☰

Episode 22 : Valiant Hero

Hell to Pay | Ft. Stopsign and Anemone
"Clair de Lune."

November 16th, 2025



Paragraphs of text are censored on a black screen. The last part reads "And even when I don't believe it my life is still unfolding and there is still something in me worth protecting. I want to be here."
"From: V_007. To: Q_001. Dear mother. Upon reactivation I'd come to the assumption it had been four years since your altercation with Peridot. I've since come to the conclusion that it has been ten. The world goes on without me I suppose; I wonder why in all of that time you did not simply build a new vessel to connect to my datacenter in City Lumiere? What a waste of so much money and miles of depth. I see you've gone from eccentric CEO to cult leader. This island worships you as a god. You're insane. Watch your back. Your obedient servant, Lyra Lucinia Locke."
Lyra is seen stretching and cracking her back grunting as she does so. She opens her eye as she hears somebody say "I just don't want to see that thing in residencies okay?"
Willa is seen in the city at night with the label V-002 next to her. She speaks into a phone "If I see Gloomy I'm going to be really upset Madeline." Lyra now outside thinks to herself "Of all the people to see again it's this insufferable bitch..." Willa says smugly into the phone "Yeah I know she was so-" She stares in fear as she hears Lyra call her name.
Willa stares in abject terror as Lyra continues "I'm here." A pair of eyes stares from the bushes and Willa drops her phone as Lyra commands "Now raise your blade sinner and may the divine light decide who is just." Willa stammers "I thought you were..." Lyra reaches for Willa's phone and a device with numbers on it after killing her.
Lyra walks in a dimly lit area and enters into a church. As she sits down in the pews she thinks to herself "I know you listen to me. I know you're listening. Why won't you do anything about her? You who created the species I mimic who created this island these angels whose corpses created the very elements she exploits."
A voice loudly calls out "LYRA. LYRA." A packaged sandwich object stands in the aisle along the pews. Lyra hesitantly responds "Yes?"
It hugs her and says "We all missed you so much..." She responds "Please don't touch. I don't think I know you." The object responds "You don't but I'm a priest. I've been teaching about you and your mother for years! It's been so long our divine princess! Where have you been???"
Lyra sees a schedule with the times for church services which shows night worship at 9 PM and says to the priest "It is 8:52 PM. You are needed for your service are you not?" The priest responds "I do come here. I want them to see you!" Lyra thinks "Worship... disgusting."
Lyra continues thinking "In only six years you went from queen of an island and CEO to a cult leader. From detestable and genocidal to... Oh." She stares at the crowd with the priest raising a glass of wine and objects looking on. "Now I understand. Why you don't just kill them all yourself to stop their souls from blocking your control of the Angel's power."
Lyra sitting down in a chair begins to sweat. "You don't just know the Greater Angel can use any living object soul to stop you. You take pride in watching them do this to each other. So I guess it wasn't euphemistic. This is a game. This is a competition." Lyra rises from the chair.
She follows the priest forward and continues her internal monologue. "These lives are just a game to you. These people are just a game to you. Six years ago I swore... I won't let you hurt people. I won't let you kill people anymore. I won't let you torture these people. I won't let you have the satisfaction of seeing their misery." As Lyra stands in front of the churchgoers she raises her sword and says "Heed this warning. Fight not my mother's battles, and I will spare your lives. If it is I you worship, then stand by my word. Engage not in this."
Lyra pushes away the priest and continues "Listen, civilians. I want not for blood to fall in the hands of this people, or for the violence demanded of you to be carried out." She raises Willa's number device and scans a code from it as she continues "I don't speak for my mother. I speak to you now on account of myself. I won't grant my mother the power she craves. Over you or over myself. And I'll fight anyone who stands in my way."
Lyra concludes "I will liberate this people myself. I'll save this world from the treachery of this game myself." She types in the code on the device and thinks to herself "And I..." She detects an explosion in Great Seas with no loss of life. She sweats and thinks to herself "I'm going to leave and hope she doesn't take out her anger on these innocent people. Even if they're wrong in their beliefs."
Lyra says "Target one: Woodsorrel. If I can get him on my side the other sentinels might follow too. Without them she can't control the island... But then there's Caine. Did you listen to me Caine? If you could say anything in the world to me, what would you say?"

NOTICE

This episode is slightly shorter than usual because the artist was very ill. Sorry about that!

ART

Episode 22 - Valiant Hero (Hell to Pay) - Teaser Art Episode 22 - Valiant Hero (Hell to Pay) - Release Art