The Chief

Overview

The Chief of the MBCC, final product of the Shepherd Plan, and main character of Path to Nowhere. The Chief's history is one of the greatest mysteries in Path to Nowhere; having been interrupted in the midst of a "consciousness repair program" by Suspect R, they remember nothing of their own past.

The Chief possesses a mysterious power called the Shackles, which was stolen from the Underground by Paradeisos during the Eclipse Operation and is also referred to by the codename "Sheperd13" or "SHP13". Both of these details suggest a connection to the Underground Shepherd, although the details remain unclear. Like the Underground Shepherd, the Chief is able to consume Corpuses and other sources of Mania energy. Many individuals associated with both the Underground and Paradeisos refer to the Chief and their Shackles as a flawed or defective product. This may be because of the Rules implanted in their body, but given that those Rules were set by Paradeisos, it is possible that there is a different, unknown reason why the Chief is considered flawed. Even still, Shalom says that the Chief is more stable than previous subjects, possibly due to their "unique past". The Chief is also not capable of dreaming, except when they connect to the spiritual realms of Sinners.

The Chief is almost certainly some form of Great Existence. Several Corpuses have said that the Chief is somehow "the same" as them, and the Phantom Moon entity claims that the Chief feels a subconscious desire to "return home" and meet their "family" inside DisSea. As a product of the Shepherd Plan, it is possible that the Chief is a clone of the Underground Shepherd.

Prior to the Chief's amnesia, they possessed a dramatically different personality. While the Chief in the present day is reserved, intelligent, and compassionate, their former self is described as a "storm of raw emotions, a spectacle of pure, unfiltered feeling". While connected to Hecate's memories, the Chief sees her interacting with another version of themself who is of the opposite gender.

Perhaps the most peculiar mystery surrounding the Chief is that of their earring. The earring was gifted to the Chief as a present by Faye, who gave it to them as an apology after their previous present, a ticket to the Belphegor Art Museum in Eastside, resulted in the Chief being trapped in the Witching Hour mania crisis. Long before that, it seems to have belonged to the guide who helped the Keylan Expedition through DisSea ninety years prior (as depicted on the Pioneer crimebrand). The earring reacts supernaturally when the Chief's consciousness is in the Nightmare Space, causing the Immortal Sinners whose memories shape the spiritual realm to recognize them as though they were the expedition guide.

Role

Main Story

◆ Raid Minos

Suspect R breaks into the MBCC while the Chief is asleep inside a recovery pod, interrupting a consciousness repair program being performed on them and severely damaging their memory. At this time, Nightingale refers to them as the "new" Chief. Although they are weak and disoriented, the Chief refuses to be secreted away to a safe place and correctly infers that if they are considered so important and are so feared and hated by the rioters, it must be because they are capable of something that can suppress them. Seeing their resolve, Nightingale agrees to send them into the prison's restricted area to meet Hecate and awaken the Shackles. Although they are initially threatened by Hella, the Chief succeeds at making contact with Hecate and, at her urging, successfully binds both Sinners.

Reunited with Nightingale, the four of them pursue Shapeshifter to the Underground Sinner Experiment Area. Her monsters divide the Chief from the rest of their team, leaving the two of them alone together again. The Chief attempts to shackle her, dispelling her transformation, but she easily resists their binding, saying that she "can't be caught just yet." As the Chief still does not remember her real face, she says to "remember it now. It'll be a long time before we meet again." As she is carried away by a monster, she tells the Chief that if they can witness the "end of human revelry" without looking away, she will be waiting at the end with all the answers.

◆ SALVA Chaos

Having been informed that the Public Security Bureau has located Suspect R, the Chief leads Hella and Hecate on a classified mission into Syndicate to suppress the riots she has incited and bring her and the other Sinners who have fled to Syndicate to justice. The Chief is shocked by the violence and chaos of Syndicate's gang warfare, and is attacked by the Gray-Haired Girl, indicating that their presence on the mission has been leaked. They are rescued by Ted, the gangster and informant for the Public Safety Bureau whom they came to meet, who shoots the girl several times. When the local precinct is captured by The Legion, the Chief decides to continue despite all odds, remembering Suspect R's words about not looking away. Their personality clashes frequently with Ted's, who comes to respect the Chief greatly for their ability to control Sinners, but whose brutality towards their enemies disturbs them. They direct their Sinners to act against Ted's interests several times, ordering Hecate to prevent Ted from murdering Laura and allowing Hella to fight for revenge against Ted's men when they abuse her. When the team begins the assault on SALVA Hospital, the Chief is disturbed to see Ted's men become infected by Mania, but Ted is proud that it will give them the power that they need. After they defeat Brand, now transformed into a powerful Corruptor, the Chief and their Sinners are knocked out by Iron's neurotoxin and taken into the Hospital. There, Iron expresses surprise that their M-Value shows no fluctuation, despite having been in contact with so many Maniacs. Seeing that the Gray-Haired Girl is being treated for her wounds in the next bed over, the Chief is terrified at the memory of her previous attempt to kill them.

They attempt to shackle Anne when she comes to treat them, but is foiled by the reappearance of Iron, who releases them and their Sinners to test their capabilities. The Chief grabs her arm to shackle her next, but is defeated when it turns out that her arm is prosthetic and thus immune to the shackles. Iron immobilizes them with her ability and brings them to the basement for emergency surgery, intending to use the shackles to control the Mania spreading through her patients. Unfortunately, it turns out that the shackles only work on Sinners, not regular Maniacs, and the mental feedback from using them on a transforming Corruptor causes the Chief to become dizzy and vomit. They ask Iron about Suspect R, and she says that she will allow them to investigate or arrest her, but only after she has woken up from SALVA's treatment. When the Gray-Haired Girl nearly transforms into a Corruptor, The Chief considers shackling her to bring her Mania under control, but Hecate discourages this, saying that she is already too far gone and the feedback will be too much to take.

When gangsters again attack the Hospital, the Chief confronts Ted, having pieced together that he is the one who leaked information about the classified mission from the Public Security Bureau and is the master who sent the Gray-Haired Girl as an assassin. Ted laments that they were not able to work together, but springs his trap nonetheless, triggering the Mania capsule in the girl's heart and sending a wave of contamination through the basement of the Hospital. The Chief follows him into the basement, where they discover Anne's notes about the DisSea Explosion; though they don't yet no anything about the phenomenon, the image of the Black Ring burns itself into their mind. They again come face to face with the Gray-Haired Girl, now at the very end of her strength but still compelled to follow Ted's orders. The Chief urges her to remember what she is hanging on to life for, and when Ted returns to torture Anne, the girl finally is able to defy his orders. She speaks for the first time, asking Anne whether it is still possible for her to be saved. She says that if she can live on, she will do whatever it takes, even siding with Ted; but if she is doomed, then she has no reason to keep obeying him.

If the Chief says that she can still be saved, she angrily retorts that she doesn't want well-meaning lies, but they insist that between the shackles and SALVA's treatment, there is still hope. Her despair fades, and the mere thought of hope begins to reduce the symptoms of her collapse; but as she reaches out to the Chief, Ted presses the button to release more Mania crystals into her body and she instantly collapses.

If the Chief says that it is too late, she turns on Ted, saying that she knows the reason he has abused her so terribly for so long is because he is afraid of her, hating Sinners but also coveting their power. Before she is able to kill him, she loses control of her powers; she asks the Chief to kill her, and they agree, but ask for her name. The girl says that she can't remember it, and then collapses.

As Anne uses her ability to delay her transformation and, refusing to accept that the girl is already dead, takes her into the SALVA basement's secret room, the Chief pursues the fleeing Ted. By the time they catch up him, he has already been lobotomized by Iron, who accuses them and the authorities they represent of having abandoned Syndicate while she stays behind to help it. Before their confrontation with Iron is complete, the sound of the approaching Legion forces them to flee.

◆ Unclaimed Crypt

The Chief uses the shackles on Hella for a third time to force her away from an exploding grenade, enraging the pursuing Ninety-Nine. Later, after being captured by Zoya and brought to the crypt, they feel the power of the Inheritance flooding out of the ground and are disgusted by the gangs, Ted, and Zoya, and everyone else trying to claim it. Zoya shrugs off their incriminations and attacks them, pinning them to the wall and threatening to crush their wrist until they shackle her. Earl explains that he wishes for The Legion to have a working relationship with the authorities and is using his ability to ensure an equal partnership, balancing the Chief's new power over Zoya with the assurance that Earl will detonate the bomb in their head if they ever use the Forbidden Force on her or if she dies for any reason. He promises to remove the ability when the mission is successfully completed, but the Chief doubts the truthfulness of this claim. They witness Zoya fight, mercilessly destroying the other gangs and executing the defeated, and observe that despite her stated desire to change Syndicate, there is no thought for the future in her demeanor, only an obsession with destroying the past.

The Chief allows themself to be captured by a Yagyu gangster, finally managing to separate themself from the Legion. Once they detect that Zoya has descended into the crypt through the shackles, they provoke their captor and are badly beaten, but successfully attract the attention and rescue of Hecate and Hella. Despite Hecate's desire to leave, contact to the MBCC and find a way to disable Earl's power, the Chief is fixated on the Inheritance's sickening waves of corruption which they can feel emerging from the ground. Realizing that Zoya wasn't tricked by the kidnapping, they resolve to continue and to meet her again at the bottom of the crypt, and they lead the two Sinners to the second elevator which the gangsters said will bring them closer to the Inheritance.

Upon finding the Inheritance, the MBCC team is attacked by Horo, but the Chief convinces her that they are working for the Legion to rescue her and that, rather than reuniting with Zoya, they should deal with the Inheritance. They realize for the first time that the Sinner they have been pursuing since SALVA was not Suspect R. When the Inheritance awakens and the gangs attack again, trying to seize it for themselves, the Chief realizes that the true master of Syndicate and the one has kept the district in chaos by arming the gangs and pitting them against each other is the mystery arms dealer who supplies them with Mania weapons, and that their entire deal with the gangsters is a trap, counting on them eventually trying to seize the Inheritance themselves. Zoya reappears and Horo, now under the control of the Inheritance, begs her to seize it for herself. Seeing her waver and able to hear through the shackles the voice of the Inheritance whispering to her, the Chief uses the Shackles to hold her in place. Although initially enraged, Zoya realizes that the Chief is the rare sort of person who truly does not desire power and is only trying to defeat it. Resolving to fight together, she destroys the sludge threatening to overwhelm them all. With Zoya out of its reach, the Inheritance instead coaxes the surviving gangsters to it, convincing them that each of them has been chosen to receive its power. When they approach, it consumes them all, finally gaining enough power to fully awaken. In a scene which the Chief refers to as familiar, the Inheritance opens and a withered hand emerges, then transforms into an enormous monster. Zoya praises the Chief's courage for fighting through their terror, then defeats the monster and traps the Inheritance in a mysterious white crystal cube.

Back on the surface, the Chief contacts the MBCC and provide an oral account of their mission. Nightingale leads a small team to retrieve them, but the Chief says that they intend to stay in Syndicate until the conclusion of negotiations over the West District Order Management Regulations and instructs Nightingale to help them look into the source of the erroneous intel about Suspect R that kicked off the Mania crisis.

◆ Keylan Square

The Chief is dismayed at the militarization of Keylan Square and Zoya's cavalier aggressiveness, realizing that they are the only party at the negotiations who has come without ulterior motives. When Zoya asks which side they would take if the negotiations break down, the Chief says that they are only on their own side. To keep the Chief away from the negotiations, the Public Security Bureau orders them to respond to reports of armed gangsters approaching Keylan Square while Zoya continues alone. Suspicious, the Chief has Hella investigate the officers in the area and identifies the PSB's plot to have other gangs attack the Square and frame the Legion in order to justify exterminating Zoya and the rest of her gang. The Chief attempts to interrogate defeated gangsters, but they are killed by the Public Security Bureau sheriffs before they can spill the truth. Unable to openly betray the authorities, the Chief allows themself to be "captured" by Earl, who is leading the Legion in rebellion to fight back against the Public Security Bureau.

Suddenly, a Mania crisis erupts in Keylan Square, and the mental feedback from Zoya cripples the Chief. When they awaken from unconsciousness, they resolve to reach the center of the Square and find Zoya, but struggles to fight while also experiencing Zoya's anguish. They are rescued by 036 and his team, who gives the Chief a Hypercube-powered Mania blocker to alleviate their mental strain. The Chief explains what they know about the PSB, Inheritance, and Zoya. 036 suspects from their account that Zoya has used the Inheritance that she sealed away to retaliate against the authorities, but the Chief insists that through the shackles he can tell that Zoya is fighting against the Inheritance. 036 chooses to believe them, and lays out their goal: kill Zoya before a Black Ring appears. The Chief refuses to accept this, but 036 explains the threat of the Black Ring and insists that the only way to stop BR-004 is to kill Zoya. Nevertheless, he is patient with the Chief's refusal to accept that and remains open to finding another resolution, if such a thing is possible through the shackles. When they reach Zoya, she mindlessly attacks them; they defeat her, but are unable to stop her from descending further into corruption. In desperation, the Chief remembers 036's words and attempts to end the crisis. If they choose to shoot Zoya, they place their gun against her forehead and see that the last spark of her identity has been extinguished, replaced by the Inheritance. Before they can pull the trigger, Earl blows the Chief away with his ability, saying that he is not worthy to kill the Legion's commander. If they choose to use the Shackles on Zoya, she attempts to strangle them to death, but the Chief resolves that they must not let go. Earl shoots Zoya's arm, separating her from the Chief, and admonishes them for their stubbornness when the shackles have already failed. Saying that saving DisCity is not worth Zoya's life, Earl offers her the Inheritance from the crypt, the contamination devours them both, and BR-004 descends.

Inside Zoya's spiritual realm, the Chief witnesses Zoya's torment by the phantoms of her past, and her consciousness's regression into a young child. They attempt to comfort her, but she passes through them like a ghost. The Chief manages to pull her out of her memories with the Shackles, but Parma appears and the Shackles activate automatically, pinning the Chief to the ground. Parma says that the shackles are protecting them and warning them not to get too close or be a hindrance to him; he then feeds young Zoya's trauma, and she evolves into the Black Ring's Corpseborne. Distraught, the Chief succumbs to the Black Ring's wish for destruction and goes Manic, brutally attacking Parma. Parma is unharmed, but the Chief hears the voice of 036 calling them back to reality, and awakens from the spiritual realm to find that in their Mania they have beaten 036 to death with their bare hands. Nevertheless, with his dying breath, 036 used his last Hypercube to free the Chief's consciousness, and they fall unconscious.

The Chief awakens in the passenger seat of an FAC armored vehicle driven by Che. They threaten him with the Shackles unless he returns them to the Statue of Keylan where Zoya is, convincing him that the Shackles are still connected to her and can be used to awaken Zoya so that she can destroy the Ring. At the top of the statue, the Chief and their Sinners battle the Corpseborne, but their attacks are ineffective against it as long as it remains within the Black Ring. The Chief is discouraged, but remembers 036's words of confidence in them. They hear the corrupted Zoya's hateful voice in their head, but also Earl's voice guiding them forward, and activate the Shackles again. At their urging, Zoya takes control of the Black Ring, breaking the Corpseborne's wards so that the Sinners can defeat it.

The Corpseborne and the Shackles attempt to devour each other, and the Chief feels a mutual yearning for an awakening between them. At the last second, Bai Yi appears and destroys the Corpseborne, allowing the Chief to absorb its essence. She does not answer any of the Chief's questions, but when she touches their chest, they feel something enter their body. Too weak to move, the Chief watches as Bai Yi takes Zoya's body and disappears.

◆ Carnival

Since the elimination of BR-004, the Chief has been locked up by the FAC and interrogated by Paradeisos about what happened during the Black Ring. Fed up with their suspicons and repetitive questioning about mysteries that they don't know the answer to, the Chief proposes that they be brought to another Black Ring so that they can look for the answers themself. The interrogator ridicules this proposal, but Langley interrupts them and takes over to bring the Chief to BR-001. They are reunited with Hella and Hecate, who are both clearly still traumatized by seeing the Chief go Manic in BR-001. An illusory false Hamel appears, and is driven back into the Black Ring.

They meet Norman near the edge of the Carnival, who tells them they will not be able to reach Hamel, then enter the Black Ring. The inside of the Ring is covered by an illusory world which recreates the last day of the Carnival and rejects humans, repeatedly forcing them back to the entrance of the park. As they struggle to find Hamel, Hella and Hecate become imprisoned by illusions of Fear and Misery. Unable to even stay within the Black Ring, much less defeat its owner, the Chief despairs.

The Chief again attempts to enter the Carnival, this time alone, but Hecate grabs their arm and begs them not to go. The Chief hugs her and tells her that it is their turn to protect her, and, for the first time ever, uses the Forbidden Force to order her to stay behind. Norman gives the Chief a locket containing a picture of Hamel, and the Chief is able to use it to focus the Shackles to lead them to the lake where Hamel waits.

The Chief attempts to Shackle her, but is surprised to find that like the false Hamels, this one is an illusion as well. The Void Puppet appears, and tells them that when the Black Ring had begun during the height of the Carnival, when the people at the Carnival were losing themselves to Mania, Hamel had appeared and started to dance, healing their pain, fear and emptiness. She has continued dancing ever since, giving the Ring's Corruptors relief from their suffering. The dark Hamel and men in black raincoats appear, leading a host of Corruptors. They spread contamination into Hamel's lake and it begins to restrict the dancer's movements. Hella and Hecate escape from their illusory prisons and defeat the attackers. As the illusory Hamel fades away from contamination, the Chief dances with her and convinces her that the time has come to end the illusory world and let everyone in the Black Ring face reality.

With its power unrestrained, the Corpus devours the Chief. They experience visions of many people from their past attempting to exploit their fears or regrets, but the Chief shrugs off the illusions' tricks and is able to use the Shackles to drag the Corpus back to reality. Before they can destroy it, it is rescued by Parma, who asks the Chief what happened at the top of the Statue of Keylan and who destroyed BR-001. They fight, and when Parma is touched by the Shackles, he realizes the answers to his questions. He tells the Chief that they have earned their "eligibility" and that he will stop standing in their way, "maybe for a long time to come." The MBCC team makes its way to the Corpus's main body at the Carnival's Ferris wheel, where the Chief is devoured by the Corpus again. They are nearly absorbed by the Corpus, but they hear Hamel's voice reminding them that they are not alone, and pulled to safety by Hella and Hecate. They then pluck out the core of the Corpus and absorb its essence, ending the Black Ring.

The Chief speaks with a captain from the FAC, who thanks them for their service in protecting DisCity. He says that it is the FAC's job to remain art and wary of their unknown power, but that they will not again cross the boundaries that they did after BR-001. Langley, over the phone, informs them that the MBCC is being transferred to the leadership of the 9th Agency, making her the Chief's direct supervisor. Nightingale reports that, to their surprise, they have found no other survivors nor Corruptors since the disappearance of the Ring. The Chief realizes that this can only be because of Hamel, and returns to the lake where the illusory Hamel danced. At the bottom of the lake, they find the real Hamel entangled in 23 years worth of contamination, along with the tens of thousands of Corruptors who had been lost to the Black Ring. They Shackle her, but she does not want to go so long as the Corruptors, her audience, still need her, and her illusory world again forces the Chief away. As they are pushed from the lake, they promise to come back some day and give her a stage where she can dance for herself.

◆ Drifter Camp

Six months after BR-004, the Chief's physical condition has still not fully recovered from their encounters with the two Black Rings, and has taken an abnormal turn for the worse in the last month. Nevertheless, they go back to Keylan Square following reports that residual contamination has spiked in the remains of the Black Ring, but readily confirm that the Ring's Corpus cannot have returned. They pick up a freshly crystallized Hypercube Monomer and keep it, remembering 036's sacrifice. They encounter a small group of Corruptors and defeat them, rendezvousing with Hella and Hecate to do so, and in the process determine that these monsters were born from a different source of contamination than BR-004. They suddenly witness a vision of a fiery path winding through the city between Keylan Square and DisSea.

Following a lead from Agent Rust, the Chief heads to Drifter Camp. They are caught up in a conflict between Rustfire and a group of gangsters, and despite seeking an opportunity to earn the drifters' trust, they are treated as an enemy by Rustfire, who kill the Executive Officer that had accompanied the Chief to the region. In order to prevent their capture, Agent Rust appears to execute the Chief by shooting them in the back of the head, which allows them to infiltrate Drifter Camp via its funeral home, Romanesque Hall. Despite an initial altercation with Dudu, Hecate and K.K. come to their defense, and Dudu provides them with a cover story that they are a wealthy investor from Outland. The Chief asks Oak Casket for help tracking the monster that they followed from Keylan Square, but she is unable to assist.

Dudu leads the Chief to Drifter Camp's Central Plaza, where they witness the Drifter Camp's uniquely tight-knit, diverse, and positive community. She then brings them to continue investigating the spread of Mania. The Chief discovers that Drifter Camp has been enveloped in a mental contamination field and that the monster causing it is capable of deliberately hiding itself. Donald uses this discovery as a pretext to attack Drifter Camp, and the Chief authorizes Hella and Hecate to help Rustfire fight against them. When Donald gives a half-hour ultimatum to evacuate Drifter Camp, Taran holds the Chief hostage, to no avail. At this, the Chief realizes that it is only Taran, not his superiors, who want them dead, and appeals to Julien through Taran's radio to be given a chance to show where they stand. Along with their Sinners, they defeat Donald and are acknowledged as friends by Julien.

Julien declares that he is willing to provide any assistance he can to the Chief's investigation of Mania in the camp. He directs the Chief toward the site where, ten days prior, Executive Officer spies had mutated into Corruptors and stays behind to operate the camp's mechanisms as support. There, they discover a raincoat like that worn by Parma. All over Drifter Camp, black flames and Mania outbreaks suddenly erupt. They follow the Shackles to find K.K. and, unexpectedly, Che, who is badly wounded and suffering from contamination. The Chief treats him but declines to Shackle him, saying that they owe Che from the events of BR-004. K.K. relates their encounter with Parma, which forces the Chief to conclude that Drifter Camp is in imminent risk of becoming a Black Ring. Following Che's advice, they find the den where the Corpus has been hiding, and discover that its invisible contamination has already spread all throughout Drifter Camp, and hear its voice proclaiming that soon it will come back to life.

The MBCC team returns to Romanesque Hall to ask for Oak Casket's help, and after some convincing, she agrees to let the Chief use the Shackles through her to communicate with the voices of those who had been killed by the Corpus in the past. From them, the Chief learns that Drifter Camp's history is entwined with the appearance of BR-002, and that the monster they have been chasing is its Corpus, which was somehow cut in half and now is trying to restore its broken Black Ring. Oak Casket shows them an illusion wherein they are dead, and powerless as a Black Ring erupts and Hella and Hecate are killed. When the Chief finally awakes, she explains that true death is powerlessness, and that if the Chief intends to be so reckless and willing to face it, they should truly understand what death is like.

The Chief returns to the upper levels of Drifter Camp, where the Corpus turns its people against them by whispering into their minds that they, along with Rustfire, are the ones who brought the contamination. They fight their way to Julien's office, and take over broadcasting into the Camp. They express their intent to defend Drifter Camp and those who chose to stay, but the Mania-afflicted populace see them as an enemy. Changing tactics, the Chief realizes that in order to compete with Parma's ability to exploit the fear in crowds, they need to attack another weakness in people's hearts: the desire for a strong leader. They lie to the crowd and announce that Zoya is coming to save them, causing them to shift their attention away from the spiral of fear that the Corpus needs to ascend. They goad the monster, and it finally shows itself and attacks. The Chief attempts to devour it, but when they make contact, their Shackles mysteriously turn blue and rebound against them; unbeknownst to them, this is an activation of the Rules inside their body preventing it from consuming more than a certain number of Corpuses. The monster says that it was almost killed before by another person who possessed Shackles like theirs before throwing the Chief from Julien's office to the bottom of Drifter Camp. The Chief apparently dies on impact with the ground.

The Chief sees Oak Casket again and makes a deal with her. In exchange for being able to return, the Chief pledges their life and death to her, so that Oak can see a better death from them in the future. With her help, the Chief finally defeats the Corpseborne. The Shackles rip its body to pieces, but unlike in previous battles with a Great Existence, nothing enters their body. Carried by Hella, they return to Julien's office, where he hails them as the new Zoya who can lead Syndicate to the battlefield and promises to tell them everything about BR-002.

◆ Oblivion Depth

Raven's propaganda promoting the Chief as the hero of Rustfire frustrates them, and they confront Julien with a demand to be given the answers that he promised at the end of the Drifter Camp crisis. They take Julien's letter to shelter W-31, where they read about the history of BR-002 and meet Raven. From there, Raven brings them and a team of Rustfire fighters to mine W-31, the site of the Black Ring. Before reaching the base, they are forced to turn back by a pool of contamination rising out of the Corpus at its bottom, evidence that the other half of the Corpseborne is still feeding on people in Syndicate. Rustfire urges the Chief to continue, going so far as to offer their own Hypercubes so they can push further. Raven also reveals that Julien had stayed behind as bait to distract the Executive Committee, which is already attacking Drifter Camp again. The Chief refuses to allow such sacrifices to be made, and forces the group to go back to shelter W-31.

The Chief proposes two options: have the FAC take over assisting with the neutralization of BR-002, or shift focus back to the Corpseborne in Syndicate while tricking the authorities into believing that the Executive Committee must assist with its destruction in order to protect Eastside, which would buy time for Drifter Camp's survival. Raven and Julien view the first option as a betrayal of Rustfire, but agree to the second. The Chief agrees to leave Hella and Hecate with Raven, Shackling her for insurance, and also asks Crache to protect them.

Back on the surface, the Chief successfully convinces the Executive Committee to assist them and saves a group of refugees, the Underground Shepherd among them, from a maniac gangster. They, along with a group of Executive Officers, track the Corpseborne to a secret Executive Committee detention in Syndicate. They battle the monster, and when the Shackles make contact with it, they bridge space to connect with the Corpseborne's other half at the bottom of BR-002. Hearing Hella and Hecate above, the Chief uses the Shackles to break through the contamination separating them from its main body. With Hecate's help, they destroy the lower body, severing their link. The Chief attempts to devour the upper body but is again stopped by the Rules, which rebound on their consciousness with dire consequences. As the Corpseborne flees, the Chief tells it that they have made a permanent mark that will allow them to find it anywhere it goes, so it can never hide again. Taran appears to rescue them, but as the Chief's consciousness fades, a battle suddenly erupts between him and unknown enemies, all fighting to take the Chief away. Something strikes them in the chaos, and they go black.

Taran returns the Chief's comatose body to Drifter Camp. Though alive, having been barely saved thanks to Raven's poetry book, Julien decides to make the Chief into a martyr for Rustfire's cause. As the Ten Days of Rustfire sweep through Syndicate, the Chief's body is enshrined in Drifter Camp, where anybody who touches it is granted Sinner-like powers by the wildly out-of-control Shackles.

With Syndicate spiraling deeper into chaos and violence as a result of the rebellion, Crache and Raven infiltrate Drifter Camp to take the Chief's body away. In the ensuing battle, Raven sacrifices herself to send the Chief off to an unknown destination.

◆ Towering Black

The Chief's body lies in Romanesque Hall at the bottom of Drifter Camp, now the epicenter of BR-002. With their Shackles directly connected to the Corpus, which is now fused with Julien, the Chief witnesses Julien's memories. They find that they can interact with the world around them, but are unable to touch Julien. Julien's home is attacked by gangsters on his 11th birthday, but he is quickly rescued by Donald. Years later, Julien and Donald are both young adults and valued members of Rustfire. The Chief witnesses the day that Donald, with Julien's help, secured mine W-31 for West District, the immediate collapse of Rustfire after the descent of BR-002, and Julien's resolution to build Drifter Camp as a sanctuary for Rustfire until a "true leader" arrives. As Julien's recollections approach the present and the Corpus gains control over their fused existence, the spiritual realm begins to collapse. Julien, powerless to stop Rustfire's descent into insanity, accepts the Underground Shepherd's offer and gives birth to BR-002. At the end of his memories, the Chief passes through a door where they find Julien sitting in his wheelchair at the edge of a precipice, but he vanishes as the space is overwhelmed by Mania and voices from the outside world. At long last, aided by Hecate and the White Cube given to her by Bai Yi, the Chief wakes up.

They find Donald at the end of his strength, having just been defeated by the Corpus. The Chief tries to reassure him that he has done his best, and that none of them had the power to avert this destiny for Syndicate which millions had been heading toward for so many years, but when Donald refuses to give up, they remark that this is still far from the end. Back at the refugee base, Hecate and the Chief tearily reunite, each apologizing for their failure to help the other and to protect Hella. The Chief promises that they will stop at nothing to defeat the Black Ring and cleanse the Shackles that are tormenting them. The Chief and Donald return to the Black Ring, but the Chief is still weak and requires Donald to carry them. They realizes that the Ring's monsters are not concerned with their presence, instead focusing on the Underground Shepherd who is slowly fighting her way to the top of the tower. They race against time, but are intercepted by Rahu and her Schorl. Donald battles Rahu to protect the Chief and in the resulting skirmish, the Chief is able to touch Rahu's bare arm and Shackle her. The fight is interrupted by EDGE-01, who takes over the Schorl's communication channel and orders Rahu to stand down, as their conflict is only benefitting the Underground.

01 offers the Chief a choice: Paradeisos can either attempt to stop BR-002 by executing a Purge Order, or by channeling the Rules through the Shackles to annihilate both the Ring's Corpus and the Chief at the same time. The Chief is suspicious that Paradeisos would let them choose and disgusted by the emotional blackmail at play, but 01 explains that he is doing it this way because he believes that the Chief is a genuinely moral person and will choose to sacrifice themself rather than allow the Purge Order to be carried out. 01 confesses that if it were up to him, he would choose the Purge Order because he believes that the Chief's survival is of paramount importance, but that if Paradeisos unilaterally chose that end, then the Chief would never willingly work with them again anyway. Donald pulls the Chief away before they can be forced to give an answer, but the Schorl follows them regardless. Donald is worn down by the Ring over time; unable to continue further, he sends the Chief away while he stays behind to hold off the contaminants. They use their Shackles to order Donald not to sacrifice his life for them, but Donald cheekily promises he was never planning to do that anyway.

Without Donald's protection, the Chief succumbs to the Ring's mental pressure. Unconscious, their mind connects to the fragment of Shalom's personality anchored within BR-002. The Chief feels only a vague familiarity with her, so Shalom explains her position and offers to provide her services as a problem solver and plan maker. Shalom tries to convince them to inherit Rustfire's wish, devour the Corpus, and use its strength to defeat the Underground Shepherd as well as rebelling against Paradeisos. However, the Chief insists as always that are not equipped to take on other people's desires, and suggests an alternate course of action. The Chief wakes up and finds that they are being carried on by Taran, now a Corruptor, but still driven by his old desire to bring the Chief back to Julien. The Chief and Schorl confront the arrogant Corpus and are able to restrain it with the Rules by firing through the Chief's Shackles; the Chief themself is protected by the White Cube given to them by Hecate. They reveal their plan: to empower the long-downtrodden but always resilient masses of Syndicate to take control of the Black Ring draws all its power from their minds. The Chief correctly surmised that the people remaining in Syndicate were not the violent chaos-lovers (who had been annihilated and subsumed into the Ring's first appearance during the Ten Days of Rustfire) or the weak and fearful (who had fled the District since the beginning of the crisis), but rather the survivors who were determined to persist throughout everything. These survivors turn their will to live and to see a better future against the Corpus, shredding its protections and dissolving the Black Ring entirely.

The next morning, the Chief and Hecate catch Hella as she tries to sneak away. To her shock, they hug her and support her decision to leave. Later, the Chief accompanies Langley to finally meet the power-brokers of Paradeisos: EDGE-01, 02 and 03.

◆ Events

◆ Raging Sands

After the FAC defeats a group of WhiteSands bandits, the Chief is given a mysterious crystal that they seemingly used to control the Tide of Ashes. The MBCC studies the Ash Crystal, but is unable to determine any special properties in it. They are dispatched to WhiteSands to investigate the source of the bandits' power. After driving off a bandit attack, the Chief determines that they should pursue them into the Tide of Ashes despite the warnings of their navigator, Kawa-kawa. They're able to catch up, but the bandit leader uses an Ash Crystal to control the sandworms and keep the MBCC team at bay until the Tide of Ashes reaches them. Kawa-kawa uses his beacons to create a shield from the sandstorm, rescuing Hella and Hecate, but the Chief is swept away by the storm.

In the depths of the sandstorm the Chief is surrounded by Apostles of Ash. The monstrous figures initially pay them little attention, but they are triggered by the appearance of a sand ship, whose crew have been turned into Corruptors and attack the Chief. They are rescued by the sudden appearance of Stargazer, who is able to navigate through the storm without Hypercubes, and brings them to a distant shelter where they are reunited with Hella and Hecate. Bandits again summon the Tide of Ashes to attack the shelter, leading the Chief to argue with Guillotin about whether to rescue its inhabitants. Against his orders, they give Stargazer the dead Ash Crystal, and she uses it to quell the sandstorm. They track down the last of the bandits, and recover their Ash Crystal. They interrogate the remaining bandits, and learn the Ash Crystals were obtained from a creature called the Dreamflower, which is the source of the Tide of Ashes; they resolve to destroy it and end the sandstorm for good.

When the Chief gives Stargazer both Crystals to again quell the storm, Stargazer instead intensifies the Tide and flees with the Ash Crystals. The Chief pursues her into the sandstorm, and is able to avoid the danger posed by Apostles of Ash by controlling their fear of the monsters. They follow Stargazer to an ancient, ruined palace with murals depicting humans worshipping the Dreamflower and remains of a research base that experimented on the Dreamflower. Stargazer reveals that the Ash Crystals were the Dreamflower's three hearts, which it gave to humans to learn more about humanity. With all its crystals returned, it concludes that mankind isn't worthy of it, and summons the Tide of Ashes to destroy DisCity. After defeating it in battle, the Chief enters its spiritual realm and convinces it that Stargazer has not given up on humanity. The Dreamflower departs for the "Realm of Truth" from whence it came, and the Tide of Ashes returns to its usual, lesser intensity.

◆ Dreamy Bubble

The Chief receives notice from the 9th Agency that Langley recommended them for an investigation into the “Sleepwalker sickness”, a strange affliction causing people in Eastside to fall into a supernatural sleep and vomit up spiritual contamination. Curious why Langley would take interest in a small-scale case like this, the Chief agrees to join the mission. The 9th Agency puts them in contact with Doyle at a lavish Eastside nightclub called the Midsummer's Night Club, where they briefly encounter Serpent working as an entertainer. The Chief finds Doyle drunk in an alley outside the club, where several patients are vomiting the black goo characteristic of Sleepwalker sickness. After defeating the Sleepwalkers, the Chief brings Doyle back to his office. There, they interrogate Gandall, a doctor who has both treated and suffered from Sleepwalker sickness; he reveals that he was afflicted with the sickness after drinking a substance called Ambrosia.

The Chief and Doyle are waylaid in the street by Sleepwalkers created by Roulecca. The Chief finds Roulecca in a nearby bar and attempts to wake her from her sleep, but is unsuccessful, even with the Shackles. Mess appears and mocks their efforts, then pours the glass of Ambrosia containing Roulecca’s consciousness down the Chief’s throat, sending them into her dream. Dealing with a childish Roulecca, who is reliving a dream of her happy childhood before her family's deaths, the Chief makes her promise to grant a wish if they are able to beat her at a game. Their wish for her to wake up has no effect, as the happy dream rooted itself so deeply in her consciousness that she no longer remembered that she was asleep. Nevertheless, they ultimately force Roulecca to remember her past by threatening her family again, and thus break the Ambrosia's hold on her.

The next day, the Chief wakes up at Doyle's office. Doyle enters, having acquired a sample of Ambrosia. He tells the chief about the Marv case, which he handled years earlier until it was taken and censored by the FAC. Realizing that the following Mania conflict could ruin Doyle's life, the Chief contacts the 9th Agency and has them divert him from the investigation. The Chief sets a trap for Mess, but she quickly sees through the ruse and is able to separate the Chief from the 9th Agency. However, the Chief deploys Ambrosia gas to trap them both in Mess's dream, which takes the form of the fantasy game from her childhood, with her in the role of the smith who forges the Holy Sword needed to defeat the Dreadlord. The Chief finds her inner world to be stuck in a loop, where the Hero defeats the Dreadlord again and again, only for the game to restart every time. The Chief breaks the cycle by breaking the script of the game, smashing the Holy Sword repeatedly until Mess runs out of materials with which to forge it, and then showing her that the dream Dreadlord is weak enough to be defeated with just their bare hands. However, before she wakes up, Serpent appears in the dream and takes Mess away.

Doyle suddenly goes missing, and the Chief and the 9th Agency hurriedly organize a raid on the Midsummer Night's Club; however, before they can execute the plan, a Mania crisis breaks out at the club as Ambrosia gas is pumped through the building, putting everyone inside to sleep. The Chief enters Eirene's dream, believing Serpent to be hiding inside it; they are unable to defeat Eirene, but she allows them to continue searching anyway after fully testing their capabilities. From there they enter Doyle's dream, where they are again unable to convince him that his idyllic home life does not exist.

In the center of the Realm of Dreams, the Chief confronts Serpent. She argues with them about why they want to stop her plans, truly believing that her actions are bringing happiness to people who can't find it in a world full of suffering. Despite their opposition to each other, however, Serpent defends the Chief when they are attacked by Marv, revealing that it is the true monstrous source of her Ambrosia. Their ideological battle is tipped in the Chief's favor when Doyle willingly leaves his Ambrosia-induced dream, proving that not everybody wants the false happiness that Serpent is trying to force on them. Doyle keeps Serpent restrained, making her powerless to stop the Chief as they return to battle Marv and destroy the realm of dreams that it created.

◆ Night of Wonders

The Chief receives tickets to the Belphegor Art Museum's Witching Hour exhibition as a gift from Faye, and are there when the event becomes a Mania crisis, trapping the guests inside. They spend several hours fighting off monsters on their own and pursuing the source of the mutation, which eventually leads them find to Enfer, the artist who created the exhibit, at the Gate of Hell. They suspect her of being responsible for the crisis, but she denies it, saying she would never do anything that harms her own work. Not believing her, they use the shackles, and are surprised to learn that although Enfer is a Sinner, she is even weaker than B-Class. Enfer agrees to help them end the crisis, since it is twisting her precious creations and it is her responsibility to stop them.

Enfer's Gate of Hell evokes the Chief's worst fear: it produces a dark version of themself, that uses the shackles as a weapon and demands that others surrender to their power. Overcome by fear, the Chief is unable to fight it, but the arrival of Hella, Hecate, EMP, Labyrinth, and Lisa give them the courage to stand up and stop it from hurting the Sinners.

When they approach Sosia, the sculpture stares at Enfer and immediately turns her into plaster. The Chief tries to undo the transformation with the shackles, but the ability causes her body to shatter. As Sosia consumes Enfer and begins to spread the Witching Hour to the rest of the city, the Chief forces it to witness Enfer's own deepest fear in a shard of the Gate of Hell. This weakens Sosia enough that they are able to rally the Sinners' courage and defeat her, freeing Enfer from within and ending the Witching Hour.

◆ Beyond DisCars

After a wave from the Tide of Ashes is beaten back, an Apostle of Ash escapes into DisCity. The Chief tracks it down, and finds it acting as a pet to OwO, who names it Stella. In order to monitor the Apostle, the Chief agrees to help OwO achieve her dream of making a movie and winning an award at the DisCars award ceremony in Eastside's Dillywood. The MBCC provides funding and equipment, and they establish My Best Cool Car Studios. The Chief struggles to convince OwO of Stella's dangerousness, so they try to persuade her by writing a script for a movie titled "Super Lion vs Starzilla". OwO plays a superhero who defeats a giant monster, then finds it as a small injured animal and befriends it. The monster eventually attacks again, and in the Chief's script, Super Lion vanquishes it for once and for all -- but OwO objects, and insists that the story should end with Super Lion convincing Starzilla to remain friends and help them protect the city.

While the rest of the crew goes to Dillywood to recruit a director, the Chief meets with the dean of the DisCity Film Academy and head of the DisCars award ceremony. The dean is in a panic over the Chief's presence there, and begs them not to cancel the event, despite the risk of a Mania crisis. The Chief returns to OwO and the others, and finds that they have recruited Deren to be their director, though she does not divulge her real identity and the Chief is immediately suspicious of her listless, shifty attitude.

After OwO learns that Goldionville has been destroyed and dissolves the studio, the Chief sits with her while she cries. They make her an offer: her dream of making a movie that will be seen around the world may be gone, but they can still finish their film and bring Stella home. They enter the Apostle's realm of fantasy, and the Chief holds off the monsters while OwO charges ahead deeper with Stella.

In the aftermath, the Chief has a final conversation with Deren where she gives them her collected footage. OwO agrees to go back to the MBCC. However, she soon receives a letter from the Goldionvillians saying that they saw and loved her movie. OwO escapes from custody to go meet them, promising to return.

◆ Dragon and Isle of Sky

The Chief receives a magical invitation from Etti that pulls them into Aesthia, a spiritual realm that resembles a medieval fantasy world. There they are instructed by Etti, acting as the game master, to act as the game's hero and defeat the Ice Plague overtaking the world. The Chief clears the game, defeating the final boss Cyrus. At this, Etti appears and reveals that Cyrus had previously been a person in the real world, and was transformed into an NPC after playing the game. As a "reward" for completing the game, Etti begins to transform the Chief into an NPC as well, saying that they will be the new Cyrus. Before this transfiguration is complete, Etti is stabbed by the NPC Tetya, interrupting the process. The Chief is returned to the beginning of the game instead, but the scenario has changed so that the Ice Plague is much more advanced.

In the course of two more playthroughs of the game, the Chief reveals that Aesthia originated from a game that Etti's grandfather used to play with her. The Ice Plague is a representation of Etti's advancing state of Mania, which are damaging her memories of her grandfather and their game as she slowly goes insane. The Chief ultimately defeats Etti and Shackles her, allowing them to return to the real world.

◆ Eternal Nightmare - Illusory Moon Rising

While in a coma and directly connected to BR-002, the Chief's wandering consciousness is pulled towards the singularity in the DisSea created by Dreya. She seems to recognize the Chief as the expedition's guide, and both of them believe that the other is the key to finding their way to safety when they get lost in the DisSea. Several times, Dreya gives them a blue crystal flower that allows them to safely find the Keylan expedition's old basecamp, and the stele that stands there. Although neither of them initially remember their own names, through interacting the Chief is able to remember who they are, and at that point regains the power of the Shackles.

Voices speak to the Chief through the Phantom Moon, demeaning humans as insignificant creatures, unable to understand the "ultimate truth". The Chief retorts that if that were true, it would not have taken such interest in Dreya; they use the Shackles to break Dreya free of its control. The apparition thanks them, but says that they don't belong in DisSea, and the Chief's consciousness disappears.

◆ Phantom of the Mist

With Mania incidents appearing more frequently in Eastside, the City Council orders the FAC to activate Blue Rain across Eastside. While it succeeds at bringing the city's M-Value under control, strange thick fog began to appear throughout the city. The Chief is dispatched to Sloane Street in Eastside to investigate, but they are quickly attacked by Mad Shears, the mysterious subject of a long-standing urban legend on DisMyth. The Shackles break the shears' blades into two, but at the same time they cut through the Shackles and sever the Chief's memories of their identity.

They wake up in Adela's unfamiliar apartment, and soon venture out into the surrounding streets, where townsfolk are preyed upon by monsters made of human hair that hide in the dense fog. They unwittingly stumble into the same alley where they were attacked the night before, and Mad Shears appears again. She accuses the Chief of stealing her shears, and the Chief instinctively attempts to fend them off with the Shackles, but nothing happens when they raise their hand. The Chief is rescued by Letta, whose lantern leads them to safety in Adela's salon.

The next day, the Chief investigates the fog and discovers that it prays upon the worries of Adela's neighbors in Sloane street. They also find Letta again, and beat her in a game to get information about Mad Shears. After talking with Adela again, the Chief confronts and defeats Mad Shears, but to their surprise, she is revealed to be an ordinary woman controlled by one-half of the cursed shears. The shears make the Chief hallucinate hair growing from every surface in the town, and compel them to retrieve the other half of the shears as well; with only one blade, the shears can only bring worries to life by making hair monsters, but with both blades they can cut off the worries completely. Before the Chief can pick up the other blade, Adela appears and apologizes for making them carry that burden. She reveals that the shears are hers, and were lost during her battle with the Chief two nights before. She reunites the blades, and becomes Mad Shears again.

The Chief finds that all of the townsfolk they interacted with before have had their worries severed, leaving them shells of their former selves. They confront Adela at her salon, and she defeats them again. However, before she can complete the victory, Nightingale, Hella, and Hecate arrive at the head of a FAC task force. Their appearance draws the attention of the town, and the people of Sloane Street realize that Adela is the true identity of Mad Shears. Adela flees, and the Chief rushes back to her apartment, but is too slow to catch her. They find only a monster made of Adela's hair, cut off from her severed worry that she didn't want to have to leave.

◆ Insatiable Fiesta

The Chief is hired by Cabernet Franc to investigate a party whose host has stolen some "treasures" from her; they agree because it is being held at Ogygia Villa, the home of an organization called the "Thaumas Society" which the MBCC suspects to be harboring Sinners. Unable to bring Hella and Hecate because the girls are underage, the Chief recruits Macchiato and Kelvin for the job instead. At the party, the Chief accompanies Cabernet, much to the envy of the other attendees.

At the soup course, the chef McGrath takes offense to the Chief's reluctance to eat. The Chief tries to eat the soup to calm her, but Cabernet stops them. McGrath announces that the next course will be served on the floor below, but that spaces are limited. The guests mob the elevator, cramming people inside. The Chief is pressed against the wall next to Lamia, who tries in vain to convince people that the lower floor is a trap. On level B1, it is quickly made clear that the guests have been misled. McGrath reveals that this party is a gauntlet to tempt the guests and test their "worthiness" to dine with Cabernet; her intent is that Cabernet will be the only one to make it to the bottom floor.

The guests are picked off one by one and their fear spreads Mania through the villa. Macchiato has been missing since before the soup was served, and Kelvin is transformed as McGrath springs a trap that forces her to kill a Corruptor. Before long, they and Cabernet are the only guests remaining on the floor, and the Chief realizes that in order for one of them to continue, the other will have to be eliminated. McGrath appears and confronts them, trying to eliminate the Chief. Cabernet chastizes her, and McGrath is tricked into lashing out in anger and eliminating her. The Chief continues alone to the bottom floor.

The Chief encounters a monstrous mermaid, radiating Mania, and McGrath reveals that it is Cabernet's treasured missing ingredient. McGrath assaults them, and the Chief fights back by stabbing her in the hand. Unable to cook from the wound, McGrath despairs and feeds herself to the mermaid. Her blood awakens it and the mermaid attacks. As soon as the Chief defeats it, its body splits apart into the forms of Carley and Greg, also freeing the guests transformed into food. Cabernet appears and reveals that she is a Sinner; she is enamored with the purity of the Chief's soul, and restrains them to the table. She takes a single bite out of the Chief's soul, and then she leaves, saying that she wants to see them continue to ripen before indulging further.

◆ Eternal Nightmare - Hunting Shade

While still comatose and connected to BR-002, the Chief hears the voices of mutant bug apostles dragging them back into the Eternal Nightmare. They find themselves in a dense forest surrounded by insects, where they again meet Dreya. However, Dreya appears totally uncontaminated and does not recognize the Chief. They realize that she is merely a part of the dream when their Shackles pass through her, and they are attacked by a heavily corrupted insectoid Sinner who perceives them as a danger to Dreya. Mantis relents when she notices the Chief's earring, and begins to believe that they are the Keylan Expedition's guide. Her contaminated form fades, and she appears to be a normal human.

When the three of them are saved from another bug attack by a rescue team, the other expedition members all perceive the Chief as a child. They eavesdrop as Mantis tells the team her theories about Apostles’ human origin, and try to comfort her after they object to her ambition of learning to communicate with the insects. When the bugs attack again and abduct many of their number, Mantis urges the Chief to take the survivors back to the Realm Stele at base camp while she rescues those who were taken. Mantis transforms back into her corrupted form and chases the insects into the forest. The Chief does so, but upon their reaching the Realm Stele and interacting with the memory of Keylan, Mantis's will which has protected them from the Nightmare vanishes. The Phantom Moon appears in the sky as the Nightmare Space reveals its true form, and the Chief, driven by the moon's manic influence, runs from the camp to find and bring back Mantis.

In the insects' nest, the Chief is attacked by the Mantis Queen, who has taken on a form resembling Mantis. It easily overpowers them and gloats about having become strong by taking so many "companions", including Mantis. The Chief rebuts that the insects still don't understand humanity, and that the purpose of companionship is not just to become stronger, but to support each other even when weak. Mantis awakens as a Sinner and breaks free from the Apostle's control. She grows wings to carry the Chief back to the Realm Stele, but is corrupted into an insectoid form and can no longer understand the Chief's words. The Chief remembers Mantis's belief that humans could learn to communicate with Apostles, and hopes to one day find a way to understand her.

◆ Velvety Susurration

After attending a conference with the Public Security Bureau in Eastside, the Chief intends to spend the night at a hotel, but is unable to find their booking because their comms terminal has mysteriously died. While trying to contact Nightingale, the Chief learns about a rumor that a radio program called Call at 3 A.M. is the source of "ghost calls" that have caused a number of people in Eastside to go missing. They soon become trapped in a payphone booth, and by picking up the ringing receiver, are transported to an illusory world where people's heads are replaced by objects. Passerby in this world see the Chief as "weird" and attack them, chanting lines delivered by a voice on the radio and wanting to make the Chief "transform" to be just like them. They are saved by Nino, who instructs them to chant along and repeat everything the radio says. The two of them escape, but a phone rings near their hiding place and the voice from the radio tells them that it too hates this world, and that if they can find the voice missing from it, it will let them go.

At a record store, the Chief finds Eleven, who also has not transformed, but has mysteriously lost her voice. The Chief helps Eleven regain her voice by refusing to submit to others demands of her, and as she speaks, the fake world begins to collapse. However, the change only creates a second world, where the transformed inhabitants are less aggressive but more downtrodden and obsessed with being “perfect products” at work. At the tv station where Eleven used to work, she is quickly brainwashed just like all the other inhabitants of this world. The Chief finds that the station is manned by numerous phantom duplicates of Eleven, which force them to use the Shackles to escape. The Chief reminds her of the dream that she had when she decided to become a radio host and her desire to speak to people’s hearts. The second world begins to collapse as well, as Eleven resolves to seek out the kind of voices that she wants to hear.

A third and final world forms, where Eleven’s voice is all-powerful. She demands that the Chief continue talking to her and validating her feelings, but to her shock, the Chief refuses to do so. They tell her that she must learn to accept both the good and the bad in the world, and Eleven finally remembers the words said to her by the radio host that she once admired. Although she is easily trampled by the voices of others and her optimism and idealism are easily overwhelmed by malice, Eleven resolved to persist in beliefs even in the face of adversity.

Back in the real world, Eleven and the Chief have a final conversation over the phone. The Chief informs her that they are the head of the MBCC, and swears to find her. Eleven says that this talk will be the final Call at 3AM and says goodbye. Later, the Chief learns that the people who had received Ghost Calls have reappeared, and that memories of Call at 3AM are fading away.

◆ Toybox Terror

When Pepper goes missing, the Chief questions an old scavenger in the Rust, secretly a disguised Underground agent, to track her down to the abandoned Buonanotte Toy Factory. As the clock strikes midnight, they hear Pepper’s voice telling them to run, but too late, and the Chief is transformed into a cotton doll. They find that Pepper has also been transformed into wooden toy sheep. She explains that anybody who enters the factory after midnight becomes a toy, and over the next few days they slowly lose their human consciousness, becoming inanimate thralls who awaken at night to work in the factory. They attempt to escape, but are attacked by Bass, who throws Pepper out of the factory. Before the Chief can follow, they are grabbed by Oliver.

Oliver explains that leaving the factory won't turn the toys back to normal; instead, it only ends the power animating their bodies. Oliver expresses envious disgust for the love that Eve receives from her "family", and reveals that they want the Chief to fight Eve so that Oliver will have a chance to escape the factory. Oliver retrieves Benna as well, but Eve soon appears and psychically blasts Oliver as punishment for taking too long. The Chief offers to give Eve her family members in exchange for freeing them and Pepper from her curse. Eve replies that she doesn't know how to do that and quickly becomes angry, asserting that she has made it clear that everyone should stay away, and that she isn't responsible for what happens if people decide to intrude upon her home. She furiously begins to speed up the toyification process, but the Chief desperately releases the Shackles and is pulled into a spiritual realm belonging to the toys in Eve's family.

Back in reality, the Chief realizes that Eve's family are not people transformed into toys, but toys given human identities, and that they want the Chief to take Eve away and give her a better life. The Chief gathers Bone and Polly, but they are betrayed by Oliver, who is sickened by the family's sweet feelings. On the verge of losing their human consciousness and severely damaged by many battles, the Chief barely manages to recruit Maresa. They are rescued by Eureka, who had also found Pepper and returned her to human form. They plan to fight Eve again and stretch her power to its limit, draining her of the energy needed to keep her transformations intact. However, no sooner do they make the plan than another breakdown occurs and the Chief -- along with all the other transfigured humans in the factory -- returns to normal. As the trapped people begin to panic, the Chief realizes that the Underground's true objective must have been to harness Eve's powerful wish along with the mass hysteria of the many people she had transformed over the years. They find Eve being consumed by a swarm of toys animated by a Mania monster. The Chief reminds her of the memories that they saw and tells her that although her wish is to stay in the factory forever with her family, the toys instead wish for Eve to leave and move forward without them. Eve at first seems convinced, thanks the Chief for offering her such a bright future, and apologizes for all the hurt she has caused. However, she then reveals that she has been to the outside world, and has seen that all the bright possibilities people promised her did not really exist. Eve states that even though her family lied to her about the wonderful things outside the factory, she prefers the company of liars to the harsh reality she has seen. Eve sets fire to the warehouse and tells the Chief that if she disappears, the crisis will pass and everybody else will be able to go back to their lives, while she will finally, truly be reunited with her family. She wheels herself into the flames and the factory collapses around her.

◆ Quixotic Troupe

On New Years Eve, Ignis, Luvia Ray and the Chief plan a way to spend their vacation time outside the Bureau. Luvia suggests they attend the once-a-year performance at Fortuna Theater, an immersive theatrical show. After Lady Pearl introduces the show, the lights go dark; when they come back on, the entire theater has been transformed into a prison set, with the audience scattered and trapped in individual cages. When their cages open for the prison break plot, the Chief is amazed by how quickly many of the audience have started to integrate into the show, and is quickly reunited with Ignis. To their surprise, they find that the actress playing the lead is Luvia Ray, whose performance stands out as notably worse than the other professionals -- nevertheless, Luvia whispers to them that Lady Pearl had approached her and personally asked her to take the role. Seeing that Luvia is having so much fun, the Chief decides to play along.

In the second act, the Chief and Ignis find Luvia again, now preparing for a press conference to clear the prisoners' names. They resist being pulled into roles as reporters, and when they allude to the whole thing being an act, Luvia turns on them angrily. Her followers attack them, and the Chief and Ignis are separated in the ensuing chaos. The Chief tries to find a way out of the set, to no avail; it seems every other person in Fortuna has forgotten that they are part of a play. However, the Chief catches a glimpse of Lady Pearl spectating the events and realizes that she knows what is going on -- the Mania transforming Fortuna Theater must be caused by her. While fleeing from a mob, the Chief stumbles across Echo, and is shocked to hear that her songs clash with the narrative of the performance. From Echo's bardic histories of Fortuna, they learn that the theater's former owner fell on hard times and was forced to sell it to Lady Pearl, and that her goal is to use it as a venue for an endless performance fulfilling the actors' dreams.

The Chief battles their way back to the main stage, but is knocked out by a sickening wave of Mania. Lady Pearl picks them back up to their feet and asks if the Chief is finally trying to take the stage; she doesn't resist as the Chief releases the Shackles on her. Pearl says that in order to change the play, the Chief will have to rewrite the script, and to do that, they need to take a role. She hands the Chief a sword, offering them the role of the story's hero. They take the sword and cut through the curtain, declaring the show over, but Luvia Ray and Ignis approach them and beg them to reconsider. At the Chief's urging they both admit that something is missing from the idyllic lives they've been granted, but they insist that if the Chief joined them in the play, then they will have everything they need. Observing them closely, the Chief notices for the first time that they are being puppeteered by fine silver threads connected to a dancing Mania Entity in the sky above. Having been noticed, the dancer sends the rest of the performers to attack the Chief, but the danger snaps the two Sinners out of their delusion. They defend the Chief, giving them the opportunity to cut through the silver threads and slay the dancer with Pearl's sword. With the dancer killed, the play ends and audience members all wake up, apparently not realizing that anything was amiss about the way they became a part of the show. The Chief sees that the dancer's remains have transformed back into an ordinary person; to their horror, they realize that they were a guest at Fortuna's performance the year before, were offered the same choice as the Chief, and decided to stay as part of the cast. They turn to confront Lady Pearl again, but before they can reach her, Echo's saxophone enchants the crowd and draws them all towards the exits, sweeping the Chief away and allowing Pearl to escape.

◆ Eternal Nightmare - Heart of Eternity

Motivated by the spiritual encounters they had with Dreya and Mantis during their time in a coma and taking advantage of their new partnership with Paradeisos, the Chief applies for high-level access to files on the Keylan Expedition. EDGE-01 makes a deal that the Chief will be given access to whatever information the FAC is allowed; in return the Chief will be allowed to take part in future operations investigating the activities of the Phantom Moon and will report back any new info they obtain. 01 also places the condition that, due to the risk of accidents if the Chief is near DisSea, the investigation must be completed before the Moon rises.

The Chief reports to the Broken Frontline, accompanied by an FAC contingent and a Schorl bodyguard, to observe the sudden appearance of a massive and ancient-looking robotic power suit emanating intense pollution. The armor must be continuously observed or else temporal superposition may cause it to suddenly jump to another time state and even disappear entirely, but the Chief is disappointed to learn that it contains no driver. The Chief reminisces about their time Dreya and Mantis, but quickly realizes that their consciousness has drifted out of their own memories to recall things that they have not yet experienced. All of a sudden, the power armor comes to life as the Phantom Moon appears in the sky three days before it was predicted to rise. A temporal distortion surrounds the machine, and the Chief is pulled into a distant spacetime within BR-000.

In the Chief's new time, the mechanical armor is at full power, marching distantly at the center of a storm of temporal pollution. They are attacked by an ocean of Corruptors and quickly overwhelmed, as the enemies that they strike down immediately appear again. Vanilla appears and rescues them, carrying them back to camp. There, Vanilla works on an incomplete version of the same massive power armor; she introduces herself as the expedition's logistician and mechanic and, like the others before her, recognizes the Chief by their earring as the expedition's child Guide. The Chief lies that they are the forward scout of a rescue mission to bring her back, but Vanilla explains that it is impossible for them to escape through the temporal storm as the slightest slip of concentration could cause them to be teleported randomly throughout the timestream. Their only hope is to complete the power armor and ride it through the storm.

Vanilla gives the Chief a pocketwatch modified to act as a comms device and fits them for exoskeleton armor like her own, which they use to scavenge for parts for the mech. After a long time together working to finish construction, the Chief remarks that Vanilla is always remarkably calm, never getting anxious or scared. Vanilla replies that this is because being trapped in the storm is, to her, no different than the 10 years of isolation that she lived before joining the expedition. She says that she has lost track of how long she's been trapped, and doesn't particularly care to leave -- the Chief wants her to leave, and she just wants to help the Chief. The Chief shares with her their experience of the future, where the expedition successfully found a way to avert calamities and a city was built on the shore of DisSea. They have a hard time telling if Vanilla cares about this or is just humoring them, but they explain that changes always takes time -- some just take longer than others.

Eventually, they finish building the mech and prepare to break through the temporal storm. It easily outstrips the swarming Corruptors, but then they are attacked by an ancient, scarred and decayed version of their own giant mech. Piloting the mech is a deeply corrupted future version of Vanilla, and as the Chief watches, the two Vanillas blur and merge together. While Vanilla's consciousness is pulled through time, the Chief uses the Shackles to pull her back to clarity. She realizes that the temporal storm and all her time stuck within it was as bait for a trap created by the Phantom Moon to lure in the Chief, who would inevitably come to save her. With her mind clear, Vanilla is able to harness the immense experience she has accumulated to take control of the Mania-based temporal energy. She dispels the storm holding them captive and gathers the energy to return the Chief to their own time. Despite Chief's protests, Vanilla insists on this path, rather than continuing to try to escape the time vortex together no matter how long it would take.

The Chief tries to unleash the Shackles again to stop her, but a jolt of "Rules" fired by their Schorl drains them of their strength and pulls their consciousness back to the present. EDGE 01 arrives on scene and tells the Chief that expedition members chose their path and do not need saving; that remembering their sacrifices despite the passage of time is the greatest purpose of the Chief's actions. However, he also says that if the Chief wants to see Vanilla again, they can set out into DisSea again when their head is clear and emotions won't cloud their judgement. The Chief looks back one last time at the ancient mech on the shore of DisSea. Blue crystal flowers have bloomed around it, and the pocketwatch that Vanilla gave them long ago still sits inside.

◆ Ode to Sun

The Chief and Nightingale join the FAC defensive line against the Sun Crow. The Chief attacks it with the Shackles, but suffers from intense backlash, hallucinating a fiery humanoid figure and a prophecy about ten suns filling the sky and a person felling the Sun Crow with a bow and arrow. When they awake, their injuries are being treated by Du Ruo, whom the Chief recognizes as the archer from their vision. The next day, at a strategy meeting between DisCity officials and a delegation from Eastia, Du Ruo reveals that their culture venerates Sinners as "Seers" and introduces Yanyan, a young Seer who recites the same prophecy from the Chief's hallucination as a way of defeating the Sun Crow. Although the DisCity officials are skeptical of this mystical approach, Paradeisos orders the MBCC to support the Eastians' efforts to fulfill the prophecy. The Chief agrees, conscious of secret directions given to them by the 9th Agency to monitor these Outlanders for ulterior motives.

The Chief begins working with Yanyan, but continues to suffer from a fever and visions of a flaming, beastly woman trying in vain to communicate with them. Yanyan reveals that she is also dreaming of the same person. She calls this woman the Great Seer and explains that she was the most powerful person in Yanyan's home of Sunset Town, responsible for repelling evil spirits and natural disasters. Together, the two of them visit the sites of each of the city's destroyed Black Rings, and acquire arcane materials to craft a sacred bow for shooting down the Sun Crow. At the end of their labors in Keylan Square, the Chief dreams of the Great Seer again; this time, it gives a warning that the Sun Crow is coming and that the Chief must save Yanyan. They awake to find Yanyan possessed by the Sun Crow, believing herself to be conversing with the Great Seer. The Chief tries to pull her back to consciousness with the Shackles, but is again debilitated by backlash from the Apostle, and is saved only by the timely rescue from Du Ruo and the FAC's anti-Mania technology. When they awake, the Chief confesses that although they still don't trust her, they need Du Ruo's guidance about their dreams. Du Ruo reveals that the Great Seer did indeed possess great psychic abilities, but that her power only allowed her to see how useless it was to resist the Sun Crow. In order to give people hope, she twisted ancient myths into a prophecy that would convince people to persevere. When the Sun Crow actually attacked, the Seer tried to stand against it, and was never seen again; but some who believed in the prophecy actually tried to follow it, crafted a sacred bow, and the myth miraculously came true. The next day, Yanyan hits the Sun Crow with a direct shot from her newly crafted Almighty Bow. Her arrow temporarily suppresses it, revealing the humanoid form of the Great Seer, but is insufficient to defeat the Sun Crow.

Guillotin and Paradeisos to accuse the Eastian envoys of intentionally leading the Sun Crow to attack DisCity; the Chief wants to intervene, but a 9th Agency operative persuades them that it is not their place to interfere in politics between cities. With the forces of DisCity and the Eastians turned against each other, the Sun Crow breaks free, stronger than ever, and begins to assault the Broken Frontline directly. The Chief returns to Keylan Square, where they find the spirit of the corrupted Seer. They experience a vision of her sacrifice years prior, in which she willingly allowed the Apostle to consume her so that she could influence its nature use its power to manifest the signs of the fake prophecy she had created. When they come to, they are holding a new Sun Shot arrow. They direct the FAC to quickly gather all the materials to craft a new Almighty Bow, while they reunite with the Eastians. With Du Ruo's guidance, the Chief prepares to fire the bow themself. To power it, they focus on their deepest belief: that no matter what challenge faces DisCity, its people will endure, rise to meet it, and survive. Their shot destroys the Sun Crow and frees the Great Seer's spirit to pass on. Later, the Chief and Du Ruo search the battlefield for any sign of the Great Seer's spirit. Although the Chief says that they feel nothing left of her on the other end of the Shackles, Yanyan finds a strange egg containing an infant Yao.

◆ Ditty Nightsong

The Chief is kidnapped by Angell and taken to a hidden safehouse somewhere in Syndicate. However, unexpectedly, whoever hired Angell to perform this job fails to get in contact with her and arrange a handover of the Chief. Over the next five days, the Chief gradually wins over Angell's trust by helping her with her neglected household chores while she continues to take on jobs from DisMyth. Angell warns them that the doors and windows are all rigged to explode if anybody other than her opens them, so in addition to domestic tasks, they spends their time scouring DisMyth for clues as to the identity of Angell's client and the location of the safehouse where they're being held. The Chief manages to contact Wynn through DisMyth. She informs them that their kidnapping was just one in a series of attacks on people involved with the new West District hypercube mine, and that the 9th Agency suspects them to be the work of one of Syndicate's gangs, as they have had to turn to operating on DisMyth in order to survive since order was restored to the District after the end of BR-002. The MBCC is now trying to track Angell in order to rescue the Chief.

Days continues to pass. Eventually, the 9th Agency succeeds at locating the Chief; they plan a time to attack the safehouse and arrest Angell, but the Chief talks them down, saying that such an operation would scare off their real target: whoever is pulling the strings of these kidnappings. Besides, they hope that they'll be able to talk Angell into coming back to the MBCC peacefully. The Chief asks her what she intends to do with them when her contract expires, and Angell replies that the Chief can do whatever they want. They ask her to take a new job as their bodyguard, but she brushes them off, saying that they can discuss it once the old contract is voided in three days.

On the final day, they leave the safehouse to return them to the MBCC. En route, they are attacked by gangsters hunting for the Chief. The Chief is confused at how these thugs could have slipped past the authorities, but Angell reveals that she was aware of every communication the Chief had had with their colleagues over the past three weeks, and that there are levels of encryption to DisMyth far deeper and more complex than any of them knew. Before setting out, Angell had posted to DisMyth that her previous contract was up, and that anybody who wanted the Chief now should come to her with their price. Although shocked, the Chief quickly sees through her facade and realizes that Angell isn't really trying to sell them to the gangs; she is trying to lure them out, while also keeping the Chief separate from the dark side of the world that they can't comprehend. Before they can act, Angell tells the Chief that they can never take her away from this life and knocks them out.

The Chief wakes up back at the MBCC. They rush back out with the Arrest Team to find Angell, but she has disappeared, and the safehouse is empty. Further investigations trace the assassination contracts to Hypercube company run by a former Nirvana director, but it is impossible to tell if he was the mastermind or just another pawn. In the safehouse, the Chief finds a final letter from Angell. It explains that she took the only job that wanted her to kidnap the Chief instead of kill them because she knew who they were and all the good they had done. However, she says that the more light the Chief shines on Syndicate, the darker the shadows become, as the forces that can no longer operate on the surface are forced into hiding and yearn for revenge. Angell resolves to stay in that darkness, where she can fight the threats that the Chief and their allies cannot see.

◆ Perfect Vote

The Chief is nominated for a vote on Gray Mirror, a popular new app on DisMyth that lets users vote to "purge" undesirable people in society by designating them as "inferior". Their nomination calls the Chief the "Exterminator" and observes that they have been visible on the scenes of every crisis over the past year, but does not officially exist. Having first been exposed to DisMyth when kidnapped by Angell a short time before, the Chief determines that this is a chance to look into the dark web's mysteries. They work with the Eastside Public Security Bureau, where technology officer Roxanne explains that being circulated on DisMyth, Gray Mirror has nothing to do with the dangerous illegal activity that permeates the dark web. She does mention that some rumors online claim a link between Gray Mirror and a recent spat of disappearances, but she dismisses it as clickbait. Roxanne is also unable to penetrate DisMyth's security system and identify the user who nominated them, but the Chief is soon contacted by Bianca, who anonymously reveals that the culprit is a college student named Simon.

With Bianca's help, the Chief ambushes Simon. Under duress he confirms that he has seen purged users be devoured by an entity that emerged from their phone, but the Chief is convinced that Simon is just a regular user of the app, and knows nothing about what power is behind it. However, Simon has time to nominate Bianca for a new vote, and the users of Gray Mirror quickly vote to purge her. The Chief hands Simon over to the Public Security Bureau and rushes across town to save Bianca from a Corruptor emerging from her phone. After Simon's arrest, the campaign to purge the Chief loses momentum. Needing a new lead to investigate further, the Chief anonymously posts inflammatory material about themself to reinvigorate the vote. As Gray Mirror's activity surges, they dispatch Wynn and Eugene to monitor other people in danger of being purged. The Chief is also suspicious of Bianca's unusual behavior, but Roxanne confirms that she is an ordinary reporter and not a Sinner, so the Chief agrees to work together.

The Chief and Bianca orchestrate a staged interview in which the Chief declares war on Gray Mirror and denounces all of its users. Afterward, an incensed crowd harasses them in the middle of Eastside, with one person even throwing a stone at the Chief. Later, a drunk Bianca tells them that, three months prior, she had discovered the server that operates Gray Mirror and been interrogated by the Underground. The Chief sends her home and prepares for the final confrontation. When the vote against them concludes, the MBCC arrest team battles the Corruptors that pour out the Chief's phone, while the Chief themself uses the Shackles to force open their gateway and passes through in the other direction. There they find the digitized spirits of the other people eaten by the app, including Simon. He explains that Gray Mirror's creator has not been active for a long time, but that they instituted a different admin account. The admin comes online as the Chief enters; they are revealed to be Extra-Rich Apple Juice, Bianca's online username.

The Chief escapes the digital realm and returns to DisTV to confront Bianca. She explains that she has intentionally spread negative publicity about Gray Mirror to incite people to use it more, hoping for this very end scenario. As Gray Mirror has grown to enormous popularity, its users providing enormous amounts of Malice to the Mania entities within, Bianca makes a new nomination and summons the app's full power to purge every user who has ever cast an "inferior" vote. Because Bianca is not a Sinner the Shackles are powerless to subdue her, so the Chief must try a different approach. They appeal to the core of Bianca's own malice and her feeling of powerlessness to fight evil; while Bianca had thought of Gray Mirror as a way to finally win an impossible battle against evil people, the Chief convinces her that she is really just giving in to evil herself.

Some time later, Bianca anonymously provides the Public Security Bureau with a list of IP addresses for Gray Mirror users who were most active in making false claims against other people, allowing them to pursue the justice she could not. She also sends the MBCC a log of her last conversation with Gray Mirror's developer, who tells her that the Chief will never find them, but that they will go meet the Chief themselves when the time is right.