Part 38: Airport (Part Two)

So, we're back in the dark. Have a few Light Balls to help make it doable but, well, let's just get moving.

Battle for Survival



Beiji-Weng (Hokuto Seikun) is a weird crystal man with a red/blue yin-yang symbol for his right eye. Also his sword has the big dipper on it.

More importantly, the Skull and/or Divine Rings pretty much make him worthless. Skull especially since 3/5ths of his moves are Death elemental.



Ganesha is a pain as before, but at least now he's a pain that doesn't have Ragnarok. Does quite like to spam his Expel spells a lot more than you would expct, which is.... something useful, I guess. Gale doesn't take too kindly to those Maziongas but they're mostly infrequent enough to not be too big of a deal.

One-Way Stairs



Oh, right. This dark area is kind of most of the rest of the dungeon. We'll start by going south and ignoring that room to the north. It has nothing in it.



Granted, this just lets us get a single Soma Drop so you would be justified in thinking its a waste of time.



Turning back and going futher north than that empty room, we come to these two dudes. I think their dialogue DOES change if you don't have a light ball active for some reason, but it doesn't matter.



The dudes are a couple of Ganeshas, who let us find out they can combo a Xanadu. Shame that I have the Divine Ring, huh?



They get eaten and we move on. Going right first.



Hey, it's the Follow-Up Ring but better.



I realise I'm setting the bar quite low, but this has its uses in some spots. Not overly many when you know what to use and what not, but it's good for when you're figuring things out.



Going back, and continuing on the main path now. Going north from here, since the southern path leads to an empty room.

Then get another split and go east; west leads to another empty room!



This brings us to a small terminal and lets Gale reveal the Evil God mantra at the end of the buffs path. Using that term loosely, since it changed to the better debuff spells really fast.



...As the Evil God mantra itself demonstrates quite nicely. Not getting this though, because it costs $800k which is just shy of twice as much as we currently have!



fffffffffffffffffffffffff

knew i shoulda bought more!

Anyway, just gonna push through until we get to the end. You can see we're currently at a fork in the road, so we'll go to the left first.



This lets us pick up our newest flower; one that, in Buddhism, is the only flower that grows on the other side of the river betwixt life and death.



From there, we'll head back to the split and carry on to the east. That'll bring us around to this fork and we'll take the right path this time.



This brings us to some stairs, but we'll stay down here for now.



Heading west from the fork we just passed, and we'll come to this turn to the south.



I'd say its worth taking, wouldn't you?



Now that we can see better for a little while longer, we'll finish clearing out this area before we carry on. This means we go further west from the light balls, and come to another split. The path west here leads to an empty room, so we'll go south.



This brings us to another set of stairs leading up which we will, again, ignore until later.



The path south from there leads to a meagre +3 Vitality gem. We'll double back now to the first staircase we ignored.



This brings us to the end of those locked doors, which lets us get easy access to a couple karma terminals.



This lets us get the +3 Luck mantra now if nothing else. I think that's all the +3 ones but knowing me I'm forgetting something.

So, what about that door to the south from the top of the stairs?



Airport Field Hunt

Sicily



So, if you're one of the maybe seven people that actually watch the field hunts, you may have picked up on how I had no bloody clue where to go.



Yeah, this was my first time actually doing this one. I kinda expected it to be stupid unfun after the EGG's ludicrous one. Turns out it wasn't actually all that terrible. Go figure.



If you've been paying attention though, you'll have noticed this is actually the fourth field hunt and that each one had a different mitama.



Yeah, it's just the one for each this time. I'm kinda okay with that to be honest.

One-Way Stairs



As an added bonus, the field hunt lets us get access to Esoteric 7. A Good Mantra that I should have opened earlier. Cocytus here is the same as it was before, so it's quite good.

Auto Chakra is exactly what it sounds like. Recovers MP at the end of a fight. This would've been nice to get much earlier. And now I can't afford it because I blew $400k getting Serph both Insatiable and Atma Premium.

totally worth it though



We've already seen the entire dark area that makes up the basement, so we'll skip past there to the other staircase. That room to the south is very useful because...



It has a life terminal in it. Nothing else, but this is probably a good thing.



Around the corner is a small terminal. Now this is suspicious as all hell.

Epic Battle ~ Prelude



You broke free of Angel's control and made it all the way here. But, don't think I'm just another one of those grunts.

Okay, I won't.

Boss (pfft): Yaksa Kartikeya

Epic Battle



Despite the game's protests, Kartikeya is a complete fucking chump oh my god. How do you do this. How do you fuck up and make the GOD OF WAR and SON OF SHIVA into such a colossal pushover.



The dude has a frigging pattern. He always does the same moves in the same order. Without variation.



It's not even subtle or anything! And he resists exactly none of it.

Oh and he has a weakness. It's fucking guns. What is even the point.



Sorry, sorry. I just... I had to actively try to not kill him before he could finish this first cycle and reveal his true gimmick.



I can be seen, yet I do not exist. Try as you might, you will never touch me!



In a gimmick that will go on to be reused in Strange Journey, Kartikeya has a unique spell that does nothing but boost his evasion. Unlike Maya, he can only cast it once.



...The only change this has is that it makes him switch his spells for the random mid-tiers instead.



You cannot dodge reflected spells, even with his stupid gimmick spell. The only reason he gets a turn after this is so...



He can use his best skill. Myriad Spears is what his physical attack gets switched for when he is in critical HP.



And it is still just a physical skill. So it can be reflected. And because of how low his HP has to be to use it, he will kill himself with it.



I just... go away Kartikeya. You were the easiest fight in this place. You didn't even get a successful hit in at all. At least Kali can maybe Curse people. You can't even do that.

One-Way Stairs



Like with Chernobog, the room we're in now gives us a breather to talk with the others. Unlike with Chernobog, there's no Johnny in this one.



I'll do my best... I'm going to fight... I can still... ...do it.



There's no turning back once we take off. Are you ready?

He's not kidding. This is the point of no return; the only sidequest(s) missable though are the archangels and the shmup minigame.

...this makes kartikeya somehow even more of a giant disappointment.

Let's go.
Understood.



Gale...
You're a good man, Serph. I'm proud to have met you. Now... What are your orders, leader?
Let's end it.
I will make sure you take flight. Let us go.

A Fallen Angel's Regret
very definitely should watch this one. like seriously.

Silence



We're so close to the hangar right now, I can practically taste it. We've beaten everything in the area. There's nothing that can stop us now.



Maelstrom





You will die no matter what.



Wouldn't you rather die here...







But...



Silence



We'll postpone it.









She's only bluffing!





...Well, maybe not now when you factor in all those people we just killed. Who were probably carrying out her orders.

This has gone on long enough.
What does that mean?









Hey, I recognise that glowy man.



And here he is, dying and singing an acaplla version of Pray. While shit is going bananas everywhere.





Regret













Silence



















He was content.



Stop it!



















End

One-Way Stairs



And then there were three...

There's no point to rearranging the party or changing skills or anything, since there's no more fights to be had here.



Just a linear path that leads us to our final destination.



But, even after all of this... I can't bring myself to hate her. Help her, Gale...



Sure is a good thing that there's no one left alive but us at this point. Well, not such a good thing when you remember what it took to get here, but I mean...

Never mind. Let's just go.

Fly Away
definitely watch this one too.

Silence



Now we have a nice and relaxing flight to our destination, and nothing bad could possibly happen.



Well, except some of Angel's loyalists having fighter jets and being totally willing to die if it means killing us for... some reason...???

'ey bro.













C'mon, smile!











Cielo gets to be a badass one last time...





And barrel through three jets despite the second one wrecking him pretty bad.









End



We finally arrive at the HAARP facility... but will this really work?



It took a lot of sacrifices to get here. Jinana, Lupa, Adil, Roland, Argilla, Heat, Gale, Cielo...



It's been a long journey, but we finally made it...

We're the only two left, and soon...
Don't worry, we'll always be together.
Serph... I won't be afraid, as long as you're here.