Part 39: Bonus Chapter, Part 3

Jumping right into a battle here for a change. It isn't a particularly noteworthy fight, but I want to call your attention to the skinny bar beneath the Overdrive gauge once again. I think I've worked out what it's for!

From what I gather, it's a timer of sorts. It depletes gradually over the course of the battle and changes colour as it does so. The colour indicates what you'll have to do to receive an S for the battle. When it's white, finishing with a Level 1 Over Skill will do it. When it's green, you'll need a Level 2. Yellow, Level 3. Red, Execution Level. Eventually it'll go dark red, which means you've missed your chance altogether.

Overall, it's pretty handy. Presumably they introduced it to mitigate the TP issues in this chapter, which is nice, but it would have been nicer if they'd explained what it was for.





See? Now you don't have to wait for Ein's turn to come around and finish with Disaresta "just to be on the safe side." You know, because getting anything less than an S would force you to reset and fight the battle again because of your psychotic perfectionism.

That might just be me, though.



A Southern Cross! Oh, it's been so long since I got to use one of these.
Set fire to me! Set fire to me!
Really? Do you think I should? I don't know.
Come on, just once. You haven't done it in ages. I've missed it.
Oh, very well.
Woooo!



I'd explain that Ein is like this and you just have to get used to it, but something tells me I'd be preaching to the choir.
More like preaching to the bishop.
I hear you were partnered with him for quite some time. That must have been a trial.
Yeah. Thing is, I had professional obligations. You didn't, so frankly I'm amazed that you managed to go this long without poisoning him or something.
Believe me, there have been many times when I've considered doing just that.
...
You know something? You're alright. As far as Sprites go, anyway.
Well, aren't you a charmer.
Nothing personal. I'm just not into livestock.





Oh crap. Sprites.
Hello, little guy. Would you like to meet my scythe?
Wait! I don't want to fight!
So what's with the bomb, then?



I, uh...I collect them?
Do you.
Yes! That's what I do. I collect bombs. I am a bomb collector.
Well, that seems harmless enough.
Everyone needs a hobby, I guess.
Yes. A hobby. That's what people need, alright. Harmless, innocent hobbies.
We're not actually believing him, are we? Is that what's happening here?



It is possible to get into a fight with a Bomber Kid earlier in the dungeon. If you S-ranked him, received the Bomb item and kept it until now, you can give it to this guy. You only get some points for it though, so you're really just taking up an inventory space for no good reason.





BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
OH GOD HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
...
Say that again. Please. Just once more.
Uh...you're a good guy?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA
Okay, it's not that funny.
Yes it is. Yes it is.





You!
...is it really too much to hope that we don't run into every single one of these things again?
Need you ask?
How dare you hurt my Isher, you monsters?! What are the children supposed to do without a father? How am I supposed to tell them?!








What. The. Fuck.
Okay. I could explain this to you, or we could just kill them all and pretend it never came up.
Option two. Dear God, option two.



Linda got himself some minions! The addition of the two lizardmen actually makes this battle kind of awkward; you want to hit Lindwurm with fire and lightning attacks as before, but the problem is that your two main lightning/fire weapons both target the back row. The lizardmen are weak to ice, but again, your best ice attacker is Serene, who always hits the front row.

So what's the quickest way to finish this?



Stardust.

This Over Skill is unique in that the last three attacks target all enemies, whereas with most of the others it's only the last two hits. If that in itself doesn't kill everything on the screen, it almost certainly will once combined with the five attacks that come before it.


Rock on, Lina.



One thing I noticed; these extra items you're given after beating an Accursed are also affected by what rank you get. Anything less than an S and you'll just receive crap. (For this one, I received two Wyvern Wings for getting an A. Nothing else.)





...just saying, it seems a bit stupid to jump everyone who comes through here. I mean, they're already dead. It's not like we're actually accomplishing anything.
You're overthinking it. We're demons. It's just what we do.



Yeah, that's what I used to think. I'm not sure it's enough for me anymore.
Demons!



Uh, hey. Could you give us a minute? We're not sure if we want to kill you yet.
Oh. Alright.
What seems to be the problem?
Bit of a midlife crisis. You know how it is.
Would you like to talk about it?
I dunno. I guess this just isn't how I envisioned my future. Ever since the invasion got called off, we've just been sitting here and tormenting lost souls. Nothing else.
Well, that's still important, isn't it?
...you think so?
Of course it is! Lost souls come here expecting you to torment them. If you're not around to do it, what happens then? They'd just wander around saying "Being a lost soul is alright, I suppose." They might even start enjoying themselves. What kind of underworld would that be?
She's got a point. Even now, you're still making a contribution.
...huh. You know what? You're right. I am still making a contribution. Heck, if it weren't for guys like me, this place would be falling apart! This, right here, is exactly what I should be doing, and by god I'm going to do it!
Good for you.



To my considerable annoyance, gladiators have gone right back to being the total bastards that they were in Chapter 2.

The problem here is that unless you're very quick about killing the two in the back, one of them will use "Shield" on the guy in front, which will raise his already absurd block rate to even higher levels.



Once this happens, the only thing you can do is pray, because getting an S is purely a matter of luck. Until you've whittled him down to a fraction of his health, a slow process in itself, there is NOTHING you can throw at him that he can't potentially shrug off.



This is the smug bastard after just barely enduring a Stardust attack. You saw what that did to Lindwurm and his cronies, right? This guy survived it, and he only had half of his HP. And by this point, my little timer bar has gone dark red, so even though I'm about to Disaresta his ass to oblivion, I'm only going to get an A.



Fuck gladiators.

This is one of the few battles that's actually easier with Ledah, since his attacks have the XGuard property.



So you talk someone through their issues, help them get their life in order, then torch them to cinders?
Yes.
...I like it.



Don't even bother opening that chest, by the way. All it contains is an Egg, which nobody has mastered, which means that the only thing anyone can do with it is throw it at an enemy for one point of damage.

This is funny, though. I don't know why.





What's up, Ein? You look like you're off in your own world.
Oh. Yeah, I was just thinking about something.
Do I get to hear what it was?



You actually do have a quick chat with Serene here, and Ein can say that he's thinking about her. This is the only pure dialogue choice you're given in the entire dungeon. It has no consequences whatsoever. Even affection doesn't come into play, because it isn't used for anything in this chapter. For whatever reason, Sting just wanted these two to have a little moment. Isn't that sweet?

Except for the fact that this is how it goes:





...
You know, we are kind of "official" now, in case you'd forgotten. You might wanna consider saying these things and not immediately taking them back.
But I have a crippling fear of commitment!
also i'm a dick





What is it?
I dunno. Looks nasty, though. Maybe it's a demon?
Hah! Perfect!





Ein? What's that?
Huh?
Oh! Uh, it's nothing. Just...some junk I picked up.
It's a rock, isn't it.
...
Yes.
Well? Go on. Throw it.







Now come here.
Okay.







_{totally worth it}





...
...
...
...
...
So. Who's hungry?
I am!
why is this happening to me



I was opposed to the idea of another boss gauntlet at first, but I admit that it has grown on me a bit. Unlike the "Dark Progenitor" bosses, these ones are exactly the same as the Accursed you fought in the main game. It is kind of fun to see how quickly you can destroy them with your superior stats and equipment.



For example, one Divine Ascension here will leave you with a nice, big pile of chunky angel salsa.



I'd like to point out that this IS the same as the Saint Sceptre we got from Archangel last time; they just changed the name, for whatever reason.

This is kind of a shame, because it would have been cool if there had been "upgraded" versions of the boss weapons available in this chapter. As it is, they haven't aged well at all and most of them are useless at this point.

Immediately after this, we have to fight Death again.



As you can see, he starts off in his transformed state this time. And holy shit! Sting actually touched up his sprite a bit! If you recall, his red colour scheme in the GBA version was utterly hideous and almost looked like a glitch of some kind.



So well done, Sting. You might have left Ein with blue hair, Ursula with green bandages and Aghart looking like a malformed phoenix-foetus, but at least palette-swapped Death looks alright now. Kudos!



Anyway, nothing particularly new here. Couple of back row attacks will take down that succubus, (Ancardia works beautifully if you have it) then you just hit Death with holy weapons until level 3 Disaresta happens.

That is if you're using the Sprites.



If you aren't, this battle is a miserable, protracted experience. Lorelei does not do shit to either of these enemies, so Ledah is dead weight here. In fact, he's even worse; you'd literally be better off without him. Why? Because that four-hit combo builds up the Rage Gauge pretty quickly, which means you're going to be seeing an awful lot of this:





Yeah. The vampire's Break Out absorbs whatever damage it inflicts, healing herself and Death. And guess what? So does Death's. And since Ein's the only one doing any real damage, it takes approximately twelve years to whittle them down enough to the point that you can FINALLY finish them off.


SPRITES RESULT:



LEDAH RESULT:

How the mighty have fallen.







Now that is an impressive sight.
Yeah. Too bad it's already dead. I wouldn't mind taking credit for it.



LIVING ONES. YOUR EXISTENCE IS NOT PERMITTED HERE.
...alright. Who's this, now?
I AM HADES, LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD. LONG HAVE I SLUMBERED IN THIS DARK REALM. LONG HAVE I PLOTTED MY REVENGE. YOU SHALL REGRET SETTING FOOT IN MY DOMAIN, MORTALS.
Hades?
The orchestrator of Ragnarok. He was supposed to have been put down by the Grim Angels a thousand years ago. Guess it didn't take.
So that means he's evil, right?
Evil incarnate, I would say.
Does that mean we can kill him? Can we, Ein? Pleeease?
Oh, alright.
Hell yes! Let's do this!



THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO REACT.



Viddler Alternative.


NOTES: Seems I was wrong about the necessity of a healing item. I tried this battle again using a Holy Emblem, which raises your Dark resistance, and it was much more effective than I thought it'd be. It reduces the damage from Curse of Chaos enough that you could easily hold out for the entire battle; in Ein's case, it nullifies the damage altogether.

Using this method, and replacing Fia with Cierra, I was able to finish Hades a bit more quickly than I did in the video. So maybe go with that if you're ever trying this for yourselves which let's be honest none of you ever will so really I'm just wasting my time here AS ALWAYS





ARGH...
THIS...IS NOT THE END. I WILL NOT PERISH...NOT UNTIL I CONTROL ALL THE WORLD. MY WILL...SHALL NEVER...DIE...



His will just died.
Well, that's that. I'm sure you can all find your own way from here. Later.
Ledah, wait.
What?
...nothing. Never mind.
Oh, for fuck's sake. Just ask, will you? You don't know if you'll get another chance.
Alright, alright. This'll probably sound like a really dumb question, and I know I'll regret bringing it up, but...were you lying?
Lying?
Back when you died. Did you mean it when you said you never saw me as a friend? Did you really sacrifice your emotions for your Diviner?



...who knows? Only Hector and I, I suppose. Except Hector's gone, so that just leaves me.
So yeah, I guess I did sacrifice my emotions. It's as good an explanation as any, isn't it? I think it is. Probably wiser to just leave it at that, all things considered.
...okay.
That being said...
?
Maybe there's a chance...just a small chance, mind you...that I really am a little too attached to this spear.
...
I understand. Just a small chance though, right? Hardly worth considering.
Yeah. Hardly worth considering.



If fate allows it, Ein, we will meet again.
But don't count on it. Fate's a real bitch sometimes. I should know.



So I suppose now I have to accept that he isn't all bad and apologise for being so difficult about it?
No.
...I don't?
Nope. I think we're good. It's time I put this behind me.
Huh.
Well, you know. Maybe I'll think about it anyway. Just in case you change your mind.



So...how are we supposed to get out of here?
Well, we just defeated the big boss. Going by experience, that means we're about to be magically transported away through some deus ex machina and dumped back in Riviera.



Oh, hey. Good call.
I really must stop wearing dresses for these outings.













This seems familiar.
At least nobody had to die this time.
Hey, I already missed one opportunity to kill a god. You think I was gonna let that happen twice?



Well, we just destroyed the single most evil being in existence. I think we can call today a success.
See? Aren't you glad you listened to me?
On this one particular occasion, yes. Don't let it go to your-
Woohoo! I should be, like, vice elder or something!
...head.
Okay. It was great seeing you guys, but now that we're out of there, Serene and I should really get going. We've still got a lot of work to do.
So many demons, not enough time.
And I must get back to my research. After that little detour, I've got a lot of things I want to investigate. Particularly regarding magic circles.
Of course. You know you're all welcome in Elendia any time. Perhaps we'll see each other again soon.
Perhaps we will.








Goodbye, then.
Yeah. See ya.
Farewell.









So...yeah. We'll all just be going our separate ways now. Right?
Right.
Right.



Actually, now that I think about it, there are a few things I could use some help with around the village. Perhaps you wouldn't mind staying for a wh-
Oh, if you insist.