Memory of Chaos: Cocytus

Memory of Chaos: Cocytus was a character scenario released in Mass for the Dead, featuring the character Cocytus.

Episode 1: Cocytus's Impatience
On the 5th Floor in Cocytus's home, the Floor Guardian relentlessly trains himself with his weapon. Slowly but steadily the Floor Guardian feels he is improving, yet Cocytus himself cannot shake the unpleasant memory of his revival. He recalls the moment when Momonga resurrected him at the Throne Room, where he awoke to find the area in ruins. Like the other NPCs, he has no recollection of who or what killed him. The warrior tries to bury the memory by focusing on his training and to restore the Great Tomb of Nazarick to it's former glory. Still, it infuriates him since he does not remember his slayer who put him and his colleagues in their weakened state. Cocytus feels that the normal process is taking too long and longs to recover his full strength but is at a loss on how to proceed with that. He then decides to stretch his legs to seek someone who may hold the answer.

The Floor Guardian descends to the 9th Floor where he finds Narberal Gamma cleaning some of the debris from the corridors. The Floor Guardian greets his colleague, having already heard that she went out into the outside world. Cocytus has a query that he hopes the maid can answer since she too has been at a disadvantage due to her level loss. However before she can ask her, Lupusregina Beta calls out to Narberal who is glad to see her sister back in Nazarick. Seeing Cocytus, Lupusregina is worried that she was interrupting their conversation between the two. However, Cocytus is not insulted in fact as he has a request that includes the two of the maids. The Floor Guardian asks the two to spar with him so he can receive real action to assist in his level recovery. The maids are more than happy to accommodate Cocytus and join him on his floor for training.

Later on, Albedo who is preparing documents, receives a [Message] from Lupusregina. The maid reports a status update on the 6th Floor and the Crack located there. So far nothing out of the ordinary has happened with the Chaos Beast s, but Albedo notices the maid's tired tone and asks out of concern if the maid is alright. Lupusregina apologizes for making her superior worried and admits that she has become fatigue due to the training session she had with Cocytus. She then relates to her the story of how she and Narberal were training with Cocytus. Narberal continuously exchanged blows with the warrior who when seriously injured was healed to full strength by Lupusregina to continue fighting the Floor Guardian. Even though Cocytus was fully healed, Lupusregina tried to suggest that he rest, but the Floor Guardian was insistent that they continue forward with their training so that he can grind more experience to help him break through his levels.

After hearing the report from the maid, Albedo becomes troubled by this news. Since Lupusregina had been using so much healing magic for Cocytus, she finds herself exhausted as a result of that. Though Albedo admits there is nothing wrong with training to get stronger, she advises Lupusregina to keep her in the loop so that nothing bad happens. She dismisses Lupusregina as she contemplates what to do, feeling that Cocytus may be overdoing his training. Momonga eventually arrives at the Round Table Room and she informs him of the 5th Floor Guardian's training regime. Momonga listening to her concern admits that it might be troublesome as if Cocytus's level of training continues it may tire out his training partners to death. Cocytus's physical well-being is brought up as Momonga does not wish for his loyal subordinate to focus his entire time on training as there is uncertainty to how much stress Cocytus's body can take. That being said, he does not want to discourage him as he is still concern over the NPCs developing egos and worries the possibility they might not listen to him in the future since it might causes tension between himself and them. Something must be done and so Momonga resolves himself to speak with Cocytus on the matter.

Episode 2: Momonga's Tactics
Cocytus is training alone in his home on the 5th Floor, as he considers his current strength to be insufficient. The Floor Guardian gets a surprised visit from Momonga who he welcomes into his domain. Momonga tells Cocytus that he has heard the Floor Guardian has been training quite rigorously. Cocytus inquires that if it is a problem, to which Momonga states that is not the case as it is reasonable for the warrior to try and regain his original strength. However, he warns Cocytus that it will take some time for him to completely regain his original power, so he should try not to overdo it. He expresses his worry about the negative effects of over-training and what it might cause to not just Cocytus but also Nazarick as well.

Momonga offers Cocytus to challenge him in a game of sorts. Interested by his master's proposal, Cocytus learns from Momonga that compared to the other Floor Guardians, his power is not as good as other guardians. Rather, Cocytus's ability stands out, but yet there is also something he lacks. This game he proposes will display what he is talking about. The thought of lacking something causes Cocytus some concern but follows the guidance of Momonga who explains the rules of the game. Cocytus is given a cloth band to place on his arm. Next, Momonga states that he will summon several undead that will each possess a cloth band. They will fight against Cocytus and the winner will be the the one who will take away the piece of cloth first. Any means to remove the cloth can be used however he wants to do it. After the rules have been stated, Momonga begins the game and summons a total of six skeleton warriors in a formation. Once the bits of cloth are wrapped on the arms of the summons, Momonga orders them to attack Cocytus.

Each and every one of the six skeleton warriors strike the ground all at once, raising a cloud of the snow in their wake. The snow wrapped in the wind covers the area around Cocytus, blinding him of his surroundings. Cocytus, deprived of sight, immediately tries to listen to the sounds around him and hears in all directions indicating he has been surrounded. One sound approaches without breaking the pace, and Cocytus deems it to be closest to him. One of the skeleton warriors appears and the insect warrior strike it down killing it. Just as he attacked the summon, at the same time four of the skeletons appear and cling to Cocytus' four arms. Pinned down by them, Cocytus tries to shake his arms free from their grasp, but is too late as one of the remaining skeletons emerges and pluck off the cloth band from Cocytus's arm, ending the game in no less than ten seconds.

Momonga declares it to be his win, which Cocytus acknowledges. Cocytus, who was obsessed with regaining his power, was defeated by Momonga who despite the overwhelming difference in strength with his summons. The thought of losing brings chills to Cocytus as he wonders what could have happened had the game been a real battle. Momonga then encourages Cocytus to think very carefully about what he is missing before teleporting from the floor, leaving Cocytus to contemplate as the remaining skeletons disappear along with his master, melting into snow as their pieces of cloth are blow by the snowstorm in the distance.

Episode 3: Looking For The Answer
Cocytus continues to wonder what he could be lacking after he lost the game with Momonga. No matter how much time he spent on the problem, he couldn't get an answer. The Floor Guardian wonders if it's due to his incompetence and laments at his inability to come with an answer himself. A though occurs that he needs someone who has experience in this type of thinking and then goes to the lower floors. On the 7th Floor, the fiery landscape where Demiurge calls home, the demon greets Cocytus who has come to see him. Cocytus asks how fare Demiurge's experiments, which the demon replies to not be very good as he is working with very little information, yet he finds the work to be rewarding. Demiurge asks why trouble Cocytus for him to come and seek him, which then the Fifth Floor Guardian relays what transpired between him and Momonga. Demiurge immediately understands what Momonga has been trying to teach Cocytus, which the latter begs to enlighten him. Demiurge explains that Momonga knew that Cocytus was doing unreasonable training. Even if the 5th Floor Guardian continue training he may not be able to regain his original strength in a short time. Rather the disadvantages of doing so would be greater. But due to Cocytus's personality, Momonga knew he would not stop training even if he asked so Momonga had setted up a "game" to make Cocytus aware of what he lacks for his personal growth.

The demon asks Cocytus to ask himself as why he thought Momonga was able to overcome the overwhelming difference and win the game. The answer is simple, it's because Momonga was using "strategy" and "tactics", concepts which can sometimes overturn the gap. Demiurge believes that Momonga wanted to show his colleague this so that he can realize that there are other things he can work on. However, "strategy" and "tactics" are not something that one can learn in a short time. He suggest that Cocytus seek out the protagonist as he thinks the homunculus might provide him with a easy-to-understand answer to this. After being directed to Ashurbanipal, Cocytus thanks Demiurge and heads to his next destination.

Episode 4:《Strategy》And《Tactics》
At Ashurbanipal, Cocytus enters and calls out the protagonist. The protagonist welcomes the Floor Guardian, asking how he can be of service. Cocytus asks the Deputy Diplomat Assistant if he knows anything about "strategy" and "tactics". The homunculus goes through his materials and provides the Floor Guardian a book on a game called "shogi", likening it to be similar to the game Cocytus and Momonga played. To educate the Floor Guardian, the protagonist begins to explain the rules of "shogi" by comparing Cocytus to a "bishop" and skeleton warriors as "pawns". The protagonist then displays the shogi arrangement on the squares where the "bishop" was surrounded by "pawns" and could not move. The latter are usually weak pieces but using the right strategy they can be effective. For Momonga in the game he would be considered the "king" piece. Studying the placement of the pieces, Cocytus begins to see that he had not been seeing the battle for what it was. From this point he understands that he was playing right into Momonga's field and resolves to learn from his mistake. To do this he needs more information on strategy and tactics and bids the protagonist to help him search through the material to increase his knowledge.

Episode 5: Rematch
At the Round Table, Momonga receives an unexpected visit from Cocytus. The Floor Guardian bids Momonga to accept a request of his, which is to have a rematch with his match and display the answer to the question he gave him. Momonga accepts the warrior's request and the two transfer their location back to Cocytus's home on the 5th Floor. Momonga summons six skeleton warriors as before and after confirming Cocytus was ready ordered them to approach the latter.

In less than a second, Cocytus reaffirms his thoughts, vowing not to lose like last time, he knows what he must do. Cocytus then thrusts one of his weapons into the snowfield, and thrusts his free hand forward activating magic to destroy the skeletons and claims their pieces of cloth. Having defeated them all, Cocytus announces his victory which Momonga states that it is an improvement. Cocytus admits that he lacks experience yet he will continue to work harder to prove to his master and also take his training more slowly.

At a later date, Cocytus is seen training with Lupusregina and Narberal Gamma. He easily defeats Lupusregina, who is surprised by how much stronger Cocytus has become. When she is ready for another spar, Cocytus states that they should take a break. This talk of taking a break makes the two maid stop as they cannot believe that the Cocytus who they had been drilling with now wants to kick back and relax. Cocytus replies to them that he learned that it would be best to take it slow to rebuild his levels as he learned that physical strength was not everything.

Trivia

 * This character scenario was released alongside the Memory of Chaos: Sebas Tian, Memory of Chaos: Pandora's Actor, Memory of Chaos: Aura Bella Fiora, Memory of Chaos: Mare Bello Fiore, Memory of Chaos: Demiurge, Memory of Chaos: Shalltear Bloodfallen, Memory of Chaos: Albedo, and Memory of Chaos: Momonga.