Chapter 5 - Decision

途中からです

Odin: Seeking assistance? Then I shall split your enemies in two.
Light: So a fairy tale aims to assist me?
Odin: I shall not answer your call; I ride as I please...
Light: Fine. Then let's go.

Light: I should probably prepare before heading on.

<Cutscene>

Cosmos: Lightning...
Lightning: I guess the rest of 'em still haven't made it back here yet. The fighting out there...it's something else. Those things, those manikins… they just keep coming. And every one of ‘em wants us dead. And Kain… I don’t know what he’s after, but hels turned on us, and now he’s attacking his own allies. I got separated from the others. I’m not sure they even managed to get out.
WOL: Cosmos?
Cosmos: It’s Jecht… I felt his spirit growing weaker, and then…it vanished.
WOL: Vanished? So he was slain by one of Chaos’s fiends.
Lightning: I wouldn’t bet on it. They have someone on the inside doing their work for ‘em.
Cosmos: You think…Kain did it?
Lightning: Jecht’s not the only one he’s gotten to. I saw him with my own eyes. I saw the friend he’d already betrayed, and I saw him try to claim his next victim too.
Cosmos: You must be mistaken. I can sense all of the other warriors are still―
Lightning: The other warriors aren’t coming! Listen to me. Two of us made it out of that mess alive, and you’re right at ‘em! We keep taking orders from you, and we can forget about the crystals. We won’t last that long! Of all the stupid things to die for…
WOL: You are absolutely correct. We cannot win.
Cosmos: No…
Lightning: You too… Just like Kain, huh? Another traitor! What do you even want?
WOL: I am afraid that does not concern you at present.

＜対　ウォーリアオブライト戦＞

WOL: Toss aside your blade, and say good night.
Lightning: No thanks. It’s not my bedtime.

Cosmos: Stop! You mustn’t fight! Hear me, warriors. Stay your blades. Speak. You know more than you reveal.
WOL: My pardons. I meant to speak to you about Kain later. This fight, you see… Kain and I… We’ve yielded.
Lightning: What does that mean?

No sooner had Cosmos imbued us with her power than the twisted warriors we came to know as manikins appeared in this world.
An endless spring of military might, directed by the forces of Chaos. For each we would slay, two more would take its place.
Had we so chosen, we cloud have battled until our last ounce of strength was drained.
There was one thing, however, that we knew we could never do: win. And the longer we fought, the more painfully apparent that became.

WOL: (It’s no use… No matter how many fall, There is always another wave.) (What kind of numbers must these abominations have?) Kain!
Kain: My friend. You’re unscathed.
WOL: Yes… But breaks in the fighting are few and far between. I can only hope the others have fared as well.
Kain: Manikins… Hm.
WOL: What of them?
Kain: I wonder. How do you place our odds? Against numbers like these, do you think we actually stand to win?
WOL: I cannot speak for the outcome, but we can fight as long as we have strength.
Kain: That’s one answer. You are correct. We can fight for as long. as we have strength, and almost certainly lose. But IF! IF there were a way to make winning possible, by accepting that loss as inevitable… Would you be able to commit yourself to such a purpose?
WOL: What do you mean?
Kain: We are trapped. This war is a cycle with no proper end. We fight and fall, we are revived, and the process repeats.
WOL: I realize it’s not easy to believe.
Kain: But consider. If what I’ve said to you is true, then so is this: We’ll have another chance. As long as some of our strength remains, we will be brought back and provided with a chance to fight again.

Lightning: You’re taking down your own allies and putting them to sleep so they’ll get revived? You expect me to buy into that? You don’t think we can win, so you think we should just lose on purpose!?
WOL: I do. It is our only hope of success.
Lightning: Where do you even dream up a fairy tale like that!? Look… Even if what you’re saying wasn’t completely crazy, what’s the point in getting revived so we can keep fighting an endless war? I mean… if this war isn’t gonna end… …why even fight? What in the world are we doing here?
WOL: Making the war end. Is that not correct, Cosmos? We are here to use the power Cosmos has granted us, our crystals, to bring the cycle grinding to a halt. But as matters stand, we are doomed to fail before we can even obtain them.
“Manikins are merciless.” “They know only how to deliver death and destruction, from which there can be no return.”
???: If we do not embrace the cycle, the crystals will never be ours to wield.
Leguna: Not exactly uplifting.
Yuna: We don’t even have the time to consider our options.
WOL: It was my hope that you would journey onward, to face the next battle.
Yuna: And you? What are you going to do?
WOL: I’ve sworn an oath to Kain. While he puts the other warriors to sleep, I am to serve as his shield.
Leguna: Are you guys, like, brothers in arms, to the bitter end?
WOL: Whatever hope we have rests upon you and the next fight. Sometimes you must lose a battle to win the war. Please try to accept this. The crystals are our only hope.
Lightning: You’re wrong. The two of you can do whatever you want. But don’t go asking me to believe in this crap. Me… I make my own fate. I’ll keep looking for hope until I find some.
WOL: Lightning…
Lightning: Say your “next battle” were to start now. There wouldn’t be any fewer enemies out there. And starting over fresh doesn’t guarantee we’d get our crystals any faster either. At the very least, we might as well cut their numbers down first. It sure can’t hurt, can it? And it might just give us a shot.
Leguna: Guess now’s as good a time as any. Just happens I’ve got some intel that might change the whole game. You wanna even our odds? Try this on: I know where the manikins are coming from. Well, more “how to find where they come from”. But if you wanna go lookin’, I’m up for it.
Lightning: You are?
Vaan: You know… I’m in too. I promised to help end this thing, and that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m not givin’ up now. I’m finishing what I started. We’ve got better things to do than napping.
Lightning: Vaan…
Yuna: I’m coming too. I can’t just sleep here while you’re all out fighting. I can’t turn my back on people like that. If I can help, then I’ll keep fighting.
Cosmos: Yuna…
WOL: The road you choose is no easy one. You would still walk it, knowing what you face? Very well. Then I shall place my hope and trust in you.
Leguna: Well then. Guess it’s a date! Looks like we’ve got some manikins to disassemble.