Special: The Pinnacle

Objective Butcher Them

To access this chapter, all chickens must have survived and Vermillion must be at least level 18.

Opening

(The chickens stand at the top of a great pyramid overlooking a setting sun.)

vermillion

This place looks the part of where ascension might happen.

empress

Beautiful, is it not? From here, you can see much of my empire.

joyful jo

Don't let eagerness take hold.
There is still a harsh path you must walk before you are ready for ascension.

empress

I do not recall extending my invitation to you.

joyful jo

You do not own these sacred grounds for our race.

empress

I am the Great Celestial Jade Empress, why should this not be mine?
Your apprentice should see the Gate for himself before your teachings ruin him.

vermillion

If the Skyward Gate is yours to guard, why have you not ascended, Senior?

joyful jo

Now we get to the crux of the issue.

empress

Silence. The gate only opens once all the celestial bodies have aligned.
I simply haven't had the opportunity.

(Brightbeak warps in.)

brightbeak

All three heinous villains appear at a single location!
What an auspicious day, for evil shall be eradicated.

empress

You dare step claw upon my endless empire, fiendish rogue?
I shall see your eyes pecked and your feathers plucked.

brightbeak

Empire? What is an Empire without citizens? An Empress without subjects?
The Crescent has suffered your delusions and tyranny for long enough!

empress

What gives you any right to question my legitimacy, foul creature?

brightbeak

Unlike you, false ruler, I have loyal ascenders who heed my call!
Behold, the warriors of righteousness, the Virtuous Veil!

(An army of chickens warps in.)

joyful jo

An ambush, from a supposed chicken of righteousness.

brightbeak

There is no line that cannot be crossed in pursuit of eradicating evil.

joyful jo

We are simply passing by the Skyward Gate. We have no business with your... coup.

empress

You mean to betray your gracious host, Joyful Jo?

joyful jo

You never invited me, Celestial Highness.

brightbeak

Don't make me laugh.
As long as you pursue your wicked quest of ascension, you are an enemy of the land! I shall end this quest. The Skyward Gate must fall.

empress

To believe it is just to taint sacred ground, you have truly gone mad, Brightbeak!

vermillion

What makes you oppose the noble goal of ascension?

brightbeak

You know nothing, witless hatchling.
The consequences of the last ascension have scourged this realm for centuries!
No longer shall the selfish desires of the few plague our kind as a whole.

vermillion

And what shall you do after the Gate is no more? When there is no purpose to fulfil?

brightbeak

The bloody traditions that tears us apart shall finally crumble.
What greater purpose can there be compared to a life of peace?

vermillion

There is no purpose to living except to surpass living.
To destroy our path to ascension is to end purpose.

brightbeak

Are you so far gone that you do not recognise the value of life itself?

vermillion

Life is a shackle that must be broken.
Enough words. I see you are a raving lunatic indifferent to reason. Begone.

brightbeak

Hah! Virtuous Veil, we shall destroy these three fiends at once! For all that is good!

Conversations

Brightbeak

Combat

brightbeak

Begone from this realm, unrepentant evil!

Defeat

brightbeak

Righteousness... Must... Prevail...

Ending

brightbeak

No! I am not yet slain!
I refuse to bend before evil!
All of my fallen comrades, your sacrifice shall not be futile!
By releasing all the power within my core, the Gate will fall!

vermillion

Stop this at once! There is still room to return to sanity.

brightbeak

It is you who are mad, and it is pitiful that you cannot see it.

vermillion

I will not let you!

(Brightbeak releases a huge amount of power, destroying himself and causing the temple to rumble.)

vermillion

The gate is opening! This is it!

joyful jo

No, Young Red! You must not! Listen to me!

(Vermillion leaps into the heavens. After a flash of light, he finds himself in a void face-to-face with an image of himself.)

vermillion

What manner of trickery is this?

vermillion?

There is no trickery. I am the last obstacle to your ascension.
See for yourself what you are.
See that your doubts, your fears, your attachment to the mortal realm, remain.

vermillion

So that is all I need to dispose of to ascend?

vermillion?

You cannot dispose of them. That is you.

vermillion

On the contrary, I can. I'll just tear out the parts of me that drag me down.

vermillion?

That is destruction of ego. It will no longer be you, no longer be us, that ascends.

vermillion

There is no value in life besides to ascend.

(Vermillion cuts out a shade of himself and discards it.)

vermillion

Now, I will ascend.

vermillion?

...

(Two robed figures stand beside a pool.)

???

Relegated to pool of ascension duty again, Brother Han?

brother han

Indeed. Third Elder has a grudge, I tell you. Twenty year of duty.

???

Incredibly unlucky. I've been here for ten, and nothing of interest has ever happened.

brother han

Of course, the pitiful lower realms can hardly provide any ascenders.
Any that do ascend, they are nothing before the true citizens of our realm.

???

I cannot agree more.
But why do the Elders insist whoever arises must be treated with the utmost respect?

brother han

Don't ask me, I didn't set these rules.

(After a tremor, a pair of eyes appears in the pool.)

???

Brother Han, what's happening?

brother han

What do you think, you fool? Someone is ascending from the pool!

???

I never felt such a presence except from the Greatest Elders!
What sort of monster has broken through the lower realms?

brother han

I hope you memorised the etiquettes of introduction, because I haven't!

(Vermillion emerges.)

brother han

Did a chicken fall into the pool while we weren't looking?

???

What a laugh. I thought we were getting some kind of old monster.
But then, what were those tremors, and that presence?

brother han

It was probably Sixth Elder practising alchemy again.
We just fooled ourselves into thinking it was the pool.

???

Of course. How can the lower realms produce a powerful being? What a pointless scare.

brother han

For this offence, I sentence you, chicken, to the infernal flames of endless torment.

???

A little extreme, Brother Han. It's a chicken.

brother han

Any disrespect from a mortal beast must be punished.

(Vermillion releases a wave of malignant energy, killing the attendants instantly, then flies off.)

Skyward Gate

(Back on the mortal plane, Empress and Joyful Jo observe the shade that Vermillion discarded.)

empress

You are not whole. Neither ascended nor ascender. What are you?

joyful jo

Young Red, you fool... What have you done to yourself?

vermillion?

Gift... Seniors... Departure...

(Vermillion teaches Miracle to Empress and Joyful Jo, then promotes.)

Pseudo-Deity
A false divinity born from a rejection of self.

Character Descriptions

Vermillion
I will pierce the heavens.

Joyful Jo
My senior. Old and maybe wise.

Empress
My other senior. Proud and maybe wise.

Brightbeak
An insane creature who believes it is just to end the hope of all chickenkind. The depths of insanity are boundless.

Virtuous Veil
A rogue band of chickens who have truly lost their way. It is a mercy to put them down before they do more harm.