As the chaos spread across the island, Celis immediately ordered the evacuation of every civilian while the academy's students prepared to defend the shore.
The enormous creature was Ragnarok, and it attacked without pause, its countless tentacles capable of crushing anything they came down on.
While everyone else struggled against the monster, the headmistress confronted another mysterious woman who was attempting to interfere with Philuffy. Determined to protect her student, she declared that she would stand against anyone who threatened this academy, no matter how powerful they turned out to be.
Meanwhile Celis boldly challenged Ragnarok and refused to retreat despite the danger. She unleashed her Divine Gate technique and landed a direct strike on the monster's head, and for a moment it seemed that she had killed it.
Then Sonia appeared beside the battlefield and told them the battle was far from over.
The haunting melody of the flute drifted across the field again, and Ragnarok regenerated in front of all of them.
Sonia mocked Celis and told her she was destined to die there.
Lux put himself between them at once, refusing to let Celis face the enemy alone.
So Sonia revealed the painful truth about Lux's grandfather. Celis, she explained, had unintentionally caused his death by exposing corruption within the Arcadia Empire.
The revelation left Celis overwhelmed with guilt.
Even after hearing it, Lux refused to blame her. He shielded her from Sonia's attacks instead, and proved through what he did rather than what he said that he valued justice and compassion more than resentment.
After regaining consciousness, Celis apologized to him for hiding the truth. She explained that as a child she had discovered terrible crimes committed by the empire, and had reported them to Wade because she believed honesty was the right choice.
Wade had officially exposed those crimes, and had sacrificed his own life in the process. Before he died, however, he had told her never to regret standing up for justice.
Even so, she had gone on carrying the burden alone all these years, certain that Lux would hate her once he knew.
Lux assured her gently that his grandfather would never have blamed anyone for doing what was right.
Then he summoned Bahamut, revealing himself as the Black Hero, and promised to protect Celis exactly as his grandfather had once protected others.
Empowered by his own resolve, Lux charged straight at Ragnarok.
Sonia was confident that the immortal monster could not be beaten, because it regenerated endlessly. Ignoring her taunts, Lux activated Reload on Fire and launched an unbroken series of devastating attacks. His strikes came so fast that every tentacle was severed before Ragnarok could grow it back, and little by little the creature's strength drained away.
Watching him, Celis understood that Lux would never stop fighting until the battle was won.
Together they cornered the monster, and Lux delivered a final attack that destroyed Ragnarok completely.
Victorious, he then collapsed from exhaustion, having pushed Bahamut far beyond its limits.
As the enemy withdrew, the flute player pulled back a hood and introduced herself as Hayes. She warned Lux that the nightmare of five years ago would soon return, and left him deeply unsettled by it.
Later, Celis thanked him sincerely for saving both her life and her heart. Encouraged by his kindness, she resolved to become more open with the people around her instead of hiding behind duty alone.
While everyone was celebrating their survival, an enormous ancient ruin rose out of the ground and into the sky, and the sight of it announced that a far greater mystery was about to unfold.
Nine years earlier, inside the Imperial Palace, a large statue toppled and shattered into pieces.
Young Lux stood in front of the wreckage alongside Ragreed and another boy while everyone stared at the broken remains.
The second boy asked nervously what they were supposed to do now.
Ragreed said calmly that perhaps it was better that they had witnessed the whole thing themselves.
Lux worried aloud about whether they were going to hide the truth of what had happened. Ragreed explained that the statue had broken because of him, not because of Lux.
As Lux walked away from the scene, Philuffy quietly followed him. She told him that he had taken all of the blame onto himself even though none of it had been his fault, and she thanked him for helping her.
Lux answered awkwardly that the trouble had actually started because of him in the first place.
Philuffy told him gently that he should not apologize for things that were not his fault.
The memory faded, and the present came back.
Lisha stood looking ahead, calm, and explained that she had installed a special program capable of removing the limiter placed on Lux's Drag Ride. The ability was called Over Limit. Once the limiter removal code was activated, Lux would have access to far greater power than before.
She warned him not to use it unless it was absolutely necessary, because the strain of it could kill him.
Lisha also pointed out that he had already defeated Ragnarok once, so she doubted he would ever need such dangerous power again. Still, this mission was different, because they would have to explore a much larger area this time. That was why both she and Airi would be taking part as well.
Then Lisha asked Airi to explain the details of the mission.
Airi said that according to previous reports, once they were standing at the center of the ancient ruins, a mysterious light would appear and allow them to go deeper inside the structure.
After hearing that, Lux went over to Philuffy and asked how she was feeling. Before she could answer properly, Noct arrived and informed him that he was fully responsible for transportation and protection during the mission.
Eventually the whole group arrived at the entrance of the ruins.
The headmaster remarked that it had been a long time since an operation of this kind had been attempted. Celis told everyone to prepare themselves carefully before going in, and then the entire group stepped inside the ancient ruins together.
Once they were in, the headmaster asked Noct whether her scans had turned up anything unusual. Noct explained that she had scanned the area thoroughly and had found no sign of any Abyss creatures at all.
Airi then revealed that according to the old documents, the ruins contained nearly eleven floors, and that they were currently standing on the very first of them.
The headmaster ordered them to begin exploring immediately.
As they moved deeper, the environment changed completely, and they came out into an artificial forest, full of greenery and open natural scenery. Noct explained that this place was called the biome sphere. It was the second floor of the ruins, built long ago to imitate a natural ecosystem.
Triad, however, noticed signs suggesting that a battle had once been fought here, and concluded that the systems responsible for maintaining the ecosystem might already have shut down.
Noct scanned the area again at maximum radius, and still found no Abyss anywhere nearby.
Because the ruins were so enormous, the group decided to split into teams in order to cover more ground.