Part 32: Episode XXIII: In Which We Don't Need Scissors, But Do Need to Kill More Than 61!

Episode XXIII: In Which We Don't Need Scissors, But Do Need to Kill More Than 61!



Man... At least the Drakengard 1 Seals had fancy glowing glyphs and looked somewhat official. The two shrines we've seen so far have been complete trash dumps. I couldn't tell the difference between this place and a Deku Tree dungeon's rectum.



Zerooo! Help meeeeee!
Goddammit. What now?

Verse 6: Three
New Music: Corroscience - Battleground



We have a bit of business to attend to prior to drumming up Three for a throw-down with her Pokemon Angel of choice. At least if the last few Intoner sister showdowns are anything to go by at this point. Zero and the gang need to free Mikhail's dumb ass by climbing the conveniently carved tree staircase up to his position. There are, of course, the last holdouts of The Land of Forests' military defending the path. But it's not as though that has been much of a deterrent.



Yes, we don't want to stumble here.
It's not that. Looking at that dummy just pisses me off.
That big baby of yours sure does get tied up a lot.
If Lady Three catches him, she may experiment on his body.
B-Body experiments? Ugh... That would be delectib... Ergh, I mean... detestable...



All men take position! Repeat! All men take position!
Ahh! It's the accursed songstress' slaves of the night!
ACTUALLY, they're "disciples."
It's the same thing, you idiot!
I... I will protect Lady Three to the very end!
...Well said, kid. You do that. I'mmmm... just gonna let you take the lead...



You've awfully reserved.
Huh?
You're not going "Aww!" or "I tried super hard!" or whatever.
Oh, can I!? Hey, in that case, guess what? Guess what, huh?
Shut it, dummy. The ivy's just gonna dig deeper into you. Hold still and be quiet until I can cut you down.





Thankfully, there isn't much to cutting Mikhail down this time around. Just a matter of getting Zero to the top of the area and letting her do her cutty-stabbey thing.



GWAAaaaaaaaa_aaaaaa!



Owww! Ow! Ow-ow!



That was mean, Zero! That was mean!
You can whine at me later.

Music: Silence





Pfft. Talk of Three's famous scissors has been vastly overstated. Get back to me when they're the size of her torso and Three is giggling non-stop, possesses a thick high-pitched English accent, and is dressed up like a clown whore.

...

WAIT! I DON'T WANT ANY OF THAT AT ALL! NOOOOO!





Three.
<slightly lifts head> Hmm...? Zero?
Lady Three.



<turns head> Octa.
Please. Let's put an end to this here.
...I don't understand. What are you doing over there?
I betrayed you.
Is that so.



<long yawn> In any case...



You might want to pay a little more attention to your surroundings, hmm?

Music: Corroscience - Battleground





So did anyone order a horde of stumbling zombie-like tin men? No? Well too bad, as this place is frikkin' infested with 'em now. Time for a bit of extermination duty.



Zero mounts up on Mikhail for the rest of this mission. Our first objective is to defeat Three's "Enhanced Soldiers". The use of "enhanced" is a bit misleading as they are more like brain dead husks that just sort of stumble toward Mikhail in a vain attempt to slap his feet or something and... yeah that's it. If Mikhail keeps moving it's nearly impossibly to take any damage. And flying into the air just seems cruel against this lot.

This slaughter fight is really just a timesink for a few conversations to take place. There are 99 fish to shoot in this barrel and even taking down two or three at a time, it'll take a few minutes to fry up the lot.



Yes, my lady?
Why did you betray me?
Because I had grown weary of your conduct, my lady. The way you experimented on people... The way you ruthlessly toyed with their lives... I simply could not abide it any longer. Your... recreational activities... drove me away, my lady.
Hmmm...
I don't think you're telling the truth.
My lady, I--
You left because your lust needed a more eager partner. Your limitless desire no longer caused my honey to flow... And so you grew restless.
That's... Well, it may have been a reason, but...




Don't mind us, you two. Just over here roasting men alive en masse. They got experimented on or something, right? Perfectly fine, then. I think that was in the Geneva Convention articles of war somewhere. The Umbrella Clause or some such...



Hmm?
Oh, please. Don't play dumb with me. I know you have desires.
I... I no longer hold any love for my disciple. My love is reserved for my soldiers now. My sweet, beloved little soldiers.

Eighty sweet, beloved little soldiers immolated later...

So this is your final decision, Octa?
It is. I serve Lady Zero in all things, now.
You don't say.

Just shy of 100 crispy remnants of the Land of Forest's armed forces later...

Music: Silence







Gaaah! Argh!



Hrrrrrrgaaagh!



A disciple doesn't choose his Intoner. An Intoner chooses her disciple. Heh heh...



Heheheheh! Hahahaha!

D-Damn... you...!



HAHAHAHA! HAAA-HAAA-HAAA-HAAA~



HAAA-HAAA-HAAA-HAAA~
Urgh... Ngh!
HAAA-HAAA-HAAA-HAAA~





The raging demon's deathly gaze... The army of heretics that rejects the natural cycle...



I, Octa... summon thee in my name...









In retrospective, it might have been a good idea to have found a hole outside to stick Octa into before we waltzed back into his old master's house...

New Music: Corroscience - Almisael





This qualifies as a problematic situation. I suppose it is a small concession that giant glowing rave babies are preferable to giant cannibal space babies.





Meet the Armisael, Three's Angel army of Angel doll buddies. 50 of 'em in fact to complete the set. Three is sort of a strength in numbers sort of gal.



Unless I am missing something, Armisael is just a reference to a Neon Genesis Evangelion monster-of-the-week. I mean surely that series is a reliable source of angelic terminology to draw accurate names from to keep with an angelic boss naming motif, right? Nobody said it had to just be religious angel names. Anime angels count too, surely.

Edit:

So there you go! Though all honestly let's be real. They just used the name from the anime and called it a day.



Pfft! I'm not scared of some whack-job loser who hides in her room making dolls all day.
They're not dolls, my lady. They're soldiers she's operated on!
Wh-What?!
Oh, that's terrible. Ha! ...I LOVE IT!





So this is not a terribly difficult or (interesting for that matter) boss fight. There are fifty of Three's corrupt man-doll-angel-creepybullshit little bastards to deal with in the first phase. They periodically rain from the sky, will let out a cry, and start bolting for Zero and Mikhail. The Armisael have no special defenses or tricks to suffering damage. Fireballs work, fire breath works even better, making Mikhail do a tail spin works tremendously. It's just a fair hairs short of the shooting gallery that the Enhanced Soldier lot proved to be.



Armisael dolls' only attack is running up and latching onto Mikhail's body and wings. When they've got a firm grasp on our dragon buddy, they start making a beeping noise not unlike a typical video game bomb timer ticking down.





...And that's exactly what that noise is as the Armisael are a bunch of doll shaped suicide bombers. You can shake 'em off before detonating by either having Mikhail do a tail-spin on the ground or ramming him face first into a wall. Beyond that... you just blow up 50 dolls without them blowing up on you, if possible. Still counts as a kill if they do!









After taking out the first 50 Armisael the main event and actual boss plummets from the heavens. Other lesser Armisael buddies will still randomly spawn as a nuisance. But the focus now shifts to this big fella and the poor craftsmanship Three did on his neck joint.



Armisael Alpha, for lack of a better term, has a bit more to him than his bite-sized companions. He is immune to Mikhail's fireballs under normal circumstances and ramming into it causes nominal damage. Plus it isn't wise to be too close to the top heavy bruiser what with the whole...





...Plasma cannon in its chubby cute widdle belly. Obviously, it's best to avoid neon purple doom cannons fire. I've played Saints Row. I know it's just best to avoid pissing off purple in general. Armisael Alpha's laser is only capable of following Mikhail's trajectory a bit to the right or left of the initial blast. So evasion isn't all that difficult if the first volley is avoided.





The Kamehameha function of the Armisael Alpha is its only offensive measure (beyond calling suicide bomber buddies to play martyr) and it takes its toll on the big baby. After it gets all that aggression off its chest, Armisael will take a time out leaving ample time for Mikhail to cruise over and shift into ramming speed and...



Aaah! Thier heads came off! They came off!
Good! Now crush those bastards!

Once Armisael Prime's head is knocked off it is vulnerable as all hell for pelting with fireballs, headbutting for soccer goals, kicking around to the little Armisael for funsies. Whatever suits your fancy will cause massive damage. The body will comically chase after it like a dope, only throwing a flailing tantrum if Mikhail draws close for any stupid reason.

The body will reconnect the its head to its shoulders after a few seconds and return to the Laser Belly Lint phase of the fight. But if it can survive two decapitations and having its head punted all around the arena it would be a lot.



Hush. I'm in the middle of something right now.
Me too! I'm in the middle of something! Something weird!
What is it?
Whenever I look at Three, it's like... like, my body gets all hot... There's this weird pain in my chest and tummy, and I start to get all tingly... What should I do, Zero? ...Am I sick?
Yeah, it's called "love." Probably terminal.
No, Zero! It's not like that! This is serious! It's... It's more like...





Welp. That really is all there is to say about Three's doll army. Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion of Chapter 3!








Video: Chapter 3 Verse 6 Highlight Reel


Video: Armisael Boss Battle



Armisael Concept Art



Three Official Art