Tales of Zestiria the X: The Winter Seraph

Tales of Zestiria the X: The Winter Seraph is a 2014 anime film. It is the sequel to Tales of Zestiria the X and Jump Force, and is the ninth installment in the Anime Cinematic Universe and the third installment of Phase Two.

Synopsis
Two years after the Battle of Amestria, Sorey lives quietly in Amestria, still struggling to adapt to the modern society. In hopes of fitting in, Sorey becomes an agent of M.O.N., as well as a close friend of Akame and a new hero, Zavied. However, when a shadowy enemy from within the chief offices of M.O.N. (with whom Ciel Phantomhive initially agrees) starts creating countless weapons of mass destruction to seemingly protect the world - but really wants to destroy it and rebuild it, Sorey and his colleagues must team up to stop him. But things get more complicated when Sorey's thought deceased best friend Mikleo is revealed to be alive and a villain like no other - the Winter Seraph.

Plot
Two years after the Battle of Amestria, Sorey continues working under the alias of Shepard as an agent of the espionage agency M.O.N.. While out on a morning jog in Amestria, Sorey frequently passes a Seraphim who later introduces himself as Zavied, a wind Seraph who now works as a counselor at the Amestrian Department of Veterans Affairs. After the jog, Zavied and Sorey share and bond over their common experiences in adapting to life after each serving tours in the armed forces. Akame arrives to take Sorey with her on a mission to rescue the hostages of the M.O.N. vessel Lemurian Star, which had been taken over by a group of hired pirates. Sorey, Akame, and Kureo Mado, along with other members of the elite M.O.N. Special Mission Unit STRIKE, eliminate the pirates and rescue the hostages.

However, mid-mission Sorey discovers that Akame had gotten her own secret mission from Director Ciel Phantomhive to extract the M.O.N. intelligence from the ship onto a USB drive. This sparked suspicion from Sorey as Akame's disappearance nearly jeopardized the mission.

Back at the Phantomhive Manor, Sorey is angry with Ciel for lying to him. Ciel, as a sign of trust, takes Sorey to the basement where he introduces Sorey to Project Insight. Project Insight consists of three next generation M.O.N. Helicarriers that will be launched into the air and connected to Project Insight satellites at 3000 feet in the air to neutralize enemy hostile targets. Ciel tells Sorey that "M.O.N. takes the world as it is, not as we like it to be," but Sorey responds that, "This isn't freedom. This is fear..."

Later, Sorey visits the Shepard exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, and also visits an elderly Princess Alishia(who is suffering from a form of dementia) in a retirement home. He also meets with Zavied again after watching him speaking during the end of a session for veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Meanwhile, Ciel discovers that the data on the USB is inaccessible.

He tells this to Joker, who had just concluded a meeting with the World Security Council about the hijacking of the Lemurian Star. Ciel asks Joker to make a formal request to the Council to delay Project Insight due to Ciel's rising suspicions.

Ciel leaves the Phantomhive Manor and is en-route to meet with Zombina when he is attacked by assassins impersonating policemen. He gets away but is then soon stopped by a masked man in the middle of the road who shoots a shard of ice under Ciel's SUV, flipping it. However, before the masked man gets to Ciel, he manages to use a hi-tech device to cut through the street and escape into the sewers.

Sorey arrives at his apartment and, after talking to his neighbor, he becomes suspicious when he hears that his stereo is still on. He sneaks in through the window and finds Ciel sitting in a chair in the dark. He tells Sorey that his servants kicked him out, while communicating through written text on his phone that his story is misdirection because they are being eavesdropped upon. Ciel tells Sorey that M.O.N. has been compromised, before being shot several times by the assassin from earlier standing on the adjacent building. Ciel gives the USB drive to Sorey and tells him not to trust anyone, before falling unconscious. Sorey's neighbor smashes in the door, revealing herself to be Agent Diphda, who had been tasked by Ciel to keep an eye on Sorey. He then pursues the masked man, jumping through the window into the next-door office building. He throws his sword at the masked man on the rooftop, but is surprised when the man is able to catch the sword with his bare hands and throw it back before jumping off of the building and disappearing.

Ciel is taken to a hospital in critical condition. His heart stops during surgery. After the doctors fail to revive him, his body is collected by Zombina. Mado tells Sorey he is wanted at the Phantomhive Manor for an urgent meeting.

Feeling suspicious, Sorey quickly hides the USB in a vending machine and leaves. At the Phantomhive Manor, he is questioned by Joker, who says he is one of Ciel's oldest friends and wants to know who killed him. Sorey does not trust Joker and says nothing about the USB or the circumstances of Ciel's death, merely reiterating that Ciel said not to trust anyone. He leaves Joker to go to the hospital.

While in the elevator, Sorey is joined by several STRIKE operatives, and soon realizes that they are there to capture him. He fights the attackers and successfully knocks them all out, before jumping out the elevator to avoid arrest. After landing, he drives away on his motorcycle and evades an attacking jet.

Joker then declares Sorey a fugitive to be taken out by M.O.N. for withholding information on Ciel's death. Later, Joker turns out to be working with the masked man, and shoots his house cleaner Renata for accidentally seeing the two men talking together in his home.

Sorey arrives later at the hospital, where he notices that the USB is gone. Akame appears from behind and reveals that she had taken it, and he angrily asks her what she knows about all that has happened. She tells him that the masked man is an assassin known as the Winter Seraph, and she had encountered him once before. She decides to follow Sorey. They go to an Apple store to see if they can access any of the valuable information on the USB. But they, as Ciel did, find nothing. However they are able to trace the location where the program on the USB was written. Mado and his team arrive and try to find them but fail to do so.

They steal a truck and drive to the location while talking about each other's past. When they arrive, Sorey realizes that they are at the old training facility where he trained during the Hyland-Rolance War. They find a secret storage room full of old computers inside an early M.O.N. office. There they find a more modern-looking USB slot and they put the USB in. The computers power up and someone starts to talk to them.

That someone is Symonn, who tells them that she was recruited by M.O.N. after the Hyland-Rolance War, and that she helped to rebuild the CCG inside M.O.N.. However, in the 1970s, when she received the news that her body was dying (and with M.O.N. still needing her help), she had her soul transferred into computers. She had been working on an algorithm that the CCG wanted. She told Sorey and Akame that some of the deaths of M.O.N. leaders had been due to the CCG, while showing them a picture of Hoenheim Elric and implying that Hoenheim's death might not have been an accident. He was also involved in the Winter Seraph program. But before Sorey and Akame can get any more information out of Symonn, a M.O.N. missile shows up and destroys the bunker. Sorey and Akame are able to survive the explosion and seek refuge with Zavied. Zavied tells them that he can offer them assistance as he is part of a military project involving an unknown ancient handgun called Siegfried.

Sorey and Akame then go back to Amestria, to capture Juzo Suzuya, who is working for the CCG. Juzo had just finished a meeting with Senator Stern, another CCG conspirator, when Zavied calls Juzo and forces him up on the roof of a tall building. Zavied, working with Akame and Sorey, gets Juzo to inform them that Symonn's algorithm could calculate if a person would be a threat in the future based on their past actions. Juzo also tells the three that the CCG are going to use Project Insight as a weapon to eliminate what they view as threats against themselves and the world, mentioning Edward Elric, Naruto Uzumaki and Touya Mochizuki, though this would also mean that millions of innocent people would die.

The gang heads towards the Phantomhive Manor, but are attacked by the Winter Seraph and his men. A battle breaks out, and as Sorey and the Winter Seraph fight, the Winter Seraph's mask is torn off, revealing himself as Sorey's former comrade and best friend, Mikleo who Sorey thought was killed during the Hyland-Rolance War. When Sorey calls out to him, he does not recognize the name. Mikleo escapes, and Sorey, Akame and Zavied are taken into custody by Mado and his men. While in the prison van, one of the guards stuns the other guard, revealing herself to be fellow M.O.N. agent Zombina. She then uses a device to cut a hole in the van and escapes with the gang.

Zombina takes them to a secret facility where Ciel is resting, revealing that the director didn't die, although he was severely injured. Ciel had taken an anti-stress chakra pill (developed by Naruto Uzumaki) that lowered his heartbeat to only one beat per minute so that he would appear dead. Zombina and Ciel tell them that Project Insight is only hours away and that they have to act quickly. The Helicarriers would reach 3000 feet, connect to the Insight Satellites, and target all its targets before firing. The only way to prevent this is to use three special chips that would take away M.O.N.'s control over the Helicarriers.

Later, Sorey recalls how after the death of his parents Mikleo offered him a place to stay so he wouldn't have to cope alone, promising to be there 'until the end of the line'. Zavied warns Sorey that Mikleo may not be able to be taken alive, but Sorey vows to save his friend. As Sorey had lost his Shepard garb earlier, he breaks into the Shepard exhibit at the Smithsonian and steals the costume on display.

Mikleo is being prepared for battle, but he starts to ask who "Mikleo" is. He sees memories showing how the CCG's Rolance division found him after falling off the train. It is then that Symonn used her Seraphic Artes to mess with his brain. Joker decides he is beginning to remember too much about his past, and they brainwash him again.

The members of the World Security Council arrive at the Phantomhive Manor. They are each given badges to wear on their collar that will grant them access to anywhere in the Manor. They then meet in Joker's office. Sorey and Zavied break into the Manor and take control of the communication systems. Sorey reveals to the staff that there are CCG infiltrators in M.O.N., led by Joker, and that they cannot be allowed to initiate Project Insight.

Mado and his men enter the control room and threaten the launch technician to launch the Helicarriers. However, Agent Diphda intervenes, beginning a gunfight, but Mado still manages to get the Helicarriers in the air.

Joker pulls a gun on Councilman Singh, but Akame, using a Photostatic Veil reveals herself to be disguised as Councilwoman Hawley, and stops him. Akame begins upload all of M.O.N. and the CCG's secure files to the Internet. Joker, held at gunpoint, informs Akame that two Alpha Level Clearance members are required to disable the encryption so the files can be uploaded, and there is only one present (Joker).

Ciel, another person with an Alpha Level Clearance, arrives on the scene. Ciel notes that Joker probably erased all traces of Ciel being the director of M.O.N., but he had made a backup retinal scan using his demon contract eye instead of his normal eye. Ciel and Joker then scan their retina and use their two Alpha Level Clearances to disable the encryption, allowing Akame to upload the files.

Sorey and Zavied manage to put in the chips, with some hardship, for two of the Helicarriers, but when Zavied is going for the last one Siegfried is damaged by Mikleo, and he is forced to retreat down to the Manor. Zombina notifies Zavied about Mado heading to the council. Zavied intercepts him and the two begin to fight.

Sorey attempts to place the final chip, but he is confronted by Mikleo. Sorey and the Mikleo fight, and during the fight Sorey tries to convince Mikleo of his past as his friend.

At Joker's office, the upload has finished. However, Joker refuses to be taken in, and uses his mobile device to trigger a small device in the security badges on the World Security Council members' collars, instantly killing them by burning a hole in their sternums. Akame is spared, and Joker uses the device on the security badge to threaten Ciel and Akame into lowering their weapons.

During this time, the Insight Helicarriers have connected with the Insight satellites and are beginning to run Symonn's algorithm, scanning for targets. Sorey manages to place the final chip on the Helicarrier seconds before the Insight Helicarriers fire, changing their targets to each other and causing them to shoot each other down.

Joker witnesses the destruction of the Insight Helicarriers. He decides to use the device on the security badge to threaten Akame to fly him out of the Manor. Akame activates a Taser Disk on herself, temporarily disabling the device on the security badge and giving Ciel enough time to shoot Joker and kill him.

Zavied, still fighting with Mado, sees the crashing Helicarrier and jumps out of the 41st floor through the window. The chamber where Sorey and Mikleo are in is severely damaged by the crossfire between the Helicarriers. Before he passes out, Sorey promises Mikleo to be with him 'til the end of the line, reciprocating the promise Mikleo gave decades ago. Sorey then falls into the water beneath and is about to drown, when a hand grabs him and drags him from the water. It is Mikleo, who then disappears.

Mado is buried under rubble but is later seen being attended to by doctors. When Sorey wakes up sometime later, a lot of new events have happened. M.O.N. is unstable at the moment due to the CCG. Ciel Phantomhive is officially dead and he has destroyed all evidence of being alive, even ditching the eye-patch for sunglasses. If somebody would ask what happened with Ciel, he wants Sorey to answer that he was dead. Akame appeared in a Congressional hearing in Amestria with the high ranking officials to discuss who was responsible for M.O.N.'s downfall.

Because all of M.O.N.'s secure files were uploaded to the internet, along with Akame's past, she sets out to find herself a new identity after handing Sorey a file with information on Mikleo and his experimental origins. Sorey looks at the file. Zavied realizes that Sorey is going to look for Mikleo. Sorey decided to start looking for his friend, with the help of Zavied, so that he can convince him of who he really is. Sorey tells him that he doesn't have to go with him. Zavied replies, "I know. When do we start?"

Sometime later, Kishou Arima is holding a Dragon Ball, stating that there are CCG agents worldwide.

He then walks over to a pair of cells. He stops in front of them and says, "This is the age of miracles..." One of the cells contains a boy who is covered in red full body armor with glowing green gems adorning it. The other one contains a girl who levitates a few blocks, before she causes one to explode. The two are said to be lovers, the only survivors of a group of volunteers that were subjected to Arima's experiments.

Meanwhile, Mikleo, dressed in civilian clothing, is at the Smithsonian Institution where he finds a whole section of the Shepard display dedicated to him.