PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 45: Limina

• In the labyrinth, Orchid revealed that after Black Heaven, she had sought out Guwaru in order to reclaim her Spirit of Darkness powers after losing her Wing Master abilities. Having realized that the Black Mage had manipulated events for centuries along his Path of Destiny, which had resulted in Lotus’ death, Orchid sought to take revenge on her former master.

• Guwaru, through Orchid’s mask, instructed the Adversary to use their power to destroy the Labyrinth Core, revealing that it could only be destroyed with the power of the gods. Focusing on their strong determination to sacrifice their life for others, the Adversary summoned a trace amount of the Seal Stone’s powers, which successfully destroyed the Labyrinth Core, causing the labyrinth to be replaced by the waterfalls of Limina.

• Immediately, Tana’s necklace began responding to its owner’s presence, creating a trail of red light and led towards her. Guwaru revealed that Tana and the Black Mage would be at the Genesis Crux, the seed of the new world that needed to be destroyed before the ritual. Together, the Adversary and Orchid followed Tana’s trail until they were stopped by Guard Captain Darknell and the Elite Bosses.

• Orchid gave Guwaru’s mask to the Adversary in order to hide their aura while she held off the Elite Bosses. As she faced them, the Adversary reached the Genesis Crux, where Guwaru used the remaining power in the mask to shield them from Darknell’s attack. After the Adversary defeated him and the Elite Bosses, Orchid teleported them to the Alliance fleet so that they could mobilize the Alliance while she delayed the Black Mage’s ritual for as long as she could.

• Meanwhile, with the Elite Bosses returned back to their human selves as they died, Darknell - returned back to his old self as Kellad - breathed a sigh of relief that with the deaths of all the citizens of Sharenian, he had kept his oath to Prince Sharen at last. Kellad and the Sharenian Knights then scattered into Erdas and vanished.

• Back on the White Spear, the Adversary was shocked to see that from the stained waters of the Origin Sea, an immense giant, whose heart was the Genesis Crux, had emerged from the Arcane River. Neinheart then spoke to them and revealed his findings that the Black Mage - bound by the laws of the Overseers - had been unable to battle the Transcendents directly, for which he had required the Commanders. However, the Black Mage had also known that the Commanders had their own agendas. Despite this, he had inexplicably been able to manipulate centuries of history in his own favor by using his Commanders and having the Alliance eliminate them before they could interfere with his plans.

• As the Adversary met with Grendel to hear his analysis of the core, Claudine and the Resistance - who had been asked to move to the vanguard - faced heavy casualties from the Erda monsters, as well as the Light of Annihilation from the giant, which decomposed the soldiers caught in the blast into Erdas. Nevertheless, Claudine and the Resistance leaders pushed on, vowing that they would mourn their losses only after the Black Mage was defeated once and for all.

• Meanwhile, Grendel revealed to the Adversary that the Black Mage had been able to manipulate destiny in his favor, which meant that everything that they had done until the present moment had been part of the Black Mage’s Path of Destiny. Because of this, Grendel claimed that he saw no way that the Alliance could emerge victorious when everything had been predetermined by the Black Mage.

• As the Adversary began spiraling into despair, Cygnus reassured them by telling them that they had already done the impossible many times before, and that if there was anyone who could defy destiny itself, it would be then. She then rallied together the greatest heroes of the Alliance - the Explorers, the Cygnus Knights, the Resistance, the Heroes, the Nova, the Flora, the Anima, Kinesis, and Zero - with the White Spear pushing straight into the giant’s heart.

• There, the heroes of the Alliance encountered the Black Mage and began facing off against him and his twin knights of light and darkness, the Aeonian Rise and Tanadian Ruin. As their battle intensified, the Black Mage used his power to transport them into an inner realm, where the Alliance found Orchid, who had been fighting the Black Mage from within the entire time. Together, the Alliance and Orchid continued facing the Black Mage, whose body had turned into a god-like figure of pure light. Despite their best efforts, none of them were able to leave any damage against him.

• With the inner realm consumed into a void of black and white, the Adversary - now alone in the void - attempted to use the power of the Seal Stone to destroy the Genesis Crux, focusing everything into their determination to sacrifice their own life. Despite the Adversary’s attempts, the trace amount of power released from the Seal Stone remained insufficient to destroy the Genesis Crux.

• Just then, the Black Mage mocked them for believing that they had escaped the Path of Destiny. Declaring that they would not live to claim the true power of the Adversary, the Black Mage entered the Genesis Crux, leaving the Adversary aghast that even this very moment had been preordained.

• As they collapsed in despair, a formless white light drew them into a dreamscape containing their own memories. The light - speaking with Tana’s voice - showed them memories of their journey and helped them realize that their efforts had not been in vain. She revealed that the world was crying out that it didn’t want to disappear, and that it didn’t want the Adversary to disappear either.

• Tana then used her powers to manifest the voice of someone close to the Adversary, encouraging them to keep fighting. Tana’s efforts helped the adversary realize that they had been prepared to sacrifice themselves all the while that they had faced the Black Mage, but what they had instead needed to believe was that they needed to survive and save everyone, including themselves, not to give up on themselves and die for the sake of a world that wanted them to live.

• With the Adversary and the Alliance’s determination synchronized and honed, the full power of the Seal Stone manifested itself to create a divine blade. With the voices of everyone in the world driving them, the Adversary cleaved through the Black Mage and the Genesis Crux, defeating him once and for all. Immediately after, however, the Adversary was caught in the Light of Annihilation and scattered into Erda.

• The Adversary awoke in the Erda Flow, where they found themselves face-to-face with the White Mage. The White Mage thanked them for putting an end to his life and revealed that he had sought to create a perfect world without Transcendents. As the Transcendents were bound by the laws of the Overseers, they were unable to kill each other or themselves, which had necessitated the Adversary to kill him.

• He explained that when he had set out to defy the Overseers, he had intended to create a perfect world free of their influence by removing the Transcendents and starting everything from the beginning. In the process, however, he had lost sight of the value of the life which he had tried to protect, for which he declared that he had lost his qualifications to realize his ideals.

• He revealed that when Kao had failed to kill him in the past, his faith in his plan had been shaken, for which he had begun to retrace his steps to see where he had gone wrong. While taking a second look at the world, he had come to realize that the world had changed significant since his time, when Maple World’s rulers had selfishly subjugated their people to satisfy their own greed.

• He noted that in the present day, there were countless individuals who were ready to put others before themselves, which was why he had begun wondering whether his dream of creating a perfect world was truly necessary.

• In the end, he revealed that it was the Adversary who had changed his plan - and destiny along with it - in Esfera, when they had refused to take Tana’s life, resulting in Tana’s advice helping the Adversary awaken the Seal Stone. Despite everything, the Adversary had refused to compromise their values and had chosen to save everyone, no matter the cost, with the Black Mage coming to believe that a world being led by good-natured beings like Adversary would be more perfect than anything that he could have made with the power of the gods, for which he was content with leaving it all behind to them, rather than enacting the Genesis Ritual.

• As the White Mage faded away, however, he asked the Adversary to never forget the anger they had felt when they had believed that higher beings had taken their power away and predetermined their fates. As his parting gift to humanity, the White Mage used the power of creation to restore the Adversary and all those who had perished in the Light of Annihilation back to life. With the giant decomposing into Erdas, the Alliance celebrated their ultimate victory over the great evil of their world.

• Following the battle, Neinheart told the Adversary that Orchid had gone missing after the battle, and that Guwaru was refusing to cooperate with the Alliance when they had attempted to inquire about her whereabouts. Though the Alliance was chasing after Orchid to bring her to justice, Neinheart noted that he would take into consideration her role in helping the Alliance alongside her crimes.

• Meanwhile, Melange returned back to the Aboris Royal Palace and presented the book which he had stolen from Will to Gerand Darmoor. Melange noted that the book contained useful information, such as the Black Mage’s prophecies, and noted that Darmoor must be pleased to have received the book and found the Genesis Crux - the seed of the new world that the Black Mage had left behind. Darmoor then ordered Melange to find both Tana and the Genesis Crux, claiming that all would be “there”.