Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Chapter 24: Escape

Arquebus seized control of the Coral... and its occupying forces swiftly commandeered the entirety of Institute City. There they discovered a wealth of forgotten relics. Among them, experimental weapons that the Institute kept secret, fearing they were beyond human control...

A group of C-weapons bearing the name of the Central Coral Control System... Arquebus also claimed a towering Coral siphon abandoned since the Fires, the Vascular Plant. Now, the ytoil to repair the Plant and extend its reach beyond Rebuicon's atmosphere.

The Liberation Front no longer had the power to stop them.. and the fires of war continued to smolder as the end drew near.

...

At first, there was nothing. Just black. Darkness. Something Raven was so used to seeing so many times. However, he started to open his eyes, black still on the outlines of his blurry vision, not able to properly see.

"Raven..." said Ayre, "I've found a message addressed to you. ...Decoding and playing back."

She was so relieved that her partner was alive and well. Raven let out a weak cocky grin. There came the familiar logo of Handler Walter.

"621, a friend of mine sent a request..." he paused, then continued, "...No. This one comes from me."

The mercenary found himself half shocked. A request, a job, coming from the boss himself? The young man thought back to when he first heard his voice. "I'll give you a reason to exist." Was this... was this it? He then continued to listen to the message.

"You know what hidden dangers lurk within the Coral," he said.

He already felt uneasy. He knew that it was dangerous, but what did that have to do with... Raven was then given a graph called, "Coral Simulation." It seemed to be going down at first.

"The Fires of Ibis should have wiped the Coral out, but it survived. Grathered," Walter continued, "And it's been steadily multiplying ever since. Now the Coral convergence is growing at an exponential rate. Eventually, it'll spill out from Rubicon... and contaminate space itself."

The line symbolizing and saying, "Coral" then started to skyrocket upwards. Raven then started to see the Fires of Ibis, burning everything those flames touched.

He knew it was dangerous. But now seeing this... and then he started to see the possibility of Coral spreading throughout the entire universe. Simulations showing just how every planets' story will end.

Raven couldn't believe it. It was... it was too impossible to even believe. How... how can any of this be? Then again, what did he know?

He was just a walking weapon.

"The Coral must be burned, 621." said Walter in almost a pleading voice, "Even if that means reigniting the fire that scorched the stars."

The mercenary AC pilot's head shot straight up. Burn it? Burn the Coral? No. No, no, no, no. This... this can't be what... So this was what his "reason to exist" was: To burn the Coral. To create a new fire; The Fires of Rubicon.

But... if he's to burn the Coral... that'll mean...

Ayre.

"This isn't an order, it's a legacy."

Ayre. Ayre's Coral. But... she's just a single wave. He has to burn Ayre away. No. No he couldn't do that to her. He... he mustn't.