Part 37: Chapter XXXIV: The Fall - Act 1

No use putting it off any longer. You may fight the gods in any order you want, with the possible exception of Mobius, but we'll be going in the order I went in when I defeated the gods my last time through the game: Mercury (Lucrellia), Mayastia (Aegisthus), Nemesis (Enhambre), Deeth (Fendias), Mobius (Graccea), and finally...

I'm going to give every party member an audience with a god, and try to have sexual equality in every fight. However, since there are more female playable characters than male ones, in Deeth's fight I'll have to have three girls in it. Weiss' bloodline will lead the charge in every fight. Grey and Schwarz are going to trade places for the first four fights, while Weiss will be fighting his old "friend", and what lies beyond even him. I think this is a strong line-up. When you think you're ready to challenge a god, head to the respective temples in each continent. You have to see a scene there before you may head to the Pillar of each respective continent.

One final thing: that forest over the mountains there? In the direction Grey is facing, that's where we began this game. What a different place we're in now. Successors of the gods



Do not interfere with us anymore. Now, let us pass.

That I cannot do. In order to see that the true world comes to pass, I will do what is necessary. This world is a lie. A temporary world constructed to take the place of the one destroyed by the wrath of the gods. In the past, the war between the gods ravaged the world and the mortal races were on the verge of extinction. To prevent that, the gods of light used their own bodies to replace the lives that had been taken. However, the gods of light did not possess the power to create a true world or -real- lives. The ability to create new races was forever lost when the light and dark were split from each other.

They are what makes up those who live in this world now...

Taking us guardians out of the equation, the old blood is only passed down by two other races. Those two being the syrium and the dark elves...

So, by going by what you have just said, I'm a being equal to you guardians... Oh, the sweet, sweet irony.

However, the time for the chasm between us all ends now. The time for the -pure- races and the -new- races to be joined as one has finally come. It is for that purpose that I will now fulfill the ancient duty given to my clan by the gods themselves.

Gnade, please stop!



My life, now decrepit and broken, is like a flickering flame that knows not when it will be extinguished. If it is for the good of all, why show any hesitation? I offer you my life for the sake of the world.

Grey, please, don't! Please don't...Gnade...

The penance demanded by karma can be harsh, especially for one who has killed a god... No, it's not only because of my actions, but those of my grandfather and the Sera clan as well. However, this is but the beginning. Even if not directly by my hand, I'll be responsible for more deaths...

That is true.

My debt to you goes back to when my grandfather lived. I regret that matters have come to this point. I also regret the sadness I will be causing Fiona. But if such action is required to bring about the birth of the true world...



By the oaths I swore as a guardian, I now give my life back to the gods. If you wish for the true world to be born, then take my blood in exchange for the key to open the door.





*Chuckle* To think I would see -you-, of all people... Felenne... I never would have imagined that I would meet you face to face again...

While serving in your position, to have had to bear so much guilt for so long, I am sure it was very painful. Now, please just let everything go and rest. I will be joining you shortly.

Gnade... Thank you so much.

To have so many people care for me at the end, those who are even like grandchildren to me... I consider myself very fortunate... To have...lived...so long...

Your life...is now mine.

Gnade...

There is no time to spare for tears now.

If we fail here, then the lives of all who have died will have been sacrificed for nothing.

Right... This isn't the time to start crying.





Can man really stand against a god? We shall find out now. Infants of the Earth



If old man Gordon was still around, he'd probably be weeping with joy right now.



To have one's mistakes thrust before their own eyes certainly takes its toll on one's mental wellbeing. I wonder if being sent to eternal sleep earlier would have helped matters at all.

I, for one, am incredibly grateful that guns exist. With them, I was able to save a lot of people.

That's the big reason guardians don't like guns one bit: Mercury, a god of darkness, who forsook his oaths to the gods of light, invented them. Another reason is that it's a source of power they really don't have control over.

Mercury's story is that before the war, he was the blacksmith of the divine. It was by his hand that weapons such as Shining Light, Lenion's sword, Soul Blaze, Chaos' scythe, his own Lost Regnum knuckles, Mayastia's Scions of the Sun, Deeth's Scythe of Destiny, and many guns were all brought into being. Before the war began, Deeth tricked Mercury into making the weapons needed to fight the gods of light, but once the war began, Mercury saw no alternative but to fight with the dark gods in fulfillment of his new oaths. For this betrayal, he was summarily imprisoned in the Pillar of Lucrellia.

You should consider yourself lucky, for you have been given this chance to atone for your sins. Just as I have.

The eternal argument: Were weapons made for the battle, or did they cause the battle in the first place?

Tools are tools, regardless of their function. You aren't responsible for the violence that occurred.

Anything can be used as a weapon, regardless of what it was originally intended for.

However, that is no justification for you abandoning your obligations and embracing darkness.

There is no way for you to ever undo the sins you have committed in the past. However, for the sake of the future, you can at least atone for them now.

I will now send your soul to where it desires to be most.

Just as your hand once guided humanity, now our human hands will guide you.

To the place where you belong!



The God of Craftsmen and Trade, Mercury. All of the Gods are joined in battle by two Gurgs, for some reason. These guys are Summerill's henchmen, so I'm not exactly sure why they fight with a god. Maybe the developers figured that just a god as an enemy would be too easy. That certainly was the case in Agarest 1 when you fight the gods. It was laughably easy to defeat them if you exploited the battle system in that game.

Anyway, as you might expect, the god battles are a big deal. The gods themselves are all very powerful enemies, with a lot of physical attack and defense, and magical attack and defense. Some gods are more based around physical attacks, others more magically-inclined, but all are no slouches in any department. Add in the Gurgs, and you've got quite the party, as well as a rockin' battle theme. In this case, Mercury loves the Lightning, and indeed, absorbs any and all Lightning attacks. He also frequently causes Paralysis, so having some status effect reducing items equipped on your characters is a must.



Before this battle began, I decided to outfit Victoria and Grey will some new equipment. Victoria currently has the Augenblick, that, while not a weapon or piece of armor directly used by a god, it was created by one. Namely, Mercury. As such, it's more powerful than anything we've seen before, and indeed, Victoria has about 5000 ATK for this fight. She's going to be dealing some damage, count on that. Grey has the Kaiser Knuckles, which is tied with another knuckle for best one (depends what you want more, magical or physical damage), but Mercury's Lost Regnum is definitely the best knuckles in the game.

Coming into this fight, have at least one character with AGI in the 300s, because even in the mid-200s, everyone in this fight is just too fast to keep up with. I lost my first try against Mercury without getting a single turn. With Grey at around 350 AGI, I can easily get the first turn after Mercury, and the AI tends to target characters with the most HP a lot. Li Ra-Lua only has the most HP at the moment because of Max HP Change+ equipped on her, while Schwarz actually has the highest max HP currently. Grey is not far behind his father in that department.



Unfortunately, I had to use an Ultimate Strike to finish off the magic Gurg in one turn, but that's one arrow out of Mercury's quiver. But, the pain train is coming right back around to us.



Jainus is a man among men. I'm going to be getting a lot of mileage out of No Fear this update and next, trust me. Jainus himself survived both of the Gurg's Original Skills, Dead End Storm and Hellfire Slash. And while he didn't survive the attack, Mercury had to use a lot of AP to get him. Grey, not being the primary target of the attack, didn't even get a scratch on him.



While I didn't kill the Gurg this time, much to my chagrin, he definitely will not be living the next turn I get, and I got a lot out of that attack, as you can see.



Now that his two pals are dead, Mercury must fight alone. He loves the fists, as evidenced by many things, but Grey did not follow his grandfather in the way of the fist for no reason. We'll show this god what a real street fight is.



But before that, we will chill him to the bone, with skills like Frost Blaze and Avalanche. Fighting Spirit is so great. Oh, and for some reason, there's two EX Skills with the name Fighting Spirit. It's just one increases AP Gain (Grey has this), and the other increases Break value significantly (Jainus has this). The former has a cost of 2 SP, the other 4, which is mostly how you tell them apart.



Mercury's two Original Skills are plenty fearsome, even with No Fear on. He didn't live long enough to throw out his second one, Gallows Execution (it was Gallows Hanging in Agarest 1), on my success run, but you can check it out in the actual video.



Mercury, your end is at hand. Though Weiss' hands may not be truly stained with the blood of a god, Grey's soon will be. Prepare yourself.



Behold the sheer fury of all who dwell on the earth. Valkyrie Climb did 199,018 damage alone.



Your biggest mistake was challenging Grey to a fist fight. He possesses both style and technique, and is more than a match for you in the arena. Weiss is proud of his grandson.



This Over Kill was close as hell. Literally the last attack of the Ultimate Strike is what Over Killed Mercury. But, man does he have some good items on him. The Aegis, Imperial Guard, Glory, and an E.O.M (Emblem of the Master), as well as a Blue Water for an Over Kill. The Blue Water actually has an interesting description. It mentions it belonged to an off-world princess, named Nadia. For those who don't get the reference, there's an anime called Nadia of Blue Water, and the titular Nadia wore a necklace that looks exactly like the Blue Water does in this game. This series has actually referenced Dragon Ball, too, with the Dragon Ball crafting material (no relation, of course). Otherwise, the Blue Water is a very, very good accessory.



No matter what the distance. No matter what the enemy.



A sword in and of itself is not evil; the evil comes from the heart and mind of the one wielding it.

You should have had more faith in yourself and your actions.

So this is the price put on my sins... Then I shall gladly pay it. I pray that what I give now will have some value to you all as well. For now my children have received all they had desired.





That is putting it mildly. One god is dead and his soul has been received by Chaos, but four still remain. By slaying Mercury, you gain access to the crafting books of a god, which gives you the chance to make all the artifacts of the gods. The one interesting weapon to note is Nemesis' staff, which as I mentioned is also called Nemesis. The description for it says that at first, it was just a nameless, powerless little staff. But as Nemesis used it, it became filled with her magical power and was her weapon of choice. Mercury did make it, but the staff itself became twisted as Nemesis used it.

To make the big guy's Lost Regnum, you need the recipe book, of course, but you also need a Glory (stolen from the man himself, or you can craft it), Primeval Memories from the Ancients in Boundary Plain, Urthr's Waters from the Norns from same dungeon, and the Book of Smithing, which you got from the commission for defeating Mercury.



Lost Regnum is one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Weiss will be very happy with this, I think. And these are just the base stats. In addition to weapons, you can also forge the artifacts of the gods of light: Varna, Arumana, and Mystia, as well as Julius' Ring of Heaven (the other two gods of light, Lenion and Dialos, have weapons). I know for sure you can get more than one Ring of Heaven, at the very least, but not from any enemy we can fight at the moment...



Unfortunately, we still can't make the Revolver Cannon, since we need Auto Matter. But, you get the Auto Matter from the Mayastia commission, which we're going to do next, in fact. We'll be able to get some sweet, sweet stuff from killing that guy, trust me.