Canto V: The Evil Defining

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Canto V: The Evil Defining
← Intervallo II
Intervallo III - 1 →
Season	Season 3: Bon Voyage
Focus Sinner	Ishmael
Associated Song	Compass
Story
Location	U Corp. (District 21)
Date	984-07
Story Dungeon	Into the Dark
Involved Factions	Limbus Company Pequod Town Twinhook Pirates The Middle
Involved Factions	Limbus Company Pequod Town Twinhook Pirates The Middle
Character Debuts	Pilot Ahab Queequeg Starbuck Pip Stubb Rim Ricardo The Indigo Elder Smee
Character Debuts	Pilot Ahab Queequeg Starbuck Pip Stubb Rim Ricardo The Indigo Elder Smee

“

Amidst the conflict that knew no end, we set sail on the Great Lake. Into its ineffable Waves, into the flames of a certain wrath.

”

The Evil Defining is the fifth Canto in Limbus Company, and Ishmael's focus chapter. It was released on Season 3: Bon Voyage and takes place between Intervallo II: S.E.A. and Intervallo III: Miracle in District 20.

This Canto released in three parts, with Part 1 releasing on November 16th, 2023 and Parts 2 and 3 releasing in the following two weeks.

Summary

With Mephistopheles now sea-worthy, the Sinners travel the Great Lake to locate the Golden Bough. During the voyage, Ishmael, who during the events of Intervallo II had refused to return to the Lake, resolves to no longer collaborate with the LCB unless explicitly ordered to. As a result, the rest of the Sinners struggle to learn the so called "Laws of the Great Lake", and barely escape some close encounters with the Whales and Mermaids that populate the various lakes. In the meantime, Dante discovers another power to their clock prosthetic, the ability to see into people's mind and their desires.

In Marlin Portship, the LCB learn that the LCCB agent they were supposed to rendezvous with has been kidnapped by the Twinhook Pirates, a Syndicate backed by the Middle. Ishmael brings up the name of "Queequeg" at the Pirates' hideout, which leads to their boss, the First Mate Smee requesting to know Queequeg's location, as the Middle has put a large bounty on her head. After the LCB defeats the Pirates, Smee mentions that their Syndicate is backed by the Middle, and that killing her would result in them sending a Big Brother to avenge her; despite this, she eventually reveals the LCCB agent's location. Afterwards, Ishmael attempts to kill her, only to be physically stopped by Dante, who takes a heavy blow in her stead.

After rescuing the LCCB agent, Pilot, he reveals to the Sinners that his team had located the L Corp. Branch that housed the Bough, which had been taken over by the Pirates backed by a Big Brother of the Middle. The LCCB team was found and held hostage by the Pirates, until a Calamity know as the "Pallid Whale" closed in: the team was wiped out, while the Pirates and the Big Brother fled, taking Pilot with them. Pilot also reveals that Saude survived the N Corp. Inquisition's purge of Calw and has become one of the managers of the LCCB. With a destination in mind, the Sinners travel the Great Lake to reach the Branch, battling various Whales along the way.

During the travel, Ishmael's past is slowly revealed to Dante, who peers into her mind to learn that of her old Captain, who had led her fellow crewmates to their death in her obsession with hunting the Pallid Whale. Dante finds out that Ishmael's greatest desire is to kill her to avenge her comrades.

Eventually, the LCB reaches the L Corp. building, which had been spat out by the Whale, but was affected by its tremendous abilities, which covered every part of the building, including the LCCB agents trapped inside, in a thin white membrane, an effect which Faust defines as "pallidification". The Sinners are also approached by Rim, one of Yi Sang's friends of the League of Nine Littérateurs, who has seemingly become a Distortion, and who reveals to them that when the Whale ate the L Corp. building, it swallowed the Bough and all Abnormalities contained there.

As they leave, the Middle suddenly arrives, lead by Big Brother Ricardo, who intends on taking revenge on the Sinners, after having seen Heathcliff steal his hair coupons from the club run by the Twinhook Pirates. All the Sinners but Ishmael are all killed off in the slaughter, and are only saved by the arrival of another Color: the Indigo Elder, a man whose mission is killing the Five Calamities of the Great Lake.

The Sinners, together with the Elder, return on Mephistopheles, where Ishmael hatches a plan to locate and enter the Pallid Whale, taking advantage of the Sinners' immunity to the effects of pallidification. With the Elder backing them up from the outside, the LCB manages to enter the belly of the Whale, although Ishmael becomes more and more entranced in her quest for revenge.

Within Story Dungeon

Inside the Whale, the Sinners are saved from being digested by semi-pallidified humans from Ishmael's old crew, led by Ishmael's former captain, Ahab. Ahab proposes a deal to Ishmael and the Sinners: if they will help her reach the heart of the Whale, she will allow them to take the Golden Bough which they seek, and Ishmael to kill her. The Sinners and Ahab's party separate as they traverse the beast, with the Sinners being joined by Queequeg, Ishmael's closest friend, whom she believed dead. Ishmael questions Queequeg on the life the crew led inside the Whale, with Queequeg revealing that they all managed to survive the pallidification by following Ahab's lead; furthermore, Queequeg speaks of having "buried" her memories of Ishmael to focus on survival, leading Ishmael to reminisce on the desire they had shared to live on together after the voyage.

The LCB and Queequeg thus travel through the Whale's insides, slaying many Mermaids and fighting off some of the Abnormalities from the L Corp. Branch that had been swallowed by the Whale, while Dante's powers reveal more of Ishmael's past on The Pequod. However, once they reunite with Ahab at the beast's heart, it is revealed that the Captain has sacrificed her party to ensure she reached it.

Ahab then reveals that she wants Dante's head, which contains part of a Golden Bough, to be able to kill the whale, as the effects of pallidification prevent her from actually attacking it. The Sinners and Ahab do battle, but when corned, Ahab's obsession and determination lead to her awakening her E.G.O, GasHarpoon, that absorbs her remaining crew, Queequeg, Starbuck and Pip, and sacrifices them to empower herself further. The LCB defeat her, and Ishmael is able to break the Captain's weapon, but as the witnesses the pallidification claim Queequeg, and finally facing the object of her obsession, she begins to lose her direction, and nearly becomes pallidified herself, before being pulled out by Heathcliff.

The battle closes, with the crew of the Pequod being taken over by the pallidification. Ishmael shares a tearful goodbye with Queequeg, who asks Ishmael to introduce herself to her once more, in memory of their friendship and affection; Ishmael does so, as Queequeg's body disintegrates.

She is ultimately convinced by Dante to not strike down Ahab, but rather, her prize: the Pallid Whale. Ishmael briefly reflects on Ahab, remembering the awe she felt of her the first time they met, and how she'd yearned to become like her, someone capable of facing her destiny without hesitation, and she considers how the voyage turned into Ahab's Mermaid, devoid of her own beliefs, only blindly following along. She then agrees to Dante's suggestion, and tears through the Whale's heart, claiming the Golden Bough within.

With her desire denied, Ahab breaks down, but Ishmael reveals her intent to spare her, to serve as a testament to her own sins and failures, as her own Whale. As the beast collapses, the Indigo Elder throws down a rope, allowing the LCB safe passage. Following the successful return to the Mephistopheles, Ishmael states her intent to stay with the Sinners until it comes time to separate, after which she will go on her own adventure, having now found purpose beyond revenge.

Post-credits, its revealed that Ahab survived the Whale's collapse, and is recruited by Hermann with the promise of slaying every Pallid Whale across infinite worlds.

Enemies

• Twinhook Pirates
• Mermaids
  • Pallidified Things
  • Pallid Mermaids
• The Middle
• Pequod Town

Trivia

• Ishmael starts all encounters in this Canto with the Compulsion CompulsionStarts encounter with -25 SP. At less than 0 SP at Turn Start, gain 3 Attack Power Up. status, reducing her initial SP by 25, but gaining 3 Attack Power if she is at lower than 0 SP at the start of the turn.
• This Canto has a unique interaction between a specific Sinner Identity during a story encounter. In the Canto's Story Dungeon, if The Pequod Captain Ishmael participates in Ahab's second fight, Ishmael will start the encounter with the Reverse Compulsion Reverse CompulsionHeal 15 SP at every Turn Start status, healing her SP by 15 at the start of every turn, instead of Compulsion CompulsionStarts encounter with -25 SP. At less than 0 SP at Turn Start, gain 3 Attack Power Up.. Additionally, Ishmael and Ahab will both have a unique line of dialogue during the battle.