doesn't believe in Ciel's plan of creating energy as means to resolve the war. Unable to convince him to call it off, Zero is left to do busy-work in the meantime. Elpizo's assault fails miserably, himself being the only survivor. Driven mad, he declares his desire to harness the power of the legendary Dark Elf to destroy Neo Arcadia (and wipe out the humans), which had brought about the Elf Wars a century ago that left the Earth in a disastrous state. Using the powers granted by partially unsealing the Dark Elf, he invades Neo Arcadia and breaks into the temple where the body of the real X is kept. It is revealed that X ended the Elf Wars by sealing the Dark Elf away with his body, thus leading to his disappearance. Despite the Guardians' and Zero's best efforts, Elpizo destroys X's body, which unseals the Dark Elf, and Elpizo absorbs its powers. After a fierce battle, Zero puts an end to Elpizo's plans, who reverts to his normal self and apologizes as he dies. Surprisingly, the Dark Elf turns him into a Cyber-elf, convincing Elpizo that she is not truly evil. As the Dark Elf departs, X appears and tells Zero about the Dark Elf: she was originally known as the Mother Elf and was the savior who ended the Maverick Wars, but was later cursed by a man named Dr. Weil. Zero admits to feeling like he knows her. In a post credits scene, an unknown man notes the Dark Elf has been released, and tells an entity known as "Omega" that it is time to take action. Gameplay The controls are identical to that in the previous game, with players given the option to assign functions to the buttons they are most comfortable using. The weapons are also identical, with the exception of the Triple Rod, which has been replaced by the similar but somewhat more complex Chain Rod. Cyber Elves are present in the game, and function in the same manner as they did in the previous game. However, unlike the first game, in which four specific Cyber Elves could be transformed into health-storing Sub-Tanks, two of the four Sub-Tanks are now hidden in various stages as collectible items, as they were in the previous series, while the remaining two must be unlocked using Cyber Elves. While the first game in the series had the