Ethan cradled his daughter, Rose, tightly against his chest.
She was safe, breathing, and blessedly free from Heisenberg's monstrous control.
Relief washed over him, but his mind instantly flashed to the map and the remaining obstacles.
"What about the swamp? We still have to get past the swamp, and Moreau..."
Ethan started, somehow remembering the repulsive, mutated Lord who controlled the acidic waterways.
Theodore paused his looting of Heisenberg's Factory wreckage, glancing at Ethan with a blank expression.
"What swamp?"
Ethan frowned.
"The one controlled by… what again… Moreau, the one..."
He trailed off as a strange realization dawned on him.
He looked at the satellite map on his phone, then back at Theodore's utterly sincere confusion.
There was no swamp.
The swamp that once dominated the valley floor, the maze of contaminated water and ramshackle structures, was simply gone.
It was replaced by a massive, scorched crater filled with clean, frozen ice and snow.
Ethan suddenly understood. Theodore had already dealt with the problem.
Not by navigating it or fighting the Lord, but by erasing the location entirely.
Ethan didn't need to ask how. He just pictured Theodore, alone at the edge of the map, chuckling maniacally as he hurled countless Firebombs and Explosive Pots from his so called inventories blowing the entire environmental obstacle—and probably the unfortunate Moreau—off the face of the earth.
Ethan decided not to ask anything.
He had his daughter back, and that was all that truly mattered.
Alcina, standing tall amidst the smoking ruins of the Factory, suddenly went rigid. Her eyes, usually cold and calculating, narrowed with a terrible focus.
"My Lord," she said, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "She is coming. I can feel the bond, though broken, still screaming. Mother Miranda is aware of our success and is moving."
Theodore grabbed Ethan's arm.
"Ethan, your mission is complete. You have Rose. You need to leave. Now. Get as far away from here as you can."
Ethan was reluctant. He looked at the wreckage they had created and the overwhelming power Alcina possessed.
He knew the fight against Miranda, the one who controlled everything, would be exponentially worse.
"I won't just leave you,"
Ethan protested.
"You won't be a burden,"
Alcina interjected, her tone gentle but firm.
"You will be a distraction that she cannot ignore. Your survival, and Rose's, is the ultimate slap in her face. That is your mission now."
Ethan accepted the logic. He was a father, not a final boss raider. He nodded, then pulled the upgraded weapons from his own belt—the M1911 and the V61 Custom—and handed them to the Dimitrescu sisters.
"Take these. They're high-power. Use them if you need range."
The sisters looked confused. They had never handled firearms, relying only on their speed and strength.
"Guns..."
Cassandra murmured, turning the sleek pistol over in her hand.
"It's alright,"
Theodore said, adjusting the grip on a spare Lightning Pot.
"You can try. Just point and shoot. Alcina, shield them. This is the final boss. We go all in."
Theodore faced the darkening sky. The final confrontation was about to begin.