The Annihilator, Thoughts On Moebius
As the group continued their journey, they arrived by a cliff. Looking into the distance, Sena wanted to confirm, "Is that...?"
A castle with broad base and a single tall pillar pierced up into the sky, black fog swirled around its top. There were other mushroom-like features beside it, tall, thin stem, and a cap. It looked blurry in the distance. Between them and the castle, we could see no lands, only cloud sea and air. To their 10 o'clock, another ledge slightly lower than where they stood, its top carpeted with trees; clearly, a forest. Behind them, a lake. On an island to around 8 o'clock, we could see a Ferronis Hulk working in the background1. Higher unreachable ledge with trees grown on top defined the lake boundaries.
Eunie affirmed, "That's Keves Castle, all right. First time seeing it?"
She nodded, "Yeah..."
Manana commented, "Same level of elaborate as Castle of Agnus!"
Riku turned to face where the forest are were. On a higher platform to their left, nearer to them than the forest, we could see abandoned high tech buildings infested by trees. In the background, "Can also see Great Sword on left."
Taion asked Noah, "Are we going through with this?"
He shook his head, "No, I see it's far too risky now. The area will be under strict guard. But downslope, we could go via the forest." To their left, there was a seemingly muddy path.
"Maktha Wildwood, huh..."
Mio agreed with him, "Doesn't sound too bad to me." Taion took the lead, the others followed behind. Noah stood behind to look at the castle for a longer moment.
(Inside Keves Castle.)
Two soldiers were leading Ethel through a walkway, with Borealis following behind her, exclaiming as he examined the castle walls, "Oh-ho! Weh-hell, never been this far in before." The walls, floors, seemed metallic; tall ceilings stretched the pentagonal tunnel. A barred window appeared at the ceiling, looking towards the sky. Beams/pillars shaped like insect legs, with a few segments, twitched in an angle appeared to the left and right at every fixed distance.
"Me neither... The last time I had an audience with the Queen, she had come in person to the warfront."They reached the end of the tunnel. A fan-shaped staircase opened up before them, a part of the circular higher platform. Two pillars at the edge of the staircase displayed a 3D cyan hologram, two rings with triangle 'teeth', one smaller than the other, around a stick-like structure. At the top of the platform was an elevator; Ethel and the others entered it and traversed upwards.
Exiting the elevator, the exit directly facing the Queen's chamber. The hologram lined beside the pathway, few steps higher than the elevator. Behind them, squid-like metal bars provide a scene for the larger rooms behind the castle. Ornate embroidered crystals that emanates light hung from the top, a part of a circle. Higher to the top, one wasn't sure if that were lights, or windows looking at the bright outdoor.
As they approached the Queen's seat, pods were lining the side where she stood, still not yet sheathed. The soldiers walked to the side and joined other soldiers in line while Ethel and Borealis approached the Queen. Where she stood, both did the Kevesi welcoming stance before reporting in, "Commander Ethel, Fornis Forward Army's Colony 4, reporting in as ordered, Your Majesty."
"It has been some time, hasn't it?"
"Ma'am... I am elated to find you in good stead, Your Majesty. That you would grace us with your presence, is an honor, above my station. "
"We can dispense with the stiff preambles, Ethel." Looking to her right, "N..."
N, stood beside her even before Ethel entered, nodded his head, "Ma'am..." Holding out his hands, a circular control panel hologram with several rings came online.
"N...?" Ethel was curious about him. "Consul N...? That's him?"
"N..." Borealis spoke what he had heard of him, "The head honcho of Kevesi Consuls himself. The Golden Consul..." As if he didn't liked his eyes, he looked sideways towards him. Borealis quickly dropped his head and avoid glancing.
A cannon attached to the ring, the ring along the fattest part of the Keves Castle. The cannon began to slide along the ring. Reaching its position, a hologram projected behind Ethel and Borealis; they turned their head to see the cannon displayed live. "What is that...?"
N took the pleasure to explain, "The Annihilator... The latest weapon in our military arsenal. It utilizes breakthroughs in application of the annihilation effect."
"You've harnessed it?!"
As they were speaking, the black fog that swirled around the tallest part of the castle gets absorbed by the Flame Clock between the pitch fork.2 The absorbed black fog were perhaps compressed into unknown states (Liquid? Plasma?) and transferred along the ring to the annihilator.
While absorbing, the cannon opened up its 'flaps' like flower petals, revealing a center needle filled with unknown states black fog.
N continued, "Not only is its power without equal, it has another exquisite benefit. Let me show you."
Ethel was shocked, turned and asked him, "What, you mean... right here and now?"
Contracting his eyelids behind his mask, "Indeed. This will be its finest hour." As the central filament rotates furiously, purple electricity zapped around the 'petals', a ball of energy gathered in front of the needle's tip.
The screen changed to show his destination, "The Urayan Mountains... A terrible shame. Her Majesty has a soft spot for them. Please do not think ill of me."
Reaching its threshold, it fired straight at the mountains; the light released so bright it penetrated to where Ethel was. She gasped as she closed her eyes and turned her head to the other side. On the Urayan Mountain, we saw the surface quickly gained heat, then a rainbow colored ball of annihilation even occurred, carving a crevasse in the mountains. Like usual annihilation event, it quickly dissipated, and leave rock remnants swirling around its 'center of gravity'. The dust it sent with the shockwave so thick it reached where the castle was.
On flat soily, muddy ground, the group were walking when a loud boom reverberated around their ears, shook the ground, and glows so bright that night time turns to day time3. Sena was shouting out of fear while Mio was flabbergasted, "Wha-What?! What was that?"
Eunie suggested, "Just thunder...innit?" Not seeing any attacks, they got out of their defensive posture.
Lanz seriously commented: "Brighter than any lightning I've ever seen. "
Riku mither, "Still ringing in ears..."
Taion questioned, "Where did the light come from?" He and Noah were looking to the top, Noah answering,
"No idea. But... this can't be good..."
Back in the castle. The screen displayed the carved out mountains. Ethel exclaimed, "What incredible power..." Borealis still flabbergasted.
N: "Its effective range... has no discernible limit whatsoever."
Ethel felt something bad, "Wha-What are you?" They turned to face him.
"I'm saying an attack like the one you just witnessed can be delivered... anywhere."
"So you mean to use this weapon against Agnus? Ah... If you're to use this, then... what about the Clocks...?"
The Queen snapped, "Who said anything about using it on Agnus?"
Her iris widened, "Ma'am...?"
"The next target... will be this." The screen changed to display Colony 4, as Ethel and Borealis watched, mouth wide opened in shock.
The group were walking on some muddy lands. We could hear gushing water to their right. Lanz gingerly tread as he was about to walk downslope, warned the group, "Watch the moss, guys, Mind you don't slip-woooooaaaaayyyyyyeeeaaahhhh...." And he slipped, crashing into some muddy ground.
Eunie just gloated at him, "Ahahahahaha! He says, falling flat on his arse himself."
Lanz, slowly climbing on his feet, snapped back at her, "Oh yeah, bloody hilarious. You're always taking the mick out of me. Noah!" He and Eunie turned to him, but he was slow to reply, lost in his thoughts,
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Oh for... Don't come crying if you fall." Then, he turned his back on him, walking off, perhaps feeling disappointed.
The group continued their path while Mio stopped beside him, remarked, "You seem like you're a million miles away...4 Lot on your mind?"
"Yeah, kinda..." He nodded to her before got lost in his thoughts again. Mio felt the heavy burden as she watched him for a few seconds. Seeing he didn't wanted to say anything, she continued her path. Noah saw her move and followed behind.
"Aaahhh..." Just before she got down the slope, her body feels weak and she slowly fall forward.
"Ah-ah? Mio!" That snapped Noah's attention back to reality. He quickly ran in front of her and supported her by her shoulders. She squeezed her arms a bit to feel herself, before putting an arm on his to support her standing up.
"Ah... Thank you." Seeing that she regained strength, he released his support from her.
Looking straight at her eyes, he asked, "Are you OK?"
She tried brighten up the situation, smilingly explained herself, "Yeah, I just lost my foo-footing for a second. I'm-I'm OK." Then she looked away, in a softer and dispirited tone, "For now, I'm OK..."
Noah heard her, "For now...?" He turned to her term symbol, then nervously asked, "Ar-Are you... not... feeling a hundred percent?"
"Uh? Nah, nothing like that!" She raised her tone in denial, smiling back at him, "I'm totally fine, promise. Like I said, I just missed my footing."
He was concerned about her, looked at her for more minor body languages. Perhaps she didn't wanted to say more, he could only stodgily urged, "If you start feeling worse, just say. I don't want you hiding it."
"Mhm." She nodded, remarked, "You're a kind man, aren't you?"
"I-I'm just... being polite." He blushed at her compliment, stiffly turned away from her, eyes looking into nowhere and continued walking to ease the nervousness. Alas! Lanz's wishes came true! He slid down the slope, "Whooooooaaaaaa!!!" Mio was shocked to see him slide. The group in front, hearing his voice, quickly turned to the side; except Lanz whom was directly in his path, stuck with choosing left or right to evade, bluntly stuck in position as he crashed into him.
Mio, after seeing they suffer no injuries, smiled. Perhaps, he had made her day.
The group were gathering by a bonfire. Eunie sat behind a desk, Taion's teapot on it, and Taion speaking to her. To her left, Manana and Riku far asleep. To their left, we could se some old buildings overgrown with plants. Below their legs, Lanz and Sena were doing push ups, facing each other. To Sena's left, Noah sat and looked at the bonfire, lost in his thoughts. To his left, Mio was squatting in front of some undefined possessions, unsure what she was doing. As she finished, she stood up and sat beside the stood to Noah's left, asking, "So what was on your mind? Earlier." To their left, a pond behind a human-tall rock, and a small waterfall in the distance filling up the pond.
"Yeah, that light...? I was wondering if it had anything to do with us..."
"You think, maybe... Could it've been something that Moebius did?" To which he nodded.
Sena: "Huh?" That attracted the group's attention. She and Lanz just finished their push ups. Taion and Eunie also turned to him.
"...We know that they're hunting us."
"Mm..." Mio agreed.
Turning to Taion, he asked for confirmation, "Taion, you told us before... That our Consuls were actually the same."
"Yeah, I did say that."
"After that, nobody said so, but... we were all thinking it. The war between Agnus and Keves, and the Consuls... or rather, Moebius. They must be connected somehow." There was a moment of silence as they digested his shares, before Mio shared her thoughts,
"It could be that... all the fighting. It might be that it's all orchestrated according to Moebius. "
"And to them, Ouroboros... only spell trouble."
Eunie: "Since we keep wrecking their Flame Clocks and all."
Sena: "They must really hate us messing with their stuff, I guess..." Behind Sena, we could see that a wide staircase located beside the overgrown building.
Lanz, arms around his chest, "So we're one big thorn in their side."
In his thinking stance, Taion: "Hmm... It does stand to reason that's why we're their targets, but it doesn't tell us anything about why our colonies fight. Any theories?"
He bent forward as he grabbed both arms together, fingers between each other, two thumbs crossed into an 'X', as he replied, "Not as yet. But I figure... Isn't discovering that our real objective here, right? If we seek out the City... Maybe we'll find answers."
Mio: "One way to know." The group enjoyed a moment of silence as he sat straight and turned to look at her.
Footnotes:
1: One only saw this in the first video. Can't remember, and lazy to verify, whether it can be seen in the second video or not.
2: Similar to the one behind the queen, this Flame Clock also displayed half-Kevesi half-Agnian flames.
3: Can only be seen if you had the nighttime scene, which is in the first video only.
4: Ok, so they calculated distance also by miles?