Words fall alongside the arcane skill's radiance. Sonetto and the Preacher's pupils each reflect the other's form.
Sophia the Preacher: It seems you've already made up your mind.
Sonetto: I have. My duty is clear, and I'll honor it no matter what.
After a brief silence, another violent tremor rocks the sanctuary.
Sonetto: Timekeeper!
Sophia the Preacher: So, this is how it ends.
Sonetto: Ends? What are you talking about?
The Preacher doesn't respond. Setting down the idol, she walks toward her.
Sonetto tenses, but the Preacher merely brushes past.
Sophia the Preacher: Remember your words today, Ms. Sonetto.
Sonetto: ...
The Preacher leaves. Sonetto steps forward, then freezes at a glint from the shadows.
Sonetto: This is ...
Animus: Hmph. You've proven yourselves to be quite resistant to death. I should've known you'd have yet another shared quality with a cockroach.
Animus: No matter. You have blasphemed in the face of the Great Mother. There is naught for you but damnation now.
Nautika: Vertin, watch out!
Nautika swings her tail, scattering Animus's intense arcane energy.
Nautika: Wh-What do we do now?
Vertin: ...
The flesh pulsates again, swelling more, now swollen to its limit.
Vertin: Sorry, Nautika. I'm afraid we'll have to postpone your plans to head home.
Vertin: We have to stop the ritual before Arcana is fully revived.
Nautika: Arcana? Is that what those Snow Monsters were trying to do? Bring someone back from the dead?
Nautika stamps her talons into the ground, bracing for a counterattack, or more accurately, vengeance.
Vertin: Nautika, at one o'clock!
Nautika: Oh. Okay!
She swings her bone-whip toward the flesh, but before impact, a rising surge of black mucus walls off each side.
Nautika: Ugh!
Vertin: Strike from above!
Animus: Hmph! Child's play.
The black liquid weaves a filament-thin net, straining to trap the soaring prey. Still fumbling with her unfamiliar flesh, Nautika loses balance.
Nautika: Ah! My tail! I-I can't fly!
Sonetto: I know the moon, and this is an alien city.
A transparent shield forms in the air, blocking off the sizzling liquid.
Vertin: Sonetto!
Sonetto: Timekeeper! You're alright! And ...
Sonetto: Is that Ms. Amundsen?
Animus: Another one? Filthy little wretch. How did you slip past the mist?
She trails off upon seeing the little bottle clutched in Sonetto's hand.
Animus: Ragh! That damnable "Preacher"!
Animus: How utterly feckless must one be to be bested by a child?
Animus: That worthless, shameless, thankless imbecile! She was always unworthy of her role!
Nautika: Sonetto, take my hand.
She dives, splitting the air into a shriek. As her massive, hard tail knocks aside attacks, Sonetto seizes her chance, jumping up to grab Nautika's talons.
Vertin: Get up here.
Sonetto: Urgh!
The once separated companions now meet again in midair, hands clasped tight.
Nautika: Haha! The team's back together again. And we can stop them together.
COMBAT
Animus: You have well and truly reached the boundaries of my patience.
Animus: To think that you believe you can alter the path designated by the great Mother of Resurrection! Hah!
Though forced back, Animus raises her longbow and lets out an ominous laugh.
Animus: Utter futility! The final reckoning has come!
Animus: And when you lay your eyes upon THEM, I shall delight in the melody of your screams!
Animus is the first to kneel before the throbbing, swollen flesh. At her lead, every believer drops to the ground.
The mucus surges around them, forming a protective barrier for the ritual.
Nautika: What are they—Wait! Are they offering themselves as the final sacrifice?
Believers: Their eyes see not one light of Bright Star.
Believers: Men's past ways are shaded by their shame.
Believers: Paeans are but flattery's mirror half.
Believers: When blood soothes frantic threads ...
The robes shrivel until only empty fabric remains, carried away by the formless liquid.
The once-red blood darkens, becoming veins, pulsing with the rhythmic throbbing of the black heart at their center.
Vertin: These fluctuations are powerful. This is bad.
Animus: At last, the moment has come!
Animus: The Sufferer is returned! For through flesh and blood a vessel is forged, and so SHE walks among us once more!
Animus: SHE shall right the wrongs of this world and lead us to our former glory!
Animus: SHE shall restore the promised land! Let the great "Flood" wash away all falsehood!
Animus: Let the ages begin anew! Return us to the Blank Era, where arcanists reign as masters of all!
Animus: Return us to paradise! Restore the true utopia!