Long time no see, Neko.
Who are you?
Right. You wouldn't remember me, would you?
Are you the Valkyria?
I have a name. It's Mako.
Show some respect.
Y-You're...
Number 1107, Takatori Kotori.
Come.
Number 1107 was Kotori?
See? She's here! Aren't I a good girl, Chisato?
Number 1107. Your flight will not be looked kindly upon.
Your life belongs to me.
Witch Hunt
This is bad.
We're done for.
This is our last chance.
Murakami-kun!
Huh? Murakami?
I want to ask you something.
Are you the one who has been housing the witches?
I'm begging you! Please spare me!
I just helped them out a little because I felt bad for them!
I'm an innocent bystander!
What's with him?
So please! Please don't kill me!
I see.
When did I become such a softie?
I really should just run for it.
But even the Valkyria can hang up.
Here goes!
The heck is this?
Where do I press?
Hatsuna-chan!
Hatsuna!
Damn...
What are you made of?
I thought I killed you already.
The only way she can die is via harness ejection.
Then can I eject it?
Yes.
Letting her live might cause problems.
Wait!
Hatsuna, sorry.
You stayed to help when you could've easily run.
Why?
All these girls want is to live.
Why can't you grant them even that?
Because there is no reason to let them live.
And because there is a latent danger in letting them live.
That's your own business!
Have you thought about the feelings of the magicians you're killing?
When you kill an insect, do you care about what it thinks?
That's completely different!
Magicians aren't insects! They're humans, just like us!
Are all human lives equally valuable?
Each life has its place.
The most important is one's own life.
You're wrong! That's not true!
Looks like we're just wasting our time talking.
Kill all of them except for number 1107.
Wait, you said you'd spare Neko!
Did you not hear my order?
But...
Don't make me repeat myself.
Understood.
No!
Everyone! Run away! Now!
Don't get carried away.
You'd do well to come with us quietly.
Let go of Kotori-chan.
Don't hurt Chisato!
Please, just go home!
Neko...
She's an eyesore. Get it done quickly.
Neko, I'm sorry!
Murakami... kun?
Murakami-kun!
Murakami!
Murakami-san!
Don't think I'm like you.
There are lives I consider more important than my own.
Murakami-kun! Murakami-kun!
Murakami!
Murakami-san...
Murakami...
Girls... I'm sorry I couldn't save you.
What are you saying, Murakami?
Murakami-san!
Murakami-kun...
Murakami-kun!
Murakami.
Y-You're... Nanami?
Hello.
What are you talking about? Who's Nanami?
Nanami?
This is a vision I programmed into your memories.
I set it to appear when you were at the verge of death.
Oh, I'm on the verge of death all right...
Oh no! He's lost so much blood that he's hallucinating!
Don't speak.
You can communicate with me just by thinking.
Got it.
I looked into their memories and discovered magicians who the laboratory greatly fears.
Fears?
Yes. One is number 1107, Takatori Kotori.
Another is Kuroha Neko.
Kuroha?
She has power that surpasses even the Valkyria's.
However, this power was so unstable that no one was able to control it.
And so, the laboratory sealed her power away.
I'll tell you how to release it.
But as she is now, there is a 99.9% chance that Neko will fail and die as a result.
However, this may be your only chance to survive...
No... I'm blacking out...
Don't go, Nanami...
Murakami! Get a hold of yourself!
How dare you do that to Murakami!
Kazumi-chan!
You!
There's nothing you can do.
All you can do is destroy.
And now you can't even use your useless magic.
We didn't become magicians because we wanted to!
It was all forced upon us!
Why do we have to lose what little we have left?!
Kazumi-san...
If only... if only I had the power...
You do...
Kuroha, you're stronger than the Valkyria.
Murakami-kun, what do you mean?
Nanami told me...
The way to unseal your power...
The topmost button on your harness...
Go ahead, press it.
You'll just melt and die.
I can't do it.
I don't have it in me to press the button of 99.9% death.
That's enough. Finish them.
Valkyria.
Neko, I'm really sorry.
I can't disobey Chisato's orders.
Stop!
Farewell...
Huh?
Why isn't my magic working?
It couldn't be...
But it could!
It's been a while, Chief Ichijiku.
How did you know we were here?
We received GPS coordinates.
Thanks to that terminal being powered on.
How does it feel to have your power rendered useless?
How?!
The Initializer.
He has the power to neutralize all magic.
Now, please hand number 1107 over.
They disappeared!
Damn it...
Number 1107 is gone too!
Kotori!
It barely grazed you.
You're so useless!
Shut up! At least I managed to neutralize the attack!
And besides, you never told me they could teleport!
Miki, you didn't do enough research!
Don't try to shift the blame to me!
Murakami-kun!
Murakami! Come back to us!
Murakami!
Wake up, Murakami-kun!
His heart's not beatin' anymore...
Why did this happen? Now there's no point...
There's no reason to be alive without Murakami...
Murakami-kun...
You said you'd remember everything I forgot...
I didn't care if I died. All I wanted was for you to live...
Murakami-kun...
No, Murakami-kun...
It's okay. All is not lost.
Hatsuna, healed already?
His heart's just stopped beating, right?
I can still save him.
Really?
Then please, save Murakami!
However, when I use this power, my body starts to melt.
Well, I still owe him for the radio tower.
And I can't get more pills without him...
I'll give it a try.
I just need to heal him before my body melts completely.
His wound is getting smaller.
This is harder than I thought.
I've just about closed up his wound...
...but his heart's not beating...
No way... I've never hung up before...
Hatsuna-chan!
Hatsuna!
Am I really going to die in vain?
Hatsuna!
No... Hatsuna melted, and she couldn't even save Murakami...
Kazumi!
Don't just sit there! Do a heart massage!
G-Got it!
Murakami, please! Pull through!
Murakami!
Murakami-kun?
Murakami!
Thank goodness...
Thank goodness!
Huh... did I pass out?
No. You died!
Huh?
Hatsuna saved you.
At the cost of her own life.
Hatsuna?
Why did you do that?
You died to save me?
It'll make no difference in the end.
We're going to have all you witches die anyway.
Who are you people?
We are the Hexenjagd.
We are an organization mounting resistance against the laboratory.
Why do you kill magicians?
What have they done?
The longer magicians stay alive, the more the drasils in their harnesses grow.
Drasils?
That slime-like creature?
Eventually, it will hatch, consume the witch's body, and become a horrendous monstrosity.
A beast with only human flesh on its mind.
No way...
Us? Monsters?
But what we fear isn't small fry like you.
It's number 1107.
Rena.
Where am I?
Why did you not come to me?
Rena.
Who's Rena?
All life is equally meaningless.
That's what I thought.
Until you fell ill and died.
Your body was soon beyond recovery.
But your mind, your soul... that, I could still save.
A body isn't necessary.
A brain can live with just nutrients and oxygen.
But why didn't you come back to life?
Why was it as if you were missing a soul?
How could I grant you a second life?
What is life?
Our goal is the creation of humanity that is fit to rule the planet.
There is a one-in-several-thousand chance that a drasil incubated in a witch's body will become a Grani,
and it is that Grani which will play a key role in the creation of this new ideal lifeform.
Who is Rena?
My name is Takatori Kotori.
That's what your original body's name was.
Original?
What am I?
All humanity on this planet was created by extraterrestial life.
The fossil record proves it.
These aliens also encoded a mechanism to reset the planet in humanity's DNA.
Reset the planet?
And the switch that triggers that destruction...
...is you.
Kotori is?
When the Grani lodged in Takatori Kotori hatches,
the cells of all living things on the planet will fuse, leaving the Earth a lifeless rock.
Do you expect me to believe that?
We were once part of the laboratory ourselves.
Then, we found out their true motives.
In order to kill Takatori Kotori, we attacked her transport vehicle.
But we failed.
We unintentionally destroyed several other vehicles in addition to the one she was in.
Kotori escaped in the chaos, and we even lost one of our own.
I get it.
We really should all be killed.
Don't be stupid!
Besides, it's not as though it'll hatch right away!
I guess you're right.
It might take a year or two.
But it could be tomorrow!
Oh, shut up!
These girls don't have enough pills to live past next week!
You call yourselves a resistance?
You're just doing the same thing as Ichijiku!
I'm not going to lose hope.
You shouldn't lose hope either!
It's true. The chances of it hatching this week are extremely low.
They'll die even if we leave them alone.
Number 1107 should be our first priority anyway.
I guess you're right.
It's just that we have no idea where Ichijiku's hiding.
We can help with that.
We can find where Ichijiku is.
Kazumi.
Can you do it, Kazumi?
Of course.
I'll hack their systems right up and give ya their info.
Let's make a deal.
In exchange for telling you where Ichijiku is, you have to take us there with you.
Don't be silly.
If you're just going to hack their systems, we've tried that too.
They have witches putting up barriers to protect against it.
Get on my level.
Well?
I suppose I have no choice.
I accept.
Kazumi!
Alright! Leave it to me!
Looks like they've deleted Ichijiku's data...
I see.
They've got a magician messing with it on their side.
Don't underestimate me.
She's piercing their data...
Wow! She might just be able...
Look, we don't mind you coming along.
But we're still going to kill number 1107.
Kazumi!
Right by the lake where we fought Kikako.
Ichijiku has a vacation house there in his mother's name.
Good job, Kazumi.
Let's move out immediately. The helicopter is ready outside.
Kana, wait here for us.
Got it.
Take care of Kotori.
You bet. We're going to bring her back.
Hatsuna, thank you.
The life you saved won't go to waste.
The Grani in your spinal cord has consumed Rena's brain.
By all means, Rena's soul should be inside that Grani.
But it suppose it isn't.
Thus, I will plant the Grani in a new host.
So, I'm...
You will die.
I see.
All lives other than one's own are equally meaningless.
Rena's was the only exception.
I will revive Rena's consciousness no matter how many other lives it takes.
Is Valkyria-san's life meaningless as well?
Naturally.
But she seems so fond of you.
I once saved her life.
It seems she feels indebted to me,
but I did it merely because she was essential to my plans.
I feel nothing for her.
I knew.
But I still love you!
No way...
Is it hatching?
No!
That's...
What's that?
Ain Soph Aur?
The light that governs life.
When it appears on Earth, live will go extinct.
We didn't make it in time.
When we compare ourselves to those who face death today unknowingly,
we can count ourselves lucky.
Kotori...
kagayaku hoshi miagete
We've always admired
itsumo akogareteta na
the shining stars we gazed upon.
ashita wo yume minagara
And dreaming of tomorrow,
koi wo shite mitari
we played games of affection.
nai mono nedari de
While I begged for something that wasn't there,
shiawase wa hito sorezore to
you taught me that happiness
oshiete kureta ne
was different for everyone.
sonna kimi ga suki de nee
That's why I like you so much.
watashi wa ima koi ni ochita
Now, I'm enraptured
ichibanboshi
by the first star of the night
onegai shite
so I make a wish:
douka kimi to itsumo issho ni ireru you ni
"May I get to be with you forever."
watashi wa ima hajimete shiru
Now, I've come to understand
koi wa setsunai
that loving can be rough,
kurushiku naru demo ai wa tottemo
but hard as things can get, love itself is
hora atatakai mono nanda
a very warm thing.