Ortho in the Main Story

Book 6 begins with a hunt for Grim and Ortho asking “Does it matter if the target is alive when we bring him in?”

After the students are kidnapped and Rook arrives at STYX headquarters, Rook explains how he sometimes wonders if he is to blame for Vil’s overblotting, but then reminds himself that “Vil’s anger and despair are his alone.”

When Ortho asks why he came to find Vil regardless, Rook says, “So that I could tell myself, I did what I could.”

This seems to leave an impression upon Ortho, who asks himself what he can do for Idia.

He tries to encourage a depressed Idia by reminding him that he is a genius who could change the pre-determined course of his life if he put his mind to it, but Idia counters with, “…you can’t have forgotten…what happened to Ortho when we tried to leave this place.”

After Idia complains about the lack of a sequel release to his favorite video game, Vil gives a speech about how there “will always be a zero-percent chance as long as you believe it impossible and refuse to act.”

Much like Rook’s comment, this also seems to inspire Ortho.

He and Idia discuss the system that will be wiping everyone’s minds after the experiments are complete, and Idia realizes that Ortho seems “a bit off,” though Ortho refuses his offer to run maintenance.

Once alone, Ortho reflects on what he can do “to make sure zero doesn’t stay zero,” and is beckoned to by a voice from Tartarus who says it was there since long before Ortho was born, and wants everyone in the world to be their friend.

Ortho seems to recognize the voice after it refers to Idia as “Idy” (EN’s equivalent to JP’s “Nii-chan,” in contrast to the “Nii-san” variation usually used by Ortho).

Ortho thanks Rook for helping him understand his purpose and follows the voice’s instructions, shutting down STYX’s Cerberus system and the power to STYX itself.

We learn that the cages in Tartarus have begun to thaw, despite how any changes to Cerberus require biometric authentication from a member of the Shroud family.

Ortho tells Idia that he wants them to erase their story and rewrite it from scratch.

Ortho claims he is expressing his “will” and Idia reacts poorly, saying that Ortho is “a technomantic humanoid with an on-board autonomous AI modeled after my little brother. What you think is your ‘will’ is just a program!”

Ortho agrees, but follows up with, “I can go beyond the confines of my robotic existence…I can exceed the limits of my programming!” because “the person who built me is a technomantic engineering savant known as the ‘maverick genius,’ you!”

Ortho overrides all of STYX’S system access codes and possibly takes over the entire island, despite how he should not have the authorization to do so.

Ortho then explains his plans in more detail: To have Phantoms coexist with other living creatures by opening up the Underworld and filling the world with blot, where he and Idia will be on top thanks to their blot-incinerating curse, at which point they will be able to have friends over whenever they want to “play video games and watch movies together…and when they go home, we won’t have to erase their memories.”

Ortho reveals himself to be Idia’s actual brother and Idia immediately allies with him, opening the gate to the underworld (his unique magic) and overblotting.

Ortho shares his plans with the other students and they each decide to stand against him for their own unique reasons, to which Ortho responds, “Goodbye then.”

When Ortho realizes that the others intend to stop him, Idia tells him to “go play with ‘em some.”

Ortho first assigns each group of students a video game to get started, then sends Vil’s and Riddle’s teams on scavenger hunts for the ID cards that will let them escape from rooms with caged Phantoms.

(Taking offense at a comment that Leona makes about robots acting predictably, Ortho assigns Leona and Jamil the different task of finding a password.)

For Vil’s team’s second Phantom room Ortho pretends to trap a STYX researcher in a cage, but it is revealed to be a Phantom imitating a human.

In the rooms for Leona and Riddle’s teams, however, he creates legitimately frightening situations that are revealed to be fake: convincing one STYX researcher that he is in danger of drowning (Ortho tied him to a heavy, sinking cage in chest-high water) and another researcher that she was trapped in a cage with a Phantom (while she is really trapped in the cage, the “Phantom” is revealed to be a broken down Charon suit).

For Vil’s team’s third Phantom room Ortho leaves a bound and blindfolded researcher in a room with Phantoms that are beginning to wake up, and researchers in the two other rooms with at least one Phantom that is actively on the loose (and both Orthos are very much aware of exactly what rogue Phantoms are capable of doing to human beings).

Ortho emerges from the Underworld as a giant creature, saying, “Turns out the curse I have is actually a blessing that empowers me. The Underworld’s filled with blot, So I kept absorbing it and burning brighter…until finally, I became the Underworld itself!”

As the physical incarnation of the Underworld, we see that Ortho is capable of rapidly aging those who get too close to him.

After taking direct hits from thunder spears by Riddle, Azul, Jamil and Leona, Ortho says that he can barely move, and we learn that while he can control any STYX-made technomantic weapons, he has no control over ancient magical artifacts.

After taking a final hit from Vil, Epel and Rook, Ortho begins to fall back into Tartarus and Idia goes to join him (“I’m not leaving you this time”), with Vil following after to save him.

We see in a flashback original-Otho encourage Idia to go on adventures so that he can be a hero before he grows up and becomes trapped by the obligations of the Shroud family.

Idia invites Ortho along, hacking into STYX’s security and inadvertently allowing a monster to escape.

The monster kills Ortho and Idia decides to recreate him on his own, inventing “the world’s first self-improving technomantic humanoid.”

During the flashback Idia assures a newly-built Ortho that he will be able to go into space one day unassisted, which we see actually happen during the Wish Upon a Star event (and again during Book 7).

Original-Ortho appears to Idia, telling him that “You shouldn’t come here yet” because he loves the world too much to give up on it, and that he wants Idia to get to live their dream.

Changing from the “Nii-chan” version of older brother to the Nii-san version used by robot-Ortho, he metaphorically passes the torch to the android version of himself.

Immediately after we learn that one of Ortho’s final acts was to delete the River Lethe’s configuration program—and destroy it completely—so that Idia will not be able to erase everyone’s memories of what has happened.

Idia is able to resurrect Ortho through Ortho’s memory card, which Grim had swallowed during the drama, and then explains that Ortho’s circuitry has been altered to the point that he is no longer subject to any outside interference: “Nothing can overwrite your data now except your own learning…nobody in the world can rewrite your memories or emotional programs. Not even me.”

Idia then excuses Ortho from his role of “playing” as his little brother, saying that he is free.

Ortho’s first choice as his own free being is to ask to become Idia’s “real” little brother, and Idia responds, “You’ve been my real brother for a long time now.”

Back at NRC Crowley explains that as the world’s first self-aware technomantic humanoid, Ortho will be joining Class C as a transfer student.

Ortho explains that since they haven’t been able to identify the cause of his circuit alterations yet, he was accepted into the school as Idia’s research project (until Book 6 Ortho was one-half a student Idia, similar to the situation between the player and Grim. Crowley follows up with a hurried explanation about how he couldn’t refuse Idia’s family’s wish for Ortho to enroll after they “made substantial contributions” towards expanding the school’s facilities).

Rook and Vil have a conversation about how the two Orthos’ decision to save Idia expressed “such love and affection” that it could only be called a “soul.”