Chaos Rings Part #76 - Sin and Forgiveness

Part 76: Sin and Forgiveness

So, last time we were here, Darwin ended up feeling a bit indisposed after fighting Famine... Let's see what happens now that everybody is back in the main hall.

I suppose it's to be expected.

Those who have never known suffering are unaware of their own sins, not even realising that ignorance itself is a sin.

They enjoy only life's good fortunes, surrender all thought, and continue to be coddled...

Oh, come on Bachs, give the kid a break... wait, what am I saying! It's Conor!

So, Lessica is taking care of Darwin, which leaves us with Marie and Li Hua or Conor for the next part. Since Marie is already a healer/magic user type character, there is not much point in bringing Conor along, so we'll just take Li Hua (not that I wouldn't otherwise anyway...). Actually, since Lessica is not available, I don't think you can even choose here, it has to be Marie and Li Hua!

...

Hmm. He's that important to you?

Yes... he is.

Got it. Sorry to push like that. I didn't mean to pry.

Now that that's settled, let's go get this thing!

Thank you, Li Hua!

A few minutes later...

Do you feel better now?

...Yes. I'm sorry, Marie. It... it's my fault that Darwin...

Conor...

I really am useless... I couldn't even... *sniff* couldn't even...

You don't need to say any more.

Li Hua...

Listen, Conor. I'm going to stop treating you like a child. No more pretty lies to make you feel all better about yourself.

You feel pathetic? You hate what you did?

I do...

Then use your brain. What can you do? Don't sit around crying--think about what you'll do differently next time. Be manly.

...I will try, Li Hua.

This was way overdue, but I am not sure how much it will actually work.

There's a few things to do before we set out (so what else is new?).

First of all, let's have a quick visit to Piu-Piu's sidequest corner.

We can actually start doing some of them (needless to say, we are going to have to do them ALL if we want to... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, really).

Uh, yes, well, that brings us to the meat of this sidequest...

...which like most of them is just a mini-boss fight.

This one is fairly easy and we get a small reward for it. It's another "coloured" recipe. Speaking of which, now finally I can show you what those do.

If you look at the various sopia, you will note that they all have differently coloured icons next to them...

Equip three with the same colour, and if you have the right recipe, you get an extra skill as shown in the bottom left.

This could actually be a useful skill in the right situation!

Well, enough of that, I'll keep working on it so that it's done by the time we reach the appropriate moment in the game. For now, we'll just have a normal chat with Piu-Piu (for a suitable definition of normal, really).

Before we go, we can check in on Darwin...

...but this is all we get.

We can also go to the library...

...where there is a new entry unlocked in Lessica's diary. Here it is:

LESSICA'S LOG 5

Another Rite has been completed.

Even as I make these records, there are strange words ringing yet in my ears.

Words that have been set to music are referred to human beings as a "song". This was the first time I had the occasion to actually hear one such "song".

She told me that this song was a prayer for the souls of those sacrificed as Pillars, for their happiness.

She seemed a holy being as the notes fell from her lips.

Humans truly are fascinating creatures.

So this gives us a bit more insight into the whole singing thing from last time.

Now we can head out...

As a matter of fact, it's a completely new dungeon! As you can see, there are quite a few more dungeons in this game compared to first.

Welcome. As usual, the Japanese name is slightly different, it means "Idols buried in the dust".

Here is the map. We need to make our way from the bottom left corner all the way to the top. Interestingly, if we had Conor with us, we could actually make use of the middle path, but not so with Li Hua. It's not a big deal anyway, just a shorter path, nothing else.

Yet another half-ruined place...

Another place where we could make use of Araki and Conor... but neither of them is with us, so...

This is the place where the middle path branches out. As you can see, we need Conor to be able to activate the passage. No matter, it's just as easy to go around.

Xiao... I like that. So it's a boy?

Yeah. Hard to believe he's almost four. He's a real troublemaker--takes after both of us.

Heh. I bet. It'd be nice to meet him someday.

I hope you can.

...

If you see Orlando again, smack him upside the head for me.

I will.

All better now?

Uh-huh. Let's go.

After a bit of walking we get to this point, which is just on the other side of the barrier we couldn't pass. Walking up that staircase brings us to...

And so, it's the final Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death.

Unfortunately, his defences are a bit high; also he keeps changing his elemental affinity, so... most attacks won't do much more than this typically. Especially since Marie needs to be on healing duty most of the time, so Li Hua will be attacking alone.

He has a bunch of attacks... this one is simple, just some damage to everyone.

This one may be more of an issue...

Good news: it will not kill you. Bad news: it reduces both character's HP to 1, so the next attack will kill you.

Unless... you use Marie's limit break. Similar to Conor, her limit break is also a free heal for everyone. The difference here is that the heal amount is not fixed and depends on her magical power. However, at her current level, we get healed for about 900 HP, which is not far from Conor's fixed 1000 HP heal anyway.

As before, she will be taking enough damage that this limit break will almost always be available. Nevertheless, I would generally try to keep it for use immediately after Breath of the Underworld.

Before I forget... you can steal Topaz from him. This is an accessory that boosts your speed and luck, as usual.

So this battle continues on in similar fashion, until the end.