With Saburo Arasaka handled, he cannot stir up any more trouble.
There might still be another copy of Saburo's consciousness hidden in a Relic chip somewhere, but without Yorinobu Arasaka serving as a host, he has no way to resurrect.
Once Ascension fully controls Arasaka, any remaining copies of Saburo's engram will not escape Rocky's search. When they are found, they will be locked away and punished together. If several copies fight each other inside the cell, then "Saburo Arasaka vs. Saburo Arasaka" will be the hottest braindance in town.
Mikoshi holds a vast number of consciousnesses. Some belong to Arasaka's core members, whose minds were copied before death to await revival and continued service once the technology matured. Some belong to Arasaka's test subjects, used to validate Soulkiller's capabilities and Mikoshi's stability. These are the unluckiest souls. They have no pleasant simulation, no entertainment, only the darkest sector of the vault and endless loneliness. Johnny Silverhand is one such prisoner.
Beyond those two groups, there are many paying clients from the Secure Your Soul program. They are wealthy upper-class people unwilling to accept death, so Arasaka uploaded their minds to Mikoshi. They wait for a future method of revival, and in the meantime, enjoy a curated environment and comforts within the vault.
All of these souls remain here. Some may see daylight again, but that day is likely far away. Calling Mikoshi a prison for souls is not an exaggeration. With so many types collected together, the number of engrams has reached something terrifying. Their memories and knowledge are a fortune. Anyone who gets them gains enormous leverage.
No wonder Alt Cunningham once fought to reach Mikoshi. As an AI born from an engram, she could absorb those minds to grow stronger and use their memories to build far worse plans.
For Rocky and Ascension, that hoard is unnecessary. Ascension does not need conspiracies anymore. Overwhelming force is simpler. Lissandra does not require the tiny power bump those minds would grant.
If all those souls were erased, Secure Your Soul would suffer a fatal blow, and the fallout would crush Arasaka. That would damage the plan Rocky and Yorinobu are executing to control Arasaka. So Rocky instructs Lissandra to move every engram from Arasaka's Mikoshi into the new Mikoshi Atlas built. The old Arasaka vault can retire.
Under Lissandra's control, the legacy Mikoshi infrastructure is demolished. The orbital satellite linked to it erupts into fire and becomes a meteor, adding a short-lived streak to Night City's dim sky.
When everything is done, Rocky leaves the interface room and returns to Yorinobu's CEO office.
"How did it go? Did you deal with Saburo Arasaka?"
"It's done. He will watch Arasaka get dismantled, piece by piece, while he is punished."
"Good."
They keep the exchange short and turn back to directing the operation.
At the same time, Yorinobu launches armed actions across Arasaka's global footprint. With Ascension's main force helping, Night City falls quickly, but other regions are still being pressed sector by sector.
Outside Arasaka Tower in Night City, reinforcements arrive in waves. Troops from Arasaka's armed bases converge, trying to retake the tower and capture Yorinobu.
At the base of the tower, beyond the main gate, soldiers mass across the plaza. Civilians and corporate staff are gone. The air is sharp with the smell of propellant and metal. Other corporations keep their distance and watch from cover. No one wants to be the idiot who gets clipped by a stray missile.
On the ground, reinforcements keep forming up. In the air, a ring of AVs circles, waiting for a window to breach. Yorinobu's side has ringed the door with heavy forces.
At the front stands Jackie, a broad-shouldered man in a black jacket. AV searchlights swing and catch him full on, drawing every eye.
"Hah. Never thought I'd see a day like this," Jackie laughs. "Biggest fight I've ever had."
"Jackie, this is only the first course," Rocky says over comms. "These Arasaka grunts are appetizers. The real show comes later. Treat this like a warm-up."
"Who warms up with something this crazy?" Jackie mutters, but his focus tightens at once. The reinforcements are aggressive, and guarding the gate is his job. He cannot relax.
"Come on then," he says. "Show me what Arasaka's troops can actually do."
He throws his hand forward, and the line behind him surges.
The battle starts immediately. Jackie charges first, slamming straight into the front ranks. He wears no cyberware, but with his frame and the Ascension kit built for him, carving through so-called elite troops feels like slicing vegetables.
Gunfire fills the plaza and echoes off the concrete canyon of the corporate zone. On paper, the reinforcements outnumber the garrison, and their training is comparable. In practice, the Ascension combat robots mixed into the defense hit like hammers. Every push from the outside line breaks on machines that do not panic and do not miss.
The plaza becomes a wall of sound, flash, and smoke as the night's real war gets underway.