At a bar on Midgar's Sector 7 street named Seventh Heaven, the poster girl was absent again today.
That left most of the patrons disappointed, because one of their reasons for drinking here was to see the goddess with an angelic face and a devilish figure: Tifa.
Some of them were even hoping for some unexpected encounter that might win them the beauty's favor.
At the moment, Tifa was actually in Sector 5, spending the night at the home of a newly made friend.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes. Her breathing quickened slightly.
After seeing the hell of Mr. Kain's world, she should have developed some resistance, but now, after seeing a swarm of monsters, Tifa had failed to endure it in that instant.
The daemons of Mr. Kain's world could occupy human bodies and turn them into monsters, while the Tyranids used humans as nutrients. Those scenes were bloody and cruel enough to make Tifa genuinely nauseous.
As for the monsters called BETA that she had seen this time, their designs were probably not as horrifying as daemons or Tyranids.
But that malicious form still made Tifa feel sick.
Not only that, it made her feel a fury she had never felt before.
"What's wrong, Tifa? Did you have a nightmare?"
A gentle, innocent voice made her look over. What entered her sight was a beautiful woman with brown hair.
Tifa herself was called an angel by others, but she truly felt that the girl before her was the one most suited to that description.
This girl was Aerith Gainsborough, the important person Mr. Kain had told her about, the only surviving Ancient, a Cetra, on the Planet.
Aerith's importance was tied to the safety of this world.
According to what Mr. Kain had told her, the circumstances of their world had been shown in the Final Fantasy game he had previously displayed.
In that story, Sephiroth, a supersoldier created by the Shinra Company, had incorporated alien cells into his body. After learning his own origins, he came to hate humanity and sought to destroy the world.
Sephiroth planned to summon Meteor to strike this world and destroy it, but Aerith stopped him, paying with her own life in the process.
So they had to find a way to kill Sephiroth, that monster-like man. He was also the monster who had destroyed Tifa's hometown and killed her parents.
But to deal with that monster, the current strength of Avalanche alone was not enough, especially when they also had to contend with Shinra.
Shinra, the Shinra Electric Power Company, was a massive energy company headquartered in Midgar. Its main business was as insane as the towering mako reactors themselves: extracting mako and using it for power generation.
And mako was the Planet's life force. If they kept extracting it like this, the Planet would be killed sooner or later.
Many of the worsening changes now appearing across the world were caused by excessive extraction.
However, stopping that company was truly difficult, because it was powerful.
Its business pipelines were as deep and unfathomable as mako pumps driven into the earth. Its real influence extended not only across energy, but into every layer of Gaia's society, politics, military, and more.
Its power had already surpassed that of nations. That was why it had won the Wutai War and defeated an entire country, becoming the true hegemon of the world.
An organization like Avalanche, even if it became ten times stronger, would still be unable to confront Shinra head-on.
"Tifa?"
"Hm? Yes, I had a nightmare. Sorry, Aerith. I woke you up."
"It's all right."
Aerith shook her head and reached out with both hands, holding the hand of the best friend she had made.
"What kind of nightmare was it? Can you tell me?"
That made Tifa fall silent for a moment.
After a brief pause, her lips parted.
"I dreamed that this world was collapsing."
"The world collapsing? Being destroyed? That really is an awful nightmare. But it was only a dream. If something dangerous really does happen, maybe a hero will appear to save us and everyone else."
"A hero?"
If only there really were one.
According to what Mr. Kain had told her, their world would indeed be saved in the end, but even with knowledge of some of the plot, that did not mean they could simply reproduce those actions.
One of the key people involved was Cloud, Tifa's childhood friend from the same village. His power would also be needed.
But so far, they had found no trace of Cloud.
That meant there was only one method left: seek external power. For example, Mr. Kain's help.
But if they asked him to come here and risk danger, what did they have that would make it worthwhile for him?
At present, it seemed that every world Mr. Kain had visited had given him something in return. What could her world offer?
She could not think of anything.
"Tifa, when we first met, I called out your name. Didn't you think that was strange?"
Aerith suddenly said that. Her expression made it seem as if she was about to tell Tifa a secret.
"What was strange about it?"
"Before that, I had actually never met you."
That surprised Tifa. They had never met, yet Aerith had still known who she was?
"Well, I suppose it isn't exactly that I never met you. I saw you in a dream."
"In a dream?"
Tifa was even more surprised, though not too surprised. Mr. Kain had said that Aerith was special, so perhaps she had some ability to foresee the future.
"Yes. Do you believe me, Tifa?"
Aerith was a little nervous. She was worried Tifa would look at her strangely.
"I don't think you would lie, Aerith. What exactly happened?"
Tifa's words made Aerith, who had been tense with nerves, relax a little.
"In the dream, we were being chased by a terrifying person. Just when we were about to be caught, someone suddenly appeared out of thin air and fought that terrifying person."
"A terrifying person? Someone who appeared out of thin air? What did they look like?"
"The terrifying person was a man with very long silver hair."
A man with long silver hair?
Tifa's pupils shrank. Could that be Sephiroth?
Then was the other person Cloud?
"As for the other person who appeared out of thin air, I can't describe what he looked like, because he was wrapped in metal armor. Ah, right. There was a pattern on his armor. It looked like an eagle with two heads."
"A double-headed eagle?"
Could that be Mr. Kain?
In his world, one of the symbols of the Imperium of Man was the double-headed eagle. The power armor he wore also had that same pattern.
Had Mr. Kain come to help?
"Tifa, it seems like you know who it is."
Aerith asked with great curiosity.
"Well…"
Tifa hesitated.
"Um…"
"Yes, I probably know who it is."
Tifa cut off Aerith, who had suddenly raised her hand as if she wanted to say something. She knew what Aerith intended to say: that if this question made things difficult for her, Tifa did not have to answer.
Tifa had decided to share her secret with Aerith.
Aerith, who would give her life for this world, was someone worthy of trust.
Getting out of bed, Tifa picked up the terminal she had brought with her. It had not been easy to get this device. It should be able to download livestream videos from the Hyperdimensional Channel and play them.
"Give me a moment."
"Mm."
Tifa closed her eyes again and re-entered the livestream room.
The scene that entered her vision caused intense discomfort.
The reconnaissance force had begun engaging many different kinds of BETA, and some of those types had forms that were just as full of malice toward humanity.
(End of Chapter)
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