Part 65: (Endgame, Map 2) Requiem for a General

Yes. Ashera is at the top. We're going up. This is definitely the right way.

I'm a little disoriented because this is much bigger than it looks from outside. It's not my imagination, is it?

To be honest, you probably shouldn't look around too carefully. True miracles can overwhelm and terrify mortal minds. If you dwell on what you see here, you might stop climbing.

Really?

Yes, really! Well, for most people, anyway. You're all the exceptions. You are all focused on your one goal, and you can't die until you achieve it. That's what you think, right? Desire propels people forward. That's how it's been since the beginning of your kind.



And that's all right. You should want. You should strive to fill that want. You should challenge your fates. When all else fails, you can still die fighting.

Your philosophy is pretty extreme, too. Ashera doesn't forgive people for their imperfections. But you embrace both the good and evil natures of people. You seem to enjoy our internal struggles.

A straight road is boring. Defeat and destruction are far more interesting than stasis.



Well, long ago... Wait. Stop, everyone! We need to talk. The next one who stands in our way is someone deeply tied to you.

...Let's go.



Oh boy!

---



It's happened. The Black Knight has finally become an evil megalomaniac.



OK, these guys have got to be cheating.

Funfact: the animations of these guys walking onto the field looks completely ridiculous. They all walk in occupying a single space and then branch out, making it look like one guy is splitting into twenty.











Your composure, bearing, voice... It seems obvious in retrospect.

...

I wish I'd had the chance to fight you...or see you fight, General. Then I would've known a lot sooner.

Unfortunately for both of us, that opportunity never came.

So, it really is you. The Black Knight... No, General Zelgius!



Now that it is here, let us not delay any longer. Raise your sword and begin!

Let's finish this!

If Tibarn is in your party, you'll get a "bit" of extra dialogue at this point...

Stop right there. I've got a debt to settle with this scum.

True, your revenge against me remains incomplete. However, may I ask you to step aside for now? Though at different times, Ike and I both learned the way of the sword from the same master: one of Daein's famous Four Riders, General Gawain. He left Daein under an assumed name and formed a mercenary company. I was entranced by Greil's swordsmanship while he was in Daein. I studied under him, I fought next to him... I idolized him. When he left, I was crushed. I vowed to find him again, and challenge him to duel. I had to know if I had surpassed him! Three years ago, I caught up to Greil. I challenged him to a duel, and was victorious. But, something was wrong... The fight had been too simple. I thought I'd never feel satisfaction again. Then, Ike told me why it had been so easy. Greil had severed all the tendons in his right hand, and swore never again to draw a blade. Can you imagine my joy at the news? I knew that a swordsman of his stature couldn't have been so easy to defeat! My master's skills were passed down to his son, Ike. I will defeat him and finally surpass my master! I trust that you understand. Once our fight is finished, I will allow you to settle your quarrel, Hawk King.

Please, Tibarn.

...Fine. If you're taking my place, you'd better win. Got that?

Of course. This is my chance to avenge my father's death. This time, he won't walk away.

If you don't have Tibarn, you don't get any of that. This could be seen as something of an omission, because it's a very convenient info dump of lots of stuff relating to the Black Knight and Greil that is only mentioned in passing otherwise, and god help you if you weren't paying rapt attention to - or, worse, didn't play - Path of Radiance.

Let us begin.



I won't allow anyone to interfere with our fight.

Agreed. It's better this way. I can focus on you!

No draw. No escape. One wins. One loses.





WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND FIGHT ALREADY?!



Well, actually, no, they can't. This is a bit of a trick battle.

See the soldier in red towards the bottom? That's Zelgius constant subordinate, Levail.

He has something we want.

This battle is also a very nice opportunity for training. There are a nice large amount of soldiers, near constant reinforcements (I actually have no idea how many total there are, but they spawn every turn for at least ten turns), and a fuckton of experience on offer. The "battle" ends the moment the Black Knight dies.

Therefore, our goal is to stall the Black Knight until everyone down below is done with their training, Levail is dead, and Kurthnaga has his S-Rank Strike.



Before we do that, though, we have some admin to take care of. We don't have the Market anymore, but we can still do all our usual management stuff.



Kurth and Ena is a pretty great choice for a support. Earth + Water makes boosts to attack and defence and avoid, and if they stick together, Kurth will benefit from +5 strength and skill, and Ena will benefit from +5 defence and resistance - keeping herself safe.



Among our leftovers are Sanaki and Nephenee. Why the hell not?



First up, we've got a lot of people who are close to levelling up and already up against stat caps. They get a level each, and I get to post Nolan's stats again. God. Damn.



God. Damn.



Fiona hits her caps for strength and magic.



Nephenee's kinda goes to waste, but I'll take it.



Kurth's Adept and Renewal make way for Blossom. By the time this battle starts, he'll be able to double people without Adept. An Imbue scroll goes on Ena, so she can use her massive magic to offset any damage she might take in the course of not being as tough as Kurth.



Perhaps Sanaki might pull off some miracle levels. She's running out of time.



We throw Kurth a Speedwing, bringing his speed up to 15 -> 30, enough to double pretty much everything except swordmasters and the endgame bosses. We also throw him the Boots, boosting his movement to 8 -> 7. Yes, Kurth loses movement while transformed. I am willing to consider this as a balancing feature.



Here's Levail, and there the SS-Rank Lance, the Wishblade. It's scary good. It's got 22 Mt, 100 base Hit, 5 Crit, and 1-2 range, and boosts the wielder's luck by 3. But the Wishblade is not what makes Levail dangerous.



This is why Levail is dangerous. The second he goes below 30 health, his speed goes up by 12 (to the point where literally only Zihark is able to double him), and his chance of activating Impale goes up to 42% before Biorhythm bonus. Fortunately, Levail will generally engage our units at range (thus invalidating Impale), but always watch out. It's best to send someone with lots of HP and defence to deal with him.



Our party starts out on a nice large patch of Cover tiles, so that's nice. However, we won't be availing of them; we're going to send Nolan and Zihark and Volke west, and Jill and Fiona (and everyone else) right, with our healers hanging out on the cover tiles.



Alright, Zelgius. Prepare to be stalled. Properly, this time.



First rule of stalling: Do not move Ike!. Both he and the Black Knight start off on Cover tiles. If you move Ike up to the Black Knight, you'll be fighting an opponent with fifty fucking defence. On the other hand, if you don't move, the Black Knight gets to deal with 41 defence Ike; much more manageable.

(It's 41 defence because Ike will have Ragnell unequipped while he's stalling, so forgoing the +5 buff)



Nolan gets the party started. Note his dodge; this is without the benefit of his Earth Pairing; he's at best Biorhythm but at a Weapon Triangle disadvantage, so it evens out. Have I mentioned Nolan is broken?



Zihark catches up to him, though, and starts Tempest Blading fools.



Something to bear in mind; we can terminate Levail from range if necessary. Of course, we can't actually do it in one round; when Levail's resolve kicks in, our double gets cancelled. We're not going to use this contingency, however.

We could, of course, send in someone with Nihil. But that would require me to remember this before I did the skill setups.



Funny you should phrase it like that, Ena! The two of them wander into enemy range and immediately transform. In a fit of saving-Laguz-Gem-uses, I use regular Laguz Stones on them. This policy will cease next map, don't worry.



Jill and Fiona kill a guy and everyone generally assumes their positions. Yes, Micaiah is in enemy attack range. Yes, having a patch of Cover tiles sometimes makes you complacent.



The enemy turn opens with ten consecutive missed attacks (plus one that hits Fiona) that can't be countered. Pictured is the first counterattack this turn.



Then the enemy runs out of rangers and sends in the melee guys. We capitalise.



Micaiah's recent speed windfall means she can now dodge quite well, and the terrain negates most of the risk anyway. Hell, Reyson could survive a few hits here.



It's the thought that counts.



Unfortunately, the enemies can take advantage of it too.



Big patches of cover tiles are great for having mages tank on, because they can be protected from enemy melee attacks...



...but enemies are still vulnerable to magic. Unrelated; Flare at melee range is basically just Soren breaking an imaginary jar of fire over his opponent's head.



Even with only three stats left to go up, Nolan can still hit growths in two of them. Also, he's now only got two stats that can go up - Skill caps at 36.



And now, for something magical.



Melee dodge (of course)...



And then we shoot him in the face at point blank range. Beeeeeautiful.





The one absolute necessity for this fight is putting Nihil on Ike. If you don't, you have between a 30 and 50% chance per round of getting hit with Eclipse. You don't want that. Not at all.



Some dudes enter alongside Levail, and you can just about make out the aftermath of the enemy's futile attempt to kill us.

Irritatingly, no one attacked Kurth.



Micaiah is starting to come up on the kind of magic stat that will allow her to usefully contribute to battles not involving Thani. She does so now.



Christ. Where's she getting all this speed from? Well, that's magic and luck capped now. Resistance will doubtless follow in two levels.



Kurth demonstrates his newfound speed.



Ena gets a kill, too.



Sanaki picks up a kill and a quite decent level.



Nolan, Zihark and Volke completely clean out the west side and get a free Concoction for the trouble.



Reyson pulls off a glorious four-way chant and the traditional rubbish level.



Wow, it's been quite a while since we've seen Thani used properly, hasn't it? Fortunately, Micaiah can dodge the counterattack easily.



Yep.



Now, look. As awkward as this conversation is no doubt supposed to be, there is no way in hell Nephenee would be referring to Sanaki by name before A-rank.



With the Double Bow, Rolf is now spoilt for choice regarding ways to attack enemy archers without fear of counterattack. Well, it's not like the counterattack would do much to him, but I'm just doing this for the novelty, and because it's awesome.



Kurth and Ena charge. Ena is just behind Kurth and standing on a Cover tile, so she's quite well defended. Kurth, meanwhile, is ready to commence the bringing of pain.

Sadly, his levels won't be that frequent this time round, because of Blossom, and also because he's now getting less EXP per kill anyway. But he's almost at peak efficiency, and we're here to train his Strike, anyway.



By the end of turn 2, we have completely cleaned up the initial non-stationary guys. Levail, and the two generals, snipers and priests flanking him will not move; the swordmasters you see were last turn's reinforcements.



This is annoying, though. Despite their inability to deal damage to her, all the enemies insist on attacking Ena. At least she can't kill them.



Ike keeps on stalling.



With Ena surrounded on all sides (by three swordmasters and Kurth), someone finally attacks Kurth.



He gets stronger, faster and tougher in response. Also, he's now hit his speed and resistance caps. That's pretty goddamn good.

Oh, and he's hit Lv 30, too. We know what that means.



The additional strength is just barely not enough to allow Kurth to one hit these guys, and he's still not fast enough to double them.



Three warriors appear from the western gate. Zihark, Nolan and Volke are still there. Time for spawncamping!



Kurth and Ena clean up a little, and Ena gets a crap level.



Then Reyson shows up to get Ena the hell outta there. We'll do without her strength boost for now.



Kurth parks himself right in front of one of Levail's general buddies...



And uses a Satori Sign.





Ire, the Dragon mastery skill, is rather unremarkable aside from the fact that it deals triple damage. Really, you can think of it as a much more likely crit, since Dragons generally don't have much by way of skill.



Volke assassinates a guy and gets a very good level for someone with two stat caps hit. Well, three now.



This isn't really relevant to anything, but I just wanted to post it.



This... is crap.



This isn't!



Micaiah hits SS in light. And not a moment too soon!





End of turn 3. Ike has healed himself. You don't want to tempt fate - or the Black Knight's 2% crit chance.



Levail rounds on Kurth.



His attacks hurt.

But so do Kurth's. And he gets two.



Jill gets... well, speed, I guess.



A general goes after Kurth as well. Annoyingly, he pulls through with 1 HP.



And then both he and Levail get healed by the fucking Physic priests.



Three halberdiers from the east door this time. And Micaiah's right in the middle of 'em.



New plan; kill the priests first.





Better.



Jill airlifts Reyson the hell outta there.



A bleh level for Rolf. Well, bleh other than how he's capped HP.



Here's Corona activating. It's like Flare, only instead of doing a somersault, you just stare at a really bright light for a while, then kill the enemy.



Then cap resistance.



End of turn 4.



Levail attacks Kurth again. Kurth takes him to half health again.



Then Kurth wastes a general and six more swordmasters appear.



Have I mentioned yet that Imbue alone is allowing Kurth to shrug off Levail's incoming damage?



As much as I'd like to believe this, it just isn't true.



In fact, he proceeds to double Kurth. No crit though.



We send him a Physic and end the turn. Now, Levail has an Elixir, but he won't use it because his AI is programmed to a) only heal after running away and b) not move. Clever.



So instead he attacks Kurth for the last time.





Levail, like every other named character in this damn tower, has a lot of battle dialogue which I will gladly stuff into a bonus update.



More importantly, we get his weapon.



Then the swordmasters attack Kurth and give him an acceptable level.





Around this time, the game starts dropping hints you should be moving on. Three guys come out of both the eastern and western doors.



So we spawncamp them again.



Nephenee, along with Micaiah, Sanaki and Rolf, secures the east side and gets another bleh level. Though it does cap her resistance.



I want Kurth on that defence square this turn, so Pelleas is employed to lay down some artillery fire so Kurth can move.



Kurth takes a helping of Olivi Grass to prolong his transformation. Again, this is probably the last time I'll use Olivi Grass.



End of turn 6.



About damn time.



Kurth takes a deep breath...



And exhales.



Then he does it twice more.

Really, Ire is pretty unremarkable as an animation.



More playmates.



Our healers are still grinding out the odd staff-driven level, too. Elincia gets a useful one.



End of turn 7.

Lots of counterkills later...



These guys just don't learn.

Some spawncamping later...



Holy shit lady WHERE WAS ALL THIS SPEED HIDING



Sanaki's not faring so well speedwise but her magic is ticking up fast.



Then I realise Nephenee can't double the last guy, so instead I have her rescue Micaiah.



End of turn 8.



Kurth's all out of friends...



And right on cue, there's our Strike rank. Sweet.



Even with her halved speed, this swordmaster can't hit Nephenee.



And even with her halved skill, she Impales the motherfucker.



Nephenee, ladies and gentlemen.



While Ike goes to finally fight the Black Knight, more guys show up to play with Kurth. Sure, whatever.



Unfortunately, Kurth picks this exact moment to run out of TP.



So in swoops Reyson.



Followed by Elincia with the Rescue.



Followed by Fiona with the Take.



That's better.



Then Micaiah uses the Rescue staff on Fiona for the experience.



What a waste.



Of course, most of the enemies then proceed to go after Elincia.



It ends poorly for them.



Meanwhile, Ike prepares to finally fight the Black Knight. For real this time. Ragnell is raised against Alondite...



...just kidding! Of course we're going to use the Hammer. What, did you not notice Ike can use axes after promotion? And did you forget that the Black Knight's armour isn't blessed anymore? This is waaaay too coincidental to not be destiny.



Aw, fuck. To be fair, though, we're fighting at a triangle disadvantage, Ike's biorhythm is at worst, and the Black Knight's is at best. Good thing we have Nihil, otherwise we'd be getting Eclipse'd for sure.



The second hit connects, though.



On the other side of the fence, Elincia's counterkilling spree gets her another level. Speed is good!



Reinforcements, of course.



Ike heals. We're going for a counterkill.



Kurth takes out the one guy to survive Elincia...



And waits in range of his last three friends while Rolf, Volke and Zihark take out the guys on the left. End of turn 10.



Lest we forget, the Black Knight has health regen, too.

Sadly, Kurth only gets one counterkill in before the Black Knight makes his move.



We get hurt...



Ah, fuck.



Fine. One more playtime for Kurth.



And some for Volke.



And some for Soren.



Sure.



Oh, what the hell.



First attack misses, and Ike gets hit.



The second is good though.



Goodbye, Zelgius. You magnificent bastard.



And thanks for the nice level.





You are stronger. Much stronger than before...

I have you to thank for that. I grew stronger through our previous fight. To be honest... I was overjoyed when I heard that the Black Knight was still alive. That surprised me... I felt neither sadness nor hate. Just joy. My hands were shaking with anticipation. I couldn't wait to fight my most formidable enemy again! Your swordsmanship was fearsome. Fiercer and more powerful than any I've ever seen. After our duel three years ago, I trained hard, trying to remember all of your skills and techniques.



To surpass him was my ultimate goal as a swordsman.

Was I as skillful as you remember my father in his prime years? Did you see his shadow in my sword?

"No, Ike. You killed me with a hammer."



Black Knight Zelgius. You were my father's killer. And my last teacher.

...I spent most of my life shrouded in darkness... But my life had meaning. Now I'm certain of it...





Goodbye, Zelgius. You were an awesome antagonist.

Even before we knew or even cared about his Identity, the Black Knight was as brilliant an example of his archetype as befits a character literally named "The Black Knight". He made a hell of an entrance in Path of Radiance, and maintained enough of a presence throughout the storyline to properly establish his character, even when not interacting with Ike. He was a complete mystery, but we still knew things about him. Though entirely inscrutable, he acted calmly and spoke directly. Even while maintaining an almost mythological status among everyone who ever came into contact with him, he came across as a believable antagonist. So well realised is his character that the average player comes to think of the Black Knight as a character in and of himself, even after his identity is finally revealed.

Even his sudden reappearance to aid Micaiah was brilliantly handled. Even when the "oh shit!" moment had subsided and all the questions had set in, and even after his "defeat" by Ike from which he bears visible scars, you still believe entirely in the sheer power of the Black Knight.

He was awesome.







The holy sword Alondite... It's the counterpart to your sword, Ragnell. I think it wants you to take it up.

Alondite... The sword that took my father's life.



Suddenly, a second playthrough exclusive scene attacks!



Why they label everyone in this scene as "???" is beyond me.

This scene is voice-acted, too, by the way.

General Gawain!



But...oh, no... what has he done? Elena... Did he kill her?

It must have been the medallion. He touched it, and the chaos bound within sent him into a rage beyond reason. Tragic...



(And god, if you thought Mist's voice was unbearable in the present...)





What's wrong with them? Are they asleep? ...Father? Mother?

They're very tired, child. Let's not disturb them.

We can't leave them sleeping here! It's cold out! We have to take them home! Ike, you have to help me!

Ike?

I'll take them home. Will you show me the way?

Yeah! Come with me!

---



It appears the medallion was too much for Lord Ashnard. It would be unwise to allow him access to it again.



That's my mother's medallion! No one's supposed to see it!







You... You are unchanged?

You said you'd take my mother home, too.

Y-Yes, of course.

---



You saw everything, didn't you? Poor child.

Ike?









Ike?! What's wrong?

AHHH!

Ouch! Ike, that hurts. Let go!

Nnng! Aaagh! Aaaanngghh!

What happened?

Give me a moment.





What did you do to him?

Merely helped him to forget. I could not leave this memory to haunt him. It is too heavy a burden for one so young.

What will you do with the medallion?

The girl seems safe from its influence. We will leave it with her, for the time being.

Mm.

---



You saw it too, didn't you, Ike? That memory... Could that have been--

I...I...was there... In that...place... My mother, she tried to stop my father, and...he killed her... I saw it all...

Is that what happened? I was contained inside at that time. I had no idea.

Zelgius...

If you're on a first playthrough, this is where you rejoin us.



Yes. I will keep fighting. I won't stop until I die.





Once again, they don't make it entirely clear who's speaking in these scenes. But try not to strain yourself thinking too hard about this one.

So that's your secret, is it? The blood of the laguz runs through your veins.

Yes. There was someone on my father's side who...who was with a laguz.



This cursed thing, I...I am an outcast from my family. I joined the military to escape the shame and hatred in their eyes... I live in fear of discovery. When I think that I might see that same shame and hatred in another's eyes, I... I come close to despair... I have lived my life alone, unable to trust or become close to anyone.

Such loneliness and isolation. You poor child... It pains me to tell you that I know of no way to remove your brand.

I...I understand... It was a foolish question. I apologize.



And you wish to conceal that fact, don't you? Is that why you rarely remove your armor, even when indoors?

Yes...but this ruse will not last indefinitely. In a few years, I will be forced to leave this army's service.

And once again, you will be alone.

I am accustomed to being alone. My only hesitation is that... I will miss studying the sword under my commander, General Gawain.

When the time comes for you to leave, will you come to me, perhaps?

My lord?

We share a...similar condition. I see something familiar within you. I can...understand your pain and isolation.

But why me?

I have a task that I must accomplish. With you at my side, I would feel more confident of my success.

If I join you, will I be redeemed?

I cannot say. At the very least, however, you will no longer be alone. And neither will I.

That is enough, then. You have made my decision simple. When I leave here I will find you.



May I ask your name, my lord sage?

My name? Of course...

---

Sure, cut away before the second speaker reveals his name. Continue pretending it isn't extremely obvious. There's only one man this could be.



It's just one of many... They're swirling everywhere... The tower resonates with their strength. But... who is it? Who do they belong to? ...There is such sadness... Zelgius met someone. One lonely soul calling out to another... But he's no longer with us. Zelgius is gone...





Sweet! Alondite is identical in every respect to Ragnell, save for the fact that Alondite can be used by anyone. Well, if by "anyone" you mean "Zihark", because it's an SS-rank sword.



Was training Kurth's strike worth 1250 BEXP? Don't ask stupid questions.

Next time: The game officially stops fucking around.