Moirai Relic

The Moirai Relic was an important artifact that was found by an unnamed space miner on Jupiter in the year 2627 and then brought to Earth.

History[]

The relic belonged to the Moirai, a tribe of omniscient beings that ruled the galaxy before the birth of mankind, who left it in a shrine on Jupiter prior to leaving this galaxy for a higher world.

The item was said to contain immeasurable power, so in order to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands, the Moirai left behind an army that was programmed to protect and retrieve the object at all costs in the event it was taken away from its resting place. As a result, the aliens, following the relic's trail, attacked the Earth in order to get it back over the next few years. People were made to believe by the government –under orders of the Triumvirate, their highest command– these attacks were just attempts by the extraterrestrials to invade and conquer the planet.

Red Falcon units were genetically programmed to protect and retrieve the relic, and they were unable to go against this genetic directive; this extended even to other beings who possessed Red Falcon's alien cells in their body. In Contra: Shattered Soldier, upon reviving thanks to merging with alien cells, Lance Bean formed the Blood Falcon military organization and continued the task of retrieving the relic, resuming what Red Falcon failed to achieve. In his dying breath (true ending), Lance told his former friend Bill Rizer that due to the alien cells in his body, he could not defy his new alien genetic codes, so he secretly wanted Bill to stop and kill him since he couldn't kill himself.

In 2647, the Triumvirate finished their research on the relic and used it to transcend into a higher life form, although the plan seemingly backfired as the relic's power resulted to be much greater than expected, consuming the three old men instead.

The entity that came out from that merging ultimately fell to Bill Rizer and Lucia, thus ending the cursed fate between the aliens and the human race forever.

Description[]

After absorbing the Triumvirate's energy, the relic itself emerges with menacing lifeforms it transforms into, commencing battle with the remaining commandos alive. The background during these battles is of an empty swirling space, with occasional strange looking objects and some "Earth-like" ones depending on the boss fought, such as prehistoric fossils and strands of DNA. What this represents is unclear; it is possible the relic is capable of transcending space and time, or it could simply be another illusion similar to the ones Lance Bean used during his fusion with the alien embryo.

The relic will take on the following forms in battle:

Humanoid

The first form resembles a humanoid. It attacks by performing a punch which extends to a blade-like appendage and throwing two energy orbs with powerful accuracy while phasing about. Shooting it enough will make it morph back into the relic itself, then it will acquire its the second form.

Frog

The second form resembles a giant amphibian that swims around. It follows a straightforward attack pattern: first it will float to an edge of the room around where it will belch out a large puke spray, avoidable by reaching the opposite side of the room. It then proceeds to spew out four that cotton swab like projectiles with great length making evasion extremely difficult. The cotton swabs shrink with repeated fire but will grow if not fired at, the player needs to concentrate fire to safely jump over all four projectiles. The frog then "swims" in the space of the background, gaining momentum enough to power up a hyper charge aimed directly at the player toward the screen. After disappearing, it returns to perform two more hyper tackle, this from a side-view aim and either high or low tackles; the latter requiring a timed jump over the creature to survive while simply staying on the "ground" for the former elevation. After its tackles, it floats to a side of the screen to repeat the entire attack pattern. The boss is vulnerable to weapons fire anytime except when it is swimming in the background. Enough concentrated weapons fire will disrupt form and force the relic to morph once again.

Jellyfish

The third form resembles a giant jellyfish that floats left and right high above the commandos while occasionally summoning pink miniatures of itself that slowly wade toward the bottom until offscreen. These miniatures can be eliminated with enough firepower, however doing so causes them to immediately plummet with a large trail of deadly flame. Occasionally, the boss will temporarily cease spawning miniatures and begin to glow, soon swimming in a full circle around the room, in which case the player(s) must jump over it while avoiding any miniatures in their path. The boss will then repeat this rather simplistic cycle until defeated. The boss is vulnerable to weapons fire at any given time, and enough damage inflicted to it will cause the Moirai Relic to transform once again...

Amoeba

The fourth form is a giant cell that sends out a random number of homing enzyme-like projectiles from its membrane. These projectiles can be easily destroyed by weapons fire and are dispatched in quantities within a few seconds of intervals. The boss itself slowly floats around the room while firing off enzymes. The player(s) must concentrate fire on its blob-like body until their weapons can hit the nucleus core, which damages the entire boss when struck. Players must never strike at the boss directly using the Fire Whip; if the boss is hit with the Fire Whip, it produces a splash that can easily reach the player, killing them instantly. Using the charged variant will make the boss produce a larger splash easily killing the player(s) instantly (although the boss can still take damage from these weapons), although it is sometimes possible to escape the larger splash depending on distance and splash pattern. A bullet aimed at the core from point-blank range can immediately damage the core, though this is only safely possible when a player has lost a life and is respawned with invincibility frames. Once the nucleus is damaged enough, the broken creature centers itself then blinds the entire area white.

Each of these four bosses destroyed grants the player who dealt the finishing blow 1,500 points and also adds 15% to the Hit Rate for said destroyed boss.

Final form

As the light fades, the commandos are transported into an organ-like core with miniature sperm-like projectiles swarming around it from above and walls patterned with an X (possibly representing X chromosomes). At the center of the room lies the Primal Core, inside a pillar connecting the floor and ceiling together and also being surrounded by clear tall walls. The core itself resembles the Moirai Relic, which may resemble an egg cell. At times, the sperm projectiles swarm to the center of the core, attracted to it. Any sperm not near the core may roam freely for a brief moment. The sperm are deadly to touch and can be easily dispatched with weapons fire, which leaves them being dissolved with a dark color until they vanish.

The core bears no offensive protection of its own and is susceptible to weapons fire: continuous damage aimed at the core will cause its clear shields to thin, eventually allowing bullet fire to strike and damage the core directly. At times when the core receives damage, the sperm swimming above will occasionally rally to directly home in and strike the player. Leaving the core alone from damage will eventually cause the projectiles to ignore the commandos and return to their usual swimming pattern until the core is being damaged again. The Fire Whip is recommended against this boss as its piercing abilities can easily deal continuous damage to the core and handle the swarm of projectiles. Once the egg-like core is damaged enough, the tubes at the ceiling will fall limp and bleed as the core explodes, leaving the commandos blinded by a bright white light. The final 20% Hit Rate for the stage is awarded upon this boss's defeat.

EX form

Despite the Relic's multiple defeats, it continues to survive. An explosion causes the two commandos to escape the space zone, but in the birth of the roaring flames is an amalgamation of the prior forms born from the surviving relic. It shoots fireballs from the frog mouth and will attempt to grab the plane to shoot fireballs, throw bouncing energy orbs, and at the last stretch, it will attempt to drag the player into the explosion, although it will ultimately fail if shot enough.

This moment marks when the Red Falcon army suddenly stops being so aggressive, as they no longer have an organized goal to take back the relic as it has died.

Notes[]

If the player does not receive an overall rank of A or S on Stage 6, the ending reveals that the Moirai Relic (in its amoeba form) survived its encounter with the commandos. It floats in space until it glows and beats with life once more.

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Trivia[]

The Celestial Imperator creature from Hard Corps: Uprising bears a strong resemblance to the relic's humanoid boss form.
The Jellyfish boss's spore attack is reminiscent of the Yellow Airship's Gardegura attack from Contra: Hard Corps.
A Yu-Gi-Oh! card named Mucus Yolk resembles the Moirai Relic's third (Amoeba) form.
- Similarly, both the card and the boss resemble Amoeba from the Gradius series.
The Moirai Relic appears to harness an "evolution" style theme surrounding it, with the relic itself being shaped like an "egg". This is further hinted by the background the first four fights are battled in. The order the relic's forms are fought in represent a "de-evolution" line: human, tadpole, jellyfish (sea creature), amoeba, and birth producing organ.
- This may also deeply represent the Red Falcon's erasure from existence, as the antagonistic force was never seen again following the relic's destruction.