Saiga

Momoyo: Saiga... Sai...ga...

Saiga: *pant* *pant* Even within my dreams, it is impossible to exchange words with her.
Yachiyo: Rise and shine, Saiga. You look like hell.
Saiga: I am fine. What need have you?
Yachiyo: The wyrmclan leaders want to have a word with you. It's about the Mukuroshu.

Saiga: Quite the gathering we have here today. It's not often you get this many of Hinomoto's upper crust in one place.
Seimei: The Mukuroshu plot the downfall of the shogunate, making them our enemies. The tales of a man who walked among them are valuable to us.
Ieyasu: We have heard from Yachiyo of how they tempted you. Hoping to be reunited with your departed wife, you stained your hands with murder on their behalf.
Saiga: Yes...
Nobunaga: Where did you lay hands on that manacaster?
Saiga: The Mukuroshu loaned it to me. I took it with me when I left them.
Yoshitsune: I see. But something yet eludes me. Manacasters were uncovered and put into use by the third scion of Alberia.
Yoshitsune: Mine was also made usable because of the information that leaked out of Chanzelia.
Mitsuhide: From what I'm hearing, your little divorce with the Mukuroshu came before casters were put into use. Something doesn't quite add up.
Saiga: Manacaster tech was independently conveyed to the Mukuroshu prior to its adoption in the south of the continent.
Seimei: I have participated in hunting the Mukuroshu for a while now, but I've never heard of anything like that.
Yoshitsune: They must keep it well-concealed. No doubt it's one of their trump cards.
Saiga: I've seen one of their workshops. It was full of people and equipment alike.
Saiga: Still, it would be impossible for them to make a manacaster. They strained to their limits just to restore the ones they pilfered from ancient ruins.
Saiga: When I was with them, I happened to overhear that they were developing new weapons based on the manacasters at their smithy.
Mitsuhide: That could prove...problematic.
Nobunaga: Then the answer is an assault! We raid their workshop!
Saiga: There are a multitude of traps around the mountain where the facilities are. To attack straight-on is folly.
Ieyasu: Better, then, that we send a small, adaptable force to evade the traps.
Nobunaga: And who will spearhead this operation?
Saiga: I have a firm grasp of the traps' locations, as well as the secret path to the smithy.
Yoshitsune: You're saying you will go? You, who is not a leader of one of the twelve wyrmclans?
Saiga: You'll need a guide. Further, the Mukuroshu are not only my enemies, but my sister-in-law Yachiyo's as well.
Ieyasu: Your familiarity with the lay of the land and our foe's affairs would indeed make you a heartening ally.
Ieyasu: I make this request of you then, Saiga. Seize the Mukuroshu's crafting facilities alongside the force we select.
Saiga: It shall be done.

Saiga: Both of you, stop. There are fiends afoot.
Addis: Hm? Ah... I sense them too. It's some ways ahead, but there the damned things are.
Gozu Tenno: Well-spotted.
Saiga: I've long had faith in my eyesight. But there are still traps, so we can't circumvent them.
Addis: Then we cut right through them.
Saiga: There's no need for that.

Fiend: Graaah! Graaagh!

Saiga: Threat neutralized.
Addis: Oho! That was splendid.
Gozu Tenno: That caster has considerable firepower. It must take extraordinary skill to suppress the recoil and hit your targets true.
Saiga: It's nothing. Come, we continue.
Gozu Tenno: Saiga is a good man to have at our backs.
Addis: He's not just skilled with a caster—guy's got a steady head and unwavering resolve.
Addis: Really doesn't strike me as the type who'd fall so far from the path of the righteous.

Saiga: Let's go. Three...two...one.
Saiga: Hm. This chamber is totally empty as well.
Addis: Was this really a Mukuroshu facility? It's a ghost town.
Saiga: There is a thin coating of dust about. It would appear they have relocated.
Gozu Tenno: Are there any indications as to where?
Saiga: None. But look at that wall.
Addis: There's a map of southern Grastaea on it.
Saiga: Several mining areas are marked. If they're going to set up a workshop, they would want it to be close to a place with mineral deposits for making steel.
Addis: I see. Maybe they feel safer toiling away on weapons in the South rather than remaining beneath the noses of the Twelve Wyrmclans in Hinomoto.
Gozu Tenno: But the map is marked in several spots. How are we to pinpoint the place they moved to?
Saiga: As for that...
Saiga: ?! Was that the sound of caster fire?!
Addis: What?! Where'd you hear it from?
Saiga: The shot...came from him!
Addis: Hey, Saiga!

Saiga: He can't have escaped this room. How'd I lose sight of him?
Saiga: Curious. What is this barrel? It's...affixed with an onmyoji talisman?
Saiga: Judging from the smell, there's oil inside. No, it's a bo—!

Saiga: No, it's a bo—!

Gozu Tenno: At this rate, the whole mountain will be ablaze! I shall fight fire with fire. YAH!
Gozu Tenno: I'll set some smaller fires for a controlled burn, and then go around and put out the other fires!
Gozu Tenno: Saiga! You're all right!
Saiga: Glad you made it out, Gozu Tenno. What of Addis?
Gozu Tenno: After you took off, he followed you. Are you not with him?
Saiga: No... Is he still in there?!
Saiga: Please continue extinguishing the flames. I am returning to the workshop.
Gozu Tenno: Don't be absurd! It's a sea of flame!
Saiga: I'm all too aware of the danger.
Gozu Tenno: Saiga!

Saiga: Addis!
Addis: Saiga... You came to help me?!
Saiga: You're pinned beneath a fallen pillar. I'm going to move it. One...two...HEAVE!
Saiga: Hurrrgh! Damnable heavy thing...
Addis: The fire is getting worse. Just get the hell outta here!
Saiga: No! I'm not done yet. I will NOT leave you!
Addis: Then we'll just die together, fool!
Saiga: I would never leave you to die and live on. NEVER! HRAAAAAAAH!
Saiga: There, you're clear! Now run!
Addis: I owe you for this, Saiga.

Gozu Tenno: I managed to prevent the fire from engulfing the forest. What in the world was that explosion?
Saiga: It was a bomb that used a jufu talisman and oil—one likely set up to dispose of the workshop now that it's fallen into disuse.
Saiga: I suspect the shadow that aimed a caster at us was a Mukuroshu agent who had come to trigger the blast.
Addis: I at least grabbed the map we found, but it's gonna be rough figuring out where they moved their workshop when this is all we've got to go on.
Saiga: A manacaster is loaded with and fires blasts of mana. They would need an abundant source of it to work with them.
Gozu Tenno: That's it! Look here, you two.
Gozu Tenno: This map shows the location of a dragon-vein spring in the south of the continent. Lord Seimei had his shikigami make it.
Gozu Tenno: If they want to set up a smithy, I wager the most suitable spot for them would be near a dragon-vein spring and a mine alike.
Saiga: So geographically speaking, the ideal location would be...

Catherine: I've arranged a room for you. If you give the inn my name, they'll put you up.
Eugene: You guys are all going to check out the mine tomorrow, right? If there's anything you need, we'll get it ready for you.
Addis: Thanks a million, you two.
Catherine: By the WAY, Eugene—I hear you're doing the whole "nougat for three meals a day" thing again. Stop poisoning your body!
Eugene: Huh? You're bringing that up NOW? And it's none of your business anyway!
Saiga: The pair of you are old friends, I see.
Eugene: Oh, uh... Yeah, I guess we are.
Catherine: What of it?
Saiga: It was merely an observation.

Gozu Tenno: Do you have any childhood friends, Saiga?
Saiga: What would make you ask that?
Gozu Tenno: When you were looking at Eugene and Catherine, I saw a warmth in your eyes.
Saiga: I...knew my wife Momoyo from a young age. They simply reminded me of that.
Addis: What kinda woman was Momoyo, if you don't mind me asking?
Saiga: ...I was an orphan, and something of a rough-and-tumble one at that. Even so, she talked to me without any hesitation.
Saiga: It was at her recommendation that I joined her grandfather's dojo. She felt that if I had something to devote myself to, it would distract me from my loneliness.
Saiga: She was a gentle, attentive woman. Her kindness saved me.
Gozu Tenno: It sounds as though she was truly precious to you.
Saiga: Indeed. That's why when she died, I lost all reason. I could not conceive of a life without her.
Saiga: Thus did the Mukuroshu's sweet lies tempt me like so much honey. And in the end... I took my teacher's—Momoyo and Yachiyo's grandfather's—life.
Together: ......
Saiga: Once I'd killed him, I finally realized that the work I was doing was vile. I was robbing people of their loved ones.
Saiga: From that moment forth, I swore to spend the rest of my life atoning for my myriad sins.
Saiga: That's why I will destroy their workshop. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that their weapons spill no new blood.
Together: Hear, hear! (Yeah!)

Momoyo: Saiga... Saiga...
Saiga: Momoyo! Is that you?!
Momoyo: I am not long for this world. Permit me to make a final request of you, Saiga.
Saiga: Where are you?! MOMOYO! SHOW YOURSELF TO ME, PLEASE!
Momoyo: Saiga... In my place...

Saiga: MOMOYO! *gasp* ...Another dream.
Saiga: My heart is hammering. Sleep won't take me again anytime soon.

Saiga: In that dream... I remembered her words, as she lay dying in bed.
Saiga: Back then, she was trying to tell me to—
Saiga: That caster fire!
 ???: our deeds are beyond forgiveness.
Saiga: You... You're the Mukuroshu agent from the old workshop!
 ???: ou would preach about your new life? What sickening indulgence. In the past, you looked away from reality, and now you look away from yourself.
Saiga: What do you know?
 ???: More than you ever will. No matter how desperately you try to atone, the dead will remain forever that: dead. That you would live on is presumptuous in the extreme.
Saiga: STILL YOUR TONGUE!
Gozu Tenno: Saiga, I wondered where you had gone. So this is where you were.
Saiga: Beware the Mukuroshu! That agent has a caster!
Gozu Tenno: What?! Where?!
Saiga: What do you mean, "where?" The enemy is right in front—
Gozu Tenno: There's no one there, Saiga.
Saiga: This is absurdity!

Addis: I searched around town, but I couldn't find the Mukuroshu agent you saw.
Saiga: So he managed to slip away. But this only convinces me.
Saiga: The mine we're headed for must conceal their workshop. That's why they appeared to stop us.
Gozu Tenno: We'd best hurry onward, then.
Addis: Be a real pain if they escaped us again. How about you wait here, Saiga?
Saiga: Why?
Addis: You're not lookin' so hot. You didn't get much rest last night, did you?
Saiga: I am fine. I can accompany you.
Addis: You're only going to slow us down like this. Just do what I'm tellin' you.
Saiga: And I am telling YOU that I will do whatever I must to atone for my sins.
Saiga: Anything less would be a dishonor to their memories—Momoyo and my teacher both. Furthermore...

Saiga: Whether you try to stop me or not, I am going.
Addis: Tch. Fine. Just don't get yourself killed.

Saiga: Fiends raised and kept by the Mukuroshu. They are likely nearby.
Gozu Tenno: I've found the cave. From within wafts the scent of iron, and the air is thick with mana.
Addis: Sounds like we've found our workshop. Let's head in.

Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: We're trying to buy casters that have flowed into the black market from Noir Magazin, but those wretches are going to bleed us dry!
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: It's going to take some time to amass enough weaponry to attack the shogunate. How is progress on the development end?
Mukuroshu: Only final adjustments remain on the Hellfyre.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: I see. Then we should do a test fire this evening.
Mukuroshu: Seeing the work of the genius Gennai firsthand is sure to prove interesting.
Addis: Unfortunately for you, this project's getting mothballed. Congratulations—you're first on the chopping block.
Mukuroshu: Arrrgh!
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: Intruders?! What are the fiends on watch doing?! Bah!
Addis: What's the deal with these people? They Mukuroshu too?
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: Oh, nothing of the sort. They're just "helping" us with our experiments.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: We're producing magical implements here. So long as the manaspikes piercing them remain unbroken, they're my puppets. Now, KILL!
Addis: Tch! If they're being controlled, we can't just kill 'em. There's a whole swarm, too. This ain't gonna be easy.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: Why not surrender, then? If you do, we won't kill you. We'll just turn you into more of our puppets!
Addis: I'd say you drive a hard bargain, but I'd be lying. You've barely had a taste of what we're capable of.
Addis: And you didn't mishear—I said "we." Ain't that right... Saiga?
Man: ...?! What am I doing?
Elder: Huh? What in the world am I...?
Saiga: Damned Mukuroshu. How dare you force innocents to serve as your soldiers. You are as debauched as you are resourceful.
Saiga: But they shall bend to your will no longer. Target locked... And... Fire.
Woman: Ngah... What was I...?
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: He took aim and shot ONLY the manaspike?! On a moving target?! Impossible! It's absurd!
Addis: Your "puppets," as you called them, are all regaining their consciousness. Now would be a great time to surrender.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: Tch... Now that it's come to this...!
Saiga: Released your fiend this time? Alas, it'll still go down in one shot so long as I fire at its vital points.
Saiga: Ready, aim...
 ???: An eye for an eye. A life for a life. You who has fallen to depravity has no right to live.
Saiga: You! You're the one who showed up in Quinbell!
 ???: What you seek is not life as a hero. It is death as a villain.
Saiga: I'll show you no mercy if you get in my way.
 ???: I'm sure you remember the first shogunate VIP you killed...and the curse he uttered at you with his dying breath.
Saiga: How do you know about that?!
 ???: All those you killed were wracked with such pain and regret as they died...even your final victim, your teacher.
Saiga: ...That was a warning shot. Say anything more, and the next one will put a hole where your heart should be.
 ???: I think you'll find your trigger finger wanting. Tell me... How DOES it feel to be too cowardly to end your own life?
Saiga: What?! You're...me...?!
Saiga: Hrgh... Dammit!

Armored Yachiyo: My enemy isn't you. It's the Mukuroshu, who made you kill my grandfather.
Armored Yachiyo: If you regret everything you've done, then fight with me.
Saiga: You are kind, like Momoyo. But...I...

Saiga: Urgh... Ungh.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: You're awake at last. Oh dear, don't move too much. If you do, the chains will dig into your flesh.
Saiga: They got the drop on me...? Where are Addis and Gozu Tenno?
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: Your little compatriots? They turned tail and fled from our fiends.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: More to the point, you're that assassin who went AWOL. That manacaster of yours has been sorely missed. I'm the one who made it useable again, you know.
Saiga: What of it? I'm in no mood for banter.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: You came here with an attendant of one of the wyrmclan leaders and a pactwyrm.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: You've used my caster. We're kin. If you tell me everything about the wyrmclan leaders, I'll forget about our little row.
Saiga: Spare me your pity. Just tell me this: who was the man that shot at me?
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: What are you talking about?
Saiga: The man who shares my face. You sent him after me earlier.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: We've got not one like that here.
Saiga: Don't play the fool with me. He set up the explosive at the workshop in Hinomoto, and he tried to stop me in Quinbell.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: The one who set up the blast at the Hinomoto workshop was me.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: And I sent subordinates to Quinbell for preliminary checks for our test fire, but they didn't have anything that would stand out like a caster.
Saiga: Then who was that man?! No, wait...

Saiga: ?! Was that the sound of caster fire?!
Addis: What?! Where'd you hear it from?
Saiga: (Addis evidently heard nothing...)

Saiga: Beware the Mukuroshu! That agent has a caster!
Gozu Tenno: What?! Where?!
Saiga: (And Gozu Tenno couldn't see him...)

Saiga: It cannot be... He simply cannot be...
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: I don't know what you're on about, but you won't be working for us again.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: That chain binding you is a little something we made called an osmocoil. It's a magical implement that sucks the life out of whoever it binds.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: And while it leeches out your life, we're going to take the Hellfyre for a test run. You stay right there and wallow in your frustration.
Saiga: Wait. You said you sent people to Quinbell for an inspection. You can't mean to...!
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: The skies above the village shall darken with the merciless rain of weapon fire. Their screams will echo all the way here and serve as your final lullaby. Ha ha ha!
Saiga: Stop! I won't let you do as you—hrk?! Gaaaaah!
Saiga: Ngh... The more I squirm, the faster this thing sucks out my vitality.
 ???: ou seem unhappy. I like that.
Saiga: You...
Other Saiga: Do you truly believe that those who've lost friends and family want their loved ones' killer to have a fresh start at life?
Other Saiga: No. What would comfort them is for the killer to experience all the pain and fear and despair their murdered loved ones did.
Other Saiga: Only after you die will your sins be atoned for. And that death should be a gruesome one.
Saiga: It is as you say. I do not deserve to live.
Saiga: But I cannot just die. Not here, not now. Not until I've done what I must do.
Other Saiga: So what is your aim? To pile up as many Mukuroshu corpses as people you killed?
Saiga: To never live in a shameful way again.
Saiga: Yachiyo told me—the man who killed her grandfather—that she'd pull me out of the shadows and back into the light.
Saiga: She believed that I could stand upright once again. And so, I cannot die here!
Saiga: I won't fall until I can crush evil, enact justice, and face Momoyo! Hraaaaaah!
Other Saiga: It's useless. You cannot break free. Your death here is already assured.
Saiga: No. Not until I put a stop to the Mukuroshu's plot, it isn't!
 ???: My blade strikes as swift as the wind. I'm cutting you free!
Saiga: Addis! Gozu Tenno!
Gozu Tenno: I'm undoing the chains right now!
Addis: Sorry to leave you hangin'. The people who were being controlled almost got caught up in our fight with the fiends.
Gozu Tenno: It took us some time to escort them to safety.
Saiga: Do not apologize. On the contrary, I would have scolded you had you prioritized my own rescue.
Saiga: More importantly, the Mukuroshu are about to test fire their new weapon... and their target is Quinbell.
Gozu Tenno: What?!
Saiga: Many lives will be lost if we don't hurry and stop them—ngh!
Addis: Hey, you're a mess, guy. Leave it to us and take a breather.
Saiga: This is a race against time. I cannot sit idly by and recover my strength. Besides...
Saiga: If I can't fight to the bitter end now, then no matter how long I live, I'll never be able to accomplish anything.
Saiga: So please, allow me to go. For the sake of my soul, and the justice I must adhere to!
Addis: ...Gozu Tenno, can you help him out?
Gozu Tenno: Of course.
Saiga: ?! What are you—?!
Gozu Tenno: I will carry you to where the Mukuroshu are.
Addis: It'd be smarter to just leave you, beaten and battered as you are.
Addis: But I'm not the kind of guy who can just leave someone behind—especially when they're as desperate as you are.
Gozu Tenno: We will support you, Saiga. Let us go together. To do what must be done.
Saiga: ...You have my gratitude.

Saiga: Keep heading for that hill.
Addis: Are the Mukuroshu really here?
Saiga: If they're aiming to fire their new weapon at the town, then the easiest spot for that would be just ahead.
Saiga: There! Atop the hill!

Mukuroshu: Hellfyre preparations complete.
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: It will launch a great cylinder into the sky, which will detonate, raining innumerable bullets down on the hapless people below. Their screams will rise in a chorus of pain!
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: The genius Gennai is truly without peer! Such a frightful weapon he has created. Now, set it off.
Mukuroshu: Igniting now! Time until Hellfyre launch: sixty seconds! Fifty-nine, fifty-eight...

Gozu Tenno: That giant cylinder pointed at the sky is the Mukuroshu's new weapon!
Addis: Tch! Looks like they're done getting it ready to launch. But we're still pretty far!
Saiga: There's a talisman attached to the end of the cylinder. It's probably a jufu set in order to regulate the time of the explosion.
Saiga: I'll shoot it. Doing that ought to cause it to detonate before it leaves the ground.
Gozu Tenno: Mukuroshu fiends! They're trying to stop us!
Addis: We'll handle this, Saiga. You take care of the weapon!
Addis: You talked a mean game about all this, so you better make damn sure you stop it!
Saiga: I will!

Saiga: I can aim right at the jufu from here. Steady, Saiga. Ready, aim...
Saiga: Ngh... The wind is too strong. The shot's trajectory will be off if I fire now!
Other Saiga: If you shoot the jufu, it'll cause an explosion, and all the bullets in the cylinder will come flying here.
Other Saiga: You won't escape unscathed from a rain of bullets. You might save the people of the town, but you'll pay with your life. Still...
Other Saiga: You think I'll let you die a martyr? Back down. Don't atone. Save no one. Just die the same villainous dog you've always been.
Saiga: You are an illusion borne of my regret and my fear. Your words are the pain in my heart made manifest.
Saiga: I was...afraid of Yachiyo's forgiveness. I wondered if it was all right for me to live a carefree life, having taken so many others for my own selfish desires.
Other Saiga: ......
Saiga: The dead will not return. There is no worth in living for myself. But to use that as an excuse to choose an ugly death is nothing but flagrant self-indulgence.
Saiga: And that would mean nothing had changed from the time when I had selfishly fallen to depravity. Thus, I must continue to fight.
Saiga: Not to live, and not to die. But to stand upright once more.
Saiga: The wind... It's stopped.

Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: What the—was that a caster shot?!
Mukuroshu: Boss! The jufu on the Hellfyre has been hit! At this rate, it will...!
Chief Mukuroshu Blacksmith: DAMN IT ALL!

Saiga: Hrgh!

Momoyo: Saiga... Saiga...
Saiga: Is this a dream...? No. This is my life flashing before my eyes.
Saiga: I haven't yet atoned enough, but it seems I may have met a premature end...
Momoyo: I am not long for this world. Permit me to make a final request of you, Saiga.
Saiga: ...Ah, right. I remember.
Saiga: Momoyo and I were watching the flowers as their falling petals danced in the wind. As we did, she asked something of me.
Momoyo: Saiga. Watch over Yachiyo in my place.
Momoyo: She has a competitive spirit, but she's a deeply lonely girl at heart.
Saiga: In my sorrow over losing her, I forgot her final request.
Saiga: I am sorry, Momoyo. But I know Yachiyo will be fine.
Saiga: She has become a handsome warrior. I need not save her, for she is the one who saved me.
Saiga: I know she will thrive, even if I pass on.
Momoyo: No, Saiga. She needs you.
Momoyo: And you swore to her, didn't you? That you would live a life free from shame?
Saiga: ?! Are these not words from my memory? Is she truly speaking to me?
Momoyo: Yachiyo is strong, but still, there will be times when she loses her way.
Momoyo: And you, upright as you are, will be there to support her.
Momoyo: So I want you to live on, ever facing forward, until the end. For my beloved Yachiyo.
Momoyo: And...for me, the woman who wishes you nothing but happiness.
Saiga: Momoyo! Are you there?! MOMOYO!
Momoyo: I love you, Saiga. I will be with you, always and forever.
Saiga: Momoyo... I love you, too.

Addis: You're finally awake.
Saiga: Addis... Is this an inn in Quinbell?
Gozu Tenno: After the failed launch of the new weapon, we found you collapsed, and brought you here.
Saiga: I must have been teetering on the brink of death. What of the new weapon? And the Mukuroshu?
Addis: Smashed to bits. And we took down the workshop in the Zarroch Mine.
Gozu Tenno: Unfortunately, we lost track of the one who made the weapon, Gennai, in the chaos. We don't know where he is.
Addis: If we don't capture him, he could well make another of his vile creations.
Addis: Whoop. There's the telltale pitter-patter of footsteps.
Yachiyo: Addis! Gozu Tenno! Why didn't you tell me the second he woke up?!
Saiga: Yachiyo... You came to Quinbell.
Yachiyo: Yeah, I heard you went down, hard! Gah, you are such an idiot!
Yachiyo: Even if you were trying to foil a Mukuroshu plot, you went too far. WAY too far.
Yachiyo: You're gonna have hell to pay if you try to go and die on me again. Honestly...!
Saiga: I'm sorry, Yachiyo. But I will not worry you again.
Saiga: I will continue living, harrowed by regret and fear, in order to do what I must do.
Saiga: I swore as much to you, and I intend to follow through. For your sake... and Momoyo's.