Part 45: On the Knife’s Edge

’s Edge

Earlier today, Sulpher took a turn for the worse.

Video- “Sick Unto Death”

Watch Things Get Worse

Sulpher!
Whoa, is he okay?
If you answer yes… Well, just don’t.
Oh, Sulpher, your body’s so weak. You need more rest.
Maybe you’re working him too hard.
I guess… Don’t push yourself. Rest up.
Resting won’t do much…
Should we go talk to Mr. Zeppel again?
He has proven himself unworthy time and again.
Oh, well, then… Ms. Isolde?
Ms. Isolde, huh? Sure she fixed him last time, but…
The other day, she left us to fend for ourselves. So in the matter of trust…
…I’ll go. I don’t know who else we can rely on. You guys can wait here.
If you’re going, then we’re going. Right?
Of course! Move it! Move it!

We rushed down to Ms. Isolde, but she was no help at all.



Oh…
Excuse me again, Sulpher is…
Again, I see.
Yes… He’s been feeling ill for a while now…
Can you fix him up like you did last time?
…You’ve done pretty well. But shouldn’t you know yourself the best?
He’s a weak master, you know… I wanted to stick around a bit longer…
What do you mean? You speak as if…
I told you, he’s on borrowed time. This cat is near its natural death.
…!
I’ve never heard of a Mana dying of old age.
Me, neither. But this cat is dying of age. It’s the truth, I can’t help it.
So, there’s nothing you can do?
He’s barely holding on by spirit alone. He won’t last long.
That’s just stupid! Old age? That’s impossible!
Let’s go, Vayne! It was a mistake to come to her in the first place!
Yes… Excuse my rudeness, but I cannot believe what you say, either.
Nikki, Anna, wait!
Excuse us… We’re leaving.
Um, yeah…

We had no idea why she wasn’t helping us at the time.



Eavesdropping, I see?
If what you said is true, then it’s a good thing I did.
If it’s true… Yes. Now would be a good time to make sure.
Ms. Isolde!
Don’t be too rash… They are, after all, students of this school.
It will result in protecting the students as well.
Though personally, that’s not my concern…

Jess did have one idea as to how we could save Sulpher.



Why are you so angry?
Well, why are you so… not angry!?
Now is not the time to solve things with anger and foolish choices.
Well… that’s true.
Even if we had stayed, I doubt she would have told us anything worthwhile.
Yeah. But she helped us once… I don’t get it!
Stop fighting. We’re all friends, ‘kay?
But this poses a problem. There’s nothing we can do.
Yeah… Oh, maybe!
You have an idea?
You know that Dragon’s Grave place? Where all the ancient dragons rest?
Well, yeah… What about it?
Whenever a dragon dies, it leaves its life energy behind in that land.
We can’t feel it, but Sulpher, a Mana might…
I do not believe in that, but…
…I’ll go.
Hmm… We have nothing better to do.
Then we better get going!

Sulpher said he was good to keep going, unlike last time.



It’s nothing. You are all overreacting…
Still, I better not fight with you too much.
You’re too worried. Stop treating me like an invalid.
Okay…

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 300: The Cave of Origins
Okay, so there are some cool things here. There are Steels on the ground to pick up, Dunkelhites to dig up, and you can fish up Dragon Tongues. That actually brings up the big thing to keep in mind, the monster you can fish up is basically a boss and you should not fight it right now. It’s a small area and super slow on the fishing for once so you can easily avoid it.

We reached the deepest point of the Cave, hoping that it could help Sulpher. And as it turns out, we weren’t alone there.

Video- “Isolde”

Watch The Showdown

I don’t think the effect works that fast.
Just rest here. You too, Vayne.
Okay, thanks…
Everyone else… Guard the area.
……
So, how is Sulpher doing?
He doesn’t seem any different…
But…
If this doesn’t work, what else can we do?
I told you, it’s no use.
Ms. Isolde…
Everything is useless… I didn’t say that just to be mean. It’s the truth.
What if we just don’t trust what you say?
You came all the way out here just to tell us that?
If you could explain it, it would help a lot.
……
…Fine. Once you see the results, you’ll understand.

At first we didn’t even understand what she was doing, we couldn’t even imagine being attacked by a teacher.



I will defeat you right now. If you don’t agree with that, resist.
…You’re going to fight your students?
Are you serious!? I’m so pissed right now! You’re gonna regret this!
…Vayne…let’s do it.
No! You’re way too weak.
She’s serious… You’ll get hurt…
But…
I hope you’re prepared.
Gr… Sorry Sulpher!

But she was deadly serious.



Boss Battle: Isolde
Okay first thing’s first, before we even talk about the fight you should probably watch it just for the music, which is awesome. Anyway, Isolde is a hell of a fight. She’s not vulnerable to anything, and is nearly immune to lightning. I’m going to actually talk about what she does in specifics, because this really deserves it.

Sword Creation: A brutal attack that synthesizes a sword and repeatedly slashes a single target. This will do somewhere in the 350 damage range to someone and characters with weak defenses or low max health can easily be killed in a single hit by it if you don’t use a Defense Support. Pamela’s is best, since it will completely negate the blow.

Grand Gaze: A nasty Time Effect that does two hits for about 150 total damage and causes a lot of stun damage. If it hits someone who’s been damaged a lot recently expect them to get Broken by it. I’d suggest just Purifying the card if you’ve got Roxis with you, you don’t need this extra damage.

Nail Blow: A relatively weak group attack for about 80 to the whole party. She doesn’t do this much.

Baxim Bite: A decently large single target attack (somewhere in the 200 damage range) that also reduces your magic resistance, making you take more damage from everything else. Roxis can Dispel innately, and of course you can do it with items and commons skills.

Gravity Burst: A two-turn attack that does massive damage to the entire party. You want to have Muppy’s Defense Support ready for this, because otherwise expect the whole party to take three to four hundred points of damage.

So, what we need to do is endure everything she’s throwing at us while bringing her health down as best you can. Come in with a Finishing Burst ready if you can so your first Burst Mode is guaranteed to stack up a fair amount of damage on her. Keeping Defensive Supports available is pretty important because when they’re not people are likely to take a LOT of damage, as she uses Sword Creation quite often. When you finally bring Isolde down, you get the recipe for the awesome Elixir, the ultimate healing item.

I have no idea how we managed to win the fight.



Bah, that was nothing.
You picked the fight with us. I find your teaching methods to be suspect.
I admit I underestimated you… But, I did fulfill my purpose.
Are you satisfied…? What did you plan to get out of this?
…I owe an apology to you, at least. I thought if you disappeared…
Why are you so… towards Vayne? He’s Theofratus’… His last…
That’s exactly why.
Grh… I’m sorry. Vayne…

But winning wasn’t the point it seemed…

Video- “Life and Death”

Sulpher…

He’s used up all his power…
Used up? So…
That was the reason you challenged us!?
I said, it was his time… I just made it come slightly earlier.
There’s no way a Mana can die of old age! I bet you did something to him!
As far as I know, fifteen years…isn’t that a normal cat’s lifespan?
A normal cat? Don’t make me bust out my crime lab.
Vayne, please be okay…
…… Sulpher… Why aren’t you moving?
Vayne…
……
Please… Sulpher… I beg you…

I think I blacked out for a moment there.



That… voice…?
???: If you wish strongly, that’s all it’ll take…
Wish…? If I wish, then Sulpher will…?
???: Your power, is to wish…
I just have to wish? Then, I wish…
Sulpher… Move… Please stay with me… Please!



I do remember a bright light I think.



Vayne! This is…
As I suspected… But this is…

The important thing is that Sulpher is fine now.



!?
Sulpher…? Sulpher!
No way… Really!?
He moved… Is he okay now?
Oh… I’m so glad…
I feel like I was awakened during the deepest part of my sleep…
Welcome back, Sulpher…
What’s with all the tears?
It’s ‘cause…
…Though, I wish I was capable of crying.
Huh?
Never mind… We’re together again.
Yeah.

Ms. Isolde slipped away, we’re not sure where she went because she wasn’t on campus later.



Then… I guess I was the one who was unprepared…

Still, everything turned out okay. Didn’t it…?



In that moment, I rejoiced.
How Sulpher fainted, and got well…the reasons. I just didn’t care.
I thought it was good. Until I awoke from my happiness, that is…