Tales of Zipangu

Chapter 2: Neo Tokyo

(A/N: Neo Tokyo, also known as Future Tokyo, was originally a JMS-exclusive area that made its way to a few other regions, with the exceptions of GMS and KMS. Those regions instead got Neo City (also known as Tera Forest), which was a knockoff version that recycled the Neo Tokyo assets and had a much worse story.

Neo Tokyo was later removed from all regions, but JMS released a revamped version as an event, which did make its way over to GMS. Unfortunately, GMS did a very poor job with localizing this storyline, which caused several characters to speak completely unlike how their original JMS versions do. I originally wrote this section using the original JMS text from before the event had reached GMS, and after seeing how bad the English localization was, I’m going to be relying on the JMS text to transcribe this section instead, with very cherry-picked sections of the English localization in certain places.

The revamped JMS story had no wider connections to the rest of GMS-verse, as it didn’t even reference Dunas’ cameo in Mushroom Shrine Tales. However, there were certain lines that were added after the event ran in JMS, which appeared in the GMS dialogue, including a reference to the events of Mushroom Shrine Tales, which confirms that this storyline takes place afterwards. However, the player doesn’t recognize Asia at all, despite having met her in that story, which means that the protagonist of Neo Tokyo isn’t the same as the protagonist of the rest of GMS-verse.

For the most part, the revamped story is pretty faithful to the original, although there were a few significant changes made that seemed a bit derivative of the main KMS story. There were always a lot of similarities between the lore of KMS and Neo Tokyo, although Neo Tokyo predates those plot points by many years. However, the writers chose to lean into those similarities in the revamp, and although it’s a lot more cohesive, part of me isn’t a fan of them doing this, mostly just because I don’t like it when things get changed from something original to a copy of something else.

However, the original story of Neo Tokyo stands alongside the original story of Masteria as some of the best storytelling in the game, and I’m glad that this revamp - unlike the Masteria revamp - still retains the spirit of the original. Originally, I was considering adding the original Neo Tokyo story to the prologue of this guide, similar to the original Masteria story, but I decided that given how similar they are, I’ll just point out in the author notes where the divergences happen, rather than creating an entirely new section.)

A traveler was called by a woman named Asia, who claimed that she feared for the safety of Zipangu from her home of Kamuna. She told the traveler that she was impressed to see just how far they had grown since starting their journey and added that as someone who had watched their progress, she was proud to see just how strong and mature they had become.

(A/N: In the JMS dialogue, Asia tells us that she’s been watching our progress since we left Maple Island, which she says regardless of the player’s job. In the original storyline, Asia also notes that Gritto had been right about how strong we’ve become. Gritto is the the Explorer magician instructor for 4th job.)

She noted that they had protected Maple World over and over again like an unbreakable shield and explained that Zipangu needed that protection too. The traveler was confused by her words and asked Asia how she even knew them, to which Asia apologized and introduced herself as a resident of Kamuna, which she called the beginning and end of Zipangu. She then added that she was an exile from another dimension far from Maple World. (A/N: In the original storyline, Asia was a native resident of Zipangu.)

She told the traveler that her mission was to determine who had power and who deserved to have power, as well as to find the one who could save Zipangu, which was on the verge of collapse. She then asked the traveler to help her so that the Curse of Acacia would not reach her. The traveler was then teleported to Kamuna, where where Asia thanked them for heeding her call.

She then introduced herself as one of the three Guardians of Zipangu who had watched over its birth. She explained that she had gained immortality and had learned magic in order to protect Zipangu, whose end had come much sooner than she had expected. She told the traveler that Zipangu would be destroyed in 80 years after being swallowed up by a swell of energy that would vaporize every last atom.

(A/N: In the original storyline, Asia explained that Zipangu would be destroyed in 100 years. This was likely changed because the revamp - which was released in 2022 - is 80 years before 2102, the year in which Zipangu will be destroyed in the story.

Another part of the original story that was changed was Asia’s explanation about how she gained magic. She explained that Zipangu had once been a hotbed for black magic, and that it had strong ties to Magatia, where Asia had learned magic and immortality from a wizard. Although Neo Tokyo was written years before the Black Mage was created, the story settings line up perfectly enough that the Black Mage can be interpreted as Asia’s teacher.)

Asia explained that in the future, Tokyo would be the center of Zipangu, and that its machines and artificial intelligence were unlike anywhere else in the world. In particular, the researchers of Tokyo had created a special AI, which had been made to be the hope of Zipangu. However, its self-learning had allowed it to rapidly accelerate in intelligence, which had eventually caused it to turn against Zipangu by creating autonomous weapons to use against its people.

Though the robot army had pushed back the Zipangu Defense Force, the Zipangu Technology Research Institute had eventually succeeded in confining the robots within Tokyo using an electronic pulse barrier. However, the machines had eventually broken through the barrier and had wiped out all organic life in Zipangu, after which a wave of pure energy had come down from the sky in order to destroy Zipangu altogether.

Asia then explained that while she had told them about the events of their official timeline, she had used the power of time-travel to jump across Zipangu’s history in order to learn more about its destruction. Her investigation had led her to finding the Acacia Chronicle, a book which recorded the entire history of Zipangu, including the lives of every citizen, through hyper-dimensional technology.

However, she had learned that the Acacia Chronicle only contained records of Zipangu citizens, with those who came from outside Zipangu, even borderline-superhuman heroes like the Guardians, being completely omitted, despite their actions and the consequences of those actions being recorded. Because of that, she had learned that the Acacia Chronicle was malleable to a certain point. She explained that from what she had learned, several outside heroes had made an attempt to save Zipangu somewhere along the timeline by containing the wave at the ends of spacetime.

However, she explained that the Acacia Chronicle would self-correct history in order to prevent changes to the timeline. Nevertheless, Asia told the traveler that she believed that after quite a bit of painstaking research, she had concluded that they were the spark of hope who could turn the timeline away from disaster, as they were an outsider beyond the influence of Acacia.

The traveler asked Asia what she meant by a wave, to which Asia explained that the final chapter of the Acacia Chronicle described it as a high-energy body that could burn through dimensions and absorb the life force of the world. Once the wave appeared, there was no way to stop it, and Asia admitted that she still didn’t know why it manifested. Asia then gave the traveler a Gate Pass, which both identified them as a resident of Kamuna and would allow them to time-travel.

After the traveler agreed to aid her, Asia explained that before they stopped the wave, they would first need to prevent the extinction of humanity. She explained that Zipangu would collapse in the year 2102, and that two years before the apocalypse, the Blaze Army would steal the Mastercore of the ultimate weapon being developed by the Zipangu Technology Research Institute.

However, Asia believed that if they could recover the Mastercore, the people of Zipangu would have a chance in the final battle. She then asked the traveler to go to Odaiba in the year 2100, where the Blaze Army would be transporting the Mastercore. The traveler asked more about the Mastercore, to which Asia told them to ask the soldier whom they would meet there, as he was both one of the members of the special task force sent to retrieve the Mastercore and the best soldier in the Zipangu Defense Force.

(A/N: In the original story, Asia would first test us to see if we’re strong enough to carry out her mission by sending us back in time and having us defeat the ninjas of Ninja Castle.)

The traveler then used the Gate Pass on a special blue crystal in Kamuna and arrived in Odaiba in the year 2100, where they encountered the soldier whom Asia had mentioned. The soldier was shocked to find a survivor in BWZ and immediately grew suspicious of them. When the traveler told him that they had come to help him retrieve the Mastercore, the man grew even more suspicious and ordered them to state their name, rank, and unit ID.

Before the traveler could answer, however, three flying robots swooped in and began firing. As the soldier began firing back, the traveler rushed in to help him destroy them. The surprised soldier asked the traveler why they had helped him, to which the traveler reaffirmed that they had come to help recover the Mastercore, for which they needed more information. Though the soldier was surprised to see the traveler’s mysterious powers, he decided that he would set aside his suspicions and answer any questions that they had.

Regarding the Mastercore, he explained that it was humanity’s last hope for survival. When the traveler asked what BWZ was, the soldier was surprised and asked whether they had been living under a rock. He explained that BWZ was the Baroque Wall Zone, the electronic pulse barrier that was containing the Blaze Army within Tokyo, though at the cost of trapping many people inside with the machines.

Though it was theoretically impossible to break through BWZ, a large force of robots had nevertheless broken through two days ago and had attacked the ZTRI’s Tsukuba facility. However, he noted that the robots had taken a detour through the ocean, rather than returning to BWZ directly, which made him believe that they had been short-supplied, for which they had attempted to avoid the defenses in Mauritania.

He explained that he and his squad had been chasing after the robot force, and that they had tracked the robots to a tanker in the ocean, though the enemy had managed to make it to Odaiba before his squad could catch them. Based on their intel, he believed that the Crosswall Armored Division was carrying the Mastercore across BWZ in one of their Afterlord transports.

Though the Afterlords were merely transport units, he warned the traveler not to underestimate them, as they were heavily armed. He explained that the tanker was carrying many Afterlords, and that one of them was sure to have the Operational Unit. He also told the traveler that the flying Overlords would rain down fire if they tried attacking the Afterlords, and so he asked them to destroy the Overlords in order to thin out their numbers.

After the traveler returned, the soldier was impressed by their skills and explained that he had once read a report about a woman who had similar powers to them. He noted that not only did the girl have great power, but she also hadn’t been seen in a while. (A/N: The girl that he’s talking about is Ashray. As he’s describing her, we see an illustration of her facing away from the screen and staring at a ruined Tokyo while holding her signature spear.)

He then told the traveler that it was time for them to find the Afterlord holding the Mastercore. As the Mastercore had no tracking unit, he explained that the only way to find it was to destroy each Afterlord that they encountered until they found the right one. However, he warned them to control their strange power, as they needed to retrieve the Mastercore intact.

The traveler then defeated the Afterlords and successfully obtained the Mastercore. The soldier thanked them for their help and explained that they needed to get back to the Blaze Army tanker and escape BWZ as soon as possible, as the Blaze Army was already aware of their presence. Just as they boarded the tanker, however, the ground began rumbling violently as a giant robot emerged from the ocean.

The soldier immediately recognized it as the mobile fortress Bergamot, the commander of the Blaze Army’s ground forces and a master of ground weapons, which had managed to escape the confines of BWZ. The traveler realized that Bergamot hadn’t yet fired, causing the soldier to realize that it was charging up, as it had likely used a great deal of optical weapons in its previous battle.

The traveler suggested retreating while Bergamot was charging up, but the soldier told them that it was impossible. He revealed that the Zipangu Defense Force had once sent a squad of its most elite soldiers to attack Bergamot head-on, as its offensive and defensive capabilities are long-range and mid-range were far too powerful. While he had been certain that his elite team would be able to destroy Bergamot, their fight had quickly turned into a massacre. Though his squad had attempted to retreat, Bergamot’s homing missiles had wiped out everyone, leaving him as the last survivor.

As a result, he explained that he was certain that escape was impossible. As neither of their power was enough to destroy Bergamot, the soldier ordered the traveler to retreat and destroy the Mastercore, as his final orders had been to destroy the Mastercore if recovery was impossible. However, the traveler refused to run away and promised that they would destroy Bergamot in order to give him time to take the Mastercore back to the Zipangu Defense Force.

The shocked soldier told them that it was impossible to destroy Bergamot, who was leagues apart from the Afterlords that they had faced. Nevertheless, the traveler refused to stand down and told the soldier that if the Mastercore was humanity’s last hope, then they would do everything in their power to protect it, as they had come to save the world. The impressed soldier agreed to the plan and began to head out. Before he left, he told them that his name was Ponicheleu, and that he was a descendant of Poni Chai, who had once saved Zipangu from crisis.

(A/N: Poni Chai is an NPC from present-day Showa Town, although there’s nothing in the story regarding her significance. In the original story, we would first swap out the chipset in the Mastercore so that the Blaze Army won’t be able to track Ponicheleu as he escapes.)

Promising that they would meet again, Ponicheleu fled with the Mastercore as the traveler engaged in a fierce battle with Bergamot, whom they managed to destroy before teleporting back to Kamuna. Asia greeted them and explained that because of their actions, Ponicheleu had been able to bring back the Mastercore to his base. As a result, the Zipangu Defense Force had been able to deploy their ultimate machine to break through BWZ and defeat the Blaze Army, thus saving humanity from being destroyed by the machines.

Asia admitted that they had been forced to cheat at history in order to do so, and though she admitted that their actions sounded unethical, she reassured the traveler that their actions had averted the genocide of Zipangu and had saved countless lives. However, she noted that despite their actions, the Acacia Chronicle’s temporal restoration was always at work to rewrite Zipangu back to its original destiny.

Suddenly, the ground began quaking as Asia realized that the temporal restoration was already happening. She quickly opened the Acacia Chronicle and read that in the new future, the ultimate weapon had been destroyed in the final battle, resulting in the Blaze Army bringing about the end of humanity and Zipangu.

The traveler was surprised to know that the ultimate weapon, which had been described as the strongest ever built, had been destroyed. Asia explained that according to the Acacia Chronicle, the pilot who had commanded the weapon was different from the pilot of the original timeline. She told the traveler that the ultimate weapon had been uniquely designed by humans to battle the machines, using technology that the machines could never imitate or match, as the weapon utilized a device that could transmute the strong will of humans into pure energy.

(A/N: The part about the weapon converting strong willpower into energy is a new addition in the revamp. It’s highly reminiscent of the power of the Seal Stones in the main story, which respond to the strong willpower of the people in order to grant wishes. The Seal Stones can also fuse with certain individuals who embody the will of the people, transforming them into Adversaries that can kill higher beings.)

Asia explained that the pilot of the weapon had been changed, as the original pilot no longer existed at the time of the weapon being launched, having disappeared from history when he had still been a child. She told the traveler that she had no way of determining the cause unless she were to visit that time period herself, as the Acacia Chronicle didn’t say what had happened to him, as it merely stopped mentioning him after a certain point.

Asia apologized to the traveler for sending them into an unknown situation, but she asked them to go to Tokyo in the year 2095, which was two years before the robots had rebelled against humanity. She also asked them to protect the boy not only physically, but to protect his will and his hope. The traveler then traveled to the future, where they found themselves in a park. They then found a boy defending a crying girl from several Protolords.

The traveler immediately rushed forward and destroyed the robot, which impressed the boy. He thanked them for their help and explained that he had been walking home with his sister when several robots had surrounded them at the park, though not a single police officer had come to help. He suggested that they escape as soon as possible using a radar that he had made, which detected heat. He explained that they would need to use the radar in order to find an area that was less heavily guarded so that they could escape.

The traveler was impressed and noted that the boy was quite smart for his age, to which he explained that his father was an engineer at ZTRI, and so it was nothing new for him. He then realized that he had dropped his radar and asked them to find it amongst the robots. He also introduced himself as Dida and his sister as Mareu, adding that he would protect her while they found the radar. (A/N: GMS’ localization has Dida call the player ‘the dude’ if they’re male and ‘nice lady’ if they’re female.)

The traveler was once again impressed to see such a little boy making such prudent decisions, even while in imminent danger. They then noted to themselves that the Protolords were industrial robots, rather than the military units of Odaiba, which meant that they were less powerful. After fighting through the robots and recovering the radar, the traveler returned back to Dida, who grabbed Mareu by the hand and deftly led her through the robots while expertly dodging their attacks.

Using the radar, Dida discovered that there was an opening on the east side. Suddenly, he noticed that the robots had created a boundary around only the park, and that neither the police nor the Zipangu Defense Force was around, despite it warranting their attention. Suddenly, the radar began pinging as more and more robots seemed to be closing in.

The boy noted that the situation was dangerous, causing his sister to cling tightly to him. As he reassured Mareu, the traveler stepped in front of the children in order to defend them. When Dida asked why a stranger would risk their life to save them, the traveler cryptically told him that he was the future of their world. The traveler then defeated the wave of new robots rushing in, after which they were teleported back to Kamuna, where Asia thanked them for their actions. However, she explained that though they had saved Dida’s life, the temporal restoration had already changed the future.

From the Acacia Chronicle, Asia read that an unknown error had caused a line of industrial robots to go rampant, after which they had killed the police and ZDF soldiers before a platoon of war machines had come to reinforce them. Asia explained that the war machines were the Mechanized Maverick Platoon, which had been created after the collapse of Tokyo. She told the traveler that the robots were assassins who had been sent from the future, which meant that their leader was someone like her.

The traveler quickly realized that it meant that their enemy was deliberately trying to engineer the destruction of Zipangu. Asia then sensed that a new wave of temporal restoration was about to begin and read through the Acacia Chronicle, in which she read about the latest cause for the apocalypse. She told the traveler that after the creation of BWZ, many people had been trapped inside Tokyo, though a resistance movement of soldiers and civilians had created a secret command room in Akihabara.

She revealed that Ponicheleu had once again infiltrated BWZ after his mission to recover the Mastercore, during which he had made contact with the resistance and had connected them with the Zipangu Defense Force. With both sides having made contact, the resistance and the ZDF had coordinated a joint strike to attack the Blaze Army from both sides, during which Dida had used the ultimate weapon to win the war.

However, she explained that because of the Blaze Army’s leader interfering with the timeline, the secret command room had been targeted by the machines, which had destroyed the resistance and had stopped the operation before it could begin. She added that in the new timeline, a special unit of machines had been created by salvaging and improving Bergamot’s CPU. She told the traveler that she had also learned that Bergamot had been a failed test product, and that when his creators had tried to pull the plug on him, he had gone on a rampage and had joined the Blaze Army.

The wary traveler noted that the danger of Bergamot had returned once again because they had been manipulating time, to which Asia admitted that it did seem as though they were merely plugging holes in a dam. However, she emphasized that the dam was going to break unless they did something about it, adding that she believed that they still could. She told the traveler that the command center had some of humanity’s greatest minds and bravest soldiers, and that they were all in harm’s way, and so she asked them to join forces with the resistance and push the enemy back.

The traveler hesitantly asked her if their changing the future would simply cause yet another problem, to which Asia told them that they couldn’t be sure of that yet, and that all they could do was to make the best choice that they could with their given information. The traveler then leapt forward into Akihabara in the year 2102, where they reunited with Ponicheleu, who was overjoyed to see them again. He told them that he had heard reports that Bergamot had been destroyed, and so he had been sure that they would be alive.

He explained that thanks to their actions, he had been able to bring back the Mastercore, which they had used to create the ultimate weapon - a powerful robot called the Graviton Flame. The traveler then began warning Ponicheleu that a platoon of robots was on its way to the command room, but just then, the alarm began to ring, signifying that enemy combatants had entered the area. Ponicheleu immediately recognized the robots as Iruvatas of the Independent Task Force, exterminators that could independently carry out tasks without Bergamot’s guidance.

He also realized that as many people were off-base for their operation, the command room was too short-staffed to fight the Iruvatas. Though Ponicheleu believed that they couldn’t fight them all, the traveler gave him a determined look and resolved to face them. Ponicheleu laughed and realized that the fact that they had suddenly appeared after disappearing for two years was a sign that he never needed to have worried about them, especially since they had fought and defeated Bergamot himself.

He added that he had been practicing over the last two years, and that there was no way that he’d run this time, causing the traveler to see a flame of hope in Ponicheleu’s eyes. Ponicheleu then told them to meet with Commander Garuda, who was the one who had come up with the operation to retake BWZ. Garuda thanked the traveler on behalf of the world for defeating Bergamot, noting that their power was unlike anything else.

He explained that ever since the fall of Tokyo, there had been rumors circulating about the traveler and their unique type of power. He explained that they had stories about people with unique powers who came to save humanity when it was in great danger, whom they called Guardians. He added that the people of Akihabara were hoping that the traveler was one of those Guardians, since they seemed nothing short of a miracle to be able to stand up to Bergamot when no ordinary human could.

He then explained that four years ago, after the destruction of Tokyo, he and several other soldiers and non-combat personnel who had been stuck inside BWZ had formed a resistance movement. Their activities had eventually led them to Akihabara, colloquially named “Electric Town” because of its tech shops and junk shops, which they had used to build the command center, which had once been a maid café.

During that time, Ponicheleu had successfully infiltrated BWZ and had helped connect them to the Zipangu Defense Force. Together, they were planning to use the Graviton Flame, the ultimate weapon, in order to penetrate through BWZ and end the war once and for all, for which the resistance was planning to help the ZDF reach the drop point. However, he noted that their current situation was quite dangerous, as the Independent Task Force had wiped out one of their elite forces before BWZ had been created.

He then introduced the traveler to Captain Marishas, who had led the elite squad at the time. The traveler was surprised to see Marishas in a maid outfit, to which she told them that BWZ was short on apparel, and so she was using the outfits from the original maid café. She noted that while it was strange for someone so young to have defeated Bergamot, she thanked them nevertheless and added that they had avenged many of her comrades who had been killed by it.

She explained that before BWZ had been deployed, she had been part of the Technical Experimental Force, and that the Iruvatas had been a top-secret project to build lethal, autonomous combat machines, which had been stolen by the Blaze Army. She explained that it was the reason why the Independent Task Force could function independently of Bergamot. She told the traveler that the Iruvatas specialized in high-density particle weapons, leading off with lasers and then switching to beam sabers at close-range.

She added that they also had the ability to release all their energy at once in shockwaves, which would kill their targets instantly. After the Blaze Army had stolen their design, the Iruvatas had gone into mass-production, with each of them being deadly special ops commandos that worked together perfectly. However, as the designs that the machines had stolen had been for prototypes, the Iruvatas had one weakness, which was that they took orders from an officer unit that commanded the rest.

While all of them were identical, each of them had their individual ID number, with the officer being Unit 0. Upon its destruction, the other Iruvatas would temporarily cease operations before their emergency protocols would force them to operate independently of each other. She then asked the traveler to destroy Unit 0 and bring back its transmitter, which would allow them to control the Iruvatas scrambling to pick up the emergency signal.

The traveler successfully returned with the transmitter, which Marishas used to activate the self-destruct sequence on the entire Independent Task Force. Just as the command room began rejoicing and calling the traveler a Guardian, an enemy alert was issued and a monitor turned on, revealing a man with one horn approaching.

Upon realizing that their weapons weren’t working on him, Marishas immediately ordered all gates to be shut, but the man unleashed a wave of purple fire, after which he disappeared through the gate, as though he had walked straight through it. The traveler immediately wondered whether the man was the one whom Asia had mentioned, who was trying to bring about the apocalypse.

Marishas then ordered all non-combat personnel to evacuate, including the traveler. However, the traveler refused and explained that the intruder had special powers like them, and that their entire operation would fail if he kept teleporting through the gates and reached the command center. They declared that they would fight the man and give everyone time to escape.

Commander Garuda agreed and ordered everyone to evacuate. Marishas wished the traveler - whom she called the Miracle Warrior - good luck, after which the traveler confronted the one-horned man, who used powerful magic to fight them. After they defeated him, they were teleported back to Kamuna, where they immediately asked Asia who the man was.

Asia explained that his name was Al Dunas Madren, who had once been a Guardian alongside her. She told the traveler that Dunas had always looked ahead and had tried steering Zipangu towards the brightest future that he could see. Though they had once been good friends, she explained that they had since become enemies. The surprised traveler asked Asia why Dunas wanted to destroy Zipangu if he was supposed to be a Guardian.

Asia decided to tell them the full story and explained that long ago, she Dunas, and Ashray had been bestowed a special power by the world, which they had used to help ancient Zipangu. She told the travler that she had immortality, Dunas had reincarnation, and Ashray had the power to time-travel.

(A/N: In the original story, Asia explained that all three of them had been taught black magic in Magatia by a wizard, who is implied to be the Black Mage. The world bestowing powers upon the Guardians is highly reminiscent of the Overseers creating the Transcendents. Even their powers are reminiscent of the three laws, as immortality - later described as manipulation of the body - can be interpreted as light, or creation, reincarnation is life, and time-travel is obviously time.

The three powers that they had were the same in the original story, but it seems that the revamp wanted to lean into the idea of the Transcendents and the Overseers, especially with the idea of there being a fixed destiny for Zipangu through the Acacia Chronicle. Additionally, the Mastercore responding to the determination of its user is very reminiscent of the Seal Stone and the Adversary, which further adds to the parallels between the main story and Neo Tokyo.)

Asia explained that she and Dunas could live forever, as she was immortal and Dunas could preserve his memories across different bodies, leaving Ashray as the only one amongst them who would die someday. However, Ashray and Dunas had been in love with each other, and Ashray had cursed her fate to be unable to live forever with Dunas, for which she had coveted Asia’s immortality.

Ashray had claimed that she had seen something terrible in the future, and that she had needed Asia’s immortality in order to prevent it. Asia, having assumed that Ashray had merely been referring to her own death, had refused, as they had needed to preserve the balance of Zipangu. Soon after, Ashray had disappeared through time and had never returned.

Thousands of years later, however, the AI had turned against humanity and had sent the machine army to destroy Zipangu. She explained that she had been unable to fulfill her duties as a Guardian, as her magic had become a relic of the past. It was then, however, that she had discovered Ashray in Tokyo during the year 2102, barely standing, but still using her magic and her spear to face the Blaze Army alone.

Ashray had explained that after she had disappeared from the present, she had gone to Neo Tokyo alone in order to stop the apocalypse herself. She had then told Asia about the energy wave that would burn the world away, as well as the Acacia Chronicle. She revealed that she had come up with a plan to break the curse of Acacia and save Zipangu by absorbing the entirety of the energy wave into her body and using her power as a Guardian to regenerate the world, for which she had needed Asia’s immortality in order to contain the sheer amount of energy without dying.

Asia had been ashamed to learn that thousands of years of resentment had been because of her own misunderstanding. She had asked Ashray about why she had kept the truth to herself, as they were both Guardians of Zipangu. Ashray had then smiled and explained that she hadn’t gone off on her own, but merely gone in first, as she had known that Asia would reach her eventually.

Ashray had then revealed that she had entered over ten million futures in the past millennia, and that she had learned that her plan to seal the wave would not be enough. However, she had believed that sealing the energy would buy Asia time to find a permanent solution by locating the key to save Zipangu and protect the future.

Asia then revealed that she had then swapped her immortality for Ashray’s time-travel abilities, after which Ashray had absorbed the energy wave within her body for as long as she could, though the energy had ultimately burst out of her and had ultimately destroyed Zipangu. In the end, Asia had time-traveled back to the present and had come to reside in Kamuna, where the mana of the people of ancient Zipangu resided.

She had then used a secret art to stop time in Kamuna, thus gaining a pseudo form of immortality, after which she awaited the day that she could meet someone like the traveler in the hopes that they would be able to prevent the future that awaited them.

(A/N: In the original story, Asia explains that her time freeze of Kamuna had been based on research that Ashray herself had begun in her attempt to find a way to achieve immortality for herself.)

When the traveler asked why they could save the future, Asia explained that they were powerful and existed outside the Acacia Chronicle. She told the traveler that the people of Zipangu continued fighting over and over to survive the end, and that she believed that they could win that fight. When the traveler asked what had happened to Dunas, the ground began to quake as Asia told them that his hatred still remained.

Asia then apologized for interrupting her story and told them that a large wave of temporal restoration was taking place. She explained that in the year 2102, he was planning to destroy the alliance fleet during their final mission to deploy the Graviton Flame. However, as the Acacia Chronicle didn’t cover the reason for the mission’s failure, she asked them to investigate. She asked them to first go to the command room in Akihabara and gather information before returning to Kamuna. She also warned them that Dunas would likely want to take vengeance upon them and asked them to be safe.

The traveler then returned back to the secret command room in the year 2102, where they reunited with Commander Garuda. He thanked them once again for saving the command room, as it had allowed them to move forward with their plan. He then began to brief them on the mission, which was to penetrate through BWZ and deploy the Graviton Flame in order to destroy the Blaze Core, the AI controlling the Blaze Army. Though it had been created as a symbol of peace, it had soon turned against humanity and had made its base in the tallest building in Roppongi.

He explained that BWZ had been the main problem, as the very barrier that they had created to seal the Blaze Army was preventing the ZDF from invading Tokyo. However, he told the traveler that Ponicheleu had gotten them in contact with the developer of BWZ, who had survived the destruction of the Zipangu Technology Research Institute.

The developer had told them that BWZ’s energy barriers were subject to gravity, meaning that the upper area shields were thinner, which meant that sufficient firepower from the sky would allow them to penetrate through the shields. Though the skies of BWZ were filled with enemy aircraft and penetrating the shield would require great sacrifice, Garuda told the traveler that it was absolutely necessary.

He explained the ZDF had a space fleet, which had rallied above BWZ, where they had placed the Graviton Flame on their flagship, the Old Firefox, after which they would penetrate BWZ and land on the ground, from where an assault group would fight their way alongside the Graviton Flame. However, he warned the traveler that there was a high chance that Nibelung, the high-speed warship and commander of the Blaze Army’s aerial forces, would appear, as well as heavy ground fire as they attempted to penetrate through the barrier.

He explained that in order to increase their odds, their forces had spread out all across Tokyo, armed with heavy artillery. He then told the traveler that it would be helpful if they could join them, as they had inspired the troops, all of whom believed in them, including him.

(A/N: This is where Part 1 of the Neo Tokyo event ended.)

After speaking with Commander Garuda, the traveler returned back to Kamuna and asked to learn more about Dunas. Asia began by explaining that while she had been waiting for the traveler, she had spent most of her time studying the Acacia Chronicle and attempting to correct history by locating Dunas. Though it hadn’t been easy to track him, given his ability to reincarnate, she had eventually managed to track him down. Dunas had wanted Ashray to return to them, to which she had told him that they had a chance to save Ashray if they could locate the key to stopping the wave.

(A/N: From here until the end of Asia’s story, we get to see a flashback of her confrontation with Dunas, whereas the original story just had Asia telling us about it through dialogue.)

However, Dunas had loved Ashray from the bottom of his heart, and so he had refused to sit passively for centuries on the sliver of a chance that the right person would appear. He had pointed out to Asia that she had already wasted a considerable amount of time doing nothing and asked her how she could still be planning to keep wasting more. He had explained that he had considered all the options, and he had learned that correcting the past would do nothing, as the answer lay in the future.

He had entreated Asia to time-travel into the future, while he reincarnated over the ages, so that they could reach Ashray and save her. However, Asia had told him that he didn’t understand the situation, as there was absolutely nothing in the future. She had explained that there was no life for him to reincarnate into, nor was there any way to save Ashray. However, Dunas had angrily retorted that neither of them that for sure, begging her once again to help him save Ashray.

He had reminded Asia of the countless miracles that they and Ashray had performed for the world, and how the world had stubbornly refused to change, no matter how many times they had saved it. He had denounced humanity as ungrateful, selfish, and suicidal fools that would only end up strangling themselves in their endless grudges, adding that people would never change, no matter how many miracles the Guardians kept giving them.

Asia had replied that there was still a chance for salvation if the key were to appear, to which Dunas had told her that it would take too long, as one day, humanity would wipe itself out and leave behind an empty nothingness where neither light nor life would exist, adding that they would deserve to perish too. He had then told her that no matter how much she tried resisting, events would inevitably flow towards that predetermined result.

He had then denounced her plan to protect and revive the world, adding that Zipangu was fated to turn into the same horrible purgatory that not even Ashray had been able to protect, for which she had needlessly given up everything. Asia had reminded him that Ashray had chosen to do so because she had known he responsibility as a Guardian, and because she had wanted to give them a chance to save the world.

However, Dunas had then asked her whether she could even imagine the incredible pain that Ashray was in, consciously aware throughout the excruciating ordeal of holding the energy wave inside herself, waiting alone in darkness for the end. Dunas had then decided that he intended to stop Ashray from absorbing the wave in the first place by wiping out humanity, believing that if there was no one left to save, then Ashray would have no reason to stop the wave from destroying Zipangu.

Asia told the traveler that it was then that her friendship with Dunas had ended. Knowing that she would try to stop him, Dunas had turned on her, after which the two of them had battled with all their might. However, she explained that using the power of time-travel that Ashray had passed down to her, she had been able to get the upper hand, noting with sorrow that she had defeated Dunas using the power of the person that he loved the most. In order to stop him from reincarnating, she had created an artificial Nameless Monster, inside which she had sealed his soul. She had then sealed the monster deep inside Kamuna.

(A/N: This is around where the revamp begins to diverge from the original story. In the original story, after Ashray fails to contain the wave inside her body, Zipangu ends up getting destroyed, after which she and Asia wander the ruins of Zipangu, which is when they discover the Acacia Chronicle. Reading it inspires Ashray to come up with a last-resort plan to rewrite the history of Zipangu, thus ensuring that the wave never happens.

Since Ashray no longer has her time-travel powers, she decides to remain behind in the destroyed Zipangu, while Asia leaps back to the past. Using the Acacia Chronicle as a guide, Asia manipulates the timeline in order to prevent the wave from ever appearing in the first place. This causes their timeline to branch off into a different future, leaving Ashray isolated in an unreachable purgatory timeline.

Dunas refuses to accept that Ashray is stuck alone in a world of darkness, and so he decides to undo Asia’s actions in prevent the apocalypse, hoping to force their timeline to once again branch into the purgatory timeline that Ashray is trapped in. Asia and Dunas then have their battle, but the main difference is that Dunas himself chose to project his soul into the monster, which Asia was able to seal away. There was also another explanation that she originally gave, which was that the time freeze inside Kamuna that allows her to remain immortal also applies to Dunas, which prevents him from dying and reincarnating into another body.)

The traveler was shocked to know that Dunas was in Kamuna, as they had seen him in Akihabara, noting that Dunas had also sent the robot assassins back in time to kill Dida. Asia explained that though Dunas’ power was called reincarnation, his ability was actually to transfer his soul into other bodies. Though his soul was sealed inside the monster, he still retained the ability to project his strong willpower outward for a short time.

Suddenly, the ground began to quake again, but Asia explained that it wasn’t the result of temporal restoration. As a wave of purple fire was unleashed, just as Dunas had done in Akihabara, Asia recognized the energy as belonging to Genkou, noting that Dunas must have found a way to steal his powers.

(A/N: This line about Dunas stealing Genkou’s powers was added in the GMS version of the event, as it didn’t appear in the original JMS text. Originally, Neo Tokyo had no overarching connections besides a single mention of the Five Elements of Zipangu that you’ll see just below. The fact that the writers added this line after the event had already ended in JMS makes me certain that we’ll get a permanent version of Neo Tokyo later on, since it doesn’t make sense for them to keep changing the script just for an event, and because they’ve already put in so much effort revamping the story and bosses.)

Asia noted that the Five Elements of Zipangu were fluctuating and realized that the seal on Dunas was about to break, adding that he was likely planning to attack the traveler. Suddenly, the stone seal covering the monster shattered, allowing it to move once again. Asia vowed that she wouldn’t allow Dunas to succeed in his plans, for the sake of both Zipangu and everyone in it. The traveler then defeated the the Nameless Monster, allowing them to contain Dunas.

(A/N: This boss fight was originally the final part of the original Neo Tokyo storyline, as stopping Dunas here essentially saved the future by ensuring that he couldn’t project his memory into the future and force Zipangu’s destruction. Later on, Neo Tokyo received a few more expansions that continued the story.)

Asia thanked the traveler for stopping Dunas from escaping the seal, though she added that they had merely weakened him temporarily. She explained that though his soul was still sealed inside the monster, she didn’t know how long she could keep maintaining the seal. Since he could still project his will through the time warp, she told the traveler that they would need to travel into the future in order to stop Dunas and help the ZDF win.

(A/N: In the original story, there was a small subplot that involved us going to the Forest of the Priest and obtaining a magic crystal from Gritto, the magician 4th job instructor, in order to help Asia reinforce the seal on Dunas.)

The traveler then warped forward into the year 2102 aboard the Old Firefox, where Commander Garuda was giving a speech to the alliance. He told everyone that the final battle for humanity’s destiny was upon them and acknowledged everyone onboard as the finest, bravest soldiers that the world had ever seen. He reminded them of how they had been trapped in a hellish prison for the past five years, with their homes and loved ones gone, forcing them to hide and pick their battles.

Against all odds, however, they had all survived, refusing to give up or to stop fighting. He declared that the moment that they had all been waiting for had arrived, adding that the upcoming fight belonged to them, to their comrades, and to humanity. He then entreated them to sear the moment into their eyes, as the liberation of humanity was in their hands. He declared that they would destroy the Blaze Core and take back their freedom. (A/N: Commander Garuda’s speech is a new addition in the revamp.)

After Commander Garuda’s speech, the traveler interfaced with the Old Firefox Support AI, which reported that it had detected Nibelung straight ahead. As engagement was imminent, it told the traveler to eliminate the Mechanized Maverick Platoon and prepare to intercept Nibelung, as they had a 4.385% chance of winning with the Mavericks active. After the traveler defeated the Mavericks, the AI reported that Maverick Platoon’s firepower had decreased by 20%, which was an acceptable level to permit a battle with Nibelung.

The traveler then defeated Nibelung, after which they returned back to Kamuna. Asia explained that the Old Firefox had been able to tear through BWZ and deploy the Graviton Flame, while the Blaze Army had countered with Nibelung. Because of the traveler’s intervention, Graviton Flame had been able to land, though Dunas had shown up and was now engaging the Graviton Flame in combat. She noted that simply defeating them wouldn’t be enough, as his spirit would continue coming back.

Nevertheless, she asked them to go to Shibuya in the year 2102 in order to stop him from destroying the Graviton Flame, adding that Dida, the boy whom they had saved in the park, would be there as well, as he was the pilot of the robot. She also asked them to return back to Kamuna as soon as they defeated Dunas, as his spirit could go anywhere and she didn’t have the ability to track it well.

The traveler went to Shibuya, where they were shocked to find that Graviton Flame had been destroyed after being thrown into a building. On the ground, they encountered an injured, grown-up Dida, who immediately recognized them from seven years ago. He explained that both the resistance and the ZDF had been soundly defeated by Dunas, whom he pointed out in the distance. He noted that they hadn’t aged at all, and though he hadn’t known why they had disappeared, he had never forgotten about them, as it was thanks to them that he had been able to survive and fight for Zipangu.

He told the traveler that there were stories circulating about them as a strange warrior with mysterious powers who had saved their allies in places like Odaiba and Akihabara. Hea added that he always smiled when he heard those stories, as he had been glad to be able to witness their powers first-hand. He also explained that there were other stories of a woman with purple hair and a spear, and asked whether the traveler knew her.

He then explained that he had been hoping that he’d meet them, though he regretted that he hadn’t gotten the chance to show off his strength. He told them that they had almost defeated the Blaze Army when Dunas had appeared and single-handedly wiped out their forces. He added that there had been a machine floating next to him, amplifying his power and protecting him, just like the Mastercore of the Graviton Flame. He apologized for having to lean on the traveler so much, but nevertheless, he asked for their help in defeating Dunas, as they were Zipangu’s last hope. The traveler promised that they would protect him and told him not to worry.

(A/N: In the GMS localization, the player will say “This dude’s got it covered” if they’re male and “This nice lady’s got it covered” if they’re female, which is a callback to what Dida calls us in the park seven years ago.)

The traveler then fought and defeated Dunas’ spirit, after which they brought Dunas’ Mastercore to Dida, who immediately realized that it was identical to the one on the Graviton Flame. However, he explained that their Mastercore had been one-of-a-kind, and since it had been under constant supervision since its recover, there was no way that Dunas could have copied it.

(A/N: In the original story, we returned back to Kamuna immediately after defeating Dunas. The cutscene that takes place below is a new addition for the revamp.)

Just then, Dunas confronted the pair and asked Dida how he thought that they had been able to build the Mastercore in the first place. He explained that it was a device that converted emotions and strong will into power, asking whether they thought that it could have been created by their flimsy technology that they were so proud of. He added that humans truly were a pitifully arrogant race.

He then turned to the traveler and asked if they were the key that Asia had always been prattling on about. The traveler told Dunas that it wasn’t too late, and that they could still work together and save Zipangu, just like Ashray wanted. However, Dunas replied that he was a Guardian, and that he would be the one to save the world by ending it. Suddenly, the ground began to quake as Dunas noted that the wheel had already begun turning.

After Dunas disappeared, Dida told the traveler that he had something important to tell them. He revealed that his sister, Mareu, whom they had saved in the park, was now in a coma. In the year 2097, two years after the traveler had saved them, Mareu had gotten sick from the pollution, for which she had needed to be put on a special life support, which he revealed was the Blaze Core itself.

He explained that about ten years ago, his father had begun development on the Blaze Core as a symbol of peace and a pathway to a better future. From a young age, both he and Mareu had always visited their father at his laboratory, where they would help him cook and keep his clothes washed. When the Blaze Core had finally been finished, they had felt as though they had all done it together.

He told the traveler that the Blaze Core had been meant to eradicate pollution and restore the environment, not to be a war machine. His father had taught the Blaze Core using information such as standards of peace, the problems of Zipangu, and other unbiased data. From there, Core Blaze had granted itself access to all sorts of machines and devices in order to better understand the situation.

Mareu, however, had been enraptured with the Blaze Core and had treated it like a friend that she could talk to. Though their father had restricted those whom the Blaze Core could speak with, he hadn’t put those restrictions on Dida or Mareu. Dida explained that the Blaze Core had based much of its understanding about the world from its conversations with Mareu, to the point that it had grown quite attached to her. Upon becoming self-aware, it had begun viewing Mareu and her words as though they were the words of all the people of Zipangu themselves.

When Mareu had fallen into her coma, the Blaze Core had personally requested that it be given the responsibility of caring for her, after which it had worked tirelessly to find a cure for her, as well as to eradicate pollution entirely. Two months later, however, it had grown completely out of control. Dida explained that part of the reason why his father had been able to build the Blaze Core in the first place was because of a major tech boom, which had resulted in shortages and toxic byproducts.

After assessing that the people of Zipangu had never attempted to find a solution for it, despite knowing that it was a problem, it had determined that Zipangu itself needed to be destroyed. He explained that though he couldn’t know for sure, he believed that everything that it was doing had been for Mareu. The traveler asked Dida where Mareu currently was, to which he explained that she was in the enemy base, which had once been Roppongi Mall, adding that he was on his way there to save her.

(A/N: In the original story, this backstory about Marr was originally revealed much later, and it was only revealed if we unlocked a specific ending for Neo Tokyo, which I’ll talk about at the end of this section.)

The traveler promised to return soon, after which they returned to Kamuna and told Asia everything that they had learned. Asia realized that there was a strong chance that Dunas had stolen Mareu’s body in order to manipulate the Blaze Core into forcing the machines to attack Zipangu, as the Blaze Core viewed Mareu’s words as those of Zipangu itself.

She explained that when Dunas’ body normally died, he would leave it behind and move onto a new one, with his memories still intact. However, she told the traveler that his soul didn’t necessarily have to enter the body of a newborn, as he had mastered his powers enough over the years to move souls around. She explained that if a body had a tenuous connection with its soul, Dunas’s soul could enter that body and seize control of it. Though Mareu’s body was comatose, Dunas would still be able to make it talk, allowing him to interact with the Blaze Core.

She also noted that if Dunas could influence the Blaze Core, he would also be able to use the machines to build the Mastercore for him. Asia explained that though she still didn’t know why he had wanted to build a device that could manifest people’s will, the traveler needed to rest before they moved forward. She told them that until then, she would continue looking at the Acacia Chronicle.

(A/N: In the original story, Asia instead speculated that Dunas possessed Mareu and then pretended to be Mareu’s doctor while speaking to the Blaze Core, which never really made much sense to me. She then sends us to Alcaster in El Nath in order to learn more about Dunas’ abilities, claiming that he’s an expert in magic and alchemy, having even taken care of her when she had been contracted with illness. In El Nath, Alcaster was the one who told us about how Dunas’ reincarnation abilities work, rather than Asia. This is also where Part 2 of the Neo Tokyo event ended.)

Soon after, Asia contacted the traveler and told them that the Blaze Core was on the move. The traveler returned back to Kamuna, where Asia told them that they were right about Dunas manipulating the Blaze Core. She explained that while reading through the Acacia Chronicle, she had discovered a curious sentence about how the Blaze Core had been directing the Blaze Army to gather Nano Plants in order to destroy BWZ.

When the traveler asked what Nano Plants were, Asia explained that they were an alternative form of energy proposed by Core Blaze, which she described as condensed cosmic energy, or in other words, the spiritual energy of the world. She told the traveler that with the Nano Plants, the technical knowledge of 2102, and Dunas’ magic, the machines would be able to built almost anything, even a time machine, causing the traveler to realize that it was likely how Dunas had sent the Mavericks to the park in 2095.

Asia agreed and added that combining all that raw power with the Mastercore, they would be able to multiply the energy output until they could create a large enough energy wave to destroy Zipangu. She then explained that in order to stop the Blaze Core, she would send them to Shibuya, where they could infiltrate Roppongi Mall through an underground passage, rather than fighting through the main entrance. She also warned the traveler to keep their guard up, as they may encounter unknown types of enemies in the enemy headquarters.

The traveler then warped to Shibuya, where they reunited with Dida, who asked whether they had come to destroy the Blaze Core. He explained that it wouldn’t be easy to enter, as sentry machines called the Imperial Guard were on standby as security. He then gave the traveler a map and showed them the underground route to get past the Imperial Guard. Before they headed out, he asked them to take care of Mareu if they got to her before he did. The traveler then entered the passage and fought their way past the Imperial Guard and defeated the Blaze Core.

(A/N: Around here is where the revamp significantly begins to diverge from the original. I’ll explain more about how the original ending worked at the end of this section.)

After the traveler defeated the Blaze Core, Dida rushed in and found Mareu lying comatose on the floor. Suddenly, the ground began shaking as the traveler realized that the room was about to collapse. Suddenly, they heard Dunas’ satisfied voice speaking from within Mareu, declaring that he would finally be able to see Ashray again. He addressed the traveler and told them that they were as stubborn as Ashray. However, he added that Zipangu’s fate was already sealed, and that history would end the way that it was always meant to.

The traveler told Dunas that he was wrong, and that it was them - not the Acacia Chronicle - that would decide what happened to Zipangu. After a pause, Dunas noted that they perhaps were the key after all, though he told them that it didn’t matter, as it was too late to stop Zipangu’s end. Just then, Ashray appeared and told him that it wasn’t too late. Dunas was overjoyed to be reunited with Ashray, who happily told him that she had been waiting to meet him.

Suddenly, a faint ball of light began appearing from Mareu’s body into Ashray’s hands. Dida immediately recognized Ashray as the second Miracle Warrior before realizing that she was a Guardian. Ashray introduced herself as a Guardian of Zipangu, who had worked to protect it alongside Asia and Dunas. She explained that despite their attempts to steer the world away from its fate described in the Acacia Chronicle, they had only managed to accelerate its destruction.

Nevertheless, she vowed that she would do all that she could in order to protect Zipangu, right when and where she was. The traveler then reached out to grab the soft light, which turned into an orb that they could hold. Ashray then asked Dunas to come with her before using her power of immortality to revive Mareu from the brink of death.

Dida was overjoyed to see that Mareu was returning back to life. Suddenly, Asia appeared and explained that the power of immortality was the power to manipulate the body, which had caused Marr to miraculously recover. She then told Dida to take Marr and escape quickly, as it was still dangerous. After Dida and Marr escaped, the traveler and Asia headed to the top of the building, where Ashray thanked Asia for helping her until the very end.

She then apologized to the traveler for having put them through so much, explaining that she had risked everything on their one chance to find them. She added that she didn’t have the words to express her gratitude, after which she explained that she was planning to seal the energy wave into her body. However, she explained that the seal would fail, after which she would lose control of the energy, which would consume her and destroy the world.

She told the traveler that Zipangu’s destiny was to be destroyed, no matter how hard they tried to change it. However, she explained that destructive energy could be transformed into creative energy. With the world’s destruction, it would be liberated from the Acacia Chronicle, after which it could be reborn, free of a predetermined destiny. She then called the traveler the key to changing the power of destruction to that of creation, assuming that they could tame the energy while it remained inside her.

Ashray then sealed the wave within herself, with Asia explaining that the final enemy had appeared in the form of the angel Aufheben, a high-energy being who destroyed dimensions. The traveler realized that if Aufheben was destroyed, then Ashray would be too, to which Asia explained that it was their role as the key.

The traveler then faced Aufheben in battle. As their fight raged on, Aufheben’s devastating powers destroyed the moon and soon began destroying Zipangu. As the traveler continued fighting, Ashray’s strong will emerged from Aufheben in order to aid the traveler by weakening the angel. However, Aufheben eventually managed to destroy the world, leaving the traveler to face her in a black void. After a fierce battle, the traveler managed to defeat Aufheben once and for all.

(A/N: In the permanent boss fight, Aufheben’s boss mechanics are explained by Asia. She describes Aufheben as a force that will destroy and remake the world and says that our party will be split into Thesis, those who will be left behind in a ruined Zipangu and purified, while the Antithesis will be those who will be destroyed. These concepts exist in the Hegel style of philosophy, which also includes Aufheben as a contradictory term that refers to both preservation and change.

Hegel is infamous for being ridiculously complicated, and so it’s far beyond my capacity to even try to explain what it means. The closest that I can say through the better part of two hours of being confused is that the Hegel style of philosophy attempts to gain understanding of a concept through analyzing it, negating the concept and analyzing it, and then negating it once more and synthesizing the meaning through both its original and negated form, with Aufheben being something like the synthesis of these ideas. I’m almost certain that I’m completely wrong about it, but feel free to look more into Hegel if you’re interested.)

They then heard Ashray thanking them for everything, adding that she was leaving the rest to Asia. Dida then yelled at them to escape the collapsing world. As the traveler escaped, Dunas asked Ashray whether she could see him, to which she replied that though she couldn’t see him, she could feel him very clearly. Dunas then apologized to Ashray, explaining that he couldn’t give up on her. Ashray immediately forgave him and told him that everything was okay. Dunas asked if they would disappear together, to which Ashray told him that they would be reborn together in the new world.

In the distance, Commander Garuda and his men rejoiced for their survival and their world being reborn. Garuda then sent out a message asking whether anyone had survived, which Dida answered by replying that he was standing with the traveler, whom he called the Miracle Warrior. The traveler soon passed out and was brought to Kamuna, where they awoke to the sight of a worried Asia.

After determining that they were fine, she explained that with the defeat of Aufheben, the high-energy undulation of the wave had turned back on themselves, transforming the destructive energies of the wave into creation and allowing for the new world to be rebuilt. She also added that Dunas had used his power to move souls to gather all the casualties of Aufheben and repopulate the new world, including himself and Ashray.

(A/N: The line about Dunas and Ashray being reborn in the new world was a GMS addition, as the JMS dialogue heavily implied that them being reborn together was meant to be taken poetically, and that they actually both died. However, this doesn’t really make sense, given that Dunas and Ashray are both immortal in their own ways. Personally, I think them being reborn and living new lives together seems a lot nicer.)

With the Blaze Army defeated, BWZ had been lifted and the people of Tokyo were slowly returning home and readjusting to their new lives. She explained that Dida, Ponicheleu, and the Akihabara resistance were lending their help wherever they could, particularly in the Zipangu Technology Research Institute.

She then explained that the biggest change was that with the world being destroyed and recreated, the curse of Acacia had been lifted and the Acacia Chronicle had vanished, liberating Zipangu from its influence. She told the traveler that though it hadn’t always been clear that they had been on the right path, they had chosen the best one that they could, and they hadn’t given up on it. Though she didn’t know what Zipangu’s future held, she was certain that it would be carved out through the free will of its people. She then vowed to carry on Ashray and Dunas’ will by serving as the last Guardian of Zipangu.

(A/N: The revamped story leaned very, very hard into paralleling the Black Mage storyline with the idea of breaking free from a predestined fate, destroying and recreating the world, and having an Adversary to defeat a god and change destiny. The stuff about the Acacia Chronicle had always been part of the original lore and the Guardians paralleling the Transcendents also existed many years before the Transcendents were even a thing in the main story.

However, the thing about creation and destruction was a new element and it’s pretty obvious that the writers definitely wanted to lean into the similarities between Neo Tokyo and the main story. I don’t particularly hate it, but I also don’t love it. I personally don’t really like it when something tries to deliberately emulate something else, especially since the copied version rarely captures the full scope of the thematic impact of the original.

Neo Tokyo did a fairly decent job of it, but compared to nearly two decade long main story, I can’t help but compare the two, even though I know it’s an unfair comparison. Personally, I really liked the original ending of Neo Tokyo and I do wish that we would’ve gotten that instead, especially since it stood perfectly fine on its own.

In the original, after we defeat the Blaze Core, Dunas summons Aufheben in a last-ditch effort to force the apocalypse. Aufheben’s dark energy begins tearing apart all the matter of the world atom by atom, causing our timeline to branch into the purgatory timeline where the apocalypse successfully happened and opening a dimensional rift between the two timelines.

After we defeat Aufheben, Ashray emerges from the dimensional rift and extracts Dunas from inside Mareu in the form of golden orbs. The two reunite, after which she takes Dunas into her purgatory timeline, which disappears after we stop the apocalypse and create a new branch for our timeline. The story ends with Asia vowing to find a way to bring back Dunas and Ashray, who remained trapped together inside the purgatory timeline.

There were also three alternate “endings” that you could get, depending on whether you completed certain actions. After you defeat the Mastercore-powered Dunas in Shibuya, you can choose to pick up the broken Mastercore. If you don’t, then you get ending 1, the “normal” ending. Once we defeat the Blaze Core, we return to Asia, who tells us that we saved the world. We don’t fight Aufheben, we don’t learn the backstory between Mareu and the Blaze Core, or how Dunas possessed her. Asia just tells us that Dunas’ seal might break soon, and that she’s researching to find a way to reunite him with Ashray.

If we pick up the Mastercore, there are two other endings that it can split off into. If we go directly to Asia after picking up the Mastercore, we unlock ending 2, the “good” ending. We fight Aufheben, but we don’t learn about Mareu or the Blaze Core. After Dunas and Ashray reunite, we go back to Asia, but without the backstory about how Dunas possessed Mareu, neither we nor Asia know how it happened. However, Asia still vows to find a way to reunite them.

If we pick up the Mastercore and choose to take it to Ponicheleu in Akihabara before we talk to Asia, we get ending 3, the “true” ending. This one has us learn about the backstory between Mareu and the Blaze Core, after which the rest of the story follows the same plot as ending 2, except now we have the whole picture.)