Canto VI: The Heartbreaking

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Canto VI: The Heartbreaking
← Intervallo III - 2
Intervallo IV - 1 →
Season	Season 4: Clear All Cathy
Focus Sinner	Heathcliff
Associated Song	Through Patches of Violet
Story
Location	T Corp. (District 20)
Date	984-11
Involved Factions	Limbus Company Wuthering Heights The Wild Hunt Edgar Family Dead Rabbits N Corp. The Ring
Involved Factions	Limbus Company Wuthering Heights The Wild Hunt Edgar Family Dead Rabbits N Corp. The Ring
Character Debuts	Catherine Nelly Erlking Heathcliff Aseah Linton Hindley Josephine
Character Debuts	Catherine Nelly Erlking Heathcliff Aseah Linton Hindley Josephine

“

The colors are fading, and a storm is approaching. Beyond the glass windows, we see the wuthering heights.

”

The Heartbreaking is the sixth Canto in Limbus Company, and Heathcliff's focus chapter. It was released on Season 4: Clear All Cathy and takes place between Intervallo III: Yield My Flesh to Claim Their Bones and Intervallo IV: Timekilling Time.

This Canto released in three parts, with Part 1 releasing on March 28th, 2024 and Parts 2 and 3 releasing in the following two weeks.

Summary

The LCB arrives in T Corp.'s Nest without incident. On the way there, the Sinners spot a man with colored clothes being mugged by gangsters low on "time". They learn from the man that a lot of people have been going missing, possibly victims of a "mass kidnapping" by a Syndicate. During the trip, the Sinners question Heathcliff on the invitation he received from Catherine; during the discussions, Heathcliff reveals he was taken into Wuthering Heights as a child, where he suffered great abuse due to being born in the Backstreets.

Before leaving the bus, Ishmael questions why Vergilius never participates in the missions in any way. The Color responds that the contract he signed with Limbus Company prevents him from interfering. Rodion and Hong Lu then dress up Heathcliff in fancy clothes to look presentable to Catherine.

Upon reaching Wuthering Heights, the Sinners are surprised by the violent weather, particularly the thunder striking down in strange patterns, often following Heathcliff's mentions of the life he led in the manor. The Sinners are welcomed by Nelly, the manor's Chief Butler, who introduces them to the other guests: Linton Edgar, backed by the Edgar Family staff, and Hindley Earnshaw, backed by the Dead Rabbits, Heathcliff's old syndicate. Heathcliff learns that Catherine married Linton after his departure, and upon requesting to speak to her, he learns that Catherine had passed, and that he was invited to her funeral. The Öufi Association proceeds to read Catherine's will, which leaves Linton the estate and Hindley a ticket to M Corp. to a rehab center, while Heathcliff would receive her Golden Bough when "the seventh lightning strikes". Dante then realizes there are two Golden Bough located in the manor.

Heathcliff refuses to believe the claims of Catherine's death, and requests to see the body, affirming he had heard her voice upon arriving to the manor. Crushed by grief, he cries out for her, causing the first lightning to strike and the manor to suddenly reshuffle, after showing a memory of Catherine and Heathcliff's childhood. The event causes the Dead Rabbits to go berserk and start attacking. During combat, the Sinners begin to notice strange things about the Syndicate, whose members don't carry watches and appear to be civilians.

After saving Hindley from the Wuthering Heights Butlers, the Sinners reach Catherine's old room, ransacked by the Edgar Family Butlers in search of her diary. The Butlers are unable to find it, and end up being chased away; Heathcliff easily recovers it, and is the only person capable of reading it. The diary leads them to the fireplace, where Linton awaits and cruelly disparages Heathcliff; in response to Linton's claim that Catherine did not truly love Heathcliff, a second lightning strike hits the manor, showing another of Catherine's memories. Upon witnessing Heathcliff's ability to read from the diary, Linton stands aside and opens the way into the basement, claiming this to be "Catherine's will".

After fighting off evolved Peccatula, the Sinners discover a laboratory based on Yi Sang's mirror tech, in which are stored the victims of the kidnappings in Nest T, as well as a coffin inside which Catherine and one of the Golden Boughs rest. The laboratory is operated by the Öufi Fixers, revealed as ex-Ring scientists led by N Corp. researcher Aseah, a member of the old League of Nine. The Sinners are then attacked by Hindley and the Dead Rabbits. The Dead Rabbits Boss, however, aggravates Hindley's fragile mental state until he hints that he was the one who made him lose the manor in a gambling match, causing Hindley to start claiming him, Catherine, Linton, and Heathcliff to be traitors who had taken everything from him, and to distort. Hindley is killed by the Sinners, while the third lightning strike hits the manor.

The Dead Rabbits Boss then attempts to activate a device, but is stopped by Heathcliff, who demands to know who he actually is. The Dead Rabbits Boss reveals himself to be an Identity of Heathcliff, who seeks to kill every Heathcliff from the various Mirror Worlds, claiming them to be the cause of every Catherine's miseries. After the Sinners first defeat the Identity, Heathcliff, overwhelmed by the revelations received ever since returning to the manor, begins hearing a voice that pushes him into Distortion, and rampages across the laboratory. The Sinners defeat him, and the fourth lightning strike hits the manor; in the memory revealed by the diary, Heathcliff speaks with a younger Catherine, leading him to fall out of his state of Distortion.

The Sinners then learn that the Identity had been summoned over the body of Isabella, Linton's sister. Linton himself appears soon after, commenting on the death of his "foolish sister", and revealing the laboratory had been built by Catherine, with him collaborating with the Ring to provide test subjects for their research. He reveals to the Sinners that the lightning signifies Catherine's heart breaking, and is overjoyed to find the fifth one striking for him; he then attaches mirror tech machinery to himself and pulls one of the switches, melting away into a puddle of flesh. Aseah explains that Linton has become a "dough", a pure form of humanity, which Aseah then uses to summon the Identity once more: Faust dubs the perfected Identity Erlking Heathcliff, leader of the Wild Hunt, an army of spirits he had killed in various Worlds.

The Erlking takes off with Catherine's coffin and the Golden Bough, and sends a seemingly endless horde of spirits and Peccatula after the Sinners; they are saved by Vergilius, who comments on how familiar the laboratory is to one he'd seen before, and holds the horde back while the Sinners run to stop Erlking Heathcliff from reaching the second Bough. Dante awakens a new Seedling of Light ability that allows them to slow down time and catch up to the Erlking, with Meursault using the Chains of Others to hold him in place. The Sinners then realize the events can be traced back to whoever sparked Catherine's interest in Mirror research and involved her with N Corp.; Outis points out Nelly's strange behavior, and her suspicions are confirmed by the Erlking, who recounts how she invited him to the manor and introduced him to Isabella.

Nelly then frees the Erlking, and while he makes his way to the rooftop, she explains her motives: after receiving a Mirror from Hermann, she saw countless worlds in which she wasted her life away dragged into Heathcliff and Catherine's strife, a revelation which shook her to her core, and led her to attempt anything to change her fate. She thus gave the Mirror to Catherine, who, already heartbroken and weakened, spoke to someone on the other side, and began the creation of the laboratory: Nelly would help her bankrupt Hindley with the collaboration of the Erlking, and Catherine was able to purchase the manor. Afterwards, she was introduced to Hermann, who offered to help her with her Mirror World technology and her scientists. Linton agreed to the plan as well, purchasing a Golden Bough required for the experiments.

After her defeat, Nelly disparages Heathcliff, revealing she'd been the one to destroy Heathcliff's attempts to keep in contact with Catherine, out of disgust of their slothfulness and cowardice: in response to her betrayal, Heathcliff begins to sink into a deep despair, his consciousness slowly dragged away. Upon seeing him disappear, Nelly goes on to claim she'd brought upon a better ending, as he could never have changed his fate of becoming a devil like the Erlking. This causes the sixth lightning strike to hit the manor, and Heathcliff relives the conversation that motivated him to leave Wuthering Heights; Dante's powers allow him to stay longer, and learn that Catherine's intention had been to help him out of love. The diary itself then reveals another memory, which Heathcliff understands to be a sign of Catherine having always shared his feelings.

Returning with newfound determination, Heathcliff, the only person left in the will and therefore heir to Wuthering Heights, frees Nelly from her contract and marches ahead to the rooftop. After managing to get his hands on the second Bough, he stabs himself with it to drain it of its power, having understood that Catherine had thought it best to destroy herself for his sake, much like he and the Erlking had. Through the power of the Bough, he calls out to her and asks her to stop, as the final lightning strike hits the manor.

The final memory in the diary confirm his theory. Having witnessed many Mirror Worlds in which their lives ended in tragedy, Catherine sank further into depression, and eventually met an Identity who claimed to be every Catherine from every world, and convinced her that her very life was the cause of Heathcliff's misery. The Identity suggested Catherine help her kill all Catherines in order to free all Heathcliffs, leading to the creation of the laboratory. In the end, Hermann would provide her a second Golden Bough, obtained from Branch D-02, and ask to use the laboratory to create a "dough", which Catherine would agree to, before entering her coffin. Hermann would warn her the subterranean River that flowed beneath the manor might arrest her consciousness, and make her witness the events to follow. Hermann's words proved to be true, with her consciousness scattering across the manor, and her grief, in the form of lightning, powering the summoning itself.

While the summoning is completed, and Every Catherine takes over Catherine's body, Heathcliff's efforts allows her to resist and fight for control as the Sinners fight her and Erlking Heathcliff. Eventually, Catherine contacts Dante through their PDA. Using the opportunity, Heathcliff finally confesses how he feels to Catherine, much to her happiness. She then directs Dante to use the power of the Golden Boughs to erase all versions of herself from existence, an act which leads the Erlking to disappear, now without purpose.

With everyone wounded from the battle, Nelly takes the Bough attached to the rooftop, determined to bring it to Hermann, while the Sinners reclaim the one that was used to summon Every Catherine, now white and burned. In the aftermath, only Dante and Heathcliff have any recollection of Catherine existing; Heathcliff thus vows to reclaim the Bough and restore his Catherine.

Post-credits, the Sinners are tracking down a small-scale Distortion. Demian appears before Dante and presents them with a metaphor of finding a vast garden of roses after abandoning one once cared for by them. Dante replies that the rose they truly loved must've been the one they had left behind, and Demian comments on how similarly, Heathcliff and Catherine cared for each other instead of the infinite Heathcliffs and Catherines of the Mirror Worlds. When Dante asks about the other flowers, Demian states he'll answer when they can "draw him a sheep", before leaving.

Enemies

• T Corp. Gangsters
• Dead Rabbits
• Wuthering Heights Butlers
• Edgar Family Butlers
• Researchers of the Ring?
• The Reaved Lamenter
• The Heartbroken
• The Wild Hunt
• The Erlking
• The Reflections

Trivia

• Heathcliff starts all encounters from Stage 6-14 to Stage 6-34 with the Bereavement BereavementTurn End: At -15 or higher SP, lose 10 SP.
  When hit, lose 2 SP and gain 1 Offense Level Up next turn. (3 times per turn)
  Turn Start: at less than 0 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up. status, making him lose 10 SP every turn when above -15 SP, lose 2 SP when hit and gain 1 Offense Level Up Offense Level UpOffense Level +X for this turn. next turn (up to 3 times per turn), and gain 3 Attack Power Up Attack Power UpAttack Skill Final Power +X for this turn. when under 0 SP.
  • Starting in Stage 6-37, Heathcliff starts all encounters with the Determination Determination- When attacked, gain 1 Offense Level Up next turn. (3 times per turn)
    Turn Start: If at less than 0 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up.
    This unit's Retreat abilities do not activate for the duration of this Encounter. status, making him gain 1 Offense Level Up Offense Level UpOffense Level +X for this turn. the turn after being hit (up to 3 times per turn) as well as gaining 3 Attack Power Up Attack Power UpAttack Skill Final Power +X for this turn. when under 0 SP.
  • During the final phase of Stage 6-48, Heathcliff gains the Courage to Approach Courage to Approach- Turn End: Heal 10 SP
    - Gain 3 Attack Power Up and 5 Protection every turn
    - When attacked, heal 5 SP. Gain 1 Offense Level Up next turn. (3 times per turn)
    - Turn Start: If at less than 0 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up.
    - As long as there are 1 or more other surviving ally in this Encounter, Heathcliff's HP does not drop below 1.
    This unit's Retreat abilities do not activate for the duration of this Encounter. status.
  • As Wild Hunt Heathcliff, these gets replaced by Unending Bereavement Unending BereavementEvery Turn Start: heal 5 SP
    When hit, lose 3 SP and gain 2 Offense Level Up next turn (3 times per turn)
    Turn Start: at less than 0 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up, Pouring Wrath Pouring WrathTurn End: heal 10 SP
    When hit, gain 1 Offense Level Up next turn (3 times per turn)
    Turn Start: at less than 0 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up
    Turn Start: if this unit has Dullahan, gain 1 Damage Up and 3 Defense Level Down and Faded Promise Faded PromiseTurn End: heal 15 SP
    On Hit, gain 1 Offense Level Up next turn (3 times per turn)
    Turn Start: at less than 20 SP, gain 3 Attack Power Up
    Turn Start: if this unit has Dullahan, gain 3 Damage Up and 3 Offense Level Up
    At 1 HP, heal 40% HP and 25 SP (once per Encounter) respectively.
• This Canto has a unique interaction between a specific Sinner Identity during a story encounter.
  • If Edgar Family Chief Butler Ryōshū is brought into Stage 6-45, she will have a unique line of dialogue.
  • Wild Hunt Heathcliff has unique lines of dialogue for several Stages within this Canto.
• After the Canto is completed all preexisting mentions of Catherine's name made by Mirror World Heathcliffs change to square censor boxes, such as in his The Pequod Harpooner and N Corp. Klienhammer Identities. Similarly, his Wild Hunt Identity unlocks a different Identity Story and set of Voicelines, without any knowledge of Catherine. If deployed in Stages that precede the end of the Canto, such as previous Cantos and Intervallos, the Identity will use the Pre Canto VI dialogue.
• This is the first Canto to not have a Story Dungeon.