Timesworth Hills.
Hard to tell whose dream this is.
“The Town.” Swallowed by the Lemnian Hollow years ago. Streets intact. Lights still flickering. Windows glowing as if someone never left.
But the living did.
Drowned Ideals roam freely here, wearing familiar faces while the real bodies lie sealed inside cocoons beneath the old auditorium.
Yidhari almost became one of them.
The Exaltists tried to fold her back into this place again and again.
Spook Shack refused.
The plan was simple.
Break the respawn cycle. Push into the auditorium. Activate the TOPS device, Master Lumin, in the basement. Thin the miasma long enough for Banyue, Dialyn, and Zhao to extract every cocooned resident.
Simple. Audacious. Final.
You regroup at the safehouse just as Manato faces the last shadow of himself.
Drowned Manato: "No! Impossible! How is my blade not strong enough...?!"
His tail lashes, fury cracking his voice.
Manato: "I beat you. Now get lost already."
Drowned Manato: "You're just crawling back to be their shield again! What about your childhood dream? You're just gonna toss that aside?!"
Manato's ears flatten for a sharp moment, before he steadies.
Manato: "I'm not tossing anything aside. I just wanna lead the boy out of those ruins and show him it's a big world out there."
The Drowned Ideal falters. The rage drains, replaced by something quieter.
Lucia: Jogging over with you, Yidhari, and Wise.
"Manato! We're here!"
Wise: "Looks like you're the victor."
Manato: "No point wasting time. Let's go!"
You leave the beaten Ideal behind.
The auditorium doors loom ahead.
Inside, the air is suffocating.
Rows of seats sink into shadow. On the stage, pale cocoons hang in clusters. Small ones. Larger ones. All faintly breathing.
Moss stands before them.
Around him, the remaining Drowned Ideals gather in silence.
Moss: "So you came after all."
Wise: "Moss, you really are here!"
Moss: "Had I known it would come to this, I never would've let you go. I had so many chances to take you out… one by one. I got careless."
His fingers curl, rage slowly simmering below his expression.
Moss: "No. It’s because I value you too much. I had to see what your dreams looked like."
The cocoons pulse faintly behind him.
Moss: "I was so close, Manato. If someone like you gave in to your Drowned Ideal, it would've proved that our existence is justice."
His voice tightens.
Moss: "But why… why did that you lose to this you? We've never lost…"
Figures rise from the aisles.
Soldiers. Civilians. Familiar faces twisted by unfinished longing.
They form a wall between you and the cocoons.
Moss: "Enough! At this point, the only choice is to fight. Come, citizens of the town! Behind us stand our cocoons — fight to protect this dream!"
The miasma surges. The Ideals advance.
Behind them, fragile lives hang inches from freedom. To activate Master Lumin, you have to break through.
The dream stands in your way. What do you do?