Estelle Bright (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
estelle_bright) wrote1999-04-01 12:00 am
estelle_bright) wrote1999-04-01 12:00 am
Campanella's history (SPOILER ALERT)
The nations of Liberl and Erebonia have long been at war with each other, but it is all part of a larger conspiracy. In 1192 a small village in Erebonia named Hemel was attacked by a group of Erebonian soldiers called the Jaegers, but staged to look as though it was done by the country of Liberl. This was all part of a plot from an organization called Ouroboros. Ouroboros is a secret society with many ranks of members within it. There is a Leader, simply known as such by that title (but the main theory in fandom is that she may be the goddess Aidios herself), and below her are the Anguis, and then the Legion. Campanella is a Legion known under the title Enforcer No. 0, The Fool. It is unknown how long he has been with Ouroboros, but he was there at least as far back as the beginning of the Hundred Days War, and possibly much longer because he has never been shown to age. Because his number is the lowest, he also seems to be the first Enforcer that joined since their numbers correspond to when they gained their rank.
The tragedy of Hemel was coordinated by the Anguis named Weissman, who passed along information to the Jaegers, to have them attack. The village was annihilated except for a few straggling survivors because the soldiers were far better trained. During this event, Enforcer Campanella traveled to the village to recruit any survivors for the society. Both Joshua and Leonhardt lived in Hemel, and the day after it was destroyed, Campanella appeared before Leonhardt, telling him about the Liberl Ark, and the artifact called the Shining Ring that they were after. This leads to Leonhardt making a deal to help Weissmann in order to save Joshua from his despair. The two of them were then trained to become Legion as well, sharing the company of both Campanella and a younger Enforcer No. XV, Renne, whom they recruited soon after by rescuing her from the people she had been sold to. Campanella is also responsible for convincing Leonhardt to meet the Anguis Arianrhod, when she asked to fight him. After defeating Leonhardt, she then gave him his blade, Kernviter, which can cut through anything. Meanwhile, the Hundred Days War began, breaking out between Liberl and Erebonia, resulting in the death of Lena Bright, Estelle's mother. Eventually after the war, Joshua is sent with the mission to kill Cassius Bright, and fails it. When he wakes, he has forgotten much of his past because Weissman erased his memories in order to place him as a spy, and thus Joshua begins a life with the Bright family hesitant of whether he should.
The next time that Campanella is known to have made a move was during the beginning of FC (the first game), when Cassius Bright is called away to investigate attacks on the Bracer branches in Erebonia. Campanella was helping to coordinate those attacks to draw him away from Liberl so that he would not be there to stop the coup. The events of FC play out without very much involvement from him at first, but his distraction was crucial to keeping one of the most powerful fighters out of the nation during the Ourobos' plan. Both Joshua and Estelle travel the nation of Liberl to discover where their missing father has gone. They receive a mysterious package with a black orbment artifact called the Gospel, and soon uncover what they believe to be a plot by the royal guards to overthrow the throne.
In reality, it is all a plot by Ouroboros to gain access to the Shining Ring, an artifact known as the Aureole said to have the power to control nature. The memories of many people in the country have been tampered with in order to manipulate this into occurring, including the Intelligence Division leader Colonel Richard who felt it was necessary for the safety of the nation to find something powerful enough to protect it with Cassius retired. He has even been working with Leonhardt, who is currently operating as the leader of the Special Ops himself. The Bright children and their allies defeat them, however while they confront Colonel Richard in the ruins below the royal city, a guardian breaks free when the Gospel activates, and they barely beat it with the help of a sudden return by Cassius.
When all of this ends, Cassius returns to duty as a soldier and Estelle and Joshua attempt to sort out what to do next. However, Weissman who has been masquerading as a man known as Professor Alba appears to them, and restores Joshua's memories to him and then blocks Estelle's memories of the professor away. Now aware that he had been used to spy on the Bright family all this time, Joshua drugs Estelle and runs away with an apology in the middle of the night. Yet to join Ouroboros again, he flees, making plans of his own to crush the society if he can. Meanwhile, Estelle begins to travel in search of him, coming across mysterious incidents in her travels.
Ouroboros is conducting experiments with the abilities of the Gospel around the country, which Estelle's party confront one by one. First is a series of sightings of a ghost at the Jenis Royal Academy, which are instigated by the Enforcer No. X, BleuBlanc. The Gospel is somehow projecting images of him, but they are unable to figure out why. Second, Earthquakes begin to be reported in Zeiss, and investigations lead the party to the caves behind Elmo Village, caused by another Gospel device in the hands of Enforcer No. VIII, Walter. He nearly defeats the party until Zane shows up to stop him, and he flees with the Gospel. The party is then called to Grancel at the request of Queen Alicia, because of anonymous threat letters against an anti-war treaty between the nations East and West of Liberl. While the party investigates who is behind them and questions the ambassadors from the various lands, they also have their hands full taking care of a young girl (Enforcer No. XV, Renne) who has been showing up at random points in their travels and whose parents have gone 'missing' as a trick to keep them occupied.
Meanwhile one of the party members, Anelace and her partner, manage to track down the enemy at a mine, and are ambushed. The soldiers they are fighting appear to be controlled, and after they defeat them, Campanella appears. He teases them about a tea party that will begin soon and suggests that they join in, but before leaving he destroys the soldiers with a snap of his fingers. They turned out to be dolls that fell into pieces at his command. A priest named Kevin that had briefly met Estelle at the beginning of her search for Joshua steps out of hiding and reveals that he was traveling undercover as a Knight for the church, and that he is looking for artifacts as well. When they return to the others, Renne has disappeared and everyone has to go searching for her. When they finally find her, she gives Estelle a letter and makes it sound like it's from Joshua. It's a trap, and when Estelle goes to the place the letter suggests, it seems Kevin has also been led there and they are attacked by robots. By the time that they make it back to the guild, Renne is gone and everyone is knocked out. Anelace returns too late to warn them as well.
They are led on a chase to find Renne, but are confronted by Kanone, Colonel Richard's devoted subordinate, trying to get revenge for what happened during the attempted coup. She is piloting a tank given to her by Ouroboros, powered by a Gospel that manages to wipe out the power of all the orbments in the area. It almost appears she will win, but Kevin uses a white staff artifact given to him by the church and disables it. When the others discover that Renne is not with the traitor army then they get upset, but Renne appears before them and laughs, thanking them for coming to her tea party. The Gospel was simply given to Kanone as another part of their experiments, and she was used. Renne's parents also appear next to her at last, but they look dull and lifeless. She cuts them with her scythe, and it becomes apparent that they were dolls just like the ones that Campanella cut to pieces too. Renne then flees on a large robot that flies away with her.
Meanwhile Joshua travels with the Capua sky pirates to steal their airship back from the Liberl forces, held up only briefly by Muller, an Erebonian soldier who tries to stop them and recognizes Joshua. Meanwhile Estelle and co return to Rolent, and have to land before they get there due to heavy fog. They hear bells chime in the fog, and later find out at the guild that people have been falling asleep and not waking up. Estelle also finds out that Joshua was sighted with the sky pirates when Dorothy hands her a photo she took. The next day the fog is thicker, and when they investigating how far it had spread, find their way to a forest and accidentally fall victim to the fog. Estelle manages to beat an illusion in her dream and wake, finding the Enforcer no. VI, Lucciola, who was conducting another experiment with the Gospel. She speaks to Schera, whom she has a past with, and vanishes with the Gospel.
Next, Ouroboros is preparing to use the Gospels they have been using in the experiments to do one last experiment. Weissmann and Leonhardt go to a cave and find a large sleeping dragon. Estelle's party heads to Bose, anticipating that the society might appear there next. When they get to the market, the dragon appears there, on the roof of the giant market, and angry. Leonhardt appears, and stops the dragon and flies away with it. The party goes after him to Agate's village, where the dragon had burned a lot of it. Agate had gone on ahead, chasing the dragon into the mountains. When the party catches up, Agate is fighting Leonhardt. General Morgan's fleet arrives, and Leonhardt flees. It takes some time, but eventually later on, they manage to trap the dragon and tranquilize it, finding that it was controlled by a Gospel attached to its nose. Before they can take it off though, the dragon wakes and flees faster than Morgan's airship can catch up to it. A second try later, they find it again and this time, free it, thanks to Professor Russel's help.
Later, the sky pirates help Joshua to steal a patrol ship which he flies to Professor Weissman's ship, the Glorius. Back in Bose, Estelle's party is resting and runs into Kevin the priest again. Later that evening they find Kurt passed out in a boat at the lodge they are staying at. He can't remember what happened, but Kevin says his memories are sealed, and lifts the seal. Kurt says he remembers finding the Ourobos' hideout in the middle of Valleria lake, and the other bracers he was with are still back there. The party decides to sneak in and rescue them. One by one they find them, but the bracers are under Weissman's control. They free them but then find Joshua unconscious on the floor. He wakes up and attacks them, but turns out to be a puppet that falls apart just like all the other dolls. Weissman is there, but when Estelle tries to attack him a wall appears between them and blocks her. She passes out and Ouroboros captures her. When she wakes up, she is on their ship.
Renne visits Estelle in her room on the Glorius, telling her how the Professor wanted to see her. Weissman offers to Estelle to join Ouroboros, because he wants to use her to keep Joshua around. When she tries to attack him, Leonhardt stops her. The other Legion appear as well. Estelle gets confined to her room again, and Leonhardt talks to her about Joshua's past. It doesn't change Estelle's mind, and later she comes up with a plan to escape instead. Tricking her guards, she breaks out of her room, but is later surrounded by soldiers. Then Joshua appears on the ship and saves her. Leonhardt appears, but Joshua distracts him by telling him he set bombs on the ship. When they get past him, Campanella is happily waiting for them and says he won't let them escape easily. He and some robots fight the two of them, and then Estelle and Joshua manage to steal a small ship to flee into the sky. The sky pirates rescue them at the last minute.
Meanwhile the society gathers at the towers around Liberl Kingdom, getting ready for the last phase of their plan. Soon large black orbs were reported on the tops of the towers, and word got back to Estelle and Joshua's party. Since they were with the knight Julia on her airship, they set course for the closest tower. They work their way through the tower from the bottom up, finding floating crystals inside and BleuBlanc at the top of the tower. A glowing Gospel is set in a device that is part of the tower, behind him. When they fight BleuBlanc, the Gospel suddenly stops glowing and the barrier around the roof disappears. BleuBlanc then leaves. Estelle's party hurries to get to the other towers, but the same events happen at each, with Walter, Lucciola, and Renne encountering them at each remaining tower. While they return to their airship, the Arseille, the sky grows dark and thunders, and a glowing structure bigger than Grancel Castle, the Liberl Ark appears in a flash of light. All of the orbmental powered technology in Liberl has stopped working.
In Bose, Professor Russel has figured out what the Gospel is for. It uses the power it absorbs from other Orbments and channels it elsewhere, in this case to the Liberl Ark in the sky. He makes a device that disrupts what the Gospel is doing to their devices well enough to restore communication for the guilds, but everyone's battle orbments and air ships still don't work. After the party travels around the kingdom on foot to restore as much power to communications at the guilds as they can, they get a call from Queen Alicia to come meet. When they get there, they find out from a soldier that the city is being approached by Erebonian tanks and soldiers. Kloe and the party go to negotiate, and convince the Erebonian general that they haven't broken the anti-war treaty. They also find out that Olivier is the prince of Erebonia and he is among the troops, pretending not to know them. Olivier's army is not willing to listen at first, until Estelle's father shows up with Professor Russel and his technology that disrupts the Gospel is keeping their ship running. Olivier's troops leave.
When the party gets back to the castle, it is on fire, thanks to the society, overrun as well by their machines and soldiers. Walter, Lucciola, BleuBlanc, and Renne have reached the castle doors, and Walter breaks them open. They kill the queen's guards, but then Estelle's party arrives just before they can take off with the queen. The party is about to lose when Colonel Richard arrives, this time fighting on their side for Liberl's sake. The Legion leave and return to the Glorious, and take off for the Liberl Ark. Estelle's party follows on the Arseille, but the Glorious flies at it and after evading it, the Arseille has to crash land on the Liberl Ark because of the disruptor that blocks the Gospel malfunctions. The Liberl Ark is a flying abandoned city, and the party decides to head for a white tower that looks important. The party finds devices and underground tunnels that let them get around the city, so after activating them again, they explore. They happen upon Josette, who is being attacked by Ouroboros soldiers, and save her. It turns out that the sky pirates had crash landed there too because of the Gospel, and the rest were captured by Ouroboros.
Traveling around the city more the party learns that Gospels were common in the Liberl Ark, and they need to get one to fix one of the travel stations so they can go farther. But the machine that makes Gospels won't recognize anyone in the party and make them one, so they go back to the ship to get some of the crystals they found floating in the towers below. The crystals have data that explain the Gospels were deemed too dangerous and were thus forbidden. The city had been sealed away to hide the power in the center of it so that it would be safe from being found. The towers were meant to seal it away, and the people then continued to live underground. Because one of the crystals had the data of a citizen though, they are able to use it to give Kloe a Gospel, and continue across the city. They find Josette's brothers and help rescue them. He gives them a password they need to get further along through the next station.
When the party gets to the tower, they have to face a Legion on every floor: BleuBlanc, Walter, Lucciola, and then Renne. They defeat them and learn each of their reasons for joining the society, and when they get to the top floor, they confront Leonhardt. Joshua wants to know why Leonhardt is helping Ouroboros, and they battle, with Joshua trying to convince Leonhardt that he can be strong without an organization like that. Joshua ends up knocking Leonhardt's sword away, and Leonhardt admits he will leave the society. But then Weissman attacks Leonhardt from behind with a staff of the same power as Kernviter, and then controls Joshua to come to his side with a snap of his fingers. Joshua is under his control because of the sacred mark, and he disappears with Joshua after inviting the others to follow him to the Liberl Ark's power source. Leonhardt told them the way, and Estelle and company managed to make it only because of the Capua sky pirates showing up to help fight off some robots.
When they catch up to Weissman, he is at the Shining Ring, a glowing yellow globe with rings around it that powers the Liberl Ark. He refuses to give Joshua back despite Estelle's demands, and goes on to explain what happened to the people who lived on the Ark 1200 years ago. The Goddess had given 7 artifacts to humans, and the Liberl Ark was powered by one of them, the Shining Ring. The Gospel were terminals to the Shining Ring, granting any wish they desired. But it used part of their soul to grant it, and people became obsessed and started to deteriorate. They began to destroy themselves, with crime, and suicides, and just a complete lack of caring as the city declined. So the towers were used to seal the city and the Shining Ring away, but Weissman points out that even in the world below them the same cycle is taking place as orbment technology grows, and he as the messenger of Ourobos' leader wanted to help them evolve past that, to where they wouldn't be controlled by their emotions anymore.
Estelle tells Weissman that humans were strong and could make it through hardships on their own, and that the people who sealed the Shining Ring away must have felt the same. When she tells him she will stop him anyway, he tells her to prove it and makes Joshua fight her alone, just the two of them, while everyone else is frozen in place. Joshua knocks Estelle down easily, and it looks like he'll kill her, but he is faking being controlled and strikes at Weissman instead. He had learned from their father Cassius how to remove the Sacred Mark with the priest Kevin's help. They fight Weissman, but he merges with the Shining Ring and a barrier keeps everyone from being able to attack him. But then Leonhardt appears with the dragon from before and asked if Weissman was behind his home town's massacre. When he finds out he was, Leonhardt slashes through the barrier with his sword, Kernviter. It can only because it's an artifact as well, just like Weissman's staff, and Weissman panics at realizing this. The party attacks him and defeats him, and the Shining Ring disappears. Weissman flees. Leonhardt is dying and Joshua has to say goodbye to him, and when everyone else catches up the whole Ark begins to shake because the power source is gone. They hurry to leave but Estelle has to snap Joshua out of wanting to stay by Leonhardt's side, and he takes his sword with him to bury it later with their sister, saying goodbye to him.
When Weissman fled, he tried to figure out why the Shining Ring vanished. Because he was not told about it by the Leader, he becomes angry, but before he can go to question her, Kevin appears. He has been investigating the Shining Ring and his job is to eliminate Weissman. Weissman tries to stop him with his Evil Eye attack, but it doesn't work on Kevin, and he shoots Weissman with his crossbow. It is an artifact, and it turns Weissman into a salt statue. While Kevin sighs over it, a voice calls out to him, calling him the Outlaw Punisher. It's Campanella, who says he has come for their Leader to collect something. When he snaps his fingers, Weissman turns to dust, and he remarks on how mysterious the Gralsritter (grail knights) that Kevin belongs to are. Then he takes Weissman's staff and disappears.
The tragedy of Hemel was coordinated by the Anguis named Weissman, who passed along information to the Jaegers, to have them attack. The village was annihilated except for a few straggling survivors because the soldiers were far better trained. During this event, Enforcer Campanella traveled to the village to recruit any survivors for the society. Both Joshua and Leonhardt lived in Hemel, and the day after it was destroyed, Campanella appeared before Leonhardt, telling him about the Liberl Ark, and the artifact called the Shining Ring that they were after. This leads to Leonhardt making a deal to help Weissmann in order to save Joshua from his despair. The two of them were then trained to become Legion as well, sharing the company of both Campanella and a younger Enforcer No. XV, Renne, whom they recruited soon after by rescuing her from the people she had been sold to. Campanella is also responsible for convincing Leonhardt to meet the Anguis Arianrhod, when she asked to fight him. After defeating Leonhardt, she then gave him his blade, Kernviter, which can cut through anything. Meanwhile, the Hundred Days War began, breaking out between Liberl and Erebonia, resulting in the death of Lena Bright, Estelle's mother. Eventually after the war, Joshua is sent with the mission to kill Cassius Bright, and fails it. When he wakes, he has forgotten much of his past because Weissman erased his memories in order to place him as a spy, and thus Joshua begins a life with the Bright family hesitant of whether he should.
The next time that Campanella is known to have made a move was during the beginning of FC (the first game), when Cassius Bright is called away to investigate attacks on the Bracer branches in Erebonia. Campanella was helping to coordinate those attacks to draw him away from Liberl so that he would not be there to stop the coup. The events of FC play out without very much involvement from him at first, but his distraction was crucial to keeping one of the most powerful fighters out of the nation during the Ourobos' plan. Both Joshua and Estelle travel the nation of Liberl to discover where their missing father has gone. They receive a mysterious package with a black orbment artifact called the Gospel, and soon uncover what they believe to be a plot by the royal guards to overthrow the throne.
In reality, it is all a plot by Ouroboros to gain access to the Shining Ring, an artifact known as the Aureole said to have the power to control nature. The memories of many people in the country have been tampered with in order to manipulate this into occurring, including the Intelligence Division leader Colonel Richard who felt it was necessary for the safety of the nation to find something powerful enough to protect it with Cassius retired. He has even been working with Leonhardt, who is currently operating as the leader of the Special Ops himself. The Bright children and their allies defeat them, however while they confront Colonel Richard in the ruins below the royal city, a guardian breaks free when the Gospel activates, and they barely beat it with the help of a sudden return by Cassius.
When all of this ends, Cassius returns to duty as a soldier and Estelle and Joshua attempt to sort out what to do next. However, Weissman who has been masquerading as a man known as Professor Alba appears to them, and restores Joshua's memories to him and then blocks Estelle's memories of the professor away. Now aware that he had been used to spy on the Bright family all this time, Joshua drugs Estelle and runs away with an apology in the middle of the night. Yet to join Ouroboros again, he flees, making plans of his own to crush the society if he can. Meanwhile, Estelle begins to travel in search of him, coming across mysterious incidents in her travels.
Ouroboros is conducting experiments with the abilities of the Gospel around the country, which Estelle's party confront one by one. First is a series of sightings of a ghost at the Jenis Royal Academy, which are instigated by the Enforcer No. X, BleuBlanc. The Gospel is somehow projecting images of him, but they are unable to figure out why. Second, Earthquakes begin to be reported in Zeiss, and investigations lead the party to the caves behind Elmo Village, caused by another Gospel device in the hands of Enforcer No. VIII, Walter. He nearly defeats the party until Zane shows up to stop him, and he flees with the Gospel. The party is then called to Grancel at the request of Queen Alicia, because of anonymous threat letters against an anti-war treaty between the nations East and West of Liberl. While the party investigates who is behind them and questions the ambassadors from the various lands, they also have their hands full taking care of a young girl (Enforcer No. XV, Renne) who has been showing up at random points in their travels and whose parents have gone 'missing' as a trick to keep them occupied.
Meanwhile one of the party members, Anelace and her partner, manage to track down the enemy at a mine, and are ambushed. The soldiers they are fighting appear to be controlled, and after they defeat them, Campanella appears. He teases them about a tea party that will begin soon and suggests that they join in, but before leaving he destroys the soldiers with a snap of his fingers. They turned out to be dolls that fell into pieces at his command. A priest named Kevin that had briefly met Estelle at the beginning of her search for Joshua steps out of hiding and reveals that he was traveling undercover as a Knight for the church, and that he is looking for artifacts as well. When they return to the others, Renne has disappeared and everyone has to go searching for her. When they finally find her, she gives Estelle a letter and makes it sound like it's from Joshua. It's a trap, and when Estelle goes to the place the letter suggests, it seems Kevin has also been led there and they are attacked by robots. By the time that they make it back to the guild, Renne is gone and everyone is knocked out. Anelace returns too late to warn them as well.
They are led on a chase to find Renne, but are confronted by Kanone, Colonel Richard's devoted subordinate, trying to get revenge for what happened during the attempted coup. She is piloting a tank given to her by Ouroboros, powered by a Gospel that manages to wipe out the power of all the orbments in the area. It almost appears she will win, but Kevin uses a white staff artifact given to him by the church and disables it. When the others discover that Renne is not with the traitor army then they get upset, but Renne appears before them and laughs, thanking them for coming to her tea party. The Gospel was simply given to Kanone as another part of their experiments, and she was used. Renne's parents also appear next to her at last, but they look dull and lifeless. She cuts them with her scythe, and it becomes apparent that they were dolls just like the ones that Campanella cut to pieces too. Renne then flees on a large robot that flies away with her.
Meanwhile Joshua travels with the Capua sky pirates to steal their airship back from the Liberl forces, held up only briefly by Muller, an Erebonian soldier who tries to stop them and recognizes Joshua. Meanwhile Estelle and co return to Rolent, and have to land before they get there due to heavy fog. They hear bells chime in the fog, and later find out at the guild that people have been falling asleep and not waking up. Estelle also finds out that Joshua was sighted with the sky pirates when Dorothy hands her a photo she took. The next day the fog is thicker, and when they investigating how far it had spread, find their way to a forest and accidentally fall victim to the fog. Estelle manages to beat an illusion in her dream and wake, finding the Enforcer no. VI, Lucciola, who was conducting another experiment with the Gospel. She speaks to Schera, whom she has a past with, and vanishes with the Gospel.
Next, Ouroboros is preparing to use the Gospels they have been using in the experiments to do one last experiment. Weissmann and Leonhardt go to a cave and find a large sleeping dragon. Estelle's party heads to Bose, anticipating that the society might appear there next. When they get to the market, the dragon appears there, on the roof of the giant market, and angry. Leonhardt appears, and stops the dragon and flies away with it. The party goes after him to Agate's village, where the dragon had burned a lot of it. Agate had gone on ahead, chasing the dragon into the mountains. When the party catches up, Agate is fighting Leonhardt. General Morgan's fleet arrives, and Leonhardt flees. It takes some time, but eventually later on, they manage to trap the dragon and tranquilize it, finding that it was controlled by a Gospel attached to its nose. Before they can take it off though, the dragon wakes and flees faster than Morgan's airship can catch up to it. A second try later, they find it again and this time, free it, thanks to Professor Russel's help.
Later, the sky pirates help Joshua to steal a patrol ship which he flies to Professor Weissman's ship, the Glorius. Back in Bose, Estelle's party is resting and runs into Kevin the priest again. Later that evening they find Kurt passed out in a boat at the lodge they are staying at. He can't remember what happened, but Kevin says his memories are sealed, and lifts the seal. Kurt says he remembers finding the Ourobos' hideout in the middle of Valleria lake, and the other bracers he was with are still back there. The party decides to sneak in and rescue them. One by one they find them, but the bracers are under Weissman's control. They free them but then find Joshua unconscious on the floor. He wakes up and attacks them, but turns out to be a puppet that falls apart just like all the other dolls. Weissman is there, but when Estelle tries to attack him a wall appears between them and blocks her. She passes out and Ouroboros captures her. When she wakes up, she is on their ship.
Renne visits Estelle in her room on the Glorius, telling her how the Professor wanted to see her. Weissman offers to Estelle to join Ouroboros, because he wants to use her to keep Joshua around. When she tries to attack him, Leonhardt stops her. The other Legion appear as well. Estelle gets confined to her room again, and Leonhardt talks to her about Joshua's past. It doesn't change Estelle's mind, and later she comes up with a plan to escape instead. Tricking her guards, she breaks out of her room, but is later surrounded by soldiers. Then Joshua appears on the ship and saves her. Leonhardt appears, but Joshua distracts him by telling him he set bombs on the ship. When they get past him, Campanella is happily waiting for them and says he won't let them escape easily. He and some robots fight the two of them, and then Estelle and Joshua manage to steal a small ship to flee into the sky. The sky pirates rescue them at the last minute.
Meanwhile the society gathers at the towers around Liberl Kingdom, getting ready for the last phase of their plan. Soon large black orbs were reported on the tops of the towers, and word got back to Estelle and Joshua's party. Since they were with the knight Julia on her airship, they set course for the closest tower. They work their way through the tower from the bottom up, finding floating crystals inside and BleuBlanc at the top of the tower. A glowing Gospel is set in a device that is part of the tower, behind him. When they fight BleuBlanc, the Gospel suddenly stops glowing and the barrier around the roof disappears. BleuBlanc then leaves. Estelle's party hurries to get to the other towers, but the same events happen at each, with Walter, Lucciola, and Renne encountering them at each remaining tower. While they return to their airship, the Arseille, the sky grows dark and thunders, and a glowing structure bigger than Grancel Castle, the Liberl Ark appears in a flash of light. All of the orbmental powered technology in Liberl has stopped working.
In Bose, Professor Russel has figured out what the Gospel is for. It uses the power it absorbs from other Orbments and channels it elsewhere, in this case to the Liberl Ark in the sky. He makes a device that disrupts what the Gospel is doing to their devices well enough to restore communication for the guilds, but everyone's battle orbments and air ships still don't work. After the party travels around the kingdom on foot to restore as much power to communications at the guilds as they can, they get a call from Queen Alicia to come meet. When they get there, they find out from a soldier that the city is being approached by Erebonian tanks and soldiers. Kloe and the party go to negotiate, and convince the Erebonian general that they haven't broken the anti-war treaty. They also find out that Olivier is the prince of Erebonia and he is among the troops, pretending not to know them. Olivier's army is not willing to listen at first, until Estelle's father shows up with Professor Russel and his technology that disrupts the Gospel is keeping their ship running. Olivier's troops leave.
When the party gets back to the castle, it is on fire, thanks to the society, overrun as well by their machines and soldiers. Walter, Lucciola, BleuBlanc, and Renne have reached the castle doors, and Walter breaks them open. They kill the queen's guards, but then Estelle's party arrives just before they can take off with the queen. The party is about to lose when Colonel Richard arrives, this time fighting on their side for Liberl's sake. The Legion leave and return to the Glorious, and take off for the Liberl Ark. Estelle's party follows on the Arseille, but the Glorious flies at it and after evading it, the Arseille has to crash land on the Liberl Ark because of the disruptor that blocks the Gospel malfunctions. The Liberl Ark is a flying abandoned city, and the party decides to head for a white tower that looks important. The party finds devices and underground tunnels that let them get around the city, so after activating them again, they explore. They happen upon Josette, who is being attacked by Ouroboros soldiers, and save her. It turns out that the sky pirates had crash landed there too because of the Gospel, and the rest were captured by Ouroboros.
Traveling around the city more the party learns that Gospels were common in the Liberl Ark, and they need to get one to fix one of the travel stations so they can go farther. But the machine that makes Gospels won't recognize anyone in the party and make them one, so they go back to the ship to get some of the crystals they found floating in the towers below. The crystals have data that explain the Gospels were deemed too dangerous and were thus forbidden. The city had been sealed away to hide the power in the center of it so that it would be safe from being found. The towers were meant to seal it away, and the people then continued to live underground. Because one of the crystals had the data of a citizen though, they are able to use it to give Kloe a Gospel, and continue across the city. They find Josette's brothers and help rescue them. He gives them a password they need to get further along through the next station.
When the party gets to the tower, they have to face a Legion on every floor: BleuBlanc, Walter, Lucciola, and then Renne. They defeat them and learn each of their reasons for joining the society, and when they get to the top floor, they confront Leonhardt. Joshua wants to know why Leonhardt is helping Ouroboros, and they battle, with Joshua trying to convince Leonhardt that he can be strong without an organization like that. Joshua ends up knocking Leonhardt's sword away, and Leonhardt admits he will leave the society. But then Weissman attacks Leonhardt from behind with a staff of the same power as Kernviter, and then controls Joshua to come to his side with a snap of his fingers. Joshua is under his control because of the sacred mark, and he disappears with Joshua after inviting the others to follow him to the Liberl Ark's power source. Leonhardt told them the way, and Estelle and company managed to make it only because of the Capua sky pirates showing up to help fight off some robots.
When they catch up to Weissman, he is at the Shining Ring, a glowing yellow globe with rings around it that powers the Liberl Ark. He refuses to give Joshua back despite Estelle's demands, and goes on to explain what happened to the people who lived on the Ark 1200 years ago. The Goddess had given 7 artifacts to humans, and the Liberl Ark was powered by one of them, the Shining Ring. The Gospel were terminals to the Shining Ring, granting any wish they desired. But it used part of their soul to grant it, and people became obsessed and started to deteriorate. They began to destroy themselves, with crime, and suicides, and just a complete lack of caring as the city declined. So the towers were used to seal the city and the Shining Ring away, but Weissman points out that even in the world below them the same cycle is taking place as orbment technology grows, and he as the messenger of Ourobos' leader wanted to help them evolve past that, to where they wouldn't be controlled by their emotions anymore.
Estelle tells Weissman that humans were strong and could make it through hardships on their own, and that the people who sealed the Shining Ring away must have felt the same. When she tells him she will stop him anyway, he tells her to prove it and makes Joshua fight her alone, just the two of them, while everyone else is frozen in place. Joshua knocks Estelle down easily, and it looks like he'll kill her, but he is faking being controlled and strikes at Weissman instead. He had learned from their father Cassius how to remove the Sacred Mark with the priest Kevin's help. They fight Weissman, but he merges with the Shining Ring and a barrier keeps everyone from being able to attack him. But then Leonhardt appears with the dragon from before and asked if Weissman was behind his home town's massacre. When he finds out he was, Leonhardt slashes through the barrier with his sword, Kernviter. It can only because it's an artifact as well, just like Weissman's staff, and Weissman panics at realizing this. The party attacks him and defeats him, and the Shining Ring disappears. Weissman flees. Leonhardt is dying and Joshua has to say goodbye to him, and when everyone else catches up the whole Ark begins to shake because the power source is gone. They hurry to leave but Estelle has to snap Joshua out of wanting to stay by Leonhardt's side, and he takes his sword with him to bury it later with their sister, saying goodbye to him.
When Weissman fled, he tried to figure out why the Shining Ring vanished. Because he was not told about it by the Leader, he becomes angry, but before he can go to question her, Kevin appears. He has been investigating the Shining Ring and his job is to eliminate Weissman. Weissman tries to stop him with his Evil Eye attack, but it doesn't work on Kevin, and he shoots Weissman with his crossbow. It is an artifact, and it turns Weissman into a salt statue. While Kevin sighs over it, a voice calls out to him, calling him the Outlaw Punisher. It's Campanella, who says he has come for their Leader to collect something. When he snaps his fingers, Weissman turns to dust, and he remarks on how mysterious the Gralsritter (grail knights) that Kevin belongs to are. Then he takes Weissman's staff and disappears.