PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 13: Destiny Weapon

• The elders called the Adversary to meet them, as they wished to examine the Genesis Weapon. They were shocked to realize that it contained the power of a Transcendent, and they were further shocked to learn that the Black Mage had forged it for the Adversary to use, despite the Adversary being the one who had foiled his plan.

• Though Zigang was hesitant to help the Adversary, the other elders convinced him that they could only help open the door, and that the Adversary needed to cross the threshold with their own resolve. Zigang reluctantly agreed and revealed to the Adversary that they were not utilizing the full potential of the Genesis Weapon.

• He revealed that their existence as an Adversary who retained their humanity went against all expectations, and that the Black Mage must have been interested in them for the same reason. Because of this, Zigang found it improbable that the Black Mage would have left the Genesis Weapon behind merely to lend his own Transcendent power. He explained that what the Black Mage had ultimately left behind wasn't his Transcendent power, but the full potential of the Genesis Weapon itself.

• Zigang then unlocked the potential for the weapon to be filled with the Adversary’s Resolve, with the elders tasking the Adversary with defeating the afterimages of the powerful beings whom they had fought in Grandis: Chosen Seren, Guardian Kalos, and Kaling. As they did, the Adversary filled the Genesis Weapon with the Adversary’s Resolve, allowing them to strengthen the weapon and make its power their own.

• After filling the weapon with power, Zigang revealed that the final threshold was to understand exactly why the Black Mage had left the weapon behind for them. The Adversary thought back to Neinheart’s four conclusions from seeing the memories of the Commanders while unlocking the Genesis Weapon’s power: first, the Black Mage had desired 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; finally, the Black Mage's will was quite different from the one whom Magnus served.

• From these four conclusions, their conversation with the White Mage in the Erda Flow, and their experiences in Grandis, the Adversary realized that the Black Mage had created the weapon for them after he had accepted the failure of the Genesis Ritual, and that he had intended for the Adversary to go against the Overseers and all those who threatened the world, such as Gerand Darmoor.

• The Adversary recalled the Black Mage’s belief that life was finite and that he had lost his qualifications to achieve his dream the moment he had given up his humanity. The Adversary then realized that the thing that was impossible – even for a Transcendent – was to face the world's destiny while retaining one's humanity with the finiteness of their own life.

• They then realized the final message that the Black Mage had wished to pass down: that they were qualified to fulfill his dream because they were one who went against destiny while retaining their humanity. Because of this, they resolved to gather the determination of those around them so that they would not be defeated by those who sought to do as they pleased with the world. As the Adversary's Resolve transformed the Genesis Weapon into the Destiny Weapon, whose Transcendent power was replaced with the power of the Adversary.

• Zigang then congratulated the Adversary and explained that he now understood that the Black Mage must have believed in them and stood down when they had defeated him, and that the elders believed in them the same way. He also revealed that there was someone, long ago, whom the elders had trusted in the same way, though he quickly changed the subject and told them that they still had a long way to go.