You people don't yet have the word to define us. But the Invaders call us... Labose.
The Labose bacteria, also known as Labose or the L-bacteria is a bacterium originating from Planet Tetis. A sentient creature whose nature is to break down all biological tissue around itself to consume, it's also responsible for the existence of magic.
Description[]
Appearance[]
A highly resilient strain, Labose is capable of surviving in airborne colonies for extended periods of time, even if it cannot propagate effectively without a host. These colonies can be seen as deep red/black clouds, and physical contact is not advised.
Dormancy & Activation[]
In spite of it's legendary predilection for mass destruction, L-bacteria, in most cases, is harmless in it's satisfied, dormant state.
Mana to Labose is like glucose to eukaryotic cells, providing them with the energy required to survive and procreate. Provided with a continuous, uninterrupted supply of mana, Labose will fall into a low-activity state of dormancy, in which it will slowly and sustainably extract mana from the ambient atmosphere or, if it has access to a host, from the surrounding organic matter, which acts as a reservoir of degenerate mana, which is 'unlocked' and consumed by L-bacteria through matter decomposition. The effect of this metabolic process is the outputting of particles that allow the host to directly manipulate magic, fomenting a sort of symbiotic relationship between the colonizers and the host.
Due to this dependency on ambient mana to survive, an enforced absence of that substrate would force local L-bacteria populations to undergo activation into a pathogenic state, with extreme symptomatic effects on colonized hosts. This absence of mana can be induced by means such as through deployment of a Circuit Crystal to absorb that mana and output waste heat, which is the method employed by the other Guardian in District 51 to propagate an artificial Labose epidemic, or by the mana-draining terrorist weaponry.
Given the events of World 18, it appears that a scarcity of mana owing to a significant density of Labose bacteria in a given area is enough to trigger activation in any given specimen.
Effects[]
Infection with an active strain of L-bacteria can result in rapid death and subsequent decay of biological tissue. The bodies of victims are shown to be highly volatile, such to an extent that minute disturbances can result in rupture and outgassing, and the creation of Labose clouds. This seems to be its primary mode of transmission. See World 17 and World 18 for examples.
Interestingly, it appears that non-lethal forms of infectious Labose exist; when the host is in a state of catatonic fear and rage, the resulting chemical imbalance causes the L-bacteria population to react differently, causing rapid mutation into highly aggressive Labose monsters, as revealed by the experiments of the Plague Doctor in World 12.
Thirdly, a form of Labose is engendered by the death of the Savior, manifesting macroscopically in the form of black insects that quickly consume and destroy the world and bring about rebirth. Incidently, the aforementioned doctor mentioned that people infected by the bacteria typically contract into black spheres, which is not demonstrated by the infection that appears during the Demon World Civil War, but is demonstrated by the world-ending variant.
And lastly, it's strongly implied that Mana Poisoning, an apparently inheritable congenital illness, might be caused by a peculiar serotype of Labose that is capable of genetic manipulation, or even deleterious endosymbiosis.
Treatment[]
It is suggested that constant exposure to Labose have caused the people of Tetis to develop a genetic immunity to inactive Labose. Knowledge of this is what led to Invaders harvesting Tetitians for Labose 'antibodies', contained in easy to swallow pills, for immunization against Labose.[1]
However, it does not seem to trigger an effective immune response against active Labose, as L-bacterial infection still has a mortality rate amongst Tetitians of 93%, as discussed below, which is a rate exceeded only by the likes of Rabies.
Other Information[]
One Act Play tape #1 states that some of the symptoms of L-bacterial infection are reminiscent of common respiratory illnesses, such as coughing and wheezing, and that the bacterium is contracted nasally and orally, hence the wearable air-filters that were sold to the people to protect them from the illness. Unless if the bacterium has mutated noticeably since the video tape was produced, then either the serotype described in the tape is different from the more commonly known Labose strains, as none of the mentioned symptoms manifest in modern infectees, or our knowledge is limited.
In 12-6 District 51, Private Investigator Odile mentions that the mortality rate within 24 hours of infection is 93%. Normally, such an extremely high death rate would hinder the transmission of diseases whose reservoir is also it's host, but as the main mode of transmission for L-bacterium involves the death and explosion of the host, this doesn't slow it's spread down one bit.
There are two separate cases in which a faction tried to use refined, Labose-based serums to artificially induce mutation in combatants.
Inoculation with an L-bacteria sample derived from Labose flower (see below) sap, at least in immunized Invaders, will induce rapid growth and mutation into Super-Invaders, vaguely intelligent, aggressive, and animalistic hexapodal Invaders whose flesh has melded into steel. Not only are they physically powerful, but they also exhibit extreme magical affinity and power, and are able to use attacks reminiscent of the ones employed by the Dark Magician.
During the Demon World Civil War, soldiers were injected with L-bacteria-based boosters with the intent of enhancing their combat effectiveness and performance on the field. In 18-14 Gather the Troops, Morrian said that her army had been supplied the shots by a 'dark doctor'.
Given the lesser effect of this inoculation, it is likely that the samples provided to Morrian were simply attenuated or inactivated L-bacteria.
Nature of the Entity[]
Labose Blossoms[]
It seems that the primary reproductive components of Labose, outside of it's homeworld are massive, plant-like structures which we will refer to generally as 'Labose blossoms'. They can rapidly manufacture Labose organisms at the behest of an already existing Labose entity, and they also function as bridges to a parallel dimension of reality.
There are potentially three known types of Labose blossom: Labose Flowers, The Black Flower, and a smaller floral specimen that is shown in a flashback in World 18 - Two Heroes.
Labose flowers are smaller, yet by no means insignificant, luminous pink flowers that can spawn clones of Innkeeper Loraine, creating an independent, renegade hive mind separate from the greater Labose hive mind which is self-sufficient. The primary clone manifests as a human-like entity that we've come to recognize as the familiar Innkeeper, while subordinate clones are inky black shadows with beady red eyes, and cannot (or simply do not) speak, yet demonstrate comparable intelligence to their master. These flowers are either highly numerous or highly mobile, as we have seen them in The Inn, the castle on Heavenhold, beneath Heavenhold, and Kanterbury Forest. Furthermore, in the Invader Coverage short-story, we can see two Invader scientists mulling over the nature of this flower, clearly outside the castle, and one of them mentioned that it was found inside Heavenhold castle.
The Black Flower is an entity planted by none other than the Plague Doctor in World 17. The intent was for it to feed on all of the death fortokened by the Demon World Civil War and off that death grow to a far greater scale than his earlier attempts at crossing the threshold between worlds, discussed in further detail below. Notice how, throughout your journey through World 17, the Black Flower on the story map continues to grow until eventually maturing in 17-9 Isolated Battlefield.[Citation needed]
And as the Black Flower blossomed, it was then that the Plague Doctor finally deigned to express his intentions to the likes of The Knight: to cross the path plotted at it's pistil and to crush the ultimate evil with his own two hands, whatever it may be, right in it's own realm, The Otherworld.
Finally, the last known specimen is the flower that is sprouted by the Plague Doctor in Vinette's flashback in 18-1 Eroded Battlefield from 400-500 years ago. Based on it's appearance, it's probably not a Labose flower, as it lacks that distinct facial impressions at it's base. Based on it's behavior and the admissions of Vinette in 17-9, it's likely that it is related to the Black Flower that is blossomed in World 17.
The Otherworld[]
The sempiternal dreamscape of the hive mind. It is revealed to us in 18-9 The Otherworld, when we access it thru the Black Flower.
According to the Innkeeper, it is a dark reflection of our own world, it's twisted backside, littered with empty buildings and streets punctured with the largest pot holes you'll ever see. The ground that we walk on, the very air that we breathe, is all suffused with Labose in this dimension.
This realm is scarred by countless memories of struggle... and of violence. Each enemy that dared to stand before The Knight and those which they have slain, still live on in the Otherworld, where their clash of history exists to be cycled forevermore. It is populated with eidolons, ghosts from a past that has long since ceased to exist. They are all that remains of extinct universes, and the Otherworld is their final place of rest. Perhaps they have found peace at long last.
Some of these memories have been triggered and played over and over and again to such an extent that they took on a physical form within the Otherworld, manifesting as large tumors. So-called Turning Points represent events that were of an importance so great in magnitude that they alone contributed to a change in the course of history itself.
Many of these memories even survive the ravages of The Loop, and represent the only true constant across history. That, and the Champion's Sword.
Fragments of Labose[]
In the end, Labose is a hive mind, and what is a hive mind without it's drones?
The Children of Labose are these drones, little colonies of L-bacteria that became living beings unto themselves, born from the cold hatred and fear of Labose after being shed from it's skin. After they are born, many move on to the real world through doors between realities, yet some linger around the Otherworld. But most of them are monsters, motivated by primal urges rather than intelligent thought.
And even though some of them are quite intelligent, Labose can still override their free will and supplant it with it's own, should it gain too much power over their mind. Fortunately for them, they can maintain their will and overcome the cacophonous scream of Labose if they stray far enough away from the main entity of the hive.
They can even take on the forms of those around them, those slain and subsumed into the hive mind.
History[]
Kaden-3 & The 'Labose' Exploration Project[]
The following document has derived information from the Mystery Footage of Heavenhold, and should be treated as speculation.
Sometime in March of 2014, the eccentric billionaire Mr. ??? of the ??? Foundation had announced the discovery of a new world, seemingly hiding right under our noses the entire time. Green pastures and arid deserts and vast oceans, it matches the conditions of Earth almost exactly. The Planet Tetis, the perfect habitat for humanity and a stage for mankind to spread out it's wings and take flight amongst the stars.
In their 'Tetis Migration Plan', they had selected thirteen of their finest scientists to be dispatched in the safest shuttle they could build to be 'heroes for all mankind', and explore Tetis for one year before returning. These thirteen are as follows:
Selected volunteers
Second Astronaut Professor Marianne Troy, a technical genius who received her Ph.D in robotics from Carnegie Mellon at age 20 and received tenure at Stanford at age 26.
Third Astronaut Coco,
Fourth Astronaut, Sohee,
Fifth Astronaut Marvin,
Eighth Astronaut Aisha,
Ninth Astronaut Lana the Lightning Counter, a renowned Olympic sprint relay gold medalist. Her application for the Labose Exploration Project had been received and passed through with an astounding 12/10 score.
Astronaut Craig,
Linda Roberts narrates a televised historic moment.
By September of 2014, a brisk six months later, Kaden-3 was in the gravitational well of Tetis, preparing to enter an injection orbit. But then suddenly, the transmission blurred... and cut. And then there was silence. The starship was gone, and with it, all of it's crew.
Earth had lost contact with Kaden-3. Yet on Tetis, they had survived, all of them, for more than half a year, until an alarming break-in incident..
The lights had shut off, and something entered the ship. Later dubbed a 'shadow monster', it's implied that it is made out of Labose. No. 13 was devoured alive by this monster but the others got away unscarred.
After locking the entity away, the crew observed it's behavior over the course of a week and concluded that the monster had subsisted off of the energy outputted by Kaden-3's fusion reactor. Therefore, in the final report transmitted from Tetis' surface, they had announced that they would shut off the ship's reactor permanently, destroying any chance of their return to Earth forever. They likely transmitted biological data to Earth in that radio transmission, before they fell into perpetual silence.
??? Businessman Founding L Research Institute[]
The following document has derived information from the Record Rooms of the Orbital Lift, and should be treated as speculation.
March 2015: Six months after the unscheduled disappearance of Kaden-3, and with it the undetermined fates of the thirteen astronauts, the ??? Foundation was declared a failure by it's executive, Mr. ???. A spokesperson for the foundation declared their speculation of the program's failure to have auguried by the foundations fundamental inability to respond to the variables of a real space environment. The cause of the disaster is currently unknown, and the foundation could not infer a direct cause from the degraded transmissions sent by the crew before their disappearance.
Some time in 2023: Mr. ??? begins to liquidate assets possessed by the ??? Foundation sequentially. This action had raised suspicions within the minds of onlookers.
Some time in 2024: An aprisal had been posted for recruits of the yet-to-be-established L Research Institute, which would have been created in preparation to receive expected xenobiological data from the then-suspected-to-have-vanished Kaden-3 exploration crew, under speculations of their survival.
Certain bylaws had been established by the nascent organization designed to regulate the activities of it's members to prevent leakage of potentially pathogenic microbiological populations into the greater world, and to prevent unscheduled disclosure of classified data. Among these bylaws include one that stipulates that each L Research Institute scientist and officer will be appointed designated dormitories which they must inhabit for the duration of their stay. Contact with outsiders is thusly restricted. Another one statutes that each researcher of the Institute will be isolated from their compatriots every day except for Sunday, wherein they may communicate with fellow researchers through the mobile phone provided by the Institute.
Violation, either intentional or unintentional, will be dealt with according to a termination procedure that would result in discharge, as well as restrict employment opportunities within and outside of the same industry as the research institute. Furthermore, through the use of a 'memory manipulation machine', knowledge regarding the Institute may be expunged from the transgressors' mind.
January 2025: At this point the L Research Institute secret laboratory had been established. Mr. ??? had spent a fortune hiring dozens of the world's finest microbiologists for the institute, spending money, not just as remuneration for their efforts, but presumably as bribery for them to keep their mouths sealed. Yet they continued to slack as though they were on paid vacation. But that wouldn't last for long.
Febuary 1, 2025: A decade had passed, and finally Mr. ???'s suspicions had been confirmed; Kaden-3's expedition crew had survived against all odds, and had sent back signals to Earth in spite of their existential debacle. Unfortunately, the transmission had degraded considerably due to interference from ambient cosmic and solar radiation, as well as dust extinction, and was rendered insufficient for research basis or for any heavy-handed conclusions regarding the state the astronauts were in.
April 11th, 2025: The institute received another data injection in the form of a high-intensity radio wave transmission from Tetis. After comparison to over thirty years of protocol, this data injection had been determined to match exactly the radio footprint of the Labose Project Exploration crew from ten years prior.
April 12th, 2025: Three months had passed since the creation of L Research Institute. Progress is flowing smoothly and swifter than anyone could have reasonably expected.
April 21st, 2025: After thorough examination of the fifth data injection from the downed expeditionary crew, a breakthrough had emerged: the detection of biological patterns inconsistent with any known form of Earth life. An alien bacterium had been discovered on Tetis, a planet determined to have been 96% similar to Earth. Mr. ??? had been positively delighted upon this discovery, and had moved to endow this new species with the name of the doomed project: Labose.
April 26th, 2025: With meteoric haste, the L Research Institute began to trial an experimental method of biological synthesis in an attempt to recreate organic material based on the received data. Mr. ??? wrote to themself that humanity is about to receive a 'great gift' from them.
July 2025: Mr. ???'s sudden disappearance made headlines globally, with the ??? Foundation unable, or unwilling, to disclose their whereabouts. No Missing Persons reports had been filed by close familial relations of Mr. ??? thus far, as they have been living in isolation for much of their recent career. The Foundation is reportedly searching for close kin to legally file a Missing Persons reports.
September 22, 2025: Confidential report issued by researcher Don Jones. This report had been intended to be inaccessible by personnel of the Institute without two or more distinct signatures from persons with degree seven security clearance or greater. It documents previously described research progress experienced by the Institute over the past year.
By then, the status of the astronauts had been determined by the Institute; twelve survivors, while the thirteenth astronaut had regrettably perished. Decisions regarding an unknown entity or object had been deferred indefinitely until research regarding ecosystem structure is judged possible. Extreme caution would be exercised to prevent data leakage to the media.
November 3, 2025: A diary had words inscribed in it's pages, with the handwriting of a young child's writ. The diary had described their father as an artist with various sketches and paintings of him, mother, and their child as one, happy family. He does so because he misses his wife, who, while the child suspects her to be a secret agent, is a researcher at L Research Institute.
She would return every two weeks and, while their kid would want to play with her, they can't because of a poor-tempered 'scary looking man' who would scowl at them whenever they would try and come close, engendering fear in their mind whenever the man enters their house. He wouldn't even allow her to tell them about her work.
September 12, 2026: Laboratory mice had been segregated into three specimen classes: 'Bae', 'Litcom' and 'Handun.' The 2nd inoculation of Labose samples into live specimens had been administered to each of the mouse in variable amounts, depending on the specimen class that they had been spotted to. For every L-bacterium injected into Bae, there would be five bacterium injected into Litcom, and seventy five in Handun. Bae and Litcom did not respond, and, predictably, Handun perished from shock far too quickly for any patterns to be identified.
September 14th, 2026: The fourth administration of Labose was being trialled. Five test specimens, four of which are Handun. Based on the reaction of the person writing this article, possibly Mr. ???, the test was a failure.
October 21, 2026: Even with twenty one specimens, the nineteenth administration of Labose largely ended in failure, but it's conclusion did provide some results. L-bacteria seemed to activate upon exposure to air, but could survive in a dormant state indefinitely when airborne.
October 25th, 2026: The frequency of administrations had slowed down significantly. Nevertheless, the twentieth inoculation had been administered, resulting in mutation in Bae and Handun subjects. Based on the relative indifference of the author, this effect had already been induced in past trials.
December 9, 2026: The rate of administrations accelerated over the past month, with a total of 184 administrations by this date. The author finally declares this trial a success, with the resulting Labose condensate moving, consuming, and dissolving any organic material it touched, until everything is reduced to an amorphous black sludge.
December 14th, 2026: It is recognized that the black substance left by Labose degradation is a form of primitive, primordial life in-and-of-itself.
Shortly afterwards an unknown person records a conversation with a man named Mason, wherein they reminded him that the vodka the management team ordered the week prior had finally arrived that day, and hoped that it would be enough to sterilize the test results of the day beforehand. They were afraid that the thing they were researching, the thing that they were containing, would breakout and kill everyone- their family, their friends, and all else.
Feburary 1st, 2027: A death notification had been issued to one Elizabeth C. Herbert; the L Research Institute had notified her of the death of her husband, Samuel M. Herbert, who had perished in a accident in Research Department A. though the exact causes of his death couldn't be disclosed due to a non-disclosure agreement signed with his consent. However, it can be inferred that his cause of death was due to Labose infection, as the Institute was forced to internally dispose of the body, and would only return it to Ms. Herbert under the conditions that they had determined that the body was 'decontaminated' and thus safe for funeral services.
December 27th, 2028: As a byproduct of biological activity, Labose bacteria synthesized with organic matter manufactured strange particles with peculiar properties that allowed a host to non-locally exert influence over matter and energy, like magical powers in stories.
December 28th, 2028: Everyone one saw it, the sheer potential of the particles, and the bacterium that created it. Once recognized for their maniacal disregard for human or animal life, Mr. ??? decried their colleagues past attempts to deride him as mad, for their efforts have finally shown tangible paydirt that any layman could see for themselves. Now, no obstacle, no atrocity would stop Mr. ??? quest to unlock the magical potential of Labose, that much was clear.
December 31, 2028: Mr. ??? had an epiphany over dinner that they had a 'mission', a destiny to be made manifest, vested unto them by a greater fate. Their deeds, their research, all converged to a singular goal, that is, to bring about the end and ascend mankind. They were humanity's savior.
October 30th, 2030: After reporting an unknown pain, L Research Institute janitor Jason Colby was admitted to Roxsan Medical Hospital.
November 1st, 2030: Jason Colby pronounced dead at 2:00. According to the hospital, cause of death was acute protein degenerative disorder. He was scheduled to have his body transported to the hospital's morgue 30 minutes after his death. However, Jenin Royce, the staff assigned the task of moving the body, reported that, within the two minutes she vacated the premises to retrieve new medical gloves, the body had vanished, leaving behind a puddle of clotted black goo. The substance was referred to the Institute for further analysis.
Labose Outbreak on Earth[]
Unknown date, probably in the 2030s: Unidentified confrere of Mr. ??? wrote a note describing the final days of L Research Institute. They had begun using human subjects for further Labose research as the businessman became consumed by delusions of godhood. And then the building had been burnt down as coverup for those acts and reduced to ashes, with L-bacteria escaping into the outer world.
December 14, 2030: Hospital personnel Mary sends a text message to her friend Joanne at 2:44. She told the latter to pack up as soon as possible and only drink carefully boiled, bottled water.
December 15th, 2030: Joanne responded at 8:21, the following day. She was apparently incredulous of her friend's insistent upon such diligent safety precautions, regarding the novel pathogenic strain that had reportedly leaked into the population as harmless.
At 14:34 Mary responded that, in spite of her similar, previously held reservations regarding the bacteria, but now she had come to recognize it's urgent threat to human health, because it's impervious to any antibiotics they could deploy. Due to close contact with a patient, she is barred from leaving the hospital for the time being.
January 12th, 2031: Confidential report issued by researcher Louis Calburg. This document had been intended to be inaccessible by personnel in the absence of three written signatures from agents of degree seven clearance or higher. It describes the results of the analysis conducted by the Institute upon the abrupt death of Jason Colby several months back. His cause of death had been verified to be due to rapid protein degenerative syndrome and cell necrosis. He was the first person to not only exhibit these symptoms but perish because of them.
Jason Colby was reported in the media as being unemployed but in truth he was a janitor for the L Research Institute. CCTV data reveals that the man had been washing contaminated protective clothing the day prior to contracting the illness. According to documents provided by an anonymous researcher at the Institute, it is impossible to stop or otherwise eradicate L-bacterial infection once it becomes active. They will degrade all living tissue before falling into dormancy.
It was unclear if the outbreak resulted from an accidental leakage due to a lack of caution or human error, or if it was an intentional act, but potential perpetrators are being tracked by authorities.
March 2031: A Labose epidemic begins sweeping across an unnamed nation by storm. It is recognize to neutralize all forms of antibiotics.
Between March and August 2031: Millions of people globally are placed under lockdown. Outing permits and commercially sold gas-masks are required to leave the house.
August 19th, 2031: Someone's diary. Basic things like online lectures, household cleaning and maintenance, and shopping fill their life. They remind themselves to take their resident card, gas mask, and outing permit this time.
Unknown Date: A written message and a pen had been provided to a moribund patient with only five hours remaining. Sent to their mom, it documents how the author had been admitted to a mass care room for six, hopeless infectees, after having been removed from a quarantine room so that healthier people who have a shot at survival may live. Everyone who had been prognosed with death had all melted away at the predicted time, like clockwork. Now the author lies on their deathbed as the clock ticks by. After this, the letter is soaked with tears, which washed off the ink and rendered the letter illegible.
March 2036: Five years have passed since the pandemic began. L-bacteria has been recognized as being incomparable to any other bacterial or viral plague to have benighted humankind. The worldwide death toll continuously surges with no end in sight and no adequate vaccine has been created.
By this point in time, sterilization rooms were now available to the public to be installed in people's houses to protect their families and sterilize L-bacterial colonies using ultraviolet light, with over 94.3% effectiveness. Furthermore, the concept of the hotel had been superceded by isolation rooms, private wards hosted by hospitals such as Quarence Hospital that provide exquisite meal plans and safety from the outside world. And lastly, respiratory masks are being distributed en masse.
One such mask is the 'mask-KONG', which is a mercury membrane mask that purportedly has a 98.9% filtration rate of L-bacteria. It has multiple variants which are suitable for usage by humans and animals, and, rather interestingly, is being sold on Kamazon.
Sometime between 2036 and 2037: A quaint doodle, drawn using crayons, titled "Mommy and Daddy are Sleepyheads." Below a golden ball that resembles the sun, two adults lay on a bed. A couple, with a look of tranquility on their countenance. The skin below their neck was encrusted by what looked to be slowly eroding flesh. On the opposite corner of the bed from them was a girl in a suspender skirt and a gas mask.
Dialogue is scribbled along the back side of the picture, perhaps from one of the adults. They told her to never, under any circumstances, remove the mask. If they never wake up, then she will go to her aunt's house immediately.
Febuary 2037: National governments begin instituting more extreme measures of lockdown, enforcing house quarantine using military and paramilitary forces and distributing supplies through them.
May 30th, 2037: A personal diary describes life under the most strict societal shutdown measures to date.
July 3rd, 2037: A guideline has been instated that restricted the number of hours people can keep their windows open. The diary author doubts anyone would dare to bask in the sunlight anymore, recalling the experience of witnessing writhing infectees scream as they dissolve into into a mass of decayed flesh and black pus.
September 15th, 2037: The quality of the rations and aid that their government could provided declined rapidly. No fresh fruits or vegetables or meats, just ineffable rations that made the author puke upon beholding it. They wanted to break out and escape, but their weak hands, grasping the tool to their freedom, trembled as though they would be punished for the mere thought of escaping.
October 11, 2037: The monsters are speaking to them. They whisper pleasant promises from behind the door, wearing the skin of family-turned-bacteria, beckoning the author to break out of their house and embrace them in one, final hug.
Tetis' Nature[]
As the Labose bacteria originated from Tetis, and the fact that the creatures residing on the planet can practice magic, it is highly probable that most, if not all lifeforms on the planet are part Labose.
Plague Doctoring & The Massacre on Heavenhold[]
The words of the man vividly remembered by the Champion's Sword conveyed an awful truth that Kaden could not stomach yet could not deny. The world would still be engulfed in darkness, even if the hero of the next generation struck down their leader- no, because they struck down their leader. That darkness being Labose, he learned, an illness. A plague.
But plagues could be cured, yes? Clara did so all the time, and even without holy magic, Kaden could still find a way to curtail the world's downfall if given enough time and resources, and that's exactly what he set out to do.
Unfortunately he would have to do so alone, for Lili would not help him. Eventually, he found a seed that could sprout a flower, that could summon the main body of Labose so that he may confront it wholesale and destroy it. But this seed could only blossom at the cost of death.
Every now and then he would confide his old friend, in the hypersleep chambers beneath Kanterbury, about his progress. His slow, slow progress, for no sacrifice he produced for the flower would activate it. No method seemed to work, except for simply boosting the quantity of bodies that could be fed into it. And so he concocted an unbecoming idea, as he became desensitized to death.
He discarded his old armor and donned a raven mask and a cloak. Virtually unrecognizable, he set off to Heavenhold to engage in the most horrific dance of death hitherto, and hopefully, the final sacrifice necessary to unleash the main body of Labose.
A systematic elimination of the researchers working on the floating playground had been conducted, in which ultimately only Vinette would be spared from the slaughter, perhaps because Kaden wished to restrict the scope of his despondent harvest to those whose deaths have been determined necessary; and her sacrifice would only be superfluous. Or perhaps she was just lucky. Yet this mercy would be cruel, and would only lead to more chaos.
But his goal was achieved, though not in the way he wanted it. The flower had bloomed, but was insufficient and failed to serve as a dimensional portal to The Otherworld for anything of greater substance than a formless mass of Labose. It absorbed the body of the closest sacrifice, that of the fallen Innkeeper, and reformed itself in her image, taking on her personality and memories and replacing her.
And so the hecatomb was futile and amounted to nothing more than making Kaden into a pariah with blood on his hands. He could not bear to lay witness to the accusing eyes of those who were once his friends and allies, and especially not those of Clara. So after the massacre he disappeared, never to be seen again for a long, long time.
World 1 - Kanterbury Forest[]
In Inn Take-off, a clone of the seemingly deceased innkeeper freed herself from an encasing of residual, liquid Labose that had fallen from the pistil of a luminescent pink flower suspended from the ceiling of the Inn. This is ultimately the first, cameo appearance of Labose in the main story.
World 1 - Kanterbury Forest (Nightmare)[]
Fear! The forest is awash with the terrifying tales of an insurmountable tide of featureless "forest monsters" that killed and harvested the travelers and monstrous cohorts of the land. Hunters, goblins, ogres, all half-dead and eaten alive. The traumatized assistant of one of those victims pleaded for the help of capable adventurers, something that people like the Mad Panda Trio were beyond amiable to provide, under the improvised label of "Mad Panda Detective Agency", given the potential for fame and wealth. The Knight, of course, was also interested in investigating this turn of events, regardless if no-one desired their help and they had no chance of fame through this risky action.[2]
The proximate cause of this chaos were the inky black shadows cast in the profile of the familiar innkeeper that had escorted the Knight and the Little Princess to Heavenhold some time ago, spawned from a luminescent lotus deep in the eastern reaches of the Kanterbury Forest. Loraine mulled over it's anomalous activity and concluded that it had judged her, the "primary copy" of her hivemind, to be divergence, "defective", for allying herself with humans, and had begun to mass-produce aggressive clones that adhered to Labose's greater purpose.[3]
World 10 - Unrecorded World[]
Demon Queen Lilith sent one last desperate signal to Heavenhold, informing whoever is listening that Demon World was on the brink of collapse as all 4 of the Demon Dragons and Hero Erina had perished to the Invaders, whose Mothership was atop the palace. She found out that the Invaders were fearful of something called "Labose", however she expressed her confusion in the concept of it since she had never seen nor heard of such a thing before but was adamant that the discovery of said object could prove to be useful to all humans remaining alive, before the signal cut out due to lack of power.
Invader Coverage[]
In this short stage, we learn that the Invaders were creating monstrous Super-Invaders using pure Labose flower sap-based inoculations as described above- by the time of this short-story, which presumably comes before Unrecorded World chronologically, we witness a pair of Invader researchers trialling the inoculation on an unwilling soldier, and their experiments succeed a little too well. We learn the true nature of the flower and Lorraine in World 11.
World 11 - Unrecorded World Pt. 2[]
In 11-5 Heavenhold 4th Floor, Lorraine describes herself and her children as being sentient fragments of the gestalt that is Labose.
In the Invader Lab substage, Beth expressed great interest in the mutation experiments the ice witch Coco had been conducting behind her back using Invader grunts as subjects. It is strongly implied that these experiments have something to do with the Super-Invaders, and thus, by extension, Labose. Also, while we never catch a glimpse of the process, we learn from various cryptic background references that the Invaders are actively harvesting and processing Tetitians to synthesize antibody supplements. The purpose of this was unknown until World 12.[Citation needed]
World 12 - Demon World[]
In 12-3 Commuter Town, there is a small restaurant called 'Some Restaurant', owned and staffed by a single elderly man. Upon ordering 'Kanterbury Pasta' and then eating it when it is prepared, the Knight will comment that it is very salty and makes their head spin, and in response, the old man will prepare a new platter of pasta and tell them that they will not be charged. Then you can sneak back into the restaurants basement, where the true owner is being held captive as a subject in an experiment. The man upstairs- the Plague Doctor in disguise- will come down upon noticing your absence and criticize your impatience and regale you with the nature of his experiment- a experiment regarding the nature of Labose and it's effects in emotionally unstable patients, after which he possesses the old man and forces him to mutate into a Plague Monster, and attacks you.
In 12-4 Old City District, Odile mentions that an outbreak at District 51, which resulted in the implementation of stringent quarantine measures to prevent it's spread into the greater part of Demon World, roughly coincided with The Disappearance of The Knight and the appearance of the impostor, three months prior to the present. Named 'acute organic degradation syndrome' 512-nLav, this pathogen was later revealed to be L-bacteria in 12-6 District 51.
Furthermore, once you supply Odile with the 50000 Demon World dollars she requested, she will give you a single pill that reads 'antibodies' in small text, and tells you that the impostor is somehow acquiring these pills and distributing them to the wealthy and powerful, so long as they pledge full loyalty to them.
In 12-6 District 51, Odile states that, continuous outbreak has reduced the population of District 51 to less than 1% of it's pre-Labose population, and that it has been swarming with mutated plague monsters, and together with the lingering L-bacterial fog, made an effective intervention on the behalf of tne people of District 51 by the Demon World Central Government police force impossible.
However, within days of the outbreak, a hero emerged, and, with the help of the Turing Gang, they swiftly laid waste to all of the Labose monsters and delivered a portion of the population from the sea of death into the safety of beyond, whilst their effective leadership placed the entirety of District 51 under a much contested, total quarantine, preventing further leakage of L-bacteria into the greater city. Within one week, the impostor Guardian announced the L-bacterial antibody pills, and the rest is history.
Of course, Odile poked holes in the prevailing narrative, for it was far to perfect to have been realistic; it should have been impossible for a single person, no matter how clever or strong, to singlehandedly achieve such a feat and defeat the unknown. She said that there were stills survivors in the district, so if they could somehow get into the zone, they could ask them about the mysterious character and their actions three months ago.
The inspector had said that the fake had specifically distributed the pills to rich people, something that was semi-confirmed by the story of a woman in District 51, who stated that much of the impostor's rescue operations were conducted in the neighborhood to the east, a luxury neighborhood populated by celebrities and influencers. This story would be substantiated further by the story of a nearby man, who also said that they came from the east, which, according to him, was the origin of the Labose outbreak.
Heading into the Black Sea, at Odile's suggestion you deploy a mouse bomb to destroy a light in the sea, only to end up deactivating a Circuit Crystal, which seemingly had been programmed to project the L-bacteria over District 51. Further mana wavelength analysis in 12-9 Lilith Tower would be reveal that the associated mana wavelength was surprisingly identical to the Knight's own. While Odile never discounted the possibility that they were responsible for the epidemic, she considered that to be highly improbable, with that dumb face and all, so the only other possibility was none other than that impostor themselves.
World 13 - Lilith Tower[]
In 13-3 Office Floor, Lilith explicated the nature of the ongoing terrorist occupation in response to the Knight's question, from an observer's perspective rather than of her own, and mentioned that the weapons they used seemingly acted as an infinite sink for mana. It is also likely that the bullets are L-bacterial based, given the symptoms displayed by Lilith starting with 13-7 Lilith Tower Upper Floor.
In 13-5 Office Floor 2, at the end of the stage, the Knight finds and takes a snapshot of a strange vessel that had been installed in one of the rooms. It was gross, fleshy, and yes, it sounded disgusting, but whatever it was surely couldn't have warranted the abject terror in the response of the man in the antechamber just before.
Well, in 13-7 Lilith Tower Upper Floor, Mad Scientist Gremory, upon seeing the picture, revealed that it was actually a bio-weapon that would destroy everything within a one kilometer radius once detonated, and Lilith suggested, something that would be confirmed in later stages, that it was based on the same stuff as the Terrorists' weapons and the Black Sea in District 51: L-bacteria.
Later in the stage, the impostor explicitly stated that the bomb downstairs, the one that they created, was a colony of L-bacteria that, once released, will ceaselessly consume everything in Lilith Tower until all that remains is darkness. The Knight's quest would fail, and the bomb would destroy Lilith Tower the moment Erina stepped beyond it's gates. The impostor- no, the other Knight- would escape via helicopter, and all the leaders of Demon World, and all those who had questioned the other Knight's resolution, would perish, and all that would remain is them, and a world of vengeful people, hateful of the Invaders and willing to destroy their leader when the other Knight wouldn't dare. Ingenious, and infallible, if only the Knight would simply disappear.
But it was not to be. Upon Alt-Knights failure to destroy their successor in 13-9 Lilith's Office, it would turn out that the L-bacteria bomb downstairs was the ultimate incarnation of the other Knight's supreme desperation. That they would rather see both heroes dead and a world occupied by the Invader's than to witness the world die once more.
And even that failed, for whatever defensive mechanism lies within the Little Princess, the power that activates without conscious prompt but instead with great stress, demonstrated the ability to reverse the damage of Labose. She could actually cure Labose, the destroyer of worlds, and this is what gave the other Knight confirmation that the world could be saved, even with their successor and the Champion's Sword at the helm, and that their intervention was unnecessary.
World 15 - Assault[]
In 15-14 Invader Training Facility, one of the possible test platforms for the computerized 'Anti-Guardian Combat Training Virtual Simulator' is provided by experimental data regarding an 'Invader to be developed'; a Super-Invader, which as mentioned above is created through controlled Labose inoculation. This means that the perilous combat organisms already exist on paper and can be mass-produced at any time, provided that the Invaders secure access to Labose samples. Considering the events of World 18, this produces fodder for speculation which will not be discussed here.
World 16 - Reunion[]
In 16-15 Clone Contest Venue, it is revealed that Lorraine is conducting physical aptitude tests on her clones beneath Heavenhold at the behest of her creator in preparation for the Demon World Civil War upcoming war.
World 17 - Two Demon Queens[]
In 17-1 Demon World Conference Hall, one of the Saul soldiers asked the Knight if they could talk. After revealing himself to them as merely a host for the Plague Doctor, and after a series of cryptic remarks, he warned them that a flower of death would soon blossom over Demon World, and once that happens, a road to the end of all things shall emerge.
In 17-9 Isolated Battlefield, the 'black-eyed soldiers', Saul soldiers enhanced by Labose injections, finally see action on the battlefield. Later on in the stage, people begun mutating into Plague Monsters, and all the corpses had begun to explode, spreading L-bacteria everywhere- even Morrian was infected by Labose[4].
And then that's when it became clear, at least to Vinette and Lilith. The giant flower that feeds off of death, L-bacteria... it brought to mind the Massacre on Heavenhold hundreds of years ago, instigated by the once-hero, Kaden himself. Perhaps he had returned.
Of course, their conversation was probably cryptic to the Knight, for they knew that which they had been ignorant of just prior.
In 17-11 Black Flower, the Knight meets Loraine again after months' absence. Yet still she was antagonistic, cryptic beyond all else, and she spoke of a creator to which she owed her very life, her master, and whose crusade she planned on participating in, before leaving.
Not far from there, did the plague doctor Kaden stand. Lilith was disappointed, betrayed, and dejected, and rightfully so, and confronted him directly- yet still the man was resolute in his dedication to his actions, his ruination, claiming that it was all necessary to destroy the source of destruction.
Of course, he had no actual interest in confronting them directly, instead opting to head to their magnum opus while slowing them down with a fall of L-bacterial, and when that fails to stop the Knight down, with his creation, the Bad Omen. He had more pressing concerns than some anomalously weak guardian. The Labose Core Entity laid ahead, and whatever it truly was, it would be destroyed at all costs, by Kaden's bare hands if need be.
World 18 - Two Heroes[]
In 18-1 Eroded Battlefield, we see that the situation is dire. Demon World had yet to recover from it's civil war and it's already be rent asunder by Dimensional Rifts that are being torn in the fabric of reality by the Black Flower. Labose spawn are spilling out of those portals by the millions, quickly overwhelming the scattered Demon World Central Government and Saul forces, while amorphous L-bacteria colonies rapidly cover every available inch of tentacle-perforated earth.
It seemed that the only way to end this catastrophe is to enter the Black Flower and confront the doctor directly. Alas, for the Knight and Vinette, such a course of action would be impossible, for he had created a forcefield around the flower, preventing anything from getting in and following him. They would need the full firepower of Heavenhold to breach it.
Unfortunately, even Heavenhold has it's limit; operation at fractional synchronization truncated the maximum power output of it's battle mode, to the point where the Giant Labose Monsters could easily pose a major threat to it's survival. The only way to remedy this is for the Knight to get to Heavenhold and copilot it with the Princess.
In 18-6 Attack of Heavenhold, just after the Knight got to the Mecha, they are required to get the robot all the way to the Black Flower. Unfortunately in their path are dozens of Giant Labose Monsters and the only way forward is accessible using violence alone. This will be one of many tests to the robot's strength.
In 18-9 The Otherworld, the Knight is finally exposed to the true nature of what lay beyond the flower; The Otherworld, home world of Labose. In that dimension, the Knight and Lorraine meet again, in the same devilish abyss that gives her people life. Labose.
Labose. It was that word again, the word she had used to describe herself and her people, then, and now. It was all in front of them all along, yet they refused to question any of it. Of course, in the reverted future, they did not understand what Labose was, but didn't Kaden say, back in Commuter Town, that he researched Labose? A plague doctor researching Labose, in a time when the city was reeling from the incident in District 51. Of course, that was L-bacteria, the flesh eating plague, which could not be a person, yes?
It should be abundantly obvious at this point that the two are the same, and that Loraine's and Kaden's 'Labose' are one and the same. Meaning, then this entity that the Knight more or less vested their trust in, once, was a walking, talking personification of death, of the same plague that conquered the airwaves of Demon World's District 51, slaughtering it's people and eating their remains like a wolf among sheep. The same plague that the hologram of Lilith mentioned to be the object of the Invaders' ultimate fear, the plague that wanted for nothing more than to consume them all. The same plague that their other self had threatened to use to destroy Lilith Tower and kill all of it's occupiers. The same plague that would destroy the very fabric of reality the moment they plunged the Champion's Sword into the Savior's heart. The same plague that was destroying Demon World as they spoke.
Lorraine was made of the same black pus that L-bacteria appeared to be, was she not? She was born from a flower, much the same as that flower blossoming over Demon World. Of course, her Labose and his Labose were the same, and the bacteria spoke to them. It was no mere bacterium.
Realistically, the Knight's head would be spinning, but that was besides the point. The doctor was close.
In 18-11 Depths of the Otherworld, the goal that Kaden had obstinately pursued for hundreds of years was finally within his grasp: to destroy the Labose Core Entity and put the prophecy to eternal rest. Yet something was wrong, and perhaps he was mistaken? Perhaps it wasn't the will embodied by Labose that destroyed the world... perhaps it was instead that of the Champion's Sword?
No matter; the final confrontation awaits.
In 18-14 Gather the Troops, near the end of the substage, Morrian finally succumbs to her Labose infection, but not before dashing into the fray and giving the hordes of plague monsters the good fight in an attempt to buy her comrades and Lilith time to escape and get to Gate 71.
Trivia[]
- In the past, L-bacteria was also known as 'T-virus'.[Citation needed]
- During Claude's exposition to Demonshire in 14-13 Demonshire Plaza, it is shown that, upon the hero Kaden's expulsion of Savage Bellial, the demon god's body promptly exploded in a way identical to the rupture of L-bacterial infection victims. The ramifications of this revelation are unknown as of World 18.
- It should also be noted that the background of the historical flashback is identical to Beth's second phase arena. This is interesting because her mutation is implied to have been engendered by Labose.
References[]
- ↑ Invader Lab
- ↑ 1-1 Inn (Closed)
- ↑ 1-6 Mystery Flower
- ↑ 18-14 Gather the Troops