Canto V: The Evil Defining (2024)

5-1: Setting Sail[]

After a long wait in the coastal waters of the Great Lake, the LCB finally receives their cue to begin the Golden Bough retrieval mission in District 21 in earnest.

As the now-seaworthy Mephistopheles begins to sail into the depths of the Great Lake, Outis suddenly jumps up and orders everyone to defensive positions in preparation against the actual threats of the Great Lake. Despite Faust's assurances that the ship is being guided by an automatic navigation system, which will prevent them from encountering any threats (and sound an alarm if the threat proves unavoidable), Outis still (after a lengthy speech about sailing and a rant on comradeship and "bleeding-edge technology") assumed temporary Captainship over the vessel and, after a few orders carried out by Don Quixote and Sinclair, managed to break the automatic navigation system, and the ship's engine along with it.

Since the navigation system is an old model, rebooting it requires about five hours (by Faust's estimation). In the meantime, they will have to use a "manually activated backup power system".

5-2: The Laws[]

The Mephistopheles's "manually activated backup power system" turns out to be manually operated as well. As all the Sinners (save for Outis, who is shouting out orders) pedal, Gregor can't help but ask why they are pedaling as if something is coming after them. Faust replies that they are on a strict schedule, and to be precise must exit the region they are currently in in the next 7 minutes, due to the "laws of the Great Lake", which must never be broken. She withholds further explanations due to the tight schedule they are on.

After intense pedaling, Mephistopheles manages to exit the Lake region just on time. Right after the ship leaves the waters, the area the Sinners were just pedaling through was replaced by a thing with innumerable tentacloid appendages, which Meursault estimates that Mephistopheles have no chance of withstanding even one hit from.

Now that there is time, Faust explains the laws of the Great Lake: if a vessel is to stay for longer than a predetermined period on any of the Lake regions, it will be struck by the "Waves" of that region (the previously-seen tentacle monster is one manifestation of the "Waves"; each Lake region's "Waves" are different). There are also rules governing the times and directions that ships are allowed to cross the borders between different Lake regions. As a result, everything on the Great Lake is in a state of constant motion.

As the topic is getting onto the taboos of U Corp. (recording the laws of the Great Lake on any medium except the human memory is prohibited), Ishmael emerges from her room for the first time since the Boatworks incident (sharpening her harpoon in the entire time of her disappearance). Noticing something, she walks up the the ship's helm despite seeming smooth sailing, and points out that they are not, in fact, sailing smoothly: Mephistopheles is being dragged along by two great ships ahead.

5-3: The Resonance Tuning Fork[]

Even when Ishmael swung the ship's wheel wildly to one side, Mephistopheles stayed on a collision course with the large ships, which is beginning to meld into one another. Ishmael finally managed to avoid certain destruction by using the momentum of the drag to accelerate at the last moment, but the ship's stern was sacrificed in the process——it was not crushed, but rather simply disappeared as if it had never been part of the Mephistopheles's blueprints.

Later, Ishmael educated the other Sinners on the effects of (one of the applications of) U Corp.'s Singularity, the resonance tuning fork. It allows objects to meld into one another seamlessly, as if they had been parts of each other all along, or to separate as if they always have been separate objects. These see wide uses among vessels on the Great Lake, and resonance tuning forks used by vessels of the size previously encountered can pull in small vessels not employing tuning forks or using forks of mismatching wavelengths.

As the Story Episode ends, the Sinners approach their first stop in their journey: U Corp.'s Marlin Portship, a giant floating structure made from countless shipping containers.

5-4: Kidnappers[]

Pre-Battle[]

The LCB lands on Marlin Port, where the Sinners are to rendezvous with the LCCB to learn the location of the L Corp. branch ship, and Vergilius and Charon are off to some other business involving shopping for Mermaid perfume (presumably to spend some quality father-and-stepdaughter time together).

As the Sinners arrive at the rendezvous point (an hour and a half behind schedule), they found not LCCB Agents but a group of kidnappers demanding ransom for their friend. Although the Sinners initially plan to pay the ransom, Ishmael disagrees and kills one of the kidnappers, acting on her own. This angers many other Sinners as it could potentially endanger the LCCB Agents held captive, especially Sinclair (who is still feeling guilty for the deaths of Effie and Saude, and by extension all LCCB Agents, in Canto III), and Outis (over Ishmael's insubordination).

However, Ishmael justifies her actions by citing the kidnappers' modus operandi: Syndicates on the Great Lake (better known as pirates) never returns kidnapped hostages even when the ransom is paid, but increases the ransom demanded until the people paying run out of funds, at which point they kill the hostages. To prove this, she opens one of the shipping containers in the area, revealing rotting bodies of wealthy tourists who would've been able to pay whatever ransom the kidnappers offered.

5-5: Insubordination[]

Pre-Battle[]

After defeating the kidnappers, Ishmael questioned one of the kidnappers and gained the location of their Syndicate's leader. After other Sinners restated their worries over the life of the kidnapped LCCB Agents, they went on towards the location marked by the pirate's blood.

On the way, Dante asked Faust about Ishmael's mental state. Faust replies that although she can comment on the matter, she could not provide any substantially useful advice or information. Outis interjects at this point, advising Dante to push penalties against Ishmael for her insubordination. Even if Ishmael's disobedience intensifies, Outis claims, "…That doesn't matter. / We don't need there to be 12 Sinners."

The continued building up of internal conflict among the Sinners since Intervallo II led Dante to begin to suspect that "Maybe I was the only one who sought a sense of belonging from them. That we'd fight as one no matter what ordeal this journey threw in our way."

5-6: The Club[]

Pre-Battle[]

The location the pirate's intel led them to was a fancy club. Rodion begins asking for people with potential experience getting into these buildings due to the presence of Bouncers, revealing Meursault's unexpected identity as the only club-goer among the Sinners, but Ishmael interjects, citing other way to enter the club being what the Sinners should be considering, considering the club being the home to the leader of a large local Syndicate.

She then approached the Bouncers, at first seeming to gain entrance by claiming friendship to one "Queequeg", then unexpectedly attacking the Bouncer and forcing entry into the club after getting confirmation that the pirates' boss is indeed in the club.

5-7: The Club 2[]

Pre-Battle[]

The Sinners force entry into the club, and begins fighting once again as more pirates come to the scene. Ishmael quickly evacuates the club of normal attenders by emphasizing the seriousness of the situation with the breaking of a table.

5-9: The First Mate[]

Post-Battle[]

Sinclair gets information of the pirate boss's exact locations from threatening a lone pirate. After he lets the pirate escape from the club, Heathcliff commends Sinclair for getting better at these things, though Sinclair replies that he was just trying to get to the hostages as soon as possible.

5-10: The First Mate 2[]

Pre-Battle[]

The Sinners arrive at the club's VIP room, and meets the leader of the kidnappers——the First Mate of the Twinhook Pirates, Smee. Meursault requests audience of the Captain of the Syndicate, but Smee says that Captain Hook is off "drowning in bottles of Fairy Wine somewhere", so she is currently the actual leader of the pirates.

Smee proposes a deal: the Sinners would exchange all the information they have of Queequeg for the release of the captured LCCB Agent (it becomes clear at this point that only a "Team Leader" has been captured), but it turns out that Ishmael also hasn't seen Queequeg in a long time. Fighting ensues.

Post-Battle[]

After Smee is defeated, she attempts to persuade the Sinners not to kill her by revealing that a "Big Brother" from The Middle is looking after her and her Syndicate. She also reveals that the Middle placed a hefty bounty on Queequeg's head as she quitted the larger Syndicate.

Due to continued threats on her life, Smee finally decided to reveal the location of the captured LCCB Agent to be in a shipping container marked with a green triangle in the East side of the portship. However, determined to leave no loose threads behind, Ishmael resolves to kill her regardless, despite Dante's protests. Just as Ishmael's harpoon was about to connct with Smee's head, Dante leaps in the way, heavily injuring his shoulder in the process.

After the hit, Smee took advantage of the confusion and escaped. Outis was extremely angered by this act of severe insubordination, but Dante reassured her it is fine, despite Outis's protests that it was not fine. Dante justified his action as intuition, which didn't convince anyone.

5-11: Shipping Containers[]

Pre-Battle[]

The Sinners arrive at the location given by Smee, though they had to overcome some guards put there by the Twinhook Pirates to get to their agent. Dante and Gregor wonders what the pirates had in the shipping containers in the area, but quickly cut off that thought.

5-13: Mr. Pilot[]

The Sinners open up the shipping container containing the captured LCCB Agent, and finds one Mr. Pilot, who turns out to not be the Team Leader at all. Before getting to that discrepancy, Pilot delivers a message from Saude, who turned out to have survived the ordeal in Calw and has been promoted to Manager, following a lengthy but successful recovery.

When asked about the mental health of Saude, due to Effie's actual death, Pilot produces the LCCB's employee code, which promotes sacrifice on the part of LCCB Agents. Seeing Ishmael building up pressure at this, Rodion pulls her off for an "ice-cream jaunt", Dante following secretly behind, where she convinces Ishmael that this brainwashing is understandable both from the company's and the employee's standpoint as it gives the Agents a reason to endure the great casualty rates that the department endures.

Seeing Ishmael cool down, Rodion sneaks a wink at Dante (whom she knows to be following them all along), who was able to get back to the group before the other two.

5-14: Mr. Pilot 2[]

All the Sinners back in one spot, Pilot begins recounting his experiences.

PILOT'S STORY

The journey of Pilot's LCCB unit (LCCB Preliminary Observation Unit 3) started out quite smoothly, with the team quickly able to locate the L Corp. Branch ship and confirm the presence of a Golden Bough within it.
However, the Twinhook Pirates, who have caught wind of their mission, decided to trail them to their destination to see what they were up to. Specifically, a certain "gentleman" who the pirates were cooperating with (or subservient to), was curious of their business.
Pilot's Team Leader, Haru, declared the mission a failure the moment she laid eyes on the gentleman, who was "an officer from the Middle". Rodion and Ryōshū, who had experiences with the Middle, confirmed involvement of the Syndicate from the characteristic glowing purple tattoos which Pilot recalled.
Pilot lost consciousness soon after Team Leader Haru's submission, and when he woke up again, he was on the deck amidst a cacophony of voices. Once he was able to make more sense of his surroundings, he also registered a deep, rumbling noise (not unlike a resonance tuning fork in action). The pirates began acting nervous, and even the "Big Brother" from the Middle was rattled, and they all left soon after spotting a great, pale form in the distance (the "Big Brather" claimed it was one of the "Five Calamities").
Right before Pilot lost consciousness, Haru stuck her Team Leader badge into Pilot's pocket so that the pirates would bring him away, and the rest is history.

After finishing his recounting, Pilot handed the variable coordinates of the L Corp. Branch to Faust. Then he offered to tag along with the group to be their guide, but Dante declined, remembering the fates of the other people who offered to act as guides for them in the past. After some final goodbyes and requests to send hellos to Saude for the Sinners, Pilot began to cry at Yi Sang's words of consolation, as he misses his teammates and Team Leader. The Sinners say goodbye to Pilot for real after promising him that they will bring the rest of LCCB Preliminary Observation Unit 3 back.

On the way back to Mephistopheles, Dante asks about what exactly are variable coordinates. Faust replies that variable coordinates comes from the partial and encoded laws of the Great Lake that U Corp. sends to vessels of a certain magnitude (such as Marlin Portship and the L Corp. Branch they are going to), which is then converted to a route ensuring safe sailing and finalized into a standard form called "variable coordinates". The automated navigation systems installed on Mephistopheles (and other vessels) can use this information to generate a safe path towards a certain destination.

5-15: Ice Cream[]

Back on the waterfront, Charon and Vergilius was waiting for the Sinners. Outis approaches Vergilius on matters concerning Ishmael's late insubordination, but Vergilius stops her before she can report the incident——he already knows what has happened. Vergilius then proceeds to have a friendly chat with Ishmael about her anxiety, as he claims that her "contract clause" will come up sooner or later as she follows on Dante's "peculiar misadventures".

Although Ishmael was not totally convinced, she agrees to cooperate for the time being "as long as the Guide is right". Before embarking again, Yi Sang asks Vergilius whether he has perchance brought any ice cream for the Sinners, but recieved a silent but obviously negative answer.

5-16: Pirates[]

Pre-Battle[]

Back on the sea, Ishmael was nervously checking the telescope. As Gregor was trying to convince her to rest by remarking that there probably wouldn't be anything attacking them as long as they follow the laws of the Great Lake, Ishmael got up and announced her discovery that the Twinhook Pirates were after them.

Too late to change course or to try to get them off their tail, Ishmael advised Dante to board the pirates' ship before they boarded Mephistopheles. After confirming that this is the best course of action according to Ishmael's experience, Dante gave Ishmael the go to act to the best of her judgment. As he observed the Sinners working like clockwork, Dante again wondered whether there was any point in contemplating the team's future together.

5-17: Pirates 2[]

Post-Battle[]

After defeating all of the pirates save one, Heathcliff interrogated the last pirate about the identity of the person who sent them after the Sinners. The pirate replied that "[they]can't let someone who dared to lay a finger on our first mate leave in one piece", along with other junk talk about their loyalty to their Syndicate. This triggered Ishmael, who went on a rant about true camaraderie and shame. After killing the last pirate, leaving their ship afloat to be taken by the Great Lake, the Sinners sail on.

5-18: The Waves[]

Pre-Battle[]

Dante notes the confidence of the pirates that they were not going to leave the area alive, while Meursault notes the strange placement of newly-installed spikes on the hull of the pirate ship——as if they were trying to prevent something from crawling onto the ship.

After some time of smooth sailing, Faust declares that they have to steer the ship portside, as the delay from battling the pirates have caused the safe route to change. If they still maintain their current route, they will be sailing into the next area's Waves. Outis objects, as the new route will take an extra three days of sailing, and proposes (despite Ishmael's complaints) to sail to the previous route and brave the Waves of the Blue Whirling Lake of Murk and Fish-Reek (as that area is called). After some consideration, Dante chooses Outis's plan.

As soon as Mephistopheles sails into the next area, the sky becomes overcast and a heavy rain begins to fall, as if they had sailed right into the eye of a storm——the Waves had struck. Vergilius switches on the ship's "Endure Mode" as a precaution to the storm and what it might bring. Very soon, a strange, hand-shaped creature riddled with holes grips onto the deck, and from it emerged many fish-like creatures. The Sinners prepare for combat.

Post-Battle[]

During an interlude in the fighting, Ishmael reveals the creature to have gripped onto the deck to be a Whale (specifically, the Whale of the Porous Hand), and the creatures that emerged from it to be Mermaids. Rodion asks Vergilius whether it is time for him to lend a hand, to which he replied that he would not do anything unless such extreme situations, such as Mephistopheles sinking or enemies ripping off the hands of Dante's clock, are to occur.

5-19: The Waves 2[]

Post-Battle[]

After the Whale of the Porous Hand has been chased back into the Lake, Dante senses a connection between the Mermaids and Abnormalities/Distortions, which prompts Ishmael to explain the definition of Whales and Mermaids in the Great Lake. Specifically, Whales are anything in the Great Lake which parasitizes humans and gives birth to Mermaids, which are the result of people being devoured by the Whales which came with the Waves. This explains Ishmael's worry that even Dante wouldn't be able to bring the Sinners back.

Part I of Canto V ends with Ishmael restating her determination to complete an unspecified mission related to a previous adventure on the Great Lake, and a pan-out showing the Lake to be divided into numerous multi-colored areas bounded by straight lines and angles.

5-20: Cruise Party[]

After successfully braving the Waves of the Blue Whirling Lake of Mud and Fish-Reek, Dante happens by Ishmael on deck in deep introspection, or reminiscence of her past in a storm or shipwreck, gazing into her reflection on the Lake.

Suddenly, Outis notifies Dante of a spot on the radar, which turned out to be a solitary mini-cruise ship upon approach. Having 3 hours to spend until the laws of the Lake allows them to proceed, Dante decides to board the other vessel for a party break (which Don Quixote was especially enthusiastic about), or at least to gather some intel on the L Corp. branch that they are approaching. The Sinners then sets off on a skiff that was just large enough to hold all 13 of them.

5-21: Cruise Party 2[]

As the Sinners approach the cruise ship, it gradually becomes evident that the ship is devoid of passengers. After they board the ship, and Heathcliff destroys the boombox that was bothering him, it was apparent that there was no one on deck, and that the vessel is deathly silent. Don Quixote, spotting light from the ship's interiors, decides to seek for passengers there. Soon, however, she returns dumbfounded: there was no one to be seen in the ship's cabins either.

Hong Lu begins telling a horror story he heard, seeing similar premises, which scared Sinclair off to search for possible passengers in the ship's storage space, which is the last area not yet investigated. He did not return even after Hong Lu finished his story (which turned out to have involved a strange dance fashion), so Dante opted to go and find him.

5-22: Cruise Party 3[]

Pre-Battle[]

Dante finds Sinclair frozen with fear in the lower levels of the ship, bathed in an unnatural, sourceless light. Fear of the unknown intensifies, and the two hurriedly ran back up to the deck of the ship. Sinclair then spots people flying above the deck——Mermaids. The Sinners prepare for battle.

5-23: Cruise Party 4[]

Post-Battle[]

After defeating the Mermaids that descended upon the deck, Ishmael hypothesized that the cruise ship's passengers were eradicated due to the sailors not noticing that they were breaking a law of the Great Lake as they were partying too intensely. They then return to the Mephistopheles. As the story episode ends, Outis states that they are approaching the Lobotomy Corp. branch that was the destination of their journey.

5-24: The Calamity[]

As the L Corp. branch comes into sight, the Sinners froze as the entire building has been covered in a white, organic membrane. Some theorised that the mutation was the effect of the Calamity that Pilot mentioned approaching the branch facility as the Twinhook Pirates leave the place. Vergilius then mentions that the Great Lake is home to Five Calamities, Whales that do not follow the laws of the Lake and is thus capable of causing severe damage to even prepared vessels.

As the Sinners board the branch vessel, the sense of trepidation grows even more. Rodion begins opting for return, and Dante was somehow unable to sense the Golden Bough.

5-25: The Whaler[]

Pre-Battle[]

The Story Episode begins with Don Quixote noting that there are seemingly live people lodged in the walls of the facility. Though she tries to extract them from the walls, Ryōshū and Meursault observes that they are too tightly fused with the building to be safely extracted.

Ishmael urges them on, asserting that there won't be any real survivors in the place as she knows that the nature of the transformation, which is due to being devoured and ejected by a Whale that she once encountered, allows nothing intact in its wake. Just as she finishes her assertation, however, an LCCB Agent who, though mostly covered by the pallid membrane, still retains consciousness and some capability of speech.

Despite Dante's warnings, Ishmael approaches the possible survivor, whose condition is worsening by the moment. Dante approaches her to get her back, but sees that the Agent's pallidification revert as he approaches. Faust then extrapolates that Golden Boughs (a piece of which is lodged in Dante's head) has the ability to stop or even revert the pallidification process.

Ishmael was extremely excited by the possibility to a counter to the Whale's effects, and her memories came flooding before Dante's eyes.

Ishmael was a Fixer of the Great Lake once, of the awkward class between a low-level sailor and wealthy Fixer called Whalers, whose job is to hunt Whales and bring them back to port as raw materials for more complex products.
The Whales that the LCB had encountered up to now would transform those who they devour into something completely different——Mermaids. The Pallid Whale, which roams the Outskirts, however, does not do so——it only wraps those that it devours in a pallid white membrane, which allows its victims to retain their habits and skills, but not their self. The Lakes of the Outskirts contain many ships that have been transformed in this fashion, which roam the waters only to attack anything in sight.
Ishmael sailed once with the Pequod, whose Captain was obsessed with hunting the Pallid Whale. Throughout that whaling journey, she gradually convinced her crew to adopt her mission as their own.
By the time that the Pequod finally face down the Whale, however, they were promply crushed. As Ishmael came to, holding on to her best mate's coffin for dear life, she saw the Captain laughing like mad, facing down the Whale that devoured her ship and soon her fiercely loyal crew. It was Ishmael's mission ever since to find the Captain again, and kill her.

As Ishmael's soliloquy came to an end, the Sinners caught sight of a solitary butterfly, which landed in a puddle before flying away. Although acknowledging the possibility that it can be a trap, Dante decided to follow the butterfly, as it was the only thing with a sense of direction that they see. The decision was supported by Yi Sang.

As they went away, Sinclair wondered what the LCCB Agent (whose mouth did not depallidify with Dante's approach) was saying. Although Faust and Yi Sang have both been trying to decipher their speech, the effort was ultimately fruitless. The pallid white membrane finally completed its work on the last survivor as Dante left, and it began to shamble, everything of its past buried deep under the pallid white.

5-26: The Lake and the Butterfly[]

Pre-Battle[]

As they follow the butterfly, the Sinners happened upon a man with a sloshing head, who were waiting for them. He introduced himself as Rim.

A mostly one-sided dialogue followed, with Rim claiming that the Golden Bough had been devoured by the Pallid Whale, and the Abnormalities in the branch facility has followed it. When asked of his intentions in giving the Sinners this information, he simply answered that "it matters not who lays claim … or uses [The Golden Bough]," and that "they" simply wishes to steer the outcomes of that using the Boughs toward a better direction. A familiar red mark briefly flashes on his head as he says these lines.

Yi Sang seemed to have recognized Rim as a former member of the League, who left it during its collapse stating that he will journey to the sea. He then shares a friendly discussion with Rim about Rim's changes and the whereabouts of other League members. Ishmael then asks about the Golden Bough's depallidification effects, and gets a positive answer before Rim leaves, "stepping into a puddle and disappearing into its depths".

5-27: The Lake and the Butterfly 2[]

Pre-Battle[]

Pallid bipedals and mermaids filled in the void that Rim left behind; it can be deduced that Rim's influence was holding them back. Dante confirms his seeing the sign on Rim's head as being the same as that seen on Demian from Sinclair.

5-28: The Lake and the Butterfly 3[]

Post-Battle[]

After some more wandering throughout the abandoned L Corp. branch, the Sinners and Dante confirmed the lack of presence of a Golden Bough in the facility. Thus, they leave before considering their next course of action. Don Quixote asks whether there can be any hope left for those that they had to leave behind, and Heathcliff comforts her by advising her to recognize that "some things are too far gone to be helped".

5-29: Harpoons[]

Pre-Battle[]

Rodion was opting to back out of trying to claim the Golden Bough as it is now in the belly of a Whale, but Ishmael refuses angrily. Faust also supports Ishmael in this scenario as the Bough is still technically within sight. The conversation is cut short, however, as the facility was rocked by some collision.

As the Sinners exit the building, they find that multiple ships have started to fire harpoon shots at the branch building. Before long, pirates began boarding the facility via lines attached to the harpoons.

5-30: The Big Brother[]

Pre-Battle[]

After defeating the pirates, Dante couldn't help but notice a group of people who were posing all the while in the one fancy ship that has not to date fired anything at the L Corp. branch. Several Sinners soon recognized the group as members of The Middle, one of the five largest and most powerful Syndicates in the entire City. A Big Brother, who is a relatively important official in the Syndicate's hierarchy, was among them.

The involvement of the Middle in the whole affair severely discouraged many Sinners, with Outis, Ryōshū, and Rodion treating it as a final and hopeless struggle. The Big Brother then descended from his ship and began to announce the Sinners' judgment for their crimes against the Middle.

Although some Sinners thought the affair was about the kerfuffle with Smee and reassured that the First Mate was safe and unharmed (relatively), it soon became apparent that the Middle was completely ignorant of the incident, the Big Brother having to be reminded of who Smee was. In fact, the LCB's main offense in the situation was that Heathcliff stole the Big Brother's luxury hair salon coupons, the punishment of which is "Complete and total extermination of all involved parties; execute the coupon thief and any and all of their affiliates. Effective immediately." The Big Brother then revealed his name——Ricardo——before leaping into the air.

Post-Battle[]

After some initial playing around, Ricardo began obliterating the Sinners ruthlessly. Before one of her deaths, Faust revealed to Dante the self-destruct features of his clock head, while Ishmael struggled on against Ricardo——all in vain as the greatest resistance that she could offer against Ricardo——revivals included——was nothing more than entertainment to him.

5-31: The Big Brother 2[]

Just as Ricardo began to get bored with playing around with Ishmael and Dante, a skiff can be seen approaching the facility. The occupant of the skiff then impaled Ricardo's shoulder with a single strike, then tore it off, forcing Ricardo to leave, though swearing vengeance. He then asks whether Ishmael and Dante have seen the fish that have consumed the facility, as he was after it.

5-32: The Indigo Elder[]

Back on Mephistopheles, the man who had saved the LCB from total obliteration was revealed to be the Indigo Elder, a Fixer who had gained a Color after hunting the all-impaling Marlin Whale, one of the Five Calamities of the Great Lake. He had since set his eyes on the Pallid Whale.

Ishmael has a plan wherewith the Sinners and the Indigo Elder could find the Pallid Whale and each get what they want: the Sinners to gain the Golden Bough, and the Indigo Elder the chance to hunt the Calamity. The Indigo Elder then asks Vergilius whether he would join him in the Whale hunt, to which the Red Gaze replied no. They then goes on the hunt sailing on their skiffs.

5-33: Rocks[]

Pre-Battle[]

The Sinners, taking a different route from that of the Indigo Elder as per the plan, arrived at a Lake with many small islands where the water was dark grey. Ishmael seems to recognize the Lake, as she assumed control of the skiff and landed it on a porous, fleshy island——which turned out to be a sleeping Whale.

5-34: The Pallid Whale[]

Post-Battle[]

After defeating the Whale's Mermaids, Heathcliff questioned Ishmael's decision of having time for such a game of whack-a-mole. Ishmael cites a legend-like tale that has been circulated about the Great Lake, which essentially states that defeating the Whale Mermaids in this dark grey Lake would open up a pathway to to location of the Pallid Whale.

In face of further doubt, Ishmael additionally cited that this was the method by which the Pequod had found the Pallid Whale on her last journey many years ago, and she had witnessed the legend come to life then. Soon enough, the mist cleared in one direction, pointing to a different Lake beyond the grey sea.

5-35: The Pallid Whale 2[]

The Sinners arrive at an obsidian-black Lake overcast eternally by a raging storm. Great obelisks, soon seen to be the tails of sleeping Whales jutting out of the water, dot the water's surface.

The Whales began waking up due to a commotion farther off, and the Pallid Whale, a true monstrosity of the Great Lake, is spotted. The Indigo Elder had led the other Whales away using a bait as planned, and he now may battle the Whale in peace.

Ishmael suddenly takes on a new character, one much more commanding than the usual, bellowing at the Sinners to row towards the Whale. The Indigo Elder has also arrived on scene, and reports success on his part of the plan to the Sinners. The Pallid Whale wakes up, either due to the thunder or due to the old man's bellowing. Its eye's diameter is longer than the length of the Sinners' skiff. The Indigo Elder and Ishmael both delivers a speech, expressing their respect, or hatred, of the ancient fish, or vast monstrosity.

Harpoons are thrown. Although Ishmael's harpoon is tiny compared to the Indigo Elder's, its strike seemed to cause much greater pain in the Pallid Whale than the Color's. It opened its maw. The Indigo Elder prepares to fish up the beast, while the Sinners sailed right down the gullet of the Whale.