Part 23: Stratum 4: Sovereign Boss: ???

While the chain of events is unclear, it is commonly agreed that a Majin attack caused massive damage to Castle Valdia.
- excerpt, The Fall of Valdia

Family Reunion



I thought I was prepared for anything we could have found in Besek. I was wrong.

Video- “Sovereign Lead In”

Click For Video

Why’s the deepest part of Besek connected to this place…?
I never thought I would find YOU here.
Wh-Who’s there!?

Of course I knew who it was. I just didn’t want to believe it.



F-Father…!
Who would’ve known you would find your way here?
Father… What’s going on?
Why does the deepest part of Besek connect to Castle Valdia!?
I have no reason to answer you, now that you’ve lost your claim as Izel.
I… I’m not Izel!
No, you’re a disappointment!
The only usefulness for you is to resurrect Izel.
But you’ve given up that great honor. You’re worthless to me now!
…
Where’s my sister?
She has already been given over to the ritual…

But the truth was plain. Father had gone mad.



Izel will descend upon Lenarshe! She will grant your sister her divine power!
Is that…? Is that the Eternal Posion…? It can’t be…!
Father, why are you trying to resurrect Izel?
Hahaha… it’s quite simple…
If I can absorb her power, then NOTHING will stand in my way!
Being King isn’t enough for you?
I’m worthy of greater things than sitting on the throne of a pitiful kingdom.
Father… I can’t let you do this!
You will go against me then, Ashley? My own flesh and blood?
You’ve become cold and unloving! You have no sense of right and wrong… You’re barely even a human anymore!
Hahaha, you’ll regret those words soon enough!

He’d become just like all the other Majin, obsessed with the power of Izel…

Video- “Sovereign”

Click For Video with Commentary



Ally Team:
Our starting group is going to be Ares, Irina, and Yuri out of our mercenaries and a Scytodida. The Scytodida gives us a hard-hitting and tough melee fighter. I’ve got King Bellion on deck in case we lose anyone, which is very possible given how brutal the Majin are in this map.

Enemy Team:
King Valdus is accompanied in battle by two each of Zerda, Chiroptera, Aquamote, and an all new Majin, Garuda. Let’s look at our new enemies.



Garuda is a brutal Majin that only appears in the final map. It’s fast, it’s powerful, and it can heal. It’s very hard to capture as well. Dark attacks are its only weakness, and we don’t have any. Getting one now would be nice, though, if only so we don’t have to try ever again.



Here’s King Valdus’ Majin form in Ashley’s story. Here he’s a Water and Dark user that is only really vulnerable to Fire and Slash attacks. He’s got a massive load of health and very tough defenses, so he’s definitely not going down quickly. His Aqua III and Malus IV are potentially very damaging, so we need to be careful who he can reach with them.

Deployment:



We’re going to deploy off to one side. The Majin on this map are super aggressive, so we can’t really fight them in small numbers. The best we can do is delay the first wave by activating them more gradually.

Tactial Objectives:
-Capture Garuda
-Commit regicide

Map:



How did a Majin disguise itself as King!?
Imbeciles! Fear the true form of the King!
King Valdus has Majin blood…
That’s why he can control the Majin.
The same blood runs in your veins, my dear!
You are as much a Majin as me, daughter!
But I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be human!
Ha, such foolishness!
Holy Atona, please guide and protect us.
Allow me to end this tyrant’s life!
Prepare yourself, Father!

We start out the show by advancing on the near Zerda. It shoots at Scytodida, who is vulnerable to Pierces but can’t be Bled. As long as we can keep it alive it’ll pretty much make the Zerda inconsequential.



Please, make this interesting!
If you harm my sister…!
Can you control your own power?
After all, you gave up your claim to become Izel…
Unfortunately for you, I can!

I start throwing everything I’ve got at Zerda and send Ashley towards the middle of the map. I can’t avoid attracting the Majin in that area, so I might as well get someone there to meet them.



Aha, it’s Leto’s servant… Hahahahahaha!
Keep only those that are of use! That’s the King’s way!

We almost manage to take the Zerda down, but one of the Garudas comes over and heals the damned thing. Their Prayer II is a seriously large heal and we need to either full kill Majin before a Garuda gets to act or run them out of heals to make any real progress.



Ashley, how do we break it!?
It’s no match for my strongest attack…

Just like Doom Shade’s Aura we need Punishment to break Valdus’ Aura. We definitely want to kill as much as possible before we do it, though. I throw yet more at the Zerda and it gets healed once again by the other Garuda. Even worse, the first Aquamote and Chiroptera are also coming in now. Ashley throws a Sacrasphere out to get started on one Garuda and the Aquamote, and we try to keep the same Garuda busy by moving into its face. Glynne nearly takes the Aquamote out, and Ares finishes off the Zerda with a Dual Attack. Aquamote annoyingly manages to Freeze Ashley, but fortunately Scytodida is doing a good job tanking both Garudas. Reyna finishes off the Aquamote, but ended up in a very bad position doing it. Chiroptera manages to get a hit in on him, and I don’t even see that a Garuda can reach him as well and one unlucky crit later he’s our first casualty for the map. As the second Aquamote engages we bring the Chiroptera down in hail of Light magic from Ashley, Yuri, and Irina. This leaves Glynne in a good position to get started on the remaining Aquamote while Ares and Scytodida work on one Garuda and Ashley tries to keep the other one busy.



I’m not your daughter anymore.
I fight you as a Protector of the Faith!

Glynne finishes off the second Aquamote as we try to drag one Garuda into Overkill range. The other one continues to be annoying but not terribly threatening at the moment.



AHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Even in this form you hold back against me!
Come! You have Majin blood in you, just like me!

The Garuda we have surrounded has gotten low enough to heal itself, and annoyingly Scytodida has Returned now. It can’t heal again now, so as we drag it down we arrange for some assistance in keeping his friend busy.



Garuda may be bad, but it’s a joke compared to the real King. Ashley also advanced to get closer to Valdus and break his Demon Aura, which both draws in the second Chiroptera and makes Valdus start attacking. His stuff is largely ineffective on Ashley, fortunately. I move Yuri somewhere silly not realizing where the other Garuda can move and then manage to Overkill the one I have surrounded. I’m feeling pretty good when I break Valdus’ Demon Aura, which reverses immediately when the other Garuda one-shots Yuri with a lucky crit. King Bellion moves up to support Ashley, and Glynne kills the second Garuda with a Crow’s Beak, getting him a level. This is when things got scary, because Zerda came up and Bled Ashley. Even worse, I didn’t realize how far I was from my support and advanced her to hit both it and the King with a Sacrasphere.



No, he MUST be stopped, no matter what!
Okay.

I start throwing everything I’ve got out there. What I need to do without fail is provide at least two of the enemies with a better target than Ashley until she gets a turn, at which point I can use a Teardrop to heal her and cure her Bleed. Ares provides the distraction to Zerda, and time itself provides it for the Chiroptera who’s going after Ashley anyway. The King doesn’t manage to kill Ashley with an Aqua III, so I succeed in pulling myself out of the fire. I pour everything I’ve got on the Majin to kill them now, ending the Chiroptera and then the Zerda.



I also heard that you were responsible.
That’s one of many burdens…

Now the long, slow effort to kill the King begins. I wish here that I’d had either of Reyna or Yuri still, because the extra healing or damage would have really helped out. Still, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion now.



But the past is gone, and now I see your true form!
Be judged by Holy Atona!
Foolish girl! Do you know the truth of your Goddess!?

OMINOUS. Anyway, we keep throwing attacks Valdus’ way. Nothing’s doing particularly much damage, annoyingly.



This is most entertaining.
I might spare you to witness the birth of Izel!

In the end, though, victory was certain when we got Valdus alone. Ashley finishes the job and levels up to boot.



You will… regret…
You will regret… defying me.
Father…
You cannot live in this world… as a human…!
You don’t know… the truth…

Battle Result:

Levels:
Ashley 27->28
Glynne 21->22

Majin:
Garuda Lv 20 x 1

Gold:
21900

Still, did I have a right to judge him? I’m a Majin too, after all.

Video- “Sovereign Lead Out”

Click For Video

Did we…
Did we do the right thing?
What do you think? Will you be alright?
Glynne…
It must have been painful for you, having to fight your own father…
But still, you did the right thing…
Majin blood runs through my veins…
I feel so unclean…
…
Ashley… will you let me…
Hmmm?
Will you let me bear that pain with you?
Ashley, your sister’s awake!

We’re going to need to come up with something to tell everyone about what happened. There’d be chaos if the truth came out.



Ashley, thank you. Thank you for stopping our… father.
I had no choice.
As your older sister, I should have been the one to protect YOU…
I’m sorry you had to suffer for my sake.
That’s alright.
My hands are already covered in blood…
Ashley…

It may have been a blessing that the Castle was so heavily damaged, though. With all the dead Majin, we can claim they attacked.



What’s that noise!?
The statue’s crumbling!
No! The Goddess Statue!
Aaah!
We’ve got to get out of here! It’s too dangerous!
No, we must protect the Goddess Statue!
We don’t have time for that!
You need to get out of here. You need to live so you can rule Valdia!
But…!
Hurry, both of you!

I’m still not sure why Lenarshe was so worried about the statue, we can always have another one made. I’m still thinking about what Father said as he died. Could he be right? Is it impossible for me to continue living as a human?

Even if it is, the only way I’ll learn it for myself is to try.
- journal entry



Video- “Credits, Ashley Version”

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Shortly after the Majin’s assault on Castle Valdia, evidence emerged that Pope Renart had ordered the death of his main rival, High Priest Leto. These shocking allegations were supported by the royal family, and led to his arrest.



There are rumors that agents from the Stag Domain were instrumental in bringing Renart low.



While these rumors persisted, they did nothing to slow the Church’s progress towards the very reforms Pope Renart had ordered Leto dead to defeat.
- excerpt, The Fall of Valdia





Feinne’s Notes:
You might have noticed a little something after the credits and the notice that we can replay Ashley’s story:



Our reward for getting the good ending of any of the three original stories is access to the fourth story, Rondemion’s Tale. This story is definitely harder than any of the first three and we’ll be doing it after Thage’s story.