Part 6: Flame Poem Arc - Conquest

Conquest

So we'll be doing a bit more for this update. You know how the usual format is to cover the plot first, stage later? Well, there's not much to say about the opening to this next stage, and much will happen in the outro. So this time, we'll be doing the stage, then next time, the aftermath.

Case in point with terse openings, talking to Nero after your last fight will just have her telling you to get some sleep. I did just that...


The woman in white

I... In truth... Well... I feel quite good myself. It flusters me to say so, with you still recovering and all... But even so, I am proud of this mind, this body of mine. And do you know why? It has everything to do with you. I hope that much is clear to you already. You have...wrapped yourself around me, blanketed me with your presence. I have become one with you. Do you feel the same way? I wonder... Do you not feel it? My pulse, my breath, all of it? When you truly were wrapped around me, so tightly... I feel special to be yours in such a way. Oh, my heart is pounding at the thought of it. What about you...Praetor?

I know exactly what she means. It's a unique sensation, enveloping her very essence. Heh - It's almost embarrassing to talk about.

W-What is the matter, Praetor? You're shifting your eyes. Are you blushing? T-There's no need for that. The way you act, it's almost as if we... W-Well, there is no shame in what we have done together. None at all. Do you hear me?

Not saying there was...

Until we can be together again, in just that way. I'll have to endure our time apart. My memories will have to do for now... She asked me how I'm feeling. I should tell her. I want to say I'm feeling wonderful...but as soon as I open my mouth, my vision tilts sharply and I fall unconscious.







...Apparently, this makes me happy. Go on, keep looking at me. I want you to see me like this. Try not to cover your eyes. You might make me sad if you do. At least, I think I remember what that feels like. But my feelings have always had a way of driving me to violence.

...So I can't let you get close to me, and I can't let myself get closer to you. ...Yet there you are. Still looking at me. It's like I can't move when you do that, not under my own will. You have some kind of hold on me. Just remember, Master... If you ever betray me, in any way, I will destroy you without remorse.

...That's right. ...It's best for you not to be here. If you weren't here, I...









How should I answer that? All of a sudden, Saber was gone, adn there was someone else in her place... A maiden in white. Brown skin, thin figure, red eyes. ...A warrior. That's how I could best describe her. She'd be right at home with a sword in her hand, just like Saber. I tell her everything right away, without holding back a single detail.

...Oh. Oh. Hm. Oh, oh. I see. I see. A maiden in white, you say? And you believe she is the same as I , a Saber class?

"That's right"

And you say you saw her after that sudden dizzy spell. So it seems you lost your wits and suffered a waking dream.

"Yes. I believe so"

...Praetor, how dare you? Granted, you're still recovering, but regardless! And during our most precious time, at that! Your dreams are no place for thoughtless dalliances! How cruel! Have you any idea...?

All I can do is listen and nod. I shouldn't have fallen asleep during such an important talk. But seriously...



Sounds like we're going to need to set things straight before we move on. Besides, it wasn't like the woman in white was actually there...right?

It's okay to talk to other female Servants, isn't it? It's not as if I wanted to see her in this first place. Thought now I am curious to know who she is...

Ooh, evading the subject, are we?! I-I'm about to cry. I'm about to cry! Does it make you happy to see me like this?! Oh, I'm about to wail like a cat. But I must endure! I must be strong, like a diamond. Alas, I cannot! You and some imaginary girl you cannot even name! And here I was blushing just to be near you. *sniff*

...No, I don't want to make Saber cry. She's more important to me than anyone. Without hesitation, I tell her, "I don't want you to cry. I don't ever want to make you cry." "I only feel this way for you, Saber." I stare deeply into her eyes without looking away.

*whimper*... That's...not fair. You are truly unfair. How dare you...? So you won't allow me to cry, then. And now I'm smiling. You've tricked me into smiling! How? Ah, so this is your Mind at work, is it? It is as if your passion took form...which makes sense, under the circumstances. The "you" I see before me must be the embodiment of your passion itself. That would explain why you are so straightforward. No matter what, you surge forward in all things! From taking lands in SE.RA.PH to...well, even me.

Her tears have stopped. Thank goodness. Now we can both be at ease. I need a rest, badly.



...Praetor? You can sleep even after that little tempest of mine? All well and good, I suppose. Endearing, even. ...But this debt will be repaid. Do not forget, my passionate Praetor.




Servants of the Sun

Now, I'm happy to report the following... Due to Your Majesty's steady advances, we continue to reclaim our territories. Your domination of SE.RA.PH is at hand. Taking all of SE.RA.PH's newest expanded lands into account... Your Majesty has conquered approximately 80% of the total. That total includes Regalia B's holdings - referring to the Tamamo Domains - of which approximately 70% are back in our hands. Of course, in order to reunite SE.RA.PH, we must still reclaim the remaining 30%. Since some of that land is new to us, taking it will effectively expand your empire more than before.

Excellent progress, then. Between your wisdom and our martial skills, we are unstoppable. Berserker and Rider were both formidable opponents. It is no surprise that they occupied their share of the Tamamo Domains. But Caster's about to run short of generals. That being the case, it may be time to launch our campaign against her main stronghold. Are you ready, Praetor? Speak now, if you would.



But hey, maybe can still talk things out.

I feel a bit of hesitation. I know it's best to end the war as soon as possible, but it occurs to me that we could try talking to Caster before we attack her. ...Still, it's just a random thought, and deep down I know it wouldn't work, so I nod confidently at Saber's plan.

Then the Master approves. Men! Are you ready? This time, we'll burn that hell-spawned fox alive!

Your Majesty. May I speak?

Hm? What is it, Sir Gawain? And please, a man of your imposing stature has no need to be so humble.

Please pardon me. Sunlight does increase my "stature", after all. But that aside... Your Majesty, I would share a concern with you. The other day, while I was scouting the area in question... I felt a powerful source of mana. There was no doubt about it.

No doubt, you say. Tell me more, please.

My Noble Phantasm is the holy sword of the Sun, Galatin. The mana there was very similar to that of my sword. I believe it came from a very powerful Servant, who draws strength from the Sun, like me. Such flames could singe even you, Majesty. Please advance with caution. Remember, should Lady Kishinami fall, we will not be able to stand beside you.

Well, to be perfectly exact, his Noble Phantasm is Excalibur Galatin[e], the sister sword to his king's more famous blade. Like most aspects of Arthurian legend, it kinda depends who you ask, but to make him stand out a bit more, Nasu made his Gawain more in keeping with some traditions that associates his power with the sun. The brighter the sun, the more powerful he is.

Also, again, I will talk more about the various non-protagonist Servants at a more appropriate time, but I usually like to give some background to who they are. For our third friend in this scene, Archimedes, I am afraid I can't do that. Archimedes is totally original to this game, and can be found nowhere else in Nasu's works. Will that change? Very possibly. I'd say it's more likely than not he'll turn up in Grand Order eventually. Just a hunch.

Hmm, someone who worries even you? Who could that be? In any case, many thanks for your warning. If this foe troubles even the fearless Sir Gawain, then we shall certainly be on our guard.

But back to My Room to prepare. Fun fact: My Room has been a thing in the Fate series since EXTRA. Like in this game, it was just a place where you stopped off to shoot the shit with your Servant in-between the plot and action. In Grand Order, however, it's been demoted to a glorified extras menu. Still there, though.


Before the decisive battle

That said, this is not a Holy Grail War. We fight on a much grander scale now, for control of entire territories. In truth, I wonder if I've been pushing your precious body past its limits.



I really tried to please her here (the bond level pop-up is only there when a choice can raise it), but apparently my hot-blooded response did not assuage her doubt.

"Proceeding well enough"... That doesn't sound like Saber. She sounds pessimistic, like she's holding something back. My memories are still a blur, but I know where I am now, and I can keep pressing on if she needs me to.

M-My, so confident, Praetor...! And you hold my hand so casually... What unprecedented aggressiveness. But so be it. I let your feelings weigh too heavily upon me. If nothing troubles you, then nothing stands between us and victory! Leave it to me, then. I will cut down a thousand enemies at a single stroke. And I expect exceedingly poetic praise when I finish!

I thank Saber for her concern. She answers with a smile. Honestly, I'm not completely at ease over my own well being. But with Saber nearby, I know I have nothing to fear.

After that line, this particular scene ends, but for the sake of the video, I'm going to combine the above scene and the below one. It seems more natural that way, too.

All that said, there is one matter that troubles me. No doubt, it troubles you as well. I speak of the second Praetor, who stood with Caster. There, next to the blue fox, gesturing with the slightest hint of vanity...



Again, my failure to woo her. Probably should have known this one, though.

Yes. As soon as I beheld the sight, I thought the same thing! But...the other "you" offered her no resistance... And villainous as Caster is, Praetor did not seem to be under any kind of curse. Not that I could perceive, at least...thought that fiend WAS surrounded as always in a sinister aura... Grr...

I don't think that's the issue. Caster was certainly antagonistic, but I don't think she would treat her Master like a puppet. I'm mostly going by own gut feelings, but Caster seems very prideful, and if she had to use magic to cheat her way into "love", that would cheapen it below her standards. Caster doesn't seem like the kind of woman who would ever do that to herself. ...Then again, using magic to cater to her physicall needs... She might say, "That's a different story.♡"

*giggle* Such a shame Caster isn't here to hear such talk. I wonder just how she'd react... But the truth is still hidden in the dark, and only the light of my sword can reveal it.

Agreed. Prepare yourself well, and you've got a big fight ahead.



Tamamo's capital is going to be a long fight. You've got two enemy Lancers, one of whom we've met before, and the other, the one Gawain had such trepidation about. Speaking of the Knight of the Sun, he'll be joining us for this fight, helping us maintain control of the southwestern Sector.

Also added for this stage are Side Missions. Side Missions are how you raise the bond level of every Servant in the game, even support ones like Archimedes. The idea behind them is simple.



For every stage not specifically designed around a boss battle, you can accept up to five Side Missions from Servants in your faction. Right now, that's Nero, Nameless, Li Shuwen, Gawain, Cu Chulainn, and Archimedes. So, unfortunately, someone's gonna have to be left out. Sorry Cu, that's your E-rank Luck for ya.

Every mission, of course, has a requirement. Some of them are pretty easy, like "Perform an 1800 Hit Combo", or "Use a Noble Phantasm 1 time". The most difficult ones are like "Defeat 100 enemies at 70% health" or something like that. That one's hard to do, and if you get a bad hand like that, I would advise going back to the My Room menu, then coming back to the pre-battle menu. Doing so will shuffle the Side Mission requirements. Keep doing that until you get a line-up you can agree with.



Now, for the Roman Territories and Fuyuki, I thought the game wasn't challenging enough. So, I decided to punch above my weight...a bit. How did it turn out? Let's just see...


Last encounter







Gawain's portrait isn't a mistake here. Nero's doing her best Gawain voice, and quoting him. It's...not a fantastic imitation of Takahiro Mizushima's voice. Oh that Nero.

Gawain warned us to be cautious, but my heart is on fire! This is the second time I can face the Sun! Let us decide who shines brighter: Appolon or ourselves. There is nothing to fear. Do you not agree, Praetor? No one else could ever eclipse my heavenly light.

I believe her second line is referring to her duel with Gawain in EXTRA.

The thought of her light engufs my imagination. She could be the Sun. She shines so brightly, especially when she smiles... I'm not trying to flatter her. I'm not even trying to be poetic. Depending on the circumstances, Saber could match Gawain's holy sword, shine for shine. Thought I've heard her compare herself to the Muses, I'd actually place her higher than them. In fact, I'd compare her to Venus herself.

What...?! V-Venus...?! Not that I would deny it, of course, but even so, you fluster me... Hmph. My heart heart nearly stopped to hear you say such things... How flustered must I be to satisfy you? Truly, w-we need to restore your other half, or my body will not be able to keep up! My cheeks are hotter than Apollon's flames!







How shameless, and just because you think no one's listening. I may be greedy, but you're insatiable. It's so irritating, really. You have something I desperately need, and you want to go on stealing from ME? "Restore the other half"? Take MY Master? Where do you get off calling yourself "Righteous"? No, you're more like... Like a dirty, thieving cat! A conniving fiend who wants to steal my love! Play time is officially over. It's been a fun little party, but now it's time for me to show you the door!

I couldn't have said it better myself, Caster! How dare you oppose the glory of the Roman Empire? Turn over your stolen lands, and I'll give you only 20 years in prison.

...My, my. You're awfully full of yourself, considering you're not even the proper chosen one. You know, sometimes, I envy your ignorant bliss. I wish I could dream the dreams of a simple young wife, but reality always ensues. But that's a different story. It's time to end your little winning streak, and your family line along with it. I can blow away your puny little empire with a whiff of my tail!

Then prepare yourself, Caster! I take no joy in fighting a former ally, but I will do whatever must be done!

And the same to you, Emperor of Fools! I've been putting off this duel, out of pity for you, but there's none of that left in me now! ...And another thing. Enough of your "shining like the Sun" nonsense. The only thing that needs to shine is my tail! Feel the heat, like the light of TWO suns, and know your place! ...And as for you, my other Husband, please wait just a little longer. I'll free you from her clutches in no time.

For the record, Tamamo always refers to her Master as "Husband", as she aspires to be the ultimate wife. Has nothing to do with the Master's gender.

Keep your wiles to yourself, you scheming fox!



Of course, that doesn't mean you can reach me...♡


Flame Poem Stage 3

And off we go. Now, because we're playing on Hard, the game has added a particularly nasty trick for us, in the form of Sector Traps. See the snowflakes next to a bunch of Sectors? That means there's a trap attached to them. You'll see how they work soon enough, but for your own sake, steer clear of them for now, and defend the Sectors under your control that have traps attached to them. As long as you control a Sector, the trap won't trigger.

Unfortunately, the status of our position is a bit overstated. While we currently hold four sectors, Gawain's going to stay stuck at E , the enemy has two Plants, and we're currently under attack at H. Now, the most sensible course of movement is to write off H and quickly move to B and take out that Plant. You'll have to pass through C, and that...let's just say that could be trouble. For the moment, we're going to swing around the outside, relieving H and taking over G.

From there, it'd be a good idea to then head through C, take out the second Plant, then deal with Tamamo's bodyguards. Speaking of them, there are two Lancers, as you can see. The first one, of course, is none other than Elizabeth, holding the concert Sector. The other is at F, none other than the famous Karna, from Indian mythology. This is the Servant Gawain was so wary of, being the child of the Indian sun god and the wielder of an incredibly powerful spear. We'll get around to him once we've eliminated more serious threats.



The attack programs in red are third basic enemy, but also the rarest. They attack with spears, as you can see, and while not a particular menace, they do have a very annoying charging attack they'll perform at decent speed / range. Not quite as irritating as the archers, if only because they're much more infrequent, but still should be a priority target among the trash mobs.



Well, making good progress, at least. Gawain is under attack, and he's in a Sector Trap area, so it would be dutiful of us to attend to him. We can fight off another invasion before we get back to conquering more land.

To be honest, this is a super long round, thanks to me playing it on Hard. I'm just going to jump ahead to when I actually do invade Elizabeth's Sector, because you can pretty much guess what I did between my last conquest and when I actually did invade a new one.



Unfortunately, if you do go to confront Dark Eli or Karna, or even are just passing through their Sector, you'll get locked down in the Servant Slammer. We'll just have to fight out way out.



So here's how Sector Traps work. When you enter an area with a Sector Trap, your Servant will automatically tell you to watch out for it. Some time later (with some traps it's a longer timer than others. It's best just to assume it'll be a short timer), the trap will go off. There are four ways to defuse the thing.

1. The least preferable option: just take the hit. However, Sector Traps do a LOT of damage. A Sector Trap with Nero's current health would probably KO her at least 3 times over. I'll get to how you "revive" a Servant a bit later. In addition, taking this hit would certainly end your chance at an overall EX rank from the stage.

2. Activate Moon Drive / Crux. This is how I did it, because for this stage, I didn't even have access to the third solution to Traps. While also substantially increasing your attack, your Over Limit mode also substantially improves your defense, as well. With this solution, a Sector Trap will take off all of about 1 / 9th of your health bar. However, there are a few downsides to this solution.

Most obvious is you need a full Moon Drive / Crux charge going into a trapped Sector, or at least very close to it. Second is that you can't activate it in mid-air. You need to be grounded, and not in the middle of a combo or something. Third, taking the hit will cause you go flying straight up into the air. Fourth, taking the hit will cause you to suffer any adverse effects of the trap (Ice: get frozen for a few hits from the enemy, Fire: take some lingering burn damage, Lightning: high chance of getting stunned and not attacking, Poison: lingering damage, as you might expect). However, if it's your only defense against a Sector Trap, it's far better than nothing.

3. Use of a specific Code Cast. For every type of trap, there's a Mystic Code with either one, two, three, or all resistances as Code Casts. When a Sector Trap is about to hit (i.e. in the above screenshot), press the appropriate Code Cast button, and you'll harmlessly absorb the trap, it will do no damage, not inflict any effects on you, and your Servant will praise your ability. How can you lose? Just make sure you have enough Code Casts to defeat all the traps, or at least the majority of them, and you're using the right Mystic Code.

4. This is the most dangerous. If it's within your power to do so, if you take over a trapped Sector before the Trap fires off, it won't even bother you. However, you do have to take over the Sector before the trap gets primed (again, like the screenshot). Any later, and you'll take the hit anyway. Again, this is really dangerous, and for most Sectors, basically impossible.

Oh yes, and don't even think about hanging out in a Sector, waiting for the trap to prime, then running off. The second you get back, the Trap will activate anyway. So yeah, this is why on Hard and Very Hard, always preview a stage to see what traps you'll have to deal with. Gonna save you a world of hurt.



The color of a box will always tell you what you'll get from it. Green is for health, blue is Extella Gauge, and orange is for Noble Phantasms. For example, this cube contained a Sake Jug.



Please notice Elizabeth is currently a lightning conductor. That's because of one of the Install Skills I'm using, if you'll recall. When a Servant enemy is affected by Lightning, they tend to play much more defensively. It can draw a fight out, but on the other hand, if you need to kill some trash mobs to get recovery items or build up the Extella Gauge, it's a very good choice.



Unfortunately, we were far too late to save Gawain. Our job just got a bit more difficult...



But we had our revenge. That big guy in the back there is our third enemy program-type Aggressor. As you might expect, it's big, it's slow, and it hits really hard. It has three attacks: an attack where it stops and spins its fists around in place, a jumping attack, and an overhead pounding attack. The jump can come out pretty fast, but with the other two, it's pretty easy to see them coming. Most of the times you take damage from them, you're in the middle of a combo and you can't break it off, or it jumped at you..

Not a huge threat, but they do take a lot of punishment, especially on higher difficulties. These guys mixed with enemy Servants can be a big problem.



Our third semi-common pickup is the Yakisoba Bread. It restores a respectable amount of your HP, which is nice, as it does drop fairly commonly.

There is a deep, dark secret behind the bread, however...



Both Plants are finally down, after 7000 KOs... Well, that's the major threats eliminated. Now, if you've been following Nameless' advice, and heeding the taunting of both Karna and Elizabeth, both of them will get upset and Tamamo will give the order to attack, whereupon the Servant Slammers are deactivated, and they'll go off and rampage in different enemy-held Sectors. Now that Karna's been let loose, he'll go to Elizabeth's former Sector to settle things.

Of course, we'll be there to meet him, as at the moment, there are no Plants and no invasions. Other than the one Karna will soon be leading, of course.



Small change of plans. This Plant showed up, like, instantly after I took the second-to-last screenshot. Well, we'll wrap this up, THEN Karna, for sure.







Karna's not too hard, actually. While his actual attacks have a lot of reach, thanks to his massive spear, and are quite powerful, he's one of the slowest-attacking Servants. It's a poor match-up between him and Nero, because he'll get stunned too much to really be able to retaliate against an aggressive Nero player.



And now, he's finished, and the road to Tamamo will open. The portal to her throne will appear in the very middle of the map, in the central Sector. As you might expect, that's the point of no return.

However, we won't be taking that one. First, gotta take over the entire Millennium Capital. For the record, the reasserting our control of the central Sector is what actually won me the stage.



Soon...



And finally, the last Plant is down. Just look at that KO number, and we're not even done yet.



NOW we're done. More than 15,000 kills. Good grief. That item in the back is the Sake Jug equivalent for health. Occasionally you'll find a Sake Jug and whatever that thing is called together. Pretty rare, but of course, useful. You might notice there are only two Phantasm Circuits on this map. That's because in any map where you teleport to a different place to face the Boss Servant, there's only two Phantasm Circuits on the map. As for how you get a third, well...



Well, similar-minded people can often be the bitterest of enemies, or the best of friends. Maybe it's a little of column A, little of column B with Nero and Tamamo. Regardless, she will be our final enemy.



Now, of course, Tamamo has a Regalia of her own, and she'll be appropriately powered up whenever she uses hers. Now, Tamamo's Regalia transformation is extremely dangerous, as those rabbit keychain-things floating around her will increase the distance of her melee attacks, and she has a move where she'll stop and fire out a bunch of projectiles in a circle. This move is extremely dangerous and hard to see coming. My advice to avoid damage would either be to relentlessly assault her (only in your Over Limit mode, of course), or stay airborne a lot. The enemy doesn't really respond very well when you're in the air.



Every now and then, Tamamo will break off her attack to begin charging up her own Noble Phantasm. *Obviously* you want to stop that. The solution is just to smack her a few times, and that'll knock her out of it, and drop her own Phantasm Circuit. That's how you get a full charge on these kinds of stages. 1-2 hits in Moon Crux will stun her, a few more in normal mode, or just one Extella Maneuver. If you choose the latter, however, be wary. Missing may result in you getting a face full of Noble Phantasm.



We have no such limitations, however.



That's how fast an enemy can close the distance with a dash of their own. I took this one on the chin...



It was a small miracle I managed to dodge her projectile attack right after that dash. These duels can get pretty intense, especially when you can only take 1-2 hits before dead.



Honestly, I think we're gonna need a little (decoy) backup. This is the Shinji Doll, named after Shinji Matou, a character in both the original stay night, hollow ataraxia, EXTRA, and CCC. This extremely silly looking doll itself comes from CCC, where a friend has told me it's a gag in relation to his uselessness as a character, given to Hakuno in a mocking gesture towards the end of the game by one of the main antagonists.

Here, the idea behind him is to draw enemy attention toward him for a while. It's actually fairly effective. The doll will bounce around, and enemies will chase after it, meekly attacking it and ignoring you (almost) completely. Maybe Shinji can finally dream of relevance now...



I mean, it's not like the enemy *won't* follow you into the air to try and attack. Just that they're not very good at it. To be fair, if I was fighting an enemy and all they were doing in my super mode was running in circles and jumping into the air, I'd probably be pretty bad hitting them, too.



She almost got me, she almost did, but it was not to be.



Of course not...



What a cluster... For the record, I managed a clean sweep of the Side Missions.