Part 78

We've made it. Now all we need to do to save Gaia is defeat Kuja.







I'm surprised you beat the 4 Chaoses that I created from the crystal's memory. But...you're too late.



It's the original crystal... This is where it all began... The birthplace of all things...



Gaia, Terra, the universe, everything...





The only thing that's gonna be gone is you! I'll take you out right now!
Hmph. You honestly think you can beat me? Even if you do, Gaia's already doomed. Its assimilation by Terra has begun, and the Iifa Tree will incite a cataclysmic destruction of Gaia. It's all over for you and your friends. See. I win, either way.
It doesn't matter! Even if Gaia is assimilated, the planet will remain, and we'll start over to make a new home.



Why should the world exist without me? That wouldn't be fair.











This is Deathguise. You might know it better as FF6's Death Gaze, i.e. the monster you could fight while piloting your airship. It has a lot of the same moves, like L5 Death and regular Death, as well as Twister and some physical attacks.





Oh, and a little spell called Meteor. Fun fact, Deathguise loves to start the battle with this.



Dumbfuck is vulnerable to Sleep, so if it's gonna cheese me with Meteor I'm gonna cheese it by making sure it never wakes up.



It's vulnerable to Ice and Wind, so the order of the day is Blizzaga, Holy, No Mercy, and spamming Soul Blade. I don't even bother with its steals (Elixir, Black Belt, Duel Claws).









And with that, Deathguise goes down easily.



After this, we can turn around and save and do any other things we want to do. Once we go to Kuja, we initiate the final boss section of the game, so this is our last chance!

Let's do this.





Well... my time is almost up.







Meet Trance Kuja. If you're not listening to the music, you fucking should.

Interestingly enough, despite this being the point of no return, Kuja has steals. Ether, White Robe, and Rebirth Ring.



Trance Kuja is very similar to the form of Kuja we faced at the end of Disc 3. Still a pure spellcaster that loves to cast stuff like Holy and Flare.



I have three Pumice Pieces on for Doomsday shenanigans, but they also absorb Holy.



Power moves, as usual.



This time, we do get to see Flare Star.





This version does 35*Level damage.







Vivi is really handy for topping everyone off, letting Eiko focus on spamming Holy.



For laughs I even use a summon to try to benefit from Auto-Regen, though I don't have Boost on so it was kind of a waste.



Finally, Kuja can cast Curaga and Reflect on himself. I think I have Reflect-Null on Eiko, who's the only person who'd even care.



Needless to say, Kuja still only has the same 55k HP that most end-game bosses have, so he doesn't last very long against my offensive onslaught.





But I'm not gonna die alone.





Yep, it's time for Ultima again.





And just as before, it destroys us.



Though it also hurls Kuja away from us to parts unknown. At least we beat him, right?

-----







...Where is this?



Wh-Who are you!?



Life fears death, but lives only to die.



Anxiety becomes fear.



Oh geez, literally quoting The Phantom Menace of all things. I know Final Fantasy loves borrowing from Star Wars, but still.



Kuja was a victim of his own fear. He concluded he could only save himself by destroying the origin of all things - the crystal.



Why are you telling me all this?



Kuja's action proves it. All things live to perish. At last, life has uncovered this truth. Now, it is time to end this world.
Wh-What do you mean by that!?
I exist for one purpose...



In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires.

People have a lot of questions about this guy since he shows up out of nowhere after you defeat Kuja and, spoilers, you fight some random nobody. The explanation is...well, what he just said. This being witnessed Kuja's actions and decided since Kuja seeks to bring death to everything, that everything should want death, thus it plans to destroy the crystal and bring about nonexistance. A Void, if you will. In a way, this creature shares a lot in common with FF5's big villain Exdeath (though also with FF3's Cloud of Darkness since it appears out of nowhere).



You're not ending anything! Never, not as long as we have the will to live!



Your fears have already deluded you. One day, you will choose destruction over existence, as Kuja did. When he sought to destroy the crystal, the purpose of life ended.





We'll destroy you and prove you wrong! And through our memories, future generations will see that we can overcome any fear!



...We have to fight together.



So, even if we are born to die, I'm not afraid.





We get one opportunity to choose our party. There may be better choices for this one, but I'm going with this set-up because I'm lazy.







Each character that isn't chosen spouts a line and gives their power to a character that is in the fight. It's kinda like FF4 that way.















And we have one final opportunity to change our equipment. It's a good idea. I stick with Auto-Haste, Auto-Regen, and put the rest of my stones in status immunities, mainly ones that can be instant death like Body Temp, Jelly, and Locomotion.









Let's begin!



This is Necron, the final boss of Final Fantasy IX. This is around where the music starts kicking into gear.





He's nice enough to raise our characters to his level.

So, you know how I've been steamrolling everything and defeated even the superboss with relative ease? Don't be fooled, despite all that Necron is very dangerous and should not be underestimated.



First off, like all the other bosses, he only has around 54k HP. Not too scary, right? All his steals are Elixirs, plus he has weaknesses to Wind and Holy (and is vulnerable to Bird Killer). His only status vulnerability is Slow.



Blue Shockwave sends a character to 1HP. Kinda scary, but nothing we haven't seen before.



He also has all the elemental -aga spells, as well as Flare and Holy. Again, to be expected. He also has Meteor, though I'm fortunate enough not to see it.



And for probably the only time in the game, Trance triggers at a time when it's useful for it to! Granted I'm spending like 4 times the MP to do 500 more damage over Thievery, but hey, it's the final battle, I'll give Trance a pass.



Also the only time in the game I use an Elixir.



Necron can also use Curaga, Protect, and Shell on himself.









And Neutron Ring, which does some nasty damage.

That said, none of that is worth freaking out about. So what is it that makes Necron so damn scary?



This.









Grand Cross fucking sucks, even worse than it does in the final battle of FF5. This move will inflict a huge variety of status effects on your party. Zidane gets Silence and Darkness, Vivi Darkness, Amarant Trouble, and Eiko gets flat-out KO'd. It can inflict every status effect in the book, even stuff like Zombie. And unlike FF5's version that only inflicts one status effect per character, Grand Cross can inflict multiple per character, so even with great preperation you can get screwed.

Quina is invaluable here of course because Angel's Snack uses Remedies on everyone. I didn't go with Quina because I was almost out of Remedies and honestly Quina has terrible offense outside of Limit Glove and Frog Drop if you're insane. Amarant has utility and power.





The power of Trance!







Anyway, it's still the same procedure as usual. It's just I'm actually scrambling to heal because Necron has so many nasty tricks up his sleeve.



But, in the end, I pull off the victory.





Some mysterious force that isn't Necron teleports our party away...

FADE TO SILENCE