The history of the Kris Dreemurr from Deltarune
Backstory[]
Years ago, Kris was adopted by the Dreemurrs in Hometown, a town comprised almost completely of monsters. As the only human child in Hometown, Kris grew up feeling like an outsider and tried their best early on to fit in, wearing a headband with red horns to closer resemble the Dreemurrs' goat characteristics and forming a close bond with their older brother, Asriel. At a certain point, Kris began taking piano lessons, and would occasionally play for guests in the Hospital lobby.
With Asriel, Kris befriended Dess and Noelle Holiday, who were their neighbors and the children of an old friend of the Dreemurrs, with Mrs. Holiday also being Hometown's mayor. The four often went on adventures together, but after an unspecified tragedy struck, Dess disappeared (possibly died) and Kris' parents ended up divorced. After that, the two families became estranged, but continued to stay in touch.
Eventually, Asriel left Hometown for college, and Kris was left living alone with their mother, Toriel.
DELTARUNE[]
Note: This section will not discuss the Weird route's synopsis, seeing as those events are mainly performed by the SOUL and should be on their page.
Chapter 1: The Beginning[]
A mysterious voice talks to the player, telling them to make a vessel, before informing them that they cannot choose who they are in this world. Kris then gets awoken by Toriel who states that Kris is late for school.
Kris and Toriel arrive at school. As Kris enters class, their teacher Alphys tells them to choose a partner. They are forced to partner with Susie after running out of options. The two are assigned to get chalk from the supply closet, where they discover a Dark World. They enter it and are attacked by Lancer before meeting Ralsei, who informs them of the prophecy involving the Lighteners and the Dark Fountains. Lancer interrupts Ralsei and Kris and Susie battle the child.
After Lancer is defeated, Susie departs from the group in an attempt to find an exit from the Dark World on her own. Kris and Ralsei eventually meet up with Susie, who decides to join the party as Kris is needed to seal the Fountain with their unique human SOUL. With encounter after encounter with Lancer, in addition to Ralsei constantly encouraging Susie not to fight, Susie eventually decides to team up with Lancer, since he was "the bad guy" and being a bad guy let Susie do what she wanted, which was to brutally fight.
Eventually, Kris and Ralsei have a stand-off against Susie and Lancer, which ends with the two redeeming themselves, at least until Lancer runs off towards Card Castle while Kris, Susie, and Ralsei are captured by the castle's guards. Kris and Ralsei awake in a prison cell together and quickly notice that Susie is in a different nearby cell. Kris guides Susie through a puzzle and after completing it successfully, the latter is able to escape from her cell. Susie then has a fight with Lancer because she thought he tricked them into getting captured, but forgives him after realising he just doesn't want either his friends or his father to hurt each other. She then frees Kris and Ralsei from their imprisonment and decides that she can try sparing enemies. The party have several run-ins with Rouxls Kaard but soundly defeat him.
The trio can descend to the bottom level, where they find a mysterious prisoner claiming that despite being the "only one free", he wants company and asks the trio to unlock his cell. They approach Seam, who reluctantly directs them to the pieces of the key for the prisoner's cell. The prisoner reveals himself as Jevil, the former court jester, who challenges them to a sadistic game of cat and mouse. The trio can choose to defeat him by either violence or putting him to sleep, upon which he warns them of a calamity looming closer before leaving behind some equipment as a prize for their triumph.
Kris and the party eventually face off King, who threatens to kill Lancer unless the heroes submit, only for his efforts to be thwarted. He engages in a battle with the Lightners, being unable to be reasoned with as the party is forced to beat him into submission or make him too drowsy to fight.
After the battle with King ends, he tricks the heroes into thinking he wants to redeem himself before attacking them once Ralsei heals him. Kris protects Susie, only to be knocked away. King tries to kill Kris, but is stopped by Susie. If the player has defeated preceding Darkners with violence, Ralsei puts King to sleep before Lancer urges them to escape before his troops attack them. If the player managed to spare everyone, then Lancer convinces his troops to rebel against his father and overthrow him. One way or another, Kris and Susie say their goodbyes to Ralsei and Lancer (and optionally everyone else), during which Ralsei takes off his hat to reveal a striking similarity to Asriel, before they use Kris' SOUL to seal the Dark Fountain.
The two wake up in their school's unused classroom and wonder if it was a dream, but Susie promises Kris that they will return to the Dark World tomorrow. The player can then wander around the town and meet up with various friends and family of Kris, including their father Asgore among others. Ultimately, Kris will be forced to return home and go to bed to end the chapter. In a post-credit scene, Kris wakes up in the middle of the night, rips out their SOUL, throws it into their rusty bird cage and pulls out a knife while looking at the player.
Chapter 2: A Cyber's World[]
At the beginning of this chapter, Toriel rushes up to Kris's room, having noticed a knife in the pie. She believes that Kris had decided to sneakily eat it whole while she was asleep. She laughs it off, though, suggesting she should lock the oven in the future, before they both set off to school once again.
Later, Kris goes to school and enters the Dark World again with Susie. They meet Ralsei and explore the Castle Town. Eventually, Susie mentions they have homework to do, prompting Ralsei to banish them from Castle Town until their homework is done. Lancer and Rouxls Kaard join them, but are turned into playing cards as Darkners cannot exist in the Light World. Since Noelle previously invited them to study together in the Library, that's where they go, until they find another Dark World inside the computer room; moments after entering it, Rouxls sneaks out and escapes to find a new evil ruler to serve. As Kris and Susie (with Lancer inside Kris' pocket) explore "the Cyber World", as this Dark World is called, they find out Noelle has been dragged into it and was kidnapped by Queen, a computer Darkner who wants to use her as a "willing peon" in her quest for world domination. Ralsei joins them soon after, and as they try to rescue Noelle from Queen, find out another classmate of theirs, Berdly, has willingly teamed up with Queen to create a "Smartopia" where the smart rule supreme.
After Berdly is defeated, Susie and Ralsei leave Kris to go on their own adventure while Kris not only finds and teams up with Noelle, but also makes a truce with Queen to find Noelle, who is unaware she is with Kris. In Kris's company, Noelle starts to learn to be less fearful, accentuating one of the game's themes of personal development. Along the line, Kris battles Berdly for a second time and encounters an insane salesman called Spamton, who tries to steal their SOUL in exchange for something he calls [[Hyperlink Blocked]]. Kris and Noelle eventually reunite with Susie and Ralsei, but after reaching Queen's Mansion, they are all kidnapped and imprisoned; including Berdly, with Queen revealing she was only using him. Meanwhile, Ralsei is hired as a butler because Queen ran out of cages to imprison people in.
With the help of Lancer, Kris, Susie and Berdly are released from their prisons. After revealing his backstory to them, Susie and Lancer manage to redeem Berdly and convince them to save Noelle and defeat Queen. However, soon afterwards, Lancer turns to stone. Once the heroes find Ralsei, he explains that Darkners might get turned to stone if they don't "belong" in a Dark World, but that he will turn out okay if the Cyber World's Dark Fountain is sealed and he's brought back to Castle Town, which has a Grand Dark Fountain where all Darkners fit in.
If Kris had previously backtracked to Spamton's store, he asks for their help to reach a machine in Queen's basement to achieve freedom for both him and Kris. They will venture down into the basement, dodging numerous traps and machines, before retrieving a disc from the machine which Spamton uploads himself into. As Kris prepares to leave, they are knocked down by a newly integrated Spamton, who reveals himself as Spamton Neo. Unfortunately, he finds himself strung up to the ceiling by strings and is still not free, so he attempts to steal Kris's soul. Susie and Ralsei arrive just in time to knock him away, and the trio all fight him as Kris's SOUL turns yellow, gaining the ability to shoot beams. Regardless if Spamton is defeated via raw damage or cutting his strings, he collapses onto the ground before reverting to his original form. He acknowledges that he was powerless to change his circumstances, but decides to help the party overcome theirs by giving himself up as a piece of equipment. Kris is shaken by this experience, which parallels their current situation as the SOUL's puppet, causing them to scream as they leave Spamton's arena.
After battling Rouxls Kaard, who is defeated through turning to stone like Lancer was, Kris, Susie and Ralsei confront Queen, who reveals she managed to brainwash Berdly into her pawn. After the duo is defeated, Queen uses her giant mecha to kill them all and force Noelle to create a new Dark Fountain so she can succeed in taking over the world. However, they are saved by all the friends they made during the chapter, which create their own mecha so they can stand a chance against Queen.
Queen ultimately wins the battle no matter, but Noelle manages to stand up to her once she threatens Susie's life. Queen proceeds to turn off after running out of batteries, after which the heroes decide that Dark Worlds aren't a bad thing, because thanks to them they manage to make numerous friends and go on adventures. Right as Berdly prepares to make another Dark Fountain to go on another adventure, Ralsei explains to them an apocalyptic event called the Roaring, which will happen if too many Dark Fountains are open at the same time. Queen, who heard all of this while recharging, ultimately redeems herself as she would gain nothing from destroying the world. Kris and Susie seal the Dark Fountain, convince Noelle and Berdly into thinking their adventure was a dream, and bring all the Cyber World Darkners they managed to recruit into Castle Town.
After walking through Hometown, Kris and Susie go to the former's house for a sleepover. When Kris goes to the bathroom, they pull out their SOUL, escape through the window to go slash the tires in Toriel's car before returning. Once Toriel finds the slashed tires, she calls the police while the kids fall asleep. In the middle of the night, Kris pulls out their SOUL yet again, turns on the TV in the living room, opens the door to their house and creates a Dark Fountain. As the room is swallowed by darkness, the TV flashes a menacing smile, having come to life as a Darkner.
Chapter 3: Late Night[]
Having opened a Dark World in their living room, Kris awakens in a bizarre purple wasteland where they reunite with Susie, meeting up with Ralsei who cam after detecting the presence of a new fountain. Susie discusses the fun she had all night with Kris and tries to invite Ralsei to join them next time. To this, Ralsei declines as his Darkner physiology forbids him to enter the Light World. He explains that Darkners are merely illusions of items in the real world cast by the darkness of the Dark World, and that he and all of the other Darkners don't truly exist. Ralsei asks that Susie make friends in the Light World and forget about him and Lancer when her journey's over, but Susie insists that no matter what Ralsei says, he's real and he matters.
Suddenly, a spotlight shines on Susie and Ralsei while a loud voice booms about their "outstanding performance", enraging the two at this interruption of an emotional moment. An old VHS plays and the owner of the voice emerges: a TV Darkner and ruler of this Dark World: Tenna. He informs the trio that they're contestants for his gameshow tonight, where they can earn incredible prizes. Susie snaps at Tenna, refusing to play his games, causing him to shrink in dejection. Ralsei, however, remarks that they could play along for a while, seeing as although he can't have fun with them in the Light World, he can still hang out with them in the Dark World. Thus, the trio accept Tenna's offer and thus, are sent to play a video game where they participate in quizzes, fight Tenna's henchmen and even encounter Rouxls Kaard and Lancer, who've recently arrived in the TV World to grovel for another master and have fun respectively. During one of the battles, Kris and their friends accidentally cause the two weather hosts Alnino and Elnina to break up after they get heated up fighting the trio. The round ends with a cooking show where Kris catches the food Susie and Ralsei makes before serving them to customers.
With the first round over and scores calculated, Kris and their friends are sent to the Green Room for a break, where they find Lancer, who reveals he's doing some work for Tenna running the show. Kris can purchase items with points acquired in the games, play a racing game with Susie, sell their items, replay previous challenges, and even convince Alnino and Elnina to get back together if they wish. Additionally, if an S rank or higher was achieved for the round, Kris can enter a VIP room where, behind a suspicious door, they can find a mysterious video game that requires an Odd Controller, granting them an item called the Frost Key.
As the second round begins, Susie notices Tenna on the stage and goes up to ask him for hints on the upcoming challenges. She thanks him for taking Ralsei's mind off his unnerving thoughts, to which Tenna expresses that all he wants to do is provide a wonderful experience for the Lightners. Susie returns and the trio begin the second round, entering a similar video game. However, this time, they must reunite two lovers to open a bridge to Atlantis, using a new ability to take screenshots. While adventuring, Kris defeats Shuttah, one of Tenna's henchmen, and finds Alnino, whom they pick up to bring to Elnina. However, when they get there, Elnina reveals that she's begun dating Rouxls Kaard, breaking Alnino's heart. Rouxls however, has a solution to this predicament: Alnino can simply join his and Elnina's polycule. Thus, the bridge is opened and the Lightners proceed to the physical challenge: a live band performance in the form of a rhythm game.
With the second round down, Tenna proudly reveals that the "fun-meter" has reached unseen levels and is thus, setting up a bonus round for the Lightners to participate in. Susie and Ralsei try to decline politely, seeing as they have to seal the Dark Fountain, but after seeing Tenna shrink in depression again, they agree to humour him with just one more round. Thus, the trio return to the green room, where Rouxls is now courting Alnino and Elnina (who both appear uncomfortable with this relationship). If Kris achieved an S rank or higher on this board, they can return to play the mysterious game, allowing them to enter a bizarre icy area which is unlocked by the Ice Key. Entering the area, they defeat hordes of enemies and recruit an ice mage, who freezes all of the enemies and unlocks a door before being "used up". Kris enters a void and is greeted by a voice who congratulates them for their efforts but remarks that there's nothing here. Kris however, finds a Shelter Key before the screen ominously says they were "used up". In this moment, Kris will glare towards the screen, indicating that they know this dialogue is a euphemism for their current situation.
The trio find Tenna on stage, making preparations for something he refuses to disclose to them, with Tenna asking Kris to regroup with their friends if they meet him themselves, excusing himself soon after. Suspicious, Susie advises for the trio to snoop around and find out what he's really planning. They meet a Zapper guarding one of Tenna's doors, who fights them after believing them to be suspicious. They defeat them and enter the door, with Kris playing the various video games around the area to find codes for the locks on the subsequent doors. Eventually, the trio enter a frigid room where they not only find the Dark Fountain, but also Toriel, safely asleep but sealed within a gachapon capsule. Tenna enters the room so the trio quickly hide behind the capsule. He rants about how Toriel was the last one who really paid him attention and that while he does like her, he needs her as a "trump card" for something. Just them Tenna lifts the capsule, accidentally exposing Kris and company.
The trio are abducted back to the main stage, where Tenna begins to start the bonus round. Susie however, is fed up with his antics and demands for Toriel to be released. Tenna, however, refuses, and traps them in gachapon capsules while he torments them, forcing them on the show until they agree to stay here forever. The gang refuse to budge, so Tenna skips to the physical challenge, where Kris once again assumes the role of a waiter, except they now have to dodge flames instead of grabbing dishes. Tenna rants about how Kris and Asriel would spend so much time using him to bond, and how they barely use him anymore after Asriel went to college. The game show begins to crumble in on itself until finally, by turning off a Zapper Tenna summons, Kris and company manage to escape the capsules, causing Tenna to trigger a manhunt after the trio.
Dodging Tenna from behind a pile of capsules, the trio go through a cowboy-themed shooting gallery minigame to return to the backstage, dealing with Tenna's lackeys and traps along the way. Soon, Kris and company witness Tenna scolding his employees for failing to capture the Lightners. When they express that they don't want to do that, seeing as Kris and their trio have been nothing but kind to them, Tenna forces them to go anyways. Eventually, Kris and their friends reach a section with security lights, which they much sneak around lest they be sent back to the nearest poorly constructed prison cell. After sneaking through these segments, Kris eventually recruits all of Tenna's minions after destroying their digital contracts. They also overhear Tenna panicking as Toriel is beginning to stir.
While hiding from Tenna in the bonus room, a special cutscene will play if Kris had previously defeated Spamton Neo: they find a cupboard with a pipis inside and have to hide when Tenna approaches. He panics over his "secret" getting exposed and remarks that anybody, even Spamton, would cheer him up right now. To this, Spamton will emerge from Kris's pocket to greet Tenna, only for him to freak out and, not recognising him, spray him with foam before taking his pipis away. When the three emerge from hiding, Spamton declares he's "NEVER [Doing that] AGAIN" before going back to Kris's pocket. Additionally, after some convoluted steps, the SOUL can escape during a battle with a Ribbick, transporting Kris into a bizarre island filled with Rudinns spawned from fake poker cards they made. There, they meet the mysterious man who assures them that they will meet again someday, giving Kris an egg like previous chapters.
The trio soon encounter Rouxls, who, while initially harmless, quickly goes to battle them after realising dating Elnina and Alnino doesn't make him the same rank as them. While they're forced to only ACT, with Lancer's help Kris manages to recruit all of Rouxls's minions and eventually, Alnino and Elnina, who profess they really only love each other. Rouxls reveals that this was all a ploy to get them back together and thus, flees before his minions can get their pay. As they travel, they witness all of Tenna's employees abandoning him for his tyranny, with even Mike resigning.
Eventually, the trio return to the green room, where Kris can go back to the mysterious game, arriving in a town with AI copies of Ralsei and Susie. After receiving their sword, Kris will be prompted to destroy the fences and kill Ralsei and Susie, glaring at the player when they do the latter. Entering a dark alley, they go down a manhole and reach level 4 by killing off hordes of monsters, allowing them to break open a wall and follow a dark path. Kris finds a version of Tenna monologuing to himself on how everything went wrong when Spamton left him, and that he could've been successful if he just learnt how he became so famous. When "Tenna" finally notices them, he begs Kris not to kill him but is slain anyways.
Soon, Kris arrives at a replica of the bunker in the Light World and, despite resisting the player's controls, enters it via the Shelter Key. They arrive in a dark void, and are greeted by the voice from earlier, who remarks that while Kris is searching for the Shadow Crystals and Shadow Mantle for some other purpose, they seem to be enjoying the process of just finding them. Thus, the voice challenges Kris to a battle for the Mantle and, after engaging in a tense boss fight, is satisfied to see Kris's lust for "engagement" satiated, directing them upwards to find it. Finding the chest on an upper ledge, Kris tries to navigate, only for their avatar to emerge from the TV, shocking them before leaving. They soon realise that the screen is in fact, flat, allowing them to go and take the Shadow Mantle themselves. Susie soon enters, asking Kris if they really enjoy playing video games such as these. Regardless of their answer, she leaves them a soda to drink. If Kris hasn't gotten their avatar to leave by then, the player can get it to attack Susie, causing her to grab Kris out of the way to protect them.
When Kris leaves the room. they find Ralsei trying out a video game, revealing that he and Susie were having fun together. Thus, having their fill of relaxation, Kris and their friends set off to confront Tenna and seal the Dark Fountain. Arriving at the Cold Room again, where they confront Tenna, Susie questions him on why he's so desperate to have the Lightners play. To this, Tenna reveals the truth: he was once the beloved television of the Dreemurr household, entertaining them everyday with his broadcasts and shows. Most fondly, he'd remember how the Dreemurr and Holiday families would watch holiday specials on him, laughing and bonding together. However, as time went on, less and less people would use him until finally, he was completely alone. Thus, when the Knight appeared, offering him an eternal audience as long as he kept the Lightners busy, Tenna accepted. Tenna admits that he really enjoys playing with the three and wants to keep going, but Susie points out he's gone too far and demands him to let Toriel go. Thus, Tenna challenges the Lightners to a final game: earn 1000 points in a duel to the death against him. During battle, Kris and company can choose to rack up score points via ACTs and playing minigames, or simply duke it out with Tenna physically. Regardless, Tenna tries to finish them off with a barrage of minigames, but the Lightners manage to gun him down, defeating him.
Defeated, Tenna shrinks down in despair, mourning that all he wanted to do was be wanted by someone. Ralsei tries to comfort him, stating that all Darkners become obsolete eventually and that what matters is he made Kris's family smile for a while. Susie however, cuts in and tells Tenna she knows exactly how he's feeling. She recounts that as a little girl, she was unable to make any friends as most kids found her scary and she moved very frequently. She would resign herself to a life of loneliness and decide to become a bully for attention, scaring and tormenting other kids when she moved to Hometown. However, one day, Toriel would find Susie crying on a bench near the cemetery and, assuring her that everything would be alright, would bring her to the diner for some hot chocolate. There, Toriel would reassure Susie that she would make friends, inspiring hope in her. Susie remarks that this hope has been growing ever since she's met Kris, Lancer and Ralsei, and that if even a bully like her has hope for acceptance, Tenna does too. She even asks Kris to help Tenna find a new owner for his TV form in the Light World, and reiterates to Ralsei that even though he may not be real, he's not going to be abandoned. Thus, Tenna allows the Lightners to free Toriel and seal the fountain.
Tenna congratulates the Lightners for inspiring hope in him again and presents Toriel's capsule to them, letting them all go home. Just before he can finish his speech, twin slashes hit him from behind, slashing Tenna's arms off and killing him. The perpetrator is revealed to be none other than the Knight itself, who prepares to abduct Toriel. However, Susie stops it and chases it to the fountain, where it does battle against Kris and their party. The Knight proves itself to be an immensely powerful foe, reducing Susie and Ralsei to -999 HP if they fall to its attacks, and dealing massive amounts of damage unless Kris dons the Shadow Mantle. Regardless if the party manage to deal sufficient damage to the Knight or fall early in battle, the Knight will deal devastating blows to the party, knocking them out and leaving them powerless to save Toriel, though Kris in particular is knighted by the Knight, possibly to signify its respect, before getting hacked down. Just before the Knight can abduct her, Undyne arrives, having been sucked into the Dark World after Toriel called the cops, and is kidnapped instead. If the Knight was successfully defeated, they drop a Shadow Crystal and the Black Shard, a chipped off fragment of their blade which is the most powerful sword Kris can equip.
Recovering just in time to witness this, Kris and Susie give pursuit, reaching a door into the Light World. Susie spots the Knight running off in the distance with Undyne in tow and the two race down, only for it and Undyne to disappear into a bunker spewing darkness, locking behind them. As Susie pounds on the solid metal doors, she notices a cryptic electronic lock that she can't unlock. Susie notes that while they could ask somebody to help decode the lock, they'd probably be in danger if they entered the Dark World within the bunker. Furthermore, Toriel is still inside the TV World and is in danger. Thus, Susie leaves to check on Toriel and Tenna, while Kris stays behind and inspects the lock, finding buttons resembling a pine tree, a police badge and the Delta Rune. Suddenly, the bunker's doors open slightly as the screen cuts to black.
Chapter 4: Prophecy[]
Having returned from the bunker, Kris and Susie seal the fountain with renewed vigour to stop the Knight. This, however, is revealed to simply be a flashback of last night's events, as Toriel wakes Kris up as they nap on the couch. They get up for a nice breakfast of pancakes and omelettes with Susie, during which Toriel invites her to join them for church service. Susie dislikes the idea but, remembering how the church is close to the bunker, she decides to go as there could've been witnesses to Undyne's kidnapping. Toriel calls them in a dresses them in formal attire, and she sets off for church first. If every character was spared and recruited, Susie will reveal that she got the help of the other Darkners to fix Tenna, allowing him to survive the Knight's attack. However, seeing as Toriel wants to throw him out, Susie asks Kris to find someone to take him.
The two sit themselves down on the pews while Toriel joins Noelle, Snowdrake's father, Shyren and the Cat Dad to sing the service's opening choir. During the service, Kris can choose to either pay attention to Catty's impromptu scripture reading or mess around with their pocket's contents. They eventually fall asleep and when they come to, share a drink of communal juice with Susie. Afterwards, Kris can ask around for help on how to unlock the bunker, to no avail as nobody knows what they're talking about or fear that there's danger within. However, after talking to Alphys and Noelle, both of them recommend asking the mayor of the town and the latter's mother, Carol Holiday, for help with the situation.
Kris reports back to Susie, who deduces that each of the symbols are connected to different people and aspects of the town. Seeing as Carol keeps everything she owns, especially important clues, locked up at home, Susie decides to open up an opportunity for the duo to investigate by asking to work on their school project Noelle. Going outside, Toriel offers to bring the duo to the diner, but is stopped by Asgore who tries to woo her with some flowers. He's turned down however, so he passes them to Kris before leaving. From there, Kris can explore town before choosing one of two initial options: visit Noelle's house or visit Ralsei's Dark World to drop off the TV World's Darkners. While exploring town, Kris can give Tenna to the "nobody", allowing him to find a new owner to entertain.
Upon visiting the Dark World, Ralsei will hug the duo and reveal that the Castle Town has undergone major renovations after the arrival of so many Darkners. Susie brings up Undyne's kidnapping, but he reassures her that a policewoman as strong as her will probably be fine and that for now, the two should do their best to relax. Susie asks why Ralsei is doing this, to which he responds in a babyish tone that he "wuvs her", annoying Susie who punches him to the ground. Afterwards, Kris and company can explore the town, though Ralsei remains flat on the ground until they enter a shop. If they go to the Castle, Ralsei will reveal that he temporarily merged Susie and Kris's rooms together so that they'd have enough space to hold a tea party, which they do so. However, when Susie enters Ralsei's room, she discovers that it's completely barren. Ralsei admits that he still doesn't feel "real" compared to them, which is why he hasn't made anything for himself. Susie tells him that after all he's done for them, he deserves a room and tells Kris to stash any furniture they find later on for Ralsei. After she leaves, Ralsei admits that he's slowly began developing his own likes, dislikes and personal quirks over this journey and asks Kris if he, a Darkner, should be feeling this way. Kris can respond with yes or no, but upon answering with the former, he becomes very touched. Susie returns with an Ice-E rug which she places in Ralsei's room.
Arriving at Noelle's house, they're greeted by her and enter the family's mansion, exploring for a while before starting the study session. Berdly calls Noelle, asking her out to the festival, and while she reluctantly agrees, Susie snatches the phone and turns him down for her. She encourages Noelle to stand up for herself in the future, to which Noelle agrees that she does feel aggravated at Berdly at times. Since Susie threw Noelle's phone, the two go to search for it, with the both of them asking Kris to leave them alone for a second: Susie to allow Kris to snoop for clues, and Noelle to make an advance on Susie.
Exploring through the house, Kris will eventually go into Dess's room, where they find a code for the bunker's doors taped to the inside of her guitar. Just before the SOUL can read the full code, Kris rips them out of their body and shoves them in a box before leaving. From there, the SOUL will have to explore in the vents, eventually finding Kris talking on the phone to a mysterious person who instructs them not to let Susie find the guitar, talking about the Knight and the fountains as well. Should the SOUL get spotted by Kris, they will grab them and put them back in the box room, where the SOUL can reattempt their escape. Later on, Kris can be heard playing the piano. Kris will later hide under Dess's bed, ambushing the SOUL if they come in to read the code. Kris will grab the SOUL and hide in Dess's closet as Susie and Noelle come to investigate the noise. From there, while Noelle recounts the events of her "dream" (really the events of Chapter 2), the SOUL is forced to dodge Kris's attacks as they swing at them with a hockey stick, pushing a box away to strum Dess's guitar. Kris pounces on the SOUL, causing the guitar to fall on them and alert Susie. She scolds Kris for fooling around and takes the guitar. While Noelle is initially shocked to see Dess's guitar again, she asks that Susie play it for her. The two leave, while Kris calls their mysterious benefactor about Susie obtaining the guitar.
Kris deletes their call history before shoving the SOUL back in their body, preventing them from learning the benefactor's identity. They witness Susie trying to play the guitar for Noelle while Asgore, working as the Holidays' cleaner, scarfs down the whole snack tray after finishing his cleaning duties. Suddenly, Carol enters the room, who is enraged at Susie touching her daughter's guitar and snatches it away. She orders Noelle into the kitchen for a lecture, and while Susie vouches for her innocence, Carol orders her to leave and never talk to Noelle again. As she leaves, Susie taunts Carol by telling her about the festival. Kris goes off to leave but is approached by Carol, who tells them that "YOU are welcome here anytime". As the "YOU" is in red, it's presumed that she was directing this at the SOUL, not Kris themselves.
Susie remarks that the whole situation was awkward, realising that they forgot the code inside. Asgore, however, cheers the duo up, assuring them that they will warm up to Carol eventually. He leaves them the rest of the snack platter, which Susie devours, before the two decide to go back to Kris's home. Fortunately, Susie remarks that she managed to partially remember the code and decides to come back tomorrow to check. As it's raining outside, Kris and Susie will try to go home, only to find the house vacant and door locked. They decide to ask Toriel for her keys and head to Church to find her. However, when Susie opens the Church's doors, a black fog comes out: a telltale sign of a Dark World. Susie wants to try ambushing the Knight when they come out, but as Kris points out that Toriel and the choir could be in danger, the two rush in.
The duo find themselves in a dark, cathedral-like hallway, where Kris opens up a door by playing some notes on a piano. There they spot the Knight and the Dark Fountain awaiting at the end of a long hallway. The Knight sends a wave of energy towards the duo, destroying the stairway and leaving Susie stranded, who tells Kris to pursue it first. Kris chases it, dodging and weaving through its blades, but is soon repelled, causing them and Susie to fall into the abyss, shattering a glass panel inscribed with a part of the prophecy along the way. Upon arriving at the bottom, Susie notices Kris's cuts and tries to heal them, but Ralsei arrives and uses his spells instead. He tells her that while he appreciates the sentiment, Susie should leave the more serious injuries to him. Ralsei runs ahead of the duo, causing Susie to note that he appears much more tense.
As the trio venture on, they see more panels inscribed with excerpts of the prophecy. Susie notes that this prophecy has many more details, to which Ralsei admits he gave the Lightner duo an abridged version of it. Susie notes that the prophecy's details are very accurate after seeing it predict Lancer's taunt to Ralsei earlier, to which the latter claims that everything said by the prophecy will come to pass. A shadowy figure darts past the trio, so Susie warns the rest to be on guard. Suddenly, as the trio read a prophecy panel, a hammer shatters it, causing the whole room to go pitch black. Fortunately, Kris's footsteps produce echoes which highlight their position, while several plates on the floor produce similar echoes as well. As the trio explore the maze, a mysterious entity emitting red echoes approaches, prompting Ralsei to get Kris to flee.
Susie arrives first near a lamp, where she prepares to face off the entities until an old man suddenly turns on the lights, scaring them away. He asks for help returning to his study to write something, but Susie refuses as she regroups with Kris and Ralsei. However, the old man reveals that he's actually a Lightner, so the trio decide to escort him so he'll be safe. During battle, Kris can summon the old man via the Old Man ACT, during which he secretly helps the party out, raising the enemies' spare counter and performing some other acts, such as decreasing the damage dealt to the party or healing them. They will reach a locked door where the old man asks for their help reaching a high book. While Susie initially ignores him, trying to open the door via brute force, she eventually accepts and, using Ralsei as a stool, grabs the book, revealing it as a key to unlock the door.
As they continue on the path, one of the prophecy panels ends up getting broken, which the old man claims is because they were following the prophecy so closely, he couldn't see where he was going and walked into it. This act, does however, unveil a path from the darkness which Susie races across. When questioned on why he did it, the old man tells Kris that while he finds tales and prophecies admirable, he believes that one shouldn't solely rely on them for guidance. The trio soon arrive in a dark maze and while the old man appears to mislead them initially, if Kris chooses to follow him instead of Ralsei and Susie, they will find inscriptions that provide the notes needed to utilise the piano that unlocks a gate to the path forwards. Suddenly, a Guei ambushes the trio from behind, so they manage to deal with it and its partner. However, if summoned a second time, the old man will simply spare the two Guei in lieu of the party, ending the battle early. With the battle over, the old man returns to his study, where Kris can buy various goods from a table he has set up nearby. He will also tell them that the Knight was last seen slipping through the central door in his study, which must be unlocked by a key in the Eastern Belltower, directing Kris to the Northeastern Library first to find a tool to help them scale it. If Kris notices a plaque on the wall on a legend about a magic axe, they can ask the old man about it, during which he remarks that it is a relic hidden somewhere in the walls.
The trio explore the library, collecting sheet music to open the piano lock leading to the next area. Susie remarks that if Ralsei knows the prophecy, which predicts everything, he should've told them the key to the piano puzzle, to which he remarks that letting Kris solve it themselves was more fun. The trio advance into a dark hallway but after turning on a light switch, realise that they're standing on thin air and fall into the depths, where Ralsei quickly heals the party. As they explore the area, a booming voice demands that they stop bringing light into his domain, completely engulfing the trio in darkness and fighting them when they approach him. The voice, revealed to be a Darkner named Jackenstein, forces the party to gain tension points only from collecting the treasures in his domain, which Kris can spend to engulf him in light via the "Unleash" ACT.
Jackenstien is completely illuminated, revealing him as a pumpkin-headed Frankenstein's monster. He runs in fear of his scary appearance but crashes into a chandelier, hurting him. Ralsei attempts to use his healing magic on him, but it doesn't work. Just then, Susie fires a healing spell into Jackenstein which completely heals him, having been fooled by the old man into missing him. Ralsei congratulates Susie for her idea, seeing as her healing spell is a more precise blast that could enter the inside of Jackenstein's helmet to heal him. Susie realises how the old man was trying to motivate her to improve and turns around to thank him, only for him to have already left. Jackenstein thanks the trio for helping him and gives Kris and the Lightners a set of climbing claws to ascend the walls of the Dark World with.
Kris and company use their new gear to climb out of the pit and back to the old man's study, where Jackenstein, now employed as the old man's cleaner, directs the party back to the library where they can find another shadowed labyrinth near to its main entrance. After finding a piece of sheet music, a similar shade chases the trio, though they're saved once again by the old man after he turns on the lights. He invites them to a tea party, where Susie recounts the Lightners' adventures to the old man. After recounting her tale, Susie decides to take a walk alone first. The old man remarks that her storytelling was full of vigour and pure intentions, marks of a great tale. He asks Ralsei where he thinks their journey will take them next, to which he responds that he'll just have to see. The old man puts some more sugar in Kris's tea, prompting them to drink up, before abruptly disappearing.
As the party explore, they find a grand organ lock which lacks sheet music. Arriving at a shelf, Susie finds another suspicious book which opens a door which she enters solo while Kris and Ralsei imagine what she's doing inside. Inside, Susie finds the old man writing a letter. She tells him that this Dark World isn't exactly real and that this everything, aside from her and Kris, will disappear when it's closed, which he acknowledges. Susie thanks the old man for encouraging her earlier, to which he tells her that she basically taught herself how to do everything. He shows her the sheet music for the organ which she copies down. When Kris sits down to play the piano, they find themselves too nervous to, but with Susie's encouragement they manage to play it, opening the central door in the study.
Kris can continue backtracking and exploring various areas with their climbing gear, obtaining all the sheet music they need for the golden piano in the library. They can also meet a mysterious water cooler, later revealed to contain an odd water Darkner named Miss Mizzle, while embarking on this quest. Eventually, using these notes, Kris plays the piano and unlocks a secret entrance behind the old man's hearth, unveiling a passage to the mythical Justice Axe. Susie eagerly rushes towards it, only for the old man to tell her she needs to pay its price of $999,999,999, which is apparently a discount. Susie obviously can't afford this, so the old man instead challenges her to cut off just one of his beard hairs. Susie eagerly tries to, only to find the old man dodging every single one of her attacks before disappearing entirely, reappearing in a full set of armour and wielding the Justice Axe. Now known as the Hammer of Justice, he challenges Susie to a one on one duel, preventing her from using items and forcing her to keep training her healing spell.
Eventually, Susie manages to distract the old man with her healing spell to cut off a strand of his hairs, ending the fight. He congratulates her for passing his test, revealing that he wanted to test her perseverance before giving her the Axe. He also hands her a Shadow Crystal, remarking that while compelled to use it after he found it, he chose not to. Susie remarks that she did need some of Kris's help to win, but the old man assures her that she's still a capable hero. As the party prepare to leave, Susie asks the old man why he kept helping them, to which he replies that she reminds him of a character from the series Lord of the Hammer. She remembers that Dragon Blazers, one of her favourite games, is loosely based off that series, to which the old man remarks that while some fans were angry at the video game's retelling of the series, he believes that stories can be reinterpreted and remade. Susie asks him which Dragon Blazers character he thinks she is, so the old man replies the Dragon.
With the way to the fountain opened, the trio prepare to depart, but not before the old man gets Susie's help to memorise his letter so she can deliver it for him. They return to the first area of the Dark World, where Ralsei spots the Knight hovering above a ruined wall. The three quickly climb after it, dodging barrages of swords along the way, and when Susie finally confronts it, the Knight flees into a Grand Door, which locks behind it. Susie is frustrated at constantly getting thwarted, but Ralsei reassures her that they will catch it eventually as long as they keep sealing the Dark Fountains and rendering it powerless.
Upon sealing the dark fountain, Susie notices dark smoke billowing from the chapel, causing her to realise the Knight had opened two fountains this time. Susie remarks that the old man would probably know the code and she and Kris search for him, eventually entering Father Alvin's office. She attempts to rummage for a code but finds a dusty hammer inside a glass case, causing her to realise these are monster remains. Looking inside the case, she finds a photo of the old man, causing the duo to realise the old man was Alvin's late father Gerson, whom was revived by the Dark World. Susie realises Gerson knew he was on borrowed time and decides to fulfil her promise to him, writing down his letter addressed to Alvin.
The duo can't find any clues, so Susie comes up with an idea to revive Gerson and ask him for the code. Kris hands her their knife and she opens a Dark World, which, for some reason, seems rather off with a distorted layout and colour scheme. Additionally, the prophecy panels are out of order and the puzzle mechanics are warped. As the duo traverse this Dark World, Susie reflects on how she struggled to accept being chosen for the prophecy at first, but now wants to fulfill her duty as a hero to the best she can. After finding a prophecy predicting she will find love, Susie runs off to search for more, allowing Kris to their own devices for a while. They can enter a dark corridor and, by entering a secret door, find a mysterious hospital-like setting where they can find the man with the egg, hidden in complete darkness.
Kris eventually catches up with Susie and they read a panel which claims there's only one way for the heroes to save the world. The duo prepares to read it, but a figure resembling Gerson shatters the panel and runs away. Kris and Susie run after them, only for the floor under their feet to shatter and make them fall down. As they get their bearings, hordes of shadowy creatures suddenly appear, forcing the duo to scale the walls and escape them, with Susie boosting Kris up when they fall and Kris helping her defeat some of the creatures in return. They escape the horde and arrive at Gerson's study, which has been distorted and abandoned. Susie spots Gerson in the distance and the duo pursue him through the darkness, with the maze turning pitch black as they run.
Susie trips and decides to find a way back while Kris waits for her and envisions what she's doing. She catches up with Gerson but he seems strangely quiet, attacking her with hostility while she tries to reason with him. When Gerson tries to attack Susie, Kris arrives in time to deflect his attack, joining the fight against him. As the fight continues, Susie refuses to hurt Gerson, trying to pacify him and apologise for making this wonky Dark World, but when she tries to reach out to him with her healing spell, she realises that the "Gerson" she was fighting was actually a living suit of armour. Before it can attack, "Gerson" is ambushed by Ralsei, who destroys it.
The lights come back on and Ralsei reveals that the statue of Gerson's armour in his study must've come to life when Susie made this Dark World, explaining that only specific dark fountains can resurrect the deceased, and that Gerson can't be brought to Castle Town as well. Susie is enraged at Ralsei for constantly hiding information from her and Kris, so Ralsei admits his reasons for keeping secrets: he knows almost everything about the prophecy and the Dark World, both good and bad, and worries that the troubling information he has will distress Kris and Susie. He tells her that the reason he's been acting so distant is because he wants to keep Susie and Kris from seeing the tragedy that lies at the end of the prophecy, begging the two to let him do all the work so they can spend some time together before the end. Susie reassures him that whatever's the case, the Delta Warriors will face their fate together and that they'll always have his back.
After receiving the code to the door from a fire extinguisher Darkner, Susie and Kris go and seal the dark fountain, arriving back in the church where the chapel doors are opened. The trio find themselves in the First Sanctuary, causing Ralsei to remark that the chapel's dark world and the first one must share a fountain. They enter the Grand Door and arrive in the Third Sanctuary, where they see the dark fountain in the distance, beckoning. While exploring the area, Kris and company get pursued by a mass of darkness, which they escape on one of the faulty piano locks.
They eventually arrive at a wall leading to the dark fountain, only for the Knight to shatter a portion of it. Suddenly, Jackenstein arrives and gets the trio to hop on his back, allowing him to ferry them upwards. The Knight shatters the walls once again, but a tower of Cuptains and assorted Darkners catch Jackenstein, hoping to assist the prophesied heroes in their journey. They venture into a dark library, but are powerless to avoid the Knight's blades in the pitch darkness. Suddenly, Kris's SOUL begins to emit a bright light, illuminating the path forwards. The trio soldier onwards, shielding each other from the Knight's blades as they vow to always have each others' backs.
The trio manage to weather the Knight's assaults and catch up to it in person. Susie declares that once they get to the fountain, the Knight is powerless to stop her and Kris. Unfortunately, the Knight responds to this proclamation by opening a second fountain, which turns into a stone pillar harbouring a terrible beast, which fires a beam of darkness at the Lightners. Ralsei tells everybody that the beast is a Titan and orders everyone to climb onto the pillar as it won't attack its own body. They ascend the crumbling stone pillar, with Kris attacking the Titan's eye before being forced off.
Recovering from their fall, Ralsei explains to the Lightners that Titans are formed when a Dark World's darkness runs rampant, allowing these mindless embodiments of pure fear and destruction to emerge. He is unsure of how they will defeat the Titan. but theorises that since Titans are formed from Dark Fountains, Kris could somehow seal this one away. The Titan grabs at the trio, so they flee onto a ledge where they prepare to ascend its pillar once again. Before the party can jump down, its spawn corner them, so they're forced to defeat them, with Kris using their illuminated SOUL to gather TP and banish them.
The trio ascend the crumbling pillar as the darkness threatens to swallow them, eventually arriving on a platform where Susie heals the party. They finally meet the Titan face to face, dodging its attacks and chipping away at its form using Kris's illuminated SOUL. Kris also repeatedly destroys the visor protecting its insides, allowing the party to dish out massive amounts of damage. Unfortunately, as the Titan is severely damaged, it shields itself with its wings and begins consuming the Titan Spawn, regenerating from all its injuries. Ralsei begins to despair, but a hammer suddenly flies into the Titan's face, cracking its visor. Gerson emerges from the shadows, revived by this sanctuary's dark fountain, and lends his strength to dish out incredible damage on the Titan. The Lightners manage to crack its visor right upon, allowing Susie to act on her master plan: picking up Kris, she flings herself into the Titan's facial cavity, allowing Kris to seal the dark fountain fuelling it.
The Titan is vanquished, and as Susie and Kris wake up on the floor, she notes the presence of Kris's SOUL and runs off to find Gerson. Ralsei arrives and congratulates Kris on their successful slaying of the Titan, but quickly realises Susie's missing and runs off to find her. Kris arrives and realises that Susie found the last panel of the prophecy, allowing her to learn the tragedy she was destined for at the end. She smashes the panel in disbelief, vowing to never let this fate happen to her friends as she does her best to comfort Ralsei. As Susie walks off, Ralsei confides in Kris, asking how she manages to put on a brave face for everybody despite all these hardships. He apologises for not telling them the whole truth, confiding that he wished that the party's actions could change fate, but now he sees that it's all fruitless. Ralsei tries to put on another front, but Kris kneels down to hug him instead, telling him that it's okay to feel terrified in this situation. He thanks Kris for always being his friend, and reassures them that until the party face their fates, they'll never stop trying to defy it no matter what.
Kris catches up with Susie, whereupon she tells them that no matter what happens to the three of them, she wants to be friends with them forever. They seal the fountain and return to the chapel, which is entirely empty. The two venture out into the night and return home, where they find Toriel not only safe and sound, but drunkenly dancing with Sans the grocer. She tells Kris that she'd actually cancelled choir practice thanks to the rain, but got too distracted dancing with Sans to tell them about it. Susie leaves, embarrassed by the situation, leaves, and while Sans invites Kris to unwind with him and Toriel, they decide to go to bed, mentally exhausted from their journey. Kris, imprisoning the SOUL in their cage, tries to sleep as Sans and Toriel implicitly have sex downstairs, but eventually gives up after hearing Susie outside, vowing to protect her friends from the fate that awaits them. As they prepare to leave through the window, Kris is called by their mysterious benefactor, who reminds them of some unknown promise.
TBA