Difference between revisions of "Main Quest:Chapter 6"

Cut to alley. As several Agents members are smoking out any APP user they find, they are cut down by Marchosias, who is annoyed that they are endangering Kabukicho and the child he's guarding. As they make their way through the back alleys, they are approached by Ibaraki, though they are quickly separated when a new batch of enemies attack. Ibaraki tries to fight them off, but can only barely stall them enough for the Summoners to intervene. After exchanging pleasantries, Ibaraki realizes that the current situation makes it impossible for him to stick to principles and forms an alliance with them to get rid of the Tycoons' foot soldiers.

With his Sacred Artifact launching them into the sky, Tadatomo reveals that he intends to detonate, taking Kotaro down with him. However, Kotaro uses his Sacred Artifact to create clones of himself, allowing the original to slip out before the explosion. Back on the ground, Kotaro thanks Ose, who was conveniently passing by while on his own mission, for lending his aid. However, Ose immediately cashes in on the debt he feels Kotaro owes him when Acile and Toji appear.

Cut to Kabukicho streets. As the sudden attack on the Tycoons commences, the Protagonist, Toji, and Alice are taking down the gangsters surrounding them. Once they subdue them and escape to a stable area, they are approached by Melusine, who extends the meeting invitation Licht intended for the Protagonist. Despite Toji's annoyance that a subsection of the group responsible for the chaos is trying too get in contact with them, he relents to following her in the interest of ending the Tycoons' invasion at the source. As she prepares to lead them to Hills Tower, she receives a cill from Licht, who informs her of the attack.

During Licht's 'betrayal' of the Tycoons, Alice runs into her contact: Entertainers member {{Transient icon| Christine}}. Alice demands that the Entertainers stop interfering in the APP's progression, but Christine refuses, claiming it's her duty to do everything she can to make sure the APP is as lively as possible, though she promises not to involve herself with the mess going on with the Tycoons. Their conversation ends when the effects of the museum attack reach them, forcing Alice to leave in order to protect her 'Red Knight'. As soon as Alice leaves, a mysterious Transient appears before Christine, chastising her for not warning the Game Master about '[their] arrival', though Christine merely states she is honoring Alice's request.

Cut to Kabukicho. While Ophion and Hakumen come to blows, Tetsuya, after clearing out nearby Tycoons forces, ducks into an alley in order to meet with Kirito. After learning of the Tycoons interest in Tsathoggua,Tetsuya, though unnerved by the fact that he knows that Kirito is a 'triple agent', considers handing him and the rest of the Summoners over to them, but, due to the injuries sustained during the fighting, is content with waiting for the Protagonist's 'negotiations' to commence before making any decisions. He then makes his way back to where Tetsuox was guarding the Summoners in order to confirm the information, only to discover, to his horror, that they, along with the others that were locked up with them, have disappeared without a trace. Frustrated that his leverage over the Protagonist has vanished, Tetsuya frantically begins searching for any trace of them. Meanwhile, the Summoners, thanks to Shiro's now rudimentary grasp on how the Old Ones teleportation works, make their way through Kabukicho's back alleys, though Xolotl is unsure why they're letting him tag along when they know he's part of the group that started the fiasco in the first place. After agreeing to help out in Xolotl's search for Hakumen, Shiro, despite having wiped himself out from a single teleportation, reveals he allowed the Outlaws to capture them so that he could get the full grasp of what's going on so they could help the Protagonist. Having discerned that their guild master has already made their way to the Tycoons' base thanks to the D-Evils, Shiro prepares to enact his plan, but he passes out right as Tetsuya and Tetsuox catch up with them, forcing them to run while Hanuman covers their escape.

As the group makes their way toward Ophion, Toji demands that Alice reveal what she knows about the Protagonist, having discerned that she knew more than she was letting on due to her nonchalance when Lucifuge and Tadatomo both saw two different people within them, a fact that Licht agrees with, stating that, as a Game Master, she should feel that any situation that puts an APP user at an unfair disadvantage should be wrong to her. With no way to back out, Alice reveals the truth about the Protagonist's memory loss: both the Protagonist and their Sacred Artifact are comprised of the souls, fragments, and memories of 24 individuals from Tokyo and the worlds connected to it, each with a variation of the Rending Rule that forms Boundless Tail's power. However, the Protagonist's mind couldn't handle the strain of having so many memories and Rule variations forced upon it, resulting in their memory loss. However, Alice doesn't know too much beyond that, as she was merely tasked with making sure no one found out too much about the full extent of the Protagonist's power, though she relents that it's okay for them to disclose this amongst the Summoners. As Toji apologizes to the Protagonist for being too hard on them given their circumstances, Licht and Melusine discuss the full scope of the Protagonist's predicament. Melusine believes that their soul fragments could easily give them sway over followers the fragments had behind them, but Licht shoots it down on the basis that, due to the fact that the soul fragments they're composed of were 'exiled' from their worlds, they're just as likely to run into the people who cast each of them out in the first place, which leads him to believe that there's no possibility for the Protagonist to win.

Cut to top level. As the Protagonist's group makes their way to the top level, Ophion has worn down Hakumen's strength with the sheer number of numbers his Sacred Artifact has spawned. However, the golden dragon is concerned that Lucifuge won't reach him in time for Hakumen to deal with him. Fortunately, Lucifuge manages to show up with the others, much to Ophion's shock. Lucifuge requests that Ophion end the chaos the Tycoons have caused, stating that, although he is grateful that Ophion took his desires into consideration, he no longer feels the need to go along with them due to the Protagonist's arrival. Hakumen, confused as to what is happening, falls right into the Protagonist's arms, leading her to believe they are the one she was destined to love, leading Lucifuge to rightly calls Hakumen out for trying to court someone who is way too young and Licht to marvel at how the Protagonist's 'true charisma' quickly got Hakumen on their side. The moment is ruined, however, when Ophion bursts into an angry tirade over his carefully constructed plans falling apart at the worst possible time and blaming the Protagonist for interfering with his plans. Sensing that Ophion is slipping beyond reason, Lucifuge steps in to protect the Protagonist as Ophion creates a fresh wave of minions to attack the group.

Having broken through the rabid Olymps, the Protagonist lands a heavy blow on Exception-Ophion, returning him to normal and unsealing the memories of his time with Eurynome. As the touch down on Hills Tower, both Options realize their time in Tokyo is up. As he begins to fade away, Ophion warns the Protagonist that the people who exiled each of the souls contained within them and makes his younger self promise to remain by their side should they call on his services again before both dragons disappear.

With Ophion's rampage taken care of, the Summoners and Tycoons turn their attention toward Yukimura, who escaped into Tokyo during the confusion and is currently rampaging on its own. As Ryota heals the Protagonist's injuries from their fight with Ophion, Alice and Jambavan chase after the Exception, with Jambavan's Sacred Artifact scaling him to its unnatural speed. After catching up and relaying the necessary information to the Tower of Babel, the pull back to let the 'players responsible' deal with fixing it, though they are unaware of Ophion's departure. However, this buys Yukimura enough time to reach its destination: a ley line in Minato Ward that it uses to summon the spirits of departed Oni. Once Tsathoggua delivers Toji to the group, Alice reveals that, because the Protagonist's Sacred Artifact has a Rule variant similar to Toji's, they must establish a hierarchy where their Rule is placed above his in order to siphon of the Edadication Rule's excess power. As Toji and the Protagonist make their way toward Yukimori, the remaining Tycoons, Hanuman, Kotaro, and Tadatomo eliminate the Oni spirits in the path, giving them a straight shot to the Exception.  

With their path to the Exception relatively clear, Toji and the Protagonist make their way toward it, with Kotaro and Tadatomo bringing up the rear to dispatch any stragglers. However, Toji begins to wear down due to the Oni taking a particularly violent interest in him, forcing the Protagonist to cover for him. Toji reveals that the spirits appearing now are the remnants of the more violent Oni that appeared long before the Gates first opened. With the Exception running rampant, he fears this will cause humanity's long repressed hatred of anything different an excuse to expose itself. The Protagonist, however, disagrees, and Toji is forced to come to terms with the fact that his old-fashioned stubbornness is preventing him from allowing him to accept Transients for what they are before declaring that he will keep a closer eye on them due to the sheer power they possess.

After managing to subdue Yukimura, the excess energy from the overloaded Eradication rule begins to flow into the Protagonist's Sacred Artifact. As the Protagonist and Toji prepare to reset the hierarchy, Toji is visibly uncomfortable about what he has to do but is able to force himself through it. Once the APP resets itself and they return outside Hills Tower, Toji, having come to respect the Protagonist and feeling guilty about the role he played in the recent Exception event, asks if he could join their guild, to which the Protagonist immediately accepts. The others then catch up to them and express their relief that they survived, though Kengo relays that Shiro is still too wiped out to thank them in person. The group then splits up to go their separate ways: the remaining Tycoons return to Hills Tower to begin restructuring how their guild is run; Tadatomo wholely accepts the Protagonist as the one he's meant to serve, but requests time off to properly learn how to reign in his emotions; Alice and Jambavan leave early to tend to the matter of erasing them memories of everyone not connected to the APP who were caught up in the chaos; Kotaro attempts to slip away, but is stopped by Ose, who reveals that an incident has taken place in Ikebukuro.