Chapter 818: Bring Me My Sword! Book Another Ticket to Nebula Games!

As the game's story progressed, for many players, some questions were resolved, but more questions followed.

Cloud's mental state, mentioned by Aerith and involving Zack, was also very abnormal.

Even earlier, in the temple ruins of the Ancient race, Cloud was controlled by Sephiroth, who proactively handed over the Black Materia, which contained the Meteor spell capable of destroying the world, to Sephiroth.

Looking at Cloud, who was painfully pounding the ground, completely unaware of what had happened, players clearly felt the difference.

It wasn't that sudden; there had been countless foreshadowings in the game since Midgar.

That is, Cloud's mental state seemed to have problems, and Sephiroth exploited this to control Cloud.

After Sephiroth left, Cloud fell into a mental breakdown and passed out. In his dream, Aerith told Cloud that she was the only one who could stop him, and for this, she had to go to the Forgotten Capital.

So, when Cloud woke up, he led the Avalanche members to the Forgotten Capital.

But what happened next made all the players temporarily cast aside their confusion, with only one thought: Where's my sword? Bring me my sword! And while you're at it, book a ticket to Nebula Games' headquarters!

Song Ren cleared out the small monsters along the way and finally reached the bottom of the Forgotten Capital. Following the crystal-like steps, he could already see Aerith kneeling there, praying, preparing to cast her white magic.

Cloud in the game slowly approached Aerith, but the next moment he slowly raised his greatsword. Fortunately, Tifa's voice called out to Cloud at the critical moment, bringing him back to his senses.

However, before Song Ren, who was watching this, could breathe a sigh of relief, accompanied by background music with an extremely strong religious atmosphere, a beam of light shone directly on Aerith.

The next second, a figure in a black cape with white hair, holding a longsword with both hands, pierced through Aerith's chest.

A white Materia rolled from Aerith's body and finally sank into the pool of water below the temple.

Aerith, who had just opened her eyes and saw Cloud, couldn't even say a word.

Blood flowed from the wound, and with the blood flowed the power of life. As the blade was pulled from Aerith's body, her body also heavily fell to the ground.

'This isn't real...' Cloud stared blankly at the lifeless Aerith before him.

Sephiroth's entrance BGM from 'Advent Children' suddenly began to play.

Before Song Ren could react, he saw Sephiroth descend from the sky, accompanied by a flash of white light.

Aerith's chest was pierced by a katana.

A white Materia rolled from Aerith's body and finally sank into the pool of water below the temple.

'Aerith! This isn't real...' Cloud looked devastated, seeing the lifeless Aerith.

'There's nothing to be sad about. Soon, this girl will become part of the planet's energy.'

Song Ren didn't pay attention to the subsequent dialogue between Sephiroth and Cloud.

His eyes wide, looking at Aerith, who had closed her eyes forever, Song Ren was completely stunned.

Dead!?

Dead like Jessie?

Killed by Sephiroth!?

It wasn't just Song Ren; other players who reached this point were also shaken.

Although from 'Advent Children,' Aerith only appeared in Cloud's memories, one could somewhat guess.

But many still held onto hope.

But now, being directly pierced through the chest with a single strike, who the hell could endure that?!

Think about the journey from Midgar to Nibelheim and other places; along the way, Aerith, like Tifa, left an extremely deep impression on players.

And Aerith's personality was different from Tifa's somewhat reserved nature.

Her active, bold, lively, cheerful, optimistic, humorous, slightly mischievous, playful, vibrant, and emotionally delicate and gentle character left an even deeper impression on players.

Just before this, many players were still discussing whether Aerith or Tifa would ultimately be the true female protagonist.

But now, there was no need to choose.

The descending Sephiroth had already made the choice for the players.

Although this choice was precisely what most players did not want.

After a long silence, watching the scene of a heartbroken Cloud sinking Aerith's body into the lake, Song Ren quietly closed the game. At that moment, he felt an urge to grab a sword and head to Nebula Games' headquarters.

In reality, Song Ren was far from the only one with such thoughts.

Especially seeing Cloud, heartbroken and even somewhat numb.

The act of putting Aerith's body into the lake created an absolutely immense emotional impact!

Before this, players had many questions.

For example, why Sephiroth could influence Cloud's mind to a certain extent.

And that Cloud seemed to have a period of memory loss—what were those memories?

Who was Zack?

These were all things in the game that had confused players before.

But with Aerith's death, players' attention immediately shifted entirely.

Clearly, none of those questions had as great an impact on players as Aerith's death, which caused the player community to explode.

'Damn it, I'm broken. Aerith just got written out? Wasn't she the female lead?'

'First Jessie, now Aerith, all the female characters are getting written out? Next won't be Tifa, will it?'

'What are you thinking? Tifa definitely won't, she's perfectly fine in Advent Children. But why did my Aerith die?!'

'This is too much! Important characters used to die at the end of the game, but now they're dying in the middle of it!?'

'Don't get too excited, don't get too excited. Maybe she's only dead for now? It's not impossible for her to revive later. After all, in the world of Final Fantasy, when people die, they return to the planet. Plus, Aerith is an Ancient; is there a possibility she could revive later?'

'Heh, you probably don't even believe what you're saying. If she revived, why didn't Aerith appear in Advent Children?'

With the plot twist of Aerith's death, countless players discussed it on official Weibo accounts and game communities.

At the same time, Chen Xu's official Weibo comment section was, as expected, bombarded by countless players.

Players who loved Aerith vented their anger in Chen Xu's official Weibo comment section.

Of course, many players were still pushing forward with the main story, holding onto a last glimmer of hope for Mr. Chen, perhaps he would resurrect Aerith in the end?

However, for these players, as the story progressed, they felt an even deeper despair.

………………

Song Ren uncharacteristically took a day off from playing Final Fantasy and forcibly suppressed the urge to show up with a sword. After all, that was illegal; he might end up singing 'Iron Window Tears' and picking up soap. And if he thought about it carefully, giving out tragic plot points wasn't a one-time thing for Mr. Chen. Taking a step back, if this tragic plot point was delivered in the middle, then perhaps the final ending wouldn't be too bad, considering the 'Advent Children' CG movie's worldview: Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Red XIII, Vincent, and others were still alive. What else could he throw at him?

So, after adjusting his mindset, Song Ren relaxed and continued to experience the game. He had to admit that apart from the heartbreaking story, the game's presentation was truly outstanding, and compared to the more anime-style Xenoblade Chronicles.

Final Fantasy's art style leaned more towards realism, and visually, it was more spectacular.

To avenge Aerith, Cloud and his party continued their adventure. They recovered the Black Materia needed to summon Meteor and chased Sephiroth all the way to the Northern Crater. There, Sephiroth revealed what truly happened to Cloud in the past.

That is, five years ago in Nibelheim, the Shinra Soldier Sephiroth brought with him wasn't actually Cloud, but another 1st Class SOLDIER named Zack.

As for Cloud, according to Sephiroth, he was just a failed experiment, a clone created by Professor Hojo.

While Cloud was in a mental breakdown, Shinra's pursuers and Hojo also arrived. All of this was calculated by Hojo for the Jenova Reunion. Even the one who killed Aerith wasn't Sephiroth's true body, but merely a clone manipulated by Sephiroth.

With Jenova's reunion, a Lifestream storm erupted in the Northern Crater. Cloud, controlled by Jenova cells, handed the Black Materia to Sephiroth. The Northern Crater began to collapse under the dual impact of powerful black magic and the Lifestream. A massive meteor approached the planet from the sky. Shinra even captured Tifa and Barret, but fortunately, Cait Sith, who initially infiltrated Cloud's party as an undercover agent but later became a double agent due to his alignment with their ideals, and Cid appeared and rescued Tifa and the others.

After successfully escaping from Shinra, Tifa and her group began searching for the missing Cloud. When they finally found Cloud, he was in a state of madness due to his mental condition. Just as Tifa and the others were at a loss, an earthquake suddenly erupted, and the surging Lifestream enveloped both Cloud and Tifa.

Inside, Tifa entered Cloud's mental world and began searching for his true memories with Cloud's consciousness. From these memories, Cloud and Tifa finally discovered that Sephiroth's previous words were merely meant to mislead Cloud. Cloud was indeed not a 1st Class SOLDIER, but he wasn't a clone either. Furthermore, Cloud was indeed present during the Nibelheim incident five years ago; he was just an ordinary Shinra Soldier with the party. Because of his inferiority complex, he didn't believe he had become a true SOLDIER, so at the time, Cloud wore a Shinra Soldier helmet and didn't reveal himself to Tifa.

But in the end, after Sephiroth went berserk, Cloud did save Tifa.

Of course, in terms of presentation here, Chen Xu redesigned it.

After all, the original content was too comical: stabbing Sephiroth in the kidney with a knife, and then, in extreme anger, Cloud, a mere Shinra grunt, threw the great hero Sephiroth into the Mako Reactor flow – it was simply too ridiculous. So here, Chen Xu gave players a believable reason: Sephiroth had just fought Zack, a 1st Class SOLDIER, was not at his peak, and was too excited upon seeing Jenova, allowing Cloud to successfully ambush him. Furthermore, although Cloud was just a grunt, he already possessed the strength of a SOLDIER at that time, but his overly weak personality and mental state prevented him from being certified, because Shinra SOLDIERs not only needed immense strength but also matching willpower and spirit. With Tifa's help, those old memories steadily returned to Cloud's mind. He remembered everything: claiming to be a 1st Class SOLDIER, his movements when appearing from the train station, constantly saying 'reward is important' – these were all things he intentionally imitated from his closest friend, even his mentor, Zack, during his mental confusion caused by Mako and Jenova.

“Huh, DLC content? The story of Sephiroth and Zack?”

Looking at the unlock prompt that appeared, Song Ren couldn't help but show some surprise. The 'Final Fantasy' he bought was the Deluxe Edition, and the extra content included a DLC Season Pass. But he didn't expect it to be available directly, and moreover, officially recommended to explore the DLC character's story amidst the main plot? Although a little surprised, Song Ren wasn't overly so, as 'Xenoblade Chronicles' was somewhat similar before.

As for 'Torna ~ The Golden Country,' the DLC story, although released later, the official recommendation for its narrative integration was to play it after Chapter 8. And for 'Final Fantasy,' it was clear that Nebula Games had already prepared this content in advance, but perhaps due to its extensive nature, it was made into DLC. However, they might have feared players would choose to play the DLC first, spoiling the main game's content, so they made it unlock mid-game.

After a moment of thought, Song Ren decided to play it.

Although he could continue to advance the story without playing, from the description, it seemed to explain why Cloud became the way he was.

And Song Ren himself was a little curious about what exactly happened to Cloud in the past, and what kind of person Aerith's first love, Zack, was.

(End of Chapter) <>