Part 51: Episode XXXV: This is a Story About Crushing Rebel Scum... For Peace!

Episode XXXV: This is a Story About Crushing Rebel Scum... For Peace!



We resume our adventures with the Oneder Twins later in the day of Brother One's birth. But three months before the prologue framing device. And over half a year prior to the actual prologue of Drakengard 3. And a good 20 months or so before Brone ends up murdering Zero in Ending A. We're going to need some kind of flow chart to keep up with these dates soon.



What about killing to save the life of someone else?

Verse 2: Peace and Violence



In the few hours since the creation of Brone and the fight to escape the still occupied by evil lord army Cathedral, he and Intoner One have somehow huffed it on foot clear across Inverted Europe to the Land of Forests. Calling shenanigans on that one, game. I've seen disciple AI. There is NO WAY One managed to drag her brother that far in such a time with him getting caught up on walls, deciding to spin in circles to advance forward, or being caught in an endless loop of falling down chasms.



This map is Verse 2 of Chapter 3 back in Zero's murder road trip. Gone are the asshole faeries and child devouring trolls. Instead it's mostly just a whole mess of the remnants of the Land of Forests' defense force. We never actually see the great evil lords of the realms in Drakengard 3. They appear in the Utahime Five tie-in manga which is... well about One, Two, Three, Four, and Five going and taking care of the jerk lords of the Midgard realms. The lord of the Land of Forests was an eight your old magician kid. It's Drakengard so spoilers: He died.



To free the people from these oppressive regimes, we, the Intoners, have been eliminating their forces in each land.

Music: Blissade - Battleground



No.
These men are all evil, right?
Yes. Their lords have inflicted great cruelty on their own people.
So if we're killing them, does that make us good? Or evil?
...We don't get to answer that question.
.....
The people of these lands have suffered under their lords for a very long time.
Did they kill their own subjects?
I assume so. But I also believe many have faced fates far worse than death.
Worse than death? What could possibly be worse than death?
Sooner or later, you may see for yourself.



Early on the scrub lord soldiers don't want a whole lot to do with One and Another One. Well beyond archers being the eternal video game jerks that are willing to stand their ground and take pot-shots all day long no matter the cost to their health. So of course there are a ton littered about thanks to the chakram equipment.





Intruders! Intruders in sight!
All men find your posts.
Are they twins?! They look so alike.
It could be a trick. Stay focused!
...I can't go on any more!
Keep running! Don't stop! Move! MOVE! They're overtaking the forest! Argh... At this point it's either run or die!
Ha! It's just women. There's nothing to fear!
Right.



The cavern back where Mikhail got stuck for the first of several times is filled with soldier men far less enthusiastic to see the pair of twins. Thirty of them are willing to die in this cave over retreating. Their funeral mass grave. I've got to wonder what percentage of the total population of Reverse Europe ended up dead in the last couple of years since the rise of Intoners.



Let's keep up and wipe them all out.
The further we go, the closer we'll be to a better world.
What does a "better world" mean to you, Sister?
It means a world without conflict.
In other words... a peaceful world?
Exactly. You're learning fast.
...But there's still something I quite don't understand.
What's that?
Why must we fight in order to make a peaceful world?
If you've a better idea, I'm all ears. I'm not a god, you know. I don't have all the answers.
Does peace mean that we stop talking to each other and simply turn to the sword?
.....
I'm sorry, One. I didn't... I didn't mean to defy you. I apologize.
It's fine. You're not wrong, after all. My ideal world is one big contradiction. But I intend to balance the books in the end.
"Balance the books"?
If it brings peace, then I don't care what kind of sacrifice I must--
.....
No. Nevermind.



It may have lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, but One's trade reform acts got results dammit. A handful of archers and lancers won't challenge the free market.



The final challenge of this exceedingly brief mission is to take out a Gigas flanked by a great deal of supporting archers and highly devoted rebel soldiers.



It does feel like there's no end to them.
Don't we have anyone to fight on our side?
We have my sisters.
Sisters?
Yes. Allies. We share a common enemy in Zero.
Will I get to fight alongside them as well?
No. I can't tell anyone about you.
You're keeping me a secret from our sisters?
Yes. All the way to the end. You're my fail-safe, after all. Every game needs at least one ace in the hole.
So... you're the only person I'll ever talk to?
No. There's one other. Not exactly a person, per se, but...
Who is it?
She's the big mouth waiting just up ahead.
...She can be a bit of a pain, so get ready.





Murdering a gigas with the weakest and slowest weapon class in the game is less than thrilling task to be handed. I feel like the developers figured that out as well as there is a regularly respawning suicide bomber with its friendly fire turned on for the duration of the battle. Nothing like a good martyr or two busting a giant's knee caps to even the odds in our favor.





If that's not enough for alternatives, there's more than enough blood sacks brave soldiers willing to part ways with their freshly sprayed fluids to build up a full Intoner mode gauge on One and go wild. It's only a vanilla gigas with the minimal amount of armor we're facing here. One full block of Intoner juice is enough to burn off the better part of the big fellow's HP.



Though toppling the giant is the final challenge of the mission, straggler soldiers not counted, there's still one remaining task we need to accomplish before carrying on. One mentioned an ally that wasn't her sisters to Brone. There's only one other thing out there that is on One's side that isn't a nameless armored mook...



Meet Gabriella the Prologues DLC exclusive character. Yep it's One's dragon Gabriel prior to the whole death metal demon reincarnation its modern day form takes. Gabriella is voiced by Mona Marshall. Which you'd probably best remember as Angelus the Red Dragon back in the older games. Well, Seere as well. But who cares about Seere? Gabriella is pretty Red if she was 100% more sassy, gave zero fucks, and shat on everyone and everything constantly.

Gabriella is pretty awesome in my book.



Sorry.
And who's that? Are you two people now? The hell is going on!?
Some things cropped up, all right? Let's go.



Defeating the gigas and having a brief chat with the purple dragon opens up the route to the end of the mission. Hey, we made it a whole trip through the forest and encountered zero faerie jerks. That's always a plus as far as I'm concerned.



Hey! Heeey, wait a second!





And that abruptly concludes Verse 2. That was a short one. But hey, we met a new friend along the way and something... something... justice peace and murder. We've had less productive missions before.








Video: One's Prologue Verse 2 Highlight Reel



Gabriella Concept Art