Black Matrix Zero Part 15: Valtos Joined The Party!

OH DEAR GOD IT IS THE ENTIRE DEATH WATCH. Quoth Victory Road: C'mon, let's fight! Yohane and Brown Pile Of Carpets talk about something and then it's fightin' time.

In the end the only death they got to watch... was their own. (Cue sunglasses and "Won't Get Fooled Again")
After the battle, Valtos says something about Cain, Matia, and Aragi. Carpets mentions the Pasca... I think they were the Mandobugs? Good enough. And of course Incest, because nobody has a conversation in Black Matrix Zero without Incest. It must make Thanksgiving dinners VERY awkward.
Then, outside, Carpets and Luca interrupt Kirota and Lilith's conversation and... vanish? Okay, just Carpets vanishes. Lilith is broken up about this, but it sure didn't look like Luca killing him/her/it. I'm as surprised as you are. Then Luca gives us a brand new buzzword: Telomere! (Teromea, really, but we'll go with Telomere because I feel like it.) And there was Carpets again, so I have NO IDEA. But Telomere seems to be where Cain is, so that's where we're going next.

Hey, Valtos joined the party! Groovy. Aragi spends some time talking with someone unseen - betting it's Cain...

...and then ends up here. Pretty place.

Okay, he was talking to Matia, I guess. Don't like him being anywhere near her. And then he slaps her if the red flash and sound effect are any indication. Yeah, he's on the kill list. The regular gang plus Luca's dad and Carpets talk about Aragi, and I suspect they're thinking about the same thing. Most of the dialogue seemingly revolves around a Titan, so maybe he's trying to wake one? He's no Handsome Jack, I'll tell you that.

Then we're back in Carbine/Karuhin and I can't get close to affording new weapons for the whole crew. Valtos at least has the best sword available, a Katana. I do a practice battle and discover another problem: the upper limit for deployment is 8. I've got 9. I decide to sideline Zion and see what Valtos can do. As it turns out, he does fairly well. Zion's probably stronger, though. And sixteen levels later, Yohane's Luminacros spell has become pretty formidable, and is usually one of my first picks for softening up or outright killing a group of enemies. But again, it'd take us two battles for every level we wanted to raise, so it's time to be movin' on.

This extremely metal fortress set into the side of hill appears to be Telomere. I'm with Stei: not impressed.

Hey, is that Cain? He looks unhappy.