Chapter 192: The End of the First Part and the Audience's Fury!
The plot's development has now become completely enigmatic.
Due to the consecutive sending of D-mails, which significantly altered the past, Rintarou Okabe discovered that many details had changed.
After sending that D-mail for Ruka, the IBN5100 no longer appeared at the shrine, effectively disappearing without a trace.
Moeka Kiryuu, who had disappeared from the previous world line, inexplicably reestablished a connection with the research institute in this new world line.
The progress of the experiments varied among the members of the institute, but in every regard, the details of the D-mail transmissions had diverged significantly from the previous world line.
In this situation, Rintarou Okabe, distressed by the changes, ultimately decided to first locate the IBN5100.
Considering that the machine had originally been dedicated to the shrine by Faris's father, Okabe went to seek her out for clues about the IBN5100.
However, during this process, Faris inadvertently learned about the time machine and D-mails.
She then approached Rintarou Okabe with a proposal: she could provide him with a clue about the IBN5100, but she needed to send her own D-mail to the past.
Faced with this reality, Okabe struggled for a moment but ultimately chose to agree, as he had no other clues regarding the IBN5100.
However, Faris refused to disclose the content of the email she intended to send.
Despite this, Rintarou Okabe ultimately accepted her decision.
Okabe first informed Kurisu Makise, the assistant at the institute, to prepare the phone microwave and instructed Faris to send her email once she was ready.
At the moment of sending the email, Faris seemed a bit hesitant. It wasn't until Okabe reminded her that the girl snapped back to reality and pressed the phone button.
"Click…"
A wave of blackness washed over them again, and when Rintarou Okabe regained his senses, he found himself looking at a middle-aged man in a suit.
Faris burst in from outside and hugged the man, exclaiming, "Dad!!"
"Dad?"
In the face of this situation, Rintarou Okabe trembled.
In his memory, Faris's father had died a long time ago due to an accident.
Yet now, he had changed that ending, having survived until the present.
Realizing that the change in the world line was far greater than he had imagined, Okabe stared in shock for a long moment before finally speaking, "You must be Faris's father. The IBN5100 should be in your possession, right?"
"Oh, you mean that? I sold it a long time ago; I can't remember exactly to whom."
"What?!"
Okabe was taken aback as he suddenly realized that in this world line, the IBN5100 had completely vanished without a trace.
Leaving Felicia's home, Rintarou Okabe attempted to return to his research institute, only to find himself lost as he walked.
Faced with unfamiliar scenery all around him, an indescribable sense of terror suddenly washed over him. He immediately began checking the nearby shops one by one but discovered that none of them looked familiar.
The entire street had changed in this world line!
Just because of a single email, everyone's fate had shifted!
In that moment, Rintarou Okabe fully grasped the profound changes he had wrought.
Suddenly, at the edge of the film's visuals, a butterfly fluttered in from nowhere, flying about and igniting a massive storm.
At the same time, a voiceover began to explain the concept of the butterfly effect.
...
Hearing the butterfly effect articulated in a theoretical form for the first time, the audience was filled with excitement.
After all, the people in this world were predominantly experiencing the concept of "science fiction" for the first time, and even the most basic ideas piqued their immense interest.
"The butterfly effect? That really makes sense."
"Setting aside the real-world butterfly effect, in this 'Steins;Gate', every email the protagonist sends is like a butterfly flapping its wings, causing even the smallest change to lead to enormous shifts in everyone's fate."
"Yeah, regardless, while there are parts of the movie that are hard to understand, it's still captivating, and it somehow feels incredibly impressive."
"But I still want to know what kind of conflicts will arise later. Are they really just going to keep jumping world lines with D-mail without confronting SERN directly?"
"Hey? That would be too boring, right? I'm really looking forward to some exciting battle scenes later on."
"…"
The audience engaged in such discussions; while some felt the current plot seemed a bit dull and lacked sufficient explosive moments, they still patiently continued watching.
...
At the Imperial Mage Academy, the mages were equally astonished by the butterfly effect theory presented in "Steins;Gate."
Although most mages had some understanding of the concept, it was their first time encountering such a complete explanation within a film.
In that moment, the majority of mages were buzzing with excitement.
"The flapping of a butterfly's wings causing a storm—it's quite similar when you think about the minor changes in history leading to massive fluctuations along the entire timeline."
"The butterfly effect theory is similar in essence to controlling wind element magic; the best way to manipulate strong winds is often not through large-scale magical alterations but through small magical amplitudes, indirectly triggering the formation of a storm."
"Exactly, the principles of wind element magic almost mirror the butterfly effect."
"I can't believe this theory can even be applied to concepts of space-time and time machines. It's truly beyond imagination."
"I'm eager to see what other magical theories this film will introduce."
"…"
...
Meanwhile, atop the Tower of Mages.
Dean Hohenheim pondered for a long time after reading the description of the butterfly effect, eventually reflecting:
"If this theory had been proposed earlier, the development of wind-based forbidden spells in the magical realm might have advanced significantly. In the past, due to the chaotic nature and difficulty of controlling wind elements, wind-based magic had never produced sufficiently rational sixth-tier forbidden spells; the few existing samples were all hybrid elemental spells requiring multiple elements. However, the butterfly effect theory has opened my eyes to the possibility of pure wind element forbidden spells."
"Uh, is it really that impressive?"
The other archmages were puzzled by this. After all, currently, only Dean Hohenheim had reached the pinnacle of pure elemental magic; the other great sages rarely delved into such studies, let alone the somewhat marginalized field of wind magic.
Compared to the destructive power of fire magic, the exceptional healing abilities of water magic, and the prominent defensive qualities of earth magic, wind magic's control capabilities were often questioned. It could only occasionally have value when used in combination with other elements.
This led to the awkward status of solo wind mages within the magical community, so much so that their social value after graduation was often minimal.
This was also the reason why Picor, from the Department of Magical Alchemy, firmly decided to join that particular field, as he was acutely aware of the bleak future awaiting a solitary wind mage.
Every profession ultimately needs to generate social value to earn respect, and even the seemingly noble career of a mage was no exception.
Thus, Hohenheim's statement left all the archmages slightly astonished. They began to realize that after Hohenheim said those words, wind elements might not be considered the weakest element anymore.
...
The pace of the movie "Steins;Gate" accelerated once more.
Upon realizing that the world line had become chaotic due to multiple D-mails, Rintarou Okabe felt increasingly lost.
To make matters worse, he discovered by accident that Ruka's gender had indeed changed; the D-mail he sent had transformed Ruka from a boy into a girl.
With so many changes occurring, Okabe felt an urge to escape, and while taking a walk, he unexpectedly encountered the working warrior, Suzuha Amane, downstairs.
From her, he learned that Suzuha had come to the city to find her father and that if she couldn't locate him the next day, she would have to leave.
In a moment of inspiration, Okabe impulsively suggested that he could help her send a D-mail to find her father.
However, Suzuha declined his offer, determined to seek him out on her own.
As time passed, although Rintarou Okabe was worried about Suzuha, under the persuasion of Kurisu Makise and the other members of the institute, he ultimately decided to abandon the search for her.
During this time, Okabe learned some of Kurisu's past and recognized that even a genius like her had her own struggles. He assured her that he would become her ally.
These words touched Kurisu, and the distance between them gradually closed.
By the next evening, Rintarou Okabe waited downstairs for Suzuha, intending to force her to send a D-mail to find her father after her failure to locate him.
However, to his surprise, Suzuha did not return at all, seemingly disappearing without a trace.
In this situation, Okabe desperately searched for her yet could not find any sign of her.
In desperation, he sent a D-mail to his past self—ignoring the objections of others, he must pursue Suzuha no matter what.
In an instant, the world line shifted once again.
Rintarou Okabe finally found Suzuha Amane and managed to keep her in the timeline. With this fact, he felt a genuine sense of relief for the first time, recognizing the real benefits of world line hopping.
Afterward, the research institute resumed its D-mail experiments. However, the repair shop owner downstairs was getting angry; the noise from each experiment was too loud, and the immense energy emitted by the microwave was causing his building to shake.
To ensure the experiments could proceed smoothly, Okabe decided to go downstairs to hold off the owner while Kurisu Makise took charge of running the experiment.
Unfortunately, against the strong and robust repair shop owner, Okabe was no match. During a scuffle, he inadvertently turned off the large television downstairs.
At that moment, the ongoing D-mail experiment upstairs abruptly halted.
It suddenly struck Okabe that the success of the D-mail being sent was dependent on the large television downstairs functioning as a receiver.
With this clue in mind, despite being beaten up by the shop owner, he returned to his room and immediately started researching with Kurisu Makise. Together, they successfully proposed a theory to compress memories and send them back to the past.
"If we can compress the memories stored in the human brain into a pulse signal that fits within a D-mail, perhaps we can transmit those memories back to the past."
"This way, although a person won't physically jump through time, once the memories are packed and sent back, it would count as a form of time travel on another level."
With this conclusion, the research institute immediately began working on creating this time machine, which could be considered usable in a certain sense.
During the research, however, Rintarou Okabe suddenly received several strange emails.
"I am watching you." "You know too much…"
The odd content of these messages instinctively made Okabe feel as though he was being watched, and fear began to spread through him.
To make matters worse, Itaru Hashida suddenly discovered that the institute's computer had unknowingly connected to SERN's database, and the connection was forced and outside of their control.
With increasing signs indicating danger, Okabe's tension reached its peak.
As if it were the last straw, his phone buzzed with a message that sent a chill through him.
The email contained only a photograph—a bloodied face.
"Ah…"
Fear gradually solidified in his chest. After a moment of panic, Rintarou Okabe forced himself to gather his composure and ordered the other members of the research institute to accelerate the research on the time machine.
Time, and with the assistance of Kurisu Makise, the time machine capable of sending memories was finally completed.
As a result, Rintarou Okabe decided that he would be the one to conduct the experiment for memory traversal. The experiment was set to begin in the evening, and prior to its initiation, a banquet would be held.
With everything ready, Okabe finally felt a sense of relief; however, the vague sensation of being watched intensified rather than faded.
Realizing that the enemy might truly be closing in on them, he remained vigilant throughout the day, ultimately arriving at the evening banquet.
"As long as the experiment succeeds..."
He silently repeated this in his heart while patiently awaiting the end of the banquet, casting a glance at all the members of the institute gathered there.
Mayuri, Itaru Hashida, Kurisu Makise, and the visiting Suzuha Amane.
As he prepared to take a deep breath and announce the start of the banquet, in an instant...
"Bang!"
The door to the research institute was abruptly thrown open, and a group of masked men stormed in, brandishing various weapons and surrounding everyone present.
"Don't move! Everyone, put your hands up!"
At the same time, a woman in a black leather coat slowly stepped in from outside.
To everyone's shock, it was none other than Moeka Kiryuu, who had not been seen in this world line for quite some time.
"The time machine will be reclaimed by SERN. Rintarou Okabe, Itaru Hashida, Kurisu Makise—you three will come with us!"
"The rest will be executed on the spot!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Moeka drew her gun and shot Mayuri dead.
Witnessing this scene, Rintarou Okabe completely broke down.
In that critical moment, the working warrior Suzuha Amane sprang into action, taking down numerous assailants and engaging Moeka Kiryuu.
Meanwhile, with Kurisu Makise's assistance, Rintarou Okabe took the opportunity to activate the completed time machine.
In an instant, a torrent of intense energy was released, and Okabe's memories were transmitted back to the past, marking the start of the subsequent chapters of despair in the "Steins;Gate" story!
.....
At this moment, just as the audience was eagerly awaiting the thrilling plot they had been longing for and wondering what would happen next, a message that sent them reeling suddenly appeared on the screen.
"Steins;Gate Part 1: The Flutter of Fate's Butterfly Part 2 will be officially released in early spring next year."
Faced with this abrupt cliffhanger that was almost identical to the ending of "Fate/Zero," the audience erupted in frustration and anger!
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