Part 85

Chapter 71

This chapter's going to be much different than usual. You see, this is a story about the world's biggest pain-in-the-ass boss.



This is the team that won. As you can see, everybody here will die from a light breeze.




The next few floors are mercifully short, and random encounters are very rare. I made it to near the end of B19 before running into my first one.



There's nothing but silence for these floors. The Lunar Helm is the only treasure you'll find.



There are some weird enemies here, including feet, legs, and bodies. You'll also fight Deathmasks and their Proto variant. Their rare drops are actually pretty awesome if you use Calca and Brina, as it gives them their best equipment, and really the best equipment in the game. Their Phase equipment puts even the Adamant stuff to shame, it gives them some of the best stat boosts in the game, and their weapon, the Phase Cutter, is tied for second with the Gigant Axe and Ragnarok for strongest weapon in the game, beat only by the Ultima Weapon. Of course, that means you have to grind for five rare drops to benefit one mediocre character.



The feet pretty much stick to physicals and Venomous Gas, the latter being pretty painful if you don't have a Ribbon and aren't already poisoned.







When the two best White Mages combine their power, the result is the powerful Holy Ray.



Even a couple of disembodied feet are too much for my team, so I run away.

So now we come to the boss. Oh god, the boss.

For now, I'm going to skip ahead a bit. Don't worry, we'll get all the dialogue later. Here's the highlights.



Hey, bitch, where's my fucking dragon?
You're all fucking pathetic before me. Fuck having a plot, here's a fucking dragon to ruin your day.






So we're fighting the duo of Bahamut and Mysterious Girl. This is an incredibly dangerous combination.

First road block:




Welp.



It took me a few tries before I realized, hey, if I switched from a Full Moon, which boosts Black Magic, to a Waxing Moon, which lowers Black Magic, I might stand a chance! Rydia's damage output will be weakened, but at least I might actually survive.




Nope. Boosting magic defense, even nabbing the Adamant Gloves don't help. I do have another trick up my sleeve, though.



You remember those fucking apples that I never used? 6 Silver and 1 Gold give Rydia 400 more max HP. Which is just enough to survive Meteor.



Roadblock #1 accomplished.



As usual, Bahamut will do his countdown.



The obvious course of action is to spam the shit out of Spider Silks and Hermes Sandals. Unfortunately, Slow, or anything else for that matter, doesn't affect the Mysterious Girl.



You see, I might have a chance with just Bahamut. The Mysterious Girl however has a lot of nasty shit she can send your way that will slow you down from your main mission of wrecking this dragon's ass. After her initial Meteor, M.G. will use either Tornado or Quake. If you have Float before the battle, then you'll be fine since Tornado won't do shit to characters with solid magic defense like Rydia.



Binding Glare is a nasty attack. It doesn't deal a lot of damage, but it inflicts paralysis, which can really hurt if no one else is around.




M.G. will also cast Bio, Flare, and Death.

But it's alright. I used a Lunar Curtain to put up Reflect, and Bahamut's at the end of his countdown. Maybe once he weakens himself, I'll have a chance.






WRONG! Right when Bahamut hits Megaflare, M.G. will nullify all buffs, including Reflect. It's rather fiendishly clever of the developers to fuck your expectations like that, and I give them props for forcing you to legitimately fight Bahamut.

Of course, the problem is that Rydia can't survive Megaflare. Shell also gets nullified with Black Hole, and I'm out of apples. I'm not grinding for another 700 HP.

So I have to beat Bahamut with Rydia before he uses Megaflare once. Even with four Spider Silks on him, this won't happen, as the M.G. will constantly be throwing spells your way, or paralyzing you, or what the hell ever.




I try reviving my team. Everyone else can't do shit, but they're targets that aren't Rydia. As long as Rydia gets no heat, she can focus on offense.




Fortunately, Rydia can deal solid damage with Leviathan.



But even in the most optimal circumstances, it's not enough.




Rydia can spam the shit out of Leviathan, only taking time to Haste/Slow and get lucky with a reviving Asura, and she still won't have enough time to beat Bahamut before Megaflare. The other mages are too slow, and even Rosa/Porom's band won't be enough due to the M.G.'s constant barrage of spells. I could try grinding for a Pink Tail to get Pink Armor and hope its high magic evasion will save my ass, but even that won't be guaranteed to work, and it's not worth the grinding.




You can tell I'm desperate for any way to win at this point.

Sadly, I cannot beat Bahamut with this team. It would require an incredible amount of grinding that would bring the LP to a standstill. It's time to go with Plan B.



Aw yeah.




Rydia's going to stay dead. Let's see if I can solo this boss with Edge.



Blink doesn't help against Binding Glare, but Masamune lets me save a Hermes Sandal. You know, because I'll need all 18 later.



One bad thing about soloing Edge is that I lose access to Float. You have to keep Edge healed in case of Quake.



Edge isn't doing Leviathan-level damage, but he also doesn't have to charge to attack. His speed is great enough to make up the ground.



Reflect is also recommended to nullify Bio and Flare. Sometimes they'll hit the M.G. and miss, but Flare will do around 2.5k to Bahamut. Nothing major, but it's a nice help.

So what's the stumbling block with Edge?




Fucking Binding Glare. Guess what Ribbon doesn't protect against?

And it's not until writing this update do I remember that I have a helmet that protects against paralysis. Maybe I really could've soloed Bahamut with Edge after all.




Edge did survive Megaflare, so unlike Rydia he can actually carry on for awhile. Also, I'm pretty sure Black Hole doesn't remove Bahamut's Slow, which helps a lot. Still, you'll be healing more than you're attacking, resulting in a tedious fight that you can easily lose if you mess up.

Since I forgot I had a helmet that resisted paralysis, I concluded that soloing with Edge was impossible. Well, if I can't beat this guy with any gimmicks, there's only one thing I can do.



I will smash Bahamut so hard that he'll be crying for mercy.

Edge and Cecil are my powerhouses. Both hit hard and will easily survive whatever's thrown at them. Edward's Salve will revive everyone and fully heal them in two turns. Porom's there for support, since she's the best White Mage we have and can cast Float, Reflect, Shell, whatever we need. Even though Rydia's required, her Leviathan will do more damage than anything else and isn't affected by the moon, so she'll definitely be pulling her weight in this team. It's not my dream team, but it's pretty close, and it'll more than do for this battle.

Let's do things proper now.





We've finally found you!
We finally meet again!
Where is Bahamut!?
You've been watching us all this time, haven't you?



But the world that lies ahead has no place for you. It is time for you to disappear...under the force of a power you know all too well!





R-Rydia...!
Heh heh... Haven't seen you in a while!
What the...!?
I will not allow this to end as it did once before!
Go, Bahamut! Go, and obliterate them!

Now we're going to fight the badass way. Go ahead, listen to the music. Listen to it as I show Bahamut how true badasses fight.






Edge and Cecil shake off Meteor no problem.









Cecil's Lunar equipment allowed him to evade Binding Glare twice. I don't know if it's because the lunar equipment lets him resist paralysis, or if his evasion boosts are just that good. If it's the former, I'm pissed that I very well could've beat Bahamut with just Edge.







Edward doesn't hit as hard as the other two, but remember that Edge and Cecil are decked out in top-tier gear that separates them from mere men. Edward's not weak here, it's just that the other two just have an unfair advantage. The Ultima Weapon is an incredibly broken weapon. Now if only Edge could equip it...














Heh. Bahamut couldn't even get to 1 before I beat him.

Let's celebrate with one of the coolest battle scenes yet.



Bahamut!




This moon is not the one to which you belong!
You waste your time!
...






My lord!
If he remains under her control, then we have no choice!




My lord!









AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW FUCK YEAH

No... No!



What?
My Eidolons are much more than mere pawns of power!







Maybe it's because I spent so much time trying to beat this motherfucker, or maybe it's because I'm fucking fed up with the Mysterious Girl and her bullshit, but god damn this is the most awesome moment in the game.





And that is how you do a boss battle.



Rydia! Congratulations!
...This is all thanks to you, Rydia.
Thank you, Rydia. I knew you could do it.

No special items, no fancy speeches. The cutscene ends there. We now have Bahamut back.



No more rehashes. No more recycled boss battles. This is the point where everything is original. This is the point where we finally learn the plot to this game. This is the point that will ruin your childhood.

No more party votes. I'm going to construct my dream team for the end, and have them beat the everliving shit out of the assholes responsible for this ridiculousness.

We're finally near the end of The After Years.