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EXE3-15: Inv, Gul
EXE3-16: Lux, Ava, Ace, Ira, Sup
EXE3-17: Tex, Follower, Oscar
EXE3-18: Mike, Sarah, Eli, Pristum

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EXE3-15

> Pristum.exe Menu

• Pristum.exe won't talk to us, but he will play slow organ jazz for us
• we are standing on a cloud in a blue sky
• Caen scoops up some cloud, revealing swirling golden threads underneath. The cloud itself hovers away out of their hand, turning into a bird and flying to join another cloud
• Red makes a hole through all the cloud layers
• Caen grabs their hand to stop them, but is pulled down as well as they jump through
• the golden lines move to let us through
• under us is ocean, and many more clouds. They support different buildings (churches, temples, gardens) and there are marble pillars reaching out of the ocean, in their centre a golden throne. On it sits Pristum, surrounded by golden and silver veins and sporting wings a good 2m in length each
• we are stopped mid fall as golden lines surround us. Clouds form wings on our backs that carry us back up, out of our control
• when we arrive back on the menu cloud the wings dissipate, and Pristum tells us not to hurt ourselves, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere all at once

❖ a mustache carving has been added to the amulet as a result of corrupting Bunny Tump Senpai

> 1. Invidia

• the selected file name glows green and the menu tablets sink below to make room for a door, at first made of gathering clouds then then solidy into a fancy victorian double door with lionhead doorknobs
• we knock, and the door opens
• we are blinded by light, aware of a high pitched beeping
• we begin to head a thunderstorm outside, then the ticking of a grandfather clock, and finally we find ourselves in a room
• the room is similarly victorian looking, containing a bookshelf, a globe, a grand armchair, and a fireplace towards which it is facing. There is light coming from other connected rooms
• a man stands in front of the window, about 25, wearing a green and black suit. His dark hair is combed back and he is reading something
• he closes the book. 'is he free then?'
• he is reading Utopia by Thomas More
• Caen affirms this. He says this explains both our and his presence. Normally this space would be his, but currently, it is 'his masters'
• where he is annoyed by having to serve Pristum, apparently others will be more enthusiastic
• he finally turns. He has tired blue eyes with dark rings under them and a cynical old looking face; his back is bent like that of someone who spends most of their time bent over books
• CON'T
• he has no time for us as he is currently occupied with his own facility's intruder, a man looking for his daughter. According to him most AGLISIA members shouldn't fight us
• they cannot refuse Pristum's call, but they are all still in control enough to refuse his task of giving us the little philosophical questions he laid out for them to ask us
• after they took over [their own facility?] themselves, their servitude to him seems tedious
• he introduces himself as Invidia - Leon, 085. He is envious of us still having bodies. All AGLISIA members were carefully selected, but Tump Inc apparently created the circumstances that made them embody the deadly sins
• he describes 'his head being filled with information on us', maybe in much the same way he gives us a little vision of what's left of his body - a mechanical shell in a tank
• he advises we attack Pristum head on, calling us 'rabid animals' who shouldn't have trouble doing that
• he throws us one last smile over his shoulder as the doors suck us back out

> 2. Gula

• we tumble out the other end of a disorientating void and crash into a few tables, landing on top of each other
• we find ourselves in the black and white americana dream, a white picket fence and a party going on in the house. There are a lot of people facing away from us, some with balloons, one guy nearer to us
• Red approaches to try and get his attention while Caen snoops around. Trying to walk past the tables she is met with an invisible wall, while Red now sees that the man has no face, and like the other blurry party goers does not notice them
• a young girl's voice asks if we're here for her party, which we confirm. She is 13 or 14, with long brown hair and green eyes, wearing a polka dot dress and holding a balloon
• she reveals that the people here ignore her too, so she's been essentially alone for a long time and is happy to see us there
• she refers to Invidia; big brother Leon
• she also has 'imaginary friends', currently out trying to befriend the guy in their facility, but are struggling to catch him. The amulet is flickering between red and green
• she introduces herself as Gula - Anna, 074
• she seems to be chasing the other protagonist with her toys, which he is 'hurting', so she will give him a lecture 'when he gets here'. The scene is underscored with a vision of a man in his 40s backed into a corner by a horde of heavily armed toys
• she gives us one of her plushies, here it looks completely harmless
• she invites us to stay and tells us about another girl her age she once knew, who really liked tea parties. When Red produces Loli Tump's teaset, she recognizes it as hers, confirming she knew Claire (or rather, Loli Tump) at some point
• she asks after her, who was her first friend, and gives Red a cup to give to her; ornately decorated with intertwining red and blue roses
• Caen pulls out the yorkshire tea we got from Tea Tump to distract her from the guilt clearly written on Red's face
• they ask when the party is over, and it's clear Anna expects us to stay forever. The longer the topic is open the more upset she gets. The plushies begin to circle us
• out in the yard, the door to the next file opens
• Caen takes out the amulet to check for portals to escape through, but instead it makes a path for us through the plushies, halving two of them
• we start running, Anna wailing behind us and the toys in pursuit
• 'no no no don't leave me, please I'll be a good girl please don't go! I'll behave just please! I can't be alone again!'
• we throw ourselves through the door, and its closing tears off the paw of one particularly quick rabbit plushie, which drifts in the nothing between files with us

❖ although Tump forgot to mention it, the teddy we also received from Loli Tump stays behind with Anna

✎﹏ the amulet has gained some power!

> 3. Luxuria

• we're dropped into an endless field under a blue sky. A man not older than 21 sits up to introduce himself as Luxuria - Eliott, 088

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions

> 3. Luxuria

• he serenely turns his face into the wind and settles on the grass. He is glad to have visitors, as he never gets those
• we ask what he does all day and he casually implies he runs himself ragged trying to escape until he's bad enough to get 'reset'
• 'Say, you wouldn't like to stay here for oh... I don't know forever?'
• he doesn't immediately react aggressively to our denials since he's in a 'good mood', with Pristum being back
• he calls him Cris at first, then reminds himself it should be Pristum and settles on 'my dear Pris'
• according to him Pristum has had other 'flings' but will return to him in the end, though it's of course been about 3a since he saw him (which has felt like a decade in here)
• we decide to gtfo, and attempt to leave the file using Esc. This activates the amulet, and a door does indeed open on a hill a bit further away
• now Luxuria gets serious, telling us he is our host and so if he says we will stay we will. The grass we're sitting on holds us down
• Red quickly cuts themselves free with a dagger and goes to free Caen as well
• they manage to cut her free, but this doesn't last long as the ground itself seems to get involved, and Luxuria lunges at Caen, screaming
• 'LET'S KEEP TALKING! LET'S HAVE FUN LET'S WAIT FOR OUR DARLING TOGETHER'
• her arms relatively free, Caen slaps him. He reels back but doubles down, pinning her and staring into her eyes 'like a rabid beast'
• she knees him in the crotch to practically no reaction whatsoever, and, even more alarmingly he does not respond to Red full on stabbing him
• the amulet begins to glow again, engulfing Red's weapon and transforming it into a sword (indestinct at first, gaining shape as the amulet grows stronger)
• while he is still distracted staring at Caen they pull the sword out to lob off his arm. Drastic measures succeed; a blue light consumes the separated arm and starts eating into him as well, spreading from the wound
• he falls back, screaming, seemingly trying to pat out the light like one would flames
• with his focus diverted, the ground settles and releases us fully
• Caen can't resist telling him that he's definitely never seeing Pristum again before we fucking leg it to the door
• we look back one last time. He is standing, his arm replaced with a green one made from the grass, his left eye sparking with the blue light still, and he's glaring at us before he throws us a final twisted smile and the door closes
• Caen jokes that the evil eye might be real in Pristum.exe

✎﹏ time moves slower in this system so as to not fry the modules' brains

✎﹏ the travel time between files seems to be smaller now

> 4. Avarita

• despite attempting to leave for the menu, we find ourselves in the next file, which takes place in a tidier copy of Mira's office, with photos of Avarita and Pristum instead of Mira and Silicia
• the floor is marble, the grand doors are unlocked and so we enter
• in the office sits a woman who is not Mira. Her hair is described as 'similar to hers.. yet grey', though she looks to be in her early 20s
• she was expecting us, though she isn't thrilled about it and asks us outside so we won't ruin her carpets
• she introces herself as Avarita, 071: Lea (and Caen makes a fae joke about owning her name now)
• Avarita shows us a little vision of the other protagonist, walking their facility clutching a gun. He starts running as a giant robot of sorts gives chase, agile and equipped with sharp claws, and within it a pod containing a girl implied to be Lea. 071 is etched into it
• she seems to know what just happened in Luxuria's file, and feels the need to tell us that Greed will always beat out Lust and so Pristum is hers, really
• the metal monster in the facility was built by her as sort of an exosuit, since she can't control her actual body>
• although she doesn't seem very interested, she does want Pristum to succeed, and essentially tells us to go die if not in so many words
• she clearly wants us out, calling us a waste of her air. So we both take obnoxiously deep breaths and leave. She doesn't watch us go, instead looking at a photo of 'Cris'

> 5. Acedia

• we enter another old study. A man lounges in an armchair, listlessly swirling a glass of whiskey around. He is wearing a silver suit and sighs upon seeing us
• he proclaims to not be too happy about Pristum's return, nor his whole 'religion thing'
• he slumps down further in the chair, introducing himself half heartedly as Acedia, 077, Mikael
• we rag on him until he compains it isn't his fault 'they took part of his brain', which shuts us up
• he goes on to explain it's really not that bad not having to dwell on his horrible memories of being technologically mutilated and isolated completely. Now he can just Sit here
• according to him they all were 'created' to serve Pristum by Tump Inc, or at least in a way that fits him well
• his vision shows us a course of slow but extremely deadly traps which the other protagonist is struggling to navigate
• Caen suggest they look around, and maybe find her a paper weight as a weapon. The study is fairly empty with only the fireplace in front of which he sits, and several bookshelves. They contain alcohol, the books are strewn around the floor all with dozens of bookmarks within the first few pages. They're mostly children's books and similarly light reading, namely 'thinking for dummies' and albert and tumpy*
• Red tries one of the bottles lying around, as they seem pretty fancy and it's good, but intoxication doesn't seem to be a thing in the system

⊕ Red grabs an empty bottle

• he has lost interest in us, so we quietly open a door and leave

> 6. Ira

• the next room is red all over, full of corpses. The bodies of employees and Tumps alike are piled high and on top of them sits a woman, blood stained
• she is Ira, 081: Ellie. She is too busy to muster any anger towards us, as she is very committed to trying to off the other protagonist, who is her husband
• without needing much prompting, she tells us her backstory:
  • she started at Tump Inc at around 28 already having a husband and 2 children to support. She claims relative ignorance of the goings on until she was selected for a program herself. She agreed because of the higher pay, and realized fairly quickly that she couldn't leave anymore
  • trying to get her to embody wrath they essentially Tump-brand tortured her daily trying to crack her, but didn't start seeing success until they kidnapped her 14a old son. She made it through multiple cycles of them simulating his gruesome death until he actually died (of a seizure)
  • her 12a old daughter they didn't torture, but locked her in an isolated room in the facility so she would have no way of getting to her. This after 2 years, finally, worked
  • when AGLISIA 'broke free' and slaughtered everyone in a nice parallel to Tump.exe's take over, she still couldn't get into that room
  • she blames her husband - the other protagonist - for this, because he only came looking when her daughter disappeared, so now her goal is to kill him and retrieve her kid (she cares little for Pristum also)
• her vision shows an array of heavily armed machines wildly swinging for him
• we ask her daughter's name and she has to think about it. Her name is Lily, which we find mildly alarming but chalk up to a coincidence since Ira says she should be about 14 now
• she flicks a sword she apparently has and the door opens for us
• we both like her, so we wish her luck and depart. She smiles at us one last time

> 7. Superbia

• the file is completely dark until a man in a blinding golden suit steps forward
• he introduces himself as Superbia, 070, Sebastian
• he very vaguely claims time is running out, plus he needs to keep watching the others for as long as either Pristum lives or the other protagonist is on the loose
• there are screens behind him showing AGLISIA's other files, now visible to us
• he says he can literally only watch, and he knows all their tasks though none of them know his
• he tells us, in order, Leon is reading and occasionally burning his unfeeling hands, Anna has been crying since we left and begging party goers to acknowledge her, Lea is 'hopping in and out of reality holding a picture of him close', Ellie is crying looking at a photo of a girl. Eliott he will not disclose to us
• he remarks that Ellie rarely ever cries, usually translating it into violence. This includes self harm, as apparently all of them have tried to die many times before
• Caen asks how they could be killed, and he is of course unhelpful saying that we cannot harm him, but in general destroying them would simply involve destroying their body and digital existence
• allegedly there have been rumors of a program which would be able to kill them humanely
• when asked about the local rumor mill he reveals Silicia's involvement
• he appeals to us to please kill Pristum, though personally he would of course prefer a body over death
• he summons the door and bids us farewell

> X. Tex

• we find ourselves in a familiar room; white and covered in red and black glitching code tentacles. The ceiling is a mess of glitches and code and a red carpet leads up to the equally white throne atop which Tex himself sits
• 'I've been [expecting] you. Welcome back, my friends.'

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions

> X. Tex

• he comes to loom over us, expressing how much he would love to end us right there and 'bring his true end'. Just as he goes to snap their neck, Red tries to spear him with the sword, but they pass right through each other
• he tells us he is now part of 'that filthy being'
• Tex remembers the boss fight in EXE2 up until YanTump tore him apart (and thinks that was cheating), but says making a new vessel for his saved memories proved tricky, somewhat implying he is a program without its proper emulator
• as he is wont to do, Tex brings up 04, deliberately making us want to kill him even more though we are unable
• he keeps on taunting us, though he starts running out of good material fairly quickly. We conclude we can't kill him now and attempt to move on, but he blocks us opening the door to the next file
• Caen experimentally touches the amulet against him and it repells him. This shifts the mood and power dynamic immediately [>:)]
• Red has the idea to wrap the amulet around their sword, and starts swinging it at Tex, making him retreat
• he is being very brave about being able to be harmed, but our blood lust has awakened. Red manages to slash his cheek and he hisses, crawling up the wall to get away
• he skitters up to a corner of the room, about 90m up. [Mysterious voice amplification!]
• Tex' taunts are replaced with bargaining babble; he says since we cannot reach him and he cannot hurt us, he will graciously let us pass unharmed, but we aren't having any of it
• Red climbs atop Caen's shoulders trying to get at him, and though we obviously cannot reach him, he is clearly getting quite nervous, if nothing else about how deligted we are with this development. Red even tries throwing the sword
• Caen takes note of the sword sticking a bit into the ground when Red retrieves it from where it fell
• regaining confidence, he tells us about how badly we'll fair against The Follower (technically an incarnation of him), and how he's begrudgingly looking forward to using us as vessels once Pristum gets us
• while he's monologuing, Caen asks for the sword to swing it full force at the wall under him, which begins to crumble. This doesn't seem to leave a spot on the blade
• Tex finishes his little speech and opens the portal, but the window of time where asking us to leave would have worked has passed
• behind the wall we see lines of red code and dark vines. Tex begins to climb higher as Caen keeps hacking away
• upon Red's request they aim for the revealed code, and the room starts falling apart in earnest
• finally enough of the room is demolished, and Tex crashes to the floor where we set upon him immediately
• Caen throws the sword back to Red and they stab him straight through the chest before he can crawl away. It seems he is weakened enough to be unable to warp himself to safety
• his eyes light up blinding white and cracks form over his body from which bursts red, blue and black code like growing vines
• his hands find the sword, then clench around Red's neck trying to strangle them
• they twist the sword as code pours from his mouth and he digs his nails in
• he gets out a little post-defeat villain monologue about how in over our heads we are
• his other hand wraps around their neck as his body starts fading from the bottom up
• Tex grits out 'You... Will.. Be... consumed.' before he shrivels up ('black and twisted as we first saw him') and disintegrates, his hands fading last, of course
• Red coughs miserably, before we notice the blackened scars left on either side of their neck
• they freak out about them not healing while Caen is disconcertingly chill about it, saying they match now
• they pry the sword from Red's fingers and walk over to Tex' throne to hack that to bits as well. It shatters easily

✎﹏ Tex knows about BaT being there, and about Reyleth in general

✎﹏ he clearly dislikes yantump and calls him an 'overloved being', delightfully

> X. The Follower

• we enter a new dark void, this one filled with the visceral sounds of chewing
• The Follower sprawls on the floor, absorbed in gnawing at what remains of BaT. The floor is strewn with his teacups, broken
• he is holding a disembodied hand, and we can see a torn wing on the ground
• 'Must.. Love.. Consume.. Love to.. BaT... ......Delicious'
• Caen flips almost immediately from scared confusion to resignation, recognizing this as the same thing that happened to 04, while Red goes through the full stages of grief right there
• he turns to smile at us and tells us in severely broken english (language in general, really) to wait for him to finish his meal
• 'Left... Fight.. Won. Ripped. Massacre. Now, here. Summoned.. Half child. Wait, enjoying.. Food.' implying he overwhelmed BaT and brought him when Pristum summoned him, instead of being automatically included in Pristum.exe [the 'half child' is him]
• Caen opens the door to move on without difficulty and Red says thay have a bad feeling about fighting it
• just then, The Follower opens his own portal and drags BaT out of it, though now missing his right arm and left wing, giving us war flashbacks
• he screams as The Follower starts breaking his fingers ('finger food'!!!)
• Red immediately abandons all reservations and brandishes their sword; Caen suggests they kill BaT and dip
• they hit his back, making black code gush out of him, and he turns in a fury to reiterate that he would like to finish eating first
• when The Follower grabs the blade on their next swing, Caen backs up quietly to the very opposite of the room. His empty eyes stare into Red's as he concludes that now he will have to eat them/us, too
• BaT rouses, sending a ball of lightning at The Followers turned head which doesn't faze him beyond making him angrily kick an again passed out BaT
• [Tump subtly encourages us to gtfo Now]
• suddenly, Caen starts encouraging Red to stab him in his exposed back
• as they go to stab him again, he twists, but not fast enough to avoid the attack and so they hit his eyes. He screams and thrashes, directionless for a second
• BaT kindly encourages us to run now, but Caen is already screaming 'no??? kill it!!!'
• when Red hesitates, unsure if that's possible they yell 'TRY', and, buoyed by their recent kill, Red aims for his head
• their aim is true, but the sword shatters just before it cuts him. Caen frantically tells them to will a new one
• in a mirror of Tex' mannerisms, The Follower brings up a claw like hand to put it right through Red where they stand frozen
• Caen finally detaches from the wall, but isn't fast enough
• before The Follower can tear Red to shreds, BaT throws himself between the two of them, taking the damage, his blood spraying onto Red's front
• BaT tells us that we can't actually defeat The Follower now, so we need to gtfo. BaT smiles, coughing up code
• in the distraction Caen pulls the amulet off the shattered sword (Rosie) to shove it against his throat
• this burns him (leaving scars) and emits a lot of light, but ultimately just succeeds in repelling us back in the direction of the still open door
• The Follower attempts to lunge after us, but BaT holds onto him to keep his hand inside of him /p
• he turns to us, smiling again, 'Find me. The real one. He has been through enough. Through him.. Me.. 04.. we all will keep living. This... is not good bye'
• he clings to The Follower, his teacups gathering around them, and they are enveloped by a light yellow light as he channels his remaining power
• it seems to expand in preparation to explode, pushing us through the door
• in the void between files, we hear Pristum, who spares us a bit of drivel about being worthy champions and anticipating our arrival

> I. Oscar [Famine]

• we enter a huge fancy library, lit by the light of a sunset falling in through one grand window. There are towers of books and some that are floating
• Oscar is sitting on an armchair when we enter but rises to greet us. That is, he grabs a spear from his right and floats down to us
• he has white wings, but looks withered, his bones visible through sickly skin. It says 'I. Oscar' on his neck and his eyes are blank
• his opener is to ask us 'who is like God', a question we do not answer to his satisfaction. He calls himself 'the guradian', a 'protector', and a 'warrior of heaven', and us 'the lambs of God' and 'prophets meant to walk the land', a rather muddled assortment of broadly christian ideas
• he offers us the spear, 'the gift of the warrior' which we are meant to defend 'heaven' with, however it can not be used against Pristum himself
• Caen takes the spear, which is cold to the touch, and drops it immediately when them holding it makes 'small shackles' creep over its surface towards their hands
• even though he offers to answer our questions in the manner an automated help line might, nothing that he says is of any use to us
• he puts his hands on each of our heads, and we feel a strange energy pass through us for the duration of the contact. Then he says we are ready to meet the next angel and opens the next portal
• 'Go now, sheep of God. Go to your shepard'
• we opt to examine the environment in more detail before moving on
• the books don't contain text, but Oscar's memories. When we view these our vision blanks out for a moment to,, view them
• using Rosie Red cuts through one of the many bibles floating around
• the first memory we see is Pristum's voice creeping into his mind as he's dying (seeing exe2 files on the 4 scientists) calling him his 'Michael', who he intends to make his servant despite all he's done to Pristum: 'betrayed, shackled and humiliated him'
• another memory is of him calling Erik pathetic, telling someone to turn the voltage up on the electro-shocks. We're told he was the project leader on YanTump

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions, 1 kill

> I. Oscar [Famine]

• Oscar is still staring right through us, the spear is crawling towards us on black tendrils. The books (memories) on the shelves get more interesting as you go up
• Red grabs onto one of the flying books and lets it carry them up. From their elevated vantage point they narrate to Caen what they see
• the memories are as follows: administrative data, Oscar dancing with a cat, then him dragging a blond kid (Erik) out of his room by his neck as the aro flag is being torn from his wall behind him
• in another one he is berating the boy while he's being plugged in, telling him how useless he is, how upset Oscar is at having to handle him at all because it's hurting his career, how weak he is for not being suited to C I E C E, and so on. He intends to perform some unauthorized 'fun tests' on him as punishment for these perceived failings. There's also some choice arophobia in there
• 'If I can't take on the position of Mira that shitty fool... I'll at least have you my little rat. In the end of this you'd hope you were just an AI. But don't you worry.. I do "love" you in my way. Not that YOU know what that is.. But with time.. I'll teach you.'
• no other book offers anything so Red attempts to climb down but falls and has to lie there for a good minute to recover
• Caen sweeps the room one more time and finds nothing. After Red described that memory, Oscar seems to be slightly smiling, though his eyes still track us hollow as ever
• waiting for Red to recover Caen idly tears up a nearby book, which turns out to be titled '50 shades of Oscar'. The man 'himself' bows and gestures to a door
• Caen borrows the sword and buries it into Oscar's back. He falls to the ground as she pulls it back out, twitching and slowly bleeding out but still wordless. The wound glows yellow, as though healing slowly yet painfully
• we're happy with these results. Caen goes to cut off his wings and Red suggests we Osiris him for maximum time spent healing
• significantly cheered, we move on

✎﹏ would usually note the flag-defacing as indicating they're removing personal items from the room bc he's never returning, but that contradicts the irl arc

> II. Mike [Pestilence]

• the file looks to be an endless living room. There are a broken glass coffee tables, chairs spattered with old blood stains, and a broken tv near us. Mike descends from above
• he has 4 wings, wears green and his neck is visibly broken though his head has stayed attached at an odd angle. A long line of stitches spans his stomach and it seems there are flies in the room

⊕ Caen searches around and pockets a sharp piece of glass

• through a damaged windpipe the archangel gurgles out 'God is my strength'. Flies gather around his hand as he extends it to present us with a lantern
• disappointed at us not taking his god and offering seriously, he shakes his head sadly and repeats his phrase, blood starting to dribble out from his mouth with the effort of it
• Red takes the lantern and is enthralled by it. Suddenly they're focussed only on the light, and the flies aren't that bothersome anymore
• when the metal turns hot and flames start to crawl up Red's arm, Caen, previously distracted searching the room, knocks it out of their hand. They realize half their arm is scorched, but even as the pain fades with time, the wound and a vague sensation of burning remain
• Caen uses their distraction to take the amulet off the sword and check it (green with occasion flashes of red) before pressing it to Red's wrist
• for a second they feel like they're burning again all over, but then it recedes and the wound goes with it
• in the meantime we notice that more and more flies are gathering, emerging from the infinite room and beginning to darken it and drown out all other sounds but the buzzing of their wings
• Red starts swinging the sword around wildly taking flies out of the air while Caen asks the amulet nicely to do something about this. It forms a protective blue bubble around us
• Mike seems to smile slightly before the flies start throwing themselves against our shield, soon enclosing us completely, and we lose sight of him
• since he's our ticket out, we link arms and start walking slow circles outward, which gives us time to banter a bit before we find him, and isn't that nice!
• eventually a hand comes into view, outstretched as though for us to take, and burning faintly where it enters our bubble
• we walk around to bring his face into view and Red flips him off. He says 'God, this way. Strength.... Follow.'
• we agree and he (maybe) nods, and then we're walking again, trying not to lose him
• 'I wonder why Pristum fixed his stomach but not his head. Maybe it's a warning or a punishment'
• we reach a free standing door which looks like the front door of a regular house and knock three times, for the third angel, and it opens. The flies don't seem to touch the light inside, and Mike waves goodbye

> III. Sarah [War]

• this file is a steaming spring or bath, where we can see it the floor is plain white tiles and strewn with loose razor blades. Its angel is 4 winged and clothed in red garb, and emerges from a pool of red liquid with their forearms full of deep straight scars
• we are disappointed this angel has 4 wings like the last, instead of 6 in keeping with the pattern
• her phrase is 'God is my light' and she presents us with a sword perpetually dripping red liquid
• when Red takes the sword the blood on it starts to flow towards their hand. It cuts them when it makes contact but the spell is broken as soon as they drop the sword which falls below the surface
• a white door emerges, blood and water flowing off it

> IV. Eli [Death]

• the final file drops us into an endless rural road in the middle of the night. It's neatly paved and lined with lamp posts, but completely deserted save for us and the angel
• Eli has 6 wings and wears black clothes and a crown of thorns and they are bleeding as they smile (though from where is not specified). They hold a jar out to us
• their phrase is 'God heals' and we joke that he's not very good at it
• using Rosie we knock the jar out of their hands and it doesn't shatter, just rolls until it's out of sight
• they visible struggle with it but manage to get out 'Ple... ase... Free... Us. End... This... Suffering.', which we ignore. Having said their piece their smile falls and they repeat their little pre-programmed phrase again
• they wave to an appearing door and say 'go', before the fog starts creeping over the road towards us. It feels like something is watching from within it although we can't see any ominous eyes in the dark. It's implied to be The Follower
• we fucking dip

> GOD (Pristum)

• we find ourselves in the main aisle of a massive church, plastered with depictions of Pristum and his angels and on the wall right across from us, a mural of Pristum.exe to the left and Tex to the right of Pristum himself. The pews are full of Tumps, employees and other people we don't recognize, bent over praying and shackled in their spots by chains around their necks and hands. Up front by the altar stands Pristum himself
• behind us at the exit there are a donation box and a bowl of water. We recognize Bone Tump, TsunTump and Saint Tump in the crowd, as well as every other character sacrificed to Tex in EXE2. There are even BaT and a small bird cage containing a few of 04's blue butterflies
• organ music plays, and Pristum's voice echoes as he welcomes us
• 'Welcome! Welcome to your redemption! To your heaven! To the future! Come, my prophets, my vessels of earth!'
• we sass him, but this place is his so our protests change nothing as he manouvers us to a table made of fine varied metals. Two pillows sit in front of it for us to kneel on, and the ingredients for his own little eucharist are laid out on it
• as the amulet glows bright red he places his hands on our heads to push us down in front of the table. There are small glimpses of blue in amid the red, hinting at Rin's presence
• Caen tries to bite him and he backhands them before taking up the bread with a smile to make us eat it ('First, the body, for with this, you are of me as I am of you')
• Red attempts to stab him, but instead their hands move of their own accord to something like a prayer position
• he tips the wine down our throats and turns to retrieve his next prop ('Next.. The blood. With this.. I forgive you')
• he picks up a blade of some sort: 'Finally... With the hand of god, with my forgiving blade.. I shall grant you rebirth.'
• completely out of options Caen attempts to distract him by trying to wound him emotionally, which at first doesn't work. Unlike Plectum he isn't sensitive to his name
• they push and keep him talking, casting around until they hit on something that rankles: how little actual power he will have once he actually escapes his confines. He proclaims to not need her criticisms, to which Caen says 'don't you? What is a god without a devil? I think you need us to talk, actually.'
• he is visibly disturbed by this turn in the conversation and insists he isn't scared and does not need us thank you very much, then actually goes in for the first stab
• Caen keeps taunting him as he pushes his way through the amulet's barrier, though the blue seems to grow stronger. Meanwhile Red realizes that the spell is released and they can move again
• now in their hand without the amulet around it, the sword turns crimson red and lapis lazuli blue
• something is trying to come in via the door and Red sprints to open it while Caen springs to their feet & backs up, all the while talking, telling a now very agitated Pristum that he is no less mortal than we are
• 'Look at you, Cris! Do you think she'll love you LIKE THIS?' Caen says & at the mention of Rin his formerly green eyes turn red and he finally breaks the amulet's barrier
• Red throws open the door which splinters to pieces, and Rin's voice stops Pristum in his tracks
• she stands at the end of the aisle, and he drops his blade to stumble towards her (missing Caen's sadistic grin)

⊕ Caen takes the blade, which is quite heavy

• Rin tells him that she still loves him and thus she has to do this, and he falls to his knees in front of her, disbelieving
• as he gets up, he's crying and the normally golden veins in his white wings pulse red
• as the organ music picks up we hear lightning strike outside, rain suddenly pelting the church's roof
• with the attention off us, Caen wants to see what will happen if we try to free the praying Tumps and smashes Bone Tump's chains with her new weapon. Bewildered, he looks up at us and fades away
• Pristum hears it break and whips around. Knocking Red aside he picks up Caen by her neck: '..... It was all you. You did all this. You. You freed her. You caused this. You. You are not the prophet. You are the devil.'
• she stabs at him and he bleeds, then pushes the amulet at him but it does tragically little. As Rin rushes over, he wraps his wings around Caen as though to crush her even as she tries to stab out his eyes with the glass shard
• simply saying 'Die', he puts his arm clean through her stomach, then carelessly tosses her aside. He's bleeding profusely, but Caen isn't; the amulet seems to be keeping them alive/together
• both Red and Rin start attacking him again, staining his feathers red with blood as the veins that span his wings blacken
• Caen, miraculously not dead, experiences a brief moment of delusion in which BaT puts a hand on her shoulder urging her forward. The blade turns green in her hand
• the roof caves in, stained glass crumbling as the storm forces its way in. We form a plan of attack
• though we're all 3 slashing at him his eyes never leave Rin's, even as Red gets him in the wing again and Caen nicks his neck. Debris whips about in the storm
• Red suggests powering up their sword with the amulet again, though of course that isn't feasible as it seems to be what's keeping Caen upright
• while Rin plays defense we go for his ankles and Caen manages to sever a major blood vessel there. Pristum catches Red's arm and breaks it, but can't do more than cut their stomach before he has to drop Rosie because it's burning his hand
• as Pristum starts monologuing Caen huddles closer to Red in hopes that the amulet's healing power has an area effect


• Pristum takes to the sky to smite us, commanding the lightning storm and growing another pair of wings for good measure
• we complain that we really expected Rin to be more helpful in this as she grabs the amulet to activate a strong enough shield to stop us being fried (implying her wielding it makes it more powerful)
• this would escalate into a full on fight if we weren't literally being attacked, but things being as they are Rin tells us she'll join him up there and that once she gets him down we are to 'make sure he doesn't get back up'
• before she goes she roughly realigns Red's arm, which hurts like hell but at least it works again
• 'apologies, but right now, if you didn't notice, my ex is a flying fucking winged reaper smiting us with his fucking thermo nukes so yeah I will be a bit harsh! Look, I did not know how much he had gained power meanwhile.'
• she floats up there somehow and he hesitates for just a second before they're fighting with offbrand light sabres, one blue and one red. They clash multiple times before the force of it throws them back and they both grab the other's wrist and start shouting over the storm
• Pristum does not seem to understand why she is fighting him
• 'Cris, you shouldn't be here! We shouldn't! You know this isn't you! It never was. This is not how the story went.. this is not who we are.'
• as we watch in interest, she punches him in the stomach and tells him that he needs to wake up. Next she puts a hand on his cheek and kisses him, and then while he's distracted runs her blade through his wings
• Pristum falls, reaching for Rin desperately, as his wings seem to break off until there is only one pair left. This one withers and bleeds still
• we hear his bones crack as he lands, and while we banter a bit he does manage to collect himself enough to charge at us, but we easily kick him back to the ground. He looks a mess, bleeding and panting, his suit torn and dirtied
• he tries to get up one more time but his body fails him and he screams in frustration
• Caen sets the blade down on his shoulder and gleefully pushes on it with all her weight to separate his arm from his torso as he regards us with hatred in his eyes
• Rin lands and watches as Caen steps on his chest to set the blade against his neck and, using the power of the amulet and her foot, slowly decapitates him
• Red cheers and Caen says she really hopes Tump didn't see all that as she steps off the corpse [lol]
• Rin is the only one to see the code Pristum is made of is not done fighting yet and jumps into action. Pristum lifts up by itself, his upper body a mass of dark code which can still speak
• '.... N..... O. Re.... Dem... Pti.. On. You... Will.. See.... my final.'
• she intervenes somehow, engulfing him in white light and suddenly we are in a garden again

> Cris

• at first glance we think it's the one we know, but it isn't. It's a park. There are people, children laughing, flying kites
• Rin leads us all (but mostly Pristum) to a large oak tree and together they tell us about how the two of them met here even before Tump Inc
• a young boy in a grey hoodie sits under the tree alone, reading, only occasionally looking up until a young girl with black hair walks up to invite him to play
• 'This is where we met. It wasn't in the lab.. It was here.. We.. We knew before.. We were...'
• after the scene plays out cracks of yellow light form around Pristum, finally revealing Cris underneath
• 'We were always together, weren't we?'
• nodding, Rin takes his hands and kisses his cheek. She tells him he'll have to go now but she'll follow eventually, and he turns to us to casually heal our injuries with a wave of his hand
• finally, he asks us to tell Tump that he's sorry, and help Alec come to his senses too (to which we joke that we do intend to kill him as well, yes)
• 'So for now.. All I can say.. Is thank you'
• with a last smile at Rin his code breaks apart into yellow sparrows, which scatter and fly away
• Rin holds the last one in her hands and whispers something to it before it, too, takes off

◐ 7 purifications, 4 corruptions, 2 kills