The Epic History Post of Doom

[ledbythewind]

We first meet Richard at age 12 when he arrives in Asbel's hometown of Lhant as a guest of Asbel's father Aston, the lord of Lhant. No sooner has he arrived than he is treated to Asbel, Hubert (Asbel's younger brother), Cheria (Asbel and Hubert's friend) and Sophie (a mysterious amnesiac girl Asbel and Hubert found in a field of flowers) all quite literally piling in through his guestroom window to see this mysterious visitor from the capital and invite him to come out and play with them. Richard initially rebuffs their offer, saying "Trying to make it up to me won't matter. After all, you're thinking you can buy my favor or use me, right? That's how it always is. The only people who try to get close to me are people like that." Before Asbel can argue this, however, they are interrupted by one of Richard's attendants, a man named Bierce. Bierce tells Richard that it is time for his sword practice, but Richard says he's not feeling well and doesn't wish to spar today; Bierce counters by saying that he can't be so capricious, and that even a day without practice will cause his skills to decline. Asbel, being the headstrong child that he is, tells Bierce that he shouldn't push Richard if he's not feeling well, and if he wants an opponent for sword practice, he'll take Richard's place. Richard himself is stunned-- this is possibly the first time anyone has ever stuck their neck out for him.
One short sparring match later (in which Asbel actually manages to land a hit on Bierce, impressing Richard greatly), Asbel has received an invitation to the Knight Academy, Bierce has been scolded for his behavior, and Richard is starting to change his opinion on this strange boy who burst in through his window. Asbel says that he'll take Richard somewhere interesting now that the sparring match is out of the way, and the two of them and Sophie set off for the flower patch on Lhant Hill where Asbel initially found Sophie. Unfortunately, their happy outing is short-lived-- Bierce soon shows up, intent on assassinating the young prince while there are no witnesses. Much to Richard's surprise yet again, Asbel defends him from Bierce, this time in an actual battle instead of just a sparring match. An attempt to back away from the fight almost sends Richard tumbling over a cliff until Asbel and Sophie catch him. However, as they try to help him back up, Richard slips even further, sending all three of them plummeting to the beach below.
Miraculously, the three of them are unharmed despite the height of the cliff. As a thanks for saving him, Richard tries to offer his signet ring to Asbel, but Asbel angrily refuses and throws the ring on the ground, saying, "I didn't help you because I wanted money or gifts! I didn't do it because you're a prince, either!" A disheartened Richard misunderstands what Asbel means by that and falls to his knees, apologizing for being rude. Sophie interrupts this awkward moment by telling them that they need to return home as quickly as possible; the other two agree that they should all climb the cliff together so they can fight off any monsters that might attack, though it is clear that Richard is still troubled by Asbel's rejection of his gift.
Asbel's prediction of monsters proves accurate when the three of them are attacked by a large, angry monster on their way up the cliff. The three of them defeat it together, and afterwards, Abel cheerfully announces that they're so strong because they all worked together. Richard is confused and asks why Asbel isn't angry at him anymore after he was rude and hurt Asbel's feelings, and Asbel responds by telling Richard that he isn't bothered by it anymore, so Richard shouldn't be either. Startled and touched by this, Richard can only respond with "Asbel..."
At last the trio makes it to the top of the cliff. Once again Asbel praises the power of friendship, saying that it's a wonderful thing-- much to the surprise of Richard and Sophie, who have never really HAD friends before. Ever the one to take initiative, Asbel decrees that the three of them should carve their names in the huge old tree on the hill and says that there's a legend in Lhant that says if friends carve their names into a tree and make a vow of friendship, it will come true. The three of them do so and swear to be friends forever as the sun rises and a search party comes to find them.
Yet again, however, their happy moment is short-lived. Aston lays into Asbel the moment the group returns to town, asking him if he understands the implications of what he did (running off with the prince of Windol without telling anyone). This time it is Richard's turn to step forward and stand up for his new friend: he tells Aston that it is all his fault because he was the one who asked Asbel to show him around. Aston backs down on that point, but still says that Asbel needs to be punished for going off without permission. Once that has been decided, Aston informs Richard that the king's condition has suddenly deteriorated and that Richard must return to the capital at once.
Before they part, Richard tells Asbel that he would like to return to Lhant to visit as soon as he can, but in the meantime, he would like Asbel to come visit him in Balonia, and he gives Asbel his signet ring and instructs him to show it to the castle guards to be allowed entrance. Of course, Asbel being Asbel, it's only a matter of a few hours before he decides to take Sophie and sneak off to Balonia on a boat to visit the young prince. There they run into Cheria, who has been taken to Balonia to see a doctor there, and she decides to tag along with them. Following Richard's instructions, they show the ring to the guards, and then go to the plaza to wait for Richard to come meet them.
Once he does, he takes them out to a hilltop overlooking the beautiful scenery of Windol as a way of repaying Asbel for showing him the flower field on Lhant Hill. There he tells Asbel his ambitions: that he wants to create a world with no conflict, but that he wonders if it is truly possible. He also divulges that his father's illness stems from poisoning, and that it has been inflicted by someone close to the king. Richard suspects that he too will be poisoned once he becomes king; infuriated by the thought of this, Asbel promises not to let this happen, saying that he will stop anyone who tries to hurt Richard. The prince is grateful, and when they return to the city, he offers to sneak Asbel and the others into the castle that night through a secret passage. He tells them that he will come get them that evening and take them back to the castle and the group parts ways, Richard going back to the castle and Asbel and the others returning to the inn to wait for nightfall.
But night arrives, and Richard does not appear. Asbel decides that instead of waiting, he's going to go meet Richard halfway in the tunnel and surprise him. While they do indeed meet Richard halfway, it's not in the manner that they expected: they find the young prince lying unconscious in a cavern. Before they can even rouse him, however, they are attacked by a monstrous creature. It makes quick work of Hubert and Cheria, knocking them both out. Asbel tries to fight it, but ends up being knocked unconscious as well as Sophie charges in to defend them. Some time later he awakens to Sophie shaking him and the creature lying seemingly defeated some distance away. However, the look of joy on his face soon changes to horror when the creature suddenly shoots out a sharp spike that impales Sophie through the abdomen. The last thing Asbel sees is Sophie running at the monster before both she and the monster explode in a ball of pink light... then everything goes black.
This time he regains consciousness back in his own bedroom in Lhant. Aston is there to break the bad news to him: Sophie is dead, and Hubert has been adopted out to the Ozwell family in Strahta. Infuriated by the discovery that his own father has essentially sold his brother off and pained by Sophie's death, Asbel renounces his bloodright as the eldest son of the Lhant family and tells his father that he is going off to the capital to enroll in the Knight Academy to he can become a knight and gain the strength to protect people so that he won't lose anyone ever again.
Fast forward to seven years later, where, true to his word, Asbel has left Lhant and enrolled in the Knight Academy. He and his instructor Malik have just returned to Balonia from a mission when they are met by Cheria, who has come to the capital to inform Asbel of his father Aston's death in battle. Apparently there have been increasing conflicts between Lhant and the country of Fendel, which borders them to the north. Cheria has come both to deliver the letter and ask if the king can lend them aid to help stop the fighting before it gets any worse. Malik explains that while he would like for them to be able to help, unlike Strahta and Fendel, Windol is composed of a number of autonomous territories. Each territory is almost like a semi-independent kingdom, meaning that the knights can't just get involved in something like this easily. However, as he really does want to help, he tells Asbel and Cheria that he will speak to people and do what he can while they return to Lhant to comfort Asbel's mother and gather more information about the situation there.
After reaching Lhant and seeing the state it's in, Asbel makes the difficult decision to withdraw from the Knight Academy in order to succeed his father as the head of Lhant. To make a long story short, an attempted raid on the Fendel campsite outside of Lhant (led and planned by Asbel himself) goes awry, the city ends up under attack by Fendel's troops, and the fighting is only stopped by the timely intervention of a army from Strahta under the command of Hubert. It is during the campsite raid that Asbel and Cheria are saved by the sudden appearance of a girl who looks exactly like Sophie, yet has no memories of them or anything else. Because of her appearance and because she showed up in the same field where he found the original Sophie, Asbel dubs her "Sophie" as well, and she accompanies them back to Lhant.
Tensions run high between Asbel and Hubert when it is revealed that Hubert is there because Windol formed an alliance with Strahta, allowing Strahta to occupy Lhant. When Asbel protests this, Hubert says they should duel to find out which one of them is worthy to be the lord of Lhant... and, much to Asbel's humiliation, he loses the fight. Hubert then exiles Asbel from Lhant. Sophie decides to accompany him, but they have not gone far before they are attacked by a group of soldiers seemingly out for Asbel's life. They flee the soldiers and make it to the port, intent on catching a ship to Balonia in the hopes of being able to seek aid from Richard. However, when they make it to Balonia, it would seem that all is not well in the capital... the king has been murdered, and Richard is supposedly dead as well. Asbel refuses to believe that his friend is dead. He wants to go find out what is happening for himself and decides to take that very same underground tunnel that he used seven years ago to sneak into the castle and find out what is going on.
They don't have to go far in the tunnel before they stumble upon an exhausted, injured Richard slumped on the floor. It takes Richard a moment to recognize his old friend, but once he does, their brief reunion is joyous until it is interrupted by some soldiers whom Richard identifies as "Cerdic's men." Asbel and Sophie quickly fight them off; Richard thanks them, looking surprised to see Sophie, whom he had heard was dead. No sooner has Asbel explained how he met her again than the voices of more soldiers become audible from a ways down the tunnel, cutting their conversation short. Richard says that if they exit the tunnel and take the road up ahead, it will take them to Gralsyde, a town under the control of Duke Dale, whom Richard is sure will ally with him. The three of them then exit the tunnel.
Asbel notes that Richard seems tired and weak and insists on stopping to let him rest for a while. While they are resting, Asbel asks just what happened back in the capital. The story Richard tells is an alarming one: the ones who killed the king were members of the Royal Knights. Although he was attacked as well, he managed to escape into the tunnel, where he hid until Asbel and Sophie found him. As the conversation continues, Asbel mentions Lhant's alliance with Strahta-- a fact that comes as a great surprise to Richard, who emphatically states that such an alliance doesn't exist, at least not one made by his father the king. The two of them then surmise that the uprising in the capital and the alliance with Strahta might be somehow connected... and yet again they are interrupted by soldiers out for Richard's life.
Again they fight, and again the soldiers are defeated. Richard then explains that it was his own uncle Cerdic, the king's brother, who is behind the murder of the king, and that the soldiers who have been pursuing them are Cerdic's men. He asks Asbel for assistance in taking back the throne and avenging his father and Asbel readily agrees to help, taking his hand the way they did when they vowed friendship seven years ago. Sophie places her hand on theirs to complete the vow, but the moment her hand touches Richard's, he pulls away as if he'd been stung. He apologizes to a startled Sophie and Asbel and says that he felt a sudden chill. Asbel tells him not to push himself if he's still in bad shape and urges them to keep on going to Gralsyde where they will be safe.
They soon encounter another obstacle in their journey: in order to travel from Balonia to Gralsyde, they must pass through the fortress of Wallbridge, which is currently under the control of Cerdic's men. Richard seems troubled, as there is no other road to take that does not involve returning to Balonia. It is at that moment that Sophie stumbles upon a girl sleeping beneath a tree; the girl awakens and, upon seeing Sophie, becomes very excited and tries to touch her-- only to be blasted out of the way by a very startled Sophie. This does not deter the girl (who introduces herself as Pascal) at all, as she continues to babble happily about how she never expected to see the "real thing" and how she wants to touch Sophie again. The others finally get her to explain that she'd seen a hologram of a girl who looked just like Sophie a little while ago and that that is why she is so intrigued by Sophie. Intrigued now as well, Asbel asks if she can show them this hologram, and Pascal readily agrees.
She takes them to a strange transporter and announces that the hologram is down there in the ruins. A plan formulates in Richard's mind when Pascal tells them that you can get around Wallbridge by going through the ruins and that there aren't any soldiers down there; Asbel and Richard quickly decide to use the ruins to bypass Wallbridge and find out more about this hologram of Sophie at the same time. Pascal agrees to lead them through the ruins to the other side.
A short trip through the ruins later, Pascal has shown them said hologram (which does look exactly like Sophie) and taken them out on the other side of Wallbridge. Pascal then offers to accompany them to Gralsyde, her reason being that she wants to become good friends with Sophie. Asbel and Richard agree to that, though Sophie is a bit hesitant. But they haven't gone far before Richard falls to his knees, exhausted from walking so far with his injuries. Asbel and Pascal agree to stop and let him rest; Sophie walks over to see if he is all right, but when she reaches out to touch him, Richard yells at her and slaps her hand away without warning. This response surprises everyone, Richard included. He apologizes and excuses himself by saying that he was startled by the suddenness of her movement. However, Sophie doesn't seem convinced...
The group manages to make it to Gralsyde without further incident. Recognizing Richard right away, Dale's men take him to see Dale himself. The Duke is surprised to see Richard alive after hearing rumors of his death and immediately agrees to lend his army to Richard's cause. Together they devise a plan to sneak into Wallbridge via the ruins and use the system of gates and bridges to trap Cerdic's soldiers inside, cut them off from reinforcements, and then allow Dale's men in to secure before continuing on to Balonia, where they will take back the throne.
That night, Asbel and Richard share a heart-to-heart on the bridge in the garden of Dale's mansion. Richard is worried that he might have pressured Asbel into fighting for him, or that Asbel might have to face some of his friends from the Knight Academy in the battle the next day, but Asbel cuts him off and tells him that he was prepared for that the moment he agreed to help Richard. A grateful Richard promises that he will do his best to win quickly and restore peace to Windol.
The next morning, their mission begins...
But in the middle of the infiltration, something goes suddenly, terribly wrong when Richard is ambushed by a soldier in the central tower and badly wounded. This triggers a strange madness in him and he retaliates with a brutal attack on the soldier, hacking and slashing until Asbel manages to snap him back to himself. The others are concerned about his strange fit, but Richard brushes them off and tells them that they need to keep on going.
This unusual behavior continues when the group encounters Malik, Asbel's former instructor from the Knight Academy-- Malik has been ordered to stop them, and though he tries, Asbel and company eventually defeat him. Richard orders his knights to apprehend him and says he'll decide Malik's punishment later. Though Asbel tries to intervene and tell Richard that it wasn't anything personal, that Malik was just following orders, Richard refuses to listen.
It gets even worse when they successfully retake Wallbridge. Richard says that he wants all of the captured soldiers to be punished and refuses to allow Cheria to heal them, saying that anyone who raises a sword against him is not one of his people. Asbel protests and Richard gets angry and asks him if he is trying to defy him. Richard then revokes Asbel's position in the main army that is going to be taking back the castle and tells him he can work as a commando unit instead-- essentially, kicking Asbel out of the troops. He then leads his troops to retake the castle and leave Asbel and company behind.
Asbel and the others head to the castle on their own, where they encounter Richard, whose troops have been all killed by Cerdic's men. Asbel asks if he can accompany Richard because it's too dangerous for him to go alone; Richard agrees, but says he wants to get revenge on Cerdic himself. Asbel thinks to himself that Richard has changed, and that it bothers him, but that Richard is still Richard and he'll trust him. The group fights their way through the castle, eventually reaching the throne room where Cerdic awaits them. They defeat him after a difficult battle, and Richard stuns them all by brutally stabbing Cerdic twice instead of showing him mercy.
Richard is then crowned as the new king of Windol. Thanks to Asbel's influence, he agrees to not execute the Windol troops who allied with Cerdic, but he says that he will get Lhant back from Strahta by attacking it. When Asbel protests by saying that doing so is the equivalent of declaring war on all of Strahta, Richard finally agrees to allow Asbel to go attempt to persuade Hubert to withdraw the Strahtan troops from Lhant.
But Asbel and the others have hardly been in Lhant for long when Richard shows up with an army to attack the Strahta troops there. When Asbel confronts him and asks what he's doing, Richard again gets angry, saying that he's here to save Lhant just as he promised and asking why Asbel isn't grateful. Now it's Asbel's turn to get angry as he tells Richard that what he's doing is wrong, that he's changed, and he pleads with Richard to go back to the way he was. Richard takes this as a betrayal and attacks Asbel, only to be stopped by Sophie, who has now recovered her memories. He asks her if she plans to stand in his way "again" and appears to be using some sort of strange wind magic...
The battle between Richard and Sophie rages on until Richard manages to knock her down. He is about to deliver the finishing blow when he is stopped by a slash from Asbel; enraged, he accuses Asbel of betraying him as a blackish-red aura envelops him and he attacks the group again. They defeat him in battle, but before they can do anything else, Duke Dale and his men intervene and take the wounded Richard away, leaving Asbel and the others confused as to what just happened and what is wrong with their friend.
After Richard has recovered from the injuries inflicted on him by Asbel, he sets off for Strahta... only to encounter Asbel and the others yet again. To everyone's surprise, Richard begins to drain Strahta's Valkynes Criath of its arles before anyone can stop him. Asbel isn't even able to plead with the king to stop before he is gone again. Hubert tells them that he did the same thing to Windol's Criath, which means that his likely next destination is the final remaining Criath in Fendel. Once again the party sets out to stop him. Meanwhile, Lambda (the creature that is possessing him and causing the strange changes in his behavior) is beginning to exert more control over Richard, and he grows upset, arguing with it and saying that Asbel and the others would never betray him because they are his friends. But he no longer seems entirely convinced of that fact...
In Fendel the party confronts Richard yet again, and yet again Richard manages to drain the Criath before being stopped. This time he even outright attacks Asbel and Sophie in the process; Sophie fights back, but Richard chooses to retreat, saying that there is only one thing remaining now.
After some research, Asbel and the others discover that Richard is headed for Cenral Island. Central Island has a direct connection to Lastaria, the planet's core, which is the source of all arles, and since Richard clearly seems to be trying to absorb as much arles as possible, it only stands to reason that he'll be trying to reach it. The chase continues as they attempt to head him off before he can reach Lastaria.
This time, however, there's something clearly wrong with Richard: Pascal says that it's because his body can't tolerate the vast amount of arles contained within it at the moment. The fight this time ends with Richard on the ground, writhing with pain as he begs Asbel to help him and says that he doesn't want to die. Asbel and Sophie approach him... and Richard calls her "Protos 1" before blasting her backwards, knocking her unconscious and badly injuring her. A strange power swirls around him and transforms into tentacles as Asbel and company run for their lives back to the ship. Richard - or rather, Lambda - then transforms the entire island into a bizarre sort of cocoon and remains inside of it.
The attack that Sophie took has damaged her badly. By now, it's clear that she isn't a normal human, meaning that healing spells have no effect on her. Pascal remembers some information they'd seen before in the Anmarcia archives talking about a Protos 1 and a "Seed of Calamity" that came from a place called Fodra. As this seems like their best hope for finding a way to help Sophie, they decide to go to this Fodra and see if anyone there can heal her. Some traveling around and discovering a shuttle later, they're off on their way to Fodra, which turns out to be an entirely separate planet.
There they meet a woman named Emeraude, who tells them a shocking story: Sophie is in fact not a human, but a being known as a humanoid who was created solely to destroy Lambda. As such, Emeraude is capable of fixing Sophie, so she asks the group to wait while she does so. Her next request is to accompany them back to their world (which they find is named Efinea), a request they agree to.
By now Asbel and the others have learned more about Lambda and what he is capable of and they head into Lambda's Cocoon to stop Richard before he is able to drain Lastaria of its arles. But things take a surprising turn when they encounter a now-mutated Richard, who is almost completely under Lambda's control and will no longer listen to reason. Richard fights them and loses, taking enough damage in the process to temporarily separate him from Lambda. It looks like the battle is finally over-- until Emeraude reveals that she is in fact a humanoid version of one of the scientists who conducted the initial experiments on Lambda that instilled in him his hatred of humans. Her real reason for wishing to come to Efinea is so that she can obtain Lambda's power to restore Fodra (destroyed by Lambda on a rampage years before) to its former glory by creating new life there; she takes Lambda into her own body and fights the party, but rather than ally with her to give her power, Lambda decides to get revenge on her by killing her instead. Lambda is left hovering in a weakened state until Richard willingly takes him back into his body out of sympathy. By now, Richard knows all about Lambda's past and wishes to help him if possible, even at a great cost to himself. Richard/Lambda then opens up a passage way into the Ghardia Shaft, which leads straight to Lastaria, and disappears into it while the party is forced to make an escape from the collapsing cocoon.
Asbel and company retreat to regroup and prepare before heading into the Ghardia Shaft yet again. As they descend, they encounter flashbacks of Lambda's memories, among them how he came to possess Richard in the first place: the monster that Sophie and a young Asbel fought in the tunnels beneath the castle seven years ago was in fact Lambda. Lambda had been left without a physical form after the fight with Sophie. Richard had been unconscious due to an assassination attempt via poison by his uncle; he came to after Lambda had been defeated, but he was dying from the effects of the poison. Frightened, Richard spoke aloud: "I don't want to die... I don't want to die!" Lambda heard this and entered his body, granting Richard's wish and allowing himself to live on as well. Lambda then lay dormant for seven years until Richard once again encountered Sophie, and everything that followed is history.
The still-mutated Richard awaits them at the bottom of the Shaft, now almost completely merged with Lambda. He explains to Asbel that his and Lambda's goal is to recreate this tainted world that has hurt them both by eliminating the source of all conflict from the world: humans. Humans create conflict due to their own desires, and in Richard and Lambda's eyes, that is why they must be destroyed and the world recreated. Asbel tells Richard that he's sure that Richard's kindness can create a world without conflict, but Richard refuses to listen and attacks them.
They defeat him, and Richard returns to his senses long enough to beg Asbel to kill him. Richard and Lambda were so alike due to their similar backgrounds (being used and mistreated by people for their own personal gain) that they sympathized with each other and ended up merging to a point where Richard can no longer distinguish his own thoughts and feelings from Lambda's. In Richard's mind, the only way to stop Lambda is to kill them both while there is still time. Unfortunately, Lambda is having none of that and takes control of Richard's body again, saying that he has no use for a being that lacks the will to live, and that if anyone is going to die, Richard is going to die alone. He then tries to kill Richard the same way he killed Emeraude... but Asbel intervenes and physically yanks Richard out of Lambda's control. Lambda is left without a physical form yet again, and Richard is finally safe.

LUCETI CANON UPDATE BEGINS HERE

After Asbel and the others defeat Lambda, Asbel makes a choice: rather than allow Sophie to sacrifice herself to destroy Lambda, Asbel will allow the being to enter his body instead in the hopes of being able to speak with him and convince him that humans aren't that bad after all. Asbel being Asbel... it works. Lambda agrees to allow Asbel to show him the kindness of humans and goes dormant to rest and recover his strength, still somewhat cynical but willing to give this a chance. When Asbel wakes up, much to everyone's relief, Sophie is able to touch him without any ill effects, signaling that Lambda is indeed keeping his promise to give humans a chance. At the very end of the original game story, we see Richard leading an army of soldiers to defeat the remaining monsters, thinking to himself that he’s going to atone for what he has done and show everyone that he will be a good king.

Six months later, life has gone mostly back to normal in Efinea-that is, until Asbel receives a letter from Richard saying that there are problems with a mysteriously increasing number of monsters in Windol and asking for Asbel’s help to defeat them. Apparently the origin of said monsters lies in the Anmarcian ruins beneath Windol’s Valkynes Criath, and what’s more, Strahta and Fendel have been having similar monster issues as well. The group sets out to investigate, and at the heart of the ruins encounter a group of extremely powerful monsters. Things are looking bad until the dormant Lambda suddenly awakens and allows Asbel to borrow his power to defeat the monsters, explaining that this is the only way he will be able to do so.
The mystery deepens further when they receive a message from Pascal upon leaving the ruins, asking them to come to the Anmarcia village to talk about Fodra. On the way there, they end up having to save her from more of the same type of monsters near Fendel’s Valkynes Criath. A talk with Pascal’s elder sister Fourier reveals that the monsters are evolving at an unnatural speed-in other words, some sort of outside influence is affecting their evolution. The long and the short of it is that Fodra’s core, long since dormant, appears to be active again, and that this is likely the outside influence causing the sudden monster evolution. Naturally, this means a trip to Fodra is in order after they check up on Strahta as well (where they again encounter the monsters near the Valkynes Criath).
But all is not well on Fodra either: the party is attacked by a mysterious woman upon arrival and they barely manage to crash-land in Telos Astue, where they begin to look for clues to the monsters and Fodra’s core. What they find points them to the Arles Research Laboratory, a facility that was apparently doing research on Fodra’s core and arles in general. There they find some recordings made by the scientists over 1,000 years ago, and an even bigger surprise: the planet of Fodra itself attempted to get rid of these humans that were bringing about its destruction by creating a sort of self-defense force in the form of Little Queen, the mysterious woman who attacked the party’s shuttle upon arrival.
The group comes to the conclusions that Little Queen must be stopped before she can harm the people on Efinea as well, and that to do so they must stop Fodra’s core itself-but how? Enter Lambda, who proposes that they stop the core by allowing him to temporarily take control of Asbel’s body in order to absorb the arles from the core. Much to the dismay of the others, Asbel agrees to this. It takes a considerable amount of convincing on the parts of both Asbel and Lambda to get them to place their trust in Lambda for this, but at last they all agree and decide to descend to Fodra’s core the next morning.
Waiting at the core for them is none other than Little Queen herself, still bent on the destruction of humanity. Nothing they say or do can convince her otherwise; she uses the arles there to transform into the Fodra Queen and attacks the party, but is defeated after an arduous battle. Asbel uses this chance to drain the arles from the core to put an end to Little Queen's rampage for good, though in the end he only ends up being able to absorb Fodra's hatred. Still, that's enough, and as she starts to fade away, she reverts to Little Queen, frightened but still determined to protect her planet from the humans... until Sophie tells her that it's all right, that they're going to protect the planet too, not harm it. Little Queen is then able to disappear in peace, leaving a fragment of herself with Sophie so that she may continue watching over the future along with her.
With the threat to Efinea and Fodra now ended, the group says their goodbyes and goes their separate ways, though it's clear that they'll never go long without seeing each other-- the bonds between them are unbreakable now.