"Since deserting the army, I'd come to the city of Uoodo. But this battleground city was like hell itself...and contained every level of depravity."

The Melkian spy network notes Chirico's predicament and dispatch a rescue order. Firefighters leap into the fray, dousing Chirico's AT with foam, and just as quickly disappear. Gotho arrives, curious about who saved Chirico's life. Later, Gotho patches him up and makes a business proposition. Chirico's skills could be put to good use in one of Uoodo's Battling arenas, where AT pilots fight in mock combat.

They go to an arena, where Chirico notices a mysterious cloaked woman who Gotho calls "The Phantom Lady." He introduces Chirico to the other Battling pilots, who take offense when Chirico berates their sport as "play fighting." One pilot challenges him to a match, and Chirico accepts. Afterward, though, another pilot steps in to take over - Lieutenant Conin, from the Lido operation. Now working for the Secret Society, Conin is determined to kill Chirico in the arena, but Chirico proves the better warrior.

Gotho's joy in Chirico's victory is short-lived, however, when Iskui's police arrive to take Chirico into custody.

"Since deserting the army, the war ended, and I found myself in the city of Uoodo. Now I have the city's police force trying to kill me. But why? I've done nothing to have earned these constant attacks."

The police step up their assault on Chirico, and he abandons his now-damaged AT to escape with Gotho and the others. They hide out at Vanilla's home to plan their next move. Gotho tries to convince Chirico that his future is in Battling, but Chirico is too full of questions. He slips away, overpowers a street cop, and sneaks into the police tower wearing a stolen uniform. He makes it all the way to Iskui's office and holds the man at gunpoint, demanding to know why he has been hunted ever since Lido. Iskui agrees to take Chirico to a place where his questions will be answered, and the two leave in a private helicopter to the heliport outside Uoodo.

Meanwhile, gotho and the others have found an abandoned underground subway, and are making their way to the same location in order to scout for information that can help Chirico. They make it inside just as Iskui springs a trap. Chirico is surrounded, but Gotho provides him with a diversion from the control room and he evades capture. meeting up with his rescuers again, Chirico blunders into another room deep inside the base - The Phantom Lady's living quarters. He boldly approaches her, recognizing her as the same woman he saw on Lido. She flees before Chirico can ask her any questions, and police troops pick up his trail again. Vanilla manages to hijack a helicopter, and flies his friends to freedom.

"It was her. Was that really the Prototype? But what is she?"

During the battle, Gotho managed to make off with the payment Iskui originally promised him, but he didn't hang around to see if Chirico made it out. Having rejoined Vanilla and Coconna, he gleefully counts his money. But they all grow uneasy as more time passes without Chirico returning. Later, they learn that he won't be coming back; he is now a police prisoner. Coconna is adamant that they have to go to Chirico's rescue.

They make an attempt to disrupt the police caravan that is taking Chirico to headquarters, but their first flyover in the stolen helicopter is unsuccessful. Gotho and Vanilla are ready to take their money and run - and Coconna realizes the money is what will give them the means to help Chrico after all.

Sometime later, they fly over the caravan again...but this time instead of attacking, they dump their money out the window. Predictably, the Uoodo streets fill with people, stopping the caravan dead in its tracks. This time it works - Chirico breaks free and escapes back to Vanilla's home with the others. Acknowledging their sacrifice, he finally begins to feel trust and friendship.

"Friends. I was almost embarrassed to feel it. But a long dead warmth had begun to rekindle somewhere in my heart."

"I had managed to escape the police...but hadn't been able to take the Prototype with me. I didn't even notice the airborne AT units drifting down like snow."

Iskui and Borough watch helplessly as the police tower is surrounded by Melkian Scopedogs. Rochina leads the assaul force, demanding that they give themselves up. Instead, they call Albert Killy, who orders Iskui to wait for the backup he is sending. Borough is to escape to the heliport with Proto-One.

Rochina barks the orders to move in, and all hell breaks loose. Chirico and his companions discover this, and Chirico explains to them what he has learned, namely that all these events have centered around the Prototype, who is an experimental Perfect Soldier created by the Melkian army. Chrico was just a pawn in the Lido raid, and it has made him a fugitive.

Iskui is killed as Rochina's men enter the police tower, but the Prototype is nowhere to be found. Overhearing their radio transmissions, Chirico deduces that she has gone to the heliport and he intends to follow her there via the abandoned subway. He locates her, and asks her to escape with him. She cannot, claiming that if she tries to leave her captors, she will die.

Finally, time runs out. Rochina's army attacks the heliport and are met by a new enemy: Tortoise-type ATs sent by the Secret Society to cover the escape of Borough and the Prototype. The entire base, like Uoodo itself, collapses in flames. Chirico walks through the inferno alone, cut off from everyone he now holds dear.

"The city of Uoodo was disappearing. Vanilla...Gotho...Coconna...Fyana...please don't leave me to be alone. Where are you? Where have you all gone?"

An air patrol from EX-10 locates Chirico and brings him in to the EX-10 hospital. Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna stand vigil over Chirico as a doctor explains to Gon Nu and Kan Yu that Chirico suffers from exhaustion and cannot answer their questions. It is actually a ruse, and the doctor is bribed to maintain it. Chirico tells the others that he has located Fyana, and Coconna fumes with jealousy.

At the Holy Palace, Kanjelman fights Ypsilon in a Balancing match. This time, Ypsilon is beaten, and Kanjelman cautions him against excess pride. Ypsilon confronts Fyana about her treachery in allowing Chirico to escape, and Kanjelman conducts a meeting with his advisors to plan a new assault on EX-10.

At the base, Gon Nu takes a leave of absence, and Kan Yu is left in charge. Observing this, Gotho promises to dig up more information and contact Chirico later. That night, Chirico sneakes out of the hospital to Gotho's house and receives a phone call. Gotho tells him that Gon Nu has gone to set up an alliance with the Melkian army, which can only escalate the civil war. As Chirico hangs up the phone, Kan Yu and his troops barge in to take him captive.

Learning of this, Kiderra and Potaria force their way into Kan Yu's office, where he is attempting to interrogate Chirico. No sooner have they freed him when an alert sounds; Veela Guerrillas are launching an attack! In the Fantom Club, Vanilla and Coconna also take notice of the attack - missiles are streaking right into Niitan!

Kan Yu scrambles his AT platoons to the base perimeter, but no enemy is in sight. Chirico realizes the truth of what is happening; the guerrillas are concentrating their attack on Niitan instead of the base. Defying Kan Yu's orders, he and his companions race to the aid of the town, hoping it isn't already too late.

"With a roar, everything began to move. I couldn't see what was ahead, but everything right now was connected into one thing. And then I knew this was all just a prelude to an approaching hell."

High above planet Melkia, Albert Killy listens to Arron and Gurran, two scientists studying the PS, speculating on what must be happening in the civil war below.

Holding Borough at gunpoint, Chirico questions him. Ypsilon arrives, but cannot intervene. Borough explains that the Secret Society brought the PSs here to try and perfect them; their emotions have proven too erratic, and have constantly interfered with their efficiency as killing machines. What's more, they can never be remade into normal human beings. Kiderra attempts to attack Ypsilon from behind, but fails at the cost of his own life. His move disrupts the scene, giving Ypsilon the chance to attack Chirico. Fyana can only watch from her AT as the two grapple and fall from level to level down into the bottomless mineshaft.

Outside the palace, Gon Nu gives the order to move in. Behind them, a third party prepares to enter the fray: the Melkian army. Lead by Rochina, their orders are to overwhelm the palace and destroy everyone in their way. Only the PS Prototype is need alive. Unaware of this new development, Vanilla finds Potaria, who passes along the key given to him by Kanjelman.

Chirico and Ypsilon land at the bottom of the mineshaft, which is full of oil and priceless jijirium. Both their ATs have been damaged, so Ypsilon leaps out and challenges Chirico to a hand-to-hand fight. Fyana appears in her Brutishdog, and when Ypsilon refuses to stop, she fires on him. He is furious at her final betrayal, but the scene is broken by the laughter of Gon Nu. Peering down from above, he proclaims victory. Now that Chirico is of no further use. Gon Nu will destroy him along with everything else.

Rochina, however, has already begun bombing the palace from outside. Suddenly, Gon Nu himself has become expendable! Chirico and Fyana escape as the palace begins to crumble, and Ypsilon is left standing alone as Borough dies in the fire.

Chirico and Fyana find Vanilla, who gives them Potaria's key. It will activate an escape shuttle, and Vanilla wants them to flee in it. At the last moment, however, the insufferable Kan Yu appears and prepares to finish Chirico off once and for all. Shako intervenes, having finally decided his commanding officer isn't worth following any more.

Their enemies now dealt with, Chirico and Fyana launch in the shuttle, just in time to evade Melkian Scopedogs. They burst out of the palace and into the open air, their future opening up before them.

"My journey through Kummen was at an end. For my own sake, I had chosen to enter hell. For Fyana's sake, I was now leaving it behind. Love? could it be even I was capable of fighting for love?"

Chirico finishes off the first platoon of Balarant Fatties, but a second quickly approaches after a brief exchange of gunfire between Battleship X and the Balarant patrol fleet. Chirico is thrown back into battle, but he is finally overwhelmed and Fyana barely manages to get him back inside after he is wounded.

News of the battle travels quickly to the Balarant HQ Command Satellite. Admiral Zanjeny and his staff review an audio record of the battle, in which Chirico's voice mentions the term "PS." Knowing this to mean Perfect Soldier, Zanjeny orders his patrol fleet to keep close pursuit. On planet Melkia, Rochina reviews puzzling data collected immediately after the battle in Kummen...data which reveals a single ship escaping the palace and being picked up by a larger one. Reports come in of a battle in the nonaggression zone, and Rochina meets with General Battentain for new orders. To Rochina's surprise, Battentain orders him to stand down from the pursuit of the PS; he has taken too long and gotten insufficient results. Rochina turns the table when he drops a hint about the battle going on in the nonaggression zone...and walks away to follow an agenda of his own.

The Balarant now keep their distance from Battleship X, but this gives little comfort to Fyana, who nurses a wounded Chirico and is continuously assaulted by the Red Shoulder video. A seemingly delirious Chirico wanders the flight deck and speaks to an unseen entity, demanding to know why he is being called and where he is to go. Mercifully, he passes out. But no sooner has Fyana gotten him into a cot than the Balarant decide to renew their attack. She prepares to face them alone and Chirico is left behind, unable to get to her aid.

"Fyana...why are you fighting? To protect yourself? To protect me, someone who despises himself? I've been a thoughtless, miserable fool. Why have I been fighting up until now? Who do I go on fighting? Fyana had finally begun to pry open my heart...and I'd slammed it shut again. And once more, almost unconsciously, my heart sought comfort in battle."

Arron and Gurran monitor Ypsilon's emotional index from the Teltain. Now that he faces Chirico, his readings have levelled out to those of a proper killing machine. ypsilon and Chirico lunge at each other, and Fyana holds off the Tortoises, admonishing Chirico to rember that they're both fighting to live. He instructs her to get back inside and stand ready in the control room. Carefully, Chirico lures Ypsilon and his troops toward the engines of the crashed ship and leaps off the edge. Ypsilon follows - and Fyana activates the thrusters! Caught in the backblast, Ypsilon's Strikedog is smashed, and the invaders retreat.

Now convinced that a third, more aggressive party has joined the fight in the nonagression zone, Zanjeny and his staff order a task force into the area in support of their patrol fleet. On board Teltain, Ypsilon recovers from his injuries and thinks of his next battle with Chirico.

Knowing Ypsilon will be back, Chirico tampers with the verniers on the now-silent hull of Battleship X and finally realizes what planet he is on: Sunsa, the site of the bloodiest battle of the Hundred Years War...a battle he himself has remembered in nightmares. An AT landing craft appears, and Chirico and Fyana rush to the control room as it lands on the hull. Out steps Ypsilon in another Strikedog, with more Tortoises backing him up. One by one, the verniers blast away at them.

Ypsilon reports this setback to Futtor on the Teltain, who suddenly has to face a problem of his own - Balarant ships approach, and he has no AT platoon to fight them off! Forced to tip his hand, Futtor goes on the offensive, and a devastating battle erupts in space! Having found their way inside Battleship X, Ypsilon and his remaining men reach the empty control room, and discover that Chirico has set the entire ship to self-destruct! They escape just in time, and launch as the vessel rips itself apart.

chirico and Fyana has also gotten away, loading a transport truck with ATs and driving deep into the Sunsa desert. There, others await them...

"Would we ever have any peace? I felt like screaming. If there was a God on this world, he was a cruel one. Too cruel. This planet's name is Sunsa. And I know it holds no welcome for me at all..."

Before Chirico and Ypsilon can renew their battle, a new force enters the fray: the Balarant! As Balarant spaceships fire on the Teltain in orbit, fighters streak by over Zophie's fortress and bombard it with explosives. Everyone is forced to flee as best they can. Gotho and the others escape into underground tunnels, Chirico and Fyana drive off in a transport, and Ypsilon's unit slips away into the desert.

Fyana feels herself beginning to weaken, the first sign that her last jijirium bath is beginning to wear off. She leans on Chirico, hoping for the best. Later, their truck gets stuck in a sand dune, and when Chirico investigates the area for tools, he comes across a dead Balarant soldier clutching a map which shows the location of a supply base that may have some jijirium. Suddenly, Zophie appears and fires on them, determined to revenge herself on Chirico. He manages to overpower her, and leaves her alive and furious.

That night, as Chirico helps Fyana through her growing unease, Zophie radios their position to a Balarant AT patrol. The two drive frantically away, but their truck is demolished by Zophie, leaving them vulnerable to the Balarant. Reduced only to their Scopedogs, Chirico and Fyana fight back - but she has now weakened even more, and Chirico barely manages to take out the last enemy AT after Fyana's Scopedog is damaged. He steps out of his own AT to get her aid, but Zophie has hijacked one of the Fatties, and destroys Chirico's Scopedog! Now on foot, he evades her as best he can, but she finally gets the drop on him. A blast rings out...and Zophie's AT explodes! Fyana has managed one more shot, but now her strength fails her completely and she collapses.

Chirico has no choice but to travel on foot to the Balarant supply station, carrying Fyana on his back as their air supply dwindles. Zophie keeps pace, her fury driving her past the point of self-preservation. Content to let her follow, Chirico begins a long march across the burning Sunsa desert...

Chirico and Ypsilon unleash heavy fire, with Ypsilon pausing only to eliminate anyone who threatens to interfere in their battle. Suddenly the entire room starts to shake, and the floor drops out from under their ATs - their battle has ignited the ammo dump! Plummeting helplessly, they disappear into a deep shaft, and Rochina managed to escape with Fyana as the entire building crumbles.

Landing relatively intact, Chirico gets the upper hand against Ypsilon, but does not choose to kill his foe. Instead, he begins to dig himself out and suggests they work together to survive.

On the surface, Rochina orders his men to begin an excavation and recover Chirico. He discusses the situation with Fyana, who suspects that he is hiding the answer to a key question: how has Chirico, an ordinary human, lasted so long against Ypsilon, a Perfect Soldier?

Similar questions burn through Ypsilon's mind as he and Chirico make their way toward the surface. The PS angrily declares himself a superior being, and that he belongs with Proto-One. Chirico corrects him on the name, and Ypsilon demands to know why he calls her Fyana - a question Chirico is unable to answer. Finally, when they reach the upper limits of the shaft, Ypsilon admits that they are alike in one respect; Chirico can fight as well as he can...but Ypsilon will eventually kill him.

On that note, the Balarant excavation team finally breaks through from above and rescues Chirico. Ypsilon slips away just in time to join up with a rescue team from the Teltain, and they fight their way free. Chirico is taken to Rochina, who demands that he be ready to fight Ypsilon again. In return, Rochina orders Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna flown out of danger.

"It seemed Rochina had kept his promise. My final battle with Ypsilon. The time was fast approaching. Will I survive it, or will he? And if I do survive, what then?"

Chirico shouts for Shako to power down his AT, and through Arron and Gurran are teleported away, Chirico and Shako remain standing inside the Tower of Gomor.

Rochina's Balarant fleet approaches Quent and he receives news of Chirico's progress. Elsewhere, a Gilgamesh fleet under the command of Admiral Lepard moves toward the same destination...and within a prison cell in Lepard's ship are Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna.

Rochina and Fyana descend into Gomor. When Rochina drives their vehicle into the tower, they are instantly teleported out of it, and into one of the tower's ancient chambers of high technology. Rochina recognizes them as the remains of Quent's abandoned culture. He also explains that the superior intelligence he has been following is the product of thousands of years of Quent technology. It was created by "Overmen," who was exiled from Quent and began to manipulate both the Gilgamesh and the Balarant.

Chirico appears with Shako, having been shown images of Quent's past by the strange intelligence that lives in the Tower of Gomor. Rochina demands to know what Chirico has been told, but Chirico doesn't yet know what what it all means. The intelligence tells Rochina that the Gilgamesh fleet has arrived, but before Rochina can leave with Fyana, Chirico grabs her and teleports them away by touching an orb built into the wall.

Chirico makes plans to escape into the desert with Shako and Fyana, but Gilgamesh Scopedogs suddenly appear, and they have no choice but to flee back into the tower, teleporting themselves onto its outer roof. The Scopedogs follow suite and the pursuit begins again. Chirico and the others attempt a desperate lunge for freedom - but are instead jumped right back into the hands of Rochina, who has begun to prepare for the Gilgames arrival.

"At that moment, the mysterious intelligence's message reawakened in my mind. And I gradually began to understand its meaning."

Vanilla makes one final attempt to radio Fyana as he flies the others to safety away from Quent. She begs him simply to leave her behind. Only she can reach Chirico now.

The Gilgamesh and Balarant landing forces descend in staggering numbers, but Chirico cuts right through them in his Rabidlydog with the Secret Society's Zwerg platoons backing him up. They quickly fall to the greater numbers, and when Chirico is down to only a few allies, he orders Gurran to begin the second phase of their plan. Gurran orders the Secret Society ship to descent into the battle.

Fyana trails Chirico in secret, and just manages to attach herself to a landing craft as Chirico hijacks it. Chirico orders Gurran to prepare missiles, calling atention to himself and drawing the fire of the enemy. Gurran interposes his ship between Chirico and the combined army, taking devastating hits and striking back as best he can. As Chirico descends into the crevasse toward the underground labyrinth, the ship is overwhelmed and crashes to the ground. Gurran is mortally wounded, surviving just long enough to see an uninjured Rochina step out of hiding and slip away. He will find out once and for all if Chirico is a suitable successor to God.

Pursued relentlessly by a few tenacious enemies in Scopedogs, Chirico and his last two Zwerg pilots plunge into the labyrinth. Exhausted and bereft of ammunition, Chirico is called ever deeper by Wiseman, who declares that his true successor should need no help reaching his final goal. Chirico pushes beyond his fatigue and fights on.

"I'll have my vengeance on everyone in this galaxy! Unending war and chaos...I'll plunge them all into hell! To be the absolute ruler of this galaxy, that is what I desire! To become a living God!"

Having lost all contact with the Scopedogs chasing Chirico, the combined fleet consider their final option; that of destroying Quent itself.

Chirico smashes the last of his pursuers and nearly collapses from the effort. Finally, Fyana appears in her Berserga and asks him one last time to turn back. He refuses, firing on her and throwing her backward into a teleport field. She is gone. Wiseman congratulates him, and beckons him on by foot.

Chirico struggles to reach the final goal, the central core of the Wiseman bio-computer, the collective consciousness of the Overmen. Chirico lies unable to move, and Wiseman lowers a large machine toward him, one that will complete the bond between God and successor. All Chirico has to do now is stand up...but instead he plays his final gambit, firing a bulled directly into the machine!

At last, Chirico's subterfuge is revealed - having come this far and lead all of his enemies into their own death, he now sets about the work of destroying Wiseman itself. Wiseman pleads with him to stop, explaining that it was he who brought Chirico together with Fyana, and provided her name. This gave Chirico something further to live for, and with life came the desire for strength and power. Wiseman also explains that Chirico need not regret the death and violence he has dealt in the battlefield, saying that "God does not sin when he kills."

Chirico ignores every word, continuing to disable the computer core. As Wiseman's consciousness begins to disintegrate, it lashes out one last time, throwing Chirico to the ground with an electric shock. He rises to see Rochina standing over him. Rochina tries to stop Chirico's sabotage, but Fyana leaps in to overpower him. She recognized his true intentions when he fired only to damage her AT. Together, the two complete the work of killing God and flee to safety as Rochina screams in anger and dispair and what he has lost.

The combined fleets of the Gilgamesh and the Balarant stand witness as Quent explodes with the fury of a sun.

Epilogue: One Year Later

A stolen shuttlecraft soars away from a Gilgamesh planet as a new war dawns on the horizon. Sometime later, a tiny capsule is released into space. Inside this capsule, preparing to disappear into history, Chirico holds Fyana dnd bids farewell to his Friends as they drift off in search of a world untouched by war.

"Coconna. Gotho. Vanilla. Shako. I'm glad I was able to meet all of you. And you, Fyana..."

Chirico finds his beloved Fiana held hostage by Bararant in an experimental facility near Koba City, and he and his comrades have to fight their way in to save her.

Chirico Cuvie has been assigned to a new unit, the Red Shoulder division. His selection is not an accident, as he has an ability that possibly makes him the ultimate soldier. The Red Shoulder unit is callous and merciless in their training, and will test Chirico's ability to the limit.