High above planet Melkia, Albert Killy listens to Arron and Gurran, two scientists studying the PS, speculating on what must be happening in the civil war below.

Holding Borough at gunpoint, Chirico questions him. Ypsilon arrives, but cannot intervene. Borough explains that the Secret Society brought the PSs here to try and perfect them; their emotions have proven too erratic, and have constantly interfered with their efficiency as killing machines. What's more, they can never be remade into normal human beings. Kiderra attempts to attack Ypsilon from behind, but fails at the cost of his own life. His move disrupts the scene, giving Ypsilon the chance to attack Chirico. Fyana can only watch from her AT as the two grapple and fall from level to level down into the bottomless mineshaft.

Outside the palace, Gon Nu gives the order to move in. Behind them, a third party prepares to enter the fray: the Melkian army. Lead by Rochina, their orders are to overwhelm the palace and destroy everyone in their way. Only the PS Prototype is need alive. Unaware of this new development, Vanilla finds Potaria, who passes along the key given to him by Kanjelman.

Chirico and Ypsilon land at the bottom of the mineshaft, which is full of oil and priceless jijirium. Both their ATs have been damaged, so Ypsilon leaps out and challenges Chirico to a hand-to-hand fight. Fyana appears in her Brutishdog, and when Ypsilon refuses to stop, she fires on him. He is furious at her final betrayal, but the scene is broken by the laughter of Gon Nu. Peering down from above, he proclaims victory. Now that Chirico is of no further use. Gon Nu will destroy him along with everything else.

Rochina, however, has already begun bombing the palace from outside. Suddenly, Gon Nu himself has become expendable! Chirico and Fyana escape as the palace begins to crumble, and Ypsilon is left standing alone as Borough dies in the fire.

Chirico and Fyana find Vanilla, who gives them Potaria's key. It will activate an escape shuttle, and Vanilla wants them to flee in it. At the last moment, however, the insufferable Kan Yu appears and prepares to finish Chirico off once and for all. Shako intervenes, having finally decided his commanding officer isn't worth following any more.

Their enemies now dealt with, Chirico and Fyana launch in the shuttle, just in time to evade Melkian Scopedogs. They burst out of the palace and into the open air, their future opening up before them.

"My journey through Kummen was at an end. For my own sake, I had chosen to enter hell. For Fyana's sake, I was now leaving it behind. Love? could it be even I was capable of fighting for love?"

Chirico recovers after all and join Fyana in another attempt to hold off the enemy. The battle is fierce, but this time Chirico is not up to it. He is hit again, and Fyana pulls him inside as the Balarant Fatties swarm the ship. Their disappearance is reported to the Balarant patrol fleet captain, who orders his men inside to capture their mysterious opponents.

Fyana evades the Fatties as they comb the inside of the ship for her and Chirico. She finds her way to the infirmary for medication, and Battleship X makes a move of its own, firing its engines and moving off in a new direction. While some of the invading Balarant ATs attempt to disable the engines, Fyana returns to Chirico and revives him with the medicine she obtained. He laments his own helplessness, saying that Ypsilon would never fail her...and he slips back into unconsciousness as she prepares to face the approaching enemy. Fyana now fights alone, both on foot and in a Scopedog, pausing only to wonder again who placed her in this situation.

Not far away, the Secret Society follows the battle in their own ship, the Teltain. Captain Futtor keeps watch as Arron and Gurran put Ypsilon through a battery of emotional tests and discuss the prospect of a rematch between him and Chirico. Far ahead, a planet looms in the distance, and Fyana cares for a sleeping Chirico. They have faced much already, but the worst is yet to come.

"I've wandered the depths of hell. Its hot, suffocating depths. And in the distance, a light. Our ship, as though following a beckoning beacon in the night, drew us ever closer to the planet that lay before us."

Zanjeny and his crew debate the continuing situation. Space Battleship X cannot be identified as a Gilgamesh ship, but the Balarant still cannot risk starting an incident in the nonaggression zone. All they can do is wait for their opponent to make the first move. On the ship, Fyana has come to a decision - she will surrender herself to the Balarant in exchange for medical treatment for Chirico. Her attempt to do so is observed by Futtor's men, and just as Fyana seems to have won, the Balarant ship is destroyed by the Teltain.

She makes it back safely to Battleship X, and as the unknown planet looms closer, the Teltain launches another attack. Fyana attempts to radio Ypsilon, begging him to stop the assault, but communication is knocked out before anything can come of it. The ship begins to descent into the atmosphere of the planet, and a platoon of MKII Tortoises is launched against Fyana. Ypsilon joins the attack in his Strikedog, but when he faces off against her directly, his emotions begin to cloud his judgment.

Despite this, he manages to capture her, and as his men haul her away, Teltain launches another barrage of missiles at the descending battleship. Horrified, Fyana tears herself away and plummets to Chirico's aid once again. She dives inside, followed by more Tortoises, but everyone is thrown into chaos when the giant ship finally smashes into the surface of the planet and comes to rest. Just as Fyana is finally cornered, Chirico rushes to her aid in a Scopedog of his own, and fights his way out to the surface of the smoking ship...where Ypsilon awaits. The sun of the unknown planet rises as they level their weapons at each other.

"My strength had returned to me. But, as strong as Ypsilon's murderous rage was, the smell of blood from this planet's past was even stronger."

Arron and Gurran monitor Ypsilon's emotional index from the Teltain. Now that he faces Chirico, his readings have levelled out to those of a proper killing machine. ypsilon and Chirico lunge at each other, and Fyana holds off the Tortoises, admonishing Chirico to rember that they're both fighting to live. He instructs her to get back inside and stand ready in the control room. Carefully, Chirico lures Ypsilon and his troops toward the engines of the crashed ship and leaps off the edge. Ypsilon follows - and Fyana activates the thrusters! Caught in the backblast, Ypsilon's Strikedog is smashed, and the invaders retreat.

Now convinced that a third, more aggressive party has joined the fight in the nonagression zone, Zanjeny and his staff order a task force into the area in support of their patrol fleet. On board Teltain, Ypsilon recovers from his injuries and thinks of his next battle with Chirico.

Knowing Ypsilon will be back, Chirico tampers with the verniers on the now-silent hull of Battleship X and finally realizes what planet he is on: Sunsa, the site of the bloodiest battle of the Hundred Years War...a battle he himself has remembered in nightmares. An AT landing craft appears, and Chirico and Fyana rush to the control room as it lands on the hull. Out steps Ypsilon in another Strikedog, with more Tortoises backing him up. One by one, the verniers blast away at them.

Ypsilon reports this setback to Futtor on the Teltain, who suddenly has to face a problem of his own - Balarant ships approach, and he has no AT platoon to fight them off! Forced to tip his hand, Futtor goes on the offensive, and a devastating battle erupts in space! Having found their way inside Battleship X, Ypsilon and his remaining men reach the empty control room, and discover that Chirico has set the entire ship to self-destruct! They escape just in time, and launch as the vessel rips itself apart.

chirico and Fyana has also gotten away, loading a transport truck with ATs and driving deep into the Sunsa desert. There, others await them...

"Would we ever have any peace? I felt like screaming. If there was a God on this world, he was a cruel one. Too cruel. This planet's name is Sunsa. And I know it holds no welcome for me at all..."

Huge vehicles watch the approaching transport truck and prepare to launch an attack. But they are unprepared for a skilled AT pilot in a Scopedog, who swiftly disables one of their vehicles. The struggle is interrupted by a voice from above; a ship passes overhead and calls out to the AT pilot. An astonished Chirico realizes it is Bouleuse Gotho!

In orbit around Sunsa, the Teltain has escaped its battle with the Balarant, and Futtor makes plans to continue the pursuit of Chirico and Proto-One. Meanwhile, Ypsilon examines data from Battleship X. To his disbelief, Chirico seems to have recovered from his earlier injuries three times faster than any normal human...

Gotho's vessel drifts over Sunsa. Inside, Chirico and Fyana are introduced to their attackers: Zophie and her gang, who salvage weapons from the desert for Gotho to sell off world. They travel to Zophie's fortress, within the airtight ruins of a damaged building. Vanilla and Coconna are there, and react to their arrival with mixed emotions. Vanilla is ecstatic, but Coconna is furious when she sees Fyana for the first time. Chirico says nothing.

Later, Zophie approaches a weeping Coconna, who reveals that as a Red Shoulder, Chirico has always been cold and unemotional. Meanwhile, Gotho berates Chirico for acting this way toward Coconna. Fyana argues for Chirico's sake, but stops herself before she can say too much. The scene is broken by the arrival of Ypsilon and a platoon of Tortoises from the Teltain. Setting up a perimeter around the fortress, they demand that Chirico be surrendered. Gotho prepares to answer with gunfire, but Zophie stops him - Chirico, after all, is one of the Red Shoulder devils who destroyed their planet, and she is more than willing to throw him to the wolves.

Chirico prepares to face Ypsilon alone, refusing even Fyana's help. She begins to wonder if he really is as cold and unfeeling as Gotho said.

"I know best how I should fight. Gotho had called me a war machine. A murder machine. And now so had my beloved Fyana. If I really was a machine, I doubt their words would hurt me as much as they did. But I'm just a man, and my battle is this hell continues...as does my crushed existence."

Before Chirico and Ypsilon can renew their battle, a new force enters the fray: the Balarant! As Balarant spaceships fire on the Teltain in orbit, fighters streak by over Zophie's fortress and bombard it with explosives. Everyone is forced to flee as best they can. Gotho and the others escape into underground tunnels, Chirico and Fyana drive off in a transport, and Ypsilon's unit slips away into the desert.

Fyana feels herself beginning to weaken, the first sign that her last jijirium bath is beginning to wear off. She leans on Chirico, hoping for the best. Later, their truck gets stuck in a sand dune, and when Chirico investigates the area for tools, he comes across a dead Balarant soldier clutching a map which shows the location of a supply base that may have some jijirium. Suddenly, Zophie appears and fires on them, determined to revenge herself on Chirico. He manages to overpower her, and leaves her alive and furious.

That night, as Chirico helps Fyana through her growing unease, Zophie radios their position to a Balarant AT patrol. The two drive frantically away, but their truck is demolished by Zophie, leaving them vulnerable to the Balarant. Reduced only to their Scopedogs, Chirico and Fyana fight back - but she has now weakened even more, and Chirico barely manages to take out the last enemy AT after Fyana's Scopedog is damaged. He steps out of his own AT to get her aid, but Zophie has hijacked one of the Fatties, and destroys Chirico's Scopedog! Now on foot, he evades her as best he can, but she finally gets the drop on him. A blast rings out...and Zophie's AT explodes! Fyana has managed one more shot, but now her strength fails her completely and she collapses.

Chirico has no choice but to travel on foot to the Balarant supply station, carrying Fyana on his back as their air supply dwindles. Zophie keeps pace, her fury driving her past the point of self-preservation. Content to let her follow, Chirico begins a long march across the burning Sunsa desert...

As Chirico and his friends go to work patching up derelict vehicles, a familiar face looks down on Sunsa from orbit: Rochina. Now in command of a Leslion-class Balarant Battleship, he has crossed both the nonagresssion zone and his allegiance to Melkia in order to find Chirico again. Rochina's ship descend on the abandoned supply station, and Chirico's group is quickly overwhelmed and taken captive. Chirico is taken directly to Rochina, who offers the release of his friends if Chirico will consent to face Ypsilon again. Chirico questions Rochina about who he really is. Rochina's only answer is that he is a man from the kingdom of heaven.

Captain Futtor discusses the situation with Arron and Gurran aboard the Teltain. They have not heard from Ypsilon since the raid on Zophie's fortress, but they are sure he will go after Chirico despite the Balarant presence. When that happens, the Secret Society must be ready to recover him.

Chirico agrees to Rochina's terms, and is freed to prepare for the battle. He doesn't have long to wait - Ypsilon and his small platoon launch an attack on the Balarant landing party and fight their way quickly inside the perimeter. Rochina orders all ships to launch, and Chirico is left behind in a Fatty to face his enemy. In short order, they find each other in an empty chamber deep inside the supply station. Once again, they draw their weapons and prepare to engage. Rochina arrives to watch with Fyana in tow, but there is nothing that can be done to stop the fight now.

"His will to fight was practically a madness. But, as opposed to him, my heart didn't burn. the thing that drove me on was an almost pitiful craving for battle that raged within me."

Chirico and Ypsilon unleash heavy fire, with Ypsilon pausing only to eliminate anyone who threatens to interfere in their battle. Suddenly the entire room starts to shake, and the floor drops out from under their ATs - their battle has ignited the ammo dump! Plummeting helplessly, they disappear into a deep shaft, and Rochina managed to escape with Fyana as the entire building crumbles.

Landing relatively intact, Chirico gets the upper hand against Ypsilon, but does not choose to kill his foe. Instead, he begins to dig himself out and suggests they work together to survive.

On the surface, Rochina orders his men to begin an excavation and recover Chirico. He discusses the situation with Fyana, who suspects that he is hiding the answer to a key question: how has Chirico, an ordinary human, lasted so long against Ypsilon, a Perfect Soldier?

Similar questions burn through Ypsilon's mind as he and Chirico make their way toward the surface. The PS angrily declares himself a superior being, and that he belongs with Proto-One. Chirico corrects him on the name, and Ypsilon demands to know why he calls her Fyana - a question Chirico is unable to answer. Finally, when they reach the upper limits of the shaft, Ypsilon admits that they are alike in one respect; Chirico can fight as well as he can...but Ypsilon will eventually kill him.

On that note, the Balarant excavation team finally breaks through from above and rescues Chirico. Ypsilon slips away just in time to join up with a rescue team from the Teltain, and they fight their way free. Chirico is taken to Rochina, who demands that he be ready to fight Ypsilon again. In return, Rochina orders Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna flown out of danger.

"It seemed Rochina had kept his promise. My final battle with Ypsilon. The time was fast approaching. Will I survive it, or will he? And if I do survive, what then?"

On the Teltain, Futtor insists that they must leave Sunsa now that Ypsilon has been recovered. Arron and Gurran reply that their mission take precedent. Ypsilon must be allowed to fight Chirico again, and they must stay to observe.

On Rochina's ship, Chirico fine-tunes a Scopedog and writes himself a new mission disc containing everything he knows about the maneuvers of a PS. Fyana speaks with Chirico, admitting she is afraid for him, but he counsels her to accept what must happen. Ypsilon is fighting out of loneliness, and will not stop until one of the tem is dead. Ypsilon, meanwhile, renews himself with a jijirium bath and launches for the surface in a new Strikedog.

On the other side of the galaxy, Melkian General Karmeny meets with Battentain to discuss the implications of what has happened in the Nonaggression Zone. Battentain is shocked to learn of Rochina's defection, and admits he never quite knew how to read the man. Despite the risk to the peace treaty, a task force of Gilgamesh battleships must be sent to Sunsa with Rochina as their target.

Chirico crosses the Sunsa desert to Siguray Crater, where Ypsilon's empty landing craft stands waiting. Chirico takes the bait, and the battle is joined! This time there are no distractions; the two clash with each other time and again. Chirico's mission disc works perfectly, allowing him to match Ypsilon move for move. Rochina takes notice and finally announces to Fyana what he has suspected all along: that Chirico is a true Perfect Soldier! And at long last, Chrico fires the fatal shot that takes Ypsilon down!

Before he can finish Ypsilon off, however, Chirico is interrupted by Fyana, who gives him the shock of his life - that he is more than human. Chirico insists that his mission disc is what allowed him to win, but then notices that the disc burned itself out only a few minutes into the fight. From then on, it was his own ability. Ypsilon insists in his final moments that Chirico has to be a PS...Ypsilon's pride would not allow him to die at the hands of a normal man.

Later, Chirico prepares to leave Sunsa, Rochina's words echoing through his mind: "You are a PS. You want proof? Then go to planet Quent. There you will learn everything."

"What was it that lay hidden in my past? I'd fought Ypsilon and won. But I couldn't believe it. There was no way I could be a PS. The Planet Quent...what awaited me there?"

Chirico Cuvie wakes up in the Sandrunner of a curious little man named Gecko, who scolds him for trying to cross the Quent desert alone on foot. Chirico looks out the window of the vehicle in the desert traders' caravan; they are approaching the Tower of Gomor.

In orbit around Quent, Albert Killy cautions Arron and Gurran, who are about to embark on an expedition. Chrico is not the only threat to them; the planet itself can take lives.

Chirico parts with Gecko in Gomer and heads for the mercenary center, where he demands to speak with a Quentman. The workers in the center react with suspicion, and a chase erupts when Chirico becomes the target of security guards. He finds his way into a room that houses the emissary to the Quentmen. Chirico asks questions about Quent and the PS, but the emissary cannot provide answers, saying instead that he will get Chirico some help.

Chirico flees the mercenary center into the hands of Hazegar, a thug-for-hire who insists that Chirico come to meet his master. Gecko intervenes, telling Chirico to surrender for moment. He resists being picked up, but is shot with a tranquilizer and taken to the spaceport where Arron and Gurran await to take custody. At the last moment, fate intervenes in the form of the Mayor of Gomor, who claims Chirico is the guest of a Quentman, whose authority must be obeyed. The Quentman turns out to be Ru Shako, recently returned from Kummen!

Amazed, Chirico prepares to embark on his quent into the desert with his unexpected ally.

"Our reunion on Quent could only be called miraculous. With uncertainty and anticipation mixing within me, I stepped forward into an unknown world. what awaited me at the end of this desert?"

A task force of Zwerg Ats detaches from Killy's ship and descends toward Quent. Arron and Gurran try to reason their that he was nothing to worry about, but this does little to put Killy at ease.

Chirico catches up on recent history with Shako, who explains that Quentians gave up their technological civilization thousands of years ago to live in the desert crevasses. Suddenly, Zwergs appear to give chase. Shako outmaneuvers them and escapes, but damages the radiator in his sandrunner, and must push the vehicle by hand. He enters a deep crevasse in the desert in hopes of finding a village of Quentians, but the Zwergs require their target and open fire on the ailing sandrunner.

Chirico manages to commandeer one of their attackers' ATs and launches a counterstrike while Shako destroys another by ramming it. They continue their journey and word of their victory reaches Albert Killy. Furious that his men were brash enough to start a firefight in the vicinity of a Quentian village, he berates Arron and Gurran for their carelessness.

On the surface, Chirico and shako approach another crevasse, within which lies Shako's own village.

"The Quentian village lay in the depths of the ground. But was the mystery of the PS, of my own origins, hidden here? A race which had abandoned civilization and destroyed itself. Wasn't Quent, in the end, simply a graveyard?"

Arron and Gurran have tracked Chirico's progress and speculate about following him themselves. Killy agrees to let them go, provide they use extreme caution.

Chirico and Shako enter the Quentian village, but rather than talking with the chief, Shako instead gives Chirico a drink which causes him to pass out. That night, the women of Shako's tribe perform a strange ritual. Chirico wakes afterward, and Shako explains that they wanted to determine if he was "one who was changed," but says no more.

Rochina prepares to leave the Sunsa system, and Fyana demands to know what he thinks Chirico will find on Quent. Rochina doesn't know precisely, but he does admit to having been following the orders of a higher mind...and has questions of his own to be answered on Quent.

The next morning, Chirico questions Tedaya, the chief of Shako's tribe. Tedaya explains that Chirico might be "one who was changed," but says that he must speak with Meji to learn more. Venturing deep into an underground labyrinth, they find Meji, who appears more ancient than the very rocks around him. Meji explains something of Quent history, about beings who appeared 3,000 years ago and where driven away into darkness after they said all Quentians would be reborn by their hands.

More confused than ever, Chirico later runs into Arron and Gurran, who chase Chirico and Shako deeper into the caverns...which give way to ancient underground technology. They corner Chirico and fire a tranquilizer dart at him. The air around them comes alive with power, and everything begins to fade away...

"Even as consciousness faded from me, I saw it. Saw how they'd disappeared. What had happened? And what was going to happen to me? Was I still even alive?"

Chirico is left alive with Shako in the tunnels, but Arron and Gurran inexplicably re-materialize 800 km away in the streets of Gomor. They report this to Killy, who is amazed to finally learn one of the secrets of ancients Quent: teleportation.

Chirico and Shako return to Meji for an explanation of what happened, but he cannot answer. Chirico asks where a power generator might be found, and Meji says the upper portion of the Tower of Gomor is one of many forbidden places.

Albert Killy is faced with a decision. Fleets are approaching Quent from both the Gilgamesh and the Balarant, and he has to act now if he wants to seize the planet before they arrive. He deploys a contingent of Zwergs to the surface under Arron and Gurran's supervision. They land in Gomor and begin a march across the city, alarming the citizens and defying the city's small security force. From his chamber in the mercenary center, the emissary touches his stone monolith and sends out an emergency signal which is noticed by Chirico and Shako in the deep desert. Shako laments that they cannot reach Gomor in time to be of help. but Chirico has an idea; they turn the stolen Zwerg around and head back into the underground labyrinth.

As Arron and Gurran lead their army toward the upper section of the tower, Chirico and Shako enter the caverns. Chirico fires a random shot into the darkness - and instantly teleports them to Gomor! They strike immediately at the Zwerg army and a firefight begins, which carries inside the tower itself. Again, the air crackles with energy and lashes out at the battling ATs...

"Again! It was happening just as I'd predicted. Where would it transport us to this time? And what had we set into motion?"

Chirico shouts for Shako to power down his AT, and through Arron and Gurran are teleported away, Chirico and Shako remain standing inside the Tower of Gomor.

Rochina's Balarant fleet approaches Quent and he receives news of Chirico's progress. Elsewhere, a Gilgamesh fleet under the command of Admiral Lepard moves toward the same destination...and within a prison cell in Lepard's ship are Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna.

Rochina and Fyana descend into Gomor. When Rochina drives their vehicle into the tower, they are instantly teleported out of it, and into one of the tower's ancient chambers of high technology. Rochina recognizes them as the remains of Quent's abandoned culture. He also explains that the superior intelligence he has been following is the product of thousands of years of Quent technology. It was created by "Overmen," who was exiled from Quent and began to manipulate both the Gilgamesh and the Balarant.

Chirico appears with Shako, having been shown images of Quent's past by the strange intelligence that lives in the Tower of Gomor. Rochina demands to know what Chirico has been told, but Chirico doesn't yet know what what it all means. The intelligence tells Rochina that the Gilgamesh fleet has arrived, but before Rochina can leave with Fyana, Chirico grabs her and teleports them away by touching an orb built into the wall.

Chirico makes plans to escape into the desert with Shako and Fyana, but Gilgamesh Scopedogs suddenly appear, and they have no choice but to flee back into the tower, teleporting themselves onto its outer roof. The Scopedogs follow suite and the pursuit begins again. Chirico and the others attempt a desperate lunge for freedom - but are instead jumped right back into the hands of Rochina, who has begun to prepare for the Gilgames arrival.

"At that moment, the mysterious intelligence's message reawakened in my mind. And I gradually began to understand its meaning."

Killy watches from his ship as the Gilgamesh fleet approaches Quent, where Rochina's Balarant fleet awaits them. Arron and Gurran report from the surface that they are safe, but their entire AT army was destroyed. Killy is content to wait and watch history repeat itself now that the power of Quent is reawakening.

Admiral Lepard speaks with General Battentain, who warns him about what he is walking into. Someone has been tampering with the secrets of this planet, perhaps even the lost Perfect Soldier.

Arron and Gurran watch as Lepard lands and is greeted by Rochina. The two officers begin their verbal fencing, Lepard demanding that the Prototype be returned. Rochina attempts subterfuge, but when Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna appear, his lies about losing contact with Chirico and the Prototype are revealed. Recovering, he offers to rendezvous in orbit and bring the Prototype with him. Everyone who watches the proceedings know what a risk this will be...especially with Chirico involved.

Chirico infiltrates Rochina's AT platoon, and the Balarant fleet lifts off into space to play its part in the deadly game. Rochina's landing party docks with Lepard's ship, and he produces Fyana, insisting that the Gilgamesh now leave Quent. Lepard refuses, but as a Scopedog steps forward to seize Fyana, Chirico makes his move, striking out from inside a Balarant Fatty. Rochina escapes with Fyana, and the Battle quickly escalates into an all-out bloodbath!

Chirico takes a moment to free Gotho and the others, then escapes outside into the escalating firefight.

"The battling had turned more intense than I expected. And then somewhere in my body, I felt it. A premonition. Yes, one from the darkness, for only me to know. And that's when the whole horrible thing happened..."

Furious over the turn of events, Lepard is bolstered by the fact that his force outnumbers Rochina's, and when the battle is over, the prize of Quent will go to the Gilgamesh. Rochina relizes Lepard's attempt to recover Fyana was only a ruse, and he pauses to receive visitors; Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna, who barely made their way through the battle to his ship.

Even Chirico is hard-pressed to emerge alive from this conflict. He makes it back to Rochina's ship with little room to spare. And it is then that Quent makes its move; enormous streams of energy burst our of the Tower of Gomer and blast into space, destroying everything in their path! Both fleets are devastated, and the only survivors are Rochina, Chirico, Fyana, Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna, who manage to escape in a shuttle and power down to avoid being hit.

They are soon picked up by the only other ship now in Quent orbit - that of the Secret Society. Killy gloats over his victory, with all of his enemies now under his control and the secrets of Quent ripe for the picking. But before he can act, his ship is seized by an invisible force and pulled away from the planet by the same superior intelligence that has manipulated everything leading to this moment.

Chirico finally recognizes its identity.

"Wiseman. The name of Quent's mysterious, ancient intelligence. As we proceeded into the unknown, toward our destinies, I felt as if the fate of everything we knew now rested with us."

"It seemed that Killy, Rochina, and I were three of a kind. The ship we were on, under Wiseman's control traveled on through the darkness of space, its destination still unknown to us."

Killy's ship proceeds through a belt of sinister floating tubes and toward a gigantic artificial planet, which he calls the technology of God. Drawn inside, the ship is set down and a silent command is spoken to Killy; to bring Chirico to Wiseman. Rochina admits to having received the same commands in the past, and Killy orders him imprisoned.

As Killy leaves with Chirico, the time of execution has finally come for the other prisoners. Ever the trickster, Vanilla manages to overcome his would-be executioner and frees the others. Rochina is allowed to escape with them, but is not trusted with a weapon.

On planet Melkia, a report of the disaster at Quent reaches Battentain. One Gilgamesh ship avoided destruction, and sighted the Secret Society ship leaving intact. Battentain postulates that since the Gilgamesh and Balarant both lost ships in the conflict, they now have the basis for an alliance against the mysterious enemy on Quent.

While Killy and Chirico march closer to Wiseman, Rochina fills in his fellow escapees on what brought him this far, and warns them that Chirico is far more than they imagined him to be. The group is sudenly caught between two groups of Killy's guards, and a running battle begins, from which Rochina manages to slip away.

Finally, Killy and Chirico reach the center of the complex, and Chirico is levitate into the core shaft. There, the truth is finally revealed; he is a natural-born PS, a new "Overman," for whom Wiseman has been waiting all this time. Chirico is to be his successor, the master of the entire Astrigius Galaxy. Offered this blessing, Chirico accepts it.

An incredulous Albert Killy is told that his mission is over - and he is killed by Wiseman without a second thought.

"I was Wiseman's successor. His will had determined this forme. I could finally se my destiny unfolding before me. Because I was a child of God."

The Galactic Assembly of 7214 concludes with the declaration of an alliance between the Gilgamesh and the Balarant. Together, they will end the manipulation of 3,000 years and destroy the last god in existence.

In Wiseman Station, Fyana, Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna find Chirico in the central core. Arron and Gurran explain that they are all meant to follow Chirico's orders from here; he speaks for Wiseman. To wit, Chirico summons guards and orders his former friends taken back into captivity. The clock is ticking and they will soon leave for Quent.

Frightened by the magnitude of what they now face, Arron and Gurran carry out Chirico's orders, preparing a task force and observing that this is the very thing the Quentians threw away their civilization to prevent. Still on the lam, Rochina communicates with Chirico, asking what he has learned. Chirico pities him for having been abandoned by Wiseman after all this time, and explains that the Gilgamesh and Balarant are coming to destroy this place. Rochina suggests that he could talk their way out of this, but it is already too late - the combined fleet is approaching!

The floater belt acts as a defensive mechanism against the attackers, but can only hold them back for a limited time - time which Chirico uses to his advantage. Escaping first in a breakaway portion of Wiseman station, then the Secret Society ship, then only the forward section of the ship, he leaves his enemis - and his friends - far behind. Now supported only by Arron, Gurran, and the remaining crew, he turns his back on the past and looks toward his final destiny...

"I had been born as PS, destined for an existence beyond that of mere men. Whether it's true or not isn't the question. Wiseman had decided I was. I had only to accept the destiny assigned to me...to be the successor to the ruler of the Astragius Galaxy."

Gotho, Vanilla, Coconna, and Fyana trek across the Quent desert. Coconna screams at Vanilla for not landing their escape shuttle closer to Gomor, and he insists that only an expert pilot could have gotten them this far. Shako appears, and though they are overjoyed to see him, he is not reassured. He explains that a child of God will soon descend to Quent and decide the fate of the Universe.

On the Secret Society ship, Chirico has uncovered treachery; Arron sabotaged their trajectory in order to delay the arival at Quent. Chirico kills him, leaving Gurran in despair. Rochina, who has stowed away on the ship, watches and waits. Later, Chirico descends alone to the Quent surface witha a new AT. Gurran resists the urge to shoot him down in cold blood, resigned that Wiseman is now in control of all their fates.

Gotho and the other assemble an old Berserga AT for Fyana and discuss what is to come next. Shako spots Chirico's ship descending and goes to meet him in Gomor. Chirico disembarks in his own AT, the Rabidlydog, and is greeted by Shako. Chirico explains that he will need the destructive power of Gomor to meet the approaching fleet, and Shako offers to take him to the control center. There, they examine the machinery and Chirico explains to Shako the cold truth behind what is happening; although the ancient Quentians tried to exile the Overmen, their final creation now lies beneath the very feet of the modern Quentians. It has used war to manipulate history for 3,000 years. Now Chirico, the ultimate product of that war, will take control of it from here on.

Shako tries to stop him and succeeds in damaging the equipment, but is overpowered and shot by Chirico. Gotho and the others, having trailed after them, burst in and open fire. Chirico slips away and plunges into the desert in the Rabidly dog. Furious, the others watch him disappear, and Fyana prepares to give chase. Chirico radios Gurran, ordering him to assemble their AT troops near the site of the Quentian villge now that the Tower of Gomor is out of commission. Fyana calls to Chirico to stop, but he rejects her and insists that she leave this planet far behind.

"My final battle was beginning. Would I be blown to atoms...or would I inherit the throne of God?"

Vanilla makes one final attempt to radio Fyana as he flies the others to safety away from Quent. She begs him simply to leave her behind. Only she can reach Chirico now.

The Gilgamesh and Balarant landing forces descend in staggering numbers, but Chirico cuts right through them in his Rabidlydog with the Secret Society's Zwerg platoons backing him up. They quickly fall to the greater numbers, and when Chirico is down to only a few allies, he orders Gurran to begin the second phase of their plan. Gurran orders the Secret Society ship to descent into the battle.

Fyana trails Chirico in secret, and just manages to attach herself to a landing craft as Chirico hijacks it. Chirico orders Gurran to prepare missiles, calling atention to himself and drawing the fire of the enemy. Gurran interposes his ship between Chirico and the combined army, taking devastating hits and striking back as best he can. As Chirico descends into the crevasse toward the underground labyrinth, the ship is overwhelmed and crashes to the ground. Gurran is mortally wounded, surviving just long enough to see an uninjured Rochina step out of hiding and slip away. He will find out once and for all if Chirico is a suitable successor to God.

Pursued relentlessly by a few tenacious enemies in Scopedogs, Chirico and his last two Zwerg pilots plunge into the labyrinth. Exhausted and bereft of ammunition, Chirico is called ever deeper by Wiseman, who declares that his true successor should need no help reaching his final goal. Chirico pushes beyond his fatigue and fights on.

"I'll have my vengeance on everyone in this galaxy! Unending war and chaos...I'll plunge them all into hell! To be the absolute ruler of this galaxy, that is what I desire! To become a living God!"

Chirico Cuvie is reunited with others from the Red Shoulder unit as they pursue their revenge against Yoran Pailsen. Unknown to them, Yoran and his group have created the Perfect Soldier, Ypsilon.