The Advent (降臨の日 Kourin no Hi?) is an event in Tales of Berseria. It was on this day that humanity began to see malakhim.
History
Three years prior to the events of the story, Laphicet Crowe spoke with Artorius Collbrande about a Scarlet Night that was soon to happen. He stated that by reading his book, he learned from Artorius's notes that to resurrect Innominat, two souls with strong resonance and hearts free of malevolence are required. Artorius explained that his unborn child was a sacrifice that half-completed the ritual, and that the ritual's completion would spur the creation of many new exorcists. Laphicet requested to be the second sacrifice that would resurrect Innominat, reasoning that he would die anyway due to his "Twelve Year Sickness", which he claimed causes him to be a liability to his sister and all around him. Artorius agreed and promised to keep the conversation secret from Velvet Crowe at Laphicet's request.
The night the Scarlet Night happens, Artorius takes Laphicet to the shrine intending to sacrifice him. Velvet soon arrives, relieved that "Arthur" has kept her brother safe. However, as she approaches them, Artorius binds her with an arte and proceeds to sacrifice Laphicet, much to Velvet's horror, ultimately dropping him into the shrine's depths. Velvet frees herself from the arte's binding and leaps into the shrine, catching Laphicet with one hand while holding the shrine's edge with the other. Artorius remarks how Velvet acts according to her emotions and that nothing can save her brother now, dropping the two into the depths.
A mysterious being then devours Laphicet, resulting in Innominat resurrecting and marking Velvet his first therion due to her being receptive to his powers, likely as a result of the deep hatred and resentment that was born in her seeing her brother murdered by the man who cared for them so much. Velvet emerges from the shrine and devours daemons. When asked by Artorius to look around, she notices that she killed her entire village. Just as she collapses, malakhim begin to descend. Seres, the malak reincarnation of Celica Crowe, regains her consciousness with her memories. Velvet is then taken by Artorius to Titania to devour malevolence in order to complete Innominat's resurrection. Beginning with this night, people's resonance was further boosted enough to see malakhim.
Trivia
- On December 8, 2016, Bandai Namco Entertainment released a preview clip of the English dubbing, which included scenes from the beginning of the game, one of which depicting the events leading to Velvet's resolve to kill Artorius, as well as the means by which she got her daemonic arm. That scene played a bit differently regarding several scenes pertaining to Laphicet Crowe. In the Japanese release, Artorius causes Laphicet to trip when he tries to approach Velvet, then stabs him through the chest and drops him into the shrine. In the localized version, istead of simply impaling him before dropping him into the pit, Artorius performs a complicated spell that ends with a giant crystal appearing from Laphicet's body, before the boy falls in. On December 9, 2016, Bandai Namco Entertainment released a statement on Facebook stating that the changes were made mainly to maintain the age rating of 16, like the past few Tales games have maintained and assured that it was the only graphic change made.