Part 63: (Map 1, Continued)

The map music is appropriately awesome in the next few chapters.



Elincia wastes no time in targeting the one general on the west side holding a Silver Greatlance.



A hit, a Stun, and another hit later, he's history.



The battle music is also appropriately awesome. It's not actually the first time we've heard it; you also get this music whenever you fight Ike or Micaiah in one of their battles in Part 3.



Jill and Fiona charge the enemy generals. Remember how Jill has a Hammer and the enemy is 90% generals?



Ike joins the fun.



Thanks, Ike.



Zihark and Nolan complete the central defensive line. And damn, Zihark looks good with Vague Katti.



Rolf murders a guy and gets faster.



Soren too. What an odd level.



Volke opts for the efficient approach to combat.



Nephenee charges forward, but takes a hit - which Micaiah promptly invalidates.



I'm pretty sure I can have Kurth do this next bit without a laguz gem. So he takes some Olivi grass instead. We have tons of the stuff kicking around.



Just for posterity, here's Rexflame.



Rexflame = lava.



Delicious overkill.



Suddenly, a problem occurs to me. Ike is in range of an enemy priest with Sleep, and a prime target (with low resistance). He's also in range of both siege mages. And sleep makes you unable to dodge. This presents a problem.

Micaiah has the means to fix this problem, so Reyson chants to her instead of using a laguz gem.



The problem is solved with judicious application of Ward. Ike is now less likely to be hit with Sleep, and if he is, he'll take 14 less damage from the mages.



What an eventful first turn!



The enemy physicians waste no time in plying their annoying trade.



Oh, right, Sothe has lower resistance than Ike. While on a Wardwood tile. Go Sothe.



Oh goddamnit. Soren gets Silenced.



Now these odds are more like it.



Nephenee and Nolan do a great job of distracting the siege mages and several other soldiers.



("If I wasn't Silenced right now, I'd tell you how lucky you are I'm Silenced.")



While the central line distracts the enemy generals (and kills some), the first of the troops on the west side goes after Kurth.



It hurts.



This just looks so adorable.



Thanks to Kurth's insane HP, he scrapes through.



Then a genius general attacks Jill.



A general apiece appears on the west and east side.



Micaiah gets a typical Micaiah level from Restoring Soren. The one good thing about Micaiah at this point is that she hits her caps in magic, luck and resistance quite fast, and thus has some potential for BEXP abuse.



Soren is very annoyed at this guy, so he breaks out the Overkill.





Really, I think this goes a little beyond "wind".



So, yeah, he dies.



Guy here has a Brave Sword. But Nephenee's fine to just tank him unt-



Nevermind.



Sometimes, you just want to punch the writers. We can't do that, but we can have Jill and Fiona murder people, so we do that instead.



Jill likes strength.



Another near-perfect level for Mister Four Stat Caps At Level Eight here. Christ. Well, I guess it's five now that he's reached 30 defence.



The five of them line up near the Wardwood tiles to help stave off () Sleep. Meanwhile, Rolf sidles on over here...



And sets his sights on this unremarkable looking archer over here.



He gets an alright level...







Look. At. This. God. Damn. Bow. Holy Shitting Fuck, this thing is unreal. Note first that it is as powerful as Urvan. Know also that, beyond this already awesome fact, it adds +3 strength to the wielder (making its effective Mt 25 - the single most powerful weapon your guys can wield).

Notice anything else? Nothing... unusual here?

It has 1-2 range. That's right, motherfuckers. Rolf can now counterattack at melee range. And he can now have a base attack of 61.

With one more point of speed, Rolf could take the Black Knight one on one. Hell, he could probably take the Black Knight as is, what with being able to outrange him when attacking.



Reyson finally transforms, Sanaki pesters a general (he'll be healed next turn) and we generally prepare to continue our push.



Ike, despite still being Ward'd and standing on Wardwood, still gets put to sleep. Oh well.



And Soren is silenced, again.

Nolan and Nephenee draw the bulk of the attacks...



And Kurth does his bit.



Know what? I am just fine with this. If Kurth only levelled in speed and nothing else from here on out, I'd be fine with that.



Reinforcements. Of course. The other enemies up there seem to want to stay put.



Rolf takes his new toy for a spin.



He gets results.



Being able to double with siege tomes is a beautiful thing. I find it kinda surprising that two mages with siege tomes can't have a proper fight with counters, but whatever.



He has to rely on Reyson to take on a second thunder mage to get his counterattack stuffing fix.



Aah.



Volke looks like such a badass here.



Here, too.



Nephenee, too. That's speed and skill capped.



Man, remember when we were using Killer Bows as a crutch? Those were fun times.



Now we're just using them to show off.



The guys in the middle all stay put, as do Kurth and friends.



Ike is put to sleep. Again.



Lekain is up to something.





And he Silences everyone on our team. Except for Pelleas and Soren. So, three out of five actual targets.



Hetzel has another go at Soren, to little effect this time.

Lots of "miss"ing happens, most of it to no further consequence...



Some of it, however, is done by mages with little brainpower, who pay the price.



Times two.



Goddamnit, Fiona. Well, she does need speed.



And more reinforcements. We're probably going to have to charge them at some point.



Well, Kurth has finally built up the energy to transform, and I'm bored of having him punch people, so let's roll with this.



Now this is just wonderful.



This could be called an even fight were it not for the fact that Kurth is about to be fully healed.



Yep.



Funny story; characters in Fire Emblem can only have one condition at a time. So when Lekain Silence'd Sothe, he also cured him of Sleep.



More Volke.



Also, more Soren, and bad levels. God damn.



Now, these guys are all standing on Cover tiles, so they have boatloads of defence. We're gonna have to whittle them down.



A very lucky crit helps the process along... somewhat.



Micaiah gets a Micaiah level.



Rolf gets a rare privilege; he gets to feed a kill...



To Kurth.



Glorious.



Another turn cleaning up the middle. Can you believe it's only the end of turn 4? It sure feels like it's been a lot longer than that...



Enemy Physicing...



Soren gets Sleep'd. How irritating.



Er...



For some reason, Lekain decides to teleport to the other corner of the map. This is a thing he does, and I'm not really sure what causes him to do it (sometimes he stays put, sometimes he runs), but he does it sometimes whether or not you understand why. The square he's in now is surrounded on all sides by statues, so you have to use magic or long range weapons to harm him. Also, he's on a Cover square, so that's annoying too.



Big mistake.











...fuck.



The enemies at the top have finally decided to attack Jill, and she obligingly becomes more awesome, just for them.



More! More!



On our turn, Elincia comes over to cure Soren of Sleep, and Soren helps Nephenee with the hard-to-kill generals.



Nephenee, meanwhile, goes for Hetzel.

Salvation is denied me and my stained soul. My torment will be eternal.



She sure does.



Hetzel has some actual dialogue, which we'll do in a bonus update.



It's worth a shot.







Meanwhile...



It's not a great idea for Ena to hang out too close to Kurth here, because Storm Sword Guy can attack and kill her past Kurth. So Kurth goes it alone for a while.



And Rolf hangs around in the middle, fucking up the shit of random generals.



Our team in the middle charges the northern generals, and racks up lots more kills. End of turn 5.



More of this.



Figured this wouldn't work twice in a row.



There's some counterkilling.



ARGH



Lekain shifts around again.



Aaaaand five bishops with Shine all warp in. These are this mission's Asshole Reinforcements. Of course, we're kinda going to turn this one on its head.



Kurth finally triggers another Adept and kills Storm Sword guy.







And now it's time for Pelleas to have a few words with Lekain.

Vi-Vice-Minister Lekain...

Hm? Ahhh, still alive, are we? I suppose that I can still find a use for you... I know! Go and attack the enemy general.

Um...

Why are you not obeying, fool? That look on your face... You think you're going to save your people! That is precious! You can't possibly believe that one so flawed as yourself has a prayer against me?

I do, actually.

Whaaat?! Did I hear you correctly?!

I said I believe. I believe in myself, and I believe in my companions. Even if I falter and fail... My friends will defeat you. This belief sustains me. I can fight you because I am no longer alone.

Let us test your theory, then! Die, upstart!



We destroy him a little. Don't worry. He'll live. For now.



Sothe hits the Physic priest. Once.





Ah, the so-called Silver-Haired Maiden. Both dark goddess and Daein general... Your very existence is vile beyond belief.

Lekain, Duke of Gaddos... You crushed the people of Daein beneath your unjust rule and dragged us into a futile war. How do you live with the guilt of your sins?

Sins? Do not presume to speak to me of sin, child of Daein. If only you had understood that I am on the side of the angels, you might be standing with me here today.

Your delusions can't change what I see in your twisted soul, demon! Now give me that scroll!

Impudent brat!



Micaiah doesn't sap any HP from Lekain...



But she does get a great level! With speed!



There just is not any middle ground today, is there?



Either I will make this work or I will get bored and send in Soren. I swear it.



...



Sod it.



This is a Flare-Corrosion, in case you're wondering.



We finish clearing up the middle and proceed to the guys near where Lekain started. The one priest in the middle doesn't have a weapon, so he can just stay there until we need him dead. The mission is rout, so we'll have to kill him eventually.



End of turn 6.







Rexaura hurts a little, but it's manageable.



Micaiah heals the damage right back, though.



Oh shit, guys! They're attacking Reyson!





It is a wonderful sight.



They come for Micaiah, too.





Holy shit! Micaiah doubled someone!



More.



Pelleas takes out one of the priests, and gets an extremely underwhelming 20th level.



Micaiah goes healing and does a bit better.



Kurth has a shot at Lekain.



Ena softens up the west side's Physic priest.



He is then killed by a pink knife.



Over north, the murder continues.







This is... OK. That's four stats capped now.



Soren lends Volke a hand.



End of turn 7.



Coward.



Micaiah doubles someone again!



And, of course, she tanks mages rather well.







And, of course, one of them goes for Kurth. Sadly, Kurth can't double him.



.........



More Asshole Reinforcements.



Kurth is properly cleaning up now. One more point of speed and he'll actually be able to double most things.



And with this, the north is completely clear save for that one priest.



There's one solitary chest in this map. It contains a Matrona staff, a pretty awesome SS-Rank staff that will not only fully heal all allies within [magic / 2] spaces of the caster, but also raise their Biorhythm to the highest point. It will also heal the wielder for 20 HP, cure the wielder's conditions, and provide +4 defence while held. That's a lot of stuff!



With help from Reyson, Micaiah takes out another priest...



And gets even more speed! Micaiah's actually starting to catch up in speed!



Kurth prepares to play with these generals.



End of turn 8.



Damnit, Kurth, speed...



Lekain just keeps shifting around.



Oh, Kurth's gonna enjoy this.



A helping of Olivi Grass to prepare.



Elincia throws heals around, and...



...

...

...it's...

...it's beautiful...

...I've finally seen a perfect level up...

_{OK, so it was Blossom fuelled, but come on...}



End of turn 9. This should be interesting...



Everyone's Silence runs out, so Lekain refreshes it.



A few priests go after Micaiah, to little effect.



The rest go for Kurth.

Two counterkills later...



Good, but speed, Kurth. Speed.

Three counterkills later...



Argh! He's capped resistance though, so that's something.



One last round of reinforcements from the north.



He's cleaned up all of them.



Holy shit! This might be the fastest Micaiah I've ever had.



Alright, motherfucker. If you love Silence so much...



...this is turning into a thing with me, isn't it? Well, it's another cap for Rolf.



Reyson helps Kurth move in for the kill on Lekain.





Asshole.



To be fair, these are pretty great levels - and one speedwing will fix this right up.





Yoink.

Lekain's dialogue is going in the next Bonus update, too.



About damn time Ike got a good level.



...

Well, time to clean up.







And that's all of them.

---



At long last... We finally found it. All that misery Daein has suffered over this wretched parchment... But this is the last thing we need. Now we can free Daein of the senate's tyranny. Micaiah, savior of Daein... Would you do the honors and destroy that damned thing?

Of course...





That's it.

Yes, and now no one has to die.

Thank goodness...

Micaiah...Sothe... You have my deepest gratitude.

Hey! Look, there's another pact here. Lekain was carrying two of them. What's going on?



Um...

Empress Sanaki?





...oh, man. I feel like such an asshole now.

Because of this, he was forced to serve under Lekain, and he had to turn against his allies...

So, Kilvas, too?

Yes. Lekain's treachery ran deep. At least it's finally over. I'm happy for everyone.

As am I.

And yet, Daein and Kilvas's newfound freedom is wasted on the statues that call them home. We still must confront the goddess.

Well spoken. We can't stop until everyone is truly free. Come! The goddess awaits.

So that means, the country Lekain told Pelleas about must have been Kilvas.

Go back and look at that update again. Go on. It's right here. I'll wait. That was some pretty awesome foreshadowing, wasn't it?

---



Apostle? Are you well?

So you still insist on calling me "apostle"? I think we're past that, Ike.

So what should I call you? Miss Sanaki?

How rude! You have no right to address me with such familiarity! Please call me "Empress."

Got it, Empress.

You don't have to say it like that. Loosen up a bit.

Oh, give me a break...



Yune, you're a bit of a mystery, yourself. It almost sounds like you're happy to se that people don't necessarily need you.

The one constant truth of people, Ike, is that nobody can stop them from changing. People sometimes do things that even the highest divinities couldn't imagine. That makes me sad. But that also makes me very happy. That's why I love people so much.

There are some changes that goddesses can't even predict or control. Maybe Ashera resented that.

I don't know... But I do know that Ashera loved people. I'm sure of it...

---



Turn limit: 10 turns. AKA, the exact amount of time it took us. How fortunate!

Next Time: More revelations!

(also a bonus update)