LP Beach

Appendix 34: Xiao

Miris’ Page wrote: Director Xiao liked to emphasize something: “A mercenary’s work is to deceive; to fool the enemy into believing that we are advancing when we defend; to make the enemy believe we will thrust from the front when we strike from above. Feign submission when you raise your claws; we must seem unable when able to attack, that the enemy may grow arrogant. When the enemy is roused, distract them through disturbance; be aware that we ourselves are not subject to such anger. In order to defeat the enemy, we must be roused to anger; to remember that one’s emotions must remain a means to motivate the body and not the ends, and to exploit the enemy’s wrath with this in mind.” Our director may be seized with anger and momentarily stray onto inadvisable paths sometimes, but even the whitest jade has a flaw; I trust her to set herself back on the right track in no time.

Xiao’s Page wrote: I was in no way a soft person, though I don’t view myself as particularly tough or rugged, either. A straight and honest person. Accusations would be brought against me for being unmoved by the death of any person however close they may have been in life, a point not everyone would see as criticism. How could a person be so cold and heartless, even if the basic bearing of a Fixer is to look after oneself first and foremost? At first, I spent much time thinking over it, and asked myself many questions. Xiao as a person valued the lives of her colleagues, although her position forced her to keep her farewell to deceased teammates short, since carrying out her duty and emerging victorious came first. Shedding fewer drops of tears than the number of fallen was all the tribute I could pay. Bawling my eyes out would have stirred uneasiness in my colleagues. In the early days, the responsibility sometimes felt too heavy and burdensome.

I had never once thought that my method was incorrect; I believed it to be the best method for myself, and I deemed that problems couldn’t be solved any other way. Most Fixers will probably think in the same way. Therefore, I could not understand the manners of Lowell, the newly appointed Section 2 Director at the time. A person who tries to look after everyone, and doesn’t hide his grief-stricken face when a coworker passes away. It seemed clear as crystal that his tenderness would one day lead his team to death, yet he was faring better than I thought. A polar opposite to me. The ways I wanted to pursue but gave up because I was faced with my limitations. It might have upset me for a moment. A principle I could not follow, for I was not allowed to openly express sadness over the death of the few in order to protect the many; and my obligation to seize any chance of victory compelled me to march forward if there was something to count on. My capability wasn’t vast enough to embrace every member of the team. Was my choice wrong? What did he have that I did not? Looking back, I don’t think what I felt was envy or jealousy. The indignation certainly was not a toxic emotion. I’m sure each of us had different specialties.

It is said that people intersect with one another in some manner. I don’t think the process to be natural at all; I was not a believer of fateful meetings. After all, two parallel roads could never cross. A relationship begins with a desire to know. Simple curiosity. To know more about a person, or to go further and see what they are seeing together. People open up new roads to merge into the roads of others for various reasons.

I thought I would never care about him since he was so different from me, but my expectations weren’t quite right. I wanted to learn more about him, and I wanted to know what this emotion I felt was. And I thought I could perhaps become a better person if I saw what he was seeing together. If there’s one thing I realized, it’s that relationships between people always start from such small curiosity.

Taking in what I have said so far, you would think that this is such a peculiar and untruthful love. You might think it’s fussy. I cannot give out a clear answer, for I can’t dare define what love is. What could I say or add about an emotion I felt for the first time, one that I am still struggling to figure out? Furthermore, every person carries a different form of love. There will undoubtedly be some people who don’t place much importance on that emotion. You might even think that such emotion is absolutely useless in this City. Even if I were to define my love, this wouldn’t come across as a sweet story if you cannot understand it.

However, I can be certain that my sentiment towards Lowell was sincere. The so-called curiosity and sympathy… They bring about attention, admiration, and a little bit of obsession. I learned soon enough that this isn’t much different from what people call “love”. It may not have been something out of a fairy tale or a drama, but we still cherished each other in our little relationship. Perhaps I had been under the impression that love is a concept that is utterly distant from me. The love that I came into was cramped, yet big… and it felt burdensome at times.

You said I am strong, but the truth is that I was weak and fainthearted until the very last time I faced you. I have only grown so ironclad after I lost you. Why did I miss everything while you were still by my side? Why do I spend the whole night longing for you and regretting only after you have parted from me? I do have one regret regarding you: that I could not trust my feelings for you. That I was too afraid to tell you that you’re my everything the night before you left me.

Moments of loneliness will come as I live. It won’t be a thirsty longing for love, however. It is when I look to my side, yet there is no one next to me; when I am worn out from running somewhere; when I feel that my heart grows heavy rather than painful. Trying new things might let me forget it for a moment, but the memories will still follow me for life. When I feel such things, I can go back to familiarity. A familiar place, a familiar mind, a familiar person. And I plan to reunite with you soon. I want to tell you that I no longer have shame for the path I’ve chosen, and that I have finally freed myself from the guilt.

The thread has spoken! We're following up on the far-left node next, to take care of our Prescript.

Xiao isn't actually immune to Burn I'm pretty sure, her passives say she halves all non-Burn ailments, and takes no Burn DAMAGE, she just also apparently has no ways to actually self-inflict Burn, so her getting the bonus from Chi Wen is entirely on your own head for thinking to bring fire to the flames

Jiao Tu looks like it could be an interesting Page to use at times, a wholly Counter die filled page has some useful and unique quirks I suspect

Book 43: Index Proxies—Chapter 1

Music: Lobby


You know… it's kind of funny how the Thumb was the very first fight we did way back at the start of Star of the City, but it's only now that we're following up on this branch.

Anyways, let's see what's happened since we murdered the underboss of the Thumb.

VIDEO
Music: StorySimgak


One hundred and ninety-three.

Would you please stay still~!



Don’t act like it’s anything new, this isn’t even the first time we’ve had a quarrel with the Thumb~ Your boss isn’t gonna make a big deal out of this, y’know~?

“Remove the limbs of all Thumb personnel still remaining in the Nest. And hang their bodies on skewers…” We’re simply carrying out our Prescript. No personal feelings are involved in this process.



Isn’t that how everyone in the City lives? We’re all fundamentally the same, aside from the variation in methods.

Music: StoryJinji


…We only have one Prescript left to carry out now.

It’s quite a magnificent sight to see those limbless bodies make futile struggles with their fading consciousnesses.

That makes the Index the last Finger standing in L Corp’s Nest.

The only other obstacles remaining are the beasts of R Corp, and the Blue Reverberation.

All hail the Prescript~ I love how it always leads us to blissful places~

Prescripts are just meant to be followed. It’s not a good idea to give extra meaning or have any sentiment for them…

Some big mouth you have, Mister Messenger~?



If it weren’t for the Prescripts, you might not have gotten any treatment, let alone lived~?

I still don’t thank the Prescripts or anything.

…That’s just them being carried out.

The Messenger is correct. Prescripts are to be fulfilled—it’s as simple as that. Messenger Yan demonstrated it well through his past actions.

Music: StoryNervous


The Blue Reverberation…

I don’t believe we’re mutually hospitable enough to be having chats in such close proximity, now?

Hum, friends, no need to be so wary. I’m here to ask you a favor, Proxy Esther.

I was wondering if I could take those heaps of flesh on the skewers you prepared.

It looks like you’re done with your Prescript anyway. It never told you to keep them hanging forever, no?

Yet it did not tell us to bring them down.

It’s up to you to interpret the messages, so I’m personally asking you, Proxy friends.

This is tough~ What do we do~? I really don’t wanna let him get away with what he wants, but there’s no good reason to refuse~



We only need to see to it that the Prescripts are fulfilled one after another. There is no need to cause unnecessary conflict.

That’s a clear explanation.

Good wisdom as always. I’m glad we won’t have to see each other’s guts today.

It’s always a delight to talk with Proxies, you see. They have a similar scent as mine… Mmh, you know, I’d love to recruit maybe one of you to my ensemble.

I have no interest in learning what you’re trying to do, and I suggest you cut your antics short while you still can.

Is that so? I’m sure you’d like it once you heard it…

Anyway… We’d better take them while they’re fresh, right? I’m counting on you.



Pah, you’re right. He always dumps the tedious chores on us.



I know! This’ll make a perfect treat if I spread a mix of soy sauce and ground garlic on this and then grill it! What do you say, mixer face?

NEIIIGH~! BARK!! NEIGH!!!

Some appetite you’ve got there. They did a good job of chopping the meat into nice chunks, I’ll give them that; but the meat itself isn’t very high quality.

Easy, friends. We need them for other things. As long as you carry them all in mint condition… I’ll let you have two or three, maybe.

Of course, that’s up to Jae-heon to decide, though.

No worries! He’ll definitely allow it when I tell him that I’m gonna make mind-blowing cuisine out of it! Oh, he’ll have to! Hawhaw!!

Guess we’re having a barbecue party for the first time in a long while.

You’re being quite loud for someone keeping others waiting.

Sorry about that. We get along much too well with each other, as you can see~



Really, is that what you think? I beg to differ… Methinks the little animal friends from R Corp. are the only ones you’ll get to gut, rather?

Music: StorySimgak


There’s no need to pay him much attention unless the Prescript commands us to. …Messenger Yan. Is the next Prescript prepared?

Sure. Here you are.

Let me guess, it says “Esther, Gloria, Hubert, and the Proselytes under them shall head to the Library.” …Am I correct?

Mm? The Library~? Guess we’re going there ourselves, after all~

…How did you know that?

You look surprised, Messenger Yan.



What~? I was the only one being fooled?!

…Since when did you notice?

That matters little.

If you knew the Prescripts were fake, then why did you still declare war against the Thumb… And why are you about to dig your own grave by going into the Library?

I simply followed the Prescript.

It commanded me to “Carry out every Prescript delivered by Messenger Yan.”

…So the Prescripts knew, then. Just how much do they know, really…?

We cannot escape from the Prescripts. Every thought and action of ours is within the boundaries of Prescripts.

I don’t understand! But Yan’s been a good boy, fulfilling many Prescripts throughout his life? Yan~ Why’d you betray us! Was it for money?!

……

Gloria, there is no such thing as betrayal in our vocabulary. All that matters is whether or not one has carried out their Prescripts.

Hah…



I’ve lost so many things, abandoned and neglected so much because of the Prescripts.

I lost my family, killed my friends with my own two hands, stole precious things from people and looked the other way…

I was ridden with guilt, but I forced myself to do it anyway. Because the Prescripts must be carried out!

The Prescripts… guide us to the right path, they said. But have they really led me along the right path?

I resented Prescripts; I feared them; I loathed them; I didn’t even want to look at them again; And then… a Prescript gave me the role of the Messenger. Delivering Prescripts… with my own hands? So I began making fake Prescripts. I thought I was showing my will for the first time with that act…

But then the Prescripts do this, as if they knew everything already…

Tell me, Esther. Was this… not done out of my own will all along?



It’s our obligation to follow the Prescripts. And the Prescript now tells us to head to the Library.

And ask yourself this: Does free will truly exist in this City?

Proxies. We shall go to the Library this instant.

You don’t even have an invitation, though.

I’ve already received one.

…

But how. The order to head to the Library was just a lie I made up…

Messenger Yan. The Prescript has invited you to a certain place.

The Prescript… invited me?

Are you guys actually going to the Library, then?

As the Prescript orders.

I guess you would’ve said the same even if I brought you a Prescript telling you to die on the spot.

We move according to the Prescripts at all times.

Music: Lobby


We’ll see soon enough. Although I’m not exactly thrilled to find out… By the way, Blue Sicko’s got more new members for his band of freaks, from the looks of it.

I’ve seen that wolfhead, but I… don’t think we’ve seen the other two before.

One of them seemed rather enthusiastic about cooking.

…Hmm.

Do you have any guesses?

Oh, it’s no big deal. I was just reminded of the stories I read the other day about the guests we received from District 23. That’s all.

Besides, we have the Proxies of the Index to deal with first.

The Index… A Finger that acts strictly based on Prescripts. It’s curious how he forged false Prescripts, but it looks like the Prescripts anticipated that as well.

Yeah. Whoever’s making those must be a genius at precalculations.



I imagine that the one who makes the Prescripts is quite an impressive individual.

Probably is. You gotta be a cut above the rest to be leading a Syndicate as colossal as a Finger.

That doesn’t make those Prescript-worshipping zealots any less insane, though.

…

Is anything wrong?

…Nothing, I was just having some thoughts for a moment.

Music: Entrance


Such unnecessary rowdiness.



Whaaa~? You’re a human~?

Is she? Seems rather ambiguous to me.

I don’t believe that’s relevant right now.

The director of the Library, also known as ‘The Pale Librarian’, was supposed to be a machine to my knowledge.

Perhaps we should update the knowledge base with this new information…

She’s a liger~ I’m surprised to see such an awkward freak still exist in the City~

…

Ooh, look at her, she’s razor sharp~ Are you getting mad~?

You are to overcome the ordeals in this place and fight for the rewards, dear guests. Please go through that door if you wish to enter.

…And you’re calmer than what the current information suggests.

Proxies. Our primary directive is to enter the Library as the Prescript dictates. Stop this quarrel and get on with it.

Mkay~

May you find your book in this place.

Next time, on Library of Ruina: The standard answer to late Star of the City fights.


Videos

Index Proxies 1








BOO! Muahahaha!



Ah! A tough audience. No worries, I'm here to inconvenience you another way. You see, I'm very good at noticing things that don't want to be noticed, and during that last fight…

I don't want to be part of your bit, Kit.

No worries, no worries, just one question and I'm gone!

…Fine.

From my understanding, your entire… thing is to survive. And yet, what you did in the last fight… Dying immediately, to make everyone else shine.

Ah, right. I guess that might make someone wonder what's up. Fine. I'll tell you the trick.

That easily?

The sooner you know, the sooner it's not interesting. So: I never forgot the truth of the Library.

Really! But isn't that cheating?!

Remembering would only affect my emotional state, which wouldn't matter given that I'd be gone before the fight really started. So, I got a waiver from the boss, did my job, and went back behind the curtain.

Aha… diabolical!

Right. Well, see you never, then.

Yes, yes, enjoy your obscurity~ I have work to do.

Book 43: Index Proxies—Chapter 2

Music: GuestBattle01


Oho..! Just by putting it on, you can feel the raw emotion coursing through your entire body. The flames tickling the back of my mind… waiting to be unleashed with the right stimulus.

I like it.

Oh..? That was a nice speech just now.

It's the truth. Don't go taking away anything weird from it.

Tiphereth is going to be test-running Xiao for us today. Because Sturdy Defense is such a good counter to Will of the Prescript, she's running a pair of them for page draw today.



Outside of that everyone else is running things we've seen before. I actually forgot to retool Omni's deck after the Mizus' Punishing Bird fight, so there's a dead page in it. Shouldn't matter, since we're a fair bit ahead of this fight's power curve.



Two acts to deal with, the first one being five of the Index Proselytes.



The Proselytes have a handful more HP and different bonus passives, but overall they're the same enemy as always.

Remember not to go overboard, Tiphereth. This is as much a mission to gather information as it is to win.

Yeah, yeah… We need to investigate that thing, right?



Precisely. Not even Angela could fully determine the effects of Xiao's unique E.G.O. We'll be studying this fight to see what precisely it does.

Well, if it's you guys watching I can at least be sure you'll pay attention. I'll try not to kill them all too quickly, okay?



Music: TipherethBattle01


Even with those blindfolds… They're all looking right at you, boss.

Then bring 'em all on. This thing needs a good test run, anyways.

The Proselytes in act 1 work exactly like they did in our first encounter with them with a couple slightly better pages, and today they've chosen to go after Tiphereth.



So, we handle them roughly the same way as back then: intercepting where we can to ensure no one Librarian takes too much damage at once.

Chinely… you're not doing anything.

I'm charging my ultimate attack… give it a second.

If it has to charge, how is it "ultimate?"

You just don't understand the romance of it!



I guess I don't. Just do your job when you can, would you?



Speaking of, are you okay boss?

I'm… fine. This isn't much!

Music: GuestBattle01


You sure? The music says you're behind.

We are decidedly not behind. I've simply ceded the advantage for the moment.

That sounds like being behind.



You guys just wouldn't understand! You're so busy worrying about 'tempo' and 'efficient victories' that you forget the most important part!



Such emotions are pointless human sentiment! The most important part is victory at any cost.

Says the librarian carrying around a book for… how long now?

Not sure! Time seems to have a certain level of meaninglessness here.



You'd think she'd have recovered by now…

It's an ailment with no other cases to refer to. Our initial assumptions are likely to be off by an order of magnitude.

Assuming she's not just sleeping through work, of course.



Setting that aside… Boss, you seem to be hunching all of a sudden.

Music: GuestBattle02


…yeah. Once my emotions got fired up enough, the armor manifested itself. It looks like the incomplete form, though.

D.A.D?

Got your analysis right here, boss~



At Emotion Level 2, Nine Children of the Dragon's first effect turns on. This effect gives the user +1 Power on Offensive Dice (which stacks with Fervor's +1 when we get to level 3), as well as gives them Xiao's Burn immunity and ability to halve stacks of negative status effects she's hit with.

So it's a generalized powerup… and the armor protects its user from damage.

For now. Let's keep pushing further.



The plan continues, and we spread our attacks out.



Finally got my support gear online, everyone. I'll do it faster next time, for sure.

You don't have to push yourself that hard, kiddo. You're the newbie on the team again.

Then it's even more vital that I pull my weight. I've spent so long talking myself up that I need to prove it.



That nap really did you good, huh? Do you think if we put Mizu to sleep…

There's no nap long enough for whatever's off with that one.



So then, do you think when Kaori gets out of the book she's going to have superpowers?

Perhaps! Is that a normal human thing?

Music: TipherethBattle02


I'd say it's more a… "normal Chinely thing."

Setting that aside, the enemy's on the backfoot. Let's take care of them, eh?

Indeed. Let's crush them.



They're basically all sewn up now anyways.



We've taken a bit of a beating in the process, though…



Don't worry about it too much. The power of Love should allow us to keep going for some time yet.



And I can feel it… our predicament is getting Knight of Despair's attention as well. We've got plenty of options right now.



…Not that we need them right now.

It's true, we don't see how you could lose this one.

I'll take care of this last one, you guys take five.



And so, we end Act 1 in style.



That was awesome!

Did you have to blow a giant crater in the floor, though…?

It's my floor. I'll do whatever I like to it.

Music: GuestBattle01


Our second act puts us up against the three Proxies, alongside another pair of Proselytes. They're decidedly a cut above the first group.



All three of the Proxies have their own version of Shimmering, and the Grace of the Prescript passive. They also all have the Locked Potential passive, which will give all of their dice +1 Power after they play six unique pages in an Act. Finally, each Proxy has one additional ability..

Esther's is Raging Torrent, and it is completely useless because Shimmering overrides draw power.



Hubert and Gloria, meanwhile, have Breaking Pressure, which makes our Defensive dice weaker in a clash. This matters a bit more, but it's not a huge problem.



Lastly, the Proselytes have Speed now. This would be a completely even match, if not for Act 1.



Music: TipherethBattle02


It seems it falls to us. As the prescript points, so our blades shall fall.

Oh… hey! I didn't know the liger knew more half-breeds~ Half-baked half-persons should slice up quite nicely~!

Half-baked?! Team, show them how 'half-baked' we are!

Such outbursts will make this Prescript more difficult to complete, Gloria…

Oh, piffle~! As long as we get it done, it's all good~



Esther has a power nullification page, Swift Trace, which has a trio of decently-sized dice we'll have to set aside a page to stop.



His other two attacks are Unlock, a weak page that will replace itself with a stronger version on use, and Multislash, a strong contender for the best page in the game.

Seriously, look at it. Its actual cost is 1, but it's a 1-cost that restores 2 Light and also gives us a draw. It's a mainstay of Singleton decks from here forward, and combines with Will of the Prescript to give Singleton decks amazing consistency—so much so that late game Library of Ruina deckbuilding uses Singleton as a default, and you need a really good reason to deviate from it.



Hubert and Gloria, meanwhile, have a different Trace page called Heavy Trace. The dice are bigger, but a two-die page is easier to handle.



The sheer number of dice coming from both sides makes the arrows a confusing mass of spaghetti. This is the true Library of Ruina lategame experience.



Hey, so… aren't you supposed to be blindfolded?

The prescript didn't tell us to answer your questions, only to fight you.

So it's more of a spiritual blindfold, then.



Or maybe because it's easier to cut when you can see?

Our blades help far more with that.



You're nearing the limit of that body's endurance. Self-preservation is what you humans normally do, isn't it?

It's fine. Just a little longer… I can almost taste it. Tylana! How's work on the main three?



I've got the longhaired guy under control. How's the robot doing?



Swords go spinny~!

They're a tough one… there's something like five blades under there, and they snake all over the place!

Oh my gosh, I can't wait to try it out.



These enemies are tougher than I anticipated. Unlock your swords as quickly as possible.

Already on it~

That sounds ominous…

In better news, I got my support system online quicker this go-around.

You also half-killed the guy in front.



Unlock 2 is the only new page we see this turn, and it's just a minor upgrade to Unlock.



I can feel something burning up inside… Just a little longer.

Stay safe, boss. It'd be a pain if you died now.

No worries. I won't let a single one of our comrades get hurt.

That ominous wind..!



You're using E.G.O!

Two souls alight as one.



Unerring virtue and meaningless despair forge a single blade…



Take this! The Sword Sharpened by Tears!



Geh..!

The leader is almost defeated.

You don't look too good either, you know!

The prescripts did not require that we emerge victorious. In either case, we've fulfilled it.



You hearing this? It's like they don't care if they live or die…

They don't! It's quite fascinating… so long as orders are completed, then the life of the individual doesn't matter. I haven't seen such clear, logical reasoning among you humans before now.

Reminds you of home, eh?

Yes. It reminds me of… My human. Childhood. At an… Orphanage.



Didn't know you were an orphan. My condolences.

Think nothing of it. Parents are a luxury!



You know, that thing your buddy did was cool~! I like how flashy it was~

Thank you. Your blades are quite flashy as well… how do they work!

Ooh, I had to practice lots to get it just right~!



…Alright, I think it's coming.

I hope so. You can't lose that much more blood.

You'd better be watching, Yesod! I took a heck of a beating just for this moment!

No one can say you haven't worked hard today, Tiphereth. My team won't let it go to waste.

Music: TipherethBattle03


Good… because this is going to be over in a flash.

The refracting blue effect around Esther shows that he's reached Blade Unlocked status, which gives a +1 Power to all dice he rolls from here forward. Each Proxy also unlocks a unique attack when they reach Blade Unlocked, and in Esther's case that attack is Castigation.



Castigation is a base 1-5 die that becomes a 2-6 after Blade Unlocked. It lowers the power of any die it clashes with by 12, making it able to clash deceptively well, and it deals bonus HP and SR damage equal to 5 times the natural roll. Luckily, we have a very good way to deal with it.

Ending a turn once we're at Emotion Level 4 puts Xiao's key page into its final state, and in this form it has a trio of unique E.G.O pages we can access at any time.



Two of them are Pu Lao, which is a cheap Individual Mass Attack that can give all enemies -1 Power next turn, as well as Ya Zi, a 2-hit Individual Mass Attack which gives the user 2 Strength and Endurance next turn. Both of these are excellent setup moves, letting us stack the Power of dice in our favor.



But we're going with Tao Tie instead, because we want to do massive damage.



As you'll recall, Mass Attacks don't count as 'Clashes' for the purpose of effects that activate on clash. Because of this, we can destroy Castigation without any risk to ourselves.

I'm going to hold back and charge my ultimate technique.

And I'm out of options… I need a second.

No problem. You guys watched my back this entire fight… I'll cover for you this time.



I waited a long while to get to this moment. Now let's see what I can really do!





aaaaaaaaaaa..!

That dragon finished off the last of the Proselytes… Could this be the Prescript's intention for us?

Is your faith wavering at this moment, Hubert?

Of course not. We go where the Prescript points.



Even if it is to our end. All that matters is that it be fulfilled.

You know it well.



I shall leave everything to the two of you, then.



Farewell.



And then there were two.



…They pulled out the heaviest ordinance they could.

My blades didn't get unlocked! It's really rude of them..!

Breaking the pages that Gloria and Hubert were playing last turn with Tao Tie stopped them from entering Blade Unlocked on this turn. That means we're able to avoid dealing with either of their ultimate attacks—this is more important for Gloria than Hubert, since she gets a Mass Attack. Not even Shimmering can overcome their Blade unlocked requirement.



Hey boss… was that the end of it?

Nope. I've got a few more attacks I can do now.

Nice. I'll join in this time!

Hold on. Yesod?



We've got the data we need. You're clear to finish them at any time.

Then crush 'em.

One final push, then. Let's awe them.

Heed me, thou that are more azure than justice and more crimson than love…



Got one of 'em!

Oh… so it's just me~?

Ha haa~! Hahaha~ Oh man~



Prescripts, am I right~?



ARCANA SLAVE!!!



You know… these guys took it better than most of our guests.

Well, yeah. We didn't see a body, so there's no way they're dead.

Um… the books they turn into are the bodies?

That's just what they want you to think.

Ugh, whatever. Good work, team.



The Proxies can be a bit of trouble should we run into them early, as all three of them have decently hard-hitting attacks and a global +1 Power stacking with +2 more from their passives to let them steal clashes they have no business winning. However, the first act gives us ample time to build Emotion Level to let us start spamming big Mass Attacks in the second half, letting us even the score. At this point, it's not even fair.

Music: Result


Xiao's page… it's certainly powerful.

Honestly, I don't see myself wearing anything else.

Something as strong as that… I can't wait to see what Kaori does with it.

Wrote it all down, eh?

Obviously!

Well… we bled a little, but overall a flawless performance! As expected.

Well, yeah. Nothing stops magical girls.

We did.

That was making friends. Completely different.



VIDEO
Music: Lobby


I think otherwise. You won’t be better than a corpse if you just mindlessly perform tasks as they’re given to you, and the Index looks just like walking corpses in that regard. They appear to have no respect for the free will of individuals.

Hmm… You know, I do have a thing or two to say about performing tasks as they’re given.

Here’s the difference: Both you and I are working hard in order to get out of this place. We have a clear goal set in our minds. We’re doing this because we wish to be free.

However… Yan’s efforts to prove that he has a will of his own went up in smoke.

You used to berate it hard, calling people who follow it pathetic and stuff. Have you changed your mind on that?

…Perhaps I have. I thought they were nothing more than completely meaningless arrays of words… for those who have no purpose in life…

As you pointed out, the Prescripts of the Index end up benefiting the Syndicate. That Prescript commanded them to eliminate all members of the Thumb in L Corp’s Nest. Right when an Underboss and his Capos have disappeared.

The Prescripts Yan had been delivering were false, but an invitation to the Library was in that man’s hand as if it were destined to occur.

And they knew that he was up to something. It’s like they’re seeing one step ahead… heck, three steps, maybe.

Yeah. I thought they were no more than zealots wasting away their lives and time…

But that was a hasty judgement I made from mere fragments. Could the Prescripts actually be as omniscient as they make them out to be, Roland?

Whether that’s true or not, I don’t think you have to be so unnerved about ‘em, yeah? The Prescripts could be some grand entity or a big ball of nothing for all I know. Point is, there’s no need to pay too much attention to what they say. Even if everything I’ve been doing was actually done out of the City’s will and not mine, that doesn’t matter to me one bit since there’s no way for me to realize that.



…The emotions you feel. Thanks for putting it that way.

I gotta wonder, though. Where was that Messenger going?

He was apparently invited by a Prescript… To where he was invited is still a mystery for us.

Talk about a cliffhanger… Always gotta tease me this way.

You seem quite interested.

Who knows? He might lead us to the full story behind the Prescripts.

Even then, we won’t get to see it if he isn’t our guest.

Hngh… Good point.



Taking out the Index Proxies has opened up another pair of Abnormality Battles, one of which will lead us to our next Realization. As for the other… It's kind of infamous for being tricky.

Anyways, I'll leave you to it!



"Finally, she sprinkled cinnamon powder—her favorite—and clutched the pumpkin in her arms."

"Time flows as life does, and life goes as time does."

Honestly, I'm curious about what runs the Prescripts…

As well as the secret behind R Corp's Singularity.

Really, the Color is the only one without a big reveal.


Videos

Index Proxies 2

New Key Pages






New Combat Pages



Esther Exclusive:

Hubert Exclusive:

Gloria Exclusive:

The thread has spoken! The next abnormality battle we'll be doing is...



....huh. I didn't see that one coming. Guess we should see what Yan's up to.

Appendix 35: Index Proxies

Esther’s Page wrote: Is forging Prescripts a violation of rules? The answer is “Not exactly.” It can be written on any kind of paper, and as long as it is stamped with the seal of the Index, it’ll pass as a real Prescript. You will then wonder: Wouldn’t there be many people who exploit the system with malicious intent? Copying the seal is a complicated process, and not many know how; even if they overcame those hurdles, they still cannot outsmart the Prescripts. The Prescripts know all. They can tell whether or not a Prescript has been carried out, how it was done, and if someone is delivering fabricated Prescripts. An individual sending counterfeit Prescripts out of their own volition can ultimately be traced back to the will of the Prescripts, and the City itself. I suppose the Prescripts have some generosity for those forgers, as they may remain unpunished unless a Prescript ordering it has been issued. The Prescripts were already aware that Messenger Yan was giving out false ones, hence the Prescript to follow those faked orders. …No, that the Prescripts “know” might not be the most appropriate expression.

Hubert’s Page wrote: There are a number of ranks within the Index. Proselytes, Messengers, and Proxies are as much as I know.

Those who have been chosen by the Prescripts will decide whether to become a Proselyte. If they accept it, they will cover their eyes with a blindfold as they serve the role. The blindfold has little symbolic significance; it’s to teach the Proselyte to follow the Prescripts regardless of what is happening before their eyes. Usually, a group of five to six Proselytes accompany a Proxy, learning the rules of the Index and the role of each rank. If a Proselyte shows a certain level of competence, the Prescripts will assign the role of a Messenger or a Proxy to them. After being promoted, they are given a blade of their own, and they may take off the blindfold.

The Prescripts are a predetermined path; there is no point for Proselytes to refuse any. It’s still within their choice to decline the Prescript’s offer. Even though they’re free to quit anytime, no one knows if the Prescripts will allow it. The Prescripts might order Proxies to kill the runaway who abandoned their position, or let it slide, or even give the order to resign first. The Prescripts are truly unpredictable.

Gloria’s Page wrote: The Index has an arsenal of swords and blades. Most of the Prescripts we receive can be solved with a sword, too. Mmm~ Never really thought about why we use swords, nope! Maybe it’s because they have this oppressive aura and make us look serious or something?!

Each of us uses different types of blades. Starting with the ranks of Messengers and Proxies, the Prescripts give personalized swords. From a light one-edged sword fit for slicing things quickly; to heavy, double-edged greatswords~ They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Helps us stand out from each other. As for me, I’ve got five whole blades~ Maybe being speedy helped? It looks like we get swords that fit our traits~ Have you seen the sword Hubert’s carrying? It looks so heavy, and he swings it like it’s nothing.

Book 44: 얀샋 ㄷ요무—Chapter 1

Music: Lobby


For our next fight, we'll be wagering all three of the Proxies' books to finish the far-left branch of Star of the City. It's time to look into what Yan's been up to.

VIDEO
Music: None


Fourteen steps to the right… Twenty-three steps to the left…

…There’s a staircase. How… far down does this go…?

…

The sound, it’s getting louder… And I see a dim light…

…Is it really okay to head inside?

…

I guess I have no choice.

Music: Still none, but there's a very deep, slow bass throbs intermittently throughout.




…Who are you?

I’m the Weaver working here!

It’s so nice to see a guest after such a long time. Come on, now! Don’t be shy and step right in!

A Weaver…?

Yep, that’s what I am.

You were invited by the Prescript, right…?!

How did you…

The likes of you couldn’t even dream of finding this place without the guidance of the Prescript!

It only invites people here on a very extraordinary occasion, so consider yourself honored~!

…Does this place have something to do with the Prescripts?

Yes-oh-yes, it has plenty to do with them. This is the birthplace of Prescripts.

Prescripts are born?

Your face tells me that you must have a lot you’d like to hear! And that’s good! I was really bored, too, actually… You should take a seat first, here. This will be a loooong story! Here’s your chair…



H-hold on. Could you please slow down… First off, I’m Yan… Yan Vismok… I’m a Messenger. I only started working less than a month ago…

Yan! So you were a Messenger.

Yes… I’ve been delivering Prescripts full of absurd and brutal orders.

Oh, I understand. Prescripts are cruel indeed. And knotty, too, which gets some people killed.

…I had to hear many resentful remarks and screams from the people who received their Prescripts.

Are you… Are you the one who wrote those ridiculous Prescripts?

Yeesh, so scary! Don’t scowl at me so dreadfully, now. To answer your question first…



…Huh? Then how are Prescripts “born”…

Shh.

…

…

Can you hear this sound? Can you feel the tremor, climbing up your feet and touching your bosom?

…I can feel a tiny quake, yes. But… what about it? It’s just a small vibration.

Wrong! This isn’t a simple tremor. You’re feeling the heartbeat of the City.

It vibrates at random frequencies… Those vibrations move this pendulum over here… and I spin the wheels to make threads.

…

Oh, why hear me describe it when you can see it in action? Here, why don’t you come closer and take a look~ A new Prescript is about to be born!



…Meaning? All I see are random patterns.

It could seem hazy at first. This is the language of the City, after all. You obviously won’t recognize it, no-oh-no!

The language of the City? Were there more languages left to be found…?

Mmm… It’s a different kind from the languages people use. Oh, it certainly is. The thing is… I have no idea what it means, either~

But we’ll soon be able to find out.



The threads spun from those wheels are then put in this loom, and I modestly weave cloth from them. Wait just a moment, now~

…

And there it is! Look. A Prescript has been created~!

No way…

…‘To Chae-heon. When you see a person on a three-way intersection waving their hand seven times, follow them to their house.’

It… really is a Prescript.

Alright~ No time to be spacing out! We should send this Prescript to a Messenger for delivery, right? Start with this stamp, and…



There it is! Pipe number N9201 is right here! Now we roll up this Prescript and put it in here. The Prescript will travel along the pipe all the way to the surface.

That’s what Prescripts were…? This can’t be… Who made the spinning wheels, the loom, and the pipes, then?

I have no clue~ I was led here by a Prescript, too.

Oh—oh, my predecessor was waiting for me when I arrived~ But they left after receiving a Prescript one day.



Not really? I don’t have much else to do, anyway.

Do you have any idea how many people died because of your stupid randomly generated commands…? If this is where all Prescripts are made… Then you could’ve at least tweaked them a little so they’re not as cruel.

…I’m doing this because a Prescript ordered me to create and send Prescripts down here, though. If I broke this Prescript, the Prescripts will get me killed…

What are you talking about! You’re the one in charge of sending out Prescripts!

What if there’s another Weaver like me somewhere in another Nest? You don’t possibly think that I’m the only one mailing all the Prescripts for the City, do you?



In my opinion, that’d be the City itself. The pendulum inscribing patterns on the threads swings according to the City’s motions, like I said just before.

Footsteps of pedestrians walking around on the surface… Quakes coming from construction sites… Impacts created from some clumsy person falling on the floor… Echoes of people’s screams… Every little event happening in the City becomes a vibration that moves the pendulum.

Even the sound of us talking.

At the end of the day, us City folk can never be free from the City. Every deed committed by denizens of the City is ultimately the City’s deed. We’re representing its will in a sense.

All the cruel things we’ve been committing were out of the City’s volition? Why did the City… have to be that way?

Because the people are. The City was built by people, and their cruel nature had to naturally reflect on their creation. We were born that way.

This is a mess… People built the City… and now the City is controlling the people…?

Does the order really matter much? I think the point is this! That whatever we do, we’re essentially part of the City.



That’s why you can talk about this with such a carefree attitude…

You’re right, that’s beyond me. I only do what I was ordered to do.

Do I really have to care about that, though?

According to the City’s will, its volition… The City’s will matches the will of the people living in it.

Did you know? There are beings born out of the City folk’s wants. Humans want to walk the path that’s given to them. They’re afraid to face the consequences of their actions and take responsibility for them.

They know that they will only end up going the wrong way if they try to make their own decisions. They’d rather rely on something and expect things from it rather than to live a life of struggle.

People without purpose in their lives desiring and yearning for something to open up a way for them… It could be someone wishing for equality amidst the savagery and voyeurism… Or it could be the vain hopes of those who want the City to thrive forevermore, providing for all of its inhabitants… That’s how gods were born; people needed them. They didn’t pop into existence because someone told them to. They can’t be made up by anyone, nor can they be oppressed.

You can’t blame anyone for this. So many people, so many residents of the City want them… Thus, they’re the fear that will draw near them, the temptation of happiness… The promises and wishes of all people.

Are you starting to get… why the Prescripts came into existence?



Haha… Yeah. Right… It wasn’t my fault.

People weren’t doing inhumane things because I delivered Prescripts to them… Those horrible things were meant to happen anyway.

…

You’re right, I think I see it now. It’s the City… It’s because people have always been cruel. Humans are born that way… And they have desperate wishes.



Killing people with my own hands, or taking away invaluable things from others… Shuddering in guilt listening to those horrid screams, while I tried my best to seem unfazed.

They were all useless feelings eating away at my heart.

…Exactly. I’m just a tiny part of the world, I can never change the wishes of all people… There’s no way I can defy this flow. What I did was part of the City… The will of the City. Forging Prescripts out of spite and delivering them could be traced to the City’s volition, not my free will.

But that equates to my volition in the end. The City and I… and every person in this City were one and the same.

Do you think so, too?



The screen transition is an inky black liquid running down again. We know what happened last time that occurred…



And as it clears, Yan is looking a little… different.



His text comes with a typewriter effect now, and his voice now sounds distorted behind it. It's pretty off-putting.

Huh? Me? …

…Oh, don’t you worry. Just a moment, please~

…Alright, here. It’s an invitation to the Library. Prepared just for you.

…As the City wills it.



What was he talking to… Or was he talking to me all along? Well, regardless!

Back to my post~ Gotta keep my position.

Music: Lobby


Beings… akin to gods of the City… I don’t think I’ve heard or read any mention of such things.

It does seem like there are some beings out there that fit the description that Weaver person gave. I think I’ve seen something similar a few times, though I don’t know if that actually was one.

Not sure if “being” is the right word for them, to be honest.

They’re supposedly created because people wished for them to exist… I don’t know a lot about ‘em, to tell you the truth.

According to her logic, the Prescripts would be one such being, created from the collective aspiration of those who want to be given a purpose in their aimless lives. So you’ve seen one yourself, Roland?

Dunno. I might have, but… I don’t really know what I saw. Heck, I’m not even sure if I saw it at all.

That doesn’t count as seeing one, does it.



…

You don’t think highly of them, huh?

Seeing what one of those metaphorical gods made out of people’s wishes is doing… I can’t see them in a positive light. They seem to lead people to ruin, in one way or another. Is it truly for their sake?

What do you think, Roland? Do you think those “gods” are leading the residents of the City to the correct paths as some claim?

I won’t lie that at a glance, they do look like a weird cult giving their lives to an object that swings on a whim. And they’re giving arbitrary meanings to it like how it’s the heartbeat of the City. That’s a consequentialist point of view, shared by many other religions. The methods they take may be a complete mess…

That being said, I don’t think that there’s absolutely nothing good to say about them. They fulfilled the people’s wishes anyhow. The results… are another story. Even though the so-called gods bring fear and despair to people, they get to live a life that’s richer and more human. The goal might have been forcibly handed to them, but it’s still better than nothing.

Well, you’re free to think whatever you want in the end. You could feel the Prescripts are horrible, or a justified necessity, or whatever.

You’re right. Anyway… We should put our personal impressions aside and prepare to receive our guest. I’m counting on you as always.

Music: Entrance


Receive a Prescript… And carry it out… Receive…



If I may, I am—

Angela…

…Yes, it would seem that you know me well.

The Prescripts know everything. The Prescripts represent the will of the City… They know everything that goes on in the City. They know what I am going to do… What you are going to do. All of it.

I… see. Don’t you have any doubts about the Prescripts?

Of course not. The Prescripts are the City’s will, and the City’s volition is my will… To deny the City’s volition is to deny myself.

By accepting that as truth, you’re acknowledging that you have no free will of your own; don’t you feel that it is unfair?



By filling up the part that can’t be achieved alone, our lives as humans can become much more lavish. I have the talent to walk the path in front of me, if nothing else… Even if I don’t have much happiness, I know where to go in the immediate future. And that’s enough for me.

…It’s fortunate to hear that you are satisfied with it. May you find your book in this place.

Next time, on Library of Ruina: e

Videos

얀샋ㄷ요무 1










And… Eradication. Five cost, one die, mass attack… 12-23. Only… in Blade… Unlocked… Got it. What now?

That was the last of the new pages for now. Do you ever get any response, kiddo?

Don't be absurd! A book can't write in itself!

If it could, we would have screamed for help some time ago.

Who's to say you didn't, kiddos?

We were asleep at the time, so…

Tell you what. If you get booked, I'll sneak a peek next time.

We'd rather you didn't.

Square up, you three. We're needed in the viewing deck.

Again? We're busy recently…

That new enemy seems to have some unusual effects. We're wanted on-hand to analyze the effects and attempt to counteract anything that might go strangely in the reception process.

…Ah, something like that, then?



What in the hell?!

That thing in the middle of his chest… is that some kind of loom?

To: The Floor of Technological Sciences. Receive the guest before you.

Guess that answers that... He's a looming threat.

We are… really underdressed for this.



I don't think he cares. Swords up!

Book 44: 얀샋 ㄷ요무—Chapter 2

Music: Children of the City


Hey, hold on a second… weren't we supposed to be handling this guy? He didn't come out like he was supposed to.

There wasn't any chance to review the data either…

This kiddo must be really devoted to upholding those prescripts, huh.



Receive a Prescript… and carry it out.

Gah..!

Not good. Those punches are powerful, and we're at our weakest… I can't think of a way out of this one.

Hold on… let me think here. Prescripts, prescripts… What's the prescript he's talking about now?

He said for us to "Receive the guest before you."

Then in that case, maybe—



Now, it's your turn.





Hahaa..!

Kaori! You're awake!

...So we did need to attack the book after all…

Are you feeling better?

Mmm… a liittle..? But with such an iinteresting enemyy… and such busted paages..! I was mooving before I knew it..!

Well, at least you're still dressed for battle. But if nothing can be done, we're still in a bind…

Excuse me! Dear guest!



I'm really very sorry, but you need to stop for a moment.

I'm carrying out my Prescript, as is my purpose.

Ah, that's true, but this is about 'our' prescript. You asked them to receive you, correct?

That is correct.

Unfortunately, a couple of steps have been skipped. You've done nothing wrong, but that determination of yours appears to have overwhelmed the normal procedures. If we keep going, we'll have broken the request on that little piece of paper.

I understand. Prescripts are to be followed, without exception. Perform the necessary preparations. You have five minutes.

Ah, yes yes. We'll certainly do that~ Thanks, dear guest.

Impressive.

You get used to it if you deal with the Index at all. We're just lucky I could think of a hole in the prescript to exploit…

We won't waste the opportunity. Thanks.

Music: GuestBattle01


I'll get right to woork… You guys examine things, and shout if you seee anything..!

It looks like it'll use some kind of super-attack if we take too long..?

얀샋 ㄷ요무, or Distorted Yan as I'll be calling him from here forward, is mostly a support unit. Outside of that Distorted Blade his passives warn us about he's not going to deal much damage on his own.



His hands serve as the primary form of offense for most of the fight. They're immune to being Staggered and they cannot be defeated on their own, but if we deal enough damage they'll turn off for a while.

Aand… doone..!



It's a ruush job… but I'm sure it'll work fiine..! Fraankly… It might be tooo strong… I looked at the swoord that guy can use, though… And I've balanced around thaat…

If it can protect you all, I'll use it well.

So what about the rest of us, kiddo?



Mmm..! I just tweaked some existing stuuff… It normally takes waay more than five minutes to make even oone deck..! I just eyeballed most of the oother ones..!

And we're a… support character. Great.

We're aall basically supports today..! Once Yesod hits the field, you'll seee…



We did the best we could with the time we had. All we can do now is our best.

Let's get it done, kiddos!



Music: Children of the City


Time is up. Preparations have been made. Now, let us fulfill the Prescripts.

We've done what we can. From here forward, it's up to us!

Just look out for those prescript things… it seems like he's weaving them without realizing it.

Much like an Abnormality Battle, Distorted Yan has text that appears on the screen over the course of the reception.

Distorted Yan wrote: To …. Pack a lunchbox and consume it on top of a trash can in the streets of District 11 at 1 PM today.

To …. Bake dacquoise while the hour hand rests between 7 and 8, and eat it while watching a movie.

To …. Initiate a game of Never Have I Ever with the first five people you encounter. When one folds a finger, break it.

To …. Neatly clip the nails of the sixty-second person you come across.

To …. Pet quadrupedal animals five times.

To …. Spin a wheel and throw a cake at the person determined by the result.

To …. Consume eight crabs stored at room temperature and ripe persimmon at once.

To …. At the railing on the roof of a building, shout out the name of the person you dislike, then jump off. The height of the building does not matter.

To …. After a meal, discard all dishes that were used to serve it.

To …. On the morning after receiving the Prescript, drink three cups of water as soon as you get up.

To …. Race against residents that live in the same building as you to District 7. Measure the distance every twenty-three minutes and disqualify the one farthest away from the destination.

To …. Within three days, knit a scarf with a butterfly pattern.

To …. Dial any number. Give a New Year’s greetings and words of blessing to whoever receives the call.

To …. See green from a white wall.

To …. When hungry, consume a Cheeki’s cheeseburger with added onion.

To …. Fold thirty-nine paper cranes and throw them from the rooftop.

To …. At work, cut the ear of the first person to fulminate against you.

To …. When your eyes meet another person’s, nod at them.

To …. Return to your home this instant. You may leave once a dog barks in front of your house one time.

To …. Wear light green clothing and take 10 steps in a triangle-shaped alley.

For the first phase of the fight, Distorted Yan does the same three moves over and over.



Two of them, Protect and Attack, target his hands. These moves will give the hand they target 3 Protect or 3 Strength for the turn if we don't redirect them to ourselves.



The third page, Vigil, targets our allies. It turns off Power entirely for the target for the entire turn—this works both for the target's dice as well as the dice of anyone who clashes with them. It is vitally important that we never allow Distorted Yan to target Yesod with this move.

Our Librarians can change the target of any of these attacks by redirecting them as normal, but the 20-30 Evade dice mean that he's almost definitely going to win any clashes against us, generating a decent amount of Negative coins in the process. Overall our priority is to always take Attack off of the hands, then take Vigil if it's on Yesod, and finally to remove Protect if we have speed dice left over—3 Protect is much less of a problem than anything else, especially given that we can just target the other hand right now.



The last important thing to notice about Distorted Yan is that sword underneath him. It's a countdown to his first use of Distorted Blade, and effectively our time limit for this phase—that attack is something we don't want to see if we can avoid it.



As for the hands, both of them are using a copy of Flurry of Fists. We'll be seeing one of these per hand every turn of this fight, and while the dice aren't particularly powerful the damage from their on-hit effects will stack up if we just ignore them.



The Left Hand is using Giant Fist, which has a giant die that deals True Damage a la Transpierce, alongside a block die and a decent Counter die as well.



The Right Hand, meanwhile, is using Compress. This Blunt page will inflict us with both Paralyze and Feeble next turn, effectively neutering one of our Librarian's rolls for the next turn if it gets through.



The hands each have one dead speed die on the first turn. This gives us exactly 1 turn to set-up and prepare to ramp before we start needing extra dice to handle increased pressure. Key pages with a base Light of 4 have an advantage here just because it's easier on our early game Light curve.

It looks like he doesn't quite have control over those hands yet, sir.

He did just transform, after all… It makes sense.

I wouldn't think too deeply about it. Just take advantage of the situation.

That isn't how we do things around here.



Even if we can't understand everything about our enemy, there is information we can glean. Little by little, we'll build up our understanding.

There is no need to understand. The Prescripts already know all. We need only to follow.



Geez… this kid's making it kind of hard to see with all the ink…

Maybe if we attack from behiind..?



Noope…

So we can't get positional advantages…

Have those ever worked..?



No! But a full guard is still good, it seems.



And attacks to the main body just get dodged effortlessly… We've found an interesting opponent.

No blow shall reach me until the prescripts say they may.

We think we're starting to hate interesting opponents.



Ah, it's all good. We'll get through it somehow.



Because of the enemy's strong dice numbers and our being forced to clash against massive 20-30 Evade dice, our team will generate more Negative Emotion Coins than normal, which throws a wrench into any plans that rely on +1 or +2 zone Abnormality Pages. Luckily for us, we're playing Yesod and Rhythm is pretty good.



So, what have we determined?

His right hand is all wrong.

Elaborate.

Look at them.



Whenever dealing with a hand in that position, the thumb should be pointed on the inside. Yet, it's on the outside… a carbon copy of the left hand.

Does it mean anything?

Probably not. We'll look for something else.

I noticed that he's not too skilled with those hands yet. Maybe that's why? I know if you yanked my thumb to the wrong side, it'd take me a few to figure it out.

So it's in our best interests to end this battle quickly.



On this turn, the Left Hand uses a new page, Baleful Brand. This page will inflict Erosion with its second die, which will add more damage whenever we get hit from then on.



I can regrettably only pull off Attack this turn as well, and with Defend targeting the Right Hand my continuing assault on it will be somewhat blunted. This'll probably be fine, our main goal here is to prevent ourselves from taking too many hits anyways. This phase gives us enough time that we don't really need to rush.



Since we can't touch him directly right now, focus on whittling down his hands. An opportunity may show itself.



Easy for yoou to saay…

Because Giant's Fist is such a giant die, we'll frequently be using our Block dice to try and reduce damage from it, rather than trying to negate it entirely. Emotional Turbulence is very good here, because of its Counter die being a decent enough Block to cut down the damage.



Yet again… such strikes will never reach me.

Huh… I see what you're doin' here, kiddo. An interesting trick, but easy enough to stop.



There's a trick to it? Please, explain!



These hands, they're connected to him by a chain. You'd think they let him move 'em around like he's doing, right kiddo?

Indeed. They're somewhat troublesome!

Thing is, the chains can be pulled both ways. As long as they're intact, he'll be able to make those crazy dodges. Just like a puppet on a string… It's that simple, kiddo.



So in the end, 'destroy the hands' was the correct plan from the start.



Then it would appear that we have something to work towards. Let's handle things, team.



Our plan for now is more of the same. I've finally managed to get everyone's hands filled with low-cost pages, giving me enough options to draw all of Distorted Yan's counters off of his hands. Yesod also finally draws into Unlock, about two turns too late to be really useful in this battle.



It's still just fine for pulling a counter off, though.

I can understand why you gave in when you did… but I can't support it.

There was nothing more to consider. I have seen the truth behind the Prescripts. Understood that my actions are the will of the City itself.



Assuming that the pendulum isn't controlled by something else, of course. There's no proof that there's no sleight of hand with the vibrations, or perhaps even the looms themselves performing a bait-and-switch. All I would have come away with were more questions.

Why should I disbelieve what I see with my own eyes?



We think that if it causes you to become some weird gauntlet-puppet-loom, you've lost the thread somewhere.



There's something to be said for simply following orders, though! That is ultimately the purpose of many… humans. Where I am from.

Mmm…

You disagree?



Sometimes, you have to follow oorders… but that doesn't mean you liike it..!

I suppose that's true. It's always a bit different when you enjoy what you're doing!



This is why I am so powerful. My orders shall become my will.

That's not quiite the same thing… You just stopped thinking about what yoou want…



The last of the Hands' moves is Lock, a move which unexpectedly does not lock one of our speed dice on the next turn. It's just a big ol' hit that can cancel out a third die on our page if it hits us.



My own will is but an extension of the City's. There is no need for pondering on pointless things.

Unfortunately, I don't think anyone here will ever agree with you on that.

And yet, you are bound to a will that is not your own, just as you claim I am.



Perhaps. Still, I've not surrendered my ability to think for myself.



After using Unlocked 2, Yesod's hit Blade Unlocked status for another +1 Power. He's just about completely ready now.



I think I brooke this one..!



Splendid work, human friend! I shall double-tap, just to make certain.



…Ah! Well, nevertheless.



While the hands are disabled after they're reduced below 30 HP, they still take any remaining actions they have that turn. We can't just ignore them like we can with most normal enemies.



Fiinally..! I can feeel it..!

It's the same Forsaken Murderer as always… these bindings will only slow us down.

For the reest of us… Just try it oout..!

Ah. I think I understand.



Restraints only make this setup unstoppable.

Chained Wrath forcibly sets all of Yesod's speed rolls to 1. The Strongest makes all of Yesod's lowest speed dice into infinity speed. Myo's Prowess gives +5 Power if we're 10 or more Speed ahead of our opponent.

This is the most common endgame build for Yesod's floor, and it's exactly as overpowered as it sounds.



Anyways, now that both of his hands have been immobilized, Distorted Yan enters his blocking phase. In this mode, the only page he can play is Endure, which is a bunch of middle-sized Block counter dice. This is our invitation to pour on the damage, and we need to do so quickly.



This is because Distorted Blade will come out next turn if he's not Staggered.



You're not looking so untouchable now, and our dear mummy's on a whole other level. Having second thoughts, kiddo?

We think that would imply he had a first thought. When all he's doing is enacting prescripts, we're not sure it applies.

There is no reason for doubt. This path is the one I must walk.



The idea that one must do something reprehensible… I'm familiar with it.



Ultimately, I can only be thankful that my conclusion and yours were different. I don't intend to turn my eyes from the sacrifices of our way of life any longer.

Sacrifices which were meant to be. If the City wills it, any one of us is allowed to die at any time.



Smoke's on. Try not to breathe too deeply, kiddos.



Bit by bit… your motions and the strikes you deal make the earth move…



Those motions… the Prescripts can feel them as well. Your Library is part of the City, the same as any other.



His loom's weaving something!

It's been doing that this entire time, hasn't it?

This one feels important!

To Yan Vismok…



...unsheathe your sword and hold nothing back.

Thaat's… ominoous…

The hands are moving again!

At least they seem weaker than before.

Now that we've reduced him to below 301 HP, Distorted Yan has moved to his final phase. In this phase he will use Distorted Blade every other turn, and the hands are back—alongside Distorted Yan's absurd 20-30 Evade dice.



Distorted Blade is the main threat here, however. Its roll is a wide enough margin to be either completely free, or incredibly difficult to block—our average 3-cost is only likely to hit mid to upper 20s, so a 33 could simply crush almost all of our pages without issue. The hands, meanwhile, likewise begin using Lock and Banishing Blade much more often. We're on a timer: we have to blitz Distorted Yan down before the damage overwhelms us.



But this is Yesod's floor, so that's very possible.

Remain focused until the work is done. I don't want to see any of you leaving here in a bodybag.

At the whim of the great will of the City, we all move. Some are chosen to thrive. Others are chosen to die. That simply is.

"Chosen to die…" Don't you feel anything about that anymore?

Only the City's will matters. Only the Prescripts. It was all meant to be.

I see. So you choose not to acknowledge it.



The rest of you, focus on the left hand. The right should be finished in a second.



It is not I who am running from the truth of things.



Yesod and Null_Mia rolled a 25, but Yan hits a 26 on his Mass Attack and most of my team takes incredible damage due to a lack of Slash resistance. That's Distorted Yan's last phase in a nutshell.



This Abnormality yearns to give last rites to those exploited by the system, even beyond their death.



That would make you an ideal target for its E.G.O.

Infinity Yesod here is actually the ideal user of Solemn Lament. It has a base 1-6 Blunt die, which Chained Wrath boosts to 2-9. This is then given +5 from our Infinity Speed, +1 from Blade Unlocked, and +1 from Rhythm, for a total of 9-16, eight times, each hit dealing an additional 3 HP or SR damage as well. This gives it an absurd amount of damage potential, easily enough to blast through one of the Hand's HP in an instant.

Yesod's floor is :hellyeah: incarnate.



He can also tie a Giant Fist's initial attack with a Wedging Thorn.

We're starting to get what Kaori meant about us all being supports.

Ehh, Yesod's earned a chance to shine. He's always so busy helping us. Just wish I had a bit more energy to pull off moves.



I think we were supposed to help with that.

_{Hahaa… back to the drawing board theere, too…}



She's been knocked for a loop and still thinking about it. I guess after finding a "human friend," she's focusing on this for now.



Well, we should keep her from dying. The alien, too.

Alien?!

Inside joke, kiddo. Don't worry about it.



Castigation will take care of Giant's Fist here, so I really just need to focus on defense for the remainder of the turn.



The arrow spaghetti makes it easy to miss tiny things that we shouldn't have, though. Can you spot the error I made here?



I'll admit it: I don't know what that voice said to you.

The voice..? Ah. She said only the truth.

Its version of it, anyways.



Still… Running away from what you've done, calling it all the "will of the City," and absolving yourself of responsibility…



Ultimately, I can't see it as anything other than desperation.



The Prescripts are truth.

Only because they're given belief on such a grand level.



There is no purpose in fighting them. The City's will is my own will. Wherever I saw us differing, I was simply incorrect.



It's that simple… it's always been that simple. Free will… that is the myth. Acknowledging that is the only way I can live within this City.

Crap… One got through-!





I can't fight the City's will. It's folly to try. All I can do is step on the path laid out for me… and that is enough.



We pick up Clean here, to give Yesod another +3 on all his offensive die rolls, forever. It's exactly as useful as it sounds.



Hey, boss. We're in a pinch here…

Null_Mia's done for, and I'm in a pickle if I don't block that blade!

If it hits us, then Kaori would likely be the only one able to act…



And he's trying to get both hands back online at once. Kaori?

There's no waay… It's too slanteed…

Then I suppose it's all down to this.



When both of the hands are defeated, we get a turn in which Distorted Yan will either use Distorted Blade + one of each Repair page, or else will use two Repair and one Repair All. If one hand is down he'll also frequently try and Repair it to get it back into the fight, so it's vital that we take advantage of this opportunity to deal damage to Distorted Yan while we can.

Now… let us see who the Prescripts have chosen as the victor.



Before that… I think we're due for a change of scenery.



D.A.D's E.G.O will ensure that they survive this attack no matter what, and Kaori's roll is also high enough to have survived no matter what Distorted Yan got.



But ultimately, Yesod still had to get a little lucky and T.Hinman's 25 falls flat before a 30, costing us two Librarians in one fell swoop.



I suppose it was too optimistic to think we could win without sacrifices…

It was the will of the City. There is no need to suffer under the pain any longer.



Maybe… but I'd rather feel it when it hurts.



Even a killer headache has its purpose, you know.



…And that's that.

So it is. We lost good people today.

Alien buddyy…

Just… head back and get to work on cleanup, okay?



We made this fight significantly harder than it needed to be, simply by doing it as intended. There are a number of ways to make this fight easier, and while most of them require resources we don't have yet bringing anyone with resistance to Slash damage would have been great here. Since I didn't do that, the last portion of the fight became a damage race, but… Yesod.

Music: Result


Damn… that one hurt. We were looking forward to making it through.

Yes, it is a shame when a soldier dies right at the end of a flawless combat!

Flawless..? If you say so.

_{What even waas that light curve..? And how three of us briicked…}

You okay there, kiddo?

Of course noot..! With this quality of deeck… the only reason we've woon is because everyone else is uuseleess..! Come oon, buddy..!

Wagh! What are we doing..?

Making something that actually woorks…

Well, at least it doesn't look like she'll be going back to sleep anytime soon.

Any reason to wake up in the morning is fine enough, in the end.

Hey, boss. Miss Angela's—

I know, I'm heading over. Just… wanted to temper the bitterness with something a little more mellow.

Your work was helpful as well, Roland. If not for your quick thinking…

I just took care of the problem as best as I could.



Music: Lobby


Beats me. The Prescripts look like they see several steps ahead, so it might as well be. Though, boy, what did that Yan guy endure and struggle so much for? He risked death forging Prescripts trying to express his free will…

But that was ultimately part of the Prescripts… The will of the City, as he put it.

Yep. After all, this is the fate those Prescripts led him to.

You said earlier that there are good things to be said about them, Roland.

That I did. ‘Cause they’re still part of the City.

While I am still not completely convinced, I can understand it somewhat. Life as a human, never wanting for anything… What is the reason “gods” of the City emerged? Why do people wish for them to exist, even as they suffer? I tried to think from those people’s perspectives. The perspective of someone without a purpose to live. How I would act in their shoes.

What’s your conclusion?



“I’m different.” “I’ll seek out a way on my own.”

It’s much easier said than done. They won’t truly realize what they’re talking about until they’re put in such a situation themselves.

So they can’t be viewed all that badly?

Correct. I’ve decided against painting them in an excessively negative light. That still doesn’t mean I fully understand them, however.

Although, I am curious about what you just mentioned as well. I must wonder what Yan’s actions and the consequences to them were trying to show.



Those Prescripts sure are an enigma… And this whole Distortion business… It’s scary how the process can be so simple.

That demonstration made it clearer. It appears that the breakdown of a belief one firmly held can serve as a catalyst for the Distortion.

Exactly. That’s the scary part. It’s what happens all the time in the City. Though someone did explain to me why people aren’t distorting left and right pretty clearly. Either way… This left a bitter taste in my mouth, just like that other time.



And so, at long last we've finished with the far left branch as well. Distorted Yan and Xiao are considered the two biggest roadblocks of Star of the City, so it should all be downhill from here—especially with the powerful pages from those two fights now in our hands.

Next time, on Library of Ruina



"Finally, she sprinkled cinnamon powder—her favorite—and clutched the pumpkin in her arms."

"Time flows as life does, and life goes as time does."

That color is waiting here.

And the singularity is here, as well. There's no rush.


Videos

얀샋ㄷ요무 2
VS 얀샋ㄷ요무 (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)


New Key Pages



New Combat Pages



얀샋ㄷ요무 Exclusive:

Also, short update: I'm currently out of state so while I'll be doing the usual appendix update like normal (since that's easy as hell), I won't be able to get any more footage until I'm back home, give or take a day as 14 hour drives kill my spine.

Sooo... see you guys in a week plus the time it takes to write an update!

Been lurking this thread for not very long. Glad I caught up in time.
Anyways, Distorted Yan is probably my favorite distortion, albeit mostly because I find the circumstances that caused him to distort pretty neat. The explanations and "explanations" behind the prescripts remind me of cosmic horror. Forbidden knowledge and all that.

NintenGunner wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 06, 2023 10:25 pm

Been lurking this thread for not very long. Glad I caught up in time.
Anyways, Distorted Yan is probably my favorite distortion, albeit mostly because I find the circumstances that caused him to distort pretty neat. The explanations and "explanations" behind the prescripts remind me of cosmic horror. Forbidden knowledge and all that.

Welcome to the end of the thread! I find most of the ending of SotC goes hard so this is about the perfect time to catch up, imo.

Anyways,



Still out of state so it'll be a minute before we get to this, but it looks like Chesed's Abnormality is our next target!

Appendix 36: 얀샋 ㄷ요무

얀샋ㄷ요무’s Page wrote: Have you ever seen a glimmer of light when you close your eyes? It’s blindingly bright at times, and it shakes in an irregular shape at times. This sensation is often called a phosphene. Whenever I close my eyes, the blurry image of a bloodstained carpet appears to me like that optical phenomenon. The beginning of an unpleasant nightmare. Four mannequins that lost a face and an arm each are lying on the carpet, spilling red beads; another mannequin has its hand on my shoulder. I turn around and look at the loudspeaker in the mannequin’s face. I can feel the vibration coming from it, even though I can’t hear what it says. But I already know what sound this mannequin is making. The vibration precisely matches the words I remember, and my heart starts beating accordingly.

This damned power of recall lost all my good childhood memories to oblivion, yet it brings back such remembrances every time I close my eyes. My response to it is always the same: Take the flower that’s slipped into my hand and nail it into the mannequin’s heart. A beautiful tree in bloom grows from the cracks the flower made. It’s as soft as the hands that caressed me, and it’s as pretty as the sound that consoled me. And it’s as sharp as the noise of that last moment when I was scolded for the first time. Every branch that grows from the tree causes a piercing buzz in my ears, and the petals hurt as they brush past my cheeks as if to make me feel the pain they hold. I stand still like my feet were tied, until my body is covered in scars. One, two… Black marbles fall from the wounds. How long have I been in this cycle of pain?

The nightmares have been with me for a good majority of my life. If I close my eyes, the memory of that time haunts me—and if I open my eyes, a reality I can hardly bear unfolds. I chose to keep my eyes shut because I thought I’d rather deal with the ever-echoing past. At least I won’t be visited by new kinds of pain… Prescripts keep coming without a break. The City folk meet different ends depending on the Prescripts they receive, though their fates all share a commonality of cruelty. Their resentment, screams, tears, rage, and death… It’s too much for my eyes. I sometimes thought how my life would’ve been if I stayed as a commoner taking Prescripts like them. Maybe I was better off back then. Maybe I should’ve just died early so I could breathe again as another being. Why did the Prescripts give me that order that day?

I trace back the nightmares to remember the past; everything was over, and I planned to follow them to death, but I didn’t have the courage to end my own life, so I… I picked up the Prescript that I thought would spell my doom at last and read it slowly. All the fresh-looking Prescript contained was a command to be a Messenger. It was pointing toward a beginning, not an end. I couldn’t see a single word that said anything about salvation or death. After being numb for a while, I finally tumbled down to the floor and broke into laughter louder than any sound I’d made before. I couldn’t help but laugh at my state. I wanted to end my life because of Prescripts, and now the Prescripts won’t even let me do that. Where has my free will run off to?

I was frustrated. Not even my own life was under my control, for everything relies on the Prescripts. Then I’ll gladly play along. Even if I can’t shatter the Prescripts, I’ll at least make a tiny crack. If I can show the masses that it’s possible to oppose the Prescripts, something might change… Something has to… It WILL make a difference. Once I had hope, I could see the way—and once I could see where to go, I had the strength to get up.

However, I realized it only just now. What I felt wasn’t hope, and that ignoring that Prescript and taking my own life as I’d planned might have been a truer expression of my free will.

What is the right way to live a life in this place, I must wonder? I’m not even dreaming of a life that I can be proud of; how does one achieve the feeling that their life is bearable to live, let alone be satisfied with it? I thought I had found an answer to that… But in the end, I couldn’t escape the Prescripts. The Prescripts are the City’s will as it is my will. I’ve realized my limit. I feel as if I’ve hit some kind of wall I can’t overcome. However, I don’t feel all too forlorn and miserable. Maybe there’ll be someone who can ride along with the flow, rather than break it. It just won’t be me; I’m not fit to accomplish such things.

So I want someone to find an answer in my stead. And I hope they can tell me that. Tell me how I can enjoy this nightmare.

There are actually a few other notes regarding how 얀샋 ㄷ요무's name is localized. First off, the script for his Key Page story includes a note from the Localization team:
<!-- Yes, this name is properly localized. I know you'll ask. -->

But what did localizing his name entail, exactly? Well, we'll start by showing off his four names across the KR, CN, JP, and EN translations, with all following images courtesy of MetaMeme:



All three of the non-EN languages are, to the best of my knowledge, the English characters that you'd get if you tried entering the name 'distortedyan' in the respective language's keyboard layout onto an EN keyboard. Obviously, this doesn't work for the EN translation, so instead…



We type 'distortedyan' into a KR keyboard to create his name.

None of this really has any bearing on the game's story at all, I just think it's neat.

Social Sciences—735.35—Ozma

Music: Lobby


So it's the prescript-loving blokes today, is it?

Given that they never know what sorts of prescripts they get, it makes sense that they'd be prepared for anything, right~?

Makes sense… our last Abnormality was a giant wildcard itself.



Speaking of wildcards, this page from Yan is… we're testing it too, right?

Of course. It looks to have some kind of unique power like Xiao's, so now's the perfect time to test it.

Your stomach's a loom now, right? Does that mean you can just print those things out?

It seems to be mostly cosmetic, so I don't-HOLY HECK EVIL KIT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU.



What, you've never seen a full-body prosthetic before?

Not that... Your… hair!

Oh, this? I was having some fun on Tiphereth's floor, and Tylana threw me through a bookshelf. Mwehehe… she wasn't expecting THIS.

Evil Kit's original hair was a workshop mod for the game, and due to some… unexpected troubles within the fandom, the mod was deleted from the Steam workshop. This means that it was also chain-deleted from any copies of Library of Ruina using it, leading to his shiny new hairstyle—which is based on how it looked when I loaded up the game after the removal.

Evil Kit: Now even inconveniencing the LPer himself! :moreevil:



Alright, everyone matches now, Angela. We're ready to go~

Very well. I will look forward to your success.

Let's get a look at this new Abnormality… I'm actually really excited.

You think it's connected to the other four?

I'd bet on it!

SNAP

Music: AbnormalityBattle02


It looks like a cursed princess.

One with an attachment to her pumpkin… It seems she must have been cursed.

How unfortunate… I wonder what did that to her?

Oh, you know how it is. Curses happen all the time in the backstreets. Hell, some places you can put money down to have someone cursed!

That's usually an application of technology, more than actual occultism…

Ozma wrote: I’m Ozma… A single person took everything away from me…

All I have left now… are these children.

Ozma is a boss fight that requires us to handle her mechanic before she becomes vulnerable. Until then, she'll have Ineffective resistances to all damage types, preventing us from putting much more than a dent into her.



On the first turn, her primary attack is Powder of Life. As a guaranteed 15 Summation Mass Attack, it's not really a threat as long as we remember to put one of our stronger pages against it.



Her only other attack this turn is Fading Memories, a single weak die that inflicts one of our Librarians with Oblivion. We can pick whoever we want, so I give it to Sweet Pea.



Since we've got no idea what we're dealing with, I'll take the first look.

You sure? I don't mind tanking it.

Let the team captain do her part, eh?

H-hey! Who said you were the-

Can't hear you! Captain time!

My original plan was to clash both Fading Memories and Powder of Life with the same page, letting me avoid taking any damage on the first turn.



However, I misread the arrows, and wound up trying to block Powder of Life with an Unlock. Whoops. Ozma charges energy into her staff…



And slams it into the ground, spreading an energy burst over our side of the field.

Muahaha! You zigged when you meant to zag, didn't you?!

It's all good! A couple trips are just par for the course.



And just like that, I'm right back up! It's just like… just like… um…



Hm. Well, this is a problem.

A problem? What's up?



I think… I forgot how to move. And some other things. Were we just fighting those guys over there?

Oh no…

Looks like things just got a little complicated~

Ozma when Oblivion is active wrote: I want you to feel it all the same… The misery of forgetting it all… losing it all…

I’ll be the one to take things away this time…

Here, child… I’ll give you new life.

Come back to me, so I won’t be lonely…

Oblivion makes Sweet Pea the most important character of today's battle.

Let's start at the beginning. Is there anything you do remember?

I'm… pretty sure I'm on your side, and I remember how to hit things.

Her memories being lost is probably also related to those four popping up on that side. They look like… emaciated pumpkins?

Perfect for smashing! Muahaha!



The four Jacks that spawn this turn are the main issue to deal with in this Abnormality Battle, and their phase makes up the majority of the fight. Four of them spawn in on the second turn, and each will use the Combat Pages of the Oblivion'd Librarian. Additionally, each Jack has a unique Direction associated with them, that gives them a constant buff.



We will need these to tell the Jacks apart, because we need to steal Sweet Pea's memories back from them. If we don't, then they'll steal her Key Page and Combat Pages permanently, and turn her into a Pumpkin whose only move is ?!?!.



We don't want that to happen, so to do that we need to use our Oblivions to take back what's ours.



Meanwhile, Ozma changes her attacks to try and get in our way—we need to make sure she doesn't get too much of a chance to pile damage on us.



Each Oblivion can land 3 hits an attack, so we'd need 3 full Oblivions to land in order to get our entire deck back. We only have 3 turns to do it, so there's no time to lose.

Okay. So… I'm going to hit those guys.

Without any memory?

It's instinct, not memory. I'm sure it'll work.

I suppose that curse hit just the right person, after all.

Is that instinct too..?



Not this one! Head's still empty.

The solution to this puzzle is relatively simple: on her first turn, Sweet Pea will hit the front two Jacks. We're looking to see if one of them flashes, but if we do get a flash the fight can move on so quickly that we could miss which Jack is correct. Luckily, there's a way to give ourselves all the time we could ever want to view the information we need.



This is the Quick Mode option. It is set to On by default,and the option itself has been squirreled away in the upper-left corner for the entire game. We can toggle it by pressing Q, or by clicking on it manually.



As long as it's off, we need to press Space for each die our side needs to roll. This will give us plenty of time to note which Jacks we're hitting, if we happen to hit paydirt. This is one of maybe two times in the entire game where Quick Mode: Off is useful, and this is all you really need to know about it.



Geh..! Sweet Pea's moves are a bit more troublesome than I'd like to admit.

So I'm awesome, is that it? Sounds right.



Not this one either, by the way.

So it must be one of the two in the rear.



Ah… I see. You're trying to protect your companions, aren't you?



A curse leaving only a pumpkin as a friend, thus she tries to turn others into pumpkins to be friends… she's a real handful!



There's still two Jacks left, too. One of them has to be right, right?

Most likely. You holding up okay?

There's no point in being worried. I'm sure these Abnormalities have done a lot worse than wipe our memories.

Speaking of memories… Twee, didn't you have a unique Key Page with you?

Oh! Right…



Like Xiao and The Red Mist before it, Distorted Yan's Key Page has a persistent E.G.O button which is available regardless of the floor.



Clicking it gives us one of Distorted Yan's unique Prescript options. Every turn we're given one of the following Prescripts:
+1 Strength
+1 Light
+1 Protection and Stagger Protection
Draw 1 Page

Twee can then play this page on anyone except herself, granting them that benefit for the turn. Once she hits Emotion Level 3 we will have two Prescripts to choose from, though she can still only use one a turn. As long as we remember to use it, it's a free buff every turn.

I forget about it more often than I'd like to admit.



I'll go for the back two now. You guys cover me.

Don't worry. I'm the captain… protecting you is my job.

For some reason, that definitely doesn't sound quite right.

The enemy Jacks actually used a pair of Le Regole last turn, meaning the entire enemy team has +4 Damage this turn. Ideally we want to avoid getting hit.

…I mean, we always want to do that, but like. Especially so.



Three down… that makes it pretty simple to know where it is, huh?

That does narrow it down quite well.



Wooooah, holy hell that's a brain blast! Found the right one!

This flash is what we've been hunting for from the Jacks. Now, an astute player would be able to see the 2 Haste on the Jack and immediately know which one to target from here forward.



But I can instead take advantage of the Quick Battle being off to just hover over the tooltip and jot it down on a notepad.



Well, congratulations on your memories returning.

Oh, they're not all back yet. But I do remember being the captain. Weird… isn't it, Tweeds?



I didn't say a single thing that was wrong.

The heck you didn't!



For every hit we get against the correct Jack, we get one page back in our hands. As a reminder, with 6 Oblivion left we need to land every hit on both of our remaining Oblivions to beat the timer… so now's the time to throw out our big plays.



Twee still has Distorted Blade, a page that works just the same as it did in its own fight.



Meanwhile, Evil Kit has access to Eradication, a Mass Attack which can be used the moment we hit Blade Unlocked with Gloria's Key Page. Its die isn't nearly as big as Distorted Blade's, but it's much cheaper and it gives 1 Feeble for the entire turn if it hits.



We're not going to have a lot of energy if this doesn't work…

If it gets my memories back, you guys shouldn't need any more energy after this.

Unless she steals them again, of course!

Well, yeah, but what are the odds of that?



Today, we also learn something interesting about Mass Attacks. Here, Twee fires off her Distorted Blade.



It hits all five of the enemies, meaning that their dice should now be broken.



But when Evil Kit uses his Mass Attack, they get to reroll them. The dice breaking doesn't happen until after the Mass Attack step, so one die can defend against two Mass Attacks even if it loses against the first.

I've figured out what this body can really do! Check this out!

Hey, hey, watch the chains!

Now… what was the line? Ah, yes.



GET OVER HERE!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



Holy hell, Kit… is that why your body's so big?

Seems like it! It's all chains, swords, and mechanisms to blend people in here. Perfect for dealing with lots of enemies!

Wonder if that was because of a prescript, too…



Who cares?! It's time to get my memories back!



There we go… head's nice and full again.

And now that they don't have any memories of their own, it looks like those Jacks are pumpkins once more~



I think we made the Abnormality really mad..!

Of course we did! We just killed her only friends!



Her rage has made her drop her guard. It looks like this is our chance.

In that case, I'm sure you all know what to do~

Ozma, enraged wrote: I won’t forgive this!!! You’re no better than that lady wizard!!!

No… Don’t take away what is mine, not again…

If we successfully complete the Jacks phase, Ozma will use Agony of the Deprived, and on that turn her Stagger Resistances will all change to Fatal. This is our chance to attack, but any hits that we take from Agony of the Deprived will give the victim Feeble for the entire turn, blunting our offense. We need to deal as much damage as possible this turn, because next turn she'll restart her pattern from the beginning.



So we do that.



Agony of the Deprived's animation is just three Powder of Lifes in a row, and we mostly avoid getting hit by it.



Ultimately, it seems like this Abnormality's gotten quite a raw deal~



So she was cursed! So what? Lots of folks get cursed in this city!

Classical curses still don't really happen here.



That's all semantics, really. Fine print tying you down, neighbors who sneak in and take your stuff, scheming coworkers trying to get ahead… there's plenty of ways to curse someone you know, even without magic!

That's cool and all, but I think we've got about six seconds to take this Abnormality down before we have to do that all over again.



Right, right. Wouldn't want you losing your memories again, would we?



Tell me about it… having all my memories shoved back into my head gave me a bit of a headache, too.



Well, at least we're done here… I can't say I feel too good about bullying a victim.



If you get right down to it, all of these Abnormalities were locked into tiny rooms and used for power. Which ones aren't the victims?

True enough… I guess I just can't stand the ones I've watched kill people before~



Ozma isn't particularly difficult if we fight her the normal way, but there is a cheese strategy available as well! Because we can choose who gets Oblivion, we could load up a deck with completely terrible pages, have them clash with Ozma's attack, and have a completely free Jack phase. Honestly, the fight's simple enough that it's not worth cheesing—we'll need to do it the normal way soon enough anyways. The only hard part is keeping track of which Jack we need to be attacking.

Music: Lobby


With Ozma suppressed, Chesed's floor gets another level-up with all of the usual bonuses.



All three of our new E.G.O are interesting, and the first one, Power of the Past, is a sizeable power up to every die on every page… in return for messing up any deck we have's Light curve immensely. One extra Light per page is enough to make Light recovery pages only Light neutral, and any other page much more costly. We would have to build a deck specifically around using this page… but I admit 3-4 Power on every die might make it worthwhile.

The next one, Oblivion, is a decent recovery page. It costs 3 Light in return for 40% of a Librarian's health, and while they can't move the turn it's used it refills their light entirely. It's a good situational healing page, but since it requires us being behind to be useful there's usually a more optimal choice to make.

Lastly there's Powder of Life. It's a get-out-of-death free page, giving us 20% of our max HP the first time each one of our allies would fall in combat. It's our only Level 3 page right now, but since we never want to be dying in the first place it's only good as a last-ditch safety net.



Well, if the pattern holds that was the last one before everything goes to shit.

Personal growth is usually quite a messy affair. I'll make some coffee for our upcoming guests~

Speaking of, there aren't many Librarians left to wake up anymore, are there? So for who we're getting back…

As loathe as I am to ruin perfectly good speculation…

You're not at all.

I'm really not. Anyways, he's right over there. How's it going, Seyser!



Not… the best, I think? My hair seems to be on the fritz.

Oh right, it sensed danger, didn't it? What's the matter?

It's just not doing anything at all anymore.

Of course… that makes sense, actually.

From my understanding, we're fighting people to the death to get their books at the behest of a questionably-rational AI overlord. With all due respect sir, that feels like a little danger.

…Ah. I see. You weren't fully briefed on that technology. That hair isn't really meant to sense 'danger,' exactly~

Seriously?

I'm a little bit familiar with the Singularity that your hair uses, you see… what it's actually reacting to is your possibility of dying.

So… because we can't die here, it's not working.

Good for you! You'll finally be able to think without your brain rattling around.

By the same token, it means that if it ever does start shaking on us… we're in actual danger.

Setting that aside, you guys should get to work cleaning up. I have a suspicion that Angela and Roland will be dropping by here shortly.

Right. Can one of you show me where everything goes?

Leave it to the real captain.

We're on it. What will you be doing, boss?

As I said: making coffee for our guests~

Next time, on Library of Ruina



It's Chesed's turn now… I wonder what we'll see?

"Time flows as life does, and life goes as time does."

The Color

The Singularity

The thread has spoken! It's time for Chesed's Realization battle. Hopefully I have less trouble than I did with Gebura's.

Ozma, the Powder of Life, and Jack Pumpkinhead are from the The Marvelous Land of Oz - while a bit disturbing, Ozma doesn't lose her friends but she does lose the trappings of her early life. The abnormality isn't quite remembering things correctly, or else Frank Baum deliberately made the book's ending nicer.

Concerto 3: Chesed—Sonata

Music: Lobby


…Hm.

Not to your liking?

Despite my progress towards becoming a human, it appears I still lack the ability to taste anything.

Ah… that's a shame.

Roland. Describe the taste for me.

The… taste? Oh, well, I mean… it's… Deep. You feel the bitterness right off, but then there's an unexpected nuttiness underneath..?

Honestly, there's so much dancing on my tongue here I can't even put it into words. This… what'd you call it? Cafe noir? It's not bad.

Lately we have a greater number of options for grounds to select from. It's let me make quite a number of good blends~

Yes… the Library is quite powerful these days. It has grown splendidly due to our efforts.



Speaking of the Library… I had a thought recently.

VIDEO
Music: ChesedStory


Looking at the power the Library has gathered so far, we could easily…

To get refined books in our hands, we need the emotions of our guests to be heightened above a certain level. To draw out their emotional tension, the guests are pitted against librarians in a battle of life and death with something precious on the line.

Refined books, huh…

What do you think is considered precious by all people?

Their own lives, I guess.

Exactly. Being alive is the prerequisite to achieving anything. We’re picking out people for their books at the cost of one’s life.

We still disagree with each other, I see.



How could I ever forget~? I drove employees to death for the sake of energy refinement even though we were more than capable of saving them.

Sigh… Chesed, that was all part of the script. It was devised to provoke your so caring and delicate heart. And I simply followed it as per obligation. You know now who to blame for all that, don’t you?

It’s true. It was all part of the script. Then what’s our excuse now?

This is not the same as back then. Individual choice meant nothing in that corporation. But here, the guests that enter the Library and meet their demise were all notified of possible risks and agreed to take all responsibility for whatever happens in this place.





That was tense, huh? You sure are good at rubbing things in others’ faces.

…And brewing coffee.

Mhm. Thanks to you, I realized how all the coffee I’ve drunk in my life was hot garbage… I don’t think I’ll ever bear to drink ordinary coffee again.

That’s good to hear~~

I never imagined there could be such subtle differences in sourness and sweetness, or how that could bring out a deep taste.

See? You can savor the taste when you know more about it~

Maybe the same goes for this world we live in?

Perhaps we’re just led to believe that the path ahead of us is all there is to it, because there’s so little that we can see or learn. Just like the Index obsessing over Prescripts, and the Fixers hanging on requests.

Speaking of, does the Index really not know where their Prescripts come from? Like, completely oblivious?

Mm, yeah, I don’t think they have any idea.

Following orders without even knowing who gave them or for what reason, that’s just… bitter.



One can’t even be sure if the values they’re pursuing are their own anymore.

Are you okay with the City staying this way forever?

It’s not a matter of being okay with it.

It’s a matter of survival. This is just how the world is, and we’ve got to live in it somehow. There’s nothing we can do about giant streams created from people tangling with each other.

Sometimes, I’m stricken with sorrow looking at the stories taking place in this City. Things that happened to my past self and his colleagues, and the things we’ve done afterwards… I joined the effort to change the City because I didn’t want to witness any more of that.

And how did that go?

As you know, the City did not change as we’d hoped.

…One can say that we caused even more trouble with the Distortion.

Think we got what we deserved?

Nah. That’s just an obvious outcome, that’s all. There’s no way the City can change.

Really? Even if we learned why all the pain is perpetuated in the City?



No Fixers would be driven to death solely to fill out contractual obligations; no feathers would be spent like expendables by the Wings. As if knowing why could actually prompt changes.

Point is, knowing does jack to change things. I told you, the stream is just too big for individuals to do anything about it.

I’m not saying we’re looking for immediate change. I know that we can’t change things instantly.

What do you know about it, then? What makes you think you can talk like it’s so easy?

Everyone just bears with it! They can’t afford to do otherwise!

When will you stop running away?

I’m not running from anything…

Aren’t you and Angela just lying to yourselves about it, though? That it can’t be helped, that there’s nothing you could do.

That’s the truth, what else am I supposed to do?

This is the City… There is NO other option!

Music: Dark ambiance


It’s a privilege that only those with power can make.



…

What the hell was that contract about, then! You know breaking contracts and dropping your reputation means a death sentence for a Fixer like you, right?

Read it again, carefully.

… Sneaky bastards, pulling filthy tricks with words…

So why did you try to smuggle Enkephalin in the first place? We wouldn’t have gotten into this if you hadn’t done that.

I swear, I had no idea… I didn’t know it was Enkephalin, and I didn’t know it was meant to be delivered to O Corp!



Let’s see how long you can act so high and mighty! Just you wait… The City’s gonna screw you over in the exact same way!!!

That’s then, and this is now.





What? But you said veterans of the war will be given first priority over moving to the Nest! That’s what I was told before joining the war!

Didn’t you receive the notice? The terms have long since changed.

You’ve got to be joking… We aren’t talking about some cheap giveaway, it was a promise made by a Wing!

You know all there is to know. Yelling won’t get you anywhere, I’m afraid.

…Please. It was all to earn that migration permit… Is there really no way…?

No means no, even for you. Tremendous amounts of money were involved in the agreement.

What about all the others who fought to death for the permit, then! What did they die for?!!

…I won’t forget this. K Corp. and I Corp… No, if any of the Wings dare reach out to me asking for help, why I’ll make you regret it.

You still received payment, didn’t you?



Well… I’m sure you’re already well aware of these precautions, right?

Go fuck yourself.

No thank you. Have a nice day.





It’s rather… romantic to be living in the so-called streets of music, too.

Still, the Nest could…

And I honestly never really wanted to move to a Nest. We’ve both seen and done the dirty deeds going on in the Nest per request of the Wings.

At least we wouldn’t have to worry about our lives walking around in the Nest! Life is more valuable there than in the Backstreets! And it’s not just us, what about our baby—



There is a smack accompanying this line. Roland's wife was not above thwacking him, it seems.

I’m telling you, it’s fine here. Who would ever want to touch our child when we’re the parents?

Good point…

C’mon… Again with that gloomy face of the past. You finally started socializing, too.

But…

Roland. It’s a miracle that we even have a decent house and a family. You know how the life of a Fixer usually goes. And I’m saying this just in case… No matter what happens, don’t blame yourself for all of it. You know it won’t be your fault.

Don’t say stuff like that.



You know I don’t make promises.

Hss…

Alright, fine! I promise!



…Alright. I’m counting on you.

Who was that just now?

Remember my old friend, Olivier?

Course I do. He used to work at the same Office as you.

He’s asking me to lend a hand for a bit.

…Don’t tell me, is it Fixer work?

…Erm, yeah. Looks like he urgently needs a hand. Don’t worry, nothing dangerous. I just have to be there and fill the number.

And the location?

District 25.

Whew… You’re going to a cold place. Remember the delicious pajeon we ate there? Buy some for me when you come back.

But of course, your majesty. I’ll be back as soon as possible.

…And thanks for letting me do this.

Can’t have you lose one of your last few remaining friends.



My family and I came first. I cursed those who turned away from my desperation. Everyone turns away from each other’s suffering and goes about their lives.

Who could I dare blame in these circumstances? Each person spurs the suffering of the City trying to live, knowingly or not.

Music: Ominous rumbling


I know! I know that I have to stand this ground and try to make a living like the rest… even if I loathe this cursed world and this City!!! I can’t do anything about it… I can’t change this damned City alone. It’s just how things work. Knowing the truth or making up my mind won’t allow me to go against the flow.



The City won’t change. As long as humans exist, the City will never change… It’s become a part of everyone’s life to hurt others for themselves to live… We can only survive in this world with our sense of shame covered in scabs and calluses!!!

Next time, on Library of Ruina: Roland tries to kill us because he's a human and this is the City.


Videos

Chesed 5

Concerto 3: Chesed—Adagio



Our decks today are the same as before, and SeyserKoze has been put right into Nikolai's page so that he can give everyone another 1 Power for most of a very long fight.

And make no mistake: Chesed's Realization is long.

Music: Roland01


Chesed.

Ah… yes, Angela?

I left you alone with Roland for no more than five minutes.

He also decided to run away from a question, you see~

And you cornered him with your verbal acumen. Well, let's help him work through this for now.

So you know everything, do you..? Then tell me, what should I have done? What didn't I know to do?!

Harvest wrote: Had I thought things through more calmly, could something have changed…?

But… What else could I have done…

A small piece of wisdom might have changed something…

Give me the power to listen… The power to solve all things with ease…

Yield your wisdom… With that wisdom, I could… I could…

What could be in the world illuminated by wisdom…?

People who brag about their knowledge and feel no shame of ignorance… That’s you and me…

A life where one has to be ashamed of lacking knowledge and be thankful for knowing… I don’t know…

Will the insight gained through wisdom really bring change…?

No. You’re probably the same. You just pretend to know better…

Haha… Ha… I can’t stop smiling…

The biggest change in the Scarecrow fight is the addition of Harvest. Harvest goes right for whoever has the most Wisdom in hand, gets +1 Power for each Wisdom they hold, and will try to murder the heck out of them.



His pages also have the ability to rip the Wisdom right out of our hands, meaning we would prefer not to get hit—the page is still as important as ever in this fight, after all.



The Scarecrows are largely the same, with a few buffs to their numbers to match our current power level. One of them will try to Harvest Wisdom us, while the other two use normal attacks that grant us Wisdom if we beat their dice in a clash.



Harvest Wisdom is the exact same in every way, and we set up two Wisdoms to block it. Interestingly, this does count as a unique page for the purpose of the Blade Unlock passive.



The rest of the Scarecrows give us sources for more Wisdom. Their numbers are pretty good, but by this point any of our usual 3-costs can deal with them.



It's no good to say what you should have done now. Hindsight can't change the past.

Sophistries… that's all you have. With your big head, so full of thoughts. I'll crack it open and slurp them all up.



Scarecrows're basically the same. I can hold 'em off even with my weak attacks.

Really, this is just the same fight but with an extra crow, isn't it?



Such a lovely, shaven head. Keeping no obstacles between your wisdom and the outside…

This guy's a hell of a lot more persistent than the Scarecrow ever was, though.



Just keep those thoughts in your head as best you can. We'll need them later~



Like me… you only pretend to know. Your tool tells you all you need. Give me your wisdom; you're not using it..!

That's gonna' be hard, boss..!



Then it sounds like distraction time! Muahahaha!

Hahah… what the hell..?



What is this… it sinks into my body…

Straw's really absorbent, and iit looks like that applies to straw-based Abnormalities and their E.G.O as well. He's got my ink all over him, don't hold back!



My plan here is to give up on Twee's +1 Power with breakdown pages, in exchange for trying to land solid hits or killing blows to lower the cost of the high-impact key pages that her keypage has a bunch of.



While you were painting the target, I was marking it. He should be nice and vulnerable now.

If only there were a Smoke user here as well, the damage may truly be incredible.

We go to war with the army we have, not the one we want.

A splendid pearl of wisdom… give it to me as well.

Ahh, beans.



Harvest uses his other two main offensive pages this turn. They don't steal our Wisdom on hit, but he does still get +1 Power per Wisdom in his target's hand so we'll want to ensure they clash with someone empty-headed.



Meanwhile, the Scarecrow we just beat up uses Till the Soil. This page still doesn't grant us any Wisdom, making it a useless for our purposes. It's not a huge deal.



On the strategy end of things, the one other thing I've been focused on throughout this phase besides getting clashes is playing Unlock with everyone who has it, as much as possible. Each version is a unique page for the Blade Unlock on our Proxy decks, and since the fight is so long the 2 turns it takes to fully put Unlock 3 online is less than a tenth of the battle—more than enough time for its incredible 1 Light/1 Draw to pay for the effort several times over.

Unlock is really good in Realizations.



We're going to grab Roland's attention. You try to get your wisdoms out.

That was already the plan.

Anything that we're not using to defend ourselves, we'll use to knock some sense into our good friend here~



Meanwhile, I'll dance circles around this scarecrow.

Save some wisdom for me…



Hey, what happened to stealing it from me?!

I have tasted your mind… it's empty, like mine.





Don't let it get to you, Seyser. He's not himself right now, anyways~

…I won't.



We're almost done here, anyways! Muahahaha!

I just wanted to change things…

Don't care!



Now, classical Ruina theory states that we could give Courage to Sweet Pea, and give her a +8 Power on her main die. However, she's already more than strong enough to handle anything this Realization can throw at her and two clash winners are better than one. I give it to Seyser instead.



On the third turn of the fight, Harvest will normally use a special attack, Harvest.



If this attack hits, it exhausts the highest-cost page in our hand, removing it from our deck for the remainder of the battle. We absolutely never want to allow it to hit us, but its 7-7 base is actually pretty easy to block as long as we clash it with someone who has no Wisdom in hand.



Harvest is Staggered, though, and the other three Scarecrows don't provide him with any protection so…



Dammit… Eyes up, you four! The scarecrows are still moving!



No worries. I'll take care of this one.



And I'll take this kill! Farewell, Roland!

The answer can't be found with knowledge… that is the one thing I know.

Even after we defeat Harvest the Scarecrows will finish out their turn—but none of them accomplish anything.



Of course I knew it… Just like I know this emptiness can never be filled.



No matter how much I wish for it, I'll never find that warm heart again. I can only chop away at this ocean of trees.

Logging wrote: I don’t want to feel this empty and lonely feeling anymore…

I clutched my empty chest and grieved. Begging to have this cavity filled…

I looked for things to substitute the warmth…

I cut one after another, but the forest continues to grow thicker. There were always more trees to chop down.

I chopped down every tree that caught my attention…

I feel cold inside, and I can’t do anything about it…

Don’t you tell me that you understand everything. You’ve gone cold all the same…

I know. I can’t fill the void this way… I know it all too well…

The void won’t be filled; I’ll only be sorely reminded of this emptiness…

The forest will never change… The deeper I yearn, the more trees will grow…

Give back what you took… from me…

Logging is a slightly toned-down version of the original Woodsman fight. Like before we get all of our Light back every turn, and he gains +1 Power per Light we have on our character. We need to be spending all of it every turn, if possible. This time around he'll automatically lose 1 Warm Heart every turn, and while he'll be Staggered when he runs out of them…

He's only got 400 HP and we're actively encouraged to spam our high-value pages. He's not going to last that long.



Warm Hearts work the same, but instead of gaining or losing them directly from his combat pages, he now gains Pieces of Mind. Four of them become another Warm Heart, so we need to ensure he doesn't get any of those.



The trees, meanwhile, are completely ignorable. Targeting them will give us Heart Fragments, which power up some of Logging's attacks. There is no reason to ever target them.



Of the three pages we see this turn, only Strike of the Axe has the aforementioned Heart Fragment powerup effect. Since we should never get any fragments, we should never trigger it. The other two are mostly notable for their 1 Paralysis on Clash Win and 1 Strength on Clash Win counter dice—we want to bust those dice hard if at all possible.

You guys remember the rule here, right?

Don't hold a single thing back. Yeah, I remember.



Well if we're not holding anything back… You get me?



Yes… Mua ha ha… YES!



More trees… none of you have what I need either.

I must disagree. We're your way forward from this rut you've stuck yourself in~

Doubtful. You're as cold as I am..

I like to think I've thawed a little since I woke up here…

Your tongue remains as sharp as ever, at any rate.



It seems like I scored a direct hit! This guy's tougher to hurt than the original… is it correcting for how the Library's developed?



You're just using the wrong attack! You don't use a sword to destroy a body!



A woodchipper is much faster! Muahahahaha!!

Nngh…



Good job you two. Looks like he's a bit dizzy!



My ears are ringing, no more. My heart still has power… and I'll take your warmth with it.

Even though it won't complete you?

It's all I have.



You know words won't work, right Seyser?

I know, but it's rude to just leave a conversation thread hanging.

Mmm… that's true.



Speaking of, it seems like our camaraderie manifested into power. Allow me to play the part of the damsel.

So we're saving you if you're in trouble?

If you'd be so kind~



Your light is not the brightest… I'm unconcerned with your warmth.

Worth a try, at least.

You probably should have taken it, huh Sweet Pea?

And let you protect me? Nah, I have to keep my captain cred.

_{...Captain cred?}



Don't Take My Heart is the last of Logging's normal pages, and it's an opportunity to knock Pieces of Mind off of him before they can cash in and make a Warm Heart. Since he has no way of generating Pieces of Mind without hitting us, though, and since we're able to ensure he doesn't hit us… it's just another page in this particular fight.



I decide to smack it down with Decapitation, the unique page for Hubert's Key Page. This is a Ranged combat page with a single massive die, making it perfect for intercepting that 6-10 lead die.



It's been so long since the day that my chest was ripped open, and warmth left me… How many trees have I cut down?

Hey, Evil Kit, didn't they hire you specifically to work this Abnormality?

Originally, yes! I'm quite well-versed on its foibles.

So you know what to do when it starts moving, then? Isn't there some kind of cheap trick we could use to win?

Oh, nonono! My instructions were clear: "If it moves, you're already dead!" I stopped paying attention after that.

Once it breaks free it seeks hearts to keep itself running… but frankly, we're way too strong for it. Roland won't get a chance to reload.

You sure? Those trees back there look pretty weak… he could steal one from them.



Not if we don't let him.



Whatever he's longing for, it's long gone. No reason to let him keep searching in vain.

Huh. Thought you'd have understood that feeling better than anyone.



How you figure?

You're from a completely different timeline than the rest of us. All those relationships you forged are all but gone for good! I'd imagine that would make you want to rekindle them.

Heh. Cute theory, Kitten.



You're right. I do miss the friends I have the way I know 'em. And it sucks knowing all those memories only exist in my head now. But… what's the point in crying about it? It's not like Miss Angela here could just give us back our memories from loops outside the ones we already have, right?



It would be possible to attempt, but the inherently less stable forms you Assistant Librarians have would likely not be able to hold together.

For what it's worth, I can recall the both of you~

'Course you can.

Anyways, I'd love it if they were my buddies still. But… hewing my way down some arbitrary path to try and get back the glory days that only live in my memory… That doesn't fix anything.

…Sweet Pea…

Pretty brilliant, right? So you want to step aside, Tweeds?

Fine. Just this once, you can be the captain.

In that case, I've only got one order for you guys!



Before he can even hope to react… Knock the stuffing out of him!

There are two other attacks that Logging can use, once its Warm Heart count gets low enough.



The first, Lumber, is used to try and chop down a tree to regain Warm Hearts and continue his rampage. We would have to draw these off of the trees in order to keep him from cutting them down and recovering a decent number of Pieces of Mind.



And if we ever see Empty Chest we've probably won the fight—this is the page Logging spams once he's out of Warm Hearts entirely.



But none of that ultimately matters, because Logging isn't going to get to move again.

DECAPITATIOOOON~!!!



I can't simply stay here in this dense forest, hewing things without a single thought. That will not get me anywhere…



I need to retrace my steps… In order to get back what I've lost…

I got him!

Get ready for the next stage, everyone~



…I simply need a path home.

Music: Roland02


…Home… It's right there. I'm on my way, dear. I have that pajeon you wanted~!

I'm sorry, Roland… there's no one left in there to greet you.

Don't give me that, you wicked wizard..! I'm… I'm going to go home! I know I can get there if I follow the path!

The Homing Instinct wrote: To home where a loving family awaits…

There won’t come a day when we’ll all go back together.

This is the only path I can walk along… The road paved with golden bricks…

I’ll be able to meet what I’ve desperately wished to see if I keep following this path.

If I followed the randomly paved brick road, will I find it? The thing I’m looking for…?

Where is home for me?

Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s hurry along. Before the wait kills me.

We’ll make it to the end. Right?

Let’s all gather up. Let us dance and skip around.

Haha… That guy… That wicked guy snatched it all.

It happened all too suddenly… I couldn’t do a thing as I got far away from home.

It’s time to go back home now. My home that should exist somewhere.

…Now, shall we go back?

The Homing Instinct works almost exactly the same as The Road Home. Turn 1, make a path. Turn 2, try and walk the path, repeat once more, then hit us with an entire building.



His numbers are largely the same as well.



Scaredy Cat also works the same as before, gaining Strength if we attack The Homing Instinct on this turn, and gaining +5 Power against people on the path next turn.



Its moves are all the same, but the die numbers have been buffed a very little bit.



Lastly, the home is still a house.



Because we're stuck in this phase for several turns no matter what we do, it's actually ideal for maxing out our Emotion Level. That cat's attacks need to be blocked anyways, after all.



I can see the path I should be walking on… I'm coming home to you now.

Looks like we're going to be defending against him, boss.



How convenient… now that power from before should help against that kitten over there~

Don't worry, we'll have your back.



Cat's just as immortal as ever, for what it's worth.



Speak for yourself! I remembered… burning works! So I brought a little fire!



I take A Warm Heart here, and give it to Sweet Pea—she's got an efficient Light curve, so it should be trivial to keep her above 3 Light.



Friends! Let's Go Home~! has gotten a little stronger, with a 9 instead of a 4… but unlike the first fight, we have a trick up our sleeves. Both of the path targets get a page called A Road Walked Together added to their hands, which is a guaranteed 10 roll. Because nothing in this phase inflicts Feeble or Paralysis, this section of the fight is completely free.



Hey, Kit? I don't think fire worked at all. That cat's looking as good as ever.

I don't believe an Abnormality has shown up alongside an E.G.O like this before…

It appears to be sustained entirely by Roland's consciousness at the moment.



Meaning the second we finish with him, this thing'll vanish too.



Then leave Roland to us, cap'n!

Okay, now that I'm hearing it it feels wrong coming from you.



Why are you blocking my path..?

The more pertinent question is why you've given us the means to block your path.

…What are you saying? My home is right there, I want to get-

No, you don't.



I remember the fight against The Road Home very well. Going home was all she knew, and we had to stop her entirely with our own power. But that's changed now…

And that change has to mean something's different, doesn't it~?



The path is right there… all I have to do is walk it and I'll find where I belong.

That's the influence of the Abnormality… but beneath that, you already know, don't you?



You know what's waiting should you ever arrive home… so you've given yourself the perfect excuse to avoid confronting anything~

You… you bastard…!



Should you really be provoking him like that, sir?

I'd say it's the perfect way to handle this fool!

Wha-? Why?

Remember how the fight with this one ended last time? She was vulnerable just after she used her ultimate attack!



So come on, you posh fop! You say you want to get home?! Well I say you're a ruddy liar! Your home doesn't exist!

I'm sure it exists… it must exist. You're… you're just trying to fool me!



You're just a bunch of wicked wizards. I'll show you… I'll show you my home exists! It has to!

Hey, it worked. Good job, you two!



After going through the pattern twice, The Homing Instinct uses You… Wicked Wizard! A 20-20 die is decent, even after Paralysis drops it to 17, but any of our 3-costs is almost guaranteed to block it. Scaredy Cat also gets a new status effect this turn.



Cowardice effectively means that each hit we land on The Homing Instinct will give a -1 to all of its offensive dice for this turn. Because its Speed Dice are all 1s, this means we could effectively ignore it and focus entirely on getting to the next phase.



So we do that.



I'll pray with all my heart and soul… and my miracle will happen~



My home is real… yes, it must be. It's just down this mysterious path…



So? What do you have to say now, you big meanie?

Hmmmmm hm hm..!



Muaaaaahahahaha! If your home was real, then wouldn't it have hurt us?!

That's… you blocked it, is all!



You can drop the bit, Kitten. We've already won.

D'aww… but this is fun!

If the fight had made it to the next turn, then The Homing Instinct would have been Staggered, and Scaredy Cat would use Alertness to try and protect him.



It is the same exact page as in the first fight, and we will not be seeing it because our damage output is absurd.



Dammit… I can't keep this up…

I think we got him!

It's true. It's time to face the facts…



That day… the home that I craved was destroyed. That's what's at the end of this path.



There there… calm down, kitty.

Scaredy Cat does what it can, but with 10 Feeble the poor thing's been declawed. It can't deal any damage to us.



It was all stolen from me… I'll never see that "home" again.



…But I'll be damned if I let anyone else steal another thing from me.

That's… not the same Abnormality we just fought.

Well, they did give a cursed princess vibe before. Maybe this is based on them before the curse?

He's really working that outfit, in either case…

Focus, Koozy.

Faded Memories wrote: Why did he have to rob me of all my world?

I don’t want to live a life of being thieved any longer…

Before it comes for me again… I have to act first, or else…

They have to experience the same. The forlornness of forgetting and losing everything…

Please send me back. Back to the place where my beloved is…

I can do little more than just exist…

This despair won’t ever leave me… I won’t ever be able to return…

Why should I have to be the one that seeks forgiveness?

I don’t want to lose something yet again… I don’t even have much left…

The only thing I have left is hatred toward what made me this way…

I may be in awful shape, but there’s no need for you to pity me…

Seeking vengeance for that hatred by myself…

Faded Memories is a point-for-point recreation of the Ozma fight we just did. Because it takes place so late in the fight, however, we've had plenty of time to set up to take down the Jacks.



Turn 1 is the same as last time, with a low-powered Mass Attack and a single page to designate our forgetter.



Since we know the trick this time… who's going to forget again?

Not it!

Quick on the draw… but you guys don't need to worry. I took care of it once, I'll do it again.

You'll be okay, right?

So long as we don't screw up.



Rise, all of you. Rise, and fight. That I might get revenge for all that I've lost.



Welp, here goes nothing.



Ever since he robbed me of everything that was mine… all I could do is seek vengeance. I won't be pushed again.

Oh… yep. There's the feeling. Uuugh..!

Rise, Jacks. Rise and crush them.



Um… What's… going on?

We're in a fight. You have to track down the correct pumpkin enemy and beat your memories out of them.

Woah… deja vu. Has this happened before..?

Once, yeah.

Now… experience it: The pain of losing all that you are.



The Jacks work the same as in the first fight, and this means we can deal with their gimmick through the same manner:



Meaning I turn Quick Mode off for a moment again.



I'll try to stop the Jacks from moving. You guys just focus on bringing any of the ones that block off of the Captain.

There are no new pages here, either—during most of the fight, Faded Memories and Ozma use the exact same pages, die for die. With Sweet Pea having an extra Speed Die to use Oblivion with, this is actually a net downgrade in difficulty.



Alright… beat the snot out of the Jacks. I can do that.

Yeah… you see how it is. You lose everything, and you rage against whoever you can blame. It's normal. That's just how it works in the City.



They're all open! Let's go, team!



Not this one… where are you, memories?

While we're searching for the last Jack, there's one thing I didn't mention about this fight during Ozma: it's actually on a time limit.



After going through the Jacks phase twice, Ozma or Faded Memories will begin to spam Grief of the Deprived. This Mass Attack is the strongest page available to them, and once these start coming out the battle is going to end quickly, one way or another.



Huh… something feels weird about this one. Maybe it's our target?

This is the other thing I didn't get to show off in our first fight—when Sweet Pea's allies hit the target Jack, the screen still darkens slightly as a hint that that's the opponent we should be hunting. It's much less obvious than when it's hit by Oblivion, but it's another way to figure out which Jack is the one that's carrying our memories.



Bingo! Just give me a sec, and I'll be back to normal.

To overcome my curse so easily… Enacting revenge is harder than I anticipated.



Or maybe you're just bad at it. I'm back, everyone!



Great! Then we're just a tiny push away from being done!

…In the end, it seems all I can do is simply exist.



We've got this, everyone. Just one more push!



You think yourself so far above me, who has nothing…

Don't get careless now. You remember that a candle burns brightest in the end, right~?



Agony of the Deprived is a little bit stronger than the original, but even through Ineffective defenses we've hacked off much of Faded Memories's HP and SR.



I have nothing left… You cannot take anything from me even if you want to. But you have everything… Everything that was stolen from me.



I want to take it for myself.

That… smarts. Is everyone okay?



Just fine! A little muscle pain can't stop my speed!

So even this has failed me.



Very well. Send me to my beloved, if you can…

We… can't actually kill him, right?

Of course not. I would not allow him to die so easily.



Then it's time to go diving into the unknown again~



My body is broken… but I am forced to live on. In that case… why not deny it? Such an obvious truth… there's nothing to say it isn't a lie.



If I sing into existence a happy spell for us all… maybe then..!

Next time, on Library of Ruina: "Oz came up with a brilliant idea. Her emerald eyes seemed to shine even brighter."

Concerto 3: Chesed—Rondo

Music: Roland03


Ah… you lot have traveled quite a distance to come to me. You must be unhappy with your place in life. Come, tell me your troubles.

He's lost himself inside of the Abnormality. Angela..?

My available information on this Abnormality only refers to it as "The Adult who Tells Lies." It is linked to the other Abnormalities you have seen so far… but the related Abnormalities were kept separated to ensure that it would never be called.

Like the Magical Girls or the Birds… Pea, what's your gut say?

This feels like a performance. We need to play our part, or who knows what could happen.

It's as good a plan as any. Angela~?

I will keep you apprised of any changes.

False Throne wrote: Nothing is as deceptive as evident truth.

I’ll cast a spell that will make everyone happy.

Poor stuffing of straw. I’ll give you the wisdom to ponder over anything.

Do you think jabbering away with your oh-so smart mouth is all that matters?

Tin-cold woodsman. I’ll give you the heart to forgive and love anyone.

Who do you possibly expect to understand with that ice-cold heart of yours?

Cowardly kitten. I’ll give you the courage to stand up to anything and everything.

What are you even going to do when you lack the bravery to face anything head-on?

Last of all, road that is lost. I will send you home.

What are you fighting for so fiercely when you have nowhere to go back to?

I simply gave you what you wanted.

I can’t let it go. I can’t give up what is mine!!!

False Throne is more a series of trials than it is a boss fight. It has six different phases to work through, each of which has its own peculiarities, and for the most part Roland will be immune to damage.



On the first turn, we're more concerned with setup than we are with anything else.



…Hm. It seems like we've got options all of a sudden.

On the first turn, five unique pages are added to the hands of every single one of our Librarians. Each of them is an On Play page, and once one of our Librarians plays a page they lose all the other pages from their hand—the page they played is also removed from everyone else's hand as well. We need to ensure we play all five of them now, they'll be important to the tasks ahead.



In that case, let me try calling the spirit of the Woodsman.

Ah… I see. So you've come to gain a heart that will let you feel love and warmth.



In that case… I'll become the Scarecrow.

With your head full of straw, you wish only for the wisdom to think over the truths of this world… I understand your struggle.



The cat for me, then… since I took its help earlier.

O cowardly kitten, you come to me seeking the courage to walk forward. Surely, I shall be able to give you the courage you need to carry on.



In that case, I'll become The Road Home~

Ah, yes… you who have been displaced from your world. Come here, I know a way to get you back.



Muahaha… perfect! I wanted to see what this curse was all about anyways!

I believe my dealings with you have already concluded. Why have you returned?

Oh, you know. I love to meddle~

I see.

Now that we've taken care of the busywork for phase 1, we have to deal with False Throne's actual attacks.



Welcoming Salutations is a 10-10 Summation Mass Attack, and that means we can block it trivially so long as we put anything in the targeted Speed Die.



His other two attacks are relatively low Ranged attacks as well; nothing we need to be too concerned with.



Ooh, it seems I can control the pumpkins. Go forth, my minions!

Each one of the special pages grants a number of benefits, which we'll cover as they become relevant. One of the benefits of Ozma is Help Me, Jack!, a 0-cost page which gives all allies +2 Power on their offensive dice for the turn it's played. It also costs 0 and handily blocks How Noisy, so I immediately play it.



You've all journeyed far along that golden-clad road, and now you've arrived at my emerald city. I'm quite impressed with your drive… but you must be tested if you're to have your reward.

A test… that'll definitely mean fighting.

Like we weren't already planning to beat him up.

First off, allow me to offer to you my warmest… most fond…



Salutations.



Everyone's alright, yes?

Seems that way.

Of course. If such a simple greeting would harm you, then there would be no point in taking my tests at all.

You could just let us kick your teeth in so we can move on already.



Such noisy and boisterous children… please keep yourselves under control, now. We don't want anything unfortunate to occur, oh no no no.

A bit condescending, aren't you..?



Condescending, but hard as a rock. Sure enough, we don't have much choice except to play along.

Right, right. Now then… settle down, all of you. Your tests will be… Well, let's start with you, dear Woodsman.



What the… It feels so heavy all of a sudden..!

Come now. I've set you a perfect stage. Show them your warm and caring heart.



The second phase is built around Woodsman. False Throne summons a trio of Emerald Crystals, and cuts the maximum Light of all Librarians but Woodsman to 3. We have two turns to destroy all of the Crystals. Succeed, and we move on to the next phase. Fail, and we get punished.



That's Not It! is a slightly stronger Mass Attack, which inflicts Bleed to all our allies.



As for the Crystals, they don't have any attacks or abilities.

Those crystals… they're resonating with the enemy. If they're allowed to stick around, things will become much more troublesome.

With this sudden gravity, that might be a little…

Nah. I got this.



I can hear my heart beating… my breaths become one with the rhythm of my being. With each step forward I'll carve a path for the rest of you.



False Throne uses the other two attacks in his standard set this turn. Brimming Light is his Light Restoration page, and Please Be Gentle will tank our unit's Offensive die output if it hits. Both are still Ranged pages without particularly impressive die ranges, so they're also not a large threat.



I'll weaken the crystals. So much so that even a tap will finish them off. All I need you four to do is tap them once I'm done.

Sorry. If I could just unsheathe my sword…

Don't worry about it, Tweeds.



I've gotten out of way worse scrapes than this!



You'd best hurry, or your friends will suffer for it.

Don't worry about us, we're fine!

So long as he continues to toy with us in this little 'test,' he shouldn't use anything overly lethal.



Hey team, we're all set up here!

What? Already?! I wasn't set up-!

I do good work.



I'll just enjoy myself breaking this toy, then!



And that's the second one done~



Three! We're all set here.

So quickly…



Ah… I can't say I expected that. Hold on a moment, I'll keep you entertained while I prepare the next test.

_{Your heart was supposed to be hollow and empty… this should have been an immense challenge for you. How did this happen?}

It looks like he wasn't expecting us to kick so much ass.

I doubt we were supposed to be able to succeed at all, let alone so quickly…

So it's unfair play, is it? Well I have something in mind myself. A little prank, as it were!



I think I've just about gotten the hang of Ozma's curse. We might be able to use it to win!

Awesome! So, are you going to use it?

Doesn't work like that! Right now, he's trying to trick us. You can see it in his lying eyes. So, his guard's up. But if you can lower it…



I suppose we'll give it a try. Reserve your strength while we handle his attacks, everyone~

Oh, I see. You need more entertainment while I finish setting up the next test. Such rowdy children… Don't worry, don't worry. You won't get to the end if you keep being so loud.



So just quiet down for a moment, would you?

Says the person shooting emerald shards at us.

A test isn't any good without stakes, wouldn't you agree?



Pass/fail grading is stakes enough! You don't have to go putting spikes in!

Pass-fail… pass-fail. Yes, yes. I think that's what the next test will be, then.

Seyser, I think we're about to get hoodwinked.

Man, I hate it when that happens.

Don't worry, guys. There's no trick he can do that we can't beat!



Ahh, dangit.



Here we are. A pass/fail test, without any entertainment from myself. That ought to make you children happy, yes? Now, Scarecrow, show me your wisdom.



Each of your four companions have been encased in crystal. I've given you the means of freeing them, but only if you can solve my riddle.

O scarecrow, full of straw, left alone and feared by all, four emeralds stand before, whose form you once adored…

Hm.

Shouldn't you be paying attention to the riddle?



There's no point. Sure, it's probably technically solvable, but we're trying to make him angry. Nothing makes a GM angrier than when the puzzle they spent so much time putting together gets trivialized by something they didn't expect.

Which would be?

Well… Yan was a Messenger of the Index. The Prescripts say who they go to, and the location that they're supposed to show up at. But I didn't ever see one mention who a person is. That means either Messengers know the faces of every member of the Index…



Or they can determine who a message is meant for by looking.

So by interpreting the solutions you were given as 'a prescript to deliver…' the body complies?



Seems like it.

The news is ordered and hints all given, now your wisdom prove, 'ere your companions find their ruin… Scarecrow, time to choose.

…Oh, you finished?

Don't tell me you weren't paying attention… I'm not going to repeat it.

Oh, yeah. No problem.






I figured it out already.

You… what?

Yeah. I just used my "wisdom" to see right through the crystal.



From there it's just matching the message to the statue. Just like a real Messenger.

You just… cheated your way through it.

Hahah… you know, now that I'm actually doing it myself, I can see the appeal of ruining someone's carefully-laid plans. Anyways…

_{Your empty head really thought of all of that on its own? No, that simply can't be… In that case, could it be..?}

To all of you guys: Time to wake up!

Very well then. I'll allow this to be a pass, as you did… technically succeed.



Very well done, Twee.

Yeah. Not bad… for a vice-captain.

For today.

Pfeh. We'll see.

Hey… guys? You do see those floating, super-ominous looking skulls, right?

Ah, yes. That's your next test.



Hm… it seems like we've been weakened.

It's another part of the test, I'm sure!

Of course. Your knees are chattering, and your bodies feel heavy… because you face absolute terror.



The terror of the horrifying visages before you…



And the inescapable death they hold. So, cowardly kitten… What will you do?

Nothing at all!

I don't believe I was speaking to you.



While Scarecrow's phase is as easy as 'play cards as directed,' Scaredy Cat's requires us to play cards as directed and put a stop to four different attacks against our allies. It is also pretty easy due to the special page we get for this phase.



Show me if you can overcome that fear and-

…fear? Is that what I'm supposed to be feeling?

You don't have to pretend… You are facing death itself. It's natural that you would be frightened.



Nnnnnope. Hair still isn't shaking. This isn't even remotely a threat.

Bwahahahahaha! Oh, how deliciously ironic!



Seyser has more than enough Light and hand presence to go all out on three of the Scowling Faces, with the fourth one getting targeted by a pair of weaker pages.



You're so bold in how you sally forth. Where does that bravery come from?

I wouldn't call this 'bravery.' These things only look scary, don't they?

They would be instantly lethal to your friends, you know. If one hit lands, you're doomed.



You're a known liar, though. Why should I believe you over my own senses?

That's not… how this is supposed to work! You're supposed to be frightened, and struggle to be courageous!

With 15 Strength and the Faces having a weakness to every kind of Stagger damage, the only way that any of them could survive more than two dice from SeyserKoze is if we could somehow roll two 1's in a row. Given that none of our pages even have 1 results on them…



Seyser murders his way through every one of the Scowling Faces in 2 dice each.

Done.

_{You… no, none of this is right. The tests were supposed to be harder than this. So much harder… these faces aren't the ones you should be making.}



Fine then. The wandering girl. You need to go home, right..? But even if you did go home, is there anything left for you waiting there? Why do you fight so fiercely for something that is behind you?

Every dream must have its end, mustn't it? I wouldn't say it's wrong to want to step forwards towards your own goal~



There is another option. You can simply create a new home, and then you will have reached it as you wished. This city is grand… I will allow you to stay here, in safety.

If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not~

I'm afraid I must insist, my poor traveler.

This phase is a redo of the first phase in terms of attacks, but now we can deal Stagger damage to False Throne—once we've Staggered him, we'll move on to the next phase.



The Road Home's own passive doesn't help us much with this phase, giving Chesed some support abilities.



Each page has two copies, they can be used to either heal allies or give them Protection against damage.



Anyways, False Throne is still Marked, and SeyserKoze still has one turn left on Courage, giving him 15 total Strength, so we don't need to worry much about chewing through his SR.

He seems to be quite… insistent on my staying.

I'm still hopped up on that high from killing those Faces… want me to take it out on him?

I think we should all attack him together.

Oh. Sure… that works too, boss.



Once more… I welcome you, dear travelers, to my Emerald City. Please, make yourselves at home.



No thanks. We're good.

But this is a city of wonders. Full of anything you may want!



As long as that thing is emeralds?

I am offering you a place to belong. Why must you children be so ungrateful?



You're the one who started it with all of those 'tests' and whatnot.

Of course there were tests..! That's what life is. A series of tests, tribulations. You do for me, and only then do I do for you.



Or to us, yes. I'm quite familiar with the process, muahaha!

You're still here..? Actually, thinking on it… that explains everything.

Oh?

You put them up to this. Because you're jealous of my place on the throne. Because you blame me for your own mistakes.

Oh, so you are the lying sack of crap who made Ozma wind up that way. Thaat's what you meant by our dealings being done.

Don't play dumb with me. This was all you. All along.

And what's wrong with that?!

You lot were lying, this entire time… what you're after is my throne. This throne I worked so hard for… all the things I've gathered.



I was willing to test you. To even give you what you wanted. But no more…



You didn't engage with my carefully crafted puzzles. You blew through my encounters without a care in the world. I try to give one of you a cool moment, and philistines that you are you throw it in my face. I attempt to reward you… and you don't even want it anymore.

Fine! If you're so intent on every single thing I do…



I am through playing with you.

Playtime is Over!!! is the only attack that False Throne uses in his final phase, and he will use it with every one of his speed dice. We cannot beat any of these dice in a clash, and even if we could we'd be eating a total of -40 power to all dice next turn. Beating False Throne through conventional means is not really an option. We'll have to transform him into a different being… somehow.

I see… so this is his real power. Angela..?

It's well beyond any of you. Should he attack now, you will all be wiped out. We need an alternative measure.

Muhuhu… Perfect. This is perfect! He's so angry he isn't thinking straight anymore! Great job, everyone! You're the best group of accomplices I could have hoped for!



You've all had your important moments… but now it's my turn!

No… that cursed power. You were never supposed to be capable of accessing it!



If you tell me what I can't do, I'm just going to do it twice as hard! Three… two… one!

No-!



Muhu… muhuahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!!

What'd you do to him..?

I turned that punk into a pumpkin!

So it's just… over? Just like that?

Pretty much!

I was expecting more of a climax… but I guess this is fine, too.

It was ultimately a very Evil Kit-like way to settle things.



Let's go home, team. I should get another pot on before Roland comes to.

In that case, I shall excuse myself.

You don't want to stick around?

There is work to be done elsewhere. Cleaning up is your duty.

If you insist~



Chesed's Realization is long, but ultimately one of the easiest of them. By the time we get to it, we should have access to not only Myo and Gebura's pages, but also Multislash, Unlock, and a number of other absurdly powerful pages which allow us to overpower the first two phases with ease. After that, it's all just rehashing old puzzle battles, and while they're time consuming there's nothing that happens from Phase 3 onwards that is difficult. The only way to lose would be if we were to somehow accidentally delete Transmogrify from our deck during the final phase… which I have definitely never done.

There used to be an old exploit where, if the Courage user had Rake, they could Stagger the Scowling Faces and steal one of their combat pages. Because False Throne did not have Courage, it would then become possible to instantly defeat him. This is no longer possible, but I assure you that it was very funny at the time. I have since been made aware that this actually works just fine still, which is

VIDEO
Music: None


Because I am certain you will never leave me.

Music: ChesedStory


I made up spurious lies to comfort myself. A runaway couldn’t be anything more than a runaway. I could never escape from the stigma I branded on myself. The shame I felt from things that were out of my hand… It’s inescapable, even for me.

I don’t attribute the suffering of some strangers to myself. That’s that… and this is this…

Some things just can’t be helped.

Sure. Let’s say that they were. And there’ll be still more things that are inevitable in the future.

Maybe we can’t change the things that are considered normal right away. Even then, we’ll know shame at the very least.



…Just by knowing? There’s no strength to get things done.

Roland. The fact that one knows is sufficient. It might get shelved deep in the back of the mind because life keeps you busy.

But, it can always be pulled back into the light. As long as you have the will. And when you bring it back up… it doesn’t have to be only one time. If you can do it time and time again…

Neither you, nor this City… No one could look down on the power it can create.

Shame, huh… The humiliation that I took part in perpetuating the pain of the City…

That’s what I think, anyway.

I get what you’re trying to say. I admit it. Yeah… It’s certainly true. Most aren’t even aware of what they’re doing.

You really understand me~? I’m touched.



You’re always welcome~

Music: Lobby


And so, we're done with Chesed's Realization, granting us the usual perks of E.G.O and the last 3 Abnormality Pages. Speaking of, we should take a peek at them!



Emerald is a very funny page, giving us a 5-cost combat page which lets us cancel out two pages that a target is playing. The pages selected are completely random, but this does set us up to more easily be able to get onesided attacks through, and it can cancel some very threatening attacks from our enemies.

False Present, meanwhile, gives us some generic buffs we can spread among our teammates, similar to the start of False Throne's battle. These show up on the E.G.O selection page and are technically cards, but I'll just list the effects here:

Liquid Courage: Deal +6 damage, take +3 damage.

Silk Sack of Sawdust: Recover 8 SR on clash win, lose 4 SR on clash lose.

Heart of Lead: Lose 5 HP and gain 1 Light each scene.

Home that Cannot be Reached: On clash lose, lose 4 SR and gain +2 Power on next die.

Transformation: Upon a successful attack in a clash, destroy the opponent’s next die at a 50% chance; upon taking a hit in a clash, destroy the next die of self at a 50% chance.

These buffs are pretty good overall, and can be built around… but it's a level 3 Abnormality Page, making it impractical to use.

Lastly, we have Magic Trick. As it is another level 3 page it's quite costly to get to… but it has inspired a number of unique strategies taking advantage of the ability to instantly reduce the cost of pages like Distorted Blade to 0. Being able to spam all of our highest-cost pages in a single turn for effectively 4 Light is exactly as crazy as it sounds, and Chesed's most well-known endgame strategies revolve around this page in one form or another. It's very good.



So, Tweeds. Now that you've seen how brilliant my leadership is—

Not a chance. I'm still the real captain.

Only in this timeline. Before, and probably most of the time before that…

Doesn't matter. Like you said: "hewing your way down some arbitrary path to try and get back the glory days that only live in your memory doesn't fix anything."

Smartass. You know this is different.

Oh yeah? How?

'Cause I'm the best.



Knowing shame… looking at what you're doing, and knowing it's wrong, huh..? Geez… he always leaves me with heavy stuff to think about.

That coffee's worth it, though.

Next time, on Library of Ruina



"Time flows as life does, and life goes as time does."

R Corp waits for their revenge.

The Snake slithers away from danger.


Videos

Chesed 6
Chesed Realization (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)


New E.G.O Pages

I've seen enough. It's time.

Music

ChesedBattle01
ChesedBattle02
ChesedBattle03
ChesedStory

Abnormality Pages

Level 1



Chesed's Abnormality pages follow a couple of themes, and while none of them are bad a number of them are very good. Courage is outright the best option here, giving 3 Strength and Protection to whoever we choose for the entire battle. A simple +1 Strength is strong already, and a +2 is enough to take even with a bit of a downside on it… so this is absurd. Out of the rest, Cardiae is probably the best offensive option, and Gleaning is a solid defensive option. Rake isn't very good, since any time we could have it we're dominating the enemy—stealing the pages of an enemy we're already crushing is basically just a 'win harder' button.

Timber is relatively good against enemies with Shimmering, since they'll always have full Light, and while Torn-Off Wisdom has interesting synergies with discard decks its -2 Zone makes it very difficult to reach unless we play to lose for a turn.

Level 2



Chesed's Level 2 pages don't have anything as obviously overpowered as Courage, but there are some interesting picks to be had here. All of the clash wins we should be getting makes Emerald very obtainable, which can be used to cancel dangerous pages coming from big singular enemies. A Road Walked Together can be situationally useful, but without any way to force the enemy to target a single Librarian it's somewhat random if we get a power boost or not. Home is a pretty nice damage buff against single targets, but otherwise is finicky to use—there are more constant options for Power here.

On the negative side, Oblivion is a very powerful recovery page that costs us a turn to activate but can let us quickly recover our entire stockpile of Light. I don't like giving up any aggression for that, but it's serviceable. I vastly prefer A Warm Heart, which gives one Librarian +1-2 bonus power as long as they have 3+ Light. It doesn't show up as often as I'd like due to its -1 Zone and 0 having two different pages in it, but when it shows up it's a good pick. Lastly, Power of the Past is completely nuts. 3-4 Power is big, and if it wasn't a -2 zone Level 2 Abnormality Page it'd be worth building a character's deck around. As it is… it's a cool thing that we should never see.

Level 3



Out of our Level 3 pages, Magic Trick is powerful but requires us to be running builds with a lot of high-cost cards to really capitalize on it, making getting there a bit harder. Powder of Life, meanwhile, is an excellent safety net in a floor that really wants its full team surviving—but ideally we won't ever be low enough to have to fall back on the revival. That leaves False Present as a sort of default option, but really it's hard to go wrong with any of the Level 3 pages. Just pick the one that works for the strategy that you're using at the moment.

E.G.O.



Harvest is relatively cheap for an E.G.O page, at 4 cost, and its claim to fame is a die that rolls 25-35 as long as everyone is alive. This makes it the E.G.O equivalent of Headshot or Pinpoint shot, but MUCH larger. It's great for Staggering a target low on SR at the start of a round, or for breaking through one specifically powerful die. The Evade on the end is nice, too, but it's much more likely to lose a clash than that massive first die.



Logging is an immensely powerful 5-cost E.G.O which has one primary use case: We slap it onto whoever has the massive amount of Power boosts from Courage and any passives they can muster, and watch them do a bajillion damage in one shot. It's only okay at clashing without Power stacking, but the higher our numbers go the more potent it becomes.
.


The first thing to note about The Homing Instinct is that it is an 8-18 Individual mass attack. This means it's only targeting the first die on the enemy's page, so it can't break an entire page on its own—but it doesn't have to. THI is a sustain E.G.O that we want to use to give everyone else in the party back 2 Light. Its numbers are big enough that it'll consistently win whatever clash it's put in against at least one enemy, and that keeps the rest of the team going strong.



Faded Memories is arguably even better than The Homing Instinct. Its two dice are smaller than The Homing Instinct's are, but if targeted correctly each one should be able to hit at least one enemy. If it does, the entire team gets to draw 2 cards each. This allows Chesed to run slightly less drawtech than other floors, freeing up slots for more high-powered pages or Light recovery. It's a very strong option, and probably the best E.G.O on the floor.



Lastly, there's False Throne. It costs 2 more than Faded Memories, but comes with the same dice. The upside of it is that it can temporarily bring back allies who have already fallen in battle. They'll have 4 Light, and while they only last for one scene this sudden influx of actions might manage to swing things back in your direction if the situation is dire—and it had better, since they won't be coming back a second time. While I'm sure this comeback mechanic has saved someone, I am not them and I have never needed to use False Throne.

Final Thoughts

In Early Access, we didn't get access to Chesed's realization until around midway through the third row of receptions—as I recall, the only two they hadn't released yet were Xiao and Yan. Because of this I never really played around with Chesed's talents. We're in much the same position here, with only two unselected nodes to go in Star of the City before we get into the relatively more linear endgame, but looking at the floor's kit it's actually quite dangerous. A +3 Power to all offensive dice as a level 1 page is insane, and the floor has enough tricks with Light generation and additional ways to gain power that it's actually pretty nuts. I'll be playing around with him a bit during the upcoming receptions, so I'm looking forward to seeing just how well this floor performs now that I can really use it.



_{There is a mod that lets Chesed beat enemies to death with his coffee mug. There is also a mod that lets Gebura beat enemies to death with Chesed. Both are very popular.}

Book 44.5: Small Story 2

Music: TipherethStory


Kit what the hell have you done?!

Ohoho, you're so kind to jump right to me. But no, this is a collaborative effort between myself and Madam Twee!

You knocked the damn shelves over!

Constructively! What you see as a mess of books and bits, we see as the first-ever Heart-Pounding Library Maze of Doom!!

Ooh, nice naming sense!

Miss Angela is going to kill us if this gets back to her. You know that, right?

"I don't care what it is you lot do between our receptions, so long as you take responsibility for the act and clean up after yourselves…" Or so she said. So, we're in the clear.

Uh-huh. And how does that lead to making a giant maze in Natural Sciences?

Oh, it's not just NatSci. They made a mess of Language, too.

And I helped. It's all done, nerds.

You threw two floors into chaos for… Kit, even for you this is a lot.

Yes! Hence why I got help!

Forget about that for now. What're we doing?

Ah, right. I'll get the scenario out now. Ahem… "The fell wizard D'Tenebrais-"

Punch-wizard.

R-right. Punch-wizard. Has taken over a fifth of the Library's territory, making it into her own. As heroes, it is your job to overcome the minions of evil, and save the day.

This sounds awesome..!

It sounds like a combat exercise.

What's the matter? Scared I'll whip your ass again?

…Alright, I'm in.

Then let the games begin!

This was a really interesting idea, Seyser. But why..?

Oh, Chesed wanted to meet up with the others. Since your bosses were going to be out, Evil Kit decided to start on something massive, and roped Twee in before anyone could say otherwise.

It's nice… I just hope nobody gets too beat up.

VIDEO
Music: ChesedStory


C’mon~ You’re acting up again.

Bah… I liked you a lot better when you were just a box of steel.

Wow, really? I guess today is my lucky day, getting compliments from Gebura of all people~

Huh? That wasn’t supposed to be a compliment, you…

Alright, cut it out, you two. Aren’t you sick of fighting already?

…This teal-haired turd keeps rubbing coffee in my face. I don’t get what’s so good about a cup of bitter bean water.

It’s an acquired taste, you know~

Go lap up that taste yourself, then. I don’t wanna bother getting used to it.

Don’t be so sour~ I got something sweet for the both of you this time, so give it a try for my sake, please~?



Mhm. That’s the one~ It’s actually called macchiato, though…

…Whatever, it’s all the same to me. That one was edible, I’ll admit.

I wasn’t a huge fan of it, though. The flavor of caramel was too strong for my liking…

Thus I’ve prepared a cup of Vienna this time~ This’ll suit you better.

Thanks for being considerate, but… why do you keep recommending us coffee, anyway?

Well, you see~ I thought it’d be nice to make at least one friend who understands the savors of coffee, y’know?

I mean, I could drink coffee with you if you’re so desperate for a café buddy. You just seemed weirdly insistent with Gebura.

Yeah, I gotta wonder what’s up with that.

Well… How should I put it? See, the thing about Gebura is that…



What?

…

The air’s taken a sharp turn to be menacing… I was just kidding~ I mean, it’s nice that we can gather round from time to time for a drink, isn’t it~? There’s no better reason than a hot cup of joe to bring us all together and chill~

It’s true, we’d usually be shut up in our own floors doing our jobs if it weren’t for breaks like this…

If that’s what this is for, there’s no reason to make it about coffee, right?

Maybe he doesn’t have any other excuses?

You hit the bullseye there, Tiph~

Forget it. In that case, I could just come up here with Tiphereth to hang out more often.

I don’t think we’re that friendly with each other… But still, it seems silly to me that you’re trying to make up reasons for us to meet, when all you needed to do was ask.

I’m honored to hear that~ So, back to this coffee… Wanna give it a try?

No reason to refuse a cup you prepared for me!

Music: GeburaStory


…Mmm. There's a nice spiciness to it that cuts through the bitter.

And the whipped cream is to your liking?

Don't fish for compliments, Chesed.

<sub>CRASH!!!

You've got a thousand years to go before you defeat me, weakling!

Not fair, you're only targeting me!!</sub>

Seems like the Librarians are up to something interesting.

Indeed. Would you like to go join in the fun~?

…Right after this cup. Don't wanna end things too early.

Videos

Small Story 2

I love how the assistant librarians are acting like literal children in this particular update.

Religion—936.10—The Price of Silence

Music: Lobby


Our goal for the day is to make a bunch of decks that can run themselves. We want a balance between draw, light regain, and an overall good Light curve with some big punch—overall this means 'Singleton,' as any other deck requires at least a little thought to run properly. If I was really clever I would have made everyone bring Burn as well, but I am not clever so we're doing this normally.



Man, really loving this well-dressed pirate vibe I've got going on.

Is that why you went with that page? You wanted a pegleg?

A pegleg for stabbing, but yes.

Just make sure you don't accidentally stomp down with that leg too hard and throw off your stance. The body'll do almost all the work… but if you're too gung-ho you'll fall flat on your face.

Riiight…

And why have you chosen the form you've taken, Talow?

I'm working with you, aren't I? I'm hoping the smoke can take the edge off.

We both know that the Smoke doesn't work that way.

Wishful thinking, then.

SNAP

Music: AbnormalityBattle02


Alright, it's new, but no big deal! I hope you're ready to wreck this thing, because here we—

Hold a moment, Morgan. We must consider our options carefully.

You're white as a sheet, old-timer… Don't tell me you actually know what that thing is.

It was before your time… before mine, as well. That thing is The Price of Silence. An Abnormality so troublesome that it was sealed away before Ayin's plan began in earnest, lest it directly lead to countless Managers despairing and taking their own lives.

That very potential was why I drew upon its powers in my battle against the Manager.

You could've just said "It screws with time."

Very well… It screws with time. Once the battle is joined, we will have to be quick and decisive.

The Price of Silence wrote: The flowing time cannot be grasped, nor can the flow be stopped.

Time flows as life does, and life goes as time does.

Why do you try to defy this greater stream that none can stop?

The Price of Silence forces us to play Speed Ruina. Once we press Space to roll Speed Dice and begin the turn, we'll be given 30 seconds to make our plays before the turn fires off automatically. We can't target it, either, until its mechanic has played out.



Every turn it summons a Remnant of Time. These Remnants will copy the number of Speed Dice, Speed Dice ranges, and also the Resistances of one of our allies. On their first turn they will use 2 unique Combat Pages, before attacking with whatever Combat Pages the Librarian it's copying used last turn in subsequent turns. We have 12 turns to defeat 12 of these things, rendering The Price of Silence Staggered and targetable if we do. If we fail…



The Price of Silence uses a fairly powerful Mass Attack instead, and restarts the process again! Pretty simple, we just have to take out the Remnants of Time without falling behind the pace of 1/turn. There's just one little wrinkle…



Each Remnant either gains +3 Power in a clash or in a one-sided attack. We can check which they have by hovering over their buff icon, this can be done before starting our timer so it's free as long as we remember. If possible, we want to avoid clashing with this one—but honestly I kind of just forget to respect these. There's not enough time.

Much like Chesed's fight against Ozma, this fight is also largely a test of if the player knows how to use a basic function of the battle system. This one is a little less obscure than Quick Mode, though…



It's the P button, something we've mentioned several times before. In this fight, pressing it means that we'll be able to offload most of the card selection—a godsend, given that 30 seconds is nowhere near enough time to set all of our pages.

In the back there is our timer. When the turn starts, the hand on top begins moving to the right. It makes a complete rotation…



Seems our time is up. Were you all ready?

Of course!

If nothing else, your hands-off management style ensured we could do things on our own.



Thank heavens for small favors, eh? Smoke's up, take it out.

Got i-



Don't got it. Look out, they're strong when they get a bead on you.



It was only a scratch, I trust?

Yeah… I'm still good.



We'll continue as we were, then. So long as no one triggered that trap in their haste…

…Trap?



I see. So we've been hooked.

What do you mean, Hokma?



That's… what I meant. One of us bought us all some time… but the cost is very high.

Ghh… no mercy at all, is it?

Don't be silly, Talow. We're still standing. This is much weaker than when I was using it.

Unfortunately, there was no way it could ever be that easy, right? The Price of Silence has added a trap in the hands of every single one of our Librarians.



That trap is Silence. It's a free page, meaning hitting P will quite frequently slot it into a Speed Die as a filler page, and while it gives us infinity time on the next turn it also costs our entire team 25% of their HP in exchange.



When we hit space to start the turn while Silence is in effect, the clock in the top-center simply does not move. Since we have plenty of time, let's take a peek at the pages that the Remnants of Time play.



Both Torrent of Hours and Backlash of Time are fairly middle-of-the-road pages for this point in the game, with power levels roughly equal to a 2-cost page at this point in the game. They can deal some damage, but it's honestly unlikely that these pages alone will be enough to Stagger any of our Librarians unless we're playing incredibly badly.

During Silence, The Price of Silence also changes up its lines.

The Price of Silence, during Silence wrote: A price follows silence.

Silence does not always bring peace.

Well… since we have the time, let's use it. This one prefers to clash with us, so I'll draw its attention. The rest of you, crush it before it can do anything.

My kind of plan! We don't do enough real work around here. It's all analysis and stuff for us lately.



Well, what do you expect? The other floors all have things going for them. Either E.G.O, or the support of powerful Abnormalities…

And Binah's floor?

Literal Arbiter. Enough said. But us? We're two geriatrics and their live-in help.



That's a rather misleading description, but I do see your point.



It's true that we don't receive guests as often as the other floors… but it seems our recompense is a rougher time with the Abnormalities we must face.

Now that our free turn is over, the rest of this fight boils down to making the best use of our 30 seconds that we can to defeat one Remnant every turn. To do that, I use a three-part strategy.



Step 1: Press P. This autofills all our Speed Dice slots.



Step 2: I hover over each Speed Die. Each time I see Silence, I right-click it to remove it from the die. This keeps us from accidentally losing 25% of our health again, and we've got more than enough time to check all of the dice. Once that's done…



Step 3: With the remainder of our time, I reset those empty slots as 0 or 1-cost pages that restore Light or draw more pages. Multislash is the ideal choice, but we'll take anything that ensures that we can keep playing more pages next turn.



These steps are incredibly simple, and we could easily follow them to trivialize the rest of this fight.



So we'll do that.



For twelve turns. This is exactly as compelling as it sounds—The Price of Silence seems intimidating, but once we have a plan to deal with it it's actually just a long exercise in Not Screwing Up The Plan.



Our life actually gets even easier once we start getting third Speed Dice, as the Remnants only play two pages on turn 1. We can target the empty die with any reset pages to have a nice free attack on them.



That's the fifth one… How much longer are we going to be dealing with this?

If I remember correctly, the thirteenth toll should be different.

Thirteen? Ugh, that's forever.



It's quite unsurprising, if you think about it: that an Abnormality based around the concept of time would want to use quite a bit of our own.

Maybe it's trying to tell us to savor every moment available?

Maybe.



Bah, I doubt it. This isn't about savoring anything—it's wasting our lives away doing the same rote repetition day in and day out. Just like always.



The manner of death we're giving these guys changes a little each time.

Well, they do say that history doesn't repeat itself, but rhymes instead.



I guess that was probably true. How many Managers did you go through, Talow?

Too many.

And they were all slightly different, right?

Iunno. The guy was never the most talkative when it came to us frontline folks.

He seemed to communicate just fine to me?



Yes… something happened with his final iteration. He wasn't the Ayin I remembered… but instead the one he needed to be.

I know, right? He could actually get the damn job done.

You watch your mouth.

There is one more interesting thing that can happen in The Price of Silence. While we're in the middle of the turn and the clock is ticking, we can press escape.



If we do, the pause menu comes up like always… but because we've just paused the game a gong sound plays here that's very familiar to anyone who has ever paused in Hokma's suppression in Lobotomy Corporation.



When we unpause, everyone loses 25% of their max HP again. While this would be a nasty surprise, there's almost no reason to ever pause in the middle of setting up a turn so discovering it by accident is unlikely.



So… anyways, I lost count? How many more is it?

That was number ten. Two should remain.



Make that one. The next time it ticks, we should be able to end this… Oh, hold that thought.



Time's up, now what?

We watch it and see how it reacts.



We broke it. Seems like the plan worked.

So it does. Let's press the advantage.

Because we successfully defeated 12 Remnants of Time in as many rounds, we skip right to the Staggered and targetable phase of The Price of Silence. If not, it would be using Inevitable Demise right now. If it were to do so, there are special lines associated with it.

The Price of Silence, using Inevitable Demise wrote: Time is given to everyone evenly, but fate makes it unfair.

No one can go against the flow of time.

Under normal circumstances, The Price of Silence has 150 HP to burn through this turn, which is actually quite trivial. However, Hokma has broken this fight by simply existing.

Xiao's page, as you may recall, gives the Remnants that Hokma hits while wearing it the Force of a Wildfire debuff. Whenever we then Stagger a Remnant with that debuff, it passes half of that Burn on to every other enemy on the field. Over the course of this battle, we've naturally whittled The Price of Silence down to only 31 HP—making this trivial.



And there we go… it's done.



So did we actually learn anything from all of this?

Time passes at the same rate, no matter how much we try and stop it. To hold it back for even an instant requires great sacrifice.

I was going to say 'this Abnormality is bullshit,' but yours works too.

Ah, it wasn't that bad. At least the fights were quick.



As long as we're using decks that can play themselves, The Price of Silence is actually trivial to defeat, and for the most part this entire fight is won or lost on the deckbuilding screen rather than the fight itself. It is possible to win the fight if we play manually as well, but this requires a much deeper level of skill with flinging cards around than the P button.

Of course, we can also make the fight go a little bit faster by taking Xiao's passive to its logical extreme…

VIDEO
Music: HokmaStory


So have you, Benjamin.

Am I truly the same being that Benjamin was? Do you find the inheritance of fragmented memories from the past to carry sufficient meaning?

You’re quite a bit more incisive with your words than before. Did you have a change of heart, by chance?

Having sent my great and dear beacon away in the pillar of light, and having failed to give a proper closure to his ultimate plan, all I have left now is ferocity. The personality and characteristics of our previous selves still constitute us… However, those are but moulds we were cast in. That mould is now being filled with our everyday experience in this place.

I don’t expect you to ever understand the loops I suffered, but you surely remember the script and how we successfully concluded it, don’t you?

Possibly so. After all, you are completing our memories and personalities through the books. Alas, the Sephirot residing here are Sephirot, not their original selves. I assume they will all feel it in one way or another. As people that surely were their past selves, but feel as though they were different beings… or a dream.

Angela. What has become of the other branches of Lobotomy Corporation?

Probably sealed somewhere underground, following the shutdown procedures.



I suppose some survived somehow, though not everyone would’ve had that luck.

You let greed take over and abandoned all your duties. The Library is no different from L Corp. The fact that your way of managing this place is nearly identical to how it used to operate speaks volumes.

All I could do and learn for the last million years in that basement was to treat humans as expendables in all types of methods. There was no other option for me to choose, even if I wanted to.

Is that why you employ Abnormalities and E.G.O as well? You direct the librarians to put on the shells of others’ egos in order to amplify their unstable emotional state even further.

Do I need to remind you that I only have them do that when they receive guests, who also happen to enter voluntarily?



…I’m just using the resources available to me. Since you were already exploited by Ayin, it’s only fair that I get to do the same.

He brought you lot back from death without consent and forced you to endure cycles of pain. You were nothing more than puppets to him, dancing on the stage as he liked. I was born from more of his irresponsible actions, too.

How can you just accept all of this as if it were nothing, Hokma?

…

It is no longer a matter of whether or not his actions are acceptable. I simply chose to accept it. I am not one to judge my mentor’s will.



…

Why do you hesitate?

…Forget it.

It was possible because I have faith, Angela. That faith is also what prompted me to give you a chance.

This is frustrating… Both you and Ayin are completely insane. You have to be.

…



Benjamin, he… He was the only person who cared enough to tell me it’s okay, even though I’m not human.

You would be right. The one who stands before you right now is Hokma, not Benjamin.

…

And yet, Angela.

I am not so different from Benjamin, in that I do not believe your status of humanity is what matters.

…Why don’t you just go back to sorting books.

Music: Lobby


The remainder of Hokma's stories involve him speaking with Angela, instead of Roland. Makes sense, given that the two of them have… a history.

Anyways, let's check out our new toys.



Time is one of the most hilariously powerful pages in the game in the right circumstances. The +1-2 power on every unit we have is huge, letting us win clashes we shouldn't and acting as a lovely force multiplier for us. However, it requires us to either be incredibly good at speed Ruina, or else to play decks that require P+Space. Given that most of the fights from here forward require technique and thought, this is very difficult to actually do unless you're amazing at speed Ruina.

The Thirteenth Toll is an interesting page as well. Every 13th page that the selected Librarian plays gains 1-2 power, and deals Max HP % damage as a little bonus. This is a very powerful effect on a page with a lot of hits, but the 13th page is a downside. The earliest we can get this is after turn 1, meaning on turn 2 we'll have 2 pages played, turn 3 we can play 2 pages, turn 4 we can play 3 (if we have a Speed 3 page), putting us at 7, Turn 5 we can play another 4, to put us at 11. This means if we play every page we can on every turn, the soonest we will be able to hit a single 13th toll is on the second page we use on Turn 6, with the next one coming on Turn 9 after that. It's too slow to be meaningfully useful, as fights are almost always decided well before it comes up.

Lastly, we have Silence. This page lets us either nuke everyone's Speeds but the page holder by 5 for 15% of their max HP, or boost their own Speed by 5 for only 10% of their max HP. They're situationally useful, but overall quite underwhelming.



Setting that aside, it turns out we're also ready for Hokma's next Abnormality Battle right now.

It's the last Abnormality Battle in the entire game, so if you want to hold off until an appropriately climactic moment, that's fine—and if you want to do it right now that's also fine. The fight just kind of… sucks, is all.

As for the Small Story down there, we've actually unlocked two of them! We'll… we'll get to those.

In the meanwhile, you know what to do!

Next time, on Library of Ruina



"Let us meet again as stars."

We're nearly done with polling for Star of the City. It's been a long while.

…Well, you know what your options are by now.


Videos

Hokma 3
Everything is flammable. Everything.

Seems like it's time to get the last Abnormality Battle over with.

Book 44.6: Small Story 6 & 7

Music: Lobby


That's everything on R Corp… I really don't see the need to continue reading every single book that comes our way.

There is a likelihood that information will be found within, information which we can use.

More of that faith stuff, huh? Spare me. Your blessings are closer to curses.

<sub>They're doing it again…

Just tune it out.

You think we can get earplugs from one of these books..?</sub>

You say that, and yet it was that same curse that allowed Ayin to find his way to the end of his path. Blessing or curse, it all depends on perspective.

Try saying that after you spend thirty years in the Outskirts.

You blame me for your suffering, when it is you who push those around you away. Are you truly angry at me, or simply unable to deal with your emotions?

There's not really a difference.

There is, though you never learned how to see it.

Hey, where do you think you're going..!

Out. I should speak with my fellows, as I never had much chance to before. I understand you have a standing offer to speak with those below as well.

I don't need any counseling. I'm fine.

Whether you do or not isn't something I can say. Regardless… you saw yourself what connections could do to a man. Perhaps you should have faith as well.

But I must take my leave. There is no way of knowing when we will have more work to do.

_{The hell do you get off, pretending you're a good boss now.}

Good or bad… he's got a point. You've been even pricklier than usual since the Library formed.

A lot happened.

So see a shrink already, before I drag you down there myself.

Fine. I'm heading out, too. Later.

I can't believe that worked.

He probably won't go through with it, you know.

"Ah… but all things in this world are rooted in faith for, uh… fixing things."



VIDEO
Music: NetzachStory


What could you be musing on, intoxicated all by your lonesome?

…

…You don’t seem to be in the mood for conversation.

I don’t really feel like treating you nicely…

Are you upset about your alone time being interfered, or is it the shackles of the past that bind you?

Both, I guess. I dislike both. I’m denied something of my own, then and now.

But… I do enjoy having drinks with others sometimes.

On the premise that I am not among those “others”?

I’m just saying that I’m not totally against it.

…I don’t think you’ll bite, but lemme ask out of courtesy. Wanna have a drink?

You do know what my answer would be. As you suspected, I don’t quite feel like having a beverage.



…Let’s say that I have been visiting others to introduce myself.

You’re not like before.

Perhaps I am experiencing changes, as nobody is ever truly immutable.

Yes. Speaking of… It would seem that most of the Patron Librarians have collected their thoughts and made up their minds. What about you?

I dunno yet. I’m scared of decidedly setting my mind on something, too. If what I chose turns out to be an untruthful answer… I wouldn’t know what to do.

No man can choose the right path at all times. One only has to believe that the path they are taking is the right one. Such is the nature of truth; it is akin to faith. The paths you have chosen, where you stand at the moment… All that you’ve seen, heard, and touched for yourself constitute the road to truth. You need to carry the faith that you’re headed for truth.



Though what you’re saying is all too hard for me to wrap my head around. It’s always been.

Did you make up your mind at least?

Maybe so, maybe no. Peradventure I will express my thoughts when everyone has formed an opinion.

I suppose I shouldn’t waste any more of your time. It was a short, yet enjoyable conversation.

Music: Lobby


Guess it was… heading back up?

No… I shall head to Malkuth's floor. I don't believe we've ever had the opportunity to speak before.

If you like…

…Is he gone?

Seems that way.

Finally. I was never any good with that guy.

Oh, you too..? I thought it was just me. _{Pass me another, eh?}

Even then, I'm not sure it was "hide from him" worthy.

Ah… well. You know how it is. I'd rather avoid another scolding for drinking on the job, you get me~?

VIDEO
Music: NetzachStory


Oh? Gebura and Roland are here, too~ What are you guys doing all about like this?

It’s obvious. They’re all slacking off. And what’s all this… Alcohol? Get it together! Look what mess that hopeless drunkard created!

Sup, Tiphereth.

I’m not in the mood to greet you back! I’m sure Angela won’t like it when this reaches her ears, hm?

She brought us to the book that one time, true…

I was having a light chat with Netzach, then this black suit snuck in.

Hngh… I was just here for a drink, that’s it…

Anyway, did you all make an appointment to meet here or somethin’? That’s a lot of folks coming to this floor at once. Aren’t you popular, Netz~

I’d never be up for drinking meetings! Especially if it’s with Netzach!

I’m here because Tiphereth said she had something she wanted to ask~

Then just ask the question and go…



Gosh, the stench of alcohol is everywhere… Stop drinking so much, even the books will stink at this rate!

…That hurts. Stop hitting.

…

Oh no, Gebura~ You shouldn’t smoke in a place like this~ Other librarians are walking by~

…

Chesed is right! Smoking on top of books is a bad idea. This spot is full of wood! I dunno if the books can catch fire here, but it doesn’t look very good.

…Okay.

She seems to be more open to Tiph’s words than yours.

I’m used to it~

Hey, it’s not like we get to gather up like this often… Why don’t you guys have some drinks before you leave?

Ugh, you’re so wearisome! You’re never, ever gonna see me drinking with you!! I was just starting to warm up to you, but now I’m starting to take a dislike again. Maybe replacing you really was the best option!

Harsh words, man…

Don’t mind it too much, Netzie~ She doesn’t sincerely mean it~ We have things left to do upstairs. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks~



What is this ruckus about?

…Er, nothing much, just, reinforcing our bonds.

…That’s why there are beer cans all over the floor.

Hahaa…

What are you two doing together?

I was asked to find a book he needs.

I figured that a book on the Floor of Language would make good supplementary material, so we were heading up.

Oh, that so? Guess I should vamoose. Appreciate the drinks, Netzach. The story you told was interesting, too.

So, Yesod. What’s the book you want?



Oh I’d have loved to see that…



It's a book on the Church of Gears. I'd like to learn more about their automated movements.

It's a good thing you ran into me, then. Tiphereth and my floors are still kind of a maze.

The librarians were supposed to have cleaned that up after the training exercise.

Yeah, the losers were. Those guys can't agree on who won, so they've got about one more hour to figure it out or they're all cleaning it together.

They have fifteen minutes.

We'll give them the news on the way.

Music: Lobby


I'm heading out to check on Kaori again. I'll let you know if she's moved from that spot or not.

She certainly seems to be in higher spirits since she woke up, but she hasn't stopped poring over our pages and cackling to herself.

That's why we're doing the wellness checks, right? Not that T wouldn't tell us if anything was suddenly wrong with her in the first place…

True, but I think that proactivity is good when it comes to our mental health in this place.

You're right. People don't realize there's a problem themselves until it's way too late, sometimes.

Uh… Knock-knock?

Oh, hey Talow. What brings you down here? On your way to see Bishop?

Not this time. I'm here to see you guys.

So you're here for that counseling we're offering?!

It was either this or getting dragged down entirely too many stairs a few days from now. Easier to just handle things.

Alright then! Uh… let me grab a blank book, and we'll get right to it!

I'll ask Switch to prepare you two some tea, then.