Part 6: MISSION 5!

This was the most epic battle I've ever fought in Sacrifice...AND WON! It was like fighting Sorcha: Back and forth, back and forth, but both my enemy were launching the more visceral spells at each other. I wish I had FRAPS that worked well on my computer so that I could've recorded it.

But then again: You'd be able to tell how mediocre I am at this game .

Anyways: Let's get into it shall we?

This is what makes this mission so frustrating. If either Buta or the other bloke gets 4 Manaliths: They go and help defeat Charlotte which fails the mission. For the first 5 minutes, you cannot waste a second: Otherwise you're munted. This is why I fucked up the first 2 times because Buta was a fat, but speedy bastard.

This is also why I was unable to stop to take a picture of our new unit the Seraph. Unfortunately, Hachiman favours Aerial units so I didn't get to use it much either. Apologies, but you'll probably see a lot more of them later.

I got these 3 Manaliths near my Altar. See that path on the Minimap heading Left? I went down there after that, casting speed burst the entire time.

That path lead here: Behind Buta's altar. He had left everything undefended so that he could run ahead and grab as many manaliths as he could so that he could fuck off and leave me munted. I destroyed the manalith that was here and built my own and there was another one that you cant see from here that was even closer that I destroyed ebuilt.

Now there are 2 ways to tackle this mission: Firstly, you can do what I tried and run around like a mad psycho destroying and rebuilding undefended Manaliths, but they're faster and go straight for your undefended Altar. So I improvised.

I decided to be a right bastard and desecrate Buta's Altar. 5 minutes into the mission I tried to banish Buta. This would require a fair bit of time and if Buta wanted: He could ignore it and just go grab a few more manaliths, but I was hoping he'd come back to try to save his ass.



Guess what?


He did. My sythes hacked him up a bit and my Seraph held him with a Cage Pull (summons an energy-based cage around him and holds him close to the Seraph). When he broke free of the cage, he tried to cast a spell to interrupt the desecration, so I slimed the bastard to slow him down. He was on the last frames of his casting animation when...

GOTCHYA! That was the most satisfying banishment I've ever done. Gone in the first 5 minutes and damn good vengence to boot.

No time to celebrate though. Zyzyx kindly informed me that my buildings were under attack. I teleported back to my Altar.

HOLY SHIT. The bastard has already destroyed one of my Manaliths. We're in for a fight here.

First: I cast Eruption on them. See them flying through the air? That never fails to be satisfying. That breaks up his troops a bit and gives me a chance to knock him back a bit.

The bastard built a Manalith for himself where my Manalith was! This is going to make things VERY difficult. Now whenever I kill him, he only has to retreat 10 meters away to respawn and get back into the fight.

Then the bastard set a guardian to it. Fuck.

I had my work cut out for me. Apologies but I had to dedicate a fair bit of time to getting rid of him so I didn't get anything of this fight. However, he was using mostly ranged units to counter my Seraph so I summoned a fair amount of Sythes to kick his ass. Which I barely did. I literally had no minions left. I didn't manage to harvest any souls either so we were back at square one. When eventually: He retreated.

Like so.

I didn't have much time. I had 3 Manaliths and he had the other 6 coming from 3 different angles. I didn't know WHERE he would come from, so I set guardians at each of my Manaliths. I just get to the last one when I turn around and see this:

GodDAMN that was quick. It didn't take him long to get rid of those guardians. Note my pitiful soul count as well. I was in some serious shit. I summoned as many fallen as I could to counter his Pyrodactyls and launched some offensive spells at him. He countered with his own destructive spells and sent his Melee' units after me.

Bastard killed me. Note the hole in the ground from one of many Eruptions he cast. My Fallen did a good job however and managed to save my ass.

The aftermath. I had to rebuild that Manalith for the second time. I had 3 sythes left (He summoned some Tickferno's to pin my mage down) and no guardians at all. See those scorch marks? All of them are from Eruption spells. We were throwing each other in the air like it was nobody's business. However as soon as either of us got back up, we were summoning more units or launching other spells. If we weren't already in hell? We would've MADE this place hell. It was absolutely insane.

See the activity happening at my altar though? I got an absolute shitload of souls this time. I might be able to launch a counter-attack.

Since he loved his Pyrodactyl's, I made a lot of Fallen to get back at them. Flummox's were too slow to be of any real use against them See them blue triangles? That's him making a counter attack with only Pyrodactyl's. My Fallen made REAL short work of them, I didn't even move because he stayed back this time.

He retreated and I grabbed a lot more souls. However: Note the red dots? See the white flame way back there? He's going for my Manaliths that I used to get rid of Buta. Cant let that happen now can we?

I teleported and got there just in time for my Fallen to take out a few of his Pyrodactyl's.

Now y'see: This is why I like the Level 1 units the best. Hachimen only used powerful, 3-soul creatures. If I ever killed one and captured their souls: He'd lose a fair bit. If I got a Fallen killed, I would only lose one soul. Also: With soul-wind, it only takes a second to get back all my souls so I can replenish my numbers far quicker than he could. Though I didn't capture many creatures' souls, the ones I did meant I'd get about 3 souls each time. He was quickly running out of souls again.

That's not to say he didn't put up a fight. That's me practically in orbit after he cast eruption on me. Note the enemy Manalith flame near the top.

But the tables had turned! The Manaliths near Buta's altar are very close to Hachimen's Altar. Instead of being on the defensive, I was now on the Offensive! I had more souls than he did and was in a better place to attack. Still: I was suprised how fast he ran out of souls.

Anyways: After I landed 2 minutes later: I beat him back with a combination of spells and Fallen. I destroyed the Manalith that was there and built one of my own. Now he was in some serious trouble. I was right outside his doorstep.

Let's go knocking.

These are the two manaliths outside his base. That's one helluva door. Guarding that Manalith was 2 Spitfires and 2 Tickferno's. Quite a impressive defence. However, that's 6 souls he could've used against me. Sure, I used guardians to defend my Manaliths, but there was a VERY good chance that he would kill those guardians anyway.

I used my Sythe\Fallen\Locust combo to kill them and destroy his Manalith and I set one up of my own. Since he used 6 souls to guard his Manalith, I thought it'd only be fair if I used the same amount. So I summoned 2 Sythes, 2 Fallen and 2 Locusts to protect it. He still had other manaliths in the map, but these two were the important ones.

I accidentally saved over the picture () but to take out the other Manalith, I bought out some big guns. I used a 2 Flummox's and 2 Seraphs and destroyed it before he even respawned. When he respawned, he went on the offensive, running past my Manaliths outside his altar and going for the ones at my Manalith.

I wasn't going to give him time though. I started desecrating his altar.

See that pillar of light? That points out his exact location. I noticed he was getting closer, so I summoned as many units as I could, including a Seraph and a Flummox. This bitch was going down.

He didn't stand a chance. I wiped him out quickly and easily. In that mission: I banished 2 wizards.

Heh, awesome! GO CHARLOTTE!

That's a rather intersting position Stratos has placed himself in isn't it? I wonder what he's up to.

VICTORY IS MINE! That was awesome. One of the most fun battles I've had ever while playing this game. I've gotta do a Christmas-Card run so I'll do the reaction in about half an hour.

PART 2 COMING UP!

MISSION 5! PART 2! THE REACTION! MANY MORE EXCLAMATION MARKS!

Hammer Floyd: As time went on, the situation looked more and more grim. I was no closer to defeating Marduk and the tension between the gods had grown deeper.[/i]

Stratos: *hushed voice* It is time to press our advantage. But we must do so with discretion...No one must know-

James: What's that you're mumbling Stratos?

Stratos: Oh nothing of import! Just reviewing defensive strategies.

James: Well...look I appreciate the job you're doing, but I think we ought to consider offensive strategies. If we let up, Pyro'll probably build more of those weapons

=============================================

DECISION TIME!

Well it looks like James managed to destroy Pyro's superweapon: The Pyrodraulic Dynamo. Judging from this:

Persephone got her ass kicked since she will no longer hire us. Stratos seems to be up to something and James is still after Pyro. I've no idea what Charnel and Pyro are up to, but they wont talk to me anyway.

Persephone: Get you gone!
Dyslexic maybe have you?

James: We cant afford to let up. It's time we put an end to Pyro's reign of terror. Break his power once and for all!
Spell offered: Wall of Spikes: As it sounds. Summon a wall of spikes to hold off your enemy.
Units Offered: Boulderdash. There's a mistake in the Manual that says I should get the Flummox now, but I've already got one, so that leaves the Boulderdash which is the same as a Flummox, but it shoots 3 rocks instead of one. Unless I've made a mistake and called a Boulderdash a Flummox.

Stratos: Forget James...It's time to take advantage of Persephone's generous and frequent donations of territory into my "safekeeping". Hehehehe!
Spell offered: Frozen Ground. Make a section of the ground ice that freezes who ever touches it. Covers a large area and is very useful
Units Offered: Flurry: Launch a "Storm Crystal" which is effectively an imploding bomb, damaging those around the implosion and sucking them in.

Pyro: Pyro has no use for one like you.
Well then Hammer Floyd has no use for one "Like You"

Charnel: You are not welcome here.
...aw

So what are we gonna do? Find out what Stratos is up to or hurt Pyro again? If you're undecided: I'd like to point out that Stratos gets a cooler wall in the next mission than what James offers.