Episode Three: Prisoner of the Maze

The final episode begins with the Hagane under heavy Bartoll attack, and Tetsuya notes they have less than an hour before the nuclear strike is launched. Meanwhile, Lamia is still connected to the ODE System at Hellgate, and recalls a brief conversation with Kyosuke in Original Generation 2, where he states he would be there to destroy her, if she believes she has lost her free will again. Snapping out of the vision, she forces herself out of the ODE System. Back in the battlefield, the Bartools begin to react slower than usual, and the crew of the Hagane theorize Lamia’s combat data has stopped transmitting to the units.

Taking the advantage, Masaki attempts to destroy the Hellgate facility with Cybuster’s Akashic Buster attack, but a barrier, encompassing the whole facility, successfully prevents the attack from having its effect. With little time remaining, Tetsuya orders Eita to ram the bow of the Hagane towards the barrier, using the ship’s Tronium Buster Cannon. However, the Kurogane appears alongside the Hagane, where Rätsel Feinschmeker commands the ship. Using its Titanic Drill, the Kurogane breaks the barrier apart, and as Bartoll reinforcements swarm the ship, Sanger Zonvolt delivers a thunderous swipe of his Dygenguard’s Colossal Blade and destroys them. With the path to Hellgate open, the ATX Team and SRX Team rush to facility, while Sanger stays with the ships, providing backup.

As both teams near the facility, five customized Bartolls launch out of Hellgate and attack, each equipped with different weaponry than its mass-produced models. Using his Psychodriver powers, Bullet senses Kusuha’s prescence in one of the five Bartools, noting they’re equipped with cockpits, though she is temporarily unconscious. While Ryusei states the rest of their friends must be inside the others, one of them attacks and grapples onto Kyosuke’s Alt, and Lamia communicates to her former superior, stating a way to free the rest from Bartool control. However, her words are cut short as she is briefly possessed by Dr. Jurgen, exclaiming the futility of their rescue, along with the odds of successfully stopping him. Taking his chances, Kyosuke unleashes a hail of the Alt’s Avalanche Claymore, freeing himself, and drives the Revolving Bunker into the Bartool, destroying it, but retrieving Lamia out of harm’s way.

As the rest of the teams free Kusuha, Arado, Seolla and Latooni from control, Kyosuke has the conscious Kusuha take Lamia back to the Hagane, while the ATX Team and Masaki storm the Hellgate. The SRX Team and the Aggressors would stay outside the facility, defeating reinforcements and preventing further Bartoll transports from entering Earth. Encountering more enemy units inside, Bullet and Masaki agree to hold them off, giving Kyosuke and Excellen the chance to evade them. Reaching the core, the two pilots encounter Dr. Jurgen, bound to a lone Bartool unit, Hellgate’s core, insisting he give up. However, the doctor, or rather, its creator, does not respond — it is the system that has been communicating with them.

Demanding why it’s been doing this, the system claims that unless humanity unites as one, future alien threats can be easily defeated, with little to no human suffering from the loss of loved ones, which was what his creator, Dr. Jurgen, had intended. Kyosuke scoffs at the mere idea the sentient ODE system could not accept the realities of war, opting to choose another way out, and Excellen, while reminiscing the loss of her other self, states casualties of war should not be what stops them from fighting their enemies. Hearing enough, the system summons Bartoll reinforcements in the area, intent on completing its goal of subjugating humanity. With little time to spare, Excellen provides cover fire, and Kyosuke destroys the core. As all the Bartools begin to cease functioning, a stream of data is seen bursting out from the facility. On the Hagane, Ryoto notices the data stream, informing Gilliam, who looks on with a puzzled face.

All operations inside Hellgate have also ceased, and Kyosuke and Excellen begin a search and rescue for survivors. The Aggressors and SRX Team reunite on the Hagane, and Sanger and Elzam retreat with the Kurogane, returning to hiding, until they are needed again. Back in space, a lone, inoperative Bartoll unit drifts slowly, as it starts transmitting information to an unknown source…