Part 20: The What If Situation
Last time, Escher and Musiea have been defeated so now it's time to do another bit of "what if?".
Some words of encouragement from Piu-Piu...
And then of course we go forward.
That is why the warriors here were summoned together with the member of the opposite sex that they cared most deeply for. Now, it's the time for you to demonstrate that power for the last time.
Zhamo, I'm sorry... There's just no way normal humans can beat him. It appears you have lost all will to fight in face of overwhelming power. You are weak, Eluca. I guess... this is as far as we go... If you have truly given up, then I have no more use for you.
Zhamo...
It's okay, Eluca. When you have someone you want to protect, you will find the strength you need. Ayuta, Mana, Escher and Musiea all helped to show me that. No one will hurt you as long as I'm alive. (He's... protecting me?) (Yes, I see now. Those were the words I've been waiting for...) (I wanted someone to protect me. Someone to tell me it would be okay.)
And our rings finally start glowing!
And now we have to fight him, same as before.
The battle does not go very differently either with us hitting hard...
...and him not doing much. This is over quickly, as expected.
And again, we get this strange scene:
...its scents, into your genes... The land it is your destiny to reach... The Promised Land.
Is this one of his attacks? Even if that be nothing but a seed, planted in a time long since passed... Carve your desires... Your mother's entreaties... The memories of this land, into your genes...
And we're back here.
Does it mean... it's over? It looks like it.
...Thank you Zhamo. If you weren't here, we never could have defeated him.
Oh, sure... What's wrong? I can't help about what he said at the end... Is that the "final couple"? The promised land also...
Well, there's no point in looking back. Don't worry, let's go back home. It's time to leave the Ark Arena. Yeah. You're right.As a result of this, we of course get new equipment:
Piu-Piu actually has some things to say, but it's all we've seen before, so...
We will see what would have happened had we gone through this door.
Where are we?
Zhamo, Eluca. This is Earth from 10,000 years ago.The game certainly labels this character again as "????", but since we already know who it is I will use the real picture.
10,000 years ago? Look up. What's that?
You two are about to become this world's First Couple. What are you talking about? I don't understand.
...a being known only as the Qualia will appear and destroy everything. Your job is to spend the next 10,000 years creating a human race that can defeat it. That's ridiculous. There's no way we could do something like that. Oh, but you can. You two are the ones who triumphed in the Ark Arena. And now you have eternal life and eternal youth as well. I am entrusting the future of humanity to your superior DNA.
With this, the Ark Arena disappears from the sky.
If you are counting, this is the third time we see these end credits. No, it's not the actual end this time either.
Of course, as with Escher and Musiea, here too, this is just a false ending. And the real ending is obtained by reloading the game and NOT going through this door. But this is for next time.
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Appendix
Of course, after this, before progressing the plot, you have the chance to do the eight optional bosses. In order to be able to do this, I first did a bit of grinding to level up the characters, like so:
During the grinding, in the dungeon I found still more advanced equipment than before:
And finally, after defeating the bosses, they yielded even more advanced pieces, except for the accessories:
I am not showing the actual fights here, because they are absolutely identical to the ones seen with Escher and Musiea, so there is really no point to repeat it here. But I do show weapons/clothes because most of them have pretty awesome names and it would be a shame to miss out (especially since some of the names actually give out the backgrounds of various characters!