Persona 3 FES Part #132

Part 132: Darkness

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-

It all comes down to this.

Gotcha...!

Awright! This is just like back in January when we were up against Nyx...

Well, we are going to the moment when it was sealed...

We probably really will see Nyx there.

But... what kind of ordeal is this going to be...?

Another huge Shadow?

Does it matter? Whatever comes at us, we're taking it down.

Woof!

I'll back you up with everything I have! We can deal with whatever's beyond that door, I know it!

Well, Aigis... I'm counting on you...!

It feels really weird that we're apparently so close to being done. We've made it through the Abyss and got the True Key to let us leave, but... something still feels missing. We don't really know what we're dealing with after all. That is part of the purpose of that large door, at least, but it stil feels jarring and sudden.

Ah well, let's just nip into the Velvet Room for a sec. Need to make a couple new Personae after all.

The Poem For Everyone's Soul

Do you remember when you first came here?

Your face tells a very different story compared to then...

What you yearn for...

Once you find it, you will find the other thing you seek as well...

The end... the purpose of life.

I wish you luck.

So, this is the team we're going with here. It'd be better to have Mitsuru (because she's Mitsuru) in place of Junpei, but we haven't used Junpei in forever so he can come along today. Yukari's our best healer and has good offense and Metis can pitch in with almost anything if need be.

The Seal of Darkness

Mistic

This feeling... This is where the last battle was...

Hey... I can move!

I said before, if it's a past that everyone experienced, then you can actually interact with it...

The same as that shopping mall.

Wait... everyone? But you weren't here for this.

Nyx...!

And that must be...!

......!

Nyx

So for a brief moment, we're drawn into the animezone...

First time in a while, huh?

While here, we get to see real Makoto for just this one brief scene.

And see the end of the FES attract video for good measure.

So this... is the miracle he performed.

Afterwards, a giant shadow of... something appears and begins to expand outward.

Turns out it was a shadow of a door covered in chains.

And there's a conspicuous statue chained to it as well.

Silence

This is his life essence.

As you can see, this is what happened.

But relinquishing one's life essence means death for a human...

He must have already found it... His own answer... to life.

The answer to life...

I don't think he has any regrets.

He managed to keep his promise to you all before his consciousness faded away...

His promise...? You mean to meet up on graduation day?

Wait a sec. How do you know about that promise?

How...? I just know.

Nyx's awakening means the destruction of everything... But think about it.

If she's that powerful... how was she contained before he became the seal?

Well... someone else must've...

What about before humans ever existed?

What are you getting at?

That's not exactly wrong, considering what we know about her. She's just a personification of humanity's collective desire for death. Intrinsically, there is nothing good nor evil about that. In practice however...

A seal really isn't necessary.

What!? Are you saying he did all this for no reason...!?

Not at all. What he was really trying to accomplish was--

The ground starts shaking for a second here.

Whoa... What the!?

Everyone... look!

And we transition right to another anime cutscene, albeit much longer than the last one.

Seal

That hand reaching out of the dust before belongs to this gigantic ugly motherfucker.

Rather notably, it looks like there's a second one hiding in the dust still. In motion, it's a bit clearer that they're both one creature!

And it was pretty clear before, but it's definitely reaching towards the gigantic door.

Ah, no!

This... isn't a Shadow.

So many... All those people's...

As I thought. The seal's real purpose.

It wasn't to hold back Nyx.

It was a seal so that it couldn't be touched.

What do you mean?

Rather notably, Metis says that as this thing is grabbing the statue. She means the door can't be touched because of the seal, but it still takes a second to properly register.

That monster... isn't a Shadow.

It's the accumulated malice that came from the hearts of countless living people.

All of them... deep down are calling Nyx!

That can't be...

Last December... I, too, wished to learn death.

It's probably true that people in town are wishing to touch it somewhere in their hearts.

There is only one thing that differentiates life from stillness.

It's that we die. That's all there is.

Since it can't do anything about the seal, this new being borne from the collective unconsciousness pulls back from the door.

I think I understand. When your life loses its meaning, the fact of death can be kind of comforting.

That lurking malice we're unaware of is strong enough to give birth to such a huge monster.

And maybe... that's just how it is these days.

Unfortunately for us, it's given up on the door and turned its attention towards us. Immediately taking a swipe at Aigis and Metis.

What's it doing!?

Glaring at us in a gigantic awesome visage. This shot looks REALLY cool, at least!

That Which Comes From The Darkness

It's not made explicit even here, but the implication is that the big dog in this yard wants Aigis because only a Wild Card can remove the seal.

Mitsuru meanwhile reminds us that she's kinda just awesome and pulls out her Evoker.

Don't tell me you're going to fight that thing! It's impossible... It's just too big!

This is a battle we can't run from.

The feelings that gave birth to this abomination were inside me as well.

Because I couldn't accept reality, I foolishly sought solace in a past filled with death and strife.

There's no mistaking it... This monster is the reason for all our troubles.

You got that right.

If we run away from this, we're off to a lousy start for our future.

That's what I think too... This was already a battle against myself.

Sucks to be you, big guy, cuz we ain't gonna lose! Let's do this!

Sister...

Don't worry. This think can't stop us.

To go on living is to not give in to your own weakness... Let's win this, for a new beginning tomorrow!

Fool Erebus

Darkness

a lot of people reckon heartful cry is the best of the three new battle music tracks (being generous with that three) i prefer this one personally though but theyre both really good

Erebus' battle music is just called Darkness. In Greek Mythology, Erebus is a promordial God and the personification of darkness itself. Rather notably, his three siblings are Gaia (Ms. Not-Appearing-In-This-Game), Tartarus and his sister/consort... Nyx.

So, yeah, Erebus being the thing trying to remove the seal and free Nyx makes a lot of sense.

Erebus is a really straightforward fight compared to Nyx, and... most of The Answer to be honst! Though it doesn't seem like it here, he's our first proper barrier change boss in a sense. At the moment, he takes normal damage from all physicals but half damage from Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind.

He doesn't attack normally often, but if he does he has Almighty Attack just like Nyx Avatar did.

Much like when they used it, it hits everyone and can even crit for good measure.

Mostly though, he primarily casts spells at this point. Ma-Dynes come consistently with only minor variation, usually for the ST Dynes instead. Rather notably, he has all four elemental Amps (and Breaks) just in case.

Erebus is nice to us and does not get angry if we use Tetrakarn or Makarakarn. In fact, he rather notably has no Almighty attacks at all outside of his his basic attack... and, uh, one other special thing.

Even with his resistance, there's a good chance that this is gonna be a better use of Aigis' turn while the others cut through a bit slower and more traditionally.

Not as common, but he DOES have MT physical skills as well. No ST equivalents, but he has the best two for every element, except Slash which is just Deathbound (and no Pralaya for Pierce of course). Merciful lack of Vorpal Blade here, and Blade of Fury is too much of a stepdown to be used I guess.

After a few turns, Erebus shows his main gimmick and big unique skill.

Dark Embrance is similar to Moonless Gown in that it doesn't immediately do anything. It just makes this big ol' sphere of darkness spawn and it just sits here for now.

I don't know anything about that attack. Be careful!

During Dark Embrace, Erebus switches things up a bit. Rather than going for straight damage, he kinda runs support skills focusing on ailments...

...and debuffs. Its moveset is a lot more limited here, for good reason.

After three turns, Fuuka gives us one last warning and if Erebus gets a turn after this...

He uses Primal Darkness. This is one of the two real uses for Dark Embrace and the primordial God of Darkness hitting us with the primordial concept of darkness...

Kinda hurts a fair bit! You really kinda don't wanna tank this often, obviously. Especially because the more it is used, the more powerful it gets!

You won't be able to survive much more of that. We have to think of a way to avoid it...

Fortunately, we have just the thing. During Dark Embrace, Erebus' resistances technically switch. While he's still wholly neutral to everything on paper, he now takes half damage from physicals and 150% normal damage from Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind.

Mercifully, if he's been analyzed your party member's AI picks up on this immmediately too and even Junpei and Metis switch to spells in this scenario.

If he takes 1000 damage during Dark Embrace, then Primal Darkness is interrupted and prevented.

More to the point, Erebus is straight up stunned for a round.

His turn is actively skipped over at this point, and while stunned I'm pretty sure he takes an extra 50% damage from Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind on top of the Dark Embrace extra.

Once Erebus drops below 50% health, he starts to incorporate the 4th tier ST spells into his normal attack pattern every now and then. No other big changes, though.

Erebus has 12,000 HP and 80 Strength, 75 Magic, 60 Endurnce, 68 Agility and 70 Luck. Much like Nyx Avatar, he's immune to every ailment including Shock, Freeze and Knock Down so there's little point in crit-fishing (though I still gave Metis the Omega Drive just to give her a bit of a possible damage boost).

He's notable as being the only non-Gold Shadow we fight to give 0 EXP. In fact, he doesn't even give us the EXP screen at all.

Nyx herself technically gives 0 EXP as well but she's also a cutscene so I don't count that. Even Nyx Avatar gave EXP!

Mistic

Wow... We really won...

See? I told you.

But will it be enough...? For that monster to truly disappear, everyone's feelings must change...

To stop the heart's yearning for destruction... It's a formidable task.

People try to keep death at bay, but without it, they lose sight of life.

Yeah, so, even though we beat Erebus he's not gone forever. He'll come back eventually, so long as people have a desire for death.

No... I'm sure we can do it.

Aigis...

We can all change someday... As long as we're alive, it can happen.

After all, even I was able to do it.

Y'got that right!

It we want the world to change, we have to believe it'll happen.

Hey... Aigis?

Um... I need to apologize to you.

I said some really horrible things...

I think it really bothered me... The way you received the same power that he had.

Yukari-san...

But really... it wasn't because you were "the chosen one" or anything. It was because of the way you felt.

*chuckle* You really never do stop thinking about him.

We all wanted to protect him, but out of all of us... you must've felt the strongest.

That's why he's here. For us.

Even if we went back to before the last battle, the world wouldn't be saved unless he did the same thing.

Haha... I can't believe I didn't see it before. If there was an easier way, he would've taken it.

Yukari...

It's still sad, but...

If I think of him as protecting us, forever... it helps a lot.

Me too.

I feel like I can breathe easier now that I know what really happened to him...

Yeah. Now that we know the truth, I feel like the blinders have been removed.

All we could do before was see him go... But now, I finally feel like we've gotten closer to him.

I'm ready to start the morning of April 1st.

Of course!

End

Silence

Right.

Um... There's something I have to say, but... I'm not sure how to put it...

I'm really happy to have known all of you.

A lot's happened in the past few days... but over time, it'll make our friendship stronger, you know?

*chuckle* You're right.

Aigis pulls out the True Key as it glows.

I see... Friendship...

If it isn't just death... If there's something else...

It could be... friendship.

Is this... the answer to life I'm supposed to find?

As Aigis questions this for a moment, Philemon's butterfly appears again and only Aigis reacts to it.

Ah well, through the front door we go. Onwards, to April 1st...

Beyond the door, we get an old standby: a forced transition to the Velvet Room...

The Poem For Everyone's Soul

Though this time, we're not alone. That's different!

Huh...? What is this place!?

Hey, wait a second! What's going on here? This isn't the front of the dorm!

There is no need to worry.

I only summoned you here that we might say our farewells.

It seems the power of the wild card within you has influenced them as well...

Huh? Aigis... you know them?

My sister and your friend were guests here.

Wait... How come you're standing there smiling like you know it all?

Don't you remember what I said before? My place is here, on the "other side."

Congratulations, Sister... and the rest of you, as well.

Metis...

Sister... You said before that you promised to protect him...

What...?

Someday, when more people come to realize that... the world will stop yearning for Nyx.

And that monster will be vanquished.

For that day to come, your every action will be important.

Isn't that another way of protecting your friend?

I... can still keep my promise...?

Metis... Who are you really? Won't you tell us?

We've actually sorta known this for a while, and it was made outright explicit at the door in Empyrean. Metis is technically Aigis' Shadow, though in a slightly different way than that is normally used. Even the occurances of this same plot point happening elsewhere in the series don't follow this quite the same way.

I couldn't bear the pain of losing him... so I wished to be a mere machine again.

Remember what Yukari said about Aigis seeming more robotic?And how Metis never awokened to her emotions, but just always had them? She's Aigis' humanity made manifest. Really, that her Persona was Psyche was a pretty big clue in a way.

Also her name is Metis. Metis was Athena's mother. I hope I don't need to explain the relevance of this.

My lonely sister, always being afraid of being left alone...

You came to help me acknowledge and confront the pain of living.

I finally understand... I only wish I had realized it much sooner.

Sister...