﻿\setgamedatatitle("True Radiant Wing Tower\nSecond Layer Conquered")

\text("Verlnya")
Why do you refuse to accept our judgment?

\endtext

\text
In the second layer, now under the control of the Demon
Lord's army, Verlnya's emotionless words echo.

\endtext

\text("Agri")
Hah, judgment? Everything you say is just picking a fight!


\endtext

\text
Agri's bold voice answers back, and beside her, Margaretta
nods and continues.

\endtext

\text("Margaretta")
You intended to wipe us out from the start, didn't you?

\endtext

\text("Margaretta")
No one would ever listen to anything you people say.

\endtext

\text
But their words don't reach Verlnya at all.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...I do not understand.
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Hmph, who cares? Trying to understand those you're about to
destroy is pointless, Verlnya.

\endtext

\text
Caym steps closer to Verlnya's illusion.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Now then, I won. So you'll answer my question.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
I see no reason to answer that...
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Why do you all see us as such enemies, and try so hard to
destroy us?
\endtext

\text
Caym cuts off Verlnya and presses his question.

\endtext

\text
For a moment, Verlnya shows something almost like emotion.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...You really don't know? No... you've simply forgotten.

\endtext

\text
Her face almost looked as if she pitied Caym and the others.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Sorry, I have no idea. I even asked Minerva, but she didn't
know either.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
You see us as enemies... I get that, for what it's worth.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
But from the moment the Structa appeared, it's been said
that Diabolica are enemies that must be destroyed.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Elkio... you outsiders from another world―why are you so
determined to wipe us out?

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...I see. So the Diabolica truly have forgotten their own
roots.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Very well. In that case, you must know the truth.


\endtext

\text
Verlnya quietly closes her eyes.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...Structa and Diabolica. These two races originally arose
in the same world.

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
Huh...?
\endtext

\text("Beatrice")
............
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
The two races fought for dominance of the world... and in
the end, we Structa were victorious.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
The defeated Diabolica scattered and fled to other worlds...


\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...And one of those worlds they escaped to is this one.

\endtext

\text
――The Diabolica, a race of demons from the Purgatory Realm.

\endtext

\text
That was the common belief in this world. But even so, it
was just a theory... mere speculation.

\endtext

\text
But the truth was, the Diabolica really weren't natives of
this world.
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
...
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
You, with your greed and powerful vitality, might regain
your strength and take back our world one day...

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
That is the one thing we absolutely must prevent.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...Yes. Even if it means eradicating all of you who fled to
other worlds.
\endtext

\text("Beatrice")
...So that's why you interfered with other worlds.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Didn't you ever wonder? About how the people of this world
view the Diabolica?

\endtext

\text("Agri")
Hey... hold on. Are you saying you set all that up...?

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
It's not difficult to influence people's minds.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
The root of the hostility toward the Diabolica... and demons
in general, was something we planted.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
I see... No wonder we're persecuted everywhere we go.

\endtext

\text
No doubt, the Structa worked at it for hundreds, even
thousands of years.
\endtext

\text
Leaving it behind as legends. Or weaving those ideas into
religious doctrine...

\endtext

\text
Slowly, they took away any place the Diabolica could belong.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Honestly... I thought you had some grander purpose, but this
is just disappointing.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...What do you mean by that?
\endtext

\text("Caym")
You talk about world order and preventing destruction, but
in the end, it's just a power struggle between two races.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
And you just keep dragging it out, never letting it go.

\endtext

\text
Caym is laughing. As if it's nothing. And as if mocking
Verlnya.

\endtext

\text
Verlnya couldn't understand why.
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
Then... this 'Elkio' you talk about―is that our homeland!?


\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
After we banished the Diabolica, we named that world Elkio.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
A perfect utopia, where law and order reign over all...

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
It's true, the Diabolica may have originally come from
there.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
But... to the current Elkio, the Diabolica are nothing but
foreign contaminants.

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
...!
\endtext

\text
Risbell tried to argue back, but no words came out.

\endtext

\text
If they were the ones who lost the war, then maybe they had
no right to complain in the first place.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...You are...
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Minerva...?
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
Minerva-san!?
\endtext

\text
――Why is she here? She should have been locked up in the
cell.
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
...Is what you just said... really true...?

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
............
\endtext

\text
Her voice was terribly frail and weak.
\endtext

\text
Right now, Minerva looks so small, like a child abandoned by
her parents... lost and without anywhere to turn.

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
Answer me... please answer me... Are we...

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Your role is over. Take care of yourself from here on.

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
That doesn't matter!
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
Our hated enemies, the Diabolica who bring chaos and
destruction―are you saying they were born in the same world
as us...?
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
It's true. Only the central core of the Structa knows this.
It's no surprise you didn't know.

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
Ugh... Then, this fight... I... to protect this world from
them...

\endtext

\text
――She abandoned her existence as a Structa and incarnated.

\endtext

\text
――Even if it meant taking many lives with her own hands.
Still, she believed it was for justice...
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
It doesn't change the fact that they are beings who embody
destruction and chaos.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Just like they did in Elkio, they will bring confusion and
destruction to this world as well...

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
So you are not wrong. If we don't stop them, we won't be
able to put down roots in this world.

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
No... way...
\endtext

\text
Within the shared consciousness of the Structa, there are
higher beings called the core, including Verlnya.

\endtext

\text
As a lower being, Minerva knew there was information she
wasn't privy to.

\endtext

\text
Even so, Minerva chose to manifest in this world... and
incarnate.
\endtext

\text
All to protect the order of this world. She had received
that mission from Verlnya as well.
\endtext

\text
So then, what is this battle really for?
\endtext

\text
After driving the Diabolica out of Elkio through
conflict―was that not enough? Now they hunt them down in
another world until they're wiped out...
\endtext

\text
Wasn't this supposed to be a fight to protect order...?

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
For our own selfish goals... is that why I've been
killing...?
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...The demons are our mortal enemies. Isn't it only natural
they should be destroyed?
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Besides, it's beneficial for this world as well. Many people
desire it.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Don't talk like you know everything. Even that desire of
theirs is something you twisted and implanted in them.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
All your pretty words are built on the assumption that
you're always right.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
And you even go so far as to meddle with people's minds,
planting the idea that what the Structa are doing is what's
best for this world...
\endtext

\text("Caym")
At the core, it's not justice. It's just selfish,
self-indulgent arrogance.

\endtext

\text
Caym's words pierced deep into Minerva's heart.

\endtext

\text
――These hands are stained with blood. There was never
anything truly right about what I've done.
\endtext

\text
In truth, she had taken lives for the very base desires she
so despised and looked down on.
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
Ah... ugh.
\endtext

\text
The moment she realized that, Minerva was overwhelmed by a
chill rising from her gut, unable to stand.

\endtext

\text
Now that she had emotions, she could no longer understand
Verlnya's words.
\endtext

\text
All that welled up inside her was self-loathing for her own
sins... and the sensation of flesh she'd cut down with these
hands.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...As I thought, Incarnation corrupts the Structa. How
pathetic, Minerva... I can't even bear to watch.

\endtext

\text
At Verlnya's merciless words, Caym stepped forward, as if to
shield Minerva from her.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
――You wouldn't understand, Verlnya.
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Minerva finally gets it. What her hands have done... what
they've brought about.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
She understands it not with her head, but with her heart.
That's a far more proper way to exist as a living being than
you empty shells who have no heart at all.
\endtext

\text("Caym")
And... for you to sneer at that and call it pathetic, you
have no right to live in this world.
\endtext

\text
With fierce anger and resolve in his voice, Caym declared to
Verlnya.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
Of all people, you―a Diabolica outsider―are telling me I
have no right to exist in this world?

\endtext

\text("Caym")
Yeah, I'll say it as many times as it takes. And soon
enough, you'll fall from your lofty perch too.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
I'll drag you down myself, no matter what.
\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
...All I have to do is wipe you all out before that happens.

\endtext

\text("Verlnya")
The ones who have no right to be in this world are you. One
day, you'll come to understand that.

\endtext

\text
With those words, Verlnya's illusion vanished. But Minerva
was left behind.
\endtext

\text
Collapsed and stunned, there was no trace of her former
strength.
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Minerva, are you okay?
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
......
\endtext

\text("Caym")
...There's no point staying here. Let's head back to the
labyrinth.
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
............
\endtext

\text
Without a word, Minerva nodded in response.

\endtext

\text
In reality, she probably just acted on reflex.

\endtext

\text
Right now, Minerva is empty inside, but in a different way
than Verlnya.
\endtext

\text
Everything that had supported her until now has been denied.

\endtext

\text
And Minerva's mind and emotions aren't mature enough to keep
up a brave front after that.

\endtext

\text("Caym")
(Looks like it'll take her a while to recover.)

\endtext

\text
And she's not the only one.
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Risbell. Aren't you going to put up a barrier?

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
I know. Everything's fine here, so please return to the
labyrinth, Caym-sama.

\endtext

\text
Or so I thought.
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
...Is something wrong?
\endtext

\text("Caym")
You seem to be handling it better than I expected.
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
Well, it was a bit of a shock. But honestly, bringing up
something from so long ago now doesn't really matter to me.

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
Whatever our ancestors did, we were born in this world.

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
We don't need some outsider from another world telling us we
don't belong here.

\endtext

\text
Risbell said it clearly and without hesitation.

\endtext

\text
It's true that maybe the Diabolica never had a place here to
begin with.
\endtext

\text
But if you ask whether that's actually a problem, Risbell
would answer 'no' without hesitation.

\endtext

\text("Risbell")
We already know we don't have a place here. That's why we're
making one now.

\endtext

\text
So of course it's not a problem. She doesn't care about some
ancient dispute from who knows when.

\endtext

\text("Spacchio")
...You've really grown up.
\endtext

\text("Agri")
Makes me nostalgic for when you used to cry every time the
boss was gone.
\endtext

\text("Risbell")
D-Don't say such nonsense! I'm focusing on the barrier, so
don't talk to me!

\endtext

\text("Beatrice")
...So she says. What about you? What will you do now?

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
I...
\endtext

\text("Caym")
We don't have much time, but take your time to think it
over.
\endtext

\text("Minerva")
............
\endtext

\text("Caym")
Once the barrier is up, we're heading back to the labyrinth.
If you're badly hurt, get First Aid now.

\endtext

\text("Minerva")
(Am I going back with them too...?)
\endtext

\text
That thought brought Minerva a sense of relief.

\endtext

\text
She wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.

\endtext

\text
If I lie down, sleepiness will come. When I'm asleep, at
least for that moment, I don't have to think about anything.

\endtext