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

“	An ultra-lifeform shrouded in mystery, obtained by the Senate through the "heritage" of the Moirai. It transformed into this form by absorbing the power of the Senate. Due to its human-like appearance, it is commonly referred to as "humanoid." It constantly hovers in the air, extending its arms from above and attacking with light projectiles.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

The first form resembles a humanoid. It hovers in the center of the area for a bit before it begins to teleport to one side of the room. From there it begins its attack pattern:

Attack	Description
Twin energy Ball	For its first attack, the Humanoid will teleport to a corner of the room from either a high or low position. It will then charge up two red energy balls; one each from each of its hands, and after a few seconds it will launch them directly at the heroes, one at a time. The balls move fast and have a powerful limited tracking. The first ball moves fair while the second one will fire much speedily. Only a well-timed jump can ensure a safe escape. One method is to stay at the opposite side of the Humanoid as far as possible and jump over the first ball before it makes contact to avoid both spheres.
Corner Arm Spike	The Humanoid will hover to a top corner of the screen. It will either perform a flurry of four small and fast long arm punches or perform one speedy and lingering long punch aimed at the heroes.
Hovering Arm Spike	The Humanoid will appear in the top-center of the area, then hover over a hero. Once it is directly above them, it will launch in the next split second its stretched fist. After firing, it quickly retracts, then immediately teleports to the left or right aide of the screen to repeat its entire pattern from the start.

The Humanoid moves rather fast and is vulnerable to weapons fire anytime it is not teleporting. Enough damage will make it morph back into the relic itself, then it will transform into a second form.

Frog

“	After defeating the humanoid, it devolves (?) into an amphibian form. When it moves to the back of the screen, it makes a hopping sound and moves in a frog-like manner, which is why it is commonly called "frog." It attacks by spewing out mysterious objects or vomit from its large mouth and repeatedly charges at you.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

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 or crouch under 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

“	After the frog form, it transforms into this form. Commonly referred to as "Jellyfish." It floats in the air like a jellyfish, raining down a large number of small jellyfish. It typically flies above but occasionally comes down to ram into you, so be careful. The small jellyfish are very troublesome enemies.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

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...

Final Boss Form 4 (ラスボス第4形態)

“	After defeating the jellyfish form, it transforms into a giant cell. Due to its round shape, it is commonly referred to as "Sphere." Its surface is covered by a strong cell membrane, which has the property of reflecting powerful destructive attacks, making it difficult to launch attacks easily.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

The fourth form is a giant cell that sends out a random number of homing enzyme-like projectiles from its membrane, ranging from 1 or more than ten at one time. These "red bullets" can be easily destroyed by weapons fire and are dispatched in quantities within a few seconds of intervals, with powerful homing capabilities. After about three sets of projectiles released, the boss itself slowly floats around the room toward a player's direction while firing off more enzymes, before eventually returning to the top-center of the screen to repeat its movement pattern. 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. The amoeba's body can instantly destroy any charged Machine Gun projectile it makes contact with. 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.

Core

“	It is the core of the super life form Moirai, which is shrouded in mystery. Countless insect-like mysterious creatures float around the core to protect it. When the insects glow, they will swarm toward the player, so be careful. If the overall rating is B, this boss will be the final enemy.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

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 boss is incredibly weak to the Diver Mine due to its explosion lingering properties. When the floating swarm closes in on the heroes, the Fire Whip is recommended to use in order to pierce through as many units as possible surrounding the commandos. Once the egg-like core is damaged enough, the tubes of the core will detach and bleed out 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.

True Final Boss (真のラスボス)

“	If the overall evaluation is A or higher, the true final boss appears when escaping from the Senate's barrier. In the super life form's desperation mode, it has an ugly form that merges humanoid, frog, and jellyfish appearances from the first to the third form. It attempts to drag the transport vehicle carrying the building into the flames.	„
	~ Shin Contra guide translation

Despite the Relic's multiple defeats, it continues to survive. A large fiery explosion emanates from the amoeba, and the Heroes' Airship escapes from the inferno. As the two commandos escape the space zone, out of the roaring flames spawns an amalgamation of the first three boss forms (Humanoid, Frog, and Jellyfish) 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 from the Humanoid's only human-like hand, and at the last stretch, it will attempt to drag the player into the explosion, although it will ultimately fail.

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 Final Boss Battle is not entered. Instead, an ending plays, revealing 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.
It is strongly believed that the Amoeba form is the Relic's true form while the Humanoid, Frog, and Jellyfish are the three Triumvirate members respectively who have been mutated by the relic they tried to control. The Shin Contra official Guide names them as the Final Boss, with their descriptions implying these forms are under the control of the Moirai Relic. When the amoeba is defeated, it retains this form in a damaged way before teleporting the heroes to its innards (similar to what other related Alien Species have done in the past). When its core is destroyed, the amoeba explodes in a violent explosion. The amalgamation that appears afterwards is made up of only the first three Relic bosses; this would imply that this is a combination of the three mutated Triumvirate members who imperfectly attempted to escape their captor upon its destruction, attempting to end the two commandos in one final act of vengeance.

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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 fourth (Amoeba) boss 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.
- Ironically, this is a reverse play on the Triumvirate's desires for longevity.
The Moirai Relic shares some similarities with the Black Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both relics (one of them in the case of the latter) were discoverable on Jupiter and were created by an unknown alien race of higher power. The latter may have drawn inspiration to the former.