Part 38: Chapter XXXV: The Fall - Act 2

Time to move on to mighty Aegisthus. This continent has borne witness to many a ferocious battle, and the biggest one is still yet to come. The old blood



Georg, have you found anything of worth by walking the path of violence?

If I had an answer to that question, I would be able to finally lay down my sword. To be honest, I do not quite understand myself even now, old friend.

To think that you'd still call me a friend... Could it be that it's not that you cannot find your answer, but that you don't want to?

That may be the case...

And the saying -like father, like son- truly applies here. Like your father, you chose to take up firearms.

Something that I am incredibly proud of, by the way. And I'm even prouder of my father.

In the past, I only thought of propagating the -blood- that flows within my veins. Unfortunately, my fixation on our -blood- caused me, and all of the Gruut, to lose our pride. By releasing the dark gods and then slaying them, the souls of those who live in this world will be freed. And when the Sera clan removes Chaos' seal and then kills him, the door to the true world will open. However, in each case the opponent is a -god- and requires great strength to defeat. The pure races that managed to survive that ancient battle between gods had that -strength-. And by being connected by that blood and keeping it pure, we guardians have that strength even now. We had to protect and nurture the blood of the pure races, which still was within us. And it was us guardians, the last of the pure races, who alone could break the god's seals and slay them. But to only focus on our own preservation at the expense of others, was a grave mistake. What use is a guardian who doesn't guard those he must?!

I thought the same as you. Even had I seen my error earlier, I wouldn't have been able to change on my own. However, I had these people by my side. They understood my dilemma and reached out to me. But I may have been able to change my views because I wasn't in a position of leadership like you. But clan elders bear the responsibility of the entire clan and their decisions affect a great many others... I sympathize with your predicament.

Everything that I've said up until now has been nothing more than a series of poor excuses. Now that I think about it, my doubts began when I first met all of you. My, how time does fly. It seems the time for me to return this body to the earth has arrived. It has been a long time in coming. Now, in order to regain the pride I had lost, use your sworn and take my life for the good of all.



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.





Jeez, he looks a lot bloodier than Gnade did. Guess the biggest elder guardian dude had the most blood to lose...

Jainus...let it be known that, by the oaths I have sworn on my name and my soul, I have fulfilled my duty... I will now await you on the other side... I...now leave everything...in your hands...

I will be sure to make good on your last request. And I understand exactly how you feel.

Actually, WE will be doing the fulfilling and whatnot.

And I promise not to waste this new chance at life that I have been given.

Man, I'm starting to sound like a walking cliche. It frightens me to see how much like you've I've gotten.

The elder did say something about trees, apples, and falling...

That's true.



Now...please rest in peace.



And who else but Mayastia would look out over this war-torn land? Children of the Sky



To show my appreciation, allow me to give you all -death-.

There comes a point when a joke stops being funny. You have crossed that point long ago.

I'd advise you keep your jokes limited to your appearance, oh puissant god.

The ignorance and arrogance of humans is astounding; to not realize the mercy of a death swiftly given.

There are indeed times when death can be seen as a mercy.

It seems that despite your limited intelligence, you are capable of understanding basic truths. Perhaps you even comprehend the hypocrisy of what you intend on doing now.

If we were to stop now simply out of fear of discord, then everything would come to an ignoble end.

If you're trying to insinuate that the world exists in a state of hypocrisy, you'd be exactly right.

And anyway, a little hypocrisy is a lot better than the alternative you propose. At least, it's a hell of a lot better than your twisted idea of -mercy-.



Mayastia is the god of war, basically, but he does not start war for the hell of it. He keeps it going and desires conflict, but he does not fight for fighting's sake. He loves war because to him, it is a way to eliminate those who do not deserve to live in the world, because they were weak. When the strong survive and dominate the weak, the world prospers, as Mayastia believes.

This is why he joined Chaos and the rest in their war. He believed that Lenion's victory would mean a world of peace, something he found utterly intolerable. And besides, it wasn't like a conflict between gods was going to happen every day, right? Gotta get in on that action.

Why can't you see that oppressing the weak is right and that their eradication is only natural?

If you fight battles of no significance, you will never obtain true strength. For one cannot hope to gain true strength simply by indulging in their desires.

In that you are wrong, for strength itself is the whole of truth. It is sheer idiocy to ignore the obvious and to tolerate the impotence of the weak and powerless! To do so would make you no better than the pitiful dregs who befoul this great world! Both god and mortals prove their right to live by achieving overwhelming victories in endless battles. That is the truth of the world!

Only the victorious are righteous... Indeed, I could accept that as the fundamental truth of existence.

Let us ignore the differences between gods and humans for now. If strength truly is everything, then why don't we determine, right here and now, which of us deserves to remain in this world?

It is time for you to experience the power of the beings you hold in such disdain...!





Mayastia, the God of Conflict and Domination. Aside from the Gurgs, Mayastia is an extremely powerful physical attacker, but that's pretty much his whole bag. He very rarely casts magic, and you might be thinking it might not be a good idea to use a very melee-oriented team against a melee-oriented boss. You might be right about that, but I defeated him easily enough.

In off-screen news, Schwarz is currently using the Armageddon, a considerable upgrade over the Apocalypse. Though it has very low magic damage, does have very powerful physical attack, and Schwarz is going to be kicking ass and taking names for this fight.



Of course, he certainly has powerful Original Skills. True story, on one of my previous attempts at this guy, he used E-Strike to break Schwarz, then followed up with Crimson Crime, but since Schwarz had No Fear on, and was in his formation, neither E-Strike nor Crimson Crime did any damage. TWO Original Skills from a god did nothing to Schwarz that time. It was hilarious.



I was rushing through animations a bit here because I was sure Mervina was going to get killed and would end the fight in another Game Over, but three things are assuring she's going to live: she's in a yellow square from the Gurg's point of view, she has No Fear on, and Mayastia is not in the Gurg's formation. If he was, I certainly would have lost.



It certainly was close, but now Mayastia has no Original Skills to surprise us.



Ignis' current weapon is actually Lost Regnum, fully upgraded. You know, I have 7 Divine Crests right now, having not used any this entire playthrough. Maybe it's high time to change that. I mean, it's not like our enemies are impressed with our attachment collection, right?



So Mayastia, how's that Original Skill line-up looking now, eh? Schwarz currently has 36,000 HP. Even the most powerful counterattack I've ever received in this game couldn't punch through that. Even if I gave Mayastia the chance to counterattack, which See All won't even allow him to do, Schwarz would just laugh in his face.



Where Mercury could absorb Lightning, Mayastia absorbs Wind (Nemesis absorbs Darkness, and Deeth Fire, for a little upcoming boss info). Sadly, that's not exactly intuitive, given the fire motif he's got going. But, we just have to be careful when he's in Burst, that's all. ~1000 HP from Storm Attack isn't even going to make the slightest difference.

As a side note, Mayastia has some REALLY good steals, including a Mighty Ring. Make sure you have someone who can rare steal in this fight. Actually, all the gods have really good things they drop, but Mayastia is definitely up there in terms of useful things to nab.



This guy just has a real problem with Ignis' max HP. He's just going after him all the time. Oh well. How's that "Using both Original Skills in a single turn" working out for you, pal?



Sure hope you're ready for this, because here we come!



You love fighting, huh? How about when a fighter more powerful than yourself comes along? Schwarz's Dimension Crush is killer effective against this guy, with Desperate Strength on, having a very powerful weapon, and in his formation.



You have fallen. Therefore, you no longer have any right to be in this world. Am I following you?



Freedom's wings can never lose, for they bear the hope of all who live.



To start, your own contempt doomed you from the beginning.

Furthermore, your arrogance caused you to make light of your opponent.

And for a final twist of the knife, as it were... You chose to abandon your own spiritual growth.

Humans cannot compare to the gods, but with time and effort, they will be able to grow as a species.

Humans and gods will never be equals. We will always be no more than insects to you.

But bugs or not, you should have paid more attention to us lowly -humans-.

Nnnrraaaaaaggghhhhhh!



Another god has fallen, but three still remain.

When humans are pressed to fight for what they wish to protect, their strength knows no limits. You probably had nothing you cared about so dearly...

To have nothing to care about is truly sad...

About your body...is it holding together?

Do not worry, it's nothing. This body will still hold. Let's get moving. This is not over yet.

Yeah, let's all go together.

But for today, we may rest. We have much to do to prepare for our future battles.



Like crafting the defeated god's own spear. The materials you need to make this are the spears Khatvanga, Nothung, and Slepinir, along with the Juon Flame. We literally got half of the materials to make this from Mayastia himself, as well as the Juon Flame, which came from the commission where it asks you to defeat him. Thanks for the assist beyond the grave. I'll be sure to put this puppy to good use. We have other business with Gordon.



Like crafting this sexy gun. To forge this, you need a 99 Magnum, 3 Kaiser Cores (from the Kaiser Slimes in Boundary), 3 Resilient Souls (from the Asura, also in Boundary. They and the Kaisers frequently appear in the same battles together), and Auto Matter, which we got from the Mayastia commission. The Revolver Cannon, all things being equal to every other weapon in the game, has by far the most physical attack power. I find it hilarious how it literally has no magical power. It's just all firepower. Fully upgraded, its firepower reaches the dazzling number of 4054.

But I'm not done with it yet. I proceeded to put on a couple War God's Crowns and an Imperial Jewel.



Pure, unmitigated destructive power, in firearm form. Not only the style, but the power of the weapon itself is through the roof. Imagine this with Rile on, and you've got yourself a real killer, of anything in the game.

Well, next time, Nemesis shall know true pain. She will soon follow Mercury and Mayastia into the abyss of death.