PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 12: Gelimer’s Betrayal

• After turning Lotus into an Xenoroid, Gelimer forced Lotus to attack Orchid and drain her half of the Wing Master powers. With no need for Orchid anymore, Gelimer left her to succumb to her injuries.

• However, Orchid was found by the Resistance and nursed back to health so that they could interrogate her. Soon after, Orchid escaped and traveled to the Evolution Lab within the Verne Mine, where she discovered that the AI for the Evolution System was a hologram of Lotus. Furious at not finding Lotus himself, the remnants of Orchid’s Wing Master powers began manifesting, causing the AI to attack her.

• The Resistance found Orchid after her escape and brought her back to the Secret Plaza, where Orchid fell into a coma. The Resistance then began investigating the Evolution System with the Alliance. Unbeknownst to them, Gelimer planned to have the Alliance use the system in order to record the combat data of hundreds of Alliance soldiers, with the data being transmitted into Lotus in order to have his battle algorithms grow exponentially more efficient.

• Gelimer then met with the Commanders and offered Lotus as a powerful vessel for the Black Mage. Though the Commanders could plainly see that he intended to betray them, they nevertheless accepted him as an ally in order to use his talents, though they refused to make him a full Commander.