Part 46: A Dark and Hungry God Fails to Arise

The weird end game sky of the Mana Holyland remains striking every time you see it. In many ways the person specific dungeons just before are the actual final dungeon, while this is just a short passage to the final boss.



The enemies in this area will always be shapeshifters and shadow zeros, with the shadow zeros providing most of the variation. One thing of note is that even when the shadow zeros copy Kevin, they can't become werewolves. It takes some of the sting out of fighting them, although if they get off a full screen tech Carlie and Angela are pretty much lights out. Anyway, skipping ahead...



"H… how could you!?"

"Oh, how painful for you. The Mana Tree is gone… you have nothing left to protect."

"But don't worry, you can always protect me… as my own undead servant!"

"Are you… are you talking to us, or the faerie?"

"The answer is still no, but can you even turn a faerie undead?"

"I can't let you do that!!"

"Oh dear, she appears to be attacking me. Let's learn by doing, kids!"



"I don't think it worked. Some of us won't have anything to do with you, no matter what you try and force us to do."

"No matter. Even without servants, I still hold the greatest power in the world."

"And oh, how I've waited for this day! Underath this mask is all hatred towards humanity…"

"I put on the mask to hold it all back, until the time came… And that time has arrived!"

"Are you sure the mask isn't because you're just fuck ugly?"

"I'd bet 10 luc that's it, but nobody would take that bet."




"Yep, definitely hiding a fugly face."

"Silence, puny mortals!"

"With this spell, I have overcome death… and I shall overcome all human opposition!"

"You three will have the honor of being the first to die!"




"W, what…?"

"Ha! You think a little thing like the Mana Tree disappearing and taking Mana with it is going to make us give up?

"Long after I'm gone, Kevin and the others will create a new world… even without Mana!"



"You fools! Only the Sword of Mana has enough power to stop me… and it's gone!"

"Your last avenue of victory… lost! Succumb to my power!!"

"…you poor, deluded idiot. The sword is a hunk of metal. Every single time this happens, the damn thing is nearly rusted away when the Hero finds it. The power comes from the Hero, and no matter how much power you grab their hope isn't going to be lost."



"Sorry to tell you this, but I'm an agnostic."

"Gods like you are the kind that demand sacrifices, and I have a personal problem with that."

"Grampa kicked you out of Wendel, and I'm going to kick you out of the world!"

Final Boss Battle: Dark Lich

Dark Lich Battle Video

To start out with, Dark Lich is one of the few places that the translation team dropped the ball. Kamen no Doushi, as near as I can tell without looking at the kanji involved, translates to "Masked Person"



As you'd expect from something called a Lich, he specializes in magical attacks and doesn't really seem to feel the need to announce the spells when he casts them. You can expect to see just about any spell in the book, but does have a few favorites. In addition to common spells like Dark Cloud, he also has a few show stoppers that are usually reserved for Angela's ultimate classes.




For the curious, Ancient drops asteroids on our heads..




While Hypercannon also drops rocks on our heads but seems to use gravity to pull them from some far away galaxy.




Death Ecstasy is another "rocks falls, everyone has a headache" spell, but the important part is the backgrounds. Occasionally Dark Lich will change his elemental affinity and pick up a few new spells as well as a corresponding elemental weakness/strength. He starts out Dark by default, and will eat Death Spells for lunch in that form. I didn't bother to use the spell elsewhere, since Angela was hitting in the 900s going after his elemental weaknesses. For my fight with him, he only went with Dark, Water, and Earth elementals.



Somewhere past the halfway point he'll drop a couple of buffs on himself, accompanied by a nice change in music. In addition to Speed Up, seen here, he also uses Protect Up to slow things down a bit.



He'll also use Prisoner at this point, which is most annoying when it doesn't get all of your characters at once. It's a lot easier to just tap the Chibiko Hammer twice than to fix people individually.



As with any final boss, we get a nice light show when he finally kicks the bucket beginning with a negative image of the boss…




And continuing to an explosion and gradual disintegration.



"And yet, somehow, that's exactly what's happening."



"Good job, guys… although it's a bit late for the Mana Tree and Mana in general."

"But on the upside, I'm gonna be a Goddess one of these days, so that's a thing."



"Yeah, seed of the Mana tree and all that. It'll take a bit, though, so make sure you tell your kids to keep an eye out. It'll be about… a thousand years, give or take."

"Do you have any idea how long humans live?"

"…? No?"

"70, 80 years. 100, tops."

"Seriously? How do you get anything done?"

"Maybe my kids will be around in a thousand years? Anyway, we'll make sure that people remember in Wendel."

"Anyway, gotta go. Goddess things, you know."

"I guess we… go home now?"



"Angela! What's going on? Did you sneak out of Jose's class again?"

"You're the heir to the throne of Altena… you really should know better!"

"Uh… mom, I think we REALLY need to have a long talk."

"I know, it must be difficult for you, not being able to use magic, but don't worry…"

"Every day, I say a prayer to the Goddess… in the hope that you'll learn magic, one day…"



"What's wrong, Angela? Are these your friends?"

"You could say that.."

"And who's your silent friend? It seems you like them rugged, just like your mom…"

"Mom! It's not like that! Let's go somewhere else, because this is going to be a long story."



"I can't believe I'd do such a thing… even under Koren's spell… Angela, forgive me…"

"Mother… it's okay! I'm glad you're back to normal now…"

"… Thank you, Angela…"




Carlie returned home to the city of Wendel, to be reunited with her Grandfather.



I guess you could say that everything went better than expected.




They've probably got some catching up to do. And as for Kevin…



"…n…no. I have a lot to learn… from you and Lugar…"

"Although it'll be hard with Lugar being a baby."



"I'm not sure I could take all three of you at once…"

"There are 8 God-Beasts and a Lich that say you couldn't."



"A new world is on the horizon… a world in which humans coexist peacefully with us."

"You are at the center of this new world, Kevin…"

"That's a lot to lay on me, Dad. Wasn't saving the world enough?"

"Hmm. For the moment… but isn't there someone you should be seeing?"

"Karl!"



"Woof!"



In the Holyland, the new Mana Tree sprouts. The next millennium might not exactly be peaceful, but at least the power of Mana won't be at the center of the conflict. Thus…



At least, for this story...