the corrupted dragon. Kain asked if she was going to call the guards, but Fenelle explained that she had no reason to, as she had been waiting for him ever since an oracle had foretold his arrival. She told him that at first, she hadn’t been able to believe that there were any more Black Nova left after the purge. However, she reassured him that their clans’ blood feud had gone away with the Ancient Gods and told him that she believed that no one should have to pay for the actions of their ancestors. She then offered to answer any questions that he had.

When Kain asked about the Black Nova, she told him that she had only read one line in an ancient text that mentioned a Nova clan mesmerized by Satiras the Devil Dragon and his power of Malice, which described Malice as the ruthlessness to stop at nothing for one’s chosen goals. She supposed that Malice existed for a reason, as did all things.

In regard to Maple World, she told him that it was a land of adventure, where its people were fighting against their corrupted Transcendent of Light, the Black Mage. With no other questions, Kain made his way to Maple World and sought out Athena Pierce at Fenelle's recommendation, who suggested that he help others around Maple World. (A/N: Same deal as always, she tells you to complete the four theme dungeons from levels 30-60.)

Some time after Kain began his adventures in Maple World, he was contacted by Romina, who told him that Amos wanted to speak with him. Kain returned to Toolen City and visited Amos, who caught him up on the situation in the city. She explained that the community council had taken over security, and that there hadn’t been any major incidents because of them. She also told him that the council had sent people to recover Luska’s body, but that they had discovered that it was missing. Amos explained that she had looked into the matter personally and was able to corroborate their findings. Kain wondered whether the company’s upper management had managed to get her body first.

Amos then gave Kain a note that the council had found in the building. Kain opened the note and found that it was from Illin, who had written to Kain that she knew how to get back to his hometown and asked him to meet her on the rooftop of the Drakas headquarters. Kain went to meet Illin, who noticed that Kain’s choker had come off. She told him that she couldn’t remove hers, meaning that she couldn’t return to her hometown, even though she had fully regained her memories, as she feared that the company would send the Drakas to attack it. She then revealed to Kain that he had written her a note before he had initially lost his memories for the first time.

Kain read the note and found that his past self had written coordinates. Illin told him that she had looked up the coordinates and had discovered that it was some out-of-the-way place by the moons of Grandis, meaning that he would need a ship to fly there. Illin told him that in exchange for the coordinates, she wanted an introduction to the Shadowdealers, whom she hoped could help remove her choker.

Kain agreed to put in a good word for her and suggested that she find something valuable to sell them. She assured him that she had a plethora of information for sale. After leaving, Kain felt a sense of relief that he could go back to his home. However, he recalled the memory of his sister pleading for their lives and suddenly, fierce anger, infinite hatred, and murderous intent flooded his body, causing the Malice within him to strengthen.

(A/N: Kain has one of the weakest class stories in my opinion. The most interesting part about his story isn’t even him, it’s Dr. Y and his power to extract abstract concepts like memories or death. Kain is marketed as an edgy hitman and they tell us frequently in the dialogue about how much anger and hatred he feels, but there’s never any moment when we actually get to see that for ourselves. What gets pushed across instead is that he’s emotionally numb and has a soft spot for kids, making his edgy aesthetic just for show. It’s like they forgot that “show, not tell” is one of the most basic rules of good storytelling.

For me, Kain has less of a personality than Explorers, Cygnus Knights, and Resistance classes, which is ironic when they’re the ones who are supposed to be the generic classes. Luska was more of a compelling protagonist for me because of her struggle in keeping Kain safe while also being enslaved by Dr. Y, not to mention that her character design and fighting style in the animated video showing her fight with Kain was really cool and one of my favorite animated cutscenes in the game.)