Synopsis

 

We beseech thee, O god.

 

As we did in the Crusade long ago,

we would stand once more at the Saint's side.

Upholding thy will, we gather the scattered light into one,

and set out, each by our own faith and our own way, upon the road to protect the Saint.

 

Look down upon the Saint, who bears his suffering alone,

and let our prayers reach his side.

Light shall redeem light;

take away the darkness that has fallen over his heart.

 

By our prayers,

by our faith,

let light enter his fading heart once more.

 

As the will that reaches heaven is done also on earth,

let our prayers light the road toward the Saint.

 

Before the last threshold that leads to Stellatrium,

do not let him fall alone,

so that the fading light of the Saint

may shine upon all the world again.

 

 

Story

 

Sinya

 

I humbly submit this petition unto Pairukan, King of Suju, seeking his approval.

 

The incantations of Suju have proven effective in holding back the Imposters, and so I offer my findings.

Imposters borrow the human form, but they cannot conceal the essence within.

Their shape may be that of a person, yet their spiritual force is always out of alignment.

The techniques of Suju respond to that misalignment.

If what I have confirmed is correct, the incantations of Suju will not stop at merely striking down Imposters.

It will become a means of exposing the true nature of darkness and evil, and of standing in its way.

I intend to establish this technique as an art capable of revealing hidden darkness, and for now I call it exorcism.

It cannot yet be called a completed art, but I continue to train and verify it while facing Imposters.

 

However, the existing techniques are difficult to use on the battlefield as it stands.

The talismans must be simplified, the incantations must be short enough to recite quickly,

and exposed evil must be sealed and subdued swiftly.

Exorcism must therefore be developed into a separate system suited to the battlefield.

Those who have mastered this art must also be gathered and trained separately.

Those trained in exorcism will be able to detect an Imposter's misaligned spiritual force far more quickly and stand against it.

 

Thus I make this request of the Kingdom of Suju.

I ask that you gather those who would learn exorcism and establish a separate corps to counter the Imposters.

If they take the field, they will greatly aid in leading the present Crusade to victory.

Further, even after the Black Crusade, it will serve as a means to protect those we hold dear from dark energies.

Even in pitch-black despair it will be a single ray of light that carries us forward.

I pray that exorcism may reach still more people, so that together with them we may clear the darkness from this world.

 

- A letter sent by Sinya to Pairukan, King of Suju, petitioning for the founding of the Suju Exorcists.

 

Milan Rosenbach

 

I thought of Imposters as nothing but evil.

I saw them only as beings wearing human masks, hidden among people, that had to be struck down.

 

But my narrow conviction crumbled before the mercy the Saint displayed.

 

He did not treat the Imposters as mere evil.

Even before a fallen Imposter, he offered prayers for the rest of whatever soul might remain beyond the flesh.

He never withdrew his mercy, not until the very last moment.

Watching him, I understood.

That defending against an Imposter and pitying the traces of humanity that remain within are not mutually exclusive.

 

After that day I could no longer regard Imposters solely as things to be executed.

If they are ones consumed by the Blood Curse and have lost their way,

if there was once a time when they too lived as human beings,

then room for salvation must remain within them as well. So I came to believe.

I resolved to carry that belief forward in the name of Rosenbach.

So that the mercy the Saint showed would not remain as the goodwill of one man alone.

 

Never to leave the wounded alone.

Never to make one who stands before the darkness endure it by themselves.

To hold on together, to endure together, and never in the end to forsake one another.

 

That is the road I set for myself to walk.

To defend against evil, yet not turn away from the pain of those consumed by it.

To take hold of the last light within someone before punishing them for losing it.

 

And so, remembering the Saint's will, I will not give up on the final possibility that exists in everyone.

I do not wish to conclude that because I could not save someone, they were beyond salvation from the start.

I do not wish to believe that because my hand could not reach them, the light that remained within them is gone as well.

 

Just as the Saint had done,

I too will reach out toward those who endure their wounds alone within the darkness until the very end.

 

Wolfgand Beonarr

 

Imposters appear in the shape of people.

They come with familiar faces, familiar voices, sometimes with eyes that beg for salvation.

Every time I hesitated before them, the people I should have protected fell.

 

So I decided that if nothing could be trusted, I would trust only my fists.

What to believe, and who to fight for.

These fists always knew before I did.

 

I threw my fists and stood against the darkness that veiled the light.

I pierced and brought down the evil tainting the world.

But the Crusade was brutal and desperate.

Watching countless people fall in the midst of it,

I drove my Giant Weapon into the ground.

 

It was a mark that I would retreat no further,

and a boundary drawn to protect those standing behind me.

Whenever I set that Giant Weapon upright, I recalled the words the Saint gave me.

To engrave not only the strength wielded by hands, but an unbreakable heart as well.

To be unwavering at every moment, just like the Giant Weapon driven into the earth.

 

On the battlefield, this Giant Weapon is my very will itself.

Planted in the ground, yet never broken;

carrying me forward even when it was not held in my hands.

It was the unwavering center that upheld me.

 

Before this center, I wore gloves over my blood-soaked hands.

As I struck down innumerable evils, blood and sweat soaked into those gloves.

I fell and rose again, and kept throwing my fists.

The rage to annihilate the Imposters

hardened into a fighting spirit never to retreat before any evil.

 

Before this will of mine planted in the earth,

I wore those worn gloves and kept moving forward.

 

Beyond annihilating the Imposters,

a resolve to defend against all darkness that lies beyond with these fists.

A resolve to engrave my will and my determination wherever these fists land.

 

Even if a new darkness one day covers the world,

I believe my will and my determination will never vanish.

Together with those who carry on the will,

in the face of the darkness to come, I will raise my fists once more.

 

Shapiro Gracia

 

There is an old Halidom passed down through the generations in the Gracia family.

Grandis Gracia stood before it for a long while.

She was about to set out with the people of the Order on a journey to find the Saint.

Before leaving, she wished to offer a prayer for those who would go with her.

Grandis slowly traced the roughly carved writing on the Halidom with her fingertips and recited the words.

 

The further your flesh falls into the depths,

the higher and nobler the place your soul shall go.

Though the road ahead be a field of thorns,

your light shall never fade.

 

She had gone through countless ordeals until now,

but never had each line carved itself so deeply into her heart as they did now.

Grandis brought her hands together again.

And bowed her head in earnest.

 

Though the flesh of those who walk with me fall into the depths,

let every soul among them go toward a high and noble place.

Though the road before us be a field of thorns,

let that light never fade.

 

As she finished her prayer, Grandis thought of Shapiro Gracia, who must have engraved this prayer long ago.

With what kind of resolve had he engraved it?

With what kind of resolve had he passed through so desperate and harrowing an age?

Even amid the Blood Curse and the threat of the Imposters,

had he believed that the human soul could still turn toward the light in the end?

 

Now, as the Saint has lost his light and drifts away into the darkness,

with what kind of faith would he have pressed onward?

The darkness is only veiling the Saint's light, and not all of it has vanished yet.

Would he have resolved that to protect that light one must press on, even through a field of thorns?

 

Grandis bowed her head once more.

And quietly continued her prayer.

 

If the Saint is still within the darkness,

let his light not disappear.

Even if we cannot reach him,

let his soul turn at last toward a high place.

And so, at the end of this road,

let us all face the light again.

 

While Grandis prayed with her eyes closed,

a faint, mysterious light passed across the Halidom.

 

Grandis slowly opened her eyes.

The prayer her ancestor left behind long ago had now become the mission she must carry on.

As Grandis turned and walked away, the light that had brushed the Halidom quietly lit the path behind her.

 

The faith engraved here long ago

was moving toward the Saint together with her.

 

 

Main Characters

 

Lamier of the Holy Fire

 

The first to manifest the Holy Fire during the First Black Crusade, she burned hundreds of Imposters. Her true name is “Lamier Redmayne.”

During the Crusade, she volunteered to head for Eldfell in order to gain even the slightest advantage against Ozma's forces.

The valiant battle in the canyon burned hot enough to evaporate the entire river, and though Lamier fell there, it is said that her Holy Fire still burns in Eldfell to this day.

 

 

The Final Trial Scenario

 

Scenario Dungeon Information

1 new The Final Trial scenario dungeon will be added.

Category	Details
Dungeon Name	The Final Trial
Entry Condition	Available upon accepting the Lv. 115 Act quest, “True Intention Left by the Light.”
Entry Level	Lv. 115 or above
Player Limit	1 player
Entry Fame	N/A
Fatigue Cost	N/A

 

The Final Trial

A new scenario dungeon, “The Final Trial,” will be added.

 

Michaela's light is slowly fading.

The Adventurer sets out for Stellatrium to protect him.

But to reach Stellatrium, one must pass through the Hall of Trials.

It was originally the place where trials were given unto pilgrims bound for Stellatrium.

Now, however, the Saints who led the Black Crusade to victory have descended there to protect Michaela.

Their wish to save Michaela is the same, but each Saint holds a different conviction and way.

The Adventurer faces them and sets out on a journey to reclaim Michaela's light.

 

 

World Map

New Region: Sky of a Thousand Seas - Upper Level

A new region, “Sky of a Thousand Seas - Upper Level,” will be added to the World Map.

 

 

Town

A new town, “Hall of Trials,” will be added to the Sky of a Thousand Seas - Upper Level region.

 

Hall of Trials

 

The hall in which pilgrims bound for Stellatrium arrive.

It is said that only those who complete the trials here may reach Stellatrium, where the god of light and life dwells.

Though ancient, the hall is immaculately kept, and a divine energy always fills its interior.

At its center stands a stairway leading toward the heavens, and pilgrims undergo their trials as they climb it.

 

 

Miscellaneous

Content related to “The Final Trial” will be added to Arad Chronicle Season 15.

Following The Final Trial story update, a new NPC, “Lamier of the Holy Fire,” will be added.