End of The World

"This is a prescription for myself to cure that illness known as faith."

- Jun Bansyoya The End of The World is the Terminal Disc that comes with the limited edition versions of.hack//G.U. Vol.1 Rebirth and all versions of Last Recode. It consists of 12 chapters that were recorded in a private journal by CC Corp programmer Jun Bansyoya. These chapters are unlocked as the player progresses through the game. It begins by telling the story of the first four games and then goes on to explain the disappearance of Aura, the R.A. Plan, and Project G.U. It ends before the game begins with a private message to his sister, Reiko.

Preamble
Jun Bansyoya introduces himself as an AI researcher and employee of CC Corp. He describes the diary as his perception of the truth that he saw through his experiences in The World and as a member of Project GU.
 * Length: 0:42
 * Unlocked: Initially



Graceless Unison
Jun discusses The World and the "Second Network Crisis" also known as the "Morganna Incident". He goes into detail about Kite, the 14-year old boy who would become one of the key players in the incident after his friend Orca was placed into a coma by the Phase Skeith. Recounts the events of .hack//Infection. He goes on to discuss that the power of Morganna and the Phases, as well as the true nature of the programing created by The World's designer Harald Hoerwick would be the focus of Project G.U.'s research.
 * Length: 16:04
 * Unlocked: Initially

Geek's Utopia
Jun recounts the events of .hack//Mutation. He states the irony in the fact that Kite, a player with no idea of what was really going on was able to accomplish what CC Corp with all their research and knowledge could not.
 * Length: 15:38
 * Unlocked: Initially

Guilty Universe
Jun states that the true purpose of The World was to give birth to an Ultimate AI named Aura. A program who would be able to learn on its own. The World, and its guardian Morganna were created to be the womb of the developing AI. However Morganna evolved, developing a sense of self-preservation and rebelled against her purpose. She altered the data of the 8 Phases and transformed them into aspects of herself, infusing them with her own programming. It was against these creatures that Kite and his allies found themselves pitted against. He goes on to describe the events of .hack//Outbreak, describing the release of the player Sora in great detail. Jun compares himself to Kite, saying that he sees himself as being in a similar position. As Kite saved The World with his bracelet, Jun hopes to save the world through Project G.U.
 * Length: 16:32
 * Unlocked: Initially

Genesis of Ultima
Jun describes the events of .hack//Quarantine, and how Aura was finally reborn as the Ultimate AI. By sacrificing herself as an independent being she was destroyed and recreated as the core of not only The World but of the entire network. And how the people who had helped this happen, the .hackers had been motivated by nothing more than the desire to help their friends. Self-sacrifice, the ability to put others before one's self, Jun's theory is that these were the things that were crucial to the birth of the Ultimate A.I., and the key trait that Morganna had lacked. He says that at this point, Project G.U. had already been created by CC Corp, and was now going full force. Of great interest to them was Mia, a player, and AI, but also the carrier of the Phase Macha. If a player could carry a Phase in their data, could that Phase be controlled?
 * Length: 17:06
 * Unlocked: Initially

Guardian Ubiquitos
Jun talks about the "Golden Age of The World". Reborn as the Ultimate AI, Aura became the ultimate debugger, not just for The World, but for the entire network. Under her guidance, the world network boomed as never before. But even then Aura's moods could change quickly. Jun recounts the events of .hack//Legend of the Twilight where Aura created replicas of Kite and BlackRose, and gave them to a pair of players, creating another "Hero of the Bracelet". However, this golden age was not to last, on December 24, 2014, the ninth anniversary of Pluto's Kiss a strange malfunction spread across the world network. Its cause was unknown, but the signs were clear. Aura had vanished from The World, and nobody knew where she had gone. Desperate to restore order to the system CC Corp, the only group aware of Aura's existence and disappearance began a plan to bring her back. The "Return Aura Plan", which was given to Project G.U. as their prime objective.

Gateway to Utopia
Jun speaks about how he was placed in charge of Project G.U., whose task was to create a new Ultimate AI under the control of CC Corp. Thereby restoring the balance of the world network and bringing back CC Corp's good name. In order to accomplish this, it was decided to recover the remnants of the Eight Phases, and place them under the control of players using programming reverse engineered from Sora and Mia. To help with this CC Corp hired Jyotaro Amagi, who at 19 was already a genius programmer. Jun and Jyotaro butted heads almost immediately, but despite their differences became the key players in Project G.U. Jun says that he disliked Jyotaro, but also respected, and was somewhat jealous of his talents.
 * Length: 08:11
 * Unlocked: Upload a .hack//G.U. Rebirth Data Flag

After much searching Jun and Jyotaro succeeded in locating one of the Phases. That of Magus the Propagation. They placed it into a specially constructed PC Body known as an Epitaph PC. However, users of the PC began to experience many different physical symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, and unconsciousness. Jyotaro speculated that each phase required a certain type of person in order to use it effectively, in the way Sora had been attached to Skeith. A group was formed to locate possible candidates for the Epitaph PCs.

Eventually, the remaining seven Phases were located and placed into PCs, the PC Mia who was already a container for the sixth Phase Macha the Temptress was destroyed by Jyotaro, and the Phase data harvested from her. With candidates located and the Epitaph PC's prepared, he began making preparations for their first test.

Gathering of the Unwilling
Jun remembered how the creation of Kite's Twilight Bracelet had spawned an "anti-existence" known as Cubia. He began to wonder if the Epitaph PCs would create a similar existence when they were completed. Searching through The World he located an anomaly which confirmed his fears. An anti-existence was indeed being created, and with the combined powers of the 8 Phases as its counter-existence, its power was much, much greater than Cubia had ever been.
 * Unlocked: Upload a .hack//G.U. Redemption Save Data

He brought his concerns to Jyotaro, asking him to postpone the testing of the Epitaph PCs until a way was found to counter this new anti-existence. But Jyotaro laughed at him, saying that there was no anti-existence, the anomaly had merely been a whisper in the Harald blackbox created by faulty programming. It was at that point that Jun realized how obsessed Jyotaro had become with surpassing the genius, Harald. No matter what the risks he was going to go through with the test.

Genetics of the Unknown
Fearful of Jyotaro, Jun describes how he secretly stole one of the Epitaph PCs, that of Tarvos the Avenger and hid it on his own personal PC. He hoped that doing this would force Jyotaro to stall the project. Unfortunately, Amagi had suspected that he would do this, and had already created a "Dummy Epitaph PC". Gathering the candidates, Jyotaro began the test. If it succeeded he would go down in history as the greatest programmer to ever live, surpassing even Harald in his genius. Not only did he want to recreate the Ultimate AI, he wanted to become it himself, ascending as a God over the entire world network.

The test, however, was a complete and horrific failure. It caused over 80% of The World's data to be deleted instantly and sent all seven of the candidates into comas. Amagi, who had been using the program, suffered permanent mental damage.

Genocide of the Unfaithful
Jun talks about the aftermath of the test. Realizing what Jyotaro was planning he rushed to CC Corp headquarters but arrived too late. Desperately trying to regain control he succeeded in recapturing the Epitaph PC of Magus. The remaining PCs escaped into the system. Meanwhile Jyotaro, in his confusion, accidentally set fire to the CC Corp building, resulting in a blaze that would destroy nearly 2/3's of CC Corp's headquarters. With the exception of Magus who had been recovered, and Tarvos, which was still hidden on Jun's personal PC, all of Project G.U.'s data was lost. As the leader of GU, Jun took responsibility for the incident and resigned from CC Corp.

Jun speculates that the failure was a result of Jyotaro not loving The World. As Morganna had, he had placed himself before others, and as a result had suffered the most damage out of anybody associated with the incident. He had paid the ultimate price. His mind, once considered to be on the level of Harald himself, was now ruined, as if he had been cursed by the ghost of a vengeful Harald.

Generation of Unity
Jun talks about the aftermath of the incident. With 80% of The World's data destroyed CC Corp was forced to abandon it, and began integrating its data into a newly created game to form The World R:2. The Harald Blackbox was also secretly placed into the new game. On the day before The World R:2 was to be released Jun logged onto his private character, and went for a walk through the Root Town of Mac Anu. The players of The World, upset about the upcoming loss of their characters filled the streets of the city, saying goodbye to their friends in the game, making plans to meet elsewhere, or just shouting obscenities at CC Corp. Today was a day where administrators were absent, the players were left free to do as they pleased.
 * Length: 5:53
 * Unlocked: Upload a .hack//G.U. Rebirth Save Data

Wandering through the city Jun was suddenly stopped by a small voice behind him.

"Aura is... Aura is... Integrated into The World."

Turning he saw a small, barefooted girl with saffron hair.

"Aura, threw away individuality and became a 'God', then threw away being a 'God' and distanced herself from cause and effect, returning to inactivity. That is why, I too shall return to the wind."

With that the girl vanished, leaving a confused Jun behind. After a moment he realized that she had looked almost exactly like Aura had prior to her ascendance. He realized that Aura still existed somewhere in the system and that one day people of the next generation of players would discover her.

Guide to an Uprising
Though no longer a part of CC Corp, Jun speaks about how he continued watching The World R:2 for any signs of the Epitaph PCs, which he knew were hidden in the system, just waiting to find a host. His fears were confirmed when Ovan appeared bearing the Epitaph PC of Corbenik the Rebirth. Not only did he possess an Epitaph PC, but he also seemed to know a great deal about the Harald Blackbox, and had even formed a Guild, the Twilight Brigade which was dedicated to finding the location of the Key of the Twilight, another name for Aura.
 * Unlocked: Upload a .hack//G.U. Redemption Save Data

Fearful of what this might mean, Jun continued researching Ovan and discovered that sealed in his left arm was something, neither PC nor Phase. But something else, something that had enough data to fill an entire field in the game. What it was Jun didn't know, but whatever it was he knew it had to be stopped.

"To my sister"
Jun's final file is not a diary entry at all, but a personal letter to his sister Reiko. In it, he apologizes for being distant from her and begs for forgiveness. He says how she is "qualified" to help defend truth and justice, and says that she has to follow her own path as he can no longer protect her. He ends by saying that he will probably be unable to contact her again, but that they will always be brother and sister.
 * Unlocked: Upload a .hack//G.U. Redemption Data Flag

Attached to the letter was a file containing a character for The World R:2. The Epitaph PC of Tarvos, Pi.

Trivia

 * The Terminal Disc's movies can all be viewed on a computer if it has a DVD-ROM drive that can read it and the related codec, hence pre-leaked videos of Redemption-necessary data.
 * All of the Journal Titles can be identified with the acronym G.U. with the obvious exception of Preamble and "To my sister".
 * The background used in all chapters is identical to the one shown in the Character Creation cutscene in Rebirth, as well as the final battle against Cubia Core in Redemption.